Stein had tried to call President Jinping to implore them not to use civilians as human shields. Unfortunately, Jinping would not take his call. Instead, one of his functionaries told him, “China does not use human shields. We expect the Allies to not intentionally target civilians who are trying to flee the city.”
When General Gardner came on the call, he breathed a sigh of relief. “General, I want you to do whatever is necessary to support our forces on the ground. Obviously, Jinping has no value for human life, using his people as speed bumps and bait. Enough is enough.”
“What do you want me to do about the civilians, Sir?”
Stein responded, “This war has been dragged out long enough. I am not going to lose more soldiers because the PLA refuses to protect their civilians. If you have to kill every civilian in the area to defeat the PLA, then so be it. This war is going to end.”
Morally Reprehensible
Twelve hours into the invasion, several thousand PLA militia solders (supported by the PLA’s 14th Army group) had broken through the American’s outer perimeter and were quickly squeezing close to the U.S. foothold.
After his meeting with the President, General Gardner ordered the 32nd infantry division and their enhanced humanoid drones to move into Rudong to support the Marines. In addition to ordering the drones in, he also told the infantry division commander to have the drones’ combat AI turned on and programmed to kill every person who did not emit a friendly Individual Identification Frequency (IIF).
Typically, the EHDs were operated by a human, just like the drone tanks and aircraft. A human was always required in the loop because there was a concern about having the drones operate on their own and somehow going rogue. However, the American soldiers operating in the Shanghai area were being slaughtered by the sheer numbers of enemy soldiers that the PLA was throwing at them. The President had determined that something more extreme needed to be done.
The Marines conducting the fighting retreat from the outer perimeter were reporting that the PLA was forcing thousands of civilians to advance in front of their soldiers to act as human shields. The Marines were doing their best to not kill the civilians and focus on the enemy soldiers. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult to do. Then brigade had sent a FLASH message ordering them to engage and kill the civilians. Thornton read the FLASH message a second time, to make sure he fully understood what he was being asked to do. He felt a lump in his throat. He did not like this order one bit.
The orders also told them that the 32nd infantry division and their EHDs were being deployed shortly. Once deployed, they would take over the operation of clearing the city. A loop of endless thought ran through Thornton’s mind. “This is terrible; now they want us to kill any civilians being used as human shields? This is wrong on so many levels…but can we even survive if we don’t do something? Those PLA soldiers are a miserable excuse for humanity. How can they lead their own people to slaughter?”
Captain Thornton cleared his throat, and motioned for quiet. “Everyone, listen up. We just received a new set of orders from brigade. The PLA is not only deterring the civilians from leaving the area for safety; they are now actively pushing them out in front of their advance as human shields. The outer perimeter has already collapsed, and our forces are retreating. They will arrive our perimeter shortly. Brigade has just sent a FLASH message directly from General Gardner on orders from the President. We are to engage and kill any civilians being used as human shields.” There was an audible gasp in the room. “I know most of you may not like this idea; however, if we do not stop the PLA advance, we are all going to die. We need to hold our landing zone until reinforcements arrive.”
Pausing for a second to take a breath, he then continued, “I was just told the 32nd infantry division is being deployed to our position, which means they will be delivering thousands of those new enhanced humanoid drones. Once they arrive, we are to let them advance and deal with the PLA and the civilians being used as human shields. They should start to reach us shortly, and will continue to come in until the entire division is here. Our LZ will be one of the primary locations they will be landing at. I know this mess about killing the civilians is beyond horrific, but we have a duty to do, and I need everyone to remember that our lives and those of every other American involved in this invasion is depending on us doing our jobs.”
With his new orders issued and his officers and NCOs acknowledging that they understood, Thornton went back up to the roof of the building he had been using as a headquarters since they first landed. As he arrived at the rooftop, he moved quickly to one of the corners, where several of his men had a heavy machinegun set up.
One of the soldiers looked at Captain Thornton and asked, “Sir, are we really supposed to mow down any civilians we see rushing towards our perimeter?” he probed, clearly distraught with the thought of killing unarmed innocents
Sighing for a second, Thornton sat down next to the Marines and looked each of them in the eye before responding, “These orders are the vilest thing I have ever been tasked with — shoot, the orders are illegal, and against the Laws of War and every rule of engagement we have ever been given or told. If I had my druthers, I’d refuse the order, just as I am sure many of you are thinking of doing. But here’s the deal…the PLA is doing this intentionally. They know our rules of engagement and are trying to use them against us. They are trying to make us second guess ourselves and then overwhelm us with their sheer numbers. We can’t let that happen. If we do, then everyone is going to die and this invasion will fail. We cannot let that happen,” he said, trying to justify what would traditionally be an illegal order.
The Marines thought about it for a few minutes before a young black Marine spoke up for the group, “None of us like these orders, but like you said, Sir, if we do not do it, we are all going to die and this invasion is going to fail. We’ll do it. We will follow your orders, Sir, and we’ll make sure the PLA does not overwhelm our position.” He spoke with such confidence and conviction that all of the other Marines nearby nodded their heads in agreement. This was the only course of action if they were to survive.
Captain Thornton got up slowly and left the machinegun crew to go talk with the other Marines in his Company. He wanted to make sure his soldiers understood the gravity of their situation. It took him close to thirty minutes to visit the majority of his men before the sounds of machinegun fire in the city began to creep closer and louder. Then, small clusters of Marines, first squads and then platoon size groups, began to fall back to their defensive line, shoring up Thornton’s position.
Less than ten minutes after the outer perimeter force fell back to Thornton’s location, the enemy soldiers started to show up. Looking down the street, Thornton’s stomach just sank as he saw throngs of people being forced forward by Chinese tanks, armored personnel vehicles and soldiers with bayonets on the ends of their rifles. It was disgusting to see how callous the PLA was in the treatment of their own people.
Thornton knew what needed to be done and knew he needed to lead by example if he wanted his men to follow such tough orders. While crouched down behind a barrier that his Marines were using, he raised his rifle, took aim and began to fire countless rounds on burst into the crowd of civilians being pushed towards his perimeter. He saw one, then two, then dozens of civilians drop to the ground, dead from his rounds. In seconds of firing his shots, the rest of his company and the Marines from the retreating group began to open fire as well.