Meanwhile, the calendar sheet showed the 3th of October, 2031, and it was still quiet on the Sapporro front. It came down in torrents and the autumn slowly started to show its face. The trees began to carry yellow leaves and the beautiful Odori park in the center of the city discoloured like a big chameleon.
Boredom prevailed in the military camp, but most of the soldiers preferred this to a massive GCF attack. Today, Kohlhaas had talked to Julia Wilden for a long time. She had been glad to hear from him. Furthermore, Julia had asked for Alf and the others, and Frank had insured her that everything was still peaceful and quiet.
It had been wonderful to hear her voice and Kohlhaas had finally returned to the camp with a happy smile. Later, Frank and Alf had also talked to Mr. Taishi who had excitedly told them, that Tokyo had been hit by some missiles again. The situation in the south was becoming worse.
Soon, the shadows of the night came over Sapporo and all soldiers went to bed, except for some guards. However, most of the men always slept with one eye open and this time it should be more necessary than ever before.
Shortly after midnight, over 500 GCF bombers started a large-scale attack on Sapporo, from several directions. The terrifying hissing of their engines could be heard on the horizon, then the murderous assault came with full force over the Japanese population and the soldiers.
Frank and Alfred jumped out of their beds and landed on the dirty ground, while the thunder of explosions came nearer. A moment after, the inner city of Sapporo glowed in an eerie red gleam.
„Alarm! Let`s get the hell out of here!”, roared Bäumer and pulled an overslept Iraqi from his camp bed. Frank grabbed his clothes, took the rifle and ran out of the accommodation to a large meadow, where hundreds of soldiers had already gathered.
Sirens howled and officers screamed orders through the rainy night. Kohlhaas stared at the city center. Enormous, fiery blooms grew between the skycrapers, accompanied by the deep grumble of detonations.
The Japanese anti-aicraft artillery was shooting with all its might and the dark sky above the city was filled with blazing lightnings and fireballs. The bomb attack of the GCF airforce took about half an hour, then a massive assault of the enemy infantry and numerous tanks followed. All men ran to the trenches and manned the emplacements. Frank and Alfred were assigned to a machine gun post and stayed together. Behind them, a Japanese sergeant screamed in deafening loudness.
„Artillery fire!“, shouted the soldiers beside them and tried to find cover somewhere.
A moment later, a hail of heavy shells pattered on the trenches and hold the soldiers down. They crawled over the muddy ground and pressed their hands on the faces, while all hell broke loose around them.
Explosions shook the ground, cries resounded in every corner and clouds of dirt flew through the air. The GCF cannons unleashed a murderous fire and devastated the entire environment.
Behind Frank, several Japanese soldiers got a direct hit and their death screams still echoed in the head of the young volunteer after a minute. Frank was sure that he had heard the sound of crashing bones and tearing flesh. Meanwhile, Alfred had crept through the mud and stared at his friend with fearful eyes. After half an hour, full of fright and panic, the bombardment stopped. Palls of smoke left the trench and Frank heard the cries of dying and wounded soldiers from a distance. Now the enemy tanks and the GCF soldiers advanced. Their outlines were hardly to recognize in the blackness of the night and through the obscure fog above the ground.
„Damn!”, hissed Kohlhaas and squatted behind his machine gun. Alfred`s face was full of mud splashes and showed his fear. Frank tried to endure the following, gnawing minutes, while he waited for the enemy that slowly came nearer. Meanwhile, he was drenched and clutched his gun nervously.
“Can you see something?”, whispered Alf.
“No! Because of this fucking fog!”, answered his comrade.
Then the first black points became visible on the dark horizon, it were thousands and thousands. Between them drove tanks which opened the fire with their cannons now. Further explosions and shots followed, then the enemy had already come closer.
Frank lifted his hindering steel helmet that still appeared heavier now, in order to have a better sight. Alfred swallowed and held his breath. The first enemies appeared out of a mixture of darkness and vapor, while the Japanese soldiers around started to shoot.
„Don`t wait, Frank! Fire!”, yelled Bäumer and Kohlhaas sent his first bursts of fire at the enemy. Finally, chaos broke loose.
Frank could spot a group of GCF soldiers, trying to destroy some barbwire barriers. He wildly shot at them and two of the men tumbled over with painful screams. Now, also Alf began to fire.
The machine gun hammered its deadly metallic song and sent several dark shadows to the ground. Meanwhile, the Japanese tanks had moved forward and attacked the fast-approaching enemies with their automatic cannons. Their projectiles chopped bloody wounds into the broad front of the opposing army, but it were just too many attackers.
Suddenly Skydragons appeared, dashing forward out of the darkness of the night sky, and firing with their heavy machine guns at the Japanese emplacements. Blood sprayed everywhere and dead bodies slipped down the muddy trench walls. The defenders answered with bazookas and rocket launchers.
Some of the Sykdragons exploded, others were still mowing down their enemies, speeding away above their heads, and leaving behind a terrible bloodbath.
„Can you estimate their number?”, screamed Bäumer in Frank`s ear.
“Shit! No! Maybe about 5000 men...”, answered Kohlhaas and hid his head behind the wall. “Ten GCF tanks! There!”
Alfred gestured and crept over the ground again. Now the GCF soldiers were close enough to return fire. After they had advanced further hundred meters and had struggled through a great number of barriers, they started to run.
Frank fired now like a madman and shot a large gap in the swarm of soldiers in front of him. He clenched his teeth, so that they crunched like a rotten, old sailing boat in a storm. The defenders heard their enemies scream with rage, while they tried to storm the Japanese emplacements. Frank saw some twinkling bayonets and laid his folding spade beside him.
Alfred still huddled behind him in the dirt and fixed his bayonet. From the corner of his eye, Kohlhaas could see that the Japanese had destroyed some GCF tanks. A screaming man climbed out of one of the vehicles, then the tank exploded. Soon the enemy infantry was directly in front of the trench. Hateful faces stared in Frank`s direction and a swarm of GCF soldiers jumped now into the moat, wildly firing, roaring and cursing.
“Damn! They will overrun us!”, shouted Bäumer who shot an assaulting enemy in the face.
“Get ready!”, Frank grabbed his friend at the sleeve and pulled him to the right, his heart pounded in panic and he thought about nothing in this second.
His face changed to a malicious grimace and looked like that of the GCF soldier beside him who had jumped into the trench to stab a terrified Japanese soldiers with his bayonet. Frank shot at the tall, dark-skinned man and hit his neck. The attacker tumbled down with a short death rattle. A brutal slaughter began now, and the frenzied soldiers were shooting, stabbing and hacking each other down.
Kohlhaas roared and his dirty face let him look like a demon. He brandished his folding spade, loudly screaming, and smashed the face of another enemy. Alfred still shot at the attackers in front of him, then he shouted: “Flamethrowers!”
A GCF soldier with one of these feared weapons approached and held his flame into the trench beside him. An uncanny hissing followed, while Frank heard the loud cries of burning volunteers who jumped out of their emplacement.
Kohlhaas crept among his dead and dying comrades through the morass, and crawled over a young Japanese, whose clothes were soaked with blood. Glassy eyes stared at the German.
Meanwhile, the soldier with the flamethrower continued to burn everyone in sight, but he did not notice Frank who suddenly emerged beside him – t
hen it was too late.
Kohlhaas jumped on him with a loud scream, out of the darkness of the trench, and attacked the GCF soldier with his folding spade. The man turned around, but he was not fast enough to swerve Frank`s brutal cut. Kohlhaas hit his nose which broke with a cracking sound. Immediately, the soldier lost his weapon, lurched back and had to face the raging German volunteer who slayed him with another strike.
„Go away!“, Frank heard behind himself. A Japanese waved him nearer and summoned him to fall back to the next line of trenches. The young man currently scurried backwards. Kohlhaas and the others had to disappear, otherwise the enemies would have overrun them, because they were just too numerous.
„Alf, to the next line!”, shouted Frank and the two volunteers ran over their dead comrades to the trench behind them. Meanwhile, the attackers had won ground and came closer. Now the Japanese opened the fire from the rear emplacements and many opponents were killed.
Shortly afterwards, Frank and Alf were lying in the mud again and tried to decimate the mass of the GCF soldiers. Suddenly several dozens of Japanese tanks attacked the enemy`s flank and the GCF soldiers finally backed out. It was over, for this day.
They had survived the first great assault of the Global Control Force in this part of Sapporo, but the casualties were high. Hundreds were fallen, only in this front section. Nevertheless, the enemy had not penetrated the city and had still much more dead soldiers to deplore.
The world had not seen such a form of war since decades. At the beginning of the 21th century, when the USA had still been the only superpower, fighting with its superior technology against the Arabs, the match had always been unequal.
On one side, there had been the hightech army of the USA, while its enemies had often just been farmers with old weapons, trying to fight a guerilla warfare. Here in Japan, it was different. Both sides, the GCF and the Japanese army, had a considerable and very similar military technology. Nevertheless, the resources of the GCF were much bigger.
„God, I nearly snuffed it...”, said Frank and tried to calm down. Bäumer was silent and stared into space. He got a vicious headache and just wanted to stay in a dark corner, in order to rest. The shock of this first fight sat deeply in the minds of the two volunteers and now they had a small foretaste of the brutality of the Japanese war.
From the 1000 soldiers of the “Nihon no Yari” unit, over 200 men were dead or heavily wounded. Frank crept back to the first trench and saw a picture of horror. Everywhere lay deads which seemed to sink slowly down into the mud.
It was raining again now, but the young man enjoyed the cool water drops on his face at that moment. Beside him, a Japanese struggled for air and clutched his blood-smeared belly.
„Help!”, gasped the man with the last of his strenght and frantically looked at Frank.
„I bring you a physician!“, promised Kohlhaas and tried to find a medical tent. After he had finally found it, the physician just shook his head and showed him dozens of other wounded men who were begging for his help too. Kohlhaas looked for another medic, and finally came back to the wounded Japanese, after half an hour. It was too late, the soldier had already bled to death.
„Everything is just shit…”, hissed Frank and was close to tears.
The Japanese still stared at him, with a deadpan countenance, as if he wanted to ask Frank, why he had forgotten him.
The next days were quiet. No more GCF attacks and no more bombardments of the city. The enemy high command had probably just wanted to test, how strong the defense of the Japanese really was. Nevertheless, there was not much time for sleep or recovery. So the most men just dozed off and were more or less halfawake for days. Frank and Alfred planned to sleep for not less then a whole week, when they were back in Ivas.
Yesterday, they had made a short trip to the center of Sapporo. Many of the exotic houses had been destroyed by the first great bomb attack and the streets of the city were still covered with rubble. Thousands of civilians had already left Sapporo and tried to reach the island of Honshu.
But General Takeuchi had some good news for the “Nihon no Yari” unit: The defense had held on all important fronts. Nowhere, the GCF troops had penetrated the metropolis. Nevertheless, they had meanwhile almost completely encircled the city and had received further reinforcements from overseas. Furthermore, the high command of the northern invasion army had given the order to besiege and starve out Sapporo.
Soon the heavy cannons of the GCF battered the Japanese city with a merciless fire from a safe distance. Countless tons of conventional or chemical bombs came from the sky - to make Sapporo to a giant cemetery.
General Daniel Schwarzer had made the offer to his opponent Takeuchi, before the beginning of the gruelling bombardment, that he would get a safe conduct, after an immediate surrender of Sapporo. Otherwise, the city would be annihilated without mercy.
But Takeuchi had ignored the offer and Sapporo still remained a giant fortress, blocking the way of the GCF invasion army like a mountain chain. Indeed, the old Japanese general knew that his stubbornness would bring hell on earth to the inhabitants of the city.
Kohlhaas hold his head. Alf and he were waiting here on the front, while the thunder of detonations slowly drove them crazy - since more than a week, day by day. Missile after missile came down on the metropolis, crushing one house after another, piece by piece.
In order to destroy the hostile cannons, some Japanese pilots had made several suicide attacks by charging the artillery emplacements of the enemy, but all in all, it had been nothing but a senseless waste of lives.
Furthermore, the Japanese had no chance for a sally and were just trapped in their own emplacements. General Takeuchi had become grumpy and had every reason for it. Even the courageous defenders of Wakkanai had already been slowly demoralized by the same strategy.
„That slop is just ugly!”, said Frank and spat out an unknown part of a Japanese dish, swearing loudly.
„Well, I like it!”, replied his friend.
“Sometimes, I would really be glad if we could just teleport back to Ivas. Just out of this fucking city”, muttered Kohlhaas.
Alf hesitated. „However, it is important that we are here!”, meant Bäumer.
His comrade was silent for a while. „Important? In the next days, weeks or months, we will croak here. No one of us will leave this fucked up Japsenloch alive, Alf...”, hissed Frank and shook his head.
Alf just munched. „Anyhow, who has always said that he wants to become a rebel? Well, this is real rebellion, no Robin Hood game, just an eternal and desperate fight of us against a superior enemy.”
„I know…“, grumbled Kohlhaas.
„Japan is important, Frank! Important! Important! Important!“
„Really?“
„Yes, for sure! We have already talked about that topic with Wilden, for a million times!”
Frank sat down on an old can and let his fingers crack. “I`m just tired, man. This damn barrage. Boom! Boom! Boom! All day long. I think, I will lose my mind if it goes on in this manner. Do you really believe that we have a chance?“
„My nerves are raw too, Frank. But this is the usual tactic of the GCF. Don`t panic!”
„It is just a illusion to win this war, isn`t it?“, asked Frank and appeared hopelessly.
„Do we have a chance? You ask, if we can really win? What chance did we have in Paris? What do you think, my friend? Did you really believe that the world system would collapse, only because of the fact that we have killed Wechsler?
Kohlhaas said nothing and stared sadly at the sky. Then he just walked away.
At the end of the camp was a telephone, and Frank thought about calling Julia, but in front of the phone was already a crowd of other soldiers.
The young man muttered a curse and went back to Alf. The friend clapped on Frank`s shoulder and said: “I prefer to stand here with you and all the others, to fight for our freedom. It is so much better than hanging around in tha
t cage called “Central Europe”, living a worthless life. Yes, I prefer to die here as a free man. This is far greater, than just vegetating as a slave with a citizen number.”
“Maybe you are right, Alf!”, answered Frank and sat down. “Have you heard something from the southern front?”
“Don`t ask, what I`ve heard is not very inspiring. Hofu and Yamaguchi, at the coast of Honshu, have totally been destroyed. And the GCF still marches on, towards Tokyo.”
“Shit!”, hummed Kohlhaas. “What may the others from Ivas do at the moment? Are they still alive?”
“Let`s call Wilden this evening”, decided Alf and slapped on Frank`s shoulder again.
Shortly afterwards, they heared that Thomas Baastfeldt had already been killed in Kagoshima a few weeks ago. But Sven and the others seemed to be still alive. After the village boss had talked about his own “theorectical strategy” to win this war, unnerving Frank again, the young man asked for his daughter.
Julia was overly pleased, when she heard that they were well. Her voice sounded like the chant of a wonderful angel in Frank`s ears, and even drowned the terrible roar of the bomb impacts in Sapporo`s city center for some minutes. Kohlhaas felt inspired again and ended the conversation with the words: „I think of you, Julia! Every single day!”
This was quite a unusual revealing of feelings for a man like him and Frank felt happy for the rest of the day. He was more than proud on himself, that he had finally dared to say these words to Wilden`s daughter.
On the next day, GCF units tried to penetrate the northwest of Sapporo again. This time they came around midday. But the attack was half-hearted and probably just another test of the Japanese defense.
After one hour, the enemies backtracked with great losses of men and several tanks. The food supply of the defenders was still intact, but it would be only a question of the time until the supplies would be exhausted. Nevertheless, the moral of the Japanese and their allies was still high.
While the ruthless bombardment of the metropolis continued, gradually devastating the former beautiful city, the Japanese war propaganda still knew only one watchword: „Holding out! Fight to the last man!“
The first period of the monsoon season had begun, on the jungle-covered islands of Okinawa, and it was raining all day long without ceasing. General David Williams stood in front of a big map of Japan and looked at the other officers in the conference room. Then he pointed at the map and said: „I hope, that my colleague, Mr. Schwarzer, can soon accelerate his advance in the north. So far, the World President is still content with our military successes, but he just expects faster victories. We won`t disappoint him and have to reach the south of Honshu in time!”, explained the tall man with the gray temples.
“The Japanese have heavily fortified Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka with many units. What would happen if we find there a similar situation as in the case of Sapporo?”, asked one of the officers.
A murmur went through the room and general Williams seemed to be annoyed, because of this question.
„Nonsens! The situation can`t be compared with Sapporo. However, the morale and confidence of the Japanese still rises with every day, on which Sapporo withstands us.
Matsumoto`s war propaganda is better and more successful than we have imagined. We probably underestimated his talents in this context. Anyway, this will not save our enemies. Kobe will soon be bombarded as the first metropolis on the Japanese central island, and the industrial plants will be the most important targets for our bombers!”
Michael McBruce, a veteran officer of the GCF, raised his hand and Williams nodded. „What is about the rumors that the Japanese war will probably exceed the costs, that have originally been budgeted by the World Government?“
General Williams harrumphed and some of the other officers stared at the asker. Actually, such questions should not be posed in this conference.
„Well, what do you want to hear? Am I the minister of finance? If no unexpected delays appear, or even military setbacks, then there is no reason to worry about such things.
So far, we could keep the schedule for the most part, and if Sapporo can`t be taken by Mr. Schwarzer, we will still overrun the Japanese defense in the south – in the long term. We have enough “human resources” for this war, don`t forget that!”
“What is with our great casualties, Mr. Williams?”, McBruce pumped Williams.
„Mr. McBruce...“, replied the general annoyedly. „Our human resources are still big enough! Believe me!”
Shortly afterwards, the critical officer raised his hand again, but general Williams just ignored him. Finally, the meeting continued with some strategic explanations.
At the same time, the presidential palace in Tokyo was abuzz with excitement. Haruto Matsumoto had already a screaming tantrum behind himself, after one of his advisors had revealed him the military situation in the southern part of Honshu. Once again, his foreign minister, Akira Mori, had to help his best friend to calm down. He showed him some facts which the very emotional man had probably ignored.
„I don`t want to blandish the situation, Haruto. Because our situation isn`t good at all, and I still know that. Nevertheless, Kyushu and Shikoku are not representative for the rest of Japan. Our defense in Sapporo is still strong, furthermore, even in Kobe and Osaka. And these cities will still be in our hands for the next weeks – or even months!”, explained Mori and gave the president a glass of water.
Matsumoto breathed deeply and emptied the water glass with a single sip. Then he walked nervously through the room: “Even if it doesn`t look catastrophic in the north so far, we must do something in the south. A counteroffensive! Otherwise, the GCF will win this war, even if we can persevere in some places!”
“The high command works day and night on a plan to retake the southern regions. But we need more soldiers – and more tanks and more artillery. We will be able to strike back in the next weeks, but I can`t tell you...”, returned Mori.
„The counteroffensive will come? But when, Akria? I hear that since weeks!”, screamed the president, while some of his advisors winced. But Mori remained rational.
Actually, Matsumoto was an emotional, but otherwise balanced and buoyant man. However, the months-long hate campaign against him, and finally this war, had made him to an exhausted and depressive person.
Meanwhile, folds had crept over his face and sleep disturbances seriously attacked his health. The foreign minister brought a second glass of water and answered in his usual, rational manner: „I would say, that about two months will be necessary until we have the military strenght for a counteroffensive...”
“Two months, Akira?”
„Yes! At the minimum…“
„Two damn months?“
„And there is still something, I have already talked about with general Uesugi.“
„What else, Akira?“
„That counteroffensive would be much more effective if the southern GCF army would fall into confusion...”
„What do you mean by that?“
„We should just try it. Let`s talk about this tomorrow, in confidence!”
“To hell with that nonsense! But if you mean...”, growled the president.
Haruto Matsumoto emptied his glass with a single sip again, and finally left the room. He went to his bedroom, drew the curtains and sat down in a dark corner.
„I should have become a little employee, like my father. Yes, this would have been the right way. “The policy”, she is nothing but the scummiest whore of all whores...”, he said quietly to himself.
Some days had passed, and rain and cold weather slowly come over Sapporo. Yesterday, some GCF units had broken through the defense ring in the northeast of the city, and the Japanese had been driven back to the area in front of the university of Hokkaido. However, general Takeuchi`s soldiers had retaken the lost streets in a night attack, and the house-to-house fighting had lasted till daybreak.
At end of the month, the GCF made another great atta
ck with over 400000 men. Frank and Alfred had entrenched themselves, together with other soldiers of the “Nihon no Yari“ unit, in a destroyed house and had repulsed several attack waves of the enemy.
Four Japanese who had defended the emplacement with them, had been killed during the fight. Alf got a graze wound on the arm and had to be doctored, but it was, however, fortunately only a harmless laceration.
Now the constant attacks slowly increased. In the morning hours, the south of Sapporo had been attacked by GCF bombers and many houses were still burning. The two soldiers from Ivas had helped to bring civilians into the bunkers or metro tunnels. And they had seen terrible scenes. Women, who still held their children in their arms, lying charred and mutilated in the ruins of their houses. It had been another morning of terror, and many more should follow. On 26.10.2031, around noon, the sun tried to send a few rays through the gray cloud cover above the city, but only a few reached the humans down on earth. Somewhere, the enemy cannons thundered again, in order to lay the Japanese metropolis piece by piece in ashes.
Suddenly, the alarm sirens started to howl because the enemy artillery began to shoot at the northwest city. All soldiers immediately ran under cover, while another great assault followed.
Dozens of heavy tanks moved over the line of sight on the horizon and started to fire. Behind the terrifying vehicles a swarm of GCF soldiers was spreading, using the tanks as cover. Their number appeared enormous.
„You, come on!“, roared a Japanese officer and waved Frank and Alf nearer. They scurried into a bombed out house and ran over some concrete stairs to the upper floor. A group of volunteers from Canada and a few Japanese soldiers already huddled there.
Terrible noise came from outside, gunfire, screams and detonations. An incredible din. The Japanese artillery answered and let a hail of shells go down on the tanks and the infantery of the GCF.
Some of the steely beasts exploded, but most of them still rolled unwaveringly forward, spitting their projectiles on the Japanese lines. After half an hour, the enemy infantry attacked with loud yelling and drove the Japanese units out of their emplacements.
General Takeuchi had relocated the front line some hundred meters backwards, that his soldiers could entrench themselves better in the house ruins.
„They will soon be here!“, shouted Bäumer and fired from a window. Meanwhile, the first frontline was already overrun by the enemy. Many Japanese fled or were just shot down in their trenches. Frank turned around and crept under the window. Beside him was a young Japanese who began to quail, when he recognized the GCF tanks, breaking through mountains of rubble and coming nearer.
„Give me your bazooka!”, screamed Kohlhaas and tore the panzerfaust out of the boy`s hand.
A tank cannon hit the already half destroyed roof of the house and ripped it off. Frank looked out the window and targeted one of the enemy tanks, a next hit could completely destroy the house and no one of the men inside would survive this.
Frank shot at the tank and the missile bored itself through the side of the vehicle. Instantly, the tank turned its gun barrel towards the ruin, from where the shot had come, but then it exploded with a loud bang.
„Die, bastard!”, hissed Frank quietly and crawled back over the dusty ground.
„We must get out here! The next tanks are already coming!”, shouted Bäumer and stared at his comrades. „Come on! We must get out or we will die!“
The men ran down the stairs and hid behind a concrete wall in a side street. Beside them, some houses already blew up and they heard loud screams. More and more enemies appeared and now even the Skydragons came from the sky.
„Brrrrrttt!“ This terrible sound made the men`s blood run cold, because it was the sound of a gatling autocannon. Dozens of military helicopters opened fire on the fleeing Japanese soldiers, and one of the Skydragons tried to target Frank and the others. It shot and his salvo hit the concrete wall, while the horrified soldiers hit the dirt. Then they tried to run to another house.
Above their heads, the Skydragon flew away, turned around and the next volley of gunfire came from the sky. Two young Japanese were perforated by bullets and broke down. Finally, the Skydragon pointed its terrible weapons at another target.
“Hurry up! In there!“, roared Bäumer and jumped into the house ruin. The rest followed him, while more and more tanks could be heard in the proximity.
Frank still carried the bazooka and destroyed another tank with a well-aimed shot. The others fired at a group of enemy soldiers and killed three of them. Then they tried to find a safer place. In the chaos of the battle, Frank had already lost his overview. Meanwhile, his only thought was to survive.
Shortly afterwards, they got the message that the Japanese had given up their emplacements and were on the way to the city center. Now the enemy was already close to the Maruyamapark. Even the camp had totally been destroyed. This day ended with a defeat.
The defenders had fought bravely, but the sheer force of numbers of the GCF soldiers had decided the fight for the benefit of the attackers. Nevertheless, the casualties of the enemy were very high again. However, 46 GCF tanks had been destroyed and thousands of soldiers had fallen.
The strength of the “Nihon no Yari“ was now at 477 men, what meant that over 500 soldiers were already dead or were lying in one of the military hospitals, somewhere in the city. Even at other places, the GCF had won ground. General Takeuchi still mused about the new situation and finally ordered a counterattack – tonight! In his eyes, it was important that the GCF could not use the conquered places as bridgeheads for further attacks on the inner city.
Bäumer smoked one of his cheap cigarettes which he had won in a poker game.
„Counterattack? Tonight?”, he groaned.
„Yes, as officer Kan has already explained it. It`s an direct order from the general...”, said Frank and held his growling stomach.
„Counterattack! Deep in the night! Shit! Starving and fighting, that`s all they can give us!”, grumbled Alf.
„In one hour, we will get emergency provisions, if I have correctly understood that message“, answered Kohlhaas. „I could just eat up the Japanese islands...“
Meanwhile, Alfred made a mental trip to a luxury restaurant, where he solemnly swore to devour everything he could get.
“The meal rations have become smaller in the last days”, remarked Frank and his growling stomach seemed to agree. His friend nodded and leaned against a concrete wall.
„It looks terrible in the city center. Everywhere, corpses of civilians, en masse, they already rot. The Japanese burn them as huge piles to prevent epedemics“, said Bäumer quietly.
„I know, I have seen it too!“, answered Frank. „We can`t hold the line forever. Soon the big hunger will come over us all, over soldiers and civilians. The leaders of the Japanese army don`t say it openly, but meanwhile we are low on everything”, whispered Alf quietly and closed his eyes, in order to make a nap.
„If the GCF will use as many chemical bombs as in the case of Wakkanai, Sapporo will finally become an enormous mass grave“, added Frank. Alf just swallowed and turned his head to the side.
It still became colder and darker. Frank looked at his watch: 22,30 o'clock. Suddenly the radio crackled and general Takeuchi gave new orders to all units. The rest of the “Nihon no Yari” unit should start their counterattack at 4.00 o'clock in the morning, together with their Japanese comrades. They had to assault the GCF emplacements near the Maruyamapark.
The two volunteers from Ivas and ten further soldiers huddled in the dirty living room of a bombed out house. There had been a little dispute concerning the question, who had the privilege to sleep on a dusty sofa.
Finally, a volunteer from Iran, Nirwan, could succeed and fell immediately asleep. One of the other men made a campfire on the ground of the room which had a collapsed sidewall. It was a strange sight. They lived like rats here. Even Frank and Alfred snoozed for a while, in the cold darkness of the night.
>
At 3.30 o'clock, the Iranian woke them up and they talked for a short moment. This soldier looked like the picture of an old Persian warrior: He had a brownish beard, bright green eyes and was amazingly tall. Nirwan hated the World Government from the bottom of his heart, because his parents and the rest of his family had died, when the GCF had attacked the rebellious Iranian state with nuclear bombs. It had been in 2019. At that time, Teheran had been devastated by three atom bombs. Nirwan had never been able to forget this horror.
„We must regroup with the other squads at Toroshi Street!“, he explained and Frank and Alfred followed him.
Tired, hungry and freezing, they recognized about 200 comrades who had gathered between the ruins. Some fixed their bayonets, others loaded their weapons or counted their hand grenades. Many of the young men seemed to be scared of the coming fight. It was dark, cold and an icy rain came down from the sky. All lights had been switched off and the soldiers were just silent. At 4.00 o'clock, the unit started moving, slowly, some new orders were whispered, while the soldiers looked around.
“Welcome to Japan!”, said Bäumer cynically and stared nervously in Frank`s direction.
The soldiers crept through the dark streets and walked loudlessly towards the Maruyamapark - its trees and bushes looked like dead spiders.
Soon they had reached the area which was occupied by the GCF troops and still more Japanese soldiers came out of the dark streets around them. It was silent for a short moment, nothing could be heard. Nothing but the pattering of the rain drops on the roofs of the houses.
From a distance, Frank could see some sandbags and the helmets of GCF soldiers behind them. Finally, general Takeuchi`s voice came over the radio again, just ending the sinister stillness. It was 4,00 o'clock: Attack!
„Banzai!”, yelled the Japanese, rushing out of the darkness, wildly firing and screaming. For a short moment the GCF soldiers were surprised, but then they returned fire.
The first Japanese were mowed down by machine-guns. Frank and Alfred charged forward, trying to find cover between the wreckage that was covering the street. Then they shot at the GCF soldiers too.
Soon the enemies were close. They screamed and pointed their weapons at the Japanese and the volunteers. Bäumer shot one of them down, while Frank came from the side to stab another with his bayonet. Meanwhile, the other volunteers killed the GCF soldiers behind the sandbags.
“Go in there! Hurry up!”, hissed Alf and some men followed him into a drab apartment block. Here they discovered a few GCF soldiers who were still drowsy. Some tried to get out of their camp beds, when a hand grenade rolled into the room and detonated immediately. Cries resounded, stabbing and shooting - then the house was finally taken.
From here, they had a good strategic position to open the fire on the next group of GCF soldiers, that ran across the street in front of the house. Now Frank crept to the other men and took his assault rifle. Down on the street, their comrades ran over the asphalt and came upon some enemies at the next corner. Both groups nearly collided and the men slaughtered each other without hesitation. Frank beheld a Japanese soldier who slayed an enemy with his samurai sword. He raged like a berserk in his fearsome frenzy.
“Okay, the street is ours!”, shouted Kohlhaas and raised his gun. „On the street! Follow us! Go! Go! Go!“
The remaining men ran down the stairs and tried to reach their comrades. Frank took the weapon of a dying GCF soldier and fired at some black shadows in a dark side street. Then he continued to rush forward.
Soon, the killing was out of control and the soldiers could not make out friend or foe. They just fired at every man in front of them without thinking. They finally came to a house, that was brightly illuminated, but the enemies immediately switched off the light, when they saw the Japanese. Then they opened fire on the attackers. Frank dragged Alf to the ground.
„Give me covering fire! Shoot at the windows!”, shouted Kohlhaas and crept towards the house under the veil of darkness.
The other men still shot at the windows and pieces of finery and concrete rained down on the wet asphalt. Kohlhaas was already close to the entrance now and suddely threw a hand grenade through one of the broken windows. A deafening explosion let the house quake and smoke clouds poured out of the upper floor. Then the soldiers jumped into the entrance with a loud roar. The first attackers were hit by a terrible burst of gunfire, but the rest still tried to storm the house.
Frank threw another hand grenade into a side room and jumped away. An explosion let the house shake again, while screams and shots resounded around him. A moment after, a Japanese with a flamethrower came through the front door and burned every enemy in sight. Suddenly, a wide-eyed GCF soldier with a dirty face staggered over the corridor and fired indiscriminately around. Frank and Alfred jumped sidewards, returned fire immediately and finally killed him. Shortly afterwards, the fight for the house was over.
Bäumer illuminated the man with his flashlight. „That was a GCF officer, look at the uniform! Perhaps, this house was something like a command post…“
Frank bent down to the dead soldier and took the identification tag from his neck. „Major General Martin Chirac” was engraved in it.
„Maybe a bigger number!”, said the young man and grinned proudly. He let the ID tag slide into his pocket and showed it later to a group of Japanese soldiers who admired him for his “kill”.
Alfred finally became angry and meant, that this major could be “his shot” as well, because he had also been on the corridor and both men had fired at the same time.
The counterattack had been a success and the GCF troops had been blind-sided in the most parts of Sapporo. On the next day, the street fights still continued. General Daniel Schwarzer finally gave the command for an ordered retreat and the GCF left Sapporo again.
Now, the Japanese war propaganda made a mountain out of a molehill, because Matsumoto needed news about victories more than anything else.
The Japanese television averred that they had routed the enemy - like the mongols in the battle of Kyushu. They finally prophesied that Sapporo, the “fortress of freedom”, would never fall.
“Sapporo: Great victory over the slave hordes of the Lodge Brothers!”, headlined Matsumoto`s press on the next day. The reality was, however, far less spectacular. The GCF had been driven out of the city – that was all. Nevertheless, Sapporo was still under siege and the hunger slowly came over the whole city. Furthermore, the merciless barrage went on, day by day...
Leaving Hell