Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 179 Taking down Troicz in one day
September 23, 10:9 AM.

The headquarters of the 21st Division of the 6th Army is located in Trojciech, a city 27 kilometers north of the “cross-sea” bridge.

The sound of galloping hooves grew louder as several signalmen rushed into the division headquarters compound, panting and hoarse, demanding to see Division Commander Vladimir.

"Where did you retreat from? What's the situation at the front? Why is there no radio response in the Chankoy defense zone?"

Upon hearing that a retreating communications soldier had arrived, Brigadier General Vladimir, the division commander who was already at his wit's end, disregarded his rank and rushed into the courtyard to inquire about the situation.

"Commander...Commander, we are from the 7th Battalion of the 3rd Regiment. My name is Vasily Blyukher. I was the only officer left alive in our battalion who managed to break through the encirclement. I hid in the pile of dead bodies in the trench to avoid the enemy's aerial strafing, and then managed to escape to the shore and wade north."

The enemy sent a landing raiding force, which sailed in small boats at dawn to find the weak points in our north bank defenses, bypassed the 2-kilometer-wide lagoon, and launched a surprise attack to seize our north bank bridgehead!

Subsequently, enemy armored vehicle units arrived at the southern end of the bridge within 45 minutes, completely controlling the bridge. Two regiments of our troops were also surrounded and annihilated by the enemy on the south bank! Only a few troops managed to break through and escape back to the north bank by wading across the lagoon.

"I'm sorry, we broke out on our own initiative and returned. We found friendly forces on the north bank, got horses, and rushed here to report. The 3rd Regiment's radio on the south bank was lost during the enemy's rapid advance and didn't have time to send a message. The 2nd Regiment on the north bank wasn't equipped with a radio, so we had to send the message on horseback."

After finally confirming the devastating news, Brigadier General Vladimir was utterly dejected. He staggered back three or four steps, his legs giving way, and leaned against a large tree behind him.

The Lusha army had far too few radio stations; his division, as a reinforced division, only had three radio stations in total.

If the garrison on the Chancoy Peninsula on the south bank had their radios damaged in the first wave of enemy attacks, or if several backup radio operators were killed, it would be very likely that they would be unable to send telegrams.

Don't blame the Lushar people for not valuing radio. It's already considered good that the 21st Division has three radio stations. Other poorer reserve divisions might only have one radio station for the entire division.

Originally, this autumn, the top leadership had already learned its lesson and begged allied countries to provide more radio stations to ensure that the previous "every division has a radio station" was further improved to "every regiment has a radio station".

But just a few days ago, the 500 military radios that the Britannians had painstakingly smuggled over through pro-Bratrian groups in Norway and Sweden were intercepted and stolen by the Demania cruiser in the Gulf of Bothnia.

As a result, it is estimated that by next spring, Lusha's command system will not be able to equip radios at the regimental level, and they will have to endure several more months in this extremely poor command and communication environment.

At that moment, because there were too few radios, the division commander only confirmed the news a full hour and a half after the two reinforced regiments on the south bank had been annihilated and the bridge had fallen. Brigadier General Vladimir felt as if he were enveloped in a deep fear.

The enemy took only 2 hours to penetrate 15 kilometers of the southern bank, and now another hour and a half has passed. How much more has the enemy advanced in this time?

"Get me the map right now! I need to check the latest battle situation!"

With a loud shout from Vladimir, the division staff officer next to him hurriedly grabbed a map and spread it out in the courtyard.

The Zankoy Peninsula on the south coast extends 15 kilometers from north to south, while the Trojciech Peninsula on the north coast extends 20 kilometers from north to south. Leaving the peninsulas and heading north for another 7 kilometers on the mainland, one reaches the county seat of Trojciech.

Brigadier General Vladimir's map still marked the previous defensive positions. The entire 20-kilometer-deep Troicchik Peninsula was not entirely heavily fortified.

This peninsula is spindle-shaped, narrow at both ends and wide in the middle. The central area is about 12 kilometers from north to south, and 3 to 5 kilometers wide from east to west.

However, the width is particularly narrow at the southernmost 3 kilometers and the northernmost 5 kilometers. The average width at the southern end is only 2 kilometers, while the average width at the northern end is only 1 kilometer. At the very base of the peninsula, where it is the narrowest point, it is only 400 to 600 meters wide.

The 21st Division's heavily fortified positions on the Qiaobei Peninsula were all located in these two areas. Because these areas are narrow, the construction cost of setting up trench lines is low. As for the 12 kilometers of barren land in the middle, there was simply no manpower to dig trenches one by one.

After confirming the terrain, Division Commander Vladimir assessed the enemy's previous offensive speed and finally made a precise judgment: "The enemy took the bridge an hour and a half ago. I estimate that the defensive positions about 3 kilometers in north-south depth just after crossing the bridge have definitely been breached by now. The 12 kilometers of barren land in the middle is also impossible to hold."

Let's concentrate all our efforts on defending that narrow 5-kilometer stretch at the northernmost tip of the Trojcz Peninsula; it's the only pass we might be able to block! If we can block it, there's still hope.

If we can't contain them, the enemy will be immediately released into the open areas of the Nogai Steppe. I've heard they're using armored vehicles in concentrated numbers. Although we haven't personally witnessed the effectiveness of those weapons in combat, common sense dictates that armored vehicles entering the steppe would definitely cause endless trouble!

The "Nogai Steppe" mentioned by Brigadier General Vladimir may be unfamiliar to foreigners, but it actually refers to the southernmost part of the Kievan Rus' Plain, the coastal dry steppe area stretching from the mouth of the Dnieper River eastward to the mouth of the Don River southward.

This "Nogai Steppe" is also part of the "Russian Steppe," a lush and fertile land that the Cossacks have relied on for survival for centuries.

The thought of sending armored vehicle units into the vast, flat grasslands is terrifying.

Brigadier General Vladimir knew this was his last and only chance to block the enemy. He immediately made arrangements, ordering all the reserves scattered throughout the rest of the division to reinforce the south, determined to block the treacherous 5-kilometer stretch at the very base of the Troicchik Peninsula and prevent the enemy from breaking through the peninsula and entering the steppe.

Even if the enemy is strong, the narrowest part of that defensive zone is only 400 meters wide. Surely we can hold it by simply throwing lives at it? Moreover, the enemy has advanced so far in one day that their heavy artillery groups cannot possibly keep up with the deployment.

The reason why the Lusa army suffered such a heavy defeat on the Zankoi Peninsula on the south coast was mainly because they were bombarded by the heavy artillery groups that the Demanians had planned and deployed in advance.

But if the battlefield has moved to the northernmost tip of the Trojcz Peninsula on the north bank, it would be at least 35 kilometers away from the front line that opened this morning.

In this era, it would take at least half a day for artillery of 105mm and above to be moved and redeployed, and it might take a whole day to redeploy a 150mm gun.

The construction of heavy artillery positions in 1915 was slow and laborious, not even taking into account the time required for the artillery to be towed back onto trucks and then marched 30 kilometers north.

Therefore, if the enemy were to attack that quickly, their artillery would absolutely not be able to keep up!

Considering this, the advantage of holding firm today still lies with us! As long as we get through today, and immediately request reinforcements from other friendly forces to come and strengthen our defenses, everything can still change.

Brigadier General Vladimir thought so.

Just as he was giving urgent instructions to adjust the deployment, several warhorses soon galloped back from the front line, and new communications soldiers brought even more bad news.

"Report! The Demacians have reached our positions at the northern tip of the peninsula and launched a new offensive! The enemy is currently about 13-14 kilometers from the county seat!"

Brigadier General Vladimir almost jumped up when he heard the news.

"What? They arrived so quickly? Weren't they supposed to break through the 3-kilometer fortified zone at the southern tip of the Trojcz Peninsula and then traverse a full 12 kilometers of undefended territory? They covered 15 kilometers in just one and a half hours, including the attack and the march? That's impossible! What kind of godlike speed of attack is that!"

Brigadier General Vladimir was stunned by such incredible speed.

He dared not delay any longer and quickly gathered the few trucks left in the division headquarters, ordering the drivers to immediately drive the division headquarters to the front line and take the division headquarters' radio station with them.

……

More than half an hour later, at 11:00 a.m., Brigadier General Vladimir finally arrived at the front-line position at the northernmost tip of the Troicchik Peninsula.

Before him lay a fortified area stretching approximately 3-4 kilometers from north to south and only 400-600 meters wide from east to west, a truly formidable natural barrier.

Moreover, having learned from the lesson of the annihilation of friendly forces to the south early in the morning, the garrison at Lusa has urgently adjusted its defensive tactics and temporarily reinforced new fortifications.

One of the major losses suffered by the Lusa army in the morning on the Chankoy Peninsula in the south was that they had not dug trenches in the two or three hundred meters along the railway line, which was originally intended to facilitate their use of the railway.

But the Demanian armored vehicle formations, precisely because of this, surged northward along the relatively flat terrain on both sides of the railway, seizing the ends of trench networks. They then provided cover for the German assault battalions to enter the trenches and sweep away the French forces laterally along them.

Thanks to the five-hour time advantage gained by friendly forces to the south, the French troops in the north quickly learned their lesson and temporarily extended their trenches, stretching them all the way to the edge of the railway, even going so far as to dig up the railway itself.

Since the Demanians have already captured the railway bridge connecting the Zankoy and Trojczyk peninsulas, the Russa people can no longer use this railway to go south to rescue Sevastopol. So it's better to destroy the railway! If we can't use it ourselves, we won't let the enemy use it either!

Of course, due to the limited time, there was no time to reinforce the sidewalls of these trenches with logs, nor could they be dug too deep.

Otherwise, the unreinforced sidewalls are prone to collapse, and even if they don't collapse, they will quickly crumble once the enemy shells them.

However, these makeshift trenches, dug on the spot and about 1.5 meters deep, were already able to stop armored vehicles with poor obstacle-crossing capabilities. In addition to these makeshift trenches, the Lussa people also concentrated their manpower to dig thousands of foxholes of various sizes, each only about half a meter deep, on both sides of the railway.

The excavated soil was piled into triangular cones. Although the soil in these cones was loose and could easily be broken apart by a single impact, it was completely incomparable to the professional concrete anti-tank piles or even the "dragon teeth" system of later generations. However, it was better than nothing, and it could at least slow down the movement of armored vehicles.

Brigadier General Vladimir was quite satisfied with what he saw and commended his three regimental commanders stationed there. Although they had suffered a defeat, they had learned quickly, summarizing the lessons of the annihilation of their southern allies and making targeted improvements.

"What's the latest situation?" After learning about the deployment, he quickly asked about the current situation.

"The enemy has breached our first line of defense again, penetrating more than a kilometer into our defensive zone, but we still have approximately four kilometers of defensive depth. We have destroyed more than a dozen enemy armored vehicles! And we have deployed all our supporting artillery."

"The enemy's artillery hasn't followed up; we'll definitely hold this time!"

The three subordinates spoke in a disorganized manner, but Brigadier General Vladimir received the good news he wanted, which strengthened his resolve. He then personally directed the continued defense.

……

On the opposite Demania front, Deputy Division Commander Rommel advanced a full 32 kilometers in one morning before finally encountering a tough opponent.

They were held up here for a full hour, and apart from breaking through the enemy's first trench defense line, they made little further progress.

There were eight completely destroyed armored vehicles on the position, still emitting thick smoke. Another five vehicles were damaged to varying degrees by near misses. Although they could be repaired, they were temporarily unable to fight.

Just now, in the south, we broke through so many enemy defenses and only lost 4 armored vehicles. But here, we've lost 13 at once. The entire armored regiment is only equipped with 80 vehicles, and losing 17 of them has significantly weakened our assault capabilities.

"Damn it! We made too good of a push and underestimated the difficulty of fighting alone after leaving the range of our own artillery support."

Rommel angrily slammed his fist on the steel plate of the armored vehicle's roof, ignoring the pain in his fist, his eyes filled with regret and resentment.

He is also a very quick tactical reactor; after the brief setback, he immediately realized the problem.

The rapid advance on the southern Zhankoy Peninsula early in the morning was mainly due to the ample preparation of their own artillery. However, the armored advance was too fast, and the artillery could not keep up at all.

Although their division's artillery regiment was equipped with half-tracks and trucks, which could quickly tow the artillery forward, it still took several hours to assemble, deploy, and construct positions for artillery in that era. Therefore, they could never catch up with Rommel's exaggerated speed of "advancing 32 kilometers in 5 and a half hours."

If Rommel could wait until late afternoon, perhaps the truck-hauled artillery could be put back into the battle, but he was hoping to continue the attack by 11 a.m. now, and the artillery was simply not going to catch up.

Unless Lelouch develops a tracked self-propelled gun ahead of time, only that thing can truly keep up with the speed of armored assault troops, saving the time of deployment and retraction. But Rommel is not a time traveler, and he couldn't possibly have come up with the concept of a "tracked self-propelled gun," and even if he did, he wouldn't have time to build it.

The battle has reached a temporary stalemate.

Rommel had no choice but to temporarily revert to the traditional assault battalion assault method, having the soldiers who had entered the first line of enemy defenses and trenches set up light machine gun positions, and then use grenade launchers to suppress the second line of positions with indirect fire.

However, this tactic was also ineffective, as the soldiers who entered the trenches did not dare to concentrate their forces.

The enemy's field artillery was still bombarding the first trench network controlled by the Demagnesians, continuing to suppress it.

To minimize casualties, Rommel had to disperse his troops as much as possible, with some reserves even having to retreat to safe rear positions to avoid enemy artillery fire.

露沙人的76毫米野战炮普遍射程在8公里左右，而他们的大炮至少部署在前沿防线后方5公里以上。所以隆美尔只要退到交战前沿后方2~3公里，就能躲出敌人中口径野战炮的打击范围。

Of course, the enemy would have a few 122mm guns that could reach deeper German positions, but those guns were too few to pose much of a threat as long as they found good cover.

Rommel endured this stalemate for a full half hour before finally seeing a turning point.

The 2nd Panzer Regiment of the Panzer Training Division, led by Commander Lelouch, also arrived at the battlefield.

Upon learning that Rommel's attack had failed, Lelouch immediately summoned him to come over and report the situation in person.

Rommel also gave a respectful and detailed report, and even apologized for his rashness.

"I'm sorry, Division Commander. I was too reckless. The advance went too smoothly before, and as a result, we suffered a great loss in this fortified area at the northernmost tip of the Trojc Peninsula, losing more than a dozen armored vehicles for nothing."

After understanding the situation, Lelouch didn't scold the other person. He simply patted the other person's shoulder several times and said earnestly:

"Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. This is the first time that everyone has used armored vehicles in actual combat. It's normal that things went too smoothly at the beginning and people got carried away. As long as we can learn from our mistakes immediately, that's good."

However, don't be discouraged. Today's situation is special. We won't encounter this kind of narrow, fortified area at the base of the Trojcík Peninsula that can't be bypassed for the next few months! So this is just an exception, and we can overcome it occasionally using special methods!
Once we break through this bottleneck and enter the Nogai Grassland, everything will be ours to control! Everyone, muster your courage and think about that bright future! After the armored vehicle force storms into the grassland, who can stop us?

With just a few words, Lelouch rekindled the morale of the fighting force. The disappointment caused by the temporary setback vanished, and everyone was invigorated.

That's right! Once we get past this point and into the vast grasslands, who can stand against our mobile and agile armored assault forces!
"Victory is certain! Victory is certain!" The soldiers around him shouted excitedly again.

Lelouch raised his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, and they immediately fell silent again. After a moment's thought, Lelouch issued an order:
"Radio operator, send a message to the rear. I request another air support, no matter the cost! I don't have time to wait for the artillery to slowly catch up and deploy."

An hour later, I want to see our fighter jets conduct close-range strafing and bombing of enemy artillery positions, and also deploy airships to sweep away enemy firing points in the trenches along the trench network.

Airships can also use machine guns to continuously suppress enemy artillery personnel from the air, preventing them from deploying reserve personnel to restart the undamaged cannons. Then, it will be time for our ground forces to launch a full-scale offensive!

"Yes, Commander!" The telegraph operator immediately followed Lelouch's instructions, using the most concise language possible to prepare the telegram, and asked Lelouch to take a look before sending it.

Spoken communication involves a lot of explanation, and sending it all by telegram would be too time-consuming. When giving instructions to the other party, use the simplest language to tell them what to do.

Given Lelouch's current prestige and credibility, the commander would approve any support firepower he wanted from the 6th Army. Only the other less favored generals would need to waste time explaining their reasons in telegrams.

Lelouch's good credit and strict discipline made everything go very smoothly.

The soldiers took advantage of this time to temporarily withdraw, leaving only necessary sentries in the first line of trench positions that had already been captured, and evacuating the rest as far back as possible.

Then the cooks quickly distributed bread, sausages, and even freshly cooked kimchi and mashed potato soup to the brothers.

Everyone ate lunch while it was still hot, then took a short nap, and their morale and energy were fully restored. It was just around 12:30 pm after lunch when the sound of engines finally came from the sky again.

A full 50 combat aircraft and 6 airships came in a grand procession to provide Lelouch with air support.

What if the blitzkrieg is launched too quickly and the artillery can't keep up?
Of course, we should rely on air-ground coordination to make up for the shortcomings of the disconnect between ground heavy firepower!
This was a question with a ready-made historical standard answer that could be copied, so Lelouch, being a time traveler, naturally didn't hesitate to copy it entirely.

In the sky, Major Manfred Richthofen, leading 20 dedicated air superiority fighters and 30 fighter-bombers, first flew over the battlefield to observe the target, and then immediately issued the order to attack:
"Attention all units, all aircraft carrying bombs, as ordered by Commander Lelouch, shall conduct close-range strafing and bombing of the artillery positions behind the enemy lines! Airship units shall follow behind and provide continuous strafing suppression fire."

A few brief commands were issued, mainly through pre-arranged coded signals and wing-waving movements.

In the era before airborne radios, air command could only be conducted in a rough manner, with several pre-arranged operational signals. For example, bombing an enemy artillery position meant the wing would flap three times to the left and downwards, while strafing an artillery position meant flapping twice.

Everyone quickly understood, and the 30 fighter-bombers immediately rushed over, first firing a barrage of machine gun bullets, and then using the tracer rounds in their ammunition belts to confirm whether their noses were strictly aligned with the direction.

After confirming the target was in position, as the pilot flew over the enemy artillery, he immediately hooked the small bombs, each weighing 5 kilograms, onto the hooks on both sides of the cockpit and dropped them down in quick succession.

"Boom boom boom!" A series of explosions sent the artillery regiment of the 21st Division of the Russian Army flying and crashing.

Six 122mm guns and 24 76mm or 75mm guns were destroyed or damaged. Even if some of the guns themselves were not destroyed, such a fierce bombardment and strafing would have basically wiped out the artillery personnel on the position.

In this way, even if the steel cannon itself is not destroyed, no one can operate it.

Moreover, such bombing also caused several small-scale secondary explosions. On the artillery positions of several companies, the piles of shells were detonated, creating explosions and fireballs nearly 100 meters high.

(End of this chapter)