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1917-February-16-21
''So we're five kilometers away from the canal, but now we're the ones having logistical problems'' General Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein said while studying the operations map.
''Yes. So far we've been surviving off the supplies we stole from the British by attacking their forward logistical centers and capturing other settlements, using the water and resources the British had stockpiled, but now we're running out of fuel, the horses are exhausted, the camels are spent and continuing deeper operations is becoming impossible because of the canal itself'' I answered with a nod.
''That strike was a blessing. Finding hundreds of thousands of canned rations along with tanks full of fresh drinking water was undoubtedly what allowed us to keep pushing. Although the problem now is figuring out where to run the logistical line if we want to continue advancing toward the Suez. The British navy may not have battleships or major vessels in the area, but they still have several cruisers that wouldn't hesitate to bombard logistical lines near the coast, which would be the easiest target'' the general said while scratching his head and continuing to stare at the map.
''With the logistics we have now we can't think about continuing the advance. What we need is to find a place with weak British naval presence that also isn't heavily defended so we can sink ships using the canal and force them to run aground inside it. A couple of sunk ships should be enough to block the canal, and clearing them could take weeks or months, forcing convoys to change routes'' I said thoughtfully.
''Nothing here can last for weeks. We need those new artillery pieces to arrive along with the ammunition. With the supplies we currently have stockpiled we can last a few more days, but we need to connect the railway to this area and install pipelines for water or eventually this whole operation will become unsustainable'' the general said while drawing lines around the few forces we still had in the region.
''We're within firing range of the Suez. We just need a better view of the area and a chance to bombard it while ships are passing through'' I said while looking outside the tent.
''We'll need spotters and accurate calculations for the area, and we'll probably have to mass the artillery together. How many guns did your men end up capturing?'' the general asked.
''Fifteen British artillery pieces along with ammunition'' I answered immediately.
''We have ten of our own, which gives us twenty five artillery pieces total, although we'll need to strike fast because the British have at least four times as many artillery pieces in the area. A counter battery attack is entirely possible. So we need to calculate, fire and relocate the artillery immediately afterward'' General Friedrich said with a calm smile at the idea.
''Good. We'll act at sunset and see what we can do. We'll gather whatever information we need'' I replied while leaving the tent.
Without saying anything else I stepped out of the command tent positioned behind the active combat lines, although the German general apparently had no issue staying dangerously close to the front considering we were currently only eight kilometers from the Suez under possible British artillery fire and the high command showed almost no nervousness about it.
So I had apparently won the lottery with a general addicted enough to risk at his age that I could exploit his impulses for my own purposes and continue the offensive even while every logistical factor was working against us, surviving entirely on resources stolen from British depots.
We had taken casualties among my men, but considering the damage inflicted on the British, the fact that a few dozen Germans had managed to help capture nearly ten thousand British troops along with who knew how many dead after only a week of forward operations wasn't bad on paper.
The problem was that replacements for my losses would not arrive. Replacing elite troops wasn't easy and even among the veterans from the Eastern Front we wouldn't find suitable replacements as easily as one might expect.
So we had to force the attack forward even if everything was working against us.
Adjusting the cloth wrapped around me to shield against the sun, I moved out with my men searching for the best position from which we could observe the Suez Canal.
''Look at them moving like rats'' one of my men said while peering through his rifle scope toward the British lines.
''Digging trenches. Looks like they want to change the nature of the war since having a flexible front line hasn't benefited them at all'' I said while watching through my own scope as thousands of British soldiers dug trenches across the entire area, trying to fortify the region.
''Yeah, looks like they want to stop the new front from becoming the canal itself, so they'll try to stop us no matter what. Although if they knew we no longer had the supplies to keep pushing they probably wouldn't be working this hard, which is good for us... let's just hope the Ottomans aren't stupid enough to send a radio telegram explaining how bad our situation actually is'' I said while continuing to observe.
''So what do we shoot? I'm looking at what seems to be a British captain practically begging to get his skull blown open'' one of my men said while aiming with his tongue slightly sticking out.
''That'll attract artillery fire or maybe they'll send a cavalry charge after us, although I don't see any horses or a place nearby where they'd keep horses, so I think we can afford to slow down these fortification efforts a little'' I said while searching for higher ranking officers.
''Found a captain'' I said after spotting an officer simply standing there watching his men dig through the sand and pour water onto the ground to make trench construction easier.
We coordinated quickly and fired at the exact same time from the dune where we could watch the British working from over a kilometer away. The moment our rifles cracked across the desert we watched several captains and multiple sergeants directing the work collapse onto the ground.
The moment we fired, we immediately began shooting at anyone we could see or anyone exposing more than their torso, killing several more as they started running back toward the town near the Suez Canal, abandoning the fortification work.
''Good, time to move'' I said while slinging the sniper rifle over my shoulder and beginning to walk toward the next position we needed to reach.
Only a few minutes after abandoning the area we felt massive explosions slamming into the general location where we had been positioned, which confirmed the British did indeed have artillery ready for counterbattery fire, something that would make repeatedly firing at ships crossing the canal much more difficult.
So we kept moving throughout the area, observing the sectors the British were fortifying, blowing the heads off junior officers and killing soldiers while leaving entire fields full of shell craters wherever we operated since artillery fire usually answered our attacks, although not always. Because of that we began building a fairly accurate map of where British artillery was and wasn't positioned.
That indicated there were sectors where the British could not fire effectively because of terrain obstacles interfering with their firing lines.
So that was how we spent several days, moving both on horseback and on foot while harassing the British during their efforts to fortify the region.
The time available for action kept shrinking as water and food supplies became scarcer, so it was decided we would act in the southern sector, practically at the entrance of the canal itself where the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez could already be seen.
On top of that there had been little or no artillery response during the previous operations we conducted there, so gathering every artillery piece we had available and using horses to move them, we began positioning the guns during the night to avoid detection by British aircraft that occasionally flew over the region.
Keeping the artillery concealed beneath cloth covers until we had positioned the guns roughly four kilometers from the front, we focused on ensuring British scouts could neither report nor even observe the artillery movement. So we left the German siege engineers to handle their calculations while we supplied them with ammunition since we were waiting for ships to gather before crossing through the Suez.
The moment we spotted British merchant ships moving through the canal we began bombarding the vessels with artillery fire as they traveled separated from one another in a long line.
Watching through my scope and seeing the British beginning to react and prepare for an attack, I observed several artillery rounds miss and strike around the targets, although many shells did land successfully, especially once we started firing every shell we had available directly at the ships.
After countless misses something finally struck true and I watched one of the ships begin pouring black smoke into the sky.
The roar of artillery echoed endlessly while we kept observing the situation from the front until little by little more ships were damaged to the point where one vessel completely stopped moving, blocking the path of the others trying to continue through the canal. From our position we could observe around fifteen ships.
Several long minutes passed while British troops started advancing against us, abandoning the safety of their trenches in an attempt to silence the artillery attack, which meant it fell to us to defend the artillery no matter what.
While the British formed marching lines and slowly advanced, we began blowing apart the heads of the officers leading the troops and trying to maintain formation for a charge if necessary.
But that only made killing their leaders easier, leaving the British without a proper chain of command while they advanced to the point where the British soldiers left without officers started fleeing back toward their defensive lines.
Meanwhile the officers still alive desperately tried to maintain the advance using the orders they had already been given.
As British soldiers collapsed into the desert sand we watched more ships burning under the continuing artillery bombardment raining across the canal.
By the time I could already see nearly five ships burning, trapped and grounded inside the canal, it was time to withdraw since it was only a matter of time before British counterbattery fire began landing on top of us.
So once the mission was complete and with the canal now clogged with wreckage, we immediately started retreating while hauling the artillery away.
I cursed under my breath once we had already abandoned the area and moved every artillery piece because several minutes passed without a single British shell landing anywhere near us. Apparently they either lacked artillery within range or something similar, which meant we might have been able to continue firing and possibly hit even more ships.
It could take them days or even weeks to clear the wreckage, especially if the ships had fully grounded themselves. That would buy us the time needed to wait for reinforcements and additional equipment arriving from Germany. And if clearing the wrecks took too long it would force the remaining ships to reroute around Africa instead.
So we returned to camp and began abandoning our most aggressive gains in the Sinai, pulling back toward Gaza where we would continue our attacks while waiting for reinforcements and more artillery pieces to arrive so we could continue threatening the canal.
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