Chapter 156: Drag The Allied Forces Completely Into The Quagmire
September 2nd, late at night.
On the German-Austrian Allied Forces’ second mountain defense line 9 kilometers north of Kilitbahir Plateau, inside a command post located in an underground tunnel.
Several Germania Advisors were examining the batch of Italian submachine guns that Major General Kemal had sent back.
“So this is the Italians’ Villalpaloza submachine gun? It looks so much like a light machine gun! The Italians even equipped the submachine gun with a bipod!”
Looking at this strange submachine gun, Chief Advisor Brigadier General William Keitel couldn’t help but marvel.
（Note: The image below shows the Villalpaloza submachine gun on Earth）
But no matter what, everyone finally checked the magazine of this submachine gun, which was loaded with at least 25 rounds of 9x19mm bullets, that is, the famous Parabellum pistol round. From this perspective, this gun is indeed a submachine gun rather than a light machine gun, with recoil as small as German submachine guns, and it can be fired while holding it.
Moreover, influenced by the earlier German MP15 submachine gun, the Villalpaloza submachine gun in this world no longer uses the bizarre dual-barrel design; at least it has returned to a normal single-barrel, single-magazine design. The cost is that the magazine capacity is halved, and the weight is reduced from 7.5 kg to 5.5 kg（The Villalpaloza submachine gun on Earth has dual magazines with a total capacity of 50 rounds）
It can be said that the bolt sealing of this gun is definitely slightly better than the German MP15, and the effective range and accuracy are therefore improved. But the jamming rate is also higher, it’s heavier, and not convenient for hip firing; most of the time, it’s better to lie down to shoot.
“The bolt and powder gas pressure extraction structure of this gun might be worth Bergmann Company borrowing a bit. Everything else is inferior to Bergmann. Take a bit back for research, and equip the rest directly to the troops on the spot. Anyway, it uses Parabellum pistol rounds, so the bullets are interchangeable.”
In the end, the Germania Advisors reached this conclusion, handled this batch of weapons, and also had the signalman relay the message to persuade Major General Kemal not to hold on stubbornly anymore.
The seriously wounded evacuated today numbered over a thousand, with at least 700 needing sulfonamide to fight infection. At such a casualty rate, the Austrian 19th Division definitely couldn’t hold out.
……
The next day, the Italians and British Royal Navy indeed launched another offensive together.
Moreover, after suffering yesterday’s loss, the Royal Navy was even more thorough in the fire preparation phase. They divided the available reconnaissance aircraft into several waves, each time circling briefly over Kilitbahir Plateau to spot for shooting corrections, then quickly withdrawing within 15 minutes, no longer pursuing continuous spotting.
This way, by the time Germanian fighter jets arrived, the Britannian reconnaissance aircraft had already slipped away. And the fuel tanks of aircraft in this era weren’t large; after the Germanian aircraft patrolled for half an hour, they returned, and Britannian aircraft came back for reconnaissance.
After two or three such instances, the Germanians also learned to launch aircraft in batches to maintain air superiority continuously. But throughout the process, British aircraft had already scouted plenty of useful information.
In the end, on that day, with Britain losing only 9 reconnaissance aircraft and Germania losing none, the British air team successfully spotted for the naval guns fully, suppressing Kemal’s troops from reaching the mountaintop.
Finally, when the fire preparation ended and the Italian army pressed forward comprehensively, it was already very difficult for Kemal to fall back to defense.
The Austrian Army had just charged to the hilltop and resisted with heavy machine guns for less than half an hour before being pushed back step by step.
Thanks to the Austrian Army’s German-style grenade launchers providing close-range indirect fire support, which delayed the Italians’ pursuit, they were able to alternate retreats while fighting and withdrawing.
In the end, the Italians suffered over 2,000 casualties again, while the Ottoman Army lost 600 men, and Kilitbahir Plateau finally fell.
When the Italians charged to the hilltop, they were extremely proud—the nearly 200,000 British Federal troops had attacked in rotations for half a month without taking the plateau, but one Italian corps took it in two days with a total of 7,000 casualties!
This position is the narrowest point of the Dardanelles, which has some strategic significance.
With this victory alone, Italian domestic media would surely hype it as a great victory, a massive victory, a heavenly victory!
In the following days, on the frontal battlefield of the Gallipoli Peninsula, the British Federal forces and Italian army used their newly honed tactics, advancing steadily step by step, pushing forward 500 meters to 1 kilometer per day on average in the mountainous area. In valleys, plains, or towns, they could push faster.
After seven or eight days of fierce fighting, by mid-September, the allied forces had completely occupied the town of Eceabat 5 kilometers north of Kilitbahir Plateau, approaching the second mountainous defense line where the German-Austrian Allied Forces had built solid positions.
To advance these 7 kilometers, the allied forces suffered over 20,000 casualties again, while the Austrian Army’s cumulative losses were only 4,000, strictly adhering to the elastic defense tactic of preserving manpower and trading space for time.
Under Kemal’s wounded command, the Austrian Army would not hold firm against enemy artillery strikes but hide in rear positions. They only re-entered positions to organize defense when enemy infantry began charging, even if slowly and losing one or two trenches to the enemy—it didn’t matter; they absolutely wouldn’t waste lives charging back.
Moreover, as the British-Italian allied forces pushed further north, the counter-battery fire they faced grew fiercer. Because the German-aided 150mm howitzer group hidden deep in the peninsula highlands could now cover the attacking British-Italian allied forces—
In previous battles, the German-aided heavy cannons had been hard to employ simply because the combat positions were too far forward, at the tip of a peninsula surrounded by sea on three sides.
If the German-aided heavy cannon group deployed too far forward, it would be easily countered by British Navy naval guns.
But as the Austrian Army positions contracted further northwest, German heavy cannons could support the front line from relatively safe positions, making it naturally harder for the enemy.
Moreover, after over ten days of emergency construction under German advisor guidance, the Austrian Army’s second mountainous defense line fortifications were even stronger, having dug sufficiently deep “mountaintop reverse slope tunnels” instead of the previous “mountaintop reverse slope trench network”.
But the Italians, who had succeeded in fierce attacks recently, hadn’t reacted in time and thought they could continue advancing 1-2 kilometers daily and score more great victories.
As a result, the all-day fierce attack on September 11th ultimately made no progress and instead suffered the largest single-day losses since the campaign began.
The Royal Navy’s pre-battle fire preparation had almost no effect. When the Italian army charged upward, the positions were full of Ottoman soldiers waiting in strict readiness with cunningly deployed fire points.
The Italian army was covered by interlocking fire disastrously; worst of all, during their advance, they were blanketed from 15 kilometers away by over 30 German-aided 150mm long-range howitzers.
The Italian army suffered 9,000 casualties in one day, with several regiments wiped out entirely. For a long time afterward, the two Italian corps refused to fight again.
On September 12th, the allied forces had to slightly change tactics. Britain persuaded the Italians to hand over surplus submachine guns from wounded and depleted units to the ANZAC Corps for use in assault tasks, and gave them two days of simple training first.
Italian Legion Commander Lieutenant General Luigi Capello originally didn’t want to give up his ace weapon. But under General Hamilton’s repeated persuasion, he realized that if he didn’t hand over the weapons, Italian warriors would have to fill the gaps with their lives; in that case, better to temporarily lend the guns to friendly forces to let them fill the gaps.
Meanwhile, the ANZAC Corps had been demoralized since their last defeat and hadn’t been assigned main attacks for a long time. This time, with allied forces Commander-in-Chief General Hamilton personally pulling strings to get submachine guns from the Italians, they had no excuse not to fight desperately.
In the end, the ANZAC Corps’ morale was finally boosted. They picked up the newly issued submachine guns and launched a new offensive on the 14th, but this offensive also failed, wasting thousands of casualties in vain.
……
After two consecutive defeats, the British-Italian allied forces reflected deeply and held an emergency meeting again on the night of September 14th, with both navy and army attending to review tactical gains and losses.
On the army side, several generals complained tearfully to Commander-in-Chief General Hamilton:
“Commander! This battle can’t be fought! When we attacked Kilitbahir Plateau before, that place was the narrowest point of the Dardanelles Strait, protruding toward the strait. So our army could strike the plateau simultaneously from both north and south directions of the peninsula!
But now we’ve advanced seven or eight kilometers north, and to attack the even further north Kocadere Plateau and Bigali Plateau, we can only bombard eastward from the northwest side of the plateau, losing half the attack directions compared to the previous north-south pincer bombardment!
The enemy must have anticipated this, so they built anti-artillery reverse slope trench networks on the east-facing side of the mountaintop! We can’t bombard that position! So the enemy doesn’t even need to evacuate the hilltop during shelling; they can stay squatting on the mountain. As soon as our army attacks, they immediately sweep with interlocking fire from above plus shelling, routing the assault troops.
Therefore, to continue the offensive, we must restore our army’s ability to ‘pincer bombard the enemy hilltop from multiple directions’! Otherwise, infantry units will refuse to fight! Forcing them will only cause morale collapse! Already countless soldiers and grassroots officers below are cursing us generals as incompetent for sending soldiers to die in vain.”
When General Hamilton first heard rumors of “refusing to fight,” his eyes flashed sternly, wanting to make an example of the disobedient ones to show them what “military law” means.
But upon hearing that many soldiers held such views, he couldn’t help but back down.
If it was really that serious, it could spark mutiny, which would be bad.
“It seems we must restore the army’s multi-directional artillery pincer on the mountaintop to convince the infantry to keep fighting to the death… But that’s hard to achieve. Have you thought about specific implementation? Best to have multiple contingency plans.”
As General Hamilton spoke, he actually already had a plan in mind, but he didn’t want to say it himself to avoid intensifying army-navy conflicts or personally offending people.
Sure enough, after he spoke, one of his subordinates immediately proposed the most obvious first plan:
“The simplest plan is to have the Royal Navy dispatch a fleet to bypass Kilitbahir Plateau cape from the south and enter deep into the Dardanelles Strait! That way, our army can again pincer bombard the enemy hilltop from north and south simultaneously!
It’s precisely because the Royal Navy doesn’t dare enter the strait deeply that we’re so passive!”
Hearing this, Hamilton smiled bitterly yet felt relieved.
This was the easiest plan to think of and implement, but the danger left to the navy was the greatest.
At the position of Kilitbahir Plateau, the strait is narrowest at only 1.3 kilometers! Even passing that narrowest point, the interior is only 4 kilometers wide.
A mere 4 kilometers—if the enemy secretly deploys powerful artillery on both shores, wouldn’t the fleet entering be closed the door and beat the dog from above?
But with the army beaten so badly, the Royal Navy definitely couldn’t refuse without trying. Even knowing the danger, they should send some worthless old broken ships to probe.
At least that would shut up the Italians, ANZAC Corps, and Lord Canna, steadying morale.
Otherwise, friendly forces would think Britain is ungrateful, cherishing only its own warships while not treating allies and colonials as people.
Hamilton said, “I’ll figure out how to persuade Admiral Carden on this, but you can’t rely entirely on the navy. Think of other tricks. More contingency plans will show the navy we’re really trying, not just pointing at them whenever there’s trouble.”
The subordinates then came up with a bunch of even less reliable contingency plans, such as “Our army should drag more heavy cannons ashore to form a land cannon group bombarding from south to north,”
Or “Open another landing site on the south bank of the strait to ensure control of both north and south shores for protecting artillery and warships,”
Or “Have the navy push further into the bay north of the peninsula, bombarding enemy positions from northeast to southwest.”
In short, they listed almost every possibility of 360-degree no-dead-angle bombardment encircling the enemy hilltop.
The core goal was to leave no “reverse slope unbombardable by shells” for the enemy mountaintop positions to hide in.
As for whether it could be done, that’s debatable. Anyway, they’d exhaustively listed every net-like enemy-killing method, proving the staff’s workload.
（Note: All stratagems thought up by British-Italian allied forces staff are listed in the image below.）
General Hamilton took this document to find Mediterranean Fleet Commander Admiral Carden, saying “Let’s work together; I’m not just burdening your navy. See, our army has tried hard too.”
For international optics, allies, and dominions’ morale, Admiral Carden had to try all these approaches.
But before acting, he still reminded his subordinates to be extremely careful: withdraw at any sign of trouble or slight loss, just to give friendly forces an account.
On the morning of September 15th, the Royal Navy first implemented the “probing action crossing the Dardanelles Strait between Kilitbahir Plateau and opposite Canakkale, entering deep into the Dardanelles Strait.”
Fearing accidents, he didn’t send relatively valuable pre-dreadnoughts, only 2 old ironclads built in 1882, 2 protected cruisers from 1886, plus several destroyers, torpedo boats, and minesweepers.
And indeed, the Royal Navy’s dilapidated old ships were mostly stored away in the Mediterranean theater, so Admiral Carden could gather plenty of junk if needed. Mainly because Royal Navy ships had to consider global operations and harsh sea conditions.
The Mediterranean is the calmest; even ships from thirty or forty years ago unusable elsewhere could last another dozen years in this bathtub.
As a result, this probing fleet had just rounded Canakkale Cape and advanced less than 2 nautical miles when it was ambushed.
First, 2 probing torpedo boats and 1 minesweeper were successively sunk by mines during minesweeping. Then, after rounding a cape, the fleet was suddenly sneak-attacked by an enemy ship scuttled on the strait side ahead!
The enemy ship’s hiding spot was clever, right at a rocky beach under a mountain foot on the north bank of the strait, close to the mountain body. Previous British aerial reconnaissance hadn’t checked such nooks, tricked by camouflage.
That scuttled warship had obviously been converted into a fixed fort, scuttled sideways. As soon as British warships appeared, its 4 240mm “rapid-fire cannons” fired point-blank.
On its port lower gun deck, there were still 6 original 150mm secondary guns, plus 6 holes temporarily dug in the gun ports to move the starboard 6 150mm secondary guns to port. A total of 12 150mm guns fired simultaneously.
It was clear this ship had maximized its firepower: starboard backed against the strait-side mountain, guns on starboard useless, all relocated to port.
Such dense fire quickly shredded 1 old ironclad and 1 protected cruiser; 2 destroyers also suffered. Though destroyers could theoretically evade slow-firing heavy guns with high speed, the strait was too narrow for maneuver space.
“Bad! It seems to be the Vichersbach-class ‘Zähringen’!”
After a fierce exchange, the British identified the opponent, confirming that night upon return—it was the pre-dreadnought “Zähringen,” crippled by Lusha Black Sea Fleet when Admiral Spee was defeated in the Black Sea battle.
That ship’s propulsion system was completely destroyed, taking thousands of tons of water, armor badly damaged, funnels collapsed. But with good unsinkability, the hull stayed afloat and was towed back by Ottomans to serve as a scuttled fixed fort.
4 240mm rapid-fire cannons couldn’t fight battleships, but blocking a narrow strait was excellent.
The British retreated in increasing panic, with new collisions and mine hits; ultimately, the bill wrote off 4 old junks and several small ships. Fortunately, most sailors were rescued by small boats, but over 800 were killed or drowned.
Learning the situation, for face, Admiral Carden sent two more elite pre-dreadnoughts, Duncan-class “Russell” and “Cornwallis,” to bombard from afar across the mountain, calling aerial reconnaissance for spotting.
But the result was, though “Russell” and “Cornwallis”‘ 305mm main guns could easily penetrate, it had little value since it was already scuttled.
Moreover, both sides’ aerial spotting efficiency was clearly higher for Germanians. After fierce fighting, the British air team of novice pilots lost at least three or four times more aircraft. “Cornwallis” took five or six 240mm shells, superstructure badly damaged.
The enemy was just more wrecked, many 150mm side secondary guns destroyed.
Thus, infiltrating the strait was completely blocked.
After the navy’s first plan failed, the army proposed its backup—since navy couldn’t infiltrate beyond Kilitbahir Plateau cape for fire support, the army should mass heavy cannons on the slightly rear reverse slope of Kilitbahir Plateau mountaintop, then bombard the Austrian Army’s second defense line across 7 kilometers.
Also, since Kilitbahir Plateau’s elevation is slightly higher than the mountains of the Austrian second defense line, British army heavy cannons hidden on the slight reverse slope of Kilitbahir Plateau top could evade counter-battery from the Austrian second defense line.
But this plan, beautiful on paper, turned into a mess in execution.
Austrian artillery on the second defense line indeed couldn’t counter this position, but Austrians could from other land! They could attack British army heavy cannon positions on Kilitbahir Plateau top from across the south strait bank or from behind at long range.
Germanian K16 150mm howitzers outranged and out-accuracied British cannons; with air reconnaissance, they several times spotted and destroyed British artillery positions.
With one plan each from navy and army scrapped, the balance tilted fairly back to navy.
Navy had to roll out the second plan: send some warships around to the deep bay directly north of the peninsula, hugging the coast, bombarding the rear of Austrian second defense line from north to south.
For operations here, Mediterranean Fleet’s Admiral Carden wasn’t worried about mines, as they’d been cleared at great cost before.
He just worried if enemies had long-range heavy cannons ambushed here, as the bay widest was under 30 km; if tricked by heavy coastal defense guns, trouble.
On September 17th, Admiral Carden tentatively sent several 150mm-gun protected cruisers close to the shallow waters directly north of the peninsula, bombarding south toward Austrian lines at max 150mm range.
Result: Austrians offered no counter, letting British protected cruisers bombard.
After fire preparation, Canadian Army launched fierce assault on Austrian positions, but still suffered heavy casualties; Austrian defense unaffected—Admiral Carden and General Hamilton didn’t know this was due to Keitel et al. optimizing Kemal and General von Zanders’ defense strategies.
Austrians had upgraded mountaintop fortifications from “reverse slope trench network” to “reverse slope tunnel network”; being tunnels, 360-degree bombardment didn’t matter—they could retreat deep inside, immune to shelling.
This is common; on Earth in WWII, Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi tunnels were so tough that “only ugly army battleship main guns directly hitting and entering the tunnel mouth could kill everyone inside or collapse and bury them alive”; other artillery was just light rain to tunnel networks.
But Admiral Carden didn’t know; he thought his firepower insufficient.
Plus urging from army’s General Hamilton and casualty-heavy Lord Canna, he decided two days later to upgrade firepower, sending pre-dreadnought fleets for the task.
After all, 305mm cannon barrage should be fierce enough. And protected cruisers came once unharmed, proving mines cleared, no large-caliber coastal defense guns ambushed.
But just as he thought probing complete, the unexpected happened.
……
“Brigadier General Keitel! Today when the enemy cruiser group rounded north of the peninsula bay and closed to shore bombarding our mountaintop positions with 150mm guns, why didn’t you have the railway gun group with completed ‘turret tracks’ in the rear come out from the tunnel to counter them!”
“Colonel Kesselring, didn’t you say Germanian airship force researched ‘ultra-low altitude slow-speed nighttime mining’ technology? Didn’t you say this was a new tactic suggested by Commander Lelouch? Why didn’t you use it when enemy fleet approached!”
After the 17th battle, Major General Kemal brought these questions to consult the Germania advisor team.
Though he fought well that day, with low casualties to his defense troops and successfully killing thousands of Lord Canna’s men, he felt the battle wasn’t crisp enough; greater results were possible.
Facing Kemal’s doubts and regrets, Kesselring, responsible for airship force, patiently explained: “We can’t mine in advance from the start; if we do, enemies will resweep carefully.
We want them to confirm this sea area mine-free, successfully execute one or two missions after relaxing vigilance, skip minesweeping next time and enter directly—then we mine!
As known, prior mining tech required surface vessels entering the area to remine; British Royal Navy confidently sealed the strait entrance, believing no mining vessels left in Aegean Sea. So only after truly confirming an area clean would they relax!
We lure and indulge their carelessness to the max, then cash in big once! That’s how to shatter their confidence, making them paranoid forever!”
Kemal pondered carefully, then fell silent.
Right, he understood: it’s the “boy who cried wolf” game—let enemies taste small sweets, take bait, then hook the big fish.
“Alright, you’re right. Good our mountaintop tunnel network is solid; we can take a couple more days of shelling. We’re willing to keep holding.” Kemal finally conceded.
……
Thus, next two days passed uneventfully; British Navy grew bolder in arrogance.
Admiral Carden finally believed his initial worries excessive; sending fleet deep north peninsula shore to fiercely bombard south enemy rear was risk-free!
On September 20th, Admiral Carden went big, bringing his 2 “Royal Navy strongest pre-dreadnoughts,” “Nelson” and “Agamemnon,” deep into the bay north of Gallipoli Peninsula. Of these, “Nelson” had previously taken several 240mm armor-piercing shells in shore battery duel, lightly damaged but battle-ready after quick repairs.
Besides these strongest, King Edward VII-class “Hindustan” and “Africa,” next strongest after Nelson-class with 4 305mm main guns and 4 240mm secondary main guns.
Finally, 3 Italian pre-dreadnoughts required to join（actually given to Italians when Britain and Italy signed the agreement）: “Orion,” “Glory,” “Vengeance.”
Total 7 pre-dreadnoughts, over 10 protected cruisers, and more escorts formed a super firepower support fleet, majestically entering deep bay north of Gallipoli Peninsula.
Army side also fully prepared; General Hamilton decided to gather all five nations’ armies today, seize unprecedented navy support firepower to launch general offensive on Ottoman second mountainous defense line, determined to seize this mountainous area!
But soon after Admiral Carden confidently led fleet east deep into bay, the unexpected occurred.
“Boom! Boom!” Several earth-shaking blasts; fleet solidly entered minefield. Leading old protected cruiser and Italian “Orion” pre-dreadnought hit mines successively within 1-2 minutes.
Mines’ power huge, unknown explosives load. Two warships quickly listed, flooding.
At first, Admiral Carden was baffled, thinking accident.
“What’s going on? Didn’t we sweep repeatedly before? And our fleet sailed this route for bombardment a few days ago, safely round-tripping twice! How are there still missed mines? Slow the fleet, send minesweepers forward to resweep!”
At this point, Admiral Carden still didn’t suspect these mines were relaid last night by Germanian airships.
Because in this world, “aerial mining” tech and tactics were unheard of before.
As long as enemy surface vessels couldn’t enter the area, a cleared sea area couldn’t get new mines!
Trust science!
But soon, more accidents happened.
Warships slowing not easy; after engines stop, ship drifts 2 nautical miles, warships unlike cars with brakes.
Unless engines and propellers reverse, still hundreds of meters to stop—not believers see《Titanic》.
So during successive orders to stop, more accidents.
Two destroyers and “Vengeance” pre-dreadnought exploded successively.
By now, even fools knew: not missed mines or accidents, real ambush.
“Run! All fleet turn around! Withdraw from bay first!” Admiral Carden felt blood rush head, ordered full retreat.
But fleet turning needs radius, brief chaos; return route differs from inbound, can’t backtrack exactly.
By discovery, fleet deep in minefield; lateral moves risk mines anytime.
Several more warships hit mines, several collided; entire bay becoming iron-bottomed.
Finally, Admiral Carden dared not rashly flee, wanted all battleships and cruisers stop, destroyers and minesweepers sweep entire route.
But as most stopped, from distant shore—a railway tunnel through mountain mouth, railway guns normally hidden in tunnel began fierce firing.
Sky filled with Germanian fighters and spotting reconnaissance aircraft guiding own railway gun group targets.
Railway guns slow-firing, long calibration cycles. But many Royal Navy warships, fearing mines, stopped—fixed targets calibrate fast.
By 3rd~4th salvo, railway gun shells solidly hit battleship decks.
As Britain’s strongest pre-dreadnought “Nelson,” already damaged, now topped by 280mm railway guns, quickly wrecked; wanting speed, but couldn’t run fast.
Sister “Agamemnon” hit a mine while speeding to escape.
Normally, as “strongest pre-dreadnought,” bow mine hit, limited compartments flooded, reserve buoyancy enough to return.
But bow flooding caused bow-down, power efficiency drop, speed plummet, becoming half-fixed target for railway guns.
Railway guns hard to sink pre-dreadnought directly, but easy for finishing mine-hit powerless ones. Shelling urged enemies to flee without waiting sweeps, creating more chaos.
Finally, Admiral Carden aboard “Agamemnon,” mine-hit warship continuously topped by 280mm railway guns, finally exploded and sank.
Britannia Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet Commander Sackville Carden perished on September 20, 1915, in Aegean Sea 9 nautical miles directly north of Gallipoli Peninsula.
In this battle, British Royal Navy “Nelson” and “Agamemnon,” after mine hits slowed, were focused and sunk by Brigadier General Keitel’s railway gun group.
Italian Navy “Orion” and “Vengeance” pre-dreadnoughts directly sunk by mines.
“Glory” no mine hit; during escape, accidentally rammed and sank own destroyer, bow damaged, then focused and killed by railway guns.
Plus 9 old protected cruisers, several small vessels totally lost under minefield and shore battery double strike.
Royal Navy killed/drowned 3,360 sailors, wounded 470. Italian Navy killed/drowned 2,150, wounded 310.
Worse, after fleet mauled and retreated, Germanian railway guns hidden for days, targetless, turned muzzles to allied forces assault positions preparing general offensive.
280mm heavy shells landed directly among assembling soldiers, kicking up bloody storms.
“Anzio Express” tactic thoroughly mastered by William Keitel.
From then on, British reconnaissance aircraft, seeing enemy frontlines with mountain-piercing railway tunnels in aerial photos, instinctively worried:
Could every tunnel hide railway guns?
With sea and land both heavily hit, five nations allied forces’ morale and will shattered. Britannians dared no more aggressive moves,
Gallipoli Campaign from September 20th formally entered stalemate phase.
British Army reluctant to abandon gains, dared not attack too hard, could only nibble slowly like Western Front trenches, mutually consuming lives gradually.
Rest of fourth quarter, no major changes here.
Major General Kemal, for outstanding performance in consecutive defensive battles, promoted by Commander-in-Chief General von Zanders to Army Brigadier General, commanding Ottoman 1st Corps.
Others William Keitel, William Leb, Albert Kesselring also meritorious; upon return, some may promote, if not, definitely big medals. Especially Colonel Kesselring who heavily damaged enemy fleet with aerial mining tactics.
——
PS: To fulfill promise of finishing Gallipoli Campaign first phase today.
Then shift to Baltic Sea battlefield, protagonist side.
Ultimately, two 10,000-word updates today, 20,000 daily!
Finally achieved; starting Baltic Sea tomorrow. Here waits for final wrap-up phase before protagonist arrives.
