On August 22, 1937, the Battle of Shisonghu was in full swing!

In the sky, the bombers of the Kisarazu Wing of the Japanese Army swooped down with a huge roar. At the sound of an order, more than 20 German-made Makqinping anti-aircraft dual-purpose heavy machine guns of the [***] team on the ground opened fire at the same time, and the sky was instantly filled with a layer of barrage.

Jiangyin Naval Electric Mine School on the Yangtze River.

Lu Renda, then 17 years old, was a student in the art apprenticeship class of the Electric Thunder School and a heavy machine gun deputy shooter. I saw him kneeling on one knee, bullet casings flying around him, and suddenly cheers all around, and the army leader was shot and fell down with thick smoke.

At that time, it was rare for the Chinese ground forces to shoot down bombers, and the air force bullied China's weak air defense and was always rampant. After shooting down the enemy plane, Lu Renda and other officers and men of the heavy machine-gun air defense position were awarded the "lead knife test" award flag, which was presented by Ouyang Ge, director of education of the Dianlei School and commander of Jiangyin River Defense.

The electric thunder school is a naval school set up by the national political axe at that time to cultivate naval talents and build a new navy, it is called the "Whampoa Military Academy" of the navy, the original school site was located in Zhenjiang, in 1933, the permanent school site was set up in Jiangyin Fortress, 15 new torpedo boats were purchased from Germany and Britain, Huangshan was excavated, river water was introduced, and the boat garage hidden in the cave was built.

On August 13, 1937, the Battle of Songhu broke out, and the three armies of the Chinese army, the navy, land and air force were put into the battlefield, shouting "to destroy China in three months". At that time, it was said that the military warships were dense on the Huangpu River, and they bombarded the positions of the [***] team day and night. Little did they know that an unexpected attack was coming.

On the night of August 16, two torpedo boats of the Electric Mine School dived from Jiangyin to the Huangpu River through the inland river and attacked the flagship of the army "Izumo" at night!

Two Chinese Navy torpedo boats, the "Shi Kefa 102" and the "Wen Tianxiang 171" boat, left the Jiangyin fortress the day after the Battle of Songhu broke out. The two boats were camouflaged and traveled from Jiangyin along the inland river day and night on the night of 14 July, and the "Wen Tianxiang 171" boat arrived in Shanghai a day later due to a malfunction.

The "Shi Kefa 102" boat arrived in Longhua, Shanghai on the evening of 15 July.

During the day on 16 July, Captain Hu Jingduan and Liu Gongdi went ashore with Ouyang Ge to reconnoiter the terrain and the position of the "Izumo," and decided that the "Shi Kefa 102" boat would be the attacker and the "Wen Tianxiang 171" boat would be responsible for the response.

At 8 o'clock that night, the "Shi Kefa 102" boat rushed out of the Dongjiadu blockade line at high speed and agility, passed through the warships of Britain, the United States, France, Italy, and other countries in a row, and swooped down on the "Izumo" anchored at the Yumoto Mail Boat Wharf on the Bund of the Huangpu River; when it was 300 meters away from the flagship, it fired two torpedoes in succession, hitting the stern of the "Izumo," causing two loud bangs and causing heavy damage to the enemy ship.

The "Izumo" is the commander of the Third Fleet of the Invasion of China, that is, the flagship of Admiral Shirakawa. This night attack was a battle in which the most daring victory was taken against the Kou navy

After firing the torpedo and hitting the target, the "Scofa-102" boat quickly returned to its original course, but due to the shelling of the "Izumo," it ran aground outside the Bund wharf on Jiujiang Road in the British Concession. An Qibang and other officers and men immediately unloaded the weapons in the boat and discarded them in the river, and then swam to Puxi and went ashore safely, but it took more than a month before returning to the Jiangyin station.

Although the "Izumo" did not sink, the arrogance of the army was dealt a heavy blow, and the "Izumo" quickly added protective measures, and the ship was covered with anti-mine nets, and a large number of barges and steamers were moored next to the ship, so that it was tightly defended.

The ensuing battle for the defense of Jiangyin witnessed the most tragic scene in the history of the Chinese navy.

On 11 August, the Chinese Navy's "Datong" gunboat sank in the lower reaches of Jiangyin, blocking the river to block the shipping lane.

At the same time, the main forces of the Navy's 1st Fleet and 2nd Fleet have been ordered to assemble in Jiangyin, and 49 warships have entered the Yangtze River to stand by.

The largest mass self-sinking of the Chinese Navy began.

The first batch of warships that sank themselves were the oldest "Tongji", "Datong", "Ziqiang", "Desheng", "Weisheng", and "Wusheng", as well as Chenzi torpedo boats and Suzi torpedo boats, and in addition, the navy also collected 20 steamships such as "Jiahe", "Xinming", "Tonghua", and Xing from China Merchants and various civilian steamship companies to sink at the same time. In order to constitute the Jiangyin lock line. When the 1st Fleet arrived in Jiangyin, 28 military and civilian ships waiting to sink were already anchored in the Junshan River.

After the ships arrived at their positions, Chen Shaokuan, minister of the Chinese Navy, issued an order to sink the ship, and the "Pinghai" ship waved the flag of abandoning the ship, and all ships opened their water gates at the same time and solemnly sank.

The Jiangyin River channel was blocked by emergency shipwrecks and blockaded by mines. More than 10 naval warships are stationed in the warning area, and anti-aircraft machine gun positions are set up in the electric mine school and the surrounding areas of Huangshan and Xiaoshan, and a total of more than 20 flat anti-aircraft dual-purpose Makqin heavy machine guns are used as air defense for the campus and the port area. There are observation posts, mine issuing stations and searchlight monitoring positions on Xiao Mountain.

The ships of the Chinese Navy fought bloodily, but because of the lack of air cover, they were bombed by the enemy one after another, and many of them were sunk.

The battle is terrible!

In late September 1937, the navy dispatched more than 70 ships, more than 300 aircraft, and 100,000 combatants in an effort to break through the Jiangyin defense line.

The most tragic battles took place on 22 and 23 September, when the navy took turns bombing the Chinese navy and its shore positions, with the flagship "Pinghai" bombed by more than 80 planes, and the "Pinghai's" sister ship, the "Ninghai," also bombed by at least 70 sorties.

The column of water rising on the surface of the river resembles a forest. The officers and men of the two ships put up desperate resistance with all their anti-aircraft firepower and survived the 22nd.

On the 23rd, the enemy planes attacked again, and after the "Ninghai" shot down two enemy planes, it was seriously injured and sank in the Yangtze River; The "Pinghai" was wounded and tilted, the river water was immersed, and the gunners rescued all the shells from the ammunition compartment and counterattacked with all their might. After repelling the attack of the plane, the warship was seriously injured and ran aground on the bank of the river, where it was sunk by the plane a few days later.

In the bloody battles that followed, the ships of the Chinese navy "Yixian", "Chu You", "Qingtian", "Invite Yue", and "Jiang Yuan" sank in the Yangtze River one after another.

In the fierce battles of 22 and 23 September, the "Pinghai" and "Ninghai" ships consumed more than 1,300 rounds of antiaircraft artillery shells, more than 10,000 rounds of antiaircraft machine gun shells, and shot down more than 20 enemy planes.

With the end of the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Jiangyin also entered the most tragic time.

At this time, there is a small army of more than 30 people, which is also stepping up its horsepower and marching towards the Jiangyin front!