Chapter 201: Waiting For Digestion While Rushing To Aid From Afar
December 10th, night.
As the Lushans’ final large-scale desperate breakout was crushed, Marshal Rupprecht immediately gathered his main trusted generals and held a brief victory celebration.
It was also to discuss the next long-term plans, as well as when to divide forces to rescue the friendly nation on the Southern Front.
At this closed-door short meeting, Lelouch also frankly expressed his views:
“The battle has reached this point; the Lushans probably won’t break out anymore.
However, there are still over a million people in the encirclement, and it will likely take at least ten days to half a month to force the organized resistance to surrender.
As for those stragglers, it wouldn’t be unusual to spend another one or two months to completely purge them.
By then, the 10th Army Group might be able to redeploy to the Poland and Belarus Southern Front direction;
But our 6th Army Group must be mentally prepared to be pinned down in the Kievan Rus’ Great Plain region for the entire winter.”
His assessment was quickly unanimously endorsed by several key figures in the Army Group high command.
The Kyiv campaign won’t end so quickly, but the most intense phase has already been endured.
Marshal Rupprecht nodded, then began pondering the arrangements for the next phase.
He mused: “By then, leave half an Army Group here to maintain the winter situation. We need to first detach some forces to the south to support the Greek King and the Ottomans. The Greeks have been fighting the Britannia Army alone since November 28th, holding out for a full 12 days, and the situation is now very bad.
More and more Britannia allied forces are landing; it’s said there are already several hundred thousand. Thanks to their landing at a rate of 20,000 to 30,000 per day, the initial days didn’t have too many troops on shore, which allowed Greece to hold on without falling yet.
The terrain in southern Greece is mostly mountainous, with interlocking peninsulas and fjords, not suitable for large formations to deploy. After the Britannians surged up with three to four hundred thousand, they stopped piling all their forces toward Athens, and instead detached a considerable batch to invade Ottomans and Bulgaria from the Chios Border and Hibo Border—
Attacking Bulgaria definitely isn’t their goal; they probably just want to seize the southeastern corner of Bulgarian territory first, to facilitate outflanking the Ottoman capital Istanbul from there and add more pincer routes. I don’t remember the specifics; someone introduce the details.”
Marshal Rupprecht is also a man with a million things to handle daily; how could he remember all those details from other fronts.
But his earlier outline-grasping remarks were spot on.
After landing in Thessaloniki, the Britannians did indeed bloom in all directions over the next ten-plus days, because the real battlefield isn’t a game; troop deployment is limited by “battlefield width,” and endlessly piling troops densely inside doesn’t increase attack efficiency but only adds casualties.
Once the British Army had over 200,000 ashore in Greece, continuing to push a single land frontline toward Athens didn’t require that many people. To avoid wasting time, the excess troops naturally went to attack Ottomans and Bulgaria.
The Chios Border has only about 80 kilometers of effective width, and it’s mostly mountainous.
In comparison, the Bulgaria-Ottoman border exceeds 150 kilometers. And the stretch leading to the Kirklareli plain toward Ottomans is very flat and suitable for large formations to deploy, accounting for over half the width of the entire Bulgaria-Ottoman border.
If at the junction of Greece-Bulgaria-Ottoman, they detour slightly north into Bulgaria, then turn south to attack Ottomans, it can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
For an analogy that Earthlings can understand at a glance, it’s like in France-Germany battles, where both sides are wary of the Maginot and Siegfried Lines, so they think of bypassing through the relatively flat and easy-to-attack lowland countries.
Then, an unnamed staff officer whom Marshal Rupprecht had just pointed to detailed and reported the latest firsthand battle reports from the Southern Front that had just been scouted:
It turned out that after the Britannia Army launched the attack on November 28th, they broke through the Thessaloniki Region on the 30th（the initial landing point Thessaloniki Port is located in this region）the dangerous pass between the Greek Central Region, Mount Olympus’s Lapsani Pass, and entered Greece’s central plain basin.
The Greek Army couldn’t gather reinforcements from the Athens direction in time to desperately defend Mount Olympus, relying only on local garrison troops to resist on their own.
But the British Army also used armored car clusters for the first breakthrough at Lapsani Pass, rushing along the valley. The Greek troops trying to camp and block the road were crushed, triggering chain panic, and ultimately on the 31st, the British Army crossed Mount Olympus and advanced to the Central Region capital Larissa.
This had nothing to do with Lieutenant Colonel Walter Model sent to reinforce the Greeks, because he hadn’t taken over the defenses yet at that time.
After time entered December, Model began gradually assisting the Greeks with planning, and using the over-regiment of reinforcements he brought to help desperately hold and delay time; it’s said the effect was quite good.
Currently, the Britannians have about 150,000 troops continuing to advance in Greece.
Another nearly 200,000 are advancing on the Hibo Border and Chios Border respectively.
The advance into Bulgaria is the smoothest; the British Army has approached Bulgaria’s southernmost Black Sea port Burgas, then turned south from there into Ottomans’ Kirklareli.
The direct attack on Ottomans has progressed a bit less, just advancing to Edirne, meaning only pushing about 20 kilometers east along the Chios Border.
And Edirne is still over 40 kilometers from the base of the Gallipoli Peninsula to the south, in other words, the Britannia Army needs to push another 40 kilometers to cut off the Gallipoli Peninsula’s base from behind, severing the retreat of the Austrian Army currently fighting delaying actions on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
The delaying Austrian Army on the Gallipoli Peninsula is the Ottoman’s nation’s most elite troops; they’ve been blocking the landing British Army there since August, fighting fiercely for over three months. If this force is annihilated, the Ottomans might really collapse.
……
After hearing this latest Southern Front situation introduction, Lelouch and the other main generals immediately began voicing their opinions.
Lelouch suggested: “To save them, we should take the train directly from the Romania border into Bulgaria, then attack the British Army from north to south. If possible, we should start heading south tomorrow.
We can have the Ottoman Army calculate the schedule; if they really can’t hold Edirne, they can timely retreat to Tekirdag, or even ultimately to Istanbul. Anyway, with us there, Istanbul is absolutely safe.
Additionally, if it’s confirmed they can’t hold Edirne, the troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula can be pulled ahead to the north to hold, or even orderly withdraw if necessary, abandoning the Gallipoli Peninsula and contracting the defense line to unite forces.
Anyway, the Britannians have already landed on Greek mainland; they don’t lack this small landing field on the Gallipoli Peninsula—let them have it temporarily.”
A poisonous scheme arose in Lelouch’s mind; he even somewhat hoped Kemmel would decisively cut off and abandon the Gallipoli Peninsula defense line when facing the possibility of being attacked from front and rear, letting the British Army on the peninsula into the Tekirdag plain west of Istanbul.
After all, the Gallipoli Peninsula is mostly rugged mountains, and both sides have been digging in and holding for months there, with very dense fortifications.
If the British Army hunkers down on the peninsula, when the Germania Army kills over, they won’t be able to outflank from behind.
If the British Army can’t win and turns to holding desperately, then slowly withdraws by ship from those temporary anchorages at the peninsula tip, Lelouch can only sigh at the Aegean Sea, unable to stop the enemy retreat or stage another Dunkirk.
But if the British Army main force covets the seemingly at-hand Istanbul and all surges into the Tekirdag plain at Istanbul’s doorstep…
Lelouch will properly teach them how modern war is fought.
Marshal Rupprecht and the other Army Group high command smiled knowingly upon hearing this, clearly understanding.
But the marshal had many things to consider, with his additional concerns:
“This is indeed a good method, especially showing the enemy a glimmer of victory, then striking when they’re most arrogant and careless… However, what about Greece? If we set this up in the north, Greece might not be savable in time.
After all, saving Greece first would splash cold water on the British Army’s head, making them not dare to advance so arrogantly. But luring the British Army to advance in the north means definitely too late to save the south… King Constantine is His Majesty’s brother-in-law; we don’t want a bad reputation for inadequate rescue. Otherwise, when the Greek Queen returns home for a visit and complains to her brother, we’ll be in a tough spot.”
Lelouch: “I think, if it really comes to that, have Model protect the king and queen; even Athens can be briefly left to the enemy. Let Model take people to flee to the Peloponnese Peninsula, fight guerrillas in the mountains to delay time. Everything is for the overall great victory; the queen probably doesn’t understand military matters—as long as they see our army desperately fighting to protect them right in front, it’s enough. And we really are saving them.”
The duke finally nodded: “Alright, then that’s the plan. Now let’s discuss the specifics of dividing forces. Which troops do you think should go immediately to the Southern Front, and which stay here to encircle the Lushans? How to divide the armored cars and tanks?”
Lelouch thought for a moment and suggested: “Most armored cars can stay; just take 20 or 30 for communication, liaison, and special uses. Take all the tanks; if needed here, rely on the repair shops to fix and use on-site. Anyway, the damaged and faulty ones are left behind, and couldn’t be taken even if wanted.
For troops, I think at least detach the main forces of 2 corps, plus the previous ‘independent army,’ about 150,000 total strength—this is essential, and the first batch needs this many.
When passing the encirclement’s Southern Front, we can also draw some from the Ollie people’s 3rd Army Group. I hope Lieutenant General Kusmanek can contribute a corps too, bringing our relief force total to over 200,000.
You know, the Britannians now have 200,000 to 300,000 troops landed from Thessaloniki Port, and there will only be more later. Plus, on the Gallipoli Peninsula, they’ve been continuously maintaining 100,000 to 200,000, supplementing whatever casualties.
We have to use 200,000 troops against 500,000 British allied forces; it’s impossible to win hard fights. But we’re not fighting alone; Greek Army, Bulgarian Army, Ottoman Army will also fight to defend their countries.
Adding them up, our total strength can match or even slightly exceed the enemy’s; it’s just that the remaining three countries’ armies have far inferior combat effectiveness to ours.”
After assessing, the duke also felt that initially at least 2 corps must be taken first to hold the scene; any less and the combat power might be too weak to be counter-killed by the British Army.
Any more, and after all, they still need to block the million Lusha Army in the encirclement right now.
If the dumplings are too thin-skinned with big filling, they might break and spill.
So when distributing the dough, definitely even it out a bit north, a bit south: draw 2 corps from Ger 6th Group, 1 corps from Aus 3rd Group.
This isn’t some fancy unnecessary operation, but rain and dew evenly shared for tactical rigor.
And this detachment scale can be dynamic: start with 200,000, then when the Kyiv big dumpling is mostly digested and northern forces needed are fewer, discretionarily draw another 1-2 corps from Aus 3rd Group, and 1-2 divisions from Ger 6th Group.
After the Kyiv campaign ends, Aus 3rd Group will be idle; they only need to fill the line in the eastern or Northern Front of the Kievan Rus’ Great Plain, not needing many people.
Ger 6th Group might still have tasks to continue attacking and expanding results, so leaving some high-combat-effectiveness troops is essential.
After eating the Kyiv big dumpling, the enemy’s Southern Front will be vacant, definitely strike while sick to take life, grab more territory. Otherwise, just fighting annihilation battles without taking much ground would be wasteful.
Thus, when sending Lelouch south to reinforce, Marshal Rupprecht couldn’t help asking more about strategic simulations.
“After eating the big dumpling here in Kyiv, in the remaining time of December and the entire subsequent winter, which direction do you think our army should focus on expanding results?”
For this question, Lelouch didn’t need much thought and quickly replied: “I think, if the dumpling can be eaten before late December, take advantage of the weather not yet fully bitterly cold to advance slightly north, expanding results.
The entire Belgorod, south of Kursk City in Kursk Oblast, and west and south parts of Voronezh City in Voronezh Oblast are, geographically, natural extensions of the Kievan Rus’ Great Plain terrain; those places have no dense hills or forests, possible to expand results flat-out and hold.
Moreover, with the time gap of winter just freezing but not too cold to fully endure, occupying those places can further compress next year’s Lushan grain production areas. These oblasts are also important fertile farmlands; further north are places hard to grow high-yield crops, with vast undeveloped forest lands.
However, the advance into Belgorod, Kursk, and Voronezh can only last a month at most; by mid-January or the entire February, the year’s harshest cold, it’s inadvisable to advance further north.
By then, advance south toward Rostov on the Black Sea Coast, control the Don River main stream estuary and important tributaries on the north bank of the Seversky Donets River. Ultimately even advance along the coastline to the Taman Peninsula, thoroughly occupying the entire Sea of Azov coast, paving the way for next year’s offensive to seize oil fields in the Caucasus region.
And I believe, whether Kursk or Rostov, these two big targets can be easily overrun and enclosed, because there will inevitably be huge defensive troop vacuums locally.
Even if the Lushans can mobilize new recruits, they can’t pull out new troops to defend Kursk and Rostov within months after the over-million big dumpling here in Kyiv is annihilated.”
Hearing this analysis, the duke fiercely extinguished his cigar: “Then it’s settled. Lelouch, take that armored division equipped with tanks as vanguard; head south tomorrow to rescue Ottomans and Greeks. I’ll send 2 corps behind you.
Von Bock, take your armored division all armored cars; subsequently, taking advantage of the black soil plain muddy areas freezing after winter sets in, quickly infiltrate and advance through Kursk and Belgorod.”
Lelouch as Southern relief vanguard, Von Bock as subsequent north-expanding-results vanguard; division clear. The new tanks and new armored cars just off the line from Porsche Company in the recent month also first supplement equipment to these two forces, ensuring combat effectiveness.
