by Carlo Zen
Slowly but surely, pressure was increasing along the whole line. Even some of the rear positions were within range of strikes by enemy mages.
“The assembly and redeployment of the main forces of the Great Army is complete.”
The Western Army Group had held out even longer than the national defense plan, Plan 315, imagined they could, and they’d succeeded in buying a decisive amount of time. It was just enough for the Empire to deploy the Great Army, its primary fighting force. The reorganization of the lines was proceeding apace.
This entailed, of course, a large-scale redeployment from the north to the west, but the railroads were an even bigger bottleneck on mobility than they had feared. As a result, everything was behind schedule. That said, with the defensive wall of the Great Army, there was still time to reorganize.
“…Although we’ve only just managed to make it in time.”
But the faces of the General Staff did not look happy or relieved. They and Zettour were all aware of the problem facing them: the difficulty of responding quickly in the time they had. Time, time, time. It was one of the great, ever-present challenges in waging a war.
Yes, the Great Army had been redeployed in time, but the General Staff recognized that the situation had gotten down to the wire. Though they had counted on moving their forces efficiently via interior lines, it was proving harder than anticipated. That meant they couldn’t hope for the strategic flexibility they had expected to have before the war began.
The standing forces from Central were meant to compensate as relief forces, but the western front had shown that deploying such a small force would be like tossing a thimbleful of water at a raging fire. Even if they could respond quickly, numbers were a huge problem.
“The Service Corps has to recommend that we focus on developing a unit capable of rapid response.”
“Operations concurs that we need a mobile force that can be used at will and that has a measure of firepower.”
Essentially, they had to make the Great Army easy to move. That was the military’s unanimous opinion. They wanted to adjust the rail schedules to enable the smooth transport of troops on a vast scale. After all, the Empire’s strategy, focusing all their strength on one front to achieve victory there, would succeed or fail based on speed.
But there was also a pronounced desire for a better quick reaction force, a reserve unit that could move quickly to address any situation, as Brigadier General von Zettour had calmly suggested and Brigadier General von Rudersdorf had seconded. It was critical to have a unit that could help fight fires when large-scale deployments would be unable to address a problem in time.
“In addition, the Service Corps suggests we look into a national defense strategy predicated on the assumption of fighting a two-front war.”
Zettour’s sudden additional suggestion was a reevaluation of where troops were most needed. That is, the risk that one front would fall apart while the other was achieving victory had become too great in recent years. There were many in the Service Corps, Zettour chief among them, who harbored doubts about the interior lines strategy, believing there were limits to how long they could pretend it was working.
Wasn’t it time to change the military’s doctrines and prepare for a two-front war? They felt it was no longer feasible to have regional commands mainly focused on defense and use the venerable Great Army for offensive maneuvers.
“I don’t have any objection to research as such, but…practically speaking, we must absolutely avoid the opening of a second front.”
But the ironclad rule against dividing one’s forces had been constant in every era. Bring all your power to bear on one enemy, and once you’ve dealt with them, turn to the next foe. The General Staff saw this as the golden rule of their interior lines strategy.
Above all, Rudersdorf and Operations had a hard time denying the effectiveness of overwhelming the enemy with an all-out frontal attack by concentrating their forces.
“Operations agrees with building a shelter against every storm, but we need to prioritize finding a way to avoid a two-front war.”
“It’ll be difficult, considering the Empire’s geopolitical situation, General von Rudersdorf.”
“I can’t deny that. But what you’re proposing, in the worst-case scenario, would leave all our lines undermanned.”
Gain partial superiority and employ the regional armies to buy time until overall victory can be achieved. It was a strategy born of the Empire’s history as a polity surrounded on all sides, as well as simple geopolitical necessity. If the nation was powerful enough to put up fierce fights on two separate fronts, this wouldn’t have been a problem to begin with.
“And what if things don’t go so well? We have no choice but to shore up the regional armies until we can improve the functionality of our interior network.”
Although the regional forces were decently sized, the Republican Army had nonetheless brought the ones in the west to the brink of destruction. The fact also loomed large that if the Great Army hadn’t arrived in time, the critical western industrial area would have fallen. The interior lines strategy hinged on the premise that one front could hold the line.
Hence, Zettour and the Service Corps’ claim was not necessarily mistaken that their most pressing task was to strengthen their defense.
“At present, a large-scale restructuring of military districts would be difficult. Does anyone have any other ideas?”
Reorganizing military districts was a massive undertaking even in peacetime. Trying to reorganize commands while actively fighting a war was next to impossible. It was like trying to switch all the forwards and fullbacks around in the middle of a soccer game. The best you could hope for would be chaos.
“In that case, I’d like to propose the creation of a quick reaction force. We need a unit with improved ability to theater-hop, one we can deploy when needed, where needed.”
The idea of a quick reaction force was one some had been advocating for some time. There had always been those who wanted a unit on the scale of an army that could move fairly rapidly to wherever the fighting was. The Service Corps had been pulling for it recently, in particular, rallying around their deputy director, Zettour.
“That’s something Operations can agree to. Depending on the scale, that is.”
Operations, which had to deal with the practical employment of troops, was able to see eye to eye with the Service Corps, recognizing the need to improve their ability to react quickly. Up until now, the Great Army was intended to fill that role, but it had grown too large. Without the heroic fighting of the western army, the western industrial area would have been captured, and the Empire would be drafting provisions for peace talks.
“On that point, the Service Corps suggests beefing up the reserves by strengthening Central troops. The prompt resistance from the Western and Central Army Groups was truly superb.”
That was why Zettour was making his recommendations now. They had always avoided the step of creating a standing reserve that they could deploy in an emergency to the west on the grounds that it would leave soldiers idling, but with necessity closing in, no one could argue.
“We would also have to consider the eastern and southern regional armies when conducting the reorganization.”
“Absolutely. It’s not right for only the troops in the west to get all the medals.”
“It’s skewing the war college’s admissions recommendations by achievement, and they’re getting more of the assignments to Central. I’m sure it irks the regional armies.”
As with any organization, there would be a great many things for the Imperial Army to consider if it was going to do any restructuring. It was true that the Western Army Group had been getting an overwhelming number of decorations and bonuses because of their stalwart fighting. Budget limitations meant there were only so many awards to go around, and the other regional commands were getting the short end of the stick. It had already begun to warp the officer corps. Some officers were bein
g surpassed by not only their own former classmates but also those who had started after them. Thanks to the flood of recommendations to the war college, the Eastern Army Group had grudgingly given up some of their slots to the west.
“I wouldn’t underestimate the effect this is having.”
“Indeed. Discontent is especially rife among the Eastern Army Group. They’re bearing the brunt of it.”
As Personnel pointed out, this was not an ideal situation from a human resources perspective. Soldiers were being left behind while the Western and Northern Army Groups amassed achievements. Those who had once been treated so well for their crucial defense of the eastern border suddenly found themselves paid less, their ranks lowered. It was only natural for them to feel upset. Brilliant deeds in battle were all well and good, but the fear of being surpassed by juniors and peers was a significant worry, though it lurked below the surface.
“The Eastern Army Group have had nothing to do with either the Entente Alliance or the Republic. They are holding down the eastern border, but people look down on them as freeloaders.”
“Lack of combat experience is another problem. We need some kind of balance.”
The soldiers’ feelings were an issue, but the real problem was the imbalance in combat experience. It wouldn’t do to fight the entire war with troops from the Western Army Group. They had to assume the troops in the east would engage at some point. It would be a waste to have them watch from the sidelines until a battle began in their region.
Yet transferring large numbers of veterans from the west to train the men in the east was equally out of the question.
“In other words, you want to create a unit with some degree of flexibility, drawing mainly from the Eastern Army Group?”
In that case, the most realistic proposal would be to take a unit from the Eastern Army Group to form the quick reaction force. What Rudersdorf of Operations wanted to confirm with Personnel was whether they felt forces from the east should be used to form this new unit.
It wouldn’t be real war experience, but it would be more beneficial than leaving them totally bereft of any sense of meaning to their fight. On top of lessening the burden on the Western Army Group, it was also liable to reduce the amount of squabbling over the budget.
“So we’d like to attempt this on the scale of a division. Consider it an experiment in strategic mobility.”
Even so, the suggestion would not go without debate. Zettour’s group was very interested in this experiment in rapid deployment, but matériel was limited. If people agreed to the idea but not to the scale, consensus would be hard to come by. They proposed experimenting on the division level in conjunction with the Railroad Department, but that was too much to ask during a war. It had revitalized interest in a quick reaction force, but the opposition was entrenched.
“I’m against it. We only have two reserve divisions in the east.”
In the eyes of Operations, the idea of pulling troops was out of the question given the limited number of reserves.
“That’s too big a scale. Our defense in the east would be stretched too thin.”
They took a lesson from the previous failure: During the reorganization of the Great Army, defenses in the west had become fragile. The whole reason the Western Army Group was in such a tough battle was that the assumptions of the national defense strategy had failed to prove accurate. Thus, although the Eastern Army Group was far from the main conflict, it would be dangerous to take too many troops away.
After all, aside from stationary personnel, the Eastern Army Group had only a single army as a strategic reserve. It was only natural that there would be objections when they were already at the minimum possible number of reserve forces and the proposal was to take even more away.
“What if we were to draw from both the eastern and southern armies?”
“Maybe after the situation in the north is resolved.”
They would gain some leeway after the Entente Alliance troops in the north had been mopped up. But as a practical issue, although the main Great Army force had crushed the main enemy force, it would take time to truly overwhelm them. To take units from the east and south at this point would be like putting the cart before the horse. It was completely unacceptable to create a rescue squad at the expense of weakening their national borders.
“Then let’s just try one part of it. How about putting a battalion of mages under a Readiness Command at Central?”
He appeared to be proposing a compromise, but in fact this was what the Service Corps had wanted all along. The idea of a quick reaction mage battalion had already been suggested by a group helmed by Zettour.
“Your pet project? Very well, I agree.”
A battalion-sized experiment didn’t leave much for Operations to object to. Their division was primarily concerned with tactics on the corps level; they could compensate for losing mages if it was just a battalion.
And actually, they would even welcome having a battalion of mages they could flexibly deploy anywhere on the front lines.
“You want to pull an entire battalion’s worth of mages?”
“The eastern army should have the forces available. Anyway, a battalion of mages would be easier to transport by air. They’d be very easy to deploy.”
Some were leery of drawing down the fighting power of the Eastern Army Group, but others pointed out how mobile they would be. A battalion of mages was thirty-six people. It would be easier to transport than a company of infantry.
Even if a unit of thirty-six people needed forty-five days of regulation supplies, the logistical impact would be relatively low. If need be, the unit would even be able to move from the west to the east within a day.
“Very well, then. We authorize the experimental creation of a mage battalion—under the direct command of the General Staff Office.”
It was never an idea that would invite much objection.
“We’ll pass on the idea of a Readiness Command for now, but let’s see how the unit performs.”
The Readiness Command he had tried to squeak through had been too much to ask, but they had been permitted their experiment. The creation of a quick reaction mage battalion would almost certainly lead to the creation of a Readiness Command in the future.
“All right, gentlemen, let’s proceed to the next order of business.”
It looked like he would be able to keep his promise. Zettour surreptitiously sighed in relief. Then he switched gears and focused on the next issue.
JUNE 23, UNIFIED YEAR 1967, LONDINIUM, WTN PRESSROOM
The world war has many mysteries.
Materials from the Empire, in particular, are full of questions, owing largely to the chaos of the final days of the conflict. Both sides are believed to have committed wrong, but everything is hidden behind a thick veil of secrecy to this day. I was part of the war, too, as an embedded reporter with World Today News. Like so many of my generation who were connected in some way with the great war, I want to know the truth.
It isn’t about assigning blame. I just want to know what really happened. I teamed up with some like-minded friends, and together we decided to seek the truth. We pitched the WTN editorial staff on the idea of a documentary.
I have to confess, even I didn’t know where to start. Luckily, though, I was able to gain the support of my friends and sympathetic superiors.
Still, the question of how to begin remained. What was the truth of the war? Some argued that it might be different for each person, which left us directionless. Several documents were declassified, but rather than clarifying the big picture, they only raised even more questions.
Initially, we focused on materials from the Commonwealth, which was relatively quick to declassify things. To start with, we tried researching the Dakar Incident from the latter half of the war. It was an action in the south considered by many to be a diversionary tactic.
Famously, all seven of the ships in Commonwealth Navy’s Second Squadron, including Hood, its flagship, we
re sunk. How was that squadron sent to the bottom so suddenly? It had to be related to the reason the documents were classified.
We hypothesized that false intelligence led the Empire to concentrate their intercepting forces at Dakar. In other words, the Commonwealth sacrificed Second Squadron to take the focus off a planned ambush of the Empire, who was expected to win the war. Perhaps that explains why the materials were classified.
We theorized that some kind of plot was at work on the battlefield. I had heard rumors of dirty dealings during my time as a correspondent, enough to make me suspect that the documents would back up our idea. We rushed to read the declassified information, but our expectations were betrayed.
“The worst day in the history of the Commonwealth Navy was caused by xxxxxxxxxxx.”
Only that single sentence was declassified, and everyone who had anything to do with the army had clammed up and was refusing to comment.
Serendipitously, it was around that time that an acquaintance of mine, a military historian, said something very interesting. He hinted that if I analyzed the battlefield rumors very carefully, I would find the truth.
For example, the eleven-character code xxxxxxxxxxx could be found all over. He speculates that it was the code name of some high-ranking officer or spy. We dubbed it the Eleventh Goddess, after the figure on the tarot card, and began our investigation.
The results were startling. The Eleventh Goddess appeared in nearly all of the Empire’s major battles. The earliest instance we could find was from two years before the war. One country’s intelligence agency reported her in the area of a border dispute. That led us to hypothesize that it might have referred to an intelligence agent of some sort.