Chapter 75: Demon In The Smoke, Strangling The Expeditionary Force
“How could the Royal Navy fall to such a state… Has the boiler pressure not yet risen to the minimum threshold required for departure?”
“Adjust the isolation valve, prioritize power to the hydraulic pumps! Each turret select targets independently, load armor-piercing shells, fire at will!”
In Dunkirk Port, aboard the Formidable-class pre-dreadnought “London,” Major General Hubert Lynch stood resolutely in the conning tower with a telescope in hand, staring fixedly through the thick armored windows at the coastal defense battery on the south shore already controlled by the enemy, issuing helpless orders.
Major General Lynch was the commander of this detached squadron. He had brought 2 pre-dreadnoughts and 4 shallow-water heavy gunships forward to deploy in Dunkirk Port precisely to provide the Army with sufficient close-range bombardment firepower during the siege defense—
On the beach in West City, due to the lack of deep-water anchorage, normal heavy warships had to deploy 5-10 kilometers offshore, so the higher-ups specially brought all the newly built shallow-water heavy gunships to Dunkirk Port, letting them circle around during the day to provide opportunistic bombardment support.
On the east side of the city, since there was already a port area with deep-water anchorage, pre-dreadnoughts with deep drafts could sail right in, directly providing extremely close-range support.
But who would have thought there would be a day like this, where 2 pre-dreadnoughts and 4 shallow-water heavy gunships became trapped like turtles in a jar within half an hour.
The two twin 305 mm main turrets of “London” were still rotating furiously.
The steam boilers aboard, which had been building pressure for over half an hour, were still insufficient to drive the main engines for navigation.
But under meticulous power management, by adjusting the isolation valves on the boiler exhaust ports to redirect the high-pressure steam originally meant for the main engines to the hydraulic pump room first, they could at least get the main turrets turning.
And when Major General Lynch issued this order, it meant that the two Formidable-class ships under his command had recognized the situation and given up escaping the port.
Now they only wanted to output one last wave of firepower before dying, dragging some enemies down with them!
The 152 mm secondary guns and 76 mm rapid-fire cannons on both port and starboard sides of the two pre-dreadnoughts were also firing at full blast, simultaneously pounding the enemy coastal defense fortresses to the north and south.
152 mm shells landed near the 140 mm gun positions on shore, occasionally taking out a French small gun, but were soon overwhelmed by far more intense retaliatory fire.
The 305 mm main turrets on the Formidable-class could not even turn to the same target in time; they just blasted whichever target they could catch. The fore and aft main turrets fought independently, without unified fire control and needing none, just direct aiming and blasting, raising the barrel a bit if they fell short.
At point-blank range within 5 kilometers, all fire control lost meaning—just shoot.
Such a scene had not appeared in human naval battle history for decades. The Tsushima naval battle ten years ago and the Battle of the Yalu River twenty years ago did not have such intertwined close-range combat between enemies.
One had to go back at least to the 1866 Battle of Lissa for human battleships to penetrate deep into enemy formations like this, allowing secondary guns on both port and starboard to output fire simultaneously.
Unexpectedly, that ancient, knight-like scene was reenacted today…
As Major General Lynch stared grimly at his own ship’s main turret gradually aiming at a twin 340 mm armored turret atop Fort Rohan on the south bank, a thunderous explosion came from hundreds of meters off his starboard beam.
His lookout officer, face covered in blood, slid down from the lookout tower to report: “General, Indomitable exploded! It was concentrated by too many 340 heavy guns!”
Major General Lynch glanced to the right; “Indomitable” had been focused even earlier than his “London,” couldn’t withstand a few salvos, and exploded completely—likely repeatedly penetrated, even the ammunition depot couldn’t hold. Before sinking, “Indomitable” only took out two 240 guns and a few 140 guns—not worth the death at all.
But he had no time to grieve for “Indomitable”; he could only turn sorrow and anger into strength:
“Got a aim? Target that armored turret on the mountain top of Fort Rohan—fire!”
“London’s” four 305 mm main guns immediately opened fierce fire at 4 kilometers’ range, aiming at that 360-degree rotating armored turret with the widest arc of fire atop Fort Rohan.
Although these armored turrets were designed for the “Normandy-class” battleships and theoretically could withstand frontal hits from same-caliber battleship main guns.
But such designs also had to account for range and shell velocity on final impact.
At point-blank 4 kilometers, even several calibers smaller, they could still penetrate—both sides in a mutual one-shot-kill state.
“London’s” first salvo missed, but adjustment was quick; finally, after 40 seconds, the second salvo went out and blew up that armored turret.
But that was the end of it.
In the process of destroying that turret, “London” had been shifted to by enemies from all directions and directly hit by several 340 armor-piercing shells.
The 228 mm side armor was like paper; armor-piercing shells penetrated straight through the side into the engine room, each blast rupturing countless steam pipes, high-pressure steam erupting from every breach.
“London’s” main guns couldn’t even aim at the next target before being covered by direct-aim salvos every 20 seconds, 10 shells per salvo, and blasted to fragments.
Major General Lynch and over 800 officers and men below followed the warship into the sky in the explosion.
The violent explosion even affected the four Frankish merchant ships moored adjacent to “London’s” berth on both sides, sinking them with the power of ammunition cook-off.
“London’s” sinking also meant this British detached squadron had completely lost resistance.
The last two shallow-water heavy gunships remaining were useless junk without even firing angles; they could only tickle the coastal defense fortresses with their two 76 mm stern guns.
At this point, Rommel and Model could even micromanage finely—no need for 340 or 240 heavy guns; the 140 small guns could slowly penetrate them.
“No more cook-offs! That’s too wasteful. Later the battalion commander will have trouble getting someone to salvage the ugly 14-inch turret as evidence. And cook-offs will collateral-damage adjacent Frankish merchant ships! Just use the 140 small barrels to slowly penetrate and settle them!”
This way of fighting was pure insult. Like dribbling past the goalkeeper on a soccer field, then pausing at the goal line to adjust angle, posture, and force before tapping it in.
“Admiral Farragut” and “Stonewall Jackson” were thus slowly dissected like surgical specimens into two settled hulks by the 140 mm small barrels.
The corpses were very intact, convenient for post-war police evidence collection.
It had been many years since warships died so elegantly.
……
“Full assault! The enemy’s coastal defense batteries and close-support warships have all been taken out by airborne troops! The enemy has lost their most important artillery support! Today we must break through Dunkirk City Area and link up with the airborne troops!”
20 minutes later, around 7:15 a.m. From the German Army siege positions south of Dunkirk City Area, two corps of the 6th Army Group launched another all-out offensive.
Meanwhile, Major Bock and Major Lelouch also led the remaining forces of those assault battalions, coordinating with friendly forces for resolute infiltration assaults to link up with comrades to the rear.
As mentioned before, when Lelouch formed the airborne troops, he nearly stripped all submachine gunners from 3 assault battalions. But since light machine gun teams and grenade launcher teams were useless in airborne close combat, these men were left in the rear.
Now it was time for the general offensive; thousands of infantry carrying G98 rifles and shotguns bravely assaulted along city street blocks. The machine gun teams under Bock and Lelouch naturally did not lag behind; they temporarily adjusted tactics to provide close-range fire support to friendly forces.
Over 100 MG15 light machine guns from the 3 assault battalions were dispersed across several street blocks, assisting friendly forces in rapid advances and quickly establishing frontline fire support points.
The fierce and flexible suppressive fire kept the British Army in the city pinned down; even with building cover and Vickers heavy machine gun cover, they were still no match for the German Army.
The German Army was unstoppable in momentum because even every ordinary soldier knew their side had a mysterious assault team that had descended from the heavens to seize the enemy’s most important coastal defense fortresses and take out the enemy’s heavy gun support.
The opposing British Army, however, had low morale for the exact same reason.
Australasian troops, Indian troops, various miscellaneous troops constantly fell into chaos and retreat amid fierce fighting. These colonial soldiers simply lacked the will to hold the line after sudden changes.
In just over an hour, the German Army broke through two street blocks.
The British Army’s defense troops were later sustained entirely by heavy machine gun fire points everywhere.
If not for heavy machine gun fire teams suddenly emerging from roadside buildings and ruins, greatly limiting the German Army’s push-forward speed, the German Army probably could have broken through the city area and linked up with the airborne troops in the port area before nightfall.
“The enemy’s heavy machine gun fire points are positioned too cunningly—get the flamethrower teams up!” On Major Bock’s side, seeing enemy heavy machine guns block streets, they repeatedly imitated the flamethrower tactics previously invented by Lelouch, attempting to flame entire building areas to purge them.
Flamethrower teams shuttled along various streets, seeking advantageous positions to set fires.
But in a big city like Dunkirk, the situation was very different from the small towns the German Army had previously overrun.
The streets here were very wide and grand, especially the roads to the port area, with a broad railway running through the city.
Even after enhancement by Lelouch to a range of thirty or forty meters, the flamethrowers still could not achieve wide-area coverage of opposite buildings across streets in a battlefield like Dunkirk City Area.
Many flamethrower soldiers were intercepted by heavy machine guns midway through charging and flaming; their fuel tanks exploded violently, burning the entire person into a fireball.
After losing seven or eight flamethrower teams in a row, the offensive momentum inevitably slowed a bit.
On the other side of the main battlefield, Major Lelouch also led at least dozens of light machine gun teams and flamethrower teams.
As the battle progressed, he gradually realized this method was losing effectiveness; the closer to the port area, the sparser the buildings and the wider the streets. This battlefield tempo was too unfavorable for flamethrower teams approaching the enemy.
Lelouch’s face turned grim as several flamethrower teams were killed; he knew he absolutely could not let soldiers take more risks.
Although this tactic did not result in many absolute deaths, the horrific sight of every flamethrower soldier screaming to death engulfed in flames was a heavy morale blow to those who followed; if continued, no flamethrower soldiers would charge.
Lelouch’s regard for the lives of his soldiers naturally far exceeded that of other contemporary German Army officers.
“Halt the assault! We can’t charge blindly and fearlessly like this!” Lelouch ordered in time, temporarily stopping his men from desperate charges.
Some officers did not understand; William Lister, temporarily assigned as company commander under him, could not help reminding: “Battalion commander! Higher-ups require us to break through quickly to link up with the airborne troops in the port area! If we cower here, the brothers in the port area will suffer longer sieges!”
Lelouch said sternly: “Sharpening the axe does not delay chopping wood! Thinking is not wasting time! We must be responsible for soldiers’ lives! We must see the subtle changes in the battlefield situation!
The closer to the port area, the more open the sightlines and terrain, the sturdier the buildings—no more relying on the old method of using flamethrowers to purge machine gun teams in buildings!”
Captain Lister: “Then what do we do?”
Lelouch’s eyes spun wildly, his brain racing; a few minutes later, inspiration struck again: “Got it! Have the radio call rear artillery for indiscriminate smoke grenade coverage! Have our soldiers don gas masks before charging! The smoke doesn’t need to last long—just enough for flamethrower soldiers to seal the smoke, cross the streets, and close on the buildings with enemy fire points!”
Smoke grenades already existed in this era, but only as artillery shells; a few years later there would be aerial bomb versions.
But World War I smoke agents were inefficient, so individual soldier smoke grenades the size of hand grenades had not appeared; such small-capacity smoke agents could not produce much smoke.
And precisely because smoke grenades required artillery to fire, there had never before been cases of frontline troops calling precise smoke seals. It required a special unit like an assault battalion with radios down to platoon level to have this calling capability.
Calling smoke grenade bombardment, compared to high-explosive shell coverage, had two extra benefits: first, no fear of wasting shells on ruins—cannons below 105 mm had little destructive effect on already-collapsed concrete buildings, and might not eliminate machine gun teams inside.
Second, calling smoke grenades allowed greater margin for error than calling bombardment.
Calling bombardment dared not target 100-200 meters ahead; this era’s artillery had large dispersion errors—short by 200 meters and the caller gets bombed.
But smoke grenades did not matter; even if covering friendly troops, it was just smoke, no deaths.
The German Army already equipped everyone with gas masks for tear gas defense—just don them.
William Lister, hearing the battalion commander’s impromptu clever idea, was astonished, then full of admiration.
He immediately had his communications NCO report coordinates rearward for smoke support; soon scattered smoke shells arrived.
Each shell formed at least a smoke wall or “smoke cloud” on the battlefield thirty to fifty meters in diameter and five to ten meters high.
In an instant, all frontline British Army heavy machine gun fire points lost visibility. The machine gunners, out of fear, still swept madly.
If the opposing German Army dared a large-scale charge under this blind fire, they would still suffer heavy casualties.
But the problem was, the German Army did not charge immediately.
These smoke grenades were just to cover flamethrower teams, letting them avoid extra enemy attention, targeting, and concentration.
Flamethrower soldiers donning gas masks, M15 steel helmets, work boots, and deep oil-stained camouflage uniforms, carrying over twenty kilograms of equipment, thus crouched in the smoke, forcefully crossing streets, railways, and port area outer wharf yards, closing to within thirty or forty meters of British Army heavy machine gun teams.
“Whoosh—” Roaring viscous oil streams were instantly ignited, like fire dragons, straight at those buildings still resisting with British Army.
In seconds, every window spewed fire, then machine gunners screamed jumping out, flailing to their deaths.
“These men are smoke devils! Germanians are absolute demons! How could they think of this tactic to cover flamethrower soldiers advancing!”
“Damn! How to fight urban battles in the future?”
British Army officers originally thought they had adapted to the enemy’s flamethrower soldier tactics.
Unexpectedly, today the enemy added a smoke-sealing move to flamethrower tactics—utterly vicious!
At this advance rate, the British Army absolutely could not hold to tomorrow; Dunkirk City Area would be breached.
Little did they know, Lelouch’s smoke-sealing with short-range weapons tactic was just one of the basic operations from thousands of hours of his previous life’s chicken dinner gaming.
