Chapter 181: Outstanding Results, Shocking The World
September 25, 1915, 10 a.m.
The 53rd hour after Lelouch’s troops launched their attack from Dzhankoy toward Troitske and Melitopol.
His brilliant breakthrough progress had not yet been reported by the newspapers in Germania. Because it involved military secrets and decisive phase results had not yet been achieved, the Staff Department would not allow any related news to be leaked to the media.
All newspapers during wartime had to undergo review by the Staff Department before publishing any military-related content. Only after confirming there was nothing that should not be said were they allowed to print; if there was any leak of military secrets, they had to be sent back for re-review.
However, the lack of media coverage did not mean no one knew. At least the high commands of the Lusha and Germania armies, and even the Emperor, already knew about the drastic changes on the front line.
That morning, at the Southwestern Front Headquarters in Kyiv, Front Army Commander General Pavel Pleve was interrupted in his work by a shrill telephone ring.
He had been frantically dispatching reinforcements, trying to organize all the Cossack Cavalry Divisions that could be gathered in a short time on the great steppe east of the Dnieper River, to rush as quickly as possible toward the area between Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol to block the enemy’s breakthrough troops.
When he heard the telephone ring, he was somewhat irritable, ready to reprimand the person who interrupted his work.
But when the adjutant picked up the receiver and handed it to him, the faint, almost imperceptible word from the adjutant’s mouth immediately made General Pleve feel as if a basin of ice water had been poured over his head.
“His Majesty…”
General Pleve immediately straightened up: “Your Majesty! What is Your Majesty’s command?”
From the other end of the telephone came Tsar Nicholas II’s weak voice: “I hear that the Germanians launched a new offensive in the Southwestern theater these past two days and have reached Melitopol?”
General Pleve: “Yes… Your Majesty! I did not expect this matter to alarm you; it is truly our incompetence and negligence! Please forgive us, Your Majesty.”
“What kind of place is Melitopol, roughly?”
“…” General Pleve was speechless for a moment but could only try to explain simply in words the Tsar could understand.
“It is not really a big city, but it does have some transportation significance. It is the intersection of the east-west railway connecting Kherson and Rostov, and the north-south railway connecting Sevastopol and Zaporizhzhia.”
Tsar Nicholas II on the other end of the telephone was silent for a moment before continuing: “Local officials in Zaporizhzhia Province have already gone over the heads of their superiors to complain to the Chief of Staff, saying that Melitopol is far from the front line, yet it was suddenly inexplicably attacked by the enemy!
I just want you to report honestly: In the entire Kievan Rus’ region now, where is still safe? The public is in panic, saying the enemy might reach Zaporizhzhia tomorrow, or even today—is this true?!”
The Tsar’s scolding tone grew heavier, startling General Pleve, who hurriedly swore: “Please rest assured, Your Majesty! The enemy absolutely cannot reach Zaporizhzhia!
It is our negligence that alarmed you, but in fact, only a small unit has infiltrated the border; it is a raiding force, not the enemy’s main force! Please be assured, Your Majesty; I have already dispatched all the Cossack Cavalry Units in the entire Nogai Steppe region to encircle that small band of enemy raiders! They will be wiped out soon!”
The Tsar on the other end of the telephone finally stopped being so aggressive, was silent for a moment, and chose to believe his general: “Then I await your good news; I hope everything is as you say, just a raiding band of enemies.”
After hanging up, General Pleve was drenched in cold sweat; he immediately rushed to the map, checked the designations of nearby troops, and issued a death order, commanding all Cossack Cavalry Divisions that could possibly rush there to converge, to absolutely block that evil enemy!
Reason told Pleve that using cavalry against a force that might have a certain number of armored cars was unwise.
But fear of the Tsar’s severe punishment forced him to do so. He could only hope that the Cossack Cavalry Units, relying on absolute numerical superiority, could use human wave tactics to overwhelm the enemy!
The enemy was deep in isolated territory, so their ammunition supplies certainly could not be plentiful; as long as they were encircled and cut off from supplies, the enemy could be piled to death even if necessary!
……
At the same moment, the temporary headquarters of the 6th Army Group in Mykolaiv.
As the offensive campaign entered its third day, Army Group Commander Duke Rupprecht was also closely monitoring developments on all sides.
On the Mykolaiv and Kherson front lines, the troops had been conducting fire preparation combined with ground assaults for two full days.
Because a considerable portion of the Army Group’s artillery forces had been pulled to the east for concentrated use, the artillery density on the western main battlefield was reduced by several tenths compared to normal.
The Artillery Units had no choice but to compensate for the lack of short-term burst power by extending the duration of the fire preparation.
On September 23, the fire preparation alone lasted a full 6 hours, through the entire night, with the ground assault beginning only after dawn.
In the subsequent 48 hours, the 3 corps and 8 divisions of the 6th Army Group deployed on the Mykolaiv-Kherson-Yevpatoria line made some progress.
In those frontline segments with standard progress speeds, they advanced about 3 to 5 kilometers every 24 hours, totaling 8 to 10 kilometers in two days.
While in the few segments with the most rapid progress and outstanding performance, they achieved breakthroughs of 12 kilometers per day, totaling nearly 25 kilometers in two days!
The 3 Lushan corps defending the Kherson to Yevpatoria line were forced to abandon large swathes of their outermost positions. They switched to attempting delayed defense in great depth, dragging the Germanians beyond artillery support range, then using elastic defense to slowly consume them.
“The frontal assault troops are performing well enough, but far from that kid Lelouch. I don’t know how far he has advanced in this day and a half since leaving Troitske in the early morning yesterday.
If he can threaten the Lushans’ rear as soon as possible, those corps on the frontal defense will surely waver. Then, as soon as they show signs of forced retreat, we can pursue fiercely and turn their retreat into a rout!
Unfortunately, I don’t know where that kid has reached now!”
The Duke repeatedly studied the map marked with the latest frontline changes for a long time, issuing such a sigh.
The other adjutants and staff officers nearby all chimed in, saying that Chief of Staff Lelouch was indeed deeply farsighted with a meticulously superb plan, achieving such a breakthrough. In just one day, he penetrated the natural strongpoints at both ends of the Dzhankoy Peninsula and Troitskoye Peninsula, charging into the great steppe.
Unfortunately, after entering the great steppe, because the troops moved too quickly and their whereabouts were erratic, radio contact could not be stably established; in the past 30 hours, headquarters had not received any further messages on the latest real-time progress.
After all, the vehicle-mounted radios on the armored cars had very low power, possibly only 20 to 30 kilometers transmission range in daylight; at night, due to changes in atmospheric ionospheric reflection, the signal distance could be more than three times farther than daytime.
In short, the attackers were somewhat disadvantaged compared to the defenders in reporting battle conditions via radio.
The defenders could rely on high-power fixed radios in every town and fortress to transmit; every town could send a radio report to the rear about its fall or surrender before being lost.
While the attackers, if they did not capture high-power fixed radios in town strongpoints, had to rely on slow vehicle-mounted relays, which inevitably became chaotic during intense combat.
Just as everyone was speculating and imagining, a radio operator rushed breathlessly into the command room, holding high a telegram paper just decoded.
“Commander! The latest news this morning: Division Commander Lelouch’s Great Germania Division occupied Melitopol last night and is now continuing to advance toward Zaporizhzhia!”
“What? That kid reached Melitopol last night? Why wasn’t it reported promptly!” The Duke’s eyes widened instantly, and he excitedly slammed his leather gloves onto the map table with a “snap”.
The radio operator had evidently already understood the telegram transmission channel issues and hurriedly explained:
“It was a relay communication problem; when capturing Melitopol, they failed to seize a high-power fixed radio, and with the wartime follow-up chaos, it has only now been relayed.”
The Duke tapped the table with his knuckles, his mood eventually improving without outburst.
Radio relay issues during wartime were very common; positions moved too fast—who knew if the rear radios could connect.
Mainly because this was a good news delay, no big issue. If it were bad news delayed, then motives would be suspected, and it would be time to emphasize “large unit operations require strict military discipline.”
“That kid is too reckless!” The Duke laughed and cursed, then waved his hand, signaling the other staff officers to immediately mark the map,
Moving those pieces symbolizing the troops, erasing that segment of the frontline, and roughly redrawing it with a red pencil.
The Duke watched all this satisfied, then suddenly added: “By the way, where is Fedor Bock’s 2nd Armored Division? Isn’t he the arrowhead responsible for the northern pincer?”
The Army Group staff officer handling the map immediately replied: “Report to Commander: According to the latest intelligence, Brigadier General Bock’s Empire Division captured Bashtanka yesterday and advanced another 15 kilometers northeast along the railway and Inhulets River today. Cumulative penetration into enemy territory over 60 kilometers.”
The Duke had originally been quite satisfied with Bock’s progress; after all, the other infantry assault troops had advanced at most 25 kilometers. Von Bock’s armored division advancing over 60 kilometers was already two and a half times faster than the fastest infantry.
But compared to Lelouch now, it was nothing; Lelouch was more than twice as fast as Bock plus a bit—140 kilometers!
After comparing, the Duke could not help but ask: “What did Fedor Bock say yesterday? What reason prevented him from breaking through farther as planned?”
The mapping staff officer: “It was due to insufficient pre-war reconnaissance of the enemy’s depth zones’ geographical environment and inadequate hydrological intelligence collection. Division Commander Von Bock’s armored division was originally planned to advance along the north bank of the Dnieper, with the attack route not too far from the river.
But after the actual assault, they found that many areas on the north bank had softer lake and marsh terrain than previously assessed from aerial photos. Moreover, the depth and river-crossing conditions of the important Inhulets River tributary on the Dnieper north bank were worse than imagined.
Forcing Division Commander Von Bock to detour farther north to find less muddy upstream areas of the Inhulets River to cross. Yesterday he advanced north to Bashtanka; from there, bypassing northeast around the Inhulets River would be no problem. He is probably crossing the river now.”
The staff officer explained many unexpected situations, emphasizing that it was terrain surprises encountered by the other “prong” of the pincer that slowed the advance; without these surprises, Von Bock should now have advanced over 80 kilometers cumulatively, not just 65.
Duke Rupprecht accepted this explanation without harsh criticism: “Enough of those reasons; 65 kilometers is not bad, but after this battle, we still need to summarize lessons—why could Lelouch advance 140 kilometers in 2 days?
If terrain disadvantage, could the Inhulets River terrain disadvantage compare to the 35-kilometer deep narrow strips of the continuous two peninsulas at Dzhankoy and Troitske? Or to assaulting across the lagoon to seize the cross-sea bridge?
Lelouch’s current results are all because he decisively broke through from the start what the enemy thought was an absolutely impregnable natural strongpoint, enabling the subsequent harvest! Everyone must study this successful experience well!”
With the Duke personally setting the tone, no one dared question further.
Orders were quickly issued one after another; from Mykolaiv to Kherson to Yevpatoria, that morning, all Germania Army forces across the entire offensive front began to press hard.
And as usual, coordinated with propaganda war, spreading messages to shake the enemy morale opposite, using every means to let the Lusha Army opposite know their rear was about to be cut off.
At the same time, the Duke detached two divisions to the southern front, taking the Dzhankoy to Melitopol railway, attempting to secure the rear of that southern prong.
Finally, the Duke selected the latest progress here that did not involve leaks and reported directly to General Staff Headquarters and the Emperor.
Naturally including hype on the legendary color of the southern breakthrough, especially “penetrating two narrow peninsulas and a cross-sea railway bridge 35 kilometers deep in one day.”
In the battle report, of course, it would not say “that railway bridge was only 400 meters long, just crossing a quiet coastal lagoon, not truly cross-sea.”
Battle reports always had to let others imagine the achievements as bigger and more arduous; even shallow-water heavy gunboats could be written as battleships, let alone a cross-sea bridge.
In short, after propaganda polishing, Lelouch’s breakthrough of the Dzhankoy and Troitskoye Peninsulas, entering the enemy’s rear great steppe zone from the most unexpected natural strongpoint.
This feat was soon rendered into something like the “stealing through Yinping” in Eastern History.
At lunchtime that day, Emperor Wilhelm in the Potsdam Palace in Berlin saw this battle report,
Then had Chief of Staff General Falkenhayn summoned and asked questions similar to those his Tsar cousin had asked General Pleve that morning.
“What kind of place is Melitopol?”
“Why was the enemy defending such an important place so weakly?”
“Oh, you mean that to reach Melitopol, one must break through layers of natural strongpoints, so the Lushans thought it humanly impossible? Thus no heavy forces were deployed in the deep rear for defense?”
“Doesn’t that mean the Empire’s Army can breakthrough enemy impregnable defensive lines!”
General Falkenhayn answered these questions one by one, but the content was similar to what the enemy General Pleve had said, so no need to repeat verbatim.
Only in answering the last question did Falkenhayn give a different response: “Your Majesty… The Empire’s Army was able to breakthrough the enemy’s supposedly impregnable natural defensive lines this time mainly by relying on armored fighting vehicles immune to bullet attacks.
Unless the enemy uses direct cannon hits, infantry and firearms alone are completely helpless against our armored fighting vehicles, so the enemy’s layered defenses instantly collapsed in despair.”
People teach people, and they never learn in a lifetime.
Events teach people, and they learn in one go.
When Emperor Wilhelm heard it was due to a new type of armored fighting vehicle that allowed the Empire’s Army to tear through the enemy’s supposedly impregnable natural strongpoint defenses, his eyes were instantly filled with greedy flames.
“Which company is currently producing this vehicle? Why are only Barian troops using it!”
Falkenhayn: “Your Majesty, it is said that the Barians sought technical cooperation with ally Skoda Company for joint development. Currently, a small joint venture between Skoda Company and Baria Engine Factory should be producing it.
Additionally, because this weapon performs so well, the Barians are reportedly planning to expand production, and may later grant production authorization to MAN Company in Nuremberg.”
Emperor Wilhelm frowned upon hearing this.
All South German States companies! Nuremberg is also a Barian city, and MAN Company is a Barian company.
But there was no helping it; in the automobile field, the South German States’ industrial strength was inherently stronger than northern Prussia’s. Not only did Baria have a bunch of auto companies, neighboring Württemberg’s Stuttgart had Mercedes-Benz Company and Daimler Company.
In making guns and cannons, Prussia’s industrial system could crush the southern four states, but in making automobiles, it truly could not compare.
If history developed naturally, during the entire World War, with military resource allocation and R&D tilted toward the northern faction dominance, the Germanians could not have been the first to produce tanks.
Because Krupp, Mauser, and DWM were not good at making vehicles and unwilling for the state to invest too many resources in fields they were not skilled in.
Sometimes, doing too well in the previous era often hindered them from revolutionizing themselves, suppressed by path dependency from disruptive innovation.
Prussia’s precise, mechanical management system was extremely effective for optimizing resource allocation to complete production tasks and fine-tuning existing weapons.
But it had huge shortcomings specifically in disruptive innovation.
This was why Lelouch had planned the armored fighting vehicles for over half a year, yet the northern Prussia faction had paid no attention until now producing world-shocking real combat results.
Only now was the Emperor finally awakened by real battle achievements.
“Doesn’t the Empire have enterprises in the Ruhr Area that can make heavy vehicles? I want Ruhr Area factories to start producing armored fighting vehicles! Immediately! Right now! Remove all obstacles no matter the conditions! Whatever resources are needed, provide them!”
Facing the Emperor’s envy, General Falkenhayn racked his brains to recall, then hurriedly gave an answer to appease: “Your Majesty, Henschel Company in Kassel also manufactures heavy vehicles and has some engine and chassis technology accumulation.
If Your Majesty wishes a factory near the Ruhr Area to produce armored fighting vehicles, perhaps the Armament Department could invest in Henschel Company for expansion…”
“Immediately, right now! Invest in Henschel Company for expansion! I want Prussia’s arsenals to produce fighting vehicles too! Yes, they can also try optimizations, not necessarily exact copies. I believe Prussia’s engineers are no dumber than those southerners; Ruhr Area factories must not only produce fighting vehicles but produce better ones.”
As for royalty fees, the Emperor felt it best to superficially respect imperial law and give a token amount.
“Yes, Your Majesty, I will handle it right away.” General Falkenhayn respectfully agreed and slowly withdrew.
In the following days, related preparations rapidly unfolded; within one or two months, the Henschel factory in Kassel began expansion and new production lines.
Ironically, Kassel had originally belonged to the Hesse Electorate and should have been part of the “southern four states.” But by chance in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, Hesse chose to support Austria against Prussia.
As a result of defeat, Hesse was divided by treaty; the northern “Hesse-Kassel” was directly ceded and incorporated into Prussia, while the southern “Hesse-Darmstadt” continued as the Hesse Electorate and joined the Germania Confederation.
In other words, without Prussia ceding the Kassel region in the civil war 50 years ago, Prussia’s land today would probably have no decent automobile manufacturer; 100% of Germania’s large auto manufacturers would be in the southern four states.
Fortunately, history had no ifs; Emperor Wilhelm now had this one sapling in hand, quickly watering and fertilizing it to mature and help produce more fighting vehicles.
……
While both Lusha and within Germania were shocked by the first concentrated assault combat effects of the armored cars.
Across the strait, a third country was also shaken by this news: naturally, Britannia.
Compared to the dull Frankish, the Britannians noticed this fact in just two or three short days.
Their keenness was naturally because the Britannians themselves were already developing tanks.
Hearing that the enemy’s fighting vehicles had performed miraculously, Prime Minister Asquith immediately summoned Army Minister Lloyd George and Naval Minister Walton Spencer.
“I hear we also have development of a new fighting vehicle with steel armor? What is the current progress? How much stronger than the previous Rolls-Royce armored car? Can it be stronger than the enemy’s armored cars?”
The Army Minister looked troubled, but finally Naval Minister Walton took the floor:
“Indeed there is such a plan; actually, it is our Naval Ministry leading the development. We now have blueprints after multiple revisions, but no prototype yet. We originally planned to be more cautious, conduct more rounds of paper arguments to avoid obvious technical flaws emerging only after production…”
Prime Minister Asquith listened impatiently and directly waved his hand to stop Walton’s explanation:
“What time is it! Since there are blueprints, immediately start building prototypes! If they fail, it just wastes a bit more money, right? Since armored fighting vehicles are so effective, the earlier they appear, the greater the help to the Empire!”
The Britannia Treasury Department, originally stingy with tank project funding, was directly stimulated by the enemy fighting vehicle effects.
Better to cut another three or five destroyer budgets than slow the tank prototype production; no matter how flawed, build and test them first.
