diymy Chapter 210 Mine Explosion, Japanese Fleet Suffers Heavy Damage
Chapter 210 Mine Explosion, Japanese Fleet Suffers Heavy Damage
At noon that day, the ships of the 11th Squadron weighed anchor and set sail in a mighty procession along the river toward Jiujiang.
The fleet cleaved through the murky river, heading towards the battlefield where they believed victory was assured.
As dusk settled, the reeds along the Yangtze River in Zhanghu Town rustled in the evening breeze.
The 5th Battalion of the Engineering Detachment is currently carrying out the task of laying mines.
At the same time, Long Wenzhang was standing in a concealed spot on the river embankment, his eyes fixed on the river surface.
He held binoculars in his hand, watching the engineers quietly laying mines on the river in rubber rafts.
Under the moonlight, only the general outlines of these soldiers could be seen as they deployed mines into the riverbed.
The mines carried by these engineers were magnetic mines that the German army had deployed in large numbers at the mouth of the Thames River during World War II.
This mine sank 17 British warships and severely damaged the British light cruiser HMS Belfast.
The detonation principle of this type of magnetic mine is based on the magnetization of the ship's steel hull by the Earth's magnetic field.
The floating magnet formed by the ship's hull will trigger the rotation of the magnetic needle inside the mine, activating the detonation circuit and causing an explosion.
Compared to the traditional anchor mines commonly used by the National Revolutionary Army, this mine has significant advantages.
It can be deployed directly on the seabed without the need for anchor chains, and its concealment far exceeds that of conventional trigger mines.
The Japanese minesweepers currently in service would have little chance of detecting this deadly weapon sunk to the bottom of the river.
The rubber raft glided quickly across the river, and magnetic mines sank to the bottom.
A massive net targeting the Japanese fleet has been quietly laid out on the Yangtze River waterway.
The autumn night wind on the Yangtze River, carrying damp and cold air, swept across the reeds along the banks of Zhanghu Town, making a soft rustling sound.
The rubber raft quietly approached the riverbank, and the engineers, their bodies soaked with river water, crouched down and went ashore one after another.
They moved as quietly as nocturnal animals, without making a sound, and all the mines were already laid.
Yan Junchi, the battalion commander of the 5th Engineer Battalion, came forward. He was as strong as an iron tower, and the muscles in his shoulders and back stretched his gray military uniform taut.
His face was covered in mud, and sweat mixed with dust streamed down his forehead. His rough voice was low, yet it still carried a strong sense of confidence.
"Captain, all the mines have been laid at their designated locations on the riverbed; not a single one is left."
Long Wenzhang leaned against an old locust tree on the riverbank, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. Hearing this, he looked up at Yan Junchi.
He was dressed in a faded military uniform, his trousers rolled up to his knees, covered in wet mud from the riverbank, and his gaze was as sharp as a hawk's.
"Is this thing really as good as you say?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Junchi raised his hand and slapped his chest hard, making a dull thud that shook the medals on his chest.
"Commander, you can rest assured! This is a German-made magnetic mine; the Japanese minesweepers won't be able to detect it at all!"
"These mines are very selective; they won't react at all to small surface ships passing by."
"Only when a large ship weighing thousands of tons sails by can the magnetic field of the steel hull be magnetized and trigger the magnetic needle inside."
"Once triggered, it's a bottom-hull explosion, specifically targeting the ship's weakest point, the hull, and even a god couldn't save it."
Upon hearing this, Long Wenzhang stuffed the half-smoked cigarette back into his pocket, grinned, and revealed a set of white teeth.
"Your engineering battalion has truly done a great job this time!"
"If we can sink a few Japanese warships this time, our Third Column will definitely become famous throughout the entire war zone!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than hurried footsteps were heard coming from the reeds on the riverbank.
The communications soldier, carrying a field telephone on his back, hunched over and ran quickly, his military boots splashing mud as he stepped into the wet mud.
He ran up to Long Wenzhang, stood at attention, saluted, and reported breathlessly, "Commander, it's an emergency call!"
Long Wenzhang strode over, grabbed the telephone receiver, and pressed it tightly to his ear.
On the other end of the phone was the voice of a forward reconnaissance soldier, his voice low but filled with barely concealed urgency.
"Commander! A large number of Japanese warships have been spotted on the river, heading upstream!"
"The speed isn't slow; it will enter our minefield in at most an hour!"
Upon hearing this, Long Wenzhang's eyes lit up instantly, and his blood seemed to heat up.
He raised his hand to wipe his face, grinned, and his tone was full of barely suppressed excitement.
"Great! Perfect timing! It's like the stage has just been set up and the lead actor has delivered himself right to our doorstep!"
He immediately turned to the messenger beside him and ordered in a deep voice, "Pass the word down!"
"Everyone, immediately take up your designated concealed positions on the river embankment. Without orders, do not show yourselves or make any noise!"
Upon receiving the order, the soldiers lying in ambush on the riverbank immediately sprang into action, silently disappearing behind the weeds and earthen slopes of the river embankment.
Less than an hour later, the deep hum of a steam engine could be heard from afar on the river.
In the darkness, five Japanese minesweepers broke through the murky river water and slowly sailed along the central channel.
The searchlights on the boat swept across the river, the beams of light flickering on the water, but never shining any more towards the riverbank.
Each minesweeper towed a huge mine-cutting tool at its stern, the steel cable taut in the river.
This traditional mine-clearing tool relies on dragging a steel cable with a cutting blade to cut the mooring rope of a mine.
Waiting for the mines to surface before destroying them with naval guns was the most common mine-clearing tactic used by the Japanese army.
But this place had long been considered the Japanese army's rear area, and the minesweepers sailed all the way from Nanjing without seeing a single mine.
The Japanese naval soldiers on the boat had long since lost their initial tension and were now all sluggish and relaxed.
In their view, this mine-clearing mission was a complete waste of time and effort.
After all, in their preconceived notion, the Chinese military only lays mines in the front-line war zone.
There is absolutely no way they would dare to lay mines in waterways hundreds of miles behind the front lines.
However, Yoshida Akiichi, the commander of the Eleventh Squadron, was known for his cautious nature.
Even though it was behind his own lines, and even though it would slow down the fleet's march, he insisted that the minesweepers lead the way.
From Nanjing to Zhanghu Town, the minesweeper stayed at the forefront of the fleet without daring to relax for even a moment.
Unfortunately, they were destined to gain nothing along the way.
Five minesweepers sailed confidently through the waterways of Zhanghu Town, dragging their minesweeping equipment along the river without encountering anything.
The Japanese sailors on the boat even whistled, as if the mission had been successfully completed.
They never dreamed that the deadly weapon lay quietly at the bottom of the river, more than ten meters deep, right beneath their feet.
A full hour after the minesweeper passed Zhanghu Town, a large, dark outline finally appeared in the distance on the river.
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The moonlight spilled onto the murky river surface, making the steel hulls of the Japanese warships gleam with a cold, hard light.
Long Wenzhang lay prone in the observation post on the river embankment, his hands tightly gripping the binoculars, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
He counted the ships on the river, his heart pounding in his chest, and whispered two words: "They're here."
The Japanese warships that came this time numbered more than sixty, occupying most of the wide Yangtze River.
At the forefront of the formation were several high-speed escort boats, their machine guns raised high, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.
Following behind were more than a dozen river gunboats, each over a thousand tons in size, their main gun muzzles gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
In the middle and rear of the column were dozens of massive troop transport ships, their hulls with deep drafts, steadily cutting through the river water.
The holds of these troop transport ships were crammed with more than 3,000 members of the Japanese Navy's Special Landing Force.
They were fully armed and ready to land along the coast at any time, delivering a fatal blow to the flank and rear of the Chinese army.
The entire Japanese fleet was divided into three columns and proceeded in an orderly manner, with a steady speed of around twenty knots.
That translates to about 37 kilometers per hour, and it's speeding towards Jiujiang.
At this speed, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should be able to reach the front lines in Jiujiang before dawn.
It was just in time for the Japanese army's long-planned large-scale counterattack, providing the army with the strongest firepower support.
Inside the captain's cabin of the fleet flagship, the river gunboat Ataka, the lights were on.
Yoshida Meiichi sat at his desk, raised his hand and closed the captain's diary in his hand, the gold lettering on the cover gleaming under the light.
He was dressed in a crisp naval rear admiral uniform, the gold insignia on his collar gleaming. His face was expressionless, but his eyes held a barely suppressed excitement.
He took a cigarette from the pack, lit it with a lighter, and slowly inhaled, the white smoke slowly dissipating in front of him.
The pungent aroma of cigarettes filled his lungs, and he began to visualize the scene at the front lines in Jiujiang.
He could almost see his fleet's main guns firing in unison, and a barrage of shells raining down on the Chinese army's positions.
Those rudimentary fortifications would be easily torn to shreds like paper under heavy artillery bombardment.
Chinese soldiers on the position would be torn apart by artillery fire, their flesh and blood flying everywhere, unable to even scream.
His fleet will clear all obstacles for the army's advance and make unparalleled contributions.
Just as he was lost in his own fantasy, there was a gentle knock on the cabin door.
"Report!" came the disciplined voice of a sailor from outside the door. "Come in," Yoshida Akira said, raising his eyes slightly.
A naval lieutenant pushed open the door, stood at attention, gave a standard military salute, and reported loudly.
"Reporting, sir! The minesweeping team at the front has confirmed that no mines have been found in the Zhanghu Town waterway. The waterway is safe and passage is permitted!"
Upon hearing this, Yoshida Meiichi got up and walked to the waterway map on the wall, tracing the waterway markings of Zhanghu Town with his fingertip.
The narrow banks and limited channel width of this waterway make it difficult for large ships to maneuver and evade obstacles.
In his view, if the Chinese army deployed artillery along the coast, this place would become a dangerous area for the fleet.
In his view, if the Chinese army deployed artillery along the coast, this place would become a dangerous area for the fleet.
Even though everyone thought this was an absolutely safe rear area, he still dared not be careless in the slightest.
He immediately turned to the messenger and ordered in a deep voice, "Notify the entire fleet to speed through this waterway!"
The orders were quickly relayed to every ship via flag signals and radio.
The steam turbines of the Japanese fleet roared deafeningly, billowing black smoke from their chimneys.
The ship's speed increased rapidly, quickly rising from twenty knots to twenty-five knots.
Under the cover of night and moonlight, the massive fleet, like a giant steel python, sped into the narrow waterways of Zhanghu Town.
Yoshida Meiichi and all the Japanese naval soldiers on board had no idea that they had already stumbled into the gates of hell.
Right beneath their feet, on the riverbed, magnetic mines were already in a state of readiness, like lurking beasts waiting for their prey to come to them.
As the lead Japanese gunboat, the Hozu, slowly passed over the mines, the unexpected happened.
The Baojin, a ship weighing over a thousand tons of steel, has long been magnetized by the Earth's magnetic field, forming a huge floating magnet.
The moment it passed by, the magnetic field at the bottom of the river was disturbed by an extremely slight but potentially fatal disturbance.
Inside the sealed casing of the magnetic mine, a sensitive magnetic needle sensed the change in the magnetic field and began to slowly rotate.
The moment the Hojin-class destroyer was directly above the mine, the magnetic needle rotated to the predetermined angle, instantly activating the detonation circuit.
"boom--!!!"
A deafening roar suddenly exploded beneath the calm surface of the river, shattering the silence of the night.
The hundreds of kilograms of high explosives inside the mine were detonated in an instant, releasing terrifying energy wildly in all directions.
The enormous shockwave broke through the obstruction of the water flow, like an invisible giant hand, and slammed hard into the bottom of the Baojin.
"Boom—!!!"
A second loud bang followed immediately, and the shockwave from the explosion tore a huge gash several meters wide through the steel armor of the Baojin ship's hull.
The cold, turbid waters of the Yangtze River rushed into the ship's interior like a floodgate bursting open, following this menacing crack.
But this was far from over. Just as the Baojin slowed down due to the explosion, the second magnetic mine beneath the ship's hull also detonated with a roar.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"
With a deafening roar, an even larger gap was torn open in the hull of the Baojin.
More river water, with overwhelming force, surged into the various compartments at the bottom of the ship.
The Japanese naval soldiers on the deck of the Hozu were instantly stunned by the sudden and violent explosion.
The piercing alarm instantly resounded throughout the entire ship, and the mournful siren carried far across the river.
Sailors rushed out of their cabins, some being thrown to the ground by the shockwave of the explosion, their heads bleeding profusely.
The damage control team members, carrying leak-stopping equipment, rushed towards the flooded cabin like madmen.
But as soon as they rushed to the cabin door, they froze on the spot, their faces drained of color, leaving only despair in their eyes.
Because these fatal gaps are not on the side of the hull, but near the keel at the very bottom of the ship.
They could also try their best to seal the breaches on the side using sealing pads and steel plates.
However, the huge crack in the bottom of the boat, under the heavy pressure of the river water, made it impossible to seal.
"Close the watertight compartments! Close all watertight compartment doors immediately!!" The captain of the Baojin gripped the bridge railing and roared at the top of his lungs.
His face was covered in cold sweat, the collar of his uniform was ripped open, and his usual composure was completely gone, leaving only hysterical madness.