Chapter 469: Kirov Reporting
On the high ground at the river valley exit, an observation post from the instruction unit's 2nd Battalion lay behind a rock, staring through binoculars at the movement in the distance for quite a while.
The Romanian troops that had previously attacked the high ground had completely retreated and seemed to have no intention of attacking again.
After learning this news, Jonathan and Steiner discussed it and dispatched several reconnaissance teams forward to see exactly what the enemy was planning.
Dispatching reconnaissance units at every opportunity had become a combat tradition for the instruction unit.
Aside from relying on frequent reconnaissance activities to acquire enemy movements, the main reason was a "secret" circulating within the instruction unit.
That is, as long as they continuously sent out reconnaissance forces to maintain surveillance on the enemy, Colonel Morin, possessing the "Eye in the Sky," would issue orders as incredibly accurate as "divine oracles"...
This rather mystical and superstitious notion had quite a market within the instruction unit.
Although the commanders of the three battalions said nothing, whenever an opportunity arose, the speed at which they dispatched reconnaissance troops was faster than the next...
A while later, the forward reconnaissance detachments reported back—the main force of this Romanian unit ahead had pressed forward, but they didn't seem to intend to attack. Instead, soldiers were carrying shovels and pickaxes, beginning earthworks.
Crooked trenches were taking shape. Although dug somewhat irregularly, the scale was quite large.
The news quickly passed up the chain of command to Steiner.
"The enemy stopped attacking and is constructing hasty defensive positions on the perimeter of the river valley exit."
Hearing this, 3rd Battalion Commander Steiner scratched the back of his head, his hair plastered together by sweat.
"Defensive positions? Are they trying to block us in the ravine?"
"It looks that way."
A look of utter bewilderment immediately appeared on Steiner's face. Clearly not knowing how to evaluate this, he had the communications squad find the nearest radio in the rear to transmit the situation back to the Kampfgruppe command post.
However, the Kampfgruppe command post was no longer at the pass.
Not long ago, after the L15 armored airship completed loading supplies and recovered the field maintenance platform, it flew above the pass and brought Morin and everyone from the Kampfgruppe command post aboard.
Morin was currently standing before the panoramic viewing window on the airship's bridge, holding a telegram paper just delivered from the communications room.
He read the telegram twice, then glanced at the system map, which showed the Romanian temporary position marked "Under Construction," and shook his head.
"These Romanians are sure dreaming big, wanting to trap us in the river valley."
Kleist, standing beside him, took the telegram, scanned it, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"To be honest, if it were any other regular unit of the Empire, this tactic would indeed be effective."
He handed the telegram back to Morin and continued.
"A unit lacking heavy equipment blocked at a valley exit, facing a reserve infantry division entrenched in positions outside, on terrain unsuitable for deploying large forces... Under normal circumstances, breaking through would indeed take some effort."
Kleist's mind worked quickly. He glanced out the window, then at Morin, and suddenly seemed to realize something.
"No wonder..."
Morin turned his head.
"No wonder His Highness the Crown Prince so quickly approved the plan for you to command the Kampfgruppe on an independent operation."
Kleist's speaking pace quickened half a beat: "What His Highness values are the Kampfgruppe's characteristics... the mobility and combat power of the instruction unit, combined with the delivery capability of the armored airship."
"Placing this combination in deep terrain like the Predeal Pass to the river valley ensures we won't truly get trapped."
Morin remained noncommittal. He turned and walked out of the communications room, moving along the narrow passage to the front of the bridge.
Outside the panoramic viewing window, the entire river valley was visible from an altitude of over two hundred meters.
The alluvial fan that previously lay across the road had now been chewed through by the Guard infantry, creating a barely passable path.
Scree and clods of dirt had been moved manually to the sides of the road, and the buried dirt road was exposed once again.
And on this newly cleared road, a long dragon of radiant crystal trucks was crawling forward slowly. The length of the convoy extended from the alluvial fan all the way to the edge of sight.
Looking down from the air, it looked like a gray snake slowly wriggling through the winding valley.
Morin held the metal frame of the window, leaning forward slightly.
The airship continued flying south along the river valley. After passing the blocked area, the scene on the ground also changed.
A massive mixed force of instruction unit soldiers and Guard infantry had assembled near the river valley exit, awaiting new orders.
Vehicles, pack horses... were parked neatly in the clearings near the river valley exit.
From the air, many soldiers could be seen swarming around the convoy like ants, though it was unclear if they were resting.
Before long, Manstein also arrived on the bridge, holding a summary status report of all units.
"Colonel, currently the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions of the instruction unit are all concentrated near the river valley exit. Ammunition resupply is complete, and personnel recovery is good."
Manstein's report was concise and clear. "Additionally, the three Guard Reserve Infantry Regiments have also caught up. Half their vehicles have passed the alluvial fan area."
"What about the artillery regiment?" Morin asked.
"The artillery regiment is still in the rear. The road conditions are poor, and their trucks towing the artillery took a lot of time passing the alluvial fan section... Currently, it will likely take over an hour for all of them to pass."
Morin thought for a moment and made a decision.
"We won't wait for the artillery."
He turned to look at Manstein, issuing a new directive.
"Notify all units— prepare to assault."
Manstein immediately picked up his pen, ready to record the key points of the order.
"The L15 armored airship initiating ground strikes will serve as the signal—when the air-to-ground attack begins, all assault units are to commence their attack immediately."
"Understood."
Manstein finished noting the key points and walked briskly toward the communications room with the paper.
Soon, the telegram was transmitted to the various ground units via the high-power radio on the airship.
Near the river valley exit, the various units of the Kampfgruppe began to move upon receiving the order.
"Magazines full! Bring enough grenades! Fill canteens, then board the vehicles!"
Company NCOs wove through the crowds, shouting at the top of their lungs, urging the soldiers who were still resting to quickly gather their gear.
The radiant crystal truck engines started up one after another, their low rumble merging into a single drone in the valley.
Soldiers climbed into the truck beds in twos and threes, standing their rifles and submachine guns between their knees, checking every magazine in their chest rigs.
The instruction unit had actually rehearsed the "motorized" assault method several times.
Although radiant crystal trucks weren't the armored personnel carriers of Morin's world and couldn't deliver troops directly into the enemy's face under a hail of bullets...
They could at least carry infantry through the "last mile," rapidly transporting troops from the assembly area to the dismount assault points, saving considerable physical stamina.
When Morin first discussed this tactic with Kleist and the others, he had worried about the survivability of the trucks on the battlefield.
After all, in the spacetime before his transmigration, an unarmored truck on the battlefield was purely a "hearse"...
But later, he figured it out.
The tactical and technical levels of the armies of various nations in this era, especially those on the Balkan Peninsula, were quite sub-par. They had virtually nothing capable of threatening trucks at long range.
No anti-tank guns, no anti-materiel rifles; even heavy machine guns were sparsely equipped.
The heavy firepower configuration of a reserve infantry division was, at best, some mountain guns and outdated artillery.
These things were passable at hitting stationary targets, but trying to hit moving trucks with them, the accuracy basically relied on the will of heaven.
So in this specific historical context and against these opponents, motorized assaults were far less dangerous than Morin initially thought. Moreover, having the instruction unit practice mobile assaults in advance would save a lot of trouble when they eventually transitioned to genuine armored vehicles.
By the time Morin returned to the window, the troops on the ground below had all boarded their vehicles.
The long columns of trucks formed several lines just inside the river valley exit, engines idling, ready to move out at any moment.
Not long after, the L15's captain, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas, also came to the bridge to find Morin.
"Colonel Morin, the L15 armored airship is ready for combat."
Andreas's report was as clean and crisp as the man himself.
"The twin-linked heavy machine gun turrets and 20mm autocannons below are all ready to attack. The explosive satchels and deployment personnel in the cargo bay are in position, capable of supporting multiple drops."
Morin nodded upon hearing this.
"Lieutenant Colonel Andreas, commence the attack."
"Yes, Colonel!"
With that, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas turned and went to the captain's seat on the bridge, then activated the ship-wide broadcast.
"All hands, attention. This ship is about to commence attack. All units and compartments, prepare for action!"
As Andreas made the ship-wide broadcast, the massive hull of the L15 armored airship shuddered slightly. The power of the radiant crystal engine array went up a notch, and the rotational speed of the propulsion propellers increased abruptly.
This gray aerial behemoth accelerated sharply, bearing down on the Romanian positions outside the river valley exit.
Outside the river valley exit, the soldiers of the Romanian 3rd Reserve Infantry Division had actually noticed the airship in the distance long ago, but preoccupied with digging trenches, they didn't have the luxury to spare it many glances.
The commander of the 3rd Reserve Infantry Division, the old major general who usually needed a cane, rode his horse along the trenches accompanied by several staff officers.
Although dug roughly, it at least looked like something...
The old major general felt somewhat reassured.
As long as they held this gap and waited for more troops and heavy artillery to be transferred from the rear, there was still room to turn the situation around.
Then he heard a sound. The sound came from the direction of the river valley. At first, it was very distant, like a swarm of bees buzzing far away.
But that buzzing rapidly grew louder and closer.
The old major general looked up toward the top of the river valley, and his expression changed.
Because the gray silhouette that had previously just hovered in the air was expanding at a rate visible to the naked eye, slowly emerging from between the mountain peaks flanking the river valley.
The sheer size of that thing was absurd.
The entire hull almost filled the sky over the river valley. The gray armored shell reflected a dull metallic luster in the afternoon sun.
Multiple sets of propulsion propellers on both sides of the hull spun rapidly. Having lowered its altitude, the downdraft they kicked up even made the bushes near the valley entrance sway violently.
Everyone tilted their heads, mouths agape, watching that mountain-like gray behemoth slowly press over from the mist above the river valley.
An oppressive feeling originating from the depths of their souls instantly gripped everyone's heart.
"It's getting closer! What... what the hell is that thing?" A young soldier muttered to himself, not even realizing he had dropped his shovel.
"That's a Saxon armored airship... I saw it in the newspapers before..." An older veteran nearby looked deathly pale, his voice trembling.
Although they had seen black-and-white photos in newspapers, that was a completely different experience from seeing a 320-meter-long steel behemoth hovering right over their heads with their own eyes.
The impact brought by that absurdly massive sight—one that completely violated a Romanian soldier's everyday experience—was devastating.
The Romanian officers on the position were actually starting to feel their hearts pound as well.
But they forced themselves to remain calm, berating the soldiers to keep digging or to hide in the trenches already dug.
"Everyone back to your positions! Raise your guns!"
"What are you panicking for! It's just a big balloon! What can it do?"
That was easy to say, but for the Romanian officers of the vanguard regiment, those two small airplanes this morning had already turned their artillery and infantry assembly areas upside down. The impression left on them was simply too profound.
And now came one a hundred times bigger...
The old major general on his horse stared fixedly at the increasingly close gray silhouette, instinctively pulling his horse back a few steps.
His chief of staff rode close, his face looking terrible.
"Division Commander, should we have the troops disperse and take cover?"
The old major general opened his mouth, but before he could answer, the airship's shadow had already begun to cover the position.
The afternoon sun was cut off at a certain point. A massive shadow began from the northern end of the position and extended south at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The sky above the Romanian soldiers in the trenches suddenly went dark.
The feeling was hard to describe, like a massive obstacle blocking the sun from you.
You could hear the roar of this obstacle's engines, feel the buffeting of its slipstream, and vaguely smell the scent of radiant crystal fuel in the air.
It was right above you, less than two hundred meters away.
People in the trenches began to tremble, because just its sheer size and proximity alone had pushed their psychological defenses to the limit.
Simultaneously, a series of metallic operational sounds came from the belly of the L15 armored airship.
On the bridge, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas's voice reached the simple fire control room through the voice tube.
"Gunnery Chief, attention. Commence firing at will!"
Soon, the multiple twin-linked heavy machine gun turrets beneath the L15 opened fire almost simultaneously.
"Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong!"
Bullets from the heavy machine guns rained down from an altitude of two hundred meters, smashing into the trenches in swathes.
For the Romanians, whose trenches were completely unprepared for aerial attacks, from this angle, they were just open ditches.
Bullets firing straight down ignored the cover of the breastworks and poured directly into the bottom of the trenches.
The Romanian soldiers lay flat in the trenches, a dense rain of bullets right overhead, dirt and scree splashing everywhere.
They tried to press their bodies against the side walls of the trenches, but the trenches lacked sufficient depth and width.
Immediately following, the two 20mm autocannons joined the firing. The power of a 20mm shell was more than a notch above that of a heavy machine gun.
Every shell that landed blasted a bowl-sized crater, sending shrapnel and clods of dirt flying in all directions.
Shells hitting the breastworks directly shattered the stacked stones, blowing away entire sections of the wall.
The trenches instantly turned into a slaughterhouse.
Some lay on the ground covering their heads and crying; some tried to crawl toward extensions of the trench; others simply jumped out of the trench entirely, bending over and sprinting desperately toward the rear.
At the same time, the bottom of the L15's cargo bay was fully opened.
A large number of airship soldiers secured with safety harnesses arrived at the edge of the cargo bay hatch.
Beside them were stacked many irregular explosive satchels wrapped in canvas, each connected to a detonator with a fuse.
An NCO squatted at the very front, observing below through binoculars for a moment, then gave a thumbs-down gesture behind him.
"Begin the drop! Begin the drop!"
Upon receiving the order, the soldiers on safety harnesses dragged the explosive satchels from behind one by one. After lighting the fuses, fizzing sparks raced down the cords.
"Drop!"
Irregular explosive satchels hastily made from the 300 tons of explosives captured at the pass were pushed out of the cargo bay hatch, tumbling as they fell through the air.
Combat-type armored airships, in addition to mounted heavy cannons, all featured bomb bay doors on their undersides.
But the L15, as a transport airship, hadn't undergone bomb bay modifications, so they could only use this "makeshift bombing" method now.
From an altitude of two hundred meters, the fall time of these explosive satchels was extremely brief, and this manual dropping method basically had no accuracy to speak of.
But amidst the massive volume dropped, some explosive satchels "luckily" smashed into sections of trenches clustered with Romanian soldiers.
"Boom!"
The power of these crude explosive satchels far exceeded that of ordinary grenades.
A large amount of explosives detonated in the semi-enclosed space of the trench. The shockwave propagated along both ends of the trench like some kind of air cannon, blowing away everything in its path for dozens of meters.
Among the continuously falling explosive satchels, one even exploded at an altitude of about five meters above the trench.
An explosive satchel packed with a sufficient charge exploding in mid-air created an effect similar to an airburst shell. Blistering shockwaves and energy covered everything from top to bottom; even the cover of the trench's side walls became meaningless.
Almost no Romanian soldier in that section of the trench survived.
Some in the trenches began firing back at the sky, but this was clearly futile. If an armored airship built at immense cost could be shot down by infantry weapons, then the R&D personnel of the Saxon Empire might as well wash up and go to sleep...
On the bridge of the L15 armored airship, Morin stood behind the viewing window, looking down at the position shrouded in smoke and dust.
Seeing the excellent situation, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas temporarily handed command to Executive Officer Grigor and walked to Morin's side, bearing a rare look of excitement.
"Colonel, without the pressure of anti-aircraft fire, overhead bombing is indeed the most efficient..."
Morin gave an "Mhm," but then shook his head.
"Setting aside the fact that enemies like Britannia possess anti-aircraft firepower that would make overhead bombing by armored airships impossible... strictly in terms of firepower, this armored airship is still too weak."
He pointed downward and continued.
"Heavy machine guns and 20mm autocannons are okay for hitting soft targets like infantry... but if we encounter armored vehicles or the new concrete fortifications starting to become popular in various countries, it won't be enough."
Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas didn't dwell too much on the issue.
"Colonel, the L15 is a makeshift model modified for tactical verification. The firepower configuration is indeed a bit shabby, but that's normal."
He paused.
"However, according to the subsequent plans of the Imperial Air Ministry, the official model of the 'Lilienthal-class Armored Transport Assault Airship'... the firepower configuration should be 12 to 14 single-mount 150mm cannons."
Hearing this number, Morin quickly did the math in his head.
A baseline of 12 150mm cannons, firing from the air—to be honest, that strike capability wasn't weak.
"By then, against temporary fortifications of this scale..." Lieutenant Colonel Andreas glanced downward, his tone as casual as discussing the fine weather today, "...a few more volleys would be able to destroy quite a lot."
The L15 armored airship circled over the Romanians' position twice.
With every pass, the machine guns and autocannons below would plow the target trenches, and explosive satchels from the cargo bay were continuously dropped.
The advantage of capturing 300 tons of military explosives and matching detonators was that under these circumstances, they didn't have to worry about running out of crude explosive satchels.
At this moment, judging solely by the specific metric of ground bombing, the L15's bombing capability even surpassed that of proper combat airships...
By the time the ground attack entered its second pass, the resistance on the Romanian position had actually begun to collapse.
Of the soldiers who survived the airstrike, those who could run were running toward the rear. Those who couldn't, huddled at the bottom of the trenches, burying their heads between their knees, rifles thrown aside. Absolutely no one thought about fighting back anymore.
And simultaneously with the L15 armored airship's attack, the Kampfgruppe units on standby inside the river valley also began moving.
The long convoy of trucks, like floodwaters released from a dam, roared out of the river valley exit.
After exiting the river valley, the convoy didn't foolishly charge straight ahead along the main road. Instead, they quickly split into several columns, following multiple dirt roads across the open ground, flanking toward the sides of the Romanian positions.
Looking down from the air, these gray trucks looked like arrows fired from a single point, spreading out in different directions.
When the tightly packed radiant crystal trucks reached a distance of about three to four hundred meters from the Romanian positions, they began decelerating, led by the lead vehicles.
Some Romanian mountain guns and outdated artillery tried firing a few shots, but the shells either landed behind the trucks or simply missed altogether.
Under these circumstances, trying to hit moving targets with outdated artillery was akin to buying a lottery ticket.
The radiant crystal trucks ultimately chose their stopping points flexibly based on the intensity of enemy resistance in each direction.
Most trucks successfully transported the Kampfgruppe soldiers to a distance of about three to four hundred meters from the enemy positions.
This distance was already within the ideal range for infantry to launch their final assault.
"Dismount!"
With a command from the officers, the tailgates of the truck beds were kicked open violently.
The instruction unit and Guard infantry, who had been ready for a long time, jumped down from the vehicles like dumplings into boiling water.
Without a moment's pause, under the direction of their NCOs, they rapidly deployed into combat formations. Then, weapons leveled, they launched a tidal wave of an assault toward the Romanian positions that had already been plowed by the L15's aerial firepower.