The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 344: Fierce Naval Guns 1
On the surface of the Yangtze River more than ten kilometers away from the Fuchikou Fortress, more than 3 warships of the 11th Squadron of the rd Fleet of the Japanese Navy cut through the rolling waves on the river and advanced at full speed along the winding surface of the Yangtze River.

Compared with the Chinese Navy, which was almost wiped out under the Japanese sea and air firepower attack, the Japanese Navy has extremely terrifying strength. The Japanese Navy's Third Fleet, which is rampant in China's inland rivers, is actually just a fleet at the bottom of the Japanese Navy, which has been established and disbanded several times.

Today, the Third Fleet's combat ships are mostly smaller inland gunboats and destroyers.

But even the Third Fleet, which was the last in the Japanese Navy and mainly composed of inland gunboats and small warships, was out of reach for the Chinese Navy, which was weak in the past and is now close to being completely destroyed.

In the advancing formation of the Japanese Navy's 11th Squadron, leading the way in the front of the fleet were the five large minesweepers of the 11th Squadron's minesweeping fleet. Led by the minesweeping fleet's flagship Yaeyama minelaying ship, the five large minesweepers with a displacement of more than one thousand tons formed a single-line formation, dragging huge minesweepers to clear the way in front of the 11th Squadron's fleet. In order to deal with the various mines laid by the Chinese Navy in the Yangtze River, the Japanese Navy assigned the 11th Squadron five laying ships with both minelaying and minesweeping functions.

These five mine-laying ships also have considerable firepower. For example, the flagship of the minesweeping fleet, the Yaeyama with a displacement of 1135 tons, is equipped with two single-mounted 2-year-old 120mm 45-caliber anti-aircraft guns and two 2mm machine guns in addition to basic minesweeping and mine-laying equipment. The other four minesweepers of different models also have the same firepower as the flagship Yaeyama. The firepower of these five minesweepers alone is equipped with ten 7.7mm caliber dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns.

Following closely behind was the main battle fleet of the 11th Squadron.

This main battle fleet consisted of eight gunboats, namely Ataka, Seida, Atami, Hira, Toba, Nanatsuki, Awa, and Atsushima, and four destroyers, namely Momo, Hinoki, and Yanagi.

十二艘炮舰和驱逐舰黑洞洞的炮口警惕的瞄准着两侧的江岸，四艘驱逐舰皆属于日本海军于第一次世界大战后建造的桃级驱逐舰，排水量755吨，火力方面配备有3座单装四一式120毫米四十倍口径火炮、2挺7.7毫米机枪和6具450毫米大口径鱼雷，四艘驱逐舰合计配备有十二门120毫米火炮。

第11战队的8艘炮舰均为专门用于在长江中作战的内河炮舰，除却第11战队的旗舰安宅之外，余下7艘炮舰全部配备有两门76毫米口径舰炮和两挺7.7毫米机枪，而作为舰队旗舰的安宅号炮舰，则配备2门3年式120毫米高炮，3门3年式40倍口径76毫米高炮和6挺3年式6.5毫米机枪。

The entire 11th Squadron's naval gun firepower includes 24 120mm naval guns and 17 76mm naval guns. For the Japanese Navy, this amount of naval gun firepower is not worth mentioning at all, but for the Chinese Navy and Army, more than large-caliber naval guns with a caliber of more than mm are extremely terrifying.

It was precisely relying on the absolute firepower advantage that the 11th Squadron was able to first attack Anqing, then attack Madang, and finally conquer Jiujiang. Behind the 11th Squadron's gunboats and destroyer fleets, there were dozens of large and medium-sized transport ships, large landing craft, and small landing craft.

These dozens of transport ships and landing craft were loaded with more than 4 Japanese Navy Wu Naval District 5th Special Marine Corps and Wu Naval District 11th Special Marine Corps, as well as a large amount of ammunition and supplies. If the surface ships of the Japanese Navy's 11th Squadron were its basic assault force along the Yangtze River, then the Japanese Marines on the transport fleet were the sharp weapon of the Japanese Navy's th Squadron in cooperating with the army to continuously capture the key passes along the Yangtze River.

In the battles to attack Anqing, Madang and Jiujiang, the two special marines covered by the 11th Squadron played a crucial role, and their role in the battles to attack various key locations was no less than that of the Japanese Army.

In particular, Wu Zhenfu's 5th Special Marine Corps, a battalion-level unit of the Japanese Marine Corps, participated in the Battle of Shanghai. In the initial stage of the Battle of Shanghai, it successfully resisted the attacks of elite troops such as the th and th Divisions of the Chinese Army in the urban area of ​​Shanghai, and then participated in a series of military operations in the Battle of Shanghai, such as the attack on the Sihang Warehouse guarded by Chinese soldiers.

It has also made repeated achievements in the recent land operations of the Japanese army's attacks along the river, and is truly an elite unit in the Japanese Marine Corps.

Amid the rolling sound of breaking waves and the occasional whistles of ships, dozens of large and small ships of the 11th Squadron of the Japanese Navy sailed up the river in a large and orderly formation, gradually approaching the outer position of Tianjia Town and Banbi Mountain - Fuchikou Fortress.
In the center of the Japanese fleet, the flagship of the 11th Squadron, the Ataka gunboat, was in the most central position of the entire fleet and was breaking through the waves. This gunboat was the flagship of the river gun fleet listed in the "725 Fleet Plan" of the Japanese Navy. The ship was built by the Yokohama Shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan. Although it has a displacement of only 11 tons, it is equipped with living and communication facilities required by the squadron commander and staff, as well as a full set of fleet command equipment. Therefore, it naturally became the flagship of the th Squadron.

On the bridge of the gunboat Ataka, Rear Admiral Kondo Eijiro, commander of the 11th Fleet of the Japanese Navy, felt the salty and humid river breeze, looked at the scenery passing by on both sides of the river bank and the huge fleet under his command, his heart filled with pride and an irrepressible smile on his face.

At this time, Kondo Eijiro was very happy. Under his command, the 11th Squadron had won battle after battle recently and had made many military exploits in the attacks on Anqing, Madang, Jiujiang and other places. The naval ships of the 11th Squadron were like heavy hammers in his hands. In the attack on the Chinese army's key passes along the river, they used fierce naval gun fire to cover the attack and were invincible. The land warfare in his hands was like a light cavalry. In the landing operations, they gave the Chinese army many surprise attacks and played a decisive role in the land attack operations.

It is precisely relying on this heavy hammer and a light cavalry that Kondo Eijiro and the 11th Squadron of the Japanese Navy have made repeated military exploits recently, and have been commended many times by the China Expeditionary Army and the Navy. The military exploits and honors they have obtained are already showing a tendency to surpass those of the army.

The contradiction between the Japanese Navy and the Japanese Army is well known, so Kondo Eijiro is naturally very happy.

(End of this chapter)