Chapter 274 Missed Opportunity
There was laughter and joy in the city defense headquarters, and the staff officers even made a private bet. Their bet was not on the victory or defeat of the fleet, but on whether the fleet would break through the Dardanelles and enter the Sea of Marmara today or tomorrow.
Lieutenant Colonel Fernand asked Charles secretly: "Colonel, you are not going to participate?"
Ciel responded coldly: "What are the odds of failure?"
Lieutenant Colonel Fernan was stunned for a moment, then he laughed: "Failure? No one thinks the fleet has failed. If someone does, I am willing to bet with him at odds of 1 to 100..."
"As you wish." Charles felt in his pocket and handed the entire 11 francs to Colonel Fernand.
Lieutenant Colonel Fernan was stunned for a moment. He looked at Charles's determined face and felt a little hesitant.
But on second thought, this battle could not be lost. There were 18 battleships, and the whole of Germany only had 17 of them. They were enough to destroy a country, not to mention that the opponent was the Ottoman Empire.
Thinking of this, Lieutenant Colonel Fernand generously accepted Charles' 11 francs and proudly waved it in front of Charles: "I'll consider it as you treating me to a drink!"
However, at this moment, a signalman suddenly shouted: "General, the 'Bouve' has been sunk!"
The Bouvet was one of four battleships sent by France to cooperate with the British fleet.
Perhaps it was their pride that made the French hope that their battleships could achieve more brilliant results than the British in this battle, so they were very curious about their situation and had high hopes. Unexpectedly, the first piece of information they received was that it had been sunk!
The headquarters fell into silence in an instant. Everyone, including Gallieni, stopped what they were doing and looked at the signalman in shock.
Only Charles sat in a chair with a calm face, drinking apple juice, which was sold in the Officers' Club for 10 centimes a glass.
After a while, Lieutenant Colonel Fernan screamed: "No, this is impossible. How did it get blown up?"
The signalman confirmed the information again and again, but still did not dare to answer, and finally chose to hand the telegram directly to Gallieni.
Gallieni took a look and read out the contents: "13:54..."
Gallieni took out his pocket watch and looked at it. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, which meant that the incident happened an hour ago.
If it happened an hour ago, it would basically not be wrong, because the city defense headquarters' intelligence comes from the general headquarters, and the general headquarters will confirm its authenticity.
Gallieni frowned and continued, "The 'Bouve' sank in an unknown explosion, which seemed to be an explosion in the ammunition depot. The incident happened suddenly, and it took only 2 minutes and 35 seconds from the explosion to the sinking, so we were unable to rescue in time. Among the 648 officers and soldiers, only 5 officers, 9 non-commissioned officers and 33 sailors survived."
The headquarters fell silent again, as if in mourning for the sacrificed officers and soldiers.
But they soon returned to normal.
They have experienced too many similar things. More than 600 officers and soldiers are just a small number. Any battle of the army will result in thousands or tens of thousands of casualties.
If it weren't for the fact that the battleship, the symbol of invincibility, sank in just over two minutes, they might not even have a moment of silence.
"This could be an accident." Feierxian sighed lightly, "For example, improper operation, or the enemy's shells detonated the ammunition depot by some coincidence."
Others agreed. In their view, it was impossible for the Ottoman Empire to sink even one battleship.
Charles shook his head slightly. They, including the fleet, had not yet realized that it was a mine.
But this seemed normal. A loud bang detonated the ammunition depot inside the battleship's hull. The violent explosion was visible outside the hull, and it sank in more than two minutes.
Even the officers and soldiers on the warship at the time could not understand the cause of the explosion.
ACCIDENT?
Or was it the enemy's large-caliber artillery shells that penetrated the armor?
Whatever it was, no one suspected it was a mine, because the explosion of a mine should have occurred under the hull.
However, this laid the seeds for other warships to hit mines.
An hour later, another telegram was sent to the city defense headquarters: "The battlecruiser 'Indomitable' was seriously damaged by a mine."
Three minutes later: "The battleship 'Unimpeded' hit a mine and is taking on serious water. We abandon the ship."
Half an hour later: "The battleship 'Ocean' rushed to the rescue, hit a mine, and the hull was severely listed. We had to abandon the ship."
The series of mine strikes stunned the entire headquarters staff. They could not imagine that the nearly invincible battleships were so vulnerable. One after another, they were defeated by the mines.
At this time, the sky was gradually getting dark, and the battle had to end hastily.
Because the battleships might be in greater danger in the dark, they couldn't even see the mines floating on the sea.
The final result was: three battleships sank, and another three battleships were seriously damaged and had to withdraw from the battle.
This happened within one day. There were a total of 18 battleships, and 6 were sunk or damaged in the one-day battle. This does not include the cruisers and destroyers that were sunk or damaged by the enemy.
If the fighting continued like this, the Allied fleet, which seemed huge and had initially clamored to force the Ottoman Empire to surrender, would only be able to hold out for three days.
Lieutenant Colonel Fernando immediately realized that the fleet's attack had completely failed. After suffering such heavy casualties, there would be no subsequent attack unless they wanted to sacrifice the entire fleet.
He handed the 11 francs back to Charles and said with difficulty: "I still owe you 1,100 francs, Colonel."
Charles smiled and said, "No need, Lieutenant Colonel. Just consider it as my invitation to a drink."
Lieutenant Colonel Fernan's eyes widened instantly. 1,100 francs for a glass of wine? It's a pity that he doesn't have that kind of luck!
Charles stood up and walked towards Gallieni, handing him today's report.
This was the additional work that Charles received after being promoted to colonel. He needed to analyze and evaluate the intelligence once a day, which was a rough summary.
Gallieni took the report, glanced at it, and said, "You don't seem to have analyzed the naval battle."
Ciel was stunned: "I thought that was not within our scope of responsibility, General. We are the Army."
"As long as it is intelligence in this operations department, it is within your scope of responsibility." Gallieni replied with a straight face: "You should know that the navy's war may affect the army. Its strategic goal is even to bypass the army's defense line and open up a new front. Otherwise, why do you think the navy's intelligence is sent to us?"
"Okay!" Charles said with some helplessness in his tone: "The navy failed because they missed the opportunity. If they had fought like they did today on the first day, the Ottoman Empire would probably have surrendered."
Gallieni was stunned for a moment, then nodded slightly in agreement: "On the first day, there were not even many mines in the Dardanelles. It was even navigable the day before."
(The picture above shows the Ottoman Empire minelayer "Nusret". The German carbon mines it laid destroyed three battleships and seriously damaged one in one day. The ship was copied by Türkiye and placed in a park as a memorial to this day)
(End of this chapter)
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