Chapter 184:
Chapter 184
The remnants of the Governor-Generals Office agreed to surrender unconditionally.
We solemnly dere the founding of a democratic republic, the Republic of Korea, where Koreans are the masters of the Korean Penins!
Wow!!
After upying Gyeongseong, the Provisional Government Committee announced the deration of the Republic of Korea and formed a new government.
Kim Won-bong, themander of the Independent Korean Armored Division under the Soviet Army, became themander-in-chief of the Republic of Korea Army and dered that he would subjugate the Japanese who still had a stronghold in the southern part of the penins.
The Japanese in the areas liberated by the national army were taken prisoner and ced in prisoner-of-war camps in various ces.
The Japanese government was shocked by the annihtion of the Governor-Generals Office and the upation of Gyeongseong in an instant.
Ourpatriots who were in the Japanese archipgo are returning home through Wonsan Port. A vanguard of 20,000 people is returning first
Realizing that it was meaningless to resist any longer, they decided to call in at least some troops to prepare for the final battle on the maind.
Even excluding the 120th Division that was defeated in Gyeongseong, there were still three divisions and one brigade deployed, and if necessary, there were more than 700,000 people who could be conscripted.
None of them wanted to leave their homes and return to the maind that had be a battlefield, but most of them were chased away by angry people.
When the Koreans who had been robbed of theirnd, their markets, and everything else came back, the Japanese had to flee.
Southward, southward, the procession of refugees continued.
The national army pointed tanks and machine guns at the refugees and prevented them from doing anything rash.
Of course, they also had the role of stopping the people from throwing stones and garbage at the refugees.
Come on,e on, lets go!!
Wow! Long live the Republic of Korea! Long live the national army!
Hahaha, thank you! Now, please make way!
Thousands of people returning home and thousands of people leaving.
The shadow of war was now deeply cast on the civilians as well.
Most of the returning Koreans talked about the situation on the Japanese maind.
Ugh. Those evil bastards, now that the end is near, theyre doing all kinds of things.
The cities are all on fire, the countryside is all dried up and dead with rice and barley
The United States had developed a taste for defoliants and mines, and after securing air supremacy over the Japanese archipgo, they sprayed all sorts of things on Japan.
Mines, herbicides, aerial bombs, and napalm. The bombing became even worse after thetest B-29 heavy bombers were deployed.
The Kwantung in was no longer in a state to expect a harvest. In a situation where the horizon was filled with yellowish dried crops, the farmers cried out, and in the meantime, they raised their sickles and iron bars against the government officials who were taking away thest food.
The workers also rebelled against the order to defend the factory until the end, even as the bombs fell. The factory manager who threatened to cut off all the wages if they didnt meet the production quota by tomorrow, the workers who went on strike because they couldnt afford to live, the army and the government who pointed guns at them. The soaring rice prices and the starving people
Anyway, it was hell there sigh, Im d I made it back alive.
Long live the Republic of Korea, long live! Thank you for saving me!
The returnees expressed their full support for the government that had negotiated them out of the hellish Japanese archipgo.
They had left their livelihoods behind, but most of them thought that Korea was better than Japan, where the rice prices were soaring and the food shortage was severe, whether they were there or here.
And Japan was getting closer and closer to hell.
***
Fire! Fire!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Soviet Navys destroyers and cruisers spewed fire from their cannons. In the sky, the Tu-4 heavy bombers, boasting a heavy body even in the air, dropped bombs and passed by.
There is almost no Japanese armys defensive force on this coast, ording to our intelligence. But that doesnt mean we can let our guard down. After entering the city, the residents may engage in minor hostile acts, but we will not use violence unless there is any casualty.
Yes! Understood!
If you cause any trouble with the people its the maximum summary execution. All soldiers, keep this in mind.
The Soviet Far East Navy was very weak, but they were able tond on Hokkaido because almost all the warships had been withdrawn to the south to stop the United States, which had been annihted by the overwhelming air power of the United States.
In Sakhalin, as soon as the war against Japan broke out, two armored divisions ran south and neutralized all the Japanese military bases.
The Japanese destroyers that were stationed there fell into the hands of the Soviet army or scuttled themselves, and eventually the Soviet Far East Fleet appeared in front of Hokkaido and began shelling.
Are there any local coborators here?
Yes, there are. The local branch of the Japanese Communist Party will support the military administration afterwards. There are many poor peasants and exploited natives, and the local opinion is friendly to the Soviet Union.
Thats good. I heard they were going to make this ind independent, but that was the background?
The members of the Japanese Communist Party fled from the south, which would be a sea of fire, to the north, to the north.
The whole country was in such a state of chaos that there was hardly any inspection or search in the process of escaping to the north of the 36th parallel, where the nuclear bombing would take ce.
Anyway, good, good. Then well go to the center of this ind, this ce
A thick finger pointed at a location on the map. Sapporo was about 250km away from the northwest coast where the Soviet armynded.
They were ordered to wait for the bombing of the maind after upying Sapporo and Hakodate, the southernmost point of Honshu.
Hmm it looks like a pretty good location, huh?
Is that so, Your Excellency?
Hmm, its a ice-free port, and its simr to divostok intitude isnt it the optimal location for advancing into the Pacific?
Thinking of the history of Russian expansion, which had been looking for a ice-free port, Hokkaido had a tremendous value. Of course, there were also bases such as divostok, Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Penins, and Sakhalin, but divostok was a ce where the outer harbor froze in winter.
On the other hand, Hokkaido had several ports that did not freeze all year round due to the influence of the warm current.
And they could directly advance into the Pacific without being checked by other powers! Themander bragged about the content he had heard from above, as if he were talking to his staff.
Comrade Secretary-Generals intention is to avoid unnecessary tension with the United States for now, and to secure naval and air bases in various ces, so that they can be used in case of a deterioration of rtions with the United States in the future.
Really is that so?
Yes. And this ind is the one that will be the forward base for the projection of influence in the Far East, along with the newly born Republic of Korea over there.
During the Tsarist era, Russia waged the Russo-Japanese War to seize Manchuria, where the Trans-Siberian Railway branched off, and Dalian and Lushun Port at the end of it. Of course, they lost the war and had to give up Manchuria, Sakhalin, and more.
Many officers thought of the current war as the Second Russo-Japanese War. To secure their influence in the Far East, they had to overthrow Japan, the first power in the region, and also suppress China, the most populous nation in the world.
Alright, thats enough. Lets go and see for ourselves.
There was no resistance, so the shelling was already over. The Soviet ground forces, dressed in ck uniforms, calmly crossed the coast where no bullets flew and raised the red g at the port.
Ura! Soviet ura!! Ura!!
***
Meanwhile, in the south of Japan, a hellish sh was unfolding.
Without a breather after the Battle of Iwo Jima, the US forces led by MacArthurunched Operation Downfall.
First, we will secure the southern part of this ind, Kyushu, and build an air base that can bomb Honshu, thergest ind, intensively.
Operation Downfall consisted of two parts.
One was Operation Olympic, which involvednding on Kyushu, the southernmost of the four inds that make up Japan.
The Japanese army deployed on the Chinese maind was mostly crushed by the joint offensive of the Soviet and Chinese armies. The Soviet army upied the Korean Penins and Hokkaido
Enough with those bastards. Tell me the next thing.
Yes, Your Excellency. Ahem Operation Olympic will end with securing these two ces bynding. After setting up a temporary pier in Kagoshima Bay and building an airstrip on the Miyazaki in, we will start the next operation, Operation Cor, within 20 days.
Eisenhower briefed the operation with a strained expression.
This kind of superrgending operation had never been carried out before, and all the generals seemed tense.
It was tense enough to deploy 400,000 troops, dozens of battleships, hundreds of cruisers and destroyers, and over 3,000 aircraft.
MacArthur, who wore sunsses and chewed on a pipe, also seemed nervous as he fidgeted his hands.
Then Operation Cor we willnd at two points in front of Tokyo, on the maind. Here, up to a million troops and over 5,000 various aircraft will be deployed. The pre-emptive shelling will also mobilize the warships that were involved in the operation as soon as the enemy forces on the coast are eliminated.
They couldnt believe the enormous scale of the force, which was different from the digits.
But MacArthur was different.
What are you doing? Go and get ready!
Yes, yes! Understood, Commander-in-Chief!
Did he think he had to deal with this scale of things every day if he became the president of the United States? He looked defiant even though he was tense, and he urged his subordinates.
We have to upy Japan before those damn Reds eat it all! Whos going to fly the g in Tokyo, our great United States of America!
He had said something simr in Iwo Jima.
And on the coast of Iwo Jima, where volcanic ash flew and feet sank, nearly 10% of the tens of thousands of marines whonded were injured and several times that were wounded and evacuated.
Now, this operation involved more than 100,000 marines and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. How many marines would have to die for MacArthurs ambition? How many soldiers died and would die on the coast of a strange ind?
Is there no support from the Soviet Union?
Ah, yes. That issue is still being discussed by the higher-ups
What the hell are you talking about! Thats our spoils! We have to get our hands on it!
MacArthur threw his pipe and started to shout. In his head, Japan was already in the hands of the United States.
Look at those Soviet bastards tearing Germany apart. How much can we get from Japan! Do you think were going to hand it all over to the Soviet Union?
He had received some lobbying from the capitalists, or he was foaming at the mouth. Some nodded in agreement.
But a considerable number still looked sullen. How many soldiers would have to die was excluded from MacArthurs calction. Based on the previous cases, at least tens of thousands, if not more.
Sir Commander-in-Chief?
What is it, Dwight?
A message from the homnd. It says here [The Soviet bombing is scheduled, so postpone thending operation by at least a week].
What?