Chapter 163: In Ancient Times Li Longji Sent Geshu Han; Today Nicholas Sends Von Essen
With a dull “bang,” Tsar Nicholas II angrily threw several documents, which had been tucked inside a thick Bible, onto the floor before him.
Admiral of the Baltic Fleet, Nikolai Ottovich von Essen, who had just been urgently summoned to the Summer Palace for an audience, was startled by the Tsar’s fury but dared not speak, only silently picking up the thick, hardcover book the Tsar had thrown down and retrieving the telegram messages tucked inside.
However, before he could even read the content of the telegrams, Nicholas II directly issued an imperial decree:
“I demand the Navy to sortie immediately! Lieutenant General Barylev still has a remnant fleet, trapped by the enemy in the waters of the Hiiumaa Strait and Saaremaa Island. The enemy has several ‘Nassau-class’ battleships blocking them at the northern entrance of the Hiiumaa Strait, which is also the exit of the Gulf of Finland!
I demand the Navy dispatch the main fleet to rescue them, and seize this opportunity to attack those isolated ‘Nassau-class’ battleships with superior numbers!”
Admiral Ottovich von Essen was greatly shocked by this. He wondered when His Majesty had become so knowledgeable about naval affairs that he would issue such specific, micromanaged orders.
If they could truly seize the opportunity and decisively outnumber the enemy to destroy a few “Nassau-class” ships, that would of course be a good thing.
But would the enemy be so foolish as to reveal a vulnerability that even the Tsar could see? Could it be a trap?
As the Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral von Essen’s understanding of the front-line situation was naturally clearer and more thorough than the Tsar’s.
He also knew how difficult his loyal subordinate Lieutenant General Barylev’s situation was, as miserable as a few mice trapped in a bellows.
They were hiding in the narrow, shallow waterways enclosed by Hiiumaa Island, Saaremaa Island, and the Estonian mainland. The three exits of these waterways were blocked by the enemy, and they dared not show themselves, as to do so would mean certain death.
It was only because the enemy’s large ships had too deep a draft and could not enter the waters enclosed by these small islands that they could barely survive for a short while longer.
It was like a mouse hole with three exits, with a cat at each exit, only the cats were too large to enter the mouse hole.
But no matter how dangerous Lieutenant General Barylev’s situation was, the wise and experienced Admiral von Essen felt that something was not right.
He had a dangerous feeling that “Lieutenant General Barylev could survive until now only because the enemy wanted to play a game of cat and mouse, deliberately leaving him a sliver of life to toy with.”
Thus, Admiral von Essen, after organizing his thoughts slightly, intended to fully explain his suspicions and advise His Majesty not to interfere in naval matters and absolutely not to micromanage.
However, as soon as he began to speak, Nicholas II delivered another heavy accusation: “The Commander of the Northwestern Front Army, General Nikolai Ruzsky, has reported! He said that Riga is in a state of panic, and many officers and men are saying that there are traitors in the Navy colluding with the Germanians!
You refuse to sortie; are you perhaps a German spy, intending to watch Riga fall and the Northwestern Front Army’s support be cut off? If the Navy doesn’t sortie now, doesn’t that prove that the spies are only a small minority, and if the Northwestern Front Army completely loses morale, feeling they’ve been stabbed in the back, how will the situation be salvaged?
Did you collude with the Germanians? Or did you collude with those who are secretly organizing trouble, those mice?”
Admiral von Essen immediately felt as if he had fallen into an ice pit and could no longer speak.
He could not bear the weight of either of these accusations!
To be considered a German spy or an internal rebel against the Tsar both meant death.
Large beads of cold sweat trickled down Admiral von Essen’s forehead, his mind racing at full speed, his forehead even steaming, making an uninformed observer think he was practicing some advanced Qi Gong technique.
After a long while, his thoughts raced, and he found a way out: “Perhaps… I should just sortie once, to clear my name. After all, His Majesty only asked for a sortie, not to achieve a specific outcome?
I’ll find an opportunity to engage the enemy in a quick battle. If the enemy reinforcements arrive, I’ll retreat immediately. At least then there will be some battle results, our side will have suffered some losses, and it will prove that everyone fought bravely to the death, which should dispel His Majesty’s suspicions of ‘traitors’ or ‘rebels.’
“Since Your Majesty wishes it so, I dare not disobey! I shall fight to the death and defend our honor as soldiers!”
Admiral von Essen gritted his teeth and made the decision to sortie, stating that he could depart the port that very day, as he had already prepared the fleet for departure in the preceding days. When Lieutenant General Barylev had sortied, his main fleet had already begun warming up the boilers in anticipation of unforeseen events.
Seeing that his subordinate had agreed, Nicholas II also breathed a sigh of relief: At least his Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet was not a traitor. Even if there were traitors, they should be some mid-level officers…
If he could find out who the traitors were, he would have them chopped into pieces!
…
Admiral von Essen left the Summer Palace with a grimace and immediately drove, changed to a boat, and returned to the naval base on Kronstadt Island.
Kronstadt Island is the maritime gateway to Saint Petersburg, located 20 kilometers west of the mainland coast in the Gulf of Finland. The entire island had been transformed into a large port, serving as the home port for the Baltic Fleet.
It had numerous deep-water berths, sufficient to accommodate all the main ships of the entire Baltic Fleet.
Upon returning to the island, Admiral von Essen immediately summoned his principal subordinate officers and relayed the Tsar’s imperial decree, stating that His Majesty, in order to solidify the determination of the Northwestern Front Army to hold Riga and the Courland Peninsula and to break the German blockade of the maritime supply route to Riga Bay, demanded that the Navy must sortie for a battle.
As soon as von Essen’s order was issued, it predictably met with opposition from many of his subordinate officers, all of whom felt that this so-called opportunity for battle might be a trap.
“Commander! We cannot! This so-called opportunity for battle, at first glance, is clearly suspicious!”
“The enemy is too despicable. Although I can’t yet discern what the problem is, I just have a bad feeling about it!”
However, these chaotic protests were finally terminated by a bombshell dropped by von Essen: “His Majesty already suspects that there are traitors among our high-ranking officers in the Baltic Fleet! He believes that someone is colluding from the inside to stab the Northwestern Front Army in the back!
That small group of people are either traitors or rebels! The traitors are colluding with the Germanians, and the rebels are colluding with those elements! Anyone who takes the lead in proposing to refuse the sortie today may be taken by the Gendarmerie for investigation! His Majesty has already dispatched an entire Gendarmerie brigade to investigate the situation!”
The generals immediately fell silent, no longer daring to object.
They had no choice but to go their separate ways to make arrangements, carrying out mobilization and preparations for the sortie.
However, none of them anticipated that the real trouble had only just begun.
…
Half an hour later, a small-scale riot broke out in Kronstadt Port.
Hundreds of grassroots officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers rushed into the streets, loudly denouncing the Tsar and the high-ranking generals, believing they were recklessly sacrificing lives and sending the fleet to its death without any guarantee of success.
This incident, in fact, was not entirely due to von Essen’s incompetence.
In Earth’s history, in October 1915, Kronstadt Port also experienced a mutiny by sailors who refused to sortie with the main fleet. In the end, von Essen, in order to quell the soldiers’ unrest, promised a compromise and only sent out several high-speed cruisers to deal with the situation.
Even so, that incident ultimately led to the arrest of 26 officers and over 100 soldiers, who were sentenced to lifelong exile in Siberia for hard labor.
The current incident, though occurring a little over a month earlier than in historical records, was extremely similar in its circumstances: ordinary soldiers felt the sortie was too dangerous and did not want to risk their lives, thus rebelling against the Tsar. Furthermore, because the Tsar’s order for the sortie was more stringent, the rebellion also became more intense.
Once a large-scale bloodshed occurred, it would not be something that could be resolved by exiling a few dozen officers for life.
Moreover, the suppression by the Tsar’s Guard in this timeline was remarkably swift—Nicholas II had already suspected the presence of rebels among the sailors. When von Essen arrived on the island earlier, a Gendarmerie brigade-sized contingent of the Tsar’s Guard had accompanied him directly.
Therefore, as soon as the sailors began to riot, they were immediately surrounded by the Tsar’s Guard armed with heavy machine guns. Eventually, shots were fired, and hundreds of sailors were killed by M1910 heavy machine guns, forcefully nipping everything in the bud.
Arrests were then made immediately, and the results of purging the rebels were reported to Nicholas II.
Just three hours later, Nicholas II received a report from his trusted confidant in charge of the guard:
“Your Majesty! Indeed, some officers in the Baltic Fleet have been found to be colluding with rebels. After emergency screening, 95 officers and NCOs and 466 soldiers were shot. In addition, over 200 were killed by gunfire while dispersing the insubordinate crowd, totaling over 730 individuals suspected of being rebels who were executed!
Admiral von Essen is requesting to ask if the fleet should still sortie? He believes that the traitors within the Navy may have been completely purged?”
Nicholas II was in the middle of eating when he heard the report and was so shocked that his silver fork fell to the floor.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Nicholas II quickly entered a state of furious rage: “What? So many rebels were actually found? Just as expected! Just as expected! The intelligence from the Northwestern Front Army was correct! These ungrateful wretches, the more they read, the more they think nonsense!
Army soldiers are uneducated and so loyal to the Empire! Those naval technicians, relying on a few years of education, stir up trouble every day! For over a year since the war began, have the officers and men on those battleships made even a single contribution to the Empire, or killed even a single enemy?”
Nicholas II’s eyes turned blood red. He consulted again with his favorite ministers and mystics around him, all of whom supported him, believing that it was indeed necessary to test those who were wavering and see who among the Navy was truly loyal.
Finally, Nicholas II felt somewhat more at ease, gnashing his teeth and ordering: “The plan remains unchanged! Let Admiral von Essen sortie with full force! Ensure that results are achieved!
Also, send two Gendarmerie brigades aboard! Before the sortie, let all sailors hand over their light weapons; only the Gendarmerie may carry firearms. Assign one company of armed Gendarmerie to each battleship to maintain order, and a platoon to each cruiser and destroyer.”
His close confidants were somewhat surprised, worried that such actions might reinforce the sailors’ distrust. However, the Emperor was already so suspicious and paranoid that no one could dissuade him.
Thus, a combat style that relied entirely on brute force suppression was bizarrely formed.
Several hours later, all the operational main ships of the Baltic Fleet set sail under the threat of gunfire.
To preserve the dignity of the high-ranking officers, Admiral von Essen and other generals were still permitted to wear their sabers and pistols aboard, but all officers below the rank of colonel were ordered not to carry firearms.
Although the vast majority of sailors were not rebels, after such an upheaval, they were demoralized and resentful, daring not to speak their minds.
Furthermore, although the loss of over 700 officers and sailors, spread across so many warships, was not a huge number. However, with some positions becoming vacant and temporarily filled by gendarmes, issues of poor tactical and technical coordination would inevitably arise.
These hidden dangers, when the actual fighting began, could not be disguised.
…
“Sigh, we’ve been blockading here all day and haven’t waited for anything. Are we still going to keep blocking today?”
“The nearby Partizis Port and the Hanko Cape anchorage on the north bank have also been bombarded with high-explosive shells. If we stay here any longer, the enemy will likely become suspicious, won’t they?”
At dawn on September 7th, on the sea surface near the northern entrance of the Hiiumaa Strait,
Hermann Nordmann, Rear Admiral and commander of the 1st Division of the German 1st Battleship Fleet, a capable aide to Vice Admiral Scheer, wearily took another sip of coffee to stay alert and muttered to himself.
Vice Admiral Scheer’s 1st Battleship Fleet had two divisions: the 1st Division consisted of four “Nassau-class” ships, and the 2nd Division consisted of four “Helgoland-class” ships. Vice Admiral Scheer often personally commanded the four more powerful new ships, leaving the four relatively older “Nassau-class” ships to Rear Admiral Hermann.
Of course, for today’s battle, to make the enemy-luring plan easier to succeed, Vice Admiral Scheer not only left him the four “Nassau-class” ships but also assigned him three slower pre-dreadnought old ships, the “Friedrich der Grosse-class,” which had been relegated to secondary roles.
This was partly to increase their combat effectiveness somewhat, and partly to provide an excuse for their “inadequate escape” later on, luring the enemy into pursuing with confidence.
Now, Rear Admiral Hermann worried that his performance was too exaggerated and too fake, and that the enemy would no longer take the bait. However, his inner unwillingness and the orders from his superiors made him try his best to continue the act.
It should be noted that Lieutenant General Barylev entered the Gulf of Riga and pursued Rear Admiral Burdick on the afternoon of September 4th.
After dawn on September 5th, Lieutenant General Barylev discovered that he was blocked by Vice Admiral Scheer’s battleships, which had entered the Gulf of Riga overnight. By the evening of the 5th, after a full day of pursuit, the Lusha Cruiser Fleet had been largely annihilated and then retreated to the Hiiumaa Strait.
Therefore, throughout the night of the 5th and the entire day of the 6th, Lieutenant General Barylev’s six small ships had been hiding in the strait, having been trapped for a full 36 hours.
Rear Admiral Hermann Nordmann had been blocking him at the northern entrance of the Hiiumaa Strait for a full 36 hours.
To make his actions appear normal, he had to improvise and find additional activities for himself during these 36 hours. This included bombarding Partizis Port on the southern shore of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, and bombarding the Hanko Cape anchorage on the northern shore of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland.
These ports and anchorages were not large and had no valuable targets. They could only destroy a few dilapidated old civilian ships, some dock facilities, and warehouse buildings. The results were negligible, merely to prove that he was not idle.
Incidentally, the place called “Hanko Cape” in the Finnish province on the north bank experienced a major naval battle in 1714, the famous “Battle of Hanko Cape.”
The belligerents at the time were the Lusha Fleet and the Swedish Fleet. Ultimately, the Lusha Fleet achieved a great victory under the personal command of Peter the Great. That Great Northern War eventually led to the annexation of Sweden’s Finnish territories, which then became Lusha’s land.
Therefore, the “Battle of Hanko Cape” holds a very high status in Lusha naval history, equivalent to the nation-founding battle of the navy. The naming of Lusha’s current main dreadnoughts, the “Gangut-class,” actually comes from that naval battle—
The word “Gangut” is actually the Lusha transliteration of the place name “Hanko.”
Exactly 200 years later, Rear Admiral Hermann is blocking someone at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland between Hanko Cape and the Hiiumaa Strait today, perhaps it is a kind of historical destiny.
200 years ago, the Lusha won the naval battle here, and also won Finland and Estonia for them.
200 years later, if they lose the naval battle here, they might also lose Finland and Estonia.
…
While Rear Admiral Hermann waited nervously, Colonel Lelouch’s stratagem finally did not disappoint his colleagues.
As dawn broke, a vast fleet appeared on the horizon in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
In the air, Lusha reconnaissance aircraft also began to appear, presumably to provide targeting and spotting for the fleet.
The engagement area for this naval battle was only about 40 kilometers from land, so the aircraft’s range was definitely sufficient to support the operation.
The entire entrance area of the Gulf of Finland, from south to north, was only 90 kilometers. Rear Admiral Hermann’s fleet was currently positioned 40 kilometers from Hiiumaa Island to the south and 50 kilometers from Finland’s Hanko Cape to the north, right in the middle of the main shipping channel.
（Note: The naval battle map is shown below）
Fortunately, the Germanians were also prepared.
The moment the enemy ships appeared on the horizon, Rear Admiral Hermann no longer maintained radio silence （It was useless to maintain it so close to the coast anyway）. He immediately sent a telegram to Vice Admiral Hipper, who was currently in the strait between Hiiumaa and Saaremaa Islands,
Requesting Vice Admiral Hipper to immediately lead his three “Derfflinger-class” battlecruisers to detour and assist in the battle area between Hanko Cape and the Hiiumaa Strait.
Vice Admiral Hipper naturally rushed over after receiving the telegram. However, considering the 160-kilometer distance between the two locations, equivalent to over 90 nautical miles, it would take Vice Admiral Hipper at his maximum speed of 27 knots three and a half hours to reach the battlefield. If Rear Admiral Hermann immediately turned and fled, heading towards Hipper, the time could be reduced to two and a half hours.
Then, Rear Admiral Hermann sent a second telegram requesting land-based aircraft to take off and provide aerial reconnaissance and spotting for the fleet, as well as to attack enemy reconnaissance aircraft.
On Hiiumaa Island, about 50 kilometers to his south, dozens of German reconnaissance and fighter aircraft also began to take off from several hastily constructed field airport runways over the past three days, heading towards the battlefield.
The German Army landed on Hiiumaa Island on the night of September 2nd and has not yet completely secured the entire island. A group of enemy soldiers is still trapped on the westernmost cape of the island, and the Germanians do not have enough personnel to eliminate them.
The hasty construction of field airports on the island was also Colonel Lelouch’s suggestion. This was because Lelouch had realized that the other occupied territories of the German Army were too far from this potential naval battle site.
Marshal Mackensen’s 11th Army had not even reached the vicinity of Riga yet. The German Army’s rear regular airports were only in Memel, and Memel to the entrance of the Gulf of Finland was a full 400-kilometer flight, exceeding the range of fighters of this era.
Before, when they went to the Gulf of Riga to scout the engagement between the cruiser fleets, the flight range could still be controlled at around 200 kilometers, which was barely manageable. To go further north to the Gulf of Finland would be absolutely impossible.
But Lelouch’s brilliant suggestion of hastily repairing the airport reduced the flight distance for their aircraft to the battlefield from 400 kilometers to 50 kilometers. When he proposed it, he received unanimous approval from the generals, who praised him for his thoughtful planning.
Only Lelouch himself did not take credit, but instead lamented and recounted a historical anecdote:
“I am ashamed to say that this tactic is not my own creation. I have merely learned a great deal through my long association with Marshal Rupprecht.
Back in late May during the Lviv campaign on the southern front, I led my parachute regiment deep behind enemy lines for hundreds of kilometers, air-dropping to launch a surprise attack on Lviv. Airships could fly that far, but aircraft could not.
After landing, I fought hard and saved 90,000 comrades who had been captured by the enemy at the Przemysl Fortress, captured Lviv, and destroyed the entire logistical base of the Lusha Southwestern Front Army.
At that time, my troops were heavily suppressed by enemy aerial harassment. Airships could not air-drop supplies at low altitudes. Fortunately, Duke Rupprecht thought of my 90,000 rescued prisoners who were idle and had no weapons, so they worked overnight to build a simple field runway.
Later, when the airships airdropped weapons and supplies at low altitudes, our fighters could provide full escort—after escorting, they landed directly at the newly constructed frontline airport, rather than flying back. If not for the Duke’s wise decision at the time, how could I have taken Lviv?”
Mackensen, Hipper, and Scheer’s impressions of Lelouch improved significantly after hearing this anecdote.
Especially Marshal Mackensen and Vice Admiral Scheer, who had no prior interaction with him and were collaborating for the first time.
But Marshal Mackensen immediately judged after listening: This kid is too good at managing relationships! As a staff officer, he never takes credit for himself!
If a leader has even the slightest idea of his own, he will never take credit. Even if he uses it himself later through improvisation, he will faithfully mark it as “quoted from literature,” to bring glory to the leader who originally conceived the idea.
Who wouldn’t like such a staff officer!
If Marshal Mackensen had such a staff officer, he would be laughing in his dreams.
Look at Lieutenant General Ludendorff next to Marshal Hindenburg, and you will know what “talented but unruly staff officers” are like.
Lieutenant General Ludendorff is indeed talented, but he also truly shows no respect for his superiors. In interviews, he even tells reporters, “This lounge chair is where Marshal Hindenburg was when he began, was in the middle of, and finished the Battle of Tannenberg.”
This is no longer an insinuation, but a clear message to reporters: The Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of Masurian Lakes were all planned by me! Marshal Hindenburg is merely someone who stamps my operational plans!
Compared to Lelouch, who credits his contributions as “quoted from literature,” which mentor would not prefer to mentor a good student like Lelouch?
…
Putting aside extraneous remarks, in short, with the addition of Lelouch’s suggestion to “hastily build a secret airport on Hiiumaa Island during these two or three days.”
In this morning’s fleet decisive battle, the German side finally managed to turn the absolute disadvantage in air superiority into an advantage.
Currently, only German and Britannian aircraft manufacturers in the world have developed “gun synchronizers,” allowing machine guns to fire through the propeller along the aircraft’s centerline.
Even the Franks are slightly behind; they will be able to equip them by the fourth quarter of this year. And the Lusha’s industrial base is even weaker, likely not equipping them until early next year.
Although the Lusha have many airports in this region and a large number of aircraft, in terms of aerial combat strength, they are still crushed by the German fighters’ technological advantage.
While the battleships of both sides were still at least 25 kilometers apart, the aerial battle had already begun.
A large formation of over 40 German aircraft swept towards the airspace above the Lusha fleet.
The number of Lusha aircraft that arrived in the airspace above the battlefield first was not large, as they clearly did not expect an aerial battle to break out.
Their aircraft configuration was based on the idea of “small but frequent,” ensuring that a fixed number of reconnaissance aircraft were in the sky at all times.
Thus, at first, the Lusha only had 24 reconnaissance aircraft, only about 60% of the enemy’s numbers, and their quality was also inferior.
In almost an instant, all 24 Lusha aircraft were shot down, either disintegrating in mid-air or falling into the sea trailing thick black smoke.
The Lusha fleet immediately began frantically sending telegrams, requesting reinforcements for aerial reconnaissance.
Airports in the surrounding areas quickly began gathering aircraft, attempting to form larger formations before sorties, as they had been intimidated by the efficiency of the German attack.
However, regardless of the outcome, losing 24 aircraft in the initial engagement, given the current weakness of the Lusha aviation forces, their numerical advantage had been greatly diminished.
Even if the Germanians could only assemble 70 aircraft on Hiiumaa Island in total, it would be enough to handle subsequent developments.
Soon, the main fleets of both sides approached to within 20 kilometers, then 18 kilometers, while the distance between the screening ships narrowed further.
The main guns of both sides’ battleships finally began tentative calibration shots, with armor-piercing shells of 280mm and 305mm calibers piercing the air and flying towards the opposite side, instantly intensifying the scene.
