Chapter 32
31st of March 1944
After supporting the landing on the Dodecanese, Souta returned to more conventional tasks.
A few days ago, the Russians had declared war upon Romania, probably hoping to sweep through it with a blitz and to fall into the back of the Japanese holdings in the Balkans.
Yet, Romania had remained neutral during the Second Great War, meaning that it still had a huge and capable army that was equipped with the latest German and Japanese weapons, as both nations had tried to tie this little state closer to itself. For the Japanese, Romania was so important because it was guarding the northern border of its Balkan holdings.
However, instead of a swift Russian victory, the Romanians were destroying the Soviet spearheads as they tried to cross the Danube River and then went on to push into the Ukraine and Bessarabia.
During this time, the Romanians requested air protection, which was given by the CAGs of the IJN Kaga and the IJN Akagi, which were both operating from the port of Varna.
At the moment, their squadron was flying low above a Romanian corps of old German tanks, namely the Type III tanks.
It felt odd to know that their friends as well as their enemies were using the same weapons, but every tank opposing the Soviets counted.
The Romanian tanks had just crossed the Danube River and were slowly pushing towards the city of Odessa. It wasn’t their task to protect them today, that was the task of 5th squadron. They were to move further inland to bomb an airfield near the town of Kyiv.
It was incredible what those new drop-tanks made possible.
Kyiv was known to be the airfield on which most of the Russian bombers disturbing the Romanian advance were stationed. As the way to Kiev led mostly through territory that was only inhabited by a few scattered Ukrainian farmers, the chances that they would be discovered early on were low.
So they left the Romanian tanks behind them and moved on over the grassy Ukrainian plains. They passed ruins of villages and farms that were either destroyed by the retreating Germans or by the retreating Russians, as none of both parties had wanted to leave anything to the enemy.
Souta was now 19 years old and had already seen his share of war, but the cruelty human beings were capable of still surprised him.
The sun was shining brightly on this morning and he was glad that they were equipped with glasses that protected them from the strong sun-rays.
After some time, a huge city appeared on the horizon. Kyiv.
The airfield was to the south of the town, so they didn’t have to fly right through it.
He could see Russian interceptors leaving the airfield and flying towards them. The Russian IL-2 was a heavy fighter with strong armor, but it was too slow to keep up with the Japanese A6M Zero.
Still, everyone kept silent, there wasn’t anyone using the radio. The group split up like planned before, i.e. one half of the planes went straight for the unprotected bombers whereas the other was to keep the fighters busy.
Souta belonged to the latter group.
The IL-2 proved to be a tougher opponent than the German FW-190’s as their armor was thicker to protect it from AA-fire. Thus, they had to be outmaneuvered and attacked in a dive from above.
So much on theory.
In reality, the IL-2 pilots knew about this weakness and were quite efficient in keeping the Japanese from diving at them.
After 30 minutes, the raid was over. Most of the bombers were destroyed and the Japanese made for a retreat to the south.
The Russian fighters were still battling them, but neither side had been able to inflict major casualties.
Souta dived at an IL-2, hitting the plane at its tail and sending it to the ground. As he tried to rise again, he himself was hit.
Adrenaline filled his veins. He lost control over the airplane and black smoke erupted from the engine, covering his sights and making him practically blind for all that happened outside the plane.
He broke the radio-silence and cried: “Anybody who can hear this: Once you get home, please tell my father that I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise of returning back home.”
He could make out the closing ground through the smoke and tried to do what they had told him about emergency landings.
Try to do all as usual.
He cursed loudly. How was he supposed to act as usual when he couldn’t see a thing and was lost several hundred miles behind enemy lines?
And that was when the plane hit the ground.
The Romanians didn’t waste the opportunity to advance with aircover and pushed deep into Soviet territory.
-----
25th of April 1944
The newspapers were filled with the war, but he wanted to know nothing about it.
The Americans had sent an expeditionary force consisting of five motorized divisions? Well, now that was nice!
Oslo had fallen to the marines a few days ago and, after Norway’s surrender, the Scandinavian front was now stabilizing again? Beautiful!
Japan had managed to establish a democratic government in Mongolia? Now that really meant the Allies were on the move!
He didn’t care about it anymore since the letter had come three weeks ago.
You son has died a hero’s death in serving his country in his darkest hours. His sacrifice was not in vain, for it made the most recent military successes possible.
For his successes in the War against Fascism and the War against Communism, your son will be awarded with the order of the Emperor for exceptional deeds on the battlefield.
You will receive it in his stead on the 2nd of June 1944.
The Emperor would be pleased if you attended to honor your son’s deeds by accepting this award.
It had destroyed Haruji’s life once and for all. His wife was crying almost every day since it came, she couldn’t look at him because he remembered him of her dead son and he himself didn’t do much better.
The Reds had wrenched the best man he had known in his life from his hands and he had been unable to do anything about it.
Attending the meeting with the Emperor was something he seriously considered, though he didn’t know how he would react should he see one of the army’s generals.
-----
20th of May 1944
Takumi was waiting in Oslo for new orders since a month by now.
He enjoyed the life far off the front with the marines, but he couldn’t help but think of his men back in France who still had to endure the back and forth of the border-combat.
The marines weren’t deployed anywhere else at the moment because almost the entire transport fleets were busy with bringing the American forces from Baltimore over to the European battlefield, namely the port of Trieste, and new recruits from the Japanese homelands to the Balkans.
He was shocked to hear that the French, that had welcomed them as liberators from the Soviet menace, were actually rising to fight them as enemies of the Soviet state.
This was outrageous.
At first, the French always needed someone to fight their wars because they were defeated faster than one could say “mérde” and now, as they found idiots like the Japanese to do so, they were rising against them.
At the same time, fighting those partisans proved to be difficult, as the Japanese were still busy holding the Red Army from taking France back.
The Allies had clearly lost the initiative in this war which had grounded to a stalemate. But that might change once the Americans arrived.
Or hopefully it would.
From replacements, he had heard that the government had just finished the construction of a huge military site in Kagoshima to which all entrance was forbidden.
The replacements were conspiring that a new, secret weapon was developed there, but as he heard that wires were leaving the site, Takumi decided not to hope to much and just to consider this as a new power-plant and nothing more.
Whther it was anything else, future would tell.
31st of March 1944
After supporting the landing on the Dodecanese, Souta returned to more conventional tasks.
A few days ago, the Russians had declared war upon Romania, probably hoping to sweep through it with a blitz and to fall into the back of the Japanese holdings in the Balkans.
Yet, Romania had remained neutral during the Second Great War, meaning that it still had a huge and capable army that was equipped with the latest German and Japanese weapons, as both nations had tried to tie this little state closer to itself. For the Japanese, Romania was so important because it was guarding the northern border of its Balkan holdings.
However, instead of a swift Russian victory, the Romanians were destroying the Soviet spearheads as they tried to cross the Danube River and then went on to push into the Ukraine and Bessarabia.
During this time, the Romanians requested air protection, which was given by the CAGs of the IJN Kaga and the IJN Akagi, which were both operating from the port of Varna.
At the moment, their squadron was flying low above a Romanian corps of old German tanks, namely the Type III tanks.
It felt odd to know that their friends as well as their enemies were using the same weapons, but every tank opposing the Soviets counted.
The Romanian tanks had just crossed the Danube River and were slowly pushing towards the city of Odessa. It wasn’t their task to protect them today, that was the task of 5th squadron. They were to move further inland to bomb an airfield near the town of Kyiv.
It was incredible what those new drop-tanks made possible.
Kyiv was known to be the airfield on which most of the Russian bombers disturbing the Romanian advance were stationed. As the way to Kiev led mostly through territory that was only inhabited by a few scattered Ukrainian farmers, the chances that they would be discovered early on were low.
So they left the Romanian tanks behind them and moved on over the grassy Ukrainian plains. They passed ruins of villages and farms that were either destroyed by the retreating Germans or by the retreating Russians, as none of both parties had wanted to leave anything to the enemy.
Souta was now 19 years old and had already seen his share of war, but the cruelty human beings were capable of still surprised him.
The sun was shining brightly on this morning and he was glad that they were equipped with glasses that protected them from the strong sun-rays.
After some time, a huge city appeared on the horizon. Kyiv.
The airfield was to the south of the town, so they didn’t have to fly right through it.
He could see Russian interceptors leaving the airfield and flying towards them. The Russian IL-2 was a heavy fighter with strong armor, but it was too slow to keep up with the Japanese A6M Zero.
Still, everyone kept silent, there wasn’t anyone using the radio. The group split up like planned before, i.e. one half of the planes went straight for the unprotected bombers whereas the other was to keep the fighters busy.
Souta belonged to the latter group.
The IL-2 proved to be a tougher opponent than the German FW-190’s as their armor was thicker to protect it from AA-fire. Thus, they had to be outmaneuvered and attacked in a dive from above.
So much on theory.
In reality, the IL-2 pilots knew about this weakness and were quite efficient in keeping the Japanese from diving at them.
After 30 minutes, the raid was over. Most of the bombers were destroyed and the Japanese made for a retreat to the south.
The Russian fighters were still battling them, but neither side had been able to inflict major casualties.
Souta dived at an IL-2, hitting the plane at its tail and sending it to the ground. As he tried to rise again, he himself was hit.
Adrenaline filled his veins. He lost control over the airplane and black smoke erupted from the engine, covering his sights and making him practically blind for all that happened outside the plane.
He broke the radio-silence and cried: “Anybody who can hear this: Once you get home, please tell my father that I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise of returning back home.”
He could make out the closing ground through the smoke and tried to do what they had told him about emergency landings.
Try to do all as usual.
He cursed loudly. How was he supposed to act as usual when he couldn’t see a thing and was lost several hundred miles behind enemy lines?
And that was when the plane hit the ground.
The Romanians didn’t waste the opportunity to advance with aircover and pushed deep into Soviet territory.
-----
25th of April 1944
The newspapers were filled with the war, but he wanted to know nothing about it.
The Americans had sent an expeditionary force consisting of five motorized divisions? Well, now that was nice!
Oslo had fallen to the marines a few days ago and, after Norway’s surrender, the Scandinavian front was now stabilizing again? Beautiful!
Japan had managed to establish a democratic government in Mongolia? Now that really meant the Allies were on the move!
He didn’t care about it anymore since the letter had come three weeks ago.
You son has died a hero’s death in serving his country in his darkest hours. His sacrifice was not in vain, for it made the most recent military successes possible.
For his successes in the War against Fascism and the War against Communism, your son will be awarded with the order of the Emperor for exceptional deeds on the battlefield.
You will receive it in his stead on the 2nd of June 1944.
The Emperor would be pleased if you attended to honor your son’s deeds by accepting this award.
It had destroyed Haruji’s life once and for all. His wife was crying almost every day since it came, she couldn’t look at him because he remembered him of her dead son and he himself didn’t do much better.
The Reds had wrenched the best man he had known in his life from his hands and he had been unable to do anything about it.
Attending the meeting with the Emperor was something he seriously considered, though he didn’t know how he would react should he see one of the army’s generals.
-----
20th of May 1944
Takumi was waiting in Oslo for new orders since a month by now.
He enjoyed the life far off the front with the marines, but he couldn’t help but think of his men back in France who still had to endure the back and forth of the border-combat.
The marines weren’t deployed anywhere else at the moment because almost the entire transport fleets were busy with bringing the American forces from Baltimore over to the European battlefield, namely the port of Trieste, and new recruits from the Japanese homelands to the Balkans.
He was shocked to hear that the French, that had welcomed them as liberators from the Soviet menace, were actually rising to fight them as enemies of the Soviet state.
This was outrageous.
At first, the French always needed someone to fight their wars because they were defeated faster than one could say “mérde” and now, as they found idiots like the Japanese to do so, they were rising against them.
At the same time, fighting those partisans proved to be difficult, as the Japanese were still busy holding the Red Army from taking France back.
The Allies had clearly lost the initiative in this war which had grounded to a stalemate. But that might change once the Americans arrived.
Or hopefully it would.
From replacements, he had heard that the government had just finished the construction of a huge military site in Kagoshima to which all entrance was forbidden.
The replacements were conspiring that a new, secret weapon was developed there, but as he heard that wires were leaving the site, Takumi decided not to hope to much and just to consider this as a new power-plant and nothing more.
Whther it was anything else, future would tell.
