Chapter 180: Reaching Melitopol In Just Two Days
Distant bombing operations transmitted faint rumbling sounds, along with vague, slender pillars of smoke.
But because the two locations were at least seven or eight kilometers apart, Lelouch, positioned in the rear, could not directly see the results of the distant bombing, even through the artillery mirror he could only see some indistinct, hazy smoke and dust.
He could only judge that the strike on the enemy artillery position had been completed by the actions of his own fighter jets dropping small bombs and returning to base.
Perhaps some of the enemy’s cannons had survived, but at this point Lelouch had no other choice and could only gamble on this; he had to launch a full-scale attack while the enemy was most shocked.
“Have the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment dismount and launch a full assault, no need to use armored cars, just rely on traditional assault battalion tactics to attack. Pay attention to light machine gun suppression and grenade launcher high-angle fire to clear trench machine gun positions. The 2nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment as reserve, prepare to strike at any time.
Don’t deploy the main force of the armored car troops; the enemy has dug trenches across the entire area, and their obstacle-crossing capability can’t keep up. However, concentrate those few armored cars equipped with 57mm short-barreled cannons to follow behind the infantry, advancing as close as possible to the enemy’s second trench line, providing supporting fire with vehicle-mounted cannons. But absolutely do not advance further into the enemy positions.”
With the obstacle-crossing capability of armored cars, they originally couldn’t even pass the first trench network.
But during that over an hour earlier while eating lunch, resting, and waiting for air support, the German soldiers in the first trench had urgently used entrenching tools to fill in several gaps in the trench area under their control.
Those temporarily filled positions were just right for wheeled vehicles to drive straight through, thus closing the engagement distance by at least another kilometer.
Each unit immediately began executing Division Commander Lelouch’s orders; one mechanized infantry regiment quickly shifted to assault formation, suppressing with grenade launchers and light machine guns, launching alternating covered charges with submachine guns.
Just like the assault battalion tactics invented over half a year ago—this move had long been practiced to perfection by Lelouch’s subordinates.
The reason for having the mechanized infantry regiment attack was not because their combat effectiveness was stronger than ordinary infantry regiments, but simply because the two reinforced ordinary infantry regiments of the Great Germania Division had not yet arrived at the battlefield.
This battlefield was already 32 kilometers from the morning’s starting position; infantry marching on foot could not possibly cover 32 kilometers in such a short time. Even if they did, their stamina would be nearly exhausted.
The Lushan M1910 heavy machine guns rang out again, frantically trying to suppress the charging German soldiers, but they were soon targeted and destroyed by nearby armored cars with 57mm short-barreled cannons.
Although these cannons had small calibers and power inferior to standard field guns, their advantage was close-range firing; even blocked by the second trench and unable to cross obstacles, these small cannons could still reach the bunkers and fire points on the subsequent Lusha third and fourth trench networks.
At such close range, accuracy was extremely high, and even if they missed, they could quickly adjust by visual estimation.
After the Lushans’ artillery positions were annihilated by Germania airplanes, they had no weapons left that could penetrate the frontal steel plates of the armored gun cars.
Especially since these armored vehicles had been temporarily repurposed by Lelouch, no longer charging at the front line but merely providing fire support from near the second trench.
The Lushans didn’t even have the chance to hastily bundle cluster grenades and send daredevils to stuff grenades under the vehicles.
Under this tactical switch, the only extra cost for the Germania Army was slightly higher casualties among the mechanized infantry regiment’s assault infantry, but this was an acceptable price. Compared to the huge gains after the breakthrough here, it was entirely worth it.
Under Lelouch’s powerful offensive, the Lushans were quickly breached at the second trench defense line, and the subsequent third was also in dire straits.
……
With the Germania Army’s fierce offensive, Brigadier General Vladimir on the opposite side also knew survival hung by a thread.
He dared not hold back any longer, frantically urging his reserve artillery and even untrained infantry to rush to the artillery positions, trying to use the cannons whose structures had not yet been destroyed.
“Whether you know how to fire or not! Anyone strong enough to move shells, anyone with good eyesight, all provide nearby support to the artillery positions! Get all usable cannons firing! The defense line is only 400 meters wide! Concentrated cannon fire can definitely stop the enemy! Those armored cars can definitely be blasted apart!
Life or death depends on this step! Without using these cannons, we have no other means to stop the armored cars! Also, what about the air support we called for earlier? Why haven’t our fighter reconnaissance aircraft come to drive away the enemy’s fighter jets and airships?”
Brigadier General Vladimir no longer cared about his dignity as division commander, personally urging his guards to the artillery positions and temporarily learning to help fire the cannons himself; he knew these cannons were the hope of the entire division.
However, air superiority remained firmly in the hands of the Germanians; although their bomb-laden airplanes had dropped their bombs and returned to base, some equipped only with machine guns continued circling overhead.
They seemed short on ammunition and didn’t dare constantly descend for ground strafing, just circling to control the area.
The airships with much greater payload had no such scruples, continuously strafing the artillery positions; whenever Lushans tried to rush over to fire, they were swept down from above by the airships.
Batch after batch of soldiers trying to temporarily fill in as gunners to save the day fell in pools of blood.
It was unclear how much time passed, perhaps 20 minutes, when Lusha fighter jets finally appeared, numbering a few dozen, but far from an advantage in quantity compared to German aircraft, with even greater gaps in aircraft performance and pilot skill.
However, the Lusha pilots’ target was clear; upon seeing the German “gunships” continuously suppressing the ground artillery positions, the Lusha aircraft swarmed forward relentlessly.
“Intercept them! Don’t let them near the gunships!” Major Manfred Richthofen shouted loudly, while waggling his wings a few times, leading his comrades in a vicious dive toward the Lusha aircraft.
“Da-da-da”—with a few clean short bursts, Richthofen shot down two Lusha aircraft, and the other comrades soon scored kills as well.
However, the desperate Lusha pilots charged the airships regardless, spraying white phosphorus bullets while rushing.
“Boom~” One hundred-meter-long airship, under sustained strikes from white phosphorus shells, quickly erupted in roaring hydrogen flames and crashed toward the ground positions.
Fortunately, the crew aboard had undergone several months of winged parachute training; after simply adjusting the airship’s final crash direction, they parachuted toward the rear positions controlled by friendly forces, landing at least in areas held by Germania infantry.
“Boom~” Soon another massive explosion; another airship was directly hit by a Lusha Army 76mm dual-purpose field gun firing at elevated muzzle.
It turned out that, ever since the Sevastopol air raid battle, after the Lusha Fleet and coastal defense fortresses were devastated by airship bombing, the Lushans had painfully developed new anti-aircraft guns.
Now, the Lushans had converted quite a few frontline 76mm cannons to high-angle anti-air mode, but earlier during the first wave of Germania airplane air raid, the aircraft targets were too small, and these dual-purpose guns had fired a few hasty shots without hitting.
Later, the airships kept suppressing the artillery positions, preventing personnel from reaching them to operate, until now. At this moment, thanks to the disruption by the Lusha air units, ground troops faced reduced pressure, allowing some gunners to successfully rush to the artillery positions and hastily elevate muzzles for random shots.
The airships were simply too large and slow, with a full 100-meter body; while performing “gunship” strafing to ensure heavy machine gun lethality, they couldn’t fly too high and had to stay below 2000 meters.
The combined effect of these factors naturally led to the 76mm anti-air guns blindly hitting one with a few shots.
However, the Lushans’ resistance ended there.
Soon after, the air battle concluded; the valiant Major Richthofen shot down another 5 Lusha aircraft today, their air group totaling 35 enemy kills, losing only 4 aircraft themselves, plus 2 airships destroyed.
The cost of 2 airships was basically equivalent to one light cruiser. 2 airships plus 4 German fighter jets—the total cost should clearly exceed the Lushans’ 35 aircraft.
But war is about strategic significance, not just economic calculation.
The Germanians’ sustained air suppression ensured that throughout the Germania ground troops’ offensive, the Lusha defenders’ artillery remained neutralized, unable to bombard assault troops or counter armored gun cars with cannons, achieving this tactical objective—it was entirely worth it.
When the air battle ended, the Lushans’ defense line on the ground was finally completely breached by the Germania Army; the blocking defense battle of Lusha 21st Division had thoroughly collapsed.
At least 1 infantry regiment annihilated, 1 artillery regiment annihilated, and two battered infantry regiments retreating rearward, completely abandoning this throat-held natural choke point.
“Quick, have the troops hurry to repair the railway, fill a few gaps in these simple trenches to let the armored troops through!”
Seeing the frontal assault finally achieve a great victory, Lelouch excitedly moved his eyes from the artillery mirror, issuing orders in rapid succession.
After giving the orders, Lelouch didn’t forget to check his watch—it was only 3 p.m.; after 3 hours of fierce fighting, the enemy’s final 4-kilometer-deep fortified zone had been completely breached.
At this moment, from the morning’s starting position, they had cumulatively advanced 35 kilometers north, including 22 kilometers of fortified zones.
The Germania infantry who had just occupied the enemy positions immediately began wielding entrenching tools, systematically filling gaps across the enemy’s successive trenches.
After another hour-plus of emergency construction, all 5 Lusha trenches had gaps filled, allowing armored cars to pass unimpeded.
At exactly 5 p.m., two armored regiments burst out of the lagoon peninsula terrain and charged into the famous Nogai Steppe. Ahead lay no obstacles, just vast black soil plains.
“Keep advancing without stopping, push harder! All armored cars note: our goal is to reach Troitskoye before nightfall! Only 7 kilometers left, all steppe terrain—victory will surely belong to the Empire!”
Lelouch poked his upper body out of the armored car, waving his arms, loudly commanding and inspiring the officers and soldiers.
“Certain victory! Certain victory!”
All two armored regiments, two mechanized infantry regiments, two motorized infantry regiments pressed forward at full speed.
Foot infantry stayed behind; some marched slowly on foot, while those with entrenching tools capable of earthworks helped repair the railway, ensuring the supply train from the rear could arrive at Troitskoye by tomorrow morning at the latest.
On the late September Kievan Rus’ Great Plain, nightfall wasn’t too early, but just over half an hour later, Lelouch’s armored column, advancing in fits and starts, reached Troitskoye.
Theoretically, the town still had 1 infantry regiment garrisoned, plus some routed soldiers who had fled back earlier.
But in reality, those routed soldiers couldn’t outrun the armored cars. Brigadier General Vladimir’s routed troops hadn’t even returned to Troitskoye—Lelouch arrived first.
“Have the two armored regiments split left and right to bypass the town, no need to enter for siege, just encircle it, then have the mechanized infantry regiment enter to search and advance; force a surrender if possible, call out to let them know the 21st Division’s main force has been annihilated by us!”
Upon seeing the town appear on the horizon, Lelouch immediately issued orders, which were quickly executed.
At 6:20 p.m., just as dusk fully fell, the remaining garrison in the town collapsed and, led by officers, surrendered in formation with rifles raised.
The town was said to have one regiment, but such second-line troops numbered only a little over a thousand rifles; Brigadier General Vladimir had earlier pulled all combat-capable units to the peninsula base defense line for blocking, leaving in the town people who were completely ineffective in battle, mostly raw recruits.
These recruits had no will to fight and couldn’t comprehend: “This morning when fighting started, the enemy was still on the Crimean Peninsula 42 kilometers away. How in just one day did the enemy advance a full 42 kilometers?”
This shock caused the second-line troops in the rear, unprepared mentally for frontline combat, to collapse mentally.
“Sir, shall we continue pursuing overnight?” Rommel’s energy was rekindled; seeing the division commander personally set an example, smoothly breaching the enemy’s final solid defense line in one afternoon, he now only wanted to expand the gains.
After asking, he couldn’t help but exclaim: “Division Commander, you’re truly divine! When it comes to understanding armored warfare, you still surpass me by far!
I never thought of adapting on the fly, turning armored cars from assault forces into second-line support fire! As soon as I saw insufficient cross-country capability and terrain sabotaged by the enemy, I was at a loss.
I also never imagined calling air fire support for ground-air coordination to quickly break through blockages when artillery couldn’t keep up! Such adaptive tactical innovations could only be conceived by a genius like you in such short time!”
Lelouch felt a bit embarrassed by Rommel’s flattery.
In today’s full day of operations, many of Rommel’s tactical arrangements were extremely precise and solid; he just lacked a bit of imagination and rigorous hypothetical deduction for unknowns.
Lelouch hadn’t done much today, but every move—whether innovative ground-air coordination or flexibly switching armored assault forces and self-propelled cannon support fire roles—was copying historical answers.
So every move was a stroke of genius.
Let Rommel handle trivial matters; when Rommel couldn’t manage and needed the transmigrator’s foresight to directly point out major innovations, then Lelouch stepped in. This cooperation made Lelouch seem divinely assisted.
If Lelouch personally micromanaged every detail without letting Rommel handle things up front, his true level would quickly be exposed.
But there’s nothing to say about that; delegating authority is a virtue. Knowing one’s micromanagement is poor, then don’t micromanage.
When Rommel couldn’t handle it and came to consult, Lelouch could grasp the big picture and delegate the small—that’s the way to govern state and army.
At this moment, Lelouch had no time for Rommel’s honest words; adjusting his mood, he immediately instructed: “The troops have been exhausted all day and fought hard battles; continuing pursuit immediately is impossible. Rest in the town overnight first, wait for the rear to repair the railway.
By tomorrow morning, trains should bring the first batch of supplies and repair parts. After refueling and rearming, split the troops into two groups. The 2nd Armored Regiment with 1 mechanized infantry regiment and 1 motorized infantry regiment strikes out immediately. The 1st Armored Regiment can rest longer, departing tomorrow morning.
Starting tomorrow, troops operate 16 hours daily, rest 8 hours. 12 hours for offensive combat, 4 hours for marching. Thus, the 2nd Armored Regiment leads the breakthrough for 12 hours; around 8 hours in, the 1st Armored Regiment marches to catch up.
Mechanized and motorized troops, in this steppe environment, marching 4 hours should cover the 12 hours of combat advance distance. Troops split into two: the front advances 4 hours to catch up to friendly new gains, then leads assault for 12 hours.
Friendly forces rest 8 hours then march up, which should suffice. This ensures continuous offense, so enemies can’t reinforce or block even if they want to—they can’t keep up with our rhythm!”
The situation Lelouch described had repeatedly occurred on the Earth plane over twenty years later. During the Frankish campaign, after French Army breakthroughs, they tried reorganizing defense lines, only to find enemies behind them again.
In Lelouch’s view, in this steppe combat environment, offensive sustainability mattered far more than offensive explosiveness.
Even if enemies later had strong forces blocking, their speed couldn’t match; just bypass strong enemies encountered.
The only thing that could catch up might be Cossack cavalry units. But let them chase if they want—no big deal.
Would Lelouch fear cavalry pursuing armored cars?
Rommel’s eyes lit up upon hearing: “Great idea! This should be the tactic with the strongest offensive sustainability! I’ll execute it immediately; then you and I each lead half the troops, alternating rest and offense.”
……
That night, the troops slept soundly in Troitskoye, also ransacking alcohol and meat and food to reward the army and boost morale.
In the latter half of the night, as expected, the rear railway was open; a train loaded with ammunition, parts, and fuel arrived.
Lelouch immediately ordered the troops scheduled to rest later to unload cargo and maintain/refuel vehicles, while letting those about to strike sleep two more hours to fully recover energy.
Around 4 a.m., all strike preparations complete, the assault troops rose to wash and eat breakfast, departing on time at 4:30 a.m., continuing along the railway toward the more northern rail hub Melitopol.
Because the Germania Army advanced too fast, surrounding Lusha garrisons hadn’t reacted; no troops could timely reinforce to plug gaps.
Lelouch’s advance was thus smooth; at most, passing towns along the railway encountered a battalion or a few companies of security troops—utterly combat-ineffective, all crumbling at the armored regiment’s attack, surrendering as captives.
Melitopol lay about 90 kilometers northeast of Troitskoye, an important Eastern Front rail hub in Kievan Rus’.
The railway from Kherson eastward forked at Melitopol: one continued east along the coast to Rostov at the Don River Estuary; the other north, another 120-130 kilometers to Zaporizhzhia.
Melitopol also had 1 reserve division defending, but being rear-area, its attached troops had very low combat effectiveness, incomplete training, understrength at less than 10,000 men.
Lelouch’s troops advanced from just after 4 a.m. until 4 p.m., covering over 70 kilometers—twice yesterday’s speed—but on reflection, it was normal; yesterday involved several assault battles, today mostly flat advances.
By 4 p.m., Rommel from behind finally caught up—Rommel had left some margin, originally scheduled for noon departure, but he finished lunch by 11 a.m., then covered in four or five hours the land the commander took 12 hours to seize.
Meanwhile, the Great Germania Division’s two 8000-man reinforced infantry regiments had organized defenses and patrols along dozens of kilometers of railway north of Troitskoye, securing the line.
The sector south of Troitskoye had been handed to friendly forces who arrived by train today for defense.
Reportedly, 3 Germania Army divisions were train-bound north, striving to defend along both sides of the breakthrough pierced by the Great Germania Armored Training Division, but still couldn’t match Lelouch’s pace.
Yet Lelouch had no intention of slowing; after handing over to Rommel, he urged him to take Melitopol tonight, and Rommel readily agreed.
At 5 p.m., Lelouch, busy all day, went to sleep as planned, able to rest 8 hours until 1 a.m.
But actually, due to Rommel’s slightly slower march and attacking a rail hub city, Lelouch slept soundly until 3 a.m. before being woken by subordinates.
“So disruptive? Weren’t you supposed to wake me at 1 a.m.?” Lelouch, after waking and simple washing, sipped coffee while checking his watch, somewhat angry.
“Division Commander, Deputy Division Commander Rommel said last night’s progress was slow; you could catch up in 2 hours march, no need for 4 hours reserve, so we let you sleep 2 extra hours…” The orderly explained cautiously.
Lelouch then didn’t press them, just took another sip of coffee: “How far did Rommel advance in 10 hours? What time did he take Melitopol?”
The orderly was reverent: “Division Commander, you already know? Melitopol is taken; Deputy Division Commander Rommel with just his half-division combat forces arrived outside the city at 8 p.m. last night, battle ended at 1 a.m., enemy ultimately 7000 surrendered.
You wouldn’t believe it—the enemy was stunned; Melitopol garrison never imagined we’d reach here. After 1 a.m., Deputy Division Commander Rommel advanced another 20 kilometers north. Distance to Zaporizhzhia should now be under 100 kilometers.”
In 24 hours, another cumulative ~100 kilometers advanced, including four or five hours fighting a siege to annihilate an understrength ragtag reserve division in Melitopol.
Two days total: 140 kilometers deep into enemy territory.
Speeding across the steppe feels great.
——
PS: Today again two 6000-word big chapters totaling 12,000 words…
