Chapter 117: Airborne Drop On Lviv (part 1)
May 17th, evening.
Captain Kurt Student landed his two-seater Albatross at Budapest Airport.
Lelouch, in the rear seat, didn’t wait for the ground crew to bring a ladder, but instead leaped out directly, landing lightly and heading towards the distant crowd.
The Albatross aircraft wasn’t large to begin with, and the rear seat wasn’t high up, so jumping out of the cockpit was no difficulty for the young man.
As soon as Lelouch landed, Marshal Rupprecht, the commander of the 6th Army Group, was personally waiting for him at the airport. The Marshal and the group of officers behind him also came forward.
The feeling was quite akin to Zhuge Liang borrowing the east wind from Zhou Yu and Lu Su, being picked up by Zhao Yun in a small boat to Xiakou, and immediately having Liu, Guan, and Zhang ready with troops awaiting his command.
Important people have to be in two places at once; both the 10th Army Group and the 6th Army Group needed him.
“I heard Uncle’s side is doing well? Is Dukla Pass completely blocked?” the Crown Prince asked directly about military affairs without any pleasantries upon seeing him.
He also patted Lelouch’s shoulder, clearly treating him as one of their own.
Lelouch replied, “Indeed, they are doing very well, thanks to those half-track vehicles, which managed to drag heavy artillery to terrain that was previously inaccessible, allowing for direct fire superiority from higher ground to blockade the mountain valleys. However, both enemy and our own logistics are currently facing difficulties on the Northern Front.
Every single artillery shell used by those heavy guns was carried to the positions by soldiers through long marches. If we could utilize the 70 kilometers of railway from Tarnuv to Rzeszów and then to Krosno, allowing our army to transport shells from the rear and unload them at Krosno, reducing the foot travel for soldiers and mules by 70 kilometers, the logistical pressure of the war of attrition at Dukla Pass would be significantly alleviated.”
The Crown Prince nodded slightly, offering no opinion: “Indeed, that is the case—which is why we must do our utmost to cooperate with Uncle and retake Przemysl Fortress as soon as possible. Once it is retaken, this final 70 kilometers of railway can be utilized.
Your parachute regiment is ready. Rommel has been helping you to keep your troops in order, strengthen their training, and maintain their readiness. I have also assigned several engineer battalions to find suitable terrain more than 100 kilometers northeast of Budapest, and they are rapidly constructing several field airports and leveling large areas for airship mooring.
I have also put in my best effort, swallowing my pride, to acquire the airship squadrons of the Imperial Air Force once more. This time, there are 56 airships, enough for you to parachute an entire regiment at once. However, all airships must be used for troop transport; do not expect to be able to spare a portion for bombing missions as we did at Dunkirk. The reconnaissance aircraft units have also been working diligently these past few days, and they have already obtained aerial photographs of the prisoner-of-war camps located behind the enemy lines.
As soon as you are ready, the airborne operation can commence the night after tomorrow. However, I am still a bit concerned. We have already conducted an airborne drop behind enemy lines at Dunkirk before; will the enemy truly not be on guard this time?”
Lelouch was very satisfied with these preparations. The Duke was completely obedient to him, truly like Liu Bei must have felt at Xiakou, with troops ready and awaiting Zhuge Liang’s return.
Regarding the Duke’s concerns, Lelouch patiently explained the difference: “Rest assured, there will be no accidents. We will still fly over the Carpathian Mountains at night and into enemy-occupied airspace. The enemy will not be able to dispatch reconnaissance fighters to intercept us, nor will they be able to find us.
By the time the airships return and land, it will be daylight, and the airships will be able to land safely. Our reconnaissance fighters can take off before dawn and arrive over the drop zone after sunrise, helping us to secure the area.
Most importantly, during the Battle of Dunkirk, we had to parachute directly onto the heads of enemy-dense fortifications. If the enemy had been even slightly vigilant, we would have been finished. But this time, I will avoid the enemy’s densely defended areas and first parachute and assemble in a relatively empty position behind enemy lines before engaging in battle.
The rear areas of the Eastern Front are very open, which is entirely different from the Western Front; there are weak points everywhere.”
The Duke said nothing further, simply telling Lelouch to coordinate and prepare with his subordinates.
Lelouch had a good night’s rest that evening. The next morning, he flew from Budapest to the area around Mihalovce, closer to the front lines—the specific location of a small place like Mihalovce is actually not important at all. It is sufficient to know that it is quite far northeast of Budapest, a plain town south of the Carpathians controlled by the Germans, closest to the northeastern front, and connected by railway.
Further east and north from Mihalovce, one enters the Carpathian Mountains, where railways cannot reach, and the terrain is rugged and not open enough.
Therefore, to serve as a base for large-scale airship mooring, as well as for temporary field airports and to shorten the flight distance for aircraft and airships crossing the Carpathians towards the front lines north of the mountains, this location was ultimately chosen.
It was precisely because this location was chosen temporarily for airborne operations behind enemy lines that when Lelouch arrived, he saw only the scene of a construction site that had just finished its work.
It was unclear how many engineer battalions the 6th Army Group had mobilized to this location to quickly construct so many field airports and airship mooring towers.
As Lelouch disembarked from Student’s aircraft, he was met by Lieutenant Colonel Erwin Rommel and several officers from the engineer corps, who had come to invite him for an inspection, review, and acceptance.
In recent times, Lelouch had been busy with the strategic planning for two army groups, and had not paid much attention to the affairs of his own parachute regiment, leaving all the arrangements to Rommel, his deputy commander.
Fortunately, Rommel was conscientious and had a good understanding of the logistical support required for such special operations. Before Lelouch’s arrival, all the acceptance work had been completed, and preparations were very thorough. Lelouch only needed to conduct a cursory inspection, a perfunctory check for any oversights.
“You’ve done a great job. It’s not easy to build such large field airports and airship mooring towers in such a short time,” Lelouch said with satisfaction as he sat in the car, looking at the continuous new facilities on both sides.
“Indeed, we encountered many problems during construction, especially some geological issues. Fortunately, the construction teams worked hard to resolve them. During my supervision, I also found that several engineer battalions and specific units performed exceptionally well.
For example, airship mooring towers No. 21 to 23 nearly experienced geological settlement during construction. Emergency grouting was used to re-stabilize the foundation. They also applied this lesson to conduct supplementary surveys and slightly adjusted the locations of several airship mooring towers that had not yet been built.
The 14th Engineer Battalion of the Army Group performed the best, especially its survey platoon, which identified many geological hazards and recommended adjustments to the construction plans and some of the site selections, saving considerable losses and ensuring the schedule was not delayed.”
As Lelouch listened to Rommel’s report, images of some Douyin (TikTok) videos from later generations appeared in his mind.
In later generation Douyin videos, whether it was bridge construction or subway tunnel excavation, there were often comments jesting, “Before they meet in the middle, they hang the surveyors’ families. If they don’t meet because of a deviation, the whole family is sacrificed. If they meet successfully, then it’s good cigarettes, good wine, good banquets, and a group of young ladies to serve them.”
This time, it seems the surveyors did an excellent job, ensuring the timely completion of the urgent project. They deserve a great reward.
Lelouch casually instructed Rommel, “Please give me a list of the officers who performed well during the rushed construction, and I will put in a good word for them with the Crown Prince.”
Rommel was prepared and immediately handed over a document.
On the truck following behind, some officers from the engineer corps looked on with eager eyes as Lieutenant Colonel Rommel handed over the list.
This was a chance to get noticed by the Crown Prince’s favored confidant.
Lelouch casually flipped through it and was pleasantly surprised.
“Lieutenant Fritz Thate of the 14th Engineer Battalion’s survey platoon? Born in ’91. He had just finished his fourth year in the Civil Engineering department at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology when the war broke out? Hmm, excellent, a true talent. He helped eliminate so many hidden dangers during the rushed construction of the airship mooring base. He has made significant contributions to this operation. He deserves at least a promotion to company commander, and perhaps even a deputy battalion commander position.”
The name Fritz Thate is unknown to many military enthusiasts. But it was different for Lelouch. Before his transmigration, he was a hardcore Paradox Development Studio player who had played Hearts of Iron IV countless times.
In Hearts of Iron IV, the German national focus tree has a mechanic called the “Cabinet Core Circle,” where players can choose 3 out of 7 cabinet ministers to enter the core circle, humorously nicknamed “The Seven Warlords under the King” by players.
The list of these “Seven Warlords” includes Fritz Thate, Speer, Meyer, Simmler, Göbel, Hess, and Bormann.
In his past life, Lelouch, having played the game extensively, specifically researched the obscure character Fritz Thate and learned that he was the chief engineer who executed the Four Year Plan for basic construction in Germany during the 1930s, planning Germany’s highway system.
In the early days of World War I, this individual did indeed enlist after graduating from the Civil Engineering department of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in the Duchy of Baden, becoming an officer in the 14th Direct Engineer Battalion of the 6th Army Group of the Baria Faction.
Unexpectedly, Lelouch’s urgent construction of the airborne base this time has caused this individual to stand out from a crowd of civil engineering colleagues.
Lelouch immediately had a plan in mind. He immediately instructed, “I want to meet these meritorious officers and reward them properly. Have this Fritz Thate come to see me immediately.”
Rommel quickly made arrangements, and soon a group of civil engineering colleagues were brought before Lelouch.
“You have all worked hard. If this operation is successful, you will all be heroes of the Empire, and the Crown Prince will not treat you unfairly.”
As Lelouch spoke, he also gave a small gift to the meritorious officers and soldiers in his personal capacity as a reward.
After distributing them generally, Lelouch kept only Fritz Thate, who was still a lieutenant and platoon leader at the time, to speak with him privately.
Lelouch said with a beaming smile, using gracious words: “Lieutenant Thate, born in late ’91? Then you’re about my age. I was born in early ’92, so we’re from the same generation. When the war broke out, I had just finished my fourth year in the Architecture department at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. You finished your fourth year in the Civil Engineering department at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology? We’re practically colleagues. I joined the army last August, and you?”
Fritz Thate, still a young man in his mid-twenties, was quite touched by his superior’s approachable inquiries about trivial matters and struggled to speak clearly:
“That’s a remarkable coincidence, I also joined the army last August. My superior is truly omnipotent; in the same nine months, you have become a Colonel.”
Lelouch patted his shoulder: “It is indeed a coincidence. As soon as I joined the army, I was assigned to the Army Group Signal Battalion. You were assigned to the Direct Engineer Battalion. Unfortunately, my specialization wasn’t relevant at the time, and Germany’s enlistment management doesn’t recognize foreign diplomas. Otherwise, I would have started as a Second Lieutenant, or at least a Sergeant Major. At the time, I was only given the rank of Corporal.”
Lelouch’s casual complaint made Fritz Thate even more ashamed. He had enlisted last year and was registered as a Sergeant Major. After completing basic training and rapidly acquiring military skills, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant within a few months, and then to Lieutenant this year.
University graduates in science and engineering were valuable during this era. Even without any military training background, as long as their learned skills were useful to the army, such as in architecture, civil engineering, or communications, they would enlist at least as a Sergeant Major, following the technical NCO track.
Lelouch’s initial start as a Corporal was purely due to a communication mix-up. However, looking back now, it had all become a legend. He had risen from Corporal to Colonel in nine months; who could dare say it wasn’t inspiring?
Lelouch took this opportunity to chat with Thate for a while. He also mentioned that after the campaign ended, he would speak to his superiors to promote Thate to Captain and Company Commander, and also as Deputy Battalion Commander.
Hearing this, Thate was extremely grateful to Lelouch and expressed his complete loyalty to him from then on.
Lelouch said casually, “I studied architecture, and you studied civil engineering. Originally, if this war hadn’t broken out, I would have joined a design institute, and you would have joined a construction company.
When the war is over, or when the occupied territories in the East require economic recovery and armament construction, perhaps we can collaborate. If I want to design a project in my spare time someday, you can be responsible for its construction.”
“This is truly the honor of my lifetime!” Fritz Thate was so grateful he was practically prostrating himself. In his entire life, he, a civil engineer, had never imagined that after being pulled into the engineer corps, he could return to his original profession and do so many things he wanted to do.
Lelouch had already regarded him as an important assistant for realizing his economic plans for the occupied territories in the East. After the Empire acquired territory in the East, the key to surviving the World War would be to achieve a self-sufficient economic cycle.
The agricultural products, mining, and hydroelectric resources of the vast black earth plains would all need to be utilized. Germany’s original governance system was far too inefficient in coordinating resources in the occupied territories.
He had such close relationships with prisoners of war and Minister Baden of the Occupied Area Affairs Department; in the future, he would definitely need to cultivate more confidants within the Occupied Area Affairs Department and appoint more economic commissioners for the occupied territories.
…
The matter of Fritz Thate and the commendation of the engineer troops was merely a minor interlude before the airborne operation began.
While dealing with these matters, Lelouch had also thoroughly completed all preparations for the airborne operation.
After lunch that day, Lelouch listened to Rommel’s latest report on enemy intelligence one last time to identify any gaps and synchronize information.
Rommel reported in detail: “These past few days, our reconnaissance aircraft have conducted extensive and deep reconnaissance into the enemy’s rear areas north of the mountains. The enemy has not become vigilant because of this. Initially, they did attempt to dispatch reconnaissance fighters to intercept our aircraft.
However, our reconnaissance formations consist of four aircraft each, and we engage in air combat to counter them. Even if the enemy deploys several times the number of aircraft, they cannot eliminate our reconnaissance squadrons and are even counter-attacked by our fighter jets equipped with firing coordination devices and nose-mounted coaxial machine guns.
Therefore, in terms of aerial photographic intelligence, our army currently holds an absolute advantage. The situation behind enemy lines is now unilaterally transparent.
The mission assigned to Major Albert Kesselring, whom you sent to Przemysl Fortress, was also completed very successfully. The Russian Army’s management of prisoners of war is quite lax. A small portion of the Austrian soldiers captured during their transfer managed to escape.
Major Kesselring was among those who escaped. He has since gathered several small detachments of one to two hundred men behind enemy lines, though he cannot obtain much weaponry. However, he has managed to establish contact with our aerial reconnaissance units using the communication tools you previously provided, mainly some multi-colored smoke canisters, and yesterday he directed aerial reconnaissance targets.
Based on all the intelligence gathered from various sources, the enemy appears to have kept 40,000 Hungarian prisoners out of the total 130,000 prisoners of war at the front lines, using them as laborers to transport artillery shells and build roads.
The remaining 40,000-plus German soldiers and over 40,000 Bohemian and other ethnic soldiers are temporarily held in two prisoner-of-war camps located 60-70 kilometers east of Przemysl Fortress, likely also assigned to perform some maintenance and transportation labor.
These two prisoner-of-war camps are located 10-20 kilometers further east, with Lviv, the main supply hub of the Russian Army, beyond them. This means that these prisoner-of-war camps are in the western suburbs of Lviv, and about sixty to seventy kilometers from Przemysl.
The guarding force at the camps is not large, likely between battalion and regimental strength, as the enemy is also short of manpower. Although the number of prisoners is dozens of times that of the guards, the prisoners do not have weapons, so the Russian Army is not afraid of them causing any trouble.”
Lelouch was satisfied with this reconnaissance result: “Indeed, Brusilov’s entire combat zone north of the Carpathians has only 13 divisions. After Marshal Leopold annihilated 4 enemy divisions along the Gorlice-Tarnuv line, the enemy has only 9 divisions remaining.
They have to defend Rzeszów, Krosno, Przemysl Fortress, and critical nodes like Lviv. How many men can they spare to guard two large suburban prisoner-of-war camps? Battalion to regimental strength is reasonable. Assuming each battalion leaves 1,000-2,000 men to guard 40,000 prisoners, it should be sufficient. Our parachute regiment, after landing and assembling slightly, can then launch a surprise attack on the prisoner-of-war camps and take them with certainty.”
Lelouch finally made the decision, ordering all troops to eat their fill, rest and sleep from the afternoon until midnight, then reassemble and prepare, eat another meal, and then begin boarding the airships at 1:30 AM, taking off precisely at 2:30 AM.
The target, naturally, was the prisoner-of-war camp in the western suburbs of Lviv, approximately 180 kilometers northeast of Mihalovce.
For a distance of 180 kilometers, the airships would reach it in less than 2 hours. They would parachute and assemble at 4:30 AM, then launch their surprise attack before dawn.
There is no precise navigation at night, and this flight distance of 180 kilometers is twice as far as the previous operation at Dunkirk, so there might be a slight deviation （ During the Battle of Dunkirk, the reason they didn’t deviate was by relying on ground-based railway artillery’s night bombardment and using incendiary bombs to create large fires on the fortress to guide the airships ）
But it’s alright, this error would at most be a deviation of two to three kilometers, and with luck, even less than one kilometer. As long as everyone lands together and determines the coordinates on the ground before deciding where to march and attack, an error of a few kilometers is insignificant; they can walk it.
Another advantage of airship deployment compared to aircraft deployment is that all soldiers land in a relatively dense area. Aircraft travel at high speeds, and from the first person jumping from the same aircraft to the last, the aircraft might have already traveled several kilometers.
However, from the first person jumping from the same airship to the last, the airship might not have traveled more than two hundred meters.
These are unique advantages of airship deployment, and unfortunately, they can only be utilized in this era when the enemy has not yet established an anti-aircraft network and fighter interception system.
By next year at the latest, airship deployment will inevitably exit the stage of history.
It is best to take advantage of the fact that there are still tricks to play and make the most of it.
