Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 116: Using the corpses of the enemy to raise the elevation of the Dukla Pass by ten meters.

Just three days after Field Marshal Leopold's 10th Army made its move.

The entire Gorlitse-Tarnov line changed hands, and a total of four divisions of the Lusa Southwestern Front left on the western front north of the mountains were encircled and annihilated (including a cavalry division).

The main force of the Southwestern Front of the entire Russian Army was also seriously threatened when it withdrew to the vital passage north of the Carpathian Mountains.

Although the route through the Dukra Pass has not been completely cut off, the Demacians' blade is practically at the throat of the Southwestern Front.

All of this happened in just three days.

On the vast battlefields south of the Carpathian Mountains, many troops had not even had time to react or understand the situation.

Meanwhile, on other fronts of the European war, many Allied nations hadn't even had time to update their strategies; they were still clinging to the previous version celebrating good news.

This was in celebration of the fact that just three days earlier, General Yudovich, commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front of Luza, had broken through Košice, a strategic pass south of the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary, opening the road into the Hungarian Plain and leading to Budapest.

For example, in the Isonzo River valley in the Alps on the border of Italy and Austria.

Italy's main army, numbering approximately 40, hastily launched a full-scale attack on Austria after hearing on the 13th that the Southwestern Front of Austria had advanced into the Hungarian Plain the previous day (the 12th).

Marshal Luigi Cadorna, Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army, even personally led the army and delivered an important speech before the battle:

"Soldiers! Today we shall reclaim the territory once occupied by the Oreo people! We shall also seize the Slovenian region! The Oreo people are doomed. Their main force is tied down in the direction of the Hungarian Plain, and the main force of the Lusa army has already rushed into the Hungarian Plain! The Oreo people have no defensible terrain and are on the verge of destruction!"
I know some of you feel this attack was too hasty, that we weren't fully prepared, and that artillery and supplies haven't arrived yet. But our enemy is a hundred times weaker. If our country doesn't act now, Austria will be completely destroyed by the combined forces of Luza and Seville, and even the Romanians might get a share of Transylvania, while our country will gain nothing!

The Italian soldiers were incredibly excited when they heard that they could get such a great deal for free.

Ignoring the fact that their own heavy artillery hadn't arrived yet, they simply bombarded the enemy with some field artillery along the border before charging into enemy territory.

The Austrian army on the other side of the Isonzo River was caught off guard and was forced to retreat while fighting along the valley.

The Austrian army actually retreated in a very methodical way, and with each step back they tried their best to take a big bite out of the Italian army.

For every kilometer the Italian army advanced, it suffered four-figure casualties, ranging from a few hundred to five or six thousand men.

The Italian army's main objective was to advance from the Venice region into Austria, at least as far as Trieste, Austria's most important port in the Adriatic.

The port of Trieste was only about 50 kilometers away from the Italian-Austrian border at the time, but due to the presence of the Alps, the actual route followed the mountain valleys, with a total distance of about 80 kilometers.

In the history of the world, the Italians' best performance in the previous battles of the Isonzo River was to penetrate 3 bris into Austria, which is roughly equivalent to 5 kilometers.

However, in this plane of existence, the 18th Austrian Division (Alpine Division) and the mountain battalions sent by the Demanians to reinforce them implemented a flexible defense in the Isonzo Valley and the Alps, on the advice of Major Model.

The Austrian army abandoned the relatively easy-to-defend river valley terrain after offering only a brief resistance, ultimately allowing the Italian army to penetrate 30 kilometers into the country.

It wasn't until the Italian army reached the Gorizia fortress and several nearby high peaks that the German and Austro-Hungarian forces, with only two divisions, held the fortress and surrounding strategic locations, refusing to retreat an inch.

At this point, the Italian army was 35 kilometers away from Trieste in a straight line, and 50 kilometers away in actual total distance.

The Golitzia Fortress is the most crucial gateway to Trieste, located near a mountain pass in this section of the Alps.

A tributary of the Isonzo River flows out from the valley at the foot of the Gorizia fortress and joins the main stream. The Italian army had to advance along this tributary valley to reach Trieste, as the rest of the route was through the extremely steep and treacherous Alps, which were impossible to cross.

If they cannot capture the Gorizia Fortress, and instead advance directly along the valley, the defenders of the Gorizia Fortress could threaten the attackers' rear and supplies—a situation similar to the Carpathian Mountains battlefield in the southeast. Previously in the Carpathian Mountains, the reason why the Lusa Army insisted on attacking the Przemeshir Fortress and had to break through the fortress before crossing the mountains was because they were afraid that their retreat and logistics would be cut off by the fortress.

On the Italian-Austrian border, the Gorizia fortress was in a similar situation. Therefore, since the Italian army couldn't take it immediately, they surrounded the Gorizia fortress.

Just like when Ma Su failed to "camp in the road" and block the street, Zhang He wanted to surround the mountain where Ma Su was stationed and let Ma Su die of thirst on the mountain.

However, Model was not like Ma Su (a famous Chinese general known for his folly). This time, he had planned ahead, following Commander Lelouch's instructions to deliberately employ flexible defense, wear down and tiring the enemy. Long before the Italian army besieged the city, he had already stockpiled sufficient military rations, fresh water, and ammunition at the Gorizia fortress and several surrounding mountain positions. Even if the Italians besieged him for half a year, Model wouldn't be afraid.

What he needed to do was to hold back and wear down the Italians here while Commander Lelouch was dealing with the Carpathian problem in the east, so that by the time Commander was free to deal with the Italians, they would be exhausted.

As for the Italian-Austrian battlefield, there's not much else worth mentioning for now.

The Italians initially attacked swiftly and fiercely, disregarding casualties. However, after only a few days of fighting, they heard that the Luza army on the eastern front seemed to be in danger or facing unforeseen circumstances, and the Italians became somewhat hesitant and fearful.

They've already advanced 30 kilometers into Austria's border—what a huge "achievement"! It would be such a waste to just retreat. Since they're already stuck with the Gorizia Fortress, let's keep going and see when we can annihilate the Austrian Alpine divisions.

Scenes like these not only unfolded on the Italian-Austrian border but also in several other places, exhibiting striking similarities.

For example, in the southern Hungarian theater, the Serbian army officially launched a counter-offensive northward on May 11.

Within just four or five days, they had indeed recaptured several small towns. The Seville army launched an attack from Novi Sad on the Danube (located 70 kilometers northwest of Belgrade) and successively captured Temerin, Kula, and Srbobran.

Although these places are not very important and are only 10 to 20 kilometers apart, they are still a signal.

During these four or five days, the Romanian army also made its way to the vicinity of Belgrade by rail, and then began to cross the border northward—because if the Romanian army wanted to move north from its own border, it would have to cross the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, a very difficult route.

So it's better to take the route through Seville and go through the Danube Valley.

After the Demanians seized control of the Lusa army in the northern Carpathian Mountains, everything became delicate.

What will the Italian, Serbian, and Romanian troops, who have already taken the bait, do next—advance or retreat?

The Italian army, greedy for profit, was unwilling to retreat.

Some generals in the Serbian and Romanian armies wanted to play it safe and back down, but they soon received a telegram from General Yudovich, commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front of Luza, informing them that the situation was still under control.

If the Southwestern Front of Rusa is given a few days, General Yudovich can divide his forces to reopen the road behind them, so that the allied forces in Serbia and Romania will not back down.

Ultimately, both Serbian Army Chief of Staff Marshal Radomir Putnik and Romanian Army Commander-in-Chief Constantine Prezan agreed with General Yudovich's assessment.

They felt that Yudovic should be quite confident in resolving the "minor problems" in the Gorlice-Tarnov-Zheszov line.

This was also due to the propaganda of the Lusa army: they had been loudly proclaiming that "the setbacks on the northern front were small in scale and not a big problem."

Demacia, on the other hand, has not yet engaged in any counter-propaganda, nor has it bothered to deliberately expose General Yudovic's "pretending to be something he's not" behavior.

This contradictory propaganda approach ultimately misled both the Serbian and Romanian armies.

The Lussa people needed the Cypriot and Roman armies to share the pressure and make a desperate gamble.

The Demacians need to lure out Cyrus and Roma so they can capture them all.

The two sides in the conflict, with opposing motives, actually did similar things regarding deceiving a third party.

Both the Serbian and Romanian armies decided to continue their northward offensive for five days, while also observing the situation. If, by May 20, General Yudovich was still unable to fulfill his promise and resolve the "minor problems in the rear," then the Serbian and Romanian armies would reconsider and reassess the risks.

……

While deceiving his allied counterparts, General Yudovic was also desperately trying to salvage the situation.

Starting on May 14, he had already mobilized a group of troops to cross the Dukla Pass again to the north, or at least hold the road from the Dukla Pass to Rzeszów, to ensure that the supply lines and retreat routes from the rear were secure.

On May 14, the Russian division closest to the Dukla Pass arrived at the battlefield, and on May 15, two more Russian divisions arrived.

But the ruthless and decisive Field Marshal Leopold did not give General Yudovich a chance. After breaking through Tarnuf, he ordered the 21st Corps of the German 10th Army to launch a rapid and fierce attack, traversing mountains and muddy terrain, and inserting itself between the Rzeszów and Dukla passes.

The vanguard of the German 21st Corps engaged in fierce fighting with the returning French troops about 20 kilometers north of the Dukla Pass.

The two sides fought in the most treacherous area of ​​the Carpathian Mountains, where it was difficult for troops to deploy. The fighting was extremely fierce, with one side trying to block the road and the other trying to break through it.

However, after the initial stalemate and bloody struggle of the first day or two, the German 21st Army quickly gained a tactical advantage—an advantage mainly derived from the dozens of diesel-powered half-track tractors that had been used and broken down during the Gorlitze breakthrough a few days earlier and were now being urgently repaired.

The breakthrough at Gorlitze on May 12th allowed Field Marshal Leopold, the army group commander, to personally experience how useful half-track tractors were in mountainous and muddy terrain.

If it weren't for the half-track tractor that day, the heavy artillery wouldn't have been able to be towed to such a remote and desolate position as it was during the spring frost season in the black soil plains.

So after the bloody battle that day, although all the vehicles ran until they broke down, these damaged vehicles received the highest level of attention from the marshal as soon as the battle ended, and the army group's maintenance battalion spared no expense in repairing them.

Skoda, located behind the factory, was also ordered to continuously transport parts over, some of which were simply semi-finished parts that had not yet been assembled on the production line and were directly used to replace them.

In order to save time, Leopold, as a marshal, bypassed Skoda and called BMW, the diesel engine supplier, directly to have BMW send a batch of spare engines. When a tractor engine was found to be faulty at the front, it was replaced directly. The broken engine would be slowly brought back for repair after the battle.

The old marshal personally roared on the phone: "Don't worry about money! Don't worry about waste! Send as many spare parts as you can to the front lines. Immediately! Take as many as you can!"

After three or four days of this, more than 50 vehicles were repaired, just in time for the Dukla Pass blockade operation.

Then, Marshal Leopold immediately followed one of the "several main uses of half-track tractors" that his staff officer Lelouch had taught him before the battle, and had these repaired vehicles pull heavy artillery to some key high ground on the east and west slopes north of the Dukla Pass, to drag the heavy artillery and construct blockade firing points.

The Carpathian Mountains are extremely treacherous. Near the Dukla Pass, normal marching can only proceed along the valley path. Heavy artillery can be towed across, but only along the valley floor; it's almost impossible to climb the slopes on the east and west sides. Previously, when the main force of the Lusa Army marched south, they simply towed their artillery across along the valley floor and that was it; they never considered taking heavy artillery up the mountain.

In the history of warfare on Earth, Austria did have instances of "a thousand men dragging a heavy cannon up a mountain," but those were extremely rare and isolated incidents.

But now that the Demacian army has high-powered half-track tractors, it has become much easier to tow heavy artillery uphill on complex, steep terrain.

Diesel engines consume fuel quickly and require special fuel supplies... are these minor drawbacks still considered problems at this moment?
After using it themselves, the soldiers of the German 21st Army all said that the vehicle was very useful.

This car doesn't solve the problem of whether it's good or bad, but rather the problem of "whether it exists and whether it's possible."

Without this vehicle, many places would be inaccessible. Its arrival brought about a qualitative change.

As dozens of heavy artillery pieces were successively moved to the east and west slopes 10 to 20 kilometers north of the Dukla Pass, they could then be positioned to fire down on and block the pass.

In mountainous terrain, the natural firing arc of artillery is severely limited, and in many cases, only indirect fire and projectile fire can be used for support. However, their accuracy and power are certainly far inferior to direct fire.

Moreover, the presence of mountains can block many ballistic trajectories, making it impossible to hit certain areas, resulting in too many blind spots for firepower.

Only high-parabolic weapons like mortars and grenade launchers could barely overcome the ballistic obstruction caused by the mountains. However, those weapons lack rifling, resulting in very poor accuracy, and their combat effectiveness is certainly incomparable to that of direct-fire rifled cannons.

当德21军把更多的75毫米至105毫米口径野战炮部署到山坡高处，甚至将二十几门150毫米SFH02野战炮都拉上来之后，
General Yudovich's hopes of reopening the transportation route from Dukla Pass to Rzeszów have become a pipe dream.

The entire regiment and division of Lusa Army soldiers charged northward along the Dukla Valley to break through the encirclement, but they were bombarded by dozens of large-caliber heavy artillery pieces on both sides of the hillside.

Light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars from both sides of the hillside were also raining down on the Russian troops.

The French army managed to organize heavy artillery in an attempt to counterattack, but the French heavy artillery, with its narrow field of fire and low position, was no match for the German artillery, which was positioned on higher ground.

Demanian aircraft reconnaissance promptly alerted their own artillery positions, making it easy to eliminate the Lusa artillery positions.

The Dukla Pass quickly became a bloodbath, with thousands, even tens of thousands, of Lussa soldiers dying there every day.

Before the war, according to official Austrian maps, the highest point of the Dukla Pass was only 508 meters above sea level. But now, it has exceeded 510 meters.

The extra few meters of elevation were all built up from the corpses of Lusha soldiers.

The feeling was like playing a space tower defense map. Watching the swarms of Zerg, like a tidal wave, charge towards the high ground with their well-prepared siege tank formations.

……

"We've already won this battle. Yudovic's incompetence has led to the downfall of the entire army."

On May 17, Marshal Leopold personally went to a high point north of the Dukla Pass and watched as waves of desperate breakout attempts by the enemy's Southwestern Front were blown back. He was finally relieved, knowing that General Yudovich was no longer able to break out from there.

Beside Marshal Leopold, however, stood a very calm colonel staff officer who cautiously reminded the marshal:

"Your Excellency Marshal, we cannot let our guard down yet. Although we have deployed our forces to penetrate and block the mountain pass, we did not advance steadily but rather took a shortcut by surprise. We have blocked the mountain pass, but the battle for Rzeszów is still ongoing."

Even if we capture Rzeszów, a major railway hub, it's too close to the Przemyshı fortress, within range of its heavy artillery. Without taking the Przemyshı fortress and the surrounding hills, we can't use the Rzeszów train station.

It seems that our army is fighting well, but every shell used here was carried over the mountains by soldiers in the rear. Less than 30 kilometers east of Tarnuv Railway Station, the railway line ends, and everything had to be unloaded and carried by people.

For the next day or two, things are manageable, but over time, the soldiers will become exhausted, and the artillery shells won't be able to get through. To truly crush the enemy's hopes once and for all, we must seize the fortresses of Rzeszóv and Przemeshir in one fell swoop.

The speaker was Colonel Lelouch von Hunt.

He knew very well that the current situation was still "like groundhogs, both sides are choking each other," except that this time the Lusa man's grip was much weaker.

As long as the Demagnesians don't retake Przemeshir Fortress, the battlefield on the Dukla Pass side will remain in a state where "neither you nor I can use the railroad."

Only by recapturing the fortress can we return to our full potential, to the state where "I can use the railway, but you can't."

Marshal Leopold had fought his whole life, becoming a general during the Franco-Prussian War, so of course he understood these principles.

The old marshal said confidently, "You don't need to tell me these things. I've already been arranging a strong attack on the fortresses of Rzeszow and Przemeshir. When the defenders of Przemeshir were forced to surrender to the enemy, didn't they completely destroy the fortress's defenses according to the instructions of Major Keitel, whom you sent? It will be much easier for us to fight our way back this time."

Lelouch couldn't help but remind him: "Although Fort Przemeshir was heavily damaged by friendly forces when it changed hands last time, the enemy has been in control of the fortress for almost 20 days. They may have urgently repaired some of the relatively easy field fortifications, so we still can't let our guard down."

I think I can execute the backup plan I've prepared beforehand: simultaneously conduct the rescue of friendly prisoners of war behind enemy lines and create chaos... That way, the Przemeshir Fortress and even Lviv will be easier to capture, and the Lusa Army will have no hope of success on the northern front.”

Marshal Leopold, in the end, couldn't keep up with the new thinking of the young man. Upon hearing this, he only frowned slightly: "You mean, the plan to use airships to parachute into open areas behind enemy lines, and rescue friendly prisoners of war based on intelligence provided by reconnaissance aircraft?"

"Alright, although I can't assess it, if you think you're confident, then go ahead and do it. Anyway, you can discuss this with the Crown Prince; you don't need to involve my 10th Army. The rest of the work here can be done by others. Go ahead."

Upon receiving the order, Lelouch left the 10th Army and immediately found Major Oswald Polk, asking him for a plane to fly over the Carpathian Mountains and take him to Budapest to deploy paratroopers for combat missions.

Major Polk knew, of course, that he was a favorite of the two marshals. Since he was busy commanding the air force and couldn't leave his post, he sent his best-performing near-ace pilot to take him there.

"This is Captain Kurt Student, who shot down four enemy fighter-reconnaissance planes over Tarnuf that day. He's an excellent pilot; let him take you to Budapest."

Lelouch's eyes lit up slightly when he heard the other person's name.

Air Force officers come from all over the world. Unlike the 6th and 10th Army units, whose recruits are limited to the four southern German states.

If it were in the army, it would be quite difficult for Lelouch to win over a few officers from Proscenica or other northern states like Hanover.

However, in the Air Force, there is no prejudice. As long as you meet someone and they have shown you kindness, you can win them over.

Lelouch greeted the other man with a beaming smile: "So you're Captain Student. We might be on some dangerous paratrooper drop missions this time. You can escort our airship squadron and observe from the sidelines."

(End of this chapter)