Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 295
Only Noblemtl
#295. No problem on the Gwanbuk front (3)
Neither the Japanese army nor the local new government forces supporting their offensive were able to maintain the high ground they had occupied without reinforcements.
Eventually, before the end of July, the Japanese were forced to hurriedly abandon the highlands, allowing a counterattack.
As the high ground was lost, the bridgeheads across the Ipseok River were also lost one by one.
With enemy artillery fire during the day and enemy infantry assaults at night, the entire unit reached a point where it could no longer endure physically or mentally.
“Patience, they said it was a halt, but instead of deploying the reserves to replace the exhausted troops, they are pretending not to know anything. How can there be any progress?”
I heard someone sarcastically.
Uesugi Kenshin’s Cha Hyun-jin, which was considered the core of the military science of the Japanese Empire and which the Imperial General Headquarters held so highly, had not been properly utilized even once since the outbreak of the war.
Rather, it was shocking that their enemies, the Joseon people, were moving accordingly.
“Even if you kill the enemies, they keep coming out like cockroaches. What on earth are you supposed to do with them as they come out of their tunnels?”
“Artillery fire is no longer effective. The enemy has already turned the entire highland area into a solid fortified area.”
Even Major General Umezawa, who had been at the forefront of capturing the highlands along with the 1st Guards Reserve Infantry Brigade, was unable to avoid a hard fight.
Even if they managed to capture the high ground with great difficulty, the enemy would mobilize forces greater than the offensive force within an hour to try to recapture it.
It was extremely difficult for the Japanese forces, who had already suffered enormous losses while occupying the high ground, to deal with them.
The Joseon people defended the high ground by pouring in troops that were at least twice as many and at most four times as many.
“···When the sun rises without fail, what flutters on that highland is not the flag of our Empire of Japan, but the Taegeukgi of the enemy. Attacking in this manner is no longer meaningful.”
“That’s ridiculous! If we stop the offensive like this, we don’t know what the enemy will think.”
“It’s already too much. There’s no more room for attack.”
“what···?”
At those words, Lieutenant General Asada became terrified.
To Lieutenant General Asada, the Korean army was more than a match. He shuddered when he saw what had happened to the 2nd Division, which had confidently pursued them toward Hamheung.
At Jinnampo, he considered himself simply lucky and should be thankful that he did not encounter a large enemy artillery battery.
If the Guards Division had encountered the same thing that the 2nd Division had… it would have completely lost even the framework of the division that had managed to keep its composure.
“Right now, ammunition and supplies are being deployed first toward Manchuria. The General Headquarters is preparing to attack Roske and Rotun in Fengtian soon…”
“Eww! Shit, shit!”
I thought that ammunition would be provided properly once the supply line through Wonsan Port was opened, but it did not come as expected.
Although the 2nd and 3rd Fleets encountered the Roske cruiser fleet in Vladivostok and gave it a good blow, the small Korean fleet was still alive and the restoration of the telegraph lines to Matsushima (Ulleungdo) and Takeshima (Dokdo), which would have controlled the east coast, was delayed.
The Navy was more concerned with the Roske fleet, so they paid little attention to the supply ships along the east coast.
In the end, the transport fleet was only able to deliver small amounts of supplies in a trickle to avoid being exposed to threats, and even then, the most important 75mm shells did not arrive properly.
“We are also running low on artillery ammunition. We are now down to less than 30 rounds per gun, which is a huge drop.”
“Those pig-like bastards in the Manchurian Army Command.”
This was because artillery commanders throughout Manchuria requested a stockpile of 800 shells per gun.
The mainland couldn’t provide that amount of supplies.
At most, they could only produce 10,000 shells per month.
In the end, they gave only a quarter of the amount requested by the front line commanders, but they scraped together ammunition from Tokyo, Osaka, and even overseas and deployed it to Manchuria first, so the Wonsan area was practically abandoned.
“Now is the time to think about defense. The enemy’s main force has not yet appeared.”
Everyone was disgusted by Lieutenant General Hidenori’s words.
Neither the enemy’s main assault infantry regiments, nor the cavalry regiments, nor even the brigades that had withdrawn from Pyeongan Province were visible.
It was just a matter of the Guards Division and the 6th Brigade, which had been stationed in Hamgyeong Province, and the 8th Brigade, which had been returned to the rear, being deployed in rotation.
“Deploy troops at strongholds where the enemy can cross···.”
“If we continue like this, those who occupy the high ground will all be able to control us and find out all the weak points of our defense line. We must withdraw our troops to Gowon-gun and prevent them from directly attacking Wonsan.”
Lieutenant General Hidenori and Major General Umezawa were arguing for a complete retreat.
“If we drive out the Roske from Bongcheon, reinforcements will come to our side as well. So if we can somehow buy enough time to disrupt the Joseon bastards’ offensive intentions, we have a chance of winning. This Gowon-gun is the best place for defense.”
But Vice Admiral Asada shook his head despite their concerned claims. He also had his own reasons.
“If we have to tie them down, the best way is to launch a sharp offensive. If we turn to a hasty defense, those cunning Joseon guys will realize that our forces are short and will immediately go on the offensive. That could actually cause even greater losses.”
Anyone who has experienced it before would have noticed it right away.
The enemy took great delight in stabbing retreating troops in the back.
So it was expected that what would happen the moment they, who were practically the only field force deployed in Joseon, collapsed.
It was obvious that the fearsome opponent, the military officer named Kim Si-hyeok, would immediately mobilize the reserve force he had saved and defeat the friendly forces scattered thinly and widely throughout the Korean Peninsula one by one, ultimately trying to stab the friendly forces in the buttocks in Manchuria.
“The headquarters is making a mistake right now. Our military is currently in a very thin neck supporting a huge head. If we switch to defense and collapse, the war will be over. It’s over! Do you understand what I mean?!”
If the neck is cut off, no matter how strong the head is, it falls to the ground. And that naturally means death.
“So, as soon as the ammunition comes in, prepare for the next attack!”
Moreover, he believed that no matter what happened, he had to carry out the mission given to him to the best of his ability.
I really wanted to show those Choshu guys, who only had their heads filled with muscles, what Satsuma could do not only at sea but also on land.
“Commander, this is crazy. If we mobilize any more troops, it will be difficult to even defend ourselves.”
“What if they launch a direct attack on Pyongyang or Gyeongseong? If we don’t defend Ipsok River directly, the enemy may abandon us and head towards the major cities with fewer troops. We must defend this place no matter what.”
Lieutenant General Asada, clutching his pounding head, dismissed all the opposing commanders’ words.
Even though Lieutenant General Hidenori and Major General Umezawa both insisted that the offensive was impossible, he remained steadfast to the end.
The hour-long meeting eventually concluded with another pointless offensive.
“Commander, the garrison headquarters wants you to report the current situation.”
“···Send that there is no problem with the front line.”
Although it did not seem to be abnormal, the officer in charge of the telegram sent the following short sentence in plaintext to the headquarters and the garrison command today:
[No abnormalities on the Korean front. Operations currently in progress.]
And so, the summer that seemed to take everyone’s breath away was slowly coming to an end.
***
“The enemy is going on the offensive again this time. Do you think they have enough remaining forces?”
I tilted my head as I watched the enemy launch a ninth offensive just a few days after the eighth offensive had failed.
However, the intensity of the offensive was not as strong as before, and it seemed to focus on flank attacks with small forces along with sporadic artillery fire.
Something felt off the whole time I was hearing the report.
“What is the current situation on the front lines? Is there any separate news?”
“They say there’s nothing particularly unusual. They say they’ve been in a standoff for hours with gunfire continuing….”
“That’s really strange. They mobilized a huge number of troops to suppress the riots, so there must be only a handful left. Could it be that there are unexpected enemy forces remaining…?”
After inspecting the front line, I was presiding over a strategy meeting between the Marshal’s Office and the Sunmu Corps and coordinating the appropriate timing for a counterattack.
The enemy was clearly exhausted and greatly exhausted, but if they still had the capacity to continue the offensive… the battle to recapture Wonsan, which could be considered the beginning of a counteroffensive, was likely to be difficult.
Even if it’s rotten, it’s still a good thing. The enemies we had been beating hard on the front lines and taking advantage of the exchange rate were also gaining experience by being beaten all over the front lines of the Korean peninsula, whether we liked it or not.
Moreover, the commanders they were dealing with were quite capable, so they were targets to be wary of.
From Major General Umezawa, who was called “Flower Umezawa” in the original history and led the reserve infantry brigade in the Battle of Saha and showed off his brute force by winning consecutive battles against the Russian army, to Lieutenant General Hidenori, the founder of the Japanese firepower warfare doctrine, they were all opponents that could not be underestimated.
Even if it’s the commander of the guard division who was so severely defeated by me, that’s still the case.
I was thinking that since it had come to this, maybe I should just wait a little longer.
An officer in the conference room raised his hand and was given the floor to speak.
“I don’t think so, Commissioner. It’s my poor judgment, but… I think this is an attempt by the enemy to deceive us.”
Everyone’s eyes were on him. The reaction was generally unfavorable, one reason being, ‘How dare you spit on the magistrate’s words?’ and the other, for a more serious reason.
The officer who just raised his hand and spoke to me was Lieutenant Colonel Lee Gap, a former student at the Japanese Military Academy who had been newly assigned to the Operations Division of the Marshal’s Office just before the war.
Even without that, because of the war, the public’s opinion of the officers from the Japanese Military Academy was already quite negative.
“What are you talking about, you sergeant? Even though you can clearly see that the enemy is launching an attack…”
“That may be true, but underestimating the enemy is a surefire way to defeat. Commander, the Japanese may still have some strength left. How about being a little more cautious?”