Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 11 You are not alone in this fight!
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

The Belighians sought help from the Britannians, and the ensuing negotiations and planning took up almost the entire day.

On the main battlefield, Billy King Albert, who was not yet completely desperate, would certainly not allow his troops to stagnate or stop the attack.

We must not relax our efforts in either seeking diplomatic assistance or breaking through on our own; we must grit our teeth and hold on until the very end.

Because of Lelouch and Colonel Lister's psychological warfare tactics, the army's morale was low and its people were restless. Almost the entire morning of the 26th was wasted in the attack.

The remnants of the 4th Division were transferred back to Ostend for troop rotation and rearguard action, while the 6th Division also failed to put in much effort, and every charge was easily repelled by the Germans.

Colonel Lister faced significantly less pressure on the east flank, allowing him to free up more men to hold off the French reinforcements on the west side.

As a result of the chain reaction, the French offensive also became relatively weak and was repeatedly repelled by the German army.

The Franks had more and more 75mm guns, but they still couldn't fundamentally change the situation in urban warfare.

In the city, which had been largely reduced to ruins by bombardment, even if 75mm shells were to be fired indiscriminately at the ruins, they would not cause much damage. The defenders who took cover on the reverse slope of the ruins could easily absorb the impact of the shells and shrapnel by relying on the increasingly solid ruins.

Unless 75mm guns were used for close-range direct fire to eliminate enemy strongpoints one by one, or large-caliber heavy artillery was used for indiscriminate bombardment, the Franks, being slow-moving, simply couldn't bring their super-heavy artillery units to the front lines within a day or two, leaving them with no choice but to lament their predicament.

On the eastern front of Neoport, the situation only improved around 1 or 2 p.m. when the 1st Beacon Division, composed entirely of loyal royalists and boasting the highest morale among the Beacon troops, arrived at the front.

Lieutenant General Albert Begham, commander of the 1st Division, was absolutely loyal to His Majesty the King. Before he came, His Majesty personally held his hand, shook it vigorously, and repeatedly encouraged him.

"The fate of the kingdom rests on this battle. If even the general cannot break through, Billy King will perish here."

His Majesty's words struck Lieutenant General Begham's heart like a heavy hammer, making him determined to serve his country to the death and save it.

After the 1st Division arrived at the front, the troops rested for only half an hour, had lunch, and slightly relieved the fatigue from the forced march before Lieutenant General Begham ordered the entire army to launch a fierce attack regardless of the cost!

To boost morale, the soldiers of the 1st Division had a very lavish lunch today, with everyone eating canned meat.

His Majesty the King also donated all the royal wines, hams, and other precious ingredients to reward the 1st Division.

The king also gave the entire division an extra six months' worth of military pay in advance. The royal family's foreign exchange reserves were all taken out and distributed to the soldiers, all of them in shiny gold and silver coins.

After making all the preparations, Lieutenant General Begham first requested fire support from friendly forces, hoping that the Butania light cruiser, which had been lingering in the nearby waters yesterday, would first plow the land hard with its 150mm guns.

Then the Belighin man concentrated all his 75mm guns for cover. He even notified the Franks to the west, across the town, hoping that the French army could also advance their 75mm guns a few kilometers, cross the town at maximum elevation, and then lob them to bombard the German defenses on the east side of the town, in order to provide fire support for the Belighin army.

Unfortunately, while Begham had a good plan, when it came to actually implementing it, he quickly discovered that his plan was missing a piece of the pie and had some flaws.

"General, the Franks say they are willing to move their 75mm guns forward to a position only about 3 kilometers from the western front, in order to cross the town and fire to the east."

However, the Britannians were uncooperative—they replied by secret telegram that the cruiser HMS Daring had been suddenly and temporarily reassigned to prepare for a more important mission.

“Those Britannian bastards from Marjefak! They choke at the crucial moment! How many times in history have they betrayed their teammates! What mission could be more important than helping me break through?” Lieutenant General Begham was seething with rage.

But he was already prepared and had no choice but to act. He couldn't wait for the Royal Navy's cooperation, so he immediately ordered his firepower to prepare for half an hour before launching a full-scale attack!

……

Inside Neoport, the combined French and Belgian artillery fire had never been so intense.

A group of officers and Lelouch were huddled in Colonel Lister's regimental headquarters cellar, their expressions solemn, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

"The Billy Kings must be crazy! We've already demoralized them so much, how come they're suddenly so energetic again!" A staff officer, clutching his head, cursed the enemy in frustration, utterly baffled by this turn of events.

"Calm down! This is the enemy's last desperate act!" The colonel's face was ashen, his expression grave yet resolute. "The colonel is right. The enemy has definitely been hit where it hurts most, so they're resorting to desperate measures. As long as we hold out through this wave, the enemy will undoubtedly collapse!" Lelouch, seeing that the colonel had spoken first, didn't hesitate to add a few words of agreement.

Lelouch didn't want to curry favor with the colonel, nor did he want to offend anyone; he simply wanted to help stabilize morale.

The colonel gave him a brief, approving look, then calmly gave instructions: "1st Battalion Commander, go and move all our 77mm mortars to the western defensive line. Try to find an opportunity to observe the French artillery positions, and counterattack if possible."

Enemy shells are already flying over our heads, which means the French have pushed their artillery forward to the limit, otherwise their range wouldn't be enough. We can take this opportunity to carry out a counter-battery mission.

The major in charge of the 1st Battalion hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to give a reminder before carrying out the order:
"However, if we redeploy all the artillery to the anti-artillery positions on the western defensive line, we won't have enough long-range firepower to counter infantry when the Belighians rush up from the east."

Are we going to have to implement flexible defense again, letting enemy infantry into the town for close-quarters combat? Our casualties are getting too high.

Upon hearing this, many other officers nodded secretly, appearing worried.

This is a problem that should not be underestimated.

Fortunately, just as everyone was looking at each other in bewilderment, Colonel Lister reassured them: "I dare to make this decision because I have a backup plan, because our army still has a backup plan—Lelouch, read aloud the reply telegram from the division headquarters that we just received this afternoon!"

"Yes!" Lelouch immediately stood up and pulled out a telegram to read.

"The division headquarters replied: After receiving the flood warning yesterday, the division's artillery regiment immediately turned back and has now moved to the northern hills of Diksmuide, where it has redeployed and rebuilt its positions."

Furthermore, this division requested the army group headquarters last night to expedite the deployment of long-range heavy artillery with a range of over 15 kilometers to the same area. The headquarters expedited the deployment last night, transporting it overnight by train to Tilt and then by truck to Dixmud before this morning.

The telegram was received just after lunch, so most of the other officers were unaware of it. With a major battle imminent, the colonel made the announcement specifically to boost morale and mobilize troops in advance.

Some officers didn't react immediately upon hearing the news. However, a few with exceptional geographical skills grasped the situation instantly.

For example, the battalion commander, a major, who had just been assigned a mission, only thought for a few seconds before immediately starting to gesture with the military map on the table:
"Is it that small hilly area north of Dixmude? The division headquarters was isolated by the flood in Dixmude, south of the Isel River! Looking at the map, the center of Dixmude is 18 kilometers away from us, and that hilly area is 16 kilometers away. But if you draw a perpendicular line at a 90° angle to the coastline, then the closest point of that hilly area to the coastal highway is only 14 kilometers away!"

So the division headquarters meant that although their main infantry force couldn't come, through a night and a morning of relocation and redeployment, at least their artillery regiment could still participate in the battle and support us!

After the battalion commander delivered his analysis, even the slowest and least professional officers in the room understood it.

Yes! Although yesterday's massive flood isolated the main force of the 12th Division, the widest part of the Isel River flood zone is only about 10 kilometers along both banks, totaling about 20 kilometers.

However, not every place is so wide. In some places, the terrain is relatively high, and the flood zone narrows to about 15 kilometers.

At this distance, although the infantry cannot come to provide support, some artillery can bombard the coastal highway across the flood zone!
After spending so much time repositioning and maneuvering, the division headquarters finally found a position that could be attacked.

More importantly, the soldiers of the 16th Regiment felt that the division commander had not abandoned them, nor had the army group commander. The division and the army were doing everything they could to participate in the battle!
It appears that only the 16th Regiment's infantry is filling in the gaps on the main battlefield, but in reality, they are not fighting as a regiment!
"With the division's artillery regiment assisting us, we're in luck!" Several officers immediately relaxed, transforming from "desperate" to "quick-win" advocates.

Seeing this, the colonel frowned slightly and gave Lelouch a look, after which Lelouch quickly pointed to the telegram to remind everyone:

"Don't underestimate the enemy because of this. Things are not as difficult as we imagined before, but they are not as easy as you think now. Nearly 15 kilometers is not a short distance. The artillery regiment's howitzers cannot bombard the coastal highway across the flooded area. Their range is far from enough."

Only the four long-barreled 105mm cannons in each division, tasked with counter-battery missions, were available. Fortunately, the divisional headquarters hadn't been idle the previous night; they borrowed eight more from neighboring units, concentrating the cannons from three divisions for deployment. In addition, the army group also borrowed four prototype 150mm cannons under development from Krupp's testing range in Aachen, which were transported by train overnight.

Therefore, we have 12 105mm long-barreled cannons and 4 150mm long-barreled cannons of unknown model—most importantly, none of the Belaginian or Frankish cannons of 150mm or smaller cannons can reach this range. So, in a moment, our artillery can unilaterally bombard the Belaginians without any cost! And the Belaginians cannot retaliate against our artillery positions!
The Empire has invested so much in long-range anti-tank cannons, yet they've had little opportunity to be used in previous battles. Now, the Billygins' flooding to isolate the north and south has conveniently provided the Empire with such an opportunity to test these tactics!

Upon hearing this, everyone's spirits lifted.

Since ancient times, the situation of "I can hit you unilaterally, but you can't reach me and can only watch helplessly as I hit you without being able to fight back" has always been a very demoralizing one for the enemy.

No matter how much actual damage such an attack can cause, once this happens, it's not far from the victim completely giving up and becoming decadent.

(End of this chapter)