Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 82: Dreadnoughts Close-in Blockade of the Beach
Despite the fact that this land and sea battle involved hundreds of thousands of people and was so bloody and brutal, it was a brutal and bloody conflict.

However, while both sides were fiercely attacking each other, a large number of inconspicuous light cruisers, destroyers, and small transport ships of the Burmese army were taking advantage of the chaos to pick up the wounded and evacuate the Burmese army.

All of this was carried out in parallel. However, because the military failed to occupy deep-water ports, the scale of this evacuation was not large. All warships were unable to dock and people could only be ferried by small boats or temporarily requisitioned fishing boats.

The retreat of the Bu army was not a random one. The combat-capable units and the troops close to the front line of the Dunkirk siege were determined to fight to the death and strive for that last chance to recapture the port.

However, many wounded soldiers could not contribute to the fight if they stayed, so it was better to withdraw first. In case the army was wiped out, at least some embers could be preserved.

In order to ferry these wounded soldiers by boat, some healthy rowers were also needed. At this time, officers or those with connections might be able to find a way to escape—of course, in the early 1915 army, many officers upheld chivalry, insisting that their subordinates retreat first while they held out until the end; such noble people did appear from time to time.

The unit with the highest rescue rate in this temporary evacuation was the 29th Division of the 4th Army, which was surrounded in the northwest corner of Dunkirk. Previously, this army had two division-level units, the 29th Division and the Indian 13th Division, which were surrounded in this small area.

In times of crisis, the priority should be to protect the 29th Division, while sending the Indians, whose lives are considered worthless, to confront the enemy head-on and launch a counterattack.

So, during the night's fighting, most of the wounded in the 29th Division, as well as the ordinary soldiers who ferried the wounded across the river, were successfully evacuated onto transport ships and retreated into Britannia.

Later, the frontal counter-offensive was firmly held off by von Bock and Lelouch. After fighting for most of the night, the Burgh army could only capture some plains positions and could not advance into the mountains.

Knowing that the situation was hopeless and that there was no way to change it, Lieutenant General Douglas Haig decisively pulled the remaining surviving soldiers of the 29th Division toward the northwest coast. Taking advantage of the intense fighting between the two sides and the fact that no one was paying attention to that beach, he used the time before dawn to basically evacuate the remnants of the 29th Division.

Of course, because the retreat was too hasty and there was a need to conserve transport capacity and squeeze in as many people as possible, these troops lost almost all their weapons, equipment and supplies.

They might as well wear less clothing, since it's crowded on the ship and they won't get cold. Wearing thick cotton-padded coats would be bulky and would even reduce the number of passengers transported. It's better to just take off the cotton-padded coats; after all, the ship will only be sailing for half a day before they return home, and they can get new cotton-padded coats to keep warm later.

The Indian 13th Division was naturally responsible for blocking the enemy, delaying them, and preventing them from reaching the beachhead.

As a result, the Indian 13th Division was completely wiped out. Except for a few who jumped into the sea and swam to the large ships, none of the rest escaped. They were eventually surrounded on the beach by the Demanian army the next morning, and all the survivors laid down their weapons and surrendered.

With the situation having progressed to this point, the battle in the northwest corner of Dunkirk was finally over. This small encircled area was completely occupied by the Demacian army, and all the Burmese troops in the city either fled or were pushed into the sea.

It's not surprising at all that this happened.

In Douglas Haig's eyes, the lives of Britannians were what mattered, while those slovenly Indians should be honored to be used as consumables for the empire; did they even deserve to consider themselves human?

……

At the same time, in the northwest corner of the battlefield, Haig led the remnants of the 29th Division to successfully retreat by sea, abandoning all equipment and supplies.

Along the coasts of de Panne and Neoport, the Britannian army was also making the best use of small transport ships, preferably those with relatively good speeds, to evacuate large numbers of its own wounded soldiers who were no longer combat-ready, as well as the soldiers responsible for rowing and ferrying the wounded.

The remnants of the last remaining cavalry division in the expeditionary force, lacking the ability to attack fortified positions, were of little use in the battle and were ordered to dismount and serve as rowers, focusing on hauling the wounded to transport ships.

This decision was also made by Field Marshal French, because at least some infantry units had already been withdrawn. Previously, the 3rd Corps of the expeditionary force had suffered too many casualties from continuous fighting and had been relieved of its duties by the 4th Corps and withdrawn back to the homeland.

The 29th Division, the only unit in the 4th Army composed of Britannians, also had a chance to retreat back to the country with Haig.

So theoretically, even if the rest of the expeditionary force were wiped out here, and the 1st and 2nd Armies were all captured, at least three divisions of the Burkina Faso army would have been withdrawn back to China (only the divisions were numbered; the personnel had already lost more than half).

Two divisions of the cavalry corps had already been wiped out, and if the last remaining division did not withdraw, the cavalry force would be extinct. In order to be fair, Field Marshal French issued a final remote order, instructing the remnants of the 1st Cavalry Division to abandon their horses and equipment and be responsible for transporting people by boat.

Finally, more than 4000 rowing cavalrymen, along with more than 10,000 wounded soldiers from various units, evacuated that night using dozens of small boats and destroyers.

Demacian artillery could certainly turn their fire to intercept these forces, but they were too busy fighting the enemy's former dreadnoughts to bother with these rats, as those targets were clearly of higher value.

Demacia's artillery firepower had all been exhausted; not a single cannon was idle, and they were bombarding each other relentlessly the entire time, as there were simply too many targets to keep up with.

On the other hand, it was also because the Burgh forces were engaging in a naval and artillery duel closer to Dunkirk, and thus chose a location further away from the battlefield for their retreat—the town of Depanne, where the Burgh forces retreated, was 13-15 kilometers from Dunkirk. As for Neoport, it was more than 20 kilometers away from Dunkirk.

The hit rate of heavy artillery bombarding such a distant dock is definitely much lower than that of bombarding an enemy closer at hand.

Since there were enemies bombarding them from even closer range, they naturally had to retaliate against the enemy in front of them.

However, the fact that coastal artillery fire does not target targets 20 kilometers to the east does not mean that other artillery fire will not target targets in that area to the east.

The Demacian army has its own troops from the east specifically responsible for these targets.

On the night of February 18, shortly after dark, the German army discovered that the Burgh troops were evacuating their wounded under cover of darkness. Several long-range railway guns deployed in Ostend to the east began firing at the coast of Neoport.

However, the firepower density is too low and the distance is too far, so the hit rate is quite worrying. It can only scare the enemy and make their transportation less efficient.

Hoping that the railway artillery in the east could get closer to the battlefield was futile.

Since Ostend is already the westernmost station on the Belighin coastal railway, there is no railway further west from Ostend, so the train guns naturally cannot move forward any further.

However, the situation finally took a turn for the better around midnight that day.

Because Count Spee's six pre-Dreadnought Demacian ships, which had only departed from Zeebrugge after dark and were speeding westward, finally arrived at the battlefield.

Before Count Spee arrived, the Burgundian navy had focused most of its energy and attention on the Dunkirk direction in the west, while neglecting the east.

Both Beatty and Hood believed that even the damaged Royal Navy fleet could still overwhelm the six pre-dreadnoughts of Zeebrugge, so how could the Demanians dare to use their navy to fight to the death?

But Count Spee did come anyway.

Around 10 p.m., when they were still 20 kilometers from Neoport, the patrol ships of the Bujon forces to the east were the first to spot Spee's six pre-dreadnoughts and a large group of large torpedo boats.

A fierce skirmish quickly broke out between the auxiliary vessels of both sides. Torpedoes crisscrossed the sea, firing wildly at each other. Many destroyers and torpedo boats emptied their loaded torpedoes, and warships from both sides were occasionally randomly matched in the darkness.

Spee's main fleet, wary of the torpedo nets in the darkness, dared not let the pre-dreadnoughts advance too far, and temporarily retreated for more than half an hour, allowing the skirmish to become a little clearer before advancing.

This half hour finally gave Betty and Hood time to react. They quickly pulled out some of the pre-dreadnoughts and battlecruisers, as well as the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Warspite, to switch fire to the nearest target on the east side. At that time, the Burgh fleet had only destroyed the Dunkirk coastal defense guns, but the exchange of fire with the Dunkirk railway gun groups was not over yet. So Spee's arrival time was quite good, relieving the pressure on their own railway gun groups and avoiding the piecemeal tactics of sending them to their deaths.

A significant portion of the Burkina Faso warships were still tied down by the railway artillery and could not all come together to deal with Spee.

This time difference can be as long as one or two hours.

Previously, when Betty focused his attack on the western port of Dunkirk, he wanted to keep high-value warships relatively far from the battlefield to reduce the hit rate of enemy shore guns and railway guns, while forcing low-value warships to engage in close combat and accurately strike the enemy.

So when they heard that Spee had appeared, the Burghers fleet was positioned with the pre-dreadnoughts to the west, the battlecruisers in the middle, and the two Queen Elizabeth-class destroyers to the far east.

Now that Spee has appeared from the east, the numerous pre-dreadnoughts of the Bruegel army have become the ones furthest from the battlefield. Their speed is also slow, and they cannot return in time. Therefore, the Bruegel army's pre-dreadnoughts have no choice but to continue fighting the German forces in Dunkirk in the east, while sending the faster battlecruisers back to defend and try to annihilate Spee as soon as possible.

The Burmese army's battlecruisers were in good condition, totaling seven ships, with only two sustaining minor damage. The battlecruisers had overwhelmed the Dreadnoughts in the initial engagement, and the Burmese quickly retreated to their defensive positions, confident they could swiftly eliminate Spee.

However, once the fighting began, they quickly realized that the situation was not optimistic.

Firstly, in the darkness, a large number of torpedoes from both sides were still randomly roaming around the area, and the PLA's patrols, fearing something might happen, dared not maintain formation immediately upon approaching.

Secondly, the best way for battlecruisers to engage pre-dreadnoughts was to maintain distance and slowly lob the targets. The pre-dreadnoughts had even worse fire control and their main guns were a generation behind, so their accuracy dropped drastically as soon as the distance increased.

It can be said that battlecruisers were designed to use long-range attrition warfare against older warships. As long as their firepower, fire control, and accuracy are superior, and they can sail faster, they can slowly wear down the enemy within a distance where "our side can efficiently output firepower while the enemy cannot."

The enemy wants to shorten the engagement distance, but they can't keep up with your speed, so they can't gain the initiative. The distance at which the battlecruiser engages is entirely up to them.

Betty initially wanted to use this method to slowly wipe out Spee's former dreadnought fleet.

But as soon as the fight started, he realized that this was not the case—if he kept his distance and played a kiting game with Spee, although he could greatly reduce his losses, his accuracy would drop and he would not be able to take down Spee in less than a day or two.

But once Spee charged menacingly to the waters off Neoport, he completely ignored Betty. While Betty kept her distance and engaged him in lobbed fire, Spee turned and ordered all the secondary guns of the pre-dreadnoughts to unleash a furious barrage on the Neoport dock!
The dock was still crowded with wounded Burkina Faso army soldiers who were preparing to evacuate! There were also a large number of small boats and transport ships ready to ferry people.

With Betty gone, these animals became Spee's prey, which he could hunt down with peace of mind.

……

"Betty's got his professional bug kicking in, huh? Let's give him a piece of our mind. Full fleet, sail west at full speed, get as close to the shallow waters as possible. Fire flares from all guns to illuminate the beachhead, then open fire at will!"

After observing the enemy situation for a while in the bridge command tower of his flagship, the USS Alsace, Vice Admiral Spee quickly and accurately determined that Betty must have been acting out of professional habit at first, trying to minimize losses and keep her distance from him.

Since that's the case, let's give him a little naughty talk and force Betty over here!
Three Brunswick-class and three Brandenburg-class ships lined up in a single file, shortening the distance between each ship to less than 1 kilometer, and carefully headed west along the coast.

The Braunschweig-class has a draft of 8.2 meters, while the Brandenburg-class is slightly shallower at 7.8 meters. Therefore, the latter can certainly navigate through waters where the former will not run aground.

The ships of the Spee fleet maintained a distance of about 6 kilometers from the coastline, which was quite dangerous. They could have scraped against small sand dunes on the seabed at any time, but it was not dangerous enough to break through the bottom of the ship and run aground.

At the same time, a distance of 6 kilometers is sufficient to ensure devastating damage to the docks and the assembled Burkina Faso army on the shore. 150mm and even 88mm secondary guns can bombard infantry assembled and waiting on the shore with near-direct fire.

A string of flares fell, illuminating the entire coastline of Neoport. Then Spee's artillery shells rained down, blasting the remaining Burgundy troops into chaos.

The Bretonnian Expeditionary Force, who had spent their entire lives believing that "only our warships and guns can bombard the enemy's army, and we will never let the enemy navy bombard our army," was momentarily stunned and even unable to react. The strength of the Bretonnian navy had long since made them feel less secure.

Is there any justice left in this situation? Isn't this going against the natural order?!
Because they were caught off guard and hadn't anticipated the danger, the Bu army suffered extremely heavy casualties at the dock.

For a time, radio waves filled with all sorts of requests for help and curses permeated the sea and land. The radio stations contacting the navy also broke historical records for the amount of messages containing such messages.

Countless people are cursing David Beatty for being useless, still trying to preserve his strength and minimize losses at this critical moment.

David Beatty finally realized the problem and had no choice but to bite the bullet and adjust his tactics.

"Battlecruiser fleet, close the distance and try to destroy the enemy's pre-dreadnought fleet as quickly as possible!"

The biggest advantages of battlecruisers are their speed and long-range accuracy.

Once forced to close the distance, it's like a spearman fighting an enemy wielding a single sword. The spearman, who could have maintained distance and fought at will, is now forced to close the distance to a point where even a single sword could strike the spearman in hand-to-hand combat in order to achieve a quick victory.

Unable to maintain distance and play slowly, Betty still had an advantage, but it wasn't as obvious anymore; the gap had at least been reduced by half.

Seven battlecruisers and six pre-dreadnoughts engaged in a brutal artillery duel at a distance of less than 10 kilometers.

In the sky, flares flew back and forth, illuminating the silhouettes of each other's steel behemoths, before they engaged in a fierce exchange of fire.

The Demanian army's old-fashioned Dreadnought 280 armor-piercing shells landed one after another on the side armor belts of Beatty's battlecruisers, tearing huge rips in several of Beatty's battlecruisers.

Battlecruisers were never known for their defense, but rather for their speed. Even if their armor was slightly better than that of the pre-dreadnoughts, the improvement was only slight, and their 280mm guns were more than capable of penetrating each other at close range.

Beatty had more than twice as many main guns as Spee, and with their superior accuracy, on average, Beatty hit Spee three times for every one Spee hit Beatty.

The fierce battle lasted for more than half an hour, and the outcome gradually became clear.

The battleship HMS Wools, under Spee's command, was nearly 20 years old and was considered too old. Under continuous concentrated fire, it quickly exploded. Even with its heavily protected ammunition magazines, it couldn't withstand such relentless bombardment—especially since the enemy ships attacking the Wools included the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Warspite, whose six 380mm guns were absolutely overwhelming against pre-dreadnoughts and could easily penetrate the ammunition magazines.

The same class ship, HMS Elector, was also targeted by multiple enemy battlecruisers, but because HMS Warspite was not among the enemy ships that targeted it, it avoided the fate of being blown up by its ammunition magazine and exploding.

It was only hit by repeated penetrations of the starboard main armor belt, many starboard compartments were destroyed, the starboard secondary guns were completely destroyed, and the chimney was blown down.

Thousands of tons of seawater rushed in, causing the "Great Elector" to list quickly. However, its captain, heeding the admonitions given to Vice Admiral Spee before the sortie, decisively issued an order:
"Immediately fill the port side with water! Prevent excessive water intake on the starboard side from capsizing!"

The damage control officer anxiously protested, "Captain! The water level on the starboard side is already close to the maximum flood warning level! If we flood the port side any further, even if we level it off, the total amount of water taking in will still sink us!"

But the captain remained resolute and unmoved: "Execute the order! This is shallow water; even if we sink, we'll sink while sitting! Flood the compartments around the hydraulic pump room to protect it and prevent damage to the pump room's power! Shut down all isolation valves that supply power to the main engine! Save all steam power for the turret hydraulic system!"

The damage control captain then understood the captain's plan; it turned out that the commander wanted them to carry out such a dangerous tactic.

But things have come to this point, and if the warship doesn't try to save itself, it will most likely sink, and it will capsize rather than just sink. Since that's the case, let's fight it out! Even if we sink, we won't let the enemy get away with it!
The "Great Elector" quickly began taking on water on its port side, and the hull sank at a visible speed, but it also somewhat leveled the list. After sinking only two or three meters, the bottom of the ship directly contacted the seabed and sand, so that even the deck was not submerged.

Moreover, because of the meticulous power planning before sinking, the steam engine room and hydraulic pump room were protected. The few remaining steam engines that could still operate after the sinking were enough to maintain the ship's power and hydraulic gun turrets.

Even after the ship sank to the bottom of the beach, its six 280mm guns continued to roar and fight back against the Burma cruisers!

……

The counterattack by the former Demacian dreadnoughts was certainly not without results.

虽然布军的有效火力密度是德玛尼亚舰队的3倍，但他们在炸碎一艘德军前无畏、打坐沉一艘前无畏的过程中，也付出了3艘战巡累计被命中8枚280穿甲弹的代价（德舰累计被打中了20炮，才导致1爆炸1坐沉。）。

These eight shells further aggravated the already serious damage suffered by the battlecruiser "Unyielding" in its exchange of fire with shore artillery.

It was hit by three more shells. The shells penetrated the side armor and then struck the engine room armor, but thankfully they didn't penetrate a second time. However, the force of the explosions destroyed several steam pipes, causing high-pressure steam to spray wildly from the ship's hull, resulting in a significant decrease in power. Almost all of the secondary guns on one side of the ship were also destroyed.

With the two rear gun turrets and the aft bridge already lost, the HMS Indomitable was almost rendered combat ineffective.

The situation was similar for the other ship, the "New Zealand," which suffered further damage.

The last ship to be newly damaged was the "Princess Royal," a member of the "Lion" class. It was hit by two shells, but the damage wasn't too serious; it only damaged some of the upper deck facilities.

At such close engagement distance, both sides could only pass through each other's sides, making it impossible to launch lob attacks or target the enemy's weak deck armor. The design flaws of the turrets and ammunition depots of the Burj Khalifa's battlecruisers were also unlikely to be exposed at such close range.

While this prevented the Germans from expanding their gains, it also allowed the Burghers to continue laying mines, thus eliminating a design flaw.

David Beatty was finally deeply impressed after Spee showed the courage to "sink to the bottom and fight to the death".

He knew that there was probably no hope of saving the army in today's battle.

Even after the enemy ships are sunk, they can still be used as fixed artillery emplacements to continue firing! Unless we can completely destroy the enemy warships or destroy all the turrets, they will be sitting on the sea 6 kilometers north of Neoport town. How can they move in and out of the anchorage of De Panne or Neoport and pick up the army?
"Fuck! We can't use our precious battlecruiser fleet to fight these guys who are still fighting to the death after they've sunk! The army is completely beyond saving! Let's retreat in an orderly manner! Just sink these ships, there's no need to bombard them to the end! Get the army out of the coast immediately, don't expect to be able to evacuate anyone tonight!"

David Beatty's resolve had wavered. He knew the army was beyond saving, but he couldn't let the prize slip away. There were still four German dreadnoughts that hadn't been sunk by the sinking spell. If he could sink them all, he could at least recoup some of his losses. This was something that was relatively easy to do.

Meanwhile, as the Burghers' battlecruiser fleet clashed with the German pre-dreadnought fleet, the Burghers' remaining seven pre-dreadnoughts also arrived at the battlefield and joined the concentrated fire.

Ultimately, the Blaise forces bombarded Spee's remaining four pre-dreadnoughts for about an hour and a half, sinking them all. Three of them were sunk and turned into fixed gun emplacements, while the Brandenburg was repeatedly penetrated by Warspite's 380mm guns, resulting in a devastating explosion. Although it wasn't completely destroyed, the turrets and fire control systems on the hull were almost entirely damaged, rendering it unusable as a gun emplacement, and it capsized.

Of the four German ships that became sinking turrets, one failed to control its tilt during the sinking process, tilting too much and losing its firing arc. As a result, only three ships remained that could still engage in fierce gun battles.

As Spee's warships were being sunk one after another, they also retaliated, hitting the Bury's ships with more than 20 shots.

It sank the former dreadnought USS Jupiter, damaged the USS Mars and USS Caesar, and also hit the battlecruiser USS Indulgence with three shots.

The Burghers had no choice but to abandon the Mars and Caesar. In the chaos, they had a sudden inspiration. They realized that the two ships had damaged engines and were taking on too much water, so they probably couldn't sail back. They did the same thing, flooding and sinking the two ships to engage the remaining three German ships with fixed gun emplacements. It was a way of making use of the waste.

The fierce battle continued throughout the night. In the end, Betty, forced to abandon her plan to save the army, had no choice but to return to port with two new battleships, seven battlecruisers, four pre-dreadnoughts, and a large group of auxiliary ships.

The battle could not continue, especially since the two Queen Elizabeth-class ships had almost exhausted their ammunition and suffered extensive damage to their fire control systems and turrets, so there was no point in keeping them alive.

The battle off the coast of Neoport and de Panne continued until dawn—the three sunken German gun emplacements and the two Brigadier gun emplacements were exchanging fire, further damaging the wreckage of the other side.

The captain of the Blaise had a simple idea: if the German ships remained in this position, they could continue to bombard the town on the shore and cause constant casualties among the army. Since they couldn't leave either, they had to disable the enemy's firepower.

This inefficient exchange of blows finally came to an end at dawn.

As dawn broke, the Zeppelin airships, each carrying three 2000-kilogram heavy bombs, finally appeared on the horizon and flew straight toward the two sunken wreckages of the Buzkaban ship.

Within 20 minutes, the airship flew over the sunken cloth ship.

The airship's clumsy slow speed and its absurdly low accuracy when bombing moving targets horizontally pose no threat to normal warships.

However, it works very well for sunken wreckage that has become a fixed target.

The airship leisurely observed, fine-tuned, and hovered directly above the sunken warship before dropping three 2000-kilogram bombs one after another.

Two airships, six bombs. Two bombs missed their mark on the first airship, and one bomb missed its mark on the second. But even if one hit, the power of a 2000-kilogram bomb was something no pre-dreadnought could withstand.

The ship's hull was pierced directly from the top of the skull to the sole of the foot (Yongquan acupoint). The violent explosion also detonated the remaining ammunition, directly blowing the ship into pieces.

Two of the sunken German naval batteries were still capable of firing, completely blocking the Burkina Faso army's plan to secretly withdraw via the coastlines of the towns of Neoport and De Panne.

Marshal French should consider surrendering.

Meanwhile, dozens of nautical miles north of Dunkirk, a final battle was still raging – the Beatty fleet, which had retreated from Neoport and de Panne, was attempting to return north when it encountered the Hipper fleet, which was known for its "fighting despite illness" and "fighting despite being wounded."

Vice Admiral Hipper's four brand-new, fully-equipped battlecruisers, two armored cruisers, and a group of auxiliary vessels were pursuing the half-crippled Beatty.

Although Beatty still had 2 battleships and 7 battlecruisers at her disposal, the Queen Elizabeth was almost completely out of firepower, and the Warspite still had some firepower, but the bow and stern were completely flooded, and the speed was extremely slow.

Among the battlecruisers, HMS Indomitable and HMS New Zealand were both severely damaged and almost rendered combat ineffective. HMS Princess Royal and HMS Tireless were slightly damaged.

Beatty has two battleships that are almost combat-ineffective, two battlecruisers with a sliver of health, two battlecruisers with minor damage, and three battlecruisers in good condition. Moreover, the crew is in very poor condition. After a day of fierce fighting, the accuracy of all the ship's gun barrels has decreased, and various losses are extremely serious.

At this point, Hipper came over to bluff and pick off the enemy, and the Demacians also had the advantage of aerial reconnaissance and fire control, giving them relative air superiority. Beatty's situation was extremely dangerous.

-

P.S.: This is almost an 8,000-word chapter, no dragging it out. I promise to finish writing the final battle between Hipper and Betty, and the entire Battle of Ypres, by tomorrow.

This battle was too grand in scale, and I didn't know how to condense it, so please don't mind the blandness. I'm updating so much every day, I don't have the energy to think about how to shorten the word count.

(End of this chapter)