Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 195 Lu's Triangular Kill
The following morning, at the headquarters of the 9th Army of Rusha in Kharkiv.

General Yakov Grigoryevich Zhilinsky, commander of the 9th Army, was startled awake from his sleep with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

General Zhilinsky was considered a veteran general in the Rosa Army. He was already a general when the war broke out, and he commanded the Western Front, which consisted of Rosa's most elite 1st and 2nd Armies, from August to October 1914, serving as its commander.

However, during General Zhilinsky's short three-month term, he suffered two disastrous defeats at the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of Masurian Lake, where his army was routed by Field Marshal Hindenburg and Chief of Staff Rodendorff, resulting in the loss of 40 men.

He was subsequently stripped of his positions at the army and field level and transferred by the Tsar to the Frankish side to serve as a liaison officer for Franco-Russian army cooperation, essentially a sinecure as a military attaché.

However, the war situation has become too critical recently, and the Tsar has rebuilt many new armies. There is simply not enough talent, so he was pulled back from the Franks and appointed as the commander of the newly formed 9th Army.

This was also because he was an old-school cavalry general, and the troops around Kharkiv had a large number of Cossack cavalry divisions, which needed a general like him to lead.

Who knew he would be so unlucky? He had just been reinstated when he encountered a full-scale attack from Field Marshal Rupprecht's 6th Army, with Lelouch's "Grande Mania" Panzer Lehr Division as the vanguard of the assault.

The fighting yesterday left the Lushars completely bewildered. General Zhilinsky didn't even know where the enemy had broken through to before he went to bed last night. Based on his past experience, he tried to contact some army and division headquarters at the front by radio, but he couldn't get through.

This caused him to suffer from severe insomnia. He couldn't sleep well and didn't fall asleep until the middle of the night. As a result, he overslept in the morning due to exhaustion and didn't wake up until after nine o'clock.

He had just woken up, and upon seeing the sunlight outside the window, he knew it must be late. He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise:

"Where is the enemy? Have Kalovka's 25th Army and Virivka's 47th Division made contact? Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

When questioned, he spoke very sternly, blaming his adjutant and staff officer for not waking him up.

The adjutant, swallowing his anger, said cautiously, "There hasn't been any response yet, which is why we didn't wake you..."

General Zhilinsky was extremely agitated: "How is this possible? Why haven't even the troops stationed in these rear areas responded! Where has the enemy advanced to? Kalovka is already 50 kilometers from the front line, and Virivka is even 80 kilometers away! Can the enemy fly, and fly day and night without stopping?"

Unfortunately, no one could answer the question, and the army group headquarters in Kharkiv remained in chaos all morning.

General Zhilinsky could only rely on his experience to send reinforcements from Poltava and Shevchenkovi on the left and right flanks to Kalovka or Virivka, fully expecting that these reinforcements would be able to help the defenders along the railway line.

But it wasn't until 10:30 that a reply finally came from the direction of Virivka and reached headquarters.

The Lussar army's telegrams were even in plain text, so the telegraph operator's translation workload was much lighter. Once the telegram was translated, the staff officer immediately rushed to General Zhilinsky with it in hand:
"Commander! Urgent telegram from Virivka!"

General Zhilinsky felt his heart suddenly race: "It's an urgent telegram from Verivka? That means Karovka has fallen? Why is that idiot Patrov only replying now! What was he doing last night!"

Staff officer: "This telegram was not sent by Brigadier General Patrov, commander of the 47th Division in Virivka... He didn't have time to send it before he was wiped out last night. It was sent back this morning by the advance troops of the 26th Army, which just arrived near Virivka."

Last night you requested that the 26th Army stationed around Poltava send some units closer to Kalovka and Virivka to reinforce those areas and strengthen their defenses… Lieutenant General Sergeyev, commander of the 26th Army, immediately carried out this order and dispatched troops on a forced march eastward overnight.
But when they arrived in Virivka this morning, they found the town had already been captured by the Demanian army. They were also attacked by the enemy forces left behind in Virivka, and suffered heavy casualties from artillery fire while on the march, forcing them to retreat to Poltava..."

"..."

General Zhilinsky was completely dumbfounded and almost fainted on the spot.

How did the war turn out like this?

General Zhilinsky: "This...this is impossible! You mean the enemy captured Virivka in a day and a night, penetrating at least 80 kilometers into our lines!"

Staff officer: "To be precise, they have now penetrated at least 90 kilometers into our lines and are probably preparing to break through a town further north of Virivka. They are only 60 kilometers from Kharkiv."

General Zhilinsky seemed to have all his strength drained away, slumping into his seat: "This... is still impossible! Even if they have those new armored vehicles, how did their artillery units keep up?"

The 26th Army was ordered to reinforce Virivka. Didn't they say that when they approached the town, they encountered enemy forces that had already captured it and countered them with pre-deployed long-range heavy artillery? They were suddenly subjected to a barrage of fire while marching in a dense formation, which is why they suffered such heavy casualties?

The enemy's 105mm and 150mm heavy artillery can travel 80 kilometers in a single day and redeploy at the front lines? Are you all dreaming?!

Staff Officer: "It's possible that the enemy used trucks, disregarding fuel consumption and vehicle wear and tear, to forcibly transport heavy artillery to the front lines..."

General Zhilinsky: "Nonsense! We've dug so many trenches along the railway line between Dnipropetrov and Kharkiv! We've learned from the previous breach by armored vehicles, and this time the trenches have been dug all the way to the railway embankment, leaving no blind spots in our defense!"
The enemy wants to transport artillery by truck, but let's not even talk about whether they have that many trucks. Even if they did, could their trucks cross all those trenches? And wouldn't they need to have engineers come down and fill in the trenches every time they encountered one? How much time would that take?

Although General Zhilinsky lacked command talent, he was, after all, a seasoned veteran with a lifetime of military experience and solid basic skills. He could immediately spot many illogical aspects of the enemy's actions.

When the staff officer was pointed out the problem, he was completely unable to answer.

Little did they know that Lelouch had assembled at least several hundred half-track tractors specifically to transport heavy artillery for the motorized artillery regiments under the armored division.

Half-track vehicles could easily traverse ditches and muddy terrain that trucks and mule carts couldn't, though they would suffer greater wear and tear.

Whether it's fuel consumption or wear and tear on transmission parts.

……

Under Lelouch's ferocious and rapid assault, the vanguard of the German 6th Army advanced at breakneck speed on November 12th and 13th.

Lelouch's own armored division actually completed the 150-kilometer march by noon on the 14th, breaking through the defenses of six enemy units along the way.

However, because he rushed too fast, a small accident actually occurred on the afternoon of the 14th. The armored division directly commanded by Lelouch himself was of course invincible, but because he rushed too fast, the infantry units that followed could not keep up.

Around 4 p.m. on the 14th, Rokitne, a small town along the railway line more than 20 kilometers behind Lucci, was finally outflanked and recaptured by two Cossack cavalry divisions of Luza's army.

The town was located about 30 kilometers southwest of Kharkiv. After its recapture, the Rusha army experienced a slight boost in morale.

Lelouch had no choice but to immediately turn back and, around 10 p.m. that night, once again inflict heavy losses on the garrison in Roquitne.

As it had already dragged on until 10 p.m., a Demacian infantry division further back, under Marshal Rupprecht's orders, rushed to Rokitne and contributed a little to help Lelouch capture the town.

The battle in Rokitnegan ended again at midnight that day, and the next morning, November 15, Lelouch finally returned to the southeastern suburbs of Kharkiv and established a solid bridgehead.

In other words, it took him more than three days and three nights to reach the outskirts of Kharkiv, with the actual time taken being approximately 75 hours.

This wasn't due to his own incompetence; he could have completed it all within 60 hours. The extra 15 hours were because the reinforcements from the rear weren't up to par and couldn't keep up with his pace.

Even at this pace, the infantry units that have caught up are panting like dogs. Advancing 150 kilometers in 75 hours means an average of 2 kilometers per hour. If they spend half of each day resting and sleeping, and the other half just marching without doing anything else, they still have to march 4 kilometers per hour for three whole days without interruption.

In an era when mechanized and motorized infantry units were not large enough, such an advance would have been utterly suicidal. If we draw on the experience of later generations on Earth, to achieve mechanized blitzkrieg, one armored division would need at least three to five supporting mechanized or motorized infantry divisions to carry out a pincer attack with a depth exceeding 100 kilometers.

If the clamps extend further in a single strike, the "clamp arms" will require more mobile units to fill the gaps.

……

Because it was their first real-world combat experience, Lelouch slightly overestimated himself, but even advancing to the outskirts of Kharkiv in 75 hours was still a speed that far exceeded the enemy's expectations.

The enemy's 9th Army was deployed across a vast defensive zone around Kharkiv. The entire army consisted of five corps, plus some Cossack cavalry divisions and irregular independent divisions.

Normally, one corps is stationed in Kharkiv city, another corps is stationed in Poltava, 120 kilometers to the southwest, another corps is stationed in Idjum, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and other places to the southeast between Kharkiv and Donbas, another corps is stationed along the railway line between Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, and the last corps is the general reserve.

Lelouch's arrival was so fast that the two armies in Poltava and Ijum had no time to return to defend, and the army that Lelouch was on his way had already been broken through and scattered.

In a short period of time, General Zhilinsky could only muster the strength of two corps to deploy defenses around the city of Kharkiv.

So after advancing to the outskirts of Kharkiv, Lelouch immediately faced a crucial decision: what to do next? Should he try to completely surround Kharkiv, or create an even larger encirclement to catch more enemies? Or should he choose to besiege the city and then eliminate the returning enemy forces after trapping Kharkiv?
If he had multiple armored divisions, and many times more mechanized or motorized infantry divisions today, then according to the classic blitzkrieg tactics of World War II, he would definitely choose to encircle and conquer, taking them all.

However, after weighing the actual situation, Lelouch decided to besiege the city and trap the enemy inside, waiting for reinforcements to arrive continuously, and then attack the enemy forces returning from Poltava and Idjum to defend Kharkiv.

“We don’t have enough armored forces to form that small pincer movement from Donbas to Kharkiv. Our forces heading north from Donbas, after the initial breakthrough at the front, could only achieve deep penetration with a few cavalry divisions.”

They didn't have time to reach Kharkiv from another direction along the railway, thus failing to encircle the enemy within the triangular railway network of Dnipropetrov-Kharkov-Donbas and form a triangular attack.

Therefore, we should play it safe, shrink the encirclement, surround Kharkiv as soon as possible, cut off the railway from Kharkiv to the north, and also cut off the railway between Kharkiv and the enemy forces in Poltava and Idjum.

The enemy might have a sufficiently large logistical base in Poltava, allowing their troops there to stockpile weapons and ammunition. However, the small frontline towns of Izyum and Slavyansk certainly don't have any long-term reserves. Cutting off the railway from Kharkiv to those areas would quickly deplete the enemy's supplies.

At that time, our offensive forces advancing north from Donbas along the railway will be able to pursue the enemy relentlessly, quickly defeating them and reopening the railway line. Then, we can concentrate our forces to take Kharkiv.

After careful consideration, Lelouch discussed the matter with his deputy division commander, Colonel Rommel, in this manner.

Rommel knew his superior was right, but he also had to point out a few problems and consequences:
"This method is the safest and can ensure the fastest victory. But the cost is that the enemy troops stationed in the Dnipropetrov-Kharkov-Donbas railway triangle area will be difficult for our army to completely encircle and annihilate."

Because our friendly forces advancing from Donbas to Kharkiv were moving slowly and unable to encircle the enemy in time, some of them could escape.

Lelouch: "I know that. These dumplings are too big. We can't be greedy and try to make them all. We'd rather sacrifice a little bit of the size of the dumplings in order to speed up the making of them."

If we can finish making dumplings 3-5 days earlier, sending out a few divisions is acceptable. And you have to consider that previous experience has taught us that making dumplings is only the first step. In this kind of deep-penetration, encirclement campaign, the time needed to process the dumpling filling might be more than twice as long as the dumpling-making process itself!

Lelouch's statements are all based on historical evidence.

Before his time travel, he had read so much military history, such as the Battle of Minsk during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa on Earth. The encirclement and pincer movement actually only took 5-6 days, from June 22nd to midnight on the 26th, 1941. However, digesting the remaining forces took a full 12 days, not until July 9th, when the entire army within Minsk was finally absorbed. Lelouch had indeed arrived in Kharkov in 75 hours, but he only had one flank, not the other. He could only employ a strategy of besieging the stronghold and attacking reinforcements, allowing some of the enemy to escape from the east.

After listening to Lelouch's analysis, Rommel couldn't help but recall the Battle of Zaporozhye a month and a half earlier. In that battle, the Demacian armored forces also broke through from a single direction, forming an iron pincer movement. They finished wrapping the dumpling skin in five days, but then spent eleven days digesting the filling.

This data also coincides with the conclusion drawn by Commander Lelouch. Rommel initially thought it was just a coincidence, but he didn't expect Commander Lelouch to have so confidently asserted that this situation would become the norm in the future.

"Is Commander Lelouch really that good at summarizing? Why do I always feel that sometimes he has only experienced something new once or twice, and then he can immediately summarize an irrefutable truth from the smallest details, just like a veteran who has experienced it dozens of times? Is he the world's top genius?"

Rommel couldn't help but think to himself, and he even began to doubt the meaning of life.

……

After Lelouch and Rommel reached a consensus, they immediately sent a telegram to Marshal Rupprecht in the rear.

The marshal also adopted his suggestion, demanding that the priority be to achieve results as quickly as possible, and that if necessary, a small number of enemies east of the breakthrough line could be allowed to escape at the cost of that.

Subsequently, the entire war machine of the German 6th Army began to operate according to this new approach.

On the morning and late at night of November 16, the two armies arrived outside Kharkiv, encircling the city and cutting off its railway access to various places.

As expected, the Russian troops in Poltava and Ijum received General Zhilinsky's order to reinforce them and began to move along the railway line toward Kharkiv.

However, the route into the city had been cut off by the siege defenses built by the Demacian army, so the Luftwaffe troops of Poltava and Ijum could not rush in directly and could only fight fiercely with the Demacians on the siege defenses.

In this positional warfare involving hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides, Lelouch didn't have many opportunities to shine. He could only send his artillery regiment into the battle to do his part.

As for his precious tanks and half-tracks, they were certainly not meant for use in such a meat grinder.

The Druids launched wave after wave of attacks on the Demacian siege lines, but they fell in droves to the Demacian heavy machine gun positions and to the dense support artillery fire from the Demacians.

The army that returned from Ijum suffered heavy losses, and to make matters worse, it was being pursued by Demanian troops from Donbas. Just two days later, the army in Ijum collapsed and fled northeast, back into Belgorod.

Because some of the enemy escaped, the clearing operation in the Dnipropetrov-Kharkov-Donbas triangle area progressed very quickly.

Ijum's army collapsed on the 18th, and by November 20th, there were no organized Luftwaffe troops resisting in this large triangular area, only some scattered Cossack cavalrymen.

As the Demanian army from Donbas arrived in Kharkov and the German rear was completely secured, Lelouch immediately made a new suggestion to Field Marshal Rupprecht, the army group commander:
"The siege of Kharkiv will definitely last for more than a week before we can annihilate those armies. We don't have time to wait that long. It would be better for my armored forces to launch an attack and capture the small town of Pisochin on the western outskirts of the city."

Because there is Kharkiv West Railway Station there, the railway lines from Dnipropetrovsk to Kharkiv and from Poltava to Kharkiv both intersect at Kharkiv West Station in this small town before entering the city.

In this way, we don't have to wait until we completely annihilate the Kharkov garrison before attacking Poltava. We can open up the railway to Poltava first and then immediately divide our forces.

Meanwhile, we have a detachment on our southern front that can advance directly on foot from Dnipropetrovsk to Poltava without using the railway. Although the entire journey is nearly 100 kilometers, Kharkiv is currently under attack, and the defenders of Poltava have been largely drawn to relieve Kharkiv and have suffered heavy losses at our hands. Therefore, the resistance our army will encounter on its way from Dnipropetrovsk to Poltava is not expected to be too intense.

"Then, with armored units leading the northern advance along the railway, and the southern advance on foot, we might be able to simultaneously besiege Poltava as well. This would allow us to divide our forces and encircle two major cities at the same time, swiftly eliminating them one by one and saving time in the overall campaign."

After assessing the suggestion, Marshal Rupprecht also found it feasible, since Kharkiv's western train station was indeed not located in the main city area. While a direct assault on the entire main city would be too costly, and it was advisable to weaken the enemy before the final battle, attacking the western part of the city first was still a viable option.

On November 22, ten days after the start of the battle, several divisions of the German 6th Army, mainly those units that had previously advanced from Donbas towards Kharkov, launched a feint attack on the east side of Kharkov, initially supported by heavy artillery fire.

The Lushars suffered heavy casualties as the defenders in the eastern front line of the city, and General Zhilinsky had no choice but to move his reserves to the east to reinforce the front line.

Just as the French army shifted its defensive focus eastward, Lelouch launched a surprise attack in the western suburbs of the city.

Because the operation was being conducted in the suburbs, without needing to engage in urban warfare in large cities, the tanks were very effective at breaking through the defensive lines, cutting off the town of Pisochin, where the Kharkiv West Station was located, within a few hours.

The infantry then entered the town and launched a general offensive, and several DPRK infantry regiments in the town surrendered in despair.

After securing the Kharkiv West Railway Station, the German 6th Army disregarded the remaining 10 enemy troops in the city and immediately began repairing the railway at top speed.

He then ordered Lelouch and Rommel, who had rested for several days, to lead an armored division straight to Poltava, 130 kilometers to the southwest.

Meanwhile, some troops that had previously advanced directly from Dnipropetrov towards Poltava also began to accelerate, forming a pincer movement to encircle Poltava from the south. In fact, for infantry forces that do not require vehicles, an attack on Poltava directly from Dnipropetrov would be closer than an attack from Kharkiv.

The reason why we couldn't rely solely on this one force to attack Poltava was simply because there was no direct railway connection between Dnipro and Poltava; we had to detour through the railway hub of Kharkiv.

But now that they are advancing in two directions, the lack of a railway on the southern route is no longer important. As long as they eventually reach Poltava and join forces with the northern route's Lelouch, the southern army's logistical supplies can be replenished through the northern railway.

When two armies launch a pincer attack, as long as they can eventually meet up, it doesn't matter if the logistical conditions of one unit are slightly worse. This is a valuable lesson that those who are used to blitzkrieg tactics in later generations can learn from.

However, in this plane of existence at the end of 1915, there was only Lelouch. He didn't need to learn from actual combat; he was born with the experience and lessons that others had to pay with their blood. This information gap meant that he was destined to gain even more advantages over the Russo people.

Finally, on November 23rd, before the city of Kharkiv had even fallen, Lelouch began his maneuver towards Poltava, successfully arriving on November 25th. The supporting forces from the south also arrived in Poltava the following day, the 26th.
The cooperation between these two forces, one in the south and one in the north, formed yet another "railway triangle encirclement," namely the "Dnipropetrov-Kharkov-Poltava triangle encirclement."

The first "Dnipropetrov-Kharkov-Donbas triangular encirclement" was flawed due to insufficient troops and the desire for speed, allowing several divisions to escape.

But this time, for the second one, Lelouch wasn't in such a rush.

With some enemies having fled and the enemy's total strength and combat effectiveness reduced, he was able to ensure that he could digest the dumpling filling without indigestion, so there would be no more enemy units breaking out in formation.

Ultimately, these two tactical maneuvers—"breaking through the center and then coordinating with friendly forces on the left and right flanks to create a triangular attack against the enemy along the railway line"—were recorded in later Demacian military textbooks and named the "Russian Triangular Attack."

The "Russian triangle attack" also became the earliest real-world example of human tank blitzkrieg encirclement.

After Poltava was completely surrounded on November 26, the garrison in Poltava, already small in size and suffering heavy casualties from previous orders to rescue Kharkiv and the subsequent attack on reinforcements, did not hold out for long. On November 28, the garrison surrendered in panic.

Before surrendering, Lelouch sent people to persuade the Russians with messages and leaflets. He even played on a fatalistic theme: on the leaflets, he wrote that when the Demanian High Seas Fleet annihilated the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Riga and Cape Hanco, the two Gangut-class battleships in the Baltic Fleet, named after Kievan Rus' cities, the Sevastopol and the Poltava, had both experienced mutinies among their sailors, who spontaneously killed the Tsar's guards supervising the battle, and subsequently defected to the Demanian Navy.

Since the battleship "Poltava" surrendered, why couldn't the city of Poltava surrender? Countless cities have surrendered throughout history, but only two dreadnoughts have ever surrendered. So, it's all fate!
To be honest, although this explanation is far-fetched, many uneducated soldiers who believed in fate were actually more swayed by it, at least giving themselves a way out and using it to deceive themselves.

Ultimately, all of this contributed to the accelerated collapse of the Poltava garrison.

With the surrender of Poltava, the remaining troops in the surrounding "triangular encirclement" were also completely annihilated or forced to surrender by the end of November, before midnight on the 30th.

The garrison in Kharkiv, though besieged several days earlier than Poltava, had at least two armies and ample supplies. General Zhilinsky had originally planned to hold out and wait for a turn of events.

As a result, after hearing on the 28th that Poltava's allies had surrendered and been completely wiped out, panic gripped the city of Kharkiv.
Finally, at midnight on the 29th, some of the defending troops attempted to disobey orders and break out on their own, but were driven back by machine guns and artillery fire from the Demacian besieging forces, suffering heavy casualties.

With all chances and hopes of breaking out and escaping completely blocked, all that remained was either death or surrender.

On November 30, the garrison in Kharkiv finally mutinied, with a large number of troops spontaneously surrendering to Demania.

Army Group Commander General Zhilinsky was completely unable to control the situation, and in the end even those around him advised him to surrender.

Zhilinsky remained relatively sober, and he could only sigh with a bitter smile: "If I had died at this time last year, my reputation would have been preserved for life. I am already 63 years old, why should I suffer further humiliation?"

On the last day, Linsky pulled out a pistol and committed suicide, and his troops completely collapsed.

Apart from a few divisions and Cossack cavalry divisions that had previously escaped from Ijum, the rest of the 9th Army was encircled and annihilated by the 6th Army.

And in episode 6, De didn't even have time to rest properly.

They rested for only one day on December 1st, and starting on December 2nd, Lelouch's armored division continued its westward advance from Poltava.
This time, he's going to take a longer detour and has a more ambitious goal—he's going to sweep all the way to Kyiv along the Poltava-Kiev railway.

Fortunately, this time he didn't have to complete the task alone.

Because in the westernmost part of the entire Kievan Rus' theater, the 2nd Panzer Division "Das Reich" led by von Bock, and the German 10th Army commanded by Field Marshal Leopold behind him, have also made very considerable progress in the past two weeks.

While Lelouch and Marshal Rupprecht were dealing with Kharkiv and Poltava, Marshals von Bock and Leopold had already moved north from Vinnytsia, cutting off the railway line from Kiev directly north through Orsha to Minsk via Krzytomir, Krosten, and Chernigov.

In other words, the enemy's lifeline to contact the north via the railway has now been cut off. That railway line passes through Chernigov, which was captured by von Bock before the end of November.

Now, von Burke is pushing eastward, while Lelouch will push westward.

They each cut off one of the two railway lifelines connecting the Russo-Kiev Rus' region to the north (there were only two in total, one from Kyiv to the north and the other from Kharkiv to the north, and both were cut off).

Although the encirclement of the Kyiv region has not yet been completed, the enemy no longer has the possibility of breaking out by train. Even if they want to escape, they will have to rely on foot, horseback, or mule cart.

Moreover, since the Tsar had just executed General Alexei Evert, the former commander of the 6th Army of Russia, who had deserted during the battle, the Russian generals in the Kiev region were all hesitant and no one dared to issue a retreat order at the army group level.

-

P.S.: I don't know how to end the chapter today, because there was a lot of progress and it was a bit of a rambling account, so I released an 8,000-word chapter all at once.

The image below shows the latest battle lines for both sides as of December 1st, as well as a schematic diagram of Lelouch and von Bock's next offensive direction.

(End of this chapter)