Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1236: WW1: Taking back Thessaloniki (9)

1st October 1705

The bombardments from both the sea and land shook the coastal town of Tekirdağ to its core. The firepower of the Ramachandra class battleship, only a kilometre from the shore, and the rifled breech-loading guns, only a few hundred meters away, overlapped and intensified, making the situation for the Slavic defenders holding the fort utterly helpless.

Most died within a few salvos, while a few ran around barely clinging to life, somehow surviving one salvo after another and one barrage after another. In the end, a small vice captain of a squadron, who had somehow become a senior officer through the sheer process of elimination, decisively waved the white flag. To showcase his determination to surrender, he rounded up what little troops he had left, went straight to the main entrance of the town, and without hesitation shot at the hinges of the gigantic door repeatedly until it collapsed with a loud, deafening thud, revealing a small canyon-like structure.

This structure had been the reason why they could sleep soundly in the town without any worry of attack or infiltration. But ironically, it also became the reason why the Bharatiya Empire attacked the town relentlessly. As the bombardment shook them to their core, some of them, including the newly made senior officer, began to curse why their town did not have a simple wall, but instead had an elevated geographic position with its main entrance set within a canyon.

The next moment, the new senior officer and the remaining men resolutely ran to the edge of the canyon, as if they were about to fight a life-and-death battle. But when they came into the view of the Bharatiya soldiers, what they did left many captains and senior officers speechless. A group of Europeans emerged from the shattered town and threw their weapons, armour, and helmets onto the ground, while raising white flags, which were nothing more than pieces of cloth and fabric they had managed to gather along the way.

Lieutenant General Lavanga Sinha lowered his binoculars with a satisfied expression on his face, with a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

" Lets go!!"

18th October 1705

After over two weeks of travel spanning more than 130 kilometres, Commander Vaibhav Krishnamurthy finally reached his destination, the fortress of Edirne.

Transportation is usually the most time-consuming part of a war, and also the most boring. It tends to eat away at a soldier’s enthusiasm and morale. So Vaibhav did not immediately order an attack. Instead, he had a temporary barracks set up 10 kilometres away from the target and ordered the soldiers to take ample amount of rest before beginning the operation.

Taking over Edirne was a little tricky because the walls of the city were ancient, originally built with hard rock, with a width of at least 3 feet, and later reinforced on the outer side with concrete. Its defensive and offensive capabilities were not too different from the auxiliary fortresses on the western border of the empire, neighbouring the Kingdom of Persia.

He had expected as much, since this had once been the first line of defence for the Greeks against the Slavs before everything went to ruin, but he still found it somewhat troublesome.

Fortunately, he was not completely helpless. The siege cannons were monstrous weapons, built for exactly this purpose.

The Asura Hanta, which was even capable of putting a hole in the main fortress of the Bharatiya Empire at its border, could easily deal with the one in front of him.

So without hesitation, and with no regard for ammunition, Vaibhav ordered both siege cannons to fire nonstop, salvo after salvo, until either the enemy surrendered or the fortress was breached.

The enemy tried to counterattack through various means, such as sending assassination squads to directly target him, sneaking in small artillery pieces aimed at the Asura Hanta siege cannons, or even attempting to cut off their logistical supplies and choke them out. However, each and every plan failed, and the siege cannons continued to wreak devastation on the walls.

Still, the audacious actions of the Slavs had to be punished. So Vaibhav did not hesitate and mobilised all the special forces under his command, sending them to the rear of the enemy to launch guerrilla attacks whenever possible. Not only that, they began burning down granaries, contaminating water sources, and targeting logistical channels.

Facing such retaliation from the Bharatiya Empire, the fortress of Edirne was completely isolated. In the end, only four days after the battle began, the fortress fell, and the objective was completed.

22nd October 1705

After nearly three weeks, the regiment commanded by Lieutenant General Lavanga Sinha finally reached the convergence point, which also happened to be the next target decided upon by the commander, the city of Komotini, a relatively prosperous agriculture- and commerce-based city over 295 kilometres from Tekirdağ.

Komotini did not have large city walls or even a proper defence fort capable of protecting the city, but what they did have was numbers. So even though Lavanga Sinha was confident that he could take over the city even without the commander’s support, he did not have the army needed to properly back such a plan. Leading the regiment he currently commanded to take over the city was not impossible if he played his cards right, but the loss of life would inevitably be high.

Promotions in the Bharatiya Army might be merit-based, but they also take into account how that merit was acquired. If that merit came at the cost of sacrificing thousands of fellow comrades when a much safer alternative existed, he would not be getting promoted. Instead, he would be court-martialed, lose his position, and in the worst case, even end up imprisoned.

So he did not try to be too ambitious. His promotion was already right around the corner; it was only a matter of whether it came after this operation or after two more. He had climbed up the ranks of the military step by step in a stable manner, so there was no need to risk everything he had achieved just to move one step further a few days earlier.

So he resorted to caution and psychological tactics, launching sneak attacks every day on defenders who were caught alone, while also sending a loudmouthed soldier to yell at the enemy daily, urging them to surrender, disarm their artillery and guns, and lay down their weapons.

He held a glimmer of hope that his actions might succeed, but sadly, they did not.

4th November 1705

It wasn’t until the main army commanded by Vaibhav Krishnamurthy arrived, after a long march of nearly two weeks covering a distance of 200 kilometres between Edirne and Komotini, that the defenders of the city finally gave up and raised the white flag.

In a matter of a month, three major fortresses were conquered by the empire, and that too right on schedule.

It was time to integrate the regiment with the main army, and Lavanga Sinha went straight to his commander to handle the procedures. But to his surprise, his commander gave him a huge shock.

"Lavanga, you should continue to command the troops and operate independently."

"Commander?" Safe to say Lavanga was dumbfounded, his eyes wide open and his mouth slightly agape.

"Yes, I realised it will be much faster if I simply aim at the inland city of Serres while you handle the cities of Xanthi and Kavala on the coast. The Navy will be helping whenever possible, so it should not be too difficult to complete this task."

"One more thing, you did a good job. I did hear that there were no casualties when you took down Tekirdağ, and that the casualties were kept to a minimum when you launched skirmish attacks on Komotini."

Lavanga Sinha felt a little moved. "Thank you, sir. I wouldn’t have been able to reach my position if it weren’t for your careful guidance and tutoring."

Vaibhav simply shook his head and smiled. "No, I haven’t done much. I simply did what a commander should do. Any other commander in my place would have done the same. You don’t have to think that I looked after you when you earned everything by yourself."

"Besides, if you get promoted to the rank of commander, it will help me immensely as well, so you don’t have to think that I’m not benefiting from your growth."

(Commanders in the army also gain merit and open up more career paths after their service when they are able to train capable subordinates. This ensures that talent is not suppressed.)

"Alright, we can’t allow the Navy to remain in the open sea for too long. Get moving. Oh, and since you have two cities to take down, you will need more troops as well, so I will allow you to recruit from the army."

Lavanga Sinha nodded. He felt moved, but he held on to the faith the commander had placed in him and the gratitude he felt in his heart, vowing to repay him in the future whenever possible. He left the town hall, which had been turned into the headquarters of the army, and began recruiting troops for his small army, which soon turned into its own independent battle group.

10th November 1705

Lavanga Sinha, with a force comprising four infantry regiments, one of which was a heavy infantry regiment, two battalions of commandos, two battalions of rangers, two companies of motorcycle units, and two artillery brigades, launched a frontal attack on the city of Xanthi, fifty-five kilometres from Komotini.

Xanthi was not a well-protected city, nor was it in a strong geographic position. The only advantage it had was its distance from the coast, which prevented direct naval support. However, it did not matter. With his increased strength and a targeted strike on the enemy barracks, the city fell within two days.

18th November 1705

A week and 85 kilometres of travel later, Lavanga Sinha and his army finally arrived at Kavala, a city of multiple beaches.

What happened next was unsurprising. With the Navy positioned in the Aegean Sea, the coastal city never stood a chance. It collapsed even faster than Xanthi. It took only two or three salvos from the Ramachandra class battleships for the entire coastal defence to shatter like porcelain.

24th November 1705

Over 20 days and 185 kilometres later, the main army commanded by Vaibhav Krishnamurthy finally appeared in front of Serres, a fortress city similar to Edirne, though its defences were not as formidable.

However, it had its own challenges. A river called the Maritsa flowed right beside the city, protecting it from invasion. If he had a brigade or two of Marines, this could have been an advantage, but sadly, he was not equipped with them. Since he could not effectively launch an attack from the rear, he was left with only two approaches: from the front or from the left. This meant the enemy only had to defend two sides, and for a city with a decent population, it was not too difficult to gather 50,000 to 60,000 defenders.

Not that it stopped him. Vaibhav Krishnamurthy simply used missiles to bombard the enemy barracks at the rear of the city from across the river, launched by a specialised unit he had deployed. At the same time, he began unloading artillery onto the rock walls, pounding them relentlessly with one salvo after another.

2nd December 1705

Lavanga Sinha, despite having to cover 160 kilometres, managed to arrive at Thessaloniki faster simply because he had set off nearly two weeks in advance.

However, this time the main army was not far behind, since the distance from Serres to Thessaloniki was only 75 kilometres. So Lavanga Sinha did not try to start the battle on his own.

5th December 1705

Commander Vaibhav Krishnamurthy reintegrated his army and quickly decided on their positions.

His force had reduced significantly from the initial million troops, as he had to leave behind a substantial number of soldiers in each conquered city to secure the empire’s interests. Even so, despite these detachments, he still commanded over 700,000 troops, more than enough to deal with Thessaloniki.