Chapter 298 That's Charles

The sound of artillery on the Gallipoli Peninsula was rumbling, and at the end of the Saros Bay was the small town of Borlayel. Most of the civilians had moved away due to the war, and most of the people coming and going were soldiers, logistics troops, and wounded people carried off the front line.

The headquarters of Sanders, commander of the Fifth Army of the Ottoman Empire, is located here. He chose a very ordinary small house to hide in a mountain col to avoid artillery fire.

(In the center of the picture above is Liman von Saunders, a German general who served as military adviser to the Ottoman Empire and commander of the Fifth Army)

Sanders stood in front of his desk and stared at the map in front of him quietly, his brows furrowed.

Prior to this, the Ottoman army could only be said to be evenly matched with the enemy.

However, after the U-21 submarine was sunk, the battleships of the Allied Powers could cooperate with the enemy's landing troops to storm the shore without any scruples, and the balance of victory would once again tilt in the direction of the Allied Powers.

"We cannot fail." Sanders murmured to himself: "If the Dardanelles fall, the war will end with our failure!"

But what else can be done now?

Sanders considered several options in his mind:

Lightning strike ship.

It doesn't seem to work, it can only sneak attack at night. This had little impact on the Allied offensive, which mostly attacked during the day and defended with barbed wire at night.

submarine?

Due to their small size and poor endurance, the remaining five submarines can only perform missions in the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Straits, and are unable to deal with enemy battleships operating in the Aegean Sea.

Then, there is only one way...

Sanders ordered the staff: "Order the troops to be divided into two groups, one group will harass and fight at night, and the other group will attack during the day!"

"Yes!" the staff officer responded and passed on the order.

Less than half an hour after the order was issued, Colonel Bahar, commander of the Ottoman 20th Division, rushed into the headquarters.

"General, I think your order is inappropriate." Colonel Bahar, who has studied in Germany, spoke German. Although he was not fluent, his tone was very firm: "This is our land. We are familiar with everything here. I think we should Deal with the enemy during the day, and the best time to attack is at night!”

"Really?" Sanders asked calmly: "So, how are your attacks at night during this period?"

Bahar was silent for a moment.

The Allied forces had a firepower advantage. They built trenches and raised barbed wire. Once the Ottoman army launched an attack, they would fall in pieces under their machine guns.

At this time, the front line was full of corpses of Ottoman soldiers. Many of them had begun to rot and smell, but they could only be placed there.

After hesitating for a moment, Bahar said: "Even so, we cannot attack during the day. The enemy's naval guns will cause large-scale damage to our troops..."

"It is precisely because of the consideration of the battleships that you are allowed to attack during the day." Sanders interrupted Bahar.

Bahar looked at Sanders with a puzzled look on his face. Wasn't this sending Ottoman soldiers to die?

Sanders did not rush to explain. He asked instead: "What is the current condition of the fortifications on the high ground where you are stationed?"

"The trees have been blown down by the enemy." Bahar replied: "The fortifications we worked hard to build every night will always be blown up by the enemy the next day, and even the land will be blown apart and unable to stay together..."

Sanders didn't speak, just stared at Bahar quietly.

Bahar seemed to understand that it was impossible to hold on to the high ground during the day. The enemy would first bombard the high ground several times with naval guns, and this would be even more true in the future.

At this point Sanders added:

"The attack I'm talking about doesn't mean you have to charge towards the enemy's position."

"Instead, spread out and build fortifications in front of the enemy to confront them, five hundred meters, four hundred meters, or even closer!"

"As long as you get close enough, the enemy's naval guns will be ineffective, do you understand?"

Bahar suddenly realized that there was a problem with the accuracy of naval guns. When they fired at sea, they would easily deviate from the target by several kilometers.

Once the Ottoman army built fortifications in front of the enemy instead of staying far away on high ground, the enemy's naval guns would not dare to fire for fear of accidental damage.

"Understood, General!" Bahar nodded.

"Wait!" Sanders stopped Bahar who was about to leave: "You are already the commander of the Third Army!"

Bahar, who has often opposed Sanders and thought the two disliked each other, looked stunned.

"Don't get me wrong." Sanders understood Bahar's expression, and he explained: "I still don't like you, but this is war, and you are the most suitable candidate for the commander of the Third Army."

Bahar nodded in understanding, then stood up and saluted Sanders.

Sanders looked at Bahar's back and nodded slightly. It is undeniable that he is an excellent soldier.

He once led more than 500 people to block the attack of 8,000 Allied Australian and New Zealand troops, and always fought at the front line. Now we need a commander like him who takes the lead.

…

After Bahar returned to the defense line, he immediately adjusted the deployment of his troops. He dispersed the troops that were originally concentrated on the highlands and piled them up here and there.

There may not be an obvious line of defense on the surface, but enemies will appear from every corner once they attack.

"Sanders should have this idea." Bahar said: "Let the enemy's naval guns not find their target, but always stare at the enemy's infantry."

This style of play tests the quality of the army.

The soldiers dispersed without an officer to keep an eye on them, and those with weak willpower were likely to desert.

But Bahar was not worried about this, because the Ottoman army was defending their homeland, and the soldiers had the determination and courage to fight.

After doing all this, Bahar drew a detailed map of the troop deployment and reported it to Sanders.

...

Sanders looked at the map and nodded with satisfaction.

This commander was not wrongly chosen, he could fully understand his spirit and implement it.

However!

Can this stop the attack of the Allies?

That's Charles, he always gives people a fatal blow unexpectedly!

As a response to Sanders, suddenly there was a fierce artillery sound, shaking the ground, and the broken soil on the roof fell down with a coughing sound.

Sanders thought it was not good, he heard that this was a bombing of large-caliber naval guns, and there were quite a few.

And the enemy would use naval guns to carry out large-scale bombing for only one purpose: to prepare for landing.

Is this Charles' landing location?

How dare he choose here?

Impossible!

However, the facts were in front of us:

The naval guns bombarded Bolayer one after another, and there was fire and smoke everywhere. The land was shaking as if it was about to be lifted into the air, and the houses were broken and collapsed like porcelain, but the screams were completely covered by the sound of the guns.

The staff ran to Sanders in panic, got close and shouted: "General, the enemy fleet has entered the Gulf of Saros and landed northwest of us!"