Chapter 147: Operation Daotai (Part 2)
Rigen's perspective - July 17, 2039, Jinshan beach - Shanghai, People's Republic of China - 8:50 AM
I was now on a landing craft with dozens of US Marines, we were about to head to the shore of Jinshan beach - one of many shores in Shanghai, the other groups would amphibious into other beaches. Around me were Cawess, Sulivan, Pambo and Lieutenant Haris, we were about to get on the beach, we must capture the beach and then attack the land of Shanghai.
Around me were other landing crafts, some of those landing crafts were going before us because they were the pioneer ones, which meant the ones who would sacrifice to open our blood path. All of the faces on the landing craft I was staying in were very tense, every one of them must have thought about the scenario when the door has been opened, it would be similar to what our ancestors had gone through in D - Day.
The ocean today was very cold, our landing crafts were driving themselves to the shore when all of our Marines were very tense to know what was about to happen to them. Seemed like no one of our buddies had talked to each other, we were all scared and also cautious, I could see some Marines forward me were whispering, maybe they were praying for God.
Pambo was the one who was always making things funny in our group but now he kept silent because he knew that very less of the troops would survive this amphibious assault. I held my M4A1 and then checked its chamber to make sure the rifle had been loaded, I also closed its dust cover in case our Marines would deep under the water during the assault, gun jammed was the thing I hated the most.
The sky was not too clear today, our US Air Force and our US Army were now making an air attack in Shanghai by sending paratroopers there. Though I didn't know if the situation from those sides were good or not, now our Marines would be amphibious into the beach alongside the US Navy troops.
Some Marines were now drinking their water cans as if they were trying to taste some last drops before dying. Lieutenant Haris was looking at the scenery...maybe he was trying to make a plan to make all of us can get through the beach.
Pambo was holding very tight his M249 and pressed his face to it and made a long sigh, Cawess was now smoking alongside Sulivan, one of them even gave their rifle's barrel a cigarette. I saw some Marines around me were vomiting, maybe they were having seasickness though our Commander had already told them to drink anti-sickness pills before heading to the landing craft.
I didn't hear any gunshots from the other side of the beach, maybe the Chinese troops over there hadn't made any move yet...or they were waiting for us to get closer to attack. Though no gunshots were aiming at our landing craft but all of us crouched down just in case, Lieutenant Haris later raised his hand as if he was about to order us something.
"Marines, all of us will die today so don't ever think about going home anymore!" - Right in the opening of the speech of Lieutenant Haris, many of our Marines after hearing it, looked at each other and confused
"You Marines are not mishearing, we will all die so don't ever think about going home!"
"But our deaths would not in vain, we will name ourselves in history, we will become heroes for our children and our descendants!"
"Marines, this amphibious assault would be a new path of the war! We would end the war by making our first steps on the beach!"
"Our deaths would not be in vain, we will live in be remembered forever, today would be a historical day!"
"Even if you Marines are veterans or new Marines or even the most coward ones, then we have nothing to be scared of in this amphibious assault!"
"We will all die today for our descendants' future, for the eternal peace of the world, God blesses us, United States bless us!"
"We have nothing to be scared of, we would kick those Chinese's asses to show them who we are!"
"Who are we, ladies!"
"Marines Corps!"
"Bullshit, I can't hear you! Shout until your mouths exploded!"
"Marines Corps!"
"I will kick your ass out of this landing craft if anyone of you dares to moan! Now shout like the Marines! Shout till my deaf ears can hear you guys!"
"Marines Corps!!!!!"
"Too small but at least my ears can hear now, good job, Marines!"
All of us later stopped being tense and then tried to calm down, our Marines later checked our rifles, some even kissed them to wish for our luck in the battle. We later looked at the landing crafts which were moving before us, those crafts were about to reach the shore and the first US Marines would step on Jinshan beach.
"Marines, head to the beach, get on the land as fast as possible, tear the entire defensive line of the Chinese troops and then we would head to the city and start our occupation!" - Lieutenant Haris ordered our Marines
"Remember to watch out for the artillery strikes, the machine guns and the B28 poison gas! We would not know when those China would use them on us, Marines!"
"God blesses you guys, 20 seconds left!" - The Marine who was the driver of the landing craft signaled us the time when the door would be opened
Our Marines later crouched down, all of our faces were now serious because we would step our feet on the beach when the door has been opened. We held tight to our rifles and then looked forward, I saw that some landing crafts' doors before had been opened and the first Marines had stepped on the shore.
"Massive gunshots!" - A very loud noise from many gunshots from the other side of the beach combined, the Chinese troops had finally attacked us
The gunshots of the machine guns were very loud, some of the bullets hit our landing craft's door but the door hadn't been opened yet so all of us were still safe.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" - Suddenly, massive explosions came to my ears and I saw some big explosions come out around me
The other Marines on the landing craft and me were very shocked when we saw some landing crafts beside us had been burned heavily as if they had been hit by the artillery. We later saw some white objects which looked like missiles and had arrowheads shaped flying in the sky and were about to fall to our position, those were the bombs which contained B28 gas.
Those B28 gas bombs later struck the beach and then green smokes started popping out of the bombs, our US Military never thought China would use this strategy. Because B28 gas's effect would be less dangerous if that gas touches the water.
"B28, wear Alrotz gas masks now, Marines!" - Lieutenant Haris yelled to tell us to wear the gas masks
I and some of our Marines had already worn the Alrotz gas masks but some rookies on the landing craft were very panicked and confused. Those rookie Marines managed to wear the Alrotz gas masks after that and then crouched down to wait for the time all of us would step on the beach.
I saw that the lines of B28 gas around us were now getting bigger and denser, some of those green gas lines even blocked our visions. The numbers of landing crafts that had been struck by the artillery increased more and more, some had been burned before they could touch the shore.
But luckily, I saw at least 7 landing crafts were about to reach the shore, including our landing craft, we were so lucky to be alive till this time. The other Marines were about to stand up to run to the beach when the door was about to open widely, I held tight to my M4 and then the landing craft's door slowly opened.
"Massive gunshots!" - When the landing craft's door had been opened, many bullets struck the Marines who were leading the way
"Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" - Many Marines yelled and then fell when their heads or their bodies had been shot heavily by the machine guns, I had sneaked behind a Marine while crawling so I didn't get shot
The bullets kept chasing me, the landing craft I was staying in was now full of Marines' corpses, I saw that some Marines and my buddies were still alive.
"Get down on under the water!" - Lieutenant Haris yelled while grabbing Cawess and throwing him out of the landing craft
"Ahhhhh!" - A big impact suddenly came to me, maybe some landing craft had hit ours so I was trying to keep my balance while reaching my hand out to grab something to climb outside
I felt like I grabbed something so I lifted myself and then jumped off the landing craft and faced the water which was now covered in blood. My face sunk into the water while seeing some bullets shooting down as if the enemies were really wanting to kill me to the end.
I felt that I could get up while sinking under the water, I slowly got up while avoiding my body from touching the corpses of other Marines. I reached my hands above, trying to grab some Marines' corpses to use their corpses to lift me, my hand later felt to be lifted by something.
When I got up, I noticed that a young Marine had saved me, this kid's face was full of panic, his face was full of water which was mixed with blood. This young Marine had inhaled B28 gas because I saw some of the flesh and the veins in his face were draining out blood, I didn't see his gas mask anywhere, maybe this kid lost it during jumping off the landing craft.
"Keep going, man! Re-, ahhh!" - The young Marine had been shot to the head before he could end his talk, he fell and floated in the blood water alongside other Marines
I immediately walked forward onto the shore while facing the blood on the water alongside dead Marines floating around, the smell on the beach was intense and terrible, I didn't see my units anywhere. The enemies' machine guns kept firing near my position again so I had to crouch under the water a few times while grabbing dead Marines' bodies to cover me from being shot.
After the lines of bullets had gone away, I shoved the corpses out and then walked fast forward to get to the shore. I heard many screams during getting to the shore but I could only care about my life so I didn't notice those details.
My M4 had been filled with water and blood when I was walking to the beach, I hope the dust cover was still closed or my rifle would be jammed. I heard a very big explosion and some dirt hit my face, my chest also felt like to be hit by something, I reached my hand to the thing that hit my chest and grabbed it, raised it to let me see what it was.
That was a bloody hand whose body had been lost, this hand must be from a dead Marine, this thing had been shredded out by artillery, I think. I dropped the bloody dead hand and then kept walking forward, the lines of green smokes kept wandering around me, my vision forward was blocked and I didn't see anyone alive, only corpses floating on the bloody water.
Luckily that my Alrotz gas mask was still here with me or I would have joined with these dead Marines. I heard many yellings but I didn't know where they come from, I kept going while reaching my hands forward, also crouched down under the cold and bloody water to avoid bullets.
After a minute of walking to the shore, it was like an hour being trapped under the water, my hands felt like I had touched wet sand while reaching forward. I squeezed the sand and made sure that I had come to the land, I was glad and then crawled until my vision got out of the green smoke.
When my vision got out of the green smoke, in front of me was now a hell, corpses everywhere, alive Marines were all lying beside the corpses to avoid being hit by bullets. The lines of the machine guns came again so I lied down on the sand to avoid being hit and then crawled until I got into a bunch of corpses whose limbs were lost.
Now I noticed that my combat helmet had been lost for some reason, maybe I lost it during walking on the beach. I looked at my right hand and realized that the M4 I was holding was not just wet in water and blood but now also had sand on it.
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I was still trying to calm myself down and then peeked up from a corpse to see the battle, the Chinese defensive line was still very far from our Marines' position. I saw some Marines before me dozens of meters away were now shooting at the Chinese troops hopelessly because they were away from us quite far.
I looked on the right side and saw a bunch of Marines who were lying beside each other as if they were planning something. But a big explosion later came and shredded out the place those Marines were lying together, all of them died, men lost half of their bodies, men lost limbs, only blood on the sand.
I looked behind while pressing my face to the sand to avoid being shot, the B28 gas had blocked the scenery behind me but I kept looking to see what I can find. A few seconds later, the green smoke slowly vanished and behind me were Marines who were walking from the ocean to the shore, those later mostly got shot by the machine guns or were struck by artillery to die.
Most of the landing crafts behind me were all burned or at least being turned over by colliding with each other. I saw some landing crafts which were the ones who went behind us and had pressed some Marines to die, the scene behind me was very chaotic.
I looked a bit more and noticed that some Marines who were safe after getting out of the landing crafts were running or crawling around the other Marines' corpses for some reason. Later I found out that those Marines were trying to find Alrotz gas masks for them to wear though the B28 gas had vanished on the beach.
I felt suffocated after seeing those bloody scenes but I kept breathing slowly to take calm, I turned my head to the right side to see the situation over there. I saw a group of 4 Marines who were lying beside each other but they seem to have a quarrel when all of them kept pushing each other as if to tell the others to crawl to other places when the position they were staying in had been full.
I later looked at the things in front of me and saw that some Marines had reached the position of the machine guns to attack the Chinese troops but those later got killed because Chinese troops outnumbered them. Another explosion came to my position again, it was an artillery strike but I luckily had no wounds because the strike was away from me a few meters, but I had sniffed the blood of a dead Marine when I was lying beside him.
I saw that if I keep staying here then I would die sooner or later so I slowly crawled while keeping my head low to avoid bullets, limbs, dead bodies and blood everywhere. I didn't see Pambo, Cawess, Sulivan or Lieutenant Haris anywhere, I hope those guys were still alive though I was crawling past dozens of dead bodies with their blood mixed in the sand.
The Chinese defensive line was away from us maybe less than 300 meters but that defensive line was very well secured. When I was still looking at the bunker of the Chinese troops, a B28 bomb suddenly struck down near my position and popped out green smokes, I must continue to crawl.
I kept crawling until I found a long line of barbed wires, still 3 other barbed wires ahead and not so far from me, some Marines who were wounded beside me had pressed their bodies on the wires to let me and the others go through. I noticed that the machine guns had stopped pointed at me so I stood up and then jumped through the barbed wires, I later crawled again and headed to a position that had a Marine who was crying.
Most of our Marines now looked very similar to dead Marines, but only the ones were lying on the sand and didn't move. We were still moving, still alive but around us were full of corpses whose bodies had been shredded in half or lost their limbs and even their heads, I only saw blood on the sand.
I crawled to the young Marine and he was still crying, some of our guys had removed our Alrotz gas masks for better visions but I kept wearing the gas mask for safety. I knew that my advance was slow because some other Marines had now reached the bunker to kill Chinese soldiers though our US Marines hadn't occupied any bunker due to a lack of men.
"What's your name, kid!" - I asked the young Marine
"Tommy, Sir!"
"Where is your unit!"
"I don't know, Sir! We got lost during heading to the shore!"
"You didn't see your Commander! He didn't know your disappearance!"
"My Commander died, Sir! The second in command also died during jumping out of the landing craft!"
"Follow me, I also lost my unit, we will take care of each other! Remember to stay behind me during heading to the bunker! We will join the others!"
"But, Sir! I'm scared, I don't want to die! I lost my weapons and artillery and B28 are everywhere, I can't get through it, Sir!"
"Slap!" - I slapped Tommy and he looked at me in his confusion
"I also scared more than you, kid! The way you can stay here to cry and to complain mean you still have the brave to get through!"
"We have seen hell, kid! That means we can go through it!"
"But I can't, Sir!"
"If you can't then I would help you to get through! Now stay behind me or I will kill you before those ching chongs can! I'm scared to shit my pants right now but I keep going!"
"Take my weapon and stay behind me, kid! We will all survive, believe in yourself! You only die when you stay here forever!"
Tommy later slowly took my M4 and then crawled behind me as my order, I later crawled with my bare hands. Some of our US fighting planes were flying around the bunkers to drop the bombs though Chinese troops were shooting down our planes.
I crawled with Tommy until I found a corpse of a Marine who still have weapons, I took his M16A4 and then kept crawling forward with my body covered by blood and sand. After a few minutes of crawling, we had just gotten away about dozens of meters, were still very close, we must push hard forward to attack the bunkers.
Most of the US Marines' corpses we crawled past, no corpses had been in normal shape, mostly lost their limbs and half of their bodies. The situation on the beach was very brutal and heavy because millions of Marines and Navy soldiers joined this amphibious assault.
Maybe I had seen more than thousands of corpses during the way getting on the shore till this time, more than a hundred thousand of our troops would die in this battle. Now I hope the situation on the land of the Army and the Air Force were fine, I was wondering if Operation Daotai fails, how would our US Generals deal with it?
Tommy kept tapping me to tell me to keep crawling forward because artillery strikes and B28 gas bombs were all around us. Tommy had shot to a bunker a few times though the Chinese were still controlling their bunker to attack us, we haven't taken any bunker yet.
I later crawled forward and then faced a bloody scene, a medic soldier was still trying his best to do the treatment to a Marine who was dying after losing his lower body. I crawled to the medic soldier and noticed that the Marine had stopped breathing but the medic soldier kept doing the treatment.
"Hey, don't touch me!" - The medic soldier our my hand out roughly when I tapped him
"That guy's dead, man! You should stop the treatment to take care of the others!"
"I know...but he was my best friend!"
I saw that our conversation would not lead to any positive answer so I kept crawling forward, this time we were about to head to the bunker. While crawling to the Marines' position nearby to join them to attack the bunker, I saw a military helmet lying beside me so I grabbed the helmet and wore it to let my head have more protection.
The Marines and the Navy soldiers who were crawling to hide out of the machine guns on the bunker saw us from behind, they sent some men to get to our position and then led us to them safely. The troops beside me were now thinking about how to make an effective attack on the bunker to take over it, I looked around and didn't see Cawess's group anywhere...they died?
"Hey, I heard some of our guys didn't attack successful but at least ran into the city safety, that place is like shit!" - A Navy soldier said to us
"What do you mean?" - I asked the Navy soldier
"The Chinese troops only make the defensive line on the beach but not in the city, I heard at least more than thousands of our guys managed to get into the city!"
"What should we do, man!" - A Marine asked the Navy soldier
"Don't know, but if we risk running inside the city and then gather our troops to attack must not be a bad choice! I heard the Air Force and the Army sides are quite well in their attack, not like us!"
I could not do anything if I keep hearing these guys talking, I slowly peeked up and pointed my M16A1 to the bunker and was about to shoot.
"Bang!" - A gunshot exploded and my head seemed to have a big impact, my body felt heavy
"Shit, that guy is dead!"
"Sir! Sir! Please wake up, Sir!" - I heard Jimmy call me though I could not stand up to respond to him
"Let's make the attack, guys! We must not stay here to wait anymore! I will call another airstrike!"
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I remembered that I had been shot or something like that, my body later felt heavy and I fell, I...didn't remember what happened to me afterward. I felt that I was...lying on the ground of some strange place, the surface my back was touching didn't like sand at all, as if I didn't on the beach anymore.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw myself in a strange place as if I was in a broken building, which had destroyed windows and a dirty floor. My hands didn't have a weapon, my holster which was used to store my M9 Beretta had finally gone, I didn't have my helmet or my Alrotz gas mask.
I slowly got up and then looked around, I walked to the windows to see if I could find anything outside or not. Outside was a city as I could describe, maybe I was now in Shanghai city but I was on the beach earlier, how could I get here?
The city seemed very shabby, because our US Military had attacked Shanghai a few weeks before deciding to make this amphibious assault. Now Shanghai was nothing but a ghost city because civilians had been evacuated...I must not stay where for too long, must find out where I was now.
"You son of a bitch, I thought you would never come back." - A man's voice called me from behind and I turned back to see, that was Cawess
Cawess was holding his dirty M4 Carbine, he made a sigh after seeing me and then headed toward me and touched my head. This guy's face seemed very exhausted this time for some reason, his combat uniform and his military bag were still wet.
"Where am I, Cawess?"
"Inside Shanghai city, we lost you doing getting to the shore, all of us stayed on the beach just to find your ass, you know?" - Cawess seemed to be arrogant but he was a heartful man, I guess!
"Well, after a few minutes on the beach but didn't find you anywhere, we gave up and moved up with the bunch of corpses around..."
"And...we found you, alone near a B28 bomb with the smokes popping out from it, you were about to inhale those shit, you know?"
"Anyway, I thought you were dead, man! How can I leave you there even if you died for real? I haven't shown you my dick's size."
"Hey, Cawess! This is not a good time for jokes..."
"Anyway...it's good that you are still alive, Rigen...we would contact the Army and the Air Force guys, we are the only Marines here." - Cawess tapped me and then made a sign to tell me to follow him
"What do you mean?"
"Millions of Marines and Navy guys who joined the earlier assault have been shredded out into blood cheese, we managed to get in the city with remaining Marines."
I later walked outside of the room with Cawess and then in front of me were many tired Marines, a bunch of them were staying inside a small room of the building. I also saw some Navy soldiers but they were very less compared to our Marines, I saw no one of them was wounded, all of them seemed to be fine with no wounds.
The Marines and the Navy soldiers looked at me and waved their hands with their tired faces to greet me, those were mostly sitting in the corners to rest. I looked back to see Cawess and he pulled out his M8 Beretta pistol and gave it to me, he sighed many times while looking out of the windows.
"Hey, where are the wounded?"
"Dead all...on the beach, most of us didn't return there to watch the situation and we managed to get here without having a wound." - Cawess kept looking at me as if to ask me to take his pistol
I later took the M9 Beretta pistol on Cawess's hand and then put it on my holster, the Marines were mostly silent, no one made a talk as if they were all depressed. I later walked around the building to see the situation, Cawess also followed me for some reason, at the time I walked to each room, I would see many Marines and Navy soldiers gathering in each room with their tired faces.
The number of troops inside this building must be more than a hundred men, when I was still wondering what was happening here, Cawess suddenly walked behind me. I looked in the direction where Cawess was going and noticed that Pambo, Sulivan and Lieutenant Haris were now standing before me, their uniforms were full of blood and their faces seemed tired.
"Found no one, the wounded have been carried into the ships and those guys left us, we are trapped here." - Lieutenant Haris said to Cawess and then shook his head and sighed for a long line
"What do we do now, Sir?" - I stepped forward to Lieutenant Haris and asked him
"We would contact the Army and the Air Force units, we would withdraw from Shanghai within 24 hours."
"What do you mean, Sir?"
"According to the intel I found earlier, we lost more than 1.000.000 troops during the assault and wounded more than 2.000.000 men...General Hudson told us to retreat."
"How, Sir?"
"Our Army has already taken an airfield, we would move out for a few minutes so get ready, Private Rigen! We must go fast or all of our Marines would be left behind after 24 hours."
"We also lost other units in the city, Rigen...thousand of our Marines and our Navy guys are trapped and lost communication around here."
"We would find them before heading to the airfield, why don't you take this stuff?." - Sulivan said to me and then gave me an M4 Carbine, maybe he found it during going outside
"We have to leave, Sir?" - Cawess asked Lieutenant Haris while putting off his military helmet
"Yeah, we have to leave...we cannot invade Shanghai, our second Normandy would end tomorrow."
"You guys should be well prepared, this war is still long to be ended, we will move out within 5 minutes, rest and prepare quickly." - Lieutenant Haris later turned around and seemed to want to go outside of the room
"Cough! Cough! Sorry, rest quick, we don't have time to fuck around with those Chinese." - Lieutenant Haris later walked outside of the room
"Let's go over there to rest, homies! We are all tired here, come on." - Pambo tapped me and then all of us walked to a good place to sit
But there were no empty corners here for us to sit so Pambo later pointed to the floor so all of us sat down there. Sulivan sat with his exhausted face, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and then...those cigarettes had been wet during heading to the shore.
"Motherfucker! Ahhh!" - Sulivan threw the pack of cigarettes outside of the window and then grunted while holding his forehead
"Luckily that we were not the pioneers, the guys who went before us saved all of us, we may have died all if we were them..." - Cawess pressed his face to his M4 while sighing non-stop
"The most terrible fight I had ever seen in the war, homies...we saw the entire LIVE of Billeranov Zeneztra's war crime but this was the first time I ever shivered while thinking back on the things that happened on the beach."
Pambo said to us while mentioning a strange name "Billeranov Zeneztra", I was wondering what was that man. All of us were very depressed about what we had seen during the fighting on the beach, all of us had expected this amphibious assault but finally...failed pathetically.
"Outside there are full of Chinese troops...we would be all fucked up for sure..." - Cawess complained again
"This operation would have been successful if NATO and other sides were still with us, we cannot fight alongside only Russians against China, we need more allies..." - Sulivan talked to me
"Trained in months, fought in years...died in a few seconds on the beach, even didn't know who killed us, our fates are so fragile and unpredictable during this battle." - Pambo tried to open a smile but his face was soon depressed
"Hey, let me hug you guys before all of us die...homies..." - Pambo later crouched toward me and then hugged me, he later hugged Cawess and Sulivan
We later hugged each other and then sat on the floor to look at each other after sharing our feelings. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Haris came back to the room with other Marine beside him, maybe they were the Commanders of other units, maybe we would move outside soon.
"Marines, we will now head to Jiangwan airport to onboard and retreat from Shanghai, we only have 24 hours, we will go now or we will be left behind forever." - Lieutenant Haris and other Commanders ordered us, we are about to retreat