Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 199



Only Noblemtl

#199. Modern Warfare (5)

“What? You pierced it?”

“The 3rd Battalion has broken through the enemy’s perimeter and has advanced to what is presumed to be the enemy command post. Although the remaining enemy forces are putting up strong resistance, the battle is already completely over!”

Major General Kikoshi clenched his fists as he watched the 3rd Battalion troops climb almost to the top of Mount Juan while shouting “Manse!”

“Very good! Deploy the entire remaining battalion.”

He declared that it was now time to mobilize the reserves and expand the battle, and ordered the deployment of two additional battalions.

“All right!”

As the 12th Division main force continued to advance, the 23rd Brigade expanded in size to a level comparable to the mixed brigades formed during the war with China, and demonstrated the ability to mobilize reserve forces.

If the ROK Army had only four battalions, the 23rd Brigade had six battalions, plus six battalions of ROK troops stationed there, and three battalions had arrived as reinforcements from the 12th Division headquarters, so the difference in strength was about 4 to 15.

Even in simple numerical terms, it was close to four times.

Of course, there were differences in detailed formation, and when looking only at the strength of battalions of the same level, the Korean army had slightly more combat troops, so the Japanese army was slightly inferior in firepower between battalions, but war was not fought only between battalions.

It was a fighting unit organized into regiments and brigades made up of battalions, divisions made up of regiments and brigades, and armies, which were larger units.

So, it would be safe to say that the small advantages that the Korean army has do not mean much to them, who are moving forward with a larger formation to see the battle situation.

An entire regiment of the 23rd Brigade was holding the Korean troops at Juansan and Mansusan, so if an entire regiment were to be thrown into the remaining breakthrough, they would be finished.

“Brigadier General! The enemy is now finished!”

“I know. The road to Gyeongseong is finally open.”

He laughed bitterly. How would he feel if he could successfully break through what Lieutenant General Hasegawa had failed to do?

Major General Kikoshi was thinking that he might be promoted. Wasn’t it said that the essence of infantry was to fight faithfully to the doctrine, neutralize all enemy plans, and finally plant the flag in the enemy’s camp?

“It looks like the enemy’s reserves have been almost completely depleted.”

He clicked his tongue and looked at the Taegeukgi and the enemy brigade flags waving precariously. They too would soon be replaced by the Japanese Empire’s Rising Sun Flag.

“They have fewer troops than us to begin with. Still, they will meet a glorious end.”

As Frederick the Great, the so-called Lord of Prussia, said, a commander without a reserve force is just a spectator on the battlefield.

Major General Kikoshi respected the abilities of the Korean brigade commanders and their fighting spirit, but he had no intention of conceding victory to them.

He intended to make the Korean brigade commanders a spectator on the battlefield and trample on the enemies who had exhausted their reserves as an example.

It was an unspoken warning that if they resisted, this would be what would happen.

“The enemy’s artillery fire has stopped. Something is strange. We should be careful as they may be preparing to launch a surprise artillery attack on our advancing units.”

“Did they run out of ammunition or were they disabled by friendly fire? Weren’t the North Korean artillery suppressed to some extent by yesterday’s bombardment of Juansan and beyond?”

One of his staff members warned him, feeling uneasy that the enemy’s artillery fire had stopped, but Major General Kikoshi ignored him.

Artillery could not exert a proper combat power without infantry or cavalry. Furthermore, given the nature of enemy artillery, which relied on indirect fire, it was believed that artillery alone could not exert a significant combat power.

It was true that a tremendous amount of artillery fire had come in, but I thought there must have been a reason for the lack of accuracy, but now was not the time to worry about that.

Now was the moment when they could achieve a complete victory over the enemies, and the ‘something on the edge of the artillery’ that fired indirectly in addition to the main artillery did not seem to be of much help in reducing the breakthrough as they were pouring in urgent areas rather than operating them intensively.

Major General Kikoshi made a gesture of greeting the Korean army, who had no more cards to offer, saying that this was truly the last time.

Well, no matter how much you strengthen your military power and how desperately you resist, the fundamental difference in power is unavoidable.

But at that moment, an ominous gunshot was heard from afar. It was clear that it was not fired by the 12th Division artillery unit to which Major General Kikoshi had been assigned.

The wind was slowly changing. Perhaps the evil goddess of victory was turning her back on the Japanese army today.

***

“We have no more ammunition left, Captain.”

Hong Beom-do regrouped the remaining troops.

The enemy’s platoon-sized force was completely destroyed by using up all the remaining grenades and rifle bullets in the enemy’s offensive, but our forces also suffered losses close to annihilation.

On the right, Sergeant Min Yeong-gi was leaning against the trench wall, slowly dying.

He fought like a lion and showed the courage of a tiger, but he could not turn the tide of the battle.

The price paid for enduring repeated stabs by enemy bayonets and bullets until he could no longer fight was horrific.

He still looked at the battle going on around him, holding the broken sword and the revolver in his hand, which made only a clicking sound no matter how many times he pulled the trigger.

The brigade headquarters was virtually annihilated. It was almost completely destroyed along with the attacking enemy.

All around were enemy soldiers in blue uniforms and wounded and dead friendly soldiers in khaki uniforms.

There was no telling who would win this mad battle, but it seemed like it wouldn’t come back to them, at least not right away.

“Check the remaining troops and ammunition.”

There’s probably not much left anyway, but if there’s even a glimmer of hope, I should do something about it.

Hong Beom-do searched through the magazine and counted the remaining clips. There were now only two clips with bullets still in them.

“We are running low on ammunition. We only have one or two five-round clips left. Our troops are…”

I could tell without you having to say anything.

Among these countless corpses strewn about, there are now only about twenty people who are moving properly.

The trenches and trenches were filled with the breathless. With death everywhere, there was only one thing the living could do.

“Don’t waste the life you have left. If you can’t stay here alive, then hold on even if it means dying.”

There was still no sign of reinforcements. The ammunition that was lacking was to be secured by searching through the ammunition racks of the fallen soldiers, or if that was still insufficient, they were to be ordered to capture enemy equipment and use it, so that was all that was needed.

“The grenades are now completely exhausted.”

“······.”

Although rifle ammunition could be replenished somehow, there was nothing that could be done about hand grenades, which were the most important defensive weapon that the infantry could use.

There was probably a lot of ammunition piled up at Saha Point on Bugae Mountain, but there was no one to bring it.

It was there to be exact, but it must have oxidized and gone to rest somewhere in the traffic light.

“The enemy has suffered heavy casualties, but they know we don’t have much left, so they will attack soon. Distribute the remaining ammunition as much as possible…”

I knew it was completely meaningless, but I couldn’t give up on that glimmer of hope.

The dying brigade commander had been urging them to hold on, saying that troops from the 3rd Battalion would arrive soon, but the artillery had stopped firing for some time.

I couldn’t give them exact coordinates because the landline was disconnected, but I felt a sense of discomfort from their sudden silence, even though they had said there was no damage.

“The enemy.”

Hong Beom-do, who was lost in thought for a long time, was woken by the voice of the 1st Platoon Leader of the Search Company who was still alive.

Although they had repelled all three attacks, the enemy was now regrouping their remaining forces and approaching as if this was truly their last attack.

With no more flying grenades or annoying grenade cans exploding above their heads, they began to approach with pride.

And then I noticed follow-up units that the enemy had clearly sent to expand the breach behind me.

The 1st and 2nd Battalions were so busy protecting their own fronts that they were unable to even attempt to exert any control over their respective borders.

“iced coffee···.”

Despair, more despair, burst out into the sighs of those who remained.

There was no place to run, no greater salvation.

A confrontation with enemy infantry lines that appeared to be outnumbered at least 5 to 1, or even 10 to 1 at best, was virtually suicidal.

“Coming···.”

From behind, the voice of Chief Min Yeong-gi was heard in a low voice. Hong Beom-do supported him.

“Brigadier General, what is coming?”

“The God of War is coming here···.”

He uttered an unintelligible word.

He seemed to be showing signs of delirium, as he was dying.

Hong Beom-do sometimes heard dying people seeing things and talking.

The brigade commander had lost a great deal of blood from his wounds, and the bodies of his staff members who had died protecting him lay cold around him.

“Brigadier General, everything will be over soon. Rest in peace.”

“Can’t you hear me now…? Soon… the god of war will come to the enemies.”

“······.”

I couldn’t figure out what the hell he was talking about.

He covered the brigade commander with his coat and leaned against the trench for the last battle.

And soon, an unbelievable sound could be heard.

From Bugae Mountain, the sound of shells tearing through the air was approaching along with the sound of gunfire.

***

“Comrades! Let’s give these bastards a taste of a storm of shrapnel and high-explosive rounds! Full-round effect, commence!”

“Shoot!”

“Shoot!”

The artillery battalion commander shouted out the coordinates he had received over the phone and assigned them to each battery.

Battery commanders raised red flags and gave the order to fire, and while the gunners pulled on the strings, the battery squad leaders gave the order to load the shells and fired rapidly.

As the smoking shell fell from the cannon, a smooth new shell was immediately loaded and the action began again.

As the shelling continued, the tinnitus did not go away even with the cotton balls stuffed in the ears by the artillerymen.

“Batteries 1 and 2, blow off the enemy’s heads with shrapnel, and Battery 3, blow off the enemy’s heads with high-explosive bombs!”

“Adjust the fuse to explode in midair!”

Not long after the simultaneous opening of the gates, Morse codes poured out from the wire telegraph. The telegraph operator immediately deciphered them, and the following message emerged:

-First bullet hits, fire at the same time.

The expression on the battalion commander’s face as he received it seemed extremely satisfied. It was a shame that he could not see with his own eyes the shrapnel and high-explosive shells falling on the heads of the enemies.

“What a great observation team.”

The battalion commander looked toward the observation team and spoke. Even in the midst of fierce fighting, the observation team members were requesting concentrated fire from the artillery battalion to block the Japanese follow-up units that were advancing toward the battle line between the 1st and 2nd battalions.

The observation party, still stationed on the high ground on the extreme right of the front line, was watching the enemy’s advance with their eyes gleaming from among the dry leaves and grass, well hidden among the beets.

They listened to the noise of the fierce battle between the Japanese offensive units rushing toward Juansan and the friendly forces defending, and were busy transmitting coordinates by typing Morse code on a wired telegraph connected directly to the artillery unit.

Their original mission was to report enemy movements, maneuver directions, or special situations every 10 to 30 minutes so that the brigade command post in Juansan could properly command the battle, but at some point, this stopped happening properly.

The reason for this was probably that either the telephone lines had been cut by the shelling, or the main Japanese offensive was now heading towards the command post.

In preparation for such a situation, the brigade commander ordered the observation team to make its own judgment and link up with the artillery unit in case the artillery support could not be properly controlled due to unavoidable circumstances just before the battle, and he intuitively felt that the moment was approaching.

This choice may be too late, though.

The battalion commander responded that it was fortunate that all landline and telegraph lines with the command post had been cut off, and that they should hunt down as many enemies as possible.

“If the enemy is mistaken, it is that our 3rd Brigade has no more reserves. But the real last reserve is us.”

He gritted his teeth and went into battle with a strong determination to retaliate with firepower for the poor dying infantrymen.