After reporting to Duke Rupprecht on the formation of the assault unit, the relevant paperwork was approved the very next day.
Captain Lelouch Hunter was, effective immediately, transferred to the 12th Division’s directly subordinate Assault Battalion of the 6th Army as deputy battalion commander, while concurrently serving as commander of Company A.
The company was reorganized from the 12th Division’s former reconnaissance company, retaining almost the entire original personnel—well, to be precise, it retained only the men, while cutting half the horses. The former reconnaissance company had been a cavalry company, and after the adjustment of its branch of service, there was no need for that many warhorses.
Under the 1914 German Army establishment, a standard infantry company should have 240 men, with four platoons of sixty men each, and each platoon further divided into fifteen-man infantry squads.
Above the company level, a battalion should consist of four companies, 960 men, plus officers and battalion headquarters personnel, bringing the total to a little over one thousand.
A regiment had four battalions, with over four thousand infantrymen; adding an artillery company and other auxiliary units, it came to roughly 4,200 to 4,300 men.
An infantry division consisted of four infantry regiments plus one artillery regiment, with a standard strength of over 18,000 men. At the time, the German Army did not have a standing “brigade” level of organization.
This time, Lelouch had proposed forming an assault battalion. Since time was tight, he did not want to play too many tricks with the organization, lest his comrades be unable to adapt for the moment.
Thus each company would still retain the structure of 240 men, four platoons, and four squads per platoon.
However, considering that the reconnaissance company Lelouch had previously led was already a reinforced company, and had also incorporated a communications platoon, its total strength had already exceeded 240 men. Building an assault unit would also require adding in some specialized personnel, so the number of men would definitely go severely over the limit.
In the end, therefore, Commander Rupprecht and Division Commander Karl both approved it with a flourish of their pens, granting him special permission to expand separately.
The future 12th Division Assault Battalion would have a total establishment of 1,200 men, equivalent to a reinforced battalion of five companies elsewhere. In reality, however, Companies B, C, and D would still be four-platoon companies of 240 men, while Company A was specially approved as a reinforced company of 480 men with eight platoons, equivalent to two companies.
Fortunately, Lelouch’s company already had two captains—the former deputy company commander of the cavalry reconnaissance company, Barak, had distinguished himself on the front line during the Battle of Nieuport and been promoted to captain, but Lelouch had been parachuted in and taken the position, so Barak could only remain deputy company commander to this day.
Now that their company had eight platoons under it, it was just right to have Captain Barak help him actually manage half of them. That way, Barak probably would not feel his talents were being wasted either.
As for other lieutenants and second lieutenants, several more would likely need to be added. Before Lelouch left, he heard from the duke’s meaning that he seemed to be permitted to select suitable young officers from among the wounded soldiers of the 6th Army who had recently returned to duty.
Moreover, the soldiers being supplemented would also mainly consist of capable veterans who had recovered from wounds and returned to duty, so as to ensure the assault unit’s combat quality.
When Lelouch received this authorization, he was secretly delighted: he was a transmigrator, after all, and knew the future history of war well.
Those famous generals who, more than twenty years later on Earth, would sweep all before them in the Second World War were now generally only in their twenties or thirties, and basically still at the company-grade officer level. If he was allowed to pick from wounded officers or promote men from friendly units by one rank, would that not be the perfect chance to find overlooked talent?
Unfortunately, the scope of selection was limited to junior officers of the 6th Army, so they were all of the Bavarian faction. He could not pick young talents from other federal states.
But that was enough. It was better than having no choice at all.
And there was no need to be too anxious about selecting officers, because there should still be some time before the Battle of Ypres began. Many officers who had been wounded at the beginning of the war were still recuperating now.
What did need to be arranged as soon as possible was the weapons and equipment required to organize the storm assault unit. The improvement and manufacture of weapons both took time, and that was far slower than selecting men.
Anyone who had ever been a project manager knew that tasks with long cycles had to be placed at the front, so that by the time the project was finally concluded, the progress of all the branch lines would be more or less aligned.
Thus, after only briefly packing up in Blankenberge, Lelouch applied to take leave ahead of schedule and return to the rear, to help His Highness the Duke handle important matters.
Since the battle situation had already stabilized, the 12th Division could originally withdraw to the rear for a short rest anyway. The 16th Regiment in particular, which had been engaged in high-intensity fighting all along, needed at least more than a month of rotating rest—
Yesterday, the Belgian Royal Navy had sent warships to bombard the city of Blankenberge, only for two of them to be counter-killed by coastal defense guns. Having suffered a heavy loss, the Belgian army finally behaved itself. Even their ground attacks against the city had almost completely stalled. There would be no problem with the 12th Division withdrawing from the defensive zone in succession.
Lelouch merely had urgent business, so he left one step earlier than his other comrades who would be taking trains back to the rear to rest.
……
Early morning, November 8.
Zeebrugge Port, more than ten kilometers east of the outskirts of Blankenberge.
Most of the remaining officers and men of the 16th Regiment, 12th Division, had already retreated here on foot.
They would get a little fresh air here, and early tomorrow morning barges would come to take them to the major city of Antwerp, eighty kilometers farther east. From Antwerp, they would board military trains back to Germany.
For the soldiers, the current phase of the campaign had already ended, and they needed a good breather. The officers and men who had rendered meritorious service had also received medals and commendations; overall, rewards and punishments were fairly clear.
Only Lelouch was too busy with affairs to have time to wait for boats and trains, so Army Group Headquarters specially dispatched an airplane to Zeebrugge Port to pick him up.
A group of officers who were on fairly good terms with him all went to the field airstrip to see him off.
“Captain Barak, while I’m away, I’ll be relying on you for the company’s daily management. Platoon Leader Schweinsteiger, Sergeant Major Klose, take care of yourselves as well. We’ll meet in Nuremberg or Munich in a while. We’ll contact each other by telegram then.”
“Take care as well, sir. You truly work too hard. You’ve only just gone on leave, and already you have to take a plane to the rear to handle matters. As soon as I return to Bavaria, I’ll go find you.” His staunch confidant Klose shook hands with him fiercely and embraced him before finally watching him board the plane.
And the man responsible for flying him there was, unexpectedly, still Captain Mark Immelmann from a dozen days earlier. Perhaps it was because the recent fighting had temporarily come to an end, and the intensity of both sides’ attacks and defenses had decreased, so the pressure of aerial reconnaissance was not so great either.
Immelmann sat in the cockpit, a pipe clenched in his mouth. When he turned his head and saw Lelouch clambering up onto the plane, the captain’s epaulettes gleaming on his shoulders, he could not help showing quite a bit of envy.
“You really do have an extraordinary future. It’s only been ten days since we last met, and a lieutenant has turned into a captain again. His Highness the Duke must think very highly of you, even specially having me fly you back to Germany.
“He also said I’d be given leave during this period. No other missions—just carry you around wherever you need to go. I’m practically becoming your chauffeur.”
Faced with Immelmann’s grumbling, Lelouch also understood the ways of the world and hurriedly declared, “How would I dare treat you as a chauffeur? Isn’t this all for the duke’s business? This time when we go back, we may have to contact certain military-industrial enterprises on the duke’s behalf.
“Those people in industry—who among them isn’t generous? As long as we represent the military in putting forward requirements, and then give them a little guidance, do we need to fear they won’t return the favor? Brother, I remember your family isn’t exactly well-off either.”
Hearing this, Immelmann started the plane while letting out a low scoff. “My father is just an ordinary technician. You don’t need to mock my family background.”
Lelouch hurriedly clarified, “No, no, no, how could that be mockery? I’m speaking frankly with you. Once we return to the rear, what’s there to avoid about legally gaining a few benefits by our own abilities?
“At least your father is still a technician. My parents passed away long ago, which is why I have no ties and came from Austria to Bavaria to serve. I don’t even have a place to live in Bavaria.”
Immelmann had already started the aircraft and had no leisure to chat, so he first focused on taking off. Only after they were airborne did he sigh with emotion. “I thought someone who could be appreciated by the duke would definitely have at least some family background. I didn’t expect you to be that miserable. Then do you have no one left in your family at all?”
Lelouch searched through the memories of the original owner of this body. “Only an elder sister who has already married, and a younger sister who has just come of age. I was able to finish university partly because of subsidies from the Austrian authorities, and partly because of my brother-in-law’s support.
“My father was a civil servant when he was alive. According to local policy, if a civil servant passed away while still having minor children, they could receive living and education subsidies until the age of eighteen.”
Immelmann asked, “Then when you return to Bavaria this time, where are you planning to stay? Just at an army sanatorium? You’re going to have to run around handling affairs.”
Lelouch was not worried about this problem at all. He took a letter from his pocket, waved it in front of Immelmann, then quickly put it away lest it be blown off by the strong wind on the plane.
“This is a letter of introduction His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wrote for me. I can eat and stay freely at royal estates in Munich or Nuremberg. If I go to Thuringia, I can also use the letter of introduction to stay at an army sanatorium, though I have to pay for it myself. However, His Highness’s secretary also gave me a sum for travel expenses—five thousand marks.”
“Five thousand marks? How long are you going to stay in the rear this time? You should pay me a fare!” Immelmann could not resist teasing him.
In 1914, the monthly salary of a skilled technical worker in Berlin was roughly 300 marks. If it was a manual laborer who did not require work experience, it was about 100 marks.
One kilogram of black bread cost about 30 pfennigs, or 0.3 marks, while one kilogram of pure pork sausage cost 2 marks.
In other words, a manual laborer’s monthly salary was roughly enough to buy fifty kilograms of pure meat sausage, or three hundred kilograms of black bread.
However, Lelouch had just made a great contribution to the country, so giving him five thousand marks for travel expenses was entirely justified.
“I may stay for a month and a half, at least one month.” Lelouch knew Immelmann was one of his own, so he did not hide some things from him.
“Originally, the duke felt that the preparation period for this campaign might only be around twenty days, with the general offensive against Ypres planned for the end of the month.
“But before I left, I analyzed it together with Major General Karl and the others, and persuaded the duke to postpone the plan and also discuss it with the General Staff.
“Before the Belgians were defeated, they had just blown open the Yser Canal and created an inundation zone. It will still take some time for the water conditions to stabilize. Such a muddy environment is far too unfavorable for an attack.
“If we wait until after mid-December, the weather will be cold enough, and some of the groundwater will freeze, so it won’t be so muddy. But there is one difficulty in dragging the offensive to the end of the year: we can no longer fight in autumn uniforms. So while the troops are being rotated out for rest this time, winter uniforms need to be prepared for all of them, and that will take time too.”
Immelmann asked, “You have to worry about winter uniforms too?”
Lelouch replied, “I don’t need to worry about winter uniforms, but I also want to take the opportunity to upgrade my comrades’ protective gear, so I’ll do it together while I’m at it.”
Historically, the French army would not invent the steel helmet until 1915, and the German army would not follow suit and manufacture steel helmets until 1916.
But steel helmets themselves had no technical content to speak of, and they were also the personal equipment that Lelouch could most easily intervene in. Naturally, he had to conveniently get that done.
Immelmann asked, “Then where is your first stop? Straight to Munich? Nuremberg is farther south, so we should pass through Munich first.”
Lelouch said, “No. Before going to Munich, we should pass through Thuringia, right? Land in Thuringia first, then I’ll switch to a car afterward—oh, right. When the time comes, can you teach me to drive as well?”
“One thousand marks. That includes teaching you to drive and driving you around for the entire holiday. Add another two thousand marks and I’ll teach you to fly a plane too.”
“Deal.”
Lelouch was also very straightforward, immediately agreeing to Immelmann’s quoted price.
Immelmann instantly felt his motivation surge. He stepped on the throttle, and three hours later they first arrived in Cologne, where they refueled and had a meal. After flying for another three hours, they reached Thuringia.
When they got off the plane, people from industry were already waiting there to greet them.
Among the crowd, a balding old man with a Mediterranean crown, as soon as he saw Lelouch clamber down the gangway, took the lead and came over to shake his hand.
“You must be Captain Lelouch, His Highness Duke Rupprecht’s special envoy? I am Emil Bergmann.”
The moment Lelouch heard the other man’s surname, he knew that this was the person in charge of the local famous small arms manufacturer, Bergmann.
“Mr. Bergmann, it is an honor to meet you. This is Captain Immelmann of the air service.” Lelouch also hurriedly shook his hand, while helping make the introduction.