Damn the World, Ride a Submarine - Chapter 191



Only Krnovel

Episode 191 – The Dokjeondae

I was watching the amazing feat of our submarine squadron live on TV, but it didn’t feel real. It was a victory so perfect it was hard to believe.

Then the long-awaited communication came in. It was Commander Choi Eun-seok.

“Your Majesty! The operation is over.”

At some point, he started calling me his enemy. I felt distant and uncomfortable, but I decided to accept it because I was embarrassed to criticize him every time.

“Commander, this is truly a great success.”

“I’m glad it worked out as intended.”

“I think we sunk about 100 ships…”

“That’ll be it. We secured 108 targets in the first strike.”

“Ah, this is truly a great victory. A great victory!”

“I am glad that you said so, my lord.”

“By the way, what happened to the anti-submarine missiles launched by the Chinese fleet in the first place?”

“Yes. I decided that I couldn’t lure the Chinese fleet into a trap without making sacrifices, so I decided to sacrifice 20 unmanned torpedo boats and 10 Sonic Phantoms. I gave them to the enemy.”

“Ah, as expected! You did a good job, Commander.”

“The Korean Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force also did a great job, and Brigade Commander Seo Ji-seok of the Drone Brigade also contributed greatly.”

“That’s right. It would have been difficult to operate the unmanned torpedo boat using only a submarine, as well as the interception maneuver.”

“Yes. Anyway, I feel relieved that I have finally ended the Chinese naval power.”

“You have done a truly remarkable thing. With this Battle of Hogou, China is virtually finished. It was like watching Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s Battle of Hansando.”

“Haha. Although my achievements are great, how can I compare to Admiral Yi Sun-sin? I am just happy that the Marshal has given me such great encouragement.”

“Anyway, thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you. I am glad that the Korean Navy came at the right time, and I can put my worries aside.”

“That’s right. Everything really fell into place.”

“I actually didn’t think I would be able to achieve such a great feat right away, so I wasn’t prepared to rescue the enemy sailors.”

“Can you prepare for something like that in a battlefield where you don’t know whether you’ll win or lose? Anyway, Commander, you did a great job.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

…

News of China’s naval power being wiped out by the OSS spread rapidly around the world.

We provided each media outlet with footage of the submarine operation in progress and the Korean Navy rescuing the Chinese sailors, hoping that the news would spread as quickly as possible and break the Chinese military’s will to fight.

However, the offensive of Chinese ground forces stationed in Taiwan did not stop.

The Chinese ground forces were in a situation where they could neither return to western Taiwan nor advance.

The Chinese ground forces’ choice was mountain special forces.

A rapid advance along the main road was completely blocked by OSS air units and drones, and it was the same for all roads in both the east and west directions.

The Chinese army was trapped in the mountains, unable to move anywhere and was in a desperate situation with supplies not being available.

Any commander with even a modicum of reason would have been right to choose surrender.

No, a normal person in the 21st century would not have sent so many people to their pointless deaths, but the Chinese People’s Liberation Army did not.

We were approaching Hualien City through the rugged mountains and forests of eastern Taiwan.

Even after the arduous march and the fighting that followed the OSS air raids, with non-combat casualties exceeding 100,000, the will to fight did not seem to be broken.

The Free Taiwan Army and OSS forces, who were aware of this situation, also became increasingly concerned.

It was too risky to rush into the mountains and forests, but I was worried about feeling anxious and losing morale if I just sat there and waited.

The enemy force numbered at least 400,000, outnumbering them 8 to 1. A large number of Chinese troops were scattered and moving down into the mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan.

The OSS Air Force and the drone regiment launched airstrikes using thermal imaging cameras and various other signals, but it was difficult to confirm the results and the confirmed results were minimal.

There was only one way.

The plan was to wait until the Chinese People’s Liberation Army came out of the forest and advanced.

With only 50,000 troops, there was no choice but to reduce the front line. The conclusion was that there was no choice but to engage in so-called zombie warfare.

Having lost all of their air power, armor, and artillery, the Chinese army had no choice but to resort to human wave tactics, and to prevent this they had to risk reducing their defensive lines.

The task was to build a defensive line in Xincheng Township, where Hualien Airport was located, and to stand against the Chinese army that was advancing without asking questions.

The reserve battalion of the OSS Artillery Brigade and idle units from the Vietnam Front were quickly deployed to Hualien. 96 guns were deployed to Hualien City.

It was a battlefield that desperately needed a self-propelled mortar capable of firing a 105mm howitzer accurately 12km ahead.

That’s understandable, as the distance from the end of the mountain range in eastern Taiwan to Hualien Airport is only about 7 to 15 kilometers.

That meant that the distance between the end of the mountain range and the front line was less than 5 km. The closest point was about 3 km.

This geographical disadvantage seemed to have given the Chinese army false hope.

It seemed that they had calculated that even if they had to sacrifice a few men to be cannon fodder, they would be able to enter urban combat if they could break through just one or two defensive lines, and that in such a melee, their troop superiority would be absolute.

The opportunity given to us was one hour after the battle began.

This was because the combat buffer zone was less than an hour’s walk away.

Before the Chinese army could break through this distance, all firepower had to be concentrated to stop them.

If that place were breached, no one could guarantee the outcome.

All air power from the 2nd Carrier Group and the 5th Assault Group was planned to be within a 5km radius defensive concentric circle.

The OSS drone brigade’s 80 Bayraktar TB-3s were also on standby for reconnaissance and sorties 24 hours a day.

…

China neither surrendered nor negotiated.

Some time passed like that, and we were waiting for the final battle of the Second Taiwan War in the ARK’s battle information room.

It was a thrill, like watching an advertisement flash across a theater screen, all the lights going out, and the screen turning black, and it made me imagine something scary.

– The Chinese ground forces’ offensive has begun.

– Ah… that crazy…

In the situation room, eight key locations on the front line of defense were displayed on different screens.

The Chinese ground forces coming down from the mountains were witnessing scenes reminiscent of the past Russian assault or the Japanese assault.

The Chinese soldiers, armed only with rifles and wearing uniforms, were running through the no-man’s land as if they were in a war.

Even the Free Taiwan Army and OSS special forces who witnessed it were unable to pull the trigger.

Everyone was frozen by the sight of unarmed civilians running towards the festival.

But that was only for a moment. As the Chinese ground forces found cover and began firing, a relentless gunfight ensued.

Soon after, 105mm mortar shells began to fall on the pits, trees, houses, and drains where the Chinese troops had taken cover.

The area that escaped the artillery fire saw Bayraktar firing Umtas missiles from the sky.

And for a moment,

An AV-280 attack plane appeared in the sky and began to circle slowly and fire its chain gun. A merciless bolt of fire began to fall.

Behind them, the ground was instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire as a formation of F/A-18 Super Hornets continuously dropped AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles.

And the Super Hornet, having exhausted its missiles, began to cut through the air above the ground at a low altitude, making a loud noise, and firing its M61A2 20mm Gatling gun.

(The F/A-18’s primary armament is 1,412 20mm machine gun rounds.)

They couldn’t even fire the common portable surface-to-air missiles, which was probably a side effect of choosing to march over the mountains.

The Chinese army was using the assault tactics used in World War I.

It was a disaster.

It was just a disaster.

Chinese soldiers, driven to the front lines by the Chinese Communist Party and their commanders, were like ants sucked into a vacuum cleaner, like a beehive burning with a torch, like fallen leaves blown away by the autumn wind.

The spark of life was fading away.

‘Ah… what is this, what is this…’

Rather, I even thought that our military, which waged such a slaughter, needed psychiatric treatment.

There were several such mad charges, and now the Chinese were delayed in their charge by piles of friendly corpses.

It was not the first or second time that they had to ‘step over the corpses of their comrades’.

Even among the Chinese army, there were soldiers who were panicking due to war phobia and standing still or crouching without moving. There were also soldiers who refused to obey the order to charge and rebelled.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Combat Unit shot soldiers who disobeyed orders, and even the scene of them being summarily executed on the spot was captured in full on our cameras.

– Those crazy guys… That’s…

It was a clear war crime. No matter how much war is said to be the release of the seal of irrationality and barbarism, I never thought I would be able to see it so vividly.

Even in such a crazy battle, cracks began to appear.

On the southern front, a group of Chinese soldiers threw down their guns, raised both hands above their heads, and slowly walked toward our camp.

The Chinese army fired at the surrendering friendly forces, and soldiers with their arms raised fell one by one, but they did not stop walking.

Other Chinese soldiers who saw the sight also joined the march, raising their crouching comrades, dropping their guns, and raising both hands above their heads.

Soon after, even in the camp where they had been shooting at the surrendering soldiers, soldiers began to appear one by one, running towards the surrendering ranks with both arms raised.

Countless soldiers joined the surrender ranks.

It was a voluntary surrender by the soldiers, not a decision by the commander.

Even when I checked on the screen, it looked like there were thousands of soldiers walking towards our camp with both arms raised.

‘ah ···.’

I could feel my eyes getting hot with emotion. I was grateful for their courage, and I began to feel hopeful that at least one person could be saved.

After such a horrific loss of life, the fighting fell into a lull.

And then night came.

To prepare for Chinese military surprise attacks at night, drones monitored all areas 24 hours a day, and the scouts who approached little by little could not avoid the 60mm mortar shells dropped by the Revolver 860 drone.

In large-scale surprise attacks, flares were fired and 105mm shells from self-propelled mortars were fired. And precision bombing by F/A-18s continued without rest behind the front lines.

This would have made the enemy realize that night raids were useless.

It was morning.

It seemed that GTO’s Liang Zhenyu (梁振宇) was going to launch a new psychological warfare strategy.

…