Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 163 Mobile Assault (Bonus Chapter 710 for the Silver Alliance)

Morin's gaze followed Ludendorff's finger and landed on the name 'Charleroi'.

He knew that this was an important border city of the United Kingdom of Flanders and a vital transportation hub connecting the Republic of Gaul.

If this city and several other important border cities were captured, the right wing of the Saxon Empire would be able to deploy and march straight for Paris.
"I expect your training assault battalion to serve as the vanguard of the entire battle group, tearing through the enemy's defenses for us!"

Ludendorff turned his gaze to Morin, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Maureen was not surprised by this arrangement.

After all, the combat effectiveness of the training assault battalion has already been demonstrated.

It was only natural that he would be given important roles in the upcoming battles.

After calmly studying the map for a while, he raised his question.

“General, the straight-line distance from Liège to Charleroi is about eighty to ninety kilometers, and there is no direct railway line along the way.”

"If we make the troops march quickly, their physical strength will be severely depleted. Even if we arrive on time, the soldiers will need to rest fully before they can regain their fighting strength and launch an attack."

"The most crucial issue is resupply."

Morin paused, then continued:

"According to our previous calculations, on a marching day without encountering combat—that is, a 'peaceful day'—our entire battalion consumes about five tons of supplies a day for food and horse feed."

"And once we reach Charleroi and begin our offensive operations, our consumption will immediately soar to the level of a 'combat day'."

"The training assault battalion is also equipped with a large amount of automatic firepower, and its ammunition consumption far exceeds that of ordinary troops."

"My staff officer Manstein and I calculated that, under sustained offensive conditions, we would need approximately twelve tons of supplies per day to maintain our fighting capacity."

"Moreover, this is only a theoretical figure; the actual consumption is likely to be even higher."

Morin raised his head, met Ludendorff's gaze, and said, word by word.

"So, General! I must know how my troops will obtain these crucial supplies?"

After listening to Morin's concerns, Ludendorff nodded approvingly, his eyes filled with undisguised admiration.

"Very good! Captain Morin, you are not only a brave soldier, but also a qualified commander!"

"However, I had already considered all the issues you are worried about when I made this decision."

A mysterious smile appeared on Ludendorff's face.

"I just received a replenishment of vehicles from the Second Army."

"I plan to assign sixty of the latest military trucks and eighty heavy-duty horse-drawn wagons to your training assault battalion so that you can carry ample combat supplies and launch an unprecedented rapid mobile assault!"

Sixty trucks?
When Morin heard this number, he was somewhat shocked.

He looked at Ludendorff in surprise, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

How could the army possibly deploy so many trucks at once to support the operations of a battalion-level unit?

Seeing Morin's surprised expression, Ludendorff's smile widened.

"Surprised, Captain Morin?"

He seemed to enjoy Maureen's reaction at that moment.

"Speaking of which, this idea was inspired by your battles in the Kingdom of Aragon."

Ludendorff's eyes gleamed with a light that could be called 'wisdom'.

"Since elite light infantry can break through enemy lines and achieve tactical breakthroughs through rapid movement and infiltration."

"So, if we equip them with vehicles that have greater mobility, wouldn't the distance they can cover be increased indefinitely?"

Morin couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap!" in his mind.

He never expected that Ludendorff would realize the enormous advantages of 'mobile warfare' so quickly.

This future 'Master Lu' truly lives up to his reputation!
"General, I'm a little curious."

After calming his excited emotions, Morin tentatively asked:

"How come the army group has so many trucks?"

In the world before he traveled to, the German army at the beginning of World War I was a notorious 'mule-and-horse' force with extremely limited mobility.

But now it seems that the situation in this world has deviated greatly from the history he knows.

"Haha, this is not the achievement of the army group."

Ludendorff waved his hand, a smug look on his face.

"These trucks were specially reinforced by the General Staff before the war for several army groups on our right flank."

As Ludendorff explained, a brand new message quickly appeared in the [Intelligence] tab of Morin's Vision.

The right wing of the Saxon Army (First, Second, Third, and Fourth Armies) has received a total of 5042 military trucks as reinforcements.

Following that, detailed data about this type of truck appeared in the [Information] section.

[The 2.5-ton 6x6 Huijing Power military truck has an effective payload of approximately 2.5 tons and a maximum speed of 72 kilometers per hour under good road conditions. It can carry 25 fully armed soldiers at once.] Looking at these detailed data, Morin was once again greatly shocked.

More than 5,000 trucks!

If Schlieffen knew this news, he'd probably sit up in his grave with a smile on his face.
This means that the main force of the right wing of the Saxon Empire's army already possessed considerable motorized mobility.

Since Ludendorff had already put it this way, the Training Assault Battalion, as a unit under the command of the 'Ludendorff Combat Group', naturally had no reason to refuse the mission.

Seeing that Morin readily accepted the task, Ludendorff nodded in satisfaction: "All the vehicles will be in place this afternoon. Speed ​​is of the essence. Complete the preparations as soon as possible and set off immediately!"

"I assure you, the main force of the combat group will catch up as soon as possible, and you will never have any worries about training the assault battalion!"

After leaving the combat group command post, Morin walked back to the camp while processing the information he had just received.

Clearly, this world's 'Schlieffen Project' is indeed a more powerful version.

In addition to strengthening its forces on the right flank, it has also greatly improved its crucial mobility.

According to the relevant war history that Morin studied before his time travel, Schlieffen in that world, in addition to leaving behind the famous instruction "Do not weaken the right wing," actually emphasized another point before leaving office.
That is, to enable the army to achieve large-scale mobility as soon as possible.

Sufficient numbers of new vehicles should be provided to the spearhead troops, at least enough to supply six to seven corps.

If this plan can be implemented, it will greatly improve the overall mobility and speed of attack of the German right flank.

Unfortunately, due to the neglect of the General Staff successors, the German army did not have enough vehicles to support this ambitious plan when the war broke out.

After being separated from the railway line, the troops' operational range was basically limited to within 40 to 60 kilometers due to supply issues.

Although there have been some elite units in history that have expanded this range to 160 kilometers.
However, this is clearly an extremely severe test and ordeal for the troops' physical fitness and logistics.

However, in the present world, perhaps due to the booming development of the Brilliant Crystal Industry, or perhaps for other reasons unknown to Morin, the General Staff of the Saxon Empire Army has not overlooked the importance of 'mobility'.

"Perhaps the 'Schlieffen Project' in this world might actually succeed."

In his heart, Morin couldn't help but sigh.

June 8, afternoon.

Just as Ludendorff had said, the long convoy arrived one after another at the training commando battalion's base.

Sixty brand-new military trucks, lined up in a spectacular long line, were parked on the open ground outside the core area of ​​the Liege fortress.

The soldiers of the training assault battalion all gathered around these steel behemoths, pointing and whispering curiously.

"My God, is this a truck? It's much bigger than a horse-drawn carriage!"

"I heard we're going to be able to ride this to war soon?"

"That's so comfortable, I don't have to walk anymore!"

The soldiers' faces were mostly filled with excitement and curiosity.

Meanwhile, Morin, Kleist, and the other company and platoon leaders all looked worried as they looked at this huge pile of equipment.

"Sir, how should supplies and personnel be allocated? Which company should be assigned to which vehicles?"

"Should ammunition and fuel be stored separately? What if they get hit by artillery shells?"

"How should the marching order be arranged? Should machine gun teams and infantry be separated?"

All sorts of questions came flying at Morin.

Even though the army group sent an experienced logistics officer to assist them with preparations, Morin still felt overwhelmed.

He now finally understands what "happy troubles" means.

Commanding a traditional infantry battalion and commanding a motorized infantry battalion are two completely different concepts.

This half-baked battalion commander has to start learning from scratch again.

"Alright, stop arguing! One at a time!"

Morin's head was throbbing from the noise, and he roared, finally silencing the crowd.

He took a deep breath and began to force himself to calm down and solve the problem at hand.

"Crest, you're in charge of loading personnel onto the trucks. Allocate twelve trucks to each company, with one as a spare!"

"Manstein, you and the supply officer are in charge of loading supplies! Ammunition, food, and medicine, sort them, load them onto the wagons, and label them clearly! Items that are not urgently needed will be transported by the horse-drawn wagon train directly under the battalion headquarters!"

"Company commanders, keep an eye on your men! Once you're on the vehicles, no one is allowed to move!"

Morin continued issuing orders one by one.

Under his command, the somewhat chaotic scene finally began to become orderly.

Soldiers began boarding the vehicles, supplies were loaded onto trucks, and horse-drawn carts began loading fuel and spare parts.

The entire training assault battalion's base was transformed into a bustling construction site.

Around 4 p.m., when the last batch of supplies was loaded onto the truck, the preparation work was finally completed.

(End of this chapter)