SWDnovel Chapter 85 Sinking Japanese Warships and Killing a Japanese Rear Admiral
Chapter 85 Sinking Japanese Warships and Killing a Japanese Rear Admiral
Chapter 85 Sinking Japanese Warships and Killing a Japanese Rear Admiral
Although the Yangtze River is wide, it is still within the range of enemy artillery fire.
As soon as he finished speaking, the second volley of shots arrived.
"Boom!!!!!"
Another loud bang followed.
Five shells hit their targets in this salvo, while the rest mostly landed in the river, exploding into splashes dozens of meters high.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!"
Some shells exploded on the deck, while others hit the island superstructure in the center of the ship.
When Hyakuhenagawa saw the ship weigh anchor, he finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
As long as the ships are moving, enemy artillery fire cannot lock onto them.
Of course, the most important thing is to get out of the enemy's artillery range now, and then use the range advantage of the naval guns to bombard the enemy's artillery positions.
Just then, another volley of shots was fired.
As the warships began to move, the shells that came over this time had a greater deviation, and only two shells hit their mark.
But one of the shells, by sheer coincidence, hit the ammunition depot inside the Japanese warship.
Moreover, this was a large-caliber grenade fired from a heavy howitzer.
"Boom!!!!!"
The secondary explosion has begun!
The shells in the ammunition magazine exploded instantly, blowing the entire hull of the cruiser Sendai in half.
At the moment of the explosion, a mushroom cloud shot into the sky, and the water column stirred up by the explosion rose dozens of meters into the air.
Japanese soldiers on the warships who were near the explosion point were instantly reduced to dust.
Those far from the blast point were also hit by the shockwave from the explosion. The violent blast instantly lifted them away, either causing them to crash into the ship's iron walls or fly directly off the deck and into the icy river water.
This is the Yangtze River in December.
The bottom hull began to flood extensively, and the warship, broken in two, sank to the bottom of the river amidst billowing smoke.
As the ship sank, huge bubbles rose on the surface of the water, making a gurgling sound, like the low growl of a wild beast.
Hyakuhenai River also fell into the river during the explosion.
At this moment, he was enveloped in the icy river water, his lips were purple and blue, and he was trembling incessantly, as if a thousand needles were pricking his skin.
Around him were many Japanese soldiers like him, swimming frantically, trying to escape the icy river.
Some soldiers, however, hadn't swum very far before they started cramping up and desperately calling for help, but no one paid any attention.
Not far away, other Japanese warships were continuously launching lifeboats, trying to get closer and rescue the naval soldiers who had fallen into the water.
On the city wall, Wang Chengzhu stared intently at the Japanese soldiers on the river, showing no intention of letting them go.
"Order the artillery in the rear to adjust their positions and continue firing."
The cannons were still roaring.
"Boom!!!!!"
Amidst the continuous deafening roar, countless shells rained down on the waters where the Japanese soldiers had fallen.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!"
Soldiers who fell into the river were instantly covered by artillery shells.
Many Japanese soldiers, after being blown to pieces by artillery shells, were thrown into the air along with the fish and shrimp in the Yangtze River, and then fell to the ground with a splash in the cold river water.
The river surface was quickly stained red. The river, which was originally filled with the corpses of soldiers and civilians in Nanjing, was now also filled with the corpses of Japanese naval soldiers.
Hyakuhenai Kawa, clutching a broken plank, shouted loudly at the lifeboat.
However, the lifeboats dared not approach this area, because it was the focus of the Chinese army's artillery fire.
If they were to enter now, their lifeboats would likely sink to the bottom of the river, just like the Chinese civilian ships they had previously blown up, becoming food for fish and shrimp.
At that moment, another loud bang was heard.
A new round of shelling has arrived.
"Boom!!!!!"
This time, Hyakuhenagawa wasn't so lucky; a shell exploded less than five meters away from him.
The shockwave instantly created a circular crater on the river's surface, and all living things within the crater's area were torn apart by the explosive shockwave.
Blood mingled with the murky river water, and bits of flesh became food for the fish.
On the river defense position, Song Xilian naturally witnessed the scene of Japanese warships being sunk.
The Nationalist soldiers on those positions also saw this.
This scene greatly boosted their morale, and they launched a counterattack against the Japanese landing force despite having insufficient troops.
"Well done! It's incredible that you were able to sink a Japanese warship."
As Song Xilian looked through his binoculars at the warship sinking into the water, he kept praising it.
After all, even with the full strength of the National Revolutionary Army, there is no record of the National Revolutionary Army sinking the main Japanese warships during the Battle of Shanghai.
Its best achievement was inflicting severe damage on the Japanese warship "Izumo," rendering it almost completely incapable of fighting.
Upon seeing the warships behind them, the Japanese landing troops began to retreat, one of which was sunk, and their morale began to waver.
Some people have already started swearing.
"The foolish naval idiots were actually sunk by the Chinese army. It is a disgrace to the Imperial Japanese Army."
"It's infuriating that the country's funds have been wasted by a bunch of idiots!"
"A bunch of cowards! They abandoned us after only sinking one warship. They deserve to die!!!"
...
It was at this time that a commando team of about 100 men arrived to reinforce the river defense positions of the 36th Division.
"Commander Song, I am Wang Dayong, the battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Provisional Regiment. I have been ordered to lead an assault team to support your unit."
Looking at the assault team led by Wang Dayong, which consisted of only a hundred men but was almost all equipped with submachine guns, Song Xilian knew that this was a fresh force that would definitely be able to completely defeat the Japanese vanguard that had already landed.
"Great! Battalion Commander Wang, launch a counterattack now and annihilate all the remaining Japanese troops on the beach."
"yes!!!"
After Wang Dayong finished speaking, he turned to the soldiers behind him and shouted angrily, "Brothers, kill those bastards! Drive them all into the water and feed them to the fish!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he decisively led over a hundred assault team members to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army.
The soldiers of the 36th Division, who were fighting a fierce battle and were locked in a stalemate with the Japanese army, were greatly encouraged when they saw the arrival of reinforcements.
At the same time, the vanguard of the Japanese landing force saw the assault team coming with submachine guns and knew that something bad was about to happen.
As the triggers of MP38 and MP28 submachine guns were pulled, as 9mm bullets roared from the barrels, and as bullets tore open the chests and entrails of the Japanese soldiers, the outcome of the Japanese army's first beach landing at Xiaguan Wharf was already decided.
"Da da da!!!!"
The echoing gunfire on the riverbank sounded surprisingly pleasant to Song Xilian at that moment.
In Li Jianghe's command post, he was intensely directing troops in all directions to resist the fierce attack of the Japanese army.
Under the bombardment of Japanese naval guns and the advance of ground troops, fierce fighting is currently taking place on multiple fronts.
At that moment, a voice echoed in his mind.
"Sinking the Japanese battleship Sendai will reward the host with 20000 merit points; killing the Japanese Major General Hyakuhenagawa will reward the host with 1..."
0000 merit points.
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