Chapter 112:
Chapter 112
The engine of the massive vehicle roared loudly.
The ISU-203, a self-propelled gun with a modified 203mm howitzer, was like a heavy beast.
There was only one group in the entire army that operated 36 of these ‘self-propelled guns’.
The soldiers who watched the procession of the guns cheered and waved their hands.
They were the heroes who received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star, the <Independent Korean Artillery Regiment>.
The regiment commander Mujeong was listening to the information delivered by his staff officer.
“Really? You mean those fascist bastards are coming this way?”
“Yes, comrade commander. A million-strong fascist army is advancing on this front. The Korean regiment is assigned to the most fierce battlefield…”
“I see! We have to show them what we can do, right?”
The regiment members were very calm even after hearing that the enemy was approaching.
No, they seemed to like it even more.
They had confidence in their skills.
They had received the best weapons in the army, and they were also the best in terms of performance.
It was hard to deny that there was a mixture of old-fashioned and feudalistic concepts like ‘a scholar dies for those who appreciate him’.
The supreme leader of the Soviet Union, Comrade Stalin, praised their achievements and promised to support them as much as possible in rebuilding their liberated homeland.
“Our blood will be used for our compatriots in our homeland until the last drop if we die here.”
The members of the Korean artillery regiment, which had expanded to the size of a regiment, had engraved this in their hearts from the lowest soldier to the highest officer.
“I will liberate my homeland from Japanese imperialism with my own hands! If not by my hands, then by my blood!”
The young men of colonial Korea fled to the Soviet Union via Manchuria and joined the Korean regiment under the Soviet Union.
The activists in their homeland, such as Yeounhyeong and Park Heonyeong, did not want the young men to rot away under Japanese imperialism.
“Go to the Soviet Union! Learn their skills and abilities!”
“Those who are smart and well-educated should go to the Soviet Union and receive formal college education and learn skills. And use them for soon-to-be liberated Korea!”
“If you have the talent to fight, join the Korean regiment! Look at their great achievements. Be the vanguard of anti-imperialist struggle there, and also be the vanguard of Korean liberation!”
Mujeong laughed heartily out of nowhere.
“Hahaha, those bastards must have never imagined this place, right? I mean that bastard who calls himself Kayama Mitsuro or something?”
“Who? Kayama Mitsuro?”
“That Chunwon Lee Kwangsoo, you know? Hahaha!”
Lee Kwangsoo changed his surname to Kayama Mitsuro (香山 光郞) at this time and advocated ‘internal unity’ with Japan.
“Japan and Korea are one. Their fate is connected and Japan’s victory is Korea’s victory!”
Many people who thought that Japan would last forever argued for cooperation with Japan.
They argued that they should cooperate with Japan to enhance their national capabilities, and share prosperity in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere that Japan would realize.
That’s why they changed their surnames to Japanese ones, changed their names to Japanese ones, and argued that young people should go to conscription and comfort stations for Japan.
But how long would they last?
The world he saw in the Soviet Union was much wider than what he could know in a small peninsula.
The Soviet army was powerful and could crush the Kwantung Army, which was considered Japan’s elite, with one finger.
What could a few hundred thousand troops do in Manchuria?
Even if a million-strong German army came rushing at them, the Soviet army did not blink an eye.
And the Soviet Union was sharpening its sword to destroy Japan in one blow, even though it seemed to cooperate with Japan for now.
When that day comes! When that day comes.
When tanks run like lightning across the Manchurian plain and thunderous cannon fire roars!
When Japanese troops are all crushed and only the flag of liberated Korea flies on that day!
The regiment members were waiting for that day.
“Comrade Mujeong! We have a request for artillery support!”
“Oh! Comrade! Let’s go! Let’s go! Come on! Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
***
The German army built concrete bunkers on their defensive line even during that harsh winter to resist the Soviet offensive.
To break those bunkers with machine guns and anti-tank guns, powerful artillery fire was needed.
Very powerful artillery fire.
[We request artillery fire on enemy targets in 201st Division sector!]
The Soviet frontline units called for Korean artillerymen with howitzers that reached almost strategic weapon level for this purpose.
Of course, the Koreans were very happy and responded to the artillery support.
It was time to show off their new skills that they had honed for so long.
This time, the target was the bunkers located on the offensive axis planned by the Soviet army.
To break those defensive lines that were built to protect each other, precise attacks had to follow.
It was not enough to call for aircraft to deal with the bunkers, as the Soviet army still lacked precision bombing capabilities.
The fierce German fighters were also scary.
But calling for regular howitzers would bring the German counter-battery fire from their howitzers.
They had already tried to pour fire with 152mm guns twice, but they had to retreat with dozens of casualties due to the counterattack.
So the division commander decided to call for the Korean artillery regiment that was so trusted.
***
The 36 ISU-203 self-propelled guns were accompanied by experimental ammunition supply vehicles.
The 203mm gun had a huge ammunition as much as its caliber.
It was impossible to reload a 100kg high-explosive shell with human power alone.
The gun turret and ammunition supply device were redesigned while designing the self-propelled gun, so the weapon bureau tried to make an automatic loading device.
Of course, they realized that they couldn’t load a few rounds of 100kg shells and came up with another solution.
The great and wise Comrade Stalin made a surprising suggestion to ‘outsource’ the automatic loading device.
“We need a separate ammunition armored vehicle anyway because of the low self-ammunition transport capability. Can’t we add loading capability to it as well?”
It was to equip an armored vehicle that carried ammunition and followed the self-propelled gun with a separate device that could perform both ammunition supply and loading tasks.
It was a kind of conveyor belt that connected the self-propelled gun.
Of course, many engineers had to work all night to meet the requirements of the leader, but anyway, the engineers quickly made what they were ordered.
“Oh, this is really good!”
The soldiers who had to move the 100kg shells with difficulty were happy with this. Thanks to this, the ammunition supply and loading speed improved dramatically.
Of course, it also cost a lot. But who would care about a few pennies for a strategic weapon that could be used like a joker? Wasn’t Comrade Stalin satisfied with it?
Anyway, the Korean artillerymen seemed very pleased with this new weapon.
They had developed a new tactic and showed it to the higher-ups before… Maybe they could see it today.
Regiment commander Mujeong looked at the coordinates of the enemy targets marked on the map and seemed to estimate something.
The other Korean officers were also discussing with their heads together.
The Soviet officers wondered what they were doing and looked at them curiously.
On the bumpy road, the Koreans planned with amazing concentration.
They giggled and said they would smash the German positions in one shot.
They flipped the abacus a few times and entered some complex numbers, then started to do something with the ammunition.
Were they changing the propellant charge?
“Alright, observers!”
“Yes, comrade commander!”
“We will change our positions right after firing to avoid counter-battery fire, so keep that in mind! Come on! Fire and run!”
“Yes!!!”
They all looked tense as if they were preparing for a short-distance sprint. Mujeong gave orders to his men with excitement.
He also looked happy.
The 36 howitzers that had been carefully aimed looked like giant pipe organs of a church.
Four guns were assigned to each bunker, and each gun fired three rounds in succession.
They adjusted the angle for each shot, but the work was so fast that the observers hardly had time to wonder what they were doing.
“Run!”
“Yes, comrade commander!”
The regiment members retreated quickly with a smile.
The ammunition supply vehicles disconnected and retreated with a rumble, followed by the self-propelled guns.
The Soviet officers who watched them were dumbfounded.
‘What did I just see? There was no observation, and they just fired three rounds in a row and retreated?’
Of course, it was right for self-propelled guns to operate like this to avoid counter-battery fire. But compared to the 108 shells they fired, they barely heard any impact sound.
The radio that communicated with the observers was in Mujeong’s hands, so they couldn’t know what was going on.
[…? Didn’t you fire three times per gun?]
“This is what we call ‘time on target’ fire!”
Time on target (TOT) is a technique that makes shells fired from each gun hit one target at the same time.
Four guns designated for each bunker, and three shells fired by each gun hit the target precisely at the same time.
The first shell was fired at a high angle, and then the angle was lowered for each successive shot to coordinate them.
It would be difficult to follow this technique with ordinary field guns, because of the loading speed or skill level.
But thanks to the ammunition supply vehicles that followed the self-propelled guns, automatic loading was possible, so they could do this ‘trick’.
The German army that suddenly received 12-gun salvo (12 guns * 1 round) like lightning must have been stunned.
The observers reported briefly that all rounds hit and the targets were destroyed, and they were speechless at their own feat.
“Is this your first time in combat?”
“Yes! Those fascists probably don’t know what hit them, hahaha!”
The Koreans laughed happily as if they were having fun.
The Soviet officers who finally realized what happened were speechless.
“What are you looking at? Do you want to learn it?”
“Yes? Yes! Of course! Please teach us!”
“Well… It’s a bit difficult unless you have self-propelled guns that can adjust their angles quickly…”
‘The Soviet officers could tell from their trailing voices.
‘They need more self-propelled guns.’
The massive firepower of time on target fire was soon reported to the higher-ups.
How is that possible? How can they do that?
They asked at the headquarters, but when they heard that it was done by the Korean artillery regiment, they shut their mouths.
“Then we just need to produce more self-propelled guns? ISU-203s?”
“Well… Yes! We had no casualties in this engagement, and we swept away the bunkers that had been giving us headaches in one go!”
“…I’ll report it to my superiors.”
The headquarters, which had always been concerned about the limitations of Soviet artillery, immediately accepted this proposal.
The Soviet artillery had many guns, but it was always inefficient in terms of firepower projection.
The radio was widely distributed to order and feedback where and how much firepower was needed. But there were still problems caused by the skill level or performance gap between Soviet and German artillery.
When Soviet artillery fired at their targets diligently, the Germans waited and observed, then fired a salvo at the Soviet artillery and wiped them out.
This caused a lot of damage!
But if several shells fired from one field gun fell at the same time, it was hard to confirm the impact and even harder to calculate the trajectory and locate the enemy.
This was not only advantageous defensively, but also more powerful than one might think.
The damage of 12 203mm shells hitting at the same time would be greater than being hit by field guns for hours.
Now the Red Army had gained a tremendous insight.
And Comrade Stalin summarized this insight in one sentence.
“Produce more self-propelled guns!”
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