Chapter 109: Ordered To Surrender, Overconfident Troops Advance Rashly
April 21, 3:30 a.m.
Several massive Zeppelin Airships took off from near Miháľovce in the Hungarian Basin, flew over the Carpathian Mountains, and stealthily arrived in the dark over the Przemysl Fortress on the northern side of the mountain range.
On a piece of open space inside the fortress, many bonfires were lit in a regular pattern to provide airdrop guidance for the airships.
Meanwhile, in the encirclement camps several kilometers outside the fortress, the full 16 divisions of Lusha encirclement troops noticed neither these bonfires nor the airships quietly gliding over from high altitude in the dark.
“We have arrived over the predetermined airdrop point. Begin dropping the medicine boxes!”
At the command of the airship commander, dozens of large crates filled with sulfonamide were dropped. The military doctors of the garrison below watched eagerly, waiting only to collect the medicine and quickly deliver it to treat infections among their wounded comrades.
But this time was somewhat different. After dropping a bunch of medicine box strings tied to parachutes, an officer actually floated down last, using parachute techniques just as proficiently. He had even received specialized winged parachute gliding training—
When Lelouch first established the airborne troops, he simultaneously produced a large batch of round parachutes with vents, as well as rectangular winged parachutes.
It was just that in the February battle to seize the Dunkirk Fortress, the winged parachute troops had not been truly committed to combat due to insufficient training time.
However, practice with the winged parachutes had continued persistently; the troops would train whenever they had downtime.
Additionally, some pilots, airship crews, and hot air balloon observers could apply on their own for training on the new parachutes. Kesselring was one of those particularly interested in parachuting. He had applied for the training himself and, over several months, had become quite proficient, able to precisely control his landing spot.
The logistics soldiers and military doctors receiving supplies on the ground, seeing a live person descending from the sky, of course went to report it.
Soon, patrolling officers responsible for maintaining military discipline came to question him, though their attitude was still polite. Everyone could guess that he must have floated down from the airship and was one of their own sent from the rear.
Kesselring wasted no time and introduced himself directly: “I am a Major Staff Officer of the Southern Army Group, but I cannot reveal more right now. I need to see Fortress Commander Lieutenant General Kusmanek! I have the latest secret orders from General Linsingen for Lieutenant General Kusmanek and must deliver them to him in person!”
Kesselring merely showed his identification proving his identity, then said no more, instructing the patrolling officer responsible for military discipline to report up the chain of command level by level and escort him to see the Fortress Defense Commander.
The men below did not dare to neglect him and soon escorted Kesselring to the fortress headquarters.
Lieutenant General Kusmanek was nearing sixty, with all white hair and deep-set eyes. The half-year siege had left him looking extremely weak and haggard, though a flicker of determination occasionally flashed in his eyes.
The moment Major Kesselring saw him, a sense of admiration inexplicably welled up in his heart.
“I hear you brought orders from General Linsingen for me? At this point, what orders could there be? Do they still expect us to organize another breakout? We’ve slaughtered and eaten more than half our war horses, and we can’t tow or deploy the heavy cannons. What do we breakout with!” Lieutenant General Kusmanek’s tone carried unwillingness, stubbornness, and disappointment toward his friendly forces.
Seeing this, Kesselring couldn’t help defending his friendly forces: “The encirclement battle has already lasted half a year! In this half year, Austria has suffered a total of 400,000 casualties on the Carpathian battlefield, and the Lusha Army has lost 200,000.
Though it can’t be said that all those 400,000 losses were solely to rescue the Przemysl Fortress, they were at least lost around this main battlefield like a meat grinder! Your Excellency, I do not believe your friendly forces failed to exert themselves in rescuing you.
The Carpathian Mountains are truly a natural barrier. Armies from the Hungarian Basin trying to advance north over the mountains to rescue were blocked by the Lusha Army at the Dukla Pass, waiting at ease while the attackers labored, suffering devastating losses.”
Lieutenant General Kusmanek had originally just been indignant, but after hearing Kesselring explain the difficulties of the friendly forces, he could understand. His emotions calmed. After a long pause, he said unwillingly: “I know that’s the truth! But if so, at this point we have no way out. What more can General Linsingen demand of us!”
Kesselring: “That is precisely why I am here today. General Linsingen hopes you will obey all orders from Marshal Rupprecht and surrender in an orderly manner!”
Even Lieutenant General Kusmanek, who had seen great winds and waves and weathered several brushes with death without losing composure no matter the crisis,
was still naturally shocked by Kesselring’s relayed words: “Surrender in an orderly manner?”
Kesselring handed him two secret orders: one from General Linsingen, instructing him to obey Marshal Rupprecht and his special envoy in all things; the other directly from Marshal Rupprecht.
“The Empire needs you to surrender in an orderly manner, lulling the enemy into letting them pass over the Carpathian Mountains for battle elsewhere. You have already done your utmost. Hold out for another 5 days. During these 5 days, do the following:
First, slaughter and eat all remaining mules and horses and all other livestock. Leave nothing to aid the enemy.
Second, destroy all ammunition. Before doing so, have the Engineer Corps survey the fortress structure, focusing on exploding the key firepower support points and vital nodes of the fortress to self-destruct all defensive facilities as much as possible.
Third, I need the accounts from the fortress military hospital to confirm all medicine usage. Use up all wound medicine on the wounded soldiers.
Fourth, weapons can be handed over to the enemy, but destroy the cannons that use ammunition compatible with theirs. Only retain those heavy cannons that use only our standard-caliber ammunition, which the enemy cannot use directly, to delay them.
Fifth, starting immediately, use all enemy weapons previously collected from battlefield sweeps to train as many of our soldiers as possible in the basic operation of Lusha weapons and familiarize them with the differences from our own.
Sixth, organize work teams, led by me, to propagandize to the soldiers about the efforts the Empire’s friendly forces made to rescue the fortress, and other content to foster patriotism and morale, so that once in the prisoner of war camp, they at least won’t take up arms against former comrades…”
Kesselring methodically listed a long string of tasks, at least two of which Lieutenant General Kusmanek himself would never have thought of.
The general nodded repeatedly in thought upon hearing this, forced to admit that some staff officers at the rear headquarters did think things through meticulously. In the end, he only raised questions about the fifth point:
“Training our soldiers to use enemy weapons—what is the plan here? Do they expect that after capture, when transported back to enemy territory, they can escape and continue guerrilla fighting?”
Kesselring: “That’s not the intention from above. It’s just that Lusha territory is vast and sparsely populated. In case they end up in Siberia with lax guarding and a chance to escape, knowing how to use enemy weapons at least gives more chance of survival. This is being responsible to our soldiers.”
The general thought it over and found it reasonable, so he accepted it. He then ordered the various units to begin acting per the orders. Completing all this would take about three to five days.
It must be said that Germanic Tribe officers managed order very rigorously. In Earth’s history, the preparations before the surrender of the Przemysl Fortress were done very thoroughly.
In the end, they handed over weapons incompatible with enemy ammunition to avoid enraging the enemy into retaliating against prisoners of war, while also avoiding immediate aid to the enemy. All ammunition was destroyed, as were weapons compatible with it.
In Earth’s history, the fortress had a total of 1050 cannons; 900 were ultimately handed to the enemy, all of different calibers that the enemy couldn’t fire immediately without capturing Germania-Austria caliber shells. The Lusha Army, after capturing them, figured they could make them operational later with battlefield captures, so didn’t rush to transport them rearward. When Mackensen’s forces later counterattacked and recaptured the fortress, those 900 cannons were basically all recovered.
This shows the rigor of Germanic Tribe officers in their work.
Therefore, in this timeline, Kesselring’s relayed surrender plan from Lelouch was also executed very rigorously and thoroughly.
All the fortress’s defensive fortifications were demolished by explosion before surrender. Even these officers didn’t know the news that “friendly forces would counterattack in a relatively short time.” They purely demolished all the strongly defended positions themselves out of consideration that fortress facilities could not aid the enemy.
Sulfonamide management was also very rigorous, as medicine was scarce to begin with and not dispensed to soldiers. It was centrally managed in the military hospital. When military doctors found wounded needing medication, nurses administered it directly on-site; soldiers couldn’t hide any, weren’t even allowed to handle it, so the military hospital accounts were clear.
For the last few days, no need to worry “how long the medicine will last.” They focused on giving the wounded the best treatment. Those who had toughed out minor wounds or illnesses due to lack of medicine now got full treatment: medicine where needed, alcohol and gauze changes where required—all medicine used up completely.
Under Lieutenant General Kusmanek’s rigorous management and Major Kesselring’s repeated propaganda and enforcement, though the soldiers were about to surrender, their mental state was maintained very well, and morale actually rose somewhat compared to before.
With the five days nearly up, the last batch of mules and horses reserved for a potential breakout were slaughtered and eaten clean, medicine used up, ammunition exploded, fortress defensive works self-demolished—Lieutenant General Kusmanek finally decided to surrender with 130,000 men.
……
News that Lieutenant General Kusmanek was attempting to contact the Lusha Army to negotiate surrender terms quickly reached the encirclement troops’ camp.
General Ratko Dmitriev, commander of the Lusha 3rd Army Group responsible for the encirclement of this fortress, and Lieutenant General Selivanov, commanding two corps of the Lusha 11th Army Group, both participated in the negotiations and ultimately agreed to a conditional surrender.
Officers would receive preferential treatment without hard labor, but soldiers had to surrender weapons, then participate in logistics labor and infrastructure repairs, helping the Lusha Army maintain railways and thaw period roads. A considerable portion of manpower would also be assigned to porter duties, transporting supplies over the Dukla Pass.
And almost right before Lieutenant General Kusmanek formally surrendered, some news from the Western Front arrived, making General Ratko Dmitriev and Lieutenant General Selivanov increasingly excited and feeling the opportunity was rare.
It seemed the Lusha Army must seize this golden window of the thaw period’s final phase to cross the mountains southward into the Hungarian Basin!
The original 16 divisions involved in the encirclement were the first to move, successively crossing the pass and launching an attack on the Hungarian Heartland.
