On August 15, 1937, inspired by victory, Shen Chonghai and others attacked day after day, and continued to bomb the 3rd Fleet of the Japanese Navy, severely damaging Japanese ships.
On the 16th, they tracked down the Japanese fleet moving towards Hangzhou Bay and prevented it from covering the landing of the Japanese army.
On 19 August, Nanjing received a secret report: Japanese warships were concentrated in the sea near Bailong Port in Shanghai, and one of them had several bombers parked on board.
At the sound of an order, over Taihu Lake, nine "Northrop" bombers formed a zigzag formation and roared towards the mouth of the Yangtze River. Jiangxinsha, Chongming Island, and Huangpu River flash under the wings, and in front of them is the East China Sea.
In the vicinity of Naisan, the fighters spotted the Japanese battleship, or the 3rd Fleet, and on the river, the Japanese ships flying the sun flag were still frantically shelling the Chinese positions.
The formation disbanded, and 9 warhawks flew and pounced on the Japanese warships scattered on the river, on the side of the fuselage, ready to bomb.
The enemy ships immediately stopped firing at the land, raised their cannon barrels, bombarded the air, and played the trick of "ghost pushing and grinding" again, and more than a dozen warships circled the center of the river, rotating irregularly, evading the bombardment.
The 500-pound (about 227 kilograms) bomb of the "Northrop" smashed into the enemy ship from the air, and suddenly, the flames flashed, the river boiled, and the white columns of water were stirred up.
The Japanese ships were in a panic, a second-class cruiser was hit by a bomb, the hull of the ship tilted, many devils jumped into the sea, and then, in a rumbling explosion, the warship was engulfed by a huge wave.
In the face of the bombs that rained down, the enemy ships played tricks and advanced at full speed in a zigzag pattern, effectively dodging the bombs and sailing to the surface of the sea.
In the days since the war began, the old and well-trained Third Fleet has always been able to skillfully evade the attacks of the Chinese Air Force, so that most of the bombs dropped by our troops have become "near-misses" and have fallen a few or more than a dozen meters near the hull of the ship, and the hit rate is very low.
Shen Chonghai saw that the bombs under the belly of the eight "Northrop" planes were empty, so he let go of the hand that pressed on the bomb drop button, and he was looking for a more favorable opportunity, but at this time, the plane No. 904 he was piloting suddenly malfunctioned, and a wisp of black smoke came out of the tail.
At this time, Nanhui under the wing was still in the hands of the Chinese army, and if it made a forced landing, there was every hope of success.
Shen Chonghai ordered Chen Xichun to parachute to escape, and he was ready to fly the plane to crash into the enemy ship, Chen Xichun did not want to steal his life alone, and insisted on living and dying with him, so the two of them drove at full speed and crashed straight into a cruiser, and died together.
The nose of the No. 904 sank, fired at full power, and together with the 500-pound (about 227 kilograms) bomb that had not been dropped, it roared straight into an escaping enemy ship.
The moment the plane and the warship came into contact, there was an extremely dull loud noise, and a huge fireball on the river surface dragged up a long column of smoke and rose up.
Shen Chonghai was 27 years old at the time, and Chen Xichun was only 22 years old, and two young lives rose and died in the flames.
The comrades-in-arms in the air witnessed this magnificent scene, and they circled, circled, and circled in the air filled with gunsmoke......
Chen Xichun
The Japanese consider themselves to be even more objective and in-depth in their study of Chinese history than we do, and they are well aware of all the weaknesses and dead points of our national culture and national spirit.
They believe that the Chinese "often have a feasible law, but there is no one who can do it; There are good words, but there is no practice of words."
However, Shen Chonghai, a student of Tsinghua University, and his comrade-in-arms Chen Xichun fulfilled the oath of the Chinese Air Force: "Our bodies, planes, and bombs should be destroyed together with the enemy's warship positions!" ”
It is said that the commander of the Japanese 3rd Fleet, Hasei Aokawa, reprimanded these guys when he summoned his subordinates to give a lecture, saying: "We used to be very majestic in the Russo-Japanese War, but now where is the spirit of the Yamato nation that is not afraid of death? In my opinion, they were all taken away by the Chinese warriors Shen Chonghai and Yan Haiwen! ”
At about 14:00 Beijing time on August 6, 2013, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force 22 DDH helicopter carrier was launched in Yokohama.
The ship has a full load displacement of 27,000 tons and is expected to be officially commissioned in 2015. The Japanese side claims that this large ship is not an aircraft carrier, but it fully fits the characteristics of a light aircraft carrier.
The 22DDH was named "Izumo", with the port number 183, and the ship was named "Izumo", which was used by the flagship of the Chinese fleet of the Japanese Navy during the Japanese War of Aggression against China.
Historically, "Izumo" was the name of an armored cruiser of the Japanese Navy, which was built at the cost of compensation from the Qing government after the Sino-Japanese War, and performed tasks in the Russo-Japanese War and the War of Aggression against China.
Xu Jingbo, a professor at the Center for Japanese Studies at Fudan University, pointed out that due to its status as a defeated country in World War II, Japan was nominally not allowed to possess aircraft carriers, so it could only develop large warships in the name of "frigates." "The entry of this huge warship into Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force will bring a dangerous signal to the military balance in the Asia-Pacific region and will inevitably pose a complicated situation for the security situation in East Asia." ”
Xu Jingbo pointed out that the name of the ship "Izumo" itself would make the Chinese feel unpleasant, "especially to the dissatisfaction of the Shanghainese, the cruiser 'Izumo' was launched in 1932. During the 28th Incident, he participated in the Japanese army's attack on Shanghai. After the 28th Incident, it had been cruising on the Huangpu River, and in 1937, during the Battle of Songhu, which was a full-scale invasion of China, the Izumo once again participated in the attack on Shanghai. ”
From this point of view, the Japanese did not forget the "Izumo" for their purpose. In fact, the Chinese will not forget the "Izumo", because it is evidence of Japan's crime of aggression against China.
What does it look like? What sins does it commit? And how does it end? It is still a mystery.
The cruiser "Izumo" is 121.92 meters long, 20.93 meters wide, 7.37 meters draft, has a main engine power of 14,500 horsepower, a speed of 20.75 knots, a strength of 672 people, and is equipped with 4 203-mm guns, 14 150-mm guns, 12 12-pounder rapid-fire guns, 8 2.5-pounder rapid-fire guns, and 4 450-mm torpedo tubes.
Some materials say that Shen Chonghai and Chen Xichun crashed into the Japanese flagship "Izumo" and sank it; Others say that it only hit the tail and did not sink; Some also said that it was the "Yiyun" that hit it, and there was no such ship after investigation; It is also said that the most concentrated attack by Chinese fighters was the "Izumo", which once dropped three 500-pound bombs, and the "Izumo" immediately caught fire and caused a violent explosion.
What is puzzling is that a few days later, the "Izumo" actually returned intact, and not even a scar can be found. However, no matter what you say, it is a fact that Shen Chonghai and Chen Xichun bravely drove their planes into the enemy ship and there is no doubt about it.
--Bibliography "Sino-Japanese Air War", by Dai Kuixian
Anti-Japanese Air War [No. 38]
Shen Chonghai
About the Author
Since I was a child, I liked words, and when I was a primary school student, I often used to do sample essays. During the literary youth, many articles won awards. After decades of wind and rain, his hobby has not changed, he likes to read literature and history, insists on writing, and welcomes exchanges.