Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 281
Only Noblemtl
#281. Into the Valley of Death (1)
Up until now, the 2nd Division was the only 1st Army unit that did not fail in operations immediately after the expedition to Joseon.
Although they were defeated at Hwangju, they played a major role in the 1st Army’s safe withdrawal to Gaeseong by stopping the fast Roske cavalry on their own front and preventing a breakthrough from the flank.
In contrast, the 12th Division was criticized from all sides for not only failing to clear Juansan early, but also failing to expand its victory after breaking through the first line in the Battle of Hwangju, giving the enemy an opportunity.
This was the extent of it. The Guards Division was criticized for completely destroying the division itself and ruining the war plan, so it couldn’t help but be miserable.
That is why, unlike other division commanders, he did not want to leave a stain on the battlefield for the 2nd Division.
“If we fail, the first army will be called a loser and a loser. We have to find a way out!”
No matter what happened, no matter the cost, the 2nd Division had to restore the honor of the 1st Army, which had fallen to rock bottom.
But that kind of atmosphere was not permitted to them.
At least the staff was looking at the situation relatively coolly.
“···If we wait another day, none of us will be able to see the commander’s face alive. We have entered too deep into enemy territory. Perhaps the enemy has known since we turned back from Anju to Hamheung.”
A tense atmosphere filled the command center.
Now that I think about it, the enemy’s intelligence power was actually better than I thought.
Whenever they bragged about having decrypted messages from the Imperial General Headquarters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or high-ranking Korean officials who had defected, they had not been able to obtain a single piece of proper information on the enemy.
Enemies actively took advantage of such points, hid their intentions, sometimes distorted them, and sometimes employed deception, gradually leading the war into a quagmire.
It was as if there was no sign of the enemies retreating from Pyongyang or of their movements in the rear.
And the information they had wasn’t just kept at the top.
With that information available to frontline commanders, they chose the most critical moments and locations.
“During the morning battle, there were nearly 2,000 casualties in the 15th Brigade alone. The 4th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade was also destroyed, and a battalion was completely crushed. Division Commander, it is difficult to collect casualties here. I strongly recommend that you first collect the wounded who are still able to move and retreat.”
“To fight and die is the right thing for a soldier to do!”
“But you know what is being said at home right now. The cabinet is in a tight spot due to the defeat at Jinnampo. If we too are defeated, there will be no turning back. We must retreat and reorganize our ranks even now.”
The division commander listened to the gunfire coming from nearby with a distorted expression.
It wasn’t a concentrated barrage like before, but rather scattered bombs falling over a wide area.
This may not have been fatal, but it was enough to keep the exhausted soldiers awake.
“Your Excellency, the artillery has arrived.”
“Oh, really? That’s good to hear. The platoon must have arrived, so let’s first prepare plenty of food to feed the soldiers…”
“I, it’s true that the artillery unit came···.”
The staff member who came in to report was dragging out his words and not even thinking about swallowing them.
Perhaps overcome by anxiety, the chief of staff, with blood dripping from his head instead of the division commander, jumped up from his seat and shouted.
“What the hell? Why are you hesitating?!”
“To be exact, only people came. The enemy is said to have ambushed the artillery and garrison units.”
“No, please explain it to me so I can understand. Why on earth?!”
“They say that enemy infantry was waiting in ambush in the mountains. It seems that all equipment and supplies were abandoned, and only a few survivors escaped.”
“What…? So you’re saying we’re surrounded or something?”
Instead of the division commander who was too surprised to close his mouth, the chief of staff spoke with a trembling voice, but there was no particular answer.
Because it was obvious that even if I answered, the answer I got would be one that denied reality.
Or maybe they don’t want to bother with a confirmation kill because the answer would be too obvious.
Either way, it was clear that the 2nd Division was in a situation where it could not move.
Now, all that was left for them was to retreat.
The staff insisted that the 29th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade, which was still in good condition, should be left to provide rearguard protection, and that the 15th Brigade, which had suffered heavy damage, should be withdrawn first.
Of course, the 3rd Brigade Commander was angry, saying that his unit was being used as cannon fodder, but no matter how much he looked around, he had no choice but to admit that there were no troops left that could fight properly.
They decided to withdraw as much as possible at night so that the North Koreans would not notice, and before the division commander could say anything else, they quickly began to withdraw sequentially, starting with the 15th Brigade troops.
Now we really had to get out before the Joseon bastards completely surrounded our retreat route.
It was still uncertain whether the 29th Regiment would be able to hold out until all of the 2nd Division’s troops had withdrawn, but it was the only tactic they had at the moment.
***
The crunching sound of dry-bread could be heard from all directions.
Cooking oil extracted from soybeans, which could be called a specialty of Hamheung in large quantities, and bread fried with soybeans, as well as cider produced by the Hamheung Lemonade Company, were special foods that delighted both officers and soldiers alike.
Under the slogan that only a properly fed and properly clothed army can fight properly, this special meal was prepared thanks to the dedication and effort of the rear quartermaster command.
“It’s quite an unusual sweet.”
“Ah, this is a delicacy that only our Korean military can enjoy. There is plenty of it, so I hope you enjoy it to your heart’s content.”
After pondering the enemy’s supply situation for a moment, he took a piece from the pile of fried bread he had generously prepared for the command post and popped it into his mouth.
Surprisingly, the shape of this dry cracker was similar to the dry crackers I often saw during my military service.
Because it was easy to carry and popular as a sweet among soldiers, it was officially produced and distributed in large quantities starting in 1902.
The Posh and Pershing next to me also took a handful and chewed it, saying that it tasted good, and then I saw the soldier next to me open the cap of the cider and drink it, so I thought to myself that this combination was a hit no matter where I went.
No, maybe it’s because of the nature of the times when sweets were absolutely in short supply.
“I requested 30,000 bags of hardtack just in case, but Commander-in-Chief of the Escort Corps, Lee Yong-ik, asked me to take 10,000 more···.”
“It would be nice if there were plenty of supplies. Everyone would be happy to eat like this.”
It seemed that there was ample rice and beans stored in Hamheung.
The well-versed escort commander Lee Yong-ik is currently in charge of all the army’s provisions and supplies, so he is providing them generously.
I heard that the military depot in Hamheung is full and they are even distributing troops to Seongjin and Bukcheong.
Of course, since the shelf life of dry bread is not that long, it would be better to increase the stock of dried meat and dried fish rather than this.
Usually, old rice was sent to a rice mill to be made into fine rice flour, which was then turned into bread or other side dishes.
It seemed that as civilian companies turned into military companies in this way, production also increased significantly.
But even this seemingly endless supply of dry goods will eventually run dry if the war drags on.
Even if we just assume that the amount of dry goods consumed by a division of 20,000 soldiers during a battle is around 12,000 bags, if we assume that we are supplying the entire force of our army of 100,000 soldiers, that means that at least 60,000 bags are needed per day.
And as the battle dragged on, the consumption of dry goods would increase significantly, and at some point, the stockpiled rice, rice mills, and dry goods factories would not be able to meet the demand.
It wasn’t something that was happening right now, but it was a time when I was looking at the biscuits in my hand and feeling depressed for a moment, thinking about something that would happen someday.
“Sergeant, it looks like the enemies are trying to retreat.”
“Are you sure?”
“This is a report from the scouts. They say a considerable number of enemy forces are withdrawing to the intersection. It looks like they are seriously considering a retreat.”
···It seemed that the Guards Division had destroyed the enemy artillery and supply units that followed.
Of course, there was no way the enemy artillery regiment could have remained silent without even responding until now, and there was no way the artillery, which was within a 12-hour deployment distance from the division headquarters at the slowest rate, could not have remained still in motion.
“We will soon retreat to the Valley of Death.”
“Yes. And it looks like the Guards Division is going to start talking nonsense.”
There would probably be one regiment with some troops still intact on the front line as a covering force, and it was certain that the troops that had lost command and control at the main traffic intersection would be withdrawn until they could properly escape.
The Japanese 2nd Division would begin to find itself in a similar situation, just as the Germans were struggling to hold onto the thin shoulder of the Falaise Pass.
Of course, the German troops in Falaise survived for a while, but it was questionable whether they would survive.
The US military, in a similar situation, found a way to survive by destroying the Chinese military’s defense lines one by one with overwhelming air power, but they did not have such an air force.
I put the dry biscuits in my mouth and called back the staff members who had been organizing information for a while.
It was a little funny that everyone had oily lips, but he didn’t point it out and just placed his baton on the map and said.
“The enemy has begun to retreat from Sachang-ri. We can’t just leave them alone. Pull back the 1st and 2nd Battalions, which are exhausted from the daytime offensive, and infiltrate the 3rd and 4th Battalions directly into their front lines.”
“Are you going to break through this thin defensive line that supports the retreat route?”
“We’ll just attack them enough to drive them into the Valley of Death. After that, the Guards Division will form an encirclement, so the 2nd Division will have to make a long, long retreat and get beaten up without mercy.”
By the way, from what I heard from some of the prisoners captured during the week, it seemed like they had run out of food while advancing and couldn’t even eat.
They said that they would put dried rice in their mouths and chew it, or they would put grain powder they had plundered from the village they were passing by in their mouths, and they would pick up a handful of snow and put it in their mouths, and that would be their last meal for the day.
It was a very poor meal.
Of course, it’s not that they weren’t prepared.
He said that he brought some Cheongju with him to try to endure the cold, but the container he put it in froze and burst due to the cold that was stronger than expected, so he couldn’t even taste it properly.
The food that was in short supply was supposed to be brought by the garrison, but it had not yet arrived, and the ammunition that was supposed to be given to each person was now less than half.
If they had received supplies, they would have been able to make a normal decision to either break through against us or retreat safely, but that was now becoming impossible.
This was the moment.
“When the sun rises, we will see clearly how the hungry and cold-weary army melts away. If we destroy the enemy this time, we can safely protect Hamheung for the next few months. So I hope you fight to the end.”
Then, leaving the daunting enemy lines behind, he began to deploy the 3rd and 4th Battalions.
The Valley of Death was creating a white hell to swallow up the invaders.