Chapter 31: The Most Suitable Is The Best
Lelouch carried the Storm Commando Unit preparation plan he had just drafted these past few days《》, and when he returned to the rear at Blankenberge, he still felt a bit uneasy inside.
Before his transmigration, he had read quite a few transmigration novels and knew that many people who transmigrated back to World War I started by climbing the army technology tree, making tanks to dominate the battlefield.
After all, everyone on Earth could understand the advantages of tanks. Practicality was secondary; the key was that it lowered the understanding cost for onlookers, making the battles look spectacular and flashy.
Lelouch had of course thought about building tanks too, but after deep consideration, he had to shelve it for now.
On one hand, he hadn’t transmigrated into an emperor or general with plenty of military industrial resources at hand, able to order his subordinates to do whatever he wanted.
When he transmigrated, he was just a corporal, though he had earned some promotions and the trust of the Baria Crown Prince through strategic foresight and schemes.
But there is a sequence to learning the Way, and specialization is key; this trust was limited to the level of strategy.
As for the vision and reputation of “guiding the direction of weapon and armament research and development,” he still needed to build it up anew.
He wasn’t arrogant enough to think that his current self could get the Crown Prince to shell out millions of marks and order the Baria Engine Factory to research tanks with just a few pages of plans.
So it was better to first develop some low-threshold, short-cycle, quick-result gadgets to prove himself.
That way, it would be easier to control the project better in the future when he really wanted to make tanks, avoiding making wedding clothes for others.
If he threw out the tank concept now, even if it succeeded, the dominance wouldn’t be in his hands; at most he’d get credit for the suggestion.
At the same time, there was an even more important reason: the ongoing Battle of Ypres really didn’t call for tanks—because before the Belgian Army collapsed, they desperately breached the Yser Canal dike in a last-ditch effort, flooding and creating vast muddy areas.
In original history, the four years of back-and-forth meat grinders between the German and British armies in the Ypres Salient over the next three years all took place in muddy conditions. Even after the British Army produced tanks in history, they couldn’t make use of them on this battlefield.
In such muddy flooded areas, only lightweight equipment favorable for mobility in complex terrain was needed.
With the pitiful mobility of early tanks, throwing them into the Ypres battlefield would just trap them in the mud immediately, utterly useless.
So better to first make some small improvements to equipment needed for commando tactics, to rack up some credit and resources.
Tanks could wait until after this campaign was over and they moved to other battlefields.
Besides, Lelouch knew very well that to win this war, it wasn’t just about dealing with external enemies; internal problems had to be solved too. So he had to develop and strengthen his own forces.
Otherwise, if he ended up making wedding clothes for others and instead boosted the prestige and strength of warmongers like Wilhelm II or those in the Junker Officer Corps who didn’t see the people as human, it would increase the difficulty of future internal purges.
……
With such considerations in mind, Lelouch finally made up his mind, took his plan, and wanted to find an opportunity to meet the Army Group Commander.
Although he had withdrawn to Blankenberge with the 12th Division, finding the Crown Prince Duke Rupprecht to report in person was still quite difficult.
Because the 6th Army Group’s defensive area was quite large, Duke Rupprecht might be in the rear at Antwerp. Even if at the front line, he could be at Zeebrugge or Bruges.
So Lelouch first asked Major General Karl, the Division Commander, and roughly explained his intentions.
Major General Karl made a few phone calls for him, then said: “Go directly to the Coastal Defense Command in this city. The Duke is there inspecting defenses.”
Lelouch quickly thanked him, and Major General Karl very considerately arranged a car for him.
Ten-odd minutes later, Lelouch was delivered to the Coastal Defense Command.
The entrance was heavily guarded, with several MG08 heavy machine guns set up; anyone coming would be stopped.
But Lelouch was in Karl’s car, and the Company Commander of Guards recognized it as the Duke’s own brother’s car. After checking identification, he reported it in.
A few minutes later, someone inside came to lead Lelouch in.
The Company Commander of Guards couldn’t help but look sideways: What was the background of this captain? The Commander had specifically instructed earlier that today’s inspection involved a highly confidential task, and he was to see no one.
Lelouch turned a few corners and entered a solid underground tunnel area, soon meeting Duke Rupprecht in an operations room. He was surprised to also find Rear Admiral Hipper, who had previously been trapped at Antwerp Port, present.
Seeing him, the Duke beckoned: “How did you find your way here? Do you have something important to report?”
Lelouch quickly handed over his plan: “Combining my experience from the Ostend combat a few days ago, I’ve summarized some insights and ideas on how troops can better achieve infantry-artillery cooperation.
Some of these concepts may involve improvements to new weapons, so I wanted to request approval. I think these improvements will be useful for the upcoming Battle of Ypres.”
“Is that so? You were only at Ostend for a week, and you’ve already come up with new ideas? Good, I’ll look when I have time later; you can explain in detail then.” The Duke glanced at it and tossed the document on the desk nearby.
Lelouch thought the Duke had other confidential matters to handle and felt a bit awkward, so he wanted to withdraw.
The Duke saw his hesitation and laughed heartily: “I did come here today for a secret matter, but you’re the one exception—no need to hide it from you. This also concerns Franz; he wants to use this opportunity to verify again your previous conclusion that ‘the Navy’s radio cipher has been deciphered by Britain.'”
Lelouch suddenly understood; no wonder Hipper was here too. He curiously turned to Hipper and asked: “Oh? I wonder how the general plans to verify it?”
Hipper roughly described his plan: “I’ve been in Antwerp this past week, twiddling my thumbs, and those battlecruisers all took at least one or two large-caliber shells before; they’re secretly under repair in the docks.
I’ve already sent a telegram to rear headquarters requesting expansion of the Antwerp Shipyard, saying my warships are badly damaged, the current shipyard lacks professional repair equipment, and the warships won’t be movable for at least half a year.
This way, David Betty’s battlecruiser fleet and Britain’s Channel Fleet should further relax their vigilance, thinking our naval threat is negligible.
Then, haven’t the coastal defense heavy cannons here at Blankenberge recently been installed and tested? I thought of asking Your Highness the Duke to deliberately send a few more urgent telegrams to the rear, requesting more construction teams and transport capacity, saying these coastal defense heavy cannons aren’t ready yet but almost are, hoping for emergency manpower from the rear.
I think, if the enemy intercepts this telegram, they definitely won’t resist the temptation and will come to bombard and sabotage on the ‘eve before Blankenberge’s coastal defense fortress is completed.’ Delaying our progress would let their fleet strut around these coastal ports for another one or two months.
Because if they don’t come soon, once it’s fully completed here, they won’t have a chance—they can’t win. After hearing my plan, the Duke thought it was a good idea too. As long as the time difference isn’t too extreme, even if the enemy is tricked in the end, if it’s just two or three days off, they’ll attribute it to intelligence delay and won’t suspect ‘we already know they know our radio cipher.’
And on our side, we weren’t 100% certain the enemy had deciphered our cipher before. But if they fall for it right on cue this time, we can be 100% sure it’s been deciphered.”
After hearing this, Lelouch finally had a realization.
Not easy; it seems insidiousness is contagious too.
He’d dug pits for Hipper twice, and surprisingly turned Hipper bad too; now he could even draw inferences himself!
Having trained such a disciple in the field of insidiousness, Lelouch felt greatly comforted.
Lelouch was very curious about the details and asked further: “I wonder what your fake telegram said about how much longer it would take to complete the coastal defense fortress here?”
Hipper smiled proudly: “The telegram said that with efficient resource dispatch, it could be done in one or two days. So if the enemy falls for it, they should come today. They captured Ostend last night; advancing further east to bombard here today is totally feasible.
We also deliberately sent another telegram as cover, asking Your Highness the Duke to reprimand his second brother for ineffective combat, failing to hold Ostend long enough as planned, causing the coastal defense guns at Blankenberge to not be finished before Ostend fell first.”
Hearing this, Lelouch subconsciously turned to look at Duke Rupprecht, his gaze becoming even more admiring.
Even Your Highness the Duke had been led astray by him! Such a sense of accomplishment! To make the setup more realistic, the Duke had even thought of faking a telegram to reprimand his own brother.
If Betty took the bait this time, it really wouldn’t be unjust.
“In that case, it’s an honor to join you in watching this grand show first.” Lelouch didn’t want to dampen his superiors’ enthusiasm, so he put off reporting his own plan for now and stayed to watch the enemy’s plight with the leaders.
……
The group chatted idly in the coastal defense underground fortifications for one or two hours, talking about pleasant topics like bonding and gossip.
Dragging on until past four in the afternoon, enemy battleships really appeared on the sea surface! They had come to bombard Blankenberge’s Coastal Defense Gun Fortress.
The Duke and others of course wouldn’t go up to the forts to observe; that was too dangerous—what if they were hit during an exchange of fire.
So they stayed in the underground bunker waiting for results, relying on internal telephone lines for real-time updates.
“Report! Enemy battlecruiser fleet spotted, plus several old-style pre-dreadnoughts!”
The lookout post above immediately reported the situation.
“Calculate enemy ship position coordinates. Don’t fire the 280mm+ giant cannons yet—let the enemy get closer before striking! Have the 210mm cannons fire first, show weakness deliberately!” The coastal defense guns were under Rear Admiral Hipper, this naval general, so Hipper directly ordered and commanded.
Today’s battle was different from usual; it was to exploit the information gap for a sneak attack, so of course they couldn’t open fire early and scare the enemy away.
Better to let the enemy have the first move, let them bombard for a bit and feel it’s safe, then close in further to shore; that way, even if they realize something’s wrong later, escaping would be much slower.
The 210mm coastal defense guns were pre-existing, but they couldn’t threaten battleships, only armored cruisers at best, and their range was much shorter than battleship main guns. Firing these would instead lure them in.
……
Shortly after Hipper ordered the 210mm cannons to fire and show weakness,
On the sea off Blankenberge, David Betty of Britain’s battlecruiser fleet and the Channel Fleet’s new Commander, Admiral Hood, indeed developed a contemptuous attitude toward this coastal defense fortress.
“Sure enough, they only have the original leftover 210mm cannons for now; the larger giant cannons haven’t arrived or been installed yet. Close in, all ships—get beyond the 210mm cannons’ max range and pound them hard!”
If the German 210mm guns hadn’t fired, Betty and Hood wouldn’t have been so bold; they’d suspect a conspiracy, like a tiger not daring to act rashly upon first seeing the donkey from Qi.
But once the donkey from Qi kicked out, the tiger knew its true measure—”nothing special”—and boldly went in for the kill.
Several battlecruisers and pre-dreadnoughts closed to 12~15 kilometers, then began stepwise calibration; the battleship main gun shells’ fall points drew ever closer to the coastal defense gun turrets.
But at that moment, the 280mm and 305mm coastal defense giant cannons opened fire too.
“Boom boom boom~” Huge shells began landing around the warships that were low-speed sailing while performing bombardment.
Betty and Hood had specially reduced speed for bombardment accuracy, figuring there’d be no enemy counter.
This sudden assault shocked Betty and Hood; they roared orders: “Accelerate now! Turn around! Withdraw from enemy coastal defense gun range!”
But it was too late; coastal defense gun accuracy far exceeded naval guns. After just a few salvos, the coastal defense gunners, calibrating against ballistic tables, got the feel and soon rained shells on the British warships.
Coastal defense gun power was astonishing. In World War II, Norwegians used a single World War I Krupp 280mm coastal defense gun to cripple a German 10,000-ton “Hipper-class” heavy cruiser with one shot, flooding it badly and killing its propulsion completely.
Let alone now, using World War I coastal defense guns against World War I warships, even pre-dreadnoughts.
Soon, David Betty’s flagship battlecruiser “Lion” was hit by a 280mm shell, then struck by three or four more in minutes; upper structures heavily damaged, secondary gun deck blown away in a huge chunk, single-side broadside secondary guns almost entirely lost.
Chimney blown off too, causing boiler pressure drop; ship speed began declining.
It barely completed its turn, but with speed already down, before escaping coastal defense gun range, it took several hard hits to the stern.
Rear bridge completely blown apart, stern crane and lifeboats blasted away; unarmored stern sections holed in several large gashes, flooding thousands of tons of seawater.
This damage was absolutely worse than the “Lion”‘s in the original timeline’s Dogger Bank battle. In original history, in the January 1915 Battle of Dogger Bank, “Lion” took over five 280mm shells from German ships and took over half a year to repair.
With damage this severe this time, it would probably take a full year to repair.
The “Lion-class” was the British Army’s newest battlecruiser model, with 13.5-inch main guns and strong armor; that’s how it maintained about 15 knots to escape range and limp back under such pounding.
But Admiral Hood’s pre-dreadnought bombardment fleet, hit at the same time, wasn’t so lucky.
Those pre-dreadnoughts had even worse armor than the new battlecruisers; they were just assigned over a week ago by Naval Minister Walton to the Channel Fleet, some even freshly painted, to quickly replace the four pre-dreadnoughts Hipper had totally wiped out.
As a result, before the paint was even dry, two “Majestic-class” battleships were lost.
“Hannibal” was hit by five 305mm shells, flooding thousands of tons fore and aft violently, almost totally losing power; it floated like a dead fish awaiting death.
“Vigorous” was hit by even more 305mm shells but luckily didn’t totally destroy its propulsion; it barely crawled back. But it definitely lost repair value and would surely be scrapped and decommissioned—
For ships built 16~18 years ago, repairing now meant no parts or turrets available; it’d be like rebuilding from scratch. Better to scrap and save resources for new ships.
So the difference from direct sinking was just that the crew could live to return. Plus, the Royal Navy could save a bit of face—not admitting battle sinking, but “self-scrapped.”
In the end, “Vigorous” barely made it back, while “Hannibal” was finished off by German destroyers Hipper had ambushed in advance at nearby Zeebrugge Port.
During the coup de grâce, Hipper casually let Lelouch in on it:
“Ten days ago, the day we safely withdrew to Antwerp, at the welcome banquet Your Highness gave us, you chatted with me about ‘the precise strike role of future torpedoes will weaken, while long-range sniping and coup de grâce roles will become more prominent,’
and suggested I request the Armament Department to develop lower-speed, longer-range torpedoes for coup de grâce. We haven’t been idle these days; by simply modifying the speed governors on existing torpedoes, we’ve customized a batch of test slow torpedoes.
These parameter-tuned slow torpedoes can drop speed from 30 knots to 24 or even 18 knots, but max range increases from 5km to 10km or even 14km. Perfect for real-world testing today: can we coup de grâce a nearly powerless pre-dreadnought from over ten kilometers away.”
“If results are good, I’ll have more confidence requesting the Armament Department; after all, it’s battle-tested.”
Hearing this, Lelouch praised Hipper’s efficiency. Without rear arsenal support, he’d gotten shipyard craftsmen to temp-mod a batch of torpedo parameters in just ten days.
Though not formal new product R&D, just parameter tweaks, that was still impressive and very scientific.
Meanwhile, Duke Rupprecht, watching and listening in, gave Lelouch an even more approving look: “After I left that day, you gave Franz such valuable advice? Looks like you really do have insight in armaments.
Good, then let’s make a bet—you’re about to suggest some weapon and tactic improvements, right? If the slow long-range torpedoes you suggested to Franz perform well, I’ll try my best to adopt the suggestions in your plan.”
Duke Rupprecht had originally worried Lelouch wasn’t professional in armaments and hadn’t planned to fully accept his suggestions and plans.
But unexpectedly, there was immediately a chance to witness a “live test of Lelouch’s armament improvement suggestions’ combat effectiveness”—how convenient?
Hearing the Duke’s words, Lelouch’s heart grew eager.
Unexpectedly, Hipper had returned the favor today with an assist.
“Hope these torpedoes perform well…” Lelouch secretly prayed for Hipper.
Soon, several German high-speed destroyers closed on the “Hannibal” drifting dead-fish-like on the sea; its speed had dropped to just 5~6 knots, barely moving.
Most secondary guns aboard were destroyed too, but a few usable ones remained; small-caliber rapid-fire cannons were relatively intact—if German destroyers rushed into rapid-fire cannon range to launch torpedoes, they could still be taught a lesson.
But this time, Hipper’s men didn’t need to close that much; two launched fan-spread torpedoes from 12~13km away, then kept distance patrolling—to observe the enemy ship and draw attention.
Two others closed to under 10km, quickly fired torpedoes then turned away; they were testing the 24-knot mid-speed batch. “Hannibal”‘s rapid-fire cannons fired a few salvos at them like a send-off, but too far and inaccurate to hit.
Over 15 minutes passed; just as Duke Rupprecht was getting impatient, thinking Hipper and Lelouch had failed.
Far away, “Hannibal”‘s side finally erupted in “Bang! Bang!” huge water columns.
“Two torpedo hits cumulative! Others misses! Enemy ship accelerating to sink!”
Hearing the lookout’s report, everyone was overjoyed.
“Great! Proves the concept is right! We should make some ultra-long-range slow coup de grâce torpedoes. Say after battleship duels, enemy upperworks wrecked and combat-ineffective, can’t run but too watertight to sink—then use these for super-long-range coup de grâce beyond enemy secondary gun range!”
Hipper commented excitedly, his ideas crystallizing.
This battle ultimately crippled one enemy cutting-edge battlecruiser, out for at least half a year. Also sank and scrapped one pre-dreadnought each, equivalent to permanently losing two pre-dreadnoughts’ combat power for the enemy.
After verifying results, Hipper astutely had fake commendation secret telegrams whipped up, mainly “thanking the engineering troops for the miracle, using innovative construction techniques and round-the-clock effort to deploy Blankenberge’s coastal defense heavy cannons ahead of schedule”—without this to plug the leak, the enemy couldn’t explain “why the coastal defense battery said yesterday it couldn’t be finished suddenly was today.”
To play the full act, some engineering troop officers would even get real “unearned” promotions.
Meanwhile, Duke Rupprecht looked at Hipper, then at Lelouch, finally picking up Lelouch’s plan, his eyes brimming with even more eagerness.
“Explain your plan in detail! How exactly to adjust tactics, improve which equipment, achieve what tactical effects—be as detailed as possible! I’ll cooperate wherever I can!”
Lelouch struck while the iron was hot: “The core idea of my plan is to strengthen frontline assault troops’ communication with the rear, shorten response time, further delegate authority to call precise artillery support, enhancing our army’s combat effectiveness in sustained offensive operations.
At the same time, to achieve this, our army needs the following equipment optimizations: First, lighten existing heavy machine guns into a light machine gun that can advance with infantry squads, to strengthen assault troops’ direct support fire.
Second, equip troops with lots of grenades and grenade launchers, further lighten and modularize radio sets for carrying, equip radios to more basic combat units, and some new weapons…”
Lelouch spoke eloquently, seizing the Duke’s skyrocketing trust to sneak in a huge bundle of his own agenda.
——
PS: This chapter is over 6,000 words… Really couldn’t find a break point; it’s basically two 3,000-word updates piled together.
New book seeking comments, follows, collections, votes—thanks a million.
