Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 288



Only Krnovel

#288. What should I do?

A-1 Skyraider (Douglas A-1 Skyraider) attack aircraft.

It is a piston engine attack aircraft with a maximum speed of 518 km/h and a cruising speed of only 319 km/h.

It seemed antiquated for flying in the skies of 1959, well into the jet age.

This would seem to be especially true for the superpower South Korea to operate.

However, there were still areas in which propeller-driven airplanes, which were outdated in this era, were good.

Air-to-air combat?

The conditions in the sky changed drastically after the end of World War II, and now it was the era of jet fighters.

From the beginning, the development itself was designed as a dive bomber or torpedo bomber like the Dauntless, Helldiver, or TBF Avenger, so it didn’t have much talent for air-to-air combat.

So, no matter how weak the Indonesian Air Force was, there was no place for the Skyraider as long as they had the Hellcat.

Of course, the Indonesian Air Force was destroyed long ago.

Yet, in the original history, the A-1 Skyraider survived as the last piston-engine fighter.

It proudly served in the US military until the early 1970s, when the F-4 Phantom fighter dominated the skies and even prototypes of the F-15 Eagle fighter were being produced.

What made the A-1 Skyraider so long-lived was that this ugly fighter was optimized for close air support (CAS).

Equipped with the 2,700-horsepower engine of the B-29, this plane was excellent for close air support, where low-speed performance was an advantage. The reason for this was not only its low-speed performance, but also its tremendous survivability, an insane bomb load of 3.5 tons, and the ability to remain in the air over the battlefield for a long time.

That’s why the Republic of Korea Air Force and Naval Aviation Corps were able to steadfastly defend the first line even when Hellcats and Corsairs were pushed out as second-line fighters, and that’s why Kim Jong-woo filled one-third of the carrier-based aircraft on this expedition with these.

And its true value was being demonstrated without a doubt right now, at this moment.

WHACK! BUZZ! BAM!

“Eww!”

The 500-pound and 250-pound bombs, which flew at a low speed and were then sprayed, were unguided bombs, but they were so accurate that it was questionable whether they were unguided, and they pounded the Indonesian forces, who were reorganizing their lines, during a pause in naval gunfire.

Shuaaaak! Shuaaaak!

Boom! Boom!

“Ugh!”

This was followed by a rain of 5-inch HVAR high-speed aerial rockets.

Tutututututu!

“Ahhh! Sa, save me!”

“Ugh!”

After clearing all 15 hard points, they began to unleash four 20mm machine guns without mercy.

As some 40 A-1 Skyraider attack planes launched from two aircraft carriers swept across the beach north of Jakarta for about 20 minutes, barely any moving life was visible.

The entire coastline was stained red with blood from the corpses of Indonesian defenders.

And taking advantage of this gap, the LSTs of the expedition fleet advanced toward the beach, followed by all the battleships of the expedition fleet, approaching to a distance of only 3km from the coast.

Since the coastal artillery forces that could threaten the expedition fleet have been thoroughly cleared, it is much more efficient to approach much closer and fire cannon shots.

“All fleets are aligned 3km off the coast!”

“Really? Then, should we start the second half? All fleets, fire freely!”

“All fleets begin firing!”

All ships of the 76th and 77th Mobile Forces opened fire again.

Kwang! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The lightning strike begins again.

This time, because the expeditionary fleet was firing right up against the coast, they even began to slaughter the Indonesian defenders who were preparing for the landing force in the rear, and even though most of Jakarta was within range of the 8-inch guns, the firepower was concentrated only at the front.

Because now it was more important to clear out the enemies in front rather than unnecessarily destroying the city.

Boom! Kwaang! Boom!

“Eww!”

“Ahh!”

“Huh, retreat!”

The Indonesian coastal defense force, numbering 90,000 men, was torn to pieces without even firing a shot.

And then the LST transport ships banged their heads on the beach, opened their mouths and began spewing out steel monsters.

The first thing that appeared as I stepped onto the beach mat that had been laid down as a priority was a tram.

Kurrururur!

K100 tank.

This new tank, weighing 53 tons, is equipped with a 105mm rifled gun with a length of 52 calibers, and is equipped with a 1,360 horsepower engine that is a copy of the one installed in the K1 tank imported from Hyundai.

Considering only the main gun and body, it was similar to the British Centurion tank, which began to appear in the late 1940s and is evaluated as the first tank to go beyond cruiser tanks and open the era of main battle tanks (MBTs).

However, if you look at the details, the difference is as big as heaven and earth. First of all, the armor itself is not cast armor but early composite armor, and the suspension device also uses a combination of hydropneumatic and torsion bar like the K1 tank.

The differences were even more extreme when it came to the fire control unit, which was equipped with a transistorized ballistic computer, a laser rangefinder, and an early-model gunner’s thermal imaging sight.

At this level, it is a monster tank that can even unilaterally slaughter the British Centurion tank, which held the title of the world’s strongest tank in the 1950s.

As a bonus, they even installed a pressure vessel with air conditioning!

Even in 2027, when the expeditionary force arrived, they were sequentially installing them while performing maintenance.

Kururur!

As the tanks of the 101st Independent Armored Brigade, which had landed as the vanguard, crawled out one after another, the Indonesian defenders were thrown into confusion.

Due to the nature of the island nation, the Indonesian army did not possess proper tanks.

Even in modern times, the Indonesian Army has only about 100 Leopard 2 tanks, a paltry number considering the size of its military, and it is highly unlikely that it would have any in this day and age.

In such a situation, the new K100 tank landed on the beach.

It would be strange not to be horrified at the sight of this 53-ton monster.

“Excuse me, what is that?”

“It’s a tank! A tank!”

“What kind of tank is that? How can there be such a big tank!”

“Run away!”

But it was too late to run away.

Kururur!

The tank battalion that landed first advanced simultaneously, and the movements of the 53-ton monsters were like those of a racing car.

That’s understandable, since the American M60 Super Patton tank, which has just emerged from the Chrysler Detroit plant as a prototype and is currently in low-rate production, has an engine of 750 horsepower, while the Centurion tank, which reigned as the world’s most powerful tank, has a mere 650 horsepower.

In these times, the monster tank equipped with a 1,360 horsepower engine was the K100 tank, which had mobility that could be called a fraud.

Kururur!

Crunch! Crunch!

The K100 tanks, which had come running like flying, ran wild along the northern beach of Jakarta and crushed the remaining Indonesian defense positions.

Crunch!

“Kuaaaah!”

Tata tata tata! Tata tata tang!

Some brave Indonesian troops attacked the K100 tank with machine guns and other weapons, but it was no use against the steel monster covered in several tens of centimeters of composite armor.

And this was also the case with some bazookas held by the Indonesian military.

Phew! Kong!

There weren’t many instances where I would get hit properly, but when I did get hit, it would only result in a slight scratch.

No, rather, he had to be baptized with a machine gun for the crime of wounding his beloved horse.

“Hey, how dare that kid hurt our Jong?”

Tata tang! Tata tang!

“Ugh!”

The brave Indonesian bazooka soldiers were brutally crushed.

For leaving marks on a tank named after the tank commander’s dog.

Kururur!

Kurur!

While the 101st Independent Armored Brigade was clearing the beach, the 203rd Special Forces Brigade quickly landed and easily captured Jakarta Airport in northwest Jakarta and surrounded West Jakarta.

The 1st Marine Division also landed and surrounded the east, and by the end of the day, they had even captured the rear of Jakarta.

As a result, on September 17th, the day of the Jakarta landings, Jakarta was completely surrounded.

September 17th, 19:20.

Expeditionary fleet flagship Hong Beom-do.

“How far has the landing progressed?”

Kim Jong-woo asked with a blank face.

“Everyone except the 5th Independent Artillery Brigade has landed. The 5th Independent Artillery Brigade is also scheduled to complete its landing by tomorrow morning.”

“Hmm, really?”

“Yes, and the 101st Independent Armored Brigade cleared the entire area from the northern coast of Jakarta to 15km inland, the 203rd Special Forces Brigade took control of Jakarta Airport and the west, and the 1st Marine Division took control of the east and the south.”

“The siege is over?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“What happened to the other landing operations?”

“As you can see, Semarang, Surabaya, and Yogyakarta have all secured beachheads and are unloading equipment and supplies.”

“Our kids weren’t hurt too much, were they?”

“Yes, almost none, except for a few casualties in accidents.”

“Tsk tsk! Even if it’s a one-sided battle, you’ll definitely die or get injured in an accident, right? Tell them to be more careful! How frustrating is that? If you’re not injured in combat, but you’re unlucky enough to get injured while standing next to your equipment?”

“Yes, sir.”

“They say that the unit commander who causes many accidents will let me experience the accidents myself.”

“… … .”

Kim Jong-woo’s ending was a bit awkward, so the chief of staff was unable to answer.

“Anyway, it won’t take long this time either, right?”

“It will be like that now that there are no variables.”

In effect, the fall of Jakarta was only a matter of time.

“Okay. I told you not to work too hard at night. There’s a lot of heavy equipment, so accidents can happen.”

“All right.”

“And the Naval Air Force is also told to rest tonight.”

“How about cannon fire?”

“Our kids need some rest too, don’t they? Don’t be noisy, hit them until 11pm, and rest until 6am tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where, let’s see how it turns out now?”

Kim Jong-woo was curious about what Sukarno, the rat trapped in a dam, would do.

***

19:40, around the same time Kim Jong-woo was meeting with his staff.

Bogor Palace, the Indonesian presidential palace, located 53km south of Jakarta.

“Oh my, how could this happen… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

President Sukarno was lost in thought as he listened to the gunfire coming closer.

It couldn’t be helped, because it was thought that the island would not easily fall to any country that invaded, but that prediction was completely wrong.

The capital Jakarta was under siege.

And that all in just one day.

Moreover, it is said that the rear is blocked and there is nowhere to escape.

It’s a total mess.

“What should I do? Tell me something!”

“… … .”

“… … .”

There was no way there would be an answer.