Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 361



Only Noblemtl

#2-18. The root of the new War (1)

I ordered the artillery group, consisting of about five battalions temporarily organized together with the 5th Division Artillery Regiment and the 7th Brigade Artillery, which had been ordered to regroup near the front line, to prepare for an improved form of mobile barrage fire, while at the same time placing the cavalry battalion dispatched from the 5th Division on standby.

In the original history, the Bulgarian army proposed the concept of moving barrage fire in 1913, but it was different here. From the war of 1903, our army’s artillery took up the draft of moving barrage fire, and it was continuously improved.

It was a method of reducing the time and place where friendly combat units were exposed to enemy firepower by having infantry and cavalry closely follow the artillery barrage. In the previous war, the mobile barrage fire was effective, but it exposed several important limitations. In particular, we had to directly witness many weaknesses in terms of mobility.

As the barrage formed by the artillery moved forward, infantry and cavalry advanced together, but this caused one fatal problem: the ground became greatly unstable as the route of advance was destroyed by the high-explosive shells.

Not only did this slow down the advance of infantry and cavalry, but it also greatly reduced the mobility of artillery that had to keep moving and providing cover, so there were times when tactical problems arose overall.

Perhaps, if the war with the Japanese in the Far East War had been longer, the Japanese might have found a way to destroy it. There were signs that they were somewhat aware of the problem that the further they advanced, the faster they lost speed.

Accordingly, the improved mobile barrage was carried out in a much more sophisticated and complex manner. If the existing method was characterized by pouring out large-scale artillery fire based on ‘information through appropriate reconnaissance’ and breaking through the front line with the charge of infantry and cavalry, the improved method that was about to begin now had to control much more detailed reconnaissance, the linkage between competent observation teams and infantry/cavalry, the laying of field telephones for this purpose, the opening of field lines, and the transcendental attacks between advancing units that had much more discretion than before.

“The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 7th Brigade will follow the barrage of the friendly artillery unit as much as possible. The barrage will sweep through the enemy’s defenses and advance to the maximum effective range, and the 7th Brigade’s vanguard’s mission is also to advance to that point.”

“Immediately after the two battalions successfully break through, the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 7th Brigade and the cavalry battalion of the 5th Division will follow right after?”

“That’s right. While the two battalions are clearing out the enemy’s defensive line, the reinforcements will overtake them and trample the enemy lines. At the point of overtaking, the artillery battalion will probably regroup and repeat what they did before. Oh, and order the assault infantry brigade to deploy to the enemy’s expected retreat point. We can’t just let those who retreat go.”

The artillerymen must have been dying, but what could they do? In the first place, infantry exists to die, while artillerymen exist to kill, and since they handle three-dimensional weapons that add much mathematical and scientific elegance to two-dimensional warfare, they have no choice but to suffer in large-scale battles.

“Soon, the bastards will lose their base and begin to retreat. However, our artillery fire will block the enemy’s retreat route, and the infantry will follow closely behind and kill all who resist with bayonets and grenades. Since it is nighttime, we can focus on super attacks.”

“All right!”

Amidst the shouts of the commander and staff, I emerged from the barracks. The sight of 72 75mm field guns lined up was always a spectacular sight.

***

“Shoot!”

As the 5th Division Artillery Regiment and the 7th Brigade Artillery began to fire simultaneously, huge flashes of light shot up from all over the enemy lines. Seeing this, the infantry shouted and began to cross the river simultaneously using the pontoon bridges and ships that had been prepared in advance.

When the doctrine of moving barrage fire was first introduced in the last war, there were quite a few dangerous situations. Communication between the advancing infantry, observation officers, and artillery units was not smooth, so there were problems such as scattering shrapnel over the heads of friendly infantry, or dropping artillery fire on areas where friendly infantry had already passed.

In the midst of these problems, the artillery corps also improved its own doctrine by strengthening the capabilities of the observation team and establishing communication means, and now it has been able to escape from such problems to some extent. In addition, the artillery’s overall range was expanded by improving the shells and upgrading the 75mm field gun, which was designed as a flat-firing gun, into a new gun with a 45-degree gun angle.

This could also be of great help tactically. Compared to flat-firing guns, it could overcome terrain to a great extent, so it could suppress enemy specialization points, and it could reduce the amount of movement that had to be frequent due to the short firing range.

The steel storm could further instill fear in already confused enemies, especially in a situation where the mortar, although in design form, was not financially feasible for mass production.

“The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 7th Brigade are advancing.”

“What about the follow-up discharges?”

“Preparing.”

I nodded at the staff’s words. Soon, the infantrymen who had crossed about 600 meters began to approach in a scattered manner, and soon they were exposed to a barrage of barrages and were still unconscious, so they strongly attacked the enemy’s defense line.

The barrage of shrapnel shells fired by our artillery was quite fatal to the troops under Jangjakrim, who had little training, and it was becoming difficult to expect proper combat power due to the considerable loss of life. This was especially true when looking at the enemy infantry battalion structure, which focused on rifles and grenade launchers instead of strengthening firepower by deploying machine guns to the company like we did.

This was especially true when the battalion had only a few machine guns and was swept away without any special cover or trenches from the shelling of shrapnel. It seemed obvious even without seeing it for myself what would happen in a situation where neither the riflemen’s firepower nor the machine guns that were supposed to cover them could perform their roles.

“It’s a bit disappointing that it’s only 75mm, but this time it’s more than enough, yes.”

I said with a sour taste. It was light, had decent mobility, and was very versatile, but the limitations of the 75mm artillery system in the coming war were clear. Compared to artillery systems of the 100mm or higher class, its firepower was ambiguous.

Of course, they had more than enough firepower to deal with the warlords. They didn’t build proper shelters or defensive facilities, and they were poorly following the Japanese army, so they used large-scale infantry formations, providing the perfect target for artillery.

Against such guys, if you mix a lot of shrapnel and a few high-explosive bombs and throw them over their heads, they will start off by losing a lot of strength before they even make contact with our infantry. After that, if you cut off their advance and retreat routes, they will just collapse on their own, and you can easily repel them as our infantry switches from defense to offense.

Of course, it was not known how long the enemy would maintain this. This was especially evident when we looked at how the Roman army, which had learned from being defeated by Hannibal, and the French League, which had learned from being crushed by Napoleon, overcame their formidable enemies.

It was obvious that someday they would follow our methods and, in the process, find our shortcomings and destroy them. In such a situation, the Artillery Command’s argument that the 75mm firepower was insufficient gradually gained ground.

The content was that, although we can deal with our enemies with ease with our 75mm artillery system right now, as time goes by and we begin to learn from the Japanese military, we will inevitably reach our limits.

As in the previous battles in Lushun, the 75mm shrapnel shells were not even able to penetrate the covered or concrete trenches, and even high-explosive shells were not powerful enough to directly destroy them. Certainly, if we were thinking about future wars, we needed field guns that were a little stronger than this, and accordingly, the Artillery Command was desperately trying to secure heavy guns.

If the Navy was calling for protecting the country through shipbuilding, the Army was calling for protecting the country through firepower.

“So isn’t the Artillery Command cooperating with the French company Schneider to produce new 105mm field guns?”

“That’s true.”

In any case, as the domestic and international situations changed, the need for heavy artillery over 100mm was increasing day by day. Accordingly, the Artillery Command received official approval from the Privy Council and the Cabinet and joined hands with Schneider of France to produce 105mm field guns.

At that time, the French Schneider company acquired the new 107mm field guns by taking over the Putilov factory in St. Petersburg, and based on this, they started producing 105mm field guns in 1913. They wanted to sign a contract to supply the French Army with this equipment, but were rejected.

Several generals, including Foch, demanded a purchase contract, citing the need for the introduction of heavy artillery, but the French War Ministry ultimately turned a blind eye to the demand. It seems that the main reasons were that the number of 75mm field guns was large, and that they did not want to introduce heavy artillery to hinder mobility and disrupt the military supply system.

In the end, we approached Schneider, who had lost their sales outlet. We played a fairly large role as a buyer for them, who needed to sell their goods immediately, and thus the contract was concluded under fairly good terms. This was because we obtained the content that they would directly import one battalion’s worth of 105mm field guns by 1914, and also proceed with a license agreement to establish an artillery depot in Korea.

In any case, it was not yet at the stage where field artillery could be independently designed, and if we think about it later, the accumulated technology could be helpful in creating an advanced form of artillery system. And surprisingly, the Privy Council and the Cabinet, who were expected to oppose it with open arms, approved it without a word.

The reason was simple.

‘Rifles are weak, cannons are strong. And in modern warfare, the strong firepower of artillery is the key, and only when this is complete can the war end early. Therefore, in order to save war expenses and save more lives, we must develop and deploy heavy artillery on our own. What infantry bullets and 75mm shells cannot solve, 105mm or even larger shells can solve in one shot. Above all, shells and cannons can be made again even if they are broken, but people and money cannot.’

Surprisingly, he agreed to the persuasion of the chief of staff. In addition, he was also helping to build an artillery depot, so there was really no reason to refuse.

In any case, the paradigm of artillery would change completely once again in the wake of the storm of World War I, which was bound to occur soon after. Field guns of the 100mm caliber or less would no longer be able to demonstrate the same power as before.

And since the timing was right, the Artillery Command started to license-produce 105mm field guns, so in the medium to long term, our artillery system would also need to be replaced. That is, unless we get dragged into that storm, which is unlikely to happen.

“By the way, I thought the director would immediately introduce the new 105mm field guns, but I was surprised that he agreed to cut the initial quantity by half.”

“If it had simply ended with the introduction of a single artillery piece, I would have agreed. But this is different from the introduction of rifles or machine guns.”

I sighed as I responded to Vice President Park Seung-hwan’s words. As I said, this was not a project that simply replaced a single firepower system. It was a project that would inevitably have a very large-scale impact, from the smallest of things like the introduction of vehicles to the largest of things like the national road maintenance project and the formation of a nationwide logistics network.

“It is difficult to move field guns to the front line by mobilizing military horses as we do now. In the end, a specialized vehicle system and transportation network must be developed… It is difficult right now.”

Since both the means of drawing the cannon and the method of supplying ammunition were completely different from the existing artillery system, it was obvious that there would be difficulties in terms of military supplies when operating together with standing units that still used 75mm field guns as their main weapon.

This was especially true when we consider that the South Korean military in 1952, which was heavily armed with 105mm field guns, was in disarray in many areas, from logistics and maintenance systems to vehicle operation doctrine, when it received 155mm heavy guns from the United States.

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