Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 59 Flamethrowers with Three Times the Range Easily Clear Stenford City

The day Lelouch left the front lines to return to the rear was Christmas Day, 1914. By the time he finished coordinating projects with Krupp, Siemens, and others, it was already New Year's Day, 1915.

So on New Year's Day, before he left, Gustav invited him to his home for a family dinner.

Before I knew it, I had been in this world for two years.

Although the first year started on October 25th, it only lasted two months and eight days in total.

On the morning of January 2, Lelouch left Düsseldorf by train.

He was supposed to return to the front immediately, but in reality he had to stay in Aachen for three extra days to temporarily meet with some business at DWM – because in the days following his departure from the front on December 26, friendly forces at the front encountered some new difficulties in their attack on Stenford and Hill 155 of Kemmerer.

Commander Duke Rupprecht had grown accustomed to trusting Lelouch, the "miracle boy," so whenever he encountered a problem, he would think of consulting him, and he had been calling him constantly these past few days.

Lelouch also squeezed in some time to come up with some inexpensive and effective emergency solutions, and then spent three days at the DWM company's Aachen factory preparing two small gifts for the Britannians.

As for the specific preparation process, there's not much to go into detail, because these little gifts aren't technically difficult to make.

……

January 5, Ypres salient front.

After two delays, Lelouch finally returned to the front lines. He even sent a message in advance, telling the commander that he had brought back a "surprise" for the enemy.

The Duke was very much looking forward to it, so he personally went to Lille train station to pick him up.

As soon as the train came to a stop, the Duke's driver opened the door and waved for Lelouch to board.

Lelouch ran over quickly, intending to open the passenger door, but the Duke patted the seat next to him, indicating that he should sit in the back with him.

Lelouch knew this was for the convenience of discussing business, so he didn't stand on ceremony and sat in the back row without hesitation.

"In the few days since you returned to the rear, the offensive against Stenford and Kemmer Hill has not been very successful. Both sides have been locked in a bloody battle of attrition. Although our casualties are not bad and the exchange ratio is not unfavorable, we have not been able to capture the strategic objectives."

The Duke didn't mince words with him and went straight to the point about their current predicament.

Lelouch: "How is Stenford doing?"

Duke: "That's a city, not a town. It's a small hub where the railway branches off, so its defenses are quite strong. Our heavy artillery has bombarded it repeatedly, and has destroyed most of the buildings that could hide the enemy. But that guy Haig must be really going all out, constantly sending reinforcements from the west into the city to fight a war of attrition with us."

Many scattered enemy soldiers were still hiding in the ruins of the collapsed buildings. It seems that Haig had brought up the elite of the 1st Army, whose morale was much higher than that of Lord Kanna and the Indians we had encountered before, and they were able to repeatedly engage in a tug-of-war with our army.

Our troops just issued shotguns two days ago for street fighting with the enemy. We also exchanged some of the assault battalion's submachine guns for the attacking troops, which improved the kill-to-kill ratio considerably, but we still can't completely eradicate those rats.

Lelouch nodded, not finding it too surprising.

The veterans of the Burkina Faso army at the end of 1914 still possessed considerable fighting spirit. Many military aristocrats served as junior officers, leading from the front. It wasn't until these honor-seeking aristocratic officers had largely died out that the Burkina Faso army gradually began to experience a decline in morale and a tendency to retreat.

Moreover, the Duke had already given a general overview of these circumstances during a previous phone call.

After sorting things out, Lulu continued to ask, "How was the result when I suggested on the phone the day before yesterday that you send flamethrowers to clear out the ruins of the urban battle?"

The Duke also bluntly stated: "After a brief test, the biggest problem with the flamethrower is that its range is too short, about the same as a fire hose."

The key issue is that portable sprayers can't provide the same water pressure as fire hydrants; the water only travels about ten meters before hitting the ground. They can't even reach the opposite building across the street, and there's a risk of accidentally injuring the sprayer operator.

Lelouch nodded: "It really is a problem with the range. Luckily, I went to DWM on my way here and got a batch of new sprayers and fuel. We'll see how it goes."

The Duke was taken aback: "So fast? On your way back, didn't you just take a detour to Aachen for two days?"

“Two days is enough.” Lelouch patted his chest and pointed to the train he was on, the last few freight cars attached to it, indicating that the Duke could rest assured.

Although the Duke was still somewhat incredulous, he was happy to wait and see.

……

Many people mistakenly believe that the "flamethrower" is a product of World War I, but in fact it was invented in 1901 by Demania fire engineer Philo.

In 1912, the German army formed its first flamethrower unit, selecting 48 strong water jet sprayers from the Posen fire brigade to switch from spraying water to spraying oil.

However, according to the original course of history, flamethrower troops were not suitable for mobile warfare in the early stages of the war. It was not until the end of February 1915 that the German army launched a flamethrower offensive on the Verdun battlefield.

Verdun Fortress was strong enough to be a suitable place for the flamethrower's debut.

Now, thanks to Lelouch's butterfly effect, the flamethrower's debut has naturally been brought forward by two months.

The day before yesterday morning, the German army first conducted a small-scale test of the use of flamethrowers in several blocks in Stenford that had already been divided and surrounded.

They did manage to burn hundreds of Bu soldiers to death and clear two blocks, but they also lost more than a dozen flamethrower operators.

The flamethrowers that were deployed in actual combat ahead of schedule clearly still have some major shortcomings in terms of performance that have not been resolved.

But it doesn't matter, Lelouch is back, so these are no longer problems.

...The next morning, at the front lines in Stenford.

Two regiments of the 12th Division of Baria were once again deployed to the siege.

The two armies clashed fiercely in the ruins of the city.

The German army still held a certain advantage, but it was not a complete rout.

With the Germans deploying shotguns and submachine guns, the Burgundian army could no longer hold onto its relatively strong and intact fortifications. They could only try to break into smaller units and retreat to some bombed-out ruins to rebuild temporary firing positions.

The protracted battle that had lasted for several days had instilled considerable fear in the German soldiers searching the ruined streets. They didn't know if any more snipers might emerge from the collapsed buildings.

A company commander named Goldler was leading a company, carefully spreading out and taking turns searching along the rubble on both sides of the main street west of the train station.

At any given moment, only a dozen or so soldiers were scattered forward, while the vast majority of the other soldiers were looking for cover to set up their guns, keeping their eyes and ears open.

Despite being so careful, after searching house by house and killing several groups of enemy soldiers from the 1st Division along the way, the company was still met with a sudden heavy fire attack.

The sudden "rat-a-tat-tat" of Vickers heavy machine guns pinned down the attacking soldiers, forcing them to take cover wherever they could find.

"Multiple Vickers heavy machine gun positions have been detected on the northern section of West Street near the train station! Send in the special forces to suppress them!"

After observing the enemy situation clearly, Company Commander Gödler immediately ordered the field messenger to shout a message.

Frontline communication in this era relied primarily on shouting.

Two minutes later, several clumsy soldiers carrying heavy oil tanks arrived. They were soldiers from the first German flamethrower unit, the Ledermann detachment.

They were all former members of the Posen City Fire Department, and their company commander, Captain Bernhard Lederman, was originally the captain of the Posen City Fire Department.

After the flamethrower soldiers arrived at the front line, Captain Goldler, the company commander of the infiltration unit, immediately warned them: "Heavy machine guns have been deployed along the rubble of the wide street. The street is very wide, and two machine guns can block off a large area. Be careful."

The trial use in the first two days has already made the officers of the German search and infiltration forces very worried about their own flamethrower warriors. Their weapons have a very short range, and carrying fuel tanks makes them inconvenient to maneuver.

Moreover, if hit by enemy fire, even if not killed on the spot, as long as the oil tank is pierced, the person will instantly burst into a large fireball.

However, the newly deployed flamethrower operators seemed to have regained considerable confidence. While observing and searching for firing positions from a distance, they reassured Captain Goldler:
"Don't worry, the higher-ups have replaced our fuel tanks. This street isn't too wide. We'll go around from inside the buildings on the east side of the street, advance to a position just one street away from the heavy machine gun position, and then suddenly unleash a burst of fire. Just remember to fire suppressive shots."

Captain Goldler was still somewhat incredulous, but since his flamethrower comrade had said so, he professionally instructed his soldiers not to show themselves, but to simply fire randomly at the street opposite where the enemy was lying in ambush to attract attention.

As expected, the Vickers heavy machine gun on the opposite side was also drawn in and kept firing wildly at the street corner in front of Captain Goldler, completely blocking the street.

The two sides probed and tugged at each other for two minutes, then suddenly a strange change occurred.

Two streams of fire suddenly and unexpectedly shot out from two windows of a partially collapsed building across the street from the two Vickers heavy machine gun positions, heading straight towards the ruins containing the heavy machine gun positions.

The slick flames were everywhere, instantly penetrating every corner of the semi-enclosed space. Then, a series of screams erupted as more than a dozen charred figures jumped out of broken windows and holes in walls, falling onto the street.

Some of them didn't die immediately, but they howled and rolled around frantically trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but all their efforts were in vain. They rolled around for three to five seconds at most before going completely still.

Captain Goldler and the other ordinary infantrymen were also dumbfounded when they saw this.

They had seen their own flamethrower soldiers in action the day before yesterday, but those flames could only shoot a dozen meters at most, covering a distance of only three lanes. If you included the sidewalk, they couldn't even reach the other side of the street.

Moreover, the kerosene at that time was very thin, so if you got a little bit on it, you could extinguish it by rolling around a few times.

But today's situation is completely different. They watched as their own flamethrower soldiers sprayed at least forty meters! That's at least three times the distance! And so far, they haven't seen a single enemy on fire manage to extinguish the flames by rolling away the oil; everyone who got burned died.

The German troops were greatly encouraged and immediately continued their advance, searching and clearing the area under the cover of the new flamethrower soldiers.

The previously jagged blocks of Stenford, where the elite, hardened gun emplacements of the Burghers were hidden, were gradually and secretly eliminated across the street.

The screams of agony, engulfed in flames, echoed throughout the day. Whether you had heavy machine guns or mortars lying in ambush in the ruins, once discovered and surrounded, it meant swift elimination.

Artillery fire might not be able to make the ruins even worse, but flamethrowers could definitely burn down every nook and cranny where people had to hide, and even cellars or makeshift basements.

In just one day, all the Bu army soldiers in the stalemate zone were wiped out.

When the news reached the rear, Division Commander Karl and Commander Rupprecht were once again shocked.

"What exactly did you do to the flamethrower fuel?" the commander couldn't help but press Lelouch for an answer.

"I just added some thickener," Lelouch explained with an innocent expression.

"If the liquid that is shot out is too thin, it will not be able to withstand pressure and will not go far. It will also be quickly dispersed and atomized by air resistance, just like wetting your shoes against the wind. But if it is thickened, it can be twisted into a stream and sprayed forward."

The principle is actually very simple, similar to the thickening formula for Molotov cocktails, so Lelouch could easily figure it out.

To shoot far, it needs to be thick.

(End of this chapter)