Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 365



Only Noblemtl

#2-21. The root of the new War (4)

“…Sir, I can see the enemies.”

“Prepare to fire the machine gun.”

More and more shadows were coming in, illuminated by the moonlight. The enemy had a rough idea of ​​where their troops were, but they didn’t seem to know exactly where and how many troops and weapons were deployed. I thought they would send a scouting party, but they didn’t seem to have the presence of mind to do so.

“Battery, open fire!”

“Commence firing!”

Soon, the silence was broken by the loud order to fire and the sound of a whistle, and at the same time, machine gun fire began to continue from the trenches that had been prepared. As if a beam of light was extending, I could intuitively see with my own eyes where the crossed firepower of the machine guns was flying.

“Don’t confuse the direction of your shots! If your crossfire gets tangled, the enemies will advance that much faster!”

The officers’ shouts could be heard, and the red-hot barrels of machine guns came into view. Meanwhile, the riflemen each aimed their rifles at the enemy and pulled the triggers. Pulling the bolt, they pulled out the spent cartridges, and put the cartridges back in… It was a repetition of the same thing they had done in countless training and border conflicts.

“Grenadiers, grenadiers! Three o’clock, range 200! Enemy infantry companies are in a tight spot!”

“firing!”

The battle continued quite fiercely. The enemies who tried to find a way to survive were not like bandits who looked down on them, but rather rushed in with a life-or-death attitude. It was said that the scariest things you encounter in battle are those who struggle to find a way to survive rather than rush in with the determination to die. The enemies in front of you now seemed to be of that type.

“Hit, hit! Keep firing as much as you can from the Dongjewon! That’s the enemy’s flank point!”

As they entered the crossfire of machine guns, many were killed, but still more were trying to bypass them, entering the range of rifle fire and grenade launcher fire. In an instant, all the firearms of the infantry battalion were firing, and in proportion to that, the number of shells and casualties continued to increase.

“Oh my, they’re coming in so fast!”

“Keep shooting! We have to make sure they don’t get away!”

The company commanders sent out signal flares to warn each other wherever the enemy was going around, and at the same time, the messengers sent by the battalion commanders were running around restlessly, giving tactical orders. In general, their actions were aimed at blocking the enemy’s way around with firepower and forcing them to run to their advantageous frontal position if possible.

“I’m telling you to pin them down so they don’t even think about turning around! 3rd Platoon, tell the 3rd Platoon machine guns to shoot down any bastards who try to turn around to the 9 o’clock direction instead of the 11 o’clock direction! The 11 o’clock direction is already being held by the 2nd Platoon machine gun team in the center!”

“All right!”

The battalion commander, who had been continuously monitoring the enemy’s movements through the telescope, realized that the enemy was continuously sending out troops in order to gradually wear down the friendly forces. It seemed that the retreating soldiers were continuously reorganizing and sending them to our front. However, the presence of machine guns, grenade launchers, and hand grenades was enough to overwhelm the enemy.

The enemies were also hitting the friendly defense line with grenade launchers, but they were not skilled in using them and were not able to land any proper hits. In fact, they accidentally fired a few rounds at the heads of their advancing friendly troops, unintentionally helping in the defense.

“You idiots. Turn your machine gun fire on them and make them sit down.”

“All right!”

Just when I was thinking that I could hold out comfortably until the follow-up units arrived, the messenger I had sent to the neighboring 2nd Battalion an hour ago suddenly came running, covered in blood and with tears and snot running down his face.

“Commander!”

“what’s the matter?!”

“The enemy has invaded the border line! The defense line of the border line assigned to the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Battalion has been breached!”

“what?”

The battalion commander looked in surprise toward the 3rd company on the right. The gap between the battalions was so large that it seemed difficult to maintain the perimeter line, but it seemed that the enemy had finally found a weak point and was persistently digging in. When learning tactics, it was said that the most vulnerable point was the perimeter line, which could be called the boundary between each unit.

This was because close cooperation between each unit was absolutely necessary, and if this was lacking, each side would shift responsibility for defense, which could lead to a breakthrough of the entire rear of the friendly forces. The Japanese army had not properly established this concept in the previous war, so it was quite vulnerable to friendly surprise attacks, and it was pointed out that the Russian-Western friendly forces would easily give up resistance and flee the battlefield if this point was breached by the Japanese army’s offensive.

And this time, it seemed they were the ones getting screwed. The battalion commander frowned and looked at the messenger.

“Can you tell how far it penetrated?”

“I just heard that one company had broken through when I was coming back.”

“shit.”

It seemed that they had penetrated a lot. However, perhaps they knew that the situation was serious, so they sent the 4th platoon that the 2nd Battalion had been in reserve to the border line to block any further penetration. However, judging from the fact that the enemies that had penetrated did not come towards the 2nd Battalion, it seemed that they were planning to attack the 1st Battalion’s rear soon.

The battalion commander sighed, then looked at one of the new officers next to him. He had just taken off his sergeant’s uniform and was wearing his sergeant’s epaulettes, so he was still a bit unsightly, but he had no choice. The only officer left next to the battalion commander was this guy who was watching the administration from the side.

He was rumored to be a brave and intelligent officer who was not suitable for his age, and he was over 185cm tall and had a strong impression, so the soldiers followed him well. However, perhaps because of his pride as an officer, he carried a cumbersome sword whenever he went on a mission, so some of the veterans had a strong perception of him as an eccentric.

“Sergeant Kim, gather all the remaining idle troops in the battalion. Those bastards have broken through the line with the 2nd Battalion and are rushing towards our rear.”

“Well, the only idle troops are the battalion administrative staff, the ammunition staff of the Saha branch, the medics, and the messengers, so there are only about 30 people in total.”

“Collect them all. If they come at us from behind, it’s over, the end.”

Meanwhile, the battalion commander gave him one of his most important reserves. He had a Maxim machine gun team in case of an emergency, and it seemed a good idea not to send it to the urgent area earlier.

“I will transfer command of the Maximo Corps to Vice-President Kim, so ambush the enemy at their point of entry and stop them at all costs. If you don’t, keep in mind that not only our battalion but also the 2nd Battalion will all be killed.”

“Oh, I understand!”

“Wake up and kill everyone you see. Fight as bravely as you can for the country that gave you the rank of lieutenant.”

He watched in silence as the young officer, with the expression of the above, led the remaining men away, his sabre-toothed waist clanking against his thighs. Then he sighed again as he reloaded the pistol he had on his waist.

If they fail… No, there was no need to think about that now. The messenger came running again, and at the sound of the 2nd platoon’s assault, he too began to run outside.

***

“Hey, is this the right place?”

“I think it’s roughly correct.”

After running for a while, out of breath, I could see bushes growing on both sides of the ‘road’ where the enemies would come. In fact, it wasn’t really a road at all. It was just a common country road.

Still, there were places where they could hide, and there was enough room for the Maxim machine guns the battalion commander had provided to fire without any worries, so he ordered an ambush without thinking about it. One of the experienced instructors had gone out with a few grenades and was setting up tripwires, probably to prepare for the enemy’s possible bypass.

“These little bastards, they’re going to get swept up on their way back here.”

“You’re good at it.”

“If you roll around here for a few years, you’ll know, sir. If you don’t become an expert at killing enemies, you could end up dead.”

He chuckled and showed off the scar on his face as he set up the last tripwire with his short, shortened Ashiq rifle. In fact, it seemed like there would be a good ambush point if we advanced a little further, but we did not advance any further because we were worried about encountering the enemy.

If you were not careful and ran into the enemy while wandering around looking for a better spot, you might have been swept away without even forming a proper battle formation.

“Aren’t you scared, Lieutenant Baekya? Those guys are a whole company.”

“Whether it’s a company or a battalion, they’re just ants in front of me in the white night. So stay alert and keep your grenades and rifle ammunition within arm’s reach. And don’t pull the trigger without my order. Those who do, you can handle it after the battle is over.”

This section, which called itself the White Night, was ambushing soldiers in inconspicuous places, holding pistols in their hands. The only people here with combat experience were the Maxim machine gun crew, and the rest were people who had absolutely no experience in combat.

That was the moment when he was thinking that he must have a lot of work to do here, and was breathing out carefully so that his breath wouldn’t escape. And it was also the moment when the Maxim machine gunners, who had been struggling to bring in the tripod, set up their belts and just about to put on their ammunition, in a place where the access road was clearly visible.

There was a sound of something running, and a considerable number of troops were coming toward the entrance. No matter how I looked at them, they were definitely the enemy. I thought they were the ones the battalion commander had strongly urged us to block, so I looked at them with my eyes that had adapted to the darkness for a long time – was this what they called night vision at the military academy?

At night, when visibility is limited, people become psychologically discouraged, and things can appear as they are due to imagination, so we must always be careful. This time, I looked at them several times to make sure that I would not mess things up because of that, but they were clearly the enemies.

“A group of unknown size is approaching in two columns. They do not speak our language.”

The words uttered by the careless were certainly foreign. Now that he was certain that they were the enemy, he tapped the butt of his rifle with his palm and signaled to the Maxim machine gunner and senior instructor lying in ambush on the other side.

Recognizing the signal to prepare to fire, they very slowly pulled the bolt towards the approaching enemies from the front and prepared to fire, and soon after the whistle blew, they instinctively began to pull the trigger.

Along with him, the terrible noises that had been heard earlier on the front lines began to fill everyone’s ears.