Firing practices and a revitalization of hand-to-hand combat skills determined the next four days in the military base, then the 500 soldiers were brought to the port. In this last night, before the beginning of the important mission, Frank had slept very badly again and had dreamed of all kinds of unpleasant things. So he was still bleary-eyed, when the trip started. Five smaller submarines of the Japanese navy which had had heavy casualties in the last weeks and months, during the sea-battles against the GCF in the Pacific, expected the elite soldiers at 6.30 o'clock in the morning, at the port of Toyohashi.
It was raining and a cold wind was coming from the sea, roaring over the coast. Meanwhile, the submarines were actually too old for the regular army and had only a transportation function. In the last months, they had brought food by the ton to regions that were blocked by the GCF fleet.
Now they should bring 500 soldiers to a highly dangerous mission on Okinawa. Frank and Alfred felt not very well, when they recognized the submarines in the harbor basin. Above all, since his captivity in the holo cell, Frank suffered under claustrophobia.
“Shit! No, I won`t go into that can!”, whispered Kohlhaas and stared at the submarine in front of him, frozen in terror. Shortly afterwards, a hatch was opened.
“Get a grip, Frank! This mission will be much worse. Just keep cool”, answered him Alf. A Japanese soldier crawled out of the submarine and waved the soldiers nearer. Meanwhile, Kohlhaas thought of running away for a second. He imagined to be in that narrow sardine can, surrounded by a bunch of crazy, aggressive Japanese with innumerable cubic meters of water above him. The young man broke out in a cold sweat and looked at Alf, seeking help. Then the first soldiers already flowed into the steel bellies of the submarines. Frank tried to switch off his mind and simply followed the other men. Finally he came in, sat down and held his breath. Now there was no more possibility to get out and the hatches were closed again.
Here they sat now, over 100 soldiers who hardly knew each other. Deep inside the guts of that terrible steel thing. Compressed, like cockroaches in a long pipe. The air was stifling, the light faint, Frank felt like in a coffin.
However, Alf seemed to be much more calm, although he also could not hide all signs of tension and nervousness. Furthermore, the most Japanese soldiers felt the same. Some of them were ashen or even vomited.
It was strange, they all were on the way to a deadly mission, perhaps a suicide command, but the most soldiers here seemed to prefer a bloody fight at the surface to a trip through the dark depths of the Pacific. Shortly afterwards, Frank heard the engines hum and the submarine slowly started to move.
“From one pile of shit to the next...”, moaned Alf and tried to make a nap.
“How can you think of sleeping – in such a situation? Are you not nervous?”, whispered his friend with surprise.
At this moment, Frank had loved nothing better than smacking that tall guy from Dortmund in the puss.
„Well, I can nevertheless try to snooze. Why not?”, said Bäumer and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Frank was baffled.
„You would even snooze on the way to your own execution, right?”, came from Kohlhaas. “Ignorance is bliss...”
Frank fumbled with the buttons of his uniform jacket and examined the Japanese full of sorrow. In situations like this, he just admired partner. The submarines were not the newest anymore, but they had nevertheless some kind of “cloaking device”, that made it difficult to locate them underwater.
Hours passed and Frank believed that he would lose his head during the trip. He bit in his arm and tried to concentrate on nothing but the pain, in order to forget that he was in a submarine, somewhere in the depth. This almost drove him insane. Around him, the Japanese also became more and more nervous. Where were they now? Through which wet darkness did this submarine slide in this minute?
„That steel thing is like the holo cell. I am trapped here – forever! Want to get out, out, out, out!”, he whispered quietly and stared at the hatch next to him. “Getting out! Hell! My arm hurts...bite in my arm...Shit!”
Now his friend prodded him. Frank turned around and his face was as white as limestone.
“I don`t feel...feel cooped up...”
„No problem, Alter!“, said Bäumer quietly. „Just try to calm down!“
“I will walk...walk around...must move and walk...That damn sardine can, holo cell, coffin...”
The young man gasped loudly and struggled through a group of Japanese soldiers, while the Asians grumbled something in Japanese behind his back. It was all the same to him. Frank just had to walk, had to move his body.
It was so damn tight, narrow, cruel in this submarine. How long did this trip already last? Two hours? Three hours?
Now, Kohlhaas went into another part of the submarine and could recognize Madsen behind a steel ladder. Next to the Dane stood a Japanese officer who googled at Frank and the young man seemed to give him the creeps. No wonder, because Kohlhaas was walking around like a zombie, still with an ashen face.
“Madsen, are you okay?”, stammered the claustrophobic volunteer. The Dane tried to smile and clapped Frank on the back.
“You look like dead, man. What`s up?”, asked Madsen.
“I just...hate places like that...”, complained Kohlhaas.
„I understand you. I also don`t like submarines. But we will get out here – soon!”, explained the Dane.
Suddenly the submarine stopped and the light was immediately switched off. Even the monotonous noise of the engines abruptly became silent .
„What the hell is happening now ?”, asked Kohlhaas and panic crept into his guts like a worm.
„I don`t know!“, said the Dane. Some of the soldiers around Frank whispered secretly in the darkness, while a Japanese officer quietly snarled at them.
„Damn! Shut up!“, he hissed.
This was a terrible moment. Kohlhaas believed to hear the quiet swoosh of the sea, but this could not be. Probably they had been located by an enemy warship, because now the submarine just slid through the water. Suddenly, they heard a loud bang while the submarine tried to reach a greater depth. At a single blow, it was perfectly quiet – and pitch-dark!
Only a few soldiers could still be heard somewhere, they were whispering something in Japanese. Alf came along the dark corridor and touched Frank`s shoulder. “Be calm!”
It lasted about twenty minutes and Kohlhaas felt, as if he would be strangled by this horror. He could hardly breathe and just huddled somewhere on the cold ground.
Shortly afterwards, another explosion let the submarine quake and Frank fell on his back. Some of the Japanese soldiers cried up and were thrown over the dark corridor. And the fright continued.
“Boom!”
A further detonation shook the water at some distance and the submarine slowly crept deeper and deeper. Silence ruled again. The hull of the submarine began to creak and suddenly the scared face of a Japanese came out of the darkness, right before Frank`s eyes.
“They got us!”, whispered the Asian, Kohlhaas winced.
“Depth bombs...”, said Alf quietly and wiped off the sweat from his brow.
Another explosion resounded in greater distance, while the submarine increased its speed and seemed to rise upward. However, the light was not switched on yet.
Then it accelerated and Frank heard a loud crunch. Then the light came back and the soldiers exhaled. Frank thought that he had already been devoured by a terrible kraken, to be spit out again. It was over, as he hoped.
“We are still alive, my friend!”, said Madsen and smiled.
They finally crept through the narrow corridor back to their places and were totally exhausted. Around them, some Japanese had already vomited and an ugly stench stung into Frank`s nose.
It was more than unpleasant, down there in the deep sea. One of the GCF destroyers had briefly located them and had finally tried to hit them with depth bombs. What had happened to the other three submarines, they did not know at that
moment. Nevertheless, Neptune had saved their asses this time.
The two men from Ivas could not remember, how many hours the submarine was already diving through the Pacific. Maybe it was late afternoon, at the surface. Meanwhile, the submarine had come closer to Okinawa in the greatest possible depth, and it was still underwater. Furthermore, it was possible that the GCF destroyers were still there – searching for them. But the biggest part of the GCF fleet was in the east and south of the Japanese islands, while there were only a few warships in the proximity of Okinawa.
However, endless hours in this submarine followed and the soldiers slowly became nervous and panicky. One of the men, already close to insanity, was beaten down by a Japanese officer, because he had attacked his comrades.
Who cried loudly or hammered against the steel walls in panic, got very hard punishments by the troop leaders. Kohlhaas pinched in his flesh until it hurt, or just bit in his arm if the fear threatened to explode. Alf tried to care for him and urged his friend to behave disciplined.
Finally, an officer came along, passing the nervous and sweating soldiers, and explained: „We will leave the submarine in two hours!“
All men groaned. Still two more hours in that damn sardine can. Subsequently, the soldiers of the „Hukushuu II“ platoon should swim to the beach with rubber dinghies, at dead of night. Meanwhile, the time seemed to pass slowlier than ever before. At 2.00 o'clock in the morning, the submarine finally emerged and a wave of gladness seized the men inside.
The soldiers packed their bags, took their weapons and made themselves ready for the mission. The hatches of the submarine opened squeaking, while a beautiful starlit night sky appeared above the heads of the men. Frank and Alf were overjoyed, like the rest of the soldiers, when they could draw the fresh sea air into their lungs. It was like a rebirth. The dark coast could hardly be recognized and was still a few hundred meters away. Now the soldiers jumped into the dinghies and paddled as fast as they could. Soon they had reached the beach and finally felt firm ground under their feet. They were more than happy at that moment. No matter, what would expect them in the next days. The men who had reached the mainland at first, hopped over the beach, full of joy, and dug their fingers deeply into the damp, salty smelling sand.
Frank and Alfred did the same and lay on their backs for some minutes to look at the beautiful sky. It was just great! Countless shining stars could be seen at the firmament above the Pacific. Frank started to dream for a short moment.
The platoon leader finally came and restored silence and order. Whisper or even whoops were strictly forbidden, in order to safe the operation from any enemy attention. A Japanese soldier who had uttered a loud cry, because of his ebullient joy, was beaten down by the furious veteran.
Then the officer waved the soldiers nearer and let them hide the dinghies in the thicket of the nearby jungle. Shortly afterwards, everything was calm again. The submarine had meanwhile disappeared in the dark water.
„The submarine that has transported the „Hukushuu IV“ platoon has been hit by depth bombs, they had to return to Toyohashi!“, told a Japanese. “Now we are only 400 men on this island!”
Bäumer scratched his head and growled: “Okay, one of the submarines has been hit! More than hundred men less! Shit!”
„I hope for them, that they will make it to Toyohashi“, said Frank.
The soldiers quietly followed the officer into the undergrowth of the jungle which covered this part of the coast. It was calm, nobody seemed to have noticed them. Only some birds could be heard in the distance. The platoon was now in the north of the main island of Okinawa, and advanced slowly into the deep jungle. After approximately one hour, they rested and ate. The platoon leader came to his soldiers and introduced himself to them.
„I`m Takeo Oda, your officier!“, he told Frank and Alf, smiling coldly.
No one of the soldiers made a sound, most of the men just tried to sleep. Frank thought about all the little creatures which were crawling through the undergrowth in this jungle. After a while, he became nauseated. Nevertheless, he also made a short nap.
A few hours later, they continued their march. Platoon leader Oda sent out some scouts who told him in the early morning hours that Oku, a small town near the coast, was close to them. Again they rested in the thicket, while platoon leader Oda huddled under a big tree with a DC-stick in his hand.
The three other platoons of the “Hukushuu unit” had meanwhile also gone ashore and had disappeared into the jungle. „Hukushuu I“ and „Hukushuu III“ had come out of their submarines near the town of Bise. The „Hukushuu V“ platoon had entered the jungle of Okinawa near Kayo. The most important military base of the GCF was in the south of the island, therefore, Frank and Alfred had the longest way to go – directly through a large sea of trees and leaves.
The other platoons should wait for them and had to hide somewhere in the thicket until their comrades appeared. Many of the old U.S. military bases had been given up in the year 2015, and the jungle had already retaken these places.
Creepers were slowly growing over concrete walls and billets, covering everything with a green carpet.
Nevertheless, the GCF had built new bases elsewhere, that had to be vacated after Matsumoto`s takeover. Meanwhile, they were in the hands of the World Government again.
The current headquarter of the southern invasion army had been called „Camp Foster“ in former times, and had already been used by the U.S. army. The most important communication center of the enemy was just north of the main base, at the coast near the town of Kadena.
This target had to be destroyed at first. Over 60 kilometers of impenetrable jungles still lay before the men of the “Hukushuu II” platoon, however, they were relatively safe here, because the presence of GCF soldiers was small in this region.
In former times, there had been a wide training area of the U.S. army, where the soldiers had learned jungle warfare, but today, only a small GCF outpost had remained.
The scouts came back and were already quite dirty. Platoon leader Oda looked nervously at the thicket around him and tried to contact the other platoons with a coded radiogram. Finally, the soldiers crept on through the deepest jungle and disappeared.
It was relatively cool and it started to rain, but the muggy tropical heat of the summer months was not missed by the soldiers. Again the troop had a longer break and the soldiers made another nap. When it slowly became dark, they continued to march southward.
Frank was angry about the fact, that the platoon leader had forbidden them to make a little campfire. He crept back to Alf and waited again, while some Japanese sat down beside them.
„I`m Saburo!“, said one of them and gave Alf a cigarette. Bäumer smiled and was more than pleased because of this gift.
„This jungle is fucked up!“, remarked Frank.
„Yes, in the Second World War, there was a great battle on Okinawa“, told the man.
“I know!”, answered Bäumer and took another pull on his cigarette.
„How many GCF-soldiers are on this island?“, asked Frank the Japanese.
The Asian cocked his eyebrows. „I think about 30000 men!“
„What?“, Kohlhaas seemed to be shocked. „30000 GCF-soldiers?“
„Commander Oda has told me that!“, said the Japanese and sorrowfully looked at Frank.
“If the whole thing ends in a disaster, we can try to swim back to Lithuania with a damn hooker!“, muttered Alf cynically.
„After the operation, the survivors shall immediately return to Arume at the east coast. They will pick us up there!“, said Frank. „The Japanese have explained it in the camp...”
„I failed to hear that. Anyhow...”, whispered Bäumer.
The slit-eyed man listened to them with great interest, although he did not understand anything. Now he looked astonished and asked: „Are you German?“
„Yes!“
„What are you doing here in Japan?“
“Fighti
ng for a free world! What else?”, Frank grinned and showed the Japanese a victory sign.
Saburo began to laugh. „In this force are the bravest or most insane soldiers of the Japanese army“, said the man and pointed at some of his comrades. „Do you know, what I mean?“
“Yes! I see that!”, joked Bäumer and looked around.
Indeed, some of the men here seemed to be the right personal for a suicide squad. Suddenly the officer returned and made a hand gesture. The platoon had to march on.
After a while, they stopped and waited again for the darkness. Officer Oda had contacted the other platoons and Frank heard his whisper somewhere under a bush.
„I hope they haven`t discovered our comrades yet. But if they creep through the thicket like swamp rats, as we do it, that whole operation should sail smoothly”, said Frank to himself.
The advance was very slow and quiet. The soldiers cautiously moved forward and only the clamor of a swarm of birds resounded through the twilight. Mosquitoes buzzed around their heads, otherwise it was just dark and quiet. Shortly afterwards, they heard a quiet splatter in the distance, it was a river. The scouts had already talked about it.
„Damn! And now?”, grumbled Bäumer.
A black watercourse blocked their way. The other soldiers cursed in the worst Japanese.
„We will have to swim!“, said Frank and threw his backpack on the ground.
Oda talked with some of the men and they slid into the dirty water and reached the opposite side of the river just barely. One of the Japanese was almost torn away by the stream, but his comrades could hold him.
“I don`t want to know, what ugly critters live in that swill!”, remarked Frank and Bäumer nodded.
Then they waded through the water too. A few minutes later, they reached the other side. The river had stopped the platoon for a long time, but finally all soldiers crossed the obstacle safe and sound. Now they were soaked to the bone. Meanwhile, the scouts had run ahead and came back to the platoon a little later. They were nervous.
„There is a small enemy outpost, one kilometer southward!”, they told the foreign volunteers.
The platoon leader ordered his men to wait here at the river, while he studied a digital map. Then he said that they should bypass the outpost and creep along the river. The two men from Ivas ranted and Madsen came to them. They had marched for a while, when Bäumer suddely felt a stinging on his lower leg. Immediately he pulled up his pant leg and Madsen borrowed him a flashlight.
„Igitt!“, exclaimed Alf and saw a fat, black leech.
„I will do that...“, said the Dane, took his knife and cut off the parasite. Alf shook his leg and was disgusted, while the blond man started to grin.
„Sapporo, submarines, jungles! What is next?“, muttered Bäumer.
Madsen laughed. „Leeches always look for the sweetest humans...”
„Very funny!”, replied Alf and plodded through the night. An hour later, they had bypassed the outpost and entered the deepest jungle again. About 15 to 20 miles still lay before them. Time passed and the monotonous march through a sea of bushes, leaves and trees began to debilitate them.
In the periphery of several kilometers, there was only wild nature, untouched and free from any civilization. Japanese settlements existed only at the seacoasts. The probability to be discovered by the enemy, under a close roof of leaves, was small, here in the north of Okinawa.
Nevertheless, they could not be careful enough. Meanwhile, many Japanese had rubbed their faces with black mud and looked like demons, lurking in the darkness of the jungle. Their clothes were still wet and they were sticking on their skin like the tongue of a slimy bullfrog. Fortunately, it was pleasantly cool and not like that sticky as in the hot season of the year.
After the soldiers had waited under some giant, old trees, they finally came to a glade. The jungle had probably been cleared here some years ago. Now they looked at a few barracks which were covered with creepers. A torn and rusty fence surrounded the rotten buildings. This camp had been a part of the test area of the U.S. army in former times, and served them now as some kind of landmark in the deep jungle of northern Okinawa.
Meanwhile, the other platoons of the “Hukushuu unit” had made their way to a near area, still waiting for their comrades who were wading through an endless appearing sea of plants.
„We are now near Higashi, the town is in the West!” explained Oda. “At Higashi there is a bigger GCF base. We must be careful!“
They waited for the dusk. From now on, as the platoon leader had decreed, they would only march in the blackness of the night. They finally reached a broad, muddy road which interconnected Ogimi and Higashi. The scouts disappeared between the leaves of the jungle plants and the rest of the platoon waited. After half an hour, the scouts returned and excitedly reported that the road was flanked by several watchtowers, which were posed in the distance of some hundred meters. Oda told the soldiers to crawl quietly forward.
„There are two men on that tower over there!“, whispered Alf and pushed some leaves to the side.
„We must somehow cross this road, without being noticed“, said Frank nervously.
Madsen came from behind and stared at the watchtower. Officer Oda finally instructed three Japanese to kill the guards on the nearest sentry tower. The soldiers immediately crept away and stalked up on the enemy.
“Shit! There are a lot of these damn towers. If we use our guns, we will warn the whole GCF in the periphery of several kilometers”, hissed Kohlhaas and clenched his teeth.
From the corner of his eye, he could see the three Japanese comrades as dark points between the bushes. They carefully crawled forward and crossed the road, about fifty meters behind the watchtower.
It was quiet now, only the distant roar of some jungle animals could be heard. The platoon remained nervously in the wet thicket, between bushes and trunks. The sentry tower was about fifteen meters high and under its roof, Kohlhaas could recognize two GCF soldiers. One of them was smoking and his cigarette glowed as a tiny reddish point in his dark face. Smoke clouds blew away under the roof.
“They climb up the ladder. I hope that they make no mistakes”, whispered Madsen quietly. Like creeping cats, the three Japanese came out of the forest behind the watchtower and started to climb up the ladder with supple movements. They made no sound. All the men stared unstrungly at the scenery.
„The first one is already there...“, said Bäumer silently.
Frank hold his head and felt the excited pounding of his heart. The three Japanese had also rubbed their faces with black mud, what made them look even more scary. Now they had finally reached the top of the sentry tower. Knives were twinkling between their teeth, otherwise their faces were as black as the night. There was no more room for mistakes at that point. They crept nearer, nearer – and attacked.
The first GCF soldier was torn backwards and got a stab in the neck, his comrade turned around with a loud cry and tried to pull his gun. One of the Japanese shot him in the head and the GCF soldier tumbled over – that was not planned. Platoon leader Oda swore quietly. The operation had been much too loud and he had actually forbidden the use of guns.
Shortly afterwards, the three Japanese threw the two GCF soldiers from the tower, climbed downward and pulled them into the jungle. Then they disappeared again.
„Fuck! Just stay down!”, hissed Frank at the other men.
Some minutes later, a light cone could be seen, accompanied by the hum of an engine. Finally a jeep approached and calls resounded from a distance. The vehicle stopped and five GCF soldier jumped out of it, then they looked up at the sentry tower.
„Hey, guys! Are you shooting at birds? Are you okay?”, shouted one of the soldiers.
Some of the Japanese got ready to attack even these soldiers, while platoon leader Oda brandished his gun and tried to stop them. He was close to a tantrum.
„Iie! Iie!“, he whispered and pointed his pistol at the group of undisc
iplined men.
„Where are you?“, came from another GCF soldier who fetched his flashlight and entered the nearby jungle. The silent hissing and whispering in the bushes had made him wary.
„Maybe some animals. Where are the others?“
Now they looked for their two comrades. The soldiers still talked for a while, after they had unsuccessfully tried to establish a radio contact to the two men from the sentry tower. Frank and Alfred could only understand, that they probably assumed, the men from the tower had gone somewhere into the forest. They finally talked about reporting the incident and drove away.
Takeo Oda breathed again, strained his brawny body and told his men to cross the muddy road, quietly and carefully. The platoon crept slowly forward and the three Japanese joined the group again.
„God! That was close! I hope that the other GCF soldiers hadn`t smelt a rat”, said Alf silently, follwing the rest of his comrades. Frank and Madsen nodded. The platoon disappeared again into the dark forest.
On the Warpath