The contractor had looked at him quizzically for a second, as if trying to decide if he would be breaking some sort of protocol by answering him. He’d finally grunted and replied, “George, at the outset of the war, the Army and Marines were burning through five thousand rounds every couple of hours. We were practically running out of ammunition to use before you guys from FedEx and UPS started making deliveries. We’re caught up now, and we’re building up our supplies for the next big battle, but you guys are probably the reason the Chinese aren’t in control of Korea.”
The contractor had taken his signed papers, shaken George’s hand, and then left to go supervise the offloading of another five thousand 155mm artillery shells destined for the front lines.
One of the pilots had overheard part of the conversation and walked up behind George. “Can you believe that? Five thousand rounds an hour?”
George had shaken his head. Somewhat stunned by that information, the two of them had watched for a moment as eight other FedEx DC-11s were offloaded. All of them had been carrying artillery shells from Minnesota. Looking past the FedEx planes, they’d seen half a dozen UPS planes also being unloaded. “What do you suppose UPS is moving?” asked George.
Shaking his head, the captain had replied, “I have no idea. Maybe tank rounds or rifle bullets, or maybe those MRE things the soldiers eat. Who knows? All I know is, as soon as we’re offloaded and refueled, we’re supposed to head right back to Minneapolis and do this all over again.”
The two of them had gotten off the plane and headed toward the crew entrance to the terminal. At least they had time to get themselves a decent meal while the ground crew worked on getting them ready to be turned back around.
Chapter 5
South China Sea
Sitting in the underground bunker, Colonel Yi Xiaoguang was under no illusion that his forces would soon be locked in mortal combat. This was the fifth day the Allies had bombed his position, and his last remaining surface-to-air missile or SAM site had been destroyed two days ago, leaving them with no way to defend against the enemy planes or cruise missiles that relentlessly pounded his men.
Small amounts of dirt and dust drifted down from the ceiling as yet another explosion shook their bunker. Colonel Yi looked out at the faces of the men around him. They couldn’t hide the fear in their eyes. They seemed to be questioning him with their eyes, asking, “Are we going to make it out of this alive?”
He had no idea what to tell them other than the standard party line — that they were winning against the Americans and to stay strong. Deep down, he knew that to be a lie. With the defeat of their fleet, the PLA had no way of keeping their myriad of island bases supplied. They were being left to die on the vine, just like what had happened to the Japanese soldiers when they were trapped on their island fortresses across the Pacific.
Turning to one of his lieutenants, Yi asked, “Have we spotted any enemy ships yet?”
“Negative, Sir. They don’t look to be making any landings anytime soon.”
The men nearby seemed dejected by the news rather than relieved. “Most of them would rather just get on with it,” Colonel Yi realized.
For over a year, all they had done was build fortifications and wait, secretly hoping the war would be won before they were forced to defend the island. As the months had dragged on, the men had grown weary. Then Indonesia had been invaded, and the government had collapsed. The Indonesian major who commanded the small contingent of soldiers on the island informed Yi that he had been ordered to surrender the island to the Allies if they came for it.
Colonel Yi obviously couldn’t let that happen. Seeing that the Indonesian soldiers wouldn’t carry on the fight if it came down to it, he’d ordered them stripped of their weapons and allowed them to leave. He saw no reason to keep them on the island eating through his supplies if they wouldn’t aid his men in its defense. Nearly all the civilians on the island had left at that point. They knew a fight was coming, and their only concern now was for their families.
Colonel Yi yawned. Despite the ongoing barrage, he and his men still needed to get some sleep.
“Well, if no ships have come in, we might as well rest up,” Yi announced.
“Yes, Sir,” said the men nearby. A few of them left to disseminate the order, and soon, those that were able to sleep through the noise and trembling had entered the world of slumber.
Early the next morning, Colonel Yi was roused from his sleep. “Colonel!” shouted one of the lieutenants rather loudly.
“What is it, Lieutenant?” asked Colonel Yi groggily.
“They’re here. Enemy ships have been spotted off the coast, Sir,” the young officer said in an excited voice.
“I know my men have been weary of waiting, but I’d somehow hoped this day wouldn’t happen,” he thought. He quickly pulled his pants on and slid his feet into his boots.
“Have you woken the rest of the garrison yet? Are the men heading to their fighting positions?” Yi asked. He finished putting his uniform on, grabbed his body armor, picked up his rifle, and followed the young officer to his underground command bunker.
“Yes, Sir, the men are ready,” answered the lieutenant.
Yi followed the young officer to the underground command bunker. Once there, he looked at the wall-mounted video display, which showed him a commanding view of the shoreline below the capital city of Ranai. On the video feed, he could easily count at least thirty ships. He had to admit he really had no idea what all the types of ships were, but regardless, he knew they would offload thousands of enemy soldiers bent on killing him and his men.
Colonel Yi turned to look at his deputy commander, a man by the name of Major Shin Hu. “Have the men wait to engage the Americans until they get ashore,” Yi ordered. “If we give away our positions too soon, their destroyers and gunboats will take our bunkers out.”
Major Shin nodded, then quickly picked up a phone to send the message out to the various fortified bunkers they had built around the city. They knew they couldn’t stop the Americans from landing, not since their anti-ship missile systems had been destroyed a week earlier. Their only hope now was to bloody them up once they got ashore. “Hopefully, the enemy will lose too many men to keep trying to land more and just bypass us,” thought Yi, almost willing it to happen.
Minutes turned to hours as they watched more ships arrive. Then the gunboats and destroyers crept closer to the shore, looking for targets of opportunity. When Colonel Yi heard gunfire blast from one of the bunkers toward the enemy ships, his stomach sank. “What in the world? Do they really think their 152mm Howitzer is going to sink that ship?” he moaned to himself.
The gunners missed with their first two shots, and the ship took evasive maneuvers. Before they were ready to fire a third round, a pair of missiles streaked in from one of the American attack helicopters, pulverizing the bunker into oblivion. Then, Yi watched in horror as even more missiles streaked in their direction from the choppers that now seemed like an angry swarm of hornets.
Shaking his head, Colonel Yi knew he had less than twenty-four hours to live unless he was willing to surrender the island. While he wanted to surrender and save the lives of his men, he also knew that when the war was over, he’d never be allowed to return to China if he failed to defend the island. “Perhaps becoming an American prisoner and eventually going to America might be best,” he thought.