Chapter 12: The Purest Beatdown
He learned that the division headquarters, and even the Army Group Headquarters, were paying such close attention to the battle on the Nieuwpoort front.
Even though they were blocked by floods, they were all doing their best to support the battle from afar in their own way.
The morale of everyone in the 16th Regiment finally reached its peak. The desperate shelling by the Belgians opposite no longer seemed so terrifying.
However, plans are plans, and there are still many detailed tasks to be done to implement them.
After Colonel Lister finished his final pre-war mobilization, he immediately and decisively began assigning tasks.
He first slightly adjusted the line-filling plans for the combat troops of each battalion.
Each battalion was now in a state of dormancy, withdrawing from the first and second lines of defense during the enemy’s fire preparation. They would only enter the defensive positions to hold the line after the enemy’s bombardment stopped, a classic tactic from World War I that all sides used.
After arranging the combat troops, the colonel then focused on assigning tasks to the reconnaissance company and the communications platoon.
“Barrack, your reconnaissance company has more complete observation equipment. You will be responsible for assigning personnel to observe the enemy’s assembly points and the impact points of our artillery fire from the church bell tower. We have no firing positions in the church, so we won’t actively fire on the enemy, and they are unlikely to target it first.”
“Lelouch, you will lead the communications platoon and send telegrams to division headquarters as quickly as possible to communicate information for ballistic calibration. You must immediately forward any data that Barrack provides.”
The colonel clearly intended to use remote feedback via radio for ballistic calibration, which was a common practice.
However, in 1914, radio penetration rate was still very low, and front-line troops often lacked real-time communication capabilities.
At this time on the Western Front, only regimental level units could call for precise artillery support. In the Eastern Front’s Russian Empire or even the more backward Turkish Empire, their radios were only sufficient for division level, and artillery response was even slower.
Lieutenant Barrack and Lelouch immediately accepted the orders and went to handle their respective tasks.
……
Fifteen minutes later, the Belgian artillery bombardment finally ceased.
With a command from Lieutenant General Berghgham, the commander of the 1st Belgian Division, thousands of Belgians began to assemble, preparing to launch a charge.
But soon, they discovered that something was wrong.
Shells, falling in small groups, landed on the sea surface north of the Coastal Highway, or in the flooded area south of the highway, creating columns of water several meters or even tens of meters high.
Because they landed in the water, most of the explosive energy was absorbed. The sound of the explosions was not very loud to the soldiers on shore, and initially, not many people were alarmed.
But within just three to five minutes, the artillery fire became increasingly accurate.
Finally, shortly after the Belgian forces began their charge, two 150mm heavy artillery shells and five or six 105mm shells landed directly in the midst of the crowd.
Limbs were scattered everywhere, brains and blood splattered wildly, and screams of agony filled the air. Panic instantly began to spread.
“What’s going on? Where is this artillery fire coming from? Can the few 77mm cannons in the town have that much power?”
Lieutenant General Berghgham, seeing his soldiers being blown to pieces through his telescope, felt a surge of blood rush to his head, and even the whites of his eyes began to redden.
“No! This is definitely not the power of a small 77mm cannon!” The commander of the division’s artillery regiment beside him immediately noticed the anomaly and quickly warned the division commander.
“Whatever it is! Concentrate the few cannons we have left and carry out counter-battery fire as quickly as possible!”
Berghgham knew that his counter-battery capabilities were weak. His division’s own heavy cannons had all been lost during their retreat. Now, they only had the meager few small cannons left from the 6th Division.
But no matter what, they could not just take shelling without retaliating! That kind of despair was the easiest way to cause morale to collapse completely.
They had to carry out counter-battery operations, even if they couldn’t win! It would boost their morale and give the infantry some confidence.
The artillery regimental commander reluctantly braced himself and went to carry out the order. At the same time, Berghgham urgently sent a telegram to the French Army, five kilometers to the west, hoping that the French 75mm artillery group would also cooperate in counter-battery operations.
Time ticked by, and radio communication and waiting for a reply both took time. Therefore, for at least twenty minutes, the Belgians could only endure shelling in vain.
Many attacking units were directly pushed back and began to flee in all directions, unwilling to remain on the Coastal Highway.
Those vanguard Belgian soldiers who had been forced into engagement range, with no room to advance or retreat, found themselves in a tragic predicament.
One battalion, charging at the very front, suddenly discovered that their friendly forces behind them had become disconnected and dared not advance further. They were charging alone on the Coastal Highway with no cover on either side. The German Army’s defense this time was also very determined. After the Belgian bombardment stopped, they quickly sent their blocking forces to the outskirts of the town.
Within the building ruins on the edge of the town, more than a dozen MG08 heavy machine gun positions, which had just arrived and deployed, emerged one after another.
Machine gun crossfire swept furiously. The long-range heavy artillery in the distance, without needing to observe targets, fired at the Coastal Highway once they found the range, regardless of whether anyone was at that coordinate at that moment, they just kept firing.
Although the absolute number of German artillery pieces in the battle was not large, the firing rate had been pushed to full speed, firing at an extreme rate. The entire barrage was continuous and unceasing.
To achieve longer range and the goal of “one-sidedly destroying enemy artillery at distances beyond their reach,” cannon shells had to sacrifice a certain amount of their propellant charge.
A 150mm howitzer could carry more than ten kilograms of explosives per shell, some even twelve to thirteen kilograms, with the explosive weight accounting for twenty to thirty percent of the total shell weight. The total shell weight was 50-60 kilograms. Later, the most extreme high-explosive shells could have 40% of their weight dedicated to explosives, but World War II shells generally had less than 30%, and World War I shells only managed about 20%.
A 150mm cannon, on the other hand, generally had less than ten kilograms of propellant charge. The Krupp prototype cannon, which later became the K16 cannon, only carried 6.8 kilograms of explosives at this time, with a theoretical explosive power of only half that of a howitzer of the same caliber.
In comparison, a long-barreled 105mm cannon had a maximum of only two kilograms of propellant charge, and its theoretical explosive power was equivalent to that of a 75mm howitzer.
But at this moment, all these details were unimportant.
The desperate situation of “taking shelling without being able to retaliate” was the final straw that completely broke the morale of the Belgians.
The Belgian infantry battalion charging at the very front was completely wiped out by the heavy artillery coverage and machine gun crossfire in the open space east of the town, not even reaching the first street.
Some soldiers were not dead yet, only severely wounded and lying on the ground, moaning and waiting to die. The German machine gunners stopped firing when the enemies had all fallen.
But the problem was that the heavy artillery group, more than ten kilometers away, did not know that everyone here had fallen and continued to fire on the designated coordinates, with waves of shells landing every ten to twenty seconds.
The severely wounded were killed by further explosions, and the dead were further shattered. The heavy artillery group did not intend to desecrate the bodies; they simply could not judge whether to stop firing in time and continued to bombard the area, even if people were already dead.
The psychological impact of such a scene was extremely profound.
The German Army might have been able to withstand a day of shelling and still fight to the death without retreating, because they were taking elastic defense from within the town’s ruins, and most shells could not cause substantial damage.
However, at this moment, the Belgian charging troops were enduring shelling on an open road with no cover, and every shell was effectively harvesting a group of lives.
Especially due to the floods, the low-lying areas south of the Coastal Highway were also submerged, and the passable sections for Belgian infantry were only a few hundred meters wide at their narrowest point.
This meant that the German heavy artillery, after calibrating the range, could simply aim at this few hundred-meter-wide area and continuously fire without thinking, as if they were directly dropping shells into a crowd!
It could be said that the Belgian Army’s earlier act of breaking dikes and releasing water had backfired on them at this moment.
A boomerang always comes back eventually.
Those twenty minutes were undoubtedly the most arduous twenty minutes Lieutenant General Berghgham had ever experienced in his life.
“Hasn’t the French Army carried out counter-battery fire yet? Why?” Lieutenant General Berghgham repeatedly urged and cursed the friendly generals and his own artillery regimental commander.
Finally, his artillery regimental commander’s despairing reply made Berghgham’s hanging heart die completely:
“General! We have observed the enemy’s trajectories and can be certain that the enemy’s artillery positions are firing from at least fifteen kilometers to the south! We do not have any cannon that can reach that far! We can only take shelling!”
This “professional assessment” completely crushed the fighting spirit of Berghgham and the regimental commanders under him.
“Retreat! Retreat quickly! Abandon the attack! All troops withdraw and escape the enemy’s heavy artillery coverage! All units should not march on the Coastal Highway! Travel as dispersed as possible along the beaches and muddy areas on the sides!”
The 1st Belgian Division, known as the most loyal to the King among all Belgian forces, saw its vanguard reinforced battalion completely annihilated with no survivors, and the remaining main regiments severely battered by artillery fire, and chose to retreat directly.
Even though the King personally distributed royal ham and brandy to the soldiers, and even though the King brought out all his gold and silver coins to supplement their pay, it was impossible to make people charge to their deaths under one-sided shelling.
……
“It seems we have finally won. After failing in their final desperate struggle, the Belgians were left with complete paraplegia upon landing.”
Colonel Lister, watching the chaotic retreat of the Belgian forces through his telescope, finally felt his heart relax.
Lelouch was already highly trusted by the colonel, so he was by his side at this moment, even having the privilege to take the colonel’s telescope and observe after the colonel finished.
Watching the retreating Belgians, Lelouch kindly reminded him: “Sir, perhaps we cannot be completely careless yet? Currently, it seems we have completely crushed the Belgian will to fight and their morale, making them unwilling to attack and also lacking the courage to attack.
However, ‘unwilling to attack’ does not mean ‘willing to surrender immediately.’ If all three of their remaining divisions retreat to the vicinity of Ostend, hold their ground, and wait for the French to attack and escort them out, we will still be in danger.
They might think that we only have about two battalions left, but the French forces between Dunkirk and De Panne are increasing, and today there are several divisions, tomorrow there might be two divisions, and heavy artillery might also appear.
If the Belgians can outlast us in a stalemate, they might win. To be completely safe, we need to find another way to completely annihilate them, or at least negotiate their surrender.”
The colonel nodded: “I also wish for that, but the gap between defeating them and forcing their surrender is not easy to bridge.”
The current state of the Belgian Army is actually similar to the French Army in 1917 later on. After the Nivelle Offensive, the French Army lost all spirit and the front-line soldiers mutinied, refusing to launch any more attacks, but that was all.
“Is there any way to further convert these Belgians who refuse to attack into defectors?”
Lelouch pondered for a long time before gradually calming down.
Then, he suddenly noticed a battlefield detail that had been overlooked, and an idea came to him.
——
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