I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 177

The day of the decisive battle had arrived.

The Japanese still thought that the war would start in about a week, but the Soviet embassy in Japan had prepared a ‘surprise gift’ for them.

“Heh heh… I wonder if those guys ever thought they would get a taste of their own medicine? I hope they don’t get too shocked.”

“Hahahahaha! Oh, I can’t wait to see their faces.”

The period of the abrogation of the non-aggression pact that the US and Japan had notified was one month after Germany’s surrender. But secretly, the Soviet Union had informed only the US and prepared a preemptive strike.

The US, who had been enraged by Japan’s despicable attack on Pearl Harbor without a declaration of war, now felt a kind of joy at seeing Japan receive the same treatment.

It was only that MacArthur, who was still stuck at Iwo Jima and losing troops, had one more pipe broken.

The Soviet embassy in Japan had the mission of delivering the declaration of war to Japan as soon as the message arrived from the homeland, that is, after the attack had begun.

[Beep-beep-beep, attention. Attention from the homeland. Deliver this document to the Japanese government three hours from now.]

“Yes! Understood. Well… shall we go then?”

It was 1 a.m. The attack had just started. The Japanese thought they were very good at night battles. That’s what the intelligence department had said.

But what would happen when they faced the Soviet army, who had been trained in the eastern front riddled with fatigue? 

There were some difficulties, but Manchuria had a very similar terrain condition to the eastern front. And the weather was getting colder, which was even better.

“Ha… Damn Japs. Goodbye!”

***

Vroom, vroom. 

The sound of vehicles pierced through the silence of dawn and shook the plain.

The tanks advanced, plowing through the white snow that covered the land. 

The fortresses along the border and the defensive positions built by the Japanese army were already disrupted by the Soviet infiltration units.

Japan’s operational plan was flawed from the beginning.

“Stupid fools. How do they expect to defend this vast plain with a few fortresses?”

“Haha, that’s right. Run! Run!”

The cold air hit the tanks that were speeding at tens of kilometers per hour. The Japanese knew they were inferior in terms of armored forces.

They had things like Chi-Ha and Chi-Nu, which were too embarrassing to call tanks, and they would be smashed to pieces if they pushed them against monsters like T-34 or IS-2 heavy tanks. 

That’s why they decided to build a fortress line as a way to hold on to their armored forces.

But why were armored units created in the first place? Wasn’t it to break through the heavily fortified fortresses and endless trench warfare?

So the tanks ran. To the enemy’s rear, to the rear. A mere 800,000 men could not stop the heroes of the counterattack.

The Japanese had neither the Panzerfaust anti-tank rockets that the Germans used, nor the fearsome weapons like the Tiger heavy tank that could take on a hundred enemies. 

They were also said to have no brilliant generals like Model, whose name alone made one’s teeth grind.

“Ura! Ura! Ura!”

“Advance, tank units! Ura!!!”

The Soviet tankers were fearless.

Ahead of them, the IS-2 tanks roared with their massive engines. 

In the sky, the IL-2 ground attack planes circled and protected the advance of the armored units, targeting the ground targets.

They saw a small light from a guard post in front of them.

“11 o’clock, 2,000 meters, load high-explosive shells and fire!”

“Yes sir!”

The 85mm main gun spat fire and something that looked like a Japanese border guard post exploded and disappeared into the flames.

It was their first combat. Somewhere, they heard something like the sound of single-shot rifles firing, but the tank’s armor could easily bounce off such pathetic things.

Screeeech! No longer the Stuka, the symbol of terror, but the horn sound that became the symbol of the reliable ally IL-2, the plane dived to the ground in front of them.

In the light of the aerial bombs exploding, they saw something else blow up. Was it a pillbox? They thought they saw something like human limbs, but the tankers decided to forget it soon.

“Do the Japs not even stand guard at night… They’re not even the Romanian army. Hehehe!”

“Hahaha! Are they Romanians or Italians, making such a mess?”

The veteran tankers shared their stories of the enemies they had faced. The Romanian army that deserted and turned their guns on their comrades yesterday. The Italian army that raised their hands and surrendered, eager to go to the prisoner camps, after a few shots.

Of course, the Japanese were not neglecting their guard duty, and they were reporting the situation as best as they could.

But they had no countermeasures.

***

“How can there be Soviet tanks there! There’s still time left until the war starts!”

[…Understood. Our division… is engaged with an enemy tank unit of corps size by Soviet standards. Our infantry units are…]

The division commander had firmly decided to give a piece of his mind to the colonel who called him in the middle of the night to report, but he forgot what he was going to say when he heard the word ‘tank battle’.

The Russian half-breed courtesan who was lying next to him in a half-naked state woke up rubbing her eyes at the sound of his loud voice, but he had no time to pay attention to her body.

“I’ll report to the headquarters first. 203rd Regiment, hold your position!”

[…Yes, sir. Our unit is prepared for encirclement.]

“Ugh… They can’t even fight back bravely, let alone repel them, and they’re already talking about encirclement?”

The division commander grumbled and licked his lips at the colonel’s cold and calm words. 

He tried to put on his clothes, but his hand trembled so much that he dropped his sword before he could grab it.

“What is this, what is this…”

As I realized that the war had actually begun, I felt a chill run down my spine.

The division commander, he was a man who had climbed the ranks by sucking up to his superiors and bribing them at every opportunity. 

He had used his in-laws’ money, who were successful businessmen, to get close to the prime minister, the army chief, the Kwantung Army chief of staff, and anyone else who mattered. He had become a division commander by pulling strings.

Before that, he had only worked as a staff officer at the headquarters, and he had barely any memory of commanding in the front lines. That was a long time ago, when he was a lieutenant. He had never done it again since then.

“What am I going to do… What am I going to do…”

The courtesan, a half-Russian, looked at him with a puzzled expression as he clenched his teeth and shivered.

‘Should I run away?’

But where to? 

The Soviets were said to be the most brutal bastards in the world. They had fast tanks and flying planes.

Where could she go if she ran away from their grasp?

Suddenly, she saw a beautifully crafted Japanese sword hanging on the bedroom wall. It was a gift from someone below who congratulated him on his appointment as a division commander.

He swallowed hard. Seppuku? Should he commit seppuku?

While the incompetent division commander was contemplating seppuku with the sword, his subordinate colonel was drawing his military sword and preparing for the last charge.

“It will take some time for the reinforcements to arrive.”

“Then, what about us…?”

The officers under his command, who were trembling with fear, and not all of them were present. 

Some of them were probably crushed by the Soviet tank unit, and some others had fled, risking disgrace. 

They were always like that.

“Aren’t you also the sons of Great Japan? For a lifetime, you have lived for the glory of the Emperor and the Empire, and when the time comes, you will break like a jade. Tenno Heika Banzai!”

“…Ban, banzai!”

Holding his Type 3 military sword, the colonel shouted Tenno Heika Banzai with a loud voice. The officers also followed him, shouting banzai with either trembling or determined voices.

The Japanese were skilled in night tactics, but they had little to do against the enemy tank unit that advanced with bright searchlights.

“Now we will use swordsmanship to destroy the enemy’s tanks.”

“…”

The Japanese had only one or two anti-tank rifles that could barely penetrate the side or rear of the T-34 tanks at close range, so they had no choice but to use extreme tactics.

They either threw grenades and explosives under the tanks, or stabbed the swordsmanship into the windows. 

Neither was a wise thing to do against the tanks that ran at tens of kilometers per hour on this plain where the snow was deep.

“Come on… Follow me!”

They heard the officers and sergeants shouting from afar. It was not easy to lead the frightened soldiers and charge at the tank unit.

“Everyone, draw your swords! Let’s show the filthy Ruskies the courage of the Japanese sons! Tenno Heika Banzai!”

“Tenno Heika Banzai!”

***

“Aaaah! Those bastards are coming again!”

In the dark night, the searchlights illuminated the enemy hundreds of meters ahead. 

They could see everything with the moonlight anyway.

The Japanese, who had small stature, ran at the tanks with their swords drawn, instead of firing anti-tank guns or rockets or bringing artillery.

Yet they were able to inflict considerable damage on the Soviet tankers.

“Load high-explosive shells and fire as you can! Fuck…”

“Machine gun! Machine gun, damn it!”

The tank unit scattered and fired high-explosive shells and machine guns at the Japanese infantry who came running.

“Ban… Aaaah!”

“Oh… Okasan…”

The Soviet tank unit faced a qualitatively different enemy than the Germans they had fought before.

Usually, by this time, the Germans would either bring artillery fire, or bring armored equipment like the Panzer III, IV, or tank destroyers to face the Soviets.

But the Japanese had no armored equipment, or no proper counterattack at all. The artillery fire was also from the familiar allies.

They just fired a few shots with their rifles and then charged with strange screams. The Soviets simply massacred them.

It was because the division commander was in a panic and did not give proper orders, but the Soviet tankers at the bottom did not know that.

And they threw themselves at the tanks made of iron.

The white snowfield was covered with the blood and flesh of the Japanese. The heavy tracks of the tanks crushed and passed over the corpses that had been Japanese until a moment ago.

This inflicted serious damage on the Soviet tank unit.

“Ah, fuck… Hey! Driver! Can’t you drive properly?”

“Sorry, sorry!”

“Ha… You, do you know how shitty it is to clean up when human corpses get stuck in the tracks?”

“No…”

Fuck, shut up.

The veteran tanker, the tank commander, swore and looked around to see if there were any more Japanese or their corpses. In fact, there was no difference between them.

It was very disgusting and troublesome to remove the human corpses stuck in the tracks. This was one of the biggest damages that the Japanese inflicted on the Soviet armored unit.

“Are they soldiers? Why don’t they have weapons if they are soldiers?”

“How would I know?”

“Is this… Did we really come here?”

The other one was this. It was the guilt of slaughtering the idiots who couldn’t resist properly.

The Soviets advanced. With the corpses and guilt on their tracks.

The speed of the armored unit was still faster than what the Japanese could cope with.