Chapter 159: Strangle The Throat Of The Courland Enemy Forces
Several days later, September 2, 1915.
It was also the fifth day since Lelouch arrived in Königsberg.
After hasty preparations and reconnaissance, the troops tasked with carrying out the landing operation on the northern islands of Riga Bay, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa, had finally completed all preparations,
and had set sail from Memel the previous day, first heading north, then turning east, for a total voyage of 240 nautical miles, finally arriving at the strait entrance northwest of Hiiumaa Island at midnight on September 2.
Moreover, in the days before the transport fleet arrived, the Germania Navy’s minesweeper fleet had already urgently and quietly cleared the channel of moored mines using heavy bottom-scraping mine-clearing chains. All mine-sweeping operations were also conducted secretly at night, while during the day, airships patrolled low and shot exploding mines that had drifted to the sea surface.
All of this ensured the smoothness of tonight’s landing.
It was a full moon night, allowing the transport fleet to navigate relatively safely at sea without relying on lights.
On Earth, in early October 1917, the “Moonlight Landing Operation” targeting Hiiumaa Island also took place on a full moon night, taking advantage of the Lushans’ complete lack of expectation of a nighttime attack from the sea, thoroughly catching the Lushans on the island off guard.
And today, it was merely a replica from another spacetime.
“Why are the Lushans on the island so lax in their vigilance? We’re almost ashore, and they haven’t noticed at all? There are no patrol teams on the beach at night?”
Captain Nicholas von Falkenhorst soon led his company to the coast of Hiiumaa Island and landed on the pebble beach.
Feeling the firm yet smooth sensation under his feet, Captain Falkenhorst’s confidence in this operation grew even stronger. His trust in the staff officers who planned the operation from the rear finally rebounded.
Yesterday while drifting at sea, he and his men had been cursing the Army Group Staff Department for being unreliable. They said those guys in offices who made decisions off the top of their heads were all unrealistic dreamers.
Who would have thought the enemy was really this lax, with everything predicted by the staff department.
Especially for this Captain Nicholas von Falkenhorst, who was originally just an ordinary company commander in an assault battalion of a certain division in the 11th Army Group. Previously, Marshal Mackensen had planned a direct landing on the coast east of Port of Riga, giving their assault battalions some training to adapt to amphibious operations.
Who knew that just a few days ago, when the plan was changed, the Army Group Staff Department suddenly made some minor adjustments, putting the battalion Captain Falkenhorst was in at the vanguard. At the time, Falkenhorst thought he or the battalion commander had offended someone above, and they were being given a hard time.
Now thinking back, could it be that someone above appreciated him, giving him more responsibility to see if they had the potential for great military merit?
Unfortunately, Falkenhorst couldn’t open a God’s-eye view; he could only guess blindly.
Only Lelouch knew exactly what was going on: that day, while reviewing the officer list for the assault battalions Marshal Mackensen planned to commit to the first wave of the landing operation, he saw the name “Nicholas von Falkenhorst.”
Lelouch, well-versed in war history, immediately recognized—this wasn’t the guy who organized the landing at Narvik during the Norway campaign more than twenty years later?
It turned out this man was a Polish-descended officer born in Prussia, who had been fighting on the Eastern Front in Lithuania during the war, and was now under Marshal Mackensen.
Since that was the case, given the good opportunity, let’s train him a bit and develop his amphibious landing talent.
Sometimes Lelouch himself wondered if his luck was always this good. When needing to fight a breakthrough battle, he would encounter colleagues like von Bock or Rommel to use; when needing defensive battles or mountain warfare, he would encounter Model or Dieter.
And all of this without needing cheats or pulling strings to poach people. Just like this Captain Falkenhorst in front of him, who was originally a Polish-descended German officer operating in the Lithuanian theater, already working under Mackensen, no need for secondment.
……
Captain Falkenhorst led his company quietly ashore, consolidated a large beachhead position, and then received the follow-up entire assault battalion ashore.
Since the “assault battalion” organization was piloted by Lelouch at the end of last year, these troops equipped with submachine guns and grenade launchers, and large quantities of grenades, had spread throughout the Germania Army.
In December last year, there were only 2 such battalions; by the end of the Battle of Ypres in February this year, they had expanded to 6 battalions.
By the Gorlice breakthrough-Hungarian campaign in May, every division in the 6th Army Group was equipped with an assault battalion, and more than half the divisions in the 10th Army Group had assault battalions.
And now in early September, every division in the 6th and 10th Army Groups on the southern front was fully equipped with an assault battalion, and the northernmost 4th Army Group on the western front had also been fully equipped with one per division.
It had further spread to several divisions in Marshal Mackensen’s 11th Army Group.
Even Hindenburg and Ludendorff’s troops in the Polish theater, relying on imperial soldier factories directly under the emperor imitating MP15 submachine guns and MG15 light machine guns specially supplied to them, allowed some of their divisions to have assault battalions.
Nowadays, even the Italians can mass-produce over 10,000 submachine guns in three months cumulatively, with September’s latest capacity at about 6,000.
And Germania, as the birthplace of the submachine gun, Bergmann Company can now produce 20,000 per month. The soldier factories controlled by the emperor himself, authorized to imitate Bergmann Company’s submachine guns, can also expand to 10,000 per month by the end of this year.
In total for the entire year of 1915, the Empire’s submachine gun production can reach 200,000, and next year and the year after could climb to 300,000 or even 400,000.
Currently on the market, the Imperial Army’s total submachine gun inventory is about 120,000. If all given to assault battalions, it would equip 200 assault battalions. In reality, the Empire doesn’t only equip assault battalions with submachine guns; in the 1st and 2nd Army Groups that the emperor values highly, at least tens of thousands of regular soldiers have also been re-equipped with submachine guns.
Therefore, the elite troops participating in today’s landing operation are almost all equipped with submachine guns per person, with each squad leaving only 3 men equipped with Mauser G98 rifles for long-range combat. These few Mauser riflemen are also specially equipped with scopes, completely different from the original iron-sight riflemen.
This is also considering poor visibility at night, short engagement distances, so too many riflemen would be useless.
Moreover, precisely because visibility is poor and iron sights make it hard to see distant enemies, the rifles must be fitted with costly Carl Zeiss Company’s Zeiss 1904 3x optical scopes.
After the entire assault battalion landed, it still wasn’t discovered by Lushan patrol teams, or perhaps the Lushans simply had no patrol teams at night.
Battalion Commander Wallstadt Major observed the situation and then temporarily decided to slightly alter the plan, fighting more aggressively.
“Captain Falkenhorst, take your own company and D Company, head south together to raid the coastal defense battery at the northeast corner of Hiiumaa Island. I’ll personally take the remaining A and B Companies to seize the dock to the due north as originally planned! Receive the follow-up main forces ashore!”
“Yes! Battalion Commander!” Captain Falkenhorst immediately accepted the order.
He knew that according to the original plan, after landing, the entire battalion would first rush to the dock to seize berths for large ships to dock, allowing more friendly forces ashore.
Only then would they proceed south along the east coast of the island, clearing the coastal defense gun groups at the northeast and southeast corners one by one.
But this original plan had a drawback: seizing the dock would make a big noise, alerting enemies across the island, who could then organize stronger defenses.
And those 203 mm and smaller coastal guns might adjust their angles to bombard the dock area or the assault troops, making later assaults cost even more casualties.
Now Major Wallstadt judged the enemy defenses lax, and fewer troops could still complete the task, so he decisively split forces.
Moreover, the vanguard troops landing from these wilderness tidal flats weren’t just their one battalion; even without seizing the dock, more reinforcements would follow, just slower from the beach area, relying on small boats for transfer.
Captain Falkenhorst soon led two companies south along the coastline in a night raid, acting as company commander of C Company and deputy battalion commander.
After walking and running for a full seven or eight minutes, nearly a kilometer, he finally saw lights flickering in a small fishing village ahead. Not far behind the fishing village, according to the map, should be the coastal defense gun group.
According to pre-war reconnaissance and aerial photos, there would be 4 single-mounted 203 mm coastal guns, 4 150 mm coastal guns, and a mixed battalion garrisoned, with the mixed battalion having 2 militia companies and 2 artillery companies.
None of the artillery had armored turrets, just cement-topped fortresses hiding the guns in cement structures, relying on standard towed artillery gun carriages to adjust angles.
The front of the cement fortress had about 200 degrees of open area for the gun barrels to extend, so the maximum firing arc rotation was 200 degrees.
Attacking from the rear half of the fortress, the enemy’s big guns couldn’t turn. Unless dragging the guns out of the cement fortress onto open ground to fire, but that undoubtedly takes a lot of time. Without heavy tractors or large numbers of mules and horses, even human power generally can’t drag 203 mm heavy guns.
“The coastal defense position will have 1 battalion, and this fishing village ahead will have 1~2 companies, adding up to about 3 times our force, but we have no time to detour—the more we detour, the more likely exposure. Direct assault!”
After observing the enemy situation, Captain Falkenhorst decisively ordered a direct surprise attack.
The guards in the fishing village still showed no movement, so Falkenhorst had two submachine gun squads quietly approach. At the same time, he set up 4 MG15 light machine guns covering the village exits and watchtowers, then had 4 40 mm grenade launchers rapid-fire grenades at the approximate enemy watchtower positions.
With light “bang bang bang~” sounds, grenades flew hundreds of meters from the darkness, smashing near the watchtowers, collapsing two militia houses. The village immediately descended into chaos.
The Lushans’ alertness was extremely low; no one had even considered an attack. Many came out with fish forks, dazed, thinking it was their own ammunition exploding accidentally; only a few had Mosin-Nagant rifles.
“Da da da~” Submachine guns swept fiercely along the main road through the fishing village, blasting all Lushans who poked their heads out.
The assault battalion soldiers had no time to clear houses one by one, and worried about fish slipping the net among the militia, so they threw Molotov cocktails at the wooden houses, setting the entire fishing village ablaze, eliminating threats on the attack route.
But anyone who came out raising hands empty-handed was not shot by the assault soldiers, just gathered and guarded as prisoners of war.
In just a few minutes, they wiped out one militia company and over 30 Lushan regular infantry in the fishing village, killing all regulars and capturing all militia. Captain Falkenhorst soon led about 400 soldiers to continue attacking the nearby coastal defense position.
One battalion of Lushan soldiers had heard the noise and begun entering positions, but they hadn’t turned the big guns yet, so all defensive fire was just two M1910 heavy machine guns and over 200 Mosin-Nagants.
Because of poor night visibility and short effective engagement range, the M1910 heavy machine guns could only blindly spray toward noisy distant directions, sweeping wherever the noise was loudest.
The Germania assault troops initially didn’t grasp this pattern and launched several hot-headed charges, suffering dozens of casualties.
Fortunately, Captain Falkenhorst quickly observed carefully and summed up that the enemy was firing blindly, so he hurriedly had his men change tactics.
Several MG15 light machine guns dueled the enemy’s heavy machine guns, while nearby soldiers hid behind temporary cover making loud noises and throwing grenades haphazardly. Other grenade launcher teams hid on one side behind cover, rapid-firing three rounds then crawling to a new spot.
The Lushan heavy machine gun fire was quickly drawn to these threats.
From another direction, an assault platoon took advantage of the distraction, using darkness’s cover to advance quickly crawling.
All soldiers used standard side-body single-elbow single-knee crawling, holding guns in the other hand, observing while advancing, ready to sweep and counter if spotted.
The assault team soon reached hand grenade throwing range, and the Lushans spotted them, but it was too late. The assault troops threw volleys of grenades; the dense explosions silenced the heavy machine gun position.
Then they charged up with MP15s rattling; enemies with Mosin-Nagants were mowed down in swathes. Even three times the numbers couldn’t withstand the Germanians’ assault.
“Quickly destroy the guns! Stuff grenades into the gun barrels!”
Seeing they couldn’t hold, fearing the coastal guns would be captured, some Lushans hurriedly stuffed pulled-pin grenades into 150 mm gun barrels.
A few 203 mm barrels were too thick; grenades couldn’t destroy them. In panic, after some artillerymen ran far, they used Mosin-Nagants to shoot the ready-to-fire shells piled beside the guns.
Generally, 2~3 shells are stored beside big guns for rapid fire.
But the shooting artillerymen clearly underestimated 203 mm shell power; some fired after retreating only 30 meters, detonating shells that also killed nearby Lushan artillerymen who hadn’t run far. One had to say these people were ridiculously reckless in panic.
“Quickly set up the radio, notify the battalion commander the battery raid succeeded! Our unit will continue south along the coastline to raid the next battery! Moreover, this enemy position seems to have no radio! Other enemies probably still don’t know exactly what happened here!”
After the fight, Captain Falkenhorst immediately ordered his radio on the still-smoking position to erect the antenna and contact friendly forces.
At this point, the gap showed again: Germania assault battalions had radios down to platoon level, while Lushans only to division level.
Lushan troops elsewhere on the island only knew something seemed to be happening in this direction, but not how the fight was going or where the enemies came from—unless soldiers from the lost sector escaped to report in person.
But at this position, clearly not a single one able to rapidly report in person escaped—Falkenhorst couldn’t guarantee no enemies scattered, but he could guarantee no mounted enemies escaped alive.
Earlier, two artillery officers tried riding out to report, but were focused down and killed by MG15 light machine guns. On this battlefield, relying on cavalry signalers for communication was unreliable.
……
The Lushans’ reaction speed was indeed sluggish, and Falkenhorst exploited this enemy trait with forced marches, hitting hard and fast to expand gains.
An hour and a half later, they raided another coastal defense position at the southeast corner of the island, also with 4 203 mm guns and 4 150 mm guns, guarded by 1 battalion.
Lushan artillery couldn’t withstand his attack; most guns were self-destroyed, but a few were captured intact.
Meanwhile, his battalion commander Major Wallstadt smoothly seized the dock, allowing their large ships to dock directly and unload massive troops.
The battle from after midnight to 3 a.m. had basically cleared the eastern coastal strip of the island.
Over 2 regiments of men had landed, enough to crush the remaining garrison.
The island had 1 Lushan infantry regiment plus 3 artillery battalions of regulars, and nearly 20,000 militia, but total only over 6,000 rifles.
After the Germanians secured footing, controlled the dock, and cleared one side’s guns, the battle had lost suspense.
7,000 Germania elite soldiers launched positional attacks on 23,000 Lushans, annihilating several thousand.
By dawn, Lushans were down to 16,000, hunkered in the island’s west side and a few headlands.
Hiiumaa Island was after all over 30 km long and wide, over 700 square km total; expecting to cover every inch and fully occupy in one day wasn’t realistic.
The same situation was simultaneously playing out on Saaremaa further south. Saaremaa’s area was actually larger than Hiiumaa’s, but with fewer garrison—
Because Lushans thought that place even less likely to be attacked. Its south was full of mines, and northern approaches had to break through Hiiumaa first to reach Saaremaa. So Saaremaa’s garrison was mostly N-line troops coasting, some with connections dodging duty by bribing superiors to transfer there.
As a result, in a place they thought impossible to attack, they were solidly thrashed by Germanians.
……
“Report to the Marshal! The landing operations on Hiiumaa Island and Saaremaa Island are very smooth! Our army has pushed the enemies on both islands to the western parts, and will soon occupy the entire territory of both islands, about 2,000 square kilometers, thoroughly opening the northern channel into Riga Bay, the Hiiumaa Strait!
Our total casualties preliminarily estimated at only over 900, we have annihilated over 11,000 enemies, with over 20,000 more enemy troops surrounded by us on the seaside facing the Baltic Sea.”
At 8 a.m. that day, when the 11th Army Group staff reported the night’s results to Marshal Mackensen, their tone trembled with excitement. They hadn’t expected the enemy’s vigilance so lax and combat power so feeble.
When reporting results, saying over 10,000 annihilated and over 20,000 surrounded definitely included militia—basically counting all adult male fishermen on the islands—so it looked terrifying, with exchange ratios of dozens to one.
Marshal Mackensen, hearing this result, knew full well but didn’t want to burst the bubble.
His men weathered wind and rain, taking huge risks in the Baltic Sea War Zone’s first landing operation, achieving a great victory—let them report inflated results and military merit, so what? Who said fisherman militia didn’t count as enemies?
“Very good! All participating officers and men to be commended! Their achievements are of great significance, because from now on, the channel into Riga Bay from the north has shifted from enemy hands to ours! This strategic significance is enormous!
The first units to land and consolidate the beachhead, and break enemy coastal defense gun positions, are to be heavily rewarded; outstanding officers prioritized for promotion!”
Old Marshal Mackensen set the tone for this victory, then used army group commander authority to expedite approvals for some promotions below field officer rank, making examples.
Of course, formal processes and paperwork would follow later.
In any case, Captain Nicholas von Falkenhorst, who led the first landing and broke two enemy batteries, was exceptionally promoted directly to major battalion commander.
Mainly because he hadn’t been captain company commander long—promoted in June or July, now early September directly to major, a real battlefield rapid promotion.
……
On the army side, after handling the seizure of the two islands, they immediately reported the results to the navy.
Vice Admiral Hipper, upon receiving the news, immediately ordered a cruiser detachment under him to play the role of “bait fleet,” entering Riga Bay from north to south through the just-controlled Hiiumaa Strait, preparing to slaughter the Lushan transport fleet and near-port defense fleet trapped in the bay.
Light cruisers “Munich,” “Stuttgart,” “Hamburg,” “Bremen,” “Lübeck,” and “Regensburg,” plus 12 large torpedo boats, formed a powerful reconnaissance formation, charging south at high speed into Riga Bay.
They were quite lucky; halfway to Port of Riga, they caught up with a transport fleet that had entered Riga Bay the previous day to deliver ammunition and reinforcements to the Riga garrison.
Over 10 transport ships, mostly under 3,000 tons, 4 barely 5,000 tons, total carrying about 60,000 tons of men and cargo.
Hipper’s reconnaissance cruiser detachment naturally didn’t hold back, directly naming them with 150 mm naval guns, sinking all 15 ships, sending 6,000 reinforcements and massive military rations, weapons, and ammunition straight to the sea bottom.
News quickly reached Riga city; in the Riga city defense headquarters, the Lusha 12th Army Group commander immediately flew into a rage, phoning the Baltic Sea fast detachment command in Helsinki.
Demanding the navy quickly deal with these Germania warships that slipped into Riga Bay.
“Riga city has rail, but the southern rail line was long cut by Mackensen’s German 11th Army Group assault troops! My Army Group holds around Riga relying entirely on sea transport supplies! Now Germania warships are directly in the bay, annihilating an important supply convoy for my Army Group. If the navy doesn’t solve this, the Riga Bay coast can’t be held! Then full responsibility on the navy!”
Helsinki’s detachment didn’t dare act on their own, reporting up the chain to the Baltic Fleet headquarters in Petersburg.
Baltic Fleet Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nicholas Ottovich von Essen, hearing the bad news, felt a dizzying heart pain, barely steadying himself before hastily deploying.
“Form a detachment with ‘Rurik-class’ and ‘Bayan-class’ armored cruisers as main force, with draft deep enough to pass Hiiumaa Strait, enter Riga Bay to pursue and destroy the Germanian raiding cruiser force!”
