Chapter 61: The Enemy Is Blind And Deaf, But Our Army Isn’t Deaf
January 16, 1915.
The perspective pulls back to the Kemmel Hill battlefield, about 10 kilometers northeast of Bailleul.
This place has now become the biggest focal point of the entire Ypres-Dunkirk campaign. If the German Army cannot capture it, they cannot clear the railway line, and subsequent attacks will all lose momentum.
If supplies are short for too long and the infiltration troops are completely exhausted, even the gains already achieved might be spit back out.
And if the German Army captures it, not only can they lift the enemy army’s blockade of the railway, but they can also use the high ground of 155 Hill in reverse to deploy artillery to bombard Poperinge, or even shell the western half of Ypres urban area.
Therefore, both sides are going all out, one desperately attacking with determination to succeed, the other vowing to defend to the death without retreating.
The main force of the Belgian Expeditionary Force’s 1st Corps has been pulled to the Kemmel Hill direction, fighting to the death without retreat. Part of the ANZAC Corps’ soldiers have also been pulled here, continuously filling with lives.
The British Army even attempted tunnel defense operations for the first time in this World War, digging some tunnels on the hillside to hide soldiers and avoid the attacker’s bombardment—
In Earth’s history, because the Battle of Ypres lasted four years, these areas later became the hardest hit areas for tunnel operations. The British Army dug tunnels here for a full four years, and in terms of final defensive tightness, it was no less than Iwo Jima.
But fortunately, it is now only the first few months of the war’s outbreak. Although the British Army has started digging tunnels, they haven’t had time to dig too many yet, and there is still a chance to crack it.
……
This morning, Lelouch brought some of his subordinates to the Kemmel Hill front line.
He had rushed back overnight the previous evening, riding the army’s only few cars from the northwest front line.
Those who came with him were mainly meritorious officers and subordinates such as Rommel, Model, and Klose.
These people had all earned some military merit in the previous operations to attack the three towns of Cassel, Arnèke, and Wormhout.
Especially Lelouch himself, because he had too many things to worry about and was temporarily promoted to acting battalion commander, he managed frontline combat matters less.
In this wave of furious advance with the 3rd Assault Battalion as the spearhead, a lot of adaptability in tactical details command was the masterpiece of the battalion’s training company commander and Captain Rommel.
He helped Lelouch share a huge amount of tactical command pressure, and his flexible application of the various tactics invented by Lelouch was also extremely ingenious, even with a blue-outshining-blue understanding. So he also earned a lot of merit, and the situations of the others were similar.
Early this morning, at the frontline command post, Army Group Commander Duke Rupprecht personally came to inspect and promoted and awarded medals to Lelouch, Rommel, and others.
In the previous promotions, Lelouch and others were handled by Major General Karl, because captain and below were within the division commander’s authority.
This time promoting to major exceeded the division commander’s duties, so it had to be done by the Army Group Commander.
“In view of Captain Lelouch Hunter’s sustained outstanding performance in the operations in Bailleul, Stenford, Arnèke… and other places, you are now promoted to Army Major, formally serving as the battalion commander of the 6th Army Group’s 3rd Assault Battalion. And awarded another First Class Iron Cross.”
In the previous week, he was only temporarily acting battalion commander; now promoted to major, he could legitimately drop the “acting” part.
Transmigrated on October 25, 1914, promoted from corporal to sergeant major that same day, to lieutenant on October 28, to captain in November, and now on January 16, 1915, finally to major.
2 months and 22 days, which could be said to have achieved the divine joke from the beginning of transmigration: “Transmigrate 3 hours to sergeant major, 3 days to officer, 3 months to field officer.”
And achieved 8 days ahead of schedule.
Afterward, the duke personally announced Rommel’s promotion. For the lower-ranking officers below, theoretically the division commander could announce, but since the duke was here, he read them all together.
“…Promote Captain Erwin Rommel to Army Major, serving as deputy battalion commander of the 6th Army Group’s 3rd Assault Battalion, awarded one First Class Iron Cross.”
“…Promote Otto Walter Model to Army Captain, serving as company commander of B Company of the 6th Army Group’s 3rd Assault Battalion, awarded one First Class Iron Cross.”
“…Promote Schweinsteiger to Army Lieutenant… Klose to Army Lieutenant…”
After announcing all, the duke announced disbandment, letting everyone relax, while keeping Lelouch alone, obviously to confirm some tactical issues with him privately.
“The second batch of instruments you ordered from DWM Aachen Arsenal arrived the day before yesterday, but hasn’t gotten the weather you wanted yet. Do you want to go take a look first?
The usage of those instruments has been explained to Major Rundstedt of the 2nd Assault Battalion, so his battalion will handle the fire observation task during the mountain assault. If you have details to add, communicate with him now.”
“Yes! Commander!” Lelouch saluted and accepted the order.
Then, he was taken to a secret warehouse near the frontline command post, where the duke personally had people uncover several tarps, revealing the equipment below.
Lelouch recognized at a glance that this was exactly what he had customized from DWM Company, although it looked slightly different from the historical version in history books.
These were the most primitive artillery sound locators.
In principle, they were two sound-receiving panels shaped like radar domes/satellite dishes, using some simple sound-gathering amplification structures to amplify faint distant sounds from a general direction many times over, then heard by the listener. （See above image）
Whichever direction the two receiving hoods on the instrument faced, sounds from that direction would be particularly prominent and amplified.
This thing could be made purely mechanically, without needing advanced electronic signal amplification technology, and it was indeed developed during World War I on Earth.
Lelouch didn’t know exactly how to make it, but he knew how to specify requirements, and since the technical difficulty wasn’t high, DWM Company’s engineers figured it out themselves.
As for why Lelouch thought of making this thing ahead of time during the Kemmel Hill campaign, it was related to some details of the 6th Army Group’s other troops’ failed mountain assaults in the past few days.
Lelouch came up with this countermeasure after hearing the duke’s complaints at the time.
Lelouch simply inspected and tested the machines, confirmed they could be used, and then relaxed: “No problem, let Major Rundstedt proceed according to the instruction manual.”
……
At the same time, the foremost position on Kemmel Hill.
Rundstedt’s 2nd Assault Battalion was dispersed in the anti-artillery dugouts in the trenches, waiting for the timing to attack.
At this moment, the snow wasn’t heavy enough yet, only scattered light snow.
The enemy artillery observation posts on the mountaintop still had unobstructed visibility.
Both sides’ aviation teams’ reconnaissance aircraft could still barely take off and fly.
Rundstedt took a big gulp of cool water to moisten his throat and heard faint buzzing engine sounds overhead.
He knew it was Major Immelmann leading the German Army reconnaissance aircraft team, reconnaissance while pursuing and killing French Army and British Army reconnaissance aircraft.
Major Rundstedt was very clear that it was the fierce fighting of those knights in the air that caused great losses to the enemy’s artillery observation aircraft, reducing the strike efficiency of the enemy’s heavy cannon group on the mountaintop by several degrees; he was very grateful to the friendly forces in the air.
But unfortunately, even if the aviation team could suppress the enemy’s reconnaissance aircraft, they couldn’t suppress the enemy’s ground artillery observation posts. So the British Army’s heavy cannon group overlooking from above only lost several degrees of combat efficiency at most, but couldn’t be completely disabled.
More than 20 days ago, Captain Immelmann of the aviation team got enough airborne light machine guns from the rear, which was said to be arranged by Lelouch. He also had mechanics install the machine guns on pigeon reconnaissance aircraft.
Then, Captain Immelmann spent a few days roughly training his most trusted pilots, teaching them how to fly the plane while operating rotatable light machine guns to fire to the side or front side （Shooting coordinator not yet produced, temporarily cannot fire straight ahead）
After training, around early January, this first batch of pilots knew how to fight in practice, and ultimately, on January 8, they fired the world’s first large-scale air battle.
Of course, being the first, the enemy had no organized resistance at all.
French Army and British Army pilots only carried pistols or other weapons individually, like shotguns, with no standardized equipment.
After all, there were no formal large-scale air battles before, and occasional fights were individual pilot actions.
This time, a whole German flight team of 16 pigeon reconnaissance aircraft, all equipped with fixed-mount air-cooled light machine guns, each carrying about 1200 rounds of bullet belts, naturally had crushing firepower.
On January 8, in the airspace near Ypres-Lille, a total of 14 reconnaissance aircraft from the British and French armies were unilaterally slaughtered and shot down.
After the first wave stunned them, the British and French aviation teams quieted down, not daring to sortie for two consecutive days, probably urgently figuring out suitable firearms for aircraft.
Starting January 12, French aircraft still didn’t dare come near Lille, but British aircraft, to expand enemy intelligence reconnaissance range and optimize artillery spotting, hardheadedly took off some, but tried to avoid German aircraft.
Occasionally unable to escape or intercepted midway, British aircraft could only counter the German light machine gun reconnaissance aircraft mainly with temporarily fitted extended-magazine Colt M1911s.
Wanting to install fixed machine guns on aircraft in such a short time wasn’t easy.
Even if installed, with soldiers having no training or theoretical foundation, it was impossible to form combat effectiveness in at least ten days or half a month.
So during the Battle of Ypres, the German Army unilaterally holding absolute air superiority was assured. Captain Immelmann was promoted to major on the spot on January 8 after leading the team to shoot down over a dozen enemy aircraft, and received a Blue Max Medal.
Today was already the eighth day of German combat reconnaissance aircraft operating in the air.
Air superiority from Lille to skies over Ypres was still firmly held by the German Army, ensuring that at key moments, no enemy air reconnaissance forces could reach key areas.
All this also provided side guarantees for the German Army’s subsequent actions.
……
Rundstedt’s battalion thus lurked in low-intensity at the front line until the afternoon, when the snow finally grew heavier.
Aircraft from both sides in the air had all disappeared; no one could take off anymore.
And the numerous British Army artillery observation posts high on Kemmel Hill also completely lost visibility due to the heavy snow, unable to see anything beyond two or three kilometers.
“It’s time, confirmed loss of mountaintop line of sight. No wired notification to the rear, our 210mm heavy howitzers can advance.” After personally observing repeatedly with a telescope, Major Rundstedt issued this order.
The howitzers he was calling were for counter-battery fire, aimed at dealing with the enemy’s heavy cannon positions deployed on the reverse slope edge of the mountaintop, overlooking from above.
Originally, the key for counter-battery cannons was long range; the German K16 150mm cannon prototype was very good, with extremely long range, exceeding the British Army cannons on the mountaintop.
But unfortunately, the enemy cunningly deployed heavy cannons on the slightly rear reverse slope of the mountaintop, and built very extensive backup positions. Cannon trajectories are relatively flatter, hard to hit enemy guns on the mountaintop reverse slope.
It had to be howitzers with higher-angled lobbing trajectories to hit （No need to be as high as mortars/howitzers, because the enemy also uses howitzers; if the reverse slope is too steep, the enemy’s own howitzers couldn’t hit either）.
The previous days’ failed German assaults were because the enemy’s artillery observation posts could spot German heavy howitzers entering positions from above, precisely locating them. German heavy cannons were counter-killed by the overlooking enemy guns as soon as they entered positions.
German air reconnaissance advantage couldn’t solve this—because air reconnaissance couldn’t disable the enemy’s mountaintop ground observation posts. At most achieving “mutual transparency,” both sides spotting each other immediately.
But the enemy cannons on the mountaintop reverse slope entered preset positions first, with overlooking advantage. German artillery needed time to advance, enter counterfire positions, and deploy, taking many white-hot barrages first, often finished before firing.
This problem was a huge dilemma for the attacking side in mountain assaults for decades afterward.
Just like the later Siege of Sevastopol; if the attackers hadn’t first taken out the observation posts of the Maxim Gorky battery’s 305mm turrets, the Gustav giant cannon wouldn’t have dared approach deployment positions and fire.
Today’s situation was similar.
After losing some heavy cannons, the German Army could only choose to wait for a consecutive bad weather day.
Best with heavy snow plus night alternating to blind both sides, leveling the vision advantage of the high-ground side, everyone blind for days, very fair.
（Note: Some might question why wait for snow, why not just use night to fairly blind both visions. One reason: without heavy snow, only a one-night window. 1915 heavy cannon deployment was very slow; half a day to deploy, remaining half-night might not suffice to resolve battle, all done if not finished by dawn.
Second reason: without heavy snow blocking vision, just night, mountaintop enemies could still relatively precisely locate attacking artillery by muzzle flash, though not as precise as daytime. So waiting for snow is safest.）
And when both sides can’t see, the side with better hearing gains huge advantage.
After signaling, Major Rundstedt waited another hour or two, finally receiving rear reply that their 210mm heavy howitzers had entered positions and could complete deployment in another two hours.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ordered: “Companies act per plan, infiltrate and breakthrough at the front, strive to seize better positions and set up frontline listening posts. D Company guides rear bait cannons to fire, then assist friendly forces in feigned charge to lure enemy mountaintop heavy cannons to fire, note not to really charge too hard.”
The officers and soldiers of the 6th Army Group’s 2nd Assault Battalion soon began infiltrating the mountain assault under the battalion commander’s assignment.
This was both to seize better forward listening positions, lure the enemy, and possibly seize some positions incidentally.
The assault troops’ attack was very realistic, even bringing flamethrower soldiers to deal with the enemy tunnels discovered in the past few days.
Both sides soon fiercely exchanged fire at the front line; the German Army had no prior fire preparation precisely to exploit the poor visibility weather to muddy the waters.
With engagement distance shortened, combat became even more brutal, often closing to submachine gun effective range, even bayonet fights in some trenches.
In this several-hundred-meter visibility, the assault team’s grenade launchers also became useful.
Anyway, everyone only had that much direct-fire vision; longer range was useless.
Grenade launchers were instead lightweight and flexible, could follow deployment in real time, no problem carrying up the mountain.
Rundstedt’s assault battalion used grenade launchers to take out one or two heavy machine gun bunkers near the mid-mountain.
Then assault team members crept up, a bout of entrenching tool and bayonet melee, submachine gun and shotgun firefight, finally reaching the first tunnel entrance.
“Tunnel entrance suppressed, threw a few grenades inside, but tunnel is very winding, definitely many enemies still hiding inside!”
“Don’t panic, just suppress so enemies can’t rush out! Flamethrower soldiers up!”
Various noisy curses and shrill screams filled the battlefield.
Finally, several flamethrower soldiers reached the tunnel entrance, sprayed thickened fuel deep inside, instantly roasting all the Britannians in the twisting corners.
It felt just like pouring molten aluminum into a termite nest.
After clearing one tunnel, assault team members immediately signaled rear teammates to follow up.
“This position is great! It’s ours! Quickly pull up the artillery sound locators! Assemble inside the tunnel, prepare to listen!”
Similar scenes played out at multiple points along the several-kilometer front line, soon several instruments dragged into freshly captured peripheral tunnels and deployed.
And with the loss of peripheral tunnels, the mountaintop British Army finally couldn’t hold back; regardless of visibility or seeing enemies, the mountaintop heavy cannon group opened fire one after another.
“Don’t observe enemy positions anymore! As long as a position loses contact or is suspected infiltrated and seized by enemies, blanket the lost positions!
What? You say there might still be our people surviving in those positions? Never mind! They should be loyal to the empire, should actively call artillery to fire on them!”
In a certain command post on the mountaintop, Belgian Expeditionary Force 1st Corps Commander Lieutenant General Douglas Haig issued such orders.
The British Army’s artillery group began blustering full-power random firing, even if unable to see enemies, blindly bombarding lost positions to bolster courage.
“Finally took the bait! Good, enemy mountaintop gun positions should be exposed, prepare counterfire! Have frontline listeners start listening! Ready to fire on positions reported by listening teams anytime!”
At the foot of the mountain, on the German Army artillery position, Major Keitel and Major Loeb’s two artillery battalions finally stirred. They were one of the protagonists executing the artillery counterfire mission today; that group of newly transferred M10 210mm heavy howitzers was temporarily under their command.
Who made these two artillery battalions cooperate closely with the assault battalion before; both sides had broken in very well on precise artillery support calls.
——
PS: Next chapter goes on sale, sent everyone over 5k words free today before going on sale, equivalent to others’ one day free period update.
This also counts as part of today’s burst update.
Around 12:30 there’ll be post-sale update.
For this, please support at least a bit, no Sanjiang no strong push, straight to sale.
I thought later, not going on Sanjiang has benefits too; this theme isn’t suited for mass viewing anyway, those who like it watch themselves, keep it in small circles, don’t go viral.
