Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 314
Only Noblemtl
#314. Glory of the North (6)
“It looks like there was a skirmish before we got here.”
“It’s nothing. In any case, the enemy forces on the outskirts are being blocked by local support personnel. The headquarters and barracks are practically no man’s land.”
“But it seems like there are more enemies than the information we received suggests. What’s going on?”
“Oh, in addition to one company of garrison troops, there were also naval and security forces, so it seems they were the first to respond.”
“So how many enemies are on our way?”
“There are probably only two companies left, and most of them will be gathered at the headquarters. We just need to sort them out and that’s it.”
However, it seemed that there had been quite a fierce battle, as there were shotgun shells scattered around.
There were also the corpses of enemy soldiers that had not been cleaned up, and there were prisoners who had been disarmed and were on their knees, looking at me with terrified eyes.
“We’ll show you how. Which way goes to the barracks?”
“This is the 1st Platoon.”
The 1st Platoon Commander answered the records investigation agent’s words on his behalf.
Then, the agent who had been smiling brightly suddenly changed his expression and spoke to the subordinate behind him.
“Seong Pan-im, take the 1st Platoon and take over the barracks. Anyway, the Japanese bastards there, we’ve been messing around here and there, so they’ll probably be scattered in all directions, so there won’t be any problems.”
Then he turned his head again and showed the gentle expression he had just shown to Lieutenant Kim Si-jin. He was a person who was hard to get a hold of.
“You can come with me to the headquarters reception. There are enemies scattered throughout the city, so please be especially careful while moving. Well then, shall we go?”
He deftly pulled shotgun shells from the belt on his waist, loaded the gun, and immediately took a stance to guard ahead.
“Follow me carefully. The new city of Wonsan is much more complicated than you think.”
Since the opening of the port, the port city of Wonsan itself was practically reborn, and so it was inevitable that there would be many changes.
He began to navigate his way expertly, as if he had memorized the entire topography of the city.
Kim Si-jin, the commander of the 2nd company, followed him and moved very quietly through the moonlight.
Only the North Star was shining brightly in the sky.
***
“The shelling has finally stopped…! Now we can wait no longer! So, comrades, let us bravely advance together! And we will reclaim our city, our hometown, and our families that the enemy has taken! Forward march!”
Finally, the preparatory fire for the attack conducted by the commanding officer’s unit, including the 8th Guards Brigade, the 1st Assault Infantry Battalion, and two independent artillery battalions under the Artillery Command, under the command of the Artillery Command, ceased.
The enemy poked their heads out of the trench lines with bewildered and dazed expressions, but all they got in return was an ominous calm, as if they were in the center of a storm.
And as soon as the short grace period ended, the two brigades of the Guards Division, which took the lead in the offensive, began to advance at a rapid pace from the pre-deployed attack line.
They began to overturn the enemy lines as they had long been waiting for, with concentrated fire from machine guns and grenadiers, and the blast of their long bayonets.
“In recent wars, even the common soldiers would get their pay if they were deployed along the defensive line, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.”
Lee Gyu-tae answered with a hearty laugh.
“That would only make sense if the lines between the defending units were connected. They are deployed haphazardly and can’t even connect the thinnest lines. If that happens, they’ll just be defeated one by one. This is the best time to use our vaunted tactics of bypassing, penetrating weak points, and isolating them.”
No matter how powerful the Japanese army was, if it had been attrited for months without being supplied or reorganized, it was no longer a fearsome opponent.
Lee Gyu-tae planned to completely annihilate the enemy in turn with the Guards Division under the command of the Tongyeong Command, the 8th Brigade, and the temporarily assigned 1st Assault Infantry Battalion.
“The Guards Division has formed a sack to sweep away the enemy. Now, the 8th Brigade will block the front of the Japanese main force, and the assault infantry battalion will break through the enemy’s depth and destroy their command structure.”
“Okay. Once we’ve stopped the enemy from moving, we’ll use the assault infantry battalion to break through the enemy’s depth. Let’s wipe out their command structure and everything.”
Lee Gyu-tae spoke confidently and looked at the brigade commanders who had just arrived.
It seemed like he had come in to report that all units were ready for battle.
But unlike their usual confident expressions, this time their faces looked very subtle.
“No, is something wrong with you guys?”
“Um, that is… there are far fewer enemies than I thought.”
“What does that mean?”
Lee Gyu-tae frowned at Chief Park Seung-hwan’s words.
I wondered if this might have revealed all of their intentions for their encirclement maneuver.
“Isn’t the enemy’s defense line on the plateau roughly organized into three lines?”
“That’s what I said. The enemy force is around 30,000 strong, so the further you penetrate inside, the more densely they’ll be deployed.”
The guy named Hidenori, who commands the 2nd Reserve Infantry Division, calls this a defense in depth or something.
In any case, in order to block the infantry’s breakthrough, we tried to block the breakthrough by deploying fairly strong firepower and thick density of troops as we went deeper into the battle, and this achieved some results.
It was thanks to this that the enemy was able to block several local counterattacks during the sluggish summer campaign.
Of course, just as a shield appeared when a spear existed, and weapons were developed to pierce it, so there was also a method of destruction.
In general, when the Japanese army built such a defense line in depth, the Sunmuyeong command was instructed to respond by completely destroying the enemy forces in the outer defense line in order to reduce the strength of the depth.
If that were to happen, the outer wall would collapse too quickly before the enemy could be drawn into the depths, greatly dispersing the depths’ firepower and troops.
Accordingly, the encirclement maneuvers of the Guards Division were also being carried out accordingly.
“The enemy is being overpowered too easily. This is not an attempt by the enemy to draw them in, but rather a lack of troops deployed along the defensive line.”
“What?”
Lee Gyu-tae jumped up from his seat, holding the baton.
Then, this time, the 2nd Brigade Commander, Lieutenant General Lee Ki-pyo, continued speaking.
“The statements of the captured prisoners are similar, as are the messengers of the advancing friendly units. There are no Japanese in sight. Almost all of the men on the defensive line are traitors and Moribae bastards.”
‘If this happens, it will be a disaster.’
It seemed that the Japanese army had withdrawn in full, leaving behind only the traitors and leaving them to fend for themselves.
Thanks to that, it was easy to break through the defensive line, but that was not the original purpose of the Tong-eo-yeong.
“Damn, they were one step ahead. If this continues, our troops landing in the Wonsan area will be in danger. Could it be that they smelled something and retreated?”
“There’s no way the information could have leaked from within, Commander. Even if they had noticed, that doesn’t explain why the enemy had already withdrawn. Perhaps they withdrew to find a better defensive position when they anticipated that a full-scale offensive by our forces would begin soon. But even so… the timing is really strange. Why would they retreat at a time like this?”
The retreating enemies had only one place to go, and once there they would try to crush the friendly forces that had landed in Wonsan.
The commander quickly spread out the map and drew out the most likely retreat route for the Japanese army.
These were the highlands of the Munchon County area, connecting the Gowon and Wonsan roads.
“They probably withdrew here. It’s close to Wonsan, and since the front of the defense line narrows, it’s easy to hold out with a small force, and most importantly, the high ground forces can control the route from Gowon to Munchon.”
“These guys···.”
“There is no time, Commander. If this happens, our troops who landed in Wonsan will be in danger. The enemy has been attrited, but they are a large force equivalent to two divisions. No matter how elite the landing assault force is, they cannot hold them all off alone. We must quickly wipe out the enemies on the plateau, drive back our troops, and kick the buttocks of the retreating Japanese. If we make a mistake, the landing force, which is only one battalion strong, could be overwhelmed by the enemy’s mass.”
If things went as planned by Chief of Staff Park Seung-hwan and Chief of Staff Lee Ki-pyo, it would effectively mean the failure of the operation.
Whatever the reason, the Japanese army withdrew much faster than the Tongyeongyeong and Guards Division had expected, and it was inevitable that the pressure on the friendly units that had landed in the Wonsan area would increase.
So, Lee Gyu-tae asked his staff with a worried heart.
“Is there any news from our forces in the Wonsan area yet?”
“Nothing special yet, Commander.”
If that’s the case, then the operation must still be ongoing. Lee Gyu-tae, who was worried, decided that he had no choice but to make a choice.
Rather than sticking to the original plan, a stopgap measure, even if imperfect, was needed.
“There’s nothing we can do. Originally, this wasn’t the unit we were supposed to deploy at this time… Order the 1st Battalion of the Assault Infantry to lead the way and immediately advance southward with the 8th Brigade toward Muncheon County. The Guards Division will deal with the enemies in the Gowon area instead.”
He thought about ordering the Guards Division to head towards Muncheon, but they were too widely spread out across the front line to do so, as they had attempted to infiltrate the entire enemy defense line.
Naturally, even the most well-prepared Guards Division would suffer unnecessary damage from the massed enemies if they were to be deployed in succession.
In the end, to do that, the Guards Division, whose front line had been greatly expanded, had to be reassembled and deployed, but in the current situation, there was no time for that.
Moreover, there was no reason to bear the burden of the possibility that the remaining enemies on the plateau might escape or attempt a counterattack in the meantime, and that the 8th Brigade and assault battalions that would be deployed later might end up disrupting the movement of the troops as they advanced and overtook each other.
“And the Guards Division will advance to Muncheon as soon as its subordinate units are redeployed toward the plateau. Everyone, brace yourselves.”
“All right!”
Of course, at this moment, it seemed that only when daybreak could we properly capture the enemy’s rear.
Trying to hide his nervousness, Lee Gyu-tae picked up the receiver of the landline phone that connected Sun Mu-yeong and the Won Soo-bu.
Maybe these will help relieve that anxiety.
***
“Commander, the enemy’s resistance is fierce! Those guys are huddled inside the building and are shooting, making it difficult to approach!”
“Ugh! Everyone take cover!”
The city itself had been breached cleanly, but the real problem now was the Wonsan Garrison Command building itself.
The unexpected resistance was enough to hold them back.
“It looks like all these kids are hiding here!”
“Bow your heads!”
A noise that seemed to rip through the air rang out, and along with it, one of our infantrymen, who had been moving through the alleys to re-establish a firing position, was exposed to enemy fire and fell.
As soon as the other soldiers saw him, they began to pour out covering fire and then dragged the fallen man to cover.
Lieutenant Kim Si-jin raised his head for a moment to assess the situation, then barely avoided the hail of bullets that was pouring down on him. No, he couldn’t avoid it completely.
Unfortunately, a piece of shrapnel from a bullet that had hit the wall grazed my face, causing blood to flow.
As I hastily grabbed my face, red blood seeped out onto my gloves.
It was the worst, to have a scar on such a handsome face.
“Commander, to your left!”
“It’s okay, I just grazed you! Those bastards have no intention of surrendering.”
“Is there a way, Commander?”
The records investigation office agent was also surprised by the stronger resistance than expected, as his relaxed expression from before completely disappeared.
Even he was so tense that he could barely stick his head out and identify the location of the enemy’s gun muzzle, holding the semi-automatic shotgun tightly in his hand.