Chapter 240: Our Only Target Is the Baku Oil Field

"Cover us with mortars and Grenade Launchers! The enemy's large-caliber fortress guns are extremely unwieldy! Clear out their light firepower, then push forward!"

"Light machine gun teams, push up and lay down suppressing fire! Submachine gun teams, on me!"

On the high ground in the eastern outskirts of the Port of Batumi, a fierce battle raged.

Only two or three hours had passed since the first wave of the Demanian vanguard landed. However, after the two regiments Major General Ramzan sent to push the enemy back to the beachhead completely collapsed, the Demanian Army quickly launched a swift and ferocious counterattack.

The Demanian objective was crystal clear: sweep across the outskirts of the Port of Batumi from north to south, first securing the high ground in the eastern suburbs—including the coastal defense guns stationed there—before sweeping away all resistance to take the southern coastal defense battery. Finally, they would seize the city harbor from a commanding height.

Once the coastal defense guns were captured, the three Pre-dreadnoughts and several old protected cruisers could close in on the city. They would mercilessly bombard the barracks and defensive lines with their 240mm and 150mm rapid-fire guns. Under the overwhelming pressure of direct large-caliber naval artillery fire, the Lusha remnants would undoubtedly crumble.

The mobile garrison forces inside Batumi barely amounted to a single division. Combined with the handful of guards and sailors manning the elevated batteries to the east and south, their strength was already stretched thin. With the two regiments wasted and shattered in a failed counterattack, Major General Ramzan naturally had few men left to reinforce the two hills.

(Note: During the Tsar's era, Lusha's coastal defense battery garrisons were part of the navy, so they were not counted as army personnel.)

The eastern high ground was defended by a mere two thousand men, roughly two reinforced battalions, and the southern high ground had similar numbers. Meanwhile, by 9:00 AM, the Demanians had already rallied an advance landing force of over twenty thousand troops. They aggressively assaulted the eastern hill from three sides, possessing an absolute ten-to-one numerical advantage.

The kill ratio was staggering. Before noon, the garrison of just two thousand men had already gunned down over four hundred Demanian assault troops and wounded many more.

Given the current combat quality of the Lusha forces, for a unit to resist long enough to kill Demanian soldiers equal to twenty percent of its own numbers was a glorious achievement unmatched by any allied forces. Unfortunately, their absolute numbers were simply too small. With only two thousand men in total, their desperate fight to the death could not change the overall situation.

The Demanian mountain troops were incredibly brave. Taking advantage of the rugged terrain, they pushed their light machine gun, Grenade Launcher, and mortar teams as far forward as possible. Braving a hail of bullets, these teams advanced using leapfrog tactics, determined to accurately eliminate every enemy strongpoint.

When one mortar team fell, two more took their place, fearlessly carrying out close-range demolitions.

Some even charged within fifty meters, hurling bundled grenades through the firing slits of the fortified batteries and blowing all the Lusha soldiers inside to pieces.

Finally, by midday, after three or four hours of fierce assaults, the battery fortress on the eastern high ground of the Port of Batumi completely fell. All two thousand Lusha sailors were wiped out, with the last few hundred choosing to surrender.

The Demanian Army paid a heavy price of over seven hundred dead and severely wounded, but they successfully secured the most critical high ground that would determine the outcome of the Batumi landing operation.

Several heavy guns on the hill remained intact, having not been scuttled by the Lusha troops. After capturing the battery, the Demanian Army forced the surviving Lusha artillerymen to cooperate, turning the guns around to bombard the remaining Lusha battery on the southern high ground. They also diverted a few 150mm guns to rain fire down on the city of Batumi from their vantage point, sowing panic among the Lusha forces within.

At the same time, with the eastern battery neutralized and only the southern one remaining, the Demanian fleet was able to move a few kilometers closer to the city of Batumi.

As long as they approached from the north and stayed fifteen kilometers away from the urban area, the fleet remained out of reach of the southern battery. Under normal circumstances, the southern battery only handled enemy ships approaching from the west and south.

Thus, by 1:30 PM, 240mm shells from the Demanian Army's battleships were already crashing into the northern dockyards of Batumi. The 240mm high-explosive rounds flattened barracks one after another, igniting massive fires that engulfed swathes of buildings and leaving the city's defenders paralyzed by terror.

Seizing the momentum, the Demanian Army launched an assault on the southern battery. The fighting here was easier than in the east. After all, the enemy's resolve was steadily crumbling, and the attackers had more avenues from which to launch a pincer movement. At exactly 3:00 PM, the defenders of the southern battery broke completely. The remaining one thousand or so sailors abandoned the fight and fled south.

However, there was virtually nowhere to run. A few dozen kilometers south of the Port of Batumi lay the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and beyond that lay the defense sector of the Osman army.

Consequently, the deserters could only discard their equipment and attempt to disguise themselves as civilians.

The Demanian Army charged up the high ground in one fell swoop, completely trapping the surviving defenders inside Batumi like fish in a barrel.

At precisely 6:00 PM, the Demanian vanguard stormed into the city of Batumi. By 7:00 PM, they had seized complete control of the port district and accepted the surrender of the remaining garrison. Only then did the 3rd Army of the Demanian 6th Army Group—Lieutenant General von Hollo's unit aboard the transport ships—finally disembark directly at the port.

To put it plainly, the fierce, day-long battle to capture the port on April 10th had been fought entirely by a portion of the independent army led by Lelouch and List.

Von Hollo's 3rd Army was a traditional infantry force lacking any special operations experience. They didn't know how to conduct airdrops, amphibious assaults, or mountain warfare. Thus, they spent the entire day sitting on their transport ships, waiting for friendly forces to capture the harbor so they could disembark via the docks.

This situation was identical to the later Normandy Campaign in the Earth dimension. Of the more than 600,000 troops that landed in Normandy, only about 150,000 actually went ashore in landing craft. The vast majority of the follow-up forces relied on their beach-storming brothers-in-arms to capture or construct harbors before they could land.

For the entire South Caucasus Campaign, Lelouch had prepared two corps and more than half an armored division—a massive strike force totaling over a hundred thousand men. Yet, a maximum of thirty thousand could actually land directly on the beaches, which was barely over twenty percent of the total.

As soon as he stepped ashore, Lelouch made a beeline for the garrison command headquarters in Batumi. Upon arriving, his first question was about the surrender of the defending forces.

He tossed his riding crop aside and casually asked the officer who had secured the area, "Did you catch the garrison commander? Has he surrendered?"

A regimental commander, Lieutenant Colonel Falkenhorst, replied with a hint of regret:

"Reporting to the Chief of Staff! According to the prisoners, the enemy garrison commander, Major General Ramzan, broke through our lines to the southeast with a small force before we entered the city. At the time, our assault on the southern fortress was still ongoing, so we couldn't spare the men to stop him. The unit that broke out should be less than a full regiment."

Lelouch slightly tilted his head. "Care to guess where they're heading after breaking out?"

Lieutenant Colonel Falkenhorst was briefly taken aback, then answered in a speculative tone, "Perhaps they're fleeing east toward Tbilisi, following the Coruh River valley and the railway line running through it?"

Lelouch furrowed his brow slightly. He didn't confirm it right away. Instead, he waved a hand, signaling a nearby staff officer to bring over a map. He scrutinized it personally for a moment before a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"A very reasonable guess. Keep up the good work. I believe your abilities far exceed those of a mere lieutenant colonel. Although, your achievements in this battle might not be quite enough to earn you a direct promotion."

As he spoke, Lelouch patted Lieutenant Colonel Falkenhorst on the shoulder.

"Yes, sir! I will continue to do my best! Ranks are not our goal; we fight to defend the Fatherland!" Falkenhorst hurriedly saluted, genuinely won over by Lelouch's leadership.

In August of the previous year, he had just been a captain commanding a company. To be promoted twice in half a year during wartime to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel was already deeply satisfying. Promotions would definitely become harder to come by moving forward, and the pace would inevitably slow down.

While it was true that he had earned considerable merits through outstanding performance in participating and organizing amphibious operations, without a brilliant leader like Lelouch—someone with a keen eye for talent who knew how to utilize his subordinates and strategize perfectly—Falkenhorst never would have gotten these opportunities for distinction and promotion.

Lelouch didn't have time to dwell on Lieutenant Colonel Falkenhorst. After those few words of encouragement, he turned to Lieutenant General Eduard von Hollo beside him.

"Commander von Hollo, List's independent army did the heavy lifting during today's landing operation. However, after this bloody battle, they will certainly need time to recuperate. For the subsequent rapid push into enemy territory, I expect an excellent performance from your 3rd Army. Your men slept on the big ships all day today. I will allocate armored units to support you as your vanguard."

Lieutenant General von Hollo was a man of great honor and felt deeply ashamed that his troops had been sitting on ships while their allies fought a bloody battle. He immediately volunteered his forces to take the lead in tomorrow's assault:

"Rest assured, the amphibious troops of the independent army brought us ashore; now it's our turn to show what we can do. However, I wonder where the Chief of Staff plans to attack next? Are we going to push north along the coastline in a pincer maneuver, cutting off the defenders in Sochi and Sukhumi from the rear, and then join forces with Lieutenant General Schillander's 1st Army?"

Where to attack next after landing was a detail that had been discussed in pre-war staff meetings, but the battlefield was ever-changing. Minor adjustments inevitably had to be made based on the actual outcome of the Batumi landing.

As a traditional general with a relatively old-school mindset, Lieutenant General von Hollo's first instinct in this situation was naturally a "pincer maneuver."

As previously mentioned, the 1st Army of the Demanian 6th Army Group had been steadily advancing southeast from the direction of Novorossiysk, along the Black Sea coastline near the Taman Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the Lusha forces had at least one corps stationed in the direction of Sochi and Sukhumi, relying on the treacherous terrain of the Greater Caucasus Mountains to the north to block the 1st Army.

But now that the 3rd Army and the independent army had successfully landed at the Port of Batumi between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains, they had effectively appeared behind the enemy defenders in the North Caucasus. If they marched north along the coast right now, the enemy corps in Sochi and Sukhumi would inevitably collapse within three days.

By then, Schillander's 1st Army would be pushing southeast along the coast, while von Hollo's 3rd Army would be pushing northwest. Attacked from both front and rear, with their reinforcements and supply lines severed, the morale of that enemy corps would instantly shatter.

As an army commander himself, von Hollo felt that cooperating with another allied army to encircle and annihilate an enemy corps was a solid achievement. It was a golden opportunity for merit that shouldn't be passed up.

However, this level of vision failed to impress Lelouch.

Lelouch sighed softly and spoke in an earnest tone. "Look at the big picture. We've already successfully landed; why should we care about encircling a few rats trapped in the bellows of the North Caucasus mountain passes? So what if the enemy has a corps in Sochi and Sukhumi? We can wipe them out anytime.

"Our immediate priority is to march straight up the Coruh River valley, follow the railway line running parallel to it, and thrust directly into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi! The straight-line distance from Batumi to Tbilisi is 260 kilometers. Factoring in the mountainous detours, it'll likely be between 300 to 400 kilometers.

"Once we reach Tbilisi, we'll basically be at the highest vantage point between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains. From there, pushing east is all downhill valley terrain between the two mountain ranges for the remaining 400-plus kilometers all the way to the Baku Oil Field. Our target is to seize the oil field as quickly as possible. The rest can be left to our allies."

Lelouch traced the route on the map as he spoke.

The reason Batumi had become such an important oil export hub on the eastern shore of the Black Sea was because the city was built at the mouth of the Coruh River, which flowed into the sea just past its southern suburbs.

Moreover, the Coruh River valley was the easiest stretch between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains for marching troops, laying railways, and building oil pipelines. The existing westward pipelines and railways from the Baku Oil Field all went from Baku to Tbilisi first, then followed the Coruh River valley all the way to Batumi.

Today, knowing his defeat was inevitable, the enemy's garrison commander, Major General Ramzan, immediately broke out and fled upstream along the Coruh River valley towards Tbilisi. Clearly, he understood the strategic importance of defending that route to the death. His goal was to delay the Demanian advance and, ideally, organize a new line of defense along the way.

Since the enemy feared Lelouch would take this route, Lelouch naturally intended to do exactly that.

After hearing this, Lieutenant General von Hollo understood Lelouch's "clear objective," but he still felt the Chief of Staff was being somewhat too aggressive and reckless. It lacked a steady, risk-free approach.

What did a few days' delay matter? Wouldn't it be better to spare some troops and spend a few days wiping out the corps defending the Greater Caucasus to the north? Wouldn't it be better to free up Lieutenant General Schillander's 1st Army so they could pitch in? Furthermore, if they didn't annihilate that corps and simply marched east, what if their own rear was cut off?

Unable to hold back, Lieutenant General von Hollo raised his concerns regarding these points.

Lelouch could only pat him on the shoulder again.

"Lieutenant General von Hollo, I must admit, as a traditional Demanian general, I greatly admire your strategic and tactical prowess in purely land-based warfare.

"However, when it comes to joint naval and land operations, you lack a bit of imagination and predictive capability. I don't blame you, though. Knowledge is acquired in its own time, and everyone has their own specialty.

"Do I really need to annihilate the enemy corps guarding Sochi and Sukhumi just to bring in Lieutenant General Schillander's 1st Army? There's no need. If they want to block the road, let them keep blocking it. Once the transport fleet has finished unloading your men and supplies, I'll just have the ships return to Novorossiysk and ferry Schillander's army over by sea. Problem solved, wouldn't you say?

"We control the Port of Batumi now! Your utilization of the port's transport capacity is vastly insufficient, far too unimaginative. But of course, I don't blame you; you've never fought a war with such abundant resources. Since ancient times, we Demanian generals have never fought a battle while holding naval supremacy.

"As for the fear of our troops advancing too far into enemy territory and having our supply lines cut, I don't think there's any need to worry. As long as we keep pushing east, we can always find passes leading to the Lesser Caucasus Mountains to the south. If we ever run short on supplies, we can simply attack the northern side of those mountain passes.

"And on the southern side of those passes are our Osman allies. The Osmans have been fiercely battling the Lusha troops south of the Lesser Caucasus for over a year now. When the time comes, we will strike from the north while they strike from the south. The Lusha defenders holed up in those passes will inevitably collapse, and we can continue our advance eating Osman rations and firing Osman ammunition.

"Since heading east allows us to pincer the enemy in the mountains with the Osmans from north and south, and heading straight north allows us to pincer the enemy in the Sochi mountains with Lieutenant General Schillander, we will naturally choose the former. After all, the latter is only a pincer attack, while the former not only achieves the same pincer effect, but also propels us toward the Baku Oil Field in the fastest possible way. It kills two birds with one stone."

Hearing this penetrating strategic analysis, Lieutenant General von Hollo finally saw the light, fully realizing just how much farther Chief of Staff Lelouch's foresight reached compared to his own.

"Understood! I will execute your orders immediately. Tomorrow morning, we'll march upstream along the Coruh River valley and drive straight for Tbilisi!"

A lack of imagination couldn't be blamed on Lieutenant General von Hollo. It wasn't his fault; his imagination was simply constrained by poverty. The blame lay entirely on a historic poverty of naval supremacy.

(Note: The following image is the current situation map of the Caucasus Campaign and Lelouch's tactical plan.)

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