Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 155 The enemy also has submachine guns, but we will never retreat (a long chapter of 10,000 words)

The appearance of submachine guns and grenade launchers abruptly halted the advance of the Burkina Faso federal forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Although the Demanians could not immediately send a large number of troops to directly reinforce the Ottomans, the mere provision of tactical staff, fire support, and weapons was enough to drastically alter the course of this anti-landing operation.

This is the second time that the Burkina Faso ground forces have suffered such heavy losses in an offensive operation; the last time was during the Dunkirk campaign when they were forced to launch a desperate assault on the Maloleban fortress at all costs.

The day's fierce fighting quickly came to an end. As the last wave of enemies was defeated and retreated, the triumphant Commander Mustafa Kemer, with great caution and decisiveness, issued the following orders:
"All troops shall immediately and orderly retreat to the trench area on the reverse slope of the mountain! Beware of retaliatory artillery fire from the enemy! Check all the wounded and take them away!"

The Ottoman soldiers, who had just won a great victory, dared not be complacent and had no time to celebrate. They immediately followed their division commander's orders and withdrew without hesitation.

They didn't even take the heavy machine guns and small-caliber anti-tank guns with them; they simply unloaded the guns from their tripods, placed them on the ground in the trench, covered them with a few shovelfuls of soil, and then ran away as fast as they could.

Not long after they withdrew from their positions, the enemy's naval bombardment resumed as expected. It was estimated that the air raids would continue for at least another half hour, allowing the navy to fully express its anger and frustration—the army had suffered so many casualties; how could the navy appease the army's resentment without prolonged bombardment?
Division Commander Kemmer seemed oblivious to the artillery fire two miles away. He first inspected the condition of the wounded soldiers and comforted each of his own wounded soldiers who were still conscious.

And watch as military doctors treat wounded soldiers, bandage them, remove shrapnel, and amputate limbs.

They also picked out soldiers whose external injuries didn't seem too severe, but who had obvious symptoms of infection and fever, and then fed them the latest generation of Demania's anti-infective drug, sulfonamide.

Kemer was also slightly curious when he saw the drug. He had only been informed of its existence three days ago, that some powerful figures in Demania had given the Ottoman army special permission, especially to provide sulfonamides to Kemer's two divisions on a trial basis, and that it might be expanded to all troops involved in the Gallipoli campaign in the future.

The wounded soldiers who just took the medicine today certainly won't react this quickly, but the first batch of wounded soldiers who took the medicine have been taking it for three days, and the difference is quite noticeable.

Kemmer then asked the army doctor, "How effective is this medicine? How many infected wounded soldiers can it cure?"

Based on the actual situation over the past few days, the military doctor answered truthfully: "Even without medication, nearly 30% of the wounded with moderate and severe infections can survive on their own with their own immunity. After medication, the survival rate can be increased to about 60%, but there are still 5% of patients whose disease will progress faster and some will die acutely, accounting for about 2% of the total number of people taking the medication. Another 3% will have sequelae of varying degrees of liver and kidney failure."

It saves 30% more patients with moderate to severe infections, but also kills 2% more patients and damages 3% of patients' liver and kidneys.

Bringing back six more wounded means taking one away; this is a trade-off the commander must make, but I'm sure the commander will ensure the wounded receive medication. At most, a preliminary screening will be conducted, such as having the wounded report their condition. Those with a history of severe liver or kidney disease shouldn't risk taking medication; they should just tough it out and gamble on their luck.

As for Kemer, he felt that the Demacians' willingness to give him this "miracle drug" was already a tremendous show of trust and support. He could easily imagine that the Demacians had kept it so secret beforehand precisely because they were afraid that the Allied side would find out the details of the drug's existence. For an allied nation, being willing to give it to them was definitely an exceptional case.

"It seems someone in the high command or staff of the German 6th Army has a special fondness for us, hence this extra treatment," Kemmer remarked astutely. As he sighed, he thought of the several wounded enemy officers he had captured earlier that day, and perhaps he could use the opportunity to interrogate them for intelligence. He quickly asked the medic...

"By the way, were any of the wounded and captured enemy officers given medicine? Can you make sure they don't know what they're eating?"

The medic immediately replied, "They were given the pills while they were unconscious from infection. One of them even choked to death because he couldn't swallow them. They certainly don't know what they ate."

The reason for administering drugs to enemy soldiers was not out of humanitarian considerations, but rather because it was believed that reviving officers might yield useful information through interrogation.

Kemer nodded in satisfaction after confirming there were no mistakes: "After taking the medicine, did anyone's fever subside and they wake up?"

Without further ado, the medic led Division Commander Kemmer to a ward where they met a wounded Australian, also a colonel.

The other party was still somewhat dazed. When he saw an officer who looked to be a division commander or regimental commander come in to interrogate him, the Australian colonel immediately trembled and shrank back into a ball.
"Y-you...you are Colonel Lelouch Hunt?!"

Kemer frowned and turned to ask the medic, "Did this man go crazy from the shock of the battlefield? What a waste, we've saved a madman."

The medic said, "No, after this man was injured and fell unconscious, he kept muttering something about 'the devil of Dunkirk has returned'..."

Kemer had to patiently soothe and question the other party, and it took him quite a while to figure it out.

The Australian colonel gradually regained consciousness, but not completely. He murmured, "It's good that it's not...it's good that it's not. That makes sense. How could Lelouch Hunt personally come to such a front-line location to defend the mountain? Back in Dunkirk, it wasn't him who was directly in charge of defending the Maroleban fortress, but one of his battalion commanders, I heard his name was Walter Model."

A few days ago, I heard from my Italian allies that Walter Model is now on the Isonzo front, having risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel and regimental commander, leading two German mountain regiments and two Austrian mountain divisions, holding off 300,000 Italian troops for four whole months! How could he possibly be here...?

"Your tactics and courage in defending the mountain are so similar to his, daring to charge so close and fight to the death... It's terrifying..."

Upon hearing this, Kemer felt a little proud, but also found it both amusing and exasperating.

It turns out that his combat prowess and tactical command skills are already comparable to those of his Demacian counterparts.

The fighting prowess of the Demacians has always been highly regarded within the Allied camp, and neither Austria nor Austria dared to fail to admire the German army's tenacity and discipline.

The funny thing is, just because he used a grenade launcher and submachine gun so skillfully, like a pro, and made full use of the weapons' strengths by taking advantage of the terrain, he was mistaken for that friendly lieutenant colonel named "Walter Model"... He was clearly a colonel and division commander; being mistaken for him like that was incredibly embarrassing!

But after laughing, Kemer also felt a slight urge to learn from the other person.

"Walter Model, who managed to hold out at Dunkirk until the ANZAC survivors were all traumatized by him. Now, he can still hold off three or four hundred thousand Italian troops with only one-tenth of his forces. He must be no ordinary man."

His direct superior, Colonel Lelouch, a key staff officer in the German 6th Army, was certainly no ordinary man... I seem to recall Brigadier General Keitel and the others mentioning that staff officer Lelouch several times before. I really want to meet him in person and ask him for advice..."

This feeling intensified a few days later when he learned that the sulfonamide drugs were also supplied with special permission from the Marshal after Lelouch persuaded him to do so.

Kemer decided that after this battle, he would definitely find an opportunity to ask Lelouch for advice.

However, he also knows that he has more pressing matters to attend to right now.

For example, continue interrogating these captured Australian officers, ask the enemy what they think of the Ottoman army's new weapons and defensive tactics, and also try to find out what the enemy's next possible countermeasures might be.

These prisoners of war certainly didn't know what their superiors would do next, but being seriously wounded, they were unwilling to suffer any more. For some less sensitive questions, they chose to cooperate and answer, thinking that they would not reveal any military secrets.

But the clever Kemmer still managed to glean some useful information from the other party's casual, conversational confession.

"It seems that the morale of the ANZAC is very low, and a large number of officers in the ANZAC were lucky enough to escape back from the Dunkirk battle. As long as they survived, they were generally promoted by at least one rank. So today, seeing these opponents with similar tactics and weapons to those in the Dunkirk battle, they are so terrified. It turns out that they are recalling their most fearful thing."

"However, according to this captured regimental commander, their Italian allies also have weapons similar to submachine guns? And they're newly manufactured? But the Italians weren't in the first wave of attacks? The Britannian allies suffered such heavy losses; will they beg the Italians to go first next? I can't be too careful. The Italians aren't particularly strong, but if they have new weapons, we should still respect them..."

Kemer thought to himself.

……

Kemmer's conjecture was not entirely wrong.

Because after the crushing defeat on the 29th, the remaining ANZAC troops were indeed severely traumatized.

Many officers who survived Dunkirk developed severe stress symptoms due to the revelation of their psychological trauma.

So on the morning of the 30th, when General Britannia was still trying to urge the ANZACs to take the lead as cannon fodder and carry out the offensive mission, there was widespread disobedience among the lower and middle-ranking soldiers of the ANZACs.

These lackeys actually dared to defy their masters; this is the first time such a situation has occurred since the outbreak of this world war.

General Hamilton, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, was taken aback. To prevent the morale of his troops from collapsing, after a hasty mobilization, he had no choice but to lead by example and send one division of Britannian soldiers and two divisions of the Kanner Army to attack the Kilitbashir Heights from multiple directions. The firepower preparation was also more thorough than ever before.

The troops fought more cautiously, and by the end of the day, the Bretonnian soldiers had suffered over 1400 casualties, while the Canadians had suffered over 2300. The total losses were nearly half of what they had been the previous day, but the results were still lackluster, and they were unable to gain any ground.

On the 31st, the offensive had to be suspended for a whole day. The expeditionary force commanders held a meeting to discuss countermeasures and ultimately decided that they must urge the Italian reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible, and then send in a wave of elite Italian troops equipped with submachine guns.

In the Gallipoli campaign, the Republic of Blagoveshchensk assembled a force of 80 men, 30 of whom were intended for Italian troops. However, the Italians were adept at procrastination and dragging their feet, so they weren't even called upon in the first wave.

The landing operation has been going on for almost half a month now, and the Italians are finally arriving late and about to reach the battlefield.

After making the meeting's decision, General Hamilton questioned the Italian liaison officer about when Italian troops would arrive. The Italian liaison officer continued to evade the question, and finally, General Hamilton, his face grim, issued an ultimatum:

"A second telegram to General Cardolner! All Italian army units participating in this campaign must arrive at the Gallipoli front and engage in combat before dawn on September 2nd, and ensure that they are the main force equipped with Villers-Poloscha submachine guns!"

Otherwise, I, Britannia, will consider the Italians to have violated the treaty and affected the subsequent handover of the North African colonies!

Historically, in late 1915, the Italians developed and mass-produced the world's first submachine gun, named the "Villeparoza M1915".

However, in this world, due to Lelouch's butterfly effect, the Demanians mass-produced submachine guns at the beginning of this year and used them in the Dunkirk-Yipour campaign.

The emergence of German goods also inspired the Italians, accelerating their research and development.

Furthermore, the Italians officially declared war on Germany and Austria in early May, launching fierce attacks on Austrian defenses along the Isonzo River for three or four months without success. The Italian army suffered greatly at the hands of Model and Dieter's two mountain regiments, as well as the Austrian mountain divisions they commanded.

When defending a strategic mountain pass, the defenders would first take cover on the reverse slope of the mountain when facing enemy artillery fire. Only after the enemy had ceased their artillery fire and truly begun their assault would the defenders re-enter the frontal defensive positions on the mountainside to engage the enemy in close combat—this tactic was first invented by Model, one of Lelouch's men.

So strictly speaking, the ANZAC troops at Dunkirk were the first victims of this tactic, the Italians in the Isonzo River theater were the second victims, and the ANZAC troops were the third most recently to suffer.

As the second victim, the Italians suffered under Model's rule for several months. After being humiliated by the blood of hundreds of thousands of Italian soldiers, they finally made a desperate effort to invest heavily in resources and developed the "Villers Parossa M1915 submachine gun" a full six months ahead of the historical average. It has now been in emergency mass production for three months and has produced a total of five figures of submachine guns, but it should not exceed 20,000.

Italian light weapons companies like Beretta are also going all out to expand submachine gun production, and have received a lot of funding and raw materials from France and Burkina Faso.

As for expecting Bretonnias to design their own automatic weapons like the "submachine gun," the current Bretonnias are still too inexperienced; they lack the experience and time in this area.

The needs of the war were too urgent. Being able to directly buy Italian goods, or pay the Italians to authorize them to produce their own goods and then make slight improvements, would be considered very good.

General Hamilton's stern telegram finally had an effect. The Italians promised to arrive at the battlefield and launch the main attack before dawn on September 2nd.

However, the Italians also made new demands on the Burgundian army through their liaison officers: they believed that the Burgundian army's previous offensive setbacks were due to insufficient coordination between the army and sea forces, and laziness and cowardice of the navy. Therefore, they demanded that the Royal Navy provide full firepower support when the Italian army launched its main attack.

When General Hamilton received this reply, he was also somewhat puzzled.

Although he was angry, he was not directly responsible, so he did not immediately retaliate. Instead, he relayed the message to Admiral Sackville Carden, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet.

When General Carden learned that he had been confronted by his Italian counterparts, he was naturally not going to tolerate it and immediately argued with the Italian liaison officer.

But to be fair, the Italian liaison officer's words made a lot of sense: "We have observed carefully these past few days that the reason why the attack on the Kilitbashir Heights failed was because the enemy had very cleverly learned the Demanian instructor's tactic of 'when encountering artillery preparation on the mountaintop, the entire army retreats to the reverse slope defense zone on the back side of the mountaintop, and returns only after the shelling has completely ended.'"

We've seen this tactic many times before in our Isonzo River defense zone on the Italian-Austrian border! The best way to counter it is to provide wide-angle flanking fire coverage on the hilltop, ensuring there are no 'reverse slopes' available for use! But why has the Royal Navy only been shelling from the entrance to the strait on the south side of the peninsula these days?

Why not move the warships to the narrow bay on the north side of the peninsula, bombarding the Kilit Bashir Heights at an angle of over 90 degrees to the southern fleet? If two fleets were to bombard the hilltop at an obtuse angle, the enemy would have no safe 'reverse slope position' to hold!

Carden was rendered speechless by these well-reasoned arguments and could only offer a flimsy excuse: "But the bay on the north side of the peninsula is very long and narrow, and there must be many mines buried there, making mine clearance difficult. That road is also a dead end, only valuable during artillery bombardment, and is not usually used for navigation. You expect the navy to spend so much effort to clear mines from a one-time use area of ​​the sea?"

Moreover, the peninsula is 11 kilometers wide near the Kilitbashir Heights. For naval guns to fire from 11 kilometers away, they would have to get close to the shallow waters near the coast. Battleships couldn't get there, so older protected cruisers had to get as close to the shore as possible to fire...

Moreover, there are some hills and highlands along the northern coast of the peninsula. Although they are not as high as the Kilit Bashir Heights, they are enough to block the line of sight between the northern sea level and the Kilit Bashir Heights, making it impossible for warships shelling from the north coast to directly observe the impact points.

As for the main fleet on the south bank, those shells hit the reverse slope, so the artillery observers could not see whether they hit the target. If we wanted to carry out crossfire between the north and south banks, we had to send out a large number of combat reconnaissance aircraft to provide aerial observation and fire correction. Such missions of deep reconnaissance and fire correction over enemy-controlled areas also posed a great threat to our pilots!

Don't you know that the Demacians' pilots and fighters are far more elite?! Even though our aircraft have only recently been equipped with fire control systems, we must still try to avoid offensive air combat!

Admiral Carden listed four or five difficulties faced by the Royal Navy, which served as a reason for his failure to thoroughly clear mines from the bay in the north of the peninsula and his inability to send a fleet to cross-bomb the high ground from that direction.

But there's no way around it; these excuses are just ways to shirk responsibility after the fact, and the things that need to be done still have to be done.

The unsuccessful ground offensive forced him to abandon some of the navy's interests, making the navy take greater risks and pay the price for achieving the "obtuse angle crossfire bombardment of the high ground".

Ultimately, Admiral Carden pledged to begin a full-scale mine-clearing operation on the northern fjords of the peninsula starting on the 31st, especially to thoroughly clear mines in the shallow waters near the coast, ensuring that when the Italian army launches its general offensive on September 2nd, the navy can launch a pincer attack on the Kilitbashir Heights from both the north and south, leaving the defenders nowhere to hide!

……

The general only needs to say a few words, but his subordinates are running themselves ragged.

There's a reason why the northern fjords of the Gallipoli Peninsula intimidated the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy did not possess the new type of minesweeping device like Lelouch's; they still relied on traditional floating minesweeping cables to cut the anchor chains of anchor mines, which was extremely unreliable and often resulted in mines slipping through the net.

Forced to clear the area within two or three days, many old-fashioned protected cruisers could only carefully trawle the sea, while minesweepers followed alongside, using small-caliber guns to destroy the mines that had been cut off from their anchor chains.

As a result, within three days, another three protected cruisers, two destroyers, and six minesweeping boats were sunk by this vast and densely packed minefield.

Fortunately, the Royal Navy maintained control of the sea in this area, and the ships that were sunk by mines did not sink quickly, so there were no major casualties.

Aside from the more than one hundred crew members directly killed or injured in the bombing, everyone else could escape in lifeboats, and friendly destroyers within several kilometers would provide rescue assistance. To handle this dangerous minesweeping scenario, Admiral Carden specifically deployed some of the oldest ships available. The destroyers used were all built at the end of the last century, around 95. The patrol ships were even older models from 1888, so their sinking wouldn't be a big loss.

A casual request from the Italians resulted in the Royal Navy losing another five ships. In the end, it was Admiral Hamilton who comforted Carden, saying that even if the Empire's own elite forces followed up with a strong attack, they should still ensure that they were prepared with crossfire.

Therefore, this thorough mine-clearing operation can be considered as a mine-clearing operation for the Empire itself. It was simply that the Italians enjoyed the comfortable offensive opportunity after the mines were completely cleared for the first time.

General Cardin had no choice but to console himself with this thought.

Meanwhile, due to the loss of these ships, Admiral Carden also began to plan ahead and requested the Admiralty to hastily repair some older patrol ships. As long as the engines could be started, the firepower did not need to be repaired and they could be directly used for trawling and mine-clearing operations.

As mentioned earlier, the Royal Navy of Britannia previously had about 40 old-style patrol boats, but due to losses in various battles, including the sinking of 7 more this time, it now has only 30 ships left.

However, the statistics at the time only covered ships built around the 90s. If we broaden the scope further and include all the old ships built by the Royal Navy between 1876 and 1888, we could probably find another 20 to 30 such vessels. These ships were completely incapable of fighting, but they could barely manage to carry out trawling and minesweeping, so it wouldn't be a big loss if they sank.

……

September 2nd arrived quickly. General Carden finally managed to complete the mine-clearing mission, albeit with some difficulty.

The Italian army, which arrived late, finally landed on time and launched a frontal attack.

The Italian general who led the troops was a lieutenant general, Luigi Capello, who commanded two corps and six divisions, totaling 110,000 men.

Of course, it was impossible for both armies to be fully transported to the battlefield on September 2nd. Only two divisions from one army arrived, and the remaining four divisions would arrive in succession within three to five days.

With two divisions as the vanguard, there was enough to launch an attack, so early that morning, the Royal Navy of Britannia began to provide fire support, paving the way for the Italian offensive.

However, when it came to actual combat, Admiral Carden of the Navy still discovered many obstacles in the shelling process, and everything did not go very smoothly.

First, during the bombardment, two more old protected cruisers from 1888 struck mines and sank in the shallow waters designated as bombardment positions.

Upon learning of this, General Cardin angrily called to demand, "Didn't we give you two and a half days to properly clear the mines? How come you're still triggering mines as soon as the war starts?"

The commander of the minesweeping fleet in charge could only offer a sincere apology: "Reporting, Commander! There are still some bottom mines remaining in the target shoal area! They were laid by the enemy long before the battle, and are estimated to be covered by sea sand, with only the tentacles still protruding underwater. Our minesweeping equipment is mainly designed for moored mines, and the success rate of clearing bottom mines in the complex terrain of nearshore waters is simply unreliable..."

General Cardon was helpless; things had already come to this. Those shallow near-shore waters with a draft of 5 meters or even less than 4 meters were indeed no-go zones for mine-clearing operations, and it was common for mines to slip through. If the army hadn't forced him to shell targets on the southernmost coast of the peninsula from 11 kilometers away on land, he wouldn't have sent his old cruiser deep into those shallow waters to fire at close range.

Fortunately, the water was shallow enough that the old ships, after being blasted with large holes, sank to the ground and could still continue to fire with their 152mm main guns. The only problem was that the ships were listing and their accuracy was slightly reduced, so the accuracy of the shore bombardment was no longer a concern.

Just when we had finally resolved the issue of triggering another landmine, new problems quickly emerged.

Because the artillery fire was carried out from 11 kilometers away, and the observation line of sight was blocked by the hills on the north coast of the peninsula, the Burkina Faso army was forced to send dozens of combat reconnaissance aircraft to form a formation and fly over the north side of the Kilitbashir Heights, preparing to conduct aerial visual reconnaissance to provide the fleet with information for fire correction.

When the Burmese aircraft group first appeared, the Demanian forces were indeed caught off guard, not expecting the enemy planes to arrive so quickly, and they were given more than 20 minutes of free reconnaissance. The aircraft group also used radio to send bombing information to the warships and correct their trajectories, which really gave the Ottoman troops on the reverse slope of the hill a lot of trouble.

Commander Kemer on the ground dared not retreat too far, fearing that he would not be able to return to his position in time when the enemy stopped shelling and launched an attack. He could only evacuate his soldiers in parts and endure the shelling for a while.

But 20 minutes later, the Demania fighter group also rushed over, led by Colonel Oswald Polk himself, and charged toward the Burkina fighters with murderous intent.

After a brief exchange of blows, both sides were taken aback.

The Britannian pilots were astonished by the Demanian pilots' exceptional air combat skills. From flight techniques to tail-chasing maneuvers and the precision of their light machine gun fire, they excelled in every aspect.

What surprised the Demacian pilots was that their opponents finally had fire coordinators! Their planes could now fire bullets directly from the front of the cockpit through the propellers!

Although the Demacians had been using this weapon for five months, the realization that something they had monopolized for so long had finally been learned by their enemy was still somewhat of a psychological shock.

This was a fair battle where both sides were roughly evenly matched in terms of weapon technology!
For the first time since the outbreak of World War II, the Britannians had caught up with their rivals in the fundamental principles of fighter aircraft.

"Goodness, they've learned to circle and bite tail attacks too. Let's see who has the better technique!"

Colonel Polk was also inspired to fight. With an Immelmann maneuver, he shook off the enemy plane that was trying to catch his tail, then flipped over and attacked back. With two bursts of fire, he shot the enemy plane into a smoke and crashed down.

Although the enemy has a firing coordinator, they don't seem to have mastered the "Immelmann maneuver," a tactical maneuver that is still quite advanced by today's standards! They have the hardware but not the software; they still need to practice!

On the battlefield, the other Demacian pilots also fought fiercely and relentlessly, their flying and combat skills clearly overwhelming the enemy.

In the end, they achieved a brilliant victory, shooting down 21 enemy aircraft while losing 5 of their own.

Moreover, the battlefield was located in the airspace above the northern side of the Kilitbashir Heights, an area controlled by the Ottoman army.

Even if the pilots successfully parachute after being shot down, they will land in the small valley town of Ejaabad to the north.

So, three Demanian pilots successfully parachuted and were all rescued by friendly forces. The nine Britannian pilots who successfully parachuted, however, were captured by the town's garrison.

Ultimately, looking only at pilot losses, Demania lost only 2 pilots, while Britannia lost 17 and had 9 captured, a loss ratio of 2 to 26 (some Britannian reconnaissance planes were two-seater, with the radio operator in the back seat, so if they were shot down, 2 people would die).

With air superiority regained, the Burmese warships lost further information for fire correction, and those warships that were firing across the mountains from the north bank could only continue firing based on the final reported positions.

On the ground, Division Commander Kemmer quickly noticed this and immediately and decisively ordered his troops to adjust their positions to avoid artillery fire, thus diminishing the enemy's suppression of the reverse slope of the mountain.

Finally, the enemy's fire preparation ended, and two divisions of Italian infantry began to charge up the hillside.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman troops under Kemer were slowed down from the crossfire and were slower to advance into their positions. By the time they finally managed to retake the hilltop, the Italians had already easily broken through to within 200 meters.

The Austrian army only managed to kill a few hundred Italian soldiers with the hastily set-up heavy machine guns, and the remaining Italian soldiers rushed into the trenches and engaged the Austrian army in close combat.

"Da da da~"

"Da da da~"

Both sides had submachine guns and began a brutal and bloody exchange of fire. Grenades flew wildly around the corners of the trenches, and grenade launchers were also fired frantically, blasting groups of Italian soldiers to pieces.

However, the ferocity of today's battle far surpasses that of the ANZAC offensive a few days ago.

"The enemy has submachine guns now!"

"Why do their submachine guns look like light machine guns? But they're definitely much lighter than light machine guns."

The Austrian soldiers also felt fear and wavering. The shock of discovering that their proud weapon advantage had been leveled by the enemy was very obvious.

What was originally a one-sided massacre of Lee Enfield by the MP15 turned into a brutal exchange of lives, with the odds at least 30/70 or even 40/60.

Soldiers from both sides fell in droves during the fierce close combat.

Finally, as the engagement distances got closer and closer, fearing that rapid-fire weapons might accidentally injure their own men, some positions devolved into bayonet fighting over entrenching tools, along with a few bursts of fire from Mauser C96 pistols.

"Hold on! Don't retreat! If we can't hold this wave, we're all finished! If the enemy takes control of the position and captures so many submachine guns, we won't be able to defend the rest of the position!"

"If the front-line troops can't hold out, then let the division's guard company take over! After the guard company finishes, I'll personally take over!"

Division Commander Kemmer's expression was extremely grave. Fortunately, he knew the Italians possessed submachine guns, but he had never encountered them in actual combat, so he was still willing to fight to the death. Now that he had witnessed them firsthand, he felt a slight pang of regret.

If I had known the enemy was so well prepared today, I wouldn't have risked my life defending the mountain. In any case, I've already stalled long enough for the mission Commander-in-Chief Zanders had given me to hold the Kilitbashir Heights for a week.

But he wanted to see what the new tactics of the Italians and Britannians working together were like, and how effective the enemy's new weapons were in actual combat, so he persevered to this point.

Now that things have come to this, there is absolutely no way to back down! Backing down would result in heavy losses!
Under Kemer's resolute command, the officers and soldiers of the Ottoman 19th Division suffered heavy casualties, but they continued to commit reserves and fight the Italian army to the death.

Finally, the Italians' weakness in fighting spirit and low morale gradually became apparent.

Even these Italian soldiers, veterans who had served before the war and elite troops worthy of being equipped with submachine guns, eventually couldn't withstand the continuous, bloody carnage.

At least the Italian division commanders wouldn't dare to personally charge into battle; even their regimental commanders wouldn't do it.

Kemer, however, set up his division headquarters on the mountaintop and personally supervised the battle with a submachine gun and a Mauser C96 pistol.

As a division commander, he killed four Italian soldiers in close combat with his pistol and threw several grenades at the enemy in the trenches in the distance.

Kemer himself was hit in the shoulder by a stray bullet. Fortunately, it did not break his collarbone, but only pierced his flesh, leaving a bloody gash on his shoulder.

The bullet pierced the sleeve of his right hand, but it did not injure his body; it only hit his clothes.

It has to be said that this guy, who is blessed with destiny, has a tough fate. In the Gallipoli Campaign in the Earth dimension, he was hit by bullets or shrapnel several times, but he didn't hurt anyone.

Blood from his left shoulder quickly spread across half of his body, making his left chest and back appear completely blood-red.

But Commander Kemmer insisted on drawing his sword and urging his soldiers to fight to the death. In the end, under the commander's leadership, the Austrian army fought with overwhelming momentum, displaying a desperate spirit, and forcefully pushed the Italians back.

"Rat-a-tat-tat~ Rat-a-tat-tat~" The sharp MG08 heavy machine gun wove a deadly crossfire, bidding farewell to the retreating Italian soldiers.

"How could they still lose!" General Hamilton, the Allied Commander-in-Chief, felt a deep sense of regret as he watched the Italians being driven back in a fierce battle.

But he couldn't say anything, because he could see that the Italians were fighting better than the Burkina Faso and the ANZACs.

Those were completely demoralized spaghetti, and they still managed to fight like this, so what's there to blame? The enemy must have suffered considerable losses as well.

Finally, the results of the day were tallied: the Italians fought a bloody battle all day, suffering more than 4000 casualties.

What they didn't know was that the Ottomans on the other side had also lost more than 2600 men.

Of these, 1900 were killed in the fierce fighting on the position, and more than 700 were killed when the Royal Navy of Burkina Faso was caught off guard and did not expect that it would be able to bombard the Kilit Bashir Heights from both the north and south banks. As a result, they were killed when the shells covered the reverse slope of the mountain.

After this battle, the daily casualty rate of Commander Kemmer's division suddenly approached 20%! This was a rate of casualties that was on the verge of causing the unit to collapse.

Fortunately, they made it through the day. Kemer has made up his mind that if he encounters another multi-pronged attack like this in the future, he'll just leave if he can't withstand it.

After the battle, Kemer immediately ordered the battlefield to be cleaned up, and all the MP15 submachine guns left behind by the wounded and killed comrades were moved. The heavy machine guns could be left in place, as they might still be needed.

The "Villeparoza M1915 submachine guns" left behind by the Italians who died in the attack should also be captured. Although this submachine gun may not be as good or reliable as the MP15, it is still a new weapon of the enemy and is worth studying.

If there are even one or two technical points worth learning, that's good—and in fact, Kemer's judgment wasn't wrong, because the Italian "Villeparoza M1915" was the world's first submachine gun that did not use a bolt action.

Previously, Demania designer Hugo Schmeisser used an inertial bolt for convenience, meaning the bolt was not fully locked but was held in place by a spring, resulting in some leakage of fire and smoke during firing.

While the Italian gun was less reliable, it still had a fully locking mechanism that ensured no smoke or fire would leak out from the rear of the gun.

Later high-end submachine guns will eventually need to find a way to completely eliminate the problem of muzzle leakage, so it's definitely worthwhile to learn from them.

After cleaning up, Kemmer discovered that his own wounded soldiers had left behind a staggering 1300 MP15 submachine guns. The fallen Italians had also left behind 850 Villeparosha submachine guns on the battlefield.

All of these items were taken back, especially the Italian goods, which were directly handed over to the Demacian advisors for research.

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PS: To avoid being out of the protagonist's sight for too long, side quests can only be progressed at a rapid pace.

So today's first update is exactly 1 words, just to ensure that today's focus can be brought back to the protagonist's storyline.

The second update at noon may be a bit longer, so that the opening phase of the Gallipoli campaign can be described clearly.

Don't worry, this war of attrition will last for several months. This is just the beginning. When it's time to close the net, the protagonist will come back in person to do so.

(End of this chapter)