After breakfast, Frank and Alfred left the house of the Taishi family. Some soldiers of the Japanese army picked them up and brought them to an outlying district of Tokyo. Here, in an underground command post, they should receive the next informations concerning their special mission.
An officer with a scarry face welcomed the two volunteers at the entrance of the base, led them through a weakly illuminated tunnel, opened a steel door and said: „Come on! Go in there!“
The soldier closed the door again from the outside, and the two Germans looked around in the half-dark chamber. Frank hated rooms with solid steel doors since his time in the holo cell.
In front of them was an empty desk, behind it was a map, which showed a group of small islands. Suddenly they heard steps and the door was opened again. A Japanese in the uniform of a general entered the room.
„I`m general Sasuke Tatemono from the army of Japan!“, said the Asian and distrustfully examined the two foreigners. „Frank Kohlhaas!“
„Alfred Bäumer!“
After they had introduced themselves, the Japanese sat down behind his desk.
„You are here to take part in a very important special mission! Do you understand?” he explained and browsed in some documents.
„What did he say?“, asked Bäumer.
„Er sagt, dass wir an einer Spezialmission teilnehmen sollen. Sehr wichtig!“, translated Frank quietly.
„The Japanese army command is looking for brave soldiers all over the country. We have chosen you, Frank Kohruhaas and Arufred Baumer!”
“Sie haben uns als tapfere Soldaten ausgewählt...”, explained Frank and Alf nodded.
Kohlhaas inquired: „Why did you choose us?“
The general just simled. „You have made the bomb attempt on governor Wechsler and general Takeuchi has told us that one of you has killed a high rank GCF officier!“
“They even know us here!”, said Frank to his friend.
„The special mission is very important in this war. You will go with 500 other men to the islands of Okinawa...”
“To Okinawa?”, Alf was surprised.
„Yes, to Okinawa!“, repeated general Tatemono und pointed at the map behind him.
„Why shall we go to…“, Frank was just disturbed, but the Japanese cut in.
„On Okinawa is the headquarter of the southern GCF army. Your mission is to attack this headquarter and to kill general David Williams.”
“What?”, Bäumer gaped.
„Yes! You and 500 very brave soldiers of the Japanese army will do this special mission! Have you understand?”
The Germans nodded, and Tatemono slowly became more exact. He explained that the front in the south of the central island of Honshu was at the point of collapse. Hiroshima had been conquered by the GCF and soon probably Kobe would be besieged.
Matsumoto`s high command planned to start a counterattack in the next weeks. At present, more soldiers were recruited and the Japanese arm industry worked at full speed.
The counteroffensive in the south of Japan had to be a success, as the Japanese explained, because a failure could lead to a military disaster. Shortly before the start of the counterattack, the commander-in-chief of the southern GCF invasion army should be eliminated by a special unit. The Japanese hoped to bring thereby confusion into the chain of command of their enemies.
“This mission is very, very important!“, stressed Tatemono and stared at the two Germans with a serious look.
Shortly afterwards, he explained that time was pressing and extensive bomb raids of the GCF, on the densely populated area around Tokyo and Yokohama, would destroy the most important armament factories in the long term.
So far, the GCF had just attacked this region with their missiles from the warships and apparently the enemy had planned to start the great land invasion on Honshu with massive airstrikes.
Furthermore, Sapporo was close to capitulation and in the south were Kyoto and Osaka, likewise important centers of the Japanese armament industry, the next targets of the aggressors. Frank and Alfred just listened. That mission seemed to be, more or less, a suicide command, but „Kamikaze“ had already a long tradition in Japan.
„My men will bring you to the military camp Toyohashi! Good luck!”, said the general before he left them alone again.
Frank and Alf got into a jeep and were brought to Toyohashi. Their Japanese driver immediately started a conversation.
„Are you from Germany?“, he asked.
„Yes!“, answered Alf.
„Don`t worry. Toyohashi is a more or less safe place. Not many GCF bombers there”, said the soldier, turned around for a second and smiled.
„I hope so!“, whispered Kohlhaas.
„My name is Gosho, ha, ha…“, said the Japanese.
Now the two volunteers from Ivas introduced themselves too.
„Gosho, from Hitachi. Do you know where Hitachi is?“
“No!”, responded Alfred irritatedly.
„North of Tokyo. North. I live there with my wife Yumi. She is very beautiful.”
“Why can`t this guy just shut up?”, muttered Bäumer and nudged his partner.
„What is the name of your wife?“, Gosho turned around.
Frank hesitated for a short moment, giving Alf a wink and answered: „Julia! She is blonde and very nice!“
“Ah! Blonde! Good!“, said Gosho from Hitachi.
„And your wife?“ Now he talked to Alf.
„Eh…“ Bäumer pondered. „Steffi, she is also very nice and has huge tits!“
The Japanese was puzzled: „Huge? What is huge?“
„Big! It means „big“!“, explained Frank and grinned.
Gosho looked at the driving mirror and perked his eyebrows up, then he laughed loudly and the vehicle nearly span out of control.
„Steffi!”, whispered Frank and clapped Bäumer on the back. “Idiot!”
The little smalltalk about various futilenesses lasted the entire trip, and after a while they reached the military base. The garrulous Gosho laughted for a last time and finally said goodbye to the two Germans.
Now they had to report to commander Saito. The Japanese officer was very friendly and looked like an old samurai. His skin was fair and his face extremely thin. He just looked somehow European. Probably he even had some European blood, nevertheless, 3500 years ago, some tribes from Europe had migrated to Eastern Asia and had in fact reached Japan.
“He has Sakian ancestors!”, joked Frank and examined the Japanese.
„Sakian what?”, muttered Alf.
“A long time ago, several Indo-Germanic tribes came to Eastern Asia. The most important tribes of that group were the Sakians and the Tocharians. They were of European heritage and many of the nobles and kings in ancient China, Korea and Japan were Sakians or Tocharians. Even in old Mongolia. I have read it in one of Wilden`s books”, explained Kohlhaas.
“You know a lot...”, returned Alf and looked surprised.
The commander harrumphed and tried to listen to the coversation of Frank and Alf. But they talked German and so he could not understand anything.
Now he smiled and said: „Welcome here! I`m Isamu Kaito, the commander of this army base! From this place we will bring you to the special mission on Okinawa islands!”
“Okay!”, returned the two volunteers. Then the talk was over and the Germans were brought to the barracks. About a dozen other soldiers were also there. They just nodded briefly and ignored the two new ones.
The next day, they were woken up, together with 498 other elite soldiers, by loud screams which came from the drill ground. Most of the men were Japanese, some of them looked like dangerous criminals, staring at everyone with a sinister eye.
These soldiers were another kind of men, as the Japanese in Sapporo. Now an officer ran over the drill ground, positioned himself in front of the unit and roared something in Japanese. Finally, the English translation for the 20 foreign soldiers followed: „You are now a soldier in the Hukushuu-unit! Fol
low me!“
The soldiers were brought to another part of the large military base. Shortly afterwards, the men sat down on in a big hall and saw an enormous screen in front of them. The officer immediately began with some strategic instructions, first always in his own language which could be understood by over 90% of the unit.
Then briefly in English: „Hukushuu-unit! We give you now the orders for the special mission!“
A map appeared on the screen and the officer explained: “This is Okinawa!”, he said. “Our Okinawa!”
The Japanese shouted something like a battlecry, the officer nodded and smiled defiantly. Now he spoke Japanese again, and forgot to translate it. But it must have been no important things, as Frank thought.
“How shall we come to those islands?”, whispered Frank.
“Search me!”, hissed Bäumer back and tried to understand something.
„This is the headquarter of the Southern army of the GCF!“ The officer pointed at a red point on the screen. Then he continued with his explanations.
„What did he say?”, asked Alf after a while.
„He said that our unit will be devided in five smaller platoons of always 100 men. Moreover, every platoon will be brought to another place of Okinawa”, told Frank, while the Japanese in front of him turned around and signaled that the whisper went on his nerves. So the two Germans were just silent and listened.
„There are a lot of small GCF camps all over the main island, so be careful!“, they heard.
Meanwhile, Kohlhaas examined the other soldiers. This unit seemed to be more than weird. Maybe some of the guys here were the best soldiers of the Japanese army, but others just looked totally desperate. One or two appeared even psychopathic.
„We will bring you to Okinawa with submarines!“, elucidated the officer now.
“With submarines?”, Frank was astonished.
After that lecture which had lasted about one hour, the Hukushuu-unit was finally divided in five platoons.
Frank and Alfred were now a part of „Hukushuu II“, that should destroy an important radio communication system, apart from the attack on the military base. The two men looked at each other, when the lecture was over. This all sounded extremely dangerous. And it would be another trip to hell. Frank was sure about that.
Only a weakly shining office lamp sent some light through the conference room, where the World President was waiting for his guests, otherwise it was dark. The leader of the World Union sat behind his desk and played with a gold-plated ballpen. Sometimes he briefly looked out the window of his splendidly equipped mansion in the south of Washington, just counting the minutes.
For this evening, the Coucil of the Elders had cited him to a discussion – about the Japanese war. The politician was also one of the 13 members of the highest committee of the hierarchically structured worldwide organization, but today, he had to explain himself in front of the 11 other gray eminences, whose names the publicity had hardly ever heard.
In the reason, only 12 persons were present at these meetings, and were “real” persons, because one chair always remained free for „him”, the symbolic and spiritual master of the organization.
However, the World President waited and became more and more nervous. What would the other Elders want to hear from him today? Were they still content with his work? He played the serene man, when the door finally opened and his guests entered the large conference room, welcoming him submissively. As usual, he just showed them his cold smile.
These men brought the newest messages from Japan. They took place and Ben Sandler, the boss of the GSA, finally started the conversation: „Mr. World President, I would like to begin with the official casualties of our armies!”
The World President interrupted him immediately. „Well, Mr. Sandler, please don`t waste my time with this stuff. I`m not interested in that, and the Council of the Elders isn`t interested in that too. So just tell me the important things!“
Sandler looked up, opened a briefcase and fetched some documents, then he continued: „Hiroshima could be taken this morning. General David Williams assured me that also Kobe will fall in the next two weeks. Subsequently, our troops will besiege Kyoto and Osaka.
Osaka will be completely destroyed, not only the numerous factories of the Japanese armament industry, but also the rest of the city. Moreover, general Williams plans a similar destruction as in the case of Kagoshima.“
„Nice!“, muttered the World President.
„I would like to add something...”, remarked Theodor Newman, one of the most powerful bankers of the sector “North America”.
„We already exceeded the budget for this war with nearly 20 billion Globes, three weeks ago. I ask to consider this!“
The World President sullenly declined and looked again at the GSA boss: „Mr. Sandler please!“
„In the north of Japan, Sapporo stands shortly before the fall. They can`t resist us any longer, and when this important city is taken, our armies will march on to Honshu, Sir!”
„How is the morale among the soldiers?”, asked the World President now.
Sandler took another document out of his briefcase, then he waited for some seconds.
„Well, internal GSA studies unfortunately speak of a sinking morale. The forced recruitments in China and Korea don`t bring us much sympathies in these regions. Furthermore, the new troops which we have recruited in Africa and Russia are quite undisciplined and their fighting spirit isn`t very high too.”
“Despite our daily war propaganda?“, asked the World President with surprise and narrowed his eyes to slits.
Shortly afterwards, the media tycoon Zacutoni from Italy tried to describe the situation more exactly: „Mr. World President, it is not easy to induce men from Africa to die for us in Japan? Or also men from Russia? Why should they give their lives on the Japanese battlefields for our interests? We can`t do more, than sending war propaganda all day long...”
“Increase the propaganda!”, hissed the World President and banged on the table. “Make a great victory out of everything! Preach them that Matsumoto wants to destroy the whole word, including fucking Africa and everything else!”
„However, many people just don`t believe our propaganda anymore. No matter how often...”, answered Zacutoni.
„Bullshit! These animals believe everything if we scream it into their ears. We just have to scream it often enough!”, grumbled the leader of World Union and slowly became angry. “What shall I tell the other members of the Council of the Elders, Mr. Zacutoni? That the masses don`t believe us anymore?”
“It seems to me that some mistakes have been made during the preparation of this war”, remarked a subordinated Lodge Brother now.
The World President stood up from his place and his face became a malicious grimace. He stared at the man with growing anger, while the Brother winced and immediately became silent.
“Mistakes? Are you serious?”, he inquired spitefully.
“Well...”, returned the man, but he was interrupted.
„Mistakes were made? Do you really want to say that the Council of the Elders is able to make mistakes? What do you think, brother?”, hissed the World President, being close to a tantrum.
The subordinated fellow started to sweat and asked his master for forgiveness, but the World President was still staring at him with an evil eye, and finally chucked the man out. The other guests were silent now. After a while, the GSA boss was requested to continue with his report.
„If no unexpected incidents appear, Japan will be smashed in a few months. Nevertheless, there are signs of a counterattack in the south of the archipelago”, said Sandler.
„Counterattack?”, asked the World President doubtfully.
“Well, it seems to be so. If the informations of our agents in Japan are right. But we don`t know anymore details yet…”
Now GCF general James Bright added some informations: „In the next days we will start with our bomb attacks on the
region around Tokyo. Furthermore, our fleet will bombard this area with missiles. It is only a question of time until Japan will be defeated. Don`t worry, Mr. World President!”
“I hope so!”, murmured the man behind the desk. “I give you the order to destroy the Japanese armament industry as fast as possible!”
“Thus, many arsenals are already subterranean. It is just a fact that Matsumoto`s preparations for war are better than we have thought in the beginning. But Japan will fall, there is no doubt about it.”
The World President closed his eyes and breathed deeply, then he said: „We won`t take prisoners anymore! Liquidate every Japs! All you can get! Everyone - even civilians! If necessary, we will exterminate that damn folk!“
„As you please, Sir!”, answered the general baffledly.
“Yes, as I please, general! We won`t play games anymore. I don`t have to tell you the consequences if Matsumoto really wins this war. We have said to the world, that we will make an example of Japan – and now, we have to make it! You got that?”
“Why do we still avoid the use of nuclear weapons?”, asked one of the other guests.
“Not because of any - humaneness!”, snarled the leader of the World Union. “But we have to make the next important step of the Great Plan, and the use of nuclear weapons just doesn`t fit to this step. The next step will be the implementation of the implanted Scanchip. We have an image problem and nuclear weapons are just not the right thing to solve it!”
„In addition, Matsumoto has nuclear weapons too!“, said Scott Cohen, the banker from Miami.
„Pah! I just wish that Matsumoto would be that stupid to attack us with some atomic bombs! This would be great! Then we could make some nice compassion propaganda out of all this. Crying children, the whole program.
Yes, I wish that he would be stupid enough to do us such a favor. That would be outstanding, because then, we could finally say to the people: “Look at this evil dictator! He is a danger for all of us!”
But Matsumoto is not naive, he is no little idiot, who would ever make such a strategic mistake. No, he is waiting for us. Nevertheless, even if he would drop his few atomic bombs, he wouldn`t have a chance against our arsenal of nuclear weaponry...”
The World President turned away from his guests and showed them the back. The meeting of the Council of the Elders was scheduled for 20.00 o'clock, and it would probably become very unpleasant for the leader of the World Union.
After a while, the guests left the room and only the World President remained in the dimness of the conference room, staring ruminatively into space.
„In not later than three months, I want Matsumoto`s head!”, had been the last, his visitors had heard before they had left the conference room behind them.
Frank and Alfred had found an interlocutor. Carsten Madsen, one of the three foreign volunteers who had been assigned to the „Hukushuu II” platoon. Madsen was accommodated in the neighboring billet and the two Germans visited him this evening to play chess. The soldier brought a small chessboard and had already defeated Alf for the second time. Now he was waiting for Frank, as his new opponent.
Madsen was a very tall, strawberry blond Dane from Varde. The former farmer who probably was around forty, was a little expert of the chess game, and also Kohlhaas had no greater chance against his skills. The Dane could speak German fluently.
„I have already been in Berlin many years ago“, said Madsen to Frank and smiled.
“It`s a shithole, isn`t it?”, answered Frank.
„Well, Denmark is a shithole too, like the rest of Western Europe!”, returned the Dane and his bright eyes sparkled thoughtfully. „Once, I have been a farmer in Denmark, but I had to sell my manor some years ago...”
“What has happened?”, asked Alf and stared still brooding at the chessboard. Madsen scratched his head, then he returned: „The politicians have the land economy…What is the German word?”
„Agriculture!”, explained Kohlhaas.
„They made the agriculture broken. You understand? My family became indebted and finally we lost everything. I couldn`t survive any longer as a farmer. So I sold the house of my father and all my property”, described the Dane. „You understand?”
“Yes! And then?”
„Well, my wife left me and my daughter came into a house for children without parents, because I was too poor…“, told Madsen and seemed to fume with rage.
„Orphanage! Such a house is called orphanage, my nephew is in an orphanage too“, explained Frank.
“Orphanage...okay...”, said the Dane. “When this war started, I have immediately joined the Japanese army. I don`t have to lose anything, understand it?”
“Yes, sure!”, returned Kohlhaas.
„These fucking bureaucrats made me finished! Laws against the farmers they have made!”, vociferated Madsen.
While they talked, some of the Japanese soldiers examined them with distrust. Frank looked around and could recognize a man, who was playing with a knife, trying to cut himself on the arm.
“What`s up with that guy?”, Kohlhaas pointed at the Japanese who was huddling in a corner.
Perhaps he is gaga!”, said Madsen.
Now the Japanese started to hum a song and continued to cut himself on the lower arm, while blood flowed in thin threads down to the ground.
„I`ll have a look“, remarked Alf and went to the soldier.
“What do you do with that knife, buddy?”, he asked.
Suddenly the Japanese glared at him and muttered something in Japanese.
„Don `t hurt yourself, my friend!”, said Alf, but the strange guy ignored him, still humming a song. Meanwhile, he had carved some characters in his lower arm. Then he jumped up, staring at Bäumer.
„Kore wa watashi no ai desu!“ The Japanese showed him a photo of a woman.
„Watashi no ai!“, he shouted again. Finally he started to grin insanely and brandished his knife.
Madsen came from behind and Frank followed him, the other Japanese soldiers were silent.
„The photo, I think it is his wife, his love. Whoever! Maybe she has been killed”, said the Dane and asked the two Germans to leave the man alone. “We can`t help him...”
„Kore wa watashi no ai desu!“, screamed the Japanese and kicked against the wall. Then he jostled Bäumer away, left the billet and howled loudly. Some drops of his blood had come on Alf`s uniform jacket. Bäumer shook his head.
“This guy is freaked out. I hope that he won`t attack us one day...”
Madsen tried to calm his comrades and Frank finally asked him: „You know some Japanese words, isn`t it?“
„Only a few...“, answered the Dane.
„Do you know what „Hukushuu“ means?”, inquired Kohlhaas.
Now the Dane took a small dictionary and looked for “Hukushuu”.
Shortly afterwards, he explained: „It means „revenge” or even “retaliation”...”
„Heavens! Then we are in the “revenge unit“. It becomes better and better“, said Frank sardonically and Alfred shook his head again. The three soldiers still played another chess game, then Madsen went to bed. Alf fell asleep fastly – and snored loudly, as always. But Frank was not able to find sleep in this night. “Revenge unit” – this did not sound good...
The Jungle Calls