Bloody Saturday (14-Aug-37)

Background:

On 13-Aug-37, the Japanese attacked Nanking with land-based naval bombers (G3M) as part of its attack on China. The next day, the Chinese tried to strike back. The Chinese air force launched its own attacks on Japanese targets in Shanghai. Shanghai was one of the great cosmopolitan cities of the world, where China and the West met.

The weather was poor. A typhoon was on its way up from the south. Chinese Northrop bombers took off from Guangde, about 120 miles west of Shanghai with Curtiss Hawk II dive-bombers supporting them. About 40 planes arrived over Shanghai, which was covered in thick cloud. The Curtiss Hawks began dive-bombing the Japanese Marine headquarters at the Kung Ta textile mills while Northrop Gamma 2Es attacked Japanese cruisers and supply ships at Wusong and the Japanese warship Idzumo, moored next to the Japanese consulate on the Whangpoo River, which served as the Japanese military headquarters. They missed. When the Japanese fired back they panicked and dropped two bombs too early. One bomb hit the Cathay Hotel and the other the Palace Hotel, next door.

One of the 550-pound bombs fell at the crowded intersection of Nanking Road and the Bund while two more bombs from a Northrop fell on bustling Avenue Edward VII. The bombs caught crowds of onlookers gazing up at the planes and the loss of life was appalling - 1,740 people killed and 1,873 injured.

According to Claire Chennault, the Chinese airmen had been trained to bomb from 7,500 feet, but the thick cloud made it necessary to come in much lower, and they released their bombs at 1,500 feet without adjusting their bombsights.

Another possibility is that the bomb racks, notoriously tempermental, released early when the arming switches were thrown. This would better account for the bombs falling where they did, according to some. The damage may even have been caused by or compounded by bombs jettisoned or dropped from a Japanese aircraft in the clouds above. In war strange things happen.

Game Length: 20 turns

Setup:

• HMIJS Idzumo is anchored near the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai in the Whangpoo as indicated on the map.
• · USS Augusta, British destroyers, and the French light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet are also on the map as indicated.
• Bombers may enter from any side in two vics. The second vic enters 1D6 turns later than the first. All bombers are at 5.5, in level flight below the ceiling

Special Rules:

1. All Chinese pilots aim as if skill level was 1 level lower than pilot skill
2. Hitting the building on shore (except for the Japanese Consulate) earns points for the Japanese player.
3. Hitting the vessels of nations other than Japan earns points for the Japanese player. Scoring a hit or near miss (hex next to) the vessels of nations other than Japan allows the Japanese players to use the AAA on those vessels.

Additional Rules:

1. Pilot Quality:
   • Option 1: Treat all pilots as Reg for piloting rolls, and green for combat rolls
   • Option 2: Roll for skill levels on Limited table. Note special rule 1.
2. Treat all the Chinese aircraft as bombing without a bombsight (+40)
3. Conditions: Ceiling = 2.0+1D10 in increments.
4. The Gamma 2E is not a divebomber, and is not equipped to bomb from a vertical dive.

Source:

• Sinking of the Panay
• The Flying Tigers
• Ding Hao: America's Air War in China, Cornelius and Short, pp 202-6

Tales of Old China

ADC availability:

• The Northrop Gamma 2E is available from Uncle Ted's.
• The Idzumo SDC is available from Uncle Ted's.

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