Chapter 134: Making A Few Preliminary Moves To Squeeze Out The Airship’s Last Remaining Value
July 26, 1915.
The small town of Borhrad on the Romania-Lusha border.
Two corps of the German 6th Army Group had quietly assembled in this area, discreetly preparing for the strike. Armament supplies and ammunition resupplies needed for the campaign had all been procured and transported to the front line.
Borhrad city, strictly speaking, belongs to the Kievan Rus’ region of the Lusha Empire, and is not even considered Bessarabian territory（that is, modern-day Moldova, which was seized by the Lusha Army from Romania when Napoleon attacked Lusha in 1812 and was pushed back）
However, in the previous Romanian campaign, the German-Austrian Allied Forces conveniently swept up this Lusha region along with a small portion of western Bessarabia while pushing south to flatten Romania.
The transportation infrastructure between these regions and Romania is quite good, with decent road conditions, which is very favorable for concentrating troops and supplies from Romanian territory to the front line. But once past Borhrad city and advancing further northeast, the roads become much worse.
On the opposite side of the border, Lusha troops maintain a defense line, but the initial few lines are not tightly held—only the strategic depth is extremely deep, which is a common feature of the Eastern Front battlefield.
On the Western Front, due to the short front line and high troop deployment density, both sides dig trenches layer by layer and build fortifications, defending tightly. But on the Eastern Front, the battlefield is vast; even millions of troops spread out are like sprinkling salt, unable to make waves, so they can only focus on key defenses and depth defense.
The foremost positions only serve as outposts; if the enemy truly launches an offensive, the outermost defense lines will be lost immediately.
From Borhrad, heading northeast about 180 kilometers in a straight line, or 240 kilometers by actual road, one reaches Odessa, the first major port on the Black Sea coast in the Kievan Rus’ region. From Odessa, following the coastline east another few dozen kilometers brings one to Mykolaiv, Lusha’s largest shipbuilding city on the Black Sea.
And Odessa and Mykolaiv are the next batch of offensive targets that Lelouch planned for Duke Rupprecht.
Recently, the German 6th Army Group has been preparing for this objective. Even during the days Lelouch spent in Prague and Wilhelmshaven, the war preparations here did not stop.
The reason for selecting these two places as offensive targets is simple: Odessa is the Black Sea’s largest port by throughput; capturing it would provide great logistical support for the subsequent long-term campaign to infiltrate the Kievan Rus’ Great Plain.
Mykolaiv has large shipyards that can easily repair all warships, including cutting-edge battlecruisers and battleships.
Previously, when the Germanians sold the Moltke-class battlecruisers to the Ottomans, why didn’t the Ottomans dare to use those ships for major operations for over half a year? There are many reasons, but a very important one is that the Ottomans themselves lack large shipyards.
Once a Moltke-class ship suffers heavy damage requiring drydock repairs, the Ottomans couldn’t fix it; they could only repair minor damage that didn’t need a drydock. This led them to hesitate to fully utilize their warships, cautiously ensuring no major damage before taking limited combat actions.
As long as Lelouch helps the 6th Army Group plan the capture of Odessa and Mykolaiv, they will no longer fear the problem of Black Sea Theater warships being damaged with nowhere to repair; instead, it will put the Lusha Black Sea Fleet in that predicament.
So, to leverage army-navy coordination in the Black Sea Theater, the first battle must seize key ports and shipyards—this is the safest and most profitable approach. Inland major cities can be left for the autumn offensive; one must eat one bite at a time.
……
“You’ve finally returned, kid. Take a look at the preparations here—what else needs to be added?”
In Borhrad city, Lelouch, who had rushed back to the front line from the homeland covered in dust, immediately received an audience with the commander duke. The duke had him personally inspect the troops’ preparations before posing this question.
Lelouch pondered the map meticulously for a long time before affirmatively saying: “The preparations are very thorough. The ground offensive of the two corps should be able to tear open the enemy’s defense line and break through all the way into the depth. Combined with the navy, and our carefully planned Dniester Estuary flanking ‘landing’ operation…
I think the 240 kilometers of land route from here to Odessa can be easily advanced for the first 200 kilometers! The biggest fear in originally attacking Odessa was being stalled by the muddy, densely branched river terrain when crossing the Dniester Estuary delta.
Once bridges are blown, and boats cannot be requisitioned, the layered river network will greatly delay our offensive, giving the enemy time to reorganize defenses.
Now, launch a surprise attack with a landing in the deep rear, 160 kilometers straight-line distance from the front line where the enemy cannot possibly have heavy defenses. Then directly seize the dock areas on both banks of the estuary; if lucky, also grab the layered bridges in the delta area.
Finally, wait for the main ground force to fight through from the front line to link up, quickly breaking through the Dniester Estuary and arriving under Odessa city. The enemy’s defenses will inevitably be too late to adjust.
Moreover, even if something unexpected happens, as long as we secure sea control in advance, the ‘landing troops’ can advance and retreat freely. Worst case, if the relief force is late and the vanguard landing troops can’t hold the position, they can just contract along the coastline.”
It turns out that the Odessa offensive plan Lelouch had previously discussed with the duke, compared to the traditional “advance northeast along the Romanian coastline,” has the biggest difference in adding the extra step of “flanking landing to seize key estuary delta bridges and docks.”
Precisely to avoid the enemy relying on the river network and delta muddy areas for layered resistance, not giving the enemy’s front-line troops a chance to reorganize second- and third-line defenses after being smashed. The goal is to quickly pass through these 200 kilometers of defense zone straight to under Odessa city once the border is breached.
Of course, breaking through the first defense line on the ground border still relies on hard power—that’s the task of the two main corps of the 6th Army Group deployed around Borhrad city. Lelouch doesn’t know how to optimize that aspect, and it’s unrelated to him anyway.
Germania has plenty of troops capable of frontal hard fights; specialization is key, so Lelouch doesn’t need to worry about it.
（Note: The following image is the Battle of Odessa operational plan map.）
What Lelouch needs to worry about and is willing to worry about is the flanking seizure of bridges and roads, similar to Earth’s World War II-era “Market Garden Operation”—
Of course, Montgomery’s later “Market Garden Operation” was a disastrous defeat; he wanted to seize the bridges over the vast Dutch waterways from Belgium to prevent the enemy from organizing layered delaying defenses, to link up with the Normandy land army main force pushing through Holland, but it turned into《a bridge too far》.
But Lelouch’s operation differs essentially from Montgomery’s “Market Garden Operation.” This guy accustomed to air drops isn’t planning parachutes this time, but amphibious landing instead.
His chosen landing site, at the initial outbreak of the campaign, will definitely be a place the enemy neglects, so securing a foothold right after hitting the beach won’t be too difficult.
Moreover, the force he commits will far exceed air drops—air drops are limited by the Empire’s current airship force scale, at most transporting one regiment. Dropping one regiment into the deep rear without the tens of thousands of friendly prisoners from the previous Lviv campaign to rescue would surely drown it in the enemy’s vast ocean.
Whereas landing scale is limited only by available Black Sea transport ships; transporting two divisions at once is no problem, and they can make round trips for sustained transport.
The key to the landing is that the Germanians’ Black Sea fleet must seize and secure sea control（actually the fleet already sold to the Ottomans, but the warships and sailors are Germanian, flying Ottoman flags）, and clear the mines in the southern coastal area of Odessa Port area and the Dniester Estuary area.
With sustained sea control, the landing troops can advance and retreat freely, making it impossible for the “Market Garden Operation”-style desperation of “dropped in with no retreat path” to occur.
Everything seems a bit risky but is actually fully under control. If the navy fails to seize sea control, the subsequent operations simply won’t launch; the entire plan can adapt flexibly as needed.
……
After finalizing the operational plan with the duke, Lelouch quickly returned to his own troops to further break in and familiarize with tactics and tasks with his subordinates.
He is now nominally the “Parachute Instructor” division commander, with not only his original core veteran soldiers under him, but also about five or six thousand selected from the 40,000 Germanic tribe prisoners rescued in the Lviv campaign—all battle-tested enemy-killers—expanded into his direct lineage troops.
These troops have fought hard battles alongside Lelouch; Lviv city was taken through everyone’s united effort back then. Morale and loyalty are absolutely no issue; it’s just that their tactical and technical level is still a bit low, not comparable to the original parachute regiment veterans, and that can’t be rushed.
Lelouch thus sharpens his spear in the nick of time and feeds his horses strictly. The rest is waiting for the navy to act first and confirm results before his landing troops move out.
And for the navy to act, they first need to install the new “trawl minesweeping chains” just shipped from Wilhelmshaven on some warships, and train the Black Sea Fleet soldiers here to use them.
Secondly, they need some air support to neutralize the coastal defense gun fortresses south of Odessa Port, helping to clear the landing zone. After all, blockading a port with coastal defense guns is too difficult for the navy alone.
The Dniester Estuary has no enemy coastal defense gun fortresses, but Odessa Port’s southern suburbs do.
The fort positions are about 15 kilometers south of Odessa Port, 20 kilometers from the north bank and 25 kilometers from the south bank of the Dniester Estuary lagoon. This distance is obviously beyond the range of ordinary land heavy cannons, but just within the range of 305mm battleship main guns.
These forts south of Odessa Port consist of three twin 305 naval gun mounts, plus some smaller guns. Taking advantage of the enemy not yet inventing white phosphorus shells, airship bombing can perhaps deliver one last burst of power—let those airships strike fixed targets one final time.
For this operation, Lelouch suggested the duke coordinate many resources, borrowing all remaining Empire airships capable of bombing tasks to concentrate on several waves of fierce bombing.
The targets aren’t limited to the Odessa Port side, or even to the Eastern Front and Black Sea; the Western Front can also opportunistically concentrate bomb Britannians.
This is another army-navy-air tripartite coordinated operation, with the air force making its debut again.
……
The air bombing mission had been in preparation far in advance; since the Lviv campaign, the airship force had been in a low-task-intensity state and fully rested.
The last time Britannians suffered a major loss to airships was late February, but after that, they haven’t been badly beaten by airships again, so they haven’t figured out a counter like white phosphorus shells—on Earth history, white phosphorus shells and incendiary bombs against airships didn’t appear until 1916.
Now, even if the threat form has changed, as long as the intensity isn’t too high, the British lack strong motivation to desperately solve it.
On the Eastern Front, the Lushans only suffered from airships in May, just two months ago; their research speed is even slower, making it impossible to immediately find a solution.
But everything must assume the enemy from the widest angle, so Lelouch has repeatedly submitted suggestions to the higher-ups: take advantage of this summer for a few more fierce bombings; delaying further might miss the time window.
A while ago in Wilhelmshaven, he even submitted a memorandum to the Staff Department leadership on this matter.
At the time, there were actually many differing voices at the top, like some arrogant sentiments believing the airship force had achieved great merits at Dunkirk and Lviv, and could rampage for a long time yet.
Some even advocated building more airships, increasing the large airship force inventory from 70 to 120 ships! Spending big to build 50 new large airships!
When Lelouch heard such opinions, he desperately wanted to stop them. Only he knew the Empire’s airships were sufficient; after white phosphorus shells and high-altitude fighter jets appear, airships would eventually exit the bombing vehicle stage, with their greatest future role perhaps only long-range maritime reconnaissance.
If they could brake now, saving the resources for the 50 large airships historically built later to make more airplanes, warships, and tanks instead? The massive hydrogen for airships also requires electrolytic production; saving that electricity to smelt more high-quality electric furnace steel wouldn’t be better?
But his current status still carries little weight, so before departing, he privately sought an audience with Naval Minister Marshal Tirpitz and shared his technical projections and concerns with him.
Marshal Tirpitz initially didn’t believe it, thinking airships could still be greatly used and should be expanded. Lelouch had no choice but to bring out his pre-prepared white phosphorus shell sample and demonstrate an experiment with a hydrogen bladder right in front of Marshal Tirpitz.
He also introduced how in the Lviv campaign, Major Peter Strausser’s airship crashed because an enemy reconnaissance aircraft tore its gasbag, and sparks from the damaged reconnaissance aircraft engine ignited the hydrogen bladder.
After seeing the hydrogen container instantly erupt in flames, Marshal Tirpitz was profoundly shocked and thanked Lelouch, then diligently lobbied upon return, convincing the Emperor, Staff Department, and Army and Navy ministries to stop wasting resources on new airship construction.
He also pushed the General Staff to resolve to concentrate and intensively bomb the enemy one last time while airships weren’t yet countered! No more holding back!
This enabled the current situation where Duke Rupprecht can easily borrow 30 bomber airships at once on the Eastern Front for the Odessa and Mykolaiv campaign.
And on the west, 30 airships are also assembled, preparing for a big wave in the next few days.
The reason for not acting yet is just waiting for suitable weather—July has frequent storms, and summer coastal cloud layers can be thick sometimes; they need a day without thunderstorms or low clouds to maximize strike effects.
Best to wait until both east and west fronts have forecasted good weather for several consecutive days. Once the Great Bombardment starts on any front, it will shake all Entente Powers nations; even if unable to fully counter, they’ll take precautions and become alert, reducing subsequent bombing results.
And on July 28, the day when weather was suitable across both fronts finally arrived.
……
At 3 a.m. on July 28, 30 airships at the Sulina base on Romania’s Black Sea Coast completed all pre-takeoff preparations tightly, loaded bombs, and awaited the final strike order.
This place is also 180 kilometers straight-line to Odessa, 220 kilometers to Mykolaiv. But going to Odessa first then turning to Mykolaiv without a straight line makes the total route 240 kilometers.
6th Army Group Commander Duke Rupprecht also attached great importance to this operation, personally inspecting the airship base and shaking hands one by one with the departing airship captains.
Lelouch followed the duke, arriving at the Sulina base in the middle of the night to wish everyone smooth sailing.
When the duke shook hands, if it was someone Lelouch favored among acquaintances, Lelouch would help introduce and highlight their merits:
“Your Highness, this is Lieutenant Colonel Albert Kesselring, originally from artillery balloon spotters, who later flew airships for reconnaissance and spotting missions. He is also skilled at parachuting, with experience parachuting to safety and returning after his balloon was shot down in combat.
So last time I sent him into the Przemysl Fortress to persuade Lieutenant General Kusmanek to execute the planned orderly feigned surrender, he completed it very well. Later during the Lviv Great Bombardment, when Major Peter Strausser sacrificed himself, the bomber airship force lost a key man.
I felt Lieutenant Colonel Kesselring suited the airship force, so I boldly suggested seconding him over. His resume as an air artillery spotter is indeed very fitting for bombing missions, and his performance in training and break-in with the team these two months has been excellent.”
Hearing this man’s rich resume and bold daring, the duke couldn’t help but cast an appreciative gaze:
“Do well; anyone this kid Lelouch favors surely has potential.”
“I will strive hard to eliminate all enemy fortresses blocking our path of attack for the Empire!” Kesselring stood ramrod straight, saluting the duke excitedly.
After the inspection, the airships finally all set off toward Odessa.
But Lelouch’s work wasn’t done. While the duke was personally at the airship base, after the airships departed, Lelouch also led him to inspect these newly built airship mooring facilities:
“Your Highness, this airship base was hastily built in just over a month after Romania surrendered to the Empire, allowing us to forward-deploy airships in such an superior position today.
The Army Group direct engineer battalions deserve great credit; last time before bombing Lviv, during the acceptance of the Miháľovce airship base, I discovered some engineering talents in the engineer corps with great potential, worth promoting…”
As Lelouch spoke, he put in good words again for his favored civil engineering little brother Captain Fritz Todt, even securing him a chance to shake hands with the marshal and report face-to-face.
Fritz Todt was practically thrilled to fainting, his gratitude to Commander Lelouch increasingly indescribable, just short of kowtowing to him in private.
——
PS: Yesterday was truly infuriating; annoyed by repeated pop-ups, I foolishly upgraded to HarmonyOS 5, forcing me to use the HarmonyOS version APP, where I can’t see illustrations or Easter egg chapters, nor check my own creation effects.
Everyone using Huawei phones, absolutely don’t rush to upgrade the system, or your reading experience plummets; stick with the compatible version. Thanks. I posted an Easter egg chapter at the end of the previous chapter; this one has illustrations. But I can’t see them myself in the reader app. Android readers who can see, please say so; comment if there’s issues. Thanks.
