novelaction Chapter 905 was broken through
Chapter 905 was broken through
"Captain, the starboard machine gun has been hit!" A cry of alarm came. Chen Hongtai turned his head and saw that the starboard 76mm anti-aircraft gun had been blown up and all the gun crew members had been killed.
At this moment, trainee Kong Fanjun suddenly pushed away the shot shooter and swept the air with his machine gun.
This young man, who was still studying at the Naval Academy three months ago, now had no fear in his eyes, only determination.
He hit the fuel tank of a Japanese plane and it crashed into the river, trailing black smoke.
At 13:20 p.m., disaster struck.
A 250 kg aerial bomb penetrated the rear deck and exploded above the engine room.
The violent vibration almost caused Chen Hongtai to fall, and thick smoke immediately poured out of the vents.
The final report from Chief Engineer Liu Yonggui came from the communicator: "The engine room was hit and the steam pipe was broken..." Then there was silence.
When the deputy chief engineer rushed into the engine room with the damage control team, they saw Liu Yonggui holding down the steam valve with his body. Half of his shoulder had been blown off, but his hands were still tightly gripping the wheel.
In the dark engine room, the air was filled with boiling steam mixed with the smell of blood. The surviving engine roommen walked barefoot on the hot iron plates and used quilts to block the cracks in the pipes.
When Chen Hongtai received the report, the ship had tilted 15 degrees to the right, but he saw the observer still hanging on the tilted mast to correct the trajectory, and saw Chen Jiacun dragging his broken leg to crawl to the ammunition depot to carry the last armor-piercing shells.
At 16:50, Ninghai became a floating torch.
The front main gun was silenced due to the exhaustion of ammunition, and the rear turret was stuck by steel bars. Only a few machine guns were still spewing flames.
Chen Hongtai ordered the use of the last weapon: the 60 kg bombs mounted on the ship's seaplanes were converted into hand-thrown explosive packs. The sailors climbed onto the burning bridge and threw these crude weapons at the approaching Japanese speedboats.
"Captain, the Pinghai... has sunk." The signalman choked and pointed to the southeast.
Chen Hongtai looked over and saw the sister ship's flag flashing for the last time in the whirlpool, like a sigh.
He remembered that Captain Zhang Tianhong of the Pinghai was his classmate. They had studied together in Japan, but now they are both gone.
. . . . . . . . . . .
At 17:30 p.m. in the evening, Chen Hongtai made the final decision that the Ninghai would rush towards the shallows of Bawei Port.
This is not a retreat, but a permanent artillery position with a stranded body.
As the battleship slanted towards the north shore, he saw a wounded Japanese pilot on a Japanese life raft floating on the river saluting the Ninghai. This was a soldier's respect for another soldier.
The process of landing on the shallows was extremely difficult.
The Ninghai was constantly bombarded by shore artillery, and the hull was leaking in many places.
Chen Hongtai personally took the helm and, relying on his familiarity with the water conditions of the Yangtze River, navigated through the rain of bullets.
Every time he was hit by a bullet, he could feel the painful tremors of the ship, as if his body was being torn apart.
The sailors used all available materials to plug the leaks, even taking off their clothes to stuff them into the cracks.
When the Ninghai finally reached the shallows, the sun was setting, dyeing the Yangtze River blood red.
Chen Hongtai ordered the survivors to evacuate by sampan, but he himself walked towards the bow of the ship.
However, none of the more than 200 officers and soldiers left the ship. They gathered silently on the tilted deck and watched the captain nail the naval flag to the remaining mast.
At this moment, there were no grand words, only determined gazes meeting in the twilight.
At 19:06, the keel of the Ninghai touched the bottom and the hull tilted at a strange angle, but the naval flag on the mainmast was still flying.
The Japanese army realized the Ninghai's intention and fired more fiercely.
Shells continued to hit the already riddled hull, and each explosion caused the ship to sink a little.
Under the moonlight, Chen Hongtai recalled the humiliation of receiving this ship in 1935. This cruiser built by Japan was once a microcosm of the navy of a weak country.
At that time in the Japanese shipyard, the arrogant attitude of the Japanese engineers made him secretly swear that one day the Chinese navy would become strong.
And at this moment, this ship is about to become a monument to the national spirit.
Suddenly, explosions were heard downstream, and Japanese minesweepers began to clear the blockade.
Chen Hongtai laughed and fired three shots into the air: "Ninghai is still firing!"
The surviving officers and soldiers took up weapons to fight back, with rifles, pistols and even signal guns becoming the last tools of resistance.
At 21:17, the river water flooded the bridge and the military flag fluttered for the last time in the moonlight.
The last thing Chen Hongtai saw was the army brothers on the artillery battery of Jiangyin Fort lighting a signal consisting of banners: "Fight again in the next life."
He closed his eyes and let the river swallow him.
After damaging two Japanese warships, the cruiser Ninghai was eventually sunk due to being outnumbered, and more than 200 officers and soldiers including the captain died heroically.
On land, the Japanese army carried out tunnel operations and gradually approached the core fortifications of the fortress.
The defending troops of the 112th and 103rd Divisions engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with the Japanese. At the Ebizui position, an entire company of defenders was killed in the battle, with no one surviving.
Before his death, the company commander carved his last words, "I will live and die with the fortress," on the wall of the fortification with his bayonet.
On December 17, the war situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
The 114th Division of the Japanese 10th Army broke through the defense line on the north bank of Taihu Lake and advanced to the south of Jiangyin, forming a pincer attack with the 13th Division.
The defenders of Jiangyin were surrounded and their land links with the outside world were completely cut off.
On December 18, signs of the complete collapse of the Xicheng defense line were already obvious.
In the northern section of the defense line, the Japanese 16th Division opened the road to Changzhou.
In the southern section, the 6th Division occupied Yixing and threatened the southern Anhui region.
The Chinese army was forced to retreat across the board, but due to command confusion and Japanese bombing, the retreat quickly turned into a rout.
On the Xicheng Highway, the retreating troops and fleeing civilians filled the road, becoming sitting ducks for Japanese planes.
What is more serious is that because the retreat order was issued hastily, many troops did not organize rearguard units, resulting in the Japanese pursuing troops entering an empty territory.
Japanese tank columns advanced rapidly along the highway, often capturing key points before the retreating Chinese army, causing the collapse of the entire front.
On December 19, the Japanese army completely controlled the Xicheng defense line.
By the evening, the Japanese reconnaissance team had advanced to the outskirts of Changzhou, less than 100 kilometers away from Nanjing.
The "Eastern Maginot Line", which was once highly anticipated, was completely lost after holding on for more than a month.
But in this era, with Zhou Zhengqing's intervention, the Xicheng Line of Defense lasted more than half a month longer than the original history, making the Japanese army pay an extremely heavy price. . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
December 19, 1937, evening.
The days of hellish artillery fire and fighting finally subsided on the Xicheng National Defense Line between Shanghai and Nanjing, and were replaced by an eerie tranquility with sporadic resistance and the wailing of wounded soldiers.
The rising sun flag of the Central China Expeditionary Force was finally hoisted on the ruins of the main bunkers in several key positions.
The Xicheng defense line was breached.