There was nothing particularly worth elaborating on regarding the final days of the defense of Ostend.
The Demanian army had only intended to buy time in the first place, so that more defensible positions farther to the rear—Blankenberge, Zeebrugge, and the like—could seize the opportunity to install 280-millimeter or even 305-millimeter coastal defense batteries, ensuring that the Britannians’ battleships would no longer be able to show their might against the shore.
The reconnaissance cavalry company under Lelouch’s command was also unsuited to being thrown into the line to endure a siege defense head-on, so it mostly carried out fire observation missions, such as directing targets for the artillery in the rear.
As for the real hard labor of holding the line and taking the punishment, that still fell to the infantry regiments of the 12th Division, 6th Corps.
In the Demanian army of 1914, it was still relatively rare for a reconnaissance cavalry company to be responsible for fire observation. The main reason was that artillery observation in this era was still very backward and rough.
Only in positional assaults was there time to conduct sustained fire observation at leisure. If the first few rounds of artillery fire missed their mark, the observation post would carefully observe and take photographs, then send the information back to the rear by fast horse, allowing the rear artillery to adjust its bombardment plan.
The whole process could take several hours. Even wireless radios were rarely used. An entire divisional reconnaissance company had only one low-power radio set, and it had to be reserved for transmitting extremely important intelligence; it would not be used to pass along trifles like “the previous salvo fell long or short.”
And this already counted as the army that had done the best job modernizing its communications in this era. If it were the Lushan army on the Eastern Front, forget divisional reconnaissance companies not having radios—even the various regimental and brigade headquarters had none. Only divisional headquarters had radios, one per division.
By the same logic, if artillery in this era encountered a newly emerged enemy long-range artillery position and wanted to find a way to counter it, it likewise needed several hours to determine the enemy’s gun positions, slowly adjust coordinates, and then retaliate.
So after long-range artillery opened fire, it could remain in place for three hours without moving and still not be countered. Only if it stayed put for half a day or more might counter-battery fire come down on it.
In other words, the “rapid registration and rapid counter-battery fire” that would only become common in later generations, during the Second World War or even more recently, actually existed in this era as well. It was simply much, much slower.
Something modern warfare could counter in fifteen minutes might have taken one or two hours during the Second World War, while in the early stages of the First World War, it might take most of a day.
But now, with Lelouch’s intervention, combining much of the common knowledge he had learned in his previous life as a military enthusiast with the practical refinement gained from entering frontline combat units in this life, he quickly worked out several small methods to speed up the response time and rhythm of various parts of artillery operations. In just a few short days, he reaped considerable results.
For all of this, he also had to thank his superiors for coincidentally expanding his manpower—other divisional reconnaissance companies were often equipped with only one radio station. Even if they wanted to conduct flexible reconnaissance, transmit intelligence detected at multiple points on the front line back in real time, and command the divisional artillery regiment to adjust its fire, they could not possibly do so.
But Lelouch had at hand a former cavalry company combined with a former communications platoon. A professional communications unit had relatively more radio sets, and also more personnel who understood communications and telegraphy.
On top of that, Lelouch had enough face that he could even borrow radio sets from Colonel List of the 16th Regiment. Thus, his reconnaissance company could equip every artillery observation post with a radio, and its response speed naturally became several times faster.
During the defense of Ostend, Lelouch commanded flexibly, leading the reconnaissance company in providing their artillery with more real-time observation information and slightly improving the speed at which they countered enemy artillery positions.
The entire reconnaissance company therefore received several commendations from their superiors. And those few subordinates in the company who had not been very convinced by Lelouch before, after personally witnessing their commander’s ability, had no choice but to submit wholeheartedly.
After all, the division commander and the divisional artillery regiment commander had each commended the reconnaissance company once. From top to bottom, the officers and men of the reconnaissance company shared in the honor, and their collective sense of pride was fully awakened.
The cavalry reconnaissance company of more than two hundred men had already been completely grasped in Lelouch’s palm.
Lelouch himself, combining some common knowledge from later generations with the combat experience before his eyes, also wrote down some notes and reflections, preparing to organize them once this battle was over.
……
By this day, it was already November 6.
A week had passed since the previous naval battle, and calculating the days, the deadline from above requiring the 12th Division to hold Ostend had already arrived.
After tonight, by rights, the troops could withdraw at any time. Of course, if the situation allowed it, they could also hold on a little longer and bleed the enemy a bit more.
That morning, everything went smoothly. The fire observation teams of the reconnaissance company, which Lelouch had drilled for several days, were all functioning well and provided very significant assistance to the friendly artillery.
At noon, another wave of enemy attacks was beaten back, and several hundred more corpses in yellow-brown uniforms lay scattered in front of the positions—yes, the enemy corpses before the lines had now changed from Frankish soldiers in blue tunics and red trousers to Britannian troops in yellow-brown uniforms.
A week earlier, when the enemy had counterattacked Nieuport, the main land assault force had still been the Frankish army. Now that they were storming Ostend, it had been replaced by the Britannian army.
This was also because the Frankish army had suffered far too many casualties in the earlier “Race to the Sea” campaign and could no longer fight. In Earth’s history, throughout the entire Race to the Sea, the Frankish army had lost 200,000 dead. In this world, due to Lelouch’s influence, three Bilijin divisions in the Nieuport region had been completely annihilated, and the Frankish army had also been bled several additional times.
So over the entire campaign, it was said that the Frankish death toll had already broken through 230,000. At least more than twenty thousand extra had died because of Lelouch’s operations, including the losses from the Demanian naval bombardments of Dunkirk and Nieuport.
Thus, after exhausting their last breath to take Nieuport, the Frankish army had barely touched the outskirts of Ostend before becoming completely spent. The subsequent offensive missions were all handed over to the Britannian army.
Over the past three or four days, all the enemies fighting Lelouch’s unit had been replaced by Britannian troops.
Even the port of Dunkirk, which served as the rear base for the Britannian army’s sorties, had had its defense handed over to the Britannian army, despite being Frankish territory. Britannia dispatched naval ground personnel to run the port and transship military supplies for the combat units at the front.
As the noon offensive receded, soldiers on both sides had to eat and rest, and the Demanian side also took the opportunity to catch its breath.
Lelouch’s company headquarters was set up on a high ground southeast of the city, inside a temporarily dug reinforced fortification, together with the divisional artillery regiment’s positions. This was also so that after he received wireless observation intelligence from the front line, he could promptly inform the artillery regiment and rapidly respond with fire.
Seeing that the enemy had temporarily withdrawn, Lelouch also told the officers on duty to take turns eating, as long as they did not delay their work.
However, just as he left the underground fortification and was preparing to go get food, an acquaintance happened to pass by and called out to him:
“Captain Lelouch! I managed to get some extra supplies over at my place. Come have an extra meal with me. We owe a lot to your men these past few days. With such efficient observation, the effectiveness of our battalion’s counterattacks has also improved quite a bit.”
Lelouch turned his head and saw that it was Major Wilhelm Gustav Keitel, commander of the cannon battalion under the divisional artillery regiment.
Over the past few days, Lelouch had also become familiar with the men of the artillery regiment, including Colonel Dulles, the regimental commander, as well as this major battalion commander.
The artillery officers all liked him very much. After all, Lelouch could improve their combat efficiency, especially that of the cannon battalion responsible for counter-battery missions—in the Demanian divisional artillery regiment, the howitzer battalion was generally responsible for shelling infantry targets. Cannons had longer range but less power, and relied specifically on their range advantage to counter enemy artillery.
So in the entire regiment, this cannon battalion commander had the best relationship with him.
Lelouch was also happy to befriend Major Keitel. “Then it would be impolite of me to refuse.”
With that, Major Keitel stuffed two bottles of champagne into his hands, along with several pieces of fried steak wrapped in oiled paper, all made from aged beef. Lelouch did not keep the food to himself. Carrying the wine and meat, he returned to his own shelter and ate together with trusted subordinates such as Ballack and Schweinsteiger.
Major Keitel had also seen that Lelouch’s future was boundless, so he followed him and ate with him.
To conceal the contents, the major had even wrapped an extra layer of printed newspaper around the outside of the oiled-paper package.
After the group sat down, Lelouch took out the oiled-paper package and handed it to Klose, asking him to help cut the steaks for everyone. He himself casually swept his eyes over the newspaper outside, only to see a major piece of news.
“Why is this The Times? Isn’t this an enemy newspaper? Where did it come from? Judging by the date, it’s already five days old.”
Major Keitel violently popped open a bottle of champagne, biting the cork between his teeth as he muttered, “I heard the division commander had people get hold of it. A few copies were sent to every regiment to boost morale. The faces the Britannians show in the paper are truly laughable.”
Only then did Lelouch look carefully. It turned out that this newspaper, published in London five days earlier, actually claimed that the Britannian army had already captured Nieuport and Ostend at that time. They had boasted ahead of time about a victory they had not yet won—Ostend was still in the hands of the 12th Infantry Division today, and in theory, withdrawal would only be permitted after nightfall.
Once again, they were playing with timing, publicizing an expected great victory in advance.
“Utterly shameless. And they even wrote that ‘the Royal Navy lost no more than four obsolete hulks that had already been retired and were due for dismantling.’ They also lost so many auxiliary vessels and so many men. Why don’t they mention that?”
Lelouch carefully read all of the enemy’s battle reports. They also included the report on the earlier naval battle, and sure enough, it only mentioned the loss of a few obsolete hulks.
When the division commander had distributed these newspapers to mock the enemy’s behavior, he had also had division headquarters personnel annotate the side in red ink with their own statistics of the results:
Four enemy pre-dreadnoughts sunk, six light cruisers sunk, eleven destroyers sunk; two enemy battlecruisers damaged, one light cruiser damaged, and three destroyers damaged.
At least 8,500 enemy sailors killed or captured, among whom more than 1,500 were rescued and taken prisoner, while the rest were either killed in battle or drowned.
This number was clearly defensible, because it was calculated according to the standard wartime complements of the enemy ships. Battleships required large crews. Even a pre-dreadnought, even the most worthless Hood, when only carrying out shore bombardment missions, still had a standard complement of 880 men. The other three sunken pre-dreadnoughts each had at least a thousand men.
Light cruisers needed three to four hundred men on average, and destroyers needed at least one hundred fifty to two hundred men. With so many warships sunk, and with the enemy not controlling the coastline at the time, the survivors could only swim back. It was already winter, and the weather was cold. To say the combined killed and captured rate exceeded eighty percent was conservative; it might even have reached ninety percent.
During the First World War, when battleships sank in distant waters, unless friendly forces controlled the battlefield and could return to carry out rescue operations, the average survival rate was often only two percent. Everyone else had to die, or be fished out by the enemy.
If a ship sank in coastal waters, but the land ashore was not under friendly control, the survival rate would likewise be very low; only the capture rate would be a bit higher—the 1,500 Britannian sailors captured that night were mostly those who swam ashore or landed in lifeboats, only to be captured by the Demanian army.
But in The Times, the loss of auxiliary vessels, and the more than 8,500 men killed, drowned, or captured, were not mentioned at all. They were simply brushed aside.
However, this newspaper was not purely boasting. It also revealed some valuable information.
Lelouch saw that it wrote: “The Royal Navy has been enraged and has recommissioned a batch of previously mothballed pre-dreadnoughts. They are larger, more advanced, more powerfully armed, and more numerous than those sunk before. In just a few months, the Channel Fleet will be stronger than ever!”
Later in the report, in order to raise the morale of the Britannian people, it even listed a special roster of second-line warships that would be rapidly refitted and committed to battle.
It mentioned a whole pile of Majestic-class pre-dreadnoughts completed between 1896 and 1898 at the end of the last century—eight ships in total!
It said these eight ships would be used to replace the combat role of the four previously sunk ships. For every ship the Demanians sank, the Royal Navy would return two! The more they fought, the stronger they would become!
They included Magnificent, Prince George, Victorious, Jupiter, Hannibal, Mars, Caesar, and Illustrious. The class had only built nine ships in total, so aside from the lead ship Majestic, which had always remained in front-line service, the other eight ships that had previously been in second-line status were now all to be mobilized to front-line standard.
To form combat capability in such a short time, the so-called “modernization refit” would probably be no more than removing rust and repainting the hulls. Nothing else could possibly be changed. As for the gap in personnel needed to fully man them, they would probably have to transfer nearly ten thousand sailors from the current main fleet, then recruit a batch of new or reservist sailors on both sides and have the veterans lead the newcomers.
But it could be anticipated that those combat units stripped of their elite veterans, as well as the newly formed units, would have mediocre combat quality for at least half a year to a year. The navy was an extremely specialized branch. Without long-term training and coordination, how could they possibly bring out combat effectiveness?
Even Lelouch had no choice but to admire their thick skin.
“For them to dare write a report like this, one can see just how determined they are to take Ostend. They’ve already finished boasting. If they fail in the end, at least one or two ministers will have to resign to take responsibility!
“And in order to recover face and intimidate us, they don’t even hesitate to disclose so much military intelligence in the newspapers, allowing us to understand their reality and strength more clearly!
“Still, there’s indeed no need for us to gamble the lives of the entire division against their face. The main point is that this city’s coastal defense guns have basically all been lost, haven’t they?”
Major Keitel filled an iron mess tin with champagne for him. “Indeed. Last night, the 210-millimeter coastal defense guns were all eliminated by enemy warships. The few remaining 150-millimeter fortress guns will definitely be finished today as well.
“Those gun mounts are fixed to the batteries. They aren’t convenient to dismantle during battle, and when we finally withdraw, we certainly won’t be able to take them with us. We might as well let them fight until the enemy destroys them all, then withdraw.
“And I heard from the division commander that the group of Majestic-class pre-dreadnoughts mentioned in the enemy newspaper will also be thrown into bombardment operations after a simple coat of paint.
“Beatty’s battlecruisers will provide cover for them then. That will also prevent Admiral Hipper’s battlecruisers, which are hiding in Antwerp, from coming out again to pick on soft targets like the enemy’s pre-dreadnoughts. Since the enemy has prepared so thoroughly, Ostend definitely cannot be defended.
“Fortunately, I have another piece of news—the coastal defense gun fortresses at Blankenberge and Zeebrugge have already been fully deployed. The 305-millimeter coastal guns are in place. Above has even transferred several observation and aiming technical backbones from our battalion over there. We can withdraw tonight!”
Lelouch drained the champagne Major Keitel had poured for him and thought for a moment. “After we return to Zeebrugge, our combat mission for the defensive phase should be considered complete, right? After that, it’ll be time to contribute plans and efforts toward preparing the counteroffensive against the Ypres Salient.”
Major Keitel said, “Of course! Once we withdraw to Zeebrugge, it will be even harder for the enemy to advance another inch! With the protection of 305-millimeter coastal guns, the enemy warships won’t be able to provide fire support against the shore. When the time comes, a small number of friendly troops rotating in and out will be enough to hold the line. We’ll be able to rest properly, and replacements will definitely arrive as well.”
Lelouch suddenly thought of something and suggested, “Major, I have an idea. Would you be willing to co-sign it with me? From the past few days of coordinated operations between the reconnaissance company and the counter-battery battalion, I’ve also summarized some new tactics.
“I want to suggest to the army group’s senior command that in future counteroffensive operations, they draw on part of the new experience in infantry-artillery coordination that we have gained today, and establish an assault unit that can call in artillery support more efficiently and in a more timely manner during offensive operations as well.
“The more agile infantry-artillery coordination experience we’ve summarized these past few days is only applicable to defensive battles. To make it applicable to offensive battles, we still need to do quite a bit of supplementary work, and all of that will require your cooperation.”
Major Keitel had long since seen that Lelouch had a bright future. He was immediately overjoyed, and without caring that the other party’s rank was lower than his own, hurriedly expressed his stance. “That is only right. You have improved our battalion’s combat efficiency so much. If this can be applied as a reference for friendly forces, how great a contribution would that be to the Empire? How could I possibly keep it to myself?”
……
After reaching a cooperation with Major Keitel, there was nothing particularly worth elaborating on about the fighting that afternoon.
The Britannian army’s attack was once again met with stubborn resistance from the Demanian army, which traded space for time and space for enemy heads, consuming them frantically.
It was not until the latter half of the night, after the Demanian army confirmed that the enemy naval guns could not blockade the coastal withdrawal route east of Ostend, that they withdrew in batches toward Blankenberge farther back along the coast, as well as the nearby inland city of Bruges.
The entire withdrawal went very smoothly, without any obvious obstruction during the movement of the troops.
When Ostend was abandoned, it was also thoroughly put to use as scrap. Basically everything had been smashed to pieces by the guns of the Britannian battleships, and as usual, the Britannian army merely occupied a pile of ruins.
The only thing the Britannian army could rejoice over was that they had finally occupied the place their own Times had claimed they had occupied five days earlier. In that sense, they had made the lie come true.
It was just that the price of making that lie come true was far too high. After fighting their way into Ostend, the Britannian army, from top to bottom, was utterly exhausted and no longer had the strength to advance. They had been hanging on entirely by that one breath, forcing themselves to endure until this point.
As for Lelouch, after withdrawing with the main force to Blankenberge, he immediately gathered the insights summarized over the past few days from the coordinated operations between the reconnaissance company and the counter-battery battalion,
and mixed them with some of the organizational ideas he had learned in his later life regarding the First World War Demanian army’s “stormtrooper” tactics, preparing to report them to the division commander and the senior command of the army group.
He hoped to create some changes for the subsequent battle of the Ypres Salient.