Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 235 The Ruler of the Eastern Front Has Returned
After leaving Munich, Lelouch endured two days and two nights of bumpy train travel, heading east through Vienna, then turning north through Krakow, then east again through Lviv and Vinnytsia, finally returning to Odessa, an important port city on the eastern route.

He did not choose the route from Vienna to continue southeast, via Budapest and then Belgrade, because there was no railway going directly east from the Hungarian region that could cross the majestic Carpathian Mountains.

At that time, all the railways leading to Eastern Europe either went north from Krakow-Lviv around the Carpathian Mountains or south from Belgrade-Bucharest.

While Lelouch was leaving Munich, Siemens was working diligently to meet the technical requirements put forward by Baron Lelouch, deploy more broadcasting technologies, and develop related new equipment.

Meanwhile, Lelouch's fiancée, Princess Cecilia Ilmingard, has been introduced to Siemens as the "future president of Demania Broadcasting Company."

Siemens can contact her for any new developments or needs regarding broadcasting services and technical equipment.

The first-ever live broadcast of a speech on March 28th was not yet complete; it only achieved short-range playback of a recorded message and amplification of the sound. At that time, all the loudspeakers in the Neuschwanstein Castle courtyard gardens were physically connected using carrier cables.

What Lelouch wanted was a complete broadcasting system. The next step was to ensure that each loudspeaker in the square could be individually connected to a radio and then directly amplify the content received by the radio. Each loudspeaker would no longer need to be interconnected to share a signal.

Just getting to this point would take Siemens at least a month or two, and then another month or two to produce the first-generation product.

Further on, the sound quality of the amplifier, the volume amplification factor, and the transmission and reception accuracy required for direct wireless transmission of analog voice signals—each of these technical challenges requires at least several months of overcoming, refining, and repeated testing and feedback.

Lelouch estimated that he could finish the first phase by April or May, and then take advantage of the summer to pilot it in Munich. The Bavarian royal family would pay out of their own pockets to install loudspeakers for radio broadcasting in Munich's main city squares.

If the improvements go smoothly and the sound quality and signal reception are satisfactory, we will strive to promote it to other major cities across the country next spring, such as Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Cologne. However, this can only be promoted after the Munich municipal radio broadcasts have received a good enough response from the public and the news has reached the emperor's ears and he has given his approval.

Otherwise, given Lelouch's current status and position, it wouldn't be appropriate to promote such a thing directly outside the Kingdom of Baria. After all, each region needs municipal funding; it's public infrastructure, not private consumption. Lelouch promoting it would be interference in politics, which is highly taboo. The higher-ups must find the product useful themselves and want it spontaneously.

Winters in Demania are quite cold, and it's rare for people to gather in outdoor squares to listen to the radio in winter. So there's no need to install a new radio station in the fall and winter; if you miss the summer, you can just wait until next spring.

As for the small radios sold to ordinary people, they can be promoted in parallel, but there's no need to rush. In this era, those who could afford the earliest radios were definitely high-ranking officials, nobles, or capitalists. It would take at least a few years to gradually expand production and reduce costs before radios could be priced low enough to enter the homes of wealthy people.

Lelouch estimated that by the end of the war, home radios would likely only be found in the homes of nobles and capitalists. Perhaps they would enter middle-class Demand households in the early 20s, and it would take another five or ten years before they became commonplace in most ordinary households.

Lelouch had his fiancée keeping an eye on things from behind the scenes.

With the rapid development of radio and amplification technology, the construction of the first radio station in human history must also be carried out simultaneously. Signal towers will need to be built in the city centers of major and medium-sized cities to transmit broadcast signals. Cecilia will naturally assume the role of director of the empire's first radio station.

As for the suburbs, small cities, and rural areas, signal coverage was basically out of the question before the war ended, and radios would not be sold to civilians there. The construction of the entire broadcasting network would require several years of infrastructure work.

When a radio station is first established, it certainly won't have many programs to broadcast. No one wants to listen to the emperor, marshal, or ministers speak every day. Lelouch is well aware of the media's tricks for capturing people's attention. At least 80% of the content should be news and entertainment, with the remaining 20% ​​used to insert official propaganda, in order to make people genuinely want to listen.

But since there weren't enough programs available at the moment, they had Siemens record a batch of classical music performed by a symphony orchestra using a phonograph, and then played it directly on the loudspeakers in the square. They chose pieces by composers who had been dead for over 70 years, such as Beethoven and Mozart, so they didn't even have to pay royalties.

Even for a composer like Wagner, who died just over 30 years ago, there was no need to pay royalties to his descendants—because there was no such thing as royalties during Wagner's lifetime. He was so destitute that he was later supported by Ludwig II, the King of Balria and the builder of Neuschwanstein Castle, who allowed him to create without any worries.

In his later years, Wagner was essentially a court musician kept in the palace, and all his works were inscribed "dedicated to the generous King Ludwig."

The art-loving King Ludwig was the grandfather of the current Duke Rupprecht. Therefore, when the Barea royal family wanted to use Wagner's music and operas for their broadcasting company, there was no issue of payment; mentioning copyright fees would be vulgar. At most, they could say they were giving Wagner's descendants a small reward.

Wagner's son did not pursue a career in the arts and is now old. His grandson, William Wagner, is still young and studying stage and film directing. If broadcasters ever want to use Wagner's operas and musical works, they can simply give a reward to William Wagner.

In the history of the Earth dimension, Wilhelm Wagner did quite well in the 30s, receiving considerable support from the Imperial Propaganda Department. This was mainly because the Imperial President was fond of his grandfather's operas, so he promoted him in the arts circles of Munich and Nuremberg.

In 1916, radio music was already a novel form of entertainment for ordinary people. Those who couldn't afford a phonograph or a concert might never have heard classical symphonies in their entire lives.

If the radio were broadcast free of charge, it might attract unemployed people to bring their families and stand in the square listening for an entire afternoon. At that point, people would be more than willing to listen attentively to music interspersed with a few speeches for free.

……

Leaving aside the fact that the broadcasting project was being prepared in full swing, Lelouch's train finally arrived at the port of Odessa late on the night of March 30.

He had taken a good nap on the train beforehand, so he was still full of energy after getting off the train and could immediately devote himself to frontline military affairs without needing to rest.

Since the army group commander, Duke Rupprecht, was still on his honeymoon and the fighting on the front lines was not intense, the Duke gave him a temporary authorization, stating that from the date Lelouch returned to the front lines until April 15, Lelouch would have full command over the operations of the 6th Army.

Now that he had been authorized, the first thing Lelouch did upon returning to Odessa was to convene a meeting of the generals of the army group headquarters to learn about the latest situation on the front lines.

Several of the main army commanders of the 6th Group Army are lieutenant generals, while the commanders of some army corps mainly composed of reserves are major generals.

These men were all older than Lelouch in terms of rank and seniority, but since Chief of Staff Lelouch had the Commander's authorization, they naturally dared not be negligent. They did not dare to complain when the meeting was held late at night, and they all stood ramrod straight.

Lelouch saw two white-haired lieutenant generals standing on either side of him, their expressions serious and their posture upright, and he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

There are a total of 5 lieutenant generals in the arena today, all of whom have a higher rank than Lelouch.

They were Lieutenant General Oscar von Schirland, commander of the 1st Army Corps of Baria;
Lieutenant General Claf von Delmensingen, commander of the 2nd Army Corps of Baria;
Lieutenant General Edward von Hollo, Commander of the 3rd Army Corps of Baria;

Lieutenant General Eugen Lister, commander of the Independent Army (the same Colonel Lister who Lelouch encountered when he first traveled through time).

There was also a cavalry corps commander, Lieutenant General Richthofen (whose name was the same as Major Richthofen of the fighter corps, but they were from the same family, and this lieutenant general was his uncle).

As for the lower-ranking corps of the 6th Group Army, they have a large number of reserve units and are not elite troops; their corps commanders are all only major generals.

Among these lieutenant generals, the commanders of the 1st and 3rd Armies were senior veterans who were already lieutenant generals when the war broke out, and both had full heads of white hair.

The commander of the 2nd Corps, Delmensingen, had served as the chief of staff of the 6th Army at the start of the war. Later, Lieutenant General Karl Ludbert (the Duke's younger brother), the commander of the 2nd Corps, was transferred back to the country to serve as the vice president of the National Railways. The position of commander of the 2nd Corps became vacant, and Delmensingen was promoted to lieutenant general for his merits and was then appointed as the corps commander.

The position of Chief of Staff of the Army Group that Delmensingen left vacant was taken by Lelouch. In effect, Delmensingen became a bridge between Karl Lyudpot and Lelouch in terms of their official duties.

"Please sit down, everyone. Let's get straight to the point and skip the formalities. The commander hasn't returned yet, so I've been temporarily in command for a few weeks. It's all thanks to everyone's support that we can get this done. My rank is low, so we can discuss many things together."

Lelouch first gave a military salute, then waved his hand casually, gesturing for everyone to sit down. He adopted a humble posture, stating frankly that he had a short resume and low rank, and did not intend to establish authority.

Everyone returned the salute before sitting down.

Lelouch then inquired about the recent winter operations of the various units of the army group over the past two months, whether the positions had been well defended, and the progress of the newly launched offensives. Oscar von Schirland, commander of the 1st Army responsible for the northern defenses, reported first:
"In the Kursk and Voronezh directions, our army adopted a flexible defense throughout the winter, pushing the control line to an area 50-60 kilometers north of the Kursk-Voronezh railway line and as close as 20 kilometers, and adopted a flexible defense."

In other words, the outermost simple defensive line was set up on the border between those two regions and Bryansk, Oryol, and Lipetsk, leaving about 30 kilometers of flexible retreat space. If the enemy counterattacked, they would be allowed to penetrate deeper to some extent.

However, the enemy must not penetrate more than 20 kilometers into the Kursk-Voronezh railway. This ensures that even if the enemy deploys its longest-range heavy artillery, it will not pose any threat to the railway. If the enemy dares to penetrate that far, our army will then encircle them from both flanks, enabling a decisive retreat and the annihilation of their manpower.

From mid-January to now, over the past two and a half months, my 1st Army has repeatedly and successfully used this tactic to repel several enemy counterattacks. With only 70,000 troops, they have held the northern front, and the number of enemy troops annihilated is nearly twice their own strength.

According to Lieutenant General Sziland, during the winter defense, the 1st Army counterattacked and killed 12 enemy troops attempting a counter-offensive along the Kursk-Voronezh line. Of course, not all 12 were killed; 8 were captured.

Further east from Kursk, there were some enemy counter-offensives, but those were no longer the area of ​​responsibility for the German 6th Army. The Austrian 5th Army was in charge of filling in the gaps and managing the defenses directly north of Kiev. A portion of the German forces in that area were annihilated or depleted during the winter defenses, totaling only a few tens of thousands, and there's not much to elaborate on.

Having understood the defenses on the northern front, the remaining focus naturally shifted to offensives to the east and south.

The entire Rostov Oblast was captured in January, and two Lushar reserve corps were also annihilated there, which is nothing to mention.

The remaining coastal areas around the Sea of ​​Azov were also captured before the end of February, which was almost 40 days ago. In the battles in those areas, another army of Lusaians was annihilated.

In total, in January and February, the Lussa army lost more than half of its army group on the eastern front, totaling more than 200,000 men.

Including the 12 people in Kursk and Voronezh on the northern front, there are more than 4 people north of Kiev.

整个1月和2月，露沙人悄无声息地就在南线又累计损失了37万人——也就是在去年那场“累计歼敌203万人”的基辅罗斯战役之后，又额外损失了37万人。

The loss of these troops was as silent as livestock, less noticeable than a splash in a puddle.

However, most of these troops were conscripted locally on short notice, lacking any military training or combat experience, resulting in extremely poor combat skills. This explains why they were so easily defeated. The damage to Lusha's core main force was also not significant.

Perhaps the highest-ranking officials at Lusa thought that if they did not resist, these territories would also be occupied by the enemy, and then the people there would become people under the control of the enemy.

Rather than letting them be controlled by the enemy and forced to pay their taxes and serve them, it's better to use them directly to our advantage and weaken the enemy.

After reviewing the preliminary situation, Lelouch quickly turned his attention to the recent military developments, namely the new victories of the 6th Army on the eastern front since the beginning of March.

After taking control of the entire Azov coast, the 6th Army should begin preparing for the Caucasus campaign, which requires further incursions into the interior.

At the time, Lelouch was busy with his graduation thesis and finishing up various military industrial layouts in the rear.

Meanwhile, Duke Rupprecht was busy with his remarriage, other affairs at home, and the addition of the Kingdom of Balia to the Imperial Council of Sixty.

So neither of them paid much attention to the latest developments on the front lines in the last two or three weeks.

Lelouch took advantage of today's meeting to focus on understanding this aspect:
"How has the frontline progressed in the last two or three weeks since March? After completely capturing the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, what offensives have you launched and what results have you achieved? Are you prepared for the Caucasus campaign?"

This issue primarily involves the 2nd Army and the Cavalry Army, which are responsible for the eastern and southern directions of Rostov. The Independent Army is responsible for the direction along the Sea of ​​Azov, while the 3rd Army is responsible for the northern Donets River front east of Voronezh.

(Note: The actual control line on the eastern front as of the end of March 1916 is shown in the following figure.)
Lieutenant General Kraft von Delmensingen, commander of the 2nd Army, answered on behalf of everyone: "In the past two weeks, after stabilizing the northern Donets River defense line east of Rostov, we went upstream along the Don River and captured Volgadontsk, which is more than 200 kilometers upstream from Rostov at the mouth of the Don River."

Even counting from Semikarakolsky, where the North Donets River flows into the Don, it would still take over 100 kilometers upstream along the Don. Currently, our troops have advanced as far as 40 kilometers upstream from Volgadontsk in this direction, averaging 10 kilometers per day over the past two weeks, for a total advance of 150 kilometers.

When Lelouch heard this result, he was quite surprised. He quickly asked, "It is indeed a good thing to achieve more breakthroughs along the Don River. Our army has control of the Black Sea and can send transport ships up the Don River from Rostov to provide supplies to the army. The cost of operations is relatively low."

But isn't the main direction of the army group paving the way for the Caucasus campaign? What's the point of advancing so far along the Don River? Isn't that an attack towards Tsaritsyn (later Stalingrad)?

"What is your objective? To seize the Lusha Southern Artillery Factory in Tsaritsyn? What the Empire needs now is to seize the large oil fields as soon as possible! The Duke and I haven't paid attention to the situation here for two weeks, leaving you to improvise, and you've come up with this kind of thing that doesn't focus on the main objective."

Lelouch couldn't blame the other side too much, because the initial objectives given by the army's high command were rather vague, only stating that they would seize the Caucasus region this summer. However, the specifics of how to seize it were left unsaid, as generals in the field are not always bound by orders from the emperor, and being 1600 kilometers away, he was unaware of the situation on the front lines.

They still gave the army commanders a lot of authority, and reviewed the decisions every ten days or so. If there were any obvious problems, they would send a telegram to correct them.

Therefore, what Lelouch is seeing now is that in the past week or two, the army's offensive forces have been somewhat "not focused enough on the main objective".

Similar to the situation in the Earth dimension during World War II, where the Battle of Stalingrad was halfway through and forces had to be diverted to the Caucasus. But now the situation is reversed; Lelouch believes that Tsaritsyn's strategic value during World War I was not as great as it was during World War II.

Therefore, the strategic value of the Caucasus oil fields is now greater than that of Tsaritsyn, and Lelouch's original intention was to focus more on attacking the Caucasus. However, at the operational level, the troops believed that a breakthrough towards Tsaritsyn might be suitable for encircling a larger enemy, or for laying a better logistical foundation for subsequent battles, which is a case of "sharpening the axe before chopping wood".

Therefore, when faced with Chief of Staff Lelouch's accusations, Lieutenant General Claft von Delmensingen stubbornly defended himself:

"If we can capture Tsaritsyn, it means that the Empire can capture the narrowest bend between the Don and Volga rivers—the Don and Volga river systems are at least a hundred or even several hundred kilometers apart in other directions."

But only near Tsaritsyn is the Don and Volga Rivers so close together that they are only 40 kilometers apart! There is also a short railway and several highways connecting the two rivers, allowing water transport between the Don and Volga basins to exchange goods and services through this hub.

If the Empire takes this place, wouldn't it be able to sail down the river all the way to Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga and completely cut off the entire southern part of Lusa?
At that time, a huge encirclement will be formed, swallowing up the vast territory south of Rostov and Astrakhan, which stretches more than 700 kilometers from east to west and 900 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of ​​500,000 to 600,000 square kilometers! In terms of the area of ​​land occupied, the scale of the victory of this battle is no less than that of occupying the entire Kievan Rus' region again.

Our advance towards Tsaritsyn would only delay the capture of the Caucasus by one or two months, or at most three months, but the final results would be far greater. Why don't we do that? It's like sharpening the axe before chopping wood, and the Empire has plenty of time this summer.

Furthermore, we have recently discovered a reason that compels us to divert our forces towards Tsaritsyn: we have found an increasing number of Demanian refugees fleeing westward into the Empire's controlled territories. Due to food shortages among the Russa people, they have begun to ravage the Volga Demanians within their borders, seizing almost all of their food supplies, livestock, and pastures.

Our fellow countrymen mainly live along the Volga River, from Tsaritsyn to Astrakhan at its mouth. If we don't advance on Tsaritsyn, these people will have a difficult time escaping to our controlled territory; many will die or be captured by the brutal Lusha army. As Demanian soldiers, we must save our fellow countrymen!

Lieutenant General Crawford von Delmensingen spoke with great conviction, seemingly quite pleased with his impromptu improvisation.

Lelouch couldn't hold back any longer and retorted to his former superior: "But what you're doing will disrupt the Marshal's and my overall plans! We can't just look at the lower Volga or the Caucasus battlefield; we have to consider the Empire's overall strategy!"

You have no idea what the Empire's overall plan is, and you're just making things up! How do you know if the Empire can tolerate taking the Caucasus two months later, but simultaneously taking Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan?
Now, in my capacity as Chief of Staff of the 6th Army, I request that the offensive from Volgadontsk upstream along the Don River towards Tsaritsyn be immediately slowed down, and that forces be regrouped to capture Sochi and Batumi on the Black Sea coast.

I've already arranged for the navy to coordinate; we'll organize a landing near Batumi, so the army won't have to cross the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The landing force can appear directly south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and coordinate with the Ottoman army in a joint attack!

(End of this chapter)