by Carlo Zen
“With all due respect, please allow me to object. My companies aren’t mere companies.”
“I know. That’s why I want to use one as a command company.”
“…It’s like you’re ripping me limb from limb, but…”
Maybe we aren’t quite in standalone operation territory yet, but everyone is shorthanded.
Tanya’s precious human resources in the Lergen/Salamander Kampfgruppe can’t be described as well staffed, no matter how generous you want to be. Losing more of her subordinates at this juncture would be unbearable.
The recent arrival of a replacement company means we’re barely maintaining the head count for an augmented battalion, but only three of the companies can be considered elite. No one with any sense of responsibility could calmly allow one of those three to be taken.
“You should be able to spare one, right?”
“How merciless of you. May I ask what it’s for?”
“Reserves. Strategic reserves, Colonel.”
“General, please allow me to object out of a sense of duty.”
Luckily, he nods and offers to listen. Tanya prepares to do her best to persuade him—she has to protect her people.
“It makes no sense to pull from the Kampfgruppe. If you want to draw troops off, I’d appreciate it if you would consider the Eastern Army Group or B Group instead.”
“In other words…you want to say I don’t need to take one of your units? Just a moment ago, you were saying that B Group doesn’t even exist.”
Even if B Group is low on people, this is a magnitude issue. They may not have hands to spare, but taking one person from a hundred is very different from taking one person from ten.
Tanya nearly raises her voice in spite of herself. “The 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion is the core of the Salamander Kampfgruppe. Of our total forces—armor, artillery, mage, and infantry—it’s not an exaggeration to call it the keystone. Above all, given the current state of deployments and operations on the eastern front, I strongly oppose this idea.”
Receiving a look that urges her to go on, Tanya is happy to continue her rant. “The Salamander Kampfgruppe is under direct control of the General Staff. Shouldn’t it already be earmarked for reserve purposes…?”
“Colonel, you’re misunderstanding. These aren’t reserves for B Group.”
“What?”
“They’re for me—or more technically speaking, for the General Staff group dispatched to the eastern front.”
Even Tanya is lost for words when he says that like it was his intention the whole time.
“Officially, I’m only permitted to assist and advise B Group…I don’t have the authority to give direct orders. It’s similar to how an admiral in the navy can’t go over a captain’s head to steer their battleship.”
“Won’t you still be providing guidance and oversight to their units?”
“…Nominally. In reality, my powers are greatly limited. It’s not much more than a farce. Certain people in the homeland must have been convinced the General Staff would find some other way to handle things.”
“So then,” Tanya asks without thinking, “why are you here, General?”
“Between conducting a major offensive on the southern end of the eastern front and supervising the aerial battles in the west, handling matériel and playing Whack-a-Mole with the Council for Self-Government, the General Staff is nearing its limits.”
“No offense intended, sir, but haven’t we trained countless staff officers?”
“We have. But how many of them do you think have a grasp on the actual state of things?”
“Ahhh.” It slips out as Tanya understands the root of the problem. Handoffs. Anyone who has handed off a project even once can immediately imagine the difficulty. Even the most dedicated, hardworking, competent individual has an incredibly hard time jumping into an organization and hitting the ground running.
“Since I just happened to be free on the eastern front…the General Staff leaped at the opportunity to shove some work off on me. Thus, if possible, I’d like to have some troops to work with.”
Since I do understand where he’s coming from, I’m having a hard time coming up with a rebuttal. Certainly, with no authority, his position becomes a formality. But Zettour knows the most about the workings of the General Staff, and he’s capable. Given the chance, it makes sense that the General Staff would want to leave things up to him.
That’s always how organizations work. Meanwhile, the formality of a position Zettour has been granted is basically removed from the actual work he needs to do.
Which is why Tanya has to ask something. “General, honestly…your explanation only confuses me even more. To be frank, I don’t follow.”
“What about it?” Zettour tilts his head in amusement while wearing an ever-so-cryptic smile. It’s a truly demonic grin.
It’s because Tanya is a member of the same organization that she can confidently doubt him: This must be one of those times where there’s some outrageous scheme in the works behind the scenes.
“What do you actually want to use these reserves for?”
“You aren’t convinced that I simply want to be prepared?”
“But B Group is the relevant party here and should be well aware of their defensive duties on the eastern front, even if they are uninformed of the situation at home. Surely they’ll do all they can to deal with whatever may happen.”
It’s only natural that the unit assigned to defend should give their all. Even when the homeland’s political aims or the military’s circumstances are involved, I can’t imagine anything needs to be added to the job description.
Honestly, for the life of me, I can’t understand what he’s trying to do.
“General, with all due respect, allow me to ask…the purpose for the reserves.”
She stares at his face, determined not to miss a single quiver, and in response he nods with a wry smile. “Colonel von Degurechaff, let’s look at a map while we talk.”
“Yes, sir.”
I’m familiar with the map of the eastern front—I’ve seen it enough times to be sick of it.
That said, as you might expect when it’s a lieutenant general’s map, there are new and minute details on it that people at Tanya’s level aren’t aware of yet.
Still, there isn’t much difference from the positions Tanya and the other commanders have been informed of.
Imperial Army units are concentrated to the south along the A Group’s positions while B Group’s forces are spread thin in the center and north. Though they’ve scraped together adequate troops for an offensive through extreme concentration, it’s clear at a glance that in exchange, a broad swath of the front is vulnerable; the situation is very precarious.
When they were teaching us at the academy, it’s likely no one ever imagined conditions as extreme as these.
It’s understandable that Zettour would be sent over to nominally advise the defense, and it makes sense that they would take advantage of his presence to throw the whole responsibility at him.
“General, if you’re advising under these circumstances, then I feel like reserve troops are…”
“Unnecessary. That’s true if I were going about this the usual way.”
“You’re not?”
“…Colonel, the usual is a luxury. That’s what I think.”
A sudden murmur.
The complaint is so natural, it must have slipped out by accident. He’s practically talking to himself, so that remark could have easily been missed.
“B Group’s defense plan is pie in the sky. Supporting the main lines via sustained defense sounds great in theory, but with such a limited number of troops, our defense will be paper-thin; it’s utterly reckless… The only solution, though extremely high-risk, is to conduct an offensive defense.”
“Are you saying we should target the enemy field army? I beg your pardon, but that sort of move would require mobility.”
“B Group has reserves. Most of
them have been taken, but there’s still an armored division.”
“But there aren’t enough forces to carry out an offensive.”
It’s terribly strange that Tanya has to be the one to point out something so obvious. Zettour must know that already.
He has teased her for not acting like herself, but here he is getting unusually timid. Usually Zettour is brimming with confidence… Is this all due to his demotion? None of this seems normal for him.
“…You want to lure them in and annihilate them? That’s the ideal strategy when outnumbered, but there’s no reason the enemy would fall for that.”
As in Austerlitz, as in Trafalgar. Thrashing the enemy when they expose themselves is the most effective strategy. Both Napoleon and Nelson had to work awfully hard to bait their opponents.
“…Take a look at this map. See these railroads? Logistically speaking, the enemy wants to use these rails, right? I want to put out some bait here and nail down this route.”
“In other words, manipulating the enemy to act according to our intentions. Of course, that all depends on being able to lure them out.”
“True. Basically, if we can lure them out…the rest is easy, right? Maneuvers, encirclement, annihilation. It’ll be a classic, quick solution.”
His words implying that the Imperial Army shouldn’t fight a protracted battle carried an intense desire for a swift solution. There’s a grave significance in an officer who is familiar with the situation in the rear doing everything he can to not drag things out.
It means the potential danger is so great that we need to hurry even if it’s risky.
“I think I see what you’re getting at now. You want the Lergen Kampfgruppe to be the bait? Regrettably, I’d like to decline.”
“You decline, hmm? To be frank, Colonel, that’s meaningless. While my authority to issue orders to the local troops is doubtful…I still retain my full powers as deputy chief of the Service Corps in the General Staff.”
This is what it means for something to be nausea-inducingly sinister. He talks as if I have free will and then flashes his secret weapon—the chain of command.
Tanya serves under the General Staff, which means she reports directly to Zettour, since he’s the deputy chief of the Service Corps in the General Staff. I never had any ability to refuse in the first place.
“If it’s an order, then I can no longer object to you taking a company. But if we’re talking about securing adequate preparations for battle, then I wish you’d give it back.”
“But then there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to mobilize a rapid response force as needed. You’d be wringing your own neck. So I must refuse. Though it’s not necessarily a trade, I will, however, take the observer off your hands.”
It’s true that this offer is better than a simple refusal. Still, it means getting stuck on the front lines minus one company of Tanya’s babies in exchange for him removing some deadweight—a pretty rotten deal. Talk about highway robbery.
Tanya replies with an expression that makes it obvious she’s fed up. “So our guest will be sent to the rear. In other words, I won’t have any room left to make excuses?”
“Glad you’re so quick on the uptake… I’m going to have you get muddy for me.”
A direct order: Wade into the muck. Apparently, the General Staff loves that mad, black earth. What a ridiculous place to work. If it wasn’t wartime, I’d be appealing to the Labor Standards Inspection Office.
“And just to confirm once again, you’re going to take a company away from me?”
“Correct.” With a tone that said it was an undeniable truth, Zettour declares, “It’ll be enough seed money for me to roll the dice with.”
“I had no idea you were a gambling man, General. You’ll have to excuse me, but I was under the impression you were steadier than that.”
“Colonel von Degurechaff, do you ever go to the races?”
“Huh? Y-you mean horse races?”
“That’s right.”
The question is so sudden, Tanya is bewildered for a moment and lost for words. “No, I mean, I…”
“Ha-ha-ha! I’m sure you haven’t. Let’s just say your superior ability makes it easy to forget our age difference.”
“Yes, sir.”
If he’s figured it out on his own, then there’s no need to prod that snake, so Tanya simply nods deeply.
“…Colonel, horse racing isn’t fair gambling. It’s not a game that comes down to pure chance but rather being able to peel back the fog of uncertainty after making observations and analyses. In that sense, it’s similar to war.”
“As someone who isn’t fond of betting, I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but if you say so, then I’m inclined to visit a racetrack.”
“I doubt you’ll be able to. Don’t even bother.”
“Sir?”
“The famous horses are good ones. Sadly, they’ve all been mobilized as warhorses… I know that for a fact, since—as part of my role with the Service Corps—I’m the one who carried out those requisitions. No exceptions were made. Now, then…” Zettour’s expression relaxes into a smile. “To get back on topic, though I detest leaving things up to chance…I have a certain love-hate relationship with bets that I stand a decent chance at winning. Not that the gamble we’re looking at now is a particularly good one.”
“So you gamble when you think you can win, General?”
“The potential reward is so huge… And it’s better to sacrifice personnel with an actual plan in mind rather than simply crashing them into the Federation Army because we must.”
“In that case, I’m all out of counterarguments.”
After no small amount of hesitation, Tanya makes up her mind.
Either way, the moment the request became an order, she couldn’t refuse. In the military, most deviations can be justified by some regulation or another, but it’s impossible to rebel directly against a ranking officer’s orders or the chain of command.
Thus, since Tanya can’t avoid handing over a company, the next best thing is to minimize the damage. Considering pure fighting power, giving up First Lieutenant Wüstemann’s replacement company would be ideal. But that’s too dangerous, considering how undertrained they are.
Providing troops means taking the responsibility of recommending them, to some extent. In this case, offering the company led by an aerial magic officer who came up through the academy like First Lieutenant Grantz is probably the safe choice.
“…There’s a company led by a young first lieutenant named Grantz…”
“You have my gratitude.”
He probably means it as a thank-you to Tanya, who has made a distressing choice, but considering the chaos that will soon follow, it’s hard to sense any sincere gratitude at all. When going along with one of Zettour’s crafty shenanigans, the most important thing to know is what role you play.
“By the way, General, now that my Salamander Kampfgruppe is down an arm, what kind of swindle are we going to be a party to?”
“It’s not complicated. While Andromeda is being carried out, you’ll be a militarized canary out there helping the army hold the B Front. When the enemy comes, let yourselves get surrounded.”
Her superior says something so outrageous with a straight face, as if it was nothing.
Get surrounded?
Unless you’ve been trained as part of an airborne unit that drops into enemy territory, you’re taught not to get surrounded. It’s obviously a terrible idea for Tanya to direct her openly doubtful gaze at her superior, but she looks up at him in spite of herself. This is abusive.
“Then we’ll mobilize units to save you. We’ll force a maneuver battle and then turn it into an encirclement. I’m sure it’s the only way we can support the main lines.”
…That’s all well and good, but it’s also the opinion of someone who doesn’t have to be the bait. For Tanya’s sake, there needs to be at least one thing guaranteed.
“Can I trust that we won’t be
abandoned?”
“I won’t abandon you. In the worst case, I’ll at least give you back your company. That way, even the most reclusive staffers will come out for the rescue. If I charge in leading the company, everyone will leap into action, worried about what might happen if something befalls me.”
“That’s a risky move, in terms of how it could affect discipline.”
“Setting aside strategic-level discussions, on a purely operational level in a maneuver battle, it’s a trivial issue. The enemy in front of you must be attacked.”
Even acting on one’s own authority can be justified if the achievements are great enough. But that applies in only very specific situations.
“Easier said than done…I think is what they say.”
“And that’s what wit is for, surely. Basically, your job is to block the railroad. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Understood,” says Tanya before changing the subject. “Please give me the details on where we’ll be sent.”
They say if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles, but if you don’t know the terrain, you can’t even start the fight. Even nuclear war requires a map.
“You’ll be at a position called Soldim 528. It’s suitably urban, at a suitable distance, and most critically, it’s right on the railroad. The convenient location makes it an optimal candidate for the enemy to retake.”
The point he refers to on the map is indicated with only an ID number.
“Won’t they just go around? I doubt even the Federation Army is bored and foolish enough to go banging their head against a stronghold.”
The Federation Army has long since stopped mindlessly rushing defensive positions with hordes of infantry knowing full well they’ll fail. There were times in the past when they might have taken the bait, but given their recent skill and quality improvements, it’s biased to assume they’re still just inept Commies.
“Even if the changes are only evident in the enemy’s lower-ranking officers, the improvement in quality has been remarkable. While it might be an exaggeration to call them outstanding, they’ve surely learned the basics after paying the price in blood and bodies by now. Are you sure they’ll come?”