Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 217 The Outcasts of Potsdam
During his first week at the Potsdam Military Academy, Lelouch did little more than socialize with other students.

To enforce military discipline, the officers' first week of training in Potsdam was devoid of any academic courses; it consisted solely of discipline and tactical drills. Even though these officers were unlikely to ever personally charge into battle again, this brief "baptism of fire" was still essential, similar to the experience of "division commanders going down to the grassroots" in later generations.

Lelouch didn't get any special treatment, and thankfully it was only for a week, so he could just bear with it.

His physique, honed by a year and a half of military service, is no longer as frail as it was at the beginning. He can still run five kilometers with a load, do a few pull-ups, and do more than fifty push-ups.

While they can't compare to officers of the same age who have undergone rigorous formal training, they have already surpassed the average person in society. Moreover, the physical fitness requirements for these advanced training courses are relatively low, and they are tailored to the physical condition of students aged 35 to 40.

Lelouch's real age is only 24 (he falsely claims to be 26), and he takes advantage of his youth, so passing the test is naturally a breeze.

After the first week of polishing.

On Monday of the second week, January 17th, Lelouch finally had his first formal advanced study topic selection class. Within this week, he had to complete the preliminary selection of his topic and determine his research direction for the next two and a half months.

Potsdam Institute has prepared a very strong faculty for the topic selection courses of the advanced training program. Sometimes, even retired marshals will come to talk with the students to understand their talents and insights and help them choose topics.

Moreover, among the students participating in this topic selection course, only Oswald Lutz was an acquaintance Lelouch had just met; the rest were all completely new faces, totaling only a dozen or so people.

Küchler, Weichs, and Reichenau, whom I met just last week, don't need to attend this topic selection class because they've already been enrolled for five and three months respectively and have long since chosen their topics. In Potsdam, many students don't strictly enroll at the same time; they're staggered by a few months, which is unavoidable during wartime.

Heinz Guderian, though acting as a helper, still had to accompany him throughout the entire process.

"Hey, Heinz, who's the professor who's going to be on today's topic? Classes are about to start, can't you at least give us a hint?"

On the morning of the 17th, Lelouch and Oswald Lutz arrived at the classroom and saw that Guderian had already come to set up the lecture. Lelouch casually inquired about it.

Guderian glanced around and, seeing that no outsiders had arrived yet, whispered a hint: "Today's guest is a heavyweight veteran, Field Marshal Goldz, who served as principal as early as 1908!"
He was the father of the Ottoman army, having served as chief advisor to the Ottomans in rebuilding their modern army at the end of the last century. Last year, he was seconded to Baghdad to oversee the defense of the Middle East front, and only recently returned home to recuperate.

Lelouch didn't know much about Marshal Goldz's resume, because he wasn't very famous in history books and was too old.

When Lelouch went to the Eastern Front to cooperate with the Ottomans, he dealt with the generals in the defense zone around Istanbul, including General von Zanders and Kemer, an Ottoman.

However, Oswald Lutz, who came with Lelouch, was quite familiar with the military high command and privately briefed Lelouch on the situation.

Lelouch then learned that the retired headmaster's full name was Colmar von der Goltz, and that he was born in 1843—meaning he was older than Marshal Leopold of Valeria (1846) and Marshal Mackensen (1849), and was already 74 years old.

In fact, Marshal Goldz in the Earth dimension died of typhoid fever in the summer of 1916 while returning to the Persian Gulf front to quell the Arab rebellion instigated by the Burkina Faso people, due to old age and declining health. This led to the Burkina Faso "troublemaker Lawrence" on Earth successfully stirring up trouble and causing chaos in the Middle East.

After all, he's a 74-year-old man; he can't defy the natural laws of aging and physical decline. This trip back was a spur-of-the-moment decision—to revisit the school where he was the principal eight years ago.

As for military academic viewpoints and approaches, according to Lutz's introduction, this Field Marshal Goldz was an outlier in the General Staff back then. He was known for his sharp opposition to Schlieffen—the same Schlieffen who died in 1913 and formulated the "Schlieffen Plan."

After Schlieffen's death, Moltke the Younger succeeded him as Chief of the General Staff and presided over military operations in the early stages of the World War. Later, Moltke the Younger failed to perform his duties effectively and was removed by Emperor Wilhelm.

Golds opposed the Schlieffen Plan from beginning to end, believing that it would be difficult to implement under the logistical pressures of the new era, and that it was too risky and did not take into account the ever-changing international environment.

However, Schlieffen's power was at its zenith at the time, and other generals and marshals also clung to his coattails. This led to Goltz being marginalized in 1908 and, despite his status as a field marshal, being relegated to the position of principal of the Potsdam Military Academy. In reality, this was simply a ploy to force him to retire after losing the factional struggle.

……

As Lutz helped Lelouch learn about these past events, other students also arrived one after another.

Lutz had no choice but to lower his voice further and speak quietly. Just as he finished speaking, an old marshal, the retired principal, Marshal Colmar von Gortz, appeared at the door (as shown in the picture below).

Guderian, who was doing odd jobs, quickly told everyone to stand up and salute. Lelouch and the others also snapped to attention and saluted.

Field Marshal Golts walked steadily to the podium and glanced at the students:

"I heard there's a Lelouch von Hunt in this episode, is he here?"

"Reporting to the Marshal! Brigadier General Lelouch von Hunt, Chief of Staff of the 6th Army, reporting for duty!" Lelouch immediately stepped out from behind his desk and saluted again.

Field Marshal Goldz nodded, looked at the rest of the cadets who were all only majors to colonels, and said to him, the only brigadier general:
"I hope your strategic vision is as sharp as your tactical innovations on the Eastern Front; otherwise, I might still prevent you from graduating! Young people must never become arrogant because of their achievements."

"Yes, Marshal!" Lelouch replied readily.

"Sit down, everyone." Marshal Goldz waved his hand casually, then, on a whim, turned around, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote a sentence on the blackboard.

"On the gains and losses of the Schlieffen Plan."

After finishing writing, he threw down the chalk and muttered to himself, "The war has been going on for a year and a half. Although the empire is in a good position now, it has suffered quite a few setbacks along the way."

As everyone knows, the first decisive setback suffered by the Empire was the failure of the Schlieffen Plan to eliminate the Franks in the first two or three months of the war, which led to the war turning into a protracted war of attrition.

Since you all intend to delve into strategy, regardless of whether you ultimately choose that subject, you can all discuss today the strategic lessons you've learned from this war.

Marshal Gortz's words immediately made many cadets uneasy. If it weren't for the strict discipline of the Demacian officers, they would probably have started whispering among themselves.

In particular, many of the cadets here knew about the factional struggles within the General Staff back then, and knew that Field Marshal Goldz and Chief of the General Staff Schlieffen were at odds, which was why he was sent to the military academy by Chief of the General Staff Schlieffen to sideline him.

Should I speak ill of Schlieffen in front of Field Marshal Goldz, or say that his plans were flawed? That might make graduation easier, but Field Marshal Goldz couldn't have absolute power; he had already retired from the military academy and was only temporarily brought back in honor. If I spoke ill of Schlieffen here today, was there a possibility that I would face retaliation from Schlieffen's still-living disciples in the future?

For example, Field Marshal Hindenburg on the Eastern Front, or Lieutenant General Rodendorff. Field Marshal Gortz also noticed everyone's unease, and immediately waved his hand very openly: "I told you to speak freely, so you can discuss it yourselves without any worries."

With permission granted, the students began their discussion. Lelouch, however, remained aloof and silent, having read so much military history and strategic analysis before his transmigration that he saw no need to participate in these discussions.

Before long, several officers who had returned from the central and northern sections of the Eastern Front, clearly from Hindenburg and Rodendorff's army groups, began to request to speak.

Field Marshal Gortz gave permission, and the group then expressed similar views one after another:
"I think the plan left by Chief of the General Staff Schlieffen was good, but its implementation was not up to par. At the beginning of the war, Chief of the General Staff Moltke did not have the same execution ability as Schlieffen. He did not strengthen the hook punch that was launched from Luxembourg and Belgium to northern Frankish territory."

He divided his forces to defend Alsace and Lorraine against the Frankish offensive, thus dispersing his limited strength. This caused the Empire to be bogged down too long along the Biligin route, ultimately leading to a lack of stamina and a failed campaign at the Marne.

This viewpoint is nothing new to any middle school student in later generations. Whenever World War I is mentioned, people say that the Schlieffen Plan was good, but problems arose during its implementation and it was not done properly.

However, in 1916, while the war was still raging, this viewpoint was somewhat novel and contained a tiny bit of insight.

Those below might not have thought of this deeply, but the General Staff had considered it long ago, and even the emperor agreed with this view.

That's why, in late 1914, after the Schlieffen Plan failed, Chief of the General Staff Moltke the Younger was replaced for incompetence, and Falkingham was appointed as Chief of the General Staff instead.

Even Marshal Gortz, who is standing on the podium today, cannot openly contradict this almost official line of reasoning.

Marshal Gortz, as expected, did not openly object or express a clear opinion after hearing this; he simply watched coldly and remained silent.

Marshal Goldz coldly swept his gaze across the crowd, finally settling on Lelouch, and directly called him out:

"Brigadier General Lelouch von Hunt! Tell me your opinion on this issue."

Lelouch had already prepared his words before calmly standing up and speaking eloquently:

"I think that if the Schlieffen Plan is evaluated as a purely military plan, it was still appropriate at the end of the last century. However, after 1905, the lessons learned from the Battle of Fluvial and the upgrading of military equipment by European countries made the Schlieffen Plan, although it underwent a final round of revisions, was generally too deeply entrenched to be implemented."

Marshal Gortz felt even more trust in him because he heard Gortz's careful wording and that Gortz didn't immediately express his opinion on major issues.

This is a young man who is objective and steady in his work. He can focus on the issue rather than the person and does not easily take sides.

It's not easy for a young person to have such a mindset.

"Be more specific," Marshal Gorts said, not revealing his appreciation, but still encouraging the other man to think outside the box in a neutral tone.

Lelouch organized his thoughts and explained in detail: "Before the War of 1905, the use of automatic firepower such as heavy machine guns was not so widespread. At that time, warfare was more about numbers, and the advantages of concentrating forces were more obvious."

However, after the War of 1905, the concentration of firepower became more important than the concentration of manpower, as evidenced by the emergence of the assault battalion tactic at the end of 1914. The degree of firepower concentration depended even more on the logistical capacity. Given the logistical limits of the transportation along the Franco-Belgian border and the transport capacity of the railways along the route, it was simply impossible for five army groups to advance along the same railway line under the new combat conditions.

Therefore, if the Schlieffen Plan were used to guide a war before 1905, its strategy of overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers on local battlefields might have yielded a decisive advantage. Unfortunately, this plan was developed in the early 90s and underwent revisions for over a decade until 1905, before war even broke out. Nine years later, war finally erupted, and many of Schlieffen's later revisions were outdated.

Lelouch's words are certainly understandable to seasoned players who have a deep understanding of military affairs and can at least play Hearts of Iron and other Paradox Interactive games.

Simply put, the supply capacity of roads has a limit. If too many troops are piled up along the same supply route, the penalty for overcrowding is too severe, and the combat efficiency of each unit is greatly reduced.

In the era before heavy machine guns, mobilizing large numbers of soldiers was meaningful because numbers equaled firepower density, and the logistical support required for individual soldiers was relatively small. Later on, railway transport capacity became insufficient to support such large-scale mobilizations.

It wasn't that Moltke didn't want to carry out the plan; it was that objective conditions didn't allow it.

However, historically, after the Demacians were defeated, the General Staff system needed to shift the blame. They did not want the responsibility for the defeat to be borne by most of the military, so they could only try to shift the blame to "the plan was good, but a few individuals failed to execute it properly." That way, there would be far fewer people to take the blame. As long as Moltke was sacrificed, everyone else could be absolved of responsibility.

Unfortunately, their enemies didn't want them to truly reflect on their actions; they wanted them to believe that the Schlieffen Plan could be used again. So some military theorists in the country, especially a guy named Liddell Hart, also touted during the interwar period that "the Schlieffen Plan was good; the problem was with its execution."

When Hindenburg and Rodendorff saw that even the enemy was endorsing them, they immediately elevated Reid Hart's work to a very high academic status and showed it to people back home: "Look, even the enemy recognizes the Schlieffen Plan. It was some of our own internal sabotages that led to our defeat in the war..."

But at this moment, Lelouch's viewpoint is clearly different from the mainstream faction that is shifting blame. Lelouch clearly believes that the blame does not lie solely with Moltke, whose position has already been filled.

This statement, ironically, was very pertinent and detailed in its analysis, which finally prompted Marshal Gortz to take it seriously.

"So, you think the Schlieffen Plan itself had problems, but these problems didn't exist when the plan was first formulated? Was it because the timeline of the plan's formulation and the actual timeline of the war were mismatched, and the plan's revisions were not up-to-date?"

Marshal Goldz also carefully summarized Lelouch's views.

"You could simplify it like this; this is just my humble opinion."

Marshal Goldz finally nodded secretly, then astutely seized upon a detail in Lelouch's earlier statement and pressed for further details:

“But I remember you just said at the beginning that ‘the Schlieffen Plan was appropriate at the end of the last century if it were evaluated as a purely military plan.’ If we break down that statement, there should be two reasons why it was inappropriate, right?”
One issue is the timing; it became increasingly inappropriate after 1905. The other issue is its inappropriateness due to its exclusion of military factors, because you added the qualifier "evaluate it as a purely military plan."

Lelouch couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this. As expected, the old fox was shrewd. Marshal Goldz listened very carefully and noticed this detail.

"Yes, that's what I mean. From a purely military perspective, the Schlieffen Plan may have some merit in certain times and circumstances. But from a political and diplomatic point of view, it's practically an unfinished project, at best a bare shell, where people are expected to move in before it's even finished."

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P.S.: I hesitated for a long time before deciding to explain some diplomatic and political theories in these two chapters. If you find them dry, you can skip ahead a bit, or I can write them more concisely. But these plot points will be useful later on.

(End of this chapter)