Chapter 177: Before Armored Troops Even Get To Shine, The Enemy Collapses
September 23, 1915, exactly 5 a.m.
The front line more than ten kilometers directly north of Zhankoy City.
Within the Lusha Army’s trench network, a few soldiers responsible for night sentry duty were taking turns standing watch and sleeping.
More of the main force troops were hunkered down in the main position several kilometers to the rear, or even further back in villages and towns.
Second Lieutenant Vasily Blyukher, dragging his left leg embedded with several shrapnel fragments, limped slightly through the trench on patrol with a few soldiers. If he saw that everyone at a sentry post was asleep with no one watching the distant enemy positions, he would crack his riding crop over them.
“I let you take turns sleeping, that’s already good enough! You only have to stand watch for 3 hours at night and you still dare to slack off! What if the Germanian people attack!”
The sleeping sentries rolled on the ground from the whipping but didn’t dare cry out too loudly, lest the noise draw enemy fire probing. They just kept begging and promised they would watch properly.
“Platoon Leader, don’t worry too much. The Germanian people won’t attack. We’ve been the ones attacking lately, and I heard there aren’t many of them opposite us. They’re definitely praying we don’t counterattack, waiting for them to slowly besiege Sevastopol.”
Second Lieutenant Ivanov, another officer beside Blyukher, advised him in a half-hearted tone.
Blyukher snorted coldly, knowing his colleague didn’t respect him.
This platoon’s platoon leader was originally supposed to be a lieutenant, but he was killed in action ten days ago while attacking the Germanian people. So they made Second Lieutenant Blyukher the platoon leader.
The other officer was also a second lieutenant with the same rank, but could only serve as deputy platoon leader, so naturally he didn’t accept him. He thought Blyukher had just gotten lucky with his honorable wounding and disability, which prioritized him for promotion.
Blyukher had been wounded by an artillery shell in January during the Carpathian campaign against the Austria Army, and was pulled back for treatment. But the Lusha Army’s medical system was so poor that several shrapnel fragments near his left leg and left hip joint still couldn’t be removed, and he was classified as disabled.
With that degree of disability, by normal standards he should have been discharged. But the Lusha Army in this world was fighting so badly that they had to pull officers and soldiers who weren’t too crippled back to the front line.
Even those with one atrophied arm or a slightly lame leg had to continue serving.
Blyukher had recuperated for eight months, then dragged his left leg, now two centimeters shorter, back to the battlefield. News was blocked off in the rear, and only after returning to the battlefield did he learn that the army group he had served in before being wounded had been completely annihilated in Hungary.
His original company, even the battalion, regiment, and division, had not a single survivor who broke out. If he hadn’t been wounded and pulled back early, he’d probably be dead or in a prisoner of war camp in Budapest by now.
But at this moment, regardless of whether his colleagues accepted it, Blyukher had to be factual: “Don’t get lucky thoughts! The activity these past few days hasn’t been normal. The Germanian people are very likely to attack! Your laxness will get you killed sooner or later!”
Second Lieutenant Ivanov beside him lost face and couldn’t help but get sarcastic: “Vasily! Do you think I don’t know you’re just trying to assert authority! So you’re tormenting the brothers!
Who doesn’t know the Germanian people are rushing to besiege Sevastopol right now? Who doesn’t know the enemy wants to concentrate forces to first wipe out all our troops on the Crimean Peninsula, then turn around to deal with the north?
To me, what’s the value of us guarding this broken place? The higher-ups even make us probe counterattacks from here from time to time, heh, isn’t that just sending the brothers to die in vain, falling for the enemy’s besiege the point and strike the reinforcements scheme?
Better to wait for Sevastopol to fall, then we withdraw to the north of the isthmus and blow up the Troitskoye bridge, easy!”
Ivanov’s words had seriously violated the officer, and he even dared to speculate wildly about the higher-ups’ intentions. Blyukher was furious and almost wanted to draw his pistol.
However, the group of sentries he had just scolded surrounded him, looking at him unkindly. Blyukher immediately realized that Ivanov, this reckless and defeatist guy, actually had more military support than he did.
Indeed, the Lusha Army was still holding out on this peninsula north of Zhankoy City at this moment, refusing to withdraw or blow up the “cross-sea” railway bridge connecting Zhankoy and Troitskoye. It wasn’t really for “defense.”
The front commander’s intention was actually to “counterattack,” and they hadn’t given up the dream of rescuing Sevastopol yet.
Although anyone with eyes knew Sevastopol couldn’t be saved. But as long as that fortress port city hadn’t fallen, the friendly forces in the north couldn’t completely abandon it in posture.
Otherwise, the Tsar, who for centuries only advanced and never retreated, wouldn’t tolerate generals who abandoned friendly forces and territory on their own. In Lusha this country, for centuries it had always been permitted to expand, not to retreat.
Once territory was voluntarily abandoned, even the Tsar would be spat upon.
In the Crimean War 70 years ago, Nicholas I invaded the Ottoman, drawing counterattacks from Britain and France. After Sevastopol fell, Nicholas I was forced to take responsibility by suicide and end the war.
The current Tsar was Nicholas II, bearing the same name Nicholas. How could he not be afraid?
The troops below could only obediently fall into the trap, knowing full well it was the Germanian people’s poisonous scheme of besieging the city to strike reinforcements and bleed the Lushan people.
Across the entire first-line defense line, morale was crumbling, defeatist sentiments pervasive. No one wanted to counterattack anymore, just to get by, but the vast majority still hadn’t realized the enemy would attack.
Except for a very few insightful officers, 99% of the officers and men still thought they were the ones doing symbolic counterattacks, while the Germanian people were just defensively consuming.
Blyukher desperately motivated the soldiers and could only change one platoon; nothing else.
……
“Whoosh whoosh~ boom boom boom!”
At 5:10 a.m., the sharp sound of artillery shells slicing through the air suddenly broke the darkness.
Hundreds of 105mm and even 150mm shells instantly covered the Lushan people’s three foremost simple trenches and two deep trenches with log-reinforced side walls.
The Lusha on-duty soldiers, completely unprepared for the enemy to switch from defense to offense, were blasted to death in their sleep, blood and flesh flying everywhere.
The sleeping sentries whom Second Lieutenant Blyukher had just whipped were all killed, quickly paying the price for their slacking, all blown to death at their posts.
“Damn it! I told you to stay alert! The enemy is attacking! Signalman, go to company headquarters fast!”
Second Lieutenant Blyukher himself was still alert and dodged the first barrage. He immediately tried to send a signalman to report upward, only to find both signalmen in his platoon were dead.
Blyukher was also stunned by the bombardment, the shrapnel in his left leg aching again. Finally, he seized a brief gap between salvos, leading the few surviving soldiers in his platoon along the communication trench to flee rearward.
Passing company headquarters, he learned the company commander was also dead, and the other three platoons in the company had no survivors; only his platoon had a few soldiers left alive.
Blyukher didn’t dare stop in the second simple trench zone. Relying on the survival experience he gained in Krakow, he led the surviving soldiers in continuous withdrawal until they reached the first deep trench with log-reinforced side walls, a full 3 kilometers from the front line.
“Where’s the battalion commander? Isn’t this battalion headquarters? We’re from 4th Company withdrawing. Only these dozen of us left in the whole company; the rest were all killed by the Germanian people’s bombardment!”
“The battalion commander and deputy battalion commander are both dead! I’m 2nd Company Commander Berikov, now acting battalion commander! Everyone follow my command and withdraw to regimental headquarters for new orders!”
A captain explained briefly to Blyukher, then had them continue withdrawing.
“This trench is very sturdy! Aren’t we holding here? Where’s our counterbattery fire? We’re already 3 kilometers from the first trench, and the enemy’s bombardment has penetrated this far into our positions. Their cannons must be forward deployed. Why isn’t our artillery countering?”
Blyukher couldn’t believe it and tried to question Captain Berikov.
Berikov shouted hoarsely: “I saw with my own eyes our rear 76mm artillery position in that trench get knocked out by the enemy’s long-range cannons! The enemy has deployed too many long-range heavy cannons. We have to abandon another two to three kilometers of front line to possibly organize effective defense!”
While shouting, the captain pointed to several fires in the distant rear, where there had been large pits connected to the trenches with field guns deployed inside.
But now they were piles of twisted, smoking scrap metal.
With such fierce enemy artillery fire, staying here would obviously kill most people. But rash withdrawal meant the next trench was another time-delay simple trench without log-reinforced side walls; they had to withdraw another two or three kilometers in one go.
And as the bombardment continued, several sections of the communication trenches connecting to the main trench were cut by enemy fire, and many segments required leaving the trenches to withdraw on the surface.
“No way… With this artillery density and withdrawal distance, at least two-thirds of the soldiers will die on the withdrawal route! Better not to withdraw at all, unless there’s a safer way to retreat…”
Second Lieutenant Blyukher’s mind raced, trying to find a relatively safe withdrawal route.
But Acting Battalion Commander Berikov Captain couldn’t wait any longer and led his company along the communication trench to withdraw. Second Lieutenant Blyukher repeatedly tried to persuade:
“Don’t rush to withdraw! The enemy’s artillery is too fierce! The next trench isn’t as sturdy as this one, and several communication trenches have been blown in! The enemy must have scouted our communication trenches from the air in advance and deliberately blockaded them!”
However, no one listened. Over a hundred soldiers followed Captain Berikov in chaotic withdrawal.
Just three minutes later, Berikov’s group had gone a few hundred meters along the communication trench to a collapsed section. The soldiers had to climb to the surface and crawl through this dangerous dozens-of-meters stretch.
But at that moment, several more shells landed, right in the crowd, splattering gobs of flesh and blood rain.
Second Lieutenant Blyukher was watching his comrades withdraw through a telescope left on the position. He watched helplessly as Captain Berikov and dozens of soldiers around him were blown skyward, turned into limbs and torsos.
“Damn! I told them not to be reckless! More died in vain!” Second Lieutenant Blyukher punched the ground in grief and anger.
And just over ten seconds later, a group of surviving soldiers surrounded him: “Officer, what do we do? Why don’t you act as our battalion commander? All officers above lieutenant in the battalion are dead! These few hundred brothers are counting on you to show us a way to live.”
Blyukher didn’t want to wait to die either. He took deep breaths to force himself to calm down, then carefully observed the surroundings through the telescope again. He actually spotted what seemed like a viable path.
“Huh? The railway area to the east is so flat with no cover at all, but not a single enemy shell has landed there?”
Second Lieutenant Blyukher was soon delighted by his discovery.
It turned out there was a railway from Zhankoy to Troitskoye. The cross-sea bridge just 400 meters long between the peninsula north of Zhankoy City and the peninsula south of Troitskoye City was a railway bridge for this railway.
When the Lushan people built their defense line before, they started digging trenches one or two hundred meters east of the railway, and the same distance west of the railway. Right along the railway itself, there were no fortification works at all.
The Lushan people weren’t worried this defensive gap would be exploited by the enemy, because the trench networks east and west of the railway were less than three hundred meters apart from each other.
As long as heavy machine gun fire points were set at the east end of the west trench and the west end of the east trench, crossfire would make any enemy advancing along the railway certain to die.
When the bombardment just started, all Lusha routed soldiers wanted to withdraw along the communication trenches of the trench network; none thought to climb to the surface and go along the railway line. Everyone thought walking the railway was suicide—no cover, one shell could kill how many.
But now it seemed the railway had become a blind spot, and the enemy’s fierce bombardment had actually avoided the railway area.
Could it be the enemy also predicted the Lushan people’s predictions, knowing no one would be dumb enough to withdraw along the railway?
Blyukher couldn’t help thinking this, but he quickly realized he was wrong and cast the thought aside:
“Impossible… That’s definitely not the reason! I got it! The Germanian people must think they can advance quickly, so they deliberately avoided bombarding the railway! They hope to reuse this railway immediately after the attack succeeds, for transporting troops and supplies…”
But thinking of this, Blyukher couldn’t help sucking in a breath of cold air.
How arrogant and confident did the Germanian people have to be to think that far ahead? Not even wanting to waste time repairing the railway, deliberately keeping shell impacts away from the railway area just to capture it intact?
The enemy commander’s contempt for Lusha Army tactics had reached a certain level.
But right now he couldn’t worry about that. Survival instinct made Blyukher shout orders to the battalion’s surviving officers and men:
“Anyone who wants to live, follow my orders! Don’t withdraw along the communication trenches anymore. First go east along this main trench to the end, then climb out and flee north along the railway line!
The enemy’s bombardment deliberately avoided the railway area. Only that route gives a higher chance of survival!”
Some soldiers were so scared they were grasping at straws. Whatever Second Lieutenant Blyukher said, they did, chaotically following the withdrawal. A strong soldier even shouldered Blyukher’s left side to ease the pressure on his crippled leg and flee faster.
But more Lusha soldiers didn’t dare believe this judgment, still hesitating or wanting to withdraw via communication trenches. The whole battlefield was in chaos.
……
“It’s 5:30 now, right? Fire preparation has been 20 minutes, about enough. Have the artillery unit extend artillery fire, first all the way back 2 kilometers!
Then have ground troops attack immediately. 10 minutes later, artillery extends another 3 kilometers. Total bombardment 40 minutes, ceasefire sharp at 5:50. Fire preparation doesn’t need to be too long, just dense enough. Too long gives the enemy depth troops more reaction time.”
On the opposite Germania Army position, Lelouch sat in a Panzer I armored car equipped with one 57mm 16-caliber short-barrel cannon and one heavy machine gun.
He opened the vehicle’s top hatch, sticking out his head and arms, propping his elbows on the vehicle top, rotating a gunner’s telescope to observe the enemy opposite while issuing orders.
Of course, Lelouch also wore a steel helmet covered with cloth and camouflage netting, both bulletproof and glare-proof. He wore two silk bulletproof vests with steel anti-fragment plates inserted in the chest.
Anyway, he was fighting from inside the armored car now, no need to worry about weight or mobility; wearing thick layers while sitting wasn’t tiring.
He was very satisfied with the current fire preparation effect. For today’s battle, Army Group Commander Marshal Rupprecht strongly supported him, assigning the army group’s heavy artillery brigade to serve him.
He also temporarily drew artillery units from 2 nearby corps (6 divisions), concentrating them for his short, intense fire preparation.
Each Germania Army division was equipped with 36 105mm howitzers and 12 cannons as standard; 6 divisions meant nearly 300 large-caliber heavy cannons, plus more 77mm light guns.
And the army group’s heavy artillery brigade had 36 of the latest Krupp K16 150mm long-barrel cannons with a range of 19 kilometers. It was precisely this long-range heavy cannon that ensured their artillery group could forward deploy.
Because they could use range advantage first to counter the enemy’s forward counterbattery guns within 10 kilometers.
Such a massive artillery group firing together, on a defense line just a few kilometers wide and over ten kilometers deep, the fire density was self-evident.
Within the field of view of Lelouch’s gunner’s telescope, not a single living thing could be seen.
The signalman beside him, after hearing his orders, immediately efficiently sent a telegram first to Brigadier General William Keitel commanding the support artillery group, then to Deputy Division Commander Rommel.
……
“Extend artillery fire 2 kilometers, execute immediately.”
Brigadier General William Keitel received the telegram and immediately began efficient execution, with the artillery group soon extending fire.
“1st Armored Regiment, attack immediately! Have the infantry regiment follow closely and take control of the positions.”
Rommel also immediately committed one armored regiment and one infantry regiment to the attack, while his own division’s mechanized infantry regiment and motorized infantry regiment held position for now.
First, the battlefield was too narrow, only three to five kilometers wide total, and advancing along this peninsula made it narrower the deeper they went; too many troops couldn’t deploy.
Second, the attack was just starting; the troops had no mobility burden yet and didn’t need to go too fast. The front two waves of ordinary infantry marching could keep up perfectly.
After penetrating 5 kilometers into enemy lines, when the foot infantry tired, then commit mechanized and motorized infantry.
Between the enemy and friendly front positions, there was already nearly 2 kilometers. Rommel’s armored cars took only 5 minutes to cross this no-man’s-land.
The Lushan people’s original first-line positions had no living souls left, not even a single heavy machine gun firing.
It was clear they were either killed by the bombardment or directly abandoned positions to withdraw. Using space for time, first withdrawing from the dense coverage of Germania heavy artillery group, then reorganizing for battle.
The armored cars smashed through the already battered layers of barbed wire, then carefully drove through gaps in the trench network blown open by the bombardment.
Or simply advanced along the breaks in the enemy trench network— that is, along both sides of the railway from Zhankoy to Troitskoye, from south to north.
The Lushan people had previously been in offensive preparation, not giving up rescuing Sevastopol in the south—at least theoretically. So they had to hold this railway as a supply route in case the attack succeeded.
And this railway now became the Germania people’s counterattack main artery.
Armored cars originally had a huge disadvantage compared to tanks: trench-crossing ability.
Although both had the same armor thickness and bullet resistance, wheeled vehicles couldn’t cross one- or two-meter-wide trenches—the wheels would fall in; only tracked vehicles could pass.
If the Lushan people had built trenches without gaps and cut the railway, Lelouch wouldn’t dare fight like this today. But the enemy left the railway intending to use it themselves, so it only benefited Lelouch.
“Our forces advancing unimpeded, safely passed the belt between enemy and friendly front lines, and crossed the enemy’s first simple trench system, taking only 5 minutes. We expect to break through the next two simple trenches and one reinforced trench in 10 minutes. Heavy artillery brigade extend fire on schedule as planned.”
Rommel had the radio operator send from the armored car to the rear, indicating everything could proceed per plan, very precise, no adjustments needed.
“Let’s advance too.” Lelouch received Rommel’s report on the radio, ordered 2nd Armored Regiment to follow up, and as if suddenly remembering, instructed the radio operator again.
“Right, have Kesselring send some fighter jets to strafe and clear along the railway line. Best to send a few airships for sustained low-altitude strafing. But don’t engage, withdraw within 20 minutes.”
“Yes! Officer!” The radio operator immediately acknowledged and efficiently began transmitting.
The reason Lelouch had the fighter jets and airships do this was naturally because the previous fire preparation bombardment had only hit the enemy trench zones, deliberately sparing the railway line.
Lelouch didn’t want the heavy artillery to damage the railway, which his forces would need for subsequent rapid advance. And too many shell craters beside the railway would also hinder wheeled armored vehicles, causing bumps and damage.
However, sparing from heavy artillery didn’t mean letting the enemy go. Using lighter but more sustained fire without terrain destruction to intercept and kill enemy infantry fleeing along the railway—Lelouch was happy to do that.
And telling the ground-attack fighter jets and airships not to linger was to maximize surprise, not giving enemy fighters time to react and intercept on the battlefield.
With this era’s communications and command efficiency, plus air squadron ground crew speed, attacking the enemy for 20 minutes then withdrawing meant their planes definitely couldn’t arrive in time.
The next 10 minutes went exactly as Lelouch expected.
Rommel’s armored regiment still encountered no substantial resistance. The enemy’s first three simple trenches and one reinforced trench— a full 4-5 kilometers deep front positions— were taken effortlessly.
It could even be done without armored cars, just using assault battalion tactics from over half a year ago.
But Lelouch wasn’t complacent. He knew in this kind of operation, the first five kilometers could be taken by anyone—that was the artillery cluster’s merit.
Deeper in, the 10th kilometer, 15th kilometer, that was when ground assault troops showed their stuff.
Rommel’s side had only just begun to exert force.
