Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 73: Parachute Invasion and Capture of the Dunkirk Fortress Battery
February 17th, 4:30 AM.

As the gunfire and cannon fire from the assault on Dunkirk gradually subsided, the Burgundian soldiers, who had been fighting for most of the night, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the basement of a cathedral near the port, Lieutenant General Edmund Allenby, commander of the 4th Army of the Burkina Faso Expeditionary Force with bloodshot eyes, finally stubbed out his cigar, and the oppressive atmosphere in the city defense command gradually dissipated.

A month ago, Lieutenant General Allenby was the commander of the expeditionary cavalry corps. But now, the cavalry corps has been reduced to a single division, with the other two divisions having been wiped out, and there is no longer any need to retain a corps-level structure.

However, Lieutenant General Allen's individual performance was better than that of Lieutenant General Allen, who was very decisive and brave in battle. With a shortage of personnel, Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal French temporarily transferred him to be the commander of the newly formed 4th Corps, allowing him to continue to command the defensive battle.

"Are those Demacians insane? They attacked so fiercely tonight, and five blocks in the west of the city have already fallen. They can't provide precise artillery support during night battles. This reckless charge is a tactic that disregards losses!"

After hearing that the situation at the front was not so dire, the staff officers finally had time to complain about the enemy, and the most prominent among them was Colonel Rolf, Allenby's chief of staff.

Another unnamed staff officer nearby couldn't help but chime in: "Maybe they're just taking advantage of how well those flamethrower soldiers are at clearing out city buildings. Damn it, if only the Imperial soldiers were that brave, willing to carry weapons that can only spray a few dozen meters, charging forward under fire, and finally spraying oil into enemy buildings!"

These words resonated with everyone. From Lieutenant General Allenby to Colonel Rolf, they couldn't help but nod secretly, feeling a surge of anger at their lack of ambition.

Flamethrowers aren't actually that difficult to manufacture. During World War I, the Brussels army later copied them, but throughout the war, they failed to launch even a single flamethrower assault. The flamethrowers they produced were all defensive, used as flamethrower bunkers. In contrast, the German army launched over 600 flamethrower assaults throughout the war.

This wasn't because the Burghese or French armies lacked technical skill, but because the frontline soldiers were afraid of dying and refused to serve as flamethrower operators. The mere mention of organizing flamethrower units easily caused unrest within the army.

Especially after both sides knew the terrible situation of being caught in close combat by flamethrower soldiers and how short their range was, they would frantically concentrate fire on any flamethrower soldier they saw on the battlefield, fearing that they would be caught in close combat.

Only an army with stricter military discipline can organize such high-risk special forces in a systematic manner.

However, these things were beyond the control of the frontline generals. After a few complaints, the group quickly shifted the topic to their outlook on the subsequent battle.

The German army suddenly slowed its offensive after 4 a.m., an unusual move that led the staff of the 4th Army to make many speculations.

"Why do you think the Demacians ended their offensive prematurely? If it's because the newly appeared pre-dreadnoughts and shallow-draft gunboats have been firing at them at close range these past two days, making them afraid to attack during the day, then they should have pressed on until six or seven in the morning, and stopped when it got light." Chief of Staff Colonel Rolf couldn't help but raise this question.

A group of staff officers discussed this issue at length, but they didn't get to the point.

Finally, Lieutenant General Allenby couldn't stand it anymore and tapped the table with a half-smoked cigar: "Can't you understand this? Most likely, the enemy knows that after dawn, they will be subjected to a fierce artillery barrage from our army, so they have to stop two hours in advance, quickly build forward fortifications, find suitable shelters, and switch to defense on the spot."

For so many days before, our army had been on the defensive, allowing the enemy to advance one or two blocks at a time each day. We hadn't launched a counterattack, and the enemy had neglected to fortify their forward positions. Yesterday, we suddenly launched a counterattack using overwhelming firepower, and the enemy suffered losses. Of course, they should learn from this experience!

Since the army commander had spoken personally, the staff officers couldn't help but feel a little ashamed. They thought about it along the same lines and it seemed to make sense. Especially since it was the army commander who said it, even if it was only 70% true originally, it seemed to grow to 100% in the mouths of the staff officers.

As a result, a flood of flattery poured in. It was as if everyone had already received the conclusion and was asked to prove it, so they went to great lengths to elaborate on Lieutenant General Allenby's point of view.

Lieutenant General Allenby had only said it casually, but when people are tired for a long time, their mental defenses inevitably weaken.

Even if someone isn't usually one to enjoy flattery from subordinates, when they're extremely tired, they can't help but feel pleased when they hear it.

The entire Burgh army command did not speculate too much about the German army ending its offensive before dawn, and thought everything was reasonable.

The soldiers, exhausted after most of the night, finally succumbed to their fatigue and fell into a deep sleep. Only the sentries on duty remained vigilant, and the various observation posts were still gathering battlefield information as much as possible, but everyone else had largely become complacent.

……

Just as most of the Bu army soldiers were exhausted and began to sleep, dozens of huge black shadows finally appeared stealthily in the sky above the southern suburbs of Dunkirk.

Compared to airplanes, airships have another advantage: they are relatively silent.

Its engine only needs to propel the hull forward slowly, without providing lift. Its relatively slow speed also means that it does not produce any wind-blowing noise while sailing.

Currently, there is no navigation technology for nighttime navigation, and airships are not equipped with high-precision gyroscopes; they rely on high-precision compasses and other lateral equipment to roughly determine their course.

In theory, long-distance sailing at night can cause serious accumulation of errors and lead to deviation from the course.

But these issues don't matter for tonight's operation, because the launch point is only 80 to 90 kilometers from the final target, which is already very close.

These airships were secretly transferred from the rear to Armandière the day before and landed before nightfall. Then, from dark until 3 a.m., the crew members slept and rested, and the airships were refueled and maintained. They didn't take off again until after 3 a.m.

Furthermore, because they arrived before nightfall and took off again before dawn, and the entire operation was not communicated via radio, their movements were absolutely kept secret. Neither the Burgh's nor the French forces noticed the unusual movements of the German airship unit in time.

Everything was planned very meticulously.

At 5 a.m., when the navigator airship was 30 kilometers from the front line and 40 kilometers from the Dunkirk fortress, the navigator on the airship could clearly see the fires on the ground in the Ronan and Maloraban fortress areas on the north and south sides of the port area.

Of all the areas in Dunkirk, this was the place with the largest fire—it was the embers left from the incendiary bombardment by our own railway artillery, which guided the airships.

Since the target can be seen flying straight past, there are naturally no navigation or error issues during nighttime flights.

The best and most accurate navigation is when the target is directly visible to the naked eye.

The airship flew forward for another 20 kilometers or so, and was only a dozen kilometers away from the target. The flames on the ground were gradually extinguished, making the airship lose its obvious reference points. Fortunately, the distance was already very close, so the flames were extinguished and there was no possibility of further error.

Moreover, it was already past 5:30, almost 6 o'clock, and the first rays of dawn were about to shine in the east. Once it was just getting light, visibility would no longer be an issue.

Before long, the 42 airships finally crept quietly into the darkness and arrived directly above the Ronan Battery on the high ground south of the port and the Maroleban Battery on the high ground north of the port.

When the war first broke out, the Demacian airships were generally not very large, only about 140 meters long, and the mainstream model at the time was the L7.

Towards the end of the war, due to the strengthening of enemy anti-aircraft firepower, airships needed higher service ceilings, greater ranges, and larger bomb loads, leading to airships reaching nearly 200 meters in length. Theoretically, early-model airships could only carry a little over 2 tons over long distances, with later models reaching 6-8 tons. However, this figure only applies to situations requiring high-altitude flights across the strait, bombing Burkina Faso's mainland, and then returning.

In fact, if one were willing to shorten the range, carry less fuel, and lower the flight altitude (lower altitudes have higher air density and buoyancy), it would be possible to increase the payload of early airships by three times.

Today's battle, because we didn't have to consider endurance and the flight altitude was kept between 2000 and 3000 meters, ultimately managed to squeeze out 7 tons of payload for the paratroopers and ammunition.

A single airship can transport 60 fully armed paratroopers, as well as several flamethrowers and a large number of grenades.

Alternatively, six tons of aerial bombs and incendiary bombs could be transported to carry out a final precision assault on the target area before the paratroopers could launch their assault.

On January 19, a month earlier, the German army used airships to bomb Britannia across the Channel for the first time, but only bombed a port near the east coast, without daring to go inland, and did not encounter any anti-aircraft fire.

To this day, the Burkina Faso army has no ground-based air defense capabilities.

Historically, this situation would have continued until May of this year. As the German army began bombing London, the country was forced to rush to build a batch of 37mm caliber 1-pound cannons. The following year, they built 40mm 2-pound "ping-pong cannons," which was the first step in establishing ground-based anti-aircraft guns.

Therefore, airships flying over enemy-occupied territory are currently perfectly safe. The only thing to worry about is a very small number of large, two-seat reconnaissance aircraft that have been temporarily fitted with heavy machine guns—

However, today's airships are packed with paratroopers, each armed with a submachine gun. Unless the enemy's large reconnaissance planes hide three or four hundred meters away and fire, they will be taught a lesson if they dare to get any closer.

"We have already flown over the target! No enemy alert detected, but it seems we are a bit early. There may still be 10 or 15 minutes until sunrise, we cannot be sure for now."

On the airship, a group of commanders and pilots were bustling about, making adjustments to deal with a sudden error.

"Then lower your altitude, from 1000 meters... no, from 800 meters, hover and parachute! Make sure you can see your landing spot even in the dark, don't land in the wrong place!"

"Bomb the airships! Two minutes before the paratroopers are released, drop all the bombs at top speed! Then immediately parachute in! Don't give the enemy any time to react!"

Dropping the bombs too late might accidentally injure the paratroopers, but dropping them too early will give the enemy time to reinforce, and might even alert them to come and help. Dropping all the bombs within two minutes is just right.

Soon, the six bomber airships and 36 paratrooper airships were in position.

In the darkness, two airships carrying heavy bombs dropped three 2000-kilogram special aerial bombs each onto the suspected location of the gun emplacement tunnel.

The other four ships, like sprinkling salt, circled around several times within two minutes, dropping small bombs weighing 50 kilograms each at a rate of one per second. These bombs were only used to destroy the enemy's surface firing points, kill the outer defenders, and block enemy reinforcements.

The two gun emplacements below each consist of three sets of twin-mounted 340mm armored turrets, along with a large number of 240mm coastal defense guns and 140mm secondary guns (the French 138mm was also the main gun caliber favored by French light cruisers, while battleships used 138mm secondary guns).
Each turret's three 340mm armored turrets are connected by extremely sturdy concrete tunnels, so strong that even the main guns of battleships cannot penetrate the overlay.

However, facing an aerial bomb weighing 2000 kilograms, especially since aerial bombs have a much larger explosive charge than artillery shells, a single bomb would likely have the equivalent of a ton of TNT. Unfortunately, the bombing altitude wasn't very high, which didn't allow the bomb enough time to experience gravitational acceleration and achieve an extremely high armor-piercing initial velocity.

With a muffled "thud!", the super-heavy aerial bomb rammed straight into the loose soil two meters deep, and then into the reinforced concrete top more than half a meter deep. Only after the fuse time had expired did a deafening roar erupt, blowing the entire concrete passage connecting the giant turret off its roof.

Inside the tunnel, within at least two hundred meters of the explosion point, any French sailors who remained were instantly shattered by the immense, confined overpressure, their internal organs destroyed, and none survived.

In an open environment, the damage from explosive pressure might not be as severe because the energy scatters in all directions. However, in a confined tunnel, the pressure has no other outlet and only forms an extremely high pressure along the tunnel, causing people to vomit blood and suffer internal injuries even hundreds of meters away.

The French sailors guarding the gun emplacements quickly fell into disarray, unsure of how to respond to this sudden turn of events.

"Start parachuting immediately! Quickly!"

The 36 paratrooper airships in the air had already reduced their speed to minimum, and the soldiers, with resolute eyes, jumped down in a flurry. The slow speed of the airships made the parachute jump much easier than jumping from an airplane, and there was no need to worry about the soldiers spreading out too far.

Moreover, the doors on both sides of the airship's cabin can open simultaneously, allowing passengers to jump from either side, and the sortie rate is doubled.

At an altitude of 800 meters, groups of soldiers took deep breaths as they plummeted, everyone extremely tense.

Major Rommel, Captain Model, and Lieutenant Dieter were all among the paratroopers.

Everything that needed to be explained has been explained; now it's up to each person to perform.

Rommel silently recited the operating procedures in his mind: if he were to drop from 800 meters, he could descend to 500 meters in about 10 seconds, and the minimum parachute deployment altitude was between 300 and 400 meters. He silently counted to 12, even twisting his wrist to glance at the second hand, before suddenly pulling up the parachute.

He didn't realize he had opened his parachute a tiny bit too early. When the parachute was fully open, he was still 420 or 430 meters above the ground, but it didn't matter. He didn't care about opening the parachute a few dozen meters earlier.

The French sailors on the ground had not yet organized a resistance, and most of the soldiers had not even noticed the paratroopers. Only two or three out of a hundred men thought of firing into the air in time.

The sporadic sounds of Bertier's Type 92 rifles rang out for two or three minutes, gradually becoming more frequent. However, their power was limited to those two or three minutes.

As the rapid "rat-a-tat-tat" of MP15 submachine gun fire rang out, the Bertil 92 rifle was quickly suppressed.

"Quickly seize the main gun turret along the tunnel! Then seize all the secondary gun positions and the gun emplacement command post! Charge straight in through the breach created by the heavy bombs!"

After Rommel landed, he waved to the soldiers and called them to rush into the tunnel through the gap created by the 2000-kilogram bombs from the airship. Rommel himself even took an MP15 submachine gun and fired at the other side of the tunnel from time to time.

The overwhelming barrage of submachine gun fire was extremely advantageous in the tunnel. The airborne assault team charged forward relentlessly, first throwing a dense volley of grenades to clear a path when they reached a corner, and then continuing to fire submachine guns after turning the corner.

Soon, at least one twin-mounted 340mm armored turret each at Ronan Fortress and Maloleban Fortress was captured by the airborne assault team.

The airborne assault team showed no sign of slowing down and continued their rapid advance.

Just as medicine drips into the blood vessels, it will naturally flow along every capillary in the limbs and bones, until it has circulated through all the blood vessels of the fortress.

(End of this chapter)