Chapter 80: A Massive Melee Involving Everyone
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Four massive explosions, and four water columns shooting up dozens of meters high on the sea surface,
left Royal Navy battlecruiser fleet commander Vice Admiral David Betty stunned in an instant.
All four shells fell short, and quite short at that, exploding over a thousand meters in front of Betty, but the left-right aiming was extremely accurate, with nearly all the error in range.
“What’s going on? Is the enemy so frustrated from taking hits that even knowing they can’t hit, they have to open fire with previously hidden concealed firepower?”
His brain raced, and after a brief moment of confusion, he reacted within just a few dozen seconds:
“No! It’s not firing despite missing—it’s definitely rangefinding too close! I’ve been tricked by the enemy! The power of these shells is absolutely no less than the Queen-class 380 main guns—this is the enemy’s newest weapon! A never-before-seen weapon! Not comparable to captured Frankish 340s!”
Betty suddenly felt a rush of blood to his head.
What to do? Pull back distance immediately now, or charge all forces ahead recklessly?
If pulling back distance, would it be in time? Who knows how far the maximum range and accuracy range of this never-before-seen super cannon really are? If he retreated but still took a long time to exit enemy range, wouldn’t that just mean taking hits for nothing?
But if charging straight ahead with all combat power in one desperate gamble, admitting they’d been tricked, it would inevitably be an extremely bloody deathmatch!
Such a major decision, even with Betty’s extremely quick reactions, couldn’t be made in just one or two minutes.
This involved the lives of tens of thousands of sailors! Today he had dozens of large warships under his command!
While Betty was thinking furiously, the one-and-a-half-minute interval quickly passed, and the second salvo of shells flew in.
This time they overshot, but the error had shrunk from the first salvo’s 1200 meters short to just 300 meters over—the enemy had directly raised the muzzle by 1500 meters after the first salvo.
At this moment, Betty was completely convinced: the enemy absolutely wasn’t “firing despite insufficient range”—they had come prepared to scheme against him!
Since the enemy had schemed so meticulously for so long, this trick absolutely couldn’t be easily resolved by just fleeing. At such a time, the only option was to overpower with force, have the whole army fight a war of attrition to the death! Especially since this campaign was army-navy coordinated, greetings had long been exchanged: after navy fire preparation, the army would launch an offensive on the port area. This wasn’t something Betty could stop just because he wanted to—changing plans hastily would raise suspicions of selling out comrades, and this retreat might completely lose the chance to rescue the army. At this point, everyone could only push forward at full force and urge friendly forces to commit as soon as possible.
“All pre-dreadnoughts approach at full speed! Queen-class keep distance, battlecruiser fleet follow behind pre-dreadnought fleet and enter effective firing range! Each ship select the most threatening nearby target and open fire freely!”
Betty decisively issued orders, and the massive fleet moved as a whole, quickly switching from “freely inflicting damage with super-long range” to “most charging up for close combat.”
But though charging, Betty still held one trick: he knew the enemy would definitely see his two “Queen-class” as the most valuable targets, and the battlecruisers as relatively valuable. Pre-dreadnoughts would surely be unappetizing and not worth discarding in enemy eyes.
So, having the “Queen-class” keep maximum distance from the enemy would draw enemy heavy firepower toward the farthest targets, reducing their accuracy and greatly cutting their output.
Battlecruisers on a battle line even farther back than pre-dreadnoughts would put the enemy’s remaining 340 coastal defense guns and 280 railway guns in a dilemma:
If wanting to hit high-value targets, they’d have to endure the cost of greater distance and harder accuracy.
Meanwhile, the enemy’s worthless warships would close in even more, and those worthless warships’ attacks on shore fire points would become more accurate and threatening.
If turning muzzles to attack those relatively worthless old warships, they could hit more accurately, but the enemy’s high-value new battleships would then be safe.
This trick wasn’t particularly clever, but it was the best solution David Betty could think of on the spur of the moment.
The massive Britannian and Frankish pre-dreadnought fleets charged forward at top speed.
Battlecruisers advanced a few kilometers then turned sideways.
Queen-class maintained their original formation, slightly changing course and speed every few salvos, trying to increase the difficulty of sustained enemy aiming.
Dunkirk Fortress and the sea surface immediately came alive; within a few short minutes, cannon fire roared, with both sides’ dozens or even hundreds of giant cannons howling madly, shaking heaven and earth.
……
“What are you doing? We let you calculate for so long before the first salvo, and you still fell 1000-plus meters short!”
“Good thing we adjusted quickly—second salvo only 300 meters over. Keep adjusting for me! Your railway guns’ firing rate is already slower than naval guns—naval guns 30 seconds per shot, you need over 80! If accuracy doesn’t show superiority, how are we supposed to fight this battle!”
On the Germania Army side, at the tunnel entrance behind Fort Malraux, Lelouch watched as Lieutenant Colonel Keitel’s railway gun group missed right from the start, inevitably feeling some disappointment. Fortunately, everyone improved very quickly, already drastically reducing error at maximum speed.
Lieutenant Colonel Keitel, after checking the situation within a minute, also reported solemnly:
“I’ve confirmed it: initial intelligence was wrong! Intelligence estimated the ‘Queen Elizabeth-class’ length as much longer than actual! We used the wrong length as rangefinding reference, so we were off by about 5% proportionally!
Previous intelligence thought the Queen-class’s high speed meant its engine rooms must be much longer than Iron Duke’s, but actually not! The Brits’ engine technology is indeed impressive—they only lengthened the hull by 6 meters but boosted speed by 4 knots, who knows if they used some new engines or boilers!”
Lelouch, hearing the explanation, couldn’t say much. Fortunately, this bloody battle would last a long time, and missing the first two salvos’ strike effect wasn’t a big deal—as long as rangefinding error shrank quickly.
He looked up at the sky; after the railway guns opened fire across the line, Germania-side reconnaissance aircraft multiplied in the air, flying ever more aggressively, closing right over enemy ships to provide finer splash observation data.
Enemy battleships also continuously launched seaplanes, which had temporary heavy machine guns added; when both sides’ reconnaissance aircraft met, they shot at each other, but ultimately Immelmann’s air team held the advantage and better splash observation dominance.
At 5 minutes into the battle, the splashes from 8 “Big Marks” grew ever closer to the two Queen-class. Queen-class counterfire shells also began landing, but unable to directly observe Big Mark positions—blocked by Fort Malraux’s mountain—so Queen-class bombardment was very inaccurate, only roughly aiming left-right by observing incoming shell trajectories, but unable to aim range.
Queen-class lookouts also couldn’t see their own splashes, reporting just like Chu Yunfei’s observers: “Enemy railway gun position is a depression blocked by fortress mountain—can’t see splashes.”
After receiving the report, Betty urgently wanted all his seaplanes and any army reconnaissance aircraft available to fly toward that position, hoping for aircraft splash observation.
But Lieutenant Colonel Immelmann had long received Lelouch’s advance instructions, concentrating many light machine gun reconnaissance aircraft into an aerial patrol net—a seemingly invisible iron wall!
Immelmann personally flew, chasing and intercepting madly, downing 4 enemy reconnaissance aircraft single-handedly.
His deputy pilot protégé, Oswald Boelcke, also fought fearlessly in mad interceptions, downing 3 enemy reconnaissance aircraft.
Even if British Army reconnaissance aircraft broke through to near the railway gun position and quickly radioed back a rough “over/short,” they were soon shot down, providing little spotting help to British ships.
On the main battlefield, with this deliberate ambush against the unprepared, plus railway guns’ inherently high accuracy, Keitel overcame the huge disadvantage of “railway gun firing frequency only 40% of same-caliber battleship main guns,” and after 20 minutes of bombardment, achieved the first hit ahead of the enemy!
A 750 kg armor-piercing shell matching Baria-class battleship specs, after flying 22 km, finally struck the “Queen Elizabeth” battleship first.
The high-angle trajectory predictably hit the main funnel with the largest projected area on the hull.
Since the funnel walls had no special armor, the shell punched through both left and right sides continuously, then deflected to smash the starboard casemate deck, exploding to blow off casemate side armor from inside and destroy 3 starboard 152 mm single secondary guns.
The 6 shells of 152 mm in the mounts were also detonated, causing chain damage. Fortunately, 6 of 152 didn’t match one 380; ultimately only blowing away the lifeboat cranes and lifeboats on the layer above casemate deck.
Funnel pierced straight through, gushing black smoke immediately surged from the funnel base, shrouding a large mid-deck area; aft bridge spotting positions also directly obscured by black smoke billowing from below.
“Commander! We’ve been hit by enemy’s unknown giant cannon! Power and structure fine, but fire control and spotting severely limited!”
“Keep firing! We have so many warships left—enemy shells won’t easily cause fatal damage!”
The duel between 380 railway guns and Queen-class continued another ~20 minutes; “Queen” and “Repulse” each took 1 more hit. Queen forward deck penetrated, No. 2 turret jammed. “Repulse” bow hit, penetrated bow armor with internal explosion, ripping several compartments and flooding hundreds of tons forward.
British Army countermeasures against railway guns remained ineffective—don’t complain about low hit rate; engagement distance already far exceeded era’s limits.
WWI mainstream battleship duels kept ~15 km; today’s gunnery at 22~23 km.
……
While “Big Mark” railway guns dueled “Queen-class” battleships.
Across the battlefield, clashes between other warships, shore batteries, and railway gun fire also intensified white-hot.
Second wave of fire first erupted between the two remaining 340 mm armored turrets at Fort Malraux held by Lieutenant Colonel Leb, and pre-dreadnoughts later boldly ordered by Betty to “whip the corpse.”
Lelouch’s prior “feign death” tactic partially succeeded. Those two turrets always pretended not to fire, unresponsive to remote lobbing fire, successfully luring some follow-up enemy warships closer.
When “Queen-class” bit over there, these two 340s broke silence, firing respectively at facing Frankish pre-dreadnoughts “Suffren” and “Jauréguiberry.”
Having aimed and endured feigning death a long time, these two turrets scored hits within a few salvos.
Of course, they also faced enemy mad close-range massed fire.
Marloye Ban Fortress B main turret hammered “Suffren” for a full seven or eight salvos, hitting 2, then “Suffren” sailed out of B turret’s firing arc—prior “feign death” hadn’t left them unscathed; B turret damaged in sustained “whipping,” jammed traverse angle, hydraulics damaged, leaking oil on slight traverse/elevation, severely limiting arc.
Initially it could perform purely by luck, finally catching “Suffren” in its narrow arc; once “Suffren” left, B turret hit nothing.
After confirming, Lieutenant Colonel Leb ordered Captain Kurt in charge of that turret to withdraw with all gunners, as they could no longer fight.
But Captain Kurt refused direct execution, arguing: “Sir! Enemy doesn’t know we’ve lost hydraulics—we can still fire! Even inaccurate, scaring them draws fire, preventing half our firepower shifting early to C turret! Buys more firing time for C turret comrades!”
After repeated persuasion, seeing Kurt’s resolve and point valid, Leb relented.
Thereafter several salvos, B turret achieved nothing, but since Lelouch had led them in “feign death” once before, enemies dared no illusions this time—so even seeing fruitless firing, they assumed other reasons/conspiracy, insisting on blasting it to “no intact corpse.”
Inevitably, something that “feigned death” once then “rose from grave” always drew far more whipping fire.
Ultimately, Captain Kurt with his loaders and gunners held to the end, dismissing spotters, firing blindly to the last, drawing cumulative hundreds of heavy shells’ massed fire.
They fought another 30 minutes; B turret repeatedly direct hits, shredded to flying steel bits, utterly shattered. Last dozen loaders/firers also killed inside turret.
But their sacrifice bought C turret more firing time, delaying its destruction by over 15 minutes at least.
In that time, C turret output madly, riddling “Jauréguiberry” with holes, hitting this Frankish pre-dreadnought 5+ times, then turning to finish half-crippled “Suffren” with 2 more hits, before enemy mad massed fire took it out.
Had to say, fleets vs. shore batteries—especially small-arc but super-protected ones—was way too costly.
Also had to admit, Lieutenant Colonel Lelouch’s morning “feign death” stratagem let Marloye Ban Fortress turrets squeeze extra heat. From dying to “Queen-class” out-of-range free damage, to “dragging two Frankish pre-dreadnoughts at death’s door, one sunk one heavily damaged.”
Core key was Lelouch’s feign death ploy. Those gunners fighting to sacrificial end also invaluable, deserving highest awards.
……
Fort Malraux smoothly dragged two enemies down before total destruction.
Battlefield’s southernmost Fort Rohan, simultaneous with railway guns and “Queen-class” fire, also clashed fiercely with enemy pre-dreadnought and battlecruiser groups.
Fort Rohan also had 2 twin 340 mm armored turrets, plus 4 single 240 mm and ~20 140 mm.
In fierce fire, 340 armored turrets dead-fixed on mid-range David Betty battlecruisers—considered massing Queen-class but too far out of range, so settled for spreading damage on battlecruisers.
Battlecruiser range also over 15 km, nearing 20—low hit rate. But high-value targets; 340 group went all out massed them.
Switching targets mid-fight unwise—wastes fire control, needs re-rangefinding/spotting/calibration—so once started, all-in.
Fort Rohan’s two 340 turrets picked “Indefatigable” and “New Zealand” battlecruisers respectively.
“New Zealand” hit twice vs. Hipper fleet 3+ months ago, lightly; hastily repaired for this. In fierce fight, hit by cumulative 3 of 340 shells, some flooding, superstructure damaged, speed and firepower noticeably weakened.
“Indefatigable” older than “New Zealand,” Britain’s first battlecruiser class “Invincible-class” No. 3, poorer performance with design flaws; after several hits, midships two main turrets wrecked, even dragging aft bridge into ruin.
Still, these two battlecruisers far from Fort Rohan, shore gun low accuracy; after these damage fruits, Fort Rohan’s 340 armored turrets successively massed by British Navy pre-dreadnought groups and destroyed.
Fort personnel heavy casualties, but after turret damage, withdrawable wounded all pulled back as much as possible—no comrade abandoned.
Same period, Fort Rohan’s remaining 4 of 240 mm and many 140 mm traded fire with enemy pre-dreadnought group; before destruction, sank oldest “Majestic-class” pre-dreadnought “Magnificent,” and badly flooded/grounded another “Triumph.”
While British battleship group dueled Fort Rohan coastal defense guns, Germania’s dozen+ 280 mm railway guns also stayed busy.
Using shore defense group drawing fire chance, they snuck output from side, once knocking several old junk: “Majestic-class” “Prince George,” Frankish “Bouvet,” “Masséna.”
Thus, though shore fortress heavy guns basically cleared by British no-cost blood-pounding, British paid extremely heavy price—totally disproportionate exchange.
British sank 7 pre-dreadnoughts, 2 new battleships and 2 battlecruisers damaged (half severely, combat effectiveness sharply reduced). Among pre-dreadnoughts, 2-3 minor gun damaged, somewhat losing combat power.
On Dunkirk battlefield, British remaining total strength thus sharply reduced,
Now left: 7 pre-dreadnoughts（ “Majestic-class” 3, “King Edward VII-class” 4）, battlecruisers 7（ 2 damaged）, new battleships 2（ all damaged）.
Though shore guns wiped, railway guns about to face dense retaliation. But Germanians had another trump: Count Spee’s 6 pre-dreadnoughts, previously lurking near Zeebrugge—Britannians knew but despised Spee’s force, ignored.
Just before Queen Elizabeth hit, Lelouch realized general offensive timing near, so via pre-laid two-day cable telegram, signaled rear requesting Army Group Commander Duke Rupprecht contact Hipper and Spee ASAP for sequential strikes!
Count Spee didn’t hesitate, immediately leading Zeebrugge Germania pre-dreadnought fleet to kill toward battlefield.
Though hours to arrive, this drawn-out gunnery could last all day no surprise. Spee arrives mid-late when shore gun brothers still fighting hard—not “incremental tactics” picked off, instead exploit enemy weakness for high-speed close brawl.
Hours after Spee sortied, Vice Admiral Hipper for final harvest/pursuit of damaged foes, also led his 4 battlecruisers, 2 armored cruisers to battlefield.
Meanwhile, Betty shortly after fierce fight began, telegraphed rear hoping Army Ministry coordinate for Marshal French to advance ground counterattack on Dunkirk City—
While fleet madly cleared enemy forts, within two hours of navy giant cannon fire prep start, have shore infantry also launch no-cost simultaneous assault—most cost-effective, Germans caught front-back, unable to care both ends.
But ad-hoc plan change, army-navy comms take time; Marshal French advance ground offensive by afternoon, only 1-2 hours to dusk.
Tens of thousands British infantry, even colonial troops, crossed Franco-Belgian border river, strong-attacking Germanian-held forts, counterattacking the ~2-3 km wide German-controlled zone linking fortress and rear positions in Dunkirk City.
Even British 4th Army’s 29th Division, Indian 13th Division originally pinned NW Dunkirk City urban area, rallied remnants, coordinating friendly forces’ fierce offensive on Germanian Army weak spots—especially rail to port—total no-cost.
Sea-land coordination chaotic but happened. Hundreds of thousands lives swirled in vortex; no one yet sees winner/loser.
Entire Belgian NW and Dunkirk total chaos.
——
PS: After this battle, I’ll post a chart listing remaining British Navy, French Navy fleet counts/names.
Didn’t post before due to too much junk. After this, junk mostly cleared; table much cleaner.
