Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 187 The Conquerors of Sevastopol and Kerch

"Commander Lelouch has truly squeezed every last drop of potential from the airship force. Ever since that massive air raid on the Britannia naval base on the western front at the end of July, when the enemy decided to use white phosphorus anti-aircraft machine gun shells against the airships..."

The empire stopped building new airships, and the production lines, equipment, and resources originally intended for airships were all converted to produce other things.

At that time, the Empire still had 52 usable airships. Now, after more than three months of turmoil and several dangerous missions, only 45 remain operational. Commander Lelouch always requests "special handling," claiming that he can bomb the enemy without losses, but in the end, one or two are always lost.

These are all rare, discontinued items. Use them sparingly; we'll still need airships for ocean reconnaissance, searching for enemy main fleet movements, and laying mines in the air. The production line has already been dismantled.

When Albert Kesselring arrived in Sevastopol with his fleet of airships to support von Bock's siege, he immediately remarked to Bock upon disembarking, hoping that Bock would be more frugal.

Over the past three or four months, white phosphorus bombs have been developed, but Lelouch continues to find ways to utilize the remaining power of his airships in air raids. He seeks out special situations where the enemy lacks anti-aircraft defenses or whose defenses cannot arrive in time, and then unilaterally attacks these "elementary school kids" to inflict free damage.

Take the battles of Zankoy and Troicchik Peninsula a month or so ago, for example. In order to enable the armored forces to break through the natural barrier and reach Troicchik within a day and achieve a rapid breakthrough in the blitzkrieg, Lelouch paid the price of having two bomber airships shot down.

However, compared to achieving the campaign objectives and encircling the main force of the enemy's 6th Army before the enemy could react, these costs were worthwhile.

Von Bock was also very sincere, frankly telling Kesselring: "Today's risk is worthwhile. The enemy has no fighter planes left, at most a few 3-inch anti-aircraft guns with high elevation angles. Taking the entire Crimean Peninsula as soon as possible will greatly help the overall campaign. Albert, you can work harder."

Kesselring didn't say anything then, and made preparations according to plan that day: "Alright, I can finish all the preparations and take off by tomorrow morning, and then carry out deep bombing before dawn, which can be coordinated with the artillery fire preparation of the ground troops."

This city should still have some defensive depth; the outermost 10 kilometers of positions are mainly suppressed by ground artillery bombardment. My responsibility is to suppress the enemy's deeper positions and prevent their reinforcements from quickly returning to the front lines. What do you think?

Bock: "No problem, I'll cooperate."

……

The next morning, everything began as the two had planned.

At around 3 a.m., von Bock organized a batch of heavy artillery to bombard the outer defensive line northeast of Sevastopol.

The number of artillery pieces was not very large, only two or three hundred, so they relied on extending the shelling time to increase the total amount of ammunition deployed, and bombarded the area for a total of one and a half hours.

At 5 a.m., the ground troops launched their assault. There were hardly any survivors left on the outer perimeter of the Lussa forces; the continuous artillery bombardment had forced the remaining local residents to retreat to the second and third lines of defense.

Only after the artillery fire stopped and the Demanians began their charge did the Lusa soldiers attempt to return to their positions and organize close-quarters defense—in fact, the Lusa commander knew that such a redeployment would not be able to recapture all the positions, and that the outermost kilometer of the positions would certainly not be able to be returned in time and would be taken by the enemy.

But the reality was worse than they had anticipated, as Lusa's plan to retake the position was met with even more fire resistance.

About ten airships flew over the second and third lines of positions and rained down small bombs weighing 50 kilograms each, or even newly developed miniature bombs weighing only 5 kilograms each, which were manually dropped by fighter pilots, on the Lushar people's counterattack positions like a shower of petals.

The airship flew at an altitude of over 5,000 meters (which was considered extremely high for 1915), and did not consider bombing accuracy at all, just roughly estimated the target.

However, the sheer number of small bombs made accuracy less important.

The Lusa garrison, who thought they were just outside the artillery range and would launch a counterattack as soon as the artillery stopped, were suddenly ambushed and were blown up on their attack positions.

With coordinated air and ground operations, and the assault battalion using small radios to search for breakthroughs and call for precision artillery support when encountering remaining enemy strongpoints, von Bock had taken over the defensive positions about 7-8 kilometers deep on the northeastern outskirts of Sevastopol in just one morning.

Before the war, the Demanian army had advanced to Bakhchisarai, a small town about halfway between Sevastopol and Simferopol. From Bakhchisarai to the port area of ​​Sevastopol, there were only about 30 kilometers of depth left.

They penetrated 7-8 kilometers in just one morning, which is incredibly fast. It's like cutting off a quarter of the enemy's defenses in one go.

That afternoon, von Bock pressed his advantage, turning his attacking forces southward to capture the mountainous highlands to the east of the city, the area where the Lusa army had originally deployed coastal artillery fortifications.

In this way, the attacking forces gained high ground near the city, making it easier to deploy artillery and conduct fire observations ahead of time.

Deploying artillery from the mountain southeast of the city would allow them to cover Sevastopol to the west and the small town of Yalta to the east—yes, the very same Yalta that hosted the Yalta Conference in later generations. That place is less than 50 kilometers from Sevastopol.

Two days later, with heavy artillery pulled up to the high ground and further air and ground attacks, the defenders in Sevastopol finally collapsed.

Unable to withstand the overwhelming artillery fire, the remaining troops, comprising five divisions, surrendered on October 20th.

冯.博克接收了7万5千人的战俘，加上此前攻城和围城阶段毙伤敌军累计约3万5千人，塞瓦斯托波尔战役也歼灭了11万露军、2个整编军。

Throughout the campaign, the Demacian army suffered 12,000 casualties, of which about 5,000 were lost in the small-scale battles that had lasted for two months during the siege, and the last 7,000 were lost during von Bock's assault and breach of the city.

However, of these 12,000 people, at least 4000 wounded can be saved through treatment with anti-infective drugs and will be able to regain their ability to work. Even if they don't join the army, they can go back to work as laborers. Some lightly wounded who do not require anti-infective drugs can recover on their own.

As von Bock had predicted, no bombing airships were lost during the entire breaching of the city, and the defenders in Sevastopol were completely unable to organize any threatening air defenses.

……

After the fall of Sevastopol, von Bock was not in a hurry to withdraw his troops. Instead, he applied to Field Marshal Rupprecht, the army group commander, to temporarily move the corps that was attacking the city to the Kerch direction to assist Rundstedt in breaking through the city.

The Kerch Peninsula is too close to the strait, and there are still aircraft in the Lusa-occupied area on the other side, so airships cannot be used to attack the city, but a small number of aircraft can be used.

When von Bock arrived, Lundstätter had already made some deployment suggestions based on the actual situation on the ground.

After Bock arrived, he gave a brief report:
"The enemy-occupied area on the Kerch Peninsula is even larger than that in Sevastopol. It is 80 kilometers long from east to west and 45 kilometers wide at its widest point from north to south, with a total area of ​​nearly 3000 square kilometers."

This area is roughly five times the size of the previously occupied territory in Sevastopol, but the terrain here is not as rugged as in Sevastopol. There are basically no high mountains; it's mostly coastal alluvial plains. The enemy was able to hold out here for so long mainly because the terrain is so long and narrow, allowing them to set up layers of defenses. Even if one layer was breached, they could retreat to the rear and continue holding their ground.

I think we shouldn't keep dragging this out with the enemy. If we take advantage of our absolute naval superiority, we might be able to bypass their defenses, reland on their rear, launch a pincer attack, and wreak havoc on the entire peninsula's rear. At that point, even if the enemy still holds onto a few sections of fortified defenses, they'll have no choice but to surrender.

If someone could have a god-like perspective, it wouldn't be hard to see that Rundstedt's view in 1915 was remarkably similar to Manstein's view in 1942.

It can only be said that great minds think alike when it comes to the terrain of the Kerch Peninsula. The only difference is that in 1915 there weren't enough tanks for assault troops to advance quickly, but the Demagnesians had absolute control of the Black Sea, which allowed them to penetrate undefended areas behind enemy lines with impunity.

In recent days, Lundstätter has actually been preparing the ferry for this project, which is why there has been no direct breakthrough yet. It's like sharpening the axe before chopping wood.

After hearing this, von Bock also praised the plan, but added slightly: "The biggest problem with infiltrating along the enemy's weak points on the southern coast of the peninsula is that our heavy artillery cannot keep up quickly."

In such a narrow and long defensive position, the deeper the fighting went, the less artillery support our troops received. Although the enemy didn't have many artillery pieces deep in their rear, they certainly did. We cannot allow our troops to fall into the disadvantage of having 'enemy support firepower while our troops have no support firepower'.

Therefore, it is necessary to learn from Commander Lelouch's experience in the Battle of Chankoy and introduce some air support to compensate for the inability of artillery to keep up.

Von Burke's statement was also influenced by preconceived notions, because Lelouch's "air-ground coordination" tactic of breaking through the natural barriers of two narrow peninsulas a month ago had left a very deep impression on him.

And von Bock himself had just taken Sevastopol by using airships to bombard and inflict heavy damage. Naturally, he would think that if the airships were no longer usable, he would switch to airplanes.

Lundstätter's eyes lit up; he had to admit that his old boss had thought things through very well.

Several of von Bock's subordinate officers, all of whom were old classmates whom he had just recruited before the battle, also participated in the discussion.

One of the battalion commanders, Major Günther Kluge, seized the opportunity to offer his advice to his old classmate: "Federer, since the Kerch Peninsula is flat and so long, if our army breaks through from the south, we can achieve the same result by bombarding it with battleships... Could we borrow support from the navy from the former dreadnoughts on the other side?"

Von Bock immediately realized that his previous thinking had been path-dependent, and promptly decided: "Yes, my thinking was limited by air-ground coordination. How could I forget that our army has completely gained control of the sea? Battleships may not be able to be called in for a short time, but other warships certainly can."

Meanwhile, Paul Hausser, another classmate of von Bock, also took the opportunity to offer another suggestion to fill in the gaps: "I have looked at the current situation of the front line. The enemy's defense line runs north-south and has several lines from west to east. Our previous offensive clearly penetrated deeper on the southern line, and a salient has already formed on the northern side of the enemy's defense line."

Logically speaking, in this situation, most people would first eliminate the enemy's salient in the northern part of the contact line, flatten the defensive line, and then continue the attack. But since our army intends to completely bypass the enemy from the south, or even land and open up new rear positions, we are taking a different approach.

Therefore, before launching the main offensive, we should feign an attack on the northern salient to draw the enemy's defensive focus there. In reality, our army will ignore the northern salient and only aim to completely occupy the southern coastline, then push northward to annihilate all the enemy forces.

After hearing this, von Bock did not act unilaterally, but asked everyone to discuss it together. In the end, Lundstätter and the others all agreed, and the plan was carried out accordingly.

Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, but apart from changing "armored breakthrough" to "naval warships providing support firepower along the coast," the plan was actually very similar to Manstein's Kerch Peninsula campaign in 1942.

(Note: The image below is a tactical situation map of Manstein's attack on the Kerch Peninsula in 1942, which also shows the breakthrough along the south coast without regard to the north.)
It can only be said that the basic command skills of the Demacian generals are still excellent. Even without Lelouch's direct intervention, as long as these generals and officers absorb Lelouch's military ideas, they are capable of perfecting the rest of the details on their own.

……

With a thorough plan in place, the subsequent challenges became a natural progression.

Admiral Spee of the Navy was very cooperative, sending the Mecklenburg, a former dreadnought of the Wichelsbach class, and several old cruisers equipped with 150mm guns to provide artillery support for the army.

On October 22, the Demanian army on the Kerch Peninsula pretended to advance eastward and northward along the contact line, aiming to eliminate the naturally formed northern salient on the Rusa army's defensive line.

The Lussa people were indeed drawn to the situation and committed about an entire army's main force to the salient on the north side of the contact line, leaving the southern front vulnerable.

Then, Lundstätter suddenly turned around and concentrated his forces, continuing his attack eastward from the Demanians' own southern salient.

Simultaneously, small landing forces were organized to enter the interior along several small rivers on the southern side of the Kerch Peninsula, appearing behind the enemy's forward defenses. With the support of the 240mm main guns of the "Mecklenburg," a small-scale landing zone was quickly established.

Subsequently, the Demanian army launched a pincer attack on the Russo forces in the southern section of the contact line, and the Russo people there quickly collapsed.

After entering the undefended area where the enemy had no strong defenses, the Demacian army carried out the "southern breakthrough" to the end, advancing with the support of their warships.

Although there were no tanks and the troops were on foot, they were basically in a state of continuous marching.

If there is a small river ten or twenty kilometers ahead, they can even take a small boat for a while and use water transport instead of walking.

Although the ship is not as fast as a light tank, it still travels at more than 10 knots per hour, which is more than enough for the army to march and advance.

Within a single day, the southern side of the Kerch Peninsula was breached, and the attack continued all the way to the strait.

The following day, the empty city of Kerch was also captured by the Demacian army, because the Lusa garrison was mostly on the front line and didn't have time to return to defend.

The Lusa people were already short of supplies, and now they had even lost their stronghold city. A large army was surrounded in the wilderness, where they had built fortified defenses, but guarding a bunch of trenches was of no use at all.

Finally, the defenders on the Kerch Peninsula officially surrendered on October 25. The French army suffered a total loss of 80,000 men, including 60,000 prisoners and 20,000 casualties.

The Demacian army even took advantage of the navy's arrival to establish a bridgehead at the tip of the Taman Peninsula on the opposite shore, where the Russa were equally powerless to resist.

In this way, the Demacian army can control both sides of the Kerch Strait at the same time, and then the minesweepers can begin to clear the Kerch Strait, which has been blocked by mines by the Lussa, and will be able to enter the Sea of ​​Azov in a few days.

(End of this chapter)