Chapter 8
13th of February 1938
Haruji opened the newspaper during the lunch-break.
There were articles about the recent developments regarding inner affairs, but Haruji and his colleagues were a lot more interested in what happened in Manchukuo.
The Manchurians had managed to make some minor advances into the Soviet Union, but those were merely bridge-heads which they could barely hold, let alone expand from.
They simply lacked the means to do so and yet they refused to ask help from the Empire.
And, as far as official sources could be trusted, the Empire was currently positioning its forces to strike.
But the Russians acted. They imposed a trade embargo on Japan, cutting it off from the trade with rare materials which was vital for the Japanese industry.
During the following week, a chain-reaction erupted throughout Asia, leading to several factions mobilizing their forces in fear of either the USSR or the Empire of Japan.
Furthermore, new technological advances were made that promised to improve the stance of the IJA in the conflict.
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22nd of February 1938
Takumi almost rejoiced as he heard the news.
Finally, the months of boring border-control were over, finally, he and his men could prove their abilities.
Manchukuo had issued a call to arms this morning, which the Empire gladly followed, now that most of its forces were in position.
Also, another carrier, the IJN Soryu, left the wharfs in Tokyo today. The carrier wouldn’t participate in the operation, it would be deployed to Taiwan to help guarding the Taiwan Strait and the Japanese trade there.
But Takumi’s concerns were of a different nature here.
His concern was to reach Vladivostock as fast as possible and to secure the airfield, while the planes from the IJN Kaga kept the Soviet airforce pinned to the ground and the 4th Kantai the Russian ships in the harbor.
He did “only” have to deal with the land forces and for this, he had sufficient air support. The operational goal of the division was occupying the Soviet port.
This was easier said than done.
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26th of February 1938
If it weren’t for the bad roads and the icy winter, they could have reached the outskirts of Vladivostock by now.
The ground was completely frozen, so the heavy anti-tank and artillery guns didn’t sink in, but their pace was still slow because of the tight roads that led through forests and mountainous terrain that did always offer perfect positions for ambushes by the defenders.
In fact, Takumi and his men had already cleared several ambushes before stepping into them, yet it worried him for how long they could keep this luck up.
IJA-forces were advancing where they were supposed to, as official reports told. Yet, the advance was slow and the only reason why the Soviets hadn’t thrown a strong counter attack at them was probably that they faced exactly the same problems.
Setting up camp for the night was just as difficult and the ever-present coldness didn’t help lifting their morale, either.
Dear Mother,
I’m sorry I’m writing you just now. After all, you’ve asked me to write you a letter every day once I might have to go to war.
I hope you’re not worrying too much about me. My men and me are fine.
So far, we have always known when the enemy would engage, which has helped us a lot and is one of the benefits of our constant air superiority.
By now, we’re close to our first operational goal, though our progress is slow. I may not tell you where we are heading, but I think you’ll read it in the newspapers soon enough if all goes as planned.
Tell the rest of the family that I’m fine.
Don’t worry about me too much.
Your loving son
Takumi
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1st of March 1938
Eastern outskirts of Vladivostock
They entered a wide road that went straight out of the city. Takumi could see the airfield only about a few hundred meters ahead of them.
Along the road, there were several half-collapsed buildings. This was probably caused by the continuous ground attacks of the airforce as well as the artillery strike that was launched this morning to soften up the defenses of the airfield.
He and his men were fighting in the city for about two days now. Around them were shattered ruins, as the 4th Kantai was shelling the city since the beginning of the conflict of the 22nd of February and had only stopped doing so as the division had reached the outskirts of the city.
Securing the airfield on the other side of the town was the last objective. The IJA hadn’t surrounded the town because it needed to be secured very fast, which enabled many Russians to retreat from their approach.
“Sir, army command is on the radio for you!” someone shouted at him, breaking the awkward silence which had engulfed them before.
“Damnit! How often do I need to tell you not to approach on officer so directly! If there was a sniper around, he’d know whom to kill immediately!” the first sergeant shouted back.
“It’s fine. Now get that radio up here will you? The others proceed as planned!” Takumi ordered.
It didn’t take long for the recruit to get the radio over to them.
He had joined the division about a month ago.
“Katana 1 answering Samurai 3.” Takumi said.
“Samurai 3 speaking. You must take the airfield as soon as possible. We need it to grant air support to 6th Homengun in the north! Also, the Soviets are about to start a counter attack on our supply lines. Proceed with speed and caution. We don’t know how many Russian soldiers left the town already. Do you copy?” said the voice of the Army HQ through the speaker.
“I copy. Katana 1 over.” Answered Takumi and handed the radio back to the recruit.
“Alright men, we need to hurry up!” Takumi exclaimed and, with these words, he jumped from his current cover and pursued the road.
He kept his eyes on the numerous windows of the large houses nearby.
The knowledge that, if there was a sniper, he would already have struck them eased his mind only slightly. There could still be some Russian waiting for them in one of the sideways.
But he would be proven wrong.
Suddenly, the sound of a single shot erupted from a nearby building and echoed back from the ruins of the other houses. As Takumi was still wondering from which window the shot might have come from, he heard another one which was followed by a loud gurgling behind him. Only then did he regain control over his legs and jumped to cover.
The second shot must have hit the throat of the man right behind him.
“Suppress that bastard and get me a medic!” he shouted and fire erupted from the weapons of the others who found cover amidst the wreckage.
He held the wounded man up. He was trying to tell him something, but there erupted only more gurgling and blood.
A medic hurried up to his position, but, as he arrived, the first sergeant was dead already. He had died in Takumi’s arms, his blood flowing all over his arms and soaking his uniform.
“There, I saw a muzzle flash! That half-collapsed building ahead of us, third level, 6th window counting in from the left!”
“Well spotted, private!”
It didn’t take more than this shout to know where they needed to target their fire.
A few of them pushed an anti-tank gun into firing position. It was the only one in Takumi’s force, but, fortunately, they hadn’t encountered any Russian tanks on this campaign so far.
Its shot was well targeted, so it hit the said window. The impact left a cloud of smoke and dust at the façade of the house, but there was no sign of life from the sniper. As a part of the upper levels collapsed down, they were sure he wasn’t alive anymore and proceeded on to the airfield.
To his surprise, there were no defenders guarding the airfield. There were only burnt-out wrecks of Soviet aircraft lying around on the ground around the starting lane, which seemed undamaged.
Takumi called up the recruit with the radio and it didn’t take long until the first Japanese airplanes showed up on the horizon. All of them would be redeployed to this airfield, supporting further assaults.
The city was finally secured the same day.
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19th of March 1938
He had seen many good men die on both sides during the fight for Vladivostock, and some did even die because of his bullets.
But it was something completely different to experience the cruel death of a comrade from a position as close as in one’s arms. Worst of all was that he had to wait several days until he received a new uniform, so he had carried the blood of the poor man on his clothes all the time, never being able to forget the image of him trying to speak a few last words.
Takumi decided that he would visit the family of this man as soon as he was given a holiday.
Since the fall of Vladivostock, resistance had increased, but a major battle never occurred. The IJA continued its march north to the new frontline as planned. The only Russian counterattack was experienced in Bikin near the Manchurian border. There some light Russian tanks crossed the river and attacked the garrison there, eventually forcing them to retreat. This didn’t last very long, though. The Japanese soon regained the territory.
Also, advances in Mongolia were made and Sakhalin was completely freed of any Soviet presence.
Japanese submarines were raiding Russian convoys all along the Siberian coast.
All in all, the situation didn’t look to bad for the Japanese, although the amount of Red Army forces in the area was increasing, thus it would be impossible to hold the speed of the progress. A decisive battle had to be sought. To end the conflict before the Red Army would overrun the IJA.
Being continuously on guard and only supplied with the most necessary things, he hadn’t written a letter home to his mother or his sister since about a week.
Hopefully, they weren’t worrying too much about him.
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22nd of March 1938
Yesterday was a day to remember.
They had fought in dark forests, almost losing touch with each other. Still, they had managed to defeat the Russians one more time.
It was the only victorious battle of the war in which the Japanese suffered higher losses than the Soviets.
Stalin, although having positioned a far larger force at the border that could overwhelm the Japanese in no time if needed was impressed by the fighting will of his enemy, offering peace and a return to the status quo.
This meant returning behind the old borders and losing all they fought and bled for during the recent days.
In face of the turned odds, the government agreed to the proposition, sowing discontent among the soldiers who had fought and bled for their country. And now it was all for nothing.
Of course, most soon accepted that this was the only reasonable decision, as the enemy was growing in strength.
But especially the nobles in the division considered this to be another act of treachery by the democracy.
Takumi himself needed some time to accept that they had fought to avoid an all out war that would have led to the end of the Empire sooner or later.
Eventually, he would settle with it.
Yuki opened the door after repeated knocking.
It was Naruto, the older brother of her husband.
His eyes were bloodshot and reddened and his hands held a piece of paper so tightly that she could see his knuckles turning white.
“Is Haruji at home?” he stammered.
“Yes, come in! Can I offer you a drink or food? You look like a man who just faced his worst nightmare.” she said.
Haruji hugged his brother as he saw him in his current state.
“What happened?” he asked, his looks expressing compassion for his brother.
“You remember my eldest son, Yuuto, joining the army to become an officer, don’t you? Yesterday, I received a letter that he was shot by a sniper near the airfield of Vladivostock. I can’t believe he’ll be gone forever now. I can’t. And our government is simply retunring the conquered territories. My son died for nothing! Can you believe this? For nothing!” Naruto explained and started to cry. Haruji tried to offer him as much solace as he could, for he understood his brother’s situation. He didn’t know what he would do if Souta would one day simple be gone.
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Author’s Note:
In Japanese, the family name stands always before the first name.