Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 250



Only Noblemtl

#250. First Victory (5)

A rather stimulating scent, completely different from the smell of gunpowder, stung my nose.

Shijin also took a cigarette out of the pack his brother was holding and lit it.

“To Hamheung?”

The old man took a drag on his cigarette and looked out across the Taedong River.

“Yes. This is not the final battlefield.”

He knew better than anyone that the fight here would never end.

Even though they had annihilated the Guards Division, they knew full well that they would never give up the fight or give up their ambitions for invasion.

“It’s a damn story, but the good times will probably end today. When the enemy’s follow-up troops land and start forming a front line, that will be the end of Pyongyang.”

“Hmm, that’s a sad story.”

“We can only delay the time when the end comes. Before that happens, we must prepare in advance. Let’s hope that today’s victory does not blind us···.”

I could roughly guess what they were talking about.

This probably means that they’re going to create other units similar to the Assault Infantry Regiment and prepare for the upcoming battles one by one.

Shijin nodded, trying to figure out how far his brother was thinking.

The silence continued until both of the cigarettes in their hands had burned out.

They had only just completed one campaign, and both knew that their enemies, enraged by their crushing defeat, would never give them another chance.

The first day of victory was coming to an end.

***

···There is always a price behind every great victory.

To be precise, it could be called a ‘terrible price’ in many ways.

Despite careful preparations, the number of casualties was so great that field hospitals along the front were overwhelmed, and the logistics and communications units were also screaming to cope with the greatly increased volume of supplies and communications.

This was in contrast to the victory celebration taking place around Pyongyang’s Pyeonggung Palace.

On one side, the observation corps was questioning the officers of the assault infantry regiment without distinction, and foreign correspondents who had just arrived at the scene were also looking for me here and there, as if this battle was some kind of big scoop.

“You can’t come here, journalists!”

“When will it be possible to have an interview with the Commander?!”

“Not now! The chief is currently busy preparing for the next battle! Instead, the commander of the office, Lieutenant General Min Yeong-chan···.”

The reporters who were trying to get in were blocked by military police officers and staff officers, but they ran away, leaving the acting commander of the Gwanseo Command, Lieutenant General Min Yeong-chan, who happened to be passing by, to stand in their place.

After briefly expressing my condolences to him who was being harassed by reporters, I slipped into my office, where documents brought by the quartermasters were waiting for me.

“Sir, could you please take a look at this?”

“···They really were just shooting out water.”

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the document submitted by the quartermaster corps.

This single battle consumed far more supplies than the Japanese army consumed in the entire First Sino-Japanese War.

The fact that 20,000 shells and 3 million rounds of various ammunition were used was enough to make the logistics unit grab the back of their necks.

“I haven’t told anyone yet, but… we’re running out of supplies, Commander.”

“French artillery ammunition is no longer being replenished, hmm···.”

The artillery command also spoke as if they had not anticipated this level of attrition.

Actually, it’s strange that I don’t consume this much when I’ve been happily shooting more than 50 rounds per day on average.

In the Nanshan area of ​​the Lushun Campaign, which could be said to be the fiercest battle during the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army is said to have used 30,000 shells and 2.8 million rounds of ammunition in just one day?

It would have been impossible not to be terrified if our military had poured out this much in one day at a similar level.

If this type of fighting continued, it would probably lead to a situation where you would have to count the ammo with your fingers while shooting, but there was no clear way yet.

All we can do is effectively use up the supplies we’ve stockpiled before the war.

“But we poured our ammunition on them and ultimately won. That is, we achieved both our strategic and tactical objectives. The Japanese First Army will probably not be able to use the Guards Division for the next few weeks.”

The victory achieved by pouring out ammunition was so sweet.

The enemy infantry brigade, cavalry regiment, and artillery regiment were virtually annihilated.

With only 7,000 casualties, the remaining 2,000 were taken prisoner and sent to a temporary facility on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

However, it was a headache because there were more than twice as many prisoners as expected.

First, the officers and non-commissioned officers had to be selected separately and moved back to facilities inside Pyongyang, and the rest had to be managed separately by requisitioning civilian homes.

Among them were some pretty big names, such as Major General Tadaburo Yamada, commander of the 1st Guards Brigade, who was captured by the Assault Infantry Regiment while fleeing.

My younger brother said he had captured him himself.

In any case, the enemy suffered the maximum possible losses.

“By the way, how did the counterattack from Heukyo go?”

“Oh, I’ll report on that part too.”

From what I’ve heard from subsequent reports, the counterattack operations have also gone quite well.

As the enemy was completely annihilated in Nampo, the remaining enemy units in Heukgyo Station also began to retreat hastily toward Sariwon.

It seemed that the 4th and 7th Cavalry Brigades pursued the fleeing enemies together, caught up with them in Hwangju, and inflicted considerable damage on them immediately afterwards.

And here, for a brief moment, I was optimistically predicting that I would be able to completely destroy the Guards Division.

It was thanks to the enemies whose tails had been bitten that they quickly collapsed.

If only those damn 12th Division troops hadn’t arrived.

Luckily for the enemy, the advance party of the Japanese 12th Division had already arrived in Sariwon.

The two sides briefly encountered each other and exchanged loud gunfire in the Hwangju area, but soon ended contact without causing any significant damage.

“Ehehe… The good times are all gone.”

I spoke honestly.

It would be very difficult to get another chance to defeat the enemy’s main force in this way.

Of course, the Guards Division itself was destroyed, but in other words, it also meant that two-thirds of the 1st Army’s strength was still lurking.

“If the chief of police prepares thoroughly once more… wouldn’t it be possible to annihilate the enemies who have crawled into Sariwon?”

“Wake up. Even if you suffer once, I won’t suffer twice. There’s no need to chase after them recklessly and then get counterattacked. Tell them to stop moving south and focus on restoring the first line of defense.”

Here we cannot become the Soviet forces in the Battle of Rzhev.

If we excitedly pursued the enemy as he retreated, claiming that we were expanding the battle, and then were counterattacked, it was obvious that we would be unable to control him.

Just as the French army led by Brigadier Négrier was fiercely pursued by the Qing army that won the Battle of Nangsŏn, they were counterattacked several times and collapsed.

So I ordered the 4th and 7th Brigades to withdraw their troops and focus on controlling the defensive line in the Hwangju area.

“And if the enemy’s entire 1st Army gathers, forms a front line, and starts pushing us forward, then we will have no choice but to engage in an unlimited war of attrition. We will not be able to display the rapid maneuver warfare that we are seeing now.”

The very act of forming a front line had that kind of meaning.

This means that they will lead the battlefield to a contest to see who can mobilize more supplies and troops by restricting the space in which friendly forces can maneuver and forcing the enemy’s firepower to the front lines.

“In this case, the enemy entered by giving up the front and the plane, so our army was able to surround them in a dot shape and annihilate them. However, we will not tolerate this anymore. If the enemy forms a front, organizes the front and the plane, and pushes our army forward, we will surely be suffocated.”

“If that happens, it will be difficult to hold out on the defensive lines outside Pyongyang···.”

As Lieutenant General Min Yeong-chan, who was looking serious from the side, said, it was inevitable that the defensive lines outside Pyongyang would become difficult to sustain.

Should we say that we had no choice but to face the enemy even though we knew all of their expected paths?

Moreover, in cases where the fight was heading towards this type of attrition, the one in the larger weight class had the advantage.

In a place where fighting was fluid and without front lines, when a front line was suddenly formed, victory or defeat was often decided in that way.

In the end, it will be a battle over who can more quickly and effectively push the front line by pouring in more troops and supplies, or who can maintain the front line.

“If that happens, we will have no choice but to hand Pyongyang and Uiju over to the enemies.”

“I thought you would enjoy the victory right away, but you are looking ahead to something bigger.”

“Ah, General Puchata. That’s the nature of a commander. The enemy will try to squeeze everything out of us to push us out of here.”

Of course, I had no intention of handing this place over to the enemies.

Even if we lose this place, the enemy will have to clear out the remaining friendly forces and their defenses.

“Still, it’s a bit of a shame. If the 12th Division had only been a day, no, even half a day late, they could have finished off the entire Guards Division.”

“Don’t worry, Commander, I’ve already rendered you half-crippled. This victory is very important, anyway.”

He spoke to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. He must have already had a few drinks, because I could smell a strong alcohol smell coming from him.

“The construction of defense facilities in Lushun is showing some progress. Thanks to your victory, the city will have stronger defenses.”

So what was the fate of Sevastopol? Did it not eventually collapse?

I said, emptying the glass I was holding.

“Rather than that, the direction of this war will depend on how quickly reinforcements arrive from the West, General. Don’t you all know that without reinforcements, the defense of the fortress in Lushun will end in tragedy?”

“Well, it will take several more months for the mainland troops to arrive, as the Trans-Siberian Railway lines in many places are not yet completed.”

“If that were to happen, our Korean Empire would have already handed over Pyongyang and Uiju. All troops would have withdrawn toward Hamgyeong Province.”

I subtly pressured him, suggesting that without significant reinforcements from the mainland, the Pyongyang defense line could not be maintained for long. Brigadier General Puchata seemed to notice this and shook his head as he continued his story.

“Don’t judge what hasn’t happened yet. The most severe winter is coming soon. The Ministry of Transport has urgently consulted with the Ministry of the Interior to build a temporary railroad over the frozen lake, and construction has already begun. We plan to send all the troops called up from the Siberian Military District to Manchuria, so don’t worry too much.”