Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 26: Imperial Alsace-Lorraine
Ryan rested for several days in the rear headquarters of the Fifth Military Region. By the time he boarded the train to the imperial capital, a week had passed since the war broke out.

During this period, a steady stream of so-called "old acquaintances" from various divisions and corps came to the hospital of the military district rear headquarters to reminisce with him, and also brought him a lot of gifts.

But none of this was as important as the report he held in his hand.

It is now August 2nd, and the entire area from the imperial capital of Belgreen to the westernmost border of the empire is shrouded in a hazy drizzle.

In a temporary command post built due to bombing, Ryan stood in front of a double-glazed window with a hole in it, looking at the street outside shrouded in misty drizzle. When he thought of the battle he was about to carry out, he sighed helplessly.

Behind him, the communications department consisting of dozens of signalmen was anxiously translating all the telegrams from the rear and the front, and then sending them to designated personnel. The incessant tapping sounds even drowned out the sound of rain outside.

Several messengers leaned against the wall next to the door of the room, lighting a cigarette from time to time, using this simplest and cheapest way to pass the time before work arrived.

Suddenly, a voice called Ryan: "Captain Flig, there's a call from the rear."

"Oh, thank you for your hard work." Ryan immediately took the thin telegram, but before he finished reading the contents, a heavy sigh came out of his mouth.

Lieutenant Brinkman, who had been waiting outside the door, immediately walked over to him and asked, "Any news?"

Ryan: "Ludendorff was asked to go to the northernmost front to participate in the battle a few hours ago. The imperial army encountered a great threat in its advance."

"But isn't the Schlieffen Plan's time limit very strict?" Lieutenant Brinkmann took the telegram with some doubt and asked, "They should be confident they can capture the Burning Sun before the deadline, right?"

"Who knows?" Ryan sighed again, took out a cigarette from his breast pocket, raised his hand to his mouth, and said, "Please send me a reply."

"What's the content?" Brinkman asked immediately. She had been serving as Ryan's adjutant since two days ago, and this was one of her jobs.

"Let Ludendorff bring more smoke bombs. In a siege, sometimes blinding the enemy is much easier than digging trenches and building human walls along the way."

After saying that, Ryan closed his eyes, sat on a bench beside him, and fell into deep thought.

Time jumps to a few days ago.

At that time, at the request of the Emperor, Duren took a train from the southwest corner of the empire, the Fifth Military District, to the imperial capital. At a banquet that evening, he met with the top leaders of the imperial army, Field Marshal Schlieffen and General Moltke the Younger.

What happened at the banquet will be omitted here, and the focus will be on the meeting held after the banquet.

Thanks to the Blue Star Max Medal on his chest, Ryan, who was regarded as a war hero by everyone, had the honor to attend this combat meeting.

During the meeting, Field Marshal Schlieffen, who dominated the current imperial defense plan and foreign war plan, used an extremely tough attitude to force all senior military officers present to unanimously approve his factual proposal of the Schlieffen Plan.

The content of the proposal was similar to the history Ryan knew.

The Empire will distribute all its combat forces to the eastern and western borders of the Empire, and require the Imperial Army's Western Front troops to open a passage to the neighboring country's major city, Lie Ri, within twelve days of the main force mobilization order being issued.

On the 19th, they had to capture Barceles, enter the Farlan border on the 22nd, reach the Saint-Quentin front on the 31st, and finally capture the Farlan capital of Paleis on the 39th.

This is a very critical war plan, so critical that the Imperial Army must race against time to complete every task requirement in the plan.

If any problem arises, the empire will face a total loss.

the reason is simple.

The essence of this battle plan was to exploit the weakness of the Farland Republic's defensive fortresses, built on the natural terrain, which made them unable to turn. Simply put, the Empire only needed to withstand the Farland army's offensive attempts to launch from the fortresses in the initial days. Then they only had to wait for the main force of the Schlieffen Plan—a full 1.8 million troops—to come crashing down on the Farlanders from behind like a gate.

Ryan actually wanted to intervene in the meeting, after all, he was very familiar with this matter.

As a military fan, Ryan is very familiar with the first battle fought by Germany in World War I.

Because of Moltke the Younger's modification of the battle plan and his unfamiliarity with the local environment in Belgium, he first abandoned the Ardennes Forest, which could allow mobile troops to pass through quickly, and chose a battle plan to crash into the Belgian fortress group.

Although the essence of this plan is to occupy the city of Liege, which is a major transportation hub, and control the railways throughout Belgium, it will gain valuable transportation capacity for subsequent material transportation and troop advancement.

However, in the battles after Moltke the Younger's changes, the right-wing force, which was the main force, not only had its strength reduced, but also fell into a passive state in terms of equipment and attack.

It can be said that the reason why they were able to capture the Liege fortress group only two days later than planned was entirely because of those Big Bertha heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 400 mm - the fortress of Liege was built to withstand 210 mm caliber heavy artillery. At that time, no one thought that there was an army in the world that could produce heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 200 mm.

It's a pity that he is now an unknown lieutenant and has no qualifications to speak in such a meeting.

Of course, even if he spoke up, it was unlikely that the people around him would take his words seriously.

There's no other reason - it's simply that Ryan is not worthy of it now.

Ryan's consciousness was brought back by the sound of the telegraph, and he suddenly felt someone pushing him.

"The telegram has been sent." Brinkman, holding a stack of documents stamped with a confidential seal, looked at Ryan with some concern. "Headquarters asked us where we planned to go. They said we could choose to go to Liege with Major Ludendorff to carry out the operation. Major Ludendorff is a good friend of yours, and we heard about their battle plan a few days ago."

Ryan didn't hesitate and replied directly: "The troops I can command are too few, it's useless to go."

Liege was the first battlefield in this war where people were not treated as human beings. Ryan didn't want to get involved in this mess, not to mention that he had other things to do now.

He stretched his thighs with both hands, stood up, and opened the system map while walking towards the door.

A translucent map was suspended in the air, showing the map of the Fifth Military Region.

After a full week and a half of fighting, the Fifth Military Region has only lost a few towns and one urban area on the front line.

The Farlans are currently engaged in a fierce battle with the Empire in this area.

Walking through the long and narrow corridor, Ryan's echoing voice reached Brinkman's ears.

"Lieutenant, tell McIver and the others to pack up. We are going back to Stuttgart."

"Go back to the Fifth Military Region? I understand. But why?" Brinkman agreed immediately and wrote it down in his little notebook.

Ryan stopped and looked back at the lieutenant lady of noble birth.

"Because there is the Alsace-Lorraine of the Empire."

　Let's teach the Farlanes a lesson in the mountains.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)