CHAPTER 296: CHAPTER 296: LET THE ENEMY DEFEAT US

As soon as Shire’s two maps were presented, the atmosphere in the meeting room changed immediately.

The officers, who were mostly against landing at Borayil, now felt confident about it.

General Winter looked at the documents in his hand excitedly and exclaimed, "God, they are practically designed for this battle."

He turned his gaze to Shire and asked, "Colonel, did you plan to land at Borayil from the beginning?"

Tijani responded with a half-smile and countered, "What do you think, General?"

The officers were silent for a moment, and then erupted in laughter.

General Winter realized he had asked a silly question: Shire had already built them and brought them here, naturally planning to use them in the landing operation while he was in France.

However, the laughter soon subsided eerily.

The officers noticed General Hamilton sitting quietly, staring expressionlessly at the two maps in front of him, without saying a word.

"Do you have any differing opinions, General Hamilton?" General Winter asked.

Hamilton uttered "Hmm," threw the maps on the table, lifted his head towards Shire, and said coldly:

"I admire your ingenuity, Colonel."

"I’m not even talking about the many uncertainties involved. Even if you can successfully land..."

Hamilton paused, glanced at both sides, then emphasized:

"Notice, Shire plans to land during the twilight before dawn."

"This means there isn’t much time for the landing. These twenty landing craft, along with twenty landing ships, may need three to four round trips to transport 3000 men ashore."

Hamilton tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table, producing a "cluck-cluck" sound:

"So, how do you plan to defeat an Ottoman Empire division with thousands of troops using just 3000 men?"

"Moreover, the Ottoman Empire will have continuous reinforcements."

"While we, due to daylight, might struggle to reinforce our landing site under enemy artillery fire!"

The officers were stunned; indeed, they hadn’t considered this issue.

The Ottomans had already constructed complete fortifications and deployed a division at Borayil. Even if Shire’s 3000 men landed, they likely wouldn’t achieve the goal of cutting off the supply line.

Shire remained calm, speaking leisurely: "We don’t need to defeat this division, nor their continuous reinforcements."

Hamilton stared at Shire in puzzlement; if they didn’t defeat the enemy, how would they cut off Borayil?

Shire added, "We need to make the enemy defeat us!"

The others were bewildered, but Hamilton understood, gazing at Shire in astonishment and contemplation.

General Winter was still confused and asked curiously, "Make the enemy defeat us? How does that differ from us defeating the enemy?"

"Of course there’s a difference, General," Shire replied. "Defeating the enemy means our troops attack the enemy’s line; then, 3000 men indeed aren’t enough to take down an enemy division, let alone their subsequent reinforcements."

General Winter uttered an "Oh": "Making the enemy defeat us means we build fortifications and wait for the enemy to attack?"

Upon reflection, General Winter found it plausible.

During trench warfare, especially since the Ottoman Empire didn’t have tanks, 3000 men defending against an attack from over ten thousand men was more than sufficient, provided they were well-equipped with machine guns and had a steady supply of ammunition.

But General Winter frowned: "But, why would the enemy leave their trenches to attack our line? Why couldn’t they just defend their line?"

Most other officers had similar doubts; being unfamiliar with land warfare, they thought blockade could only be achieved by occupation forces.

General Hamilton spoke: "Artillery blockade."

The officers paused, then realized Shire’s intent.

General Hamilton looked somewhat defeated, resembling a downcast rooster, but he still pointed to the map and analyzed:

"The Borayil bottleneck is only 6 kilometers wide."

"The central road is less than 3 kilometers from the coast, while our 75 artillery has a range of 8 kilometers."

"In other words, once we land, we can blockade this road with artillery fire and wait for the enemy to attack."

This strategy from Huaxia, essentially means defending is attacking.

General Winter and the officers understood completely at this point.

When the time comes, the Ottoman Empire troops will have to attack because only by defeating Shire’s 3000 men will the Gallipoli Peninsula supply line escape being blockaded by artillery fire.

Shire nodded lightly: "Exactly!"

"What do you mean by ’exactly’?" Hamilton asked with a trace of unwillingness.

Shire responded easily: "You’ve forgotten one thing, General. The area around Borayil is flat, but there are high grounds on both sides where the Ottomans have placed German-reinforced 105MM Howitzers with a range of 12 kilometers."

Hamilton’s expression froze: "This means the enemy’s artillery can hit us while we can’t retaliate!"

"Yes!" Shire replied, "So if we use the 75 artillery to blockade the road, it’s a dead end. No matter how many 75 artillery we land, they’ll undoubtedly be blasted by the enemy."

"Then what do you mean..."

Shire pointed to a line of defense in front of Borayil:

"Borayil is too sensitive to the enemy. Once we successfully land, the enemy will immediately redeploy massive troops to drive us back into the sea."

"Therefore, we won’t even have time to build fortifications."

"All we can do is seize this line of defense and use it..."

The officers focused on the line of defense Shire was pointing at.

This line was constructed by the Ottomans to prevent an Allies landing, forming an inverted arc facing the landing zone.

Once Shire seized this line, he could immediately utilize it as his position.

(The red line in the image shows the position Shire aims to seize)

Shire continued:

"The advantage of occupying this defense line is, first, it can create space for subsequent troops to land, allowing nightly landings of troops and supplies to strengthen the blockade of Borayil."

"Secondly, it is only 600 meters from the road salient, while our mortars have a range of 700 meters."

The officers suddenly realized that Shire intended to use mortars to block the road.

General Winter smiled and nodded.

It was a smart strategy. In a local area where artillery fire is weak, mortars have much higher survival capability compared to 75 artillery and are easier to transport.

General Hamilton, on the other hand, appeared contemplative, and after being lost in thought for a while, he sighed, his once confident face now showing a touch of melancholy.