Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 283
Only Noblemtl
#283. Into the Valley of Death (3)
“Take off your belts, you little shits!”
As another lieutenant holding a sword shouted in Japanese, they began to move their frozen fingers and hurriedly took off the magazine belts on their waists.
The eyes of these enemies, who had completely lost their fighting spirit, were filled with fear. Even in the darkness, it was clear that more enemies had surrendered than the soldiers who were present.
Looking at them, Lieutenant Noh Baek-rin thought that they had come in for no reason and were having a hard time, and pointed behind him with his thumb and said.
“Over there, our soldiers are coming from behind. Surrender to them.”
They were very obedient in their surrender, contrary to what I had previously heard.
They left their weapons and ammunition to one side as they were told, and walked towards the frozen tributary, holding a white flag and waving both hands, supporting the wounded.
“You’d be shocked to learn that we only have two battalions.”
“Even if I knew, I would have surrendered. I would have thought there would be a follow-up force.”
Of course, this massive collapse was something the command had not anticipated, but rather than panicking, in order to immediately regain momentum, they were sending back the provisional cavalry regiment that had been put back into reserve for reorganization right after the previous week’s battle, as well as the 1st and 2nd battalions that had to rest after the previous week’s battle, as a follow-up.
“Leave those who surrender to the rear units, and we continue to advance! Let’s go kick the enemy’s butts at the intersection!”
“elegance!”
After everyone cheered, they grabbed their rifles and swords and started running toward the intersection.
Now that they had come to the right place to die, it seemed like they were being led to the sunniest burial site.
***
“Sergeant! The enemy has collapsed faster than expected. The resistance itself is so minimal that two battalions of the 6th Brigade have advanced to the intersection.”
“The cavalry regiment is having trouble advancing because there are so many surrendering enemies. We are collecting prisoners by drafting idle personnel from the artillery battalion, but it is still not enough.”
“Hold on, I never thought that our advance would be so slowed down by so many prisoners.”
I laughed in vain.
The cavalry regiment was unable to advance because there were too many enemies coming to surrender, and they ended up having to collect prisoners of war. They also failed to capture the road south of Sachang-ri in time, and too many enemies fled to the intersection.
Of course, as the saying goes, there is no paradise where you run away, and their fate was to retreat for over 300km while being beaten by the Guards Division all along the way if they tried to escape from Sachang-ri.
So there was no anger or reprimand towards the Provisional Cavalry Regiment for failing in their mission.
“The enemies were defeated too easily. What on earth happened….”
“It must be because the division command’s control of the front lines has weakened. It seems like a situation they never expected has happened to them. There will be many who surrender, so tell them not to treat them carelessly.”
“Sergeant, those guys are the ones who killed our people. They are the ones who raped and killed the people of Yeongnam before coming here.”
“I know that too. That’s why I came here. In a war watched by the entire world, we must never act like them.”
The commander and his staff wanted to vent their anger.
In fact, if I hadn’t been the commander in chief, I might have rushed in to vent my anger like that.
But there were too many eyes watching us. The whole world was watching us, and above all, we had the justification of a ‘sacred war of defense for the fatherland.’
“If I bite the same dog that the mad dog bites, what will people think? They will see me as the same crazy person. That kind of view won’t help us at all. So, officers and soldiers, restrain yourselves.”
“···All right.”
“And save that anger and hold it in until the final blow is unleashed.”
I looked down at the battlefield outside the command post, leaving my staff member, who was walking towards the messenger with a look of regret and trembling, behind me.
Although there were enemies who resisted occasionally, they were nothing more than a drop in the bucket before the wildfire spreading in all directions.
In about ten minutes at most, the defensive line was overrun, and those who did not surrender were slaughtered.
“Wow, this is a total mess.”
It was good that the mat was inserted properly, but it seemed that the problem was that it went in too deep.
Although we recalled the strong defense and thoroughly prepared the reserves, it was only a soft sponge.
Because if you poke it, a hole will appear wherever you poke it.
Just as after the Battle of Yongmunsan, when the 6th Division of the Korean Army broke through the disorganized defense line of one Chinese army unit and wreaked havoc across the entire area of Parohoro, this type of fighting was taking place.
Perhaps the enemy was shocked by the massive artillery bombardment and massive infantry and cavalry attacks during the week.
There, with the logistics and artillery support from the rear cut off, morale was at rock bottom and they looked like they were in shambles.
In the end, the Japanese 2nd Division was in such disarray that it was impossible to even expect an orderly withdrawal of troops, let alone maintain the integrity of small units, and they were escaping from Sachang-ri individually.
All of this happened less than a day after arriving at Sachang-ri.
I thought about firing a shrapnel bomb at the area where the enemy was entangled, but I decided against it.
Friendly infantry was trying to advance deep, so there was a risk of mistaken fire, and it was also a waste of shells to fire on the heads of enemies who had lost their will to fight.
To begin with, there are surrendering enemies everywhere, so it’s only natural that scattering shrapnel everywhere won’t result in anything good being said later.
I judged that it would be much better not to deploy artillery in many ways, so I canceled the plan to concentrate artillery fire on that area and ordered the 1st and 2nd Battalions, in addition to the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 6th Brigade that had entered the front line, to advance and directly take over the intersection.
“···I apologize for interrupting, but Commander Sunmu, the 3rd and 4th Battalions that entered the intersection are now entangled with the retreating enemy and are unable to advance. What should I do?”
“Stop advancing any further and secure the intersection.”
“Yes? There are still many enemies who are retreating. It would be better to send the temporary cavalry regiment to pursue them again…”
“No, that’s okay.”
My own work in Sachang-ri was over. The remaining fleeing enemies were a problem for the Guards Division lying in ambush on the road from Sachang-ri to Anju to deal with.
Of course, there were more enemies who would throw down their weapons and surrender than those who resisted, so I thought it would be a rather boring prisoner collection.
“Our Guards Division will handle the rest. The 6th Brigade is to secure the intersection and then take control of the battlefield.”
In some ways, the 2nd Division was destroyed even more severely than the Guards Division.
I turned my back and walked out of the observatory to the cheers of those celebrating their victory.
The morning star was rising in the sky.
Once again, I won.
I don’t know how long it will take, but it will be enough to buy some precious time to stabilize the outer defenses of Hamhung for a while.
***
“It looks like the enemies aren’t chasing us anymore.”
Several hours had passed since the surviving officers of the 2nd Division began to retreat through the narrow mountain paths they had advanced through.
The retreating column, long and thin along the narrow road, was barely controlled by the few surviving officers and non-commissioned officers.
As they ran away in a panic, they realized they had gotten a bit further away, so they decided to grab a quick meal.
Most of the soldiers were in a state of hunger as they had not eaten anything from night until dawn.
Everyone, feeling relieved at least, sat down on the floor, panting heavily for breath, or some were stuffing small and medium-sized cotton cloths that had been completely crushed and turned to dust after a fierce struggle into their mouths, and picked up a handful of snow nearby to soothe their dry throats.
Some soldiers tried to eat the leftover radish as a side dish, but it was probably stored incorrectly and had become so rotten that they could barely eat it by holding their noses.
Because of this, I wanted to requisition something locally, but the villages along the way were really sparse, so that wasn’t possible either.
In the end, I had no choice but to pick up what I had and eat it.
During the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat at Asan and Seonghwan, and lost about 1,000 of their 3,000 men to food poisoning and other causes as they ate everything they could find. They never dreamed that this would happen again.
“Damn, I should have saved at least the Chijung Hospital.”
They were carrying firewood, proper rice, and side dishes.
But it’s already too late to regret.
There were problems like stomachaches and diarrhea due to water changes while eating like that, but there was no one to stop it right away, and there was no spirit to do so.
While the soldiers were resting or stuffing their hungry stomachs with food, the surviving officers were discussing something seriously.
“If the enemy attacks like this, we’re finished. We can’t maintain our normal battle formation, so if we’re surprised, we’re likely to be beaten from all sides. There are too many high-altitude troops that can monitor our route from above.”
“It’s okay if the enemies don’t chase after us. Isn’t this a rugged mountainous terrain where large forces cannot move?”
Lieutenant Colonel Yukisuke Usuku, who had become the most senior of the retreating 2nd Division troops, spoke while exhaling. It was a passage through which troops could barely escape in platoon units.
No matter how freely the enemy could deploy troops below the battalion level, I had to believe that they would not be able to do so in the mountains in winter like this.
If not even that, and the enemy had been ambushing us here and there during the retreat… then the 2nd Division itself would not have survived.
“Damn, we need to get as many soldiers out of Sachang-ri as possible···.”
Both the division commander and the chief of staff were missing.
The troops that were able to escape somehow escaped the hellish Sachang-ri in individual units or small units, but it seemed that some troops took the wrong road and went north.
I don’t know what happened to them, but it didn’t seem like it would end well.
Because we had to take a much more roundabout route than the original one.
I had to walk about 50km more, and I didn’t know if I had the stamina or supplies to walk that distance.
“But it’s still pretty far from Sachang-ri, so it’ll be okay. If you go back the way you came, the friendly forces will be waiting for you-”
Tata tata tata tata tang!
Before the second-in-command, Major Watanabe, could finish speaking, there was a loud gunshot and a flash of light from the mountain on the right wing.
Soldiers who had been huddled together to rest because of the cold and hunger were caught in the crossfire and fell to the ground in a spray of blood, while the rest scattered in all directions, screaming.