Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 53 Christmas Eve Offensive

"You expect to use rail-transported battleship main guns to be directly delivered to coastal cities with rail links that our army can conquer, such as Dunkirk, to provide the army with anti-ship firepower?"

When Major General Karl heard Lelouch's imaginative suggestion, his eyes lit up, realizing that it was a flexible tactic he had never thought of before.

To prevent the fleet from shelling the shore, building coastal defense fortresses all the way was too cumbersome and slow, and would also consume a lot of resources and time.

Ideally, we should maintain a flexible and mobile deterrent that keeps enemy fleets away from the coast.

This issue had never been taken seriously by the German army before, mainly because there was no such battlefield environment or urgent practical need.

Previously, high-ranking generals from the four southern German states, including the Baria and Württemberg factions, had difficulty influencing the General Staff's military plans and could not bypass the Junkers officer corps to directly interfere with Krupp.

But the situation is different now. Because of the offensive of the past few days, the 4th Army has encountered real difficulties in the Ostend direction. The inability to achieve "area access denial" against the enemy fleet has made it difficult to execute the Reich's entire strategic plan.
At this point, the frontline troops put forward some reasonable and well-founded emergency rectification plans. Krupp had no choice but to accept them, otherwise it would discourage the soldiers on the front lines.

Those in the General Staff and Junker officers who might have otherwise resisted the South German faction's "reporting to higher levels and dispatching across circles" would make an exception for the urgent needs at the front, feeling that the matter was "excusable."

After understanding these principles, Major General Karl couldn't help but think: Lelouch is simply a lucky charm for their Baria faction!
After sorting out his thoughts, Major General Karl decisively instructed, "Your suggestion is excellent. In a moment, draft a brief requirement as soon as possible, and I will report it to the Commander. At the same time, provide the requirements to Krupp so they can prepare, and also file a record with the General Staff."

By the way, your battalion commander, Major Bock, isn't his uncle the Chief of the General Staff? For the sake of the Empire, and to ensure this suggestion is adopted and taken seriously as soon as possible, I think you can co-sign the final official report with him.”

Major General Karl's subtext was clear: this was an opportunity for von Bock to share in the credit for his advice, and also to make things easier in the future.

Lelouch didn't care whether he could monopolize the fame for this "strategy," as it wasn't much of a contribution, just an idea. The most important thing was to use this opportunity to make contact with the Krupp people and become familiar with them.

He immediately and very humbly accepted Major General Karl's suggestion, and the topic was temporarily put aside.

……

The discussion about railway artillery was just a side note to the meeting; the main topic today was the immediate attack on Stenford, and how to capture the enemy's railway hub.

The previous discussion has helped Lelouch and the others understand the current situation:
Currently, in the Stenford direction, the German army can deploy two rotating divisions and two assault battalions. The Britannian army, however, is constrained by other fronts and only has the 1st and 2nd Garrison Divisions and troops from South Asia; it has no Britannian native forces.

Judging from the size comparison between the two sides, the enemy has the advantage in troop size, with 4 divisions against 2 divisions, but their combat quality is relatively low, so there is still a good chance of winning this battle.

There's not much to discuss in terms of tactical details. We played the same way we played Bayole four days ago. In such a short time, it's impossible to come up with any new tricks.

After giving a general overview, Lelouch only offered some supplementary suggestions regarding the timing of the attack:
"I think today's attack should be as unexpected as possible, and we should choose to start after dark. During the day, we can conduct two or three routine artillery preparations and bombardments to boost morale. But when it comes to the general offensive at night, we should not fire any artillery, but advance directly in the dark."

Major General Karl immediately understood Lelouch's subtext: "You're planning to take advantage of the enemy's laxity on Christmas Eve to launch an attack? Hmm, that's a bit underhanded, but not exactly a betrayal of trust. There's no tacit agreement between our two armies to cease fire on Christmas Eve—I did hear that today on the western front, the French and our forces were in good agreement, neither side launched another attack, they just fired and artillery across the trenches."

In Earth's history, during the first year of World War I, a brief ceasefire occurred between Germany and France on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This was not authorized by higher authorities, but rather initiated spontaneously by the lower-ranking soldiers.

But by the second year, the war had become so bloody that both sides had completely lost their minds, and all those fancy tricks disappeared.

Now that it's the first year, it's theoretically possible to achieve a temporary, tacit ceasefire on Christmas Eve, but it's also perfectly reasonable not to want a ceasefire, as there was no prior promise.

However, it is also reasonable to take advantage of the enemy's psychological relaxation and induce them to lower their guard, thinking that no one will rush over tonight.

Similar events have occurred many times in later military history, especially in the Middle East. Because the two sides in a conflict have different beliefs, many countries will choose days when the other side's faith is relaxed while their own is not, and then intensify their attacks, all of which are legal.

Lelouch, on the other hand, has the soul of a transmigrator. Although he has a different body after transmigrating, he is not required to believe in Western beliefs. He doesn't want to spend Christmas Eve, so he takes the opportunity to do something productive.

So he followed this line of thought and planned some details: "We don't need to talk to the enemy about whether to stop or not, we don't make any contact, we just fire once at 9 am, 1 pm and 5 pm, with a 4-hour interval between each round, and then launch an attack around 7 pm. The enemy will definitely not be prepared..."

Moreover, with the two Lahore divisions from South Asia as reinforcements, I think the Kanadas will become even more complacent—they will surely think that two of their allied divisions do not believe in our faith, that they celebrate their own South Asian festivals, and that they will remain on guard tonight.

"Then, when it gets dark and the soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Divisions realize that the battle hasn't started, they'll definitely become more relaxed, go out for a meal, and maybe even have a few drinks. We'll take advantage of those Kanna gentlemen having dinner to launch a surprise attack in the dark..." Major General Karl thought this was all very reasonable and credible, and immediately approved it.

Let's leave the world's only Christmas Eve of relaxation to Stenford, the hub of the Burgundy Railway!
The German army quickly began emergency deployments, and this was done in radio silence, relying on cavalry messengers to personally deliver the orders.

In order to boost morale and reduce soldiers' resistance to fighting again today and tomorrow, the high command of the 6th Army Group is also willing to spend a lot of money.

All the soldiers received an extra meal in the morning. They had already eaten breakfast, but the two divisions that were going to operate that night still gave everyone a large piece of chocolate.

At lunchtime, the generals distributed all the canned cured meats they had captured from the enemy a few days earlier when they captured Bayole, ensuring that each soldier had two large meals of meat and could drink some whiskey at noon, but no drinking was allowed at dinner to avoid being drunk during the attack.

A few days ago, after Lelouch captured a large quantity of supplies and reported the enemy's fire damage, he originally wanted to find enough wagons to transport them all back to the rear to sell. However, due to transportation bottlenecks, this matter has not yet been completed.

As a result, they encountered the Christmas Eve offensive, with the authorities trying every means to requisition chocolates and coffee. Lelouch considered it for a moment, then found an opportunity to temporarily use a local merchant as a front to sell the goods.

Fortunately, Major General Karl and Duke Rupprecht didn't care where the goods came from. Seeing that there were high-quality imported chocolates and coffee from the New World, they accepted them all and paid the normal price.

Even though the packaging clearly indicated that these items were military supplies for the Bu army, they didn't ask any further questions.

When fighting a war, you can't be concerned about money when it comes to important matters. If you take things too seriously, no one will help you next time.

Lelouch saved the transport capacity of three train cars, selling 150 tons of chocolate, coffee, and cigars for a whopping 80 marks. He gave a few tens of thousands of marks to the errand runners and the reviewers as a commission, pocketing the full 80 for himself.

It's true what they say, war is the fastest way to make money. Before, when he was working with the Bergman company on submachine guns, they only paid him 5 marks as "technology investment" for his idea. This time, the investment has increased more than tenfold.

After the battle, all he needed to do was take the flannel and woolen goods he had previously stolen back to sell. He cleared out all other spoils, except for black tea.

The soldiers received ample extra food, and each of them could have a cigar before the operation to perk themselves up, which finally maintained their morale and eliminated any resistance.

The intense shelling three times a day, morning, noon and evening, was routine, lasting half an hour each time, and then ceasing fire at the appointed time.

Many houses in Stenford were destroyed by the bombs, but the casualties among the defending troops were not significant. The defenders seemed to think the Germans were just flexing their muscles and did not give them sufficient warning.

During the second German artillery bombardment, the defenders' reconnaissance units and artillery observation posts reported the situation at the front to Major General Edwin Aldsen, commander of the 1st Division.

Major General Alderson was also the commander of the Stenford city defenses and the highest-ranking officer of the Canada Expeditionary Force.

Because the two divisions of the Kanah were not organized into higher-level corps-level combat units, the commander of the 1st Division was directly put in charge of the command and coordination of all Kanah divisions. This shows how incompetent the Kanah were.

Major General Alderson did not take the enemy's artillery fire seriously, and even gave the following orders:

"Isn't the enemy's shelling quite regular? It seems like they fire a round every three or four hours. Those Demanians are probably just putting on a brave front. They know they can't organize an attack right now, so they're just firing a few more rounds to threaten us. Let the soldiers evacuate the fortified areas in advance to avoid the shelling. There's no need for them to die needlessly."

As darkness fell, Major General Alderson became increasingly relaxed, even ordering: "Give all the soldiers an extra meal tonight, and temporarily lift the alcohol ban so they can have a few drinks, just don't drink excessively. I'll coordinate the rotation of some frontline positions with the Lahore people. Give them some canned beef as compensation."

His men also reminded him that the colonial troops from South Asia did not eat beef.

Alderson, however, thought his men had misremembered, and they even argued for a long time about whether these friendly troops ate beef or pork. He had to get someone to verify before finally distributing the compensation supplies, avoiding a major embarrassment.

To the white gentlemen of Bretonnia, the beliefs of those South Asian monkeys were far too numerous and complex; some tribes didn't eat this, and some didn't eat that—it was incredibly troublesome. They didn't treat them as human beings at all, but rather as tools.

As a result, while these white lords of Kanas were feasting and drinking, leaving only South Asian soldiers to fill the gaps, the German assault battalion on the other side launched an attack under the cover of night.

(End of this chapter)