Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 77 The Royal Navy Delivered to Our Doorstep

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

The timeline goes back to that morning.

Across the Channel, the Admiralty on Downing Street in London.

Minister Wharton, who had been having a rough time lately and had only recently found some peace, was pondering what to have for lunch when a jarring phone call interrupted his thoughts.

"Your Excellency, the six warships of the Strait Fleet's fire support squadron were all sunk by the Germans at approximately 7:6 AM this morning in Dunkirk harbor, and Rear Admiral Lynch was also killed in action..."

clack.

Minister Wharton's hand trembled as he held the receiver, and the phone slammed onto his desk with a heavy thud.

"This is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

"Your Excellency, the enemy used an unprecedented tactic. They airdropped thousands of elite soldiers by airship, landing directly above the coastal defense batteries of Dunkirk using the pilots' safety parachutes."

Those gun emplacements were only capable of firing from above, not from below. They were completely helpless against an enemy that suddenly appeared overhead! After the Demacians took control of the gun emplacements, they immediately turned their cannons towards our warships in the harbor and launched a despicable and vicious sneak attack.

Major General Lin Qi fought bravely and relentlessly, ultimately destroying one twin-mounted 340mm armored turret, several 240mm guns, and more than ten 140mm coastal defense guns. However, due to being attacked from both sides, he died a heroic death…

They sacrificed six warships and only managed to destroy one armored turret and a few loose coastal defense guns without turrets. How dare they even mention such a small achievement?
But what other options are there? It's better than just saying that all the warships died in vain.

Minister Wharton felt dizzy for a while before he could regain his composure.

His brain immediately began to work intensely, and soon he figured out the key issue that followed.

"The most important thing now is whether the defenders in Dunkirk can launch a quick counterattack and retake the coastal fortress and port at all costs! As long as they can take them back, there is still hope!"
"Immediately connect me to the War Department and have Lord Kitchener persuade Field Marshal French to prepare for a retreat! Don't continue the war of attrition at Ypres! Otherwise, without a good port, we won't be able to retreat!"

Walton's secretary quickly connected him to the War Department. Walton and Kitchener had an in-depth conversation and Walton learned that Kitchener shared similar thoughts. Faced with such a change, the troops did indeed need to retreat towards the coast and find a way to withdraw as soon as possible.

At this point, whether Billygin would be completely destroyed, whether it would embolden Demania, and whether it would damage the international image and prestige of the Great Burma Empire were all secondary issues!
If the expeditionary force were to be surrounded and annihilated, that would be the greatest disgrace! The prestige of the entire empire would be severely trampled into the ground!
Since the remaining work was all the War Department's business, Walton couldn't get involved and could only wait. All afternoon, his mind was filled with all sorts of wild thoughts, and various ominous premonitions made him feel suffocated.

As night fell, he received a new piece of bad news, as well as a relatively good piece of news that could be considered a belated but ultimately worthwhile consolidation.

"Your Excellency Minister, Lord Kitchener of the Army has replied: Field Marshal French has reached an agreement with him and is making arrangements to have the troops withdraw from their defensive positions and retreat gradually toward the coast..."

However, the city of Dunkirk had already been breached by the enemy, and we failed to recapture the coastal fortifications and the port area. Instead, the enemy's reinforcements for the siege had already joined forces with the airborne troops that had captured the port...

The remnants of the 29th Division and the Indian 13th Division were besieged by the enemy in the northwestern part of Dunkirk. The remnants of the ANZACs crossed the Franco-Belgian border river eastward and retreated into Beligh-Kinshasa territory.

When Minister Wharton heard this additional information, he realized that the situation was hopeless.

What to do now? Just let the 15 men in the encirclement die? If they don't die, and the army can't take the coastal fortresses and ports on its own, are we going to have to rely on the navy to spend a lot of money to destroy those coastal fortresses that have been given to the enemy?
The thought of potentially having to use precious warships to bombard those concrete lumps made Minister Walton's heart bleed.

"No way... This time they've made such a huge mess, the Frankish navy should clean it up! They built such a formidable coastal defense fortress in Dunkirk, only to hand it over to the enemy and have them turn their cannons on their own people!"
Even if we don't force the Franks to invest more, they should at least compensate us for the six warships the Empire lost this time! I'll have the Prime Minister instruct the Foreign Minister to urge the Franks to compensate us for the six pre-dreadnought battleships! Or we can use those six pre-dreadnoughts as human shields to absorb enemy fire!

Minister Wharton was so angry that he couldn't help but feel that the Franks should compensate for all these losses, and it was only right and proper!

However, it seems too late now. To rescue the army and stop the mess they made, the only option is to get the other ships in the Strait Fleet to assemble as soon as possible and launch a counterattack immediately.

The activation, assembly, and voyage of a fleet all take time. Therefore, it would take at least 24 hours to ensure that a large fleet can be organized and arrive at the battlefield.

If only 12 to 18 hours are given, then it can only ensure that the ships in Dover arrive at the battlefield, which could easily lead to a piecemeal fighting tactic.

Moreover, considering the timing, 12 hours later, it should be the morning of February 18th. A daytime attack would allow for more accurate observation and aiming of the coastal defense guns, potentially leading to greater losses for the fleet.

If we can hold out for the full 24 hours, a shelling attack tomorrow night might be more effective.

Walton, being a veteran of the Navy, knew that using naval guns against coastal artillery was always a losing proposition.

However, since naval guns are "moving to hit a stationary target," once you aim once and calculate your speed and direction, you can adjust the lead amount according to the rhythm of hitting a fixed target each time you fire, and you can repeatedly hit the same point with the shells.

In contrast, coastal defense artillery had to determine the warship's heading and roughly estimate the distance by observing the muzzle flash of the naval guns. However, if the warship was sailing and made minor adjustments every few rounds of firing, preventing the enemy from figuring out its movement patterns, it was possible to evade the coastal defense artillery shells as much as possible.

In any case, night battles can mitigate some of the disadvantages of ships attacking shore.

Considering these circumstances, Walton immediately made a phone call to Rear Admiral Horace Hood of the Channel Fleet:
"I heard you and Lynch are on good terms. Lynch died in Dunkirk. You must find a way to make the enemy pay for their blood debt!"
You need to come up with a plan as soon as possible. Tonight, or before dawn tomorrow, send a small number of high-speed warships to secretly probe De Panne or Neoport to pick up people. See if the nighttime evacuation plan is feasible. I will discuss this with Kitchener and French, and have them evacuate some important figures out of the encirclement first.

If it is feasible, then you should not make any rash moves that would alert the Demanians during the day tomorrow, but wait until night to bring people in on a large scale.

But if something goes wrong during tonight's evacuation, it means we'll have to take down the Dunkirk coastal defenses. Tomorrow during the day, organize a probing bombardment to assess the enemy's firepower, but don't be reckless! If the enemy's firepower becomes too intense and any warships are damaged, retreat immediately! Only engage the enemy at maximum range!

If we confirm the enemy's shore artillery fire is fierce, then tomorrow night, we will assemble all our available shore bombardment fleet and use our superior numbers to overwhelm Dunkirk! If possible, I will also coordinate with you to send a few Frankish pre-dreadnoughts to join the bombardment, as a way to give the Franks a chance to atone for their sins!

"Yes, Minister! I will arrange it as ordered! I will personally lead the Straits Fleet and cooperate with General Betty's battlecruiser fleet in combat!" Rear Admiral Horace Hood loudly agreed on the phone, indicating his absolute obedience to orders.

That evening, all the fleet's operational preparations were completed, and the warships that were scheduled to depart all set sail.

At the urging of Navy Secretary Walton, Prime Minister Asquith instructed the Foreign Secretary to urgently negotiate with the Franks, severely condemning and pressuring them for betraying their allies by "bombarding the ships in the harbor after the Frankish forts were captured."

They vehemently denounced the Franks as spineless cowards who betrayed their allies! It's certain that French sailors aided the enemy!

Faced with fierce condemnation from its allies, Frankish Minister of General Affairs Vivienne could only briefly assess the situation before admitting defeat. She pledged to do everything in her power to coordinate the deployment of warships from Cherbourg to assist the Britannian Straits Fleet in joint operations as atonement.

(Note: From now on, the head of state of the Frankish government will be written as "Minister of General Affairs," and other countries with the same name will also adopt this title to avoid conflict with certain prohibited proper nouns.)
Some might be surprised by the Franks' perceived weakness and gullibility, but in fact, this was standard practice for the Franks at the time.

Anyone who has played Hearts of Iron IV knows that the Franks in World War II start with a serious debuff called "chaotic government," which halves the rate at which political points grow.

However, a closer look at Frankish history reveals that this debuff existed not only before World War II but also before World War I.

From 1910 to early 1915, the Franks had eight different ministers of general affairs in five years!

At this rate, no faction's policy platform can last more than a year before it is overturned and restarted.

Because of the internal chaos, when faced with disputes or extreme pressure from external allies, they choose to first get the military to cooperate and then discuss procedural issues later.

Ultimately, with the mediation of Burkina Faso's Navy Minister Walton, the three naval forces indeed set sail simultaneously, attempting to retaliate against the port of Dunkirk.

These three naval forces are as follows:

Admiral Horace Hood led the Channel Fleet, comprising all six Majestic-class pre-dreadnoughts, seven King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnoughts, and supporting light auxiliary vessels. The King Edward VII class originally consisted of eight ships, but the lead ship, HMS Edward VII, was too old and under repair to be operational. Therefore, there were a total of thirteen pre-dreadnoughts.

General David Beatty led a battlecruiser fleet consisting of two of the newest Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, three Invincible-class battlecruisers, two Indulgence-class battlecruisers, and two Lion-class battlecruisers, for a total of two battleships and seven battlecruisers.

The Royal Navy prepared a total of 22 large ships for this battle!
Even if the defenses of Dunkirk were impregnable, they couldn't withstand such firepower!

Even if the Demanians had sent those pre-dreadnoughts to the coast of Biligin to cause trouble, they could all be wiped out! Moreover, the Franks, moved by the condemnation from Britannia, reluctantly sent four 19th-century-built, outdated pre-dreadnoughts—the Suffren, Bouvet, Massena, and Joregiberry—as a token gesture.

(Note: These four ships were early experimental designs of the Frankish Navy, so only one of each type was built, and they did not form a "class".)
The Franks' intention in sending these scoundrels was clear: to show their sincerity in admitting their mistakes, but they had nothing more to offer.

At the time, the French Navy only had three Courbet-class dreadnoughts completed, and zero battlecruisers. The Franks certainly wouldn't want to waste their only high-end ships.

Other pre-dreadnoughts were largely ineffective for shore bombardment. The older ships simply had worse fire control, but they were equally effective against stationary targets. The best ships should be reserved for ship-to-ship naval battles.

The reasoning behind the Burkina Faso's deployment of former dreadnoughts to bombard the shore is similar. It's a waste to use a ship with such superior fire control to fire at a stationary target, and it would be painful to suffer damage if it were hit.

The mighty fleet thus converged on the port of Dunkirk from all directions.

……

As the main fleet slowly assembled, the vanguard of the Channel Fleet, which had departed from Dover, had already seen three fast, new light cruisers arrive at the sea east of Dunkirk by midnight on February 17th, and were about to dock at the temporary pier north of the coastal town of Neoport.

February 17, 1915, corresponded to the fourth day of the lunar month, so it was a moonless night. The sea was pitch black. Neoport was not a professional harbor, and many facilities were temporary structures. To avoid running aground or colliding with the pier, cruisers had to turn on a few signal lights as they approached the harbor. Some lights on the dock also had to be turned on to help cruisers avoid the area.

Their purpose here was, of course, to prioritize the evacuation of a group of important figures from the Dunkirk encirclement.

The 15 troops can be withdrawn gradually, but the safety of certain politically significant figures must be prioritized. This has always been Secretary Wharton's approach.

Therefore, Albert I, who had just fled once in early November of last year and traveled from Ostend to Ypres, along with some of his cabinet members, favorites, and trusted guards, were transported to Neoport by Marshal French, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, using a combination of cars and small boats before midnight that day.

When he withdrew from the Ostend siege, he insisted on making his way to Ypres so that he would "not leave the land of Biligin." Little did he expect that three months later, he would be humiliated again for his stubbornness.

This time, however, he had no room for resistance. He would listen to whatever Minister Wharton advised him, because he had no more cards to play.

Little did he know that this was the same corporal who, just over three months earlier, had led a communications platoon and a reconnaissance cavalry company to block the coastal highway in Neoport, cutting off Billy King's escape route.

Now they're back, and almost on a nearby battlefield, they're using the same old tricks to trick him again.

If a person can become a vengeful ghost after death, then he certainly wouldn't want to let Lelouch go.

"Your Majesty, please be careful. Everything will be fine once we reach London. Your children have been doing very well in London all these years. Their teachers and classmates at Eton College have taken good care of them."

The captain of the Burgundy cruiser who was in charge of picking him up was very polite to Albert I and, as instructed by his superiors, said these comforting and polite words.

Albert I was still somewhat shaken: "I took over my cruiser 'The Daring' three months ago, and I heard it was sunk by the Demanians' 'Scharnhorst' just a few days later? I hope you won't run into trouble this time?"

Captain Bu patted his chest and assured him: "Don't worry, the 'Bold' is a 'Linxian-class' ship, while the ship we are using this time is the more advanced 'Caroline-class' ship, the first of which was commissioned on December 4th last year."

Our two newest cruisers, commissioned this January, are absolutely the best-performing, fastest, and newest cruisers in the Royal Navy! We are among the first cruisers on the planet capable of reaching a top speed of 29 knots! No one can catch us!

Albert I nodded, feeling somewhat relieved.

The group quickly began boarding the ship and carrying their luggage. Due to the lack of deep-water berths, the temporary pier at the dock was very long.

All of this had to be hastily assembled within half a day, so the quality was very poor and the ground was uneven.

In the darkness, members of the royal family would occasionally slip and fall into the sea.

All of this makes the connection speed very slow.

Just as the cruiser was operating with great tension, in the radio room on the vice president's bridge, the radio operator suddenly detected a signal, and his expression changed drastically as he tried to report it up the chain of command.

"Enemy clear code telegram detected at extremely close range! Unable to determine direction at present, suspected to be an enemy torpedo boat!"

However, although this important news was reported, before the cruiser captain could react, bursts of cannon fire soon came from the Dunkirk coastal defense battery, 20 kilometers to the west.

A row of 140mm and even 240mm flares were lined up, their ranges increasing from far to near, covering the coastline in this area.

The illumination will end within one minute, and the flare will burn out and fall into the sea.

But one minute was enough. The lookout tower of the distant coastal fortress could already see whether any ships trying to sneak ashore were approaching the shore.

"Damn it! Watch out for artillery fire! Set sail immediately!"

The Caroline-class light cruiser that was picking up passengers immediately ordered to set sail and leave the anchorage, even before all the passengers had boarded. The other two escorting cruisers also dared not linger and quickly maintained their patrols, fearing that some unsavory creature might sneak up and attack from the darkness.

A distance of 20 kilometers is enough to exceed the range of 140mm coastal defense guns of this era.

However, it is still somewhat inadequate when facing heavy artillery of 240mm or even 340mm.

Within one minute of the flare taking effect, the distant gun emplacements roughly confirmed the aiming direction and fired their first volley of shells.

At the same time, more flares were quickly fired at the area where the enemy ship was detected by the first round of flares, providing additional illumination to ensure accurate observation of the shell impact points.

The ballistic data for blocking the coastlines of towns like Depanne and Neoport were already included in the firing tables of the Dunkirk coastal fortress.

Just two minutes later, the shell was getting closer and closer. The light cruiser, which had just set sail urgently, had not yet had time to pick up speed before it was hit by a 240mm shell.

The shell pierced through the bow armor of the light cruiser, entering from the port side and exiting from the starboard side, before exploding in the water on the starboard side.

Although it was only a near miss after penetrating, the high trajectory of the ballistic missile meant that the large hole on the starboard side was already below the waterline. After penetrating the hole and then exploding, it tore open a large rift seven or eight meters long below the waterline on the starboard side, and surging seawater rushed in instantly.

Although damage control immediately closed the watertight doors of all cabins at the bow to prevent flooding from spreading to the mid- and aft sections.

However, the bow of the ship has been submerged deep underwater due to the flooding, while the stern is slightly raised, and you can even see the spray from the propeller splashing in the air.

With its speed drastically reduced, the cruiser had effectively lost any chance of escape. A few minutes later, as more 240mm shells hit it directly, the cruiser was finally destroyed in explosions and fire.

The other two cruisers, seeing their companions being blasted to smithereens, dared not linger any longer, much less approach and become targets, and immediately decided to turn around and leave.

But during their departure, the two escort light cruisers, the one positioned to the east, were somehow touched by a 21-inch slow-moving long-range torpedo as they turned north. It's likely that the Demanian torpedo boats that had been scouting nearby opened fire as soon as they spotted the enemy cruiser attempting to pick up the people.

In the darkness, firing at the temporary dock area illuminated by flares is indeed difficult to guard against.

The Caroline-class cruiser, hit by a torpedo, quickly took on water and sank in the shallow sea shortly afterward.

The Bu army accomplished nothing and lost two light cruisers for nothing.

An hour later, another call came back to the Admiralty in London.

"Your Excellency, this is terrible! The cruiser we sent to rescue the Billy Kings under cover of darkness has been sunk by shore artillery! Another one was hit by an unidentified torpedo during the emergency retreat!"

(End of this chapter)