【221】Thousands of miles of rivers and mountains open a new face (25)

On the eastern section of the river in Yangzhou, after the 77th Regiment of the Ninth Army was shelled by British warships, the soldiers retreated from the river to find shelter.

In the distance, the green-clad northern soldiers were dodging in chaos, the British sailors were laughing on the deck, and there was a smirk whistle from the gun hold.

Colonel Cox, commander of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy in charge of the blockade of the Yangtze River, held a telescope and stood on the stern lookout of the fifth-class warship Carmarthen, which served as the flagship, and carefully observed the PLA in Jiangbei.

Colonel Cox, while looking contemptuously, ordered the herald: "They are beginning to run away, you cowardly yellow pigs. Pass my orders, and inform the boys of the ships with flags, and another round of artillery bombardment, and drive them back to the north. Sue the Brecken and continue westward, inserting into the waterway between the Zhenjiang River in Yangzhou to carry out artillery bombardment to prevent these damned Beiyan from crossing the river. ”

It was the 77th Regiment of the Ninth Army that was shelled, and the regiment commander Ge Shunan was hiding behind a boulder by the river, anxiously ordering the whole regiment to disperse and hide to avoid the shelling.

"Captain! Both the army commander and the division commander called! ”

"Say, what do you mean?"

"The army commander and the division commander both said Ge Shunan, you will resist me, do not take a step back, organize the troops to approach covertly, use machine guns to strafe the crew of the British ship, and focus on killing and wounding the sailors who operate the sails. It is necessary to take advantage of the strong penetration of our bullets to strafe the wooden hulls near the gun emplacements of the British ships, and strive to kill the artillery in the ships. with artillery,

Ge Shunan slapped himself in the face when he woke up from a dream, and ordered: "Notify the whole group!" Rifle and machine gun fire on British warships! Notify the divisional artillery battalion to blow up these foreign devils quickly! ”

The 77th Regiment finally began to counterattack, and the soldiers of the battalions and companies were crawling on the riverside, aiming at the guns on the British warships, and firing continuously.

Colonel Cox stood at the stern of the ship, saw the PLA shooting back, and laughed: "These ridiculous yellow-skinned pigs, green monkeys, actually hit warships with rifles." ”

Cox's adjutant, Lieutenant Meyer, politely laughed and said, "These barbarians are really stupid and pitiful. ”

As soon as the two of them finished speaking, they felt unsteady in their hearts, and when they looked from the river, they saw that there were da-da-da-da, pop, pop, snap shots in all directions, and there were bullets whizzing past the boat, and more bullets were banging, like hammer beating, and raindrops fell on the hull of the boat.

A bullet hit the handrail of the aft lookout, and with a pop, the armrest, which was as thick as an adult's arm, was actually broken, and sawdust flew everywhere!

Colonel Cox was shocked, and his face changed: "My God! What kind of bullet is this! ”

At this time, only a scream was heard from the ship, and a sailor who was crawling on the sail rope pivot in the middle of the mainmast was strafed by machine gun fire, and fell like a sandbag to the deck below, making a huge crashing sound, and the soldier was shot in the shoulder, his bones were exposed, and he fell straight to the ground.

Then there was a scream from the cabin, and the 7.62 steel core projectile with extremely penetrating power hit the wooden hull of the frigate Carmarthen, and lightly penetrated the six-centimeter-thick oak plank, and hit the sailors and artillery inside, and those who did not hit the target continued their flight mission, drilling out of the hull on the other side, sawdust flew in the gun compartment below deck, and the mud mixed with twine filled in the cracks of the ship's plank was excited by the bullet like smoke and filled in the cabin.

The sailors and artillerymen in the British warship were constantly hit by bullets, and all those who were hit, the wounds were torn by Yanzhòng, modern bullets are different from small lead bullets of this year, even at the same speed, the bullet is a hundred times stronger in rotation under the action of high rifling, and the penetration of objects and the killing of the human body are much stronger. The British army was accustomed to the killing method of lead bullet into the body, where had they ever seen such a terrifying killing, and they could actually kill people through the ship's board, and the sailors suddenly panicked in their hearts, only to feel that the warship had become a moving coffin, and immediately some sailors rushed to the deck, and more sailors lay on the floor of the cabin to avoid bullets.

Under the dense bullets like a frenzied swarm of swarms, the sailors and gunners in the cabins of the various British battleships suffered heavy casualties, and countless bullet holes could be seen outside the hull, and it was even more miserable to see from the inside of the cabin, the bulkheads were dotted with bullet holes, and the broken wood slag on the hull around the bullet holes was strangely warped, and the light was projected through the bullet holes, forming a mottled projection in the cabin. This scene is so terrifying that the Royal Navy, which dominates the four seas, is completely stupid, seeing the PLA shooting all over the shore, they thought that the safest place on the ship is the cabin, who would have thought that it would become hell in the blink of an eye, some sailors cried directly in the cabin, and some people lay on the ground praying God bless, and some even peed their pants in fright.

Ge Shunan, commander of the 77th Regiment, clearly felt that the rain of bullets and fires of the whole regiment had suppressed the artillery fire of the British battleships, and the British battleships did not fire their guns for half a day.

"Well done! Grandma's! Why didn't the artillerymen start to light these bravado-loving British ships! ”

Ge Shunan was talking, a few strange howls that were so subtle that they were almost imperceptible came from the north of the 77th Regiment, it was the two divisional artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th Divisions that had opened fire, and due to the urgency of the situation, after getting the approximate coordinates, the divisional artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th Divisions began to test fire. As six mortar shells landed in the river, the artillery battalion began to contact the 77th Regiment with a request for radio guidance by walkie-talkie.

"Yes, it's missed, a little further south, about thirty meters, and a little further west, about ten meters. Yes, okay, you fight again, and I'll report you to the spot. Xue Damai, commander of the first battalion of the 77th Regiment, held a walkie-talkie in his hand and shouted at the top of his voice.

Colonel Cox was already stunned, and at this moment he had already lay down, hiding behind the side of the lookout, holding the telescope tightly with trembling hands, observing the PLA on the shore in fear.

"Damn the Northerners! What caliber are their rifles! It can actually cut the wooden shell of a battleship through like butter! And their rifles are almost smoky! Cox was terrified.

After inspecting the situation in the cabin, Lieutenant Meyer rushed to the lookout in horror and reported: "Colonel! The Camasen was damaged by Yan zhòng! At least 25 sailors were shot! The bulkhead underneath is beaten like a pepper shaker's sieve! We need to get out of the range of the North Yankees as much as possible! Otherwise we will be crucified on the ship! ”

Cox was terrified, and immediately agreed: "Flag language!" All turn around and go back to Shanghai! All ships began to shell unlimitedly! Fast! Fast! Fast! ”

In a panic, the six warships of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy pulled out a quarter sail in a weak southeast wind and desperately adjusted their masts in an attempt to make a U-turn in the middle of the wide river.

Some later naval historians believed that Cox's decision had ruined the last life of the Chinese fleet, and that the correct tactic would have been to rush upstream with full sail, and after the range of the troops far from the shore, make a safe turn and flee down the river at high speed back downstream.

After three rounds of test firing, the two divisional artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th divisions finally found the target position and began a frantic salvo, 54 82MM mortars controlled the entire river, and the whistling shells crashed into the river at high speed, and the huge slapping force on the water surface was enough to trigger the fuse, and the entire river was full of fire. Due to the restrictions of international conventions, modern incendiary bombs no longer use yellow phosphorus, but mainly use thermite, napalm and high explosives as components, but they still caused a water fire on the surface of the river, and the dead fish quickly turned over and surfaced in large numbers.

In the first salvo of 54 mortars, one of the gunboats of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy was shot. For this thirty-meter-long small gunboat, a high-explosive incendiary bomb is enough to kill, the gunboat named Tridis was hit by a mortar shell in the bow, after the explosion the fire rose into the air, the bow seemed to be bitten by a giant beast, a strong adhesion and light burning substance spread on the wooden hull, the Tridis turned into a torch in the fierce burning, the irrepressible flames soon engulfed the mast and sails, the flames rose down, and the heat wave rolled up black smoke, A huge beacon tower was lit on the wide river.

Colonel Cox clung to the handrail of the Carmarthen's aft lookout, and his Adam's apple rolled as he looked at the Tridis behind him, unable to utter a word.

He had never seen such a cannonball that could ignite a gunboat with a single shot, and the terrible force of destruction seemed unimaginable to him, and if the Chinese warships could have such shells in the future, the royal fleet would flee in trembling.

The six warships of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy on the river were all shot after seven or eight salvos, and the gunpowder on the ships was ignited and exploded in the raging flames, like fireworks blooming in the daytime, dazzling but desolate.

The British sailors cried and jumped off the Yangtze River one by one and swam to the south bank. The PLA soldiers on the north shore laughed and were overjoyed. Because the distance was too far, there was no shooting.

Ge Shunan, the commander of the 77th regiment, had already stood up from behind the stones, standing up by the river, looking at the river with a smirk.

"Crazy for you! Crazy for you! Die now! Ge Shunan scolded with hatred in his mouth.

After confirming the destruction of the Royal Fleet, Hu Guangting, commander of the Ninth Group Army, was complacent and sent a report to the Central Committee: "This morning, when our Ninth Army launched a liberation campaign against Zhenjiang, it encountered the intervention of British warships......

With the liberation of Zhenjiang, the Ninth Army crossed the Yangtze River in turn in three days, and quickly moved westward, encircling Nanjing, and three days later, the four gates of Nanjing were blasted at the same time, and Nanjing was liberated.

After taking Nanjing, the bridgehead to the entire south of the Yangtze River has been controlled by Yao Fan.

Then, after the Eighth Group Army liberating Anhui took the southern Anhui region north of the Yangtze River, the main force crossed the river from Nanjing and liberated a series of cities south of the Yangtze River such as Ma'anshan, Tongling, Chizhou, Wuhu, and Anqing.

The Tenth Army also went south from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang and went straight to Changzhou, Wuxi, and Suzhou, and after completing the liberation of these three cities, only Shanghai, Huzhou, and Jiaxing remained in the entire Jiangnan region, and they were still confronted with the PLA under the garrison of the temporarily recruited Xiangyong and British troops.

Further up the Yangtze River, after conquering Wuhan, the Eleventh Army took control of Huanggang and Huangshi.

In this way, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has a series of bridgehead strongholds in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.