Chapter 291: National Prestige (5)

The reason for the silence of the Japanese Cabinet and the General Staff Headquarters was the report of the commander of the Southern Army, Hou Gong Chun, that the Southern Han Army had launched an attack on Haiphong in the early morning of the same day, and that the Snow Fox Army's consistent tactics were to secretly mobilize a surprise attack, and that the local and foreign methods were used today, and that Haiphong Port was a coastal city, the largest port in Vietnam except Saigon, and that the city walls of Haiphong were very tall and thick.

Major General Kato Sanmai, the commander of the castle guard detachment, thought that with one of his infantry brigades and the Nagasaki Marine Corps, with a strength of 12,300 troops, the defense should be fine. But he was wrong, Qiao Han commanded two Snow Fox Divisions, which had exceeded the strength of the Japanese army by more than twice the strength, and launched an attack on Haiphong. This time the Japanese were most speechless and panicked, because the French air force entered the war, they not only attacked the three nearest Japanese airfields, but also sent planes to participate in the battle.

It was early in the morning when the troops attacked, and because of the loss of aircraft protection and support, the small French air force was like no one, and they bombed the walled positions and the outer defensive positions of the coastal defense with unprecedented intensity. The Japanese army was unable to block such a powerful attack, and was killed into the defensive circle by the Snow Fox troops, and once the two sides engaged in close contact operations, the Japanese army was not an opponent, which was already common sense.

At this time, the two divisions of Snow Fox were the first batch of weapons obtained from the United States, especially the first division, which was full of American Garand automatic rifles and M1911 pistols, which were equipped with Japanese Type 38 rifles, just like one person holding a wooden stick and another person holding a big knife.

Under the blow of automatic weapons, the Japanese army had no second choice but to howl and charge suicidally. What's more, the Guards Detachment, which has only more than 5,000 troops in Haiphong City, has strong combat effectiveness, and the combat effectiveness of the Marine Corps is slightly lower, and it is the first time that it has fought against Snow Fox. Under the high rate of fire of automatic rifles and the rapid blows of melee pistols, tens of thousands of Japanese troops were quickly divided and surrounded, and Rear Admiral Kato Mimai also wanted to break through, because they knew that there was their own Imperial Japanese Navy on the coast, which would be supported by naval guns.

However, the severely divided Japanese troops were unable to break out of the encirclement, and could only resist stubbornly and fight to the death. However, the gap in weapons and the change in the morale of the military cannot solve the problem on the battlefield by relying only on hard fighting. The battle did not stop for a day, and the Snow Fox's way of fighting was different from that of the Japanese army, no matter what the situation, the Japanese army would stop attacking at night and start attacking again the next day.

But the Snow Fox army did not stop attacking, time is not important to Snow Fox, so the two division commanders conveyed the order, take advantage of the victory to pursue, do not stop fighting, until the devil is eliminated cleanly and completely, in the past, the Snow Fox battle was at night, no matter what the situation will end at dawn, that is because they have to avoid the Japanese aircraft.

This is the first time to launch an attack during the day, and there is no need to consider the Japanese planes at all, on the contrary, the Snow Fox Army is supported by Huang Jianxiang's air force, which is like a tiger with wings, and in the daytime when the field of vision is within reach, the Snow Fox combat mode exerts its combat effectiveness to the extreme.

The most unsuitable thing for the Japanese army is that the Snow Fox has a special battlefield sniper, and it can also be said that there is a sharpshooter team, which is a targeted operation, and the sharpshooter team is not a stormtroop force, they rely on a scope to snipe machine gunners and grenadiers at a distance, so that the heavy firepower of the Japanese army cannot play an effective role. Then there are planes on the snow fox side to help in the war, and Kato Sanmai finally knows the helplessness of the Chinese artillery back then. Under the blow of the aircraft, the artillery had almost no chance to open fire, and the positions would have been bombed. In this way, the two sides fought with infantry, but unfortunately, the Japanese army was not an opponent in terms of weapons and equipment or tactics.

The battle began in the morning and lasted until the early hours of the morning, and for one day and one night, Snow Fox carried forward the style of continuous combat, and did not stop fighting for 24 hours, completely annihilating a brigade and a 12,000 marines of the Japanese army.

For the second detachment on the sea, it was impossible for them to support land operations at all, for two reasons, one was that the Snow Fox attacked too quickly, and the armies of both sides were mixed together, and the Japanese fleet could not support it with artillery fire. This is different from the operation in Shanghai, because it is an offensive and defensive operation, the Chinese army is the defender, there is a position to bombard, this coastal defense operation The Japanese army is the defender, the Snow Fox's attack is fast, and the naval artillery cannot play a role.

The second reason is that during the night, Yamamoto Woo lost two destroyers and eight gunboats, leaving his fleet with only two destroyers, a heavy cruiser and six gunboats and a supply ship, and the number was doubled. Until now, he had not figured out why two destroyers, eight gunboats were sunk, why he couldn't even escape, his heavy cruiser was within easy reach, didn't he even have the ability to escape?

For this reason, while sending a telegram to the commander of the 3rd Fleet requesting reinforcements, he also strengthened his defenses, guarding the French fleet on the sea, not daring to get too close to the coastal ports. Because in that case, if it was attacked, it might be too narrow to fight, after all, the tonnage of Japanese ships was greater than that of the French army.

In this way, Yamamoto Uto saw that the army failed and had no way to support. When Yamamoto Yudu received the report that all the marines who landed on the shore were wiped out, he was stunned, he didn't know what the reason was, but there was a result that he knew that he was removed from his post and investigated. Although he did not blame him for the defeat in this battle, he could not escape the charge of sinking half of the ships.

At this time, he only hoped that the French fleet on the sea would not leave, and that the 3rd Fleet would arrive and sink them into the big post. Planes finally flew over the north of Vietnam at various temporary take-off and landing sites of the Japanese army, but the land battle had ended, Haiphong, a city that was almost in ruins, fell into the hands of the Southern Han Dynasty, the border guards and coast guards took over the harbor, and the Japanese ships could not get close to the coast, venting the same, Yamamoto Udu ordered the heavy cruiser Aoba to fire heavy artillery at the dock and the coast, wanting to destroy the coastal facilities, where could he be a heavy cruiser?

What made Yamamoto Yu speechless the most was that the Southern Han Dynasty actually gave up the coast, not even a defensive soldier, and his naval artillery did nothing. What is the use of such shelling without army soldiers, without marines, and without being able to drive warships ashore?

After a dozen guns, Yamamoto Uto ordered the fleet to attack the fleet outside the harbor, and with that light cruiser, the shells did not pose a threat to the heavy cruiser at all, so he planned to destroy this sea fleet and at the same time make up for it.

Wen Shaodong, who stopped outside the harbor, noticed that the Japanese fleet was coming out, and immediately retreated, sailing in the direction of Xialong Port. Yamamoto Yu, who was already angry, went crazy and ordered a pursuit. Before he could figure out why Saburo Ohno's fleet had suddenly stopped, he ordered his own fleet to sail at full speed to catch up with the French fleet and sink them. It's useless to flee to Ha Long Port, don't the imperial army dare to attack Ha Long Port? It's not as good as coastal defense!

Because the Southern Han Navy started first, there was a distance between the two sides, although the Japanese army could not catch up with it with all their might, the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and the two fleets gradually approached the waters of Halong Port. When entering the periphery of Ha Long Port, the sky was dark, this distance was calculated, starting from Haiphong to pursue, what not to do at full speed sailing exactly one day, not to mention that the Japanese army was not early when it was dispatched, so it was dark and did not enter Ha Long Port, at this time the Japanese army could no longer see the fleet in the distance, and could not send seaplanes.

Yamamoto Woo understood that this fleet had nowhere to go, so he could only enter Halong Port to take refuge, and as long as he blocked the port, the 3rd Fleet would arrive tomorrow and attack Halong Port. It's a pity that Yamamoto Yu didn't know that it was Xue Ru's strategic and tactical thinking to attract the Japanese army, find opportunities from the movement, set up ambush sites, and change from passive to active attack. All this is in Wen Shaodong's calculations, otherwise he would have left Haiphong a long time ago, why would he wait outside for the Japanese army to pursue.

Jiang Haitong said with a smile on the flagship Huaxia: "The devil is really cooperative, and he thought he could be a little smarter than the army, but it seems that he is all the same, and he is also stupid." ”

Wen Shaodong was also very happy, and in the first battle at night, he sent eight gunboats and two destroyers to the bottom of the sea, and received a telegram of commendation from Miss Queen, which made the navy cheer. The first battle flag of the navy was victorious, and the shame of the Beiyang Navy Division in the first snow made the morale of the Southern Han Navy soar. Since the devils are chasing, then make persistent efforts to sink the rest into the sea and prepare for the upcoming Japanese 3rd Air Fleet, which has an aircraft carrier battleship.

Yamamoto Yu, who sailed slowly in Xialong Port, did not dare to go too fast, and did not know about the underwater situation in Halong Port, and it was easy to run into the reef if he was too close to the navigation without piloting at night, and the most infuriating thing was that the Southern Han and the French army actually turned off the surrounding navigation lights, which was not intended to come out.

In fact, where did Yamamoto Yudu know that Wen Shaodong and Jiang Haitong had been studying for several days, and what they were studying was, of course, trying to find a way. Snow Fox's tactics didn't come out of nowhere, every step was designed, and even if the Japanese fleet didn't chase after them, their 3rd Fleet would attack Ha Long Harbor. The Southern Han Dynasty has built a large shipyard in Halong Port, which is under construction, can it not guard against the attack of devils?

At this time, in front of Wen Shaodong's ship is the local fishing boat, they have a red light on it, for Wen Shaodong they pilot, the fishing boat is the old fishermen in Halong Port, they know this sea area well, and there will be no problem with their eyes closed, with the tonnage of the ships of the Southern Han Navy, they can avoid those bright reefs and sail smoothly, but the Japanese army lost the navigation lights around them, but they did not dare to drive and could only move slowly, and they had to be careful and careful.

The Snow Fox Navy, which was carrying out light control, was not far away at this time, and the lights of the Japanese ships could be seen, but it was difficult for the Japanese army to discover the Southern Han Navy hidden in the dark. Wen Shaodong said: "The time is almost up, and the order starts to act." ”

He ordered the move because the lights of the Japanese ships had not moved for a long time, that is, they had stopped and did not dare to move any further.

The prepared action began, and as the order was given, the small fishing boats hidden in the darkness behind the fleet rowed towards the Japanese fleet under the manpower rowing, which were wooden boats rowed by human hands, hidden under the waves, and the Japanese could not see or hear, so no less than a hundred small boats pounced on the Japanese fleet.

Attacking a giant steel warship with a small wooden fishing boat, I'm afraid no one will believe it, and they won't even dare to think about it, but Wen Shaodong and they dare to do it. When these small fishing boats came up from all sides, when they were still a thousand meters away from the Japanese fleet, they began to disperse, and instead of sailing forward, they pushed the things on board down into the sea, and no one knew what was in the dark. In this way, there was no sound on these ships, and they were all carrying out intense work, dragging the ropes and then began to row back in the direction of the fleet.

Almost overnight, the boat made two or three round-trips from the coast to the Japanese fleet, and the people were changed several times, and one by one they were exhausted and finally finished. The fishing boats sailed back to the coast, and Wen Shaodong and they began to act, looking at the sky a little bright, Wen Shaodong said: "Wu Xiaobo set sail, Jiang Haitong, order the fleet to move closer to the Japanese fleet, cancel the light control, open artillery to attack the Japanese fleet, and found that the Japanese fleet returned fire and immediately retreated in the direction of Xialonggang to avoid the Japanese artillery bombardment." ”

"Yes" Jiang Haitong straightened up and gave orders to the other warships. Wu Xiaobo, the captain of the Huaxia, also ordered the Huaxia to start ignition, and the six battleships formed an offensive formation to sail towards the Japanese fleet, the speed was not very fast, the muzzles of the guns were raised high, and the soldiers began to aim at the Japanese lights.

Yamamoto Uto was also very vigilant, because accompanied by an army troop carrier, Vice Admiral Shuaki Haruyama, commander of the 3rd Fleet, ordered Yamamoto Uto to be on standby, and his fleet would arrive in more than ten hours, so he was also worried about being attacked at night. There were observers on each ship, staring at the sea on all sides, and when the Southern Han Navy in the distance lifted the light control and turned on the lights, the Japanese observers immediately sounded the alarm. The Japanese 2nd Squadron, which also had nine warships, immediately entered the combat position, because the distance of the Southern Han Navy was far away, and the artillery distance could not reach the Japanese army, and the shells fell into the water one after another, and the momentum was very amazing, but it did not work.

This situation caused several Japanese commanders to laugh and laugh. Is it ridiculous that such a navy does not even know the distance? At this time, they all forgot how such an army made Saburo Ohno sink them to the bottom of the sea.

Yamamoto Yudu is even more arrogant, his heavy cruiser guns can shoot at a maximum range of fifteen kilometers, the other party can't reach him, but he can go to the Southern Han Navy, so he ordered to fire back, this is before dawn, the Japanese shells also have a flaming tailfire, knowing in advance that it can be avoided, and the Aoba heavy cruiser only has four twin main guns, at this time it is sideways and diagonal, and the four main guns can be fired, and it is not much of a threat to the very scattered Southern Han Navy.

Yamamoto Utsu, who was bent on destroying the enemy, was a little angry, and said to the chief of staff, Iijima Yokota: "The fleet is activated, close to fight, we have nine warships, and only six of them are not opponents at all." "Nine Japanese warships set sail and pounced on the Southern Han Navy.

Looking at the Japanese warships moving on the sea, Wen Shaodong and Jiang Haitong smiled, it seems that this time the Southern Han will be a complete victory.