The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 355 Landing Operation
As the sun set, the billowing smoke gradually dissipated, and the setting sun shone like blood on the river near Banbi Mountain. The sound of gunfire near Banbi Mountain also gradually stopped, replaced by thunderous cheers and celebratory shouts from Banbi Mountain.

The Japanese fleet had long disappeared from the river. After two more destroyers were sunk by Chinese artillery fire on Banbi Mountain, there was no need for the remaining five Japanese ships to stay on the river.

After rescuing the few surviving sailors on the four sunken Japanese ships, the five Japanese ships had to sail away from the battlefield in disgrace, leaving behind the tragic scene on the river.

On the river near Banbi Mountain, the stern of the Xinshan minesweeper, which was the first to be sunk by the artillery fire from Banbi Mountain, can be vaguely seen. The red bottom of the ship and the brass propeller still stand alone in the river.

However, the other three destroyers Tao, Kashiwa and Hinoki that were sunk after the Xinshan had completely disappeared on the surface of the river. The Hinoki, which was sunk after the Xinshan, was in a slightly better situation. It could occasionally appear under the impact of the river water, and then be submerged again, appearing only partially visible.

However, there was no trace of the Tao and Kashiwa destroyers on the river.

The two destroyers that were trapped and sunk suffered much more firepower than the Xinshan and Hui destroyers that were sunk first. They were hit by the most fierce firepower composed of various artillery fire from half of the mountain.

The defensive performance of these two destroyers, which were made of cement and had experimental shipbuilding characteristics, was very mediocre, which directly led to the torpedo tubes of the two destroyers being hit and pierced by the shells fired from Banbi Mountain, detonating the 455mm heavy torpedoes installed in the torpedo tubes.

When the two warships sank into the river, they had actually been blown into several pieces by the fierce artillery fire from Banbi Mountain and the torpedoes that exploded. They disappeared completely in the surging Yangtze River in a shattered state.

Only the scattered fragments of the ship's hull and the lifebuoys and life jackets with the ship's name on them still retain traces of their former existence.

Compared with the sunken warships, the sailors on these four sunken Japanese ships were even more miserable.

Because the artillery fire on Banbi Mountain was very fierce, many sailors on the four sunken Japanese ships were killed or injured by the artillery fire before they sank. When the ships were sunk, many Japanese sailors did not even have time to escape, and were directly killed along with their warships or capsized with their ships. Not many Japanese naval sailors were able to escape by jumping into the river after their warships were sunk.

He Wei, who had been jealous of the fierce artillery battle between the artillery units on Banbi Mountain and the Japanese ships on the river, showed no mercy to these survivors. After destroying four Japanese ships, He Wei decisively adjusted the artillery firepower on Banbi Mountain and ordered artillery with a caliber of less than 75 mm to fire at the Japanese sailors on the river.

Just like that, after sinking the Japanese ships, the artillery units on Banbi Mountain staged a horrific "massacre." Under the concentrated fire of 75-caliber mountain artillery, tank defense guns, and machine guns, except for a very small number of Japanese sailors who managed to escape and drifted downstream along the river and the river wind, the rest were almost all killed in the cold river water by the dense artillery fire from Banbi Mountain.

It’s not that He Wei didn’t want to capture prisoners, but the Japanese naval prisoners in the river were really difficult to capture. Since he couldn’t capture them, He Wei might as well kill them all.

Of course, He Wei finally captured a few prisoners.

Because there were a few scattered Japanese sailors who were not lucky enough to escape by floating downstream, nor were they killed by artillery fire in the river, but instead swam directly to the river bank near Banbi Mountain in panic. As a result, this group of Japanese sailors who had just escaped had no time to celebrate before they were captured by the 2nd Infantry Battalion and the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps deployed on both sides of Banbi Mountain.

In short, except for a few prisoners, more than 400 Japanese naval officers and soldiers on the sunken Japanese ship were almost slaughtered.

The surface of the river was littered with the bodies of fallen Japanese sailors, severed limbs and various human body parts, as well as countless white naval soldiers' uniforms and black naval officers' uniforms.

Many corpses were piled up in the river, forming bloody belts. The originally muddy and yellow water of the Yangtze River was dyed red. The river water, which was filled with kerosene and heavy oil for ships, exuded a disgusting smell mixed with fishy, ​​stinky, oily and burnt smells. More than 400 Japanese sailors almost all became dead souls under the guns of the Banbishan defenders.

The scene was extremely tragic, but for the Japanese navy who were eaten by the fish, it was what they deserved.

A year ago, after the fall of Songhu, the Japanese naval fleet that went up the Yangtze River successively broke through the defense lines of the three fortress areas of Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and Jiangning set up by the Chinese army on the Yangtze River, and actively attacked the river near Nanjing, attempting to complete the encirclement of Nanjing from the Yangtze River waterway.

When attacking the key passes in Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and Jiangning, the Japanese navy going up the Yangtze River shot and killed a large number of Chinese troops and civilians with shipboard firepower. The Japanese Navy's 11th Squadron, including the four battleships sunk today, has a lot of blood on its hands.

The tragic situation on the river now has happened to Chinese soldiers and civilians countless times, but today the roles have been reversed, and the former massacrers have fallen into such a miserable situation. The once invincible massacrers and abusers have finally paid the price they deserve under the fierce artillery fire today.

In this battle, the Banbishan defenders under the command of He Wei achieved the brilliant result of sinking the 11-ton minesweeper Xinshan of the Japanese Navy's 1200th Squadron, the 800-ton destroyers Tao, Kashiwa, and Hinoki, and killing more than 11 Japanese Navy soldiers. It not only dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese Navy's th Squadron, which had been winning battles and making great strides since the beginning of the attack on Wuhan, but it was also the greatest victory over the Japanese Navy since the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan.

Of course, although the losses of the Banbishan defenders were less than those of the Japanese Navy, they also suffered nearly 45 casualties and consumed a large number of artillery shells of various calibers. A 57mm tank defense gun of the assault corps artillery battalion and two mm machine guns of the naval artillery team were also damaged in the battle.

Victory and dignity are not free, but compared with the brilliant results achieved, the exchange ratio between the Banbishan defenders and the Japanese army in this battle can be said to be excellent!

On the hillside, cheers celebrating victory soared to the sky and could not be dissipated for a long time.
At night, on the Yangtze River 11 kilometers downstream of the Tomiichiguchi Fortress, dozens of ships of the Japanese Navy's 11th Squadron were quietly anchored in a temporary anchorage. In the command tower of the Japanese Navy's 11th Squadron's flagship, the Ataka, the commander of the th Squadron, Major General Kondo Eijiro, sat alone in front of the command platform of the command tower. His gloomy face no longer had the calmness and complacency he had before the attack on the Tomiichiguchi Fortress, but was replaced by sadness and looming anger.

Just now, he had seen off the vanguard fleet commander and captain of the Yaeyama minesweeper, Masakazu Tsuboi, who had returned from the battle of Banbi Mountain after a disastrous defeat, and listened to Masakazu Tsuboi's detailed account of the entire battle. Until now, Kondo Eijiro was still a little confused. He could never have imagined that the vanguard fleet commanded by Masakazu Tsuboi had just won a victory at Fuchikou at a very small cost, and then suffered a big setback in the battle to attack Banbi Mountain.

Although he was full of confidence before the war, Kondo Eijiro also understood that there is no invincible army, and he was also mentally prepared for defeat. However, this sudden defeat was too great. He lost a minesweeper and three destroyers in one go. Although the 11th Squadron did not lose its combat effectiveness, it was still a serious blow.

Of course, what worries Kondo Eijiro even more is the upcoming operations. Based on the battle report of Banbi Mountain by Shoichi Tsuboi, he can conclude that the Chinese troops defending Banbi Mountain are the best among the Chinese army's riverside fortresses in terms of the quality and quantity of their artillery equipment, as well as the quality of their personnel and their tactical qualities. Their tactical level and the intensity of their firepower are incomparable to the Zhenjiang Fortress and Jiangyin Fortress conquered by the 11th Squadron a year ago, or the recently captured Anqing, Madang and Hukou river defense fortresses.

And this is just the Banbishan Fortress itself. Kondo Eijiro did not forget that there is also a Tianjiazhen Fortress opposite the Banbishan Fortress, facing it across the river.

If the Tianjiazhen Fortress is taken into consideration, the tactical goal of the 11th Squadron to break through the river defense line formed by the Banbishan Fortress and the Tianjiazhen Fortress and then go up the river to attack Wuhan by water would be too difficult to achieve.

Not to mention how to break through the defense line formed by Banbi Mountain and Tianjia Town, after today's failure, the river near Banbi Mountain no longer has even the most basic navigation conditions required by the 11th Squadron, because the four sunk warships not only brought heavy losses to the 11th Squadron, but also completely blocked the already narrow river route, greatly increasing the difficulty of upstream attack operations.

In this situation, if one wants to launch an attack on the Banbishan Fortress with surface ships, one must first send out military auxiliary ships to clear the waterway. But how easy is it to dredge the waterway under the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese army in Banbishan?
After repeated victories, he suddenly suffered a new defeat. All kinds of difficult difficulties lay ahead. Kondo Eijiro couldn't help but have a headache about how to break through the river defense line formed by the Chinese army's Banbishan Fortress and Tianjiazhen Fortress.

"Ugh."

Kondo Eijiro, who had won consecutive battles since the successful raid on Anqing, frowned and sighed, then began to pace in the command tower of the Antaka.

"report!"

Suddenly, a strong voice came from outside the command tower. Kondo Eijiro opened the armored door of the command tower impatiently, forced a smile, and said in a deep voice: "Tsuchi-kun is here."

An officer wearing a black Japanese Navy officer uniform, but wearing an Army Type 90 steel helmet, with binoculars hanging on his chest and a Type 14 Nambu pistol slung across his waist stood at attention and said, "Sir, I have something important to report!"

Kondo Eijiro, whose mind was full of how to break through the half-walled mountain and river defense line, nodded slightly and said to the officer, "Tsuchi-kun, come in and talk."

The officer bowed in return and then walked into the conning tower.

This lieutenant colonel officer, called Tsuchi-kun by Kondo Eijiro, was named Kitaro Tsuchi, and graduated from the 51st class of the Japanese Naval Academy.

Like many graduates of the Japanese Naval Academy, Kitaro Tsuchi was assigned to work on a warship after graduation. He was promoted from a trainee officer to the chief gunnery officer of the Japanese Navy battleship Kirishima. Recently, he has become famous in the Japanese Navy.

However, Kitaro Tsuchi became famous not as a naval officer, but because of his outstanding performance in land combat.

In the early stages of the Battle of Shanghai, in order to gain control of the situation in Shanghai as soon as possible, the Chinese army took the initiative to attack the Japanese army in Shanghai. At that time, the Japanese army's land combat force in Shanghai was extremely insufficient. In order to replenish sufficient land combat force to Shanghai as soon as possible, the Japanese Navy, under the organization of the Japanese Naval General Staff, mobilized a large number of marines to be urgently transported to Shanghai.

It was under such circumstances that Kitaro Tsuchi was urgently withdrawn from the warship and served as the major commander of the temporarily formed 10th Battalion of the Japanese Navy Shanghai Special Marine Corps. He rushed to Shanghai from Sasebo, Japan, and led his troops to participate in the land battles in the early stages of the Battle of Shanghai, successfully resisting the attacks of elite troops such as the 88th and 87th Divisions of the Chinese Army in the urban area of ​​Shanghai.

Later, Kitaro Tsuchiji led his troops to fight on the left wing of the Japanese Special Marine Corps front. In the later period of the Battle of Shanghai, he participated in the operation to sweep the Chinese troops in Zhabei of the Songhu urban area. The Japanese troops that attacked the Sihang Warehouse guarded by 800 warriors of the 88th Division were also the 10th Battalion of the Shanghai Special Marine Corps led by Kitaro Tsuchiji.

After the Battle of Shanghai, the core of the 11th Shanghai Special Marine Corps was reorganized into the th Special Marine Corps of the Japanese Navy's Wu Naval District, incorporated into the Japanese Navy's th Fleet, and deployed in the Wuhan offensive.

Kitaro Tsuchi, who was promoted to lieutenant colonel for his merits, and the 5th Special Marine Corps of the Wu Naval Base led by him have served as the vanguard in many landing operations in the recent land operations of the Japanese army's attacks along the river, and have repeatedly made military exploits. Not only have they become an elite force in the Japanese Marine Corps, their military exploits and records are not inferior to many Japanese army units.

Kitaro Tsuchi was originally a battleship gunnery officer, but he led the Marine Corps to achieve such a brilliant record in land warfare, and thus became famous and became a "legendary general" in the Japanese Navy.

The failure of the 11th Squadron's attack on Banbi Mountain naturally could not be hidden from Kitaro Tsuchi. After Kitaro Tsuchi briefly comforted Kondo Eijiro in the gloomy command tower, he directly told Kondo Eijiro his idea of ​​breaking through Banbi Mountain.

As an officer who had made many achievements in landing operations, it is not difficult to guess the combat plan proposed by Kitaro Tsuchi.

That is, landing operations.

(End of this chapter)