Chapter 154: Run For Your Lives! Dunkirk’s Devil Is Back!
In the days that followed, on the frontal battlefield of the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Major General Kemal, with his Ottoman Army New 19th Division, and several reinforcement regiments temporarily assigned to him by Commander-in-Chief General Zanders, firmly held the Kilitbahir Plateau, repelling at least five waves of enemy ANZAC Corps bombardment and charges every day.
He had to hold the high ground for at least seven days, to buy enough construction time for friendly forces to dig reverse slope tunnel fortification networks on the second defensive line and deep trenches in the subsequent buffer zone.
At the rear construction sites, Ottoman soldiers, construction personnel, and Germania instructors were all very diligent, with strict requirements for the construction.
“When digging trenches, remember to make the southwest-facing side wall as vertical as possible, and add timber reinforcement where necessary. But the northeast-facing side wall can be sloped more gently, without adding timber to reinforce the side wall!”
“The enemy is attacking from the southwest, and our army will subsequently withdraw step by step to the northeast, fighting elastic defense, so the side facing the enemy must have the strongest possible defense and the best cover effect! The side facing us can be patched up casually. Not reinforcing the side wall also makes it easier for our artillery to continue bombarding and killing enemy soldiers in the trenches after the enemy seizes the position!”
“The reverse slope tunnel should have a zigzag entrance slightly on the front of the mountain body, but the entrance must have two bends to ensure that even if directly hit by enemy shells, the shrapnel impact will be absorbed by these two bends, making the area within 5 meters of the entrance an absolute safe zone!”
The Ottoman soldiers and workers knew these were all matters of life and death for themselves, so they worked without any slack, strictly following Brigadier General William Keitel’s anti-bombardment experience.
These experiences were all hard-earned lessons summarized by Keitel from Dunkirk to Calais, resisting Britannian battleship bombardment time and again. There was no other artillery general in the world who had endured so many battleship bombardments.
The daily construction progress of the rear second-line troops was also reported and communicated to the frontline holding troops at night.
This way, Major General Kemal, who was holding the line to the death, felt even more accomplished, knowing that every extra day he held, the solidity of the rear second defensive line would increase several degrees.
Two or three days passed in a flash. It was now August 28th, at dusk. A Germania advisor from the rear town of Eceabat, Colonel William Leb, took advantage of the night to sneak up to the high ground, arriving at the shelter where Major General Kemal was hunkered down, and brought him good news.
“The trench network in Eceabat town has been mostly completed after three days of emergency modifications. Now only the reverse slope tunnels in the rear second-line mountainous area remain, which will take at least another five or six days.” Colonel Leb spoke very directly.
“That’s good news. Don’t worry, I can hold for another five days no problem! Even without the buffer of the town, we can hold this hilltop to the death!” Hearing that his persistence had played such a big role, Kemal became exhilarated.
Colonel Leb quickly stopped his pointless stubbornness: “No need to go that far. I came tonight with a new suggestion from Brigadier General Keitel. These past two days, we’ve observed your defensive tactics and found some minor issues.
As you said before, when the enemy battleship bombardment ends, if your troops return from the reverse slope communication trenches behind the mountaintop to the front trenches too quickly, they’re likely to be caught in the aftermath of the bombardment, causing extra casualties. But if they return too slowly, the enemy can advance hundreds of meters, sharply reducing the engagement distance, and eventually rush into the trench network for close combat.
This problem isn’t an issue at all in the several Western Front campaigns we’ve fought. At Dunkirk and Calais, facing enemy infantry charging right after warship bombardment, we always preferred slow over fast.
Going fast risks falling into a trap—the enemy sometimes doesn’t really end the fire preparation, but pauses for two minutes after firing to lure us back into position, then suddenly hits with another barrage. So we’d rather go slow. At worst, the enemy gets close, no big deal—as long as we have submachine guns and the enemy doesn’t, close is fine!”
Kemal, hearing this, couldn’t help but show envy: “The problem is our Ottoman Army doesn’t have submachine guns!”
Leb: “So, after spotting this issue yesterday, we urgently requested approval. This time we can’t spare large main infantry forces for reinforcement, and troop movements take time, so we’re only sending artillery units. But our equipment is plentiful, and the close-combat self-defense weapons temporarily assigned to the artillery are all submachine guns.
After our request, we’re willing to provide 7,000 out of the 9,000 submachine guns from the entire artillery regiment to your frontline defensive troops.”
Duke Rupprecht’s troops now had tens of thousands of submachine guns in total. Just the 12 direct assault battalions of the 12 divisions required 800 submachine guns each, adding up to over ten thousand. Lelouch’s independent army units also had over ten thousand submachine guns combined.
Normally, the duke wasn’t rich enough to equip every artilleryman with a submachine gun.
But in this operation, most of the 6th Army Group’s personnel needed rest and preparation for the next phase of the offensive campaign, but the guns didn’t need rest. With a stroke of the pen, the duke equipped the reinforcing artillery with submachine guns for self-defense.
An artillery regiment has about 1,500 combat personnel, not counting the regimental-level and above logistics system, so six artillery regiments providing 9,000 submachine guns was perfectly normal.
Aren’t you, Kemal, afraid of the enemy closing in for close combat if you return too slowly? Here, have submachine guns—now you won’t fear ANZAC Corps close combat anymore.
Hearing this, Kemal could hardly contain his excitement: “Thank you so much, Marshal Rupprecht! To give our second-line troops so many submachine guns! Now you can rest assured—we’ll make the ANZAC Corps leave at least 20,000 corpses behind! And we can hold out a few more days!”
……
The next day, the 29th, early morning.
The British Allied Forces, frustrated at the foot of the mountain for several days, had been holding in their anger. Early this morning, the pre-dreadnought fleets and protected cruiser groups on the sea surface once again unleashed their 152mm to 305mm caliber artillery groups, continuously pounding the Kilitbahir Plateau.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard the naval guns tried, they couldn’t achieve the high-angle fire of mortars. For Ottoman soldiers hiding in deep reverse slope trenches behind the hilltop, the bombardment was just scratching an itch through boots.
Mediterranean Fleet Commander Admiral Sackville Carden knew this well, but he also knew this bombardment could at least force the enemy out of preset positions, buying more time for his own ground troops about to attack.
“How long has the bombardment been going?” After dozens of rounds, Admiral Sackville Carden had zoned out a bit before remembering to ask the time.
“Commander, it’s been 40 minutes of bombardment,” the staff adjutant nearby quickly reminded.
“40 minutes… How many days has it been? No point in continuing. Ceasefire in 5 minutes, then ceasefire for 3 minutes, follow with 15 minutes of bombardment, ceasefire 5 minutes, then 5 minutes of rapid fire!”
Before the morning attack, Landing Troops Commander-in-Chief General Hamilton had agreed on 75 minutes of fire preparation with him. But the navy could decide the specifics, including intervals.
Admiral Carden was playing “cry wolf” with the defenders, hoping repeated pauses followed by rapid fire would trick them into wrong judgments—either advancing too early and getting bombed, or too late, allowing his side to advance further.
In the next half hour, everything unfolded exactly as Admiral Carden planned. The bombardment stopped two or three times to lure the defenders out, unclear if they bit. But at least through the telescope, the bombardment effects showed no limbs or torsos flying from shell explosions.
“About time. The enemy must finally be scared witless today—no matter how we lure, they won’t show. Extend artillery fire, then wait for the army to charge.”
As Admiral Carden extended fire, General Hamilton onshore finally ordered ANZAC Corps commander Major General John Monash to launch the attack.
John Monash was a 40-something Australian. Normally, a major general wouldn’t command such a large corps. ANZAC Corps now had 80,000 men, more than a Britannian home army. But to motivate these colonial soldiers, the Belgian Ministry of War gave Monash a Belgian major general rank to lead them personally.
The ANZAC soldiers felt respected, with their own native corps commander, and morale rose somewhat. In this landing battle, they charged fiercely.
With Major General Monash’s order, tens of thousands of ANZAC soldiers surged out of the trenches, charging toward the Kilitbahir Plateau.
“Lucky today! The enemy must be dazed by the continuous feigned ceasefire battleship bombardments! They think this is another lure, so they haven’t returned from behind the hilltop to the front positions! We might charge straight to the hilltop for close combat!”
This was what many frontline ANZAC officers thought. Even Major General Monash, observing his men’s charge through high-powered binoculars, thought the same.
Major General Monash was so nervous his palms sweated, gripping the telescope unstably, constantly wiping sweat on his military uniform.
“They’re advancing! Really advancing! Less than 400 meters from the hilltop!”
The Kilitbahir Plateau wasn’t very high in absolute elevation, just relatively higher than surroundings. Only about 1 kilometer from the coastline, absolute elevation was just 160 meters.
However, just as Major General Monash inwardly rejoiced, the situation on the hilltop finally changed.
Large numbers of Ottoman soldiers had surged back to the front positions on the hilltop via communication trenches from behind, then began sweeping fire from high ground relying on cover.
These Ottoman soldiers needed time to return to preset positions; they couldn’t teleport. So firepower started sparse, then gradually intensified.
Though ANZAC Corps took constant casualties, they used the window before enemy fire fully intensified to close the distance further.
“Less than 200 meters left! Our vanguard has rushed into the trench zone! Don’t fear! Victory this time! All in!”
Seeing the vanguard breach the trench network, Major General Monash surged with adrenaline and immediately ordered ANZAC Corps reserves committed in waves, determined to take the high ground in one push.
But the next moment, the tide turned sharply.
“Da-da-da~ da-da-da~” Continuous crisp submachine gun fire soon echoed across the entire hilltop.
The expected scene of fair close-quarters fighting in trenches—Lee-Enfield and Mauser rifles trading shots, grenades thrown back and forth—never happened.
Instead, it was one-sided agile slaughter of Lee-Enfield riflemen by MP15 submachine guns.
Teams of ANZAC infantry queued in communication trenches were cut down by a dozen or so from faith sweeps by MP15 submachine guns at trench corners.
Submachine gunners didn’t even need to expose themselves—just extend arms from trench corners, blindly sweeping by sound without looking.
Masses of ANZAC soldiers were pinned midway up the hillside, unable to advance or retreat. Leaving the trench zone to run down the open slope would mean quicker death under enemy heavy machine guns.
On the position, heavy machine gun fire soon joined. When Ottoman troops withdrew to avoid bombardment, they left heavy machine gun positions intact—only personnel withdrew.
Guns left in place weren’t easily destroyed by shells. Simply lowering from tripods to trench floors made direct hits unlikely.
Now with Austrian Army back, submachine guns first stalled the enemy assault. In three to five minutes, rear heavy machine guns would resume firing one by one.
Submachine guns handled up to 200 meters, heavy machine guns over a thousand meters, covering the whole slope. As they opened fire, ANZAC soldiers couldn’t retreat—they either pushed desperately into trenches for cover or lay flat on the slope in shallow depressions.
Bullets whistled overhead, terrifying these inexperienced ANZAC soldiers into trembling.
And just when they thought hell couldn’t be worse, a greater change occurred.
A few minutes later, faint “poof poof” grenade launcher sounds rose from the reverse slope position behind the mountaintop, then hundreds of rounds arced high over the crest, smashing into the rear of ANZAC positions on the hillside front.
One grenade launcher round in a trench turned packed ANZAC soldiers into mangled bloody heaps; splashing steel rods, fragments, and slag pierced flesh without waste.
Even grenade explosions sounded muffled, ANZAC bodies the best silencers, catching and cushioning every shard.
……
Distant Major General Monash, seeing what seemed like enemy MP15 submachine guns appear, fell into daze and stupor.
Distance was too great to clearly see submachine guns, so he only vaguely sensed the enemy had them.
This premonition came from half a year ago, when he fought in the Dunkirk Port campaign. Then, two battalions of Germania assault troops air-dropped right above coastal defense batteries, seized them, and ANZAC Corps soldiers were forced by General Hegge to assault Fort Malraux and Fort Rohan north and south of Dunkirk Port.
At that time, Monash was just a colonel regimental commander, not a major general corps commander.
He had personally witnessed thousands of his comrades fall to Germania assault team members hunkered in battery tunnels, under dense MP15 submachine gun sweeps, under close direct-fire exchanges from 150mm coastal defense guns blasting each other’s hilltop surface positions.
Major General Monash’s psyche bore massive trauma from that. ANZAC Corps’ 20,000 men ended with only a few hundred survivors.
He was promoted to major general solely for surviving with experience when no one else was available.
That feeling was like the Eastern Front Lusha troops: if a battalion is wiped out to the last man, you’re the battalion commander.
So he had extreme psychological trauma toward MP15 submachine guns. Even without seeing them directly, watching his soldiers drop in rows, killed back, tumbling raggedly down the slope, instinct told him the enemy across was likely universally equipped with submachine guns!
And this was confirmed when rows of high-arc, over-the-crest small-caliber grenades from the reverse slope rained into positions.
“How do these Ottomans have small-caliber grenade launchers too! That flexible, man-portable close-range indirect fire!”
Through binoculars, seeing clustered trench soldiers blasted into swirling blood mist, Major General Monash finally broke into cold sweat, limbs ice-cold, collapsing to the ground.
“Why you again? Why always you?”
how old are you!
Even from afar, Major General Monash felt chilled limbs and bloodline-suppressed terror.
On the frontline positions, ANZAC officers who survived the Dunkirk hill assault half a year ago felt it even more viscerally. Those few hundred survivors were now at least platoon leaders or company commanders.
At least a hundred officers felt the domination fear from Fort Malraux half a year ago.
“Run! Withdraw! The Dunkirk paratrooper demons are back! Must be those devils sent to reinforce the Ottomans at Gallipoli!”
This familiar recipe, this familiar terror—couldn’t be wrong!
“We’re done for! It must be that devil who captured Marshal French half a year ago back again!”
Over a dozen grassroots officers cracked first, screaming madly and fleeing rearward, only to be mowed down by MG08 heavy machine gun barrages from behind.
For them, death by bullets was perhaps release from trauma stress.
The ANZAC soldiers in the hilltop meat grinder gradually collapsed totally, scattering in chaos, harvested by sustained rear sweeps and high-arc grenades—two entire infantry regiments half-killed in one charge.
6,000 ANZAC soldier corpses told a terrifying message: the Dunkirk demons were back.
Though he actually hadn’t returned.
Just a few underlings who learned a trick or two from that Dunkirk demon were sent here.
——
PS: Another 12,000 words today.
Multi-line narrative unavoidable. In the first phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, the protagonist can only remotely and indirectly influence, bleeding the Britannians more. Can’t write him appearing personally.
Because both the Black Sea line and Baltic Sea line need the protagonist personally in command. But rest assured, won’t keep writing Gallipoli—tomorrow switches back to Lelouch’s personal perspective, advancing the Baltic Sea line.
World War is multiple fronts in parallel.
