Chapter 118: Airborne Drop On Lviv (part 2)
Two hours later, 3:30 a.m. on the 19th.
In the sky above an unnamed wilderness about a dozen kilometers west of Lviv.
“Officer! We should have arrived at the predetermined drop zone! Requesting instructions on whether to prepare for parachute drop?”
The captain of the airship Lelouch was riding on, who was also the squadron leader of one of the airship squadrons, Major Peter Strausser, softly asked Lelouch.
Peter Strausser could also be considered an ace captain; his ace record was earned during the previous Battle of Dunkirk.
At that time, he was piloting a bomber airship and executed the Britannians’ pre-dreadnought “Mars” that had already settled on the De Panne beach with 2000 kilograms of aerial bombs.
However, this mission had no bombing tasks, so all the airship officers were piloting parachute airships for transporting paratroopers. Major Peter Strausser had no choice but to take on this boring assignment.
For the entire two hours of flight, he had been somewhat unmotivated.
“Wait a bit longer, no rush for the parachute drop. Maybe we can spot the ground guiding signals from Major Kesselring’s organized enemy-rear infiltration team—have the airship flash its lights a few times.” Lelouch finally instructed this.
Peter Strausser was shocked: “Won’t that expose our position?”
Lelouch: “It doesn’t matter. What can the enemy do with a brief exposure? Can they immediately take off combat reconnaissance aircraft, find us, and intercept us? This is the outskirts; there shouldn’t be any garrison troops under our feet.
On Major Albert Kesselring’s side, before dusk yesterday, I sent out reconnaissance aircraft, reconnected with his infiltration team, and dropped him a few crates of supplies, including flare shells and the operation timetable. He should come to meet us.”
Hearing that they had insiders who had infiltrated ahead of time, Peter Strausser was completely reassured, so he had each airship temporarily turn on their lights and flash briefly a few times.
Sure enough, just two or three minutes later, flares ignited in a distant spot on the ground, but they didn’t shoot toward the sky, and the duration was very brief.
This kind of signal would only be particularly noticeable to observers looking down from the sky, while people far away on the ground couldn’t see it.
This was exactly the signaling ammunition that Lelouch had reconnaissance aircraft airdrop to Kesselring before dark last night after locating him.
After confirming the signal, Lelouch decisively ordered: “Found it! Head that way! Parachute drop there! There are not only fields nearby, but definitely also small woods. Paratroopers landing in the woods would be very dangerous, getting caught. Fly according to the instructions if possible.”
“All ships prepare for airdrop!”
Peter Strausser transmitted simple airdrop instructions via light flashes, and the entire airship force quickly completed the final preparations before the parachute drop.
The cabin doors opened, and not-too-fierce cold wind poured into the suspension pod. Paratroopers filed out one by one. After a few subordinates jumped ahead, Lelouch took a few deep breaths and jumped out of the pod.
In the past few months, Lelouch had trained multiple times in parachuting. In his previous life as a military enthusiast, he had also done sport winged parachutes, the kind where he paid for a coach himself. So he picked it up fairly quickly.
As the inventor of airborne tactics, Lelouch also wanted to personally command frontline paratrooper combat, which would be beneficial for future promotions and fill out the resume for division/regimental-level frontline military command positions.
Previously at Dunkirk, he didn’t dare to parachute personally because the drop zone was too dangerous, requiring a direct landing on top of the fortress, plunging into fierce combat immediately upon landing.
But this occasion was very suitable—the drop zone was in an enemy-rear area with relatively sparse enemy forces, allowing a surprise attack. Moreover, near Lviv, it was only 70 kilometers from Przemysl Fortress. Even if something unexpected happened, the worst case was to slowly withdraw west with this elite regiment and link up with their main force coming around Przemysl Fortress on land.
Anyway, now there were friendly forces on both the south and north sides of the Carpathian Mountains—the 6th Army Group to the south and the 10th Army Group to the north. They could take either route back without isolating themselves.
The reason for insisting on airborne was, one, to accelerate expanding the battle results, and two, to rescue friendly prisoner of war soldiers who had surrendered earlier at Przemysl Fortress. So in the worst case, they just wouldn’t rescue the prisoners.
In the air, Lelouch calmly counted to ten, then yanked the parachute cord hard. Everything went as in training, and he landed steadily.
After landing, he drew the folding dagger from his bandolier, cut the parachute cords, and inserted a magazine into his MP15 submachine gun. During the process, nearby guard soldiers came over to help him cut the cords.
“Officer, we’ve already found Major Kesselring’s people. He brought over a hundred prisoners of war who escaped together to meet us.” Lelouch’s company commander of guards, Klose, quickly ran over nimbly and brought good news, while flashing a flashlight briefly to indicate the direction.
May 19, 1915, was the sixth day of the lunar month, a waxing crescent moon. The waxing crescent only appears in the first half of the night, and now at 3:30 a.m., there was no moon in the sky. Without supplemental lighting, nothing could be seen.
Lelouch immediately headed toward their position and ran into Major Albert Kesselring after just a few hundred steps.
“Major Kesselring, you’ve done very well! Not only did you steady the prisoners’ morale and control the destruction work before surrender, but you also managed to escape with over a hundred prisoners of war, hiding in the enemy rear. I’ve brought the promotion order signed by the Army Group Commander, Marshal Rupprecht. From this moment, you are a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. The Marshal has also decided to award you another First Class Iron Cross.”
Lelouch shook hands firmly with him, handed over an envelope stuffed with a few folded documents, and pinned an Iron Cross medal on him.
On the enemy-rear battlefield, all formalities had to be simplified.
Lieutenant Colonel Kesselring touched the Iron Cross medal, still overcome with excitement.
This mission was truly a gamble that paid off. Though it involved risking his life to penetrate deep into the enemy rear and organize surrender, he was promoted two levels at once—once before departure and once upon rendezvous—going from Captain to Lieutenant Colonel.
Kesselring hurriedly revealed more key military intelligence to Lelouch: “Officer, we’ve long scouted it out—the camp holding our Germanic Tribe prisoners of war is 6 kilometers west from here. That’s why I suggested dropping here, to avoid being too close to the camp and getting discovered by the enemy, who might rush to intercept.
This drop zone is a bit farther now, requiring a forced march to get there, but it’s harder for the enemy to spot. The surroundings are vast fields, safe for parachuting. We can take our time to form up, collect our weapons, and then launch the attack.”
Lelouch thought for a moment: “I remember, we’re positioned between two prisoner of war camp towns, biased south? The camp holding Germanic Tribe prisoners of war is 6 kilometers northwest of us? The camp holding Bohemia and other ethnic prisoners of war is 8 kilometers northeast, slightly north?”
Kesselring was slightly stunned: “Exactly so. You… are planning a surprise attack, dividing forces to raid both prisoner of war camps simultaneously?”
Lelouch must have planned ahead, but upon arrival, he still needed to make adjustments based on the actual situation, weather, terrain, and precise landing coordinates.
Recalling the map of the area, he finally made a decisive call: “At night and so far apart, without good communication means, sending telegrams would easily be intercepted by the enemy and alert them. Hoping for simultaneous surprise attacks at both places is too difficult. Prioritize rescuing our own Germanic Tribe prisoners of war.
I remember, the Germanic Tribe prisoner of war camp town has woods a few kilometers to the east. We’ll divide forces: two battalions for surprise attacks on the prisoner of war camp from different directions, and hold back two battalions to ambush on the east side of the town where roads and woods are denser.
If enemies from Lviv city get the news and rush to reinforce, or guards from the Bohemia prisoner of war camp come to reinforce, we’ll set an ambush and besiege the point and strike the reinforcements! If no enemy reaction comes, after rescuing the Germanic prisoners of war, we’ll arm some soldiers lightly and head together to attack the Bohemia prisoner of war camp!”
Lelouch ultimately chose the steadiest approach. Dividing forces for attack made simultaneous action hard and risked dispersing strength. Better to go all-in to ensure at least half the objective, then opportunistically handle enemy reinforcements.
In his view, those Czech soldiers’ priority was definitely slightly lower than their own tribesmen’s, which was only natural. After all, once their own tribesmen were rescued, they could immediately form combat effectiveness with absolute loyalty.
While Lelouch and Kesselring were simply planning the combat details, the entire parachute regiment, except for dozens of soldiers killed or injured in parachute accidents, had mostly assembled safely.
Later statistics showed the regiment had 5 dead and 22 injured from falls. This casualty figure was already very good for a night parachute drop, mainly thanks to Kesselring selecting a farmland drop zone.
The black soil at the end of the thaw period was very soft; with parachutes, it was impossible to be killed on impact. The few deaths were due to improper landing posture, rolling with heads buried in mud, suffocating or choking, not direct physical impact deaths.
Grenade launchers and light machine guns were dropped in separate weapon crates with parachutes. It was expected some equipment would be damaged on landing.
But the final result was no damage at all, though a few ammunition boxes sank deep into the mud on landing and couldn’t be found. But all that were found could be used normally, without a single damaged piece.
When Lelouch received this preliminary information, he felt quite emotional inside: When planning, he had modeled everything after later Earth Normandy rear-area drops, but overlooked the subtle geographical and weather differences between the Eastern Front battlefield and the Western Front.
This was the black soil plains during the thaw period; fall deaths and sunken supplies had different causes than the Western Front. Airborne combat theory still had much to learn and improve. He couldn’t rely forever on his foresight alone; professionals needed to study it diligently.
After landing, the soldiers picked up guns and sorted ammunition, taking over 20 minutes, assembling completely at 4:00 a.m., then charging toward the prisoner of war camp 6 kilometers northwest.
……
5:30 a.m., Lviv western suburbs, Gorodok town prisoner of war camp.
The highest officer of this prisoner of war camp, Colonel Osmanov, was still asleep.
In the past half month, the fighting on the west had intensified, but it had nothing to do with the garrison troops here in Lviv.
The garrison troops here were all those that had been battered and exhausted on the front line, then withdrawn for rest and refit.
Colonel Osmanov had once led his regiment in the siege of Przemysl Fortress. His regiment had nearly 5000 men at full strength, but after the siege, only over 2000 remained.
Back in the rear, supplemented with over a thousand new recruits, it was restored to 3200 men. He assigned two battalions here at the Germanic Tribe prisoner of war camp, about 1800 men, and the other two battalions to the Bohemia prisoner of war camp, 1400 men.
Because of heavy casualties in the siege, he was withdrawn to guard the prisoners of war who surrendered from Przemysl Fortress.
Those prisoners were once his old opponents, who killed half his comrades during the fortress’s desperate defense. So Colonel Osmanov harbored deep hatred for these prisoners of war and guarded them very harshly, forcing them into hard labor with deadly force.
These 45,000 Germanic Tribe prisoners of war’s main daily tasks were maintaining rail conditions around Lviv, loading/unloading at Lviv train station, and farming nearby estates.
Last winter, winter wheat planting near Lviv wasn’t delayed; seedlings grew well. But since summer this year, with surrounding areas becoming a war zone, many serfs fled. By late May, the winter wheat harvest season arrived with no one to reap, so prisoners of war were forced into emergency harvesting and planting.
Farming was harder to manage than other hard labor due to the large work areas, where guards couldn’t watch everywhere. After just a week of harvesting wheat, several hundred prisoners of war slipped away opportunistically.
Some prisoner of war officers used the “officers get preferential treatment, can retain personal belongings” privilege from surrender to hide gold marks, then secretly slipped gold coins to Lusha Army ordinary soldiers during field work breaks.
Lusha Army military discipline was poor; some ordinary soldiers were serf-born, unsophisticated. When noble-born officer prisoners of war gave them gold coins, they turned a blind eye, took the money, and let them go, reporting them only as escaped on their own.
Since escapes couldn’t be prevented, Colonel Osmanov didn’t punish his soldiers much.
Each time escapes were found, he only did collective punishment, pulling out some from the escaped group “suspected of escape motives and tendencies” and executing them as examples.
If caught in failed escape attempts, they were executed outright as a matter of course.
In the past week, hundreds of prisoners of war escaped, and he executed hundreds to nearly a thousand. The remaining over 43,000 prisoners of war could only seethe inwardly without daring to speak.
At this moment, it was the time when officers and soldiers were between deep sleep and waking, groggy. Dawn was just barely breaking.
Suddenly, “bang bang bang~” grenade launcher firing sounds erupted one after another outside the camp.
Dozens of shells equivalent to grenade power arced high in the air, then exploded inside and outside the camp walls.
With “boom boom boom” explosions, several gaps were blown in the camp walls, and the sentry towers at the four corners inside were hit densely, almost all toppled in the first wave of attack.
The 8 M1910 heavy machine guns on those towers didn’t fire a single shot before being directly taken out.
A Lusha Army regiment had at most 16 heavy machine guns, and Colonel Osmanov’s regiment was split into two parts guarding two prisoner of war camps, so only 8 here total.
Normally placed at camp corners to seal the walls: anyone climbing over to escape would be swept along the base, ensuring as many escaped as killed.
Unexpectedly, this deployment led to both battalions’ heavy machine guns being wiped out in the first enemy wave at this critical moment.
Lushans’ heavy machine guns were knocked out by grenade launchers, but Germanians’ light machine guns began “da da da~” sweeping.
Almost instantly, the attacking Germanians switched from silence to full fire; light machine gun groups spat dozens of crisscrossing fire tongues, raking the remaining sentries at each post.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!” The Lusha guards inside the camp never expected an enemy attack in this deep rear and were utterly confused, just shouting in chaos.
Who in this era could imagine enemies suddenly appearing in the rear at least seventy or eighty kilometers from the front line? The Lusha soldiers guarding the camp were already very lax, with their scant attention on the internal prisoners, not on outsiders.
The first wave quickly stunned all firepower points on the walls, with dozens of on-duty sentries killed outright.
Meanwhile, large groups of Germanians submachine gunners charged fiercely under cover of dim light before full dawn.
Inside the camp, only Mosin-Nagant rifle fire resisted in bean-like bursts. Though there were hundreds of Mosin-Nagants, they couldn’t stop the enemy charge at all.
Germanian submachine guns “da da da” swept while hurling volleys of grenades near the walls, dropping hundreds on the north and south walls—they had specially adjusted attack positions beforehand, slightly flanking to ensure north-south pincer attack on the camp.
“Regimental Commander! Germanians have broken in!”
When Germanians charging soldiers had already blasted open the camp walls and gates with dense grenades, Colonel Osmanov’s staff officer and guards rushed in to report the latest to the officer.
Colonel Osmanov had just pulled on his trousers crookedly, belt unbuckled, boots hastily slipped on without laces.
“Where did the enemies come from? What enemies? Figured it out?”
That regimental staff officer was also at a loss, just guessing: “Should be those escaped prisoners of war from before. Don’t know where they got weapons, but came back to raid and rescue their comrades!”
“Nonsense! Those few hundred escapees could get such good weapons? Unless Germanians air-dropped weapons to them via airships?” Colonel Osmanov had a bit more brains than his subordinates and immediately realized this firepower couldn’t be from escaped prisoners of war.
But he only guessed that enemy main forces had contacted the escaped prisoners of war and airdropped weapons, not guessing “enemies directly sent paratroopers.”
But none of that mattered now. He immediately ordered each battalion and company to resist independently and hold positions. If prisoners tried inside-outside collusion, sweep them directly!
He knew well that at this point, killing a prisoner of war or an enemy soldier yielded the same result. If these prisoners were freed, they’d grab weapons and become dangerous fighters again!
After issuing that, Colonel Osmanov gave another urgent order: “Intensify telegraphing alerts to the other camp! Also alert Division Commander Ogierki garrisoning Lviv simultaneously! We’re under attack here by resistance armed formed by escaped enemy prisoners of war! But enemies somehow got heavy firepower from Germanians regular army! Request support!”
The radio operators immediately followed the regimental commander’s orders, sending undifferentiated alert telegrams to nearby friendly units.
——
PS: Another day of 10,000 words daily update… Checked, from September 1st to now, at least 10,000 words every day…
