Several balls of fire were lit up on the gray sea, and the abandoned cruisers Guangdong and Fuzhou were burning, and there were two severely damaged destroyers. Firefighters on the Guangxi were stepping up extinguishing the fire. ////
The last wave of attacking the Republican Navy's aviation forces also began to return one after another. The four heavy aviation ships that were still able to use were turned on their headlights to illuminate the decks and guide the fighter planes to land.
A fierce sea-air war ended, and the sea was in a mess, with floating objects covered with heavy oil burning everywhere, which were the wreckage left by warships and aircraft. The destroyers and frigates and even the Republican Navy submarines followed by the Seagulls
, they all surfaced, and were searching and rescuing the pilots and sailors who fell into the water.
The take-off and landing of the plane at night was quite dangerous, and several return fighter planes hit the edge of the deck and fell into the sea.
The first airship showdown in the history of war ended. The Republican Navy still achieved relative victory in a very dangerous situation. It lost an aviation warship, an aviation ship and three destroyers, but it sank the enemy two
The record of aviation warships (the USS Lexington and Japan’s Aolong), four battleships, two heavy cruisers and six destroyers, is already very good to achieve such results when they are raided by the enemy.
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The fleet began to return in the whole fleet, and Cheng Yaoheng ordered the use of destroyers to launch torpedoes at the Guangdong and Fuzhou, which were still floating on the sea, but the two ships were seriously inclined and the warships were still floating tenaciously on the sea.
In the standby room of each aviation ship, aviation staff are nervously counting the results and losses. The entire fleet lost nearly one-third of the carrier-based aircraft in the naval battle, with a total of more than 150 aircraft, and another 27 aircraft along with the
The Guangdong sank into the seabed together. The number of carrier-based aircraft on both sides participated in the war was roughly the same, but since the performance of the Republican Navy fighter jets was slightly better, the enemy's losses were greater.
The statistics are unconsistent, the pilots reported different results, but at least five enemy airships suffered heavy damage. In addition, it is certain that Japan and the US military each lost a heavy cruiser. The Republican army suffered a lot of losses.
Only two of the six aviation ships suffered minor losses, while the other three suffered heavy losses, while also losing one aviation ship and cruiser.
The East China Sea Fleet took four days to return to the Xiangshan base, while the severely damaged three aircraft ships, Chongqing, Jiangsu and Guangxi, returned to the shipyard in Shanghai for overhaul.
Roosevelt got his wish and made Congress pass a declaration of war against Republican China. Americans hyped in newspapers that the Republican Navy carried out a shameless sneak attack on the American fleet, but they did not mention that the US fleet entered the warring waters for Japan without any reason.
Providing support, such distorted facts keeps most Americans in the dark, which also arouses strong anti-China sentiment among Americans.
The sun slowly submerged under the ridges of the west, and the sunset dyed the sky red. On the calm sea in Busan Harbor, hundreds of ships loaded with landing soldiers sailed away from the harbor.
At the same time, at Jeju Port, Ulsan Port and Gunsan Port, the Republican Army of the three armies also took a boat to sea at the same time.
On December 12, 1940, the landing war against Japan began.
The Republican Army unexpectedly chose the landing location in Songjiang, which is slightly far away, rather than in the nearest Kitakyushu or Xiaguan area.
The Navy dispatched nine battleships, three heavy cruisers and 24 cruisers, 78 destroyers and frigates to form a huge frigate fleet, and will provide firepower support to the landing forces. In addition, four airships from the Beiyang Fleet are the main force.
The special-mix fleet will perform some alert missions on the Japanese Sea west of Wakasa Bay.
As night fell, this huge fleet crossed the calm Korean Strait at a speed of about 15 and headed towards the Japanese mainland.
In the landing operations command center in Busan City, in the huge combat room, star shining, and Lin Rong, the chief of the General Staff of the Republican Army, who served as the commander-in-chief of the combat, was personally in charge. In addition, General Dong Yuntang, who is the commander-in-chief of the army, and Chen Shao, the commander-in-chief of the navy.
Admiral Kuan.
In the combat room, there are also senior Republican generals such as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Republican Army, General Zhang Weicheng, Commander-in-Chief of the North Korean Front, Admiral Yang Dizhong, Commander-in-Chief of the Marine Corps, and other senior Republican generals.
As the Japanese aviation force suffered a great blow in the naval battle of Japan, Marshal Hata Shunji, who was responsible for the defense of Tokyo, drew some aircraft from various places to supplement the losses of fighter jets in Tokyo to strengthen the air defense of the capital. Japanese local air defense appeared
A big problem.
The General Staff decided to advance the landing battle originally scheduled to be launched on December 16 to December 13. The participating troops began to set off just one day after boarding the ship.
General Secretary Lin and these senior generals under his command are still studying some details of the battle. In fact, this combat plan has been made for three years and has undergone countless modifications during this period.
Everyone is waiting for this long-awaited moment to come.
In the early morning of December 13, the beach in southern Songjiang Prefecture, Japan was shrouded in fog. In the previous day, the light rain mixed with snowflakes began to fall in this area, making the entire beach look very cold.
The submarine troops sent the reconnaissance troops to the coast three days in advance. There were no fortifications built by the Japanese army on the landing beaches expected by the Republican Army. Japan's long coastline also determined that it was impossible for them to send heavy troops to defend every beach.
Compared with Xiaguan and Kyushu Island, the Japanese army had only one division in the Songjiang area. On the first day of the Republican army landing, it was impossible for the Japanese army to send a large number of reinforcements to arrive.
The minesweeping boat fleet arrived in advance and arrived at a landing position about 6 or 7 nautical miles away from the beach code-named "Huangtan" and began to carry out minesweeping operations. The Japanese did not expect that the Republican Army would unexpectedly choose Songjiang as the landing site, here
There are no mines installed in the area.
The Japanese did not notice the actions of the Republican Army at all.
The subsequent fleets arrived at the landing site one after another, and the 7th Marine Division, which departed from Tsushima Island, first began the landing operation.
31 landing ships opened the hatch doors of the bow, hundreds of landing craft and more than 200 amphibious vehicles drove into the sea from the dock, and sprinted towards the beach at full speed. Until this time, the Japanese army was located at the distance of "Huang".
The beach was about 8 kilometers away and the Republican army was discovered.
Due to careful reconnaissance activities of the landing site in advance, the Republican Army encountered no resistance in the operations of "Huangtan" and "Bluetan". It was just that in "Redtan", there was a small team of Japanese troops stationed here, and they were heavily armed with weapons.
There were only three 37mm anti-tank guns, and after a not-so-hard battle, more than 50 Japanese troops were quickly wiped out.
The initial landing operation went so smoothly, which was beyond the expectations of most people. The first landing Marine Corps' 5th, 7th and 12th Divisions had almost no battles, and half of the personnel and equipment had already arrived on the shore.
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But no one will take it lightly, because the real hard battle has just begun. (To be continued.