On a cold and rainy night, mist fills the sea. On a large warship like the Helgolan, which is more than 150 meters long, people can only see the front main turret, bridge and chimney when standing at the bow. The back part seems to be swallowed by a terrible monster and disappear at all.

Above the huge main turret No. 2 is an open-air bridge observation deck. Xia Shu wore a scarf and woolen jacket, and stood with his naval colleagues in a winter outfit. In addition to the sound of waves hitting the hull, there was only a low sound of turbines in his ears. It was impossible to judge how many ships were sailing in this sea area by hearing alone. If someone interpreted Xia Shu's brain activities at this time, he might be able to see a self-described battlefield simulation picture: 4 German dreadnoughts, 3 light cruisers, 9 large torpedo boats, 10 landing crafts and four retired old ships were sailing in the Belgian waters where the Allied ships were frequently active. The goal was to host two Belgian ports with British lightning strike ships and submarines, Zebrugge and Ostend.

It was not only a night raid, but the harsh environment could cover up the German Navy's attack intentions to the greatest extent. When we arrived at the predetermined waters between Zebrugge and Ostend, the support fleet composed of "Nassau", "Rhineland", "Helgoland" and "Thuringian" were the first to slow down the speed. The light cruiser "Mainz" led a fleet of ships to Zebrugge, and the "Munich" and "Danze" led another team to Ostend, and the battle entered the countdown.

This day was October 27, 1914. 44 years ago, the Prussian army forced a landfall in France's Rhine Army at Metz and achieved a critical victory (although the Prussian army defeated the main force of the French army in the Battle of Sedang and captured Napoleon III, a coup occurred in France. The newly established Third Republic of France quickly recruited nearly one million soldiers, and the French-Prussian War entered a stalemate stage). The German rulers and military generals hoped that

On such a memorable day, I saw German soldiers marching on the Champs Elysées. The troops of German Crown Prince William and Bavaria's Ruprecht launched a very fierce offensive. Several commandos entered the downtown area of ​​Paris. They were only a few kilometers away from the charming Champs Elysées, but the French people burst out with steel-like willpower in desperate situations. Now every German occupying a street or even a house has to pay a heavy price.

During the French-Prussian War, the Prussian army siege Paris for more than five months, and it was not until the French government surrendered that it was able to occupy Paris. Now the German team's heavy artillery fire is even more powerful, but the huge and complex urban areas and solid and dense buildings all provide support for the desperate resistance of French officers and soldiers.

While continuing to attack Paris, the German General Staff ordered General Von Bilo's 2nd Legion to advance to the Belgian coast. When Von Cluke's 1st Legion occupied Abveur, more than 200,000 Allied forces, mainly Belgian troops, were trapped in northern Belgium and northeastern France. Although the combat effectiveness of this coalition force was not enough to cause great storms, in order to prevent the enemy's desperate counterattack, the German army still deployed 16 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry brigades and some artillery units accordingly. If this vital force can be put into the Paris front, even if it cannot play a decisive role, it will be positive and beneficial to the development of the battle situation.

The Enforcement Team that eliminates northeastern France and northern Belgium can free up a large number of troops to rush to the front line. In Natsuki's view, the Enforcement Team still has an extremely dangerous hidden danger: the British may organize maritime transportation forces to withdraw these troops to Britain at any time, and stage a large retreat from Dunkirk in advance. Such a scale of Enforcement Team is nothing on the Western Front, and it will be a considerable anti-landing force in Britain. The British royal family and government will have greater confidence to continue to fight against William II's German Empire.

However, Natsuki never put this concern on the table, because he learned indirectly that the German generals felt that the Belgians could not leave their territory to continue fighting. As long as they defeat France, the Belgian king and his army would definitely give up resistance.

In order to support the offensive of the Bilo Legion, Nakashu proposed to the Navy Staff to launch an amphibious landing operation on the Belgian coast, but the orthodox chief of the Navy General Staff General Von Boer did not understand the significance of amphibious warfare very much. Fortunately, German Emperor William II was very interested in this plan. After listening to Nakashu's report in detail, his personal will easily overwhelmed the Nakashu's trade-offs and considerations. The 1st Naval Infantry Brigade, which had returned to Germany, began to prepare for the real landing operation. Before launching the landing attack, the German Navy needed to eliminate the threat of British lightning strike ships and submarine troops deployed on the Belgian coast, so the raid was carried out that night.

Zebrugge and Ostend are Belgium's second and third largest seaports, respectively, second only to Antwerp. The main reason why Antwerp did not choose to carry out the raid is that it requires traveling more than 80 kilometers of fjords to Antwerp from the sea, and most of this fjord belongs to the neutral Dutch kingdom.

Just after 9:00, the assault fleet led by the light cruiser Mainz approached Zebrugge. This port facing the outer sea directly faced the sea to protect the inner port with a manually built breakwater. In addition to the shore defense fort, the main defenses of the Belgian army in Zebrugge are concentrated in the breakwater and its inner positions. As long as the blocking ships are allowed to bypass the breakwater and sink themselves at the canal entering the port, more than a dozen British lightning strike ships, several submarines, and auxiliary ships, stationed here.

Under the direct cover of the "Mainz" and four large torpedo boats, six landing crafts carried more than 200 naval infantry and quietly sailed towards the breakwater. Their mission was to seize the fortifications of the Belgian army, blow up the railway bridge between the breakwater and the coast, and cover two retired old ships on their side by side by bypassing the breakwater and entering the waterway.

After defeating the British fleet in succession, the German Navy took the strategic initiative in the North Sea, but their main energy was still on the British. In addition, Belgium and northern France were still controlled by the Contracting Team. German surface ships rarely appeared in the Belgian waters. All they need to be wary of was the elusive German submarines, so the Belgian army's maritime defense was not strictly guarded against. Under the cover of sea fog, six German landing crafts produced from the Royal Friedrich Ship Repair Factory successfully approached the breakwater. The brave soldiers affiliated to the 1st Naval Infantry Regiment were ready to go, their rifles were loaded with bayonets, and the safety cover of the grenades had been unscrewed. The ship was silent, and there was only the dull roar of motor-driven propellers in people's ears.

"Who is there?"

A sudden call came from the breakwater, speaking Flemish, that is, Belgian Dutch, similar to German, and the Germans could roughly understand it. A faint beam of light emitted by a flashlight appeared in the darkness. At that time, the roar of machine guns sounded on a German landing craft closest to the breakwater. A series of 25mm machine shells swept across with a dark red luster. The lit flashlight immediately fell to the ground, flashed and extinguished.

If it weren't for this alert and unlucky Belgian sentry, the German naval infantry might have been able to board the breakwater without the enemy's discovery, touch the artillery positions of the Belgian army, seize the cannons and turn them to bombard the Allied ships in the port. The sound of artillery immediately woke up the Belgians stationed in the port, and noisy shouts came from the breakwater, followed by dazzling searchlights and sudden gunfire. It won't take long to go British ships anchored in the port to join the battle, leaving the German naval infantry with a very tight time.

The six German landing craft participating in the raid of Zebrugge were all L-14 with a displacement of 12 tons. This light landing ship had a draft of only 1 meter and was able to transport soldiers to shallow water areas.

First-class Corporal Hank Lorfle was fortunate to become the first German naval infantry to land in Zebrugge. He did not know at this time that the step he took marked the official start of the German amphibious operation. From this day on, the German marine forces will truly become an elite force that scares the enemy.

After landing, Lolfler climbed to the top of the breakwater with agility. He squatted on the ground and carefully observed the surroundings. A corpse was lying not far away. Before the rest of the Belgian soldiers arrived, the artillery position was on the north side of the breakwater. Thirty or forty meters south of his position was the railway bridge connecting the breakwater and the coast. The defenders could transport equipment and supplies through this monorail route, and could also increase combat troops in emergencies.

"Come here!" Lorfler shouted while waving his left arm, guiding the engineers carrying high explosives to quickly go to the railway bridge. At this moment, someone fired two green signal flares into the sky, telling his support ship that the naval infantry had landed.

Before the signal flare disappeared, the searchlight of the Belgian defenders had already swept over. Lorfle quickly threw himself down, and the reaction he had trained on the front line of Amiens gave him his life. The moment he lowered his head, a series of machine gun bullets flew by, and the sound suddenly shocked his scalp.

German soldiers who landed on the shore opened fire and counterattacked. The pilots on several landing craft operated the piping machine guns to carry out cover shooting, but the bullets shot from the north continued to increase. The Belgian soldiers obviously hid in the solid fortifications and opened fire. The high-altitude reconnaissance of Zeppelin captured the defensive layout of the port, but the details needed to be explored by the attackers themselves.

In order to allow the naval infantry to successfully take down the defending positions on the breakwater, the light cruisers and large torpedo boats approaching the port opened fire at the searchlights, and in a blink of an eye, the two searchlights of the Belgians were wiped out. The light on the breakwater suddenly dimmed. The German infantry who landed on the shore quickly advanced north along the slopes on both sides of the breakwater. When they approached the defensive positions of the Belgian army, a shocking sound suddenly came from behind, and the ground was trembling obviously.
Chapter completed!