Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 247 We're not going to attack Verdun, but Verdun is attacking us anyway.
Upon returning to Berlin, Lelouch only rested for one day, spending time socializing with old and new friends.
Then, the officers who had performed meritorious service received transfer orders or promotion orders from the General Staff Department one after another.

Lelouch's rank is already quite high; he was only officially promoted to Major General in March. Now, just two months later, his achievement of coordinating the campaign in the Caucasus is not enough to warrant another promotion. Moreover, a significant portion of his work in the Caucasus campaign was done behind the scenes, and it's not appropriate to publicize it excessively at this time.

Therefore, his main purpose in returning this time was to be reassigned to a new position, rather than to adjust his military rank.

The emperor officially removed him from his position as chief of staff of the 6th Army and appointed him as the newly established "director of the Joint Operations Coordination Office of the Army and Navy," along with some temporary duties to facilitate the overall handling of the naval intelligence department's code leaks.

Therefore, as of May 10th, Lelouch's official position and full titles are as follows:
Baron Füssen, Major General of the Army, Director of the Joint Operations Coordination Office of the Army and Navy, Deputy Director of the Naval Intelligence Bureau in charge of the Telecommunications Department, and Director of the Propaganda Bureau of the Imperial War Department.

Some of these positions are not actually commensurate with his military rank. Generally, a general can become a minister in some departments of the empire, a lieutenant general can become a deputy minister, a major general is at the bureau level, and a brigadier general is at the deputy bureau level.

Aside from Lelouch, Brigadier General von Bock, due to the great victory in the Polish campaign and his apparent role in encircling the main force of the enemy's Western Front, finally broke through the gap between brigadier general and major general, becoming a major general at the age of 37.

von Bock's deputy division commander, Colonel Rundstedt, also broke through to the brigadier general rank because of this battle, becoming a brigadier general at the age of 42.

Although these two men's achievements were less than Lelouch's when he was promoted to major general, their age and years of service made their promotion easier than Lelouch's.

The obstacles a 37-year-old officer faces in being promoted to major general are far less than those faced by someone who is nominally only 26 years old.

Finally, Major Manstein, who gave credit to von Bock because of his "understanding of the big picture and prioritizing the overall situation," also received a reward from Chief of the General Staff Falkenhayn.

If you give the Chief of Staff's nephew a chance to shine, the Chief of Staff will reciprocate.

Manstein was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the age of 29, and Chief of Staff Falkenhayn even privately hinted to him that if he had any decent merits next time, he could be given priority for promotion again.

In other words, Manstein, having just been promoted to lieutenant colonel, was no longer a "newly promoted lieutenant colonel." Even if it wasn't a "perfect lieutenant colonel," it was at least halfway through the promotion process from lieutenant colonel to colonel.

This person had never connected with Lelouch before, nor had Lelouch tried to win him over. So he relied entirely on his talent in armored tactics to earn extra opportunities for promotion and development.

Regarding their positions, after von Bock was promoted to major general, his position was not immediately changed; he remained the commander of the "Reich" armored division.

However, the division's authorized strength has also been strengthened. In the future, it will be organized into two fully-equipped armored regiments with four tank battalions under them, which means the entire division will have 270 light tanks. The mechanization and motorization of the other infantry regiments will also be further improved.

The victory in the Polish campaign made the emperor and the Ministry of Armaments very willing to provide this elite force with more new and high-quality equipment. Moreover, with his uncle, the Chief of the General Staff, protecting them, this division was sure to have priority access to everything.

After Rundstedt was promoted to brigadier general, he naturally ceased to serve as deputy division commander. Instead, he was transferred to command the third armored division newly formed by the Reich, the same armored division previously under the 8th Army that played a leading role on the northern front during the Polish campaign. Manstein was a regimental commander in that division.

Rundstedt's personnel were also transferred from Field Marshal Leopold's 10th Army to Field Marshal Hindenburg's 8th Army, thus leaving the Baria faction.

There's nothing that can be done about it, and there's nothing to regret. Demania is, after all, a modern nation, not some warlord state with its own independent kingdoms. Although there are certainly factions within the military, they can't openly form cliques.

Moreover, Brigadier General Rundstedt's ancestral home was Saxony, and he was not from Baria. He was assigned to the 6th Army when the war broke out, so it was normal for him to be transferred back to the Prosenjunker faction's army group.

I believe that even after he leaves, he will still remember Chief of Staff Lelouch's foresight and decisiveness. He just needs to remember Lelouch's kindness.

As for Manstein, who had the lowest rank, he had been taken care of by his uncle before, and was given command of an armored regiment by the extraordinary rank of major. Now that he has been promoted to lieutenant colonel, he is still commanding that same armored regiment, and his position has not changed at all.

However, because Rundstedt was transferred to serve as the commander of the 3rd Panzer Division, Manstein became his direct superior and subordinate, and thus commanded Rundstedt's only panzer regiment.

……

Everyone received a promotion or transfer, so naturally, a celebratory banquet was held.

On the evening of May 10th, Lelouch generously booked a large private room at the Charlottenburg Hotel and treated everyone to a meal. He also invited several of his former classmates from the Potsdam Military Academy, if they were still in Berlin.

Of those classmates and teaching assistants, cavalry officers like Weichs and Reichenau have been reassigned to the Eastern Front. They also participated in the Polish campaign, but their achievements were not outstanding, so they could not be promoted directly. I heard they are still majors and are slowly building up their seniority.

Captain Guderian, Major Küchler, and Lieutenant Colonel Oswald Lutz were still in Berlin, but Lelouch summoned them with a single phone call.

The highest-ranking officer among these people was only the same as Manstein, who had just been promoted. So, at this kind of occasion, he could only offer toasts.

Amid the celebrations, everyone also discussed the subsequent arrangements and assignments.

Lelouch will remain in Berlin to handle important matters and will not be going anywhere else, while the others will soon return to the front lines.

Lieutenant Colonel Oswald Lutz, along with Guderian and Küchler, indicated that they would soon be transferred to the Western Front.

"We are being transferred to the front line of Metz Fortress, which is the Saar River defense line, opposite the Frankish Verdun Fortress. The Franks are launching an attack from Verdun eastward towards Metz Fortress."

"I remember two years ago, when the war had just started, the Franks attacked that place according to 'Plan 17'. At that time, it was your 6th Army of the Baria faction that was responsible for defending the Saar region, with the 4th Army of Württemberg providing support."

"Since the Empire launched the Caucasus Campaign and the Polish Campaign on the Eastern Front almost one after the other last month, the Franks and Bretonnia have become anxious, fearing that Lusa will collapse completely. Therefore, at the invitation of Lusa's army, they have promised to launch a full-scale offensive on the Western Front, hoping to tie down more of the Empire's main forces."

"Now the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Armies are tied up on the western front, and a few of us also need to report to the western front to help hold off the Franks."

The three officers took turns sharing their recent experiences.

Lelouch had heard a few days ago that the Franks had launched a counterattack, but he was too busy to ask for more details. Today, he finally finished his business and wanted to talk to everyone to learn more about the details from the front lines.

Unexpectedly, the Franks and Bretons were ultimately unable to stay idle.

Although the Demacian army in this plane was focused on the eastern front and did not launch the Battle of Verdun, it was precisely because Lusa was on the verge of collapse that the Franks could no longer sit still and switched from defense to offense, actually launching an attack from Verdun.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. In the Earth dimension, when Demania was launching its main attack on Verdun, Lusa on the eastern front also launched the "Brussilov Offensive," which crushed the Austrian army and forced Demania to withdraw its general reserve to help the Austrian army block the breach, thus relieving the pressure on Verdun.

Between Falu, one front was already under pressure, so the other front had to launch a diversionary attack.

However, both Verdun and Metz are fortified areas, meaning that attacking either side would be disadvantageous. The Franks have Verdun Fortress, and Demania has Metz Fortress; neither is easy to breach.

Lelouch looked troubled when these people mentioned the Western Front, which piqued his curiosity:
"The Empire's Metz fortress is so fortified, with layers of defenses. The Frankish attack two years ago was a complete failure, so it shouldn't pose much of a threat now, right? Besides, hasn't the Empire already forced a significant number of willing Rosa prisoners of war to fill in the gaps? Surely it can't hold out?" Guderian, currently working in the rear conducting tactical research and relatively familiar with the situation at the front, carefully explained things to Major General Lelouch:
"The situation is different now. You invented the tank more than half a year ago, and now the enemy also has a mature tank! The Britannians have amassed more than 150 'Mark I' tanks, each equipped with two heavy machine guns and a 6-pounder cannon. Their tonnage and trench-crossing ability are superior to our tanks, but their mobility is poor and their speed is slow. They have all been deployed to attack the Metz fortress and the surrounding defenses."

The Franks also built a tank called the 'Renault A16,' which heavily borrowed from our designs. It was relatively light and agile, equipped with heavy machine gun fire and a 37mm anti-tank gun, and its armor was sufficient to withstand machine gun fire.

When Lelouch heard that the Franks had recently invested in the "Renault Tank," he was slightly surprised, mistakenly thinking that the Franks had developed the "Renault FT-17" tank a year ahead of schedule by borrowing from him. He felt that this was too unreasonable, and that the Franks did not have such a fast research and development capability.

He quickly asked about some technical details, which Guderian answered one by one. Lelouch then realized that "Reynolds 16" and "Reynolds FT17" in the Earth dimension were not the same thing.

Or rather, in other aspects they are similar. It is also an 8-ton tank equipped with a 37mm cannon and a machine gun, and its armor is also 8mm thick in all directions. However, it lacks the key structure of the "Renault FT17" - the rotating turret.

Therefore, strictly speaking, the "Renault 16" and other tanks at present can only be considered "assault guns".

The Franks were forced into this situation; the enemy had already produced tanks for over half a year, leaving no time for meticulous research and development. They had to build whatever they had first. As for the turrets, they could work on improving them later.

Lelouch finally breathed a sigh of relief and commented objectively: "Fortunately, the Franks still haven't solved the turret problem, so it shouldn't pose much of a threat to our tanks."

The Bretonnia were still using 6-pounder cannons, similar to our 57mm short-barreled cannons, which also had a relatively curved trajectory and short range, primarily used for attacking bunkers. Using them for tank-to-tank combat, which was still a moving-on-movement situation, would result in a very low hit rate.

The Franks actually thought of using a 37mm anti-tank gun, which should have a 30-caliber barrel, right? This barrel is a bit thinner and longer, so theoretically the muzzle velocity should be much higher, making it more suitable for tank-to-tank combat and with a higher hit rate when stationary against moving targets.

However, they still haven't built a turret, making it very inconvenient to fine-tune the firing direction, which will inevitably greatly limit the combat efficiency of tank battles, but there's no need to worry too much.

Once the Empire's 20mm autocannon is successfully mass-produced, tank battles will definitely be able to crush the Franks' 37mm turretless main gun again! After all, the armor-piercing power of the 20mm rounds is already sufficient, and autocannons are far more maneuverable than anti-tank guns in terms of traverse and elevation.

While analyzing the situation, Lelouch also encouraged his classmates who were about to go to the western front to guide anti-tank operations, giving them some tips.

Guderian nodded repeatedly as he listened: "I think so too. If the ease of rotating and elevating artillery isn't resolved, the efficiency of tank-to-tank combat will definitely be very low. However, currently all of the Empire's tank production capacity is concentrated on supplying the offensive campaign on the Eastern Front, and we really don't have any tanks available on the Western Front."

Currently, the only weapons being used are the newly issued 13.2mm anti-tank rifles, as well as sticky bombs, Molotov cocktails, cluster grenades, and explosive charges to fight off the Buffalo coalition's tanks, so the defense of the Metz fortress front is quite difficult.

More than 20 kilometers of the 60-kilometer forward depth between Verdun and Metz had already been lost. When the Buffalo coalition launched its general offensive in late April, our army was still very unfamiliar with the use of anti-tank weapons.

Moreover, the large number of soldiers in the Lusha POW division who were filling in the lines did not dare to be equipped with good anti-tank weapons, and their morale was consistently low. They could only fill in the lines and dared not take the initiative to rush forward to carry out anti-tank operations with close-range weapons..."

Guderian had done his homework thoroughly, and in just a few words he clearly analyzed the reasons for the initial setbacks on the western front over the past two weeks.

After hearing this, Lelouch couldn't help but give him another suggestion: "I think that the simplest anti-tank weapon, the Molotov cocktail, should be fully distributed to the Rusa prisoners of war. We can find another opportunity to write a letter to discuss this later."

Molotov cocktails are not inherently dangerous; they can be thrown 30 to 50 meters away. Unlike sticky bombs, they don't stick to other things when thrown, requiring some skill to avoid accidental injury.

As for anti-tank rifles and specialized sticky anti-tank mines, it is still necessary to organize specialized grenadier regiments on the front lines to be responsible for anti-tank operations. Generally, one Lusha division can be equipped with one of our grenadier regiments that can perform both supervisory and anti-tank tasks. With this 1:4 ratio, one of our regiments can keep an eye on four Lusha regiments, which should be enough to ensure that the troops do not mutini.

The key defensive zones must still be defended entirely by main force divisions composed of Imperial soldiers. If you have any good ideas, you can write them down, and I'll submit them on your behalf to ensure they reach the higher-ups.

Lelouch's suggestion also gave a group of artillery and anti-tank officers who were about to go to the Western Front a bright idea and were quite inspired.

Guderian felt that the suggestion of "forming a special anti-tank grenadier regiment" could be further explored and refined, just like the pamphlets he had come up with before, and it would definitely be effective.

The group discussed the issue further, identifying and addressing many new problems encountered by the frontline troops, as well as their solutions.

For example, Guderian also mentioned that the 13.2mm anti-tank rifles that have just been deployed to the battlefield can penetrate the armor of the Renault 16 tank with almost 100% accuracy (as long as they don't hit the slope or corner of the steel plate and cause ricochets), but their anti-tank performance in actual combat over the past two weeks has been poor.

"Although these bullets can penetrate a tank as long as they hit it, the recoil is too great, and soldiers are prone to shoulder injuries when firing from the shoulder. This problem is easy to solve, though. The Mauser factory has already urgently equipped these guns with bipods to distribute the recoil."

But another crucial issue is that bullets are ultimately just bullets, not shells; they don't contain explosive charges. A modern Mauser 13.2 bullet, even if it penetrates a tank, will only leave a hole, at most ricocheting inside the tank, making it very difficult to kill the crew.

A small hole in a tank from a bullet doesn't affect its use at all, unless the operating instruments are damaged by sheer luck. Therefore, by the end of April, many units on the front lines reported that enemy tanks continued to operate even after being riddled with three or five small holes…

"This is indeed a big problem. We can only discover the issues through actual combat." Lelouch frankly acknowledged the problem and also devised some solutions on the spot.
"This matter needs to be resolved in two steps. First, anti-tank rifles are ultimately only a temporary measure. Companies like DWM should be instructed to accelerate the finalization and mass production of 13.2mm heavy machine guns, or to speed up the development of autocannons. I will look into this matter and keep an eye on it."

Secondly, the quickest emergency measure at hand is to immediately distribute structural diagrams of enemy tanks to the front-line troops. After half a month of fighting, there must have been some Mark I tanks and Renault 16 tanks destroyed by our army, right? Have the people at the vehicle factory quickly survey the wreckage, draw up simple diagrams, and mark the positions of the commander, gunner, and driver.

Train anti-tank riflemen to aim at positions with people, ensuring that the rifle penetrates the armor and kills the crew; then the rifle can still be used for a few more months.

The development of weapons such as machine guns and large-caliber machine guns is ultimately a slow process. Lelouch had paid attention to these two projects when he was studying in the winter, but less than four months have passed since then. How could they be mass-produced so quickly?

Researchers at the relevant companies should already be working overtime to expedite the development and refinement, but it is estimated that the first mass-produced version of the large-caliber machine gun will take at least two more months to be finalized, and the first batch will be deployed to the troops in four or five months, which means it will be delayed until September of this year.

As for the mass production and deployment of the 20mm autocannon, it's estimated that it won't be until November or December. After all, these weapons are all completely new products, unlike anything we've ever seen before.

This year's "Battle of Verdun" can only be temporarily held up by sticky bombs and anti-tank rifles. New anti-tank weapons will be available for the next large-scale battle.

While not perfect, this was far better than the situation on Earth at the same time. The Demacian army on Earth, for the first six months after seeing tanks in 1916, had no anti-tank weapons whatsoever; even anti-tank rifles weren't issued to the troops until February 1918.

At least there were still enough anti-tank rifles available; by April 1916, the front lines had already received over a thousand of these large-caliber rifles.

As long as the Metz fortress is held, the 60-kilometer-wide buffer zone between Metz and Verdun can be temporarily abandoned if necessary.

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PS: Five thousand words, a slightly third-person perspective chronological account.

The main issue is that history has been significantly altered, and the changes and developments in other timelines are worth mentioning. The Franks and Bretons wouldn't just sit idly by and watch Lusa die; they would definitely have taken some restraining actions. I think my interconnected deductions are quite reasonable.

The next chapter will return to the main character's plot. Thank you for your patience.

(End of this chapter)