ch29

The ambitious Sunrise Operation of the Great Japanese Empire began to falter right from the start.

“The army opposes providing ammunition to the naval landing forces.”

Supply was disrupted due to the army’s obstinacy.

Of course, the army had its reasons for acting this way.

In the most recent ‘proper war’ Japan had fought, the Russo-Japanese War, the navy, not the army, had been the main player. The balance of power had shifted towards the navy. The army was eventually pushed aside by the navy and was forced to endure a period of disadvantage in budget allocation.

And the army had no intention of letting such a situation repeat itself. Thus began their disruption of supplies to the naval landing forces.

“You crazy bastards!”

The government was horrified by the army’s behavior and began to criticize them.

Normally, they would have been cowering in a corner, afraid of getting stabbed, but this time was different. How could they cause such a ruckus at a crossroads that would determine the fate of the Empire?!

“Whoa, whoa… Assemblyman… that angry look doesn’t seem very composed…”

But the navy, who should have been the most furious, remained calm.

‘Wow… that general is composed…’

“Admiral, how are you so composed?”

“Well… because we’ve already secured the production facilities.”

That’s right. The Japanese navy had foreseen this situation and secured weapons factories to produce ammunition, rifles, and uniforms for the naval landing forces, offering twice the price the army would pay.

In other words, the navy had snatched the military factories from the army.

“Oh my goodness…”

“Hmph… those naval bastards… truly pathetic…! Fine. I’ll acknowledge it this time. But next time will be different!”

Government officials clutched the back of their necks, while the army shed tears of emotion and recognition. It was a truly Japanese solution.

“Anyway, the naval landing forces are ready, so that’s great!”

Of course, this caused some delays. They had originally planned to snatch the factories the army would use and then order the production of supplies for the naval landing forces, so it was a miracle that the delay was only this long.

Finally, on September 21, 1915, exactly seven days after the Great Japanese Empire declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, the 1st Fleet, with the Kongo as its flagship, left port and set sail for Qingdao.

But even then, no one knew what consequences this delay of just over a week would bring.

Or in what form it would return to them.

On the bridge of U39.

Karl Dönitz, the captain of U39, looked up at the sky. A bright full moon hung in the clear night sky, without a single cloud.

The weather was perfect. A slight smile appeared on his lips.

But he couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease. Repairing the submarine due to mechanical failures had taken longer than expected. Perhaps the Japanese navy had already passed this point.

“Haa…”

Well, even if the Japanese navy was there, if they spotted us first and fired their cannons, we’d either become fish food or be evenly cooked. We’d have to choose between the two.

Either way, all we can do is pray to God.

Then, he saw something flickering beyond the horizon.

That distinctive, towering bridge…

The pride of the Japanese Empire, a massive Battlecruiser.

“Kongo.”

It seemed to be moving slowly to escort the transport ships. At this speed, even a submarine could catch up.

A big fish had been caught. Dönitz grinned and shouted.

“Enemy ship sighted! Prepare to submerge!”

“Prepare to submerge!”

Clang, clang, clang, clang.

The sound of a small bell echoed from below the ladder. With that bell as background music, he climbed down the ladder into the submarine.

Screech, thud! The hatch closed. Now the submarine was completely sealed.

The interior of the submarine was cramped. So much so that bumping your head on the doorframe in the passageway was a daily occurrence, and in the sleeping quarters, people had to be stacked like ‘bricks’ to save space.

Therefore, when recruiting submarine crew members, they specifically selected those who were relatively short.

“Hoo… damn cramped… I feel like I’m going to get claustrophobia.”

“Captain getting claustrophobia? The fish passing by would laugh.”

“Heh heh. I suppose so.”

Ahem. Dönitz cleared his throat once.

“Submerge!”

The sound of water entering the ballast tanks could be heard. Creak. Creak. The sound of the steel plates being crushed by the water pressure could be heard.

With those sounds as background music, Dönitz carefully brought his eyes to the periscope.

So the Kongo was indeed a Battlecruiser. The blurry figures of the battleships beyond the horizon were now clearly visible through the periscope.

Dönitz licked his lips as he watched the mama sheep (Kongo) and the baby sheep (other miscellaneous ships) following closely behind.

“Prepare torpedoes.”

“Prepare torpedoes!!!”

And the wolf had no intention of letting the flock of sheep, who had carelessly wandered into the wolf’s den, return unharmed.

“Not yet…”

A little closer. We have to fire when they get a little closer. Only then can we shatter their spines before the enemy ship has a chance to react.

“Not yet…”

We have to wait. Until the enemies approach closer. Until the emblem painted on the bow of the enemy ship is clearly visible through the periscope.

And… now!

“Fire!”

Thump-!!

Two torpedoes were launched from the submarine.

What was the result? I don’t know. The important thing is to get out of here before the enemies notice us.

“Surface! Surface! Return to Ilha Formosa at full speed!”

In this era, submarines had to surface to reach their top speed. This was an unavoidable limitation of the time.

The sound of water draining from the ballast tanks and the sound of the steel plates, which had been crushed by the water pressure, straightening out could be heard.

Dönitz left the control room and climbed the ladder.

Screech. The hatch opened.

He turned his gaze to where the Japanese navy had been. There, a very, very red flame was rising.

It was the moment when the world learned that a mere submarine could take on a massive capital ship.

The Japanese Empire’s Sunrise Operation started in the worst possible way.

“The flagship of the Great Japanese Imperial Navy, the Kongo, has been severely damaged.”

The pride of the Japanese navy, the Kongo, had its No. 2 turret and boiler room severely damaged by a single torpedo. It would be spending some time in the dock. The Kongo was originally a Battlecruiser, so it had not secured proper anti-torpedo defenses.

The Japanese military ordered that all supplies be transported only by destroyers and light cruisers moving at 30 knots or more to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

Of course, it was a crude solution, but it was also an effective one.

It was nearly impossible for a slow-moving submarine to catch up with fast-moving high-speed ships.

Thanks to this, the amount of supplies that could be transported was reduced by nearly half, but the problem on the sea was completely solved. No. Rather, the actual amount of supplies received did not decrease as noticeably, as they were less worried about being attacked by the Empire’s light cruisers.

“Now that we’ve landed in Qingdao! It seems that Amaterasu is illuminating our path!”

But the Japanese soldiers could not smile on land either.

“Fire!”

The Imperial army had learned through the Italian and Western fronts how effective the combination of trenches and machine guns was at turning people into minced meat.

The Eastern colonies, having witnessed the results in the homeland, scraped together every penny they had to secure as many machine guns and ammunition as possible.

They had perfectly finished preparing to send hell to those who charged at their defensive lines.

Now, all that remained were the guests who would enter that hell.

And guests visited hell before too long.

Thousands of naval landing forces of the Japanese Empire advanced towards the fortress lines near Imperial Qingdao. There was no way the Imperial army would just stand by and watch. They sniped at the Japanese soldiers who were shooting rifles and charging towards the trench lines.

“Kyak!”

“M, Mother…”

Screams and death throes of Japanese soldiers were heard everywhere.

“Advance! Advance! We must drive out the Yi-leman from this land!”

The officers did not bat an eye at such casualties and urged the soldiers on. After all, the cause of driving out the white civilization from Greater East Asia, the glory, was shimmering right before their eyes.

The sacrifice of a few soldiers was well worth it.

“The high ground is right in front of us! Advance!”

The Japanese naval landing forces advanced steadily, pushing forward with more numbers than the bullets flying at them, and finally reached the barbed wire of the Imperial army’s trench lines.

And a déjà vu of 1904 unfolded.

“Fire.”

Tududududududududu-!!

The Imperial army’s machine guns spewed bullets at a rate of 600 rounds per minute, along with orange flashes, at the Japanese soldiers who were stuck in the barbed wire.

“S, save me!?”

“Oh, God…”

The bodies of Japanese soldiers piled up. Like decorations on a wonderful Christmas tree, they decorated the barbed wire on the muddy ground.

The siege of Qingdao, between 9,000 Imperial soldiers and 30,000 Japanese soldiers, ended in an overwhelming victory for the Imperial army.

The Imperial army was constantly winning victories in this way from a tactical perspective. Intense and valuable victories. But from a strategic perspective, the Empire was still on the defensive.

The Eastern colonies looked fine on the surface, but inside, they were slowly rotting due to chronic shortages of supplies. The great power to the east, the Tsardom of Russia, was slowly recovering from its wounds and biding its time. And in the west, the British army was beginning to set foot on the continent one by one. The south was… relatively better off, given the opponent.

But it was still the Empire that was smiling. The Empire was slowly preparing to break the Allies’ grand strategy.

The beginning of that was the full-scale offensive against the French Republic.

The so-called, Konrad Operation.

Scribble. Scribble.

Yulia von Habsburg is said to have signed the final plan for this operation and said:

“I hope we can take a commemorative photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background in six weeks.”