Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 43 Target Ypres, Attack!

After the mobilization speeches were all over, it was time to distribute the new equipment to all the soldiers and familiarize them with the new organization and tactics.

His Highness the Duke, as the army group commander, and the two division commanders certainly didn't have much free time, so they left after finishing their speech. The remaining tasks were handled by the two majors and Lelouch, the captain and deputy battalion commander.

Because the time allotted to the rear was too short, the arsenals in Thuringia and Karlsruhe couldn't equip all 2200 soldiers in the two battalions with new weapons. Therefore, when distributing equipment to the two battalions, they couldn't completely follow Lelouch's design. Some soldiers had to continue making do with their old firearms.

Limited equipment will inevitably be allocated preferentially, with priority given to the First Assault Battalion, where Lelouch is stationed, especially ensuring that the company directly led by Lelouch is fully equipped. The remainder will then be given to the Second Assault Battalion.

To avoid the problem of inequality rather than scarcity, the weapons were distributed separately to the two battalions.

As for the men of the Second Battalion, Lelouch only spoke to Major Lundstätter, the battalion commander, asking him to be lenient. There was no further communication; he preferred to avoid trouble.

Major Lundstätter was quite magnanimous, and he was already 40 years old. He had climbed the ranks quite slowly, and knowing that the battalion commander of the 1st Assault Battalion, Bock, had a Chief of the General Staff as his uncle, how could he dare to compete with Bock for resources?

I would be very satisfied to be able to enter such an elite unit and get more opportunities to make merits and get promoted.

Besides, Lelouch did give him a submachine gun, but he received slightly fewer than the First Battalion, which was perfectly acceptable.

……

While distributing new equipment, Lelouch also took the opportunity to explain the weapon allocation and organization of the assault battalion to officers of all ranks.

This weapon configuration wasn't decided unilaterally by him. It's more accurate to say that he proposed the initial plan, and then discussed it with Bock, Lundstätter, and Rommel over the past two days, finally making minor adjustments to the final draft.

"The assault team consists of four squads per platoon, with 15 people in each squad."

Each squad is equipped with one squad leader, one MP15 submachine gun, 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and one Carl Zeiss binoculars.

The remaining 14 people were divided into an assault team and a fire support team, with 8 people in the assault team and 6 people in the support team.

突击组成员8名，5人装备MP15冲锋枪，子弹300发。2人装备毛瑟G98步枪，1人装备毛瑟C96手枪，子弹100发。

Submachine gunners carry a heavier load of ammunition, so each carries only six stick grenades. Pistol soldiers, specialized grenadiers, are selected from the strongest soldiers in the squad and carry 20 grenades! Riflemen carry 15 grenades, and are preferably selected from soldiers with long throwing distances.

(Note: The protagonist's improved grenade weighs about the same as the M24 wooden-handled grenade but is slightly heavier, approximately 0.75 kg, or about 1.5 jin (750 grams) per grenade.)
After introducing the assault team, Lelouch took a sip of water and continued:
"The fire support team of 6 people was further divided into a 3-person light machine gun team and a 3-person grenade launcher team. The light machine gun team carried an MG15 light machine gun, while the assistant gunner and ammunition handler did not carry their main weapons, but only a C96 pistol for self-defense. The weight saved was used to carry more machine gun bullets."

The main gunner carries only a 200-round ammunition belt, which can be directly mounted on the gun. The assistant gunner and ammunition handler each carry 800 rounds of ammunition, and only two grenades are needed. As units providing cover and suppression from a relatively rear position, they will have very few opportunities to throw grenades.

The grenade launcher team consisted of a main grenadier carrying a grenade launcher and six general-purpose grenades, and an assistant grenadier and ammunition handler carrying 15 general-purpose grenades, along with a Mauser G98 rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition.

After a few minutes of explanation, the soldiers at all levels basically grasped the firepower composition of the assault squad and became familiar with their own responsibilities.

Assigning two riflemen to the assault team is primarily due to a genuine battlefield need. It's essential to ensure that if the assault team encounters enemy machine gun or sniper suppression and the submachine guns are out of range, the riflemen can counter the snipers and at least have a chance to fight back on the spot.

Secondly, there simply wasn't enough submachine guns available, so riflemen had to be added to make up the numbers—the aforementioned five submachine guns per squad were only achievable by Lelouch's company. By Rommel's company, each squad could only be equipped with four.

The C/D companies of the 1st Battalion, which were further back than Rommel's, and even the entire 2nd Battalion of Rundstedt, could only be issued three submachine guns per squad, thus requiring two additional riflemen. Of course, since riflemen carried less ammunition, they carried more grenades for close-range breakthroughs.

In addition, regarding the configuration of the machine guns, the requirement that Lelouch and Schmeisser of Thuringia had agreed upon was to produce one hundred new light machine guns by the end of the year, and then figure out the mass production process. Initially, these one hundred were small-scale trial productions, and no molds had been made yet, so all parts had to be machined, which actually made the production cost very high.

They were only manufacturing it despite the high costs because they were trying to improve it while simultaneously conducting trial production.

To date, Schmeisser hasn't delivered all the weapons; only about 80 have arrived. So, only Lelouch's First Assault Battalion can be equipped with the domestically produced MG15 light machine gun, while the Second Battalion will temporarily use the Danish Madsen light machine guns intercepted at the beginning of the war.

At the outset of World War II, Denmark had an order for 600 Madsen light machine guns, placed by neutral Switzerland. The shipment was transiting through Demania, bound for Bern by rail, passing through Nuremberg. The Bavarian royal family withheld the Swiss order, but they had already paid for it; it wasn't a case of taking the goods without payment.

After the batch of 1903 Danish light machine guns was intercepted, some were gradually deployed to the front lines. However, due to the different barrel calibers, most of the guns required some time to modify their barrels to be compatible with 792 caliber Mauser bullets. Now, Rundstedt's battalion doesn't have enough new light machine guns, so they use the old ones to make do, since the ammunition is interchangeable.

The Danish-made gun is inferior to the MG15 in terms of shooting accuracy, jamming resistance, and rate of fire, but it is really lightweight, so Lundstätter didn't lose out.

Meanwhile, the battalion where Bock and Lelouch were stationed had to select the strongest soldiers to serve as the main gunners for the MG15, since they would need to carry a machine gun weighing over 20 kilograms when loaded with ammunition up slopes and through trenches. ...

Each battalion, company, platoon, and squad has been assigned weapons and organized into their respective tasks.

The following days were dedicated to specialized training aimed at improving the soldiers' technical and tactical skills.

The German army did not have such professional grenadiers and light machine gunners. Soldiers selected for the light machine gun team had to undergo extra training in quickly setting up and deploying light machine guns, as well as carrying their guns on cross-country marches.

The grenade launcher soldiers, on the other hand, were reinforcing their training in determining the grenade launcher's elevation angle using some simple, lazy methods that Lelouch had temporarily instructed them to use. This would allow them to more accurately determine the initial elevation angle of the launcher when firing grenades in the future, making it easier to control the range—the previous method of firing grenade launchers by chance was far too reliant on luck and experience.

Meanwhile, the professional grenadiers responsible for close-range grenade throwing are using model grenades to practice throwing power techniques and systematically learn how to feel and control the throwing distance.

Real combat isn't like a battle royale game where you have a visible pre-aiming trajectory before throwing a grenade. The proper force application and throw distance all require repeated practice and refinement using a model.

Finally, Lelouch gave all the soldiers who had switched to submachine guns an extra lesson:
How to use an entrenching tool in melee combat.

It's like cramming for battle at the last minute.

All German infantrymen were trained in bayonet fighting techniques. The Mauser G98 rifle was very long, and combined with the German soldiers' height and long arms, they had a significant advantage in bayonet fighting.

However, after switching to submachine guns, it became impossible to attach bayonets, and even if one tried to force it, it would be at a great disadvantage, as submachine guns are much shorter than rifles.

Majors Bock and Lundstätter initially thought it would be better to just abandon the melee combat capabilities of the submachine gunners, since there was no way to salvage the situation anyway.

As it turned out, Lelouch, that quick-witted fellow, ordered a batch of high-grade forged entrenching shovels with sharp edges from the Thuringian arsenal in advance.

This is beneficial for terrain modification in complex trench warfare environments, and also allows for hand-to-hand combat.

The only pity is that Lelouch's physical strength is too low, and his hand-to-hand combat ability is practically zero.

Even if he was a super military enthusiast in his previous life, he couldn't possibly know anything about "shovel techniques." At most, he could tell everyone: try to swing the shovel face at the enemy's head, or swing the shovel blade at their neck.

As for more specific combat techniques and routines using entrenching tools, the soldiers can only figure them out on their own, or talented officers in the army can learn and summarize a set of shovel techniques on the spot.

……

For five or six days in a row, junior officers and ordinary soldiers were familiarizing themselves with the new weapons and tactics.

Meanwhile, officers at the company and battalion levels began to gradually gain access to more operational information leaked from higher command. The two battalion commanders and eight company commanders all realized that the day of the formal offensive was drawing ever closer.

The reason why the final date for the attack has not yet been decided seems to be that they are waiting for suitable weather—the destruction of the Isère Canal before the Belgian army was destroyed created a flood zone, and there are many places around the Ypres salient where the roads are very difficult to travel.

The previous delay in the offensive was to wait until the weather turned cold, so that the water in the lower layers could freeze and solidify slightly, making it easier for the troops to maneuver.

The temperature has been hovering around zero degrees Celsius for the past few days, with occasional light snow, but no heavy snow or freezing temperatures.

It wasn't until December 18th that heavy snow finally fell in the Lille and Ypres area.

The moment Lelouch saw the heavy snowfall, he knew that the day of the final assault was fast approaching.

"Do you think the higher-ups might order a general offensive today or tomorrow?" Burke and Major Lundstätter looked at the heavy snowfall and discussed military matters with Lelouch.

Lelouch thought carefully for a moment before analyzing, "I don't think so, but it will happen within two or three days—the heavy snow will also have a significant impact on the attacking side."

Moreover, it's not cold when it snows, but it's cold when the snow melts. By the time the snowfall subsides, the shallow groundwater has frozen, making a final assault possible. However, the final battle plan should be issued from above today.

Lelouch's prediction was correct, because the division headquarters did indeed issue the battle plan before they went to bed that night, instructing them to be prepared at any time.

(End of this chapter)