Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 42 Pre-battle Mobilization: The Assault Battalion is Not Just a Reckless Warrior!

Three days later, on December 12th, in the early morning.

Lille, formerly a major town in northern Frankish territory.

The city was captured by the Germans in August, and the French failed to recapture it during Operation Head to the Sea. The French frontline in the northeast remains at Arras and Lens.

Lille is located directly south of Ypres, which is under the control of the Burgundian army, thus posing a certain threat to the southern flank of the Ypres salient.

When the subsequent battles began, the German army in the sixth phase had already planned to cut through the salient along the railway line from Lille to the northwest, and work with the friendly forces in the fourth phase to cut the salient off completely.

So early that morning, Lelouch, Major Lundstätter, Major Bock, and other officers, along with the newly recruited company and platoon leaders and other officers of various ranks from the two assault battalions, plus the newly added soldiers, were all taken to the military camp on the western outskirts of Lille.

What awaited them was the final pre-battle rehearsals and supplementary training in new tactics. They would remain stationed in Lille until the very last moment before the war began.

Everyone only has a week to get used to each other before they have to go back into battle—don't complain about the short time, everyone is an elite force. Although the soldiers generally got about twenty days of rest, they weren't completely idle after the rest period ended.

Especially the wounded soldiers who were brought back to the unit, their adjustment period was actually longer than that of the officers, and most of their comrades were already familiar with each other.

As for the problem of "soldiers not knowing their generals, and generals not knowing their soldiers," it might be a very serious taboo in the armies of other countries.

However, this is not so evident in the Demacian army, which is entirely due to the Demacian army's long-standing tradition of obeying orders and maintaining strict military discipline.

Even if the soldiers are not very familiar with their officers, and even if the officers are parachuted in, the soldiers will still carry out orders as long as the officers give them.

This is something the enemy would find more difficult to achieve. In particular, the Franks valued freedom, and their soldiers generally had many ideas—which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since freedom is always a good thing.

At six o'clock in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, about 2200 soldiers were already lined up and assembled in the camp. Light snow was falling, but it did not affect the soldiers' formation at all.

They had to listen to the instructions from Army Group Commander General Rupprecht, followed by instructions from the two division commanders, and then from the two assault battalion commanders, Bock and Lundstätter.

All the soldiers have changed into brand new gear. They are wearing M15 steel helmets (actually designed like the M56 helmet), which are forged from high manganese steel and have a leather frame for cushioning inside. They are covered with camouflage canvas made of linen to avoid the reflection of the metal helmet.

They were all wearing gray and brown-and-white camouflage uniforms. The clothes weren't tight; in fact, they were somewhat bulky, so that winter cotton-padded linings could be tucked inside.

He wore work boots with steel plates at the front for impact protection, and leather leg wraps with perforated laces—previously, the Imperial Army soldiers' tall boots had adjustable side laces, making them very inconvenient to put on and take off. While the side laces were still more troublesome than zippers, they were at least better than buttons.

(Note: Anti-slip self-locking zippers were only invented in the United States in 1913 and are not yet widespread. Older zippers lacked locking mechanisms, making them easy to open and less reliable than shoelaces.)
The soldiers' weapons have not yet been issued and will be adjusted later according to the division of troops, so for now, no one is carrying a gun.

After everyone had lined up, the Duke gave a pep talk, the content of which was rather common and old-fashioned.

"...Soldiers, today we are fighting against the evil Bretonnian financial speculators! If the Empire cannot win this war, then in the future there will be no more sense of honor on Earth, only one faith: the worship of gold!"

Lelouch, standing slightly behind the Duke, heard everything clearly. He knew that Emperor William had said the same thing not long ago, and that the Duke had simply memorized those words. Moreover, they weren't very convincing; many soldiers didn't care about such grand pronouncements.

There was no voice broadcasting in this era, and soldiers could not have heard the ruler's voice from the radio.

Therefore, it is quite normal for the emperor's speeches to be repeatedly quoted by generals at all levels, and the soldiers do not know that this is just rehashing old ideas.

After the Duke, the division commander and the assault battalion commander each gave speeches, which were also pre-battle mobilizations and contained nothing new.

Finally, it was Lelouch's turn to speak briefly. He was the one who proposed the concept of the assault battalion and the deputy commander of the 1st Assault Battalion.

Lelouch, being more down-to-earth, decided to speak more practically since everyone had already given their morale-boosting speeches. "Soldiers! I know you are all battle-hardened warriors, disciplined and obedient to orders. But I also know that the concept of an assault battalion, the name itself, might have caused some doubts, or at least some doubts at one point."

Some might think that the Empire and the Army Group are assigning dangerous missions to everyone, placing an even heavier burden on their shoulders! But I want to emphasize one crucial truth: the Army Group cherishes every soldier! The Commander values ​​the life of every subordinate!
The assault battalion will not be used to the point of exhaustion; our task is simply to make key breakthroughs. When the battle begins, we will absolutely not allow officers at any level to recklessly expand the attack front or squander the soldiers' energy and lives!
In each company, the platoons must advance in turns as needed! In each battalion, the companies must take turns resting as needed!

After breaching the enemy's defenses, if you can immediately call for reinforcements from a large friendly force to take over the position, you must do so promptly!

When encountering a fortified enemy stronghold, if you can use the radio to call in artillery support to accurately eliminate it, you should not hesitate to call in artillery fire!
Please believe me, I also crawled out of a pile of corpses! Two months ago in Neoport, I also faced the desperate situation of a reconnaissance company breaking out from three Belgian divisions!

My eye was injured by tear gas during that battle, and it has never fully healed. I can still feel the pain every moment. So please believe that we will cherish every soldier!

Moreover, this Major Bock is the Chief of the General Staff's nephew! Even the Chief of the General Staff trusts his own nephew to join the assault battalion, so what else is there to worry about? The assault battalion will certainly be used to its fullest potential, and everyone will have far more opportunities for merit, awards, and promotions than ordinary troops!

Lelouch's speech was very down-to-earth. Compared with other old-fashioned officers who emphasized honor and discipline, he paid great attention to making soldiers believe that they would receive the best treatment, would not be used as cannon fodder, and that their bravery would be most easily noticed by their superiors, and that they would never be buried by unclear rewards and punishments.

This combination of carrot and stick tactics truly boosted the morale and cohesion of the Demacian soldiers, who had never experienced the Eastern way of winning people's hearts before.

Especially the soldiers in the front row, looking at the deputy battalion commander's bloodshot left eye, everyone could feel that he was not the kind of high and mighty officer, but someone who had fought his way up from the bottom just like them.

The deputy battalion commander's current treatment, the appreciation he receives from officers at all levels, and even the commander's high regard for him—all of this provides soldiers with a vivid example of striving for advancement, a typical case of someone rising from an ordinary "veteran squad leader" to a mid-level officer.

Among the soldiers below, platoon leaders Lieutenant Model and Lieutenant Dieter were also moved to tears. They too came from humble backgrounds, without any connections, and had risen through the ranks from the lowest levels after joining the army, earning merits step by step.

"I will definitely fight like Commander Lelouch in the future! I will fight to the death with the Britannian lackeys!" Model, who joined the army after only one year of military academy after graduating from high school, was completely inspired with the high-spirited fighting spirit to make merits and get promoted.

Meanwhile, Majors Bock and Lundstätter on the platform cast respectful glances at Lelouch, both thinking to themselves, "This young man... seems to be more focused on appeasing and winning over the lower ranks than any officer we've seen before. Previous imperial traditions were too focused on being accountable to superiors; it's rare to see someone so attentive to the needs of those below. Times are truly changing..."

"Victory! We will win! We will win!" On the parade ground, some soldiers finally shouted, and then the other soldiers were also inspired and shouted in unison.

Lelouch felt the soldiers' sincere shouts and was also deeply moved.

Over the past month, he has gradually figured out some things, especially his left eye, which had been injured by the poison gas and had not fully healed for a long time. Now, his vision in his left eye is completely fine, just like normal, but the blood red color of the pupil just won't fade, and he will probably have red and blue eyes forever.

At first, he wondered if his left eye had developed some kind of special ability, but later he found that it didn't seem to be anything special, except that he had a more compelling voice when speaking to his fellow countrymen. Perhaps it was because when people saw his eyes, they would remember his heroic deeds of fighting and being wounded for his country, thus generating a sense of trust or awe.

To this end, he also secretly conducted some control group experiments. For example, when he captured Ostend, he interrogated and met with some surrendered Belgian officers and even generals, and tried to persuade them to cooperate more deeply with Demacia.

Throughout the entire persuasion process, Lelouch did not feel any boost in his persuasiveness; reasoning simply wouldn't work.

Therefore, after careful comparison, it seems that this blood-red left eye has no influence on foreigners who are not of our kind; it only makes it more appealing to our own kind.

Perhaps it has some appeal to Demanians from other countries, who knows, but it certainly has no appeal to other ethnic groups from other countries.

After speaking to and mobilizing these 2200 assault battalion soldiers today, and seeing their enthusiastic response, Lelouch's feelings became even more real, and he finally confirmed this point completely.

Perhaps in the future, he might be able to become a better speaker by relying on this old wound that will never fully heal, this "man's medal," and, under the same conditions, rally more soldiers and people to unite around him, but that's all.

Now that all mobilization work is complete, it's time to distribute equipment to the soldiers and give them tactical instructions.

(End of this chapter)