"Commander, the acting captain of the Fuji, Nishi Shinzo, requests permission to abandon the ship!"

At 9:15 p.m. on March 3, 1936, the battlecruiser Fuji, which had been hit by 22 torpedoes and 12 armor-piercing shells of 280mm, finally could not hold on.

The Fuji is finished!

This huge ship with a full load displacement of nearly 50,000 tons is actually about to give up! This made Toyota's vice takeshi, who was leading two Akagi-class battlecruisers and two Kaga-class battleships out of the Kanmon Strait and heading towards Iwaya Beach, fall out of his eyes. Although he was mentally prepared for the sinking of the Fuji, he never imagined that this huge ship, which looked like a city on the water, would be beaten by a bunch of battle cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers of the Chinese army to the point of abandoning the ship in just ten minutes.

If this Toyota commander, who had been vain (and seemed to be brave), still had a little fighting spirit before, then now after seeing the fate of the Fuji, he has almost become a frightened bird. You know, he's on the same class as the Fuji, the Akagi battlecruiser! If the Fuji is an empty shelf with thin skin and a big filling, then the Akagi is also unbearable.

"Agree with the Fuji to abandon the ship......" Vice Takeshi Toyoda ordered in a trembling voice.

"Commander, the Fuji can still fight!" Arima Masafumi said unwillingly: "The Fuji is an unsinkable ship with a full load displacement of 50,000 tons, it is impossible to sink like this, and it has only just entered service......"

Yes, to watch a battlecruiser that had just joined the Japanese Combined Fleet not long ago be abandoned like this. All the people in the Akagi Command Tower were unwilling.

Vice Takeshi Toyoda was silent for a while, then waved his hand: "Sue Sù Onishi Shinzo and let him save the lives of the Fuji crew as much as possible." Also, I allowed the crew of the Fuji to surrender to the Storm Light Cruiser and Destroyer after abandoning the ship. ”

"Commander, please take back your fate for the sake of the honor of the Combined Fleet!" Arima Masamun argued loudly.

"Now is not the time to think about honor, the officers and men of the Fuji have fulfilled their responsibilities as a Red Navy soldier, what else can they do after the loss of the warship? Paddle a small sampan to fight the warships of the Tyrant Army? Vice Takeshi Toyoda frowned: "That's it, let Onishi save and keep his life as much as possible......"

"There is a torpedo ...... on the starboard side 1800 meters"

Just when everyone was arguing about whether the officers and men of the Navy who abandoned the ship and fell into the water should be allowed to surrender to save their lives, the shouts brought Vice Takeshi Toyota back to reality, and the captain of the Akagi, who was operating the ship, had a left full rudder. The 50,000-ton ship suddenly made a 90-degree turn and avoided two torpedoes fired at the stern of the Akagi, and Toyota hurriedly pulled the handrail to stabilize his body.

"Commander, there's a Storm submarine nearby! At 3 o'clock on the starboard side of the Fuji. ”

The words of the captain of the Akagi made Toyoda's vice president shake slightly. Immediately raised the telescope to look at the sea outside, and saw that under the searchlight, less than 3,000 meters away, a periscope like a water pipe was sticking out of the water.

A submarine means a torpedo! It looks like the Akagi is about to attract the next wave of torpedo attacks soon!

"Full speed. Rush to the nearest beach stranded! ”

"But Commander. It's too far away from the ground battlefield in Kitakyushu to support the army with its main guns......"

"Execute the order!" Deputy Toyoda did not wait for Arima Masafumi to finish speaking, then snatched the steering wheel from the Akagi Captain and personally operated the ship and rushed towards Yanagizaki Beach in Kitakyushu City......

……

"GCD onboard! Chairman Takeda onboard! Rush ah......"

At the same time as the melee at sea unfolded. In Toga-gun, Toda-gun, Munakata City, Koga City, and Hakata Ward of Fukuoka City in Kitakyushu, tens of thousands of elite Japanese Red Army officers and men attacked the positions hastily established by the squadron under the cover of artillery fire in the salty sea breeze.

Due to the fact that they had been on attack for several days, the Chinese Marine Corps and the 9th and 10th armies of the army, which had just occupied part of the coastal area of Fukuoka Prefecture in Kitakyushu, had not established strong fortifications on their front lines. Under the sweep of hundreds of large and medium-caliber guns of the Japanese army. Their front-line defensive positions soon fell into tatters, and tens of thousands of Japanese infantrymen armed with bayonet-mounted Type 38 rifles launched a surprise attack along a thirty or forty-kilometer front.

The artillery fire of the Chinese counterattack came at the first time. Although the artillery units under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Marine Corps and the 9th Army and the 10th Army did not have time to go on land, and there were only 4 division-level artillery regiments, the latest division-level artillery regiments of the National Defense Forces are very large, and the artillery regiments under the ordinary infantry division have 5 artillery battalions with 18 guns, 18 155mm heavy howitzers, 36 105mm light howitzers, 18 twin 20mm anti-aircraft guns and 18 75mm anti-tank guns. That is, a divisional artillery regiment has a total of 72 suppression guns that can be used to attack ground targets. A total of 288 cannons of four artillery regiments opened fire almost simultaneously, and dense shells fell in the attacking ranks, and from time to time Red officers and men were overturned by fire. However, those GC party members and Komsomol members who rushed to the front did not hesitate to shout the slogans of "GCD half loaded" and "Takeda board loaded", and took the lead in rushing to the Chinese army position!

The sound of tearing linen rang out one after another, this was the powerful Type 34 general-purpose machine gun firing, and the dense bullets rained down from the hidden fire points, sweeping down the rows of Japanese soldiers who rushed to the front, but the Japanese troops behind still followed up one after another. Mortar shells, recoilless shells, and grenades of the Chinese army fell one after another at their feet, and immediately a piece of flesh and blood flew everywhere. Probably because they have not seen the powerful firepower of the world-class army, and the training is relatively sloppy, so the current Japanese infantry adopts a relatively dense offensive formation, and under the blow of the superior firepower of the Chinese army, it suddenly suffered extremely heavy casualties!

However, the senior officers of the Japanese Red Army, who were supervising the war in the rear, had already made up their minds to win a glimmer of life. Only keep charging, and constantly throw the follow-up troops into the sea of fire from the guns of the Chinese army to consume! Seeing that the charge in front was blocked, the heavy artillery deployed behind the Japanese battle line even directly threw their firepower on the front-line battlefield where the infantry of the two armies was fighting. The huge explosion indiscriminately killed and injured the officers and men of the two countries and the two armies. The Chinese army's defense system has finally been torn open one by one!

Viewed from the rear, the battle line of the Chinese army looked like a volcano that had suddenly erupted, and huge fireballs mixed with dirt and debris rose up. Before the pillar of smoke fell, a ** Japanese Red Army soldier shouted revolutionary slogans and rushed straight up!

Of course, this kind of desperate fighting was costly, and the corpses of the Japanese soldiers were almost spread all the way from their own starting positions to the front-line positions of the Chinese army, and most of them were knocked out by the Chinese army's artillery fire and machine guns. The Japanese infantry stepped on these corpses and rushed up with their heads covered! But the Chinese National Defense Forces opposite them have also seen the big scene of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood! Among them, the Marine Corps was originally the elite of the army. The 10th Army was also composed of the famous Japanese soldiers, and even the 9th Army, which was weaker in combat effectiveness, fought all the way from the Siberian battlefield, the Central Asian battlefield, and the Indian battlefield, and even the senior generals of the Japanese Army dared not think of the big scene they had seen. Moreover, the Japanese army's intention to lure the enemy deeper had long been known to the Japanese Front Command of the Chinese Army. The troops on the Kitakyushu front had been prepared for a long time, but it was only because of the multi-level defense and elastic defense tactics that the Japanese army achieved a breakthrough in the first line position.

On the top of Mt. Ojo in Dazaifu, opposite Hakata, the direction of the Japanese army's main attack, Ishihara Waner, who was in command at the front, put down the telescope in his hand. He whispered, "Finally broke through." ”

He glanced back at Hyotaro Kimura, the deputy chief of staff of the Kyushu Army. Seeing that the other party had a gloomy face, he wondered slightly: "Kimura-kun, what's wrong?" ”

Kimura Hyotaro looked around, and then lowered his voice and said, "I just got a secret report from the 55th Division on the Kitakyushu side...... The Second Fleet of the Navy was defeated! ”

Ishihara was stunned: "How could it be...... Reliable messaging? ”

"I can't be wrong, the commander of the 55th Division, Sadaichi Yoshimoto, personally watched the battle on Shifeng Mountain." Hyotaro Kimura showed a pained expression: "He saw with his own eyes that at least 5 heavy cruisers were sunk by the Riot Army, and he also saw a Akagi-class battle cruiser sunk...... There is also the flagship of the Second Fleet, the Akagi, which ran aground on the beach not far from Shifeng Mountain after being heavily damaged by a violent submarine! ”

"Unexpectedly...... It was like this! ”

Rao is a veteran general like Ishihara Waner, who has been in battle for a long time in the Japanese Army, and after hearing the news of the disastrous defeat of the Second Fleet of the Navy, he almost lost the ability to judge for a while. The Second Fleet has three of the world's most powerful battlecruisers and two of the world's most powerful battleships! The Cantonese-class battlecruisers of the Chinese army were no match at all, and the Guanmen Strait was Japan's home turf. There are also two huge batteries at the entrance to the strait...... This will even be defeated, this time the navy's joke is really too big!

Ishihara didn't know how he had returned to his former enemy headquarters at the foot of Mt. Oshihiro. As soon as I walked into the headquarters, a staff officer came up to report the news of the counterattack of the Chinese army on the front: "Comrade Deputy Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, the report of the 108th Division and the 109th Division, they encountered a strong counterattack by the violent army on the outskirts of Hakata District, Shitu Town, Otoinuyama, Kataropeyama, and Yauyama, and needed tactical guidance, more ammunition, and also asked for reinforced artillery firepower......"

Ishihara was still trapped in his own thoughts for a while, and he didn't answer. But Hyotaro Kimura is quite calm. He and several staff officers compared and compared with the military map, and finally shouted at Ishihara: "Ishihara-kun, the combat effectiveness of the violent army is indeed very strong, if we can't drive them into the sea now, once their armored troops come ashore, we will lose everything." Therefore, the only way to do this is to take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold to strengthen the offensive and make a final stand...... I just got the news that the Navy's Amagi, Kaga, and Tosa have run aground on Iwaya Beach in Kitakyushu City, and their 410mm main guns can hit Fukuoka City as far as Fukuoka City, which is enough to temporarily cut off the logistics line of the riot army! As long as we persist in the offensive and consume their ammunition supplies at the greatest sacrifice, the final victory will be ours...... The Battle of Kitakyushu has not been lost yet! ”

Kimura Hyotaro's words seemed to pull Ishihara out of his thoughts, since the Battle of Kitakyushu has begun, there is nothing to worry about, fight to the end! The invading army of the tyrannical branch has landed on the soil of Japan, and even if the country really wants to die, it should be a happy battle before the country! He walked over to the map and discussed it with Hyotaro Kimura. It was decided to throw half of the reserves in his hands into the front line, on the one hand to maintain the positions that had just been captured, and on the other hand to wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack against the opponent!

Then he said to Kimura Hyotaro with a solemn expression: "Now the Navy's First Air Fleet and Second Fleet have been defeated. Japan's naval dominance around Japan is in the hands of the enemy, and the Japanese archipelago may become a battlefield for violent landings everywhere, and it is impossible for our side to fortify everywhere...... Now that you are determined to fight and survive in the death, you should not think about defense anymore, why don't you send a telegram to Commander Araki in Kumamoto and ask for the mobilization of all the forces of the Kyushu Army to participate in the Battle of Kitakyushu, and fight the violent branch here in Fukuoka Prefecture! ”

At the same time that the Chinese and Japanese armies had already decided the victory or defeat in the naval battle. The decisive battle on land in Kitakyushu has finally entered the most**!

……

In the headquarters of the Japanese Front of the Chinese National Defense Forces in Lushun Sun Valley, there is also a scene of extreme tension. Every staff officer has a solemn expression, or guards the phone at any time to report the battle situation on the front line or give any orders. Or do some other work around the map. Although everyone here firmly believes that the Great China Federation will inevitably defeat Japan and win a completely unified Great China Federation, they all know that war is actually a very dangerous thing, and even if they are 100% sure, they cannot take it lightly. What's more, this battle of Kitakyushu may not have such a big chance of success.

The three stranded Japanese capital ships (excluding the Akagi, which was stranded a little further from the battlefield) did pose a certain threat to the logistics of the Chinese army and the rear assembly area. The power of 34 410mm super-large caliber naval guns is no joke! The good news is that their ammunition is not unlimited. At most, there are more than 3,000 rounds. However, the marines and the 9th and 10th armies in Kitakyushu are likely to suffer heavy casualties. Fierce kung fu battles were also being fought in the direction of Yamaguchi Prefecture in the western part of Honshu, a large number of troops were reinforced by air, and the Japanese army's western ** general headquarters also dispatched troops to prepare for a large-scale counteroffensive, and a decisive battle was about to break out. In addition, a new landing battle near Nagasaki and Sasebo on the west coast of Kyushu Island is being urgently prepared, and a landing operation is ready to be launched at any time. At the same time, the Front Command had to worry about the logistics of the nearly two million invading troops, the astronomical supply of weapons and ammunition, and the maintenance of the situation in the occupied territories - in view of the "scorched earth tactics" practiced by the Indian and Soviet GCDs when they abandoned their territory. At present, the headquarters of the Japanese Front in China still has to worry about the food of tens of millions of Japanese...... If it weren't for the bumper harvest of grain in Punjab, Pakistan (in fact, it would not be a bumper harvest, but there were fewer people to eat). The matter of raising food alone will make the head of the Ministry of Armaments and the Japanese Front Command a big one.

However, the overall situation of the Great East Asia Unification War is still satisfactory, and in particular, the Japanese army's desperate counteroffensive in Kitakyushu and western Honshu has hit the hands of the Chinese army's Japanese Front Command, and this is precisely the best time to consume the Japanese army's vital forces! Of course, the premise is that the 200,000 Chinese ground troops on the battlefields of Kitakyushu and Yamaguchi Prefecture can withstand the offensive of the Japanese Red Army several times in number.

However, at this time, Lu Yixuan and He Yingqin probably never thought that Chang Ruiqing actually had a trump card in his hand that was enough to lock the victory in one fell swoop!

At this moment, Chang Ruiqing is in his office, thinking hard about an unfolding map of Japan. Zhao Zhen, chief of staff of the National Defense Forces, and Wu Shi, commander-in-chief of the army, quietly walked in. Chang Ruiqing heard a noise at the door. Turned his head. The Chinese premier's brow was tightly knit and he seemed to have some hard time making up his mind.

"Prime Minister, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Yang Tie'an (Yang Xianyi) just called, and three H-7 long-range bombers have been renovated and equipped with radiation-proof lead plates. Minister of Armaments Chiang Bauri also reported that a nuclear fission bomb had arrived at the Busan base in south Korea. Zhao Fatzi reported with a smile on his face.

Wu Shi continued: "Prime Minister, the Japanese Front has reported that the fighting on the Kitakyushu front is very fierce, and three Japanese capital ships have run aground on Iwaya Beach, which is thirty or forty kilometers away from the main battlefield...... Can we consider mobilizing nuclear fission bombs to destroy these three Japanese capital ships? ”

Bombing three stranded capital ships with one atomic bomb? It's a good idea, but ...... Dive bombardment with J-4E and Stuka probably can also destroy the main gun turrets of three capital ships, right?

Chang Ruiqing shook his head slowly: "No, now is not the time, the use of nuclear fission bombs may be able to end this war quickly, but it is very unfavorable for us to integrate the Japanese nation after the war......" He pointed to a paper clip on the corner of his desk, and said in a low voice: "Zhang Guotao just sent the latest analysis report on the domestic situation in Japan, saying that the Japanese army has been very shaken about whether to continue to resist. If the main forces of the Japanese army are defeated on the battlefields of Kitakyushu and Nishi-Honshu, there is a possibility that surrender factions will emerge one after another......"

Wu Shi was puzzled: "If we show the power of nuclear fission bombs on the battlefield of Kitakyushu, maybe the Japanese surrender faction will cooperate with us faster." ”

Chang Ruiqing glanced at him and sneered: "Yu Xun, don't you think it's a bit early to end the war against Japan now?" Japan lost less than 100,000 lives in the war for the unification of Greater East Asia...... Let's play for a few months first! (To be continued......)