Reincarnated as Nikolai II

"Fuck, Daisuke, what does that look like to you?"

"Long stretched barbed wire and low 1.5m fortifications. For some reason, I feel like artillery is waiting behind that mountain-"

BOOM- KABOOM-

"-they are. Then under the feet of our men rushing there, there must be mines-"

KABOOM!

"...and mines too."

"These crazy higher-ups. The enemy is retreating? We’re winning? Then were these defensive positions made overnight? Anyone can see they’re luring us in!"

However, with the bankruptcy timer ticking, Imperial Headquarters pressured field commanders, and commanders in turn ordered their troops to charge to their deaths, so farmers-turned-soldiers had to rush forward whether they lived or died.

Still, making their winter failures look pale in comparison, the Japanese army steadily pushed forward.

Though casualties accumulated.

Though the enemy was carefully retrieving even damaged gun barrels as they retreated.

Still, for the first time since the war began, they pushed the front line upward.

How many days had they advanced, alternately stepping on earth and corpses?

Despite losing all 50,000 initial troops at the Yalu River, Kuroki Tamemoto of the First Army, which had consumed the most reserves, finally chased the enemy to the end of Liaodong.

When they set up camp to sleep peacefully for a day, inaccurate artillery fire kept them up all night, and just as they got used to that, Cossack cavalry would fire shots from afar and flee.

It wasn’t simply scorched earth tactics of retreating and interfering. Among various false signals, they sometimes launched real counterattacks, bringing Tamemoto to tears as he pursued.

But that too, only until today.

’Romaaan! You can’t run away anymore! This will be the last of your precious fortress!’

Now it’s Manchuria. Not Korea, but direct supply of troops and materials through the Yellow Sea, and even direct naval support would be possible.

In fact, gathering foreign war correspondents and military observers from the great powers covering the First Army, Tamemoto boasted:

"Port Arthur fortress will fall early. They’re now rats in a trap! Since Major Roman, the fortress commander, rejected surrender terms yesterday, a general offensive is inevitable!"

The next day. Tamemoto, who ordered an offensive using every ounce of the First Army’s strength, commanded the capture of the massive Port Arthur fortress.

However, when a flag bearer on the fortress lowered a flag viewed through binoculars.

Ratatatata-

BOOM- BOOM- KABOOM-!

"Machine gun nests! Find the machine gun nests first!"

"There are too many machine guns!"

"M-my clothes are caught in the barbed wire! Cut it for me!"

"Wait, I’ll cut it-"

"No! Don’t cut it! It’s not barbed wire, it’s an electrified fence! Don’t touch it!"

"-Urgh."

The enemy, hiding from the Japanese preliminary bombardment, all raised their heads at once and poured out firepower.

’Ah, the Yalu River?’

No. This is different from that winter nightmare.

"Commander Tamemoto! The fence is electrified!"

"Those vicious bastards hid artillery inside the fortress again!"

"Our infantry can’t even cross the barbed wire!"

The Yalu River didn’t have such fences or barbed wire. The fortress wasn’t this tall, and most importantly, it wasn’t a place without gaps for 39 kilometers.

"Field guns aren’t enough. We need heavy artillery to break the barbed wire!"

"Y-yes! Fire the heavy guns!"

Perhaps not forgetting lessons learned bleeding at the Yalu River, staff officers and commanders immediately responded to enemy tactics.

First, they needed to bombard for infantry advance, whether destroying fortress walls or otherwise, rather than prioritizing artillery duels with enemy guns.

Under Tamemoto and his staff’s quick command, the artillery changed their aim to the fence.

"Prepare to fire!!"

"Loading complete!"

"Ready, fire!"

"Fire!"

Fortunately, the artillery quickly concentrated all heavy guns for firing.

BOOM-

Shells flying far with recoil.

"Direct hit!"

"We’ve scored hits!"

Thanks to increased proficiency through months of hellish combat, the shells fortunately hit their targets.

However.

"Hey, staff officer."

"Yes, commander."

"The fence is intact?"

"T-that can’t be! We definitely hit it!"

They hit. Maybe not all, but quite a number of shells flew quickly and struck the fence.

But.

"What did we just fire?"

"Shrapnel shells with steel balls in the warhead, also called beehive rounds. Because they surely turn the enemy into a beehive!"

"...Try again with high-explosive shells with good blast power. What’s the point of hitting steel fence with steel balls?"

"H-high-explosive shells are so expensive that even Imperial Headquarters is restraining production. We’re almost out of stock-"

"Then what else do we have!"

"We have armor-piercing shells meant for fortresses."

"That’s, that’s just solid metal!"

Yes. High-explosive shells are very expensive in this era. Too expensive, but with worse kill radius than shrapnel shells, so few armies used high-explosive shells for efficiency reasons.

Even the wealthy German, French, and British armies couldn’t continuously fire high-explosive shells with field artillery.

So to break through the fence and barbed wire, obstacles that must be overcome before reaching that fortress.

"...Switch to non-stop general offensive day and night."

There’s no choice.

They must repeat what they did at the Yalu River.

Pushing in troops. The First Army must break through, sink or swim.

Tamemoto acted according to his own words. He pushed continuously for five days from April 19th to 24th.

As a result, they succeeded in breaking through the relatively less fortified Daijōzan on the northwest face.

However.

"...Recaptured? We barely gained one hill after five days of general offensive and lost it?"

"I-if we hadn’t retreated, it would have been total annihilation! Commander, that place is hell! Everyone who goes there dies!"

Roman immediately took back even the one thing they had managed to grasp.

At the end of the first general offensive.

Only then did Tamemoto begin to see that fortress anew.

That place... isn’t a medieval fortress you capture by climbing ladders.

A swamp. What was it called in Russian, rasputitsa? A deadly swamp you die in if you fall.

It must be acknowledged. To break through there in a short time requires not just the First Army, but the Second Army, Third Army. No, even the National Defense Force from the homeland must be brought in.

However, unfortunately, those above didn’t understand the commander Tamemoto’s realization.

[We will send more reserves, so you must capture Port Arthur fortress without fail. -Chief of General Staff, General Ōyama Iwao-]

In front, Major Roman says come in if you want to die.

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Behind, General Iwao says go in to die.

"...Fuuuck."

Tamemoto had no choice.

None except death.