Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 123 Annihilation of the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces
The third day after Lelouch's attack on Cleveland, May 23, 1915.

Potsdam Palace, Berlin.

Chief of the General Staff General Pharkinhan's hands were trembling as he hurriedly ran to see the Emperor with a frontline battle report in hand.

"Your Majesty! Great victories on the Galicia and Hungarian fronts! One of our regiments successfully parachuted behind enemy lines, launched a surprise attack on Lviv, rescued 3 friendly troops, and destroyed the main logistics base of the Southwestern Front of Russia. Field Marshal Leopold has led the 10th Army in a rapid advance within three days, capturing Rzeszów and Przemyśl, advancing over a hundred kilometers, and connecting with Lviv."

Now, the entire territory of Galicia has been restored. Except for Brusilov, who broke out with five enemy divisions, the rest of the Southwestern Front has been annihilated or surrounded by our army in the Carpathian Mountains and the Hungarian Basin to the south!

The enemy within the encirclement included the entire 3rd Army, the entire 11th Army, and several divisions of the 8th Army under the Southwestern Front of Russia, plus Seville and Romanian troops.

Duke Rupprecht, stationed in Budapest, has led my sixth phase of operations into a counter-offensive, beginning to encircle and annihilate the Seville and Romanian armies south of Budapest. Meanwhile, Austria's third and fifth phases continue the siege of Yudovich, commander of the Southwestern Front of the Russo-Romanian Army.

此次会战，露西南方面军总计投入49个师71万人，塞维亚军投入24个师33万人，罗马尼亚军投入8个师11万人，三国联军总计81个师115万人。

除了已经逃出去的5个师约6万人，剩余的109万人里，至少有20几万已经伤亡损失掉了。还有约80万或是被我军黏住、或是已经被我军包围了！”

"Hiss... You mean, this battle could really... annihilate a million enemies?!"

Emperor William couldn't help but feel his adrenaline surge and dopamine levels spike, causing his face to visibly turn red.

Theoretically, the maximum possible number of enemy troops killed is 109 million!

The premise is that you really eat all the dumplings and don't let a single one run back.

Has there ever been such a glorious victory in human history? A million enemies annihilated!

Emperor William suddenly stood up and paced back and forth in the hall. When he stood up, he even bumped his thigh near the knee against the desk because of the force, but he did not feel any pain at all.

"Truly, God blesses the Empire! The key to everything is indeed the swift capture of the Przemeshir Fortress and Lviv on the northern front! I have decided that if the campaign can be successfully concluded and the remaining enemy forces are not allowed to escape, I will award Marshal Leopold the Grand Iron Cross!"

When Falkenham heard about the reward, he couldn't help but feel extremely envious.

Grand Iron Cross!

This is a unique item that has only been issued 14 times in the hundred years since its establishment, and it was awarded to generals or marshals who made great contributions.

When the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was first established a hundred years ago, only four marshals, including Blücher, who made great contributions in the war to defeat Napoleon, and one foreign marshal, Bernadotte, a total of five people, received it. (Bernadotte was originally a marshal under Napoleon, who made him King of Sweden. Then he turned against Napoleon and fought against him with the anti-French coalition, and received the Grand Cross.)
Sixty years later, during the Franco-Prussian War, Chief of the General Staff Moltke the Elder and eight others also received the Grand Iron Cross.

Since the start of this world war, the Empire has not awarded the Grand Iron Cross. If it is awarded this time, it will be the first in this war and the 15th in a century.

Falkenhayn felt a bit resentful: I am the Chief of the General Staff! I also played a role in the victory on the southern flank of the Eastern Front... Unfortunately, the performance on other fronts was not good, and I, as the Chief of the General Staff, probably will not be able to win the Big Iron Cross.

The emperor then questioned a number of key figures who had been airlifted to Lviv and those who had made significant contributions to the breakthrough at Gollitze, especially the frontline commanders.

Falkenhayn reported a number of names, including, among others, Colonel Federer von Bock, who led several assault battalions to break through enemy lines in Gorlitze, and Colonel Lelouch von Hunt, the direct commander of the airborne landing in Lviv.

There were also a bunch of other people, such as the commanders of the troops who were blocking the Dukla Pass.

The emperor gave them all verbal commendations, but further details would have to wait until the battle was over.

However, upon learning that the meritorious official who was parachuted into Lviv was only 25 years old (which contradicted the fact that he had lied about his age) and was also a foreigner of humble origin, he slightly abandoned the idea of ​​promoting him directly.

"He's too young, but his achievements are indeed significant. Let the Baria royal family reward him themselves first. It would be difficult to gain respect for someone with such a high military rank at such a young age if he doesn't hold a high title. However, we could give him an even more important position."

The emperor concluded with this comment.

Falkenhayn also secretly made a note of it, so that he could subtly hint at it when he talked to the marshals of the Balia faction later.

Demania's current system is ultimately more rigid and inflexible than that of countries like the Franks. While there are young generals, they are all of noble birth and high lineage. If a prince becomes a general in his early twenties, people might accept it. But for a commoner to become a general at 25 is a bit too extraordinary; it has never happened before in the empire's history.

In that case, the emperor hoped that the Baria clan would first accumulate merit through the promotion of noble titles.

At the end of Falkenhayn's report, the Emperor noticed a name, a major named Peter Strasser.

The reason this person was listed last in Falkinhan's report was, of course, because of his low rank; everyone listed ahead of him had a higher rank.

But it was precisely because a major was specifically singled out for a report that piqued the Emperor's curiosity, and Emperor William couldn't help but ask:
"What specific deeds did this Major Peter Strasser have?"

Falkenhayn: "Major Peter Strasser was the commander of a bomber squadron. During the Lviv airborne operation, the ground assault forces lacked heavy firepower and called for air support to bomb the Lviv railway station ammunition depot."

To avoid cloud cover and conduct precise bombing, Major Strasser descended below the clouds and was damaged by a collision with a Lusa fighter-reconnaissance aircraft. In his final moments, Major Strasser led his unit in ramming their airship into an ammunition depot at the Lviv railway station, killing enemies within a kilometer and thwarting the enemy's plot to destroy all their supplies before retreating. This helped friendly ground forces capture the city of Lviv.

Emperor William then felt a slight sense of respect: "So he died for his country. How heroic! Posthumously award him the third rank and provide his family with the benefits of a major general. The officers and soldiers who died with him should also be provided with the benefits of an additional three ranks."

For a living person, being promoted three ranks directly is impossible. But for a deceased person, posthumously awarding them only brings honor and money, without granting them real power, which is reasonable.

Faktinghan immediately said he would do it right away and that he would publicize more of their heroic deeds to boost morale.

……

Some are happy and some are sad.

While Emperor William was overjoyed at Potsdam Palace, on the Hungarian battlefield, the Luza army and the Serbian-Romanian allied forces were facing a hellish end.

On the northern side of the Hungarian theater, General Yudovich, commander of the Southwestern Front of the Luftwaffe, has been leading his more than 30 troops in a relentless assault on the defenses of the Austrian 3rd and 5th Armies, regardless of cost or casualties.

However, the Austrian army, which he had previously despised, was now full of vigor and held firm with its layers of trench defenses and heavy artillery reinforcements from the Demacians.

Without the sacrifice of tens of thousands of people, Yudovic couldn't even move a single kilometer. And he was still at least hundreds of kilometers away from Budapest.

By the 23rd, the average number of shells remaining for each cannon in the Lusha army was less than 5.

By the 26th, all artillery shells were completely exhausted, but there were still some bullets left. Yudovich had no choice but to send the last 20 Russa troops to charge directly at the defensive line without artillery cover.

Hundreds and thousands of heavy machine guns controlled the battlefield, mowing down hordes of Lusa soldiers. Eventually, the German machine gun units reinforcing the Austrian army could only request that the Austrians clear away the piles of Lusa corpses at the front lines during lulls in the fighting to avoid blocking the machine gun positions' firing range.

(Note: A similar situation actually occurred on the Polish battlefield in 1915. Marshal Hindenburg's troops were ordered to clear away the piles of enemy corpses during lulls in the fighting because the corpses had blocked the line of fire for heavy machine guns.)

Historically, during the Polish evacuation of 1915, the Russo-American army suffered 150 million casualties. However, the Eastern Front is generally overlooked in history and its impact is far less significant than that of Verdun. In terms of total casualties in World War I, the Russo-American army far surpassed the combined casualties of the Bolsheviks and the Franco-Prussian border.
Ultimately, the Lusa army fought on until May 31st, when a mutiny finally broke out. Of the 260,000 survivors, a large-scale defection occurred, but tens of thousands remained loyal to the Tsar and his commander. This led to a brutal infighting within the Lusa army, resulting in 40,000 deaths.

Finally, the remaining 22 survivors surrendered en masse to the Austrian 3rd and 5th Armies that had surrounded them.

General Yudovich, commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front, was also killed in the chaos. His subordinates, who had defected to the enemy, beheaded General Yudovich's body in an attempt to gain better treatment, and presented his head obsequiously to the surrendered troops.

Their actions weren't solely motivated by personal wealth and status; they also harbored resentment towards Yudovich, believing that "one incompetent general can lead to the annihilation of the entire army." They felt that if Yudovich hadn't been a lackey of the Tsar, obediently advancing without daring to disobey orders, the entire army group wouldn't have been wiped out.

General Yudovich initially led 54 men south, but only 22 surrendered in the end. This shows that as many as 32 died in the continuous slaughter, or died from serious injuries, illness, or lack of medical care.

While Lusza's army was being surrounded and killed by the Austrian army on the northern front, on the southern side of the Hungarian battlefield, Duke Rupprecht chose a strategy of breaking through the Romanian army head-on and encircling the Serbian army with all his might.

The German 6th Army's three corps focused their attack on the Romanian army, which had no combat experience.

Luo's army, consisting of 11 men in 8 divisions, had never fought a tough battle. The reason they were allowed to advance north was simply because the enemy let them off easy, which made them complacent.

Now that the enemy is finally taking things seriously, the Romanian army collapsed almost immediately—especially since the enemy seized a precise opportunity to switch between offense and defense, making the outcome even more predictable.

Prior to this, the Romanian army had been on the offensive, continuously advancing northward in the preceding days.

Their troops had no defensive lines or depth, and were essentially caught off guard by an enemy attack during their offensive, facing off against each other with no cover whatsoever.

Suddenly, the Demanians unleashed a barrage of fire and artillery fire, decimating large swathes of the Romanian army.

The subsequent ground offensive focused on key breakthroughs rather than aiming to completely collapse the entire front.

Lacking experience in fighting tough battles, the Romanians quickly lost morale and were eventually breached in just one day of fierce attacks.

The 11 Roman troops suffered approximately 2 casualties, but inflicted only a little over 1 casualties on the Demacians, resulting in an exchange ratio of more than ten times.

After being breached, the three easternmost divisions of the Romanian army collapsed and retreated, preparing to return home. The three western divisions, along with the Serbian army, were subsequently surrounded and outmaneuvered by the Demanians.

In this era, there were no tanks, and troop mobility was very poor, making it difficult to penetrate and encircle the enemy over long distances. However, the Hungarian campaign was a "retreat battle" in which the Dmanians "held firm on the flanks and retreated in the center".

During their previous offensive, the Serbian and Romanian forces had already formed a large salient deep in enemy territory, with the banks of the Danube River serving as their main supply line.

All the Demacians need to do now is suddenly switch from defense to offense and cut off the root of this bulge, which will greatly reduce the amount of maneuver required.

There were quite a few brilliant maneuvers during the process, but they were all carried out by Duke Rupprecht himself and other senior generals of the 6th Army.

Lelouch himself was unable to participate personally because he was busy expanding the gains and filling gaps in the battle in Lviv at the time.

Moreover, this kind of conventional warfare is not Lelouch's forte, and he doesn't have much to offer his superiors in terms of optimization. It's best to specialize in one's own field.

In conclusion, Duke Rupprecht and his men, relying solely on their own strength and without any transmigrators providing any special advantages, successfully completed the subsequent encirclement operation.

Of the original 33 Cypriot troops, only 20 remained before the Demacians launched their counterattack. After several days of fierce attacks and infiltration, the Cypriot army was further weakened, reduced to only 21.

About 60,000 Serbian troops from five divisions were able to escape relatively quickly. Anticipating the situation was not good, they fled downstream along the Danube River.

Another 15 Serbian troops were eventually completely surrounded by the German 6th Army in a plain along the Danube River in southern Hungary. The Serbian army's fighting spirit was stronger than that of the Russa army, and since they had only recently been besieged, their supplies were still relatively plentiful, and they had enough ammunition to fight for another ten days to two weeks. Therefore, the Serbian army did not surrender immediately, but chose to put up a stubborn resistance and made several attempts to break out.

This is mainly because the Serbian army and Austria have a deep-seated hatred for each other and have been fighting for a long time. Both sides believe that Austria will not let them go.

However, as the war dragged on until the end of May, this resistance gradually became meaningless.

Because at this time, the Southwestern Front of Lusa on the northern front had been completely annihilated, and the cavalry units of the Austrian 3rd and 5th Armies were the first to be freed up.

Five Austrian cavalry divisions turned south to help the German 6th Army join the encirclement of the Serbian forces.

By June 3, several infantry divisions of the Austrian 3rd Army had also arrived on the battlefield, and the Allied forces outside the encirclement became increasingly formidable. Ultimately, the battle lasted until June 7, when the Serbian army was completely annihilated by the German and Austrian forces.

Serbian Army Commander-in-Chief Marshal Putnik was eventually killed in Subotica, a border city between Serbia and Ossetia.

……

After the German-Austrian coalition forces annihilated the main Serbian army, they took the opportunity to launch a counter-offensive southward in early June.

Prior to this battle, the total number of Serbian army personnel was only around 43, of which 33 were sent to cooperate with Lusa's army in the battle.

Of the original 33, only 6 escaped and returned. Combined with the 10 who were defending their home base, they now have a total of only 16 combat-ready troops. Moreover, the 6 who just returned lost most of their supplies and heavy artillery, reducing their combat effectiveness by several times.

Serbia also urgently mobilized many civilians who had never received military training before to join the army. They began emergency training in late May. When the German and Austrian forces launched their counter-offensive and entered the country, these newly recruited soldiers had only been training for two weeks and were not fully equipped with weapons. Several new recruits had to share a single rifle.

With these troops, it would be a pipe dream to hold off the German 6th Army's offensive.

The Serbian army was unwilling to relinquish the border, and on June 8th, another fierce battle broke out with the German-Austrian forces near the original border on the banks of the Danube River, in an attempt to keep the enemy out of the country.

The reason for such wishful thinking is that the Serbian Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Putnik, has died in battle. The new leader is not mature and prudent enough, and is swayed by the morale of the military and the people, so he must take a hard line. They can't just abandon the border without even trying, can they?

The youthful vigor of the generals and commanders soon came at a price.

This border warfare in the plains was exactly what the German-Austrian forces wanted. More than 40,000 veterans, who were originally responsible for defending their homeland and were in good condition, were divided into three full divisions and were defeated by the German-Austrian forces in two days.

There were also over 10 cannon fodder who had only undergone half a month of military training, and they were lost in vain.

After the border was breached, the Serbian army became somewhat more sober and did not dare to continue resisting.

However, when the German and Austro-Hungarian forces reached the vicinity of Belgrade, they were still reluctant to abandon the capital directly and ended up fighting a siege against the allied forces.

Although Belgrade held out for more than a month, it still came at the cost of 7 regular troops and hundreds of thousands of newly conscripted soldiers.

Moreover, the Demanians did not launch a full-scale attack on the city. Seeing that there were many people defending the city, they divided their forces into two armies to besiege the city, and later sent a portion of the Austro army to follow up and besiege the city.

The main force of the German 6th Army was eager to bypass Belgrade and continue downstream along the Danube to retake Romania—because even before this campaign, when Duke Rupprecht was discussing strategic policy with Lelouch, Lelouch had mentioned something to him:
The future empire's warfare methods will rely more on oil. Half-track tractors, as well as other armored and tracked vehicles in the future, will all require oil.

Therefore, since Romania had entered the war, seizing Romania's oil fields became extremely important.

Rupprecht only divided his forces to besiege Belgrade, while the main force of the remaining army group continued its fierce attack on Romania.

Romania only had about a dozen divisions of troops, and since Romania didn't have deep-seated hatred towards other countries, it didn't have much mobilization capacity.

在匈牙利战场被歼灭2个师、包围投降掉3个师、逃回来3个师后。截止到1915年6月，罗马尼亚可以用于守家的部队，也就只剩6~7个师了。

Duke Rupprecht could easily destroy Romania; the key difference lay in whether he could safely seize Romania's Ploiești oil fields.

Throughout history, a Bretonnian military advisory group existed within Romania. Before the fall of Romania in 1916, this advisory group, disregarding the lives and interests of the Romanian people, destroyed oil fields, fearing they would fall into the hands of the Demanians.

Of course, with Lelouch, the prescient transmigrator, helping to fill in the gaps in this life, these minor issues are insignificant.

Lelouch's solution was quite simple:
They marched south from Lviv along the railway line at the eastern foot of the Carpathians, using captured Russo broad-gauge locomotives and wagons to gradually occupy some of the edges of the Kievan Rus' black soil plain. Then they crossed the Kievan Rus' region into Romania, invading its territory from the northeastern corner.

At the same time, he also knew that a direct assault on Romanian territory was definitely not an option, and that in the end, the Romanian advisory group would most likely still blow up the oil fields.

Therefore, another measure must be taken: a final paratrooper airdrop. When ground troops are at least 200 kilometers away from the Ploiești oil field, airships will be used to fly over the Carpathian Mountains and airdrop troops into Ploiești, followed by a rapid assault on the oil field area.

(Note: The image below shows the main counter-offensive routes of the German and Austro-Hungarian forces during the entire Carpathian-Hungarian Campaign. The red line represents the line of control at the start of the campaign, and the outer yellow line represents the final line of control at the end of the campaign. The area between the red and yellow lines represents newly captured territory during this campaign.)
When Lelouch proposed a parachute drop, many cautious officers around him urged him not to take the risk. After all, they had just used a parachute drop to capture Lviv; how could the enemy not be on guard?
However, Lelouch defied the majority and pointed out two key points: "The enemy will be on guard, but there will be time and information gaps. If it's targeting the Kingdom of Burgundy or the Russa people, they are the counterparts who have suffered losses before, and they have airplanes, so of course they will be on high alert."

But what about the Romanians? They were already severely damaged by our army when they went abroad to fight. They retreated back to their country with only a few divisions, either holding Bucharest or deploying defenses along the current line of actual control.

Perhaps those die-hard warmongers are merely controlled by the Bretons, and the ordinary people have no will to fight. The Romanians also lack an air force. In this situation, if we parachute in, the only ones we really need to quickly eliminate are the Breton military advisory group—this is simply a decapitation strike.”

Lelouch's suggestion eventually convinced the opponents, and he even flew to the army group commander's place to ask the Duke for instructions, which the Duke agreed to.

Finally, in late June, Lelouch chose a fairly suitable time to execute his airborne plan.

At that time, several divisions of the 10th Army had crossed the edge of the Kievan Rus' Plain from the north and entered the northern border of Romania.

Several divisions of the 6th Army also bypassed Belgrade, sailed down the Danube River, and arrived at the Iron Gate Gorge near the border between Serbia and Romania.

The last remaining force of the Romanians, attempting to hold out at the Iron Gates, had two of the few remaining regular military divisions transferred there, while two others remained in the capital, Bucharest, to defend the northern front.

It was under these circumstances that Lelouch parachuted into the Ploieshti oil field on the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains on June 22, landing directly overhead at dawn.

He completely disregarded the Britannian advisory group on the ground—especially since a considerable number of the advisory group were not regular soldiers; some were oil technicians, and others were civilian coordinators.

The moment Lelouch appeared out of nowhere, the Britannians were all stunned. In the end, Lelouch not only easily seized the oil field, but also had the strength to hunt down the Britannian advisory group and take them all down.

Lelouch would certainly not show mercy to such a beast who comes to other countries to sow discord and even disregards the lives and interests of his allies and their own people.

These individuals who secretly sabotage other countries have already violated international law, are not protected by any international treaties, and do not deserve to be treated as prisoners of war.

Lelouch then seized a local Romanian civilian official and handed over evidence to him that "these Bretons were attempting to destroy Romania's oil fields in the event of a fall or a change of allegiance for the benefit of Bretonnia."

Then, Lelouch lent several guns to the local Romanian law enforcement officers, who, through proper procedures, executed all members of the Romanian advisory group, leaving no one alive.

As for how to handle the body, that depends on the local Romanian civil servants.

Even if they wanted to learn about Romanian traditional culture, or to emulate Grand Duke Vlad III (the prototype for Count Dracula), Lelouch wouldn't object.

……

Ultimately, after Lelouch parachuted into the Ploiești oil field and annihilated a regiment of Romanian regular troops and a Bretonnian advisory group guarding the field.

The Romanian leadership was finally shaken.

Given the current situation, Romania considered that it didn't have any deep-seated hatred for Germany and Austria. It was simply that the current king had been pushed to the throne by pro-Burundi and pro-Luxembourg factions, which led to the emergence of pro-Burundi and pro-Luxembourg civil and military officials, resulting in this situation.

When these pro-Burunt and pro-Luxury factions suffer heavy losses and are killed on the battlefield, the original pro-German and pro-Austrian factions in the Romanian high command will naturally rise to power.

Thus, a change occurred in Bucharest in late June.

Prince William, the elder brother of the current King Ferdinand I, who had renounced his right to the Romanian throne as a child in 1886, was surprisingly enthroned by the two divisions in Bucharest.

Prince William, and his father Prince Leopold, renounced their right to the throne early on because the Romanian parliament demanded that "the king must swear to abandon his pro-German stance and be friendly with Russo." They were unwilling to do so, and thus renounced their rights in 1880 and 1886 respectively.

Ferdinand I was willing to swear an oath of allegiance before he could bypass his father and brothers to become crown prince, and he ascended the throne last year.

Now, because of the problems with Chinluchinbu, Romania is in danger of national extinction, and the army must solve the problem at its root.

In particular, Prince William already held a military position; he was the commander of the garrison division stationed in Bucharest. As a result, his own soldiers put a yellow robe on him.

The soldiers pleaded, "The country has reached this point. If Your Majesty doesn't step in, Romania will not survive. For the sake of the country's survival, we beg Your Majesty to reluctantly take over this mess."

What could Prince William do? He could only sigh and accept it: "You all know what a mess this is? You've really made things difficult for me!"

After Prince William's hasty ascension to the throne, he immediately executed several corrupt officials who had accepted bribes in pound and ruble. He then used this as a pledge of allegiance to request the restoration of peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary, and agreed to accept German and Austria-Hungarian wartime takeover of Romania's oil fields, ports, and railways. Other conditions could be discussed later.

Such matters were not something that Duke Rupprecht or Marshal Leopold could decide; they had no choice but to relay the situation to the relevant department in charge of foreign affairs for resolution.

Ultimately, De Mania accepted the terms, demanding that all Romanian troops lay down their arms for purge and grant them military passage rights.

De Mania allowed Romania to return to neutrality and not declare war on Brunei and Luzon. However, Romania also pledged to resolutely retaliate against any invasion or attempt to cross its border by Brunei or Luzon.

As for the penalties for territorial exchange, we can discuss that later.

With this victory, the Romanian oil fields were essentially secured.

-

P.S.: There's not much suspense with these small countries, and the battles aren't very exciting, so I just fast-forwarded through them.

Today's second update will also be a quick recap of the results. Tomorrow, as the great power rivalry continues, the pace will become more reasonable again.

This can be considered a good balance between detail and brevity.

(End of this chapter)