Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 315
Only Noblemtl
#315. Glory of the North (7)
“Wow, you’ve fortified the entire building.”
It seemed as if the brick building itself had been used as a defensive line, with fortifications piled up here and there.
“Fuck, if you fire a direct shot from a cannon at something like that, it’ll be over in one shot.”
The field guns that would normally have provided fire support and actively supported the breakthrough of the assault infantry were now gone.
If there had been even one 75mm French-made field gun, it would have been destroyed already.
If you blow a hole in one side of a building with a high-explosive bomb and throw shrapnel into the gap in the destruction, it will be a happy ending for the enemy.
But if they kept resisting, we could just fire high-explosive shells again and crush the enemy with absolute tyranny.
‘I should have asked for at least one field gun before we landed.’
I thought so, but soon gave up. It would have been a problem to drag it down and bring it here, so if there was going to be any proper artillery, the 6th Brigade that was going to land later would have to bring it.
However, if they could not control the entire city of Wonsan by then, the operation would have been a failure. In the end, they had no choice but to break through without artillery.
The 2nd Platoon Commander called in Madsen and the grenadier squad to pour down suppressive fire, but the resistance was so fierce that it was hard to believe that they were pushed back so easily right after the landing.
The number of enemies remaining did not seem to be that many, but given their location, even an assault infantry unit would have to hesitate for a moment.
“Damn, I swore I’d never do something stupid again, but here I am again.”
Lieutenant Kim Si-jin, who had been pondering for a moment, gritted his teeth and spoke to the 2nd Platoon Commander standing next to him. His expression seemed to be one of firm determination.
The large-scale counterattack operation that the Wonsoobu and Sunmuyeong had been preparing, and which was the only chance to change the course of the war, could not be ruined because of those guys.
“2nd Platoon Commander, select only one squad of volunteers.”
“Huh? Are you really going to force your way through?”
“That’s the only way for now. We’ll use explosives to breach one side of their building and enter. That’ll create a blind spot for their fire, making it easier to attack.”
Lieutenant Kim Si-jin thought that he had to break down their resistance in a sure and shocking way, and the most suitable way to do this was through a forced breakthrough operation using explosives.
It was a method my older brother once said, that if there is no artillery, the assault infantry should become the bullets themselves and destroy the enemy’s fortifications.
Of course, this was a huge risk, but it was worth it for now.
And then, memories of Tianjin suddenly began to come back to his mind. He vividly remembered how he had broken through the Qing troops who were fiercely resisting on the city walls.
Who would have thought that those bundles of dynamite that should have been returned to the Corps of Engineers at some point but were left lying around would come in handy like this?
“Well, battalion commander, this should be enough to take them down.”
One of his senior associates, a miner from Pyongan Province who had worked with him in Tianjin, approached him and offered to join the attack force, and it seemed he had quickly given his estimate.
He smiled as always and used his dagger to cut the fuse of a bundle of dynamite handed to him by a soldier.
Those who volunteered with him lined up behind cover, most of them veterans who had fought in China alongside their battalion commanders.
Lieutenant Kim Si-jin nodded his head while looking at them.
These are the ones who need no words.
“We’ll break through there, so send in the follow-up unit right away and throw in all the grenades you have. Those bastards will all lose their lives the moment we get in anyway. In return, please make sure to provide covering fire.”
“Okay, I can trust all of you guys. 2nd Platoon Commander, and each platoon leader! Our squad is approaching at 2 o’clock from the front line. Pour all your firepower on them so they can approach safely, and after the squad detonates the explosives, 1st Platoon will break through!”
“Oh, I understand!”
There was no time to delay any longer.
Lieutenant Kim Si-jin sent a signal to his squad to advance, and immediately the 2nd Platoon Commander ordered them to temporarily concentrate all firepower on the barracks building.
And as firepower poured down as ordered, and for a very brief moment the enemy could not even raise their heads, those carrying dynamite began to run.
“Open fire! Shoot them so they can’t focus on the attack!”
“Maximpo, focus your fire on those bastards’ gun muzzles! Make them unable to even raise their heads!”
After such a short but powerful barrage of firepower poured down on the enemy, a moment later the assault force bravely dug in between the enemy’s and our own lines of fire.
Even in the midst of the gunfight, he very calmly and leisurely placed dynamite on the wall of the barracks, and then quickly lit a match with a short fuse.
“It’s going to explode! Everyone get down!”
“Get down!”
Kwaaang!
Almost simultaneously with the warning, an explosion and flash of light larger than expected engulfed my eyes.
Even the strong-hearted Lieutenant Kim Si-jin was so surprised that he spat out six Chinese characters.
“Eww, what the hell?!”
Even in the pitch-black darkness, a pungent smell and a huge amount of dust enveloped the area, and then boulders that clearly came from the building began to scatter in all directions.
The fierce firefight stopped for a moment, and everyone anxiously checked to see if any shrapnel had lodged in their bodies or if they had disappeared somewhere while being swept up in the oppression. When they found nothing unusual, they looked forward again.
“Surely, they weren’t all caught up in the explosion?”
For a moment, everyone was worried that the brave senior sergeant and his squad had been caught in the explosion.
“Blasting complete! 1st Platoon, enter!”
A familiar voice was heard, and a shadowy figure of a person was seen moving through the darkness.
Then, everyone sighed in relief and began to emerge from cover as if they had been waiting.
“1st Platoon, sweep away the Japanese inside the building. You may shoot and kill anyone who resists.”
“All right.”
There was no way they would leave alone the defenders of the Wonsan Garrison Command Building, who had been holding them back and harassing them for a short while.
The 1st Platoon, which took on the role of entry, and the agents of the Records Investigation Office entered the gap in the building, carrying shotguns, pistols, and grenades instead of the cumbersome long rifles.
First, one of the records investigators who had been holding a shotgun pulled out a grenade. He exchanged a glance with another assault infantryman on the other side, then deftly removed the safety catch and slowly counted the number as he listened to the fuse burn out.
One, two, three.
The priest is not exact, but usually all five are burned, and then explode.
There were cases where the strong-hearted ones would wait until the fourth and then throw, but they didn’t want to go that far. Maybe it was because they often saw unlucky cases.
Even if you only count to three, you can’t go back and throw the normal enemies.
“Throw a grenade!”
“grenade!”
Boom! Boom!
There were two metallic sounds as it hit the ground and rolled around, followed by an explosion.
Inside, screams and the sound of clearly cursed Japanese could be heard, and enemy soldiers were staggering out of the dust pit, covered in blood, as if they had been caught up in the oppression.
“Start advancing. Don’t leave a single one alive.”
“Kill all who resist! 1st platoon, advance!”
They shot and killed the enemy soldiers who seemed hopeless with their cannons, then quickly broke through the breach and advanced.
The inside was a complete mess.
Limbs lost to the detonated ammunition and the corpses of enemy soldiers who had lost limbs and were burned were strewn everywhere.
But there was no time to appreciate it or even spare time to pray for its repose.
Immediately the enemies began to react, and a loud noise could be heard from the friendly soldiers who had advanced.
The sound of grenades exploding one after another, the sound of the Auto-5 semi-automatic shotguns fired by the records office staff, and the loud roar of the mortar fire mingled together.
Every time I cleared a hallway or a room like that, a scream would erupt.
Even as Japanese flags were lowered and Taegeukgi began to wave throughout the city of Wonsan, the sound of battle continued to erupt from the Wonsan Garrison Command building as if they had not given up.
How much time had passed? I took out my pocket watch and looked at the time. It was just before 3:30 in the morning.
And finally, when the Taegeukgi was hung between broken windows and on the roofs of buildings, the soldiers of the 2nd Assault Infantry Battalion realized that significant enemy resistance had ended.
“Hurrah! Hurrah!”
From afar, cheers could be heard, and the senior officer who had made the first breakthrough was receiving a cheer from the soldiers with his fists clenched.
The captured enemies were tied up like oysters and chatting among themselves in twos and threes, their eyes filled with despair.
Those who could speak Japanese roughly said things like, “They ended up losing the war,” and “There are Koreans everywhere,” and they were saying things that were close to lamenting or pessimistic.
“To the left of the battalion commander, we have successfully captured the Wonsan Garrison Command.”
When the 1st Platoon Leader, who was in charge of the suppression mission, approached and reported, Shijin nodded.
We heard about the achievements of killing 70 enemies, capturing 20 more, capturing firearms, ammunition, and numerous operational maps.
Of course, he intended to ask something more important.
“Very good. But what about the enemy commander?”
“Our guys tried to capture him, but to cut to the chase, we ended up killing him. He resisted fiercely, and one of our squad leaders was injured. That got everyone angry, so we threw a grenade into the room where he was hiding.”
Seeing that he had thrown 5 or 6 shots at once to prevent it from being picked up and thrown again, it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to survive even if he wanted to.
It would have been nice if he had caught it, but there was nothing he could do, so Lieutenant Kim Si-jin could only nod.
“The 1st Platoon has captured the enemy barracks. They have also captured the telegraph facilities and supply warehouse.”
Soon, when reports came in that the enemy barracks had also been captured, cheers erupted.
Everyone’s heart must be pounding with excitement at the successful counterattack against the enemy, and the fact that it was done with their own hands.
In this way, all of Wonsan’s major facilities were recaptured by the assault infantry, and the enemy’s command structure collapsed, causing them to be annihilated or scattered.
On the other hand, the casualties of the assault infantry battalion were only 7 killed and 30 wounded, which was a very light loss considering the significance of the operation.
“Now, we clear out the remaining enemy forces and defend the city until the follow-up troops arrive. There are still two companies of the garrison remaining on the northern outskirts of Wonsan, so deploy your troops to prevent these bastards from advancing south.”
Lieutenant Kim Si-jin, who had given the additional order, spread out the map and thought about how he could be praised for his good deployment of troops to defend Wonsan city and port before the second wave arrived.
At that moment, an armed resident who appeared to be a local collaborator ran urgently toward the records investigation office agent, and Kim Pan-im’s face turned pale upon hearing his words.
Seeing him like that, Shijin asked.
“What’s going on?”
“···This is a big problem. The enemy main force is said to be returning to Wonsan.”
The 2nd Infantry Battalion, which had been in a celebratory mood at his words, fell silent as if cold water had been poured over them.