Chapter 42: Pre-war Mobilization, Assault Battalion Isn’t Reckless Bravery!
Three days later, December 12th, early morning.
The former Frankish northern stronghold of Lille.
This city was captured by the German Army in August, and during the subsequent drive to the sea operation, the French Army failed to recapture it. The French Army’s frontline defense line in the northeast region is now still at the Arras-Lens line.
Lille City is already directly south of Ypres City, which is under British Army control, posing a certain threat to the southern flank of the Ypres Salient.
When the subsequent campaign is launched, the German Army’s 6th Army Group has already planned to advance along the railway line from Lille northwestward, piercing the side and rear of the salient, coordinating with the friendly forces of the 4th Army Group to the north to cut off the entire salient.
So early this morning, Lelouch, Major Rundstedt, Major Bock, and others, along with the company and platoon leaders newly absorbed into these two assault battalions and other officers at all levels, plus the newly replenished soldiers, were all pulled into the barracks in the western suburbs of Lille.
Waiting for them was the final pre-war break-in and supplementary training for new tactics. Until the last moment before the battle begins, they will remain stationed in Lille City.
Everyone has at most one week to break in, then they will re-enter combat—don’t complain that the time is short; everyone was elite to begin with. Although the soldiers generally received about twenty days of rest, they weren’t completely idle after the rest ended.
Especially those returning wounded soldiers who were replenished; their break-in time is actually longer than the officers’, and most comrades already know each other.
As for the problem of “soldiers not knowing their generals, generals not knowing their soldiers,” in other countries’ armies, it might be a very serious military taboo.
But in the Germania Army, it’s not so pronounced, entirely due to the Germania Army’s long-standing tradition of obeying orders and strict military discipline.
Even if soldiers aren’t very familiar with their officers, even if the officers are parachuted in, as long as the officers give orders, the soldiers will mostly carry them out.
The enemy army finds this much harder to achieve. Especially the Franks, who value freedom, and the soldiers generally have many ideas—of course, this isn’t necessarily bad, after all, freedom is always good.
At six in the morning, with the sky just barely brightening, about 2200 soldiers assembled in formation in the camp area. Light snow was falling from the sky, but it didn’t affect the soldiers’ formation at all.
They were to listen to the speech by Army Group Commander General Rupprecht, then the speeches by the two division commanders, and finally by Major Bock and Major Rundstedt, the commanders of the two assault battalions.
All soldiers had changed into brand-new gear. Wearing M15 steel helmets（ actually styled after the M56 steel helmet）, the helmets forged from high-manganese steel, with leather frame cushioning on the inside, and covered outside with linen camouflage canvas to avoid reflection from the metal helmet.
They were all wearing gray-base brown-and-white spotted camouflage uniforms. The clothes weren’t snug; instead, they were somewhat bulky to allow winter cotton lining to be stuffed inside.
On their feet were work boots with impact-resistant steel plates at the front, laced with perforated leather gaiters—and previously, Imperial Army soldiers’ long boots had side adjustments with buttons, making them very inconvenient to put on and take off. Switching to side-laced shoelaces was still a bit more troublesome than zippers, but at least better than buttons.
（Note: Slip-resistant self-locking zippers were only invented in Ugly Country in 1913 and aren’t widespread yet. Older zippers lacked a locking mechanism, easily unzipping, and weren’t as reliable as shoelaces.）
The soldiers’ weapons hadn’t been issued yet; they would be adjusted later based on branch specifics, so for now, everyone was unarmed.
After the entire formation was ready, the Duke first gave a mobilization speech, the content fairly common and clichéd.
“…Officers and soldiers, today we are fighting against the evil Britannian financial speculator dogs! If the Empire cannot win this war, then there will be no more sense of honor on Earth, only one faith left: the worship of gold!”
Lelouch stood to the rear side of the Duke and heard clearly, so he knew this rhetoric had been used by Emperor Wilhelm not long ago; the Duke had merely memorized those words. And the persuasiveness wasn’t high either; many soldiers didn’t care about such lofty proclamations.
This era had no voice broadcasting, so soldiers couldn’t have heard the rulers’ voices on the radio.
Therefore, it was normal for the emperor’s speeches to be repeatedly quoted by generals at all levels below, and the soldiers didn’t know it was rehashing old stuff.
After the Duke, the division commanders and assault battalion commanders each spoke, all pre-battle mobilizations with nothing new.
Finally, it was Lelouch’s turn, as the proposer of the assault battalion concept and deputy battalion commander of the 1st Assault Battalion, to say a few words.
Lelouch was more down-to-earth; the morale-boosting words had all been said before, so he planned to say something practical.
“Officers and soldiers! I know you are all battle-hardened warriors, all with strict military discipline and prompt obedience. But I also know that the assault battalion concept, this name, might make some of you doubtful, or at least you were once doubtful.
Some might think this is the Empire and Army Group assigning dangerous tasks, placing heavier burdens on your shoulders! But I want to clarify a truth: the Army Group cherishes every soldier! The commander values every subordinate’s life!
The assault battalion won’t be used to death; we just take on key breakthrough tasks. In battle, we absolutely forbid officers at all levels from arbitrarily widening the attack front! From arbitrarily wasting soldiers’ strength and lives!
In each company, platoons must alternate advances where they should! In each battalion, companies must rotate rests where they should!
After piercing the enemy defense line, if friendly forces’ main units can immediately be called up to reinforce and hold positions, do so promptly!
When encountering enemy strongpoints, if radio can call in artillery fire for precise elimination, don’t hesitate to call for bombardment!
Please believe me, I crawled out from piles of corpses too! Two months ago at Nieuwpoort, I faced the desperation of a reconnaissance company breaking out against three Belgian Army divisions!
This eye of mine was poison-damaged by tear gas in that campaign and still hasn’t fully healed; I feel the pain every moment. So please believe me, we will cherish every soldier!
Moreover, this Major Bock is the Chief of Staff’s nephew! Even the Chief of Staff trusts his own nephew to join the assault battalion—what is there to worry about? The assault battalion will be used most appropriately, and everyone will have far greater opportunities for merit, medals, and promotions than regular troops!”
Lelouch’s speech was very down-to-earth. Compared to other old-school officers who only emphasized sense of honor and discipline, he focused on making soldiers believe they would get the best treatment, wouldn’t be treated as cannon fodder, and heroic combat would absolutely be noticed by superiors without unfair rewards burying merit.
This combination of carrot and stick truly fired up the Germania soldiers unfamiliar with Eastern-style heart-winning tactics, raising morale and cohesion another level.
Especially the front-row soldiers, seeing the deputy battalion commander’s blood-red left eye, all felt he wasn’t some aloof officer lord but one who fought up from the ranks like them.
The deputy battalion commander’s current treatment and admiration from superiors at all levels, even the commander viewing him differently—this gave soldiers a vivid example of striving upward, a typical case of climbing from ordinary “old squad leader” to mid-level officer.
Among the soldiers below, Second Lieutenant Model and Second Lieutenant Dieter, these two platoon leaders, were also moved to tears. They too came from humble origins with no background, starting from the very bottom after enlisting and earning promotions step by step.
“I will definitely fight bathed in blood like Officer Lelouch in the future! Fight to the death against Britannia’s lackeys!” Model, who graduated high school and attended NCO school for only one year before enlisting, was thoroughly ignited with zeal for merit and promotion.
On the rostrum, Major Bock and Major Rundstedt cast gazes at Lelouch they dared not underestimate, both thinking to themselves: “This young man… seems to care more about appeasing and winning over the ranks than any officer we’ve seen before. The old Imperial tradition was too focused on accountability upward, rarely paying such attention to the lower levels—times are really changing…”
“Victory! Certain victory! Certain victory!” On the parade ground, finally some soldiers shouted, then others were swept up, all shouting in unison.
Lelouch felt the soldiers’ genuine shouts and was himself surging with emotion.
Over this past month, he had gradually figured some things out, especially his left eye, poisoned by gas and long refusing to fully heal. Now the left eye’s vision was completely fine, just like normal, but the pupil’s blood-red color wouldn’t fade, probably stuck with red-blue eyes forever.
At first he suspected his left eye had some special power, but later found nothing particularly special—just a bit more compelling when speaking to his own countrymen and tribesmen. Probably because seeing his eyes reminded them of his meritorious wounds from bloody battle for the nation, generating trust or awe.
For this, he even secretly did some control-group experiments, like when capturing Ostend before, he interrogated some surrendered Belgian Army officers, even generals, trying to persuade deeper cooperation with Germania.
But throughout the persuasion, Lelouch felt no “enhanced persuasiveness” boost; if logic didn’t convince, it didn’t.
So after strict comparison, it seemed this blood-red left eye had no influence boost on foreigners outside his tribe, only more compelling to his own compatriots.
Perhaps it had some appeal to Germanic tribesmen in foreign countries—who knows—but definitely none for foreign tribes.
After speaking to these 2200 assault battalion soldiers today and seeing their fervent reaction, Lelouch’s inner feeling was even more real, finally confirming this completely.
Perhaps in the future, he could use this forever-unhealable old wound, this “man’s medal,” to become a better orator, rallying more soldiers and people to unite around him under equal conditions—but that was it.
At this moment, with all mobilization complete, it was time to distribute equipment to the soldiers and conduct tactical briefings.
