Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 12: The Purest Form of Crushing Defeat

He learned that the division headquarters and even the army group headquarters were so dedicated to the fighting on the Neoport front.

Even though they were separated by floods, they were doing their best to support the battle remotely in their own way.

The morale of the 16th Regiment was finally boosted to its highest point, and the desperate, frantic shelling of the opposing Billy Kings didn't seem so scary anymore.

However, plans are just plans; there are still many specific details to be worked out in order to implement them.

After completing the final round of pre-battle mobilization, Colonel Lister immediately and swiftly deployed the mission.

He first made minor adjustments to the filling plan for each battalion's combat units.

Each battalion is currently in a state of dormancy, having withdrawn from the first and second lines of defense while the enemy prepares its firepower. They will only move into their positions to provide cover after the enemy artillery fire ceases, a classic tactic used by all sides during World War I.

After arranging the combat troops, the colonel then focused on assigning tasks to the reconnaissance company and the communications platoon:

"Barak, your reconnaissance company has relatively complete observation equipment. In a little while, you will be responsible for assigning manpower to observe the enemy's assembly position and the impact points of our artillery shells in the church bell tower. Our army has not deployed any firing points in the church and will not take the initiative to fire at the enemy, so the enemy is unlikely to prioritize bombing there."

Lelouch, you take the communications platoon and send reports to division headquarters as quickly as possible to communicate ballistic calibration information. All data reported back from Barak's side must be sent out immediately.

The colonel was clearly planning to use remote radio feedback for firing correction, which is standard procedure.

However, radio coverage was still very low in 1914, and in reality, frontline troops often lacked this real-time communication capability.

In this era, on the western front, only the regimental level could call for precision artillery support. On the eastern front, the Russian Empire or even the more backward Turkish Empire, their radios were only available up to the division level, making artillery responses even slower.

Lieutenant Barak and Lelouch immediately accepted the order and went to handle their respective tasks.

……

Fifteen minutes later, the Birygin bombardment finally ceased.

At the command of Lieutenant General Begham, commander of the 1st Bilgim Division, tens of thousands of Bilgim men began to assemble and prepare to launch an attack.

But soon they realized something was wrong.

Two or three shells landed one after another on the sea north of the coastal highway or in the flooded area south of the coastal highway, creating jets of water several meters or even tens of meters high.

Because it landed in the water, most of the kinetic energy of the explosion was absorbed by the water, so the soldiers on the shore didn't seem to be very alarmed at first.

But within just three to five minutes, the artillery fire became increasingly accurate.

Finally, shortly after the Belgian troops began their charge, two 150mm heavy artillery shells and five or six 105mm shells slammed straight into the crowd.

Limbs and torsos flew everywhere, brain matter and blood gushed out, screams and cries filled the air, and panic began to spread instantly.

"What's going on? Where did the shelling come from? How could those few 77mm mortars in the town have that much power?"

When Lieutenant General Begham saw his soldiers blown to pieces through his binoculars, he felt a rush of blood to his head, and even his eyes began to turn bloodshot.

"No! This is definitely not the power of a 77mm cannon!" The division artillery regiment commander next to him immediately noticed the abnormality and quickly reminded the division commander.

"Whatever it is! Immediately concentrate our remaining cannons and carry out counter-battery operations as soon as possible!"

Begham knew that his counter-battery force was weak. His own division had lost all its artillery during the retreat, and now he only had a few small cannons left in the 6th Division.

But no matter what, we absolutely cannot stand idly by and take the bombing without fighting back! That kind of despair is the easiest way to cause a complete collapse of morale.

We must carry out counter-battery operations, even if we can't win! It's good to boost morale and give the infantry some confidence.

The artillery regimental commander had no choice but to carry out the order, albeit reluctantly. At the same time, Begham urgently telegraphed the French army five kilometers to the west, hoping that the French 75mm artillery group would also cooperate in counter-battery operations.

Time ticked by, and radio communication and waiting for replies took time. So for at least twenty minutes, the Billy Kings would simply be bombed.

Many attacking troops were pushed back and scattered like birds and beasts, unwilling to stay on the coastal highway.

The vanguard Belgian soldiers, who had been forced into close combat range and were caught in a dilemma, found themselves in a miserable situation.

The battalion at the forefront suddenly realized that their friendly forces had fallen behind and dared not charge any further. They were charging alone on the coastal highway with no cover on either side. The German forces on the other side were also defending very firmly this time. After the Belgian artillery fire stopped, they quickly sent their blocking troops to the front line outside the town.

On the edge of town, more than a dozen MG08 heavy machine gun positions, which had just been moved into place and deployed, emerged from the ruins of buildings.

Machine guns unleashed a barrage of crossfire, while long-range artillery, without even looking at the target, focused on bombing the coastal highway once the range was determined, regardless of whether there were any people at that location at that moment.

Although the absolute number of German artillery pieces involved in the battle was not large, their firing rate was at full speed, firing at an insanely rapid pace, creating a continuous and relentless barrage of bullets.

In order to achieve a longer range and to "unilaterally destroy enemy artillery at a distance beyond the reach of enemy artillery," cannon shells must sacrifice a certain amount of propellant.

A 150mm howitzer shell can contain more than 10 kilograms of explosives, with some reaching 12 or 13 kilograms. The explosive weight can account for 20-30% of the total weight of the shell (the total weight of a shell is 50-60 kilograms; the most extreme high-explosive shells in later generations could use 40% of their weight for explosives, but in World War II it was generally less than 30%, and in World War I it was only 20%). In contrast, a 150mm cannon generally contains less than 10 kilograms of explosives. The German Krupp prototype gun that later became the K16 cannon only used 6.8 kilograms of explosives, and its theoretical explosive power was only half that of a howitzer of the same caliber.

In comparison, a 105mm long-caliber cannon has a maximum charge of only two kilograms, and theoretically its explosive power is only at the level of a 75mm howitzer.

But at this point, none of these details matter.

The desperate situation of being "unilaterally attacked and unable to retaliate" was the final straw that caused the Billy Kings to completely collapse.

The Belgian infantry battalion that charged at the very front was simply covered by heavy artillery and crossfire from machine guns, and was completely wiped out on the open ground on the east side of the town, without even getting to the first street.

Some soldiers, not quite dead at first, lay on the ground, groaning and waiting to die from their severe wounds. The German machine gunners, seeing that the enemy had all fallen, ceased fire.

The problem is that the heavy artillery group, more than ten kilometers away, is unaware that everyone here has fallen, and continues to tilt toward the predetermined coordinates, with a wave of shells falling every ten or twenty seconds.

The severely wounded continued to be killed, and the already dead continued to be blown to pieces. The heavy artillery group had no intention of desecrating the corpses; they simply couldn't determine in time whether to cease fire, so they could only continue bombing even the dead.

The impact of such a scene on one's soul is truly overwhelming.

The German troops might have been able to withstand a day of shelling and continue fighting to the death, but that was because they were using the ruins of the town as a flexible defense, and most of the shells did not cause any real damage.

Meanwhile, the Belgian assault troops were being shelled on the open road with no cover, and each shell was capable of taking a group of lives.

Especially due to the impact of the flood, the low-lying areas on the south side of the coastal highway were also flooded, and the narrowest section that the infantry could pass through was only a few hundred meters wide.

This meant that once the German heavy artillery had its range calibrated, it could simply aim at a range of a few hundred meters and fire indiscriminately, which was practically like throwing shells directly into a crowd of people!

It can be said that Bi Jun's previous actions of breaching the dam and releasing water have backfired at this moment.

The boomerang will eventually fly back.

Those twenty minutes were definitely the most unbearable twenty minutes that Lieutenant General Begham had ever experienced in his life.

"Has the French army still not been able to carry out counter-battery operations? Why?" Lieutenant General Begham repeatedly urged and cursed the friendly commanders and his own artillery regimental commander.

Finally, the desperate reply from his artillery regimental commander completely shattered Begham's hopes:
"General! We have observed the enemy's ballistics and are certain that their artillery positions are firing from at least fifteen kilometers to the south! None of our artillery can reach that far! We can only be bombarded from one side!"

This "professional assessment" completely shattered the morale of Begham and the various regimental commanders under him.

"Retreat! Retreat immediately! Abandon the attack! The entire army must retreat and escape from the enemy's heavy artillery range! All troops must not remain on the coastal highway! Try to disperse and move to the beaches and muddy areas on both sides!"

The 1st Belgian Division, known as the most loyal to the king among all Belgian troops, chose to retreat directly after its vanguard reinforced battalion was completely wiped out with no survivors and the remaining main force regiment was also severely damaged by artillery fire.

Even if the king personally distributed royal ham and brandy to the soldiers, and even if the king took out all the gold and silver coins to increase the soldiers' pay, he could not make them go to their deaths under the unilateral artillery bombardment.

……

"It seems we've finally won. After his last desperate attempt failed, Billy King landed and became a paraplegic."

Colonel Lister watched the Belgian army's chaotic retreat through his binoculars, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.

Lelouch was already highly trusted by the colonel, so he was standing by his side at this moment, and even had the right to take the colonel's binoculars and observe the scene after the colonel had finished watching.

Watching the retreating Billykins, Lelouch kindly reminded them, "Sir, perhaps we can't completely let our guard down yet? It seems that we have only completely crushed the Billykins' fighting spirit and morale, making them unwilling and lacking the courage to attack again."

However, 'not attacking' does not mean 'willing to surrender immediately'. If the remnants of their three divisions all retreat to the vicinity of Ostend and hold out for reinforcements, waiting for the French army to attack and help them out, we will still be in danger.

They might think that we only have about two battalions left, but the French forces from Dunkirk to De Panne will increase in number. Today it's one or more divisions, tomorrow it might be two divisions, and there might even be heavy artillery.

The Biligin people could outlast us if they simply held their ground and held out indefinitely. For complete safety, we need to devise another plan to annihilate them as soon as possible, or at least persuade them to surrender.

The colonel nodded: "I wish I could too, but the difference between being routed and forced to land is no small feat."

The current state of the Belgian army is actually quite similar to that of the French army in 1917. After the Battle of the Lady's Pass, the French army was completely demoralized, and the soldiers on the front lines mutinied and refused to launch any more attacks, but that was all.

"Is there any way to convert those Belgian soldiers who refuse to attack into directly surrendering to the enemy?"

After pondering for a long time, Lelouch gradually calmed down.

Then he suddenly noticed a battlefield detail that he had just overlooked, and an idea came to him.

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(End of this chapter)