Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 364



Only Noblemtl

#2-20. The root of the new War (3)

“It may be considered a mere 4km deep, but to the enemy, it will feel like a dagger that has penetrated quite deeply. Just like the Japanese did in the last war, they left their rear area too empty. They must have thought that they could hold out until Jang Jag-rim’s main force arrived.”

“We will immediately allow the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 7th Brigade and the 5th Division troops to cross the river.”

“good.”

Of course, there were blind spots in the operations I directed. While continuously changing the infantry doctrine systematically and delicately, I recommended that the infantry charge method follow two methods depending on the situation.

One method was to charge in large numbers by an entire regiment or brigade when the enemy’s defense line was not strong and the amount of artillery fire was sufficient to greatly overwhelm them psychologically, and the other was to prepare for cases when the enemy could not be psychologically greatly pressured or the enemy’s defense and counterattack intentions were unknown.

The doctrine of sequential continuous offensive was to send out elite infantry units, such as reconnaissance units or conscripted assault infantry from each division, brigade, or regiment, at the forefront of the offensive and instruct them to clear the way from the attack starting line to the enemy lines, while continuously pushing forward reserve units for communications and reconnaissance in the rear.

In general, I emphasized choosing the latter method if the commander’s capabilities and circumstances allow it. At this point in time, when firepower has increased dramatically, the density of troops on the front lines has increased significantly, resulting in excessive confusion and losses, and the resulting variables have grown like a snowball, to the point where commanders would not be able to deal with them in the past.

Of course, there was a problem that arose when this happened. Since there were too few units going on the offensive, the gap between each unit would quickly widen and narrow, and the communication network would become long. This would lead to problems such as poor communication between the front and rear, and even between adjacent units, which could result in a mismatch.

If these situations overlap, the advancing friendly infantry will gradually lose strength and eventually bounce off the target like an arrow shot from afar, which will mean the end of surprise and shock effects. In that case, the front line will inevitably become stalemate, and there will be a risk that the enemy, who will reorganize their battle lines, will surround and destroy the exhausted and isolated friendly attack units.

So, if the offensive was going quite smoothly and the surprise and shock effects were working well, it was necessary to quickly advance the reserves that had been prepared to the front line to give momentum to the offensive. There was no other reason for continuously improving the mobile barrage doctrine. Only by providing continuous firepower could the enemy be given the surprise and shock effects, leading to the ultimate victory. Of course, due to current technological limitations, it is impossible to completely close the gap between mobility and firepower.

In World War I, the French army, which faced the German army, suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and learned one by one how to achieve victory, I tried to portray this as best as I could. At least, I had to teach them how to achieve victory with minimal sacrifice when faced with a similar situation.

…so that I can fight the enemies with maximum efficiency even when I am not there.

“It’s not enough to simply break through the front line. Everything must be prepared for what happens after the front line is broken through. The enemy’s current front line breakthrough was achieved through the superiority of their artillery, so if the enemy counterattacks while the artillery is moving, a big problem could occur.”

“In times like this, shouldn’t we endure it with emergency shelter?”

“Yes. That’s the correct answer. However, since our artillery has already destroyed the enemy’s trenches, it is difficult to improve the defensive efficiency with just emergency fortifications. That’s why we distributed light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and grenade launchers to each infantry battalion to hit the enemy’s infantry with indirect fire.”

It was not easy to clear the defense line that had been devastated by artillery fire and prepare for the enemy’s counterattack. There was a lot to do, such as filling in or destroying enemy obstacles, installing friendly obstacles toward the expected attack point, repairing the advance route destroyed by artillery fire, disposing of dangerous unexploded ordnance, and moving the killed or wounded enemies to one side.

“Since the enemy attacks faster than expected, even if the enemy’s defensive facilities that our troops have captured are not properly prepared, we can hold out while maximizing our defensive efficiency with the firepower of machine guns and grenade launchers. That’s what I taught you, and that’s what I taught you again so that you can prepare for situations like this.”

Soon the artillery fire ceased, and the artillery officers called the men handling the horses and ordered the cannons and ammunition carts to advance forward. Since our troops had already advanced beyond the range of the artillery, the artillery had to move forward again and cover the infantry that was advancing as ordered.

“It’s time to see how well the 7th Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant General Noh Baek-rin, has learned.”

“You don’t have to worry, Director. Just as the artillery is pouring out sophisticated fire, the infantry will also be charging systematically and delicately.”

“…Okay. Don’t expect it.”

I took a deep breath and spoke. All the smells of the battlefield were wafting into my nostrils. Now that our artillery fire had stopped, the enemy had two options. Either retreat like this, or somehow stop the retreating units and regroup to counterattack in order to buy time until the main force arrived.

If it were just Jangjakrim’s men, who were full of stupid bandits, they would definitely choose to retreat, but if there were a military advisory group dispatched from Japan, they would choose the latter. That was the Japanese way, and they wanted to test our power by putting them in the lead and at the same time see how effective their own methods were.

“Let’s see how well they learned from us.”

***

“The shelling has stopped! It looks like our artillery is re-firing!”

“Stop, stop! Battalion, hold your ground! Hold your ground until our artillery can return the barrage and prepare for a counterattack!”

Riding on pontoon bridges and small boats, the infantry advanced about 4km in a frenzy, accompanied by machine gun fire from the riverside and artillery barrages. Since there were more enemies fleeing than resisting, they were busy mopping up the stragglers rather than fighting, but that was probably due to the shock effect of the enormous firepower of the artillery.

In fact, if we were to speak of the artillery barrage that preceded the infantry’s advance, it would be more solid than any shield.

Of course, if the timing between the artillery and infantry is off, or if either the infantry or the artillery makes a mistake, a catastrophe can occur, such as artillery fire falling on the heads of friendly forces, or an advancing friendly formation collapsing due to unexpected damage.

Of course, that didn’t happen during the current battle, but there were some close calls. There were quite a few shells that missed their intended targets and exploded like near-misses.

“Quickly reorganize your formation and prepare for battle! There’s no time!”

The battalion commander looked at his watch anxiously and spoke while looking at the front that had become quiet without a single flash of light. If it had been daytime, he would have been chasing the fleeing enemies at this very moment, but he had to put aside his greed for a moment, knowing that patience was on the side of those who had more patience at night.

It was while they were hastily digging the ground with field shovels, setting up machine guns, and the grenade launchers were crossing each other’s ranges according to the commander’s orders, creating a crossfire zone from which enemies who entered the line of fire could not possibly escape.

One of the reconnaissance platoons that had been ordered to advance to the front lines in advance to prepare for any possible enemy attacks returned in a hurry and soon began to report surprising news. They could not find any traces of the retreating enemies, but only that an unknown number of enemies were approaching from the front lines.

“The very reason they counterattacked… Ah.”

The battalion commander could only roughly understand after looking at the map. If they retreated just 1km more, they would have to fight with a huge reservoir at their backs. If the friendly forces continued to push forward with artillery fire and infantry like before, they would have nowhere to run and would either drown in the reservoir or be forced to surrender. So, it was clear that the friendly artillery had stopped firing again and the pursuing troops would have been fewer, so they were trying to find a way to survive through a counterattack.

“If we can just block the counterattack properly, we might be able to kill them all.”

I thought that the emergency shelter hadn’t even been completed yet, and gave up. After all, not all battles can be fought in perfect environments and conditions. I had to fight as much as I could with what I was prepared for, and how well I could repel the counterattacks from here depended on the battalion’s skill level.

And if we block them properly here, we might be able to drive them all into the reservoir and surround them.

“The enemy is preparing a counterattack. Concentrate all remaining firepower forward and send messengers to the adjacent 2nd Battalion.”

“All right.”

The 1st Battalion Commander was a little anxious about the 2nd Battalion, which was nearby, falling behind them. The 2nd Battalion was behind them, so the 1st Battalion was slightly out of position. Of course, the remaining battalions of the 7th Brigade and the combat units of the 5th Division would be approaching from the rear to follow up, but he did not expect them to arrive on time.

Although the damage to the advance route was less because they had focused on shrapnel instead of high explosives, it was only compared to the ‘high explosives’. With the damaged advance route, the destroyed enemy equipment, the defeated soldiers who had not yet been able to retreat and were trapped between the two sides, and the night situation, only heaven knew how quickly the follow-up units would cover the 4km or so of depth.

“Wake up and adjust to the darkness. The bastards are coming. Company commanders, control your firing zone at all costs.”

“The enemies are approaching!”

Even in northern Manchuria, where summer was clearly approaching, grass and reeds grew well. And among them, things that should not be heard tickled the ears. Rustling sounds, the sound of military boots stepping on the grassy ground, and insects that stopped crying as soon as a person came, etc. Even a new recruit who had not been in the army for long could immediately tell that the enemy was approaching.

And under this night sky filled with moonlight, the enemy was more visible than ever. For some reason, the enemy was counterattacking again. Their fighting style was somehow similar to ours, yet clumsy. Just as the Japanese had learned from battalion-level skirmishers who had been severely burned, and had developed much smaller small unit tactics, Jang Jag-rim’s army also split into companies and platoons and approached without forming a line.

However, because the size of the infantry battalion was large, and there were many soldiers assigned to each company and platoon, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were a lot of people crowded into a limited firing line. Well, in this case, it wasn’t bad from the perspective of the opponent.

“Those fucking retards, they’re moving just like the Japanese used to.”

“If you let it get any closer, it’ll shoot grenades at you. I don’t think you should underestimate it.”

“That’s right. The frontal firepower itself cannot be ignored. First, tell them to destroy their vanguard with Maximoff.”

The battalion commander checked the enemy’s advance route from a hidden location and sent a messenger to the subordinate company commanders. Each company commander was to order the company’s common firearms and company members to fire at their discretion. It was the easiest and most difficult order. If they fired too early, the enemy would know the location of the friendly firearms and bypass them, but if they allowed them to get too close, the defense line could be overturned by the enemy, whose numbers were a weapon in themselves.

That is why commanders above the rank of company commander have always had to have their own standards for the concept of ‘appropriate distance’. And now is the time for that concept to be used. Their standards were set by the infantry tactics revised by the Director of Operations immediately after the war. It was recommended to pour out machine gun fire from the point where the enemy’s silhouette was vaguely visible.

And when the color of the enemy’s uniform was clearly visible, it was specified that grenade launchers were to be fired, and only when the enemy’s weapons were clearly visible was the riflemen in the company to open fire in unison. When the enemy’s face was clearly visible, it was also specified that grenades were to be thrown without sparing any effort along with a final defensive fire.