Tyranny of Steel

The War in Korea had become far more intense than the Germans initially expected. While the Reich provided naval, air, and armored support to the Joseon Army, it was the Korean people themselves who shed the most blood in pursuit of liberating their lands, which had been occupied by the Japanese Empire for years. 

Among these fighters was none other than Cha Jong-Su, a teenage boy who had been fighting the Japanese for years as a member of the Southern Joseon Resistance Movement. In the city of Seoul, machine guns echoed in the air, along with artillery, and explosions. Whether these came from artillery, grenades, improvised explosive devices, or rocket launchers, it was difficult to tell. 

While the Joseon-German coalition forced invaded from the northern tip of the city, and battled through the streets against the Japanese occupiers. The Southern Joseon Resistance had begun their attack. 

Jong-Su loaded his type 100 submachine gun, which he had scavenged from a dead Japanese officer some time ago as he peered over the edge of a brick wall. On the other side of his cover was a squad of Imperial Japanese soldiers, who were hidden behind a barricade, armed with a captured 8.8cm PaK 43 anti-tank gun, as well as a few shoulder fired rocket launchers of their own design. 

These men were shaking as they heard the roar of a Panther's engine progressing down the street, along with the sound of its steel tracks clambering over the ground. In their experience, one of these anti-tank guns was capable of piercing the armor of the panther at close range, whereas their rocket launchers were not nearly as effective. 

The Type 4 AT rocket launcher was not only extremely heavy, but hardly what one would call mobile. It could only be fired prone, with the support of a bipod in the front, and a monopod in the rear. It was also only really effective against the least armored regions of a panther tank, and at close range only. 

However, these weapons had proven effective at holding up armored columns while in cities, and slowing down the German advance, and thus, they had been produced in massive quantities back in the Japanese mainland while being shipped solely to the Korean theatre.  After all, the South China Sea was effectively controlled by the Kriegsmarine now that the Imperial Japanese Navy was left with only one fleet to guard the mainland. 

Jong-Su knew that if he did not take out this squad, then the Joseon-German army would be walking right into a trap. Thus, he and a small fireteam of Southern Joseon rebels armed primarily with Submachine guns, took a deep breath to calm their nerves before attacking the Japanese who were too focused on the road ahead to know that enemies were lurking no more than thirty feet away. 

After calming his heart, Jong-Su raised slightly above his cover, just enough to aim his weapon, and sprayed the entire magazine towards the Japanese troops. He was not alone as three other men did the same. The sudden ambush, along with the overwhelming volume of lead, had completely caught the Japanese off guard, and by the time the squad realized they were under attack, they were already dead, or bleeding out. 

After swiftly reloading his magazine, Jong-Su dumped another wall of lead into the bodies of the Japanese soldiers just to make sure they were really dead, and perhaps as a means to vent his frustrations with the ongoing conflict, which he had been a part of since he was a small child.  With the Japanese squad dead, Jong-Su quickly gave an order to his fireteam while scavenging supplies from the enemy. 

"Scavenge what you can, and plug that anti-tank gun with a thermite grenade. The last thing we need is it being used by our allies. You've got thirty seconds, now go!"

The Southern Joseon rebels did as they were instructed before running away from the area. And just in time too, as they heard the sounds of a Japanese Type 4 medium tank rolling up the street. Shortly thereafter, the sound of an 8.8cm gun firing could be overheard in the distance, along with an explosion. 

In the next second, a Jagdpanther Tank Destroyer rolled down the street, and pointed its gun past the smoking wreckage of the Japanese tank, before firing another shot towards a different hostile target. The Joseon rebels cheered as they saw the Royal Joseon Army rush through the streets, supporting the German Armor, as they fought another Japanese barricade further down the line. 

An officer of the Joseon Army who was trailing behind his unit noticed the rebels who were hiding nearby and quickly approached them. The man had a submachine gun of german design in his hands and a rather stern expression on his face. He was quite cautious after seeing the rebels. After all, the rebels were equipped with mostly scavenged Japanese weapons. 

"You there! Present yourselves, or I will open fire!"

Jon-Su walked forward with his hands held in the air as a sign that he was not hostile. However, the Joseon officer continued to raise his weapon and bark orders, which immediately got on Jong-Su's nerves. Rather than get himself shot, Jong-Su complied, albeit with a bit of a conceited tone in his voice. 

Cha Jong-Su, I'm with the Southern Joseon Resistance. You're welcome, by the way. If not for us, your tank would have just walked straight into an ambush. I reckon that PaK-43 would have made short work of it at such a short distance, let alone the rocket launchers. Those Japs were carrying."

The officer did not dare look behind him to confirm what Joseon said, not when there were several heavily armed men in front of him. He instead slightly lowered his weapon and nodded his head before giving the rebels orders as if he were their superior officer.

"The Army is advancing south. If you are as capable as you claim, then you can regroup with my company and support our efforts. Now get moving!"

Jong-Su, however, was not pleased with this remark, nor the tone in the officer's voice. He had operated independently as a guerilla fighter for years now, and did not want to take orders from some fence sitter. Thus he spat on the ground before responding to the Officer's commands with what he truly thought of them.

"Fuck you, you think now that you finally decide to do something about the fucking japs that those of us who have been fighting and bleeding for years have to listen to your orders? This is our city, and we know it best. We'll support you alright, but if you think I'm listening to a damn thing you have to say, then you're out of your mind. Come on boys, we're going to go fuck up some more Japs."

After saying this, the rebels departed, leaving the Officer in a bit of a foul mood. He had never expected that he would be greeted by the local resistance in such a disrespectful manner. However, all he could do was swallow his pride and regroup with his unit as they pushed further south into the city. 

Despite the Imperial Japanese Army's best efforts to put up one last bit of resistance against their enemies. The city of Seoul would fall back into the hands of the Joseon Dynasty after another three days of fighting. Where the Joseon-German coalition would continue to march further south with the intention of liberating everything between them and Busan. 

---

If you enjoy the novel and want to support my work, please consider donating at https://ko-fi.com/zentmeister