Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1212: WWI: Taking back the Suez (2)

The Kingdom of Israel

The embers and smoke from the recent fire still rose into the sky above the port of Haifa, offering a grim reminder of what had taken place only a few hours earlier.

Ezekiel Oppenheimer, the President of the Kingdom of Israel, stood in silence as he gazed into the distance, his eyes fixed on the port of Haifa. A complicated expression lingered on his face, one that carried both resolve and regret. He had never imagined that he would one day lead an army with his own hands to bombard his own port.

Before Haifa had fallen into the hands of the European Union, he had been personally overseeing plans to transform it into one of the kingdom’s major ports, elevating its importance to rival that of the harbour in Tel Aviv. He had already prepared the investments, started to expand the docks, and even the trade routes had been envisioned. It was meant to be a symbol of growth and stability for the young kingdom. But fate, it seemed, had charted a different course for Israel.

"No matter," he thought to himself, his resolve hardening. "I will simply rebuild it."

Ezekiel looked at a Bharatiya man in a naval outfit and enquired, "Is your excellency ready to act?"

Captain Harish Varma nodded without hesitation. "I just received intelligence that the battle group is en route, and I have orders from high command to act as soon as possible. So yes, I will be commanding the operation within the next few hours. I only need to know whether Your Excellency’s men are ready."

Ezekiel Oppenheimer did not answer at once. Instead, he glanced at his secretary. After receiving a thumbs-up in response, he turned back toward Harish and replied with a sombre expression.

"We are," He said, then he shifted his gaze toward the port once more. "Since we are both prepared, I believe the time has come to begin the operation."

Harish Varma smiled and wore his cap, "Indeed." He came forward, looked at the president of Israel and offered a namaskara, "Then I’d better get going, Your Excellency, I wish your realm the freedom from the European Union."

Ezekiel Oppenheimer smiled and reciprocated.

Soon, the Israelites began to act; hundreds of blocks of timber were laid down in a parallel pattern.

The start of the pattern was from a town called Nesher, a frontier town which sits right at the border between the Israel-controlled land and the European Union-controlled coast, and the end of the track was at the harbour that was recently bombarded and was already in ruins, the Haifa Port.

On top of the timber logs, hard teak railings were laid down, not even bolted together with fasteners; instead, only a few pegs were attached in order to keep them in the same place.

Thanks to the simplicity of the task, within an hour, a rudimentary railway track, 4 kilometres long, was built.

Soon, the sound of a steam engine rang in the town of Nesher. A locomotive, puffing out smoke, slowly exited the town, pulling a large warship on its trailer.

It is only called a locomotive because it was travelling on rails, but in reality, it is simply a tractor where its wheels were replaced with locomotive wheels. The other details, such as the engine and the specifications, were the same.

One reason a locomotive like this was chosen was to increase the speed of deployment. Israel was not like the northern coast of Greek Anatolia, where the Europeans had minimal control over the Black Sea, the home ground of the Russian Empire. Israel, by contrast, was heavily guarded, and the eastern Mediterranean was among the most tightly monitored regions in the entire sea.

Because of that, it was practically impossible to construct a fake warehouse only a few hundred metres from the shoreline to secretly build battleships or warships. So, the vessels had to be constructed further inland in concealed dry docks.

Hence, if a full-fledged locomotive had been selected, it would have required railway tracks capable of bearing its immense weight, and building such tracks would have taken significant time and resources as well. Therefore, a more practical solution was chosen: a tractor retrofitted with train wheels, allowing it to serve the purpose without the need for heavy-duty rail infrastructure.

Fortunately, it worked wonders. A tractor could not pull several thousand tonnes as a fully fledged locomotive can, but it could still pull the frigates and clippers of the Bharatiya Navy, one ship at a time.

And given that tractors were far easier to handle and transport, using modified tractors made far more sense than relying on any other mode of transportation.

One after another, small locomotives came out of the town, chugging out smoke with all their might as they carried warships of the Bharatiya Navy on their backs.

In such a way, all sixty warships were gradually transported to the dock without drawing unnecessary attention. One after another, they were carefully lowered into the water. The sailors who had been waiting patiently along the shore immediately moved to board their assigned vessels. Meanwhile, the logistics officer conducted a thorough final inspection, ensuring that supplies, ammunition, and fuel were all in order, while the artillery crews hurriedly familiarised themselves with their respective equipment.

Captain Harish Varma carried out a few last checks of his own. Once he received the final go-ahead signals from his subordinates, he wasted no time and decisively ordered the small battle group to set off.

Ezekiel Oppenheimer looked at the departing battle group and devotedly prayed for their victory in his heart.

Half a day later

"Enemy fleet ahead!"

The lookout shouted on top of his lungs, causing everyone to focus their attention on the captain of the battle group, Harish Varma.

Harish did not panic; he maintained a calm and composed demeanour.

"How many warships are there and what is their composition?" he questioned.

The lookout took a second look to confirm the number he had in mind and answered, "Around 80 warships and 20 of them seem to be battleships, sir."

"Also, they seem to be the Sovereign class battleships with semi-compartmentalisation technology. As for the warships, they seem to be heavy frigates and clippers, all made by the British, the Portuguese and the Spanish."

Harish Varma fell into deep thought, "Have we not received any news from the Shark battle group yet?"

The communications officer stepped forward, "Negative, sir!"

"Hmm!" Harish Varma stroked his chin, then he finally decided on the next course of action, "It is not possible to take the Europeans head-on, let’s use the skirmish tactics."

This choice immediately made the vice captain frown, "But sir, using this tactic might lead to us fighting a battle of attrition, and we don’t have a lot of time. Could you please reconsider the decision?"

"No!" Harish Verma did not even think and directly shook his head. "We have to save as much of our strength as possible. A direct charge against the enemy is completely contrary to the goal, but do not worry, we will not be using the tactic throughout the battle. We only need to buy ourselves some time, consume the enemy’s ammunition and wait until the Shark battle group arrives."

The vice captain finally became silent and did not comment any further.

Taking everyone’s silence as approval, Harish Verma officially ordered for the battle group to form a skirmisher formation and charge towards the enemy.

Admiral Pierre Martin obviously noticed the Bharatiya battle group that suddenly appeared on the horizon, but he could not act since he could not leave the entrance of the Suez Canal unguarded, so instead of taking the initiative to attack, he simply waited to see what the enemy would do. After all, it was only a battle group composed of warships; he couldn’t even see a single battleship.

Suddenly, he noticed the movement of the enemy, and he became alert. "Take your aim, gentlemen; the enemy is approaching. As long as they come within the range of our guns, fire at will."

The speed of the Bharatiya battle group had risen to the topmost speed, with the whole fleet moving as one, 12 knots. At this speed, they were practically no different from cavalry on water, but they had no battleships in their ranks, or it would have been a perfect opportunity to rush directly into the European battle group, but Harish Varma wouldn’t let that stop him from hitting the Europeans where it hurt.

"Fire!"

He roared, and the naval guns on all the frigates went off with a loud boom, their explosions superimposing on top of one another, sending a shockwave rippling through the sea.

The artillery mounted on the frigates and clippers was not as powerful as that of the ones mounted on the battleships, but it was still a naval gun produced by one of the three major military conglomerates of the Bharatiya Empire. Not to mention, these guns had been the standard armament on battleships only five or six years earlier, so underestimating their power would be utterly foolish.

Sure enough, when the cannonballs struck the deck or hull of an enemy vessel, they instantly tore through the wooden hull and sent violent shockwaves rippling through the entire ship. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

But it was not a one-sided beatdown; the counterattack from the Europeans came swiftly.

"Boom!"

A cannonball struck a frigate squarely on the deck, rocking it violently and slowing the vessel’s momentum. However, the overall hit rate was terribly low. Only about one in every two dozen cannonballs managed to strike a Bharatiya warship. Moreover, since the battle group maintained a skirmish formation and kept a steady speed of twelve knots, the Europeans were able to fire only two salvos, no more than that. After the two salvos, even if they wanted to attack again, the Bharatiya ships had already sailed out of their effective range.

"Rotate to the right and repeat," Harish Verma commanded.

Looking at the Bharatiya’s turning around, the face of Pierre became extremely red. He was furious, "Damn bastards, acting like thieves, have they no shame?" He cursed, but ultimately he was helpless as he was tied to the entrance of the Suez Canal.

Who knew what would happen if he stopped blockading the entrance even for a moment? Perhaps that was exactly why they had sent only a battle group composed of frigates and clippers, assuming he would underestimate them, lower his guard, and move forward to deal with the smaller force, thus giving the Bharatiya warships at the other end of the Suez an opportunity to break through.

"I am aware of your plans, O Bharatiyas. Mock me as much as you wish, but you will not make me dance to your tune."

As he watched several of his ships burn from the recent exchange of fire, and the sailors scrambling desperately to extinguish the flames, his eyes burned with anger. "I will let you jump around for a little while longer. By now, your attempts to seize the naval bases in the Aegean may already have been suppressed. It will not take long for reinforcements from across the Mediterranean to arrive. Then we shall see how you intend to escape."

"Doesn’t your emperor love to cut off all escape routes and slowly close in the net, making the enemy desperate before they lose all the will to fight?"

"Hah! I want to see how he will react when I do the same with his battle group."