Wiping Out The Colonial Rebels

Two days had passed, and the first Polia expeditionary force arrived at the colony of the Nubea Kingdom, which had been situated close to the two kingdoms back when they were still colonies. Currently, a major rebellion has broken out there.

The current situation of the Nubea Kingdom was not very good. Having joined the Allied Forces, they had to face the Doicheun Empire, which resulted in a significant portion of their national territory being destroyed and many of their people being massacred. Consequently, their national power was bound to drop drastically.

Still, they were part of the Allied Powers and could be said to have survived as a victorious nation.

Looking back, the circumstances of this kingdom could be described as truly poor. They were the ones who went as far as to wage war against the Polia Kingdom in 1902 over the issue of colonial territorial conflicts. The result, as was well known to the world, ended in their defeat.

Their fleet was shattered and had to be rebuilt, and they even had to pay massive war reparations to the Polia Kingdom every year. Fourteen years had passed since then, and they were in a situation where they still hadn’t fully paid it off.

At least they were now in a position where they could pay it off using the reparations they received from the Doicheun Empire. However, in this situation, the colonies needed for recovery had become a problem.

Like other empires, the royal family of the Nubea Kingdom had also extracted troops from the colonies, promising them independence as a condition if the war ended. Believing this, the people of the colonies were drafted submissively and were immediately sent to participate in the hellish Great War.

As it turned out, the promise was not kept even after the war ended. They could not afford to lose the colonies while the mainland was in a difficult situation. Because of this, a large-scale rebellion broke out. Having no room to send troops immediately, they were forced to suppress their past feelings and request the Polia Kingdom to wipe out the rebels.

That was how the Polia Kingdom Army came to be dispatched here. The expeditionary force that came here numbered approximately 20,000. Of course, 10,000 of those 20,000 troops were draftees from the Vincent Kingdom.

They came along as a sort of shield. The train that passed through the border areas of the colonial territory stopped at the location closest to the area where the rebellion occurred. The moment they arrived, unloading operations took place.

In fact, it was only after another three days had passed that all troops were unloaded. As troops and weapons were continuously unloaded from the trains that arrived in succession, the entire force was assembled.

The expeditionary force, assembled after completing the unloading, took another day of rest and immediately began to advance toward the area where the rebellion occurred. This movement was also made known to the rebels. Following the advance of the Polia Kingdom Army led by tanks, the rebel leaders could not help but be terrified upon hearing this.

Still, there were talented individuals among them. In particular, there were many who had abundant experience participating in the Great War. Although there were almost none who served as officers, they had seen things with their own eyes, so they dug trenches unconditionally for defense and focused on holding their ground.

It was after five days of advancing that they finally faced the colonial rebels. The commander who took charge of the 10,000 expeditionary troops wore a fed-up expression as he looked at the trench positions visible ahead. In fact, he was an individual who had experience participating in the Great War several years ago.

“They’ve constructed the trench positions properly. But in the end, it’s just a crude defensive formation.”

The scale of the rebels, discovered in advance through reconnaissance, was said to be as many as 40,000. In reality, it was a clash of 20,000 against 40,000, but the important thing was that a significant number of them were people who used to farm or do business in the colonies. In fact, there weren’t that many who had experienced war.

‘After all, most of those who returned are those who came back because of injuries.’

The majority must have been sacrificed in the hellish trench warfare. The commander, thinking of such facts, could not help but feel a sense of bitterness. He understood their pitiful circumstances. However, he was a proud commander of the Polia Kingdom.

‘I cannot deal with them based on personal emotions. My mission is to repel them.’

“Immediately use the artillery to pound the trench positions. Rest assured. The enemy is a half-baked force without any artillery strength.”

The reason he was confident of victory was that he knew the enemy had no artillery strength. The difference in combat power between a regular army and a militia was that great. Of course, the story would be different if there were hundreds of thousands or millions, but at a scale like this, the difference between having artillery and not was bound to be significant.

While the Polia army maintained their guard, the artillery units that had been taking their positions in advance immediately began to let out a roar of gunfire toward the enemies situated in front.

Currently, the Polia Kingdom operated two types of guns: the 75 mm field gun and the 250 mm howitzer. The range of the 75 mm was approximately 8 km, and the 280 mm large howitzer had a range of as much as 12 km.

The very act of firing these guns in a crossfire was said to deliver powerful destructive force to the opponent. At any rate, there were approximately 50 guns prepared, and these guns were seen firing all at once.

Pung—! Pung-pung—! Pung-pung—! Pung—!

Along with the thunderous roars of gunfire, the shells that flew in succession began to pound the positions of the rebels hidden in the trenches.

Kwang—! Kwa-kwang—! Kwang—! Kwang-kwang—! Kwang—!

Along with the noisy explosions, the area became a scene of sparks and clumps of dirt flying everywhere. The rebels who hid their bodies inside the trenches were screaming at the shells hitting the surroundings. As if it were the first time in their lives experiencing such a terrifying moment, they cried and feared amidst the large explosions heard from all directions.

Still, the trenches showed that they provided a certain degree of defense against these shells. Many people died or were injured in this bombardment, but many still survived. Furthermore, the fact that the number of guns was 50 was also reducing the range of the explosions.

The bombardment continued for as long as two hours. The artillery units were forced into a standby state to cool the heat of the gun barrels. In such a situation, the rebels, who were severely punished by the shells, did not show the action of recklessly coming out of the trenches and charging.

In fact, they planned to do so, but it could be said that no one thought of charging forward. Due to the limitations of being a militia, the chain of command was bound to be in a state of not being properly established. Amidst this appearance, shadows approaching them appeared in the sky before long.

There were 20 fighter aircraft that were disassembled and transported via train, and the moment assembly and preparation were finished in the rear, 10 fighter aircraft took off from a makeshift runway. Once they took off, they immediately began to drop the bombs hanging from them toward the rebel trenches before heading back.

Hwiing— Kwang—! Hwiing— Hwiing— Kwang-kwang—!

Due to the bombs dropped in succession, the rebels, who were already severely punished by the shells, were unable to pull themselves together. Since there were also bombs that fell directly into the trenches, those caught in the explosions were bound to be brutally blown apart and die.

Although only 10 aircraft were used to bomb in advance, it could be said that it instilled a psychological fear that was no joke. Some tried to counterattack by firing machine guns toward the sky, but the fighter aircraft had already returned to their original runway.

These attacks continued in succession with 10 aircraft at a time. Due to these fighter aircraft attacks, the situation of the rebels was bound to become incredibly chaotic. To make matters worse, even the guns that had cooled down in the meantime were seen opening fire again.

Consequently, it was the situation of the colonial rebels who fell into great chaos. By the time as many as five hours had passed since the battle began, it was none other than the tanks that began to advance toward these rebels. As many as 30 tanks began their advance.

It was a small number, but to the colonial rebels who were already filled with confusion, this advance itself was bound to come as a terror.

Kkiririk— Kkiririk—

It was the appearance of the tanks advancing while gaining speed as their caterpillar tracks turned. At that appearance, they immediately began to fire rifles. The machine guns deployed there were also fired repeatedly. Bullets were flying from all directions like a rainstorm, and sparks flew as they were deflected by the tank’s armor.

Meanwhile, those inside the tanks were forced to have stiff expressions in a state of great tension during the first actual combat of their lives. They could not help but flinch every time they heard the sound of the bullets hitting the tank.

“It won’t be pierced by bullets, right?”

“Rest assured. It won’t be pierced.”

“That’s right! Furthermore, this tank is an improved model!”

With a bit more armor added than the initially produced Frei tanks, the front armor had a strength capable of deflecting even the tank shells used in the current standard. At any rate, as they were being continuously attacked, the tank commander issued orders as if shouting, as if they couldn’t just keep taking it.

“Load a shell!”

“Loading!”

The loader hurriedly loaded a 40 mm shell. Following this action, once the loading was completed, the tank commander fired the shell as it was. Pung—! Along with a noisy explosion, the fired shell pounded the trench situated in front. It was enough to shake it to some extent, but it was an appearance that could not deliver a direct strike.

“Agh! Grab the machine gun instead of the tank gun!”

The tank commander felt that in this situation, a machine gun could deliver much more damage than a tank gun. At this, the loader immediately grabbed the machine gun. The Mag heavy machine gun, which had been converted into a tank machine gun through improvements, began to fire.

Tududududung—!

It was the appearance of 13.1 mm bullets fired from the tank flying toward the front like rays of light. In this situation, the enemies were bound to be even more flustered. In addition, the other tanks also began to spray machine gun fire in all directions, using machine guns as weapons rather than shelling.

At the appearance of the tanks advancing while firing machine guns, everyone was bound to be scattered in all directions. Since shells were pounding their rear even at such a moment, everyone fell into a state of panic.

At least those selected as officers were shouting at the top of their lungs to counterattack properly, but everyone was burying their heads and failing to fight properly. The 30 tanks had advanced to a point close to the trenches before long, and the rebels were bound to be in even more confusion at this appearance.

At this time, soldiers from the Polia Kingdom side began to advance slowly. It was a formation where 10,000 Vincent Kingdom troops took the lead, followed by the Polia Kingdom Army.

Ppi-ik— Ppi-ik—

The sound of whistles announcing the advance was heard from all directions, and an emotion called fear was situated on the faces of the Vincent Kingdom troops as they advanced toward the rebels almost at a run. Soon after, bullets flew rapidly toward them.

Of course, it was a small quantity. Due to falling into confusion, they failed to deliver a proper counterattack. However, many people were bound to fall to these attacks. The majority of the Vincent Kingdom troops were bound to be sacrificed instead. Before long, the advance reached the trenches, and soon hand-to-hand combat began.

The rebels, already thrown into confusion by the bombs falling from the sky, the indiscriminate shelling, and the charge of the tanks, could not put up proper resistance. Before long, they were stabbing with bayoneted firearms, and countless people were bound to die while fighting.

Gunshots were heard in various places, and it was bound to become a battlefield full of screams and shouts. The result was already determined from such an appearance. No matter how large the number of rebels was, they could not put up proper resistance in the face of overwhelming firepower.

At the very least, if they had been a regular army with a proper system, it wouldn’t have become this form of combat. In the end, only seven hours after the battle began, the colonial rebels of the Nubea Kingdom had no choice but to be defeated by the Polia Kingdom Army.

Although they suffered thousands of casualties, it could be said that the majority were Vincent Kingdom troops. Meanwhile, like the battle here, the Polia Kingdom Army arrived and attacked the areas occupied by rebels in other places similarly, and soon they too began to disintegrate.

These results were quickly transmitted through telegraph across the continent to the royal palace located in the Polia Kingdom mainland.

February 27, 1917.

In the King’s office of the Polia Royal Palace, an emotion called satisfaction was situated on Ian’s face as he listened to the reports of the expeditionary forces that had suppressed the rebels. The expeditionary forces were producing much better results than expected.

“News of victories from various places, starting with the Nubea Kingdom’s colony.”

“Is it not a truly good thing? Although they say there were some losses, it is a relief that those losses were only the Vincent Kingdom and the Rubid Kingdom.”

At the Chancellor’s words, Ian nodded, but he felt a modicum of conscientious apology for those who died through such sacrifices. Of course, since sacrifice for one’s own side was a necessity, it could be said that he did not regret it. Some might criticize such a choice, but from Ian’s perspective, it was a necessary task.

“They say the second wave of expeditionary forces will arrive soon?”

“Yes, 40,000 expeditionary troops will arrive as the second wave.”

“Once they arrive, we will be able to suppress the rebellions that broke out in even more places.”

“That is so. That is why we plan to send the third wave of expeditionary forces as soon as preparations are finished.”

At Marquis Norwen’s words, Ian was satisfied that things were progressing well. He had wondered, “What if a picture of defeat is drawn?” but fortunately, they had created a result of successful victory. After all, the difference in armament was bound to create such a result.

“Let us decide to send more tanks and fighter aircraft.”

“I shall do so. Also, the Vincent Kingdom and the Rubid Kingdom wish to import tanks and fighter aircraft.”

“Is that so? What quantity do they want?”

“Both sides want more than 10 tanks and about 20 fighter aircraft.”

“It seems they too slowly wish to arm themselves with such combat weapons.”

“Indeed. Then shall I approve?”

“Do so. After all, aren’t we producing such weapons to make money? It’s not like we’re the only ones selling them anyway.”

“That is correct. Ah, and they say the Magnia Empire has also sent 100,000 troops to the colonies. I heard that large-scale rebellions broke out in their existing colonies as well as the colonies they seized from the Doicheun Empire.”

“All the colonies are in an uproar.”

“It is because they refused even though they all promised independence.”

Thinking of this, it was a good thing the Polia Kingdom had already granted independence to the colonies as two kingdoms. If not, they would have been unable to pay attention elsewhere while trying to suppress such rebellions.

At this fact, Marquis Norwen could not help but have a heart of admiration, thinking, “Did His Highness grant independence in anticipation of this?”