Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 121 Airship Destroys Ammunition Depot

Captain Schweinsteiger relayed the urgent needs of the siege troops at the front lines via radio as quickly as possible.

Lelouch only brought a few relatively portable low-to-medium power radios with him on this parachute landing. The daytime transmission range was only between 50 and 100 kilometers. Communication distance would be attenuated across the Carpathian Mountains, and the signal quality for contacting the rear was very poor during the day.

It wasn't that he didn't want to bring a larger radio, but a larger radio wouldn't be suitable for airdrop; it would be easily damaged, and it would be difficult to set up in the wild.

Fortunately, at night, due to the diurnal difference in the atmospheric ionosphere, the reflection and amplification effect of the ionosphere on ground signals is enhanced several times, and the transmission distance of Lelouch's radio station also increases to 200-300 kilometers.

Once the sun goes down and there is no interference from solar radiation, he can easily contact Mikhailovka's airship base and field airfield, and then transfer to Budapest to request instructions.

……

May 19th, 9 PM.

Castle Hill on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest.

Castle Hill is a small hill in Budapest, with an elevation of over 160 meters. Centuries ago, the Magyars built a castle here to defend against the Ottomans and maintain the Danube River defense line.

Later, it was expanded over the centuries. After the Hungarians established their own state in the 18th century, Castle Hill was further expanded, and a royal palace was added. Later, when Austria and Hungary merged, it also became the emperor's residence when he visited Budapest. But at this time, an ancient castle on Castle Hill was set aside as the headquarters of the German 6th Army, overseeing the defense of the entire Hungarian Plain.

As soon as the coded telegram was deciphered, an army group staff officer hurriedly pushed open the door to Duke Rupprecht's office:
"Your Highness, an urgent telegram from Colonel Lelouch of the Direct Airborne Regiment! He has rescued over 8 Austrian prisoners of war and rearmed 1 of them. He is currently launching a major offensive against Lviv, the main logistics base of the Southwestern Front of Russia. However, due to a lack of heavy firepower and insufficient weaponry to arm the prisoners, he requests air support!"

He requested that airships be dispatched to airdrop another batch of weapons, and that a portion of the airships be assigned to bombardment missions to attack the city! He hoped that air reinforcements could depart before dawn and arrive over Lviv by morning. He assured them that with air support, he could destroy the Southwestern Front's logistical supply depots.

Duke Rupprecht's eyes widened in shock: "What? This kid is attacking Lviv?!"
Wasn't the original plan to have him rescue the prisoners of war and then retreat westward while fighting, just enough to threaten the rear of the Przemeshir fortress and make Madame Brusiello fearful and unwilling to hold on?

How dare he take only one regiment and decide on his own... uh, improvise an attack on Lviv?

This kid is absolutely lawless!
Give him a regiment and he'd dare attack Lviv. Give him an corps, and he'd probably attack St. Petersburg!
Despite his shock, the Duke couldn't ignore the mess his subordinates had created. After pacing back and forth in his office a couple of times, the Duke immediately pressed, "In Mikhailovka, are the supplies, bombs, and fuel sufficient? Can they support another full-scale air support mission?"

The staff officer immediately replied, "We have enough bombs and fuel. Before the operation, we considered the possibility of an air raid to open a landing zone, so we prepared a batch of bombs. Later, we decided to conduct a silent airborne infiltration, so they were not used and are still piled up in the Mikhailovka supply depot."

However, there probably won't be that many standard weapons for airdrops, at least not that many submachine guns. They'll probably have to airdrop more Mauser rifles, ammunition, and grenades. They could consider providing a few dozen flamethrower sets and their replacement fuel tanks.

"Don't you need military rations and clothing?" the Duke asked with added concern.

"No need, they already have more than enough of these things from battlefield spoils." The staff officer hesitated for a moment, but still answered the question quickly.

The Duke waved his hand: "Then do as he requests. Have the airship fleet set sail at 3 a.m. tomorrow to carry out the airdrop mission. If they don't have enough submachine guns, just throw in rifles. They're having trouble with ammunition resupply, so let's get more precision-guided weapons to slow down the consumption."

Hand grenades take up space. Since they're going to fight in urban warfare, let's airdrop more explosive charges. Use explosive charges for breaching walls and assaults; only use grenades as a last resort.

The Duke was quite savvy; he knew how to conserve payload and accomplish the most with the limited tonnage of his airships. With over 60 airships, the maximum payload he could carry was a little over 500 tons at a time.

Some people did consider making two round trips at night, utilizing the first six hours of complete darkness to complete an extra trip. However, this idea had to be rejected, mainly because airships cannot land safely in the dark, which could easily lead to a major accident.

In his previous experiences using airships, Lelouch only dared to have them take off at night and carry out missions just as dawn broke, while returning and landing after it was completely light.

Airships are not like airplanes; they are far too large to withstand even the slightest bump or knock, and they must be precisely aligned with the mooring tower. Therefore, even with nighttime lights for guidance, while airplanes can barely land, airships cannot.

It seems that this is the only way things can go.

After the staff officer noted down the order, he was about to send it out to relay it when the Duke seemed to remember something and called him back one last time: "Wait! One hour after the airship group takes off, have a batch of combat reconnaissance planes also take off to catch up and escort the airships. The airships may be carrying out bombing missions after dawn, so try to avoid interception."

The staff officer frowned and immediately offered a helpful reminder: "Your Highness, our Albatross 1 fighter-reconnaissance aircraft doesn't have that large a combat radius. This time, the combat radius is almost 200 kilometers..."

Duke: "Then send a telegram back, instructing Lelouch to quickly allocate manpower tonight for earthwork, leveling out several simple runways and helipads! Isn't he short of everything except manpower? Have his extra tens of thousands of men work through the night to level the runways!"

At that time, our reconnaissance fighters will only perform one-way escort missions and then return to land on the runway at the front line, instead of returning to the field airfields south of the Carpathian Mountains, which will save a small portion of fuel.

If Lviv isn't captured by tomorrow, next time we'll have the airship squadron airdrop fuel barrels to the front-line field airfields, where they can refuel the fighters and replenish their machine gun ammunition!

The staff officer finally revealed a look of admiration, and had to admire the commander's courage, decisiveness, and ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

Airplanes in this era aren't so delicate; a smooth, rammed-earth runway is enough for takeoff and landing. Lelouch's side could mobilize tens of thousands to dig overnight, and it's possible to complete the task. At worst, Lelouch could send another telegram late at night informing them that if the runway isn't dug properly, the fighter jets won't take off.

……

The entire night was filled with back-and-forth communication; it was quite a busy time.

When the Duke's first reply reached Lelouch, he was quite surprised. He hadn't expected the Duke to be so decisive, even sending a fighter reconnaissance plane on a one-way mission. With this escort, the success of the air strike was much greater.

He himself hadn't considered this move at all. Firstly, he hadn't thought of using combat reconnaissance aircraft beyond their operational radius. Secondly, these aircraft were valuable assets of the Empire and its army groups; Lelouch wouldn't dare make such a risky decision. Only His Highness the Duke had the authority to do so.

So Lelouch didn't dare close his eyes all night, keeping an eye on both sides. On one hand, he ordered the combat troops to continue the attack on the city and break through the outer defenses on the western outskirts of Lviv. On the other hand, he also sent tens of thousands of people to level the land and build a runway. In the end, it was almost finished by three o'clock in the morning. He estimated that there would be no problems, so he sent a final telegram back to the rear, instructing them to take off on time.

On the siege front, after a night of fierce fighting, the attacking forces did indeed advance another 3 to 5 kilometers in both the Sukhovorya and Bryukhović directions.

In the direction of Sukhovolya, the troops had advanced along the railway to the edge of Lviv's main urban area, engaging in fierce street fighting with the enemy. The attacking forces spared no effort in clearing the two rows of blocks on both sides of the railway, attacking building by building.

As for neighborhoods far from the railway line, we don't have that much energy to manage them for the time being.

In the direction of Bryukhovich, Rommel led the Bohemian prisoners of war in a bloody battle, charging several times. Finally, with the help of dozens of grenade launchers, they eliminated the high-ground firing points one by one and finally captured the commanding height of Hill 385.

Rommel was overjoyed after his success and immediately ordered his men to do everything in their power to gather horses and pull the few 76mm short-barreled field guns in the army up Hill 385, and deploy them on the reverse slope slightly behind the summit.

At that time, they will cross the mountaintop and launch indirect fire to bombard enemy strongpoints within the city, further weakening the enemy's defenses.

If the enemy can't hold out, they will launch a counterattack on Hill 385, allowing Rommel to wait in ambush and fight a defensive battle, wearing down the enemy.

One of the biggest advantages of defensive warfare, which is not very obvious in normal times but becomes invaluable in this situation, is that it is less likely to lose weapons. All the weapons of friendly casualties will remain on the position, and as long as the position is not lost and more men are continuously added, the defense can continue indefinitely.

In contrast, once the attacking enemy is repelled, the weapons left on the hillside cannot be retrieved. They can even be risked by the defenders to retrieve them during the intervals between attack waves.

……

Dawn broke quickly.

At 5:30 a.m., the sky was already beginning to lighten. The airships responsible for airdropping supplies had already found their positions—Lelouch had sent men to set up a large number of campfires on the ground as a signal.

The source of the campfire was simply the wheat straw left over from the winter wheat harvest just a few days ago. You could easily find a large bundle of this in the fields, enough to burn for a long time.

The airship dropped three to four hundred tons of various supplies before safely returning to base.

Several airships were also loaded with bombs and were responsible for aerial bombing raids on key targets in Lviv city.

Due to poor visibility at night, these airships accumulated navigation errors and deviated slightly from their targets by several kilometers.

However, as dawn broke, Rommel's lookout post on Hill 385 quickly spotted the location of his own airships. After making a rough estimate, he sent a telegram to the airship unit to report the location, instructing them to adjust their course and describe the features of the target building.

On the lead bomber airship, Major Peter Strasser quickly received the telegram and immediately instructed the pilots to adjust their course and speed.

"Fly southeast, target is about 8 kilometers away. Visually locate the main platform of Lviv Railway Station, then look for the four long, tall, gray concrete buildings in the fourth row southeast of the main platform. Hmm, those concrete warehouses should all have a span of more than 50 meters, don't blow up the wrong ones."

The airship's helmsman and mechanics scrambled to adjust the course, and the six Maybach 6-cylinder engines accelerated to maximum power, each producing 240 horsepower, propelling the airship toward its target at a speed of 90 kilometers per hour.

Beside these airships were two squadrons of four aircraft each, all Albatross 1 fighter-reconnaissance aircraft, with one four-aircraft formation on each side of the airship formation to provide cover for the airships as they carried out their mission.

The commander of these eight escort aircraft was none other than Captain Kurt Student, who had shot down four enemy planes a few days earlier. At this moment, he was also in high spirits, earnestly escorting the airship.

These planes took off from Mikharovka more than an hour later than the airships, but they were more than twice as fast and arrived in Lviv at roughly the same time.

However, the aircraft had very short loiter time. Each group of aircraft could only escort the airship group for a maximum of half an hour before running out of fuel and having to land on the newly dug field runway. Therefore, the Mikharovka direction could not send too many aircraft for escort; only eight aircraft could take off every half hour, in two to three waves at most.

After this battle, perhaps Lelouch really needs to get the aviation department to seriously consider improving the fuel tank capacity and range of aircraft.

Early World War I aircraft were too rudimentary; their performance was continuously improved to meet the demands of actual combat.

Historically, from the Albatross 1 to the Albatross 3, and finally to the improved Albatross 3 D, Demania's fighter jets underwent many modifications in just a year and a half.

……

It takes time for the airship to fly over the city and search for its target.

The large-caliber machine guns on the ground, seeing the airships approaching, also began firing indiscriminately into the sky. Therefore, the airship group initially maintained an altitude of over 3000 meters to ensure safety.

Zeppelin airships could reach a maximum service ceiling of over 5500 meters, but in the environment of 1915, there was no need to fly that high. Furthermore, 5500 meters required a relatively light load; to carry an additional 2000 kg bomb, the service ceiling would have to be lowered to around 3000 meters. Fortunately, modern combat reconnaissance aircraft generally have a maximum service ceiling of only 1500 to 2000 meters, and with the rear machine gun firing upwards, the maximum additional strike altitude is less than 1,000 meters. Therefore, maintaining an altitude above 3000 meters is perfectly safe.

At such a high altitude, it is difficult to search for and confirm ground targets, as the field of vision is not clear and may be obscured by clouds.

Even during World War II, when horizontal bombing required precision, bombs had to be dropped from an altitude of around 1000 meters to ensure they were absolutely below the cloud cover.

Major Peter Strasser spent a full 15 minutes flying over the area, roughly observing the target's location through the clouds, making minor adjustments, and finally managing to find the target through a gap in the clouds.

"We must lower our altitude, below the cloud cover, before aiming and dropping the bombs to ensure accuracy! We only carried two 2000-kilogram armor-piercing aerial bombs; the rest are 50-kilogram-class calibration rounds. We must ensure the accuracy of our strikes!"

Major Strasser ultimately made the decision and led the way in descending the altitude.

Damn May, the weather in late spring is still so humid, with too many low-hanging clouds. That's just how it is.

But just then, a number of Lusa fighter reconnaissance planes buzzed in from a distance, likely taking off from a rear airfield near Lviv.

As the main logistics base of the Southwestern Front, Lviv could not be completely without air power.

"Discontinue the four-plane formation and split into two-plane formations to engage the enemy individually! Try to intercept enemy aircraft and prevent them from getting close to the airship!"

Upon seeing the enemy aircraft appear, Captain Kurt Student decisively shook his wings a few times and issued a simple order to "change to two and engage the enemy on your own," before leading the charge.

Only a few days had passed since the last air battle, so the enemy planes at present did not have fire coordination devices and could only retaliate haphazardly with their rear machine guns.

Student, however, became more and more skilled in combat, and the pilots under his command also became more and more experienced and proficient in combat and flying techniques.

In just a few exchanges, they shot down seven or eight Lusa fighter-reconnaissance planes as easily as killing turkeys.

The Lusa initially tried to engage the German planes in close combat, but soon realized it was all in vain. After more than ten planes were shot down, resulting in an 11-0 exchange ratio, the Lusa finally woke up.

The remaining Lusa pilots ignored the German aircraft's interception and rushed toward the hovering airship that was descending below the clouds for precise bombing.

The airship was also equipped with heavy machine guns under its pods. When enemy planes flew over, fire came out from both sides of the airship, with at least four heavy machine guns opening fire.

"Heavy machine gun crews return fire! These enemy machine guns can't do anything to us! Such small bullets are useless against the airship! Bombardier, take aim quickly! Helmsman, continue descending! In time, reverse the engines to brake and hover!"

Major Peter Strasser calmly and collectedly commanded from his airship. The two Lusa planes that had attacked were actually shot down by the airship's heavy machine guns, one on each side.

Several bullets from the plane also pierced the airship's gasbags, causing leaks, but did not cause serious damage to the airship.

In the heat of the battle, a few Lusa pilots were finally pushed to their limits.

Seeing that their attacks were ineffective and the German aircraft were far superior in performance, and knowing that they would be shot down sooner or later if they dragged on, several Lusa planes began to spontaneously shout slogans of revenge:

"Avenge Major Nesterov! Learn from Major Nesterov!"

Then it crashed straight into the airship that was continuing to descend, hover, and drop bombs.

To avoid being attacked by the airship's machine guns, the Russian aircraft unanimously chose to first climb vigorously and then dive from an angle to strike the airship's upper gasbags. From this angle, the heavy machine guns in the airship's bottom pods would be unable to retaliate.

"Crack~"

Two reconnaissance planes crashed into the airship's gasbags one after the other, causing severe structural damage. The airship's buoyancy was immediately reduced, and it began to descend rapidly.

Major Peter Strasser stumbled in the pod, his adrenaline surging. He quickly got up and immediately looked through the scope himself.

"Increase the engine output while reversing, and back off just a little bit more! We can't go back! We can't sacrifice ourselves in vain, let's drop all 50 kilograms of bombs for calibration!"

At this point, Strasser stopped ordering his men to parachute. He knew that even if they landed, they would die—if the ammunition depot was hit, there would be no survivors within a kilometer radius.

A dozen or so small bombs were dropped one after another, and their impact points were indeed getting closer and closer to the rows of train station ammunition depot buildings. It was clear that the Maybach engine's emergency reverse braking was very effective and was calibrating in the right direction.

"Major! We're below 500 meters in altitude! If we don't drop the bombs soon, their armor-piercing speed might not be enough!" The helmsman, seeing that the altitude was about to drop too low, calmly reminded the major not to be greedy and to drop the bombs quickly.

When faced with a life-or-death situation, these people become clear-headed and focused on their professional work, striving to improve their accuracy, and they no longer have the mind to be afraid.

Major Strasser gritted his teeth resolutely: "2000 kg bomb, drop one! Disarm the other one as well, and decide after observing the effect of the first drop!"

Without a second thought, the bombardier deftly operated the escapement mechanism, dropping the first 2000-kilogram bomb within seconds. By the time the bomb was released, the airship had already plummeted to a height of just over 350 meters.

After throwing the first bomb, the bombardier quickly and skillfully unlocked the safety of another bomb. Only after completing these actions did he realize what it all meant.

Even if the airship crashes directly into the ground without dropping its bomb, this bomb will still ensure that it explodes upon landing.

With a deafening "BOOM!", the first bomb struck the concrete warehouse with a roof more than half a meter thick, blasting a large hole and sending its contents flying everywhere.

However, it has not yet caused a fire, and many chain reactions have not yet caused the entire venue to explode immediately.

The towering debris and blast wave from the explosion further damaged the airship wreckage, which was less than 100 meters from the ground. The keel structure carrying the airship's pods also completely broke, and the pods fell directly to the ground before the hull, crashing heavily.

Another deafening roar followed, accompanied by the ignition of thousands of cubic meters of remaining hydrogen gas, causing a massive explosion throughout the ammunition depot.

储存在利沃夫中央火车站的2万多枚122毫米炮弹，还有超过10万发76毫米级口径的各种炮弹，以及超过10万发37至60毫米小炮弹，在数秒内连锁爆炸。

The total explosive yield, when converted, should be equivalent to several hundred tons of TNT.

The earthquake completely collapsed all buildings within an 800-meter radius. All living things within a 1500-meter radius were killed, and buildings were severely damaged.

A full-strength infantry regiment stationed at Lviv Central Railway Station, along with four cavalry companies serving as mobile reserves, were completely wiped out in an instant, with no survivors.

Two kilometers west of the train station, on the outer perimeter of the position, several battalions and companies of Lusha soldiers had survived.

The survivors were stunned by the devastating impact, and most sustained injuries. Those within 2 kilometers of the blast site, even if they survived, were vomiting blood, clearly suffering from internal bleeding.

Even the Demacian siege forces, nearly 4 kilometers away, felt the enormous gusts of wind. Fortunately, the distance was too great for them to suffer any real damage.

"Major Strasser!" Captain Kurt Student, who was chasing the Lusa reconnaissance plane at an altitude of 2000 meters, also instantly turned bloodshot.

He was there today to escort the bombing airships, but the airships were still rammed and destroyed by the crazed Lusa fighters in an attempt to descend below the clouds to improve bombing accuracy.

"Avenge Major Strasser!" Student shook his wings a few times, gave a simple order, then circled at a small angle, leading the remaining seven fighters to chase after the last remaining Lusa aircraft.

The Lusa people, whose targets were all on the airships, were already badly attacked, and their last five or six planes were quickly destroyed.

In today's battle, the Lussa lost another 27 aircraft, including 5 shot down by the airships' defensive fire and 22 shot down by German aircraft.

Each of the eight German planes achieved at least two victories, and Captain Student even scored four more, bringing his total to eight with the four he had scored a few days earlier, making him an ace pilot. If things continued like this, without Lelouch's intervention, this guy might become an air force general in the future.

Seeing the fierce battle in the air and the selfless bombing by the airships, the morale of the Demacian troops on the ground soared instantly. Although officers at all levels on the front lines did not receive definite news immediately, it was clear to everyone that their bombing had been successful and extremely heroic.

"Brothers, kill them! We can't waste the sacrifices of the airship force! Storm the train station and wipe out all the Lusa people there!"

The impact and explosion of the airship greatly inspired the soldiers, and thousands of them launched a fierce charge, cutting through blocks of streets.

When encountering enemy-held buildings, they would use the explosives airdropped that morning to breach the walls and blow them up. After collapsing one wall, they would suddenly rush in and engage the enemy inside in close combat.

Some more fortified buildings further inland were either blasted to the ground by several 2000-kilogram bombs from the other airships, or covered with a large number of 50-kilogram small bombs.

A 50-kilogram bomb might seem like a tiny toy among aerial bombs, but compared to the explosive charges used by ground troops, its explosive charge is still considerable. A single 50-kilogram bomb could collapse a three-story wooden building.

Under the combined attack from both the air and the ground, the remaining Rusa people finally formed an avalanche.

After more than an hour of fierce attack and brutal fighting, the attacking force finally broke through the enemy's blockade and entered Lviv Railway Station.

Guided by their comrades who had once worked as loaders, the soldiers found the ruins of the weapons depot. They first searched through piles and piles of Mosin-Nagant rifles to ensure that the tens of thousands of comrades following behind would all have guns.

Once tens of thousands of prisoners of war had received their weapons, the outcome of the remaining battle was no longer in doubt.

The defenders of Lviv were utterly terrified. The troops stationed in the east of the city put up a brief resistance for another two hours before giving up and collapsing completely by noon that day, fleeing eastward.

"Send a telegram to the rear immediately! Tell them that our army has completely captured Lviv and occupied the main logistics base of the Southwestern Front of Lusa!"

When Lelouch rushed into the ruins of the train station, he was incredibly excited. He ran quickly while instructing the communications soldier beside him to send a message as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)