14-January-20-February-1920
There was a great movement of troops who, for several days, had been preparing the terrain in multiple areas of the Duchy for our naval harassment campaign. We had cut down trees, flattened small elevations and torn out roots, all with the objective of clearing several sectors near the coast where our mobile artillery could operate.
Since, for the moment, we only had fifteen pieces, we had organized them into three groups of five vehicles each.
To handle them, we had selected the most veteran artillerymen, although many of them belonged to the new contingents that had arrived from Germany by rail. We had men from the First, Third, Fifth and Eighth Armies working together with their observers, preparing to carry out the shots.
''Clear the area! Clear the area!'' one of the officers shouted while the artillery pieces began arriving and occupying their positions.
We were in an ideal place. It was a fairly dark area inside the forests of the Baltic Duchy, and there were several low hills that gave us perfect protection from which to fire.
Our position was extremely difficult to observe from the coast or even from the air, so we would be relatively safe unless the enemy knew in advance that we were there.
Unlike us, the ships of the Royal Navy provided frequent coastal support to their forces. They bombarded Riga constantly to facilitate their attempts to take the city, which allowed us to detect their movements well in advance.
''I do not see anything particularly important. Only destroyers. A light cruiser would be a much more profitable target, although these ships are too small to hit easily'' I said while observing the coast with binoculars from a watchtower built in a tree.
Around me, a group of observers carried out the calculations necessary to fire at long range.
''The probability of hitting one of the ships maintaining the blockade is acceptable. One of the pieces may achieve a hit, although I do not know what effect it would have on a ship, mein Herzog'' one of the artillerymen said while positioning the guns according to the calculations provided by the observers.
''The accuracy tests were decent. We mainly depend on environmental conditions not playing too much against us. In any case, with a single salvo we will already be sending a message. Even if we hit nothing, proving that we can endanger their fleet from relatively safe positions will leave us in a much more comfortable position to negotiate'' I replied without lowering the binoculars.
The British had managed to occupy Ösel, Dagö and other smaller islands without meeting resistance. There was no way to maintain troops there without naval support.
Those islands had become the main base of operations for the British and French. There they concentrated much of their logistics and allowed the troops to rest before being sent back to the front.
The naval artillery we had installed on the chassis was designed to reach distances between eighteen and twenty kilometers. That allowed us to cover a considerable area of the coast, but, for example, we could not attack ships anchored directly at Ösel.
However, we could harass any vessel that came too close to the mainland and deny them a large part of their naval support.
If we managed to push them away from the coast, the British beachheads would be left in a very compromised situation. It was precisely the fire from their ships that kept most of our troops away from their positions while fierce fighting continued inside the streets of Riga.
''A cruiser is approaching. It is moving away from the sector from which they were providing support to Riga'' reported a man who had just arrived on a motorcycle from one of our observation posts located to the east.
''Do not fire yet. Let us see if we can reach the cruiser or if it stops at some point. It would be madness to try to hit it while it keeps moving. Someone send a telegram to the airfield and order them to delay the departure of our air patrols. We will need them ready to intercept British reconnaissance planes, because they will surely take off as soon as we open fire'' I ordered, halting the preparations when they were about to finish.
''At your orders, mein Herzog'' replied the officer in command of the artillery unit.
The artillerymen stopped the final adjustments and began preparing the pieces to fire against the cruiser.
We waited for several minutes. I checked my watch repeatedly while a few weak rays of the winter sun passed through the trees and snow fell intermittently over us.
''Make sure everything is prepared to evacuate the vehicles as soon as the moment comes. We cannot afford to lose any piece if they try to carry out counter-battery fire'' I said while we waited to see whether that investment had truly been worth it.
After a little more time, we managed to distinguish a large vessel approaching by sea.
''We have visual contact with a British light cruiser, mein Herzog. Orders?'' the artillery officer asked after removing the binoculars from his eyes.
''It also has an escort'' added another officer who could see through the mist.
''Prepare to fire on the sector where the destroyers are located. We will try our luck when the greatest concentration of ships occurs. If we hit even one, we will already have won in terms of costs. A single shell can force them to carry out considerable repairs'' I said while observing the area again with the binoculars.
Previously, there had been four destroyers watching the waters between the Duchy and the island of Ösel. Now a second group was approaching, composed of a light cruiser and four more destroyers.
In total, there were nine ships inside the area.
''Prepare the ammunition. We will try to fire as quickly as possible. Everyone to your posts. Give me the previous calculations. We will fire on the same sector'' the commanding officer ordered while the artillerymen unloaded the shells from the trucks and adjusted the naval pieces.
''Sixteen… sixteen… sixteen… seventeen… seventeen'' the officer indicated, pointing to one piece after another while assigning each gun the distance at which it had to fire.
''Artillery ready, mein Major'' a soldier reported, looking at his officer.
The other soldiers began loading the ammunition and preparing the next shells for reloading.
''At their current speed, the ships will enter our firing margin in three minutes'' reported the observer who was calculating the movement speed of the vessels.
At the news, I took out my watch and quietly watched the seconds pass.
''Send a message to the nearby airfield. I want the Jasta in the air covering our sector'' I ordered without taking my eyes off the watch hands as they continued to move.
''At your orders, mein Herzog'' someone replied.
''ON MY MARK!'' the Major shouted while looking through his binoculars. ''HAUBITZEN!''
He brought his arm down sharply while covering one of his ears.
The artillerymen covered their ears, as did I, just before the massive guns opened fire.
The ground shook repeatedly as each gun fired.
''RELOAD! RELOAD, FAST!'' the Major shouted.
The soldiers rushed back to their positions after stepping away from the violent recoil of the guns. It did not take long before they loaded fresh shells into the breeches.
Each shell weighed around fifty kilograms, so several men were needed to reload them. Even so, the gun crews were well trained and coordinated their movements so efficiently that, within seconds, another round was chambered and the process could begin again.
As the guns continued firing, I remained focused through my binoculars because the shells from the first salvo had not yet reached their target.
Finally, while the third volley was being loaded, I saw several towering columns of water rise around the area where the ships were sailing.
All five shells had splashed into the sea, and almost at the same moment I heard another salvo leave our guns.
The next volley also fell into the water, although several shells landed close to one of the destroyers.
Another salvo was fired and, at last, when the shells from the third volley reached their target, I saw smoke and flames.
''We hit one! Eat that, you English bastards!'' the observer shouted with delight as one of the destroyers burst into flames.
The celebration was drowned out by another thunderous barrage. The guns kept firing as fast as their crews could reload them, and we watched the British ships begin to scatter.
Several more salvos splashed harmlessly into the sea until we saw a second destroyer struck by one of our shells.
''Out of ammunition! Let's get out of here!'' the Major shouted.
As we climbed down from the observation platform, I watched one of the damaged destroyers explode into a thousand pieces. A massive blast erupted above the sea, violently shaking the waters around the ship.
''Let's move. It won't be long before some very angry Englishmen come looking for us'' I said as I reached the ground and climbed onto one of the motorcycles.
One after another, the vehicles abandoned the firing position.
As we evacuated the area to reposition, we saw dozens of our aircraft filling the sky and engaging British planes.
That became another reason to celebrate, as we watched the Jasta, flying several of our prototype aircraft, shoot down three British planes before returning to the airfield.
''This is about to become very interesting'' I said with a broad smile.
The days passed as our naval harassment campaign began to produce results. We attacked the British fleet from different positions whenever it approached to support the landings, and it did not take long to see the effects.
We coordinated our artillery attacks with our air force. The naval bombers were testing a more powerful experimental torpedo, taking advantage of the stronger engines fitted to our latest aircraft prototypes.
Sinking a ship was still difficult, but every few days we were fortunate enough to send another destroyer to the bottom. We even managed to damage a battleship. The British, meanwhile, had great difficulty hitting us.
On several occasions they attempted counter-battery fire, but by the time they began wasting ammunition tearing apart sections of forest and the hills from which we had fired, we were already far away.
The effects of the campaign quickly became apparent. The British fleet began operating at the maximum range of its guns to reduce the damage we were causing. Almost every day we achieved some positive result, although it usually amounted to damaged ships rather than sunk ones. Sending them to the bottom remained far less common.
Once we confirmed that the ships were providing less support to their troops ashore, our divisions began preparing to assault the British bases along the coast.
The objective was to drive them off the mainland and force them to abandon both their land and naval campaign, reducing their operations to maintaining a blockade from the open sea.
After a month of campaigning, while our ranks continued to grow with reinforcements arriving from Germany, the British fleet was operating only far from the coast. It could no longer ignore our harassment campaign.
Once we confirmed that British ships were no longer approaching to provide artillery support, except during occasional operations in which they concentrated a large part of their fleet in a single sector, we began using our self-propelled artillery to bombard enemy positions around Riga.
We were preparing a final offensive to drive them off the mainland and force them back to the sea and the islands.
We were only waiting for the weather to improve. The cold was hard on the engines and occasionally caused mechanical failures. With a troop movement of that magnitude, I wanted to avoid having some of our most important vehicles break down and end up abandoned on the battlefield.
After several bombardment campaigns against British positions, we sent armored cars forward, supported by infantry and air cover.
The Red Baron's Jastas frequently bombed British camps. At other times, his pilots carried out low-level strafing runs, sweeping enemy positions with their machine guns.
''Mein Herzog, a telegram has arrived from the British. They want to negotiate a temporary ceasefire'' Alexander reported, unable to hide the excitement on his face.
''Do not celebrate yet. They are probably just trying to buy time to save their men before our offensive begins. We will negotiate after their camp has been destroyed and the British are locked away in our prisoner-of-war camps'' I replied, looking at the satisfied faces of my senior officers, who had already begun celebrating the news.
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