Chapter 142: Comparable To Sneaking Through Yinping
The meeting at 10 Downing Street ended, and the Britannians ultimately decided to continue forcibly executing the Dardanelles Strait landing operation,
The intelligence warning to the Lushans was given, and they believed it, but did not feel it was much of a threat. The Britannian intelligence department had done all it could.
However, the preparations made by the Britannians for the Battle of the Dardanelles were not yet complete. The accountability for the losses from the Dover bombardment had not been fully settled either.
Although the Royal Navy had finished its internal accountability, such huge losses could not be shouldered entirely by themselves. If they could shift some blame to their allies and make them share some responsibility to spread the losses, that would be ideal.
And the external responsibility for the Dover bombardment was actually easy to shift, since the responsible party was right there—the Franks! Calais Port was Frankish territory!
Back in April, if the Franks had not fallen for the trick, mistakenly thinking Lelouch was on the Western Front and that the Germanians would concentrate countless assault battalions to assault Calais. As a result, just as the German 4th Army Group cut off their land connection to the rear on the Calais Peninsula, the semi-encircled Frankish Army directly had their own warships and transport ships pick them up, breaking out of the encirclement and handing the city, fortress, and port to the Germanians.
If the Franks had not been so cowardly back then, handing resources to the enemy and ignoring their ally Britannia’s advice to hold out to the end, would this situation have happened today?
Now, the Germanians were using the Frankish land abandoned by the Frankish Army to bombard the Britannian Channel Fleet from across the sea, so the Franks should at least bear half the responsibility!
In the end, after British Naval Minister Walton consulted the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister stepped in and asked Count Balfour, the Foreign Minister, to negotiate with the Franks. He demanded that the Franks organize a counterattack and assault Calais to relieve the threat to the Channel.
The Franks also knew they were at fault, and besides, they were already organizing the Champagne campaign and the Artois campaign this year. These two major counterattacks had been going on for a long time and kept causing deaths.
By the end of the year, the Champagne and Artois battlefields would each cost at least 300,000 French Army casualties.
Opening another front now and testing the waters at Calais with a strong assault to retake it was no big deal. Anyway, Champagne and Artois probably could not be won, so they could just draw some troops from there to put on a show.
And with this redeployment and show of force, by the year-end tally, it would at least cause the French Army to permanently lose another 100,000 to nearly 200,000 in combat effectiveness.
After the French Army counterattacked Calais but failed to take it for a long time, the Britannians proposed again that, to prevent the Germania Navy from breaking out, they should form a joint fleet for combined naval operations between the two countries.
They hoped the Franks would incorporate their 4 “Liberté-class” battleships into the joint grand fleet to block the High Seas Fleet.
At the same time, they also asked the Franks to detach several pre-dreadnoughts to join the subsequent attack fleet against the Dardanelles Strait. Because Britannia’s own pre-dreadnought numbers had suffered heavy losses, they needed fresh blood to replenish, or the campaign’s forces would be stretched thin.
The Franks argued internally for a long time, weighing pros and cons and bickering, and finally incorporated all their miscellaneous 4 pre-dreadnoughts （ Liberté-class and Charlemagne-class）, except for the newest 6 Danton-class pre-dreadnoughts, into Britannia’s Mediterranean Fleet for joint operations.
After the Frankish Navy agreed to this condition, the Frankish Army later gave up on the plan to counterattack Calais Port again. Because the Grand Duke of Württemberg of the German 4th Army Group was defending too resolutely.
The Western Front battlefield in this era was inherently strong on defense and weak on attack; the attackers suffered too much.
When the Germanians attacked the French solid positions, they could at best achieve a 50-50 split or slightly be at a disadvantage. When it was the French Army’s turn to assault German positions, the combat power was simply crushing, with casualty exchange ratios over 5 to 1 being mandatory.
When the Franks assaulted, on average they suffered 50,000 casualties just to inflict maybe 10,000 on the Germanians defending from advantageous terrain. And the Germanians now had exclusive sulfonamide drugs, so at least 2,000 to 3,000 of those 10,000 could still be saved by better medical conditions.
The final permanent loss ratio was at least over 7 to 1. Even if the Germanians used Lusha prisoners of war to fill the line, they could still achieve a 2-3 to 1 casualty exchange ratio.
The attackers inevitably suffered losses; it was just a matter of how much.
……
Meanwhile, on the Western Front, amid all the headaches from bickering and coping with the ongoing Great Bombardment and cross-sea bombardment effects.
On the Eastern Front’s Black Sea battlefield, the three days of continuous air raids had ended, and the curtain on ground and sea offensives was also lifting one after another.
According to the staff plan that Lelouch initially formulated for Duke Rupprecht and Admiral Spee, the landing operation should have begun on the 29th, with the frontal offensive proceeding simultaneously.
But in the end, based on the actual air raid effects, they decided to postpone the landing plan to August 1st, to allow more time for mine sweeping and weakening the enemy surface fleet.
However, from July 29th to August 1st, the other units of the Eastern Front Germania Army were not idle during those two days.
What was postponed was only the landing offensive, not the ground frontal battlefield offensive.
Duke Rupprecht ordered on July 29th that at 4:30 a.m. that day, from the strike positions of Baria 2nd Army and 3rd Army, and Borhrad city, they begin artillery fire preparation on the enemy depth positions 2 to 12 kilometers to the northeast.
Over 700 light and heavy cannons were gathered together, bombarding the enemy positions for a full 90 minutes—this was roughly the total firepower of the artillery regiments of a dozen divisions, plus the corresponding army-level artillery.
Then, at exactly 6 a.m. that morning, the soldiers of Baria 2nd Army and 3rd Army launched the ground offensive.
Because the Eastern Front battlefield was much wider than the Western Front, both attackers and defenders had relatively sparse troop deployments, so breaking through the first defense line did not take much effort. In just one day, the Germania Army advanced 12 kilometers northeast from Borhrad city, basically occupying all the areas covered by their early morning artillery fire preparation.
This battle result would be impressive on the Western Front. Even with ample fire preparation, a 4-kilometer advance on the first day there would be a great victory. But on the Eastern Front, a 12-kilometer advance on the first day was just an ordinary victory.
In the initial 12-kilometer defense zone, the Lushans had only left some monitoring troops; when the enemy attacked fiercely, they directly routed or withdrew. Basically, they would let the enemy in 30 kilometers before organizing a serious defensive line to hold to the death, while also stretching the attacker’s supply line and using the 30 kilometers of shell-torn muddy terrain to consume the enemy.
So on the 30th and 31st, Baria 2nd Army and 3rd Army continued to advance steadily, 9 kilometers on the 30th and 7 kilometers on the 31st. Over the three days, they cumulatively pushed forward 28 kilometers.
The straight-line distance to Odessa was still 154 kilometers, and to the Dniester River, 120 kilometers. The land ahead was still flat, just with a rich network of small rivers and some marshes interspersed.
As long as they could overcome the mud and river crossing issues, troop marches and supplies on the plains would be no problem.
These three days of Germania Army ground frontal offensives made the Lusha Army even more convinced: the enemy just wanted to fight a traditional ground offensive campaign, with the attack route infiltrating northeast along the Black Sea coastline.
And the reason the Germanians had first conducted the military port air raid and used airships to damage several Lusha Black Sea Fleet warships was definitely to give the German Black Sea Fleet （ and also the Ottoman Black Sea Fleet） a better escort and supply environment.
The Germanians were surely counting on controlling those small ports and fishing villages along the way to supply military rations and artillery shells to the army advancing along the coastline, so they would not have to worry about the muddy terrain hitting their logistics.
After making this judgment, the Lusha Black Sea Fleet was not too worried. Because they believed that even if the Germanians weakened the Black Sea Fleet, they could not use sea supply lines—
All the access channels to the docks in this area had long been sown with plenty of moored mines by the Lusha Black Sea Fleet! Any ship daring to intrude would be blown to bits by the mines!
Of course, this professional judgment could initially only be made by the Lusha naval generals, while the army generals did not know.
To be safe, on July 30th, Romanian Front Army Commander General Evert called the person in charge on the naval side, Black Sea Fleet Commander Admiral Eberhardt.
“Is this the Black Sea Fleet Headquarters in Sevastopol? This is the Romanian Front Army Headquarters in Odessa,” General Evert greeted first, and after confirming the operator had reached the right person, he began making his request:
“Admiral Eberhardt, I have a question that must be confirmed—starting yesterday, German 6th Group’s Baria 2nd Army and 3rd Army launched sustained offensives from Borhrad city into our depth positions, and have now penetrated over 20 kilometers into our territory.
My 6th Army Group’s three armies are confronting the enemy on the Borhrad front line and adopting elastic defense. But our army must ensure that after the Germanians enter the country, they cannot use Black Sea coast ports to obtain supplies, or our attempt to lure the enemy deep and stretch their land supply lines in the muddy and river network areas will be meaningless.
Can the navy ensure that all ports and anchorages from Sulina to the Dniester Estuary cannot be used by the Germania Navy? I heard the fleet suffered considerable losses from the enemy’s airship air raids these past two days? Can you still ensure sea control?”
After Black Sea Fleet Commander Admiral Eberhardt carefully listened to the army brothers’ request, he confidently patted his chest: “Rest assured! Although the fleet suffered some losses, with 1 battleship and 1 pre-dreadnought unable to sortie, sea control south of Odessa in each port is still in our hands!
We deployed thousands of mines there early in the war, and if the Germanians dare to use those small ports to supply their army, they are asking for death!”
General Evert: “Then I’m relieved, and can continue executing my trade space for time tactic, fighting and retreating to consume the enemy’s supplies.”
Then General Evert hung up and called one of his frontline lieutenant general corps commanders: “Connect me to Lieutenant General Anton Denikin.”
Soon, the command post of a certain army of the Lusha Romanian Front Army 6th Army Group in frontline Altziitz city was connected.
A Lusha army lieutenant general corps commander responsible for the frontline Altziitz and other city defenses picked up and greeted, and General Evert immediately ordered: “Lieutenant General Denikin, I require you to take the three armies of the 6th Army Group deployed on the Altziitz line and continue maintaining elastic defense, allowing you to withdraw step by step in an orderly manner.
Do not worry about letting the enemy in; as long as the enemy advances another 50 kilometers or 100 kilometers, they will naturally run out of ammunition and supplies. But before you withdraw, you must destroy all roads! Even if it’s just dirt roads, dig a big pit every 10 meters!
The Empire currently does not have ample forces in the Romanian direction; after all, the previous disastrous defeat annihilated three army groups of the Southwestern Front. Now we only have two army groups total to guard the entire southern Kievan Rus’ region, and we cannot waste them in the wilderness southwest of Odessa!”
“Yes! Commander! I guarantee execution of the orders! I will balance defense and preservation of living forces in the retreating defense battles!” Lieutenant General Denikin replied resolutely.
……
However, what they did not know was that while Black Sea Fleet Commander Admiral Eberhardt and Romanian Front Army Commander General Evert were fully confident in the Lusha side’s pre-war minefield deployments.
As early as the night of July 29th, Colonel Lelouch von Ritter Hunt himself had already boarded Admiral Spee’s warship.
Lelouch sailed north from Constanța with the admiral, arriving in this sea area north of Sulina and south of the Dniester River Estuary, to supervise and guide their mine-sweeping sub-fleet in executing moored mine clearance tasks.
If the mine sweeping went smoothly, the subsequent transport ship fleet would also set sail on time, carrying the landing troops to the Dniester River Estuary to act according to plan. And a high-level planner like Lelouch naturally did not need to follow the first wave of beach assault troops into the most dangerous action.
With Lelouch’s status, he just needed to stay in the armored command tower of the “Goeben” battlecruiser, observe the beach assault troops’ actions through telescope and rangefinder, and then issue remote instructions via radio.
That night, massive solid iron chains were towed by two old high-power armored cruisers, like a spread-out large net, tightly hugging the Black Sea nearshore seabed and scraping forward forcefully.
If it could not be scraped, the cruisers would stand up and kick! Anyway, brute force creates miracles; overwhelming power conquers all!
These two cruisers, one called “Hamidiye” and one “Moltke”, were old antiques that the Ottoman Navy had bought from Germania in 1903, with main engine power around 12,000 horsepower.
Without regard for engine wear, maintaining maximum output for forced dragging could still move this new-type minesweeping chain that was dozens of times heavier than old sweeping cables.
Directly ahead of the minesweepers, protective booms extended far out, opening a grate about 30 meters wide and 7-8 meters deep into the water, to prevent the minesweeper itself from hitting a mine while advancing.
After all, the dragnet only covered the area between the two minesweepers, but not directly ahead of the minesweepers.
Under the minesweepers’ forceful dragging, a 2-kilometer-wide safe channel was indeed cleared, and the Lusha Navy had no idea at all.
As dawn broke, some large torpedo boats were released by the Germanians, visually clearing the area just dragged by the minesweeping cruisers once more.
Moored mines with severed anchor chains occasionally drifted on the sea surface, very dangerous, and had to be spotted by carefully observing the sea surface with telescopes.
The Germania Navy crew did not dare to be careless, searching very thoroughly, and immediately used fast-firing 88mm guns for direct fire to explode every drifting mine spotted.
Mine explosions sounded intermittently, and in just one morning, over 200 dangerous drifting mines with broken cables were cleared.
Airships were also flying low in the sky to help observe drifting mines, reporting positions to friendly forces once spotted. After all, air units had better visibility; as long as they flew below 300 meters, they could see much farther and clearer than torpedo boats.
During the mine sweeping, there was even an unexpected gain: they fished out several airship crew who had bailed out from airships shot down during yesterday’s air raid mission.
The airship shot down over Odessa Port yesterday must have disintegrated over the sea during its southward withdrawal when it could no longer hold, and the bailed-out crew had worn life jackets before jumping, drifting for a full day.
It was also fortunate that the Black Sea was an extremely stagnant sea; it was black because the deep water had extremely low oxygen and few living things, so there was no shark problem.
The Black Sea was an almost enclosed sea, connected to the outside only by the very narrow and shallow Bosphorus Strait, so there was almost no seawater exchange or flow. Over millions of years, the bottom seawater here had depleted even its oxygen, and there were no living things below 150 meters.
Unfortunately, they only rescued 5 airship crew in the end, while at least 2 airships had gone down in this sea area yesterday, fully crewed with 34 airship crew and officers; the rest must have crashed or drowned, and there was no way around it.
“I didn’t expect that this new bottom-scraping minesweeping chain you invented would perform just as well in actual combat as in testing. I was worried that the sea conditions and seabed topography in the Black Sea were different from the Baltic Sea, and something might go wrong.”
Also in the command tower of the “Goeben” battlecruiser, Admiral Spee repeatedly observed the progress of the forward minesweeping fleet with his telescope, and every time a mine was detonated, he could not help praising Lelouch’s method as effective.
“This is nothing… I suddenly have a new idea.” But Lelouch did not take credit at all, instead maintaining a very open-minded thinking attitude.
Just now, seeing the airships helping surface torpedo boats observe mine situations and search for downed soldiers, he suddenly had an inspiration.
“Oh? What new idea? Your ideas are definitely useful.” Admiral Spee had no airs at all and did not think the other was overstepping just because he was only a colonel.
Lelouch put down the telescope and pointed at the airship: “We should have the airships loaded with bullets to strafe observed mines with heavy machine guns, saving the limited-visibility surface torpedo boats from coming close to clear them.
If machine gun bullets cannot penetrate the mine casing, we can find a way to mount 37mm anti-aircraft guns on airships for direct fire. Even if it’s too late for this time, friendly forces in the Baltic Sea might be able to use it later.”
Admiral Spee thought for a moment, and his eyes lit up: “How does your brain work?”
——
PS: Sorry, with the simultaneous advances on the Black Sea, North Sea, and Baltic Sea timelines, it can only be written like this; mainly the battlefield is too vast.
I know that having the protagonist only appear indirectly for 2 days by giving advance tips to allies in recollections and dialogue definitely affects the coolness rhythm. But no way around it, thanks for everyone’s patient following; it’s finally caught up.
Today is another 12,000 words; I’m purely pulling the rhythm forward with update word count. If daily updates were 5,000 words, the protagonist probably wouldn’t appear for a week.
