Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 134: Making a few preliminary moves to squeeze the last remaining value out of the airship

1915, April 7.

Borgelad, a small town on the Romanian-Luza border.

Two corps of the German 6th Army have quietly assembled in the area, making discreet preparations for an attack. The military supplies and ammunition needed for the campaign have also been procured and transported to the front lines.

Borkelad, strictly speaking, belonged to the Kievan Rus' region of the Rus' Empire, and was not even part of Bessarabia (later Moldova, which was seized from Romania by the Rus' army when Napoleon attacked Rus' in 1812 and was pushed back).

However, during the previous Romanian campaign, the German and Austro-Hungarian forces took advantage of the situation and, while advancing south and conquering Romania, also seized this region of Romania, along with a small amount of western Bessarabia.

The transportation infrastructure between these regions and Romania is quite good, with good road conditions, which is very beneficial for the concentration of troops and supplies stationed in Romania to the front lines. However, once past Borkelad, the roads become much more difficult to traverse if one wants to advance northeast.

Across the border, Lusa's army maintained the defensive line, but the initial lines of defense were not very strong; the strategic depth was very deep, which was a common feature of the Eastern Front.

On the western front, due to the short battle lines and high troop density, both sides dug trenches and built fortifications layer by layer, defending themselves fiercely. However, on the eastern front, the battlefield was vast, and deploying millions of troops was like sprinkling salt on a surface—it wouldn't make a ripple. The only option was to focus on key areas and implement defenses in depth.

The front-line positions only serve as sentry posts; if the enemy launches an attack, the outermost defensive line will be lost immediately.

Traveling 180 kilometers northeast of Borkelad (240 kilometers in actual distance) will take you to Odessa, the largest port on the Black Sea coast in the Kievan Rus' region. A few dozen kilometers east of Odessa along the coastline lies Nikolayev, the largest shipyard city on the Black Sea in the Russo region.

Odessa and Nikolaev were the next targets Lelouch planned to attack for Duke Rupprecht.

Recently, the German 6th Army has been preparing for this goal. Even during Lelouch's time in Prague and Wilhelmshaven, preparations for war here never ceased.

The reason for choosing these two locations as targets is simple: Odessa is the largest port in the Black Sea in terms of throughput, and taking it would provide significant logistical support for the long-term campaign to penetrate the Kievan Rus' plains.

Nikolayev has a large shipyard that can easily repair all kinds of warships, including the latest battlecruisers and battleships.

Why didn't the Ottomans dare to use those ships for any major missions for more than half a year after the Demanians sold the Moltke-class battlecruisers to them? There are many reasons, but one very important one is that the Ottomans themselves lacked large shipyards.

Once a Moltke-class battleship is severely damaged and needs to be docked for repairs, the Ottomans cannot repair it; they can only repair minor damage that does not require dry docking. This is why they dare not use their warships freely, but can only carefully ensure that they are not severely damaged before daring to take some limited combat actions.

If Lelouch helps the 6th Army plan to capture Odessa and Nikolayev, they will no longer have to worry about the problem of "damaged warships in the Black Sea theater having nowhere to be repaired." Instead, it will put Rusa's Black Sea Fleet in such a predicament.

Therefore, if we want to leverage the advantages of combined land and sea operations in the Black Sea theater, the first battle should focus on capturing key ports and shipyards. This is the safest and most profitable strategy. As for the major inland cities, we can leave them for the autumn offensive; we must take things one step at a time.

……

"You're finally back, kid. Check on the preparations here. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

Inside Borkelad, Lelouch, weary from his journey back to the front lines, was immediately received by Commander-in-Chief, the Duke. The Duke showed him the troops' preparations and then posed this question.

Lelouch studied the map carefully for a long time before saying confidently, "The preparations are very thorough. A ground offensive by two armies should be able to break through the enemy's defenses and advance deep into their territory. Combined with the Shanghai Navy and our meticulously planned 'landing' operation around the Dniester River estuary..."

I think that the 240-kilometer land route from here to Odessa can be easily advanced for the first 200 kilometers! The biggest fear in attacking Odessa was that we would be blocked by the muddy and difficult terrain with its dense river branches when crossing the Dniester River delta.

Once the bridges are destroyed and boats cannot be requisitioned, the network of waterways will greatly hinder our offensive, giving the enemy time to reorganize their defenses.

Now, launch a surprise attack, landing in a remote area 160 kilometers in a straight line from the front lines, a place the enemy could never heavily defend. Then, seize the dock areas on both sides of the river estuary, and if you're lucky, capture the layers of bridges in the delta region.

Finally, they would wait for the main ground offensive to advance from the front lines, allowing the main force to quickly break through the Dniester River estuary and reach the outskirts of Odessa. The enemy's defenses would not have time to adjust.

Moreover, even if something unexpected happens, as long as we seize control of the sea in advance, the 'landing force' can move in and out freely. At worst, if the supporting forces arrive late or the initial landing force cannot hold the position, we can simply retreat along the coastline.

It turns out that the plan to attack Odessa that Lelouch had discussed with the Duke before was different from the traditional plan of "attacking northeastward along the Romanian coastline" in that it included an additional operation of "flanking and landing, and seizing key river delta bridges and docks".

The aim was to prevent the enemy from relying on the river network and the muddy delta to mount layered resistance, thus denying them the opportunity to rebuild second and third lines of defense after their frontline forces were broken. The goal was to quickly advance through this 200-kilometer defense zone and reach the outskirts of Odessa should the border be breached.

Of course, how to break through the first line of defense on the ground border still depends on hard power, which is the task of the two main forces deployed around Borkelad in episode 6. Lelouch doesn't know how to optimize this aspect, and this task has nothing to do with him.

Demania has plenty of troops capable of fighting head-on battles; they specialize in their respective fields, so Lelouch doesn't need to worry about that.

(Note: The image below is a map of the Odessa campaign plan.)
Lelouch's only concerns, and the things he was willing to worry about, were flanking maneuvers to seize the bridge and the road, similar to Operation Market Garden during World War II on Earth.

Of course, Montgomery's "Operation Market Garden" was a disastrous failure. He wanted to seize the bridges on the vast network of waterways from Billy King to Holland, prevent the enemy from building up layers of delaying defenses, and support the main Normandy army to break through Holland. However, it turned into "A Bridge Too Far".

However, Lelouch's actions are fundamentally different from Montgomery's "Operation Market Garden." This guy, who is used to using airdrops, doesn't plan to use airdrops this time, but instead plans to switch to an amphibious landing.

The landing site he chose must have been a place where the enemy was lax in their defenses when the battle first broke out, so it was not difficult for him to gain a foothold when he first landed.

Moreover, the number of troops he would deploy would far exceed that of an airdrop—airdrops are limited by the current size of the Empire's airship force, which can only transport a maximum of one regiment. If a regiment is left in the rear, and there are no tens of thousands of friendly prisoners of war to rescue like in the previous Lviv campaign, it would certainly be drowned in the enemy's vast ocean.

The scale of the landing was limited by the number of Black Sea transport ships that could be procured. It was possible to transport two divisions at once, and there would be continuous round-trip transport.

The key to the landing was that the Demanians' fleet in the Black Sea (which was actually a fleet that had been sold to the Ottomans, but the warships and sailors were Demanians and flew the Ottoman flag) had to be captured and secured, and that mines be cleared from the southern coastal area of ​​the Odessa port area and the Dniester River estuary area.

With sustained control of the sea, the landing force can advance and retreat at will, and naturally, the desperate situation of "no way out once dropped" like in Operation Market Garden will not occur.

Everything seemed a bit risky, but in reality, it was all under control. If the navy failed to gain control of the sea, the subsequent operations would not even be launched. The entire plan could be adapted and adjusted as needed.

……

After Lelouch finalized the battle plan with the Duke, he quickly returned to his own troops to further refine his tactics and familiarize himself with the mission with his subordinates.

He is now nominally the commander of the "Airborne Training Division". He not only has the original core veterans under his command, but also about five or six thousand carefully selected from the 4 Demanian prisoners of war rescued in the Lviv Campaign. These are all people who have killed the enemy and made meritorious contributions, and they have been expanded into his own direct subordinate troops.

These troops fought alongside Lelouch in tough battles; they captured Lviv together, so their morale and loyalty are definitely not an issue. However, their tactical and technical skills are still somewhat lacking and cannot be compared to the veterans of the original airborne regiment, but there's no rush to fix that.

Lelouch thus began his last-minute preparations and rigorous training. All that remained was for the Navy to make the first move and confirm their results before his landing force could be deployed.

If the navy wants to take action, it first needs to install the new "bottom trawl minesweeping chain" that was just transported from Wilhelmshaven on some warships and teach the soldiers in the Black Sea Fleet how to use it.

Secondly, air support is needed to eliminate some coastal artillery fortifications south of Odessa port to help open up a landing zone. After all, blockading a port with coastal artillery is extremely difficult, beyond the capabilities of the navy.

There were no enemy coastal artillery fortifications at the mouth of the Dniester River, but there were some on the southern outskirts of Odessa. These fortifications were located approximately 15 kilometers south of Odessa, and 20 kilometers and 25 kilometers from the north and south banks of the Dniester lagoon, respectively. This distance was clearly beyond the range of ordinary large-caliber land-based cannons, but barely within the range of the main guns of naval 305mm battleships.

These gun emplacements south of Odessa Port consist of three twin-mounted 305mm naval guns, along with some smaller cannons. Before the enemy invents white phosphorus bombs, airship bombing might still have one last chance to prove its effectiveness; let's give those airships one last shot at stationary targets.

For this operation, Lelouch suggested that the Duke coordinate a lot of resources, borrowing all the remaining airships of the Empire that could be used for bombing missions to carry out several waves of intense bombing.

The target is not limited to the port of Odessa, nor even to the eastern front and the Black Sea. The western front can also be used to launch a concentrated bombing campaign against the Britannians.

This was another coordinated operation involving the sea, land, and air forces, and it was the first time the air force had participated.

……

The aerial bombing missions were also prepared well in advance. Since the Battle of Lviv, the airship force had been in a state of low mission intensity and had had enough rest.

The last time the Britannians suffered a major defeat at the hands of airships was at the end of February, but since then they haven't been beaten too badly by airships again, so they have never figured out a solution similar to white phosphorus bombs - in the history of the earth, white phosphorus bombs and incendiary bombs to counter airships did not appear until 1916.

Even though the form of the threat has changed, as long as the intensity is not too high, the people of Burkina Faso are not so motivated to go to great lengths to solve this problem.

On the eastern front, the Lusa people only suffered losses from the airships in May, and it has only been two months since then. The Lusa people's scientific research is even slower, and it is even less likely that they will find a solution immediately.

However, one must be prepared for the worst, so Lelouch repeatedly wrote to his superiors suggesting that they take advantage of this summer to launch a few more powerful bombings, otherwise the window of opportunity might be missed.

A while ago, when he was in William Hill, he wrote a letter to senior staff officers about this matter.

At the time, there were actually many different voices at the top. For example, some people were arrogant and conceited, believing that the airship force had made great contributions in Dunkirk and Lviv and could continue to be rampant for a long time to come.

Many people are even advocating for continued large-scale airship production, increasing the existing fleet of large airships from 70 to 120! They're even suggesting spending a lot of money to build 50 new large airships!
When Lelouch heard this opinion, he desperately tried to stop it. Only he knew that the Empire's airships were already sufficient. With the advent of white phosphorus bombs and high-ceiling fighters, airships would eventually be phased out of the bombing vehicle era, and their greatest future use might only be long-range maritime reconnaissance.

If we could put on the brakes now and save the resources that were originally intended for the 50 more large airships to be built later, wouldn't it be better to build more airplanes, warships, and tanks? The massive amounts of hydrogen needed for airships also require electrolysis to produce; wouldn't it be better to save that electricity and use it to refine more high-quality electric arc furnace steel?

However, given his current status, his voice still carried little weight, so before returning home, he had no choice but to request a private meeting with Admiral Tirpitz, the Minister of the Navy, to discuss his technical analysis and concerns.

Marshal Tirpitz initially didn't believe it either, thinking that the airships still had great potential and should be expanded. Lelouch had no choice but to take out the white phosphorus bomb sample he had prepared in advance, and then conduct an experiment in front of Marshal Tirpitz using a hydrogen gasbag.

It also explained that during the Battle of Lviv, Major Peter Strasser's airship crashed because the gasbag was ruptured by an enemy reconnaissance plane, and the spark plug ignited the hydrogen gasbag after the reconnaissance plane's engine was damaged.

Marshal Tirpitz was truly shocked when he witnessed the hydrogen container exploding instantly. He then thanked Lelouch and went back to work tirelessly to persuade the Emperor, the General Staff, and the Army and Navy to stop wasting resources on building new airships.

This also prompted the General Staff to make a firm decision: before the airships were compromised by the enemy, to launch a final, concentrated bombing raid on the enemy! They couldn't keep them in their hands any longer!

This led to the current situation where Duke Rupprecht could easily borrow 30 bomber airships on the Eastern Front for use in the battles of Odessa and Nikolaev.

Meanwhile, to the west, 30 airships have been assembled, preparing for a major operation in the next few days.

The reason we haven't taken action yet is simply to wait for suitable weather – there are quite a few storms every July, and sometimes the coastal areas have thick cloud cover in the summer. We need to wait for a day without thunderstorms or low-altitude clouds to maximize the effectiveness of the operation.

Moreover, it would be best to wait until both the eastern and western fronts had several consecutive days of good weather. Because once a large-scale bombing campaign began on either front, it would inevitably cause shock throughout the Allied countries. Even if they were unable to completely retaliate, they would at least take some preventative measures and become more vigilant, thus reducing the subsequent bombing results.

And July 28th, a day with perfect weather on both the east and west sides, finally arrived.

……

At 3:7 AM on July 28, 30 airships at the Sulina base on the Black Sea coast of Romania completed all preparations for takeoff, loaded bombs, and awaited the final order to launch.

It's also 180 kilometers as the crow flies from here to Odessa, and 220 kilometers to Nikolayev. But if you go to Odessa first and then fly to Nikolayev instead of taking the direct route, the total distance is 240 kilometers.

The commander of the 6th Army, Duke Rupprecht, also attached great importance to this operation, personally inspecting the airship base and shaking hands with each of the captains who were about to launch.

Lelouch, along with the Duke, arrived at the Sulina base in the middle of the night to wish everyone a safe journey.

When the Duke shakes hands with everyone, if there are any acquaintances whom Lelouch admires, Lelouch will also help introduce them and introduce their achievements:
"Your Highness, this Lieutenant Colonel Albert Kesselring was originally an artillery balloon observer. He also served on airships for reconnaissance and fire control missions. He is also skilled in parachuting and has experience in parachuting back to his unit after his balloon was shot down in actual combat."

So last time I sent him to the Przemeshir fortress to persuade Lieutenant General Kusmanek to surrender in an orderly manner as planned, he did a very good job. Later, during the Lviv bombing, Major Peter Strasser was killed, and the bombing airship unit lost a key member.

I felt that Lieutenant Colonel Kesselring was a good fit for the airship unit, which is why I took the liberty of suggesting he be seconded. His experience as an aerial artillery observer is indeed very suitable for bombing missions, and his performance in training and integration with the team over the past two months has been excellent.”

Upon hearing of this man's impressive resume and his bold and daring actions, the Duke couldn't help but cast an admiring glance at him.

"Work hard. Anyone that Lelouch has his eye on definitely has potential."

"I will do my utmost to remove all enemy fortresses from the path of the Empire's advance!" Kesselring stood very upright and saluted the Duke with great excitement.

After an inspection, all the airships finally took off and flew towards Odessa.

But Lelouch's work wasn't finished yet. Taking advantage of the Duke's visit to the airship base, after the airships had all flown away, Lelouch led the Duke on a tour of the newly built airship mooring facilities:

"Your Highness, this airship base was hastily repaired in just over a month after Romania surrendered to the Empire, which is why we are able to deploy airships in such a superior position today."

The engineering battalions directly under the army group have made invaluable contributions. Before the bombing of Lviv, during the inspection of the Mikhailovsky airship base, I discovered that some engineering talents in the engineering corps had great potential and deserved to be given important responsibilities..."

As Lelouch spoke, he said a few more good words for his promising junior colleague, Captain Fritz Toth, and even secured him an opportunity to shake hands with His Excellency the Marshal and report to him in person.

Fritz Thoth was so excited he almost fainted, and his gratitude towards Lelouch was beyond words. He was just short of finding a secluded spot to kowtow to his superior.

-

PS: Yesterday was a real pain in the ass. I was so annoyed by the constant pop-ups that I impulsively upgraded to HarmonyOS 5. As a result, I was forced to use the HarmonyOS version of the app, and I couldn't see the illustrations, the Easter egg chapters, or even the effects of my own creations.

For those using a certain brand of phone, please don't rush to upgrade your system, otherwise your reading experience will drastically decline. Please continue using the compatible version. Thank you. I posted a bonus chapter at the end of the previous chapter, and this chapter has illustrations. However, I can't see them on my own reader app. Android readers, if you can see them, please let me know. If you find any problems, please comment below. Thank you.

(End of this chapter)