Chapter 7: Liberation of Shanghai

6 1 0
                                    

Today was the day. The Republic of China's armed forces were ready for their push into Shanghai. The armies that landed in both Guangzhou and Ningbo have joined up and bypassed much of the coastline that faced the Taiwan Strait. The Communist forces in the now surrounded area were forced to be on the defensive, however, the main target was still Shanghai as it was an important stronghold and morale booster for the Nationalists. The Nationalists were ready to mobilize and were waiting for Kitakami and Ooi to make their entrance. But before they could be deployed, they were required to be briefed on their mission.

Preparations to liberate Shanghai are now complete. I will now brief you on the ROC Torpedo Division X's role in regaining control of the city. We have divided Shanghai into 5 sectors bordering on the Yangtze River and coast. Powerful weapons have been placed on each sector, comprising the PLA's Shanghai branch headquarters. This battle will determine our fate, as the annihilation of all enemy forces will mean liberation for the city of Shanghai. The enemy force primarily consists of ground troops, but we have received information that, while not yet confirmed, there is a ship with state of the art technology. Your orders are to destroy the Communist forces and liberate Shanghai. We can't afford to lose. Operation Zhǔyào is a go.

"Yes ma'am!" The torpedo cruisers accepted. Lo Yang was impressed again and sent them along their way. The two approached their first sector as they were taking on this area in tandem with the land forces. This location was the Jinshan District, aka, sector 1.

"Start the Operation. Release 5 sectors under communist control." Lo Yang directed from over the radio comms.

"Kitakami, let's do this right. I know you've got what it takes." Ooi encouraged.

"You bet I do. Let's focus our attacks together. We've got a few torpedo boats up ahead before we can shell the artillery positions." Kitakami ordered her partner. "Kitakami, engaging."

"Ooi, engaging." They then plowed their way through the light patrol units with their guns and got a close as possible to the enemy land positions. They could see the Nationalist Army approach from the west but were held back from some enemy artillery. Kitakami and Ooi decided it was best to launch their catapult fighters to observe where to shoot and take out any aircraft that tried to intercept. Back on the surface, Kitakami noticed some tents the PLA put up. She made sure to shoot at these defenseless targets as she knew they could give a her a bonus in cash. Keep in mind that she still had to destroy the enemy howitzers and such. After the two destroyed all the enemy positions of Sector 1, they moved on to the next which was as expected, Sector 2. This area was protected by 5 inch naval guns and were used against both land and naval targets. A couple were firing at Kitakami, and the two cruisers made their way to silence those guns. As expected they destroyed all the guns attacking them and then proceeded to fire on the ones attacking the ground forces.

"The tide should turn once they get Shanghai back." Ooi said.

"Isn't that obvious? Kitakami asked.

"Well yeah, but you never know if it turns around again."

As more Communist targets were being destroyed, the Communist Forces started to panic again. They were lost as to figuring out who is in command.

"Aren't there any orders from higher up? Where's the general?" Could be heard over the open broadcast radio.

"Has anyone seen him?" Another comrade of his asked.

"Abandon Sector 2. Reposition our units immediately!" A PLA general could be heard as the second sector was cleared.

"Where is our air support?" Another Communist unit asked. Meanwhile the skies were littered in flak and bullets as planes from both factions engaged in a large dogfight. Along with them were some of the planes from Kitakami and Ooi. Speaking of those two, they moved along the coast once the sector was cleared. Sector 3 is the Pudong District and the many tall buildings made it difficult for Kitakami and Ooi to shoot over. Their scouts spotted several APCs and were given the coordinates. Kitakami calculated her angle of attack and fired her guns at the estimated coordinated. Kitakami's fighter, Samejima 1, confirmed the destruction of the APCs.

The Kitakami ChroniclesWhere stories live. Discover now