6.53 The Last Navy

Zhenjiang Fortress is the gate of the capital of the Nanjing government, and the Zhenjiang Fortress is part of the defense of Nanjing. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

After the September 18 Incident, the Nanjing government attached great importance to the Zhenjiang Fortress, and successively sent Zhu Peide, Tang Shengzhi, Feng Yuxiang, and other high-ranking generals to Zhenjiang to inspect the fortress, and instructed the Zhenjiang Fortress to add all kinds of permanent national defense fortifications to eliminate the dead ends of the forts. The equipment of Zhenjiang Fortress was relatively complete and advanced at that time.

The task given to the Zhenjiang fortress by the Nanjing government was to blockade the Yangtze River, block the westward advance of enemy ships, and destroy them within effective firing range, so as to ensure the safety of the Yangtze River valley. Therefore, the fortress artillery of Zhenjiang Fortress is mainly facing the river, and the land is secondary. The task of the fortress garrison battalion is to cover the safety of the fortress battery and make up for the lack of battery firepower.

The headquarters of Zhenjiang Fortress is located in the warehouse on Hebian Street in Zhenjiang City. Commander Lin Xianyang and Wang Lepo are chief of staff. The headquarters consists of an adjutant's office, a quartermaster room, and an ordnance room. At the same time, it also has jurisdiction over the garrison battalion, the communications company, and the engineer company.

The garrison of Zhenjiang Fortress is the garrison battalion, the barracks of the garrison battalion are located in Xiangshan, and there are three infantry companies and one heavy machine gun company under its jurisdiction. However, the largest capital of Zhenjiang Fortress is indeed the four forts of Xiangshan, Jiaoshan, Dutian Temple, and Yuanshan Pass.

The Xiangshan Fort is located near the Zhenjiang East Wharf and has a total of twelve guns. Among them, there are four doors with a caliber of 24 centimeters, and there are shelter equipment, which shoot directly to the surface of the Yangtze River; Four guns of fifteen centimeter caliber, equipped in Heshan, are open-air forts, and are used for both land and river. Each sub-station has one Taiwan member, and each artillery has one artillery squad. Jiaoshan Fort is located on a small island in the center of the Yangtze River, across the river from Xiangtai, with a total of eight cannons. All of them are nine centimeters and five calibers, and they are shot for amphibious use. The Dutianmiao Fort is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River and has a total of eight guns. Among them, there are four doors with a caliber of 24 centimeters, with permanent shelters, and four doors of 5 caliber of 9 centimeters, which can be used in a mobile manner. The Fort is located near Dagang Town, about 50 miles away from the city, with a total of 12 guns. Among them, there are four gates of 24 centimeters in diameter, located on the riverside, with a strong shelter, shooting directly to the Yangtze River; In addition, there are nine centimeters and five calibers and eight gates, which are divided into the area of Guishan, and all of them are equipped with shelters to shoot at both water and land.

These four forts can be said to be an iron gate on the river, and the Japanese army immediately aimed at these four forts in Zhenjiang Fortress after conquering Jiangyin.

After the Jiangyin Fortress was lost, Xu Kang, the commander of the Jiangyin Fortress, withdrew to the Zhenjiang Fortress and introduced the military situation ahead to Lin Xianyang, the commander of the Zhenjiang Fortress, and his chief of staff, Wang Lepo.

Lin Xianyang, commander of the Zhenjiang Fortress, immediately ordered the fortress troops to enter combat preparations after learning that the two fronts of Wu (Suzhou) Fu (Mountain) and Xi (Wuxi) and Cheng (Jiangyin) had lost their defensive and combat roles, and that the Japanese army had advanced westward to Zhenjiang. He also adopted the method of voluntary registration in the garrison camp, and selected more than 50 daredevils to be dispatched at any time. In the face of the powerful Japanese army, the anti-war sentiment of the officers and soldiers of the fortress was still high.

The Fortress Command then issued a battle order to the batteries and garrisons:

1. The first company of the garrison battalion, carrying two heavy machine guns and a squad of signal troops, immediately entered the Yushan position, monitored the enemy's movements in the direction of Dantu Town, and reported to the command post if any situation was found;

2. The second company of the garrison battalion, carrying two heavy machine guns and a squad of signal troops, entered the small high ground of Zhenxiang Road, strictly guarded against the Shanghai-Nanjing railway and highway, and contacted the first company on the left and the Beigushan sergeant post on the right.

3. The 3rd Company of the Garrison Battalion, the Engineer Company is the reserve, under the command of the Deputy Commander of the Garrison Battalion, and the 3rd Company will send a unit to set up a sentry post near the Ganlu Temple in Beigushan to observe the situation of the Japanese army;

4. Officers and men of Xiangtai, Jiaotai, Dutai, and Yuantai enter each artillery position, enter the battle at any time, and communicate with the command post

5. The death squad is under the direct command of the command post and is ready to be dispatched at any time, and the captain is not allowed to leave his post and closely monitors the situation on the Zhenxiang Highway.

6. The commander, chief of staff, etc. immediately entered the Xiangshan command post.

After the fall of Changzhou and Danyang, the Japanese army attacked Zhenjiang in two ways, one along the Zhenjiang Danyang Highway and the other along the Zhenjiang and Changzhou Highway. Soon, the forward troops of the Japanese army entered the defense area of the Zhenjiang fortress and made contact with the 1st Company of the garrison battalion guarding the Yushan position. In the face of the fierce attack of the Japanese army, the officers and soldiers of the fortress garrison bravely fought back with the fortifications, and the Japanese retreated in a hurry with heavy casualties.

The devils were still afraid of the strong fortifications of Zhenjiang Fortress, so the next day the Japanese army bypassed the garrison area of Zhenjiang Fortress and diverted along the road to Zhenjiang City.

Fortunately, Zhenjiang City was no longer an undefended city at this time, and the 103rd Division was already waiting there.

The 103rd Division, which was ordered to garrison Zhenjiang City, was also a tired division, and after the start of the Anti-Japanese War in Shanghai on August 13, the 103rd Division was ordered to transfer more than 1,000 officers and soldiers to Shanghai to replenish the 88th Division, which had suffered heavy losses in the war against Japan. At the same time, the 103rd Division began to reorganize its ranks, reorganizing the original two brigades and four regiments into three infantry regiments, including the 613th Regiment (regiment commander Luo Yibin), the 615th Regiment (regiment commander Zhou Xiangkui), the 618th Regiment (regiment commander Wan Shijiong), and the special service company, engineer company, communications company, and health team directly under the division.

In late August, the 103rd Division was ordered to go to Shanghai to fight, transported by ship from Wuxue, landed at Xiaguan in Nanjing, and took the Shanghai-Nanjing line train to Shanghai, when the 103rd Division arrived in Wuxi, it was ordered to go to Jiangyin, under the command of Liu Xing, commander-in-chief of Jiangfang, and later when the war in Shanghai was tight, the 103rd Division was transferred to some secondary battlefields to serve as some auxiliary tasks, and the poor 103rd Division was transferred to the map by the generals of the Nanjing General Staff, and the Ministry of Military Affairs also continued to draw blood from the 103rd Division, He Zhizhong's troops had lost three successes before Jiangyin began.

When the 103rd Division withdrew from Jiangyin to Zhenjiang, at most half of a division remained, Deputy Division Commander Dai Zhiqi and Chief of Staff Wang Yujiao couldn't help but scold the stupidity of the General Staff in front of the division commander He Zhizhong, fortunately Huang Haoran took over the baton of the Nanjing Garrison in time, if Tang Shengzhi was still in charge, he also planned to let the 103rd Division retreat to Nanjing, if He Zhizhong really did this, his 103rd Division might not even be able to make up a regiment when it arrived in Nanjing......

Huang Haoran's decision gave the 103rd Division a short rest time in Zhenjiang, the Jiangsu Security Regiment ran too fast, and many houses were not destroyed in time, Huang Haoran knew that after a big stroke of the pen gave the 103rd Division the power to replenish freely, He Zhizhong immediately ordered to smash the doors of these warehouses and move out all the things that could be used, so in the face of the menacing Japanese division commander He Zhizhong was still a little confident.

When the 103rd Division had not yet arrived in Zhenjiang, the city was not very peaceful, Chen Guofu, then chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, and Xiang Meizhuang, director of security, were ordered to Han Deqin and Li Shouwei to "hand over", to put it bluntly, these two planned to escape, with the governor and the director of security as an example, the order in Zhenjiang City was immediately chaotic to the extreme, and the new provincial government was not willing to stay in Zhenjiang as cannon fodder, so they were busy retreating while receiving, and the security forces also planned to run away with a few shots.

After the Japanese army occupied Danyang, the Jiangsu provincial government began to evacuate Zhenjiang City and move to Yangzhou; The original security regiment stationed in Zhenjiang had already withdrawn to the north of the Yangtze River, and now only one security regiment was left in the city to cover the transfer of the provincial government, and a small half of the soldiers ran away, and the people of Zhenjiang City saw that their army actually behaved like this, and even the last group of people who stayed behind began to flee.

Lin Xianyang, the commander of Zhenjiang Fortress, suddenly felt desperate after receiving the news that all the security regiments had fled, it was impossible to divide his troops to guard Zhenjiang City with the strength of his fortress, but once Zhenjiang was lost, the fortress would become an island!

Fortunately, Huang Haoran placed the 103rd Division withdrawn from Jiangyin in Zhenjiang City in time, and the officers and soldiers of Zhenjiang Fortress also had more confidence in dealing with the Japanese army.

On the evening of December 2, the Beigushan outpost reported to Lin Xianyang, the commander of the Zhenjiang Fortress, that gunfire broke out outside Zhenjiang City, and it should be that the 103rd Division and the Japanese army were fighting, and a fire had broken out in the West Street business district in the city, and the smoke was soaring into the sky!

Lin Xianyang calmly made a judgment, it was impossible for the devils to attack Zhenjiang City so quickly, and what the Beigushan outpost saw should be the fire caused by the Japanese artillery bombardment.

Soon Lin Xianyang received a telegram from He Zhizhong, and sure enough, as he judged, the 103rd Division blocked the Japanese army outside the city, and after the Japanese army was repulsed, the Japanese army retaliated by large-scale artillery bombardment, and the West Street business district was shot and caught fire.

On the morning of December 2, under the cover of eight tanks, the Devil Infantry advanced from Beigushan along the Zhenxiang Highway to Xiangtai. When Jiaotai discovered the enemy's situation, he immediately concentrated his firepower on the Japanese tanks, destroying two Japanese tanks, killing and wounding dozens of devils, and the Japanese troops were forced to stop advancing.

The battle between the Zhenjiang fortress and the city lasted until the early morning of the next day, on the morning of the 3rd, the Beigu Mountain Outpost once again found that the area of engagement had been moved from the city wall to the city, Lin Xianyang hurriedly contacted the commander of the 103rd Division, He Zhizhong, and learned that it was the traitor who opened the city gate at night and let the devils enter the city, and the 103rd Division now launched a counterattack against the Japanese army, which should be able to repel the Japanese army.

The words of He Zhizhong, the commander of the 103rd Division, made Lin Xianyang like five thunders! In this way, the position of the Xiangshan Fort became the enemy's rear, and the situation of the officers and men of the fort was very dangerous, and the commander of the Zhenjiang Fortress, Lin Xianyang, decided to abandon the Xiangshan Fort, so he gave the officers and men of the fort an order to retreat, and ordered the Xiangtai to immediately remove the bolt, ammunition, and equipment, etc., and transfer them to Dutai to assist Dutai in continuing to resist the enemy. The first company of the garrison battalion withdrew to the heights of Dangtian Village to cover the crossing of the river by Xiangtai; The second company withdrew to the southwest highlands of Heshan to monitor the situation of the Zhenxiang Highway, and after Xiangtai crossed the river, the engineer company immediately crossed the river, occupied the positions on both sides of the Dutian Temple, covered Dutai, and resisted the enemy's crossing of the river. After the death squad covered the personnel of the command post to cross the river, they moved to Jiaotai and placed it under the command of the commander of the station, covered the battery, and continued the operation. The command post withdrew to the vicinity of Dutian Temple and continued to command Jiaotai to fight against Dutai.

On the morning of 4 December, the enemy retaliated by sending 12 bombers to bomb Jiaotai in turn, destroying all the equipment and casualties among the officers and men, making it impossible to continue the battle.

Lin Xianyang ordered the director of Jiaotai and the remnants of the death squad to raise their own vehicles and move to Jiangbei. At this time, the civilian boats were no longer under control, and the officers and men bundled the door panels and timber into rafts, rowed in groups of three or five, and rowed in the direction of the north bank of the river, and only arrived at the Jiangbei command post at about 23 o'clock on the evening of 4 December to report for duty.

On the morning of 5 December, two enemy ships on the Yangzhong River began to move forward cautiously. The Todai Observatory immediately reported the enemy situation as soon as it was discovered. At about 12 noon, the enemy ships entered our effective range and fired at the enemy ships, and the enemy ships had no choice but to retreat.

The Yuanshanguan Fort, together with the Zhenjiang Jiaoshan Fort, the Xiangshan Fort, and the Jiangbei Dutianmiao Fort, belong to the Zhenjiang Fortress Headquarters, and it is about 30 kilometers northeast of Zhenjiang City. After the enemy troops advanced to Zhenjiang, Lu Zuozhou, the commander of the station, withdrew to northern Jiangsu with the fortress headquarters, and ordered the officers and men to self-destroy the fort, remove the artillery, and dismantle and bury the searchlights, generators, and other equipment. After the mission was completed, a captain surnamed Yu led more than 100 soldiers to cross the river by boat. As a result, eleven soldiers of the battery, out of national indignation, decided to stay and resist. Captain Yu agreed, and gave them the name of a "death squad", designating Luo Xi as the captain and leaving the camera to fight. Peng Yongyi was a gunner in the fort at that time, Luo Xibiao was a second lieutenant, and Liu Fugui and Xie Xianggui were all artillerymen. Before the troops withdrew, eight of the nine cannons in the Yuanshanguan Fort were dismantled and taken away or sunk to the bottom of the river, and one at the head of Guishan still had a gun position. Luo Xibiao and the others decided to repair a cannon on the gun emplacement at the head of Guishan first, and then collect and move the shells scattered along the river to the side of the gun mount on the top of the mountain, and take turns to look at the riverside, preparing to attack the invading enemy ships.

Since the loss of Jiangyin, the Japanese ships have been unimpeded all the way, tracing west of the river, dreaming that once they cross the mountain pass, they can pass through Zhenjiang to attack Nanjing. The navy of the "Great Japanese Empire," which has always boasted of being "invincible," never imagined that when they were getting carried away, the Chinese artillery on the top of the mountain was already ready to open fire. After Luo Xibiao and others discovered the enemy ship, they were filled with righteous indignation and immediately gathered at the top of Guishantou, where Luo Xibiao aimed and commanded, Peng Yongyi was responsible for firing the cannonballs, and Liu Fugui, Xie Xianggui, and Xiao were loaded with shells, and everything was ready. After the ship sailed into the effective range that day, he only heard Luo Xibiao's order, "Release!" Peng Yongyi immediately fired, and the cannonball came out of its chamber and flew straight towards the Japanese ship, landing next to the bow of the Japanese pioneer ship, stirring up a column of water two or three feet high, and the bow of the Japanese ship was full of dripping water foam. Luo Xi saw that the first shot missed, and immediately adjusted the firing angle, and the Japanese ship was shocked, and the second shell came at a gallop, but unfortunately there was a slight deviation, and it missed the target. Luo Xibiao took aim again and fired a third gun, which hit the rear of the Japanese vanguard ship impartially, causing the Japanese ship's steering gear to fail, and the Japanese ship soon lost control on the water. The Japanese naval commander was frightened half to death, and thinking that he had encountered a strong enemy in front of the Yuanshan Pass, he ordered the ship to turn the bow and retreat to the Sanjiangying River on the north bank, which was 30 miles away from the head of Guishan. Luo Xibiao and others saw the smoke and flames rising from the tail of the enemy ship from a distance on the mountain, and when they knew that they had been hit, their fighting spirit became even more high, and they immediately loaded the fourth gun, thinking that after this cannon bombarded out, they could sink the Japanese ship. They could only watch as the enemy ships escaped.

Early in the morning of 6 July, three Japanese reconnaissance planes flew over the mountain, flew low, overlooked, and carried out aerial reconnaissance, but the mountain and Wufeng mountain were covered by forests and were silent. After the Japanese reconnaissance planes arrived, they sent bombers to bomb the forests and valleys indiscriminately, and the temple house of the Xilin Temple in the middle of the mountain was blown down, and the craggy strange rocks were blown up to the ground.

At noon on the same day, dozens of enemy bombers flew over Dutai and bombed in turn, completely flattening the fortifications and barracks in Dutai. Since then, the Zhenjiang fortress has lost its role in river defense.

Also on the same day, the 103rd Division in Zhenjiang City could no longer hold on, the Japanese attack became stronger and stronger, the commander of the 103rd Division, He Zhizhong, broke out of the siege at night after asking Huang Haoran for instructions, and joined forces with the defenders of Zhenjiang Fortress, relying on the fortress to defend the river bank, waiting for Nanjing's rescue.

On December 7th and 8th, the gunfire near the Zhenjiang fortress was incessant, the Japanese army had launched a siege on three sides, and the situation of the officers and men of the 103rd Division and the fortress was precarious!

On the night of December 9, the fleet arranged by Wang Huanzhi finally arrived at the river near Zhenjiang.

Because the Japanese army occupied absolute air superiority, the flotilla that left Nanjing by taking advantage of the artificial fog was only used to hurry up before dawn, and the flotilla was scattered and hiding throughout the day on the 9th, and it was not until after dark that the flotilla assembled again and set off, and the Navy's torpedo boat Wen Tianxiang squadron was at the forefront of the flotilla.

Torpedo boat Wen Tianxiang squadron, squadron leader Liu Gongdi, has four British-made speedboats, the number is Wen 171 (captain Liu Gongdi and concurrent), Wen 42 (captain Huang Yunbai, then by Chen Puxing), Wen 93 (captain Wu Shirong), Wen 88, each boat is equipped with two torpedoes with a diameter of 45 cm (tail slot launch), two depth charges, four anti-aircraft machine guns, and now the torpedo has completed compression debugging and is completely in the firing state.

When the flotilla was about to reach the river near the Zhenjiang Fortress, the torpedo boats of Wen Tianxiang's squadron suddenly began to accelerate, and they had already received a telegram from Lin Xianyang, commander of the Zhenjiang Fortress, that the Japanese fleet was anchored on the north bank of the Sanjiangying River, 30 miles from the head of Guishan, and that the commander Liu Gongdi ordered all boats to form a formation and approach the Japanese fleet.

Standing in the wheelhouse, Liu Gongdi's heart fluctuated, and the torpedo boats of the electric mine school were a newly formed defensive naval force. At the beginning of 1935, the Nanjing government imported speedboats from Britain and Germany, opened rivers and caves in Huangshan Port in Jiangyin, and built docks, factories, barracks and other bases. As of the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, it had 13 speedboats, of which 10 were made by Britain and 3 were made by Germany, which were organized into a speedboat brigade and divided into four squadrons, named Wen Tianxiang Squadron (4 ships), Shi Kefa Squadron (4 ships), Yue Fei Squadron (3 ships), and another Gaoqing Squadron (2 ships) had not yet joined the battle.

In the spring of 1937, Ouyang Ge, commander of Jiangyin District's river defense, organized the captains of the speedboats to measure from Lianchengzhou in Jiangyin to Wolf Mountain in Nantong, made a detailed survey and mapping of each water depth, and painted the shapes of the ships of the Japanese Third Fleet into images, and sent them to the captains of the speedboats a booklet for them to memorize and identify. Liu Gongdi is naturally one of them!

However, what Liu Gongdi did not expect was that after the Sino-Japanese war, the navy was actually used by the Nanjing General Staff as a material to seal the river, and in the minds of the Nanjing officers, the navy was vulnerable, and it was better to sink the river than to be sunk in a battle with a Japanese ship and shake the morale of the people!

The four ships of Haitian sank in Jiangyin, and then in the first battle of Jiangyin, the elite warships of the Chinese Navy were sunk by the Japanese Air Force at full speed, and Liu Gongdi's heart was simply dripping blood! But what could he do?

The Navy is not without its best efforts! Who can understand the pain of the navy people?

Now, Liu Gongdi has finally received an order to take the initiative to change the tragic fate of the Chinese Navy!

The original text of Huang Haoran's order to the torpedo boat Wen Tianxiang squadron is as follows:

"Jiangyin has been lost, and I heard that the enemy ships have broken through the blockade line, sailed up the river, and approached the capital, so I hereby send your troops to cruise to the Zhenjiang River tonight, and if they encounter enemy ships, attack immediately.

Huang Haoran, deputy commander of Nanjing City Defense

December 8, 1937"

The engine of the torpedo boat was roaring, it was the unjust roar of the Chinese Navy!

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Come on! Chinese Navy! (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )