Chapter 1069 The Battle Of Taebaek

While the war between Japan and Germany continued to wage on. A coalition of troops from both the German and Joseon Armies had steamrolled over the southern border with the intent of fully expelling the Japanese occupiers from the Korean peninsula. 

A wall of steel existed between the Taebaek mountains and the city of Busan. Which was the Imperial Japanese Army's only hope of escaping these lands with their lives. Yet High Command had dictated that the war for Korea was not yet lost, after all, it had only truly just begun. 

Thus, in anticipation of the Germans movements, Japan had dispatched three of their armored divisions to the Taebaek mountains with the intent of intercepting their enemies before they could gain too much ground. 

Manfred Krause was just one of many within the lone Panzer Division who had swiftly moved beyond the borders of the Northern Joseon Dynasty in this blitzkrieg like assault. Now, he and his comrades were surrounded by the enemy, and yet there was not the slightest bit of fear on his face as his vehicle's dedicated loader placed a shell into the bore of his weapon.

After aiming his sights on the nearest target, Manfred pulled the trigger, and in doing so, blasted the enemy's turret off of the top of the chassis. Whether the crew inside the Type 4 Chi-to had survived or not was of inconsequence, for the vehicle was thoroughly eliminated from the battle.

With a ferocious cheer, Manfred listened to the ongoing thunder of guns which echoed as the Panther tanks unleashed a torrent of shells upon the enemy's type 4s. With each explosion, another piece of armor was destroyed, and their crews were either wounded or dead. 

While this exchange of gunfire had erupted, the Joseon Infantry deployed from the top of the German armored vehicles, and quickly moved to the flanking positions so that they could box the enemy in. Every soldier was equipped with a Panzerfaust 250, which, when used at close range, could be deadly even to the most heavy of Japanese Armor. 

Though the Japanese tanks outnumbered the Germans by three to one, the Germans had come prepared with a superior combination of firepower. A typical Panzer division was equipped with Panther Tanks, Marder IFVs, Flakpanzers, and Hummel self propelled artillery, all of which were fully capable of defeating the enemy armor. 

While the Japanese had come to battle with mostly Type-4 Chi-To medium tanks, and a few Type 1 Ho-Ki Armored Personnel carriers, whose main armament was none other than a Type 92 heavy machine gun. Unfortunately for the Japanese, while the 3.7cm auto-cannon mounted on the German IFVs was capable of piercing the armor of their enemies, the 7.7mm projectiles of the Type 92 heavy machine guns was far from adequate enough to so far as leave a dent on the German armor. 

If one were to observe the battle from a bird's-eye view, they would see an exchange of cannon fire and rocket-propelled grenades, which eliminated the armored vehicles on both sides. Though the combined might of the German weapons were indeed a fearsome opponent, the overwhelming number of Japanese tanks appeared to be an equal match. 

As the battle continued to wage on, the Japanese infantry deployed from the back of their armored personnel carriers to counter the German-Joseon grenadiers, who stood behind cover and fired rockets towards the enemy tanks and, in doing so, added further insult to injury. 

While the armored vehicles and grenadiers fought within the foothills of the Taebaek mountains, a more intense battle was taking place in the skies above. Hundreds of planes from both sides had gathered to support their troops on the ground below. 

Among these aircraft were the Luftwaffe's BF-110 Heavy fighter, HS 129 strike fighter, Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber, and, of course, the Ta 152 fighter interceptor. The Japanese who had utterly failed in their war aims to acquire bauxite from Borneo were flying their Ki-106 fighters, and their DH.98 Mosquito multirole combat aircraft, both of which were primarily made of wood. 

From a purely technical standpoint, the Germans had the advantage in the air, who were supported by their Flakpanzer 341 self propelled flak guns, which were more commonly given the nickname of flakpanther by the German soldiers. 

The dual mounted 3.7cm flak guns peppered the Japanese aircraft as they scrambled through the skies for dominance. Streaks of flames shot through the clear blue sky like shooting stars before crash landing on the earth below. 

With each passing second, the intensity of the battle continued. Soon enough, the Germans gained an advantage as their air support swept through the ranks of the Japanese aircraft and unloaded their auto cannons and bombs upon the unsuspecting Japanese Armor.

The sirens of the Stukas were particularly terrifying to the Japanese tank crews. The closer the Stukas came to the ground, the louder their sirens became, and just before hitting the ground, they would drop a bomb directly on their target before taking flight once more. 

The Japanese had little counters for these dive bombers, as they lacked any self propelled AA guns, and at the same time their fighters were held up dogfighting with the Luftwaffe's superior aircraft. It was not just the dive bombers that were proving a problem to the Japanese Amor, as the Hs 129 Strike Fighter was specifically designed to fly low, and pepper the Japanese armor with its semi-automatic 40mm cannon, which in high volumes was more than capable of penetrating the Japanese tanks. 

With such overwhelming air support, the Japanese armored divisions had quickly lost a significant portion of their fighting force, and while being flanked by both the German and Joseon armies who had thousands of grenadiers in their ranks, they were ultimately forced to fall further and further back. 

Manfred had the widest smile a man could make on his face as he scored yet another kill. His vehicle was at the forefront, pushing the Japanese Armored Divisions back against the Taebaek mountains. However, just as he was about to fire another shot, his tank came to a sudden halt, as did the rest of the German armor.  He quickly shouted towards the Tank Commander, as he questioned why they had stopped when they were so close to total victory.

"Hey! Fritz! What the hell is this? Why aren't we pursuing the enemy?"

Rather than answer the question worth words, the tank commander remained silent, as the Japanese tanks pressed further and further towards the mountain range, hoping to make a slick escape. It was in the next moment that a roar louder than anything that Manfred had ever heard erupted in the air, and it was continuous at that.

Manfred gazed through his sights and towards the mountains above, where he saw what looked like thousands of rockets take to the air. The veteran tanker could not help but exclaim his shock in the next moment, as he stared in disbelief at what his eyes were seeing. 

"Jesus Christ!"

Stationed in the mountains above the battlefield, the German rocket artillery had been waiting for the Japanese Army to make their way into a trapped position, where they then unloaded all of their rockets onto the grouped together enemy armor. Within seconds, the rockets had begun exploding all across the landscape. Their combined blasts were so powerful that Manfred began to fear that maybe their vehicle would be swept up in the after current. 

Cheers erupted over the german radio communications as the explosions continued to rock the foothills of the Taebaek mountains. The fiery blasts melted the Japanese armored vehicles, and consumed the lives of those who dwelled within, and yet they did not stop. 

Manfred was did not know just how many rockets had been fired onto the three Japanese Armored Divisions, or what remained of them, but he was certain it was at least ten thousand. By the time the flames died away, and the smoke cleared, all that was left of the enemy vehicles was a giant blast zone. The land itself had been scorched by the rocket artillery, and Manfred truly believed he saw a large crater standing before him. 

With the enemy armor utterly annihilated, the Journey to Seoul, and Busan would be a swift one. After laying siege to those two cities, the German and Joseon Armies would be able to swiftly expel or eliminate what remained of the Imperial Japanese Army on the Korean Peninsula. 

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