Chapter 29: Appointed Reconnaissance Company Commander, Time To Try Some New Tricks
After returning to the Ostend front line and back to the combat troops.
Lelouch spent two or three days readjusting to front-line life,
and also participated in some first-line defensive combat, earning a little merit for “show”—the so-called “show” meaning these merits were originally insufficient to support his promotion from lieutenant to captain. But since the higher-ups all knew he actually had other merits, and this was just going through the motions, it didn’t matter.
In these two or three days, quite a few things had indeed happened.
For example, on the very night he returned, he learned that Nieuwpoort town, further on the front line, had fallen again—
Nieuwpoort town, on the evening of October 30, was once briefly captured by the French Army due to the fierce fire preparation bombardment from the British Channel Fleet. But in the latter half of the night, that is, early on the 31st, Hipper’s fleet destroyed those four pre-dreadnoughts, then left two Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers to bombard the French Army, allowing the German Army to retake this patch of ruins.
But on the night before Lelouch returned to Ostend, David Betty, who had just pursued Hipper and sealed him in the Antwerp Fjord, received a temporary order from British Naval Minister Walton to take his six relatively intact high-speed battlecruisers and carry out another night bombardment mission on the return trip.
The British were holding their breath so fiercely, fiercely enough to waste the gun barrel lifespan of cutting-edge battlecruisers on shore battery bombardment missions, so the German Army should give them due respect.
So in the end, Regimental Commander Lister decisively withdrew by small boats, leaving behind only three thousand French lives, allowing the enemy to smoothly reoccupy that town.
This was also unavoidable, not something to be ashamed of. Because Nieuwpoort town had been repeatedly plowed and bombarded three times by British pre-dreadnoughts, German armored cruisers, and British battlecruisers, it had been thoroughly leveled, not even ruins left.
A mere town just a few kilometers deep, plowed and bombarded repeatedly by three battleship fleets—what kind of karma was this? There were no civilians or living people left in the town long ago.
After the town fell, the more than ten kilometers of defenseless coastal highway from the town to Ostend were also lost in a single daytime. Similarly because Betty’s battlecruisers lingered and wouldn’t leave; whenever they saw resistance, they closed in for direct fire in broad daylight—impossible to hold.
When Lelouch returned to the unit and joined the defensive fighting, Ostend had already become the foremost front line. He held here with the troops for two days, went through the motions to earn a bit of merit, and then the higher-ups completed the process to promote him to captain.
……
November 3, morning.
12th Division Headquarters inside Ostend city.
Major General Karl personally presided over the promotion and medal-awarding ceremony for Lelouch.
“…In view of Lieutenant Lelouch’s outstanding performance in the Nieuwpoort and Ostend campaigns… now reported to Army Group Headquarters, promote Lelouch Hunter to captain and award the First Class Iron Cross Medal.”
The nearby group of officers applauded; Lelouch stood at attention and saluted. Major General Karl personally pinned the medal on him and added a star to his shoulder insignia.
（Note: In the Second Empire period, military uniforms had no rank insignia on the collar; the different colored patches on the collar were only to distinguish branches, so rank was mainly identified by shoulder insignia. This is evident from old photographs; the clothing style at the time was still quite close to 19th-century old-style clothes, without small lapels suitable for rank insignia.）
After the awarding, Major General Karl adjusted Lelouch’s position, making him first serve as company commander of the Division Reconnaissance Company. The subsequent formalities and handover of duties need not be detailed.
After handling that, Major General Karl dismissed the other officers and spoke alone with Lelouch:
“The higher-ups are preparing the Battle of Ypres, but it won’t enter the general offensive immediately; more preparation time is needed. Currently, Army Group’s task for our division is to hold Ostend for a few more days, even if the enemy continues sending battlecruisers or pre-dreadnoughts for bombardment—we must persist and hold.
Once the rear Blankenberge port is fully prepared, this small city can be temporarily abandoned. After abandoning it, our division will pull back for rest and refit, update equipment, summarize tactical experience, and then be redeployed to the front line when it’s time for the assault on the Ypres Salient.
The original company commander of the Division Reconnaissance Company, Captain Andri, was seriously wounded by bombardment in Nieuwpoort just over a week ago, far from recovered. You were previously a line-laying platoon leader in the Army Group Signal Battalion, and when transferred down to the division, there was no suitable combat unit for you.
A talent like you would be wasted as an ordinary infantry company commander at the regimental level, so I’m temporarily handing the Division Reconnaissance Company to you. Division direct companies are reinforced units anyway, and the reconnaissance company also needs some communications talent; your transfer fits well.
You’ve fought alongside those people and will easily win them over; just pay attention to appeasing the original backbone officers—some were eyeing a battlefield promotion to take over after Captain Andri was wounded. With you transferred in, inevitably some will be disappointed.”
Lelouch quickly stated: “You can rest assured on that point; I’ll handle the internals and ensure unity. However, I’d like to presumptuously ask: the higher-ups require us to hold Ostend a few more days before withdrawing—what’s the thinking behind that? If it’s purely to delay time, it seems pointless and would just increase casualties under enemy naval gun bombardment.”
Major General Karl: “Of course it’s not purely to delay time—if another company commander asked, I wouldn’t answer, but you’re not an outsider, no need to hide it.
Army Group Headquarters has already planned it: holding Ostend against the enemy’s battleships bombarding at all costs is impossible; the coastal defense fortresses here aren’t sturdy enough, and the previous shore batteries’ largest caliber was only 210 mm, no threat to the enemy’s battleships or battlecruisers.
But withdrawing another 15 kilometers to Blankenberge, which our army has held for many days, ensures a solid defense. The city there is much larger than here, and the coastal defense fortresses are sturdier.
Plus, our army occupied Blankenberge a full ten days earlier than Ostend, and the railway between there and the rear has already been repaired. The Empire has transported several large-caliber coastal defense guns from the Antwerp Fortress, as well as super heavy cannons from the rear, to Blankenberge.
So as long as we delay a bit more here, we can hold until the 305 mm coastal defense guns on the Blankenberge side are installed and tested. Then the whole army withdraws there, and the enemy’s battleships won’t be able to pursue.”
Lelouch nodded; this reasoning was indeed correct.
If they just retreated again and again out of pure fear of enemy battleship bombardment, there would be no end to it—where would they stop? They couldn’t abandon every port city the enemy battleships could reach, right?
But if it was just to buy time, abandon a small port, and then equip the next port with coastal defense guns capable of threatening battleships to halt the enemy’s offensive, then the tactical abandonment was still acceptable.
Moreover, considering Ostend was where the Belgian Army was completely annihilated before, even though the place held little significance for the German Army now, since the “dumpling filling” had long been eaten and digested.
But for Britannia, this place had to be retaken at all costs, because they had already lost four pre-dreadnoughts and a bunch of auxiliary ships for this goal; failing to take Ostend would utterly destroy the Royal Navy’s face.
Relying solely on prior propaganda of “heavily damaging Hipper’s four battlecruisers” wouldn’t suffice to support their “win studies” propaganda,
because people in Britain would also say “war reports can lie, but the front line won’t lie.” They needed a decisive change on the front line to prove “the British Army replanted its flag on the walls of Ostend city” before Britain’s propaganda department could suppress the surging domestic clamor.
Given the huge difference in the subsequent significance of Ostend city to both sides—one desperately wanting it, the other not so much—the best choice for the German Army was to let the enemy bleed fully before abandoning it, to conserve strength well.
“I see, I understand. I’ll lead the Division Reconnaissance Company with all my effort!” Lelouch accepted the task and returned to his new unit.
With Ostend city’s defenses, holding for three to five days was no problem.
（Note: The above map shows the expected changes in control zones along the North Sea coast after Ostend is abandoned）
……
A few minutes later, Lelouch returned to the company headquarters of the Division Reconnaissance Company and met his new subordinates.
So-called new subordinates, but many were actually old acquaintances, just that their ranks were higher than his before.
Who could have known Lelouch went from corporal to captain in just 10 days—a rocket rise—turning his former leaders one by one into his subordinates.
Among these subordinate officers, the one most likely to be unconvinced was Lieutenant Barrack, the former deputy company commander who had taken over for the seriously wounded Captain Andri and acted as company commander for a week.
Lieutenant Barrack had even thought he’d get a direct battlefield promotion to captain and become the official company commander of the reconnaissance company.
He also felt the reconnaissance company’s brothers had truly fought bloodily in the Nieuwpoort defense, and whether or not there was merit, there was definitely hard labor; promoting some standout officers was only right.
But in the end, he got his promotion from lieutenant to captain, but his position didn’t change—he was still deputy company commander—while Lelouch was parachuted in as company commander.
How could there be such logic in the world! A company equipped with two captains, and both company commander and deputy being captains!
Fortunately, before Lelouch arrived, leaders had privately talked to him, saying “the Division Reconnaissance Company is a reinforced company anyway; other companies have just over 240 men, while this one is full strength at 400, so two captains aren’t excessive.” That’s how Captain Barrack endured.
With Captain Barrack sorted, the others who were lower rank but previously above Lelouch had even less to say.
Lelouch gathered his subordinate officers and had an earnest talk, further familiarizing faces.
Deputy Company Commander Barrack was an old acquaintance; there were also five platoon leaders, all lieutenant or second lieutenant rank.
Four of the platoon leaders were original officers from the cavalry reconnaissance company; Lelouch wasn’t very familiar with them, but he saw his old colleagues from the Army Group Signal Battalion: Schweinsteiger and Klose.
Schweinsteiger had also been promoted one level, now a second lieutenant formally serving as platoon leader of 5th Platoon. Klose was a sergeant major, in charge of company headquarters security.
To accommodate Lelouch and help him master the unit faster, the higher-ups went to great lengths, battlefield-merging his former line-laying platoon from the Army Group Signal Battalion into the 12th Division Reconnaissance Company.
Because battlefield supplements were very difficult, the original full-strength 400-man reinforced cavalry company now had fewer than 200 left. Incorporating the signal battalion line-laying platoon barely made 200.
As for the Army Group Signal Battalion’s shortages, they could just recruit and train new soldiers from the rear to fill, at most transferring a few grassroots officers and NCOs as backbone.
At this point, those comrades Lelouch saw right after transmigrating ten days ago had all without exception become his subordinates（except Captain Andri recuperating in the rear）
……
PS: New book seeking comments, follows, collections, tickets.
Map-change transition chapter, needs to explain the situation and protagonist’s specific personnel changes—don’t complain it’s filler.
The second update this afternoon will start the real action.
