Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 8 Submarine Cables and a Bigger Conspiracy
Fifteen minutes later, Sergeant Lelouch and Sergeant Crozier, on the orders of Colonel Lister, led a group of soldiers from the army group's communications battalion's wiring platoon back to the post office near the beach.

This is also the location where Lelouch first traveled through time this afternoon—he was exposed to tear gas by the remnants of the French army, rushed out of the post office, collapsed unconscious on the beach next to it, and was later awakened by the waves.

At first, Lelouch himself found it strange: why was the post office built in such a coastal location? Did the post office staff also want to work in a "sea-view property"?
However, after arriving at the destination and reviewing the blueprints and documents provided by his superiors before his trip, Lelouch quickly recalled the reason:

The post office in Neoport is a relay station used to connect two sections of submarine telegraph cable. The town's local communication needs are very low, so it was deliberately built by the sea to save costs.

Contrary to what many laymen imagine, laying submarine telegraph cables was actually a very low-cost method of long-distance communication, even cheaper than terrestrial cables.

It doesn't require digging trenches or laying cables, nor does it require land acquisition. You simply drop the cable onto the seabed and have it towed by a warship. As early as 1866, the first transatlantic submarine cable was built.

Along the coasts of Billy King and the Netherlands, Siemens also assisted the telegraph companies of both countries in building a submarine cable across the Britannia Strait in 1908.

The cable starts from Port Wilhelmshaven in Demania, passes through The Hague in the Netherlands, Blankenberg in Billy King, Neoport, and finally crosses the Channel westward.

Therefore, when Lu Luxiu and his team were transferred here to repair the cables, they also brought with them the original construction drawings from Siemens.

……

"Sergeant Schweinsteiger, can you fix it? The break point hasn't been located yet?"

Inside the post office's equipment room, several technical officers had been fiddling with the equipment for a while.

Lelouch was getting anxious, so he couldn't help but urge Schweinsteiger, who had just been revived at dinner, to answer his questions.

The communications platoon's previous platoon leader was killed in action. Schweinsteiger was the deputy platoon leader and also the top technical backbone. He had a formal electrical engineering degree and had worked for Siemens before the war.

He was unconscious for an entire afternoon. When he woke up, he learned that Lelouch had bypassed him and become the acting platoon leader. He couldn't accept it for a moment: How much merit had this kid accomplished in just a few hours? Could he have connections in higher-ups?

However, he is still very responsible at work. When urged to hurry up, he, like other technical experts, retorts irritably:
"Don't panic! The fault is much more complex than we expected! The breakpoint doesn't seem to be around here, or even on the beach! Let me test it again!"

Lelouch was not as professional as his opponent in repairs, so he had no choice but to shut up and wait a while longer.

A few minutes later, after repeated checks, Schweinsteiger finally spread his hands and pointed to the readings of the Siemens MBR08 dual-arm bridge instrument in front of him:

"This is a problem. I don't think it can be fixed tonight. According to the bridge instrument's measurements, the break point is more than three kilometers away!"

Lelouch didn't react immediately and instinctively asked, "What does that mean?"

Schweinsteiger snorted and pointed north with his thumb: "This means the break point isn't on land, but extends at least two kilometers into the sea—how are we supposed to fix it? Are we supposed to swim there?"

We must request an auxiliary engineering vessel to locate the break point, salvage both ends, reconnect them on the vessel, and then return them to the seabed.

Lelouch was also surprised, not expecting that his initial assessment of the malfunction was wrong.

To a normal person, if a telegraph cable is cut in a small town during wartime, it's most likely because the land portion was destroyed by artillery fire—for example, the cruiser that's been harassing the German forces at sea today often creates craters several meters deep when its 150mm shells hit the beach.

Who would have thought that it was precisely the part that was lying perfectly fine on the seabed that broke off?
"Well, since it's the section underwater that broke, we really can't repair it on our own. We need the navy's cooperation. Sigh, what bad luck."

Lelouch sighed and waved to signal everyone to call it a day. The technical officers then began picking up the bridge circuit and the magnetometer.

Lelouch, accompanied by his trusted confidant Klose, prepared to sneak back to headquarters in the dark to report the situation.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the post office, he couldn't help but shiver when the cold sea breeze blew through the street.

Lelouch suddenly had a flash of inspiration, as if he had grasped some clue, and many things suddenly became clear to him.

"Sir, what's wrong?" Klose asked, noticing that he had suddenly stopped and assumed he was unwell.

"It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of a possibility, and all the previous things can be connected."

Lelouch murmured to himself, and as he spoke, his thoughts became clearer and clearer.

"Klose, have you ever thought about why that Britannian light cruiser on the sea has been there all day?"

Klose: "Wasn't that a last-minute artillery barrage to provide fire support for the French and Belgian ground offensive? The cruisers would fire several rounds of gunfire before each enemy charge."

Lelouch shook his head: "The enemy will not target the Linxian-class light cruisers. These light cruisers only have two 150mm guns, but six medium-caliber rapid-fire secondary guns. In other words, they are ships dedicated to hunting torpedo ships."

If I were the British Navy Minister and insisted on sending light cruisers for fire support, I would definitely choose the Weymouth-class or Chatham-class cruisers, whose eight main guns are all 150mm.

Klose felt an itch to get his head moving, as if he were about to grow a brain: "Sir, I know you're smart, just give me the answer."

Lelouch: "I suspect that cruiser's original purpose was simply to sabotage our cables! That's why Schweinsteiger said the break was at least two kilometers offshore when he was checking the point of failure! This enemy ship sailed right up to our cables, then precisely retrieved them from the seabed, cut them, and probably even took a large section to prevent us from repairing them!"

Upon hearing Lelouch's words, Klose immediately understood and recalled a case from the beginning of the war, which was taught during the training of all communications units.

He suddenly realized, "Ah! I remember now! Isn't that the same case as at the beginning of the war, on August 5th? The Britannian dogs declared war on us on August 4th, and then the next day they sent a cruiser to cut our transatlantic cable!"

But something's not right! That time they acted so quickly and precisely because the cable actually passed through the Britannia Strait, and they had the construction plans before the war, allowing them to pinpoint the route coordinates. But this cable doesn't pass through Britannia; only Siemens and the owner should have the plans. Where did they get the coordinates?
Did we leak the secret, or is there a spy? Hmm, it must be the Billy King Telegraph Company who provided the blueprints to their allies!

Although Klose was not good at intelligence analysis, there were only three options in this problem: two owners (Billy King and Nedland), and one construction company (Siemens). One of these three parties must have leaked the information.

Klose immediately ruled out the possibility of Siemens betraying the country, and naturally suspected the Belighians, which was quite reasonable, since they were already allies with Britannia.

But Lelouch doesn't see it that way.

He stood in the cold wind, thinking carefully for a while, using the wind to cool his supercomputer brain. After a long time, he said, "I don't think so. The enemy probably only thought of sharing this data in a hurry, rather than coming prepared."

The first piece of evidence is that after we occupied this post office and inspected the enemy's offices, we found the original copy of the drawings that Siemens had kept for the owner, Billy King Telegraph Company. When I looked at it just now, I confirmed that it still had Siemens' approval stamp on it.

This indicates that the Biligin people fled in a great hurry when they lost the town. Captain Andrei's cavalry reconnaissance company arrived so quickly that the Biligin people maintaining order in the town were unaware that our army had arrived first.

Therefore, the Bretonnia's urgent dispatch of cruisers to sabotage the cables was likely a reactive measure rather than a premeditated act. In other words, they only hastily organized sabotage after hearing the town had fallen, which explains why the telegraph cable wasn't broken when Captain Andrei arrived, but only broke this morning.

Siemens wouldn't betray its country without a reason, and the Belgian people lost the blueprints unexpectedly—so in my opinion, the biggest suspect should be the telegraph company of the neutral Netherlands.

Don't be fooled by the Netherlands' current neutrality and lack of involvement in the war. Their foreign trade and financial interests are closer to Bretonnia, and their telecommunications companies are likely more aligned with Bretonnia than with us.

It's highly likely that there was a traitor within the Dutch National Telegraph Company, and after Neopod was captured by our forces, they leaked the blueprints to the Royal Navy at the request of the Britannian side!

Lelouch couldn't completely rule out the possibility that the Billygins had made a copy beforehand and taken it out to leak the secret, but he was more inclined to use it to remind the higher-ups to be wary of Dutch spies.

Because he had read about espionage during World War I in his previous life, he knew that the Dutch Telegraph Company had many collaborations with the Britannian military. Even if it wasn't necessarily the Dutch who did it this time, using this opportunity to alert his superiors was always a win-win situation.

Perhaps he could actually gain something and get promoted when he got back—Lelouch wasn't too concerned about promotions themselves, but he was very concerned about getting rid of the front lines and fighting amidst gunfire as soon as possible.

Only by becoming a senior officer as soon as possible and getting rid of front-line combat can one ensure greater safety and a better chance of survival.

Meanwhile, Klose, after listening to the platoon leader's entire analysis, stared wide-eyed as if he were looking at a ghost.

Is this even human? How does someone's brain work?

Can you really deduce so much from just measuring a cable break and analyzing the enemy cruiser's operational patterns? Is that for real?

"So you're planning to report everything to Colonel Lister? But even if we knew all this, it wouldn't help us in this battle, would it?"

Lelouch shook his head: "I'll say what needs to be said first. Anyway, let the colonel consult via radio tonight, so as not to delay important matters. As for my analysis earlier, it might not be needed for a day or two, but I believe it will be useful sooner or later in this battle—"

And all you have to do is keep absolutely silent. To be honest, even I didn't expect I could analyze so much, which is why I talked to you. If I had known earlier, I would have preferred to keep it all inside my own head, letting my left and right hemispheres work together to deduce and analyze it.

Klose snapped to attention: "Sir, rest assured! I am absolutely loyal to you! I won't say a word of these things to anyone!"

Lelouch waved his hand: "Let's go, come back to the regimental headquarters with me first."

A few minutes later, Lelouch arrived at the regimental headquarters and gave a brief report on the repair situation, highlighting the parts he could talk about.

When Colonel Lister heard that the malfunction was so severe that it would require the Navy to send ships to repair it, he did not make things difficult for the communications platoon.

He could only sigh, and then immediately instructed the regimental radio operator to contact the division headquarters using the FU-08 radio, and then ask the division headquarters to relay other psychological warfare-related deployments.

After giving his instructions, the colonel kindly advised Lelouch to go and rest: "You should go to sleep first. You have a lot to do tomorrow morning, so make sure you get some rest. I'll arrange for someone to take care of the night's defensive battle."

Lelouch was then arranged to rest in the cellar.

He couldn't sleep at all that night, and could only doze off.

Especially in the latter half of the night, the sound of artillery fire coming and going from the town grew louder and louder, and the shouts of charging and killing rose one wave after another.

French, Belgian, Burgundian, and German troops were all present, and they practically swept up all the ruins in the town again.

(End of this chapter)