Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 236 Lelouch is just a wet nurse, I won't submit to him!
Chief of Staff Lelouch has full authorization from the Commander-in-Chief, so even if the other commanders don't understand his orders for the time being, they can only carry them out.

Even if the person giving the orders was only a major general, there were as many as five lieutenant generals among those obeying the orders.

Even if there were objections, they could only try to consult Marshal Rupprecht, explain the situation at the front, and hope that the Marshal could rescind Lelouch's chaotic orders.

Fortunately, the military conference ended late at night, and the troops were all asleep. Even if there were to be any troop movements, they would have to wait until dawn the next day. The disgruntled lieutenant generals still had half the night to connect with each other, voice their concerns, and find solutions.

The one most dissatisfied with Lelouch was naturally Lieutenant General Crawford von Delmensingen, the newly appointed commander of the 2nd Army and former chief of staff of the 6th Army, who had only been in office for a few months.

In the 6th Army, many senior officers have gradually come to accept Lelouch's authority over the past year and a half, but Lieutenant General Delmensingen is the only one who will never accept it.

This is because he had previously served as the chief of staff of the army group before Lelouch, rather than as the commander of the army or division of the front-line troops.

Only army commanders and division commanders who have fought on the front lines for a long time can fully appreciate the changes in the front-line combat units of the entire army group after Lu Luxiu provided advice and strategies, and understand how much the combat effectiveness of the troops has been improved and how well the timing and tactics of each battle were chosen.

General Delmensingen only commanded troops directly at the front for a few months, and only became a corps commander during the devastating Battle of Kiev. Before that, until the summer of 1915, he was merely a chief of staff in the rear, Lelouch's superior.

He felt that since the end of the year before last, many of the 6th Army's staff plans had been well done, and he himself deserved the primary credit, while Lelouch was merely assisting, or at most, his contribution was about the same as his own. He felt that allowing Lelouch to be treated as an equal was already a great act of respect and giving a rising star a chance.

After he arrived at the front line, the 6th Army Group did not encounter any tough battles again, but rather some overwhelming victories, which gave him even more confidence in his abilities.

Now Lelouch is actually taking over from his former chief of staff and pointing fingers at him, overturning his own improvisational decisions. This is outrageous!
As soon as the meeting ended, Lieutenant General Delmensingen began to think about how to gather a few helpers to complain to the Marshal and request his intervention so that Lelouch could retract his disorderly orders.

But who should I bring along?
Lieutenant General Delmensingen made a quick mental calculation.

As the former chief of staff, he hadn't been very popular within the army group in the past year or two. He knew that he didn't get along well with Lieutenant General Oscar von Schirland, commander of the 1st Corps, and Lieutenant General Edward von Hollo, commander of the 3rd Corps.

"Those two are both veterans. They were lieutenant generals and army commanders when the war broke out. They're probably jealous of me, a junior who was only promoted from major general a few months ago. It seems that I can only discuss it with Eugen Lister first. He was a colonel two years ago. He was promoted from colonel to lieutenant general and is the least senior lieutenant general in this episode. He's definitely less favored by those veterans."

He should have something in common with me, and I've heard that when Lelouch first rose to prominence, he was just a communications corporal in the Neoport-Ostend campaign, serving under Colonel Lister. Now, Lelouch, a corporal, has been promoted to major general in just a year and a half, and he'll probably catch up to him soon. He must be quite resentful.”

Lieutenant General Delmensingen thought this to himself, and naturally went to the place where Lieutenant General Eugen Lister was staying, knocked on the door and asked to see him.

Lieutenant General Lister was still awake, so he immediately opened the door and let his senior in, listening attentively.

Delmensingen didn't waste any words and directly expressed his dissatisfaction with Lelouch's autocratic and domineering ways: "Brother Lister, what do you think? Chief of Staff Lelouch is not only reducing the overall gains of the subsequent battle, but he may also be disregarding the safety of nearly 200 million Volgamanian compatriots."

His aim was merely to shorten the duration of the Caucasus campaign by one or two months—this is utterly reckless! We should request the Marshal to rescind this order. Would you be willing to join me in signing a telegram requesting this? When have we Demanean soldiers ever disregarded the safety of our compatriots?

Two years ago, during the Battle of Lorraine, the General Staff's orders to our 6th Army were simply to hold the Lorraine border as much as possible and tie down the main Frankish force. But we exceeded our mission! Not only did we hold it, but we also launched a counterattack, exhausting 20 French troops, completely routing them and driving them out of our own territory. We even launched a counter-offensive to the very edge of Verdun! We, the soldiers of Balearicia, have always kept the enemy at bay and never allowed them to harm any of our compatriots!

Lieutenant General Eugen Lister looked somewhat embarrassed after hearing Delmensingen's words, thinking to himself that this guy really had the nerve to bring up the past and use it as a way to show off his military achievements.

Now, many people within the 6th Army Group are reflecting on whether the 6th Army Group's first battle at the beginning of the war was the right thing to do.

Tactically speaking, the 6th Army had indeed kept the enemy outside the country's borders, but the General Staff required the execution of the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan required that as many enemy troops as possible be allowed to enter the country on the southern front, to be engaged, contained, and tied down, so that the enemy forces on the Franco-Belgian border in the north would be weakened, making it easier for the main Demania forces to break through.

As a result, the 6th Army was tasked with defending the southern front. If they had let the enemy deep into Lorraine, even to the banks of the Saar River, to give the Franks hope and lure them in, it might have attracted the Franks to invest more. That would have potentially tied down one or two more enemy armies, and perhaps even increased the chances of success for the Schlieffen Plan's hook on the northern front—though success would still not be guaranteed.

However, during the border campaign, the 6th Army was fervently mobilized by Lieutenant General Delmensingen (who was then a major general and chief of staff). The soldiers were in high spirits and could not tolerate the enemy setting foot on too much of their territory. In the end, after killing 20 French soldiers, they hastily launched a counterattack.

The battle was won, but it also completely crushed the Franks' hopes, making them realize their own limitations. As a result, they stopped dividing their forces and instead retreated to defend the Marne River line.

Later, during the "Run to the Sea" campaign, the 6th Army was moved to the Ypres salient, and then Lelouch emerged. From November 1914 onwards, the 6th Army went from one victory to another, never suffering another major defeat, at most experiencing occasional minor setbacks in localized areas.

Now, the main generals of the 6th Army feel that the army's staff did a poor job in the first three months of the war, lacking a strategic vision. It was only from the fourth month onwards, with the arrival of Lelouch, that things gradually improved.

The better Lelouch does and the more strategic he is, the more it highlights how badly Delmensingen performed and how lacking in strategic vision he was.

Therefore, most of the lieutenant generals actually didn't get along with Delmensingen, but he himself was unaware of this and thought that his colleagues were "jealous of his talent" because he had been promoted from major general chief of staff to corps commander and was the one who was ostracizing him.

Eugen Lister was aware of the situation. Although he was also newly promoted and not well-liked by the veteran lieutenant generals, it was absolutely impossible for Delmensingen to ask him to oppose Lelouch. Lieutenant General Lister was much better than Delmensingen in one aspect: he had self-awareness.

He knew his own limitations. He was only cut out to be a regimental commander, and at best, he could be promoted to division commander after some experience. The fact that he was able to become an army commander was entirely due to Lelouch's presence in his unit in the past, which allowed him to benefit from the many victories he won.

Expecting him to be jealous of Lelouch is a pipe dream.

So he immediately defended Lelouch: "General Delmensingen, I think there must be some misunderstanding here. The Commander and Chief of Staff Lelouch haven't revealed the detailed reasons why this battle had to be fought, there must be other hidden reasons that are not something people of our rank should know."

Chief of Staff Lelouch has always had a strong sense of the big picture; I've heard even His Majesty praises him for it. We just need to carry out orders.

Seeing that even Lister, who was most likely to support him, had not given his support, Delmensingen became somewhat furious and couldn't help but utter some provocative words:

"How can you be so unambitious! Back when you were a colonel and Lelouch's superior, he was just a corporal! He jumped from corporal to sergeant major, and it was you who promoted him using your authority!"

He's already a major general, and you're barely a lieutenant general. Believe me, by the time he becomes a lieutenant general, you'll still be a lieutenant general. Even if he becomes a general, you might still be a lieutenant general, or perhaps you'll retire with that rank for life!

Eugen Lister, however, was not angry: "So what? I know my own limitations. Without Chief of Staff Lelouch's guidance, I might only be a major general by now. I'm already very satisfied with being a lieutenant general. There's nothing wrong with retiring as a lieutenant general; at least I'm a senior commander of a main force."

Seeing that he was completely incompetent, Delmensingen could only slam the door in frustration and storm out to find a way to send a telegram to Field Marshal Rupprecht himself.

He told the Marshal how miserable the Volga Demanians in the Volga River region, including Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan, were now, and how much they needed the warriors of the Empire to save their compatriots. He said that tens of thousands of his compatriots might be retaliated against and killed by the Russa people every month.

……

On the other hand, after Lieutenant General Lister persuaded Delmensingen to withdraw, he felt that the matter seemed unreliable no matter how he looked at it, so he decided to go to Chief of Staff Lelouch to ask for clarification. Of course, he still had basic professional ethics and could not betray Lieutenant General Delmensingen. He decided to ask Chief of Staff Lelouch in his own name why he had to make such a decision.

A dozen minutes later, Liszt found Lelouch's lodging and requested a meeting late at night.

Lelouch was still awake, so he immediately invited him inside to talk.

Lister didn't mince words and directly and sincerely asked for advice: "Chief of Staff Lelouch, I know that many of your and the Marshal's decisions must have reasons. But now our fellow Volgamanians are being harmed, and I hope you can tell me the reasons—if I am of a rank qualified to know all this."

Moreover, I can guarantee that I will not leak any information after listening to this. As long as it makes sense, I will spare no effort to help you stabilize morale and persuade other lieutenant generals to unconditionally trust your decisions at subsequent military conferences.

Why is the Empire so eager to take over the Caucasus, instead of allowing an attack on Tsaritsyn? If the Empire were truly only eager to attack the Caucasus, you and the Marshal wouldn't have needed to go back for a two- or three-month winter break.

Although winter is unfavorable for warfare, if we were to force a takeover of the Caucasus, with a bit more effort, we might already be at the northern foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. Aside from the inability to cross the mountains, we should have everything we need. I've been thinking about it, and it seems you're not in a hurry to take the Caucasus; it's more like you're preventing us from taking Tsaritsyn. You're practically rejecting the acquisition of Tsaritsyn.”

Lelouch held a cup of warm milk for calming the nerves, took a small sip, and then nodded approvingly: "You are indeed observant. You also noticed that I really don't want to get Tsaritsyn so soon."

"At your level, knowing the secrets I'm about to reveal might be a bit of a stretch. But considering we've known each other for almost two years, and you were there from the very beginning when I caught the Duke's attention, you knew a great deal. There are some things I can tell you—you promised to keep them absolutely secret."

Eugen Lister immediately stood at attention and saluted: "Of course, I swear on the honor of an Imperial General."

Lelouch put down his milk glass: "My plan is to not cut off Tsaritsyn in the short term, because if Tsaritsyn is cut off, the Volga River will also be cut off. Even if the enemy opens up the waterway in the Middle East and transports supplies from India to Basra in the depths of the Persian Gulf, then to Baghdad, then to Mosul and Tabriz in Persia, they will no longer have the possibility of transporting them to the north of Russo via the Caspian Sea-Volga River."

For me, if I wanted to cut off Tsaritsyn, I could do so anytime within a month or two. Leaving it untouched allows the enemy to believe I'm too busy to do so because I have an equally important target, the Caucasus oil fields, which we can choose from.

Lusa is bound to be blockaded by the Empire. What I'm thinking about now is not how to completely blockade Lusa, but how to lure the Britannians into investing more naval and land forces as the noose is gradually tightened, so that we can bleed the Britannians even more before Lusa collapses!

I hope to annihilate the enemy's army once again in the Middle East! In the North Sea, especially the Norwegian Sea, I want to severely damage the Royal Navy of Burkina Faso, which is escorting the Murmansk shipping lanes. Then, exploiting some hidden information gaps, I'll cripple them, and use some secret to make a final, huge profit!
All of this requires me to temporarily leave the Volga-Caspian shipping route intact, to lure the people of Burkina Faso into believing there is still a glimmer of hope, and to invest in the Middle East. Ultimately, this will have far-reaching consequences, leading to investments in other areas as well, and ultimately, they will be deceived by us.

The specifics are too complex to explain in a few words; let me explain gradually. As for your concerns about the Volgamanians, I will arrange another solution.

For example, after quickly breaking through the enemy's front lines with armored forces, we can send cavalry units to infiltrate and sabotage, bypassing Tsaritsyn to harass enemy-occupied areas behind enemy lines, and then relocate the Volgamadmanians who want to leave the area. So, you don't need to worry about the so-called 'abandoning the rescue of our compatriots' issue; I will resolve it through other means.

Let me finish explaining the key strategic points first.

(End of this chapter)