Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 175 Blue Plan
On September 20th, Lelouch inspected the troops until late at night before finally resting.

Moreover, he didn't return to the division headquarters in Zhankoy City, but just found a dormitory at the training ground outside the city for one night.

Before going to bed, he stayed up late reading some documents, which were all battle reports of coordinated military operations by neighboring units.

Although these battles did not take place in the Kievan Rus's theater of operations where Lelouch was stationed, they would still have a profound impact on the theater.

For example, the Ottoman army, as well as Demania's railway artillery units, some airship units, and fighter units, are still fighting against the Britannian landing forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the north shore of the Dardanelles Strait.

It was their valiant fighting that ensured the Burkina Faso landing forces could not cross the Dardanelles Strait into the Black Sea, and thus could not support the Lusa forces around the Black Sea. This also left the Lusa forces in a state of shortage of supplies, ammunition, and medicine before the start of the major battle.

On the other hand, taking advantage of the fact that the Royal Navy of Burkina Faso could not enter, Admiral Spee, who had been running rampant in the Black Sea recently, also took the opportunity to establish some new merits.

With the Goben battlecruiser undergoing hasty repairs in September, Admiral Spee led this legendary warship, along with the only two remaining operational Wichelsbach-class pre-dreadnoughts, several cruisers, and destroyers, to the eastern coast of the Black Sea to carry out some artillery bombardment and convoy interception missions.

These shelling missions often damaged Lusa's port facilities in Sochi, Batumi, and other places, as well as some of the port warehouses, and destroyed some of the enemy's material reserves.

They could also intercept and kill enemy fleets transporting supplies from the inland areas of Kerch and Rostov to ports south of the Caucasus such as Batumi and Trabzon.

As a result, starting from the beginning of August, the supplies of the Lusa people's Caucasian Front began to gradually decrease.

Of course, at the beginning, the Lusa army still had reserves on the Georgian and Menian fronts, so this weakness would not be exposed all at once. After more than a month of attrition, by mid-September, the Lusa Caucasian Front's supply adequacy rate had finally dropped to a level lower than that of the Ottoman army it was fighting.

The Lussa army, operating in the South Caucasus, already faced significantly worse land-based supply conditions than the Ottoman army.

To transport supplies to the front lines at Van and Erzurum, the Ottoman army had to traverse the Eastern Taurus Mountains, covering at least 200 kilometers of unrailed land transport – an extremely arduous journey. If certain key points were blocked by the Lussa army, the unrailed mountain land transport distance could increase to nearly 400 kilometers, resulting in enormous losses.

But if the Lusa army also relied on land for supplies, they would have to cross the Greater Caucasus Mountains, which are several times more treacherous than the Eastern Taurus Mountains!
However, the Lussa people originally had the option of taking the Black Sea route, but now the route has been forcibly cut off by the "Goben," forcing them to switch from cheap sea transport to crossing treacherous mountains.

The supply and transportation costs for Lusa's 30-strong army on the Caucasus front suddenly increased 20 times! This is even more difficult than Zhuge Liang's northern expeditions using the Shu Road to transport grain!

The transportation costs for the Lussa people were originally one-fifth of those for the Ottoman army, but now they have become four times that of the Ottoman army!
Of course, the Russa couldn't simply sit idly by and endure such high supply costs to maintain the Caucasus Front. Crossing the mountains was merely a stopgap measure, only enough to sustain them for a few months. Now, the Russa were already deploying another alternative: resupplying the South Caucasus region via the Caspian Sea.

They are currently working on a new small shipyard in Astrakhan, a city at the mouth of the Volga River where it flows into the Caspian Sea, to build a batch of simple gunboats as escorts for inland waterway vessels, which will then cover Volga inland ships as they sail to the Baku oil field in Azerbaijan to unload their cargo.

It will take several months from procuring transport ships to establishing initial escorts. By next spring, we can ensure that shipping in the Caspian Sea will be completely unimpeded.

Therefore, some members of the Lusa leadership might consider how to prevent the Persians across the Caspian Sea from cooperating with the Demacians, and how to prevent the Demacians from using the Persians to cut off the Caspian sea route. They might even take action against the Persians, launching a direct and blatant invasion, but that's all speculation for now; who knows?

It's not surprising that both sides have their own backup plans.

On the Demanian side, the Black Sea Fleet is also planning a new operation to coordinate with the latest actions in the Kievan Rus's theater, in order to mobilize the Russa army and weaken the Russa's defensive forces on the Kievan Rus's plains before the start of the battle.

……

Having learned about the latest movements of all friendly forces in the surrounding area, Lelouch didn't fall asleep until late at night.

The next day, after waking up, he quickly tidied up and ate breakfast before immediately convening a military meeting to convey the action plan for the campaign to his officers.

The action plan had been formulated long ago, and Lelouch himself was well aware of it; however, his officers were unaware of it. It was only two days before the battle that the plan would be revealed to the mid-level officers, in order to prevent leaks.

Since these meetings are relayed down from the division level, the officers of von Bock's armored division wouldn't attend; only Lelouch's own subordinates would participate, along with some officers from friendly artillery units who would provide support.

Attendees included Brigadier General Keitel, commander of the army group's heavy artillery brigade; Rommel, deputy division commander; Loeb, commander of the artillery regiment; Wilhelm List, commander of the motorized infantry regiment; and several other minor regimental commanders.

After the meeting began, Lelouch, feeling somewhat exhausted from his recent busy schedule, asked Rommel to give a briefing on the current situation on the front lines and the standoff between enemy and friendly forces.

Rommel then took the reins without hesitation and began to teach:

"Before we begin, I have some good news to share. In fact, this very morning, in the southeastern Caucasus region, the Imperial army launched a new offensive, primarily to assist the Ottomans in their operations."

This operation should tie down a significant portion of the enemy's forces, greatly aiding our offensive the day after tomorrow, at least preventing the enemy from deploying fewer reserve troops to our side.

The specific combat operation in the Caucasus direction was as follows: Admiral Spee, with one battlecruiser, two pre-dreadnoughts and several auxiliary ships, escorted two divisions of the Ottoman army, as well as a regiment of our army that was reinforcing them. This regiment had previously fought in the Dniester River estuary landing operation and had landing experience.

They landed in Trabzon, a former Ottoman port city, and overthrew the Lusa garrison, recapturing the city. The city had been in Ottoman hands when the war began the previous year, but the Lusa's naval superiority in the eastern Black Sea made it impossible for the Ottomans to transport supplies and reinforcements by sea, leading to its capture.

After the Lussars captured the city last winter, the enemy used Trabzon as a springboard to supply their forward troops in the Caucasus for the next eight months.

Now, with control of the sea having changed hands, the enemy garrison at Trabzon has been without supplies for over a month and is in a state of extreme weakness. Therefore, General Spee's planned landing is sure to succeed, and the Ottoman land forces will soon arrive to provide support from within.

After recapturing Trabzon, the Ottomans would be able to restore sea transport for their troops in the South Caucasus theater, reducing transportation costs by more than half and enabling them to wage a protracted war of attrition against the Lussars.

Originally, when the Russo people could travel by sea while the Ottomans could not, the Ottomans' transportation costs were five times that of the Russo. Later, when neither side could travel by sea, and the Greater Caucasus Mountains that the Russo had to cross were several times more treacherous, the Russo's transportation costs became four times that of the Ottomans.

Now it has further devolved into a situation where 'the Ottomans can sail by sea, but Lusa is unilaterally unable to do so,' causing Lusa's transportation costs to skyrocket to more than 10 times that of the Ottomans!
Furthermore, according to the latest information provided by the Joint Operations Command, while overseeing the Trabzon landing, General Spee will also launch a feint attack on the Russa people's Batumi port to create the illusion that he is also going to land in Batumi, in order to distract the enemy. It is unclear whether it is better to reinforce Batumi or Trabzon first.

Therefore, the enemy's Caucasian Front will inevitably face a critical situation in the short term, resulting in the enemy's general strategic reserve on the southern front being tied down in the Caucasus direction and unable to reinforce our Kievan Rus' plains. Intelligence indicates that the enemy's general strategic reserve on the southern front was previously stationed in the Tsaritsyn direction, a location that is the closest transportation hub between the Don and Volga rivers. At least one army group's newly conscripted reserve troops are stationed there, having just enlisted and not yet completed their military training.

Originally, if this unit had moved west, it could have come to Rostov, or even further west, to fight us. But now they are likely to be moved downstream along the Volga River, first to Astrakhan, and then to the South Caucasus. This means we might face one less army group of enemies in the first phase of the conflict.

Rommel first gave an overview of the recent coordinated operations of the allied forces. Strictly speaking, this new battle had already begun today, but it wasn't the troops on the Crimean Peninsula that started it; rather, it was the allied forces in the Caucasus that launched the initial attack as a feint to draw fire.

As for the "Tsaritsyn" mentioned by Rommel, many people in later generations may not be familiar with this place name, but it is actually the later "Stairlingrad". It was a transportation hub connecting the Don and Volga Rivers. Whether it was to aid Kievan Rus' in the west or to aid the Caucasus in the south, troops had to be dispatched from here.

After introducing the friendly forces' operations, Rommel then outlined the current standoff and deployment of various units along the front lines of both armies:
"Our army will begin its offensive the day after tomorrow. Before we begin, let me first talk about the troops participating on both sides. In this major campaign, our army will have the entire 6th Group Army and four corps from the 10th Group Army participating."

My 6th Army Group has been replenished to a total strength of about 45 men, and is composed of 7 fully equipped and manned corps.

However, about one division, along with the majority of the railway artillery units, were stationed in the south to help the Ottomans fight against enemies in Gallipoli and Trabzon.

In addition, there was one full-strength army with three divisions, two of which were besieging the enemy forces defending Sevastopol, and one division was besieging Kerch. The enemy forces they were besieging had at least three times the number of the besieging troops, so the only option was to build a strong defensive line and besiege the city without attacking, focusing on depleting the enemy's resources.

除去这4个不能参战的师，我第6集团军实际可以投入进攻作战的，有5个半军17个师、38万人。

Part of the 10th Army was responsible for the defense line north of Krakow-Lviv, confronting the Polish Western Front. We had four corps, twelve divisions, and 220,000 men available to assist us. Therefore, the total ground forces of our attacking forces in this campaign numbered 600,000.

In addition to our army, troops from other allied countries can also participate in the war. Romania is willing to send eight divisions, totaling 120,000 troops, to this campaign.

The Austrian 3rd Army, numbering approximately 30 men, can also be deployed for the offensive. Additionally, the Austrian 5th Army will be responsible for assisting this army and my 10th Army in filling the gaps in our original defensive lines after the offensive and providing rear-area support.

Including the combined forces of Germany, Austria, and Rome, the total offensive force numbered 100 million, but only 60 of Demacia's troops could be considered elite or main force; the other 40 allies were merely filling gaps and plugging leaks.

After describing his own situation, Rommel then introduced the enemy's participating forces:

"On the enemy side, since the complete end of the Romanian border campaign in August, Luza has disbanded the Romanian Front."

Furthermore, the remaining unencircled remnants of the 6th Army were assigned to the Southwestern Front. General Alexei Evert, the former commander of the Romanian Front, was demoted to commander of the 6th Army due to poor performance.

The current commander of the enemy's Southwestern Front is General Pavel Pleve, which commands the 4th, 6th and 7th Armies. The 6th Army has been urgently reinforced with more than 10 new recruits in the past month to restore its organizational structure.

Of these three army groups, the 4th and 7th have six corps each, while the 6th only has five, totaling 17 corps and 52 divisions. Theoretically, at full strength, the total force would be 114 million. In reality, it would be impossible to reach full strength, but they were filled with untrained new recruits as much as possible. Let's say it's 1.1 million, which is roughly equivalent to the total force of our army participating in the war.

In addition, the Lussa people also had an armed force that was not part of the organizational structure of these army groups but was directly under the Southwestern Front: their Cossack cavalry corps.

The Kievan Rus' Plain, especially the Don River steppe in the east, was the homeland of the Cossacks. There was a huge Cossack population there who did not have to pay taxes to the Rus' government in peacetime, nor did they participate in formal military training. They could be temporarily conscripted into the army during wartime.

Their direct combat capability may be lacking, but they are capable of harassment and disrupting logistics; mishandling this could cause serious trouble. According to reliable intelligence, the Southwestern Front no longer organizes large cavalry divisions of more than 9000 men; instead, they generally consist of small to medium-sized Cossack cavalry divisions of 6000 to 7500 men.

The entire Southwestern Front has at least 20 cavalry divisions not part of the army group, which amount to 150,000 Cossacks. If the situation becomes critical, further mobilization could bring the number of divisions to 150,000.

Therefore, in the first phase, our army had to fight against the enemy's 125 million troops with 100 million troops, and our core main force only had 60 troops, who also had to undertake offensive missions, so the pressure was still very high.

If the battle lasts for more than a month, newly formed army groups, freshly conscripted soldiers, may arrive to reinforce Tsaritsyn in the east, and Kursk and Voronezh in the north. However, these units are not a significant threat, as they have not received any prior military training. As long as the enemy's frontline forces are severely weakened before they arrive, the overall situation will not be affected.

After Rommel explained the strength comparison between the enemy and himself in detail, he put down his teaching whip and gave Commander Lelouch an inquiring look.

Lelouch nodded, indicating that he had explained it very well, then took the pointer and added a few words about the specific tactical arrangements to follow:

"What Deputy Division Commander Rommel just said was very good and clear. This is the current balance of power between the enemy and ourselves. Now I will talk about our unit's specific offensive mission, the enemy we will face, and the subsequent tactical arrangements."

First, as Deputy Division Commander Rommel just mentioned, the enemy has three fully-strength army groups. Among them, the 4th Army of Russia was placed on the eastern front, mainly to deal with our forces along the Lviv-Vinnica line, that is, to deal with our friendly forces, the 10th Army. The headquarters of the 4th Army was set up in Zhytomyr, 150 kilometers west of Kiev.

The 7th Army was placed in the middle of the enemy's defense zone, with its headquarters in Kiev. It was also responsible for the northern section of the defense line from Vinnytsia to Odessa. Because this section of the defense line was relatively short, the 7th Army could also spare three corps as the general reserve for the entire front.

Our main adversaries are our allies, the Romanian army, and the Austrian 3rd Army. Our Demanian 6th Army will also detach one corps as the backbone of the central confrontation, to prevent the Austrian and Romanian armies from becoming too demoralized and unable to maintain a stable front.

The 6th Army of Russia was deployed in various areas along the Dnieper River, from its mouth upstream to its course, and even east of its mouth to the Crimean Peninsula. Its headquarters was located in Zaporizhzhia.

This army group is also an old adversary of ours. We dealt them a heavy blow during the previous border campaign with Romania, crippling them by half before they had to retreat to the rear to regroup. Now we're going to continue our attack on them!

我德6集14个师33万人，将在攻势战役中击溃露6集的15个师33万人！外加可能出现的哥萨克骑兵军！

Therefore, although our army is at a disadvantage in terms of total troop strength and manpower, at least in the three fronts of the northwest, central and southeast, the troop strength of both sides in the southeast sector where we are located is exactly equal! This is also the main direction of attack in this campaign.

As for the Cossacks, given that our army has armored vehicle units, there's no need to fear them too much. Next, I will specifically assign tasks to our division, as the vanguard breakthrough force of the entire army group, at the start of the campaign.

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(P.S.: In 1915, the place name Zaporizhzhia should still be "Alexandrovsk". However, the Tsarist era liked to name places after members of the royal family, resulting in many places having the same name. There is another city on Sakhalin Island in the Far East that is also called "Alexandrovsk", and it is still in use today. So in 1925, Zaporizhzhia was renamed. To avoid confusion, I will still call it Zaporizhzhia.)

Also, the image below is a map of the control lines on September 20, 1915. I didn't upload the map a few days ago, so I'm adding it here. (There will be two updates today, and one more tonight.)
(End of this chapter)