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

In the next ten minutes or so, the "Tianlong" was hit by hundreds of armor-piercing shells, leaving the entire hull riddled with holes.

Long Fei knew perfectly well that destroyers did not have any so-called armor protection, and the steel plates on the hull were only twenty or thirty millimeters thick.

Even with a 12.7mm large-caliber machine gun using armor-piercing rounds, it can penetrate a 34mm thick steel plate at a distance of 500 meters and a 23mm thick steel plate at a distance of 1200 meters.

Therefore, under intense attack from 88mm armor-piercing tank shells, the "Tianlong" would most likely have its hull torn apart and disintegrated.

And indeed, at this point, cracks began to appear on both the thinnest part of the deck and the hull of the "Tianlong".

And the cracks continued to develop and spread.

After being knocked unconscious by the explosion, it took him a full seven or eight minutes to regain consciousness.

Ignoring the blood gushing from his bruised forehead, he stumbled out of the wheelhouse, clutching his wound, and shouted at the soldiers on the deck.

"Don't stop, keep going at full speed..."

But before he could finish speaking, an armor-piercing projectile struck the stern deck of the ship and penetrated directly downwards, hitting the boiler in the engine room.

This was truly a stroke of luck; the armor-piercing shell detonated the boiler, which was operating at full capacity.

With a loud "boom," the stern deck of the "Tianlong" ship, as well as the steel plates on both sides of the hull and even the bottom of the ship, were all blown apart.

Immediately afterwards, the "Tianlong" sank rapidly into the river due to a large amount of water entering its stern, while its bow rose high as the stern sank.

Upon seeing this, Long Fei smiled with satisfaction and then gave the order.

"Order the Tiger tanks to cease fire and remain in place."

Half an hour later, the bow of the "Tianlong" rose higher and higher on the Huangpu River, and when it was almost at a straight angle, it began to sink rapidly.

In less than five minutes, as the Rising Sun Flag flying over the bow of the "Tianlong" disappeared beneath the surface of the river, Long Fei successfully achieved his goal of sinking three Japanese destroyers.

"Hehe, serves you right for coming to invade our China. Now look what you've done, you're all sinking into the Huangpu River to feed the fish."

After witnessing this exhilarating scene through a low-light telescope, Xu Peng couldn't help but mutter a muttered exclamation.

"Haha, everyone, let's have a celebratory cigarette. Now let's plan the next move."

Long Fei took out a pack of cigarettes and distributed them to the people around him. Then, leading everyone with victorious and joyful steps, he turned and left.

In fact, on the Huangpu River, about seven or eight kilometers away from these three destroyers, there were two more Japanese warships, the "Wen Yue" and the "Chang Yue".

After being attacked, Yoshio Tanaka immediately reported to the newly appointed fleet commander, Tomitake Toyota.

Toyota Tomitake immediately ordered them to leave the Huangpu River and head to the open sea, returning at daybreak.

Meanwhile, Toyoda Tomitake also ordered the nearby destroyers Fumio and Nagatsuki to approach the Harukaze for rescue before heading out to sea.

However, the captains of these two destroyers were worried that their own warships would be attacked in the dark, and that the enemy had even sunk the "Spring Breeze".

How could they dare to put themselves in danger again?

Upon receiving the order, they reluctantly started the ship and slowly approached the location where the "Spring Breeze" had sunk.

The journey of seven or eight kilometers took the two ships more than an hour.

By the time they arrived, all three destroyers had been sunk, and the Japanese soldiers who had fallen into the water had frozen to death. Only seven or eight strong Japanese soldiers, who were good swimmers, managed to swim to the north bank and barely survived.

Seeing that there was nothing they could do, the captains of the "Wen Yue" and "Chang Yue" could only sail straight out to sea.

Afterwards, Tomitake Toyota was furious and demoted the two captains to vice-captains, ordering them to redeem themselves through meritorious service.

Chen Defa and Ge Dahai were also annoyed and uneasy when they heard the fight was going on so loudly.

Upon finally seeing Long Fei and the others return, the two hurriedly went to greet them and asked questions.

"Brother, how's it going?"

"Battalion Commander Long, has the Japanese destroyer been sunk?"

Long Fei raised his head, replying with a smug look on his face.

"Of course, all three Japanese destroyers have sunk to the bottom of the Huangpu River, and the seven or eight hundred Japanese soldiers on board have all been fed to the fish."

Upon receiving the confirmation, the officers and soldiers of the 37th Brigade, as well as the soldiers of the Special Operations Battalion, all cheered with raised arms.

"Okay...ok..."

"We actually sank the Japanese warship with tanks, that's amazing."

"That's how you teach those Japanese devils a lesson, to show them what's what."

"If our Nationalist army were all this powerful, we would have driven the Japanese devils into the sea to feed the fish long ago."

After everyone's excitement subsided, Long Fei made the announcement.

"There are still a few hours until dawn, everyone rest here. We'll talk about how to fight next after you've woken up."

That's all Long Fei could say for now, because he hadn't figured out his next plan yet.

After the Japanese troops landed at Hangzhou Bay, the National Revolutionary Army had already decided to retreat.

Now, the Special Operations Battalion, plus Chen Defa's 37th Brigade, has less than 3,000 men in total.

In previous battles against the Japanese, we had always taken them by surprise and relied on our advanced weaponry.

But these few thousand men, let alone hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers, would have little chance of winning even if they were to engage in a head-on confrontation with tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers.

Even if we win, it will be a Pyrrhic victory with significant casualties.

After all, the Japanese also had large-caliber artillery, and could mobilize a large number of light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars and other heavy weapons, and could even mobilize bombers to drop aerial bombs.

Chen Defa saw Long Fei sitting to the side, smoking a cigarette, deep in thought, with a very serious expression on his face.

So he went over and sat down, asking with concern, "Brother, what are you thinking about?"

Long Fei handed him a cigarette, then said quietly, "Brigadier Chen, if I'm not mistaken, your Nationalist army is about to make a major retreat."

Upon hearing this, Chen Defa was visibly startled, and the cigarette he was holding fell to the ground.

He hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Brother, how is that possible? I just sent a telegram to Commander Liu of the Army Group, saying that we ambushed again in Linting Town and annihilated the 45th Regiment of the 36th Brigade of the Japanese 6th Division once again."

"We have now advanced to Wuqiao Town on the banks of the Huangpu River and wiped out a small Japanese squad."

"Commander Liu didn't believe me at first, but I told him that I had captured the flags of two Japanese regiments, and he reluctantly believed me and asked me to bring the flags back for him to confirm."

"Commander Liu also praised our 37th Brigade, saying that he would recommend our entire brigade for commendation when we got back, and that he would also treat me to drinks."

Long Fei smiled and asked in return, "Brigadier General Chen, what you're saying has anything to do with what I said about the Nationalist army's impending retreat?"

Chen De paused for a moment, then replied, "I think it's related. Commander Liu didn't tell me to retreat, he just told me to stay put."

There were some things Long Fei couldn't say to Chen Deming, so he lit a cigarette and started smoking again.

Long Fei now had a general idea: after the Japanese occupied Shanghai, their next step would be to occupy Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist government.

Having learned of the Japanese army's plans in advance, Long Fei decided to set off for Nanjing ahead of time.

Depending on the specific circumstances, we should try to ambush the Japanese along the way to slow their advance and deplete their manpower.

Now that the outcome of the Battle of Shanghai was imminent, Long Fei would not allow the special operations battalion to continue facing hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers and make pointless sacrifices.

After thinking it over, Long Fei decided to announce the order at dawn and have the entire battalion set off.

Just then, Ge Dahai rushed over with a telegram to report.

"Commander, it's Commander Liu calling."

“Battalion Commander Long is no outsider, just read it aloud,” Chen Defa gestured.

"Yes, Commander Liu called to say that the 261st Brigade of the 87th Division, equipped with German weapons, is surrounded by the 23rd Brigade and the 55th and 56th Regiments of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army at Beixinjing on the south bank of the Suzhou Creek."

"Due to the heavy casualties suffered by the 261st Brigade in continuous combat, it is now unable to break out. The General Headquarters has ordered all army groups to send nearby troops to its rescue."

"Because our brigade is currently only four or five kilometers away from Beixinjing, Commander Liu ordered us to reach the outskirts of Beixinjing before dawn and assist the 261st Brigade in breaking out after dawn."

Not to mention Chen Defa, even Long Fei felt a headache when he heard this order, because it was almost an impossible task.

With only about two thousand men in the 37th Brigade, even if they were all prepared to die, it would have been virtually impossible for them to rescue the 261st Brigade from the heavy encirclement of two Japanese regiments.