Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 312
Only Noblemtl
#312. Glory of the North (4)
He was pessimistic about the possibility that Wonsan might be directly exposed to enemy attacks, and argued that it would be much better to block the enemy by laying down a thin, long defensive line, even if it was insufficient.
The tense standoff over these defensive lines eventually led to a battle for rank.
Although Lieutenant General Asada and Lieutenant General Hidenori were both of the same rank as lieutenant generals in the army and were formally equal, their relationship was complicated when viewed internally.
Although Lieutenant General Hidenori is senior to Lieutenant General Asada, their positions are reversed.
Since Lieutenant General Asada, the commander of the Guards Division, was slightly higher in rank than the commander of the Reserve Infantry Division, he put a lot of pressure on Lieutenant General Hidenori with this, and eventually he was pushed back by him, and the defense line was organized in its current position.
“Lieutenant General Hidenori, if that were the case, the Joseon bastards would have bypassed our defense line and entered Wonsan long ago! Why are you doing that when you know everything, huh? Didn’t I clearly explain it to you when I did that?!”
In any case, Lieutenant General Asada, who was upset by Lieutenant General Hidenori’s words, became irritated with him.
The battle was still going on, and he seemed upset because the person he was supposed to be cooperating with kept bringing up the past.
“No, Commander of the Guards Division, you don’t know military strategy, so why do you keep saying such nonsense? Shouldn’t we monitor the enemy’s movements at Palbongsan and intercept them with our troops when we can clearly distinguish between the enemy’s main and secondary attacks? You insisted on defending the crossing point at a tributary of the Yongheung River, but… What is this now? Our troops are stuck as troops, and the place we are supposed to use as a surveillance point is useless.”
“what?!”
When Lieutenant General Hidenori, unable to shake off his displeasure, lost his temper, Lieutenant General Asada could not stand it any longer and immediately got up from his seat.
But when he continued to point out things again, I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.
“We don’t even know what their intentions are right now. We don’t know the main attack point, we don’t know the enemy’s intentions, we don’t know the scale of the enemy’s attack. We really don’t know anything, so we’re like blind people who lost their way in the middle of the night!”
“······.”
In the meantime, the war situation was getting worse by the minute.
The staff officer, who had been watching the division commanders bickering among themselves, passed on the newly received information to Major General Umezawa.
The situation was worse than expected. The number of enemies attempting infiltration was continuously increasing, and the first line of defense was being heavily bombed and breached.
“Let’s retreat to Wonsan.”
While everyone was silent at the shocking news, Lieutenant General Hidenori opened his mouth.
“It would be better than staying here and fighting until we are annihilated. The only place that can be defended right now is Wonsan. The defense on the plateau has effectively failed. If we leave it like this, both the Guards Division and the 2nd Reserve Infantry Division will be annihilated.”
“But if you give me this place, the road to Gyeongseong will open!”
“The Koreans lack the cavalry to match the size of their army. Even if they go to Gyeongseong, the remaining 1st Army and the 15th Division in the Samnam region will reorganize their ranks and drive them out. Furthermore, if our army wins in Bongcheon, we can send down the Yalu River Army and confine the enemy in a narrow cage again.”
In contrast to his sudden outburst earlier, he continued speaking very calmly.
As expected, it seems that factions and such don’t matter when it comes to survival.
“And look at the map north of Wonsan. There are high-altitude counties north of Muncheon County. If we can block the enemy’s offensive while maintaining supply lines from Wonsan, we will be able to hold out somehow.”
Hidenori’s calculations were correct. As long as the port function of Wonsan remained intact, it would be possible to transport supplies and reinforcements and defend the city itself.
“The gap in troops between the two sides is already so serious that it cannot be reversed. Even if you add up those Joseon guys, they only have about 40,000 troops. If you take that out… it would be less than 30,000.”
And right in front of them, the North Korean army, probably belonging to the field army called Tong-eo-yeong, was attacking them, numbering over 50,000. The enemy was already gaining a qualitative and quantitative advantage over our forces.
“Defense in open terrain is no longer possible. We must find a favorable location and somehow delay the enemy’s offensive.”
“If we can maintain the original state, is there any way?”
“Of course. We are not sure of the enemy’s intentions, but pushing back Wonsan, the main supply port along the east coast of the Korean peninsula, is definitely one of their tactical objectives. So let’s focus on preventing the enemy from achieving their objectives.”
Hidenori calmly moved the pieces on the map. The troops on the plateau were moved to the highland army in the northern part of Munchon County.
“For now, we just need to maintain Wonsan. If we can somehow hold on to Wonsan, we will at least be able to control the Korean Peninsula. Only then can we lead negotiations in a favorable direction for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet.”
In the end, a complete victory is difficult, so the only option is to occupy a slightly more advantageous position and gain a clear upper hand in the negotiation table.
“The enemy is now conducting an infiltration maneuver… a typical infantry encirclement and annihilation maneuver, so we must escape before we are trapped. Otherwise, we will end up like the 2nd Division, and everyone here will either die or be taken prisoner by the enemy. I will leave the rearguard of our forces to the North Koreans, so the Guards Division should withdraw its troops toward Wonsan.”
“Can you trust them? If they abandon the battle line and run away….”
“If our soldiers are captured by the enemy, the enemy will treat them relatively humanely according to the laws of all nations. But they are different. They have already been branded as traitors by the laws of Joseon, and even if they surrender, they will not be spared. Therefore, if we leave our rear guard to them, they will attack us even more desperately.”
“In the meantime, our forces are planning to withdraw···.”
No matter how hard he tried, Lieutenant General Asada could not come up with anything better than the plan Hidenori had suggested.
In the end, the defensive operation on the plateau was virtually a failure, so the majority of the remaining troops had to find a way to survive.
“Withdraw before the enemy encircles us.”
The decision was quick, so the withdrawal had to be even quicker.
The Guards Division and the 2nd Reserve Infantry Division began to retreat toward the outskirts of Wonsan, leaving the pro-Japanese militia battalions that had been reorganizing in the rear to be thrown onto the front lines.
Of course, I had no idea what would happen there.
***
“I’m going to die.”
Even the tough soldiers of the assault infantry battalion, known for flying on land, had a hard time enduring the rough waves at sea.
This was especially true because they had to stay on the ship for more than a day, not just a few hours. As a result, quite a few people suffered from seasickness and vomited.
If it had been a direct flight from Hamheung to Wonsan, it wouldn’t have been this bad, but because the route was twisted to the outer sea for the purpose of a deception operation, there were many people suffering from seasickness.
If I had known this would happen, I would have fed you a big dinner.
It seemed that he was suffering from worse seasickness because of the fatty canned meat that the quartermaster had generously handed out, saying that an important operation was imminent.
“Commander, wouldn’t it be quite difficult if we meet the enemy in this condition?”
“Well, it’ll work out somehow. Ugh···.”
Kim Si-jin barely managed to answer while holding back something that seemed to be coming from above.
The sailors next to them were looking at them with pitiful eyes, or perhaps with annoyance. The former was probably because they felt sorry for them on a human level, and the latter was because their work of cleaning the deck had increased after the battle.
But now, this suffering will soon be over.
There was talk from the watchtower that they would soon arrive at Wonsan, and judging by the fact that the captain and other officers began to move in a hurry, it seemed to be true.
This was confirmed by the fact that the sailors had removed the tarpaulin covering the French-made 47mm rapid-fire gun on the deck, placed the gunner and loader there, and that a request had been made to deploy the Maxim gunners of the mounted assault infantry battalion.
“By the way, why are you so busy?”
“It looks like a telegram has arrived from the Japanese Navy in Wonsan. The captain is currently dealing with it.”
It seemed that the Japanese Navy had also confirmed that the ship was coming in, and had even sent a radio message requesting that its identity be revealed.
In general, the Japanese Navy frequently used wireless telegraphy to identify enemy ships, and if they failed to respond, they were usually assumed to be enemy ships.
It appears that they had concluded that neither the Russian nor the Korean Navy had wireless telegraph equipment.
Actually, the Japanese Navy had wireless telegraph equipment installed on most of their cruisers and also installed them on transport ships requisitioned from each shipping company, so it was not a bad response method in its own way.
However, just after the last attack on Ulleungdo, the enemy also realized that the Japanese Navy had wireless telegraph equipment, so they realized that this method was no longer very useful. However, the problem was that this method was still being maintained within the Japanese Navy.
It was unclear whether the information was not properly transmitted to the lower ranks, or whether a new method of distinguishing between the two had not been discovered.
“Just looking at the body content, it seems like they are asking normal questions.”
“So what did you say?”
“He replied that it was a transport ship carrying ammunition and replenishment. Well, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a lie.”
The naval officers burst into laughter at the captain’s words.
Well, when you look at the telegram he sent as a whole, it wasn’t wrong.
However, the problem is that the owners of the troops and ammunition loaded on the ship are those flying the Taegeukgi, not the Rising Sun Flag.
Anyway, they were fooled too, as no additional telegrams arrived.
As such, the port of Wonsan gradually came into view, and the ship also began to slow down and settle down.
The enemies, who had been walking slowly and approaching the transport ship to take out the troops and supplies, only then noticed something strange and pulled out the rifles on their shoulders, but it was already too late.
“All gunners, open fire! Fire at ground enemies until the infantry safely disembark! Leave no one alive!”
Accompanied by the booming voices of the naval officers, the 47mm rapid-fire guns began to fire at the unsuspecting enemies.
Along with that, a short telegram was urgently sent from the captain’s cabin to Hamheung.
Finally, the glory of the North Star began to shine upon Wonsan.