Chapter 78: For Escape, This Is The Only Way, No Alternatives
“Commander Lelouch! You’re amazing! How did you know enemy ships would come tonight trying to sneak in under cover of darkness to pick up the routed soldiers?”
As the British cruiser in the distance was blown into a fireball and sent skyward, in the command post of Fort Rohan, Major Model, responsible for defense work, and Major William Keitel, who had just arrived tonight, were all amazed.
“Simple. Speculate on the mindset and style of that naval minister across the strait, combined with aerial reconnaissance of nearby waters before nightfall, and nighttime reconnaissance by torpedo boats sent toward Ostend, and overall, it’s not hard to discover the enemy sending ships to secretly pick up key personnel.
On the contrary, you all only familiarized yourselves with the new guns for half a day, yet you could already use them effectively. As expected of the Empire’s elite artillery.”
Lelouch didn’t hide anything either, casually sharing his judgment and decision-making process with his comrades.
They also mutually praised each other and progressed together. Keitel and the others listened with ever-increasing admiration.
William Keitel and Leb, these two major artillery battalion commanders, had been cooperating with the assault battalion ever since Lelouch suggested establishing it, responsible for providing artillery fire support in response to the assault battalion’s calls.
However, it’s hard for artillery to achieve outstanding results. Even with Keitel’s exquisite artillery command, he had only, in the previous snowy night battle on Kemmel Hill, relied on the hyperbolic sound location method invented by Lelouch to counter several British Army 9.2-inch super heavy howitzer positions, helping Rundstedt’s assault battalion capture the main peak of Kemmel Hill, the 155 high ground.
But those merits were still not enough to support his promotion from major to lieutenant colonel. Nowadays, Keitel was roughly stuck at that final step before promotion.
Fortunately, Lelouch never mistreated his old brothers.
So after breaking through Dunkirk City Area yesterday evening and linking up with the airborne troops at the coastal defense fortress, Lelouch immediately requested the secondment of personnel from the two cannon battalions of Keitel and Leb, with whom he had tacit cooperation.
No need to bring the guns; just bring the most excellent artillerymen.
During the Great War, it wasn’t easy for each country’s artillery to master the use of captured enemy cannons. Many low-quality artillerymen, even with manuals but without systematic training, might need one or two weeks of fumbling to hit accurately.
But if someone provides training, or if the artillerymen are of very high quality and elite troops themselves, then this adaptation time can be greatly shortened.
Lelouch was well aware of the difficulty, so he could only do his best to coordinate, having the rear send the most elite artillery to take over these forts. At the same time, he had the original French artillery cooperate as much as possible, fighting together for training and handover.
Of course, in this process, more and more resistant French were emerging. They had only been coerced by Rommel and Model that morning out of urgency, to avoid their own ships in the port being sunk one by one by Germanians.
Now, making these people continue fighting for the enemy would definitely lead them to slack off one after another.
Lelouch could only make full use of human nature’s tendency to seek profit and avoid harm. On one hand, he gave tangible benefits to those who had already surrendered, handing out large amounts of gold mark coins to reward cooperators, while brainwashing them, instilling historical Briton-French hatred, saying Britannians were such shit-stirrers who hoped continental nations would slaughter each other.
（Note: One gold mark coin is worth 20 marks, but the face value isn’t key; the key is it’s made of gold, which can be melted down and recognized in other countries.）
These arguments might not be useful, but they at least gave the greedy ones a way out. In the end, quite a few artillerymen, with the mindset of “we’ve already done it anyway, doesn’t matter doing it one more time, it’s just bombing Britons,” half-heartedly went along.
Thus, Keitel and Leb had led their artillerymen in emergency drills with Frankish sailors for half the night.
Unexpectedly, Keitel really proved himself, training for just that short time, and in actual combat, still relied on five 240 guns firing multiple salvoes to hit a light cruiser nearly 20 kilometers away.
Even accounting for the high accuracy of coastal defense guns and complete firing tables, this achievement was very hard-won.
The entire artillery battalion, officers and men alike, saw that following Commander Lelouch could earn merits, and were greatly energized, frantically memorizing firing tables and studying ballistic parameters like they were on stimulants, waiting for follow-up big kills.
In the subsequent battles, infantry troops wouldn’t have much chance for merits; those were prime opportunities for artillery to shine.
……
Recovering from the joy of sinking the enemy’s smuggling cruiser, Lelouch didn’t dare slack off and immediately instructed Keitel and the others:
“Tonight was just an appetizer. Given Minister Walton’s temper, tomorrow daytime and even tomorrow night will be the real main event. My earlier heavy-handed strike wasn’t just to sink one or two cruisers; it was more to provoke, to tell the enemy an indisputable fact:
Unless they completely destroy Dunkirk Port coastal defense fortress, unless they step over our corpses, we’ll lock down the entire nearby dozens of kilometers of coastline! Not a single enemy dog will swim out of the encirclement!
Now they’ve sent people to probe and suffered heavy losses, so they probably won’t act rashly for the time being. But once the enemy assembles a sufficiently powerful fleet with absolute superiority in forces to crush us, they won’t hold back.
You must intensify mastering the new guns, but don’t delay rest, lest you lack energy when the big battle comes. Artillery regiment personnel: half sleep, half learn to operate the guns. As long as no actual combat, rotate vigilance like this. Um, and incidentally, fire a few shells now and then at the dock areas of De Panne and Nieuwpoort for real combat practice and to hurry the enemy.”
The fortress has firepower and defense, its only drawback is no legs, no mobility; if the enemy bypasses and doesn’t fight you, you’re helpless.
But Lelouch’s provocation just patched this major shortcoming of no legs, achieving the effect of “guarding where the enemy must attack.” If I can’t go to the enemy, then force the enemy to have to rush toward me and crash to death here.
“Don’t worry! Even if Britannians send their main fleet, we’ll definitely make them see stars!” Major Keitel thumped his chest loudly.
The latter half of the night was indeed uneventful, with no further incidents, allowing the fortress garrison to rotate rest.
Only the fortress guns, every two hours, fired a salvo of illumination rounds and two or three salvoes at the dock areas of De Panne and Nieuwpoort, preventing the enemies nesting in those two towns from sleeping well.
The British Army in the towns probably didn’t dare sleep in houses in core street blocks, fearing becoming concentrated fire targets. They could only camp in the wild or sleep in the open; mid-February weather was still cold, and British soldiers were all freezing miserably.
It dragged on until around 5:30 a.m. on the 18th, when, 20 kilometers northwest of Dunkirk Port, a group of Channel Fleet “King Edward VII-class” pre-dreadnoughts came to probe the attack.
……
Because the fleet approached Dunkirk slowly in the darkness, and from the far sea direction, the coastal defense fortress didn’t detect the enemy attack before dawn.
Channel Fleet commander Admiral Horace Hood, on his flagship “Britannia,” held a telescope, gazing far toward Dunkirk Port to the south, in a tense mood.
“How far from Dunkirk Port?” He put down the telescope, confirming once more.
“About 20 kilometers.” The rangefinder roughly estimated based on the pre-plotted course on the nautical chart; without nighttime precise navigation, this was the best they could do.
Admiral Hood pondered for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said: “Close another five kilometers, but have the fleet turn, presenting broadside-rear to the port, ready to pull away at any time! Ensure all ships in line abreast, with both primary main turrets and three secondary main guns having firing arcs!”
“King Edward VII-class” battleships were the most advanced of the pre-dreadnought era.
Earlier pre-dreadnoughts often only mounted two twin main gun turrets, total four barrels, with relatively low firepower density.
While “King Edward VII-class” and its variant “Lord Nelson-class” had two twin 305 mm primary main guns plus four single 240 mm secondary main guns, total eight large-caliber barrels.
But the secondary main guns were mounted at the four corners of the side armor citadels, so secondary main guns couldn’t all fire to the same broadside simultaneously.
So at most, by angling the ship specifically, all four primary main guns and three secondary main guns could fire simultaneously, but the last one would definitely waste its firepower.
Admiral Horace Hood having the fleet close in first then swing tail to angle for kiting naturally had deep intent.
On one hand, this maximized firepower output; on the other, it allowed easy escape at any time and tested the enemy’s fort maximum range—
His top superior, Naval Minister Walton, had urgently obtained Frankish technical data for him last night.
Originally, this data was absolutely confidential even to allies by the Frankish Navy, because it involved a major shortcoming of the Frankish Navy—”Bretagne-class” and the halted “Normandie-class” battleships’ 340 mm main guns had maximum elevations of only 12 degrees! Thus maximum range limited to just 15 kilometers!
The Franks designed it this way, with an important consideration being “under fire control tech of the time, engagements beyond 15 kilometers had no accuracy anyway, pure waste of shells.”
Limiting turret max elevation allowed lowering turret height or “thickness,” reducing frontal impact area, saving armor, lowering center of gravity… overall gaining benefits elsewhere.
Precisely because of this, the Franks could fit so many 340 mm caliber heavy guns on such small tonnage hulls.
But the Franks had kept this highly secret before; historically until the end of the Great War, with no combat opportunities for their dreadnoughts, neither enemies nor allies knew this fatal flaw. Their ships could serve as an “existence fleet deterrent force,” pretending to be strong.
Because from 1915 onward, fire control improved, bombardment accuracy rose, and 15 km+ engagement hit records were common. If this major secret were known to Germanians, Frankish battleship fleet deterrence would be utterly gone!
Enemies knowing you can only hit 15 thousand meters, just stay beyond that distance, use fast battlecruisers to kite, and single-kill unscathed!
The 3 “Courbet-class” and 3 “Bretagne-class” all built for nothing!
But today, the situation is different, because the German Army occupied Dunkirk Fortress using the same main turrets as “Normandie-class/Bretagne-class,” so French Army had to share with ally British Army their “battleship main turret major technical flaw,” to let allies counter their own big guns specifically.
The Frankish Navy’s underwear was thoroughly stripped in this war. Though their dreadnoughts haven’t sunk, deterrence is gone.
No different from dead.
And when Germania high command confirms this, Lelouch and others’ merits will surge again, because through this physical capture, they nullified the entire Frankish dreadnought fleet’s deterrence. This significance can’t be overstated.
Horace Hood fully analyzed the enemy’s weaknesses, thus thinking to probe: after conversion to coastal defense guns, how far can the Frankish 340 main guns reach?
Ship guns converted to shore guns, even same barrels, elevation limits should differ. Due to hasty construction at Dunkirk Fortress, Franks couldn’t provide detailed tech data proving how much range increased after converting this batch of naval giant cannons to shore-based.
But considering the 15 km base, Hood figured even if improved, not by much—20 km definitely reachable, as last night’s light cruiser proved with its life, but farther?
Hood knew their biggest reliance now was the two “Queen Elizabeth-class” new battleships under General Beatty, whose 380 mm giant cannons had theoretical max range of 31 km!
If enemy’s 340 can’t reach 30 km, Royal Navy still has hope, can white-kite single-kill with “Queen Elizabeth-class” outside max range! Even with low accuracy, it’s fixed targets anyway, just slowly calibrate.
Thicker barrels, longer range—that’s hard truth! 380 can theoretically crush 340!
Only, Britannia nationwide has just 2 “Queen Elizabeth-class” completed and hastily commissioned; Empire can’t risk this sole hope directly, so must first use Admiral Hood’s outdated ships’ lives to probe.
……
“General, we’ve approached about 15 kilometers from the coast, and all ships have adjusted angles and formation. Awaiting orders!”
Seeing time past 6 a.m., daylight finally breaking, subordinate reported latest to Hood, who checked his watch and finally ordered:
“All fleet prepare. When visibility allows, aim at max speed, fire at will!”
After the order, he comforted everyone: “Don’t be afraid! We have first-strike advantage! Enemy fortress is on a hillside dozens of meters above sea level, we’re on sea surface! Higher elevation gets dawn sunlight first! So we can fierce shoot 5 minutes ahead while they can’t see us but we see them first!”
These three to five minutes actually not very meaningful, but Hood even calculated this layer, factoring in sunrise illumination time differences across elevations.
This professional level was enough to boost sailors’ confidence, believing their commander wasn’t reckless; everything had meticulous planning.
“Boom boom boom!”
Salvos of 305 mm and 240 mm shells first soared into the hazy dawn, flying toward Marloye Ban Fortress Battery.
Fort Rohan on the port’s south side wasn’t concentrated by the enemy, because that spot was 4 km farther from the enemy than Marloye Ban Battery; these pre-dreadnoughts’ shells couldn’t reach south side forts, so they fully concentrated on north side forts.
Seven “King Edward VII-class” pre-dreadnoughts, 28 305 guns, 21 240 guns, roared together, scene earth-shaking.
Since Dunkirk Port was built, probably never suffered such massive shell rain assault; the hill where Marloye Ban Battery sat was soon shrouded in explosion smoke.
Unfortunately, hit the mountain for sure, but not a single fortress turret hit. British ships slowly kited away to calibrate fine-tune and continue firing.
Their 240 mm secondary main guns couldn’t fire beyond 17 km, past max range. Old-style 305 mm main guns only to 19 km. They had to cherish every shot during kiting.
……
“Sir! Enemy fierce bombardment! At least 5+ pre-dreadnoughts!”
Inside the fortress, Germanian artillerymen briefly panicked; due to elevation difference, they’d been lit by dawn, but sea surface not yet, couldn’t even spot the enemy.
“Don’t panic! Enemy won’t hit easily! Our targets are small! They’re just bombing the mountain!” Artillery officers like Leb in charge of Marloye Ban Battery also tried hard to steady subordinates, ensuring organized counter-fire.
Germanian artillerymen quickly steadied with highly resolute nerves, each gun crew entering firing positions, beginning counter-battery.
Ultimately, with shore guns’ high accuracy and mature firing tables, even giving enemy 5 minutes first observation and fire, Germanian artillerymen still achieved first hit.
Total five 240 mm rapid-fire guns, with more concealed positions and faster reaction, at 4 rounds per minute, “sprayed” enemy ships 15 km away crazily—yes, their rate of fire could be called “spray.”
This caliber guns not fatal to dreadnoughts perhaps, but still considerable threat to pre-dreadnoughts.
“Commonwealth” and “New Zealand,” two warships, successively hit by multiple 240 mm shells, high-trajectory plunging straight through decks.
“Commonwealth”‘s aft bridge lookout tower entirely blasted down, rear observation ability greatly reduced; though not fatal itself, firepower output efficiency dropped sharply, had to accelerate pulling away.
Even so, during withdrawal, still hit by 3 more 240s and 1 340. That 340 smashed through stern armor, exploded in internal compartments, ripped open several watertight bulkheads, causing massive stern flooding. Those 240 shells also wrecked everything on aft deck, turning this ship into half a ship with only forward firepower.
“New Zealand”‘s fate worse; during concentration, multiple 240 mm shells hit starboard-aft 240 mm secondary turret base and surroundings.
Originally, “King Edward VII-class” main armor belt, magazine/shell hoist armor belts could withstand 240 mm shells. But secondary main turrets and temporary ammo stowage below had thinner armor. Especially this class’s secondary positions protruded outward from hull sides due to size issues.
Now, this design’s fatal flaw fully exposed—under sustained bombardment, one starboard secondary main turret’s temporary shell stowage below was blasted into cook-off.
If other ship types, even secondary positions blasted with a few shells cooking off, not necessarily fatal.
But 240 mm shells, even just ten or eight cooking off, power astonishing.
“New Zealand” directly had half blown off, starboard ripped open 20-30 meter hole, completely lost speed.
Marloye Ban Battery’s 340 mm heavy guns then swiftly finished off this dead fish, soon sending it to the seabed.
British commanders on other ships all stunned; time too rushed, couldn’t analyze cause on battlefield, could only grit teeth continue kiting and fierce output.
Realizing those 240 mm guns very threatening too, ships no longer arrogant, all let secondary main guns and secondary guns free-fire those fortress positions on hillsides.
While each ship’s 305 mm primary main guns dead-stared the widest-view, 360-degree rotating 340 mm armored turret on Marloye Ban Battery mountaintop.
After all, mountaintop all-around turrets always most conspicuous, most hatred-drawing.
After intense close-quarters hammering, Horace Hood at least achieved some results. Under sustained concentration, 305 shells rained on mountaintop.
That mountaintop 340 armored turret covered by at least hundred shells, finally several direct hits. Even sturdy turret couldn’t withstand such barrage, ultimately destroyed.
Fortunately, the gun crew inside, after turret hit twice and lost rotation/elevation, withdrew under pressure, dragging out over a dozen comrades shocked into severe injuries.
But Horace Hood’s cost obviously much greater.
In sustained gun duel, at least 3 more “King Edward VII-class” separately targeted by 3 340 turrets, each taking one or two shells, destroying quite a few facilities.
As distance pulled to over 19 km, British ships all began serpentine maneuvering, full-speed retreat, as exceeded their old-style 305 main gun max range.
With distance opened, coastal defense batteries’ hit rate dropped sharply too. Finally bombarded another 10 minutes, firing over 100 340 shells, until enemies pulled to over 25 km, past max range, could only cease.
The farewell 100+ shells mainly targeted speed-slowed “Commonwealth” pounding, at least didn’t let it escape. But crew timely launched lifeboats to scatter, rescued most by auxiliary ships.
“Didn’t expect ‘King Edward VII-class’ to have such serious design flaws; seeing those two sink, seems secondary main gun armor didn’t hold, designer brain-diseased! Putting secondary main turrets on broadside! Good this trash won’t be produced anymore! Truly screwed the troops!”
Battle ended, Admiral Horace Hood finally pieced it together, roughly deducing those two warships’ sinking sequence.
Truly, don’t know till you fight; once fighting, pile of designs thought excellent in peacetime all exposed issues in wartime!
Originally just probing, even if several ships damaged could withdraw; result due to these surprises and underestimating enemy, still lost two pre-dreadnoughts!
2 ships sunk, 3 lightly damaged, yet only knocked out enemy’s mountaintop best-arc armored turret, plus cleared Marloye Ban Battery’s remaining all 5 240 guns, pile of 140 guns—this result a huge loss no matter how calculated.
Can’t adventure further; must assemble full forces, find best opportunity, one go wipe out all enemies!
Fortunately, this battle yielded one key gain—Admiral Hood used warships’ lives to empirically test Frankish 340 guns on shore-based fortress max range elevated from 15 km to 25 km!
Franks still inferior!
Their 340 guns definitely insufficient caliber length, too low chamber pressure, so even elevation freed, max only 25 km.
Thus, max 31 km Queen Elizabeth-class has chance for white-kite damage!
Especially enemy’s Marloye Ban Battery and Fort Rohan separated by 4 km; as long as fleet maintains distance, can defeat forts one by one! First concentrate at longer range on one, thoroughly remove, then next.
——
PS: I update twice daily, note: after updates don’t wait, come back next morning.
But my daily two updates may have extra wordcount.
