90 years ago, the Northeast Navy and the Soviet fleet fought a battle on the same river, which was the only naval battle between China and the Soviet Union. It all started with the Middle East Road incident.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Tsarist Russia was allowed to enter the northeast. In order to plunder resources, Tsarist Russia built a "East Qing Railway" that ran through the northeast and was more than 2,400 kilometers long, which was called "China Eastern Railway" during the Republic of China, referred to as the Middle East Railway.
The Middle East Railway is centered on Harbin, with the main line stretching west to Manchuria and the Suifen River in the east, connecting with the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia. The branch line runs from Harbin via Changchun to Dalian in the south (after the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Japan took control of the Dalian-Changchun section).
After the October Revolution in Russia, Lenin renounced his interests in China and returned the Middle East railway to China. However, after Lenin's death, the Soviet Union led by Stalin did not recognize the account and reached an agreement with the Beiyang government to jointly manage the Middle East Railway. Zhang Zuolin, who controlled the northeast, was very dissatisfied, or chose to be patient.
In 1928, Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by the Japanese. After taking over, the young marshal Zhang Xueliang did two major things: one was to "change the banner in the northeast" and declare obedience to the Nationalist government in Nanjing led by Chiang Kai-shek; and the second major thing was to try to drive out the Soviets and reclaim the Middle East railway.
The repossession of the railway concerns national sovereignty, and Chiang Kai-shek certainly expressed his support for why not. There was another reason for Zhang Xueliang's move, if the Soviet side did not back down, it would be resolved by war and establish its prestige in the Northeast Army. The problem was that the young and vigorous young marshal did not understand the details of the Soviet Union and underestimated his opponents. The Soviet Union was no longer the Tsarist Russia that had lost to Japan.
In July 1929, Zhang Xueliang announced the revocation of the Soviet-controlled management of the Middle East Railway, and ordered the arrest and expulsion of Soviet personnel of the Railway Administration. The Soviet Union expressed its willingness to negotiate a settlement with the Nanjing government, but the Nanjing government took a tough attitude. Stalin was obviously enraged, and the Soviets quickly formed the "Far Eastern Special Army Group" and began to gather troops on the northeast border.
The Northeast Army was waiting in a tight position. At first, the two sides exchanged fire sporadically.
From mid-October onwards, Soviet troops in place began a massive attack on the Northeast Army. The two sides have invested more than 200,000 people in the navy, land and air forces. This is the famous Middle East Road incident.
On October 12, the Battle of Tongjiang broke out.
The Tongjiang River is formed by the confluence of the Heilongjiang And Songhua Rivers, commonly known as the Mixed River. The confluence of the Three Rivers is also called the Three Rivers Estuary. The Soviets planned to attack Tongjiang County, Heilongjiang, and then move west. The Northeast Navy's River Defense Fleet guards the area from Tongjiangkou to Tongjiang County, and is the first line of defense, bearing the brunt of it.
The Soviet Navy's Heilongjiang River Fleet launched an attack with 9 warships, including 3 Lenin-class shallow-water heavy gunboats with a displacement of 1,000 tons and 8 120 mm guns, with fierce firepower. The armor protection of this gunboat is also relatively strong.
Looking at the river defense fleet led by Shen Honglie, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Navy, it is rather pitiful. Among the 8 warships of the Jiangfang Fleet, only three light warships of Jiangheng, Lijie and Lisui were the main forces, of which the Lijie, which had the largest tonnage, was only 310 tons, and its firepower was relatively weak. The remaining few were wooden-hulled ships converted from merchant ships, which were even more vulnerable.
In fact, the strength of the Northeast Navy was very strong among various warlords, and it also had more than 4,000 tons of cruisers, which was much stronger than the Soviet warships in the Battle of Tongjiang. The problem is that big guys like the Haixi have a deep draft and cannot be used for river defense.
It can be said that a shallow-water heavy gunboat of the Soviet Navy can compete with the entire river defense fleet guarding the Tongjiang River, not to mention that the number of Soviet ships is still superior. This battle is simply impossible to fight.
Shen Honglie knew this very well, but he could only stick to the top of his scalp. Before the war, Shen Honglie replaced the guns on the two capital ships with 76 mm guns with larger caliber guns to enhance their attack power. But the guns were still unable to sink the Soviets' shallow-water heavy gunboats. 、
What to do? Shen Honglie was helpless and suddenly made a strange move. Before the war, he found an abandoned cargo ship and loaded it with two 120 mm naval guns as mobile batteries. The unpowered cargo ship was dragged by a warship to the swampy area at the mouth of the river, using reed swings as cover, ready to ambush the Soviet fleet.
In the early morning of October 12, nine Soviet warships invaded Tongjiangkou, and more than 20 aircraft and more than 3,000 infantry fought together. The total tonnage of Soviet warships is close to 5,000 tons, while the ships dispatched by the Northeast Army, plus the cargo ships that fought ambushes, are only 6, and the total tonnage is only more than 1,000 tons. The Combined Marines were only 300 men.
The disparity between the enemy and us is so great, but the Northeast Navy has not flinched, and everyone has bravely faced the enemy.
The Soviet fleet fired two salvos of fire, which wounded the only regular warships of the Northeast Army, the Lijie and Lisui, and the main guns of the Lisui were destroyed, and the commander and 6 gunners were all killed.
The Northeast Navy fought back. During the fierce fighting, the flagship Lytjet was sunk by Soviet artillery fire. The Lisui was then surrounded by enemy ships, and the remaining main guns were blown away. The soldiers of the Northeast Army on the ship killed the red eye, and actually used the two machine guns on the deck to strafe the enemy ship, which of course could not help the other side. Soviet shells rained down, and the deck of the Lisui was covered with blood and flesh, and finally only the captain Huang Xun was left.
The Lisui completely lost the ability to fight back, and would sink after a few more shots. Captain Huang Xun had no choice but to order a breakout. The Soviets, believing that the Lisui had been completely destroyed, gave up the pursuit.
Next, a shallow-water heavy gunboat of the Soviet Army sank the gunboat Jiangping, which had a wooden shell structure in the Northeast Navy, in just 10 minutes. Saying that it is a gunboat, in fact, there are only 4 machine guns and 1 mortar on the Jiangping, and hitting the enemy ship is just scratching the itch.
The Northeast Navy had lost its main force, but the cargo ship Dong B, which was hiding behind the reeds, had made a great contribution. It constantly fired 120 mm shells in the cover, hitting enemy ships several times. The Soviet flagship, the Shernov, was hit by several shells, a turret was blown away, and dozens of people were killed or wounded on the deck.
The Soviets were initially blown up and did not know where the shells were coming from. It was so easy to find the East B, and the Soviet fleet immediately hit the fire and bombarded. The East B had reeds as cover, and the hull was very low, making it difficult for shells to hit. It continued to fire at enemy ships.
The Soviets turned their gunfire to the tugboat Jiang'an on the Dong B. After a while, the boiler on the Jiang'an was hit, and in a violent explosion it broke into two pieces and sank into the river. Almost none of the ship's warriors survived. The Jiangtai, which rushed to the rescue, encountered the Soviet thousand-ton warship, which was soon sunk, and the captain Mo Yaoming was killed.
After an hour and a half of fierce fighting, 4 of the 5 warships of the Northeast Navy were sunk and 1 was incapacitated, leaving only the Dong B, which could not move but had been bombarding the enemy ships. The Soviet fleet began to deal with it with all its might. Eventually, in the overwhelming artillery fire of the Soviet army, the East B was severely damaged, and two guns were blown up and forced to sink themselves. The surviving warriors on board dived and escaped.
In this battle, the Northeast Navy's river defense fleet was almost completely destroyed, with more than 300 casualties. Four Soviet warships were wounded, of which 3 were badly damaged. It was all hit by the East B. The Northeast Army estimated that the Soviet casualties were no less than 100, but the Soviets announced casualty figures of only more than 30.
Throughout the Middle East Road incident, the Northeast Army ended in a fiasco. However, the northeast army's performance in the Battle of Tongjiang was heroic, although it was defeated.
After the Battle of Tongjiang, the Soviet army attacked the county town of Tongjiang with superior troops, and the Northeast Army defending the city had only one battalion and one marine brigade, and the same desperate battle was fought. After five hours of holding out, the county seat of Tongjiang fell. Li Siting, the leader of the Marine Corps, was killed.
Reference: Middle East Road Incident