This article is published with the permission of Zhou Hongxin, a friend of the director of the factory (with some modifications)
Speaking of the first attack on the Japanese mainland in World War II, everyone knows that it was the bold surprise attack on April 18, 1942, led by Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle, 16 B25 bombers from the aircraft carrier Hornet. But little is known about the first U.S. military landing on the Japanese mainland and launching a ground attack, which came from the crew of the TOTOABA submarine (SS220). So how did this submarine launch this surprise attack, this article will present you with a wonderful scene more than 70 years ago.
The totoaba submarine
The emblem of the "Totoaba"
The Totoaba submarine is one of the famous Shark class submarines in the United States in World War II, construction began on June 7, 1941, was completed on April 2, 1942, and entered service on July 8 of that year.
Initially, the craft served in the Atlantic Fleet, and its first mission was to conduct reconnaissance of the North African coast in October 1942 to gather intelligence for Operation Torch, a Allied attack on North Africa. Subsequently, the boat took part in the blockade of the sea lines of communication in the European Axis-controlled areas, but in several combat patrol missions the Totoaba did not catch any and returned empty-handed.
After wasting nearly a year of bland military career in the European Theater. The totoaba was transferred to the Pacific ocean in September 1943, which became an important turning point in its service life. In January 1944, the renovated submarine Totoaba at Pearl Harbor welcomed its new captain, Major Eugene Bennett Vladimir. He is a brilliant ace captain known as "Lucky Vladimir".
Major Eugene Bennett Vladimir standing next to the "Totoaba" bridge
After taking office, Vladimi repeatedly commanded the "Totoaba" to attack the Japanese Navy and merchant ships, sinking 17 Japanese ships, including the escort aircraft carrier "Yunying" and the ad hoc cruiser "Gokomaru", with a total tonnage of 96628 tons! It was one of the best American submarines in World War II and created many amazing wonders.
An art work depicting the sinking of the "Totoaba" escort aircraft carrier "Cloud Eagle"
On 8 June 1945, the Totoaba began its 12th combat patrol under the command of Major Vladimir. The Totoaba made some improvements before departure, the 127 mm deck gun replaced the original 76 mm gun, greatly enhancing the ability of surface artillery warfare, in addition to facilitating the attack on coastal targets, the Totoaba also brought a detachable 127 mm rocket launcher.
The totoaba's reserved combat area was the Sea of Japan, so Major Vladimi commanded the submarine to plunge directly into the Sea of Okhotsk. At this time, there were only two months left before the end of Japanese imperialism, and the once developed Japanese shipping industry was close to total paralysis. Due to the abundance of wolves and the lack of meat, many U.S. submarines hunting near the Japanese archipelago can only return empty-handed, but the luck of the "Totoaba" submarine is really not to say.
The submarine "Totoaba" photographed in April 1945 has a 40 mm gun at the front and rear of the bridge, and a 127 mm gun on the rear deck
At 00:15 a.m. on June 21 (the 13th day of the voyage), the submarine's radar caught two small signals near the coastline near Kungo Island, and the submarine then headed in the direction of the target and approached only 1,000 yards away from the target, but it was impossible to distinguish whether it was two ordinary cargo ships or Japanese patrol boats in the dark sea. The submarine then followed the target unhurriedly and waited for the plane. At 3:18, with the help of the faint morning light, the submarine's watchtower finally saw that these were two 100-ton sailing ships that were engaged in fishing operations, and in order to avoid wasting torpedoes, Vlachi ordered the use of deck guns to attack, 127 mm deck guns against fishing boats in the rear, 40 mm machine guns against the front of the position, and the Japanese on 2 fishing boats returned fire with small guns and machine guns installed on the ships, but under the attack of the American troops, the insignificant counterattack was quickly shattered, and the 2 fishing boats were torn to pieces.
Japanese fishing boats during World War II
At 1:50 a.m. on June 22, the Totoaba approached the town of Shari in Hokkaido, and the crew installed rocket launchers on the deck, and at 2:34 a.m., the submarine sailed to the sea about 4,300 meters away from the town of about 20,000 people, and with Vlaki's order, the attack began! 12 rounds of 127 mm rockets took off in 5 seconds, dragging their tongues of fire into a main street in the center of town in the dark of the night, and then the crew saw the fire of the rocket explosion and heard a rumbling explosion, the town exploded chickens and dogs jumped, but the excited crew was disappointed to find that the rocket attack did not ignite the fire after a while. However, in order to avoid being counterattacked by the Japanese naval and air forces, the "Totoaba" withdrew after fighting and sailed towards the Japanese-occupied Birch Island (known in China as Sakhalin Island, and the Soviet Union called Sakhalin Island) near the Soviet coastline.
On 23 June, the Totoaba approached the Gulf of Dolega (known as Terpenier Bay in the Soviet side) on the eastern coast of the middle section of Birch Island, and at 3:46 a.m., the crew spotted a wooden trawler of about 150 tons, so the submarine immediately leaned up.
At 4:23, the barrel of the Totoaba's 40 mm anti-aircraft gun was flat and opened fire on the target, and the Japanese ship was still returning fire after being hit continuously, but after the 127 mm deck gun also joined the attack, the Japanese ship's resistance was disintegrated. Vladimir ordered the boarding squad to be prepared to capture a live, but was shot by the Japanese's machine gun as he approached more than 600 meters away from the Japanese ship, but did not hit anything. So the submarine's deck guns began firing again, and the unfortunate ship directly became a torch, and eventually the Americans succeeded in capturing a Japanese crew member who fell into the water, and he was lucky, because the unlucky ghosts who fell into the water with him froze to death.
At 19:10 on 26 June, the Totoaba spotted three Japanese transport ships, but these ships had only a fairly strong escort force (including 1 Akizuki-class destroyer, 2 coastal defense ships and 2 submarine drives). Captain Vladimir did not flinch and ordered an attack with the cutting-edge MK28 passive sound-guided torpedo. But unfortunately, after the 2 torpedoes were fired, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, and the "totoaba" could only give up the attack and choose to dive.
At 12:45 on June 29, the Totoaba spotted a Japanese convoy, this time with 1 Akizuki-class destroyer and 2 submarines, as well as aircraft patrolling the air. The "totoaba" was even worse lucky this time, not only did not shoot all 6 MK28 torpedoes, but also the plane found the periscope, and after being hit by a depth charge, it was hidden until 19:50 before daring to float.
At 5:30 a.m. on July 2, the Totoaba approached the west coast of Japan's Seal Island (now under Russian rule), a small island that is only 600 meters long, 100 meters wide and 18 meters above sea level. The island has targets such as observation posts, warehouses, and radar stations set up by the Japanese Navy. The Totoaba approached all the way to 1,000 meters from the island, and then fired heavily with 127 mm deck guns and machine guns, the Japanese were caught off guard and did not resist at all, after the gunners of the Totoaba observed that there was an unmanned 75 mm gun on the shore, and then the 40 mm machine gun fired it into a pile of scrap iron. By about 10:00 a.m., the submarine had carried out three rounds of shelling, and did not leave satisfied until it was convinced that all the targets on the island had been destroyed.
A 40 mm machine gun at the front of the bridge of the Totoaba
On the morning of July 5, the Totoaba sneaked into the vicinity of Yating Bay (known as Anilva Bay) in the Japanese-occupied area of Birch Island, where reconnaissance aircraft said there were many targets, including railway ferries, barges, trawlers and warships. At 09:22, after some searching, the Totoaba found 2 railway ferries moored in the harbor, the target well camouflaged, and in the background of the cliff, the 2 ships were almost difficult to find. After admiring the excellent disguise of the Japanese, Vladimi noticed that a large ship was sailing out of the harbor, this ship looked like an American-made Liberty Ship, and since the Soviet Union had not yet severed diplomatic relations with Japan at that time, the two sides had trade exchanges, which may have been a U.S. Freedom Ship aiding the Soviet Union. In order to avoid accidental injury, Major Vladimir had to follow the target for a long time to determine the ship's flag.
Liberty wheel
After finally determining that it was a Japanese ship, Vladimir ordered an attack! At about 10 o'clock the "Totoaba" fired 3 torpedoes at the target with the bow of the boat, but as usual there was no hit, the undead "Totoaba" quickly turned around, using the stern's launch tube to fire 2 torpedoes at the target, this time it was a good character, and achieved hits: 1 torpedo hit the target (the other 1 torpedo hit the shore and exploded).
The middle mine was the merchant ship "Eleventh Sapporo Maru", and the torpedo split the ship in half on the spot, and quickly sank in a V-shape. Four crew members were killed, and the rest climbed into 3 lifeboats to be rescued. The Totoaba, on the other hand, dived to 80 feet and then withdrew at a low speed, and the two escorting Japanese ships indiscriminately dropped dozens of depth charges, of course, it was impossible to get hits.
An art work depicting the attack of "totoaba" on a Japanese transport ship
For several days afterward, the Totoaba continued to hunt in the four northern islands, shelling and strafing Targets such as Japanese fishing boats and coastal villages from time to time. It's been a lot of success along the way.
At about 15:00 on July 18, the "Totoaba" attacked a small convoy at Sainteng Lyu Cape in Arting Bay, first firing 2 torpedoes at the No. 112 coastal defense ship (a Type D coastal defense ship) that opened its way ahead, and 1 torpedo hit the stern of the ship, detonating a large number of depth charges stacked there, and after an earth-shattering explosion, the entire stern of the Japanese ship was blown away, and the sea water poured into the hull from the opening, and then the bow of the ship sank rapidly at an angle of nearly 90 degrees. Including captain Ishido Shunichiro Nakasa and 152 people were killed, only 4 people were rescued by the coastal defense ship "Zamshou", which arrived later.
The Totoaba then fired three more torpedoes at the 3,953-ton railway ferry Soya Maru, and Captain Mizuki Fukui of the Sotani Maru discovered the trail of the torpedo fired at it in time and steered it himself to evade it, but the torpedo failed to hit.
Ding-type coastal defense ship
The ship's artillery on board the "Soya Maru" immediately used 120 mm guns to fire at the submarine, but these temporarily recruited rookies roared and loaded the shells without removing the muzzle guards, resulting in the explosion of the guns and the blowing of the two gunners on the spot. As a passenger, Lieutenant Tetsuo Seto gathered several active Navy personnel from more than 700 passengers and maneuvered the ship's 25mm machine gun in a frenzied strafing direction the submarine could have, while using the depth charges carried on board to fire indiscriminately. At this time, the "totoaba" had run out of torpedoes, and could only watch the "Sogu Maru" turn around and flee back to the harbor.
"Mustani Maru" railway ferry
After this period of fighting, Captain Vladimir noted that the coastline in northern Japan was generally undefended, the amount of anti-potential was lackluster, and many facilities were built not far from the coastline, especially The Totoaba Island, which had been approached many times, and through the periscope a railway line (the Japanese Birch Taidong Line) could be clearly observed, and the train could be seen running on the line. A bold thought arose in the mind of Captain Vladimir Vladimir, how nice it would be to send a capable squad to the Japanese mainland for a surprise attack!
Vladimir then summoned his men to announce that he would organize a landing team to carry out a surprise attack, stressing that participation was completely voluntary. He had thought that this was a mission of nine deaths, and everyone might not be happy. Unexpectedly, most people were already tired of the dark life inside the submarine, and such a rare opportunity to go ashore made the sailors enthusiastically sign up. Even one of the Japanese crew prisoners who had been captured earlier asked to participate. He claimed to be familiar with the local situation, willing to be a loyal "leading party", and vowed that he would never run away, but no one cared what he thought. Faced with the overzealous officers and soldiers, Vladimi urgently formulated 4 principles for selecting people:
1, except for the electrician Hartfield (because he wants to set up the explosives detonation circuit), everyone else must be unmarried;
2. All units on the boat must send people to join the commando team;
3. Equal opportunities for active navy personnel and naval reserve servicemen;
4. At least half of the commandos must have participated in the Boy Scouts, because the Scouts are more experienced in the field, identifying directions in the woods, and marching.
Captain Vladimir originally intended to lead the team himself, but all the crew unanimously opposed it, in case he was killed or injured, it would be equivalent to the loss of unified command of the whole boat. They even threatened to report the incident directly to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Command if the captain insisted on going his own way, and in the end Vladimir had to compromise and let Lieutenant Walker lead the team.
(List of landing team members: Gun Captain Paul Sanders, Class III Electrician Billy Hartfield, Second Class Signal Corps Francis Sylvey, Class I Ship Cook Lawrence Newland, Third Class Torpedo Soldier Edward Collinsmith, Second Class Engineer James Richard, First Class Engineer John Marcuson, and Captain William Walker with team)
After the commando personnel were selected, everyone began to think about how to cause the Japanese as much damage as possible, because if they just blew up a section of railroad tracks, it would be too cheap for the Japanese! The unanimous idea of all the crew members is that it is best to blow up the train together! The usual blasting is to bury the explosives under the railway, pull the wire connecting the electric detonator to the nearby detonator to connect, and then press the detonator rod to detonate the explosive when the train passes, but this requires someone to wait in place to detonate the explosive, which takes too long and is easy to expose.
It was Hartfield who finally came up with the idea, he explained to everyone that the detonation circuit should be set up on two tracks, and when the metal wheels of the train passed the rail with the detonation circuit, the circuit was connected to form a circuit to induce explosives.
The 55-pound explosive used in this attack was originally intended to be used to explode the submarine's self-sinking "glory bomb" when it encountered the danger of being captured. But now the Japanese Navy is already a mud bodhisattva crossing the river itself, so it is natural to misappropriate these explosives.
In order to avoid hitting the grass and snakes, the Totoaba lurked for four days in a row and did not attack nearby Japanese ships and towns. At midnight on 22 July, the Totoaba sneaked out of the water, approached the coastline slowly with a low-noise electric motor, and finally anchored in the sea about 950 yards from the shoreline, Major Vladge wanted to say something in the face of the ready commando, but his mind was blank, and finally he said: "Guys, if things are not good, you will go all the way north, toward the Soviet-controlled North Island, the Soviet-occupied area is about 130 miles from here, and you will not get lost along the mountains." Good luck! He then ordered the 2 dinghies to be dropped, and 8 commandos boarded the dinghies and rowed to the dark-shrouded Japanese-occupied Birch Island. About 25 minutes later, the commandos managed to land on the Japanese mainland!
Because they did not find the predetermined navigation point, they missed the scheduled landing point, and the landing place was about 40 meters away from the backyard of a family (according to the plan, their landing point should be at least 700 meters away from the house). Fortunately, the family did not have a dog, but the long series of dense footprints left by the commandos on the beach were very clear in the bright moonlight and were likely to be found. But now that the arrows had been wound and had to be sent, there was not so much to worry about, and the commandos passed through waist-deep grass, crossed a road, and then turned over a drainage ditch more than 1 meter deep, and finally touched the side of the railway. According to the prior division of labor, 3 people are responsible for looking at the wind, 3 people are responsible for digging pits and burying explosives, and 2 people are used as mobile forces. The wind-watching Marcussen is in charge of inspecting a nearby water tower, the only commanding height nearby. Makusen climbed halfway up the ladder to the water tower only to find that there were Japanese sentries on the water tower! Fortunately, it was late at night, the sentry was sleeping soundly, did not notice him, and In a cold sweat, Marcussen crept down the ladder and flew toward his companions, warning them to pay more attention.
Marcussen's warning made the already highly nervous commandos even more nervous, and they became more and more careful to cut the pit, trying to keep the sound to a minimum. At this time a night train suddenly came from a distance, which surprised the commandos, they had not expected this situation beforehand, they hurriedly took weapons and tools and hid in the dense bushes nearby, and by the time they hid, the train had reached about 70 meters away from them, the snow light swept through the bushes, and everyone's blood seemed to coagulate, and it was difficult to wait for the shuttle to pass, and the commandos came out again to continue digging the pit. After 20 minutes, they finally dug a hole large enough to bury the explosives, and according to the prior plan, Hartfield left alone to set up the detonation circuit, and the others retreated to a safe distance, lest the old man lose his hand and give everyone a pot when he set up the circuit in the dark at night. Fortunately, Hartfield was skilled and quickly installed the detonation line. So the finished commandos began to move towards rapid beaches.
It was already 1:32 a.m. on July 23, and Captain Vladimi, who had been anxiously waiting for the commando on the submarine's command tower, suddenly noticed a light signal on the beach! This indicates that the commandos have completed their mission and are ready to return to the submarine. Major Vladimir carefully commanded the submarine to continue to the shore, straight to a distance of only more than 500 meters from the shore, where the sea was already very shallow, more than 1 meter more than the draft of the submarine, and the slightest carelessness could be stranded, resulting in a catastrophe. But Vladimir only considered bringing the commandos back to the submarine as soon as possible. At 1:45 a.m., the two dinghies had paddled almost half the distance, when suddenly a gunner who was monitoring the distance shouted: "Captain! Another train is coming fast! Not considering the danger of being discovered, Vladimir shouted at the commando boat with a megaphone: "Hurry up! ”
Two minutes later, a blinding orange-red light tore through the darkness of the night, followed by a violent explosion. The train struck a mine and exploded! The locomotive's locomotive's boiler exploded violently, and air waves threw large pieces of debris and engine debris high into the air. The carriages behind the front of the car then crashed into each other, exploded and burned, and in the night it was as spectacular as the fireworks of the festival. Five minutes later, the commandos boarded the deck and the Totoaba quickly swerved and headed for safety at a speed of 2 knots. Relieved, Captain Vladimi ordered: "All crew members, except for the duty officers, can go to the deck to watch the free fireworks display." ”
After a burst of cheers, the crew couldn't wait to climb up to the deck from the narrow hatch and watch their masterpiece: the train that had just been "sunk" by the submarine! Vladimir wrote in his journal afterwards: "I have never seen such a beautiful night scene.
According to Japanese records, the attack blew up a train with 16 carriages and 150 people, and because the Soviet Union occupied the Japanese-occupied Birch Island more than half a month later, the specific damage caused by this attack is unknown.
After a successful attack on the Japanese mainland, the Totoaba returned to its old business, sweeping up villages, towns and ports along the Coast of Japan. The weakness and sluggishness of japan's counter-potential deployed in the north allowed the U.S. military to completely ignore its existence! From the night of July 24 to the early morning of July 25, the Totoaba approached the village of Motopaku in Chitori Town, Onashi Island, and launched three rounds of rocket salvos, destroying many buildings. At 11:35 a.m. on June 25, in the sea near the village of Sanjiang on the Hokuchidari Peninsula, the "totoaba" fired 60 shells at the village in 30 minutes with a 127 mm deck gun, turning most of the village into a sea of fire, and destroying four 50-ton and 1 100-ton wooden fishing boats until the 127 mm shell inventory was completely destroyed.
At noon on 26 July, the Totoaba floated over the waters of a small town off the west coast of Kungo Island, then strafed the village with 40 mm and 20 mm machine guns, destroying a warehouse for 35 sampans, a shipbuilding workshop and a 100-ton trawler, and by the time the attack stopped, the town had been engulfed in smoke and fire, and about 60 percent of the town had been destroyed.
20 mm machine gun position at the rear of the bridge of the Totoaba
Captain Vladimir took a picture of himself standing at the 20 mm machine gun position on the bridge
After this battle, in view of the fact that the Totoaba had been on combat patrol for nearly 2 months and was running out of ammunition and supplies, the captain, Major Vladimir, decided to return. On 2 August, after completing this 54-day combat patrol, the Totoaba arrived at Midway.
The returning toad submarine
The bold attack by the crew of the Totoaba made them the first Allied soldiers to land on the Japanese mainland in World War II, and they proudly painted their record, a train, on their own. For the outstanding performance of the "Totoaba" submarine, she has been awarded the Presidential Collective Commendation Order, the Naval Collective Commendation Order, the Asian and Pacific Operations Medal with 8 Combat Stars, the World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal, and her captain, Major Vladge, was personally nominated by The Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz, for this outstanding performance.
Eugene Bennett Vladimir, who was promoted to rear admiral after the war