Chapter 30: Planning The Storm Commando Unit
The final days of the defense battle in Ostend were nothing worth dwelling on.
The German Army was originally just buying time, allowing more rearward defensive positions like Blankenberge and Zeebrugge to seize the opportunity to install 280mm or even 305mm coastal defense batteries, so that Britannian battleships could no longer dominate the shore.
The reconnaissance cavalry company commanded by Lelouch was also not suited for filling the line and holding out in the defense battle, so it mostly just carried out some fire observation tasks, such as guiding targets for the rear artillery.
And those truly grueling tasks of filling the line and absorbing damage were still borne by the various infantry regiments of the 12th Division of the 6th Corps up front.
Among the German Army in 1914, having the reconnaissance cavalry company responsible for fire observation was still relatively rare. Mainly because fire observation in this era was already very backward and crude.
Only in position assault battles was there time to slowly conduct continuous fire observation; if the first few rounds of cannon fire missed, the observation post would carefully observe and take photos, then quickly relay the news back to the rear by horse messenger, allowing the rear artillery to adjust their bombardment strategy.
The entire process could take several hours. Even radio was rarely used; the division reconnaissance company had only one low-power radio for the whole company, which had to be used for transmitting very important intelligence, not for trivial matters like “the previous round of bombardment fell short or long.”
And this was already the most modernized army in terms of communications in this era. If it were the Lusha army on the Eastern Front, not only did the division reconnaissance company lack radio, but even the various regimental and brigade headquarters had none—only division headquarters had radio, one per division.
Similarly, for artillery in this era, if they encountered a new long-range artillery position popping up from the enemy, countering it also required several hours to determine the enemy’s position, slowly adjust coordinates, and then counter.
So after long-range artillery fired, staying put for three hours without moving wouldn’t be countered. Only if they stayed put for half a day might they face counter-bombardment.
In other words, those “quick calibration and quick counter” tactics that only appeared in World War II or even later in later generations actually existed in this era too, just much slower.
What modern warfare could counter in 15 minutes might take one or two hours in World War II, and half a day in the early stages of World War I.
But now with Lelouch’s intervention, combining a lot of common knowledge he learned as a military enthusiast in his previous life, plus the practical break-in from being deeply embedded in frontline combat troops. He quickly figured out some small ways to speed up the response speed and rhythm of various links in artillery operations, reaping significant gains in just a few short days.
All of this also had to thank the higher-ups for coincidentally expanding his manpower— the direct reconnaissance companies of other divisions often had only one radio set. Even if they wanted flexible reconnaissance and real-time transmission of multi-point intelligence from the front line to direct the division artillery regiment to adjust bombardment, it was impossible.
But Lelouch had on hand a combination of an original cavalry company and an original communications platoon, so the professional communications unit had relatively more radios, and more people who knew how to handle communications transmission and reception.
Plus Lelouch had a big face; he could also borrow radios from Colonel Lister of the 16th Regiment. Thus, his reconnaissance company could equip every artillery observation post with a radio, naturally speeding up response times several fold.
During the defense of Ostend, Lelouch commanded flexibly, leading the reconnaissance company to provide more real-time observation information to friendly artillery, slightly improving the counter speed against enemy artillery positions.
The entire reconnaissance company therefore received praise from superiors several times. And those few subordinates in the company who were originally not entirely convinced by Lelouch had to completely submit after witnessing their commander’s abilities firsthand.
After all, both the division commander and the division artillery regimental commander had each praised the reconnaissance company once, and the officers and men up and down the reconnaissance company all felt proud, with their collective sense of honor fully aroused.
The over two hundred men of the cavalry reconnaissance company were now completely under Lelouch’s control.
Lelouch himself also combined some common knowledge from his previous life with the practical combat experience right before his eyes, writing some insights notes, preparing to organize them after this battle was over.
……
This day was already November 6th.
A week had passed since the previous naval battle, and calculating the days, the deadline set by the higher-ups for the 12th Division to hold Ostend had also arrived.
After tonight, the troops could theoretically withdraw at any time. Of course, if the situation allowed, they could hold on a bit longer and bleed the enemy more.
That morning, everything went smoothly; the various fire observation teams of the reconnaissance company, trained by Lelouch for several days, all operated well, providing great auxiliary effects to friendly artillery.
At noon, another wave of enemy offensive was repelled, and several hundred more corpses in khaki military uniforms littered the ground in front of the positions— that’s right, the enemy corpses in front of the positions now had changed from French Army in blue uniforms and red trousers to British Army in khaki military uniforms.
A week ago, when the enemy counterattacked Nieuwpoort, the main attacking force on land was still the French Army; now in the strong assault on Ostend, it had switched to the British Army.
This was also because the French Army had already suffered overly heavy casualties in the “Race to the Sea” campaign and couldn’t push anymore— in Earth’s history, the French Army lost 200,000 men throughout the “Race to the Sea” campaign. In this world, with Lelouch’s influence, three Belgian divisions were completely wiped out in the Nieuwpoort area, and the French Army was bled several extra times.
So over the entire campaign, it was said that the French Army’s killed in action had exceeded 230,000, at least over 20,000 more deaths due to Lelouch’s operations（including losses from German naval gun bombardment at Dunkirk and Nieuwpoort）.
So after the French Army took Nieuwpoort at the last gasp, they were completely spent just as they reached the outskirts of Ostend. The subsequent offensive operations were all handed over to the British Army.
In the recent three or four days, all the enemies clashing with Lelouch’s unit had switched to the British Army.
Even Dunkirk Port, as the British Army’s rear strike base— although it was Frankish territory— its defenses had also been handed over to the British Army. Britannia dispatched navy ground personnel to handle port operations, transporting armaments and supplies for frontline combat troops.
As the noon offensive receded, soldiers on both sides needed to eat and rest, and the German Army side also took the chance to catch their breath.
Lelouch’s company headquarters was set up on a high ground southeast of the city, in a temporarily dug reinforced fortification, placed together with his own division’s artillery regiment positions. This was also so that after receiving frontline radio observation intelligence, he could promptly notify the artillery regiment for quick response firing.
Seeing the enemy temporarily retreat, Lelouch let the duty officers take turns to eat, as long as they didn’t delay matters.
However, just as he left the underground fortification to get food, an acquaintance happened to pass by and called out to him:
“Captain Lelouch! I got some extra supplies over there, want to have an extra meal together? These days, thanks to your people, with such high observation efficiency, our battalion’s counter effects have improved a lot.”
Lelouch turned his head and saw it was the battalion commander of the division artillery regiment’s cannon battalion, Major William Gustav Keitel.
Over these few days, Lelouch had gotten familiar with people in the artillery regiment, including Regimental Commander Dulles Colonel, and this major battalion commander.
The artillery officers all liked him a lot, after all, Lelouch could improve their combat efficiency, especially the cannon battalion tasked with counter-artillery operations— in the German Army’s division artillery regiments, howitzer battalions generally handled bombardment of infantry targets. Cannons had longer range but less power, specialized in countering enemy artillery by range advantage.
So in the whole regiment, he had the best relationship with this cannon battalion commander.
Lelouch was also happy to befriend Major Keitel: “Then I’ll respectfully accept rather than decline.”
With that, Keitel Major stuffed him with two bottles of champagne and a few pieces of fried steak wrapped in oiled paper, all made from aged beef. Lelouch didn’t eat alone; he carried the alcohol and meat back to his own shelter and ate together with trusted subordinates like Barrack and Schweinsteiger.
Major Keitel could also see that Lelouch had a limitless future, so he followed him to eat together.
To avoid attention, the major had also wrapped an extra layer of newspaper with printing outside the oiled paper package he gave him.
After the group sat down, Lelouch took out the oiled paper package and handed it to Klose to cut the steaks for everyone. He himself casually glanced at the newspaper outside, and spotted a big news story.
“How is it《The Times》? Isn’t this the enemy’s newspaper? Where did it come from? The date is five days ago.”
Major Keitel violently popped open a bottle of champagne, mumbling with the wooden cork in his teeth: “I heard the division commander had people get them, distributing a few copies to each regiment to boost morale. The Britannians’ faces on the newspaper are truly laughable.”
Hearing this, Lelouch carefully looked; this newspaper printed in London five days ago actually claimed that the British Army had already captured Nieuwpoort and Ostend at that time— it was blowing the cow before it was even taken down— Ostend was still in the hands of the 12th Infantry Division today, theoretically only allowed to withdraw after nightfall.
Again playing the time difference, blowing the anticipated great victory ahead of time.
“Truly shameless, and they even wrote ‘The Royal Navy only lost 4 outdated scraps that were already due for decommissioning and scrapping,’ but they said nothing about sinking so many auxiliary ships and losing so many men!”
Lelouch carefully read the enemy’s full battle report, which also included the report from the earlier naval battle, truly only mentioning losses of a few outdated scraps.
And when the division commander distributed these newspapers to mock the enemy’s faces, he also had division headquarters staff mark our side’s tabulated battle results in red pen nearby:
Sank 4 enemy pre-dreadnoughts, sank 6 light cruisers, 11 destroyers; damaged 2 enemy battlecruisers, 1 light cruiser, 3 destroyers.
Killed and captured at least 8,500 enemy sailors, including over 1,500 salvaged prisoners, the rest killed in action or drowned.
This number was evidently reliable, calculated according to standard enemy ship crew complements. Battleships required large crews; even the crappiest pre-dreadnought “Hood,” when only performing shore bombardment, still needed a standard complement of 880 men; the other three sunk pre-dreadnoughts had at least 1,000 per ship.
Light cruisers averaged three or four hundred men, destroyers at least 150 to 200. With so many sunk, and the enemy not controlling the coast at the time, they could only swim back; it was entering winter with cold weather, so saying killed and captured rates combined over 80% was easy, even possibly 90%.
In World War I, far-sea sunk battleships, unless friendly forces controlled the battlefield for salvage, often had only a 2% average survival rate; the rest died or were picked up by the enemy.
Near-sea sunk, but if the land ashore wasn’t controlled by their own side, survival rate was still very low, just with higher capture rate— the 1,500 captured British sailors that night were mostly those who swam or reached shore in lifeboats and then captured by German Army land forces.
But on《The Times》, the auxiliary ships’ losses, over 8,500 killed, drowned, and captured, were completely unmentioned, glossed over entirely.
However, this newspaper wasn’t just bragging; it also revealed some valuable information.
Lelouch saw it written: “The Royal Navy has been enraged and has reactivated a batch of previously mothballed pre-dreadnoughts, moreover larger, more advanced, with stronger firepower than those previously sunk, and in greater numbers. In just a few months, the Channel Fleet will be even stronger than before!”
After the report, to boost Britannian morale, it specially listed a roster of second-line warships quickly refitted for combat,
Mentioning a whole bunch of “Majestic-class” pre-dreadnoughts built in the late last century 1896~98, a full 8 ships!
Saying these 8 would replace the combat roles of the previous 4 sunk; for every one the Germanians sink, the Royal Navy gives back two! Getting stronger the more they fight!
Including “Magnificent,” “Prince George,” “Victory,” “Jupiter,” “Hannibal,” “Mars（Mars）,” “Caesar,” “Venerable.” The class totaled only 9 built, so aside from the class lead ship “Majestic” always on the front line, the other 8 previously second-line ships were now all to be mobilized to front-line status.
To form combat effectiveness in such a short time, the so-called “modernization refit” was probably just derusting and repainting; nothing else possible. And the personnel shortages to fill complements would require drawing at least nearly 10,000 sailors from the current main fleet, plus recruiting new recruits or reservist sailors on both sides, with veterans training new.
But it could be foreseen that those units stripped of elite veterans, and the newly formed troops, would have poor combat quality for at least a year or so. The navy is a very specialized branch; without long-term training and break-in, how could they exert combat effectiveness?
Lelouch had to admire their thick skin:
“They dare to write reports like this, showing how determined they are to take Ostend; with the cow fully blown, if they can’t do it in the end, at least one or two ministers have to resign in disgrace!
And to save face and deter us, they don’t hesitate to proactively disclose so much military intelligence on the newspaper, letting us better understand their strengths and weaknesses!
But we indeed have no need to stake the lives of the whole division’s soldiers against their face; mainly the city’s coastal defense guns are pretty much all lost anyway, right?”
Major Keitel poured him a tin lunchbox full of champagne: “Indeed, last night the 210mm coastal defense gun was completely knocked out by enemy warships. The remaining few 150mm fortress guns will definitely be gone today too.
Those gun mounts are fixed to the forts, inconvenient to dismantle during battle, and definitely can’t be taken during final withdrawal; better to fight until all are destroyed by the enemy, then withdraw.
And the division commander said the bunch of ‘Majestic-class’ pre-dreadnoughts mentioned in the enemy newspaper will also be thrown into bombardment operations after a simple paint job.
And Betty’s battlecruisers will provide them cover then, which can also prevent General Hipper’s battlecruisers hiding in Antwerp from coming out again to pick on soft targets like enemy pre-dreadnoughts. With the enemy so fully prepared, Ostend is untenable.
Good thing I have another piece of news— the coastal defense gun fortresses at Blankenberge and Zeebrugge are fully deployed, 305 coastal defense guns all in place; higher-ups even transferred a few observation and aiming technical backbone from our battalion over there; we can withdraw tonight!”
Lelouch drained the champagne Major Keitel poured him, thoughtfully pondering: “After returning to Zeebrugge, our defensive battle phase combat tasks will be completed, right? Next we should contribute ideas for preparing the counterattack on the Ypres Salient.”
Major Keitel: “Definitely! After we retreat to Zeebrugge, the enemy won’t advance an inch further! With 305 coastal defense guns protecting, enemy warships can’t provide shore fire support. Then with friendly forces’ small troops rotating defense, we can hold the defense line; we should rest up, and troop sources will definitely get replenished.”
Lelouch suddenly thought of something and suggested: “Major, I have an idea; would you co-sign with me? I also summarized some new tactics from these days of reconnaissance company-counter artillery battalion coordinated operations.
I want to suggest to Army Group higher-ups that in future counterattack operations, borrow some of the new infantry-artillery cooperation experience we gained today, and form a storm commando unit that can more efficiently and timely call for artillery support even in offensive operations.
The more agile infantry-artillery cooperation experience we summarized these days only applies to defensive battles; to make it apply to offensive battles, we still need to supplement a lot of homework; this will require your cooperation.”
Major Keitel had long seen Lelouch had a bright future and was overjoyed, not minding the other had lower rank than him, immediately agreeing: “This is only right; you improved our battalion’s combat efficiency so much; if it can be shared with friendly forces, what a contribution to the Empire; how could I be stingy?”
……
After reaching cooperation with Major Keitel, that afternoon’s battle had nothing worth dwelling on.
The British Army’s offensive once again met stubborn German resistance, with the German Army trading space for time and space for heads, crazily consuming them.
Until late at night, after confirming enemy ship guns couldn’t blockade the coastal withdrawal route east of Ostend, the German Army withdrew in batches to the more rearward coastal Blankenberge and the neighboring inland major city Bruges.
The entire withdrawal was also very smooth, with no significant hindrance during the troop transfer.
When Ostend was abandoned, it was also fully utilized as scrap; basically everything had been smashed by British Army battleship naval guns, so the British Army just occupied a pile of ruins as usual.
The only thing the British Army could celebrate was finally occupying the place《The Times》said they had occupied five days ago, rounding the lie.
But the cost of rounding this lie was too high; after fighting into Ostend, the British Army up and down were all exhausted and unable to advance further. They were completely hanging on by this last breath, holding out to this point.
And after Lelouch withdrew to Blankenberge with the main force, he immediately compiled some insights from these days of reconnaissance company-counter artillery battalion coordinated operations.
Along with some organizational ideas on World War I German Army “Storm Commando Unit” tactics he learned in his previous life, mixed together, preparing to report to the division commander and Army Group higher-ups.
Hoping to create some changes for the subsequent Ypres Salient campaign.
