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Volume 5, The Night in Saxony, is finished.
Section 381, Part Seven: The Battle of Rügen Island & The Great Evacuation of Saxony (Part 1)
With the failure of the joint offensive against Berlin by the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain, the initiative on the European battlefield began to tilt further toward the Britannian Empire. The expeditionary force, which had long been in a defensive and step-by-step manner, began to strengthen and reinforce the city of Berlin and build an underground city after receiving reinforcements [Chapter 241], and began to spread its wings like a fully-fledged falcon.
On February 17, 1946, while the Soviet troops stationed in Germany were still unable to regroup and withdraw, the Britannian Expeditionary Force launched a large-scale offensive south of Berlin into Saxony, the last bastion of Soviet occupation. Approximately ten army groups took turns breaking through Soviet lines, planning to use their superior manpower to drive the Soviets out of Germany and completely eliminate the ground threat from the Soviet Union. [Chapter 246]
After more than a week of offensive, the Soviet army suffered successive defeats, and the British and American forces, overwhelmed, were forced to halt their advance along the Elbe River. With ample reserves and an optimistic strategic situation, the high command of the expeditionary force began to consider the next strategic objective. However, it was too early to cross the Oder River, and the threat from the Western Allies was not yet enough to warrant hasty action. It was more appropriate to open up the situation in the Baltic Sea at that time.
Rügen Island, located in the northern coastal waters of Germany, is no more than five kilometers from the German mainland, its shape resembling a spearhead protruding into the Baltic Sea. Successful capture would serve as a major springboard for eliminating Szczecin, while Stralsund could officially become an anchorage for the expeditionary fleet. As a next step in establishing a naval base in Rostock, this would effectively help the Britannian Navy dominate the Baltic Sea, facilitating attacks on Poland and Northern Europe.
Since Britannia seized the German coast, it has continuously bombarded and air-raided Rügen Island, and actively attacked the Baltic Fleet. The defensive capabilities of the Soviet troops stationed on the island have been greatly weakened in the months-long war of attrition.
Seeing that the time was ripe, the expeditionary force command ordered General Trossa on February 28th to launch a amphibious assault from Stralsund and capture Rügen Island. [Chapter 256]
At the start of the landing operation, the landing forces encountered almost no resistance. The Soviet positions in the south of the island had already been cleared by long-range artillery fire, and the minefields, after being largely cleared by fire, left only the soft soil as an obstacle to their advance. Beachhead troops cleared the area, engineering units maintained the bridge connecting the island to the mainland, and airborne troops conducted reconnaissance and occupied positions deep within the island. [Chapters 257 & 258]
The Soviet troops defending the island retreated with difficulty, while stubbornly retaliating. This resulted in several brief but fierce artillery battles on the island, causing damage to some of Britannia's weaponry and equipment, as well as significant losses to the Soviet artillery. [Chapters 261 & 262]
After five days of fighting, the Britannian army captured and consolidated Samtens and Putbus, and as expected, the situation of the Soviet troops defending the islands deteriorated rapidly in less than a week. As the commander-in-chief of the island defense, Colonel Kodelevsky requested more air cover from the higher command while working with Baltic Fleet Commander Golovko to contact the Swedish and British sides.
Meanwhile, Britannia had towed the two missile destroyers that had been stranded on the coast back to Rostock for repairs. They also incorporated two newly arrived destroyers into their operational fleet and boldly dispatched naval forces to secretly capture Swedish fishermen in order to understand the sea conditions in the Baltic Sea [Chapter 245].
As the forces attempting to seize the island entered the range of the Red Navy's naval gun support, four Britannian destroyers launched a rapid attack on the Soviet forces on Rügen Island, causing the latter's western defenses to almost collapse.
On March 11th, Baltic Fleet Commander Golovko had just suffered minor damage to his ships when he received news from the Swedish Navy that the Britannian fleet was lingering west of Rügen. Considering the significantly increased enemy threat, Golovko decided to abandon the entire fleet's retreat and prepare for battle in place. [Chapter 3]
Meanwhile, the Royal Navy finally sent word that a carrier strike group led by Grand Admiral Cunningham would arrive at the Kattegat Strait at dawn the following day to provide air support. The first formal naval engagement of the war—the Battle of Rügen—had begun.
Section 382, Part Seven: The Battle of Rügen Island & The Great Evacuation of Saxony (Part Two)
On the night of March 12, four missile destroyers of the Britannian Imperial Navy's 45th Expeditionary Fleet returned to Rostock for resupply after completing their island attack mission the previous day. They then left the port at 1:42 a.m. on the 12th and sailed slowly northward close to the German coast.
At 2:14, the Royal Navy Baltic Task Force, led by Grand Admiral Andrew Cunningham, passed through the Skagerrak Strait and entered the Kattegat Strait.
At 2:23, four Burfant destroyers arrived 15 nautical miles west of Rügen Island. Fleet Commander Colonel Persson ordered the entire fleet to conduct a circular reconnaissance mission in the area to check for enemy ships and aircraft.
The entire fleet advanced in a single column formation, consisting of the Anna Salle, Rizia, Cassell, and Ezogon from front to back.
At 2:56, a Swedish naval patrol boat spotted the Britannian fleet in waters near Denmark and sent an urgent message to the Swedish naval command. Two minutes later, three Visby-class destroyers of the Swedish Navy received orders to proceed to the waters north of Rügen Island.
At 3:05, the Soviet Red Navy's Baltic Fleet received information from Sweden about the presence of the Britannian Fleet. Fleet Commander Golovko ordered the entire fleet to enter a state of combat readiness and proceed north along the eastern coast of Rügen Island.
At 3:49, the Britannian fleet spotted the Swedish destroyer, detecting that it was 13 nautical miles from the north coast of Rügen Island and 18 nautical miles from its own position, maintaining a northeasterly course. Colonel Bossall ordered the fleet to go on high alert and the entire fleet approached the Swedish destroyer at full speed.
At 4:21, the Baltic Fleet received the coordinates of the Britannian Fleet from the Swedish Navy, and one minute later, the Royal Navy received the same position report.
At 5:08, when the Britannian fleet entered within about 3 nautical miles of the Swedish ships, all three Swedish destroyers turned on their searchlights and aimed all their weapons at the Britannian ships. The four Britannian destroyers immediately turned their guns in response, and the two fleets entered a standoff.
At 5:25, the Britannian fleet broke the standoff and sailed south to continue searching for Soviet warships. Five minutes later, the Swedish warships decommissioned and returned to their naval base, sending information about the Britannian fleet's whereabouts to the Baltic Fleet and the Royal Navy.
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At 6:12, the Baltic Fleet and the Britannian Fleet encountered each other in the waters northeast of Rügen Island, approximately 12 nautical miles apart. Soviet Fleet Commander Golovko ordered a full-scale attack. Two minutes later, British Fleet Commander Cunningham ordered the aircraft carriers HMS Formidable and HMS Unicorn to launch all their aircraft from 60 nautical miles north of Copenhagen and proceed towards the Britannian Fleet's position.
The cruiser Maxim Gorky, leading six destroyers as the first battleship, rapidly approached the enemy, turning its guns around and launching all its torpedoes. The battleship October Revolution, as the second battleship, immediately turned to starboard and opened fire on the Britannian fleet with all its main guns.
At 6:13, the entire Britannian fleet entered combat readiness, with all ship guns returning fire on the Soviet fleet. All side hatches were opened to launch shipborne KMFs and shipborne helicopters. At the same time, the Anna Seiler was straddled by the main guns of the battleship October Revolution.
At 6:14, the Cassrow was hit by a 130mm gun at the starboard No. 2 hatch. The KMF gun firing from the hatch and some weapons inside the hatch were hit and caught fire, but the fire was quickly brought under control by damage control.
At 6:15, four Britannian destroyers launched a missile attack.
The Anna Seychelles and the Ritzia each launched two missiles at the October Revolution, while the Cassell and the Ezogon each launched one missile at the cruiser Gorky and the destroyers Fierce, Splendid, and Strong.
Within 15 seconds of the successful missile launch, the Ritzia was hit amidships by a 305mm shell from the October Revolution. The shell penetrated the deck and all the lower compartments before bursting through the hull and exploding in the water. This caused severe damage to the Ritzia's keel, a failure of its propulsion system, and massive flooding. Its speed dropped sharply from 30 knots to 21 knots, and the rudder became unresponsive.
At 6:16, one missile heading towards the Soviet 2nd Battleship was destroyed by anti-aircraft fire, another landed in the sea on the starboard side of the stern of the October Revolution, and the remaining two hit the superstructure at the stern of the ship, causing the azimuth and elevation mechanisms of the No. 3 main gun turret to completely jam, the No. 4 turret to catch fire, and the No. 5, 6, 7 and 8 120mm secondary guns on the port side to be unable to fire, and the ship's speed dropped from 24 knots to 19 knots.
Of the missiles that attacked the Soviet First Battleship, one was shot down, one was evaded by the Gorky, one hit the port side of the Fierce, causing severe damage to the hull and massive flooding, and one hit the stern deck of the Splendor, blowing off the entire stern section of the ship. After losing power, the ship quickly came to a stop on the sea.
At 6:17, the Gorky was hit in the middle of its hull by a 127mm gun, causing minor damage. The Strong was also hit by a 127mm gun on its No. 2 torpedo launcher. Fortunately, the torpedo had been pre-launched and did not cause catastrophic consequences.
The captain of the Splendor ordered all crew members except the main gun crew to abandon ship and evacuate. Golovko ordered the Fierce to turn west and run aground off the coast of Rügen Island. The October Revolution suspended combat to extinguish the fire and approached the Splendor to rescue its crew. The Gorky continued to lead the remaining destroyers in a full-speed attack, and the two fleets closed to a distance of less than 5 nautical miles.
In the next two minutes, the Cassrow and Ezogon were hit by a total of two 180mm shells and four 130mm shells from the Soviets. The Ritzia, which was heading to the coast alone, was hit by two torpedoes in a short period of time. The captain of the Ritzia immediately ordered the entire crew to abandon ship and evacuate. Fleet Commander Persson ordered the remaining ships to maneuver to port to avoid the torpedoes.
At 6:20, the Splendor sank.
At 6:21, 16 Royal Navy Seafire fighters arrived at the battlefield and began attacking the gun emplacements on the side platforms of the Burgundy destroyers. This caused all three ships to lose all their secondary shipboard firepower and were unable to launch or land helicopters and KMFs. The three ships continued to retaliate against the Soviet fleet.
At 6:23, the stern of the Anna Seiler was hit by several 180mm and 130mm shells in a very short time, causing a fire on the stern landing platform and engine room. The speed dropped sharply from 28 knots to 12 knots. Bersanne immediately ordered the captain to abandon ship and evacuate. The Rizia sank completely at almost the same time.
At 6:24, 12 Barracuda attack aircraft approached the area 12 nautical miles north of the Cassrow and Ezogern, but at the same time, about 10 KMF aircraft rushed from the German interior to provide support, which quickly disrupted the Barracuda's attack formation. The leader immediately ordered the aircraft to disperse and look for an opportunity to attack, and the Seafire fighters rushed back to support the torpedo bombers.
At 6:25, two Barracudas were shot down just as they were about to enter their attack positions, and another Barracuda quickly dropped a torpedo and left the battlefield.
At 6:27, two Barracudas dropped torpedoes on the Aizogne, but failed to hit.
At 6:28, a Barracuda rapidly approached 650 yards behind the starboard side of the Ezogon and dropped a torpedo that missed its target, hitting the stern steering gear of the Cassero on the other side. This caused the Cassero to immediately lose control and turn hard to starboard, entering a collision course with the Ezogon.
At 6:29, the Cassrow and the Ezogon collided bow to bow, causing both ships to drop rapidly to 8 knots. The collision resulted in severe damage to the port bow of the Ezogon, completely destroying the gun turret support structure and rendering it inoperable. The missile compartment was also deformed during the impact.
At 6:31, four Barracudas regrouped and launched a torpedo attack on the two destroyers that had stopped. One of the torpedoes hit the missile vertical launch system and main gun ammunition magazine of the USS Ezogon, causing a violent explosion and disappearing from the sea surface in less than two minutes.
At the same time, after being hit by a torpedo on its port side, the hull tilted sharply by more than 30 degrees due to the waves caused by the explosion. Before the ship could right itself, the superstructure, which was submerged in seawater, was hit by two more torpedoes. The entire ship was immediately unable to right itself and lost control, sinking completely into the sea 3 minutes later.
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Years after the war ended, Sergeant Harry Kroger, a gunner on one of the Barracudas that participated in the attack, described the scene in a television interview.
"When we were preparing to drop our bombs, I noticed that there were dummy figures on the other side flying towards us with machine guns. At that moment, the team leader shouted, 'Everyone scatter and cancel the attack.' All of us in the cockpit were very confused, as this should not have happened according to our attack training regulations."
"Later we gradually understood what the leader meant: it wasn't necessary for the torpedoes to hit the enemy ships. As long as they could disrupt their navigation and then let the Soviets catch up and take them out, that would be fine too. Secondly, he probably meant that we young men who had only recently boarded the aircraft carrier had to stay alive."
"...While dodging and searching for another attack position, I was busy dealing with the incoming enemy with my gun. I was terrified; I'd heard that my .30 machine gun couldn't handle these nutcrackers flying around in the air. I only breathed a sigh of relief when another fighter jet took it out. That's when I ran out of bullets, and the little guy in front of me nudged me: 'Hold on tight, we're making a sharp turn, those two big white fish are colliding!' Hahahahahahaha..."
"...After the torpedoes were dropped and the ship was pulled up, I could clearly see those white lines following behind us, heading towards the two warships, like mice released from their cages. Then one of the warships exploded, yes, like a hammer smashing a shaken beer bottle, metal, fire, and seawater all flew up... That was the most thoroughly shattered ship I've ever seen in my life."
"So, as a witness at the time, you must have been very excited about this outcome, right?" the reporter asked him.
"Actually, when the blast wave hit my face and made the plane shake, I was terrified... Imagine being trapped in a metal cabin, and then flames and seawater, along with the feeling of the earth cracking and mountains collapsing, tear you and the cabin apart and swallow you up. Just thinking about it is a very desperate thing."
“There is no difference between me sitting in the cabin and them sitting in the ship’s cabin. If the plane crashes, all I can do is close my eyes and scream for my mother. Although we often call these self-proclaimed ‘British’ people ‘bastards’, we are all just human beings. Drowning, being bombed, or falling to our deaths are all inevitable in an instant. God will not give wings or gills to anyone who is a victim of invasion.”
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At 6:33, Soviet warships approached the recently sunk Anna Seiler and took control of all the surviving Britannian naval personnel. The surviving crew of the Ritsia were subsequently taken into custody as well.
At 6:35, the Fierce Ferry successfully ran aground and docked at Rügen Island.
At 6:36, the Royal Navy sent a message to the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Corps that the "Britannia fleet had been annihilated." About half an hour later, British and American bomber groups successfully bombed Rostock and Stralsund respectively. Colonel Kozelevsky, the commander of the Rügen Island garrison, immediately ordered all the Soviet troops defending the island to launch a counterattack, forcing the Britannian island-seizing forces back to the Samtens line.
The Soviet Navy and the Royal Navy ultimately lost two destroyers, one battleship, nearly 400 Soviet sailors, 11 carrier-based aircraft and 17 pilots, and sank four Britannian missile destroyers. Approximately 1,200 naval officers and men were killed or taken prisoner at sea. Only no more than 20 helicopter crews and KMF members from each ship managed to escape the battlefield in time.
Section 383, Part Seven: The Battle of Rügen Island & The Great Evacuation of Saxony (Part Three)
The double defeat on land and sea on Rügen Island, although it did not cause much substantial damage to the Britannian Expeditionary Force, severely stung the commanding officers of the Expeditionary Force.
In fact, according to later assessments, without the support of the Royal Navy Air Force, the Britannian fleet was fully capable of severely damaging or even annihilating the Red Navy's Baltic Fleet in this battle. The subsequent raids by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force on Rostock and Stralsund further increased the manpower and material costs of capturing Rügen and maintaining naval combat capability.
A realistic answer was presented to the high command: the Soviet Union's constraints on the Expeditionary Force on the land, sea and air battlefields had reached their limit, and the Soviet troops in Germany could no longer exert much influence on the Expeditionary Force; on the contrary, the Western Allies, who had been taking a relaxed approach, appeared to be struggling to cope in the standoff along the river, but they possessed a huge naval and air force, and even seriously restricted Britannia's every large-scale operation in Europe.
"The presence of the concentric circles and the white star insignia is constantly increasing the casualties of the Expeditionary Force, so let's make each of their airfields farther and farther away from Berlin and the German coast." With this in mind, Prince Kylier, the deputy commander of the Expeditionary Force who was temporarily acting as the commander-in-chief, resolutely decided to transfer most of the Expeditionary Force troops that were maintaining a high-pressure stance against the Soviet army to the western front to launch a strong attack on the Elbe River, and officially listed the British and American Allied forces as a target with a higher threat value than the Soviet army.
This decision by the Expeditionary Force marked a complete departure from the Soviet Union's position as the "frontline bearer," and also signified that Western countries such as Britain and the United States had to begin to bear the same pressure and losses as the Soviet Union in this war. Soviet Supreme Commander Joseph Stalin ultimately received the order to "abandon the German-occupied territories" and began to move all Soviet troops stationed in Germany to Poland and Czechoslovakia.
Meanwhile, as the commander-in-chief of the British and American forces stationed in Germany, General Eisenhower and Field Marshal Montgomery had previously considered the insufficient Allied manpower in Germany, especially the huge gap in European forces that the US military was facing due to Operation Magic Carpet and the extremely long Atlantic route, which was difficult to fill in the short term. They began to lobby the Western and Northern European countries to form a united front to resist the invasion of Britannia.
Then, on March 13, a day after the Battle of Rügen, the Britannian forces, originally deployed defensively on the east bank of the Elbe, hastily launched an attack on Allied-occupied territory under orders from Berlin. Although progress was slow against the British lines, they achieved significant results against the American forces, opening a sufficiently large salient together with the attacking British troops.
On March 19, with Eisenhower's support, George Patton, who had just taken command of the 2nd Armoured Division, spearheaded an attack, cutting off half of the Britannian 39th Army's connection with the east bank, along with the subsequent 4th Armoured Division. Subsequently, with the assistance of the Royal Air Force, they destroyed some of the pontoon bridges across the Elbe River, and the 1st Infantry Division and the 3rd Armoured Division quickly advanced from the north, attempting to sever the connection between the two lines of Imperial forces.
On March 21, the three armies of the Expeditionary Force deployed on the southern front launched a general offensive against the Soviet army. On the one hand, Marshal Zhukov directed the troops to retreat in an orderly manner. On the other hand, the Soviet commanders stationed in Poland and Czechoslovakia, Rokossovsky and Konev, sent Soviet ground troops to provide cover, and also dispatched the Polish People's Army and the Czechoslovak Air Force to come and assist, which enabled hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops to leave smoothly.
On April 1, Leipzig was occupied by Britannian forces; on April 3, Dresden fell; on April 11, the last garrison on Rügen Island left by ship, and the Soviet Union lost its last piece of German territory.
The six-month-long East German campaign ended with the Britannian Expeditionary Force completely capturing over 60,000 square kilometers of land along the Elbe River, the Ore Mountains, and the Oder River.
To date, the Britannian Empire has lost a total of 1268942 soldiers in Germany, including 318460 killed in action, 821004 wounded (including 35% still recovering from psychological trauma), and 129478 missing or captured. The highest rate of casualties occurred during the Oder-Elbe Offensive in January 1946, when the Expeditionary Force defending Berlin suffered 435687 casualties in one month under the combined land and air attacks of the US, USSR, and Britain. This is the highest rate of troop losses in Britannia's history (note that this is not the highest total casualty rate). The lowest casualties were recorded during the capture of Leipzig and Dresden, with 106014 casualties in one month.
During this period, the Soviet Union suffered a total of 460251 casualties, including 104726 killed, 328823 wounded, and 26702 captured or missing; the British suffered a total of 94016 casualties, including 21711 killed, 68189 wounded, and 4116 captured or missing; and the U.S. suffered 68744 casualties, including 18247 killed, 44777 wounded, and 5720 captured.
The continuation of the war brought European countries, which had just survived World War II, to the brink of annihilation once again. With the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain acting as intermediaries, more and more countries and people began to unite against the common enemy and accept unified command and armament.
On March 17, the North Atlantic Strategic Defense Alliance was established, with the United States and the United Kingdom as its leaders. France, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden successively announced their accession and declared war on Britannia. Some former German soldiers also agreed to accept the command of the North Atlantic Alliance.
On March 23, Australia agreed as a Commonwealth country to provide armed personnel to assist Britain in combat operations.
On March 24, after obtaining intelligence by "chance", the Northern Alliance launched "Operation Watermill", sending agents disguised as German civilians to infiltrate the Empire's core dimension, officially beginning an organized operation behind enemy lines in Area 11.
On March 31, the North Atlantic Fleet was officially established. On the same day, the French Navy and the Royal Navy began to assist the North African Allied forces in crossing the Mediterranean to replenish the European theater.
On April 3, the U.S. Navy launched Operation Messenger, restarting all mothballed and decommissioned ships to begin deploying troops to the North Sea while simultaneously making every effort to send NATO forces from the U.S. mainland, the Pacific Ocean, and Australia to Europe.
On April 10, the Eastern European United Armed Alliance was established. The Soviet Union, together with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and some former German soldiers, formed the Eastern United Front, constructing a defense along the Oder River-Ore Mountains line to resist the invasion of Britannia.
On April 12, senior officials from the Northern Alliance and ASEAN signed the "European Strategic Intelligence Sharing Agreement" in the Swedish capital, establishing strategic intelligence exchange bureaus in Vienna and Stockholm respectively, marking the formal entry of the Britannian Empire into a full-scale war in Europe.
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This concludes the seventh installment of the series: The Battle of Rügen Island & The Great Evacuation of Saxony.
Chapter 298, Section 386: The Rain of Death
In the same environment, different things are likely to be treated the same.
For example, annihilating enemy soldiers hiding behind brick and stone bunkers is almost as difficult as removing corpses stuck in steel shells.
Neschwitz was just an ordinary small town. After the massive explosion in the square, it was simply reduced to another devastating scar on war-torn Germany.
With the hammer and sickle flag gone, the Britannian soldiers began to tidy up the chaotic scene inside and outside Dresden, including the T-34 tank that had previously stormed into the town and caused a massive explosion in the energy pack depot with a single shot.
The charred square tiles resembled charcoal, and the surrounding dilapidated houses looked as if they had been splashed with scalding black ink. The tanks, however, lay neatly broken in a corner of the square—the former like porcelain jars hit by bricks, and the latter more like toy cars carefully disassembled with screws tightened.
The tracks, road wheels, turret, and hull of the T-34 were scattered there by the explosion, but that's the impression it gave. Wiping away the black dust on the turret, you could still see the serial numbers and slogans written on it, only with some dents caused by flying debris and the smell of burnt-out engines.
Carrying the fallen Soviet tank crewmen out of the tank was a routine task—just like before, groping around inside with a flashlight, and once the torso was lifted out, then carefully using scrapers and brushes to remove the charred and melted limbs from the handles and pull them out of the vehicle intact, along with Captain Kamarov's identification documents that had fallen back into the tank earlier.
They dug a square pit and laid out each fallen Soviet soldier neatly in it, shoulder to shoulder or head to tail. Then they would put up a board and attach any identification or photographs they could find on their bodies, along with the words "The enemy who fought and died here."
Most were handled this way, but Captain Kamarov and his crew were treated specially—a separate pit was dug, their bodies were laid flat inside, covered with sand, and a neat stone tablet was prepared for them: "Soldiers! Always be vigilant for the battle in District 45! Here lies a 'bison' more powerful than a werewolf."
Similar stone monuments have never diminished on this land—whether for a few T-34 crews, a pilot, or a dozen or twenty infantrymen who refused to surrender and fought to the death.
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"Treat fallen enemies as you would your fallen comrades, so that those who come after us may understand our hardships and respect the enemy's fearlessness."