I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 82

The most valued branch of the Soviet army was the artillery. 

Comrade Stalin praised the usefulness of the artillery, saying that “artillery is the god of war”, and accordingly, the army devoted all its efforts to developing the artillery.

Of course, the artillery branch required a high level of skill and intelligence. 

While other branches valued virtues such as bravery or quick-wittedness, the artillery was the most intellectual branch among the combat branches, especially requiring mathematical abilities, and their officers had a few years longer education than those of other branches on average.

College students who majored in related fields, such as mathematics or physics, were dragged into communication-related branches or artillery regardless of their preferences, and they had to teach mathematics to the soldiers diligently. 

Despite this, the artillery branch received generous support and envy from others.

However, the proud Soviet artillery officers had to break their high noses once.

“Are you Mujeong, the commander of the Korean Volunteer Corps’ artillery? Hehehe!”

This man from the Far East was assigned as a lieutenant colonel by the order of his superiors, leading an artillery battalion composed of ‘Koreans’, and was attached to the field army’s direct artillery division under the northern front army.

He didn’t know how lucky he was, but his superiors implicitly ordered them to treat them as best as they could.

“Where did these bastards come from, some Chinese countryside? How dare they act like they are lieutenant colonels and battalion commanders?”

“We are the elite of the Soviet army, right? Damn bastards. Haha…”

The Soviet artillery officers thought so when they saw the Korean who introduced himself as Mujeong in a clumsy Russian.

‘He didn’t even receive higher education, and he came down by parachute as a battalion commander after playing with some shoddy mortars?’

There were some who were intimidated by the powerful backing of him, but there were also some who doubted Mujeong’s qualifications as a soldier. 

The ethnic-based units that had been tabooed in the Soviet Union were also targets of suspicion.

No matter how they would become independent units with their own command system after a series of ‘combat experiences’… It was not pleasant.

But Mujeong ended all this distrust with his own skills.

“Hit… Hit!”

He and his Korean artillery battalion members showed miraculous skills that were almost like magic, handling mortars like ghosts.

They hit moving tanks with mortars, and blew up fixed targets regardless of size with one shot.

“Hey, can you do that? Let me try it.”

“Pfft, puh… You can’t do that!”

The Soviet artillery officers who saw this magic wondered if it was possible and tried to touch the mortars once each, but they had to be humiliated in front of the Korean battalion members.

Do you think you are a real artilleryman if you handle a shabby mortar well without knowing advanced mathematics? 

They were angry and brought all kinds of new weapons to test their ‘skills’, but they wondered what they ate to shoot like that.

The Korean battalion began to handle weapons that even elite officers of the Soviet army could not handle well in a short time with amazing skills.

***

The Soviet artillery was undergoing a remarkable hardware advancement at this time.

Various rocket launchers made by Korolev Design Bureau were mass-produced and began to be deployed to frontline units, and large-caliber howitzers and self-propelled guns were mass-produced and deployed.

In addition, a new secret weapon, proximity fuse, was supplied in small quantities mainly for 203mm high-explosive shells.

The military command heard the expensive price of proximity fuse and ordered officers to use it sparingly. 

However, regardless of their appeals from their superiors, the Korean battalion members started shooting new weapons like fun toys as soon as they got them.

“Go! Go! Bang go~!”

“Gajuwa~~~”

Bang! Bang!

The soldiers of the Soviet artillery unit who watched them laughed and followed their slogan with a twisted pronunciation.

The 203mm B-4 heavy howitzer battalion, which was the most powerful force in the 203 Breakthrough Artillery Division under direct control of 51 Field Army, was eventually handed over to the Korean battalion. 

Because there were so few of them that even those who had handled them in the Soviet army were rare, they were handed over to the Koreans who were selected as the most capable battalion in the division.

They originally developed proximity fuse for anti-aircraft shells, but after improving it several times, Stavka was surprised by its expensive price and decided to use it for 100kg heavy shells that could hit a large area with one shot instead of anti-aircraft shells that had to be fired hundreds of times.

Thanks to the overwhelming explosive power contained in 100kg, the heavy shell became a god of death on the battlefield with an enormous killing radius when it exploded in mid-air. 

The German soldiers captured as prisoners trembled at the destructive power of ‘Stalin’s hammer’ and asked what the hell it was.

“Very good! After three rounds of simultaneous shelling, reload quickly and reposition!”

“Yes!”

Mujeong looked at the coordinates given by the Soviet observer and looked around the gun once, then gave orders in fast Korean that the Soviets could not understand.

“Gun 2! Turn 1 mil! Reload quickly!”

He clicked his tongue as he watched several people struggling to reload the huge 100kg shell.

“Look at the soldiers groaning because of that heavy shell. Can’t you make an automatic loading device?”

“Yes, comrade battalion commander. I will report it.”

Attach an automatic loading device, and while you’re at it, make the gun easier to move and cool down, and make it self-propelled! 

Mujeong nagged at the observer while his chest badge of Lenin Order shone.

The main role of the heavy howitzer battalion with a range of about 1.5 times longer than the German artillery was counter-battery fire against enemy artillery.

While the allies were fiercely engaged in combat, they received data analyzed by the observers and silenced the enemy artillery positions with heavy howitzers that had explosive range and power.

It was difficult to get an accurate record of how many German guns they had captured, but the damage caused by artillery was the least in the entire northern front for 51 Field Army, which reached Stavka.

Stavka showed a quick response that was not slow, awarding medals to the Korean battalion for their amazing achievements and giving Mujeong an additional Lenin Order.

<This week’s hero unit: 203 Breakthrough Artillery Division ‘Korean Battalion’>

<The comrades from the Far East receive Lenin Order!>

The newspapers praised the Korean units that were active in various places on the front line as heroic comrades who fought for the liberation of their homeland Korea and the homeland of the proletariat, Soviet Union.

A photo of Comrade Stalin and Hong Beom-do, a general and honorary commander of the Korean Liberation Army, as well as Kim Young-ok, a lieutenant from Korea who came to support Soviet Union from allied country America, decorated the first page.

Of course, the amazing achievements they made were partly possible thanks to the support of the headquarters.

After their training, they received the best equipment and were spared from the worst battlefields.

Moreover, many of them were veterans who had experienced the Chinese Nationalist Army, the Chinese Communist Army, or the Japanese Army, and most of them had several years of combat experience.

From the perspective of the Soviet Army, where most of the soldiers and officers had little or no combat experience, the Korean units were valuable assets and their demands were mostly reasonable. 

They tried to provide them with everything they wanted as much as possible.

“Alright, let’s get out of here!”

“Yes sir!”

After three rounds of shelling, 18 tractors came sliding in with rumbling engine sounds. 

The tractors connected to the heavy howitzers started to move quickly in a line to leave the scene before the German counterattack.

“The enemy’s artillery is silent!”

The radio operator reported and the soldiers cheered. As expected!

“Kaleya Ura! Kaleya Ura!”

“Hahahaha! Sabyet Ura! Sabyet i velikiya strana!” (Long live the Soviet! The Soviet is a great country!)

The Soviet soldiers shouted Kaleya Ura.

Ura! Ura! 

Heroic battalion Ura! 

Most of the Korean units were those who had been active in China, so they could not speak Russian, but they gradually learned a few words. 

The first thing they learned was ‘Ura’. 

It meant hooray!

Those who learned a little more Russian answered with awkward Russian, saying hooray and the Soviet is a great country!

Some soldiers whistled and waved their hands as they moved away on the tractors. 

The Koreans said goodbye to them. 

The Soviets usually looked stiff and did not smile much, but they became loyal friends after going through the battlefield or drinking a few rounds of alcohol.

“Even if they act friendly, they are always trying to stab us in the back.”

“Yeah, you said it well. Dirty pigs like them…”

One of the Korean soldiers cursed the Chinese and some of them nodded their heads.

Jiang Jieshi and Mao Zedong both used and distrusted the Koreans. 

They started as warlords, so they must have been wary of the Koreans becoming warlords.

But most of the Koreans did not care much about being friendly in China. 

They were just comrades of communism or friends who fought against Japan. 

How could they like China, a land that was different from their lost homeland in every way?

Nevertheless, the Chinese kept a double attitude towards the Koreans until the end. The leaders did that too, and even the cunning Chinese they met in everyday life tried to peel off something more from them in small ways. 

The Koreans shuddered at any Chinese.

When the Soviets said they would take them away, quite a few Koreans thought that those bastards finally sold us to the Russians. 

Well, they came and saw that it was not like that.

The Soviets were wary of them at first, who could not communicate and had yellow faces, but they soon became friendly.

Was it because of the outstanding achievements of our compatriots who were dragged to Central Asia by Comrade Stalin? 

Or did Comrade Yeonhyeong or Comrade Kim Wonbong please Stalin?

The Soviets treated the Koreans kindly, and Stalin himself showed a very friendly attitude towards Korea.

“We are now unable to attack Japan in the east because of the threat from the west, but when that day comes! You will be able to take on the glorious mission of liberating your homeland at the forefront. Liberation Korea Ura! Ura!”

“Wooooo!!!”

***

“Comrade Stalin. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to organize them into one unit like that…”

“Comrade Zhukov. I don’t know if you have anything to do with politics… Are you harboring a reactionary intention to oppose the order of the Politburo?”

“I’m s-sorry!”

Some Soviet politicians or soldiers questioned the ‘special treatment’ for Koreans. 

Why do they treat them like that? 

Of course, they eventually accepted it.

“Can we control China in the Far East in the future?”

“Yes? I guess it would be difficult.”

“What about Japan?”

“…That would also be difficult, I think…”

When I spread out a map and pointed out one by one, they usually agreed. 

Zhukov also seemed to understand somewhat when he saw what I pointed out on the map.

“That’s right. As you say, we can’t do whatever we want with China or Japan. But what if… we put Korea under our influence. What if we can use Wonsan here and… Jeju over there?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure about that…”

“Look carefully. Japan will lose its bridgehead to the continent and become an island, and we will gain a port to the Pacific. It will also serve as an air force base for Beijing and Nanjing. There must be a reason why they have been trying to take over this small peninsula since the Tsar era?”

In the 19th century, Russia fought colonial wars with Britain in various parts of the world to break out of the continent and enter the world.

They fought against the Ottomans to go to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, against Persia to go to the Indian Ocean, and against Manchuria and Korea in the Far East.

They were defeated by Japan, Britain’s Far East partner, and retreated to Vladivostok, and they made an Anglo-Russian agreement to deal with Germany. 

They also joined hands with them in this war to crush Germany again, but they could not be allies forever.

The United States would eventually enter into a competitive relationship with the Soviet Union. We needed to spread our influence in the world before they realized their power and broke out of isolationism.

Before the United States came out of isolationism and realized their power.

“If we make Germany and France our allies and advance to the Atlantic, and project our influence on Korea and Japan to advance to the Pacific, we will no longer be trapped in the continent. This is a measure for that, so don’t complain too much. Got it?”

“Yes! Comrade Stalin!”