Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 181: Outstanding Results, Shocking the World

September 25, 1915, 10:9 AM.

Fifty-three hours after Lelouch's troops launched their attack from Zankoy towards Troicz and Melitopol.

His remarkable breakthrough has not yet been reported by the Demacian newspapers. Because it involves military secrets and has not yet achieved a decisive stage of victory, the General Staff will not allow related information to be disclosed to the media.

During wartime, all newspapers must undergo review by the General Staff before publishing any military-related content. Only after confirming that there is nothing inappropriate can it be printed; any newspaper that leaks military secrets must be sent back for re-examination.

However, the lack of media coverage doesn't mean nobody knows. At least the high command of both the German and Russo-German armies, and even the emperor himself, are aware of the dramatic changes at the front.

That morning, at the Southwestern Front Command headquarters in Kiev, General Pavel Plevey, the Front Commander, was interrupted from his work by a piercing telephone ring.

He was frantically trying to mobilize reinforcements and organize all the Cossack cavalry divisions that could be mobilized in a short time on the steppes east of the Dnieper River, to rush as quickly as possible between Zaporige and Melitopol to block the enemy's breakthrough forces.

He was a little anxious when he heard the phone ring, and was about to scold the person who had interrupted his work.

But when the adjutant picked up the receiver and handed it to him, the word the adjutant uttered was so soft it was almost imperceptible that it immediately made General Pleve feel as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

"It's His Majesty..."

General Pleve immediately became alert: "Your Majesty! What imperial decree is issued?"

On the other end of the phone came Nicholas II's weak voice: "I heard that the Demanians have launched a new offensive in the southwestern theater these past two days, and have reached Melitopol?"

General Pleve: "Yes... Your Majesty! I never expected this matter to alarm you. It is truly our incompetence and dereliction of duty! Please forgive us, Your Majesty."

"What kind of place is Melitopol?"

"..." General Pleve was speechless for a moment, but could only try to explain in simple terms that the Tsar could understand.
"It's not a big city, but it does have some significance in terms of transportation. It's the intersection of the east-west railway connecting Kherson and Rostov, and the north-south railway connecting Sevastopol and Zaporizhzhia."

Nicholas II paused for a moment on the other end of the phone before continuing, "Local officials in Zaporozhye have already gone over the chain of command to the Minister of General Affairs, complaining that Melitopol, a place far from the front lines, was suddenly and inexplicably attacked by the enemy!"

"I only ask that you report the truth: Where in the entire Kievan Rus' region is safe now? The people are filled with fear, saying the enemy might reach Zaporizhia tomorrow, or even today. Is this true?!"

The Tsar's reprimand grew increasingly harsh, startling General Plevé, who quickly swore, "Your Majesty, rest assured! The enemy will absolutely not be able to reach Zaporozhye!"
"It is truly our dereliction of duty to have alarmed you, but in fact, only a small force has infiltrated our territory; they are merely a stray, not the enemy's main force! Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I have already mobilized the entire Cossack cavalry force of the Nogai steppe region to encircle and suppress that small group of enemy bandits! They will be annihilated soon!"

The Tsar on the other end of the phone finally stopped being so aggressive. After a moment of silence, he chose to believe his general: "Then we'll wait for your good news. Hopefully, everything is as you say, just a stray enemy."

After hanging up the phone, General Pleve was as if he had been pulled out of a cold sweat. He immediately rushed to the map, checked the unit numbers of the nearby troops, and then gave a strict order: all the Cossack cavalry divisions that might be heading there should gather there and block the evil enemy!

Reason told Pleve that it was unwise to use cavalry against a force that might have a number of armored vehicles.

But the fear of the Tsar's severe punishment forced him to do so. He could only hope that the Cossack cavalry could overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers!

The enemy is deep in enemy territory and their ammunition supply is certainly not sufficient. As long as we surround them and cut off their supply, we can overwhelm them by sheer numbers!

……

At the same time, at the provisional headquarters of Nikolayev's 6th Army.

As the offensive campaign entered its third day, Duke Rupprecht, commander of the 6th Army, was also closely monitoring the developments on all sides.

At the Nikolayev and Kherson fronts, the troops have been preparing fire and launching ground offensives for two full days.

Because a significant portion of the army group's artillery force was diverted to the east for concentrated use, the artillery density on the western front was reduced by several times compared to normal circumstances.

Artillery units had no choice but to extend the preparation time for artillery fire in order to compensate for the lack of explosive power in a short period of time.

On September 23, the fire preparation lasted for a full six hours, lasting for half the night, before the ground offensive began at dawn.

In the following 48 hours, the 6th Army's 3 corps and 8 divisions deployed along the Nikolayev-Kherson-Yamiansk line made some progress.

那些进展速度中规中矩的战线区段，大约可以做到每24小时推进3~5公里，两天下来也有8~10了。

In a few sections where progress was fastest and performance was best, the outstanding record of breaking 12 kilometers per day and accumulating nearly 25 kilometers in two days was achieved!
The three Russa corps defending the Kherson-Yamiansk line were forced to abandon large swathes of their outermost positions. They then attempted to use deep penetration to delay the Dmanians, dragging them out of artillery support range, and then slowly wear them down with a flexible defense.

"The troops attacking from the front are performing quite well, but unfortunately they are far inferior to that kid Lelouch. I wonder how far they have advanced in just over a day since he left Troiccik early yesterday morning."

If only he could threaten the Lushars' rear soon, the morale of the troops defending the front would surely waver. Then, as soon as they showed signs of forced retreat, we could seize the opportunity and launch a fierce pursuit, turning their retreat into a rout!

It's a pity I don't know where that kid is now!

The Duke studied the map, which showed the latest changes in the battle lines, for a long time before uttering these words of reflection.

The other adjutants and staff officers nearby echoed his sentiments, praising Chief of Staff Lelouch for his foresight and meticulous planning, which had enabled him to achieve such a breakthrough. In just one day, they had broken through the natural barriers at both ends of the Jankoi and Troicchik peninsulas and entered the Great Plains.

Unfortunately, after entering the grasslands, due to the rapid movement and unpredictable movements of the troops, radio communication could not be reliably established. In the past 30 hours, the command headquarters had not received any further news about the latest real-time developments.

After all, the vehicle-mounted radios on armored vehicles have very low power, and their transmission range may only be 20 to 30 kilometers during the day. At night, due to changes in atmospheric ionization and reflection, the signal range will be more than three times farther than during the day.

In summary, the attacking side is at a disadvantage compared to the defending side in reporting the battle situation via radio.

The defenders could rely on the high-powered fixed radios in each town and fortress to send telegrams, and each town had time to send a telegram to the rear before it fell to inform them that it had fallen or surrendered.

If the attacking side does not capture high-powered fixed radios in town strongholds, they will have to rely on trucks to slowly relay the supplies, which inevitably leads to chaos when the battle is intense.

Just as everyone was speculating and making up their thoughts, a radio operator rushed into the command room, panting, holding up a newly translated telegram.

"Commander! The latest news this morning is that Commander Lelouch's 'Grand Demania Division' captured Melitopol last night and is now continuing its advance towards Zaporozhye!"

"What? This kid broke into Melitopol last night? Why didn't you report it in time!" The Duke's eyes widened instantly, and he excitedly threw his leather gloves onto the map table with a "thud".

The telegraph operator, who was already familiar with the message transmission channels, quickly helped explain:

"It's a problem with the communications relay. When we captured Melitopol, we failed to capture a high-powered fixed radio station. In addition, the wartime follow-up was chaotic, so it's only now that we've switched to it."

The Duke tapped the table with his knuckles, and eventually his mood improved, and he did not lash out.

Problems with wartime message relay are very common, because locations move too quickly, and no one knows whether the radio station at the rear can pick up the message.

The main reason is that the delay in reporting a victory is not a big problem. If the delay were due to a defeat, then we would have to suspect the enemy's motives, and then we would have to emphasize "strict military discipline in large-scale operations".

"That lad is too reckless!" the Duke chuckled and scolded, then waved his hand, signaling the other advisors around him to immediately mark it on the map.

Move those pieces that symbolize the troops a bit, erase that section of the battle line, and roughly redraw it with a red pencil.

The Duke watched all this with satisfaction, then suddenly blurted out, "By the way, where is Federer Bock's 2nd Armored Division? Wasn't he in charge of the flank attack from the north?"

The army group staff officer who was laying out the map immediately replied: "Reporting to the commander, according to the latest intelligence, Brigadier General Bock's 'Imperial Division' captured Bashtanka yesterday, and today advanced another 15 kilometers northeast along the railway line and the Ingulets River. It has now penetrated more than 60 kilometers into enemy territory."

The Duke was initially quite satisfied with Bock's progress, considering that other infantry attacking units had only advanced a maximum of 25 kilometers. von Bock's armored division had advanced over 60 kilometers, which was more than two and a half times faster than the fastest infantry units.

But compared to Lelouch, it's nothing. Lelouch is more than twice as fast as Bock—that's 140 kilometers per hour!

After comparing the two, the Duke couldn't help but ask, "What did Federer Bock say yesterday? What was the reason he couldn't break through to a higher level as planned?"

The drawing staff officer said, "It's because our army didn't conduct enough reconnaissance of the enemy's rear area before the battle, and our hydrological intelligence gathering was inadequate. Von Bock's armored division was originally planned to advance along the north bank of the Dnieper River, and the attack route didn't need to go too far from the river."

However, after the actual attack, it was discovered that there was more soft, marshy terrain in many areas on the north bank than previously estimated by aerial surveys. Moreover, the Ingurets River, an important tributary on the north bank of the Dnieper, was deeper and had worse crossing conditions than expected.

This forced Commander von Bock to detour further north, searching for a less muddy spot upstream on the Ingulets River before crossing. Yesterday he had already advanced north to Bashtanka, from where he could easily bypass the Ingulets River to the northeast. He was probably already crossing now.

The staff officer helped explain many unexpected situations, emphasizing that it was the unexpected terrain and environment encountered by the other "iron pincer" that caused the slow progress. If it weren't for these unexpected events, von Bock should have been able to advance more than 80 kilometers by now, instead of just 65 kilometers.

Duke Rupprecht accepted this explanation and did not criticize it harshly: "Alright, let's not talk about those reasons anymore. Advancing 65 kilometers is not bad. However, after this battle, we still need to summarize the lessons learned—why was Lelouch able to advance 140 kilometers in just two days? If we're talking about unfavorable terrain, is the terrain of the Ingurets River more unfavorable than the narrow strip of land 35 kilometers deep between the two peninsulas of Zankoy and Trojic? Is it more unfavorable than crossing the lagoon and launching a surprise attack to seize the bridge across the sea?"
Lelouch's success today is all thanks to his decisive initial breakthrough through what the enemy considered an impregnable natural barrier, which allowed him to reap the rewards! Everyone should learn from this successful experience!

The Duke himself set the tone, and no one else dared to question it.

Orders were quickly issued, and from Nikolayev to Kherson to Yamiansk, the Dmanian forces on the entire offensive front began to exert their strength that morning.

And as always, they cooperated with the propaganda war, spreading information to shake the morale of the enemy, trying every means to let the enemy's Lusha army know that their rear was about to be cut off.

Meanwhile, the Duke dispatched two divisions to the southern front, along the railway line from Zankoy to Melitopol, in an attempt to consolidate the rear of that pincer movement on the southern front.

Finally, the Duke also selected some of the latest developments that did not involve leaks and reported them directly to the General Staff and the Emperor.

Naturally, the narrative inevitably includes the legendary aspects of the breakthrough on the southern route, especially the claim that "two narrow peninsulas and a cross-sea railway bridge, spanning 35 kilometers in depth, were breached in a single day."

Of course, the battle report wouldn't say, "That railway bridge was only 400 meters long, and it just crossed a still coastal lagoon, not actually spanning the sea."

Battle reports always need to make others imagine the results to be even greater and more arduous. Even a shallow-water heavy gunboat can be described as a battleship, let alone a cross-sea bridge.

In short, after some propaganda and embellishment, Lelouch broke through the Zankoi and Troicchik peninsulas and entered the enemy's rear steppe region through the most unexpected natural barrier.

This event was quickly embellished as a miraculous feat similar to the "smuggling across Yinping" in Eastern history.

Emperor Wilhelm I, who was at Potsdam Palace in Berlin, saw the battle report during lunch that day.
Then he had someone summon General Falkenhayn, the Chief of the General Staff, and asked him a question similar to the one his Tsarist cousin had asked General Pleve that morning.

What kind of place is Melitopol?

Why would the enemy leave such a crucial location so poorly defended?

"Oh, you mean that because reaching Melitopol would require overcoming numerous natural barriers, the Rusa people thought it was impossible for humans to do? That's why they didn't deploy heavy troops to defend the rear?"

"Doesn't that mean the Imperial Army can break through the enemy's supposedly impregnable defensive lines?!"

General Falkenham answered all these questions, but the content was similar to what General Pleve on the enemy side had already said, so I won't repeat it again.

However, when faced with the last question, Falkenhayn gave a slightly different answer: "Your Majesty... the Imperial Army was able to break through the enemy's supposedly impenetrable defensive line this time mainly by relying on an armored vehicle that is immune to bullet attacks."

Unless the enemy uses artillery to directly hit them, their infantry and firearms are completely ineffective against our armored vehicles, which is why their layers of defenses collapsed in despair in an instant.

You can't learn something from someone else even if you teach them yourself, even in a lifetime.

Teaching people through things is easy and they will learn it once they are taught.

When Emperor Wilhelm heard that it was a new type of armored vehicle that enabled the Imperial Army to tear through the enemy's seemingly impassable natural defenses, his eyes were instantly filled with a burning greed.

"What company is currently manufacturing this type of armored vehicle? Why is it only being used by the Bajau army?"

Falkinhan: "Your Majesty, it is said that the Barians sought technical cooperation with their ally, Škoda, in an attempt to jointly develop the technology. Currently, it appears to be a small joint venture between Škoda and the Barian engine plant that is producing it."

Furthermore, because this weapon has performed well, it's said that the Bariah side is planning to expand production, and may subsequently grant production licenses to MAN SE in Nuremberg.

Emperor William frowned upon hearing this.

Why are they all companies from the southern German states? Nuremberg is also a city in Balearia, and MAN is also a Balearian company.

However, this is unavoidable; in the automotive sector, the industrial strength of the southern German states is inherently stronger than that of Prosenz in the north. Not only does Baria have a plethora of car companies, but neighboring Stuttgart in Württemberg also boasts Mercedes-Benz and Daimler.

In terms of gun and cannon manufacturing, Prosen's industrial system could overwhelm the four southern states, but it was truly inferior in automobile manufacturing.

If history had been left to its own devices, and the allocation of military resources and the focus of research and development throughout the World Wars had been dominated by the Northern faction, then the Demacians would never have been the first to build tanks.

Because Krupp, Mauser, and DWM are not good at making cars, and they are unwilling for the country to invest too many resources in areas where they are not good at it.

Sometimes, doing too well in the previous era can hinder their ability to revolutionize themselves, and path dependence can suppress the emergence of disruptive innovation.

Prosenna's precise and mechanical management system is exceptionally effective in optimizing resource allocation to complete production tasks and in fine-tuning and improving existing weapons.

However, Prosen's management model has a significant weakness when it comes to disruptive innovation.

This is why the Prosen faction in the north hadn't paid attention to Lelouch's plans for the armored vehicle project for over half a year, until now, when he has produced a real and shocking result in actual combat.

Now, the emperor has finally been awakened by the true results of the war.

"Doesn't the Empire have any enterprises in the Ruhr region capable of manufacturing heavy vehicles? I demand that factories in the Ruhr region begin producing armored vehicles! Immediately! Right now! No matter what conditions are lacking, eliminate all difficulties immediately! Provide whatever resources are needed!"

Faced with the emperor's envy, General Falkenhayn racked his brains to recall, and then quickly gave an answer to appease him: "Your Majesty, the Henschel Company in Kassel also manufactures heavy-duty vehicles and has accumulated some engine and chassis technology."

"If you wish for a factory near the Ruhr region to also produce armored vehicles, perhaps you could consider having the Ministry of Armaments invest in Henschel to expand production..."

"Immediately! Immediately! Invest in Henschel Company to expand production! I want to see Prosen's arsenal also build tanks! Hmm, they can also find ways to optimize them, not necessarily copy them verbatim. I believe Prosen's engineers are no less intelligent than those southerners. The factories in the Ruhr region must not only build tanks, but build them even better."

As for the authorization fee, the emperor felt that it was necessary to show respect for the imperial laws on the surface and give a symbolic amount.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately." General Falkinhan respectfully agreed and slowly withdrew.

Within days, preparations were quickly launched, and within a month or two, the Henschel factory in Kassel began to expand and build new production lines.

Ironically, Kassel originally belonged to the Duchy of Hesse and should have been part of the "Four Southern German States." However, by a twist of fate, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Hesse chose to support Austria against Prosper.

As a result of the defeat, Hesse was divided into two parts by the treaty. The northern part, "Hesse-Kassel," was directly ceded and incorporated into Prosen, while the southern part, "Hesse-Darmstadt," continued to exist as the Duchy of Hesse and joined the Demanian Confederation.

In other words, if Prosen hadn't ceded the Kassel region during the civil war 50 years ago, there probably wouldn't be a single decent car manufacturer on Prosen's land today. 100% of Germany's major car manufacturers would be located in the four southern German states.

Fortunately, history has no "what ifs." Emperor William now has this one and only seedling that can be used. We must quickly water and fertilize it to help it grow and grow, so that it can help the emperor build more war chariots.

……

The first concentrated assault operation involving armored vehicles in both Lusa and Demania was a resounding success.

Across the strait, another third country was also shocked by this news: Britannia.

Compared to the slow-witted Franks, the Britannians also noticed this fact within just two or three days.

Their keen insight stemmed from the fact that the Britannians themselves were already developing tanks.

Upon hearing that the enemy's tanks were displaying great power, Prime Minister Asquith immediately summoned War Secretary Lloyd George and Navy Secretary Walton Spencer.

"I heard that our country is also developing a new type of armored vehicle with steel armor? How is the progress? How much stronger is it than the previous Rolls-Royce armored vehicle? Can it be stronger than the enemy's armored vehicles?"

The Secretary of the Army looked troubled, and finally the Secretary of the Navy, Walton, took over the conversation:

"There is indeed such a plan, and it's actually our Navy Department that's leading the research and development. We currently have blueprints that have undergone multiple reviews and revisions, but we haven't built a prototype yet. We originally planned to be more cautious and conduct several more rounds of paper-based demonstrations to avoid any obvious technical flaws being exposed only after the vehicle was built..."

Prime Minister Asquith grew increasingly impatient and abruptly waved his hand to stop Wharton's explanation:

"What time is it! Now that we have the blueprints, let's start building a prototype immediately! If it's ruined, it'll just be a waste of money, right? Since armored vehicles are so effective, the sooner they're introduced, the more they'll help the Empire!"

The Britannian Ministry of Finance, which had been stingy with funding for tank projects, was spurred on by the effectiveness of enemy tanks.

We'd rather cut the budget for three to five more destroyers than not speed up the production of the tank prototype. We'll build it and test it first, regardless of its quality.

(End of this chapter)