Chapter 23: Seamless Sea-land Coordination
Hipper’s fleet, relying on submarines and small destroyers to clear the way ahead, sought to avoid civilian ships along the route and keep their movements secret.
Then they navigated cautiously like this for an entire afternoon. As time just passed four-thirty, in the North Sea region at the end of autumn and beginning of winter, the sky gradually darkened, making the fleet’s safety and concealment even higher.
The latitude in the North Sea region is very high; the later it gets into winter, the more the daylight obviously shortens, and with high winds and rough waves, it becomes even more suitable for sneaky activities.
As night fell once more, Lelouch, who had observed the entire process, admired Hipper’s command ability even more. He truly lived up to being the guy who historically led battlecruiser fleets to successfully raid homes multiple times and retreat unscathed.
Hipper also slightly relaxed his nerves, returned to the captain’s quarters, opened a bottle of wine, and poured himself a small glass to soothe his emotions.
Just before dark earlier, he had been extremely tense, fearing sudden exposure at any unknown moment.
“Would you like a glass too? Once it’s dark, there’s no need to worry. The hardest part of this battle is actually how to suddenly approach the enemy; once the fight starts, it’s relatively easier.” Out of goodwill, Hipper dangled the bottle in front of Lelouch.
Lelouch quickly took it and poured himself a glass.
He was very clear about his own position. With just his status as a lieutenant, if he weren’t temporarily acting as Duke Rupprecht’s secret envoy, Hipper wouldn’t have let him stay by his side to observe.
Watching him pour the wine, Hipper casually teased, “My wine isn’t free. The duke praised you in the secret letter as resourceful and clever. You’ve observed for a whole day now; do you have any suggestions for the upcoming battle? At least one.”
Lelouch took a slow sip, clearly thinking seriously: “I’m not professional on how exactly to fight, so I won’t make blind suggestions. But seeing how cautious you’ve been all the way, even an outsider like me knows the hardest part isn’t how to engage, but how to secretly reach the battlefield and safely withdraw afterward.
You’ve handled the first half yourself. Why don’t we discuss how to safely withdraw—do you have an original plan in mind?”
Hearing this question, Hipper’s brows furrowed again. He suddenly threw back his head, drained the wine completely, and then let out a long breath:
“Fortune favors the bold; how can you earn merits without risk? After the battle, theoretically there are two paths. One is to ignore the Dogger Bank terrain, go full speed on the shortest route straight through to break out and return to Wilhelmshaven. The second is to play it safer, veer slightly east, and withdraw along the 12-nautical-mile line off the Netherlands coast.
I also know that David Betty might at most be tricked to near Yarmouth. Once he realizes we’ve attacked the Channel Fleet and immediately reacts, turns around, and cuts diagonally toward the Netherlands coast, he might intercept us. But he doesn’t know exactly where I’ll return; he’d have to search with a dragnet, unable to concentrate forces at one point, while I can concentrate the whole fleet—maybe even break through quickly and escape!”
Lelouch thought carefully, then shook his head: “Although direct withdrawal has a chance of breakthrough, it’s still too risky. I don’t dare say these plans are wrong, but I can provide you a third option for contingencies: if we can’t withdraw to Wilhelmshaven, after the battle, head straight east and withdraw to the Belgians’ Antwerp Port! We won’t return to the homeland!”
Antwerp is less than 150 kilometers east of Nieuwpoort and Ostend; withdrawing into the coastal fjords gets you there. Compared to the over 500-kilometer voyage back to Wilhelmshaven, it saves at least two-thirds.
Hipper’s eyes lit up, but he quickly regained his caution and seriously confirmed: “Antwerp Port is naturally large enough, but when the Empire’s army occupied it before, were the port facilities not destroyed by the enemy?”
Lelouch: “Don’t worry about that. Our 6th Army Group and the 4th Group’s friendly forces both participated in the Antwerp campaign; I know the situation. The Empire took the port on October 10, and the Belgian Army had no chance or dared to implement a scorched earth strategy before withdrawing, so at least eighty percent of the port facilities were preserved.
Now over half a month later, the Empire has also allocated a small number of personnel for repairs; mooring a fleet is no problem. The biggest issue is the lack of military shipyards there. If your warships are too badly damaged in subsequent battles, emergency repairs in Antwerp would be quite difficult.
If no repairs are needed, once in Antwerp, given enough time, the enemy relaxes vigilance, you can pick another winter night to return home—one night’s time is enough to cover half the distance. And while you’re in Antwerp, the enemy fearing an Empire breakthrough in the strait will definitely keep David Betty tied down long-term, forcing the Channel Fleet to allocate more warships.”
“We still have to adapt to the situation, but in any case, the information you provided adds another backup route. This bottle of wine is yours.”
After much thought, Hipper gave this evaluation and handed the remaining half-full bottle to Lelouch.
……
The fleet sailed for another few hours like this, getting closer and closer to the Belgian coast.
At night with nothing to do, Lelouch stayed in Derfflinger’s telegraph room, helping Hipper with odd jobs when needed, and incidentally learning about naval radio operations; otherwise, he slept. He was originally a lieutenant in the communications troops, so it matched his expertise. The fleet’s communications officers knew he was the general’s guest and were very polite to him.
During the fleet’s radio silence, the radio was tuned to receive-only mode, unable to transmit but able to listen.
After some unknown time, the radio receiver suddenly had activity. Lelouch, who had been dozing, immediately woke up and asked the duty officer: “Is it friendly forces’ telegram? Hurry and decode it!”
“Yes, sir! Receiving now…” A duty communications second lieutenant was already at work, finishing the translation a few minutes later.
“Sir, it’s a plaintext telegram. Our army’s land forces at Nieuwpoort and Ostend sent reports almost simultaneously, both saying they’ve come under unidentified enemy naval gun bombardment! And suspected 12-inch giant cannons!”
Lelouch’s heart tightened, both shocked and eager to try.
Walton, that vindictive fatso, truly held no overnight grudges. He hadn’t had time to retaliate last night, so he came for revenge today!
Calculating the time, the enemy ships likely set out from Dover after nightfall. But if from Plymouth, they’d have to depart a day earlier.
But none of that mattered; in short, the result was that at 10 p.m. on the night of October 29, a fleet with 12-inch main guns bombarded those two towns!
Lelouch: “Notify the general immediately! Also calculate how long we need to reach the battlefield!”
“At full speed, about three to four hours more.”
This news quickly reached Hipper, who perked up, ordered full speed ahead, and had radio monitor for latest enemy intelligence at all times.
Lelouch thought to himself: Hopefully the enemy keeps bombarding the ports without stopping after a bit. But no matter; even if they finish bombarding and flee, our shore garrison will send real-time telegrams with updates, so we can slightly veer west on our route to intercept them on their way back to Dover.
For the enemy’s bombardment fleet to escape pursuit, theoretically there’s only one possibility: have the Channel Fleet after bombarding turn directly into the neighboring Franks’ Dunkirk Port to hide.
But the enemy likely won’t anticipate the danger they’re in. With the Britannia Royal Navy’s usual pride, it’s impossible for them to coordinate in advance with the Franks and request temporary use of a military port to hide.
Wouldn’t that make them cowards? The Franks would laugh their heads off.
Don’t think that just because Britannia and France are allies now, there’s no thousand-year grudge between them historically; they despise each other.
……
Meanwhile, in Nieuwpoort town.
Colonel Lister and one fairly intact battalion under him, plus two fresh regiments sent by Major General Karl, were holding firm along the town ruins and the dozen kilometers of Coastal Highway from the town to Ostend.
That’s right; they were organizing elastic defense according to the approach Lelouch had discussed with them a day and a half ago when he left.
Because they anticipated the enemy might deploy heavy cannon warships for bombardment, Colonel Lister’s every deployment adjustment revolved around this threat.
In 36 hours, they mobilized many second-line troops to hastily dig over a dozen layers of trenches along the Coastal Highway, basically a shallow trench every few hundred meters.
The trenches had no reinforcement, just dug directly into the soil to block shrapnel and blast pressure. Since the coastal soil was already loose and the nearby flooded area had further softened the ground, shallow digging was very easy with little workload.
These fortifications had little defense against enemy assaults, but they could obstruct the enemy, increase the difficulty of rapid advance, and prevent warship bombardment from concentrating kills on the garrison.
In every trench, Colonel Lister left only a small number of infantry for observation. Unless the enemy launched dense charges, the garrison wouldn’t enter the main positions but disperse, to minimize bombardment damage.
A main thread in human warfare is that as both sides’ firepower grows stronger, combatants deploy fewer troops per unit length of defense line to avoid wasteful kills by heavy firepower. As long as the enemy doesn’t charge, I won’t enter the positions.
Historically by the end of World War II, or even the Peninsula War, facing Ugly Country’s superior firepower coverage, the opposing side often reduced to “normally only one or two sentries from a platoon enter the positions, with the rest hiding in tunnels without coming out.”
Though Colonel Lister couldn’t go to such extremes, he at least temporarily learned to leave only one squad per platoon in the positions, with the rest dispersed as much as possible.
Moreover, Division Commander Major General Karl prepared many small boats for him, enough to withdraw all personnel by water route if necessary. If the enemy bombarded heavily and there was nowhere to hide on shore, they could row south in the dark to shift out of the bombardment zone and then withdraw to the rear.
Thus, with these anti-bombardment operations ahead of their time, plus ample psychological preparation in advance, the Britannia fleet’s bombardment caused few casualties to the German Army.
The Britannians themselves thought the effect was good. After bombarding for nearly an hour, Lieutenant General Hastings, responsible for the Channel Fleet operation, believed Nieuwpoort town must be total hell by now, so he casually sent a telegram to the shore French Army:
“Let those Franks charge up to collect the enemy corpses. Count them lucky to have the Royal Navy’s battleships clean up the mess; this kind of victory is practically picked up off the ground.”
Upon receiving the telegram, the French Army immediately organized a division of land forces to charge.
But unfortunately, as they charged forward, they soon found that the thoroughly ruined Nieuwpoort town still had tricky cross machine gun fire sweeping out, mowing down several ranks of soldiers.
The French Army cursed in rage and radioed to complain about their friendly fleet’s incompetence.
Lieutenant General Hastings felt his old face couldn’t hold up: During the earlier battleship bombardment, where exactly did those Germania mice hide in such deep holes? Or did they disperse and flee, returning to positions only when our army stopped bombarding and the French charged? That’s too adaptable!
How could he know how long Colonel Lister and Major General Karl had prepared for this, and how many deployments they’d adjusted.
But with things as they were, he had no choice but to order another round of bombardment preparation.
They bombarded for another twenty minutes, and this time he coordinated with the French Army: stop the bombardment and the French charge immediately, absolutely don’t give the enemy time to re-enter frontline positions.
The French Army strictly followed suit and this time finally charged into the town, clearing the two westernmost street blocks.
But it wasn’t over; even with the French moving as fast as possible, they only seized two street blocks. When charging the third layer, the German Army that had withdrawn during the recent fleet bombardment slipped back and quickly rebuilt fire points, starting to sweep and harvest lives again.
So the French either had to charge blindly in the dark, filling with lives, or stop again for the Britannia fleet to supplement bombardment. Each round of bombardment could only help the French seize two street blocks or three coastal trenches.
To fully take Nieuwpoort and push to Ostend, this taffy-like fighting style was enough to consume Lieutenant General Hastings’ fleet for a long time. And even so, in infantry casualties, the French Army still far exceeded the German Army.
……
“Hastings really has great interest, actually bombarding intermittently for over three hours at a ruined town and the simple trench area on the Coastal Highway east of the town.
The army brothers are truly worthy of respect—you say the commander defending that town is named Lister? Just a colonel regimental commander? He’s absolutely talented; after this battle, he’ll probably be promoted to general. Holding orderly under naval guns, delaying and consuming the enemy—too impressive.”
At 1:30 a.m., three and a half hours after Hastings began firing, General Hipper’s battlecruiser fleet finally closed in on the Britannia Channel Fleet.
Only after seeing through the telescope the distant enemy pre-dreadnoughts’ 12-inch main guns firing in salvo did Hipper sincerely admire the army’s support. He still couldn’t believe Hastings had bombarded in place for so long almost without moving.
The land positions had only retreated three kilometers, about to fully exit the town, but Hipper at sea didn’t know these details.
The army had won him an excellent opportunity.
“Commander, open fire immediately?” Derfflinger Captain Hank asked.
Hipper waved his hand: “No rush. Since it’s night battle and the enemy has exposed such a huge flaw, of course we’ll quietly close in before striking; otherwise, with night observation errors, bombardment accuracy is too low.
However, have the destroyers watch for nearby enemy destroyers or other torpedo boats. If there’s any risk of enemy auxiliary ships approaching, open fire immediately.”
