Chapter 280
February 22nd, 2021, 14:00
Twelve kilometers southwest of Okaki, Aichi Prefecture, Honshu, Japan.
The FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers, considered to be the predators of tanks in the sky, joined in the 18th armored battalion’s tanks fight and unleashed their firepower to the ground.
The four FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers flew in a horizontal line and launched 50mm plasma cluster rounds to the ground. The cluster rounds accurately struck the upper turret of the M4 Warthog tanks. The reactive plating equipped on the M4 tanks exploded after the plasma cluster rounds landed and reduced their power.
Excluding Corea’s 5.5th generation White Tiger tanks, no other tanks could withstand the explosive power of the plasma cluster rounds. However, the U.S. Marine’s M4 Warthog tank withstood the explosives with their reactive plating.
The Vegatinium alloy plating boasted double the defensive power of the compound ceramic plating. The M4 Warthog tanks had their entire body covered in the Vegatinium alloy, and the turret was an automatic one that didn’t require a gunner to be aboard.
Therefore, the freedom in space had allowed the tank to equip armored plating on its turret that could match the front armored plating. Since the reactive plating covered the entire tank, its defensive capabilities were heightened significantly. With the 16MJ class rail guns equipped, the M4 Warthog was worthy of being classed as a 5th generation tank.
The four FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers had poured 160 rounds of plasma cluster rounds to the Warthog tanks. 160 rounds were more than enough to take out three armored battalions, but there were still over 50 Warthog tanks charging towards Corea’s White Tiger tanks. Excluding the 30 Warthog tanks that were taken out by the White Tiger tanks, only 10 were destroyed by the plasma cluster rounds launched by the choppers.
In conclusion, the plasma cluster rounds were not enough to destroy the Warthog tanks equipped with the compound Vegatinium plating.
The four FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers exhausted all 160 rounds of their plasma cluster rounds. They launched all of their S-AGM-20 Horn bow short-range missiles and flew back to base.
The S-AGM-20 Horn Bow missile, designed to destroy armored vehicles, struck the upper turret of the Warthog tanks. With a great explosion, the turret of the Warthogs cracked open. It seemed the reactive plating was all used up from defending against the numerous cluster rounds.
Some of the Warthog tanks had black and red flames coming out from the railguns and stopped moving. 16 Horn Bow missiles had taken out 9 Warthog tanks.
The MEAB (Marine Expeditionary Armored Brigade) that defended Nagoya and Chukyo was the Oliver Smith brigade, which was named after the U.S. Marine’s 1st division commander during the Korean war who fought against China’s forces moving south from Zhangjin.
Soon the four FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers that bullied the American Warthog tanks left the battlefield. 24 AH-66 Comanche stealth choppers of the Oliver Smith brigade then came from the southern skies with their rotors roaring. Unlike standard assault choppers, they were designed for stealth and looked sleek and fast. The AH-66 Comanche choppers were colored black and flew north swiftly at an altitude of 100m.
Meanwhile, the capital armored division had thought four FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers would be enough to take down the M4 Warthog tanks. When they saw that that was not enough, they deployed 12 more choppers to assault the M4 Warthog choppers again. The 12 FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers flew south.
While a fierce battle between tanks was taking place on land, an aerial battle between choppers was going on in the skies. This would be the second chopper battle since the first one against the AH-64 Apache guardian choppers at the northern skies above Kyushu.
As choppers on both sides started to close in on each other, both groups stopped attacking the forces on the ground, and actively engaged the enemy in the air. The AH-66 Comanche attacked first. They launched their AIM-9R sidewinder missiles equipped on the lower weapons mount.
24 rounds of AIM-9R missiles equipped with both standard infrared guidance and now active radar guidance as well, flew towards the FAH-91SP Peregrine Falcon choppers. The Peregrine Falcon choppers which were each targeted by two rounds of sidewinder missiles all retaliated with their own S-ALAM 60 Black Dragon missiles before spraying chaffs and flares to evade them.
It wasn’t a speedy and tense battle compared to the ones with fighter jets, but the choppers moved about in their own way and continued the battle. The tanks below were now 1km away from each other and their numbers had lowered significantly.
The Warthog tank’s powerful plating capable of defending against plasma cluster rounds was no match for actual photon rounds. The reactive plating started to melt from the heat of the photon particles, and the Vegatinium alloy also started to melt from the high heat. The turrets ended up melting off the tanks. Luckily there were some crew aboard the M4 Warthog tanks with their turrets shot off who survived.
Only 30 operable Warthog tanks were remaining under the Oliver Smith brigade. At the start of the battle, there were 88 Warthog tanks. Now, there was only a battalion’s worth of tanks left. Corea’s capital armored division which had faced off numerous enemies during the war against China had never suffered casualties like today. f(r)eewebnovel
None of the crew was injured, but there were over 18 White Tiger tanks that were no longer fit for battle. Even when the capital armored division faced off against double the number of tanks, there were maybe 2 to 3, or even 5 to 6 tanks that would be unable to move or had their optical equipment damaged. However, the 18 White Tiger tanks had all of their outer optical equipment destroyed and had to be sent in for repairs. The 16MJ class railguns equipped on the Warthog tanks were that powerful.
* * *
February 22nd, 2021, 18:00
The Hoyoshi Mountain, 18km southeast of Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan
The search and destroy mission that started at 09:30 in the morning continued throughout the day, and darkness was slowly covering the land. Today’s operation resulted in over 400 Japanese special forces being either captured or killed. The Corean forces had only eight of their men injured. Through interrogating the captured prisoners, the marines were able to find out there were only 30 Japanese special forces men left in the area. The Magpie Viper regiment’s commander ordered the search to continue into the night, so they could finish off the mission.
Usually, a search mission was dangerous and ineffective at night. It was especially so in a mountainous region with a dense forest due to friendly fire. During the North Korean special forces’ infiltration at Kangrueng in 1998, there were three casualties and they were all caused by friendly fire.
However, that was something the Corean soldiers could not understand because they were equipped with the latest equipment from the Corean military. Among them were the protective suit, a helmet with shield glasses, a watch-like console monitor, X-K01 communication device, laser rifles, and 20 other different pieces of equipment.
The most crucial piece of equipment for night-time missions was the Corean military’s shield glasses with TAR (Tactical Augmented Reality) technology on the helmets. Out of three visual modes, the infrared mode allowed the soldiers to see their surroundings as bright as day, while the inverter mode showed them the enemies hiding in pits. Also, the magnetic mode could detect any object larger than heavy firearms.
Additionally, the shield glasses would show friendly life forms with a blue color to prevent friendly fire. The X-K01 communication device’s console screen showed the locations of the enemy and allies up to 500m away. Finally, the laser rifles would not operate if fired towards an allied target.
-Sergeant! We are detecting 10 life forms 280m away from us.
Corporal Kang Yeon-ho, glanced at the area he was charged with using his shield glasses. When they showed multiple objects emitting heat, he alerted his squad leader.
-Are you sure? Everyone, halt!
The sergeant glanced at the direction Corporal Kang pointed to. The infrared shapes being detected by the shield glasses were that of humans.
-Yes, that’s them for sure! Our squad will take them down. Private Na, prepare to snipe the enemy, and the rest of you stay sharp and prepare to fire! We take them out with a single strike.
The seven squadron members all moved and got into position under the sergeant’s orders.
-Private Oh, take the man at the center. The rest of you, starting from the left, Corporal Kang, Private Hong, Sergeant Song, Corporal Youn. From the right, Private Jo, me, and Private Na will take them on. If there are any survivors, take care of them, Corporal Na.
The 10 special forces men were carefully moving along the dense forest under the cover of darkness.
-On three. One! Two! Three!
A single 30mm smart grenade round and seven beams flew towards the Japanese special forces’ men.
The seven beams of light directly pierced through the special forces and the smart grenade went off. After a single attack, all 10 Japanese soldiers were rolling on the ground. Three men had been covered by the shrapnel of the grenade.
Sergeant Kim Il-ho’s squadron used their shield glasses to confirm all of their targets rolling on the ground, then they carefully started to approach them. All 10 of them were dead. The squadron started to check the bodies.
“Sergeant Kim, sir. Do you think our entire squad will be promoted a rank? We took down 40 men by ourselves.”
“What am I gonna do with a promotion from being a sergeant? I just want to be a soldier and not an NCO. If I become staff sergeant, then I will be the lowest rank out of the NCOs.”
“Won’t you get a pay raise though, sir?”
“Quiet! I need to report in.”
“This is the 6th son-in-law, father-in-law, please come in.”
-This is father-in-law. We can hear you loud and clear. Over.
“This is the 6th son-in-law, we have taken out six monkeys. Over.”
-This is father-in-law, the eldest daughter is pleased. Over.
“This is the 6th son-in-law, we will continue our operation. Please confirm.”
-This is father-in-law, time to pack it up. Return using the set route, over.
“This is the 6th son-in-law, confirmed. Moving out.”
“The operation is over. They were the last of them, Private Jo.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Place the locational flag there.”
“Yes, sir.”
The men placed a flag with a GPS chip so the bodies of the Japanese soldiers could be found.
“We’re done here. Where is our pick-up point?”
“Right here, sir. A1-3-2.”
Corporal Youn Hong-gil pointed to a spot on the console map.
“Let’s go!”
Kyushu, one of the 4 major islands that formed Japan, was occupied by the Corean Marine after 11 days of their landing. At 18:41, on February 22nd, 2021, was the historical moment that Corea officially occupied the entire area.
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