-Winston Churchill
On December 27th, 1914, Lieutenant General sackville-H-Carden, the temporary commander of the British-French joint fleet, handed over a memorandum to the naval headquarters, which roughly divided the battle of the Da Daniil Strait into four steps, destroyed all the fortresses at the entrance of the Strait, cleared the mines in the Strait, and landed at the narrowest part of the Strait to enter Malakhei, Mar.
The Navy General Staff agreed in principle to Lieutenant General Carden’s action plan, but the British National Defense Commission (id) was worried about the prospect of the campaign.
"Now the ocean fleet firmly grasps the North Sea system, and the Royal Navy has the right to recapture the British ocean instead of sending the capital ship to the desolate Daniil!" Marshal Horatio-Herbert-Kitchen, an important member of the National Defense Commission, was worried about the famous recruitment advertisement "Your country needs you".
"Lord kitchener in Khartoum" was finally told by the Secretary of the Navy that the occupation of the Turkish Strait, which has an important strategic position, was enough to make the British desperate. On January 5, the National Defense Commission instructed the Admiralty to make a more detailed plan "the ultimate goal of shelling and occupying Constantinople in Gallipoli Peninsula in February"
Gallipoli Peninsula is located in the easternmost part of the European part of the Ottoman Empire. It is narrow in the southeast and connects the Aegean Sea of Malakhei to the northwest of the Daniil Strait. There are many islands in the Aegean Sea. The whole peninsula is sixty miles long and four to thirteen miles wide. It is mostly barren highlands and narrow mountains. There is a temporary dirt road built before the war that runs through the peninsula.
The naval battle at Cape Sochi interrupted the Russian Black Sea fleet, with only the backbone and fighting spirit. The possibility of Russian invasion from the sea was gone, and the Ottoman Empire was threatened by Britain and France.
Before the outbreak of World War I, the German consultant team helped the Turks to finalize a strict defense plan for the Daniil Strait. The German consultant team of the Turkish government instructed the Gallipoli Peninsula to intermittently build a fortress group equipped with a small number of heavy guns. After the naval battle in Cape Sochi, some fortress guns of the Bosphorus Strait fortress were dismantled and transported to the Daniil Strait to strengthen the defense of the Gallipoli Peninsula.
By the end of 1914, more than 32 guns were deployed in the fortress group at the mouth of the Daniil Strait, with a maximum caliber of 11 inches; At the narrowest part of the strait at the entrance, the Turks built large and small fortresses with more than 100 guns with a maximum caliber of 2 inches; There are 94 guns distributed in the narrowest part of the strait, and the maximum caliber is 14 inches.
This is not because the German Army Advisory Team of the Land Defense Planning Department has formulated a flexible defense strategy after on-the-spot investigation of the war environment in Gallipoli Peninsula. The steep coastline of Gallipoli Peninsula is suitable for landing on the beachhead. There are not many fortresses and fortress groups. After retaining the base troops, the howitzers are towed by animal power and the main mobile forces of the fifth Turkish regiment trained by the German Army are guarded. Only a few places are suitable for landing on the beachhead. The British and French allied forces have prepared a defensive counterattack.
In January, 1915, when the Allies attacked the Da Daniil Strait, the situation became more and more obvious. Captain Gunther Gunther Lutjens, a German naval advisory group, was ordered to improve the coastal defense system of Gallipoli Peninsula.
Influenced by Wang Haidi’s theory of asymmetric warfare, Captain Gunther Lutjens did not blindly expand the fishing ground. It seems that although the Turkish Fortress Group has a unique advantage, it is seriously short of large-caliber guns to deploy. The fortress at the entrance of the Strait cannot resist the 11-inch and 12-inch main guns of the old battleships of the Allies, so he put mine cover forces 12 inches away from the fortress group at the exit of the Strait. The maximum range of the main guns is outside the fortress group on the channel side and the fortress group on the Aegean side. The mine field is equipped with Turkish light guns and searchlights.
At the same time, the minefield in the narrowest part of the Strait has been strengthened, and minefields have been set up in the sea area where the British and French landing fleets may haunt. Before the war, three second-hand destroyers and four legal destroyers were ordered from Germany, and the hidden places in the Strait were on standby.
"Big Madder, although the preparations for the Fifth Regiment Army were terrible, the imperial naval intelligence department accurately predicted and Gallipoli Peninsula barely managed to say that there was enough ammunition to pull back some disadvantages …"
In winter, the Rida Daniil Strait is full of violent winds, turbulence and eddies. Cape Heiles is full of withered bushes and sharp-edged rocks. General Lieman von Saunders is covered with mud, high boots and messy rubble. His face is cold and he can’t hide his tiredness.
"It seems that halls are also prepared for the battle of the Daniil Strait."
"No, General Saunders, it’s not the credit of a noble office. Although Ottoman never lacks loyal warriors, its strategic vision is too lacking." General Ensel, the head of the three giants of Ottoman Empire, tightened his cloak. In his mind, he couldn’t help but see that talented but unbearable man who ruined his love for the stack insisted on giving up the naval officer and then associated himself with the great achievements of the "young man" older than him after the outbreak of the European War. "In the final analysis, we have to thank another German."
"Oh?" Saunders turned his head and looked at Ensel’s confused memories.
"Heidi Selim!" Ensel didn’t keep Saunders waiting too long. The dry mouth spit out a joint name of the Turkish Deputy Navy
The British and French allied forces have no idea about the preparations. We must know that the large-scale landing war in 1915 is still a new term, and even Britain, the number one naval power, has no experience in this field.
In mid-January, it was assigned to Lieutenant General Carden’s three capital ships (Ginkul, Ireland and Solitary Call), fourteen old-fashioned battleships (Giant, Ocean, Glory, Hatred, Albion, Fearless London, Solemn, Queen, King of Wales, Dandong, Diderot, Mirabaud), and seven old-fashioned battleships were built in the Aegean Sea (awesome, counterattack, majestic, fast, On the way to the Daniil Strait, the British Admiralty was embarrassed to find that their scheduled base, Tenidos Island, was not equipped with port facilities. The British were in a hurry to negotiate with the Greek government, while the Greeks vowed to ensure high-quality anchorage, so the main base of the British-French joint fleet was delineated as Muzhuo Port on Lemnos Island.
Facts have proved that people in the Balkans lie without blinking. Lemnos Island is indeed a high-quality anchorage. That vast and deep bay is enough for all the capital ships of the Allies. However, there is no promontory and breakwater to protect the bay. The waves are several meters high and the strong winds are enough to make the British scold Muzhuo Port for having port facilities. However, the British still can’t bear to fire and blast the small fishing village named Muzhuo back to the Neolithic Age and then rebuild it.
In fact, the British wronged the Greek government. Although there are many Aegean islands, most of them are undeveloped, but they are biased in the cloak of neutrality. The Greek government can come up with a hand that is close enough to the Daniil Strait and has anchorage facilities. The island is Lemnos.
Complaining that the British-French joint fleet had set up camp in a small fishing village, at the same time, the Daniil Strait campaign was accompanied by the army, and BLACKPINK also appeared. The ANZ Corps, a French division and many cannon fodder from Indian colonies in South Africa, a total of 100,000 troops continued one after another. Greece, the ancient enemy of southern France, Alexandria and Port Said, also sponsored three volunteer divisions in friendship. However, the port was waiting for troop carriers, and the army was almost pale, waiting for it. The navy on Lemnos Island was too busy to rest its base, and it could not wait for it to be disoriented by
Two weeks after the vote of the National Defense Committee of the Battle of Daniil Strait was passed, the commander of the landing force finally determined that the commander-in-chief of the Da Daniil Expeditionary Force was impressively outstanding in the second Afghan war, the first Ying Bu war and the Mahdi war, and was famous for his bravery, charm and outstanding wisdom. Ian Hamilton, commander of the British army, will be.
In January 1915, the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army were busy counterattacking Germany, which was responsible for organizing soil defense, expanding armaments and transferring them to Europe. At this time, Sir Ian Hamilton was busy in the dark. At this time, the National Defense Commission sent him and the naval reinforcement fleet to Daniil. Poor Hamilton would know everything, and all he knew about Turkey came from "the Turkish Army Code of Conduct in 1912, an imperfect war area map and the last minute."
After arriving in Alexandria, Ian Hamilton will wait for the War Department to reach a detailed battle plan, but he doesn’t want the Army General Staff to realize that the battle of the Daniil Strait will be a naval master’s "gunboat diplomacy". Once the Royal Navy enters the cowardly Ottoman Empire in MarMalakhei, it will surrender. Lieutenant general carden, commander of the troubled British-French joint fleet, insisted that the specific landing war plan was that the war department only sent a few liaison officers to Sir Hamilton to perfunctory things; The chaotic preparation of the British-French joint fleet, the strangulation of the German Speyer fleet in the South Atlantic and the imminent resumption of the North Sea combat cruise by the big fleet involved a lot of energy from the British Imperial Admiralty, and the Navy General Staff spared no time to consider the details of the landing war.
General Naihamilton can take action on his own.
As it is not clear whether there is water in Gallipoli Peninsula, Hamilton ordered his soldiers to go to the markets in Alexandria and Cairo to collect oil drums, kettles, skins and other utensils. Like London, although inaccurate, all maps and guidebooks with turkeys are still bought, because some are better than none. Because of the lack of trench warfare weapons and tools, Hamilton encouraged the ANZ to exert its subjective initiative to produce grenades by itself. Due to the lack of artillery traction tools, local donkey drivers and their livestock were forcibly recruited for transportation. Hamilton will leave all the debts to the local people, and the bad debt of Winston Churchill, the secretary of the British Empire, will become protracted with the secretary of the navy.
Disturbance At the end of January, a reinforcement fleet consisting of seven old battleships arrived in the Aegean Sea. The first battalion of the Army had just entered the barracks on Lemnos Island. The logistical support problem and the pre-war investigation work were unresolved. Lieutenant General sackville H Carden, who had never commanded even a destroyer detachment, brazenly carried out the first stage-destroying the fortress group at the entrance of the Da Daniil Strait.
So chaos and * * Daniil Strait campaign finally started!
The second gun Chapter 11 The British counterattack (4)
Chapter 11 British counterattack (4)
On January 2, 1915, Lemnos Island, Greece
It has been cloudy for a long time in the Aegean Sea and the Da Daniil Strait. It is rare to clear up in the morning. The warm sunshine pierces the thin clouds and inclines the anchorage of the British-French joint fleet in winter. The fishermen in Muzhuo Village skim their faces and don’t want to see the faint morning light. They are lazy and turn around and look for a cage feeling. At this time, the boring warship anchor harbor is exhausted and breaks this sweet morning.
In mid-January, a group of British engineers and Greek officials in suits and carrying surveying and mapping tools led them to the slightly desolate island of Lemnos, bringing with them the sound of machinery and industry, taking away the ancient and quiet fishing village that lasted for centuries.
Lemnos Island will soon become a noisy construction site. The huge transport ship will unload tons of heavy steel machinery. The simple pier outside Muzhuo Village is closely controlled by a group of crouching soldiers. Fishermen’s fishing boats are dragged to remote corners. Lush palm trees and oak trees in the south and east have been cut down and replaced by barracks, warehouses and building materials placed everywhere.
The drowsiness was dispelled by the whistle of the warship. The fisherman’s man suddenly opened his back corner and went to the window angrily, and was immediately shocked by the sight outside the window.
At 6: 44, the winter wind was bleak. One dreaded ship (Ginkul), six former dreaded ships (Giant, Ocean, Glory, Hatred, Albion, Dandong), three light cruises, nine destroyers, five minesweepers, a seaplane carrier and three support ships, and their heavy anchors were gradually pulled out from the seabed sediment, and their sirens were pulled up, and they slowly sailed out of the vast sea area. In Ramenos Island, Mudros Bay, the righteous anti-Gu Da Daniil Strait.
"Hey, Brit, this is to get fat and beat the Turkish bastard!" * * The Greek fishermen suddenly pushed open the window and waved their fists excitedly. Although they were unhappy with the despicable behavior of the British, it did not prevent these fishermen from hating their arch-enemy Turkey. "The British did a good job!"
The Greek island of Lemnos is located in the northern Aegean Sea, 43 nautical miles from the Daniil Strait. The island is composed of volcanic rocks. There is a naturally formed deep-water bay in the south and a deep-water bay in the north. The British-French joint fleet is mainly located in the Midsouth Mudros Bay.
At the end of January, the British set up a forward base on Lemnos Island, just a stone’s throw away from Gallipoli Peninsula and Da Daniil Strait, and sent reconnaissance planes and intelligence ships to search for the Turkish defense layout with great fanfare.
It is obvious that the Allied attack is imminent. The Ottoman naval fleet equipped with three German-made avia Tick two-seat reconnaissance planes was transferred to the front line of the Daniil Strait. On the morning of January 27, the captain of the Turkish fleet, the German pilot Major Bok, ventured to approach Lemnos Island for an aerial reconnaissance.
On the morning of January 2nd, a military meeting that had been brewing for a long time was held in the basement of Saideba fortress at the southernmost tip of Gallipoli Peninsula. The dim light was held. The commander of the fifth regiment, Lieman von Saunders, the commander of coastal defense in the Da Daniil Strait, Major Raouf, the temporary commander of the German South Submarine Detachment, Captain Carl Deng Nici, the commander of the mine team, Captain Gunther Gunther Lutjens, the commander of the fifth regiment in Turkey, and Major Yunbok, the commander of various fortresses in the Da Daniil Strait, spread out a stack of aerial photos and pointed them out to those unprofessional people. "Although the
Blurred black-and-white photo A silvery white water belt running north and south is deeply embedded in the dark shadow of the island, and the width of the south-central end of the estuary is almost equal.
"The British have just entered Lemnos Island, and their anti-submarine should not be completed yet." Captain Carl Deng Nici’s youthful and frivolous eyes are reluctant to take back his fists from black and white photos, and his efforts to suppress them are almost beyond words. "The British don’t know that our submarine force has sneaked into Da Daniil. This is an opportunity!"
"There is also the Hamidiyah patrol and eleven destroyers!" I thought of the fantasy of national self-improvement and the white bayonets of Armstrong Shipyard, and I thought of receiving warships to train Ottoman sailors and Newcastle desperately. The manager Raouf couldn’t help biting his lip and holding the old desk slowly. Raouf’s bloodthirsty eyes swept across the field, word for word
"General Saunders’ greatest shame to the Turks-the Sultan Osman I and the Risatieh battleships let the navy take the initiative to attack the Mudros Bay, and the Turks need to defend their dignity!"
After the naval battle at Cape Sochi, Major General Raouf was already the Deputy Minister of the Turkish Navy. Saunders didn’t want Raouf to take risks, but everything seemed so pale before the issue of national dignity. Saunders, a Jew, held his empathy for a moment and finally nodded.
"Let Deng Nici’s submarine force go to Mudros Bay to carry out preliminary investigation. In early February, the submarine force and destroyer fleet can carry out a raid codenamed’ Osman Redemption’ and General Raouf will personally command it!"
Lieutenant General Saunders, who is in charge of the defense of the Daniil Strait, just arrived at this time, there was a violent explosion outside the basement, and the conference table and wooden chair trembled violently. Dust and sand poured from the top of the basement and filled the tension.
"Enemy attack?" Everyone can’t help but tremble at the bottom of their hearts. "The Englishman came so fast!"
A large fleet in Aegean Sea is moving eastward into the giant, the old battleship Haiyang, three light cruises, four destroyers and five minesweepers. The forward fleet is a capital ship and four old battleships, five destroyers and three support ships.
An old minesweeper transformed from a civilian ship and three support ships with aging boilers dragged down the ship’s fleet. However, the distance of more than 4 nautical miles was nothing. At 1: 11, the avant-garde fleet approached the Turkish coastline.
At 1: 01, the main fleet of the British-French joint fleet arrived in the Da Daniil Strait, only 1.
Code at this time, the commander, Lieutenant General Carden, is still leisurely sitting in the temporary commander’s room of the battleship Ireland, rummaging through outdated newspapers and enjoying the cozy silence.
"Who said there was no war plan!"
Cruyff, the Irish orderly, wrote in his diary that when Major General John de Raback, the chief of staff of the fleet, complained to Commander Carden about the lack of strategic planning in the shelling operation, Lieutenant General Sallvik H Carden seemed to be stunned for a moment and struggled for a long time before organizing the language. He replied disgruntled.
"The 135-inch and 12-inch main guns will collapse the Turk specious fortress! Don’t go near the coastline before clearing the Turkish fortifications. Make sure that the Turks have no counterattack force, and then send a minesweeper to clean up the possible minefield and land the major general. This is our war plan! "
At 1: 23, the shelling operation began. Seven battleships lined up in a long line, passing by the fortress of Saidba from the northwest. The Irish 135-inch main gun shelled six old battleships at a distance of 10,000 yards, and the 12-inch main gun also fired one after another.
In order to prevent the Turkish 11-inch fortress gun from hitting back and possibly killing the destroyer, the British shelling fleet dared not anchor the Turkish coastline and carefully kept a distance of 9 yards. This distance was not ideal for the British shelling accuracy.
At 1: 29, two British Short 14 seaplanes flew to the fortress of Saideba. The British tried to calibrate the line transmitter, but it was limited by the size and weight of the line communication equipment at that time. This valuable attempt became unreasonable. Because of the installation of the line communication equipment, the wooden structure semi-open seaplane was extremely heavy, and the communication soldiers had to observe and calculate the bad environment. Before the limited fuel was exhausted, they would return the shooting effect and correct the shooting parameter code form to the fleet, and hoped that there would be no omissions in the two processes of violently shaking the fuselage and observing the impact point and tapping the cipher machine.
The inefficient shelling lasted for about half an hour, except that several outlying fortresses were destroyed. The British had no success. Short 14 ran out of fuel and had to stagger back. At this time, the fortress in Turkey suddenly burst into a cloud of smoke and flames, and the smoke was looming.
The cheers of English sailors and "rule－briannia" are separated by 11 inches, and the armor of the command tower still penetrates like a dream.
"is this a gift from that emperor to the English?" Unfamiliar with the bad war environment, prepare for the ambiguous war strategy, and go its own way. Commander, since the fleet left the port, Major General John de Raback has a bad feeling. When Major General Roebeck is worried, the coastline explodes violently, and Raback is not dizzy.
"No, this is not a gift from the emperor, but the hard power of the Royal Navy. General Raback’s caution is a good quality. Don’t let caution turn into hesitation and stop." Lieutenant General Sallvik-H-Carden has been staying in the cabin for tea and reading newspapers. Finally, he came late to set foot on the command tower of the Irish battleship. With the demeanor of a British gentleman, he said to the chief of staff of the fleet, "Order the fleet to continue shelling the light patrol detachment to cover the minesweeper and clean up the coastline minefield. Maybe we can land on the V beach and S beach!"
The second gun Chapter 11 The British counterattack (5)
Chapter 11 British counterattack (5)