The Majestic Decisive Battle Opening the New Era (3)
In the West, this tactic is known as the Hammer and Anvil, and in our Republic, it is called the Anvil and Hammer strategy. As one would expect, the Qing forces pressing hard on the center of the front line were met by the middle command led by Minister of Military Affairs and Commander Yang Heon-su, along with the 3rd Division Commander Han Seong-geun and the rest of the staff, with nothing but a smirk.
It had been like a finely orchestrated play so far, with the enemy moving exactly as this side's plan dictated.
“They think our middle corps is easy prey.”
“Even so, the orderly Revolutionary Vanguard has displayed its elite, and four regiments have come bursting out in panic. In terms of momentum or preparation, it seems like they're looking at well-honed swords and making a fuss, so it's not to be underestimated.”
“By pouring strength into the left and right flanks to blind our eyes, it seems that what Minister Won-jip's words were correct.”
Han Seong-geun, scanning the colorful traditional-clad Qing four regiments emerging awkwardly under the yellow dragon flag with his telescope, continued.
“The uniforms are mostly from the Qing army stationed in Liaodong or Manchuria.”
“Isn't the Beiyang Army, their last bastion and pride, visible?”
“It's still... ah, there they come. Those are the rear guard.”
Han Seong-geun pointed to somewhere on the horizon and handed the telescope to Yang Heon-su.
“As expected. The miscellaneous troops are bait, and if our vanguard tires, they'll send the main force to push them back.”
“Should we send our right flank to respond?”
Yang Heon-su shook his head at Han Seong-geun's opinion and spoke.
“Bringing in more would be better.”
“The bait tactic...”
“Anyway, it's been quite some time since our target has protruded to the center of the front line, and they have enough grounds to assume that our vanguard is not well connected to the main force. To completely lure their main force, we need to show them that there's significant troop loss, so we consulted with the generals beforehand.”
“Even so, we can avoid meaningless casualties, right?”
“The enemy troops will live on as well. If this battle was just a border skirmish to decide the war's direction, your words would be right, but this battle is a decisive battle for the end. Even if we suffer some damage, to clearly extinguish the Qing's war will, that's the core of this battle.”
With a stern expression, Yang Heon-su calmed the concerns of some nearby staff officers and had already given separate orders to the trusted Han Seong-geun, so he wasn't overly worried.
“From now on, we must fight in the expected enemy, expected movements, and expected time. Precisely, without any error, move according to the plan to flatten them like bugs caught in a precise clockwork. Understood?”
After planning for half a year, now was the time to shed blood as scheduled.
*****
The Qing forces' movement seemed slow like a snail at first glance, but it was fast because they had to cross the only hill or rise in the center of the front line.
The Qing commander, leading his unit from the front with heavy breathing, set up his flag beside him and shouted from just below the hill.
“Urgent report, urgent report! Don't get tangled! The enemy is coming soon, right in front!”
Though it was a short, bumpy rise that didn't even reach half a chi, one could hide the upper body by curling the body tightly or only the upper body by keeping the waist straight. It was a truly ambiguous rise.
“Why abandon this cover? What are the headquarters thinking?”
Once they descended the hill, the Qing commander, whose vision of the battlefield had been hidden, was left in a daze.
His subordinates were already suffering from low morale and fighting spirit. Especially, this unit had received supplementary troops who were some of the remnants that had fled in disarray from Shenyang, Yingkou, and Lushun, so their cohesion was low.
Yet, abandoning the high ground that was supposed to provide mental support to the soldiers and charging towards the protruding enemy center raised suspicions.
“What are you thinking?!”
At that moment, the commander who had run up alongside him as the leading unit was swinging his saber left and right while shouting at him.
Because they marched in columns (the only marching formation — the Qing army in Manchuria, whose creation was unclear before the Qing-Japanese War, had learned column marching only after the war broke out), when the commander himself got lost in thought for a moment, the flag bearer and signaler got tangled.
“Sorry! Formation, battle formation! Quickly!”
He raised his saber in the same way and shook it towards that direction to apologize, then quickly checked the front and moved the formation. He needed to switch to a formation where they could pour the most firepower, the horizontal line.
“The other side is also slow.”
He didn't know why the other side's formation was so sluggish, but he thought it was fortunate that his own unit had time left. He guessed that the enemy had assigned raw recruits or similar local troops to the middle corps.
If so, it was all the better. If the difference in levels wasn't too great, then it would be a pure question of firepower and the commanders' qualities that would decide the battle's direction.
“First row forward, second row in place!”
“Load!”
With tense expressions, the soldiers hurriedly took their rifles from their shoulders, and the front row knelt and pointed the muzzles downward.
Even for well-trained elite soldiers, holding the rifle muzzle forward and aiming for a long time would make the arms go numb and eventually hurt unbearably. So, until the enemy came within effective range, the soldiers naturally waited in that position without the commander's next order.
Once the first and second rows were in aiming position, the soldiers in the third and fourth rows loaded their rifles and lowered their arms at an angle.
Unlike the training manuals imported from the Western countries, in the field, the opponents who exchanged fire were mostly the front few who fired and exchanged firepower, and then it was pure hand-to-hand combat. The formation was struck hard by the opponent who had charged through without needing to load or fire.
It was certain, as it had been passed down in the War Records of the American Civil War.
“The Korean army is in front!”
After about five hundred meters, the first to move was the opponent. Their opponent was the Korean army dyed entirely in black like a flock of crows.
It gave the illusion of a huge black wall slowly approaching. The soldiers in the formation became agitated.
At least four battalions, one regiment by Western standards. One regiment? Impossible!
“Stay in position! The enemy are human too! If we fire our guns, people die!”
“Eh?”
“They're running!”
When he shouted like that to calm the soldiers who had been surprised by the enemy's leading unit that had jumped out beyond expectations, the vanguard company of the Beiyang Army that had advanced two hundred meters ahead withdrew all their scouts and then ran back.
“It's not running! They're returning to their own units!”
Of course, the scouts weren't running; it was a natural movement to return to the complete unit, but to the soldiers of his own and neighboring units, it was an act that lowered morale. When the soldiers became agitated, it was the commander's responsibility to calm them down again.
“Stay in position! If you run now, you're begging for a bullet in the back from the enemy!”
After all the twists and turns, the scouts of the Beiyang Army who had been advanced to the front withdrew back, so now the only ones left to face the enemy first at the very front were them.
They're coming. The black wall!
“Fire!”
The scouts emerged from the underbrush and approached the place where they had run. When the commander confirmed it and ordered to raise the rifles, hundreds of muzzles flashed before his eyes, aiming forward.
A steel plate with sharp teeth was tightly biting inside, waiting for this moment.
“Aim, aim!”
Now the distance between both sides was between three hundred and two hundred meters. The effective range of the rifles the soldiers were holding was about two hundred to two hundred fifty, so soon hundreds, no, thousands of bullets from both sides would pierce the spot where the commander was standing.
“Oh ancestors in heaven, please...!”
Thinking of this, the commander, with a trembling voice, instructed the soldiers to calm down, then gripped his saber tightly. Since they were now close to the other side, they couldn't run away anymore. Praying to the gods and ancestors to grant the luck to resolve this crisis, over and over.
Perhaps the opponent felt the same, as the black wall of the Korean army also hesitated when they stood at the predetermined distance. But the decision was faster on that side.
“Ah.”
Just as he felt that, at that moment, accompanied by a tremendous explosion that would burst the eardrums, the commander felt as if the sun in the sky had fallen before his eyes.
His eyes were blinded. He couldn't see ahead at all, his eyes were blinded. And the rushing explosions, screams, and smell.
“Boom! Puff puff!”
“Kwaaak!”
“Ugh!”
“Save me!”
I shot first, those bastards shot first!
The commander who had survived the enemy's first volley managed to look back hurriedly beside him.
The flag bearer right next to him met his gaze in the air. He had a dazed expression looking at him, and with one hand feeling his body to check if there was a hole.
Fortunately, the flag bearer also seemed to have avoided the disaster. Of course, the bugler and signaler of the fallen regiment next to him came into view.
The commander, barely regaining his senses, shouted at the subordinates standing blankly with dazed expressions, as if scolding them for not understanding the situation.
“Fire! Fire!”
“...Bang! Ta-da-da!”
A bit late compared to the command, but anyway, this side had counterattacked.
Mechanically, the soldiers who had pushed the fallen bodies with their feet to clear the empty space raised their rifles and fired forward.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Kim Jin-ho, leading the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Division in Pyeong'an Province, did not give the enemy any leeway after they had attacked first.
“After the next volley, each two companies form a horizontal firing line in the second row! The remaining companies start free fire!”
“Switch to horizontal formation, open fire!”
“Start!”
With his command, the 600-man battalion hurriedly switched to formation after the volley, hiding behind the smoke of the rifles that had obscured the front view.
“Good, fast...”
“As praised by the President, the subordinates who were elite since their volunteer days were truly excellent.” The soldiers, who had been praised for their elite status since their volunteer days, quickly dispersed and then regrouped according to the command. It was like a huge wall spreading out instantly and then spreading wider like eagle wings to sweep away the enemies in front.
Its length was clearly over a thousand paces.
Now the enemy would be thoroughly surprised by their completely changed formation for a moment!
“Keep shooting! Third company keep shooting!”
Han Seong-geun, trembling at the long line of the great eagle stretching from the other battalion, company, and even the regiment, continued to order fire to the remaining companies to prevent the enemy from regaining their senses.
To prevent them from properly understanding their intentions, the headquarters had pointed out the need to obscure the opponent's view. And today, Kim Jin-ho could understand the scolding that had been ringing in his ears.
“General Dye said that this is called central breakthrough in the West.”
By bringing a significant portion of the troops to the narrowest area of the front line where firepower couldn't reach, and then switching to a horizontal line to maximize firepower and breakthrough power.
By maximizing the firepower of the concentrated unit, neutralize the enemy in front, and then quickly break through the center without giving the enemy time to plug the holes with reserve units.
From a distance of only three hundred paces, behind the scattered companies who were firing chaotically to create confusion and hide their intentions, the huge wall of the second row horizontal line extended to cover the front line.
“Woo woo!!!”
The roars of the bugles of each battalion and regiment striking the entire front line. Now!
“Advance! Advance! Annihilate the enemy!”
“Present victory to the great Republic's President!”
“Charge!”
The lieutenant colonel drew his sword and shouted as he charged forward, the scattered companies who had been giving irregular free fire for front suppression hurriedly moved aside. Following him, over four hundred soldiers charged with the same shouts, starting to cover the short distance of less than two hundred meters with their full power. The scattered companies also hurriedly followed behind the leading formation that had charged first and took the rear.
The voices of the Republic soldiers covered the Pyeong'an plains.
“Waaah!!! Long live the Republic!”
Such battalions were spread across the entire front! Twenty thousand Youth Vanguard had been deployed, and after that, dozens of northern advance battalions followed.
The scattered Qing regiments that had barely held the line against the black wall's charge broke like eggshells.