Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 337



Only Krnovel

#337. The enemies are all-time, but South Korea is also all-time

Currently, the main self-propelled howitzer of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces is the K7 self-propelled howitzer.

When developing this, there were differing opinions on whether to use a 155mm 52 caliber gun like the K9 self-propelled howitzer from the future, but the final decision was made to use a 45 caliber gun.

At this time, the US military’s self-propelled howitzer was originally being developed as the M109 self-propelled howitzer, just like in history. The initial M109 self-propelled howitzer had a short barrel of 23 calibers, and had a maximum firing range of less than 15 km.

This was later improved to mount a 39 caliber gun starting with the M109 A1 version in 1973, and the US military was satisfied with this and continued to use the 39 caliber gun until the early 20th century.

Considering that South Korea and Germany had started to produce self-propelled guns with 52 caliber calibers since the end of the 20th century, this was an extremely conservative approach, but the US military had an environment where this was acceptable.

Because they had the world’s strongest air force.

Even when a squad was in a difficult situation due to enemy snipers or the like, the US military would shout “Air Force!” and immediately take off or have fighter-bombers waiting in the sky drop bombs guided by lasers or GPS.

Moreover, after the end of the Cold War, the possibility of a large-scale all-out war became slim, and the importance of self-propelled guns decreased.

This is why the importance of self-propelled guns has fallen relatively in the US military, and so even though they have developed self-propelled guns that surpass their time, such as the Crusader self-propelled gun, self-propelled guns are the first to be canceled when the cost of war is even slightly lacking, such as in the Afghanistan War.

In this era, the Army leadership judged that a 52-caliber gun, let alone a 39-caliber gun, was excessively high spec, and it was also technically burdensome to adopt a 52-caliber gun with the metalworking technology of the time.

So, the compromise that was reached was the .45 caliber.

Even if it was only 45 caliber, it was about 30 years ahead of its time, and it was designed with a chamber capacity of over 25 liters so that there would be no problem using high-performance high-explosive bombs and propellants in the future.

In addition, it largely adopted the technology acquired while upgrading the K55 self-propelled howitzer to the K55A1, and adopted a semi-automatic rapid loading device to increase the rate of fire, and adopted the same loading/unloading device and suspension device as the K55A1 to enable firing without inserting the spade.

In short, the K7 self-propelled howitzer was a monster self-propelled howitzer that was at least 30 years ahead of its time, with a maximum range of over 35 km and a rate of fire that could stably maintain a rate of 4 rounds per minute.

In addition, the 105mm guns responsible for the regimental firepower were all mounted on 5-ton vehicles like the modern K105A1 wind-winged self-propelled howitzer, maximizing mobility and survivability. This one actually performed better than the wind-winged self-propelled howitzer.

The Pung-ik self-propelled howitzer did not create a new gun in order to use up the enormous amount of ammunition that had been accumulated, but rather recycled the M2/M101 series 105mm howitzer, a relic of World War II, which had a range of only 11 km. However, this one was able to secure a range of over 18 km because it was equipped with a 38-caliber gun based on the KH-178 howitzer.

Anyway, in the 1960s, the high-performance self-propelled howitzers that were unimaginable were the K7 155mm self-propelled howitzer and the K5 105mm self-propelled howitzer, and the Northern Army possessed nearly 17,000 of each of these high-performance self-propelled howitzers.

So, the artillery fire that they plan and fire simultaneously must be so enormous that it can literally change the terrain.

The enemies are of all time, but the Republic of Korea is also of all time.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Eww!”

“Kwaaak!”

It was an unprecedented, massive assault in human history, involving over 10,000 tanks and 3 million soldiers simultaneously on a front line over 100 km long.

The width of the front line is a whopping 15 to 20 km.

Their vanguard armored units were simultaneously hit by a rain of 155mm and 105mm shells, more than 30,000 rounds of initial shells.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire front line, more than 100 km long, was engulfed in flames, the heavens and the earth shook, and it seemed as if the earth was turning upside down.

In this situation, even a tank would not be safe.

Tanks were exploding everywhere, and even a single hit from a close range grenade would cause their tracks to come off, rendering them unable to move any further.

In this situation, as they continued to charge from behind, they collided with the tanks that were at the forefront, and in an attempt to avoid this, they suddenly changed course and collided with other tanks nearby, and even crushed the crew of a tank that had escaped from another destroyed tank.

Ugh!

“Eww!”

The man crushed under the heavy tram tracks no longer had a human form.

“The enemy’s advance has been halted!”

“Keep firing!”

Commander Lee Jae-ha ordered the continued bombardment without hesitation, even while checking the real-time footage of the hellish battlefield.

“155mm gradually strikes the rear troops! And Science No. 5 continues to strike the front line!”

“All right!”

Science No. 5 is the nickname for the K5 105mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer.

People of that era did not know why it was called Science No. 5, but only those who were on the expedition knew.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Anyway, Science No. 5 fired a diligent shell.

A 105mm shell usually weighs about 18kg and can be easily loaded by one person.

So, although it is manual, it boasts a considerable rate of fire, capable of firing up to 10 rounds per minute.

So, with 17,000 guns, that means they can fire 170,000 rounds per minute. When they fired like crazy, the vanguard of the People’s Liberation Army was unable to move and collapsed helplessly.

Does that mean we can go back?

Or can you dodge to the side?

For them, all around was hell.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Kwak bang!

As the enemy’s vanguard was virtually annihilated, the northern army’s artillery fire began to advance westward.

It is a front line that is 15 to 20 km wide.

If you shoot, you will inevitably get hit.

Even if you close your eyes and shoot, you will continue to be hit by artillery fire.

“Fuck!”

Lin Biao, who was in charge of the Northeast Army of the People’s Liberation Army, the main force in this war, and commanded nearly half of the Republic of Korea Army’s 6 million soldiers, could not hold back the curses that came out naturally.

It is clear that the leader is completely destroyed.

Even though they mobilized a whopping 10,000 tanks, the entire 100-kilometer front was blocked and precious tanks were being destroyed.

I knew full well that the Goryeo people’s artillery was great.

They have been crazy about artillery since long ago, so everyone knew that they had powerful artillery.

And with such artillery, they easily defeated the Kwantung Army. Not only did they stop the great Soviet invasion, they even advanced all the way to Moscow.

So, he came up with this plan that was ridiculous even to his mind.

The enemy’s artillery was powerful and had a longer range than ours.

When dealing with these guys, we concluded that if we clumsily clashed with units of tens or hundreds of thousands, our troops would gradually be worn down without even being able to see the enemy.

Because the ones who were ruined like that were the Soviet Army.

In the end, Lin Biao had no choice but to think this way.

It is true that the People’s Liberation Army lags behind the ROK Armed Forces in all aspects, including weapons, equipment, and the quality of soldiers.

The only thing that they had at their advantage was their overwhelming number of troops.

In that case, they had no choice but to devise an operation that would take advantage of their overwhelming superiority in military force, which ultimately resulted in human wave tactics.

The number of troops in the Northern Army of the Republic of Korea is known to be approximately 1 million.

So, what they prepared was three times as many troops, 3 million, and together with 10,000 tanks, they would rush in like a storm and break through the South Korean defense line.

Once you break through the enemy’s defense line, you don’t have to worry about artillery anymore.

Of course, the enemy’s artillery was so powerful that there would be many casualties, but fortunately, there were plenty of troops to replace them.

This is what war is like.

War is a war where we ultimately become the ultimate winners as long as we achieve our strategic goals, even if it means making many sacrifices.

That is why they attempted an unprecedented assault with 10,000 tanks and 3 million troops in human history, but in the current situation, it was a clear failure.

I knew they were crazy about artillery, but they were much more powerful than I expected.

I really didn’t know it could be this strong.

“Commander! Their artillery fire is too strong!”

“That’s right! The leader has already collapsed!”

“If this continues, we will all die! Commander! Make a decision!”

“Damn it!”

It’s just as the staff said.

If we continue like this, we’ll all die.

“Everyone fall back! Quickly!”

“All right!”

As soon as the staff heard Lin Biao’s words, they gave the order to retreat to the front line as if they had been waiting for it.

But that wasn’t easy because there were so many troops gathered together.

Some units received orders properly, but some units did not and continued to advance, and the front line became a complete mess five minutes from now.

And shells continued to fall on their heads.

Boom! Kwaang! Boom! Boom!

“Kwaaaaak!”

“Get out of the way! I mean Vicky!”

“Are you running away?”

“This is not a retreat, this is a retreat! You little brat! The order to retreat has been given, what are you doing here!”

“Eww!”

Another disaster appeared before them.

“The enemies are retreating!”

“Keep firing! We have plenty of ammunition!”

“All right.”

“And we are also preparing our armored units.”

“Yes, Commander!”

Gurrrrrr!

Ddddddd!

While the artillery fire continued, the South Korean armored unit waiting at the front received the order and began to advance slowly.

The mainstay of the South Korean armored forces are the K100 tank and the K31 infantry fighting vehicle.

As they began to advance, slowly revealing their might, a deep sense of fear began to spread along the Chinese front lines.

The fear and sense of helplessness that nothing could destroy that monstrous tank spread.

This is why tanks are scary.

When a huge lump of metal the size of a house comes crashing down on you with a loud noise, the fear that nothing can stop it begins to spread.

“Hey, it’s a tank!”

“It’s a monster! A monster! It’s much bigger than our tank!”

As always, most casualties in battle occur during retreat, making it difficult to retreat in an orderly manner and in fact resulting in enormous casualties.

Kururur!

“Run away!!”

“It’s a tank! It’s a tank!”

With 3 million people gathered, retreating was not easy.

And while they were running around like that, the iron monsters started crushing the Chinese army.

“Eww!”

“Send me home! Please!”

Tata tata tang! Tata tang!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles fired their main guns occasionally, and most fired machine guns.

But it was enough.

“There are too many destroyed or abandoned tanks and corpses! Our advance is being delayed because of them!”

“Send out the engineer tanks!”

“All right!”

“Just tell them to make a road, like they did to the Soviets back in the day. They’ll end up killing me if they keep clearing it anyway!”

“All right!”

By 19:00 that afternoon, blood was in the ocean and corpses were piled high on the front lines, but Northern Army Commander Lee Jae-ha stopped the advance.

This was because there were so many obstacles and both sides were deploying mammoth-sized forces that accidents could occur.

In this way, the first day saw a complete victory for the Northern Army of the Republic of Korea.