The War of Resistance Against Japan: Special Operations Battalion Traverses Shanghai and Slaughters

At 11 p.m., in accordance with the firing time determined by Long Fei, ten Tiger tanks fired simultaneously.

The Japanese soldiers on the three destroyers had been busy all day and were exhausted. At this time, apart from those on guard duty and on watch, the others had long since gone to bed and were fast asleep.

Meanwhile, the Japanese soldiers on the other side of the strait were not worried at all about a nighttime raid by the Nationalist army, because since the landing at Hangzhou Bay, the Nationalist army had realized the seriousness of the problem.

The General Staff feared that hundreds of thousands of troops would be surrounded and wiped out by the Japanese, since these troops included not only those from all over the country who came to fight, but also the Nationalist government's elite Central Army.

Therefore, after consulting with the leaders of the Nationalist government, the General Staff decided to withdraw the entire army.

At present, half of the Nationalist troops on the Shanghai battlefield have quietly withdrawn, leaving behind troops to hold off the Japanese and buy time before retreating while fighting.

After the Japanese 23rd Regiment crossed the Huangpu River, they did not encounter any strong resistance from the Nationalist army.

Within a day, they easily captured a large area of ​​Nationalist army positions, and the front line advanced four or five kilometers.

Therefore, the Japanese judged that the Nationalist army could not even hold its ground, let alone launch an attack.

In the first salvo, eight out of ten armor-piercing shells hit three Japanese warships.

Two of the shots hit the "Tianlong" and the remaining six hit the "Longtian" and "Chunfeng" three times each.

Coincidentally, an armor-piercing shell penetrated the starboard side of the "Spring Breeze" and struck the ship's ammunition magazine, directly detonating the shells stored inside.

"Boom... Boom... Bang... Bang..."

Immediately afterwards, "Spring Breeze" unleashed a deafening explosion, and huge fireballs rose into the night sky.

The "Spring Breeze" was also blown open in the middle of its hull by the powerful explosion of its ammunition magazine, and the river water rushed in.

Most of the Japanese soldiers who were sleeping in the cabins were blown to smithereens in their sleep and went straight to meet their Amaterasu Omikami.

Those who were lucky enough to survive the bombing were drowned by the surging river.

The few surviving Japanese soldiers were thrown into a panic by this sudden attack.

Furthermore, after seeing the warship blown in two, they knew that sinking was inevitable.

So, jumping into the Huangpu River was their only option to survive.

The lucky ones can get a lifebuoy, but most don't even have time to grab one and just jump into the Huangpu River.

It's already early November, and even though it's not winter yet, the river water is already freezing cold.

Therefore, the fate of these Japanese soldiers who jumped into the Huangpu River was not much better; they would soon freeze to death from hypothermia.

The deafening explosion carried far into the quiet night, reaching not only the Japanese soldiers on the north bank of the Huangpu River but also those who had already stormed into the city.

The Japanese soldiers in the city were unaware of what had happened.

Although the Japanese soldiers realized they were under attack after the first round of shelling.

Before they could take any countermeasures, the second, third, and fourth rounds of shelling followed one after another.

Long Fei, who had been lying in wait on the south bank of the Huangpu River and observing closely, began to sink after seeing the fireball rising from the explosion of the "Chunfeng" through his binoculars.

Immediately use the radio to send a message to the Tiger tank group, ordering them to cease shelling the "Spring Breeze" and instead focus all their efforts on attacking the remaining "Tenryu" and "Ryuta".

Within minutes, both the "Tianlong" and "Longtian" were hit by at least dozens of armor-piercing shells.

The hulls and decks of the two destroyers are now riddled with bullet holes the size of fists.

At this moment, Long Fei ordered again: "Send a message to the tank group, instructing them to adjust their gun barrels downwards by 0.5 degrees and focus their attacks on the side of the Japanese warships."

Lieutenant Commander Seimichi Terauchi, the captain of the "Tenryu," was still awake when the shelling began; he was reading in his captain's cabin.

Upon hearing the explosion from the "Spring Breeze," he rushed to the driver's cab to assess the situation.

He saw the "Spring Breeze" moored not far away, its bow and stern gradually rising, the middle of the ship already submerged in the river, and still sinking.

Terauchi Seido hurriedly ordered, "Baka! Start the ship immediately and head out to sea at full speed!"

Terauchi Seiji's decision was absolutely correct. Once the ship was started, the enemy would have to constantly adjust their firing parameters in order to hit the target during the voyage.

It's nighttime now, so the enemy can't accurately observe the warships' real-time coordinates, which will definitely reduce their hit rate significantly.

Most fatally, the Japanese now have no idea of ​​the exact location of the enemy's artillery positions, so they are unable to fire back.

Therefore, running away is the only correct option at present.

But these situations were already within Long Fei's expectations. He had already arranged for several observers with low-light binoculars to be stationed along the riverbank.

After starting, the "Tianlong" gradually accelerated and headed towards the open sea.

However, as the observers continuously relayed the latest coordinates of the Japanese warships to the Tiger tank group via radio, they were able to continue monitoring the situation.

Therefore, even though the "Tianlong" was fleeing at full speed, it was still constantly hit by armor-piercing shells.

As for the "Ryuta", its reaction was much slower than that of the "Tenryu".

Lieutenant Commander Yoshio Tanaka, captain of the "Tatsuta", discovered that the ship was under shelling.

Unlike Terauchi Seido, he did not order the ships to start and escape.

Instead, he ordered the ship's guns to return fire in the direction from which the shells were coming.

Without knowing the exact coordinates of the enemy's artillery, any so-called counterattack is essentially just firing randomly and is meaningless.

So, not long after, the "Tatsuta" followed in the footsteps of the "Harukaze," with its ammunition depot also being detonated by armor-piercing shells.

However, the "Longtian" was not blown apart in the middle, but a hole about two or three meters in size was blown out on the port side, slightly aft.

In addition, an irregular hole with a diameter of four or five meters was blasted out above the deck.

A large portion of the breach on the port side was below the waterline, so river water rushed into the ship's interior through the breach.

But at this critical juncture, Yoshio Tanaka made another wrong decision.

He ordered all cabin doors that could be closed to be shut immediately to prevent the river water from continuing to flood in.

However, Yoshio Tanaka was unaware of the situation; the explosion at the ammunition depot had already destroyed a large area around it.

So when the Japanese sailors who hadn't been killed in the bombing closed all the hatches they could, they discovered that the ship was slowly listing to the left.

As the tilt angle increased, the "Longtian" capsized and went upside down in the river with a loud crash.

During this process, armor-piercing shells fired by Tiger tanks continued to hit the "Ryuta".

Before long, dozens of armor-piercing bullet holes were also fired into the bottom of the "Longtian" ship.

Ultimately, the "Longtian" sank to the bottom of the Huangpu River, and the Japanese soldiers on board also perished with it.

The fleeing "Tianlong" had been traveling several kilometers when it thought it was out of danger. Just as Terauchi Seido breathed a sigh of relief and secretly rejoiced, the "Tianlong" was about to escape.

Under Long Fei's orders, all Tiger tanks were switched to high-explosive shells and continued to bombard the "Tianlong".

Then, the "Tianlong" was hit and exploded one after another from bow to stern.

Even the driver's cab of the temple was not spared; all the windows were shattered.

The shockwave from the explosion slammed Terauchi Seiji and the Japanese soldiers in the driver's cab heavily onto the hard dashboard, knocking them unconscious.

At this moment, Long Fei, based on the situation, ordered: "Order the Tiger tank group to switch back to armor-piercing shells, lower the muzzle appropriately, and do not be stingy with shells. We must sink the 'Tianlong'."

Long Fei appeared very persistent, showing no sign of giving up until he achieved his goal.

"Whoosh...whoosh...whoosh, bang...bang...bang..."

Standing next to Long Fei, Xu Peng joked, "Battalion Commander, are you going to turn the Tianlong into a hornet's nest?"

Long Fei joked in a serious tone, "The Japanese devils are arrogant and look down on our China, thinking we are no match for them, so I have to show them what I'm made of."