The Battle of Shenyang (6)
From the ladder that might have been a loft or a warehouse beneath the roof, Hong Beom-do descended, brushing the dust from his armor as he stepped out into the courtyard. His subordinates, who had been waiting for him, approached with curious expressions and spoke up.
No matter what had happened inside, one thing was certain. That the family they had all expected to be hidden in that house existed as expected, and that their commander, Hong Beom-do, had saved them.
“What was inside?”
With a slightly flushed face beneath his helmet, avoiding the gaze as if embarrassed, the subordinates crowded around Hong Beom-do, who waved them off with a casual gesture and said it was nothing.
“Ah, that.”
In truth, it wasn’t anything special. Just other refugees from the Qing who had failed to evacuate during the war. The real problem was that most of these refugees, if swept up in the fighting, would die or be crippled if they were unlucky.
And from Hong Beom-do’s perspective, who wanted the horrors of war to be limited only to soldiers, it was extremely undesirable for civilians of both the Qing and Korea to be swept up in the fighting.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just civilians who couldn’t evacuate.”
The major, who was as gentle as a ghost even to the residents of the enemy country on the battlefield, offered his explanation. His subordinates shrugged and returned to their duties. After all, they too, like their major, felt complex hearts seeing the corpses of unarmed civilians killed by stray bullets while wandering the battlefield.
While the subordinates, according to the major’s explanation, went back to inspecting their own equipment, his adjutant took the helmet he had removed and followed beside him.
“Those bastards are really something. For two weeks they’ve been doing God knows what and even ran a civilian introduction operation, yet they left the people behind in the war zone like this.”
“You said it.”
Like the adjutant, Hong Beom-do was puzzled as well.
Unlike the Republic’s Supreme People’s Committee or the President’s order to issue civilian evacuation orders throughout the theater, the Qing court had not issued such orders even in Shenyang, a major city with a population as large as Hanseong, let alone the capital.
Even though there was enough time to evacuate during the two weeks when the two countries were facing each other directly.
Perhaps this was the realistic difference between the reborn Republic through revolution and the Qing court, which was like the embodiment of the old system. Hong Beom-do shook his head and changed the subject.
“What about the first squad leader?”
“No word yet. By the way, the division sent a direct messenger. Should I check it now?”
A direct order from the division. Hong Beom-do, thinking that perhaps the operation had changed due to the early news of occupying the dam and advancing to the outskirts of the city where civilians were hiding, extended his hand to the adjutant.
“Hand it over.”
“Yes.”
The adjutant soon took out a yellow telegram paper from his chest and handed it over. When Hong Beom-do received it, the content of the telegram mixed with code quickly came into view.
Briefly explaining, due to the characteristics of the Republic’s elite soldiers, the Armored Infantry, who were rolling back and forth on the front lines where life and death were at stake, it wasn’t particularly good news for Hong Beom-do and his subordinates.
“Damn it.”
Hong Beom-do, who involuntarily confirmed the order and spat out a curse, had his adjutant open his mouth with an anxious expression.
“Why?”
Looking at the adjutant’s face, Hong Beom-do soon checked the telegram content again, furrowed his brow and answered.
“One of the buglers assigned to us got swept away, so troop reinforcement on this side is a bit delayed.”
“What? A big thing like that got swept away in a calm river?”
“You said it.”
Hong Beom-do, who wondered if that was even ‘possible’ as per the adjutant’s words, gripped the telegram and crumpled it.
First, since one of the assigned buglers had flown away, the subsequent troop reinforcement would take even more time.
At the moment, the momentum of the battlefield or the Qing who had been pushed back behind the dam by the elite themselves and were not in their right mind, but Hong Beom-do pondered because they could always counterattack with numerical disadvantage.
The Hunhe River, which had been a very unpleasant obstacle at Dohwa, was also just an obstacle forcing the Republic army to use troop deployment and organization in the most disadvantageous way.
“Anyway, I was planning to let the kids rest a bit, but according to the telegram, the ones who were supposed to take our place have all scattered across the river. We’ll have to secure the outskirts of the city even among ourselves.”
“What? Just our major?”
“With no first squad?”
When the squad leader and adjutant pointed it out, Hong Beom-do shook his head and called out to the messenger.
“Did I send a messenger earlier?”
“I sent it around 5 o’clock, so it should be arriving soon. Ah, there they come.”
The messenger pointing his finger at some alley. As he said, several iron pieces stained with mud and dust rolled towards this side as if gathered.
“Huh?”
And among them, there were also Armored Infantry with a blue line engraved, meaning officer.
Hong Beom-do, who realized that he was his squad leader, ran over in one go, grabbing the armor he had set aside in the previous shock due to the creaking wind.
“What are you doing here, Squad Leader? Leaving the kids behind.”
When greeted, the man called 1st Squad Leader opened the window attached to his helmet lid, breathed fresh air, sighed, and then answered his question.
“Everyone is scattered… . Sigh, I can’t even say it. Even if the regiment commander comes, they won’t budge.”
“These bastards.”
As if he knew without looking, Hong Beom-do put both hands on his waist and put his hand on his shoulder and started walking together.
“What’s the status of the kids?”
“Thirteen injured, five of them seriously injured.”
“Such.”
With a total of 240 men in the major, and one squad over a hundred, if 10% are injured, the battle must have been fierce.
Remembering that his assigned target was more difficult than expected, he hurriedly checked his memory and asked.
“How did it happen? There weren’t any defensive facilities worth mentioning on that side, were there? Was their resistance particularly fierce?”
“Th, there was an old-fashioned cannon in a building that might have been a watchtower or observation post. We suppressed it, but in the process… .
What, a cannon on a watchtower that only two people could climb? Those who thought of shooting the cannon on that poor bridge, and Hong Beom-do, amazed by the courage of his subordinates who had managed to occupy it, nodded.
Hong Beom-do shuddered at the report that his innocent subordinates had almost gone to the afterlife due to the unexpected number of enemy forces, but his subordinates, who had achieved the mission skillfully as elite Armored Infantry, were truly amazing.
“It’s good that they’re alive.”
“And there’s more.”
After Hong Beom-do briefly praised their struggle, the 1st Squad Leader added with a slightly more depressed tone than before.
“Cheol-jin died, Park Cheol-jin.”
“Damn.”
And this time, Hong Beom-do’s expression also crumpled.
Park Cheol-jin was the bugler of the 1st Squad. In the Republic army, where buglers and drummers replaced communication with messengers and buglers, it was almost a job that required giving one’s life halfway.
Park Cheol-jin’s age was only sixteen. Hong Beom-do, who had started as a bugler at the same age he enlisted in Pyongyang Garrison, personally cherished him, clenched his fist, but soon blew it away with a sigh.
Anyway, this place is a battlefield, and someone dies at any time.
His subordinate, the youngest in the major, Cheol-jin, also, as a brave bugler, would have fallen while announcing the armored infantry’s charge in front, and that would have been how he died.
“…Understood. Second Squad Leader.”
“Yes, Major.”
Hong Beom-do, who had tried to control his expression but ended up with a troubled expression due to the report of casualties, commanded.
“At least, select about eight lively ones and supplement the first squad’s personnel. Gather the seriously injured and move them to the dam. The medical unit said they would place a relief line every hour, so if you wait there, the medical team will come.”
Medical personnel who volunteered from the Tripartite Alliance were manpower, but the Supreme People’s Committee and the President had greatly strengthened medical personnel to ensure the safe return of the soldiers.
As much as the ships deployed for dam construction and crossing the river, the headquarters was doing its best for medical support by deploying medical ships separately according to the instructions of the Wolf’s Lair.
The second squad leader, who had been estimating time with Hong Beom-do’s command, answered while looking at the sun gradually burning red.
“I’ll finish quickly before the sun completely sets and return.”
“Alright.”
One round trip of an hour was enough. Surely the first squad leader would have finished classifying the injured and briefly treated them, so sending only the seriously injured to the dam would be the end.
After finishing the cleanup around, Hong Beom-do gathered the major members in one place.
“Come together.”
Now it was time to execute the next operation. The total command’s intention, which had partially occupied the dam and begun deploying troops to the outskirts of the city across the river, was exactly one thing: a kind of feint.
“The division is very hopeful for tomorrow’s southern offensive starting at 7pm tonight. Currently, the first and fifth divisions are marching from Yingkou, circling around the west of Shenyang, and can approach the outskirts of the city where the Qing have set up positions north of Shenyang by tomorrow morning at the latest.”
“Then, is it 12 hours until we wait?”
“No.”
Hong Beom-do firmly shook his head at the majors’ question, as if checking, and began briefly explaining the details of the operation.
“In two hours, the headquarters will induce a street battle with the Youth Vanguard in the forefront. We are the decoy.”
“Th, with those clowns?”
“Clowns? They are volunteers who participated in the militia for the Republic and the people.”
“No, it’s not volunteers… .
It was true that the Vanguard, which received special trust from the President, was well-equipped, and that they were dressed in luxury items uncommon in the Republic. But their combat power was always a question to the veteran soldiers of the Armored Infantry, who were always showing bravery on the front lines and had high morale.
Would that splendid black uniform really stop bullets?
Hong Beom-do, who knew well the inner competition and superiority of his subordinates, reached out and calmed them.
After all, as an Armored Infantry member, he didn’t know their hardships and feelings.
“Quiet, quiet. It’s not over yet.”
The subordinates who had stopped grumbling stopped and started concentrating again.
“Our Armored Infantry majors will be distributed at the front as the anvil of the Vanguard to pull all the enemy’s firepower and attention, completely shattering the enemy’s advance intention at the major level. However, the headquarters’ intention is exactly one. To prevent them from escaping from simply recapturing the Shenyang internal line.”
“If they get stuck on the outskirts, it will disrupt troop deployment, so they plan to nibble at them from the west.”
“And since retreating from the Manchu side is urgent when Wonsan is occupied, if we just block the Changseong direction-.”
“The mouse in the trap.”
The operation itself was excellent. Rather, the Armored Infantry, who had underestimated the Vanguard members just until now, felt sorry. After all, the words that the Vanguard would catch the enemy head-on were too harsh for their debut in war, which was their first time in battle.
Hong Beom-do, sighing at the Armored Infantry’s bet that at least a third would become crippled, asked the adjutant.
“But isn’t night battle an environment that the headquarters was trying to avoid as much as possible? Unnecessary sacrifices could occur in succession, Major.”
“Especially in the complex and variable environment of street fighting, it could cause many casualties for the non-specialized Vanguard.”
As an officer, Hong Beom-do nodded his head in agreement with the squad leaders’ point that we should prevent unnecessary casualties as much as possible to protect our own strength.
“So, you want us to take on the role of their ‘guide’. Don’t stray off the path.”
And that was the inner purpose of the headquarters and the President.
They had been given a lot of nutritional supplements, but the inexperienced Vanguard, while the Armored Infantry, as their anvils, would work hard to help them from both sides.
It was like asking them to be a babysitter.
“Well, enough small talk. It’s the headquarters’ order and the Wolf’s Lair’s decision. Our Republic’s top elite, the Armored Infantry, will obey the supreme command’s orders. Each squad and support squad will carefully select the lightly wounded and seriously wounded to send to the dam, and the rest will reassemble outside the city after checking equipment. That’s it.”