I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 695: Silver Eagle Defense War

Gdansk is located on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.

After the "One Melon", Prussia had occupied all the cities around the port, turning it into an enclave of Poland.

The reason why Horn was so eager to attack Gdansk was not because he thought it was difficult to capture and wanted to make early arrangements. On the contrary, the Prussians all believed that Gdansk could be easily captured by sending any army.

Horn's target was the valuable goods of Polish merchants in the port and Polish merchant ships.

The news of the war would soon reach Gdansk, and he had to get there as quickly as possible to catch as many "big fish" as possible.

So he even left behind the clumsy artillery battalion, and only took the Royal Brandenburg Corps and more than a dozen cavalry squadrons, a total of more than 1 people, and marched northward in a hurry.

Port of Gdansk.

In the three-story red building next to the Royal Avenue, the 16 members of the Gdansk Management Committee were arguing fiercely.

"We only have 400 soldiers. I'm afraid we can't hold out for even half an hour! Handing over the port management rights to the Prussian army is our only option!"

"I agree. The Prussian army will abide by the 'Joint Management Agreement' and ensure the safety of our... ahem, merchants and goods."

Committee Chairman Kovodjeitch lowered his head and murmured, "But the two countries are already at war. If we let the Prussian army go..."

The daily affairs of Gdansk are handled by this management committee, so he is equivalent to the mayor.

Someone immediately said, "There's nothing we can do. Any obstruction will only anger them."

"That's right! And we haven't received any combat orders from His Majesty the King..."

Today, Gdansk has no border with mainland Poland, so it is impossible to receive any information from the mainland.

Several committee members sitting on the west side of the room watched these people quarreling quietly, looking at each other from time to time with disdainful smiles.

They are Prussians.

Although Gdansk is Polish territory, Prussia also has considerable administrative rights.

Sometimes things in the world are so magical. Although Prussia had declared war on Poland, due to long-standing habits, they still sat down with the Poles to discuss the fate of the port.

The Prussian army should arrive here soon. At present, they are the superiors here, and the Poles can only ask them to come forward to avoid being treated harshly by the army.

"Tattoo..."

There were footsteps outside the door, and then the door was kicked open with a bang.

Under the surprised gaze of Kovodjeitch and others, Romilev, the port sheriff in a gray-green uniform, rushed in with a pistol in hand. Behind him, there were more than 20 patrolmen, all carrying flintlock rifles.

"You, what are you going to do?"

Romilev ignored the committee members' questions, looked directly to the west side of the hall, and said loudly: "Werner Bangelmann?"

The Prussian commissioner in a black coat nodded subconsciously.

Without hesitation, Romilev raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

"boom--"

Bangelman was knocked over by the huge force, and a black and red hole appeared on his chest.

The sheriff read out another name: "Kurt Mueller."

The patrolman nearby stepped forward and shot the dumbfounded Prussian commissioner dead. The other four Prussians finally reacted and desperately fled to the gate, but fell to the ground after a few gunshots.

"God! Are you crazy?!" A committee member exclaimed as he looked at the corpse on the ground.

Romilev put away his gun, signaled his men to carry the body out, and looked at the other committee members: "Gentlemen, there is no need to hesitate now.

"We only have one option left, and that is to defend Gdansk!"

The chairman of the committee, Kovojitch, shook his head and said, "It's over, it's over. We are all going to die now..."

Romilev said: "Please sign the order to arrest all Prussians in the port."

"no no……"

Behind the patrolmen, a middle-aged man wearing a felt hat and with capable eyes came out and said to Kovodjeitch: "We must not hand over the port to the treacherous Prussians! Please believe me, we will definitely be able to defend Gdansk."

"Mr. Schumann?"

The visitor was Pierre Edgar Schuman, the financial officer appointed by the French investors. Of course, his other identity was the captain of the artillery of the French Royal Guards.

"But we don't have enough troops..."

Schumann pointed out the window and interrupted him: "There are thousands of sailors here, and even more dock workers, who are willing to fight to the death for Poland!"

Kovodejic shook his head. “Even if we count these people, we are no match for the Prussian army. They will send at least tens of thousands of soldiers.”

"We can rely on the fortress." Schumann said confidently.

"Fortress?" Kovodeitch was startled and asked in surprise, "Where is the fortress?"

"Baron Lacoste's new residence." Schumann took out a blueprint and spread it out. "It was designed with defense in mind."

The blueprint shows the newly built luxurious manor at the entrance of the port's Steplat Peninsula. Baron Lacoste is one of the shareholders of this huge investment of 400 million francs. He said before that he liked the scenery of the port very much and spent money to build a holiday manor here.

"This... is this a bastion?!" A committee member who had some knowledge of military affairs exclaimed when he saw the blueprint.

Yes, Joseph had no choice but to use all means to deploy the defense of Gdansk when the Poles did not believe that Prussia would invade them.

Fortunately, we can refer to the example of the "Battle of Silver Eagle" in which Poland defended Gdansk during World War II.

At that time, Nazi Germany sent 1 soldiers, supervised by 1500 SS troops, and planned to capture Gdansk in 15 minutes.

However, the hundreds of Polish defenders in the port cleverly used the terrain of the Straplat Peninsula to engage in a fight with the German army.

The Germans attacked fiercely for a week, even sending in warships and bombers, but still failed to capture Gdansk. In the end, the Polish government surrendered and ordered the Polish defenders in the port to abandon their defense, allowing the Germans to occupy the port.

At that time, the Polish army's method was to tightly control the entrance to the Straplat Peninsula.

The Port of Gdansk is divided into two parts - the land in the south and the peninsula in the north. Between the two is a narrow waterway that can be used as a safe haven for ships.

As long as the peninsula on the north side is occupied, the area south of the port can be covered with artillery fire.

At the same time, the entrance to the peninsula is very narrow, and a few bunkers can block the passage here.

Joseph used a bastion instead, which would have been even better.

In order to avoid the Prussians from making trouble, he claimed that it was the estate of Baron Lacoste - from the outside it did look like a castle. Only a few French engineers in charge of the construction knew that the full appearance of the place was a pentagonal bastion with rounded corners.

(End of this chapter)