Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 188



Only Krnovel

#188 It’s showtime now!

December 30th at 10:30.

25km offshore, northeast of Haenam Island.

Hong Beom-do, flagship of the Republic of Korea Southern Expeditionary Fleet.

“how is it? “Still no news?”

“Yes, there is none. Seeing that he has been bustling since yesterday, it is clear that he has decided to fight. “We were busy repairing the batteries and other forts for almost a day.”

“What about communications?”

“I don’t accept it at all.”

“okay? ha ha ha! How do you feel? Am I right? “If we give him enough time, he decides to fight, right?”

“… … .”

As Kim Jong-woo shrugged his shoulders, the fleet staff shook their heads.

There was no mistake in what this idiot-like president said.

match!

“ruler! It’s show time now! What about the civilians in the Haikou area?”

“The overt radio broadcast warning to evacuate was very effective. “A significant number of residents are leaving Haikou or staying indoors and not coming out.”

“Then we don’t have to worry too much about civilian casualties.”

“There will be some degree of damage, but there is no need to worry.”

Fortunately, at that time, Haenam-do had a population of less than 2.5 million in the combined area of ​​South and North Gyeongsang Provinces.

Of course, there were quite a lot of residents living in the Haikou area, but since there was an active warning, if only military facilities were targeted precisely, civilian casualties would not be significant.

“Yes, it may be our people, but it shouldn’t be sacrificed.”

“That is a reasonable statement.”

Legally, it is already part of the Republic of Korea’s territory, and Haenam residents will also become Korean citizens.

Although it is impossible for a large-scale landing operation to be completely free of damage, care had to be taken to avoid as much damage as possible.

This was actually the part that Lee Kang-cheol asked for.

“Okay, then let’s first thoroughly destroy the 155mm guys who pose a threat. “How many Long Toms did they have?”

“There are about 60 M59 Long Toms, and the remaining 240 are all M1 howitzers, later renamed M114.”

“You said Long Tom’s maximum range is 23km, right?”

“you’re right. First of all, according to the specifications, it has a range of 23.5 km when firing HE bullets with the maximum charge. “The M1 howitzer can reach a maximum range of 19 km when using extended-range ammunition, but now it can be seen that it has a range of slightly less than 15 km.”

M59 155mm Gun.

Known in Korean as the M59 155mm plain fire gun, its original designation was M1/M2 155mm Gun, but it was renamed M1/M2 155mm Gun after the end of World War II to avoid confusion with the M1 155mm Howitzer Howitzer, which has the same caliber and was renamed M114 in 196. Changed to M59.

The famous so-called Long Tom was donated to friendly countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Turkey, and Israel after the end of World War II and was used for a long time.

The production volume was 1,882 guns, which was much less than the M114 howitzer, which produced over 10,000 guns. This was a heavy artillery that weighed nearly 14 tons as the Long Tom was equipped with a long 45-caliber gun barrel for long range and increased penetration. It was because it became.

In short, it is suitable for defensive purposes such as fortresses and coastal batteries, but is not suitable as a towed artillery that moves along the front line.

That was the responsibility of the M114, which is much lighter at around 5.8 tons and is familiar to us.

In any case, the fact that the Baichungsi unit had 60 M59 Long Toms with long barrels and long ranges was quite a nuisance to the Korean Expeditionary Fleet.

Of course, the M59 Long Tom plays its role as a fortress gun and coastal gun.

“In the end, Long Tom is the problem. Hey, why do Americans irritate us by giving us things like Long Tom?”

“If you think about it the other way around, it means that the Kuomintang was pushed back by the Communist Party even with those items.”

“I see. In any case, it would be enough to approach up to 23km from the coastline. “Because most of their batteries were at least 500m to 1km away from the coast.”

“Yes, it was confirmed that it was at most 3km from the coast. So that should be enough.”

“okay! Execute as originally planned! Heavy cruisers with 8-inch guns are brought to the forefront! Des Moines class Hong Beom-do and Choi Mu-seon stand in the center, while Lee Hoi-young class heavy cruisers stand on the left and right. “The rest of the traps wait behind until Long Tom is eliminated!”

“All right.”

“After eliminating Long Tom, deploy light cruisers and Gearing-class destroyers to bombard them, followed by deployment of aircraft carrier aircraft! “You got all the target coordinates, right?”

“Don’t worry. “We checked all the artillery batteries that were moved in the past two days.”

“okay! “If you still don’t know, let’s check the target distribution again one last time.”

“All right.”

The expeditionary fleet advanced in unison and moved to exactly 23km from the coast, and after moving, it was arranged horizontally parallel to the coastline so that all of its main triple 8-inch guns could be used, centered on the Des Moines-class ships Hong Beom-do and Choi Mu-seon. .

December 30th, 12 noon.

“launch!”

“launch!”

Quang! bang! bang!

When the order to fire was given, the heavy cruisers began discharging 152 kg shells from their 8-inch (203 mm) guns.

In particular, the Des Moines class Hong Beom-do and Choi Mu-seon had an astonishing rate of fire, which was an advantage of the Des Moines class over the previous heavy cruiser, the Baltimore class.

The Baltimore-class heavy cruisers and the Des Moines-class were equipped with three 55-caliber 8-inch guns on each side.

In other words, it is equivalent to having nine 8-inch main guns per ship.

However, the rate of fire between the Baltimore class and the Des Moines class was incomparably different.

Even with the same 8-inch gun, the Baltimore class had a firing rate of only 4 rounds per minute due to manual loading, but the Des Moines class was able to fire a whopping 8 rounds per minute due to fully automatic loading.

In other words, if the Baltimore class fired 36 shells per ship per minute, the Des Moines class could fire as many as 72 shells or more.

bang! bang! Quang!

The firepower unleashed by the two Hong Beom-do class and four Baltimore-class heavy cruisers named Lee Hoi-yeong class was truly formidable.

bang! bang! Quang! Quack!

There was no need to doubt the accuracy of the guns controlled by Albatross.

At the first shot, the Long Tom batteries defending Haikou began to explode, and some of the guns that had missed immediately corrected their coordinates and immediately fired hits.

“Aaaah!”

“Aaaah!”

Quaaaang! bang! bang!

“Oh, this can’t be right!”

Bai Chongxi could not help but feel absurd as he watched the batteries and forts exploding in an instant from the rear.

How on earth can naval gunfire be so accurate?

“Long Tom Battery destroyed!”

“Other 155mm batteries also lost their placentas!”

“This can’t be happening! how!”

Bai Chongxi and his staff had to feel the same despair that the Japanese felt in the Pacific.

The calculation was wrong in the first place.

Bai Chongxi only thought that the Japanese army could withstand the bombardment of the powerful American fleet for a long time, but this was a serious miscalculation.

The reason why the Japanese military was able to withstand the bombardment of the US fleet on the islands in the Pacific was because it had thoroughly prepared for an invasion by the US fleet for that long.

The coastal batteries were protected by concrete emplacements almost a meter thick, and the main force was hidden in caves and tunnels.

As a result, the Japanese battery suffered no damage unless it was directly hit by a shell weighing close to 1 ton from the battleship’s 16-inch main gun, and the American troops who had landed had no choice but to struggle.

Of course, that was until the Republic of Korea intervened.

However, Bai Chongxi’s army had no such opportunity.

Even if I had been given time, I doubt I would have prepared that much.

There was a big difference in the capabilities of the Japanese army and the Kuomintang army.

Therefore, it would have been strange if Haenam Island’s coastal artillery, which was only made up of sandbags and covered with logs and camouflage nets, had withstood the blow of a 152kg shell.

Quack! bang! bang!

“Kaaaaak!”

Within 20 minutes after the heavy cruisers of the Korean Expeditionary Fleet began their salvo, the batteries guarding the coast were almost completely destroyed.

“Not only the 155mm but also the 105mm batteries have been removed!”

“okay! The entire fleet approaches 10km from the coast! And forward-deploy the light cruisers and Gearing-class destroyers!”

“All right!”

Since the coastal batteries were destroyed, there was nothing to threaten the Korean Expeditionary Fleet.

As soon as that happened, six Cleveland-class light cruisers and about 10 Gearing-class destroyers approached the coast and joined the bombardment line.

“All fleet, fire!”

Quack! bang! bang! bang!

The light cruiser’s 6-inch gun also began to fire, and the 5-inch 38-caliber dual-purpose gun, which was the secondary battery of the heavy cruiser and the cruiser and a gearing-class main gun, also joined in and poured out shells.

The Cleveland-class light cruisers were equipped with small-caliber 6-inch (152 mm) guns, but there were as many as four in triple guns.

Therefore, each ship’s twelve 6-inch guns fired out 130 pounds (59 kg) AP shells at a rate of 10 rounds per minute, which meant that six ships were crushing the enemy with a whopping 720 rounds per minute.

Not to mention the 5-inch dual-purpose cannon that could fire 22 rounds per minute as it was also used for anti-aircraft purposes.

bang! bang! Quack! bang!

This tremendous firepower is not just fired, it is thoroughly controlled by a computer and targets are distributed before firing.

In my situation, it was as if the gates of hell had been opened.

Now, the battery had been destroyed a long time ago, and the small machine gun emplacement and the M4 Sherman tanks further back were somehow found out and destroyed.

“Yes, Commander! “Order!”

“… … .”

“Commander! A retreat must be ordered! “You can’t withstand a barrage like that!”

“Damn it! It was true! “The Korean navy showed its fantastic capabilities in the Pacific theater!”

It was true.

The abilities of Korean guys sounded like some kind of ghost story.

When I first heard it, I just laughed.

Because it made no common sense.

The Koreans did something that would have been too difficult for them, who had been fighting the Japanese for decades?

What about the people in the Provisional Government in Chongqing who were pitiful and pitiful when they saw them?

I thought it was nonsense, and I thought the Americans were exaggerating the Korean dance in order to criticize them.

But this seemed to be more than a rumor.

Even though I was in the Army, I had never heard or seen that the Navy’s naval gunfire was so accurate.

However, surprise is surprise, and you must first save your troops deployed forward on the coast.

As the staff said, if left as is, it is clear that they will soon be annihilated by the fleet’s artillery fire.

It was a matter to think about once the troops were moved inland.

“I can’t. “Give the order to retreat.”

“All right.”

As soon as the retreat order was given, the surviving troops on the coast began to run away without even looking back. The good news was that there was no artillery fire on the fleeing troops.

“Ha, is it okay to look at it?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

It was obvious to the staff that the Koreans were watching, but they could not answer.

Because Bai Chongxi will become more miserable.