Chapter 134:

Chapter 134:

Chapter 134

The Japanese army was momentarily flustered by the sudden attack on the base, but soon began to deal with it calmly.

“The commander is being held hostage in there... Hmm...”

“Unknown forces have already attacked the research facility! It seems that the confidential documents have been stolen!”

The commander of the 731st Unit’s security battalion was in a headache. Damn it, how did they know about this place?

He knew very well that this was the top secret facility of the Kwantung Army. But how did they know about the facilities inside the base and who the commander was?

And his head was throbbing because of the commander screaming inside.

“Save me! Please spare me!”

For more than twenty minutes since he was taken hostage, he was shouting in a hoarse voice to spare him, not to shoot.

The battalion commander did not know what to do.

He had no control over the situation, such as who the attackers were, what they had taken, and so on.

Bang! A huge explosion was heard from the outskirts of the base.

“What the hell! Damn it...”

“W-what should we do?”

He wanted to snap at him for asking him that, but what could he do? He was the battalion commander.

He was annoyed that he couldn’t set up a defense in this damn corner, and he thought they were safely sucking honey in the rear, but now their military careers seemed to be over.

“Listen up! You sons of bitches of the Japanese imperialism!”

The ones who had taken the commander hostage inside started shouting something.

It was fluent Japanese, but somehow the battalion commander felt that the accent was strange.

“We came here knowing your heinous crimes of enslaving and torturing people. We want to kill you all without leaving a single one alive, but it is unfortunate that we are weak!”

“...Koreans?”

Three attackers came out dragging the commander.

One of them held the commander and pointed a pistol at his head, and the other two pointed their pistols at this side with grim expressions.

They sounded like Koreans. How did the Koreans know about this place... The battalion commander muttered that, but they had no intention of telling him that.

Pshhhhhhh... Bang! One of the attackers fired a flare into the sky.

The commander, who thought it was a gunshot, screamed louder and begged not to shoot.

The red flare was clearly visible even in the bright sky.

“Hahaha! Are you afraid to die? Long live the independence of Korea! You bastards, long live the independence of Korea!”

“Koreans, if you let go of the commander, we will let you go safely...”

Bang. A gunshot rang out. The head of Ishii Shiro, who had been screaming until then, burst like a watermelon and spilled his brains.

“Damn it, kill them!”

“Long live the independence of Korea!”

The words of those who killed the hostage in the hostage drama were always the same. But they were proud and brave until the end.

They did not beg for their lives like Ishii Shiro, but they faced death with dignity, shouting the slogan of Korean independence. The battalion commander glared at the three people who had turned into rags along with the commander’s corpse.

“Damn... We’re in trouble. Hurry up and catch the rest of them!”

“Yes, sir!”

The commander’s corpse was also transformed into rags with the attackers. His head was smashed and his body was torn like a rag. How was he supposed to face his family... The battalion commander had a headache.

‘Well, at least my head is safe.’

***

“Ah... Salute to the captain!”

“...”

The special forces who saw the red flare soar from afar saluted the captain.

As they entered the operation, Yun Se-ju declared that.

It’s a pity that I can’t mock his death right away, but the time will come.

“When will the next offensive start?”

“It is estimated that the ground will be hard enough for the mobility of the armored units by November, comrade secretary-general.”

“November... November.”

The state of truce continued because of the muddy swamp. The air battle was at its last peak before the blizzard made it difficult for the planes to take off, but the ground was in a quiet ceasefire.

“By the way, comrade secretary-general... A report on the personnel trends within the German army has arrived.”

“Is that so? What is it?”

Beria fiddled with his glasses and pulled out another thick pile of reports. Personnel changes within the German army... Did Manstein retreat miserably and the Northern Group Army was reorganized? It was hard to call it a group army now.

But Beria’s expression was somehow not good.

“It’s a bad report. The German commander who stopped the southern offensive last winter, Walter Model, has been appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front.”

“What!?!?”

***

Walter Model called all his field army commanders under his command.

They all had a lot of troops, and they would have resisted a young superior, but they dared not raise their flag against Model, who received the love of the Führer and showed brilliant leadership last winter.

For the past week, Model had been traveling back and forth between the front and rear lines across the entire front, assessing the situation.

Now it was time to lay out the results.

“We will retreat.”

“Yes?”

And a thunderbolt fell from the clear sky.

“We don’t have enough power to defend all the occupied areas. With this much force on this wide front, we will only be pushed back. First...”

Everyone knew it, but they couldn’t do it because of the Führer’s whip. Withdrawal. But Model had obtained permission from the Führer to officially have autonomy in the operational plan.

He withdrew the 9th Army from the Smolensk salient, gathered the remnants of the French and Italian armies, and created a new operational reserve.

All those plans poured out of Model’s mouth.

The generals regarded him as a savior.

And the soldiers regarded him as something more than that.

“The lion is here! The lion of defense!”

“We can win!”

The internal despair was more frightening than the poor supply or the powerful enemy.

We can’t win anymore, it’s a futile operation, the fear and giving up of that mind quickly ate away at the power.

But now that the hero of the southern front, Model, had arrived, the anxiety quickly washed away.

Model, who had wiped out ten times the enemy in an unfavorable situation! With just one reinforcement, Model raised the morale of the entire army.

And the Führer promised more reinforcements.

“I will organize the ‘National Assault Force’ and send it.”

“Thank you! Führer!”

Goebbels’ ‘National Assault Force’, which he had been babbling about, would arrive before the Rastputitsa ended.

The Führer told Model that. He said 1.5 million, more than the 500,000 reinforcements he had hoped for.

‘But where does 1.5 million troops come from?’

Somewhere in his heart, he was uneasy.

He knew very well that the manpower resources were exhausted. Wasn’t that why he squeezed out the allied countries like France, Italy, and Spain last year and forced them to make troops?

But even after squeezing them to the limit, he conscripted 1.5 million more? How?

Of course, it was fortunate that it made it much easier to plan the defense and counterattack.

It was also a reassuring factor that Guderian, who had retired from the front line as an armored general, also promised to send as many tanks as possible to Model by overseeing the production and development of tanks.

Now it was entirely up to him to stop the Soviet army.

“We must win, for the German people!”