Chapter 6: Spanish Civil War (2)
As of November 1936, the situation of major powers intervening in Spain was as follows:
Nationalists = Germany, Italy, Korea.
Republicans = Soviets.
Among those, Italy had mobilized the largest number of troops.
Of course, numbers don’t directly equate to combat power, but numerical advantage is a thing.
Because of this, the Nation with the strongest voice among the Nationalists was Italy and not Germany.
......The Korean Empire was insignificant.
The Empire dispatched 10.000 soldiers, with a few destroyers and less than 50 aircraft.
As for the logistics...That was a nightmare.
The situation was so dire that the Korean Army had to borrow ammunitions from the Germans, and food from the Italians.
This is why the Korean army’s presence was extremely minimal.
“General on-site! Welcome, Your Excellency!”
“At ease men.”
The ceremony for my arrival happened at the Empire’s headquarters set up in Casa De Campo, the largest public park on the outskirts of Madrid.
Since the Korean Army was operating as a unified force, regardless of branch, there were also naval and air officers at the HQ.
I greeted the key officers.
There were several officers whose names I needed to remember, but if I were to name the most impressive ones, it would be these three:
Chief of Staff, Colonel Gong Sang Jin.
A graduate of the 46th class of the Military Academy.
My junior by one year in terms of the Academy class.
With his large build and lively personality, he was known as the ‘Iberian Bear’ among the staff officers.
Next was the Operations Staff Officer, Colonel Park Joon.
A graduate of the 48th.
Despite his short and thin physique, he was a surprisingly social person.
He often engaged in personal conversations with officers, listening to their concerns, and because of this, he was known as the army’s ‘Mom’.
Lastly, there was Colonel Ha Yu Jin, head of the Air Force detachment.
A graduate of the 53rd, who also had many connections within the forces.
He was rather friendly with the soldiers and considerate of the Army’s position during operations, making him a well-regarded officer by many.
Because of his work ethic and efficient behavior, he earned the nickname ‘Honey Bee’.
Most of my time was spent familiarizing myself with the names and characteristics of my new subordinates.
During this time, I naturally put aside any thoughts of an offensive.
If I fuck this up, then it’s all on me.
In any case, Madrid wasn’t going to fall until 1939.
Naturally, as the Korean forces hesitated to attack due to my orders, Colonel Juan Yagüe y Blanco of the Nationalists came to question me about or stance.
Juan Yagüe was a capable officer, highly regarded even by the German officers who typically looked down on the Spanish officer corps.
“General! While we’re wasting time here, those Reds are steadily fortifying their defenses! We need to uproot those wretches!”
He wasn’t wrong.
The Republicans were regrouping with each passing moment, and the influx of international forces from the opposing side couldn’t be ignored either.
However, if we just charged into a well-prepared enemy position, I’d be ruined.
Therefore, I answered the colonel in a calm tone.
“If we blindly charge at them, our casualties will be enormous. That would lead to unfavorable political results for both Korea and Spain. As the supreme commander of the Korean expeditionary force, I need to consider the political circumstances. I hope you understand.”
Yagüe tried to change my mind, but sadly for him, he failed all of his skill checks.
I had no intention to budge.
So, Yagüe eventually left the Korean HQ with a disappointed expression.
While the Front at Madrid was being contested daily, both sides lacked a decisive win to change things.
During this time, I gathered the subordinate officers and conducted tactical training.
The objective of the training was simple.
Unifying the troops.
In other words, the core of my future tactics would rely on ‘standardization’, or ‘cooperation’ between the soldiers.
Basically, I was copying the ‘Auftragstaktik’ from the Wehrmacht, which was the most successful army in terms of tactics.
Now you might ask, how does unifying the thoughts of soldiers connect to the German command system that emphasizes commander autonomy? The principle is this:
The German army knew that when ‘Situation A’ occurred, all commanders would respond in ‘Method B’.
Thus, even when the commanders never meet each other, they could anticipate the movements of adjacent friendly units and execute efficient cooperative operations.
What I demanded from Korean army commanders was similar.
The difference was that due to the smaller size of our units, it was sufficient to enable cooperation at lower echelon levels.
Given the relatively smaller amount of information and tasks officers needed to master, the ‘Korean-style mission-type tactics’ training was completed in just three weeks.
From the start, we focused on ‘urban warfare scenarios’ and repeated only a few types of training, so there was no reason for it to take long.
Even officers who initially expressed skepticism about this training came to recognize its efficiency after a few practice runs.
“Your Excellency, it’s clear that this method will shorten the decision cycle.”
“Indeed. This is a German doctrine.”
“Have you had experience interacting with the German Army, Your Excellency?”
Me?
Interacting with those Nazy bastards?
Well, let’s just hum and nod.
A moment later, I headed to Garabitas Hill, which overlooks Madrid, accompanied by my Chief-of-Staff, Colonel Gong Sang Jin, and Operations Staff Officer, Colonel Park Joon.
Here the Nationalists have established an artillery, firing shells into Madrid’s city center 24/7.
We discussed our next plans while looking down at the smoke-filled Madrid.
As the saying goes ‘Sometimes the old ways are the best’, it seemed the best plan was to attack in the direction of Madrid University where the Nationalists were currently banging their heads.
The only problem was the trenches.
Those Republicans filled the place with Trenches, Bunkers, and fortified buildings that were sturdy enough to withstand most attacks.
As evident from the Nationalists’ repeated failures, the chances of a breakthrough were rather low.
But I had some ideas as to how we could approach this.
“Can’t we just use more firepower?”
“But with what, Your Excellency?”
While we could borrow shells from the Germans, cannons weren’t something we could easily bring in.
Of course, I had something in mind.
“Oil drums.”
“Ah?”
“We’ll make improvised mortars using oil drums.”
“...Will that even be effective, Your Excellency?”
“Remember the Great War.”
“Oh.”
The concept of ‘improvised mortars’ which essentially boiled down to ‘firing something from a cylinder’ has existed since World War I.
Inspired by this concept, Gao Wenkui, a young engineer from the Chinese Army created an improvised mortar drilling a hole in one of the flat surfaces of the drum and attaching the legs.
His creation was thus dubbed the Flying Thunder Cannon.
Its effectiveness was remarkable.
With this simple, cheap, and highly cost-effective weapon, the Chinese Communist forces triumphed in their civil war, even when the adversaries were using American-made weapons.
If the ching chongs did it, I could do it too.
Of course, I didn’t intend to load mortar shells into these.
We’d fill them with gasoline, essentially creating a poor man’s napalm bomb.
One way to deal with trenches was to thoroughly cook them to ash.
For our breakthrough operation, we received a large number of surplus oil drums from the Spanish Nationalist and German camps.
From what I could see, they were all petroleum drums made by American companies.
Those Liberty fucks, preaching a non-intervention in the Spanish civil war...while secretly selling oil...And they have the gal to call themselves the guardians of democracy.
Well, not that I had any complaints about their hypocrisy now.
I used the drums obtained from our allies to create a large number of improvised mortars.
Since it felt odd to just call them improvised mortars, I decided to give them a name.
“We’ll call them Juche Cannons.”
“As you wish, Your Excellency.”
Our army moved towards Madrid University carrying these newly made Juche Cannons.
It was time for these filthy communists to taste the power of Juche’s nucl-....No...That’s a bit too far in the future...Let’s go with...Juche’s vengeful fire!
On the night of December 11, 1936, the Korean army attacked the Faculty of Philosophy at the University City of Madrid.
This area was stubbornly held by the 11th International Brigade troops commanded by General Kléber.
The Nationalists all believed my attack would fail, but that was simply because all of their methods were flawed.
After all, who in their right mind would charge into a fucking urban warfare with nothing but brute force and think everything would turn out fine?
“Begin artillery fire!”
As our forces and Nationalist artillery simultaneously unleashed their barrage, the Republicans began to take cover as usual.
“Charge!”
Following the attack signal, the infantry advanced towards the trenches, alternating between firing and taking cover.
The Republicans’ machine guns spewed fire incessantly.
“Roast them all!”
Our troops fired our dear Juche’s into the trenches according to plan.
After several gasoline-soaked fire bombs exploded around the trenches, one detonated inside.
“Aaaagh!”
Republican soldiers screamed as they ran out of the trenches.
Our soldiers then advanced towards the Philosophy building, clearing out trenches with relative ease.
Although the Republicans resisted fiercely, they couldn’t stop our charge led by Juche’s vengeful fire.
Our concentrated firepower made light work of the Republican soldiers.
As they retreated into the Philosophy Faculty, we moved the Juche’s forward.
Then, we delivered a death sentence to the enemy cornered in the narrow building.
“Fire!”
We fired gasoline-filled firebombs directly at the building.
Soon, the flames engulfed the Republican soldiers without a single error.
“Arrrgh!”
With hundreds of gasoline bombs exploding at once, the Philosophy Faculty truly looked like hell on earth.
We fired so many rounds that I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole building melted down.
Those who came out screaming were shot dead.
Those who stayed inside were cooked to perfection, or suffocated as their lungs scorched.
After burning everything, suffocating everyone, and sending in infantry, the battle was all but over.
“Your Excellency! We’ve captured it.”
An expected outcome.
A few days later, Francisco Franco, overjoyed by the fall of the supposedly impregnable Philosophy building, came to see me personally, patting my shoulder in encouragement.
He even awarded me a medal.
Even those nutjobs from the Empire who had been desperate to get rid of me sent me a congratulatory telegram.
However,
Despite all of the awards I gained from burning hundreds of men alive...
This victory tasted like the ashes that covered Madrid.
With such thoughts, I placed a cigar in my mouth while I looked towards the burning city.
Footnotes
1. Juan Yagüe y Blanco, 1st Marquis of San Leonardo de Yagüe (19 November 1891 – 21 October 1952) was a Spanish military officer during the Spanish Civil War, one of the most important in the Nationalist side. He became known as the "Butcher of Badajoz" (Carnicero de Badajoz) because he ordered thousands killed, including wounded Republican soldiers in the hospital.2. Mission-Type Tactics3. German Armed Forces4. Author's note: Decision Cycle in this setting refers to the time it takes for a commander's judgment to be reflected on the battlefield5. Famous viewpoint in Madrid6. Manfred Stern was a member of the GRU, Soviet military intelligence. He served as a spy in the United States, as a military advisor in China, and gained fame under his nom de guerre as General Kléber, leader of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.
