Chapter 176: A Mere Natural Barrier is Meant to Be Breached by Armored Forces

As he introduced the specific combat missions his division would undertake, Lelouch raised his voice slightly to draw his subordinates' attention. At the same time, he had a staff officer bring over a massive map and hang it on the wall.

The map had been specially enlarged. It stretched from the mouth of the Dnieper River in the west to Kerch at the eastern edge of the Crimean Peninsula. Its southern boundary began at the peninsula itself, while its northernmost reaches extended to Zaporozhye and Yekaterinoslav (present-day Dnipropetrovsk) along the great bend of the Dnieper River.

Lelouch tapped his pointer against the map, repeatedly circling the region between the mouth of the Dnieper River and the Perekop Isthmus at the base of the Crimean Peninsula.

"The main defensive force of the enemy's 6th Army is currently spread in an even line along the active front.

"North of the Dnieper's mouth, they have stationed one corps to mount a targeted defense against our offensive forces pushing toward Nikolaev.

"South of the river's mouth, stretching all the way to the Perekop Isthmus—meaning the forces countering our Kherson to Armyansk line—they have deployed roughly three corps.

"Further east, between Dzhankoy and Troitske, the enemy appears to have stationed a single division. At most, it's a reinforced division.

"Their remaining corps has been held in the rear, dispersed across Zaporozhye, Nikopol, and Melitopol. In addition, they have a number of independent units made up of freshly conscripted recruits and Cossack cavalry acting as reserves.

"The battle plan set by the army group positions our division as the vanguard. We will launch a surprise offensive right between Dzhankoy and Troitske, a route the enemy won't expect in the slightest. As I just mentioned, Troitske is defended by a single division. They have fewer men than we do, and we hold an absolute advantage in equipment quality. A breakthrough is inevitable!

"From Melitopol, we'll continue one hundred and twenty kilometers due north. That will bring us right to the headquarters of the enemy's 6th Army—Zaporozhye, the most critical stronghold on the lower Dnieper River.

"Once we strike Zaporozhye, if the enemy forces on the southern bank of the Dnieper haven't managed to retreat in time, the corps stationed across Zaporozhye, Nikopol, and Melitopol will already have been wiped out by our advance.

"As for the two and a half corps facing our Kherson-Armyansk line, any surviving remnants will find themselves boxed in between the great bend of the Dnieper River and the Black Sea. The enemy might manage to evacuate a fraction of their men north across the Dnieper.

"But I trust that our allied units advancing north of the Dnieper will do everything in their power to intercept them. Ultimately, our goal is to form a massive encirclement within a triangular zone measuring nearly one hundred and eighty kilometers north to south and one hundred and fifty kilometers east to west. Within that pocket, we will annihilate the main force of the 6th Army!

"Ideally, we will allow no more than a single enemy corps to slip away—and only because that corps might be stationed north of the Dnieper or outside this triangular zone to begin with. Every other enemy force caught within this pocket is to be wiped out entirely!

"After that, our forces can push upstream along the Dnieper to strike Yekaterinoslav. Once we capture the city, the first phase of the Great Plain of Kievan Rus campaign will be complete. We hope to finish this phase within a month, or at the very least, before the mud season sets in completely.

"Only once this first phase is secured will we plan the encirclement and annihilation of the remaining two armies of the enemy's Southwestern Front. Our ultimate objective for the campaign will be the city of Kyiv, where we aim to execute a massive siege.

"I've already assisted Field Marshal Rupprecht in drafting a rough outline for this second phase. However, we can't nail down the specifics just yet. The details will need to be fine-tuned based on how well we achieve the objectives of the first phase.

"The general concept, however, is that once the mud season arrives, we will utilize the Tanks—which will be ready for live combat by then—to expand our gains and achieve a level of tactical surprise the enemy could never predict. I'll leave the details at that for now.

"Above all, you must have confidence. Do not be intimidated just because the enemy temporarily outnumbers us. We are exceptionally well-prepared, and our men are highly motivated and superbly equipped.

"Thanks to our newly seized control of the sea, our supply lines are smoother than ever before. We stockpiled massive quantities of combat material on the Crimean Peninsula before the fighting even began. Moving forward, we can utilize the shipping lanes of the Dnieper River. Until we secure Zaporozhye, both waterways and rail lines will support our logistics, so put aside any fears of supply shortages deep in enemy territory.

"It's only after we reach Yekaterinoslav—during the second phase of the campaign—that we'll lose the benefit of water transport. Logistics will become slightly more difficult then, as we'll be forced to rely primarily on the rail network. Still, I don't foresee it being a major issue, and the second phase won't drag on for long."

Lelouch summarized the overarching combat plan for their division in one seamless breath, laying out the core objectives.

There were bound to be nuances the officers wouldn't immediately grasp, but that was perfectly fine; Lelouch had set aside plenty of time for questions.

Sure enough, questions soon arose. Brigadier General Keitel, commander of the heavy artillery brigade tasked with providing fire support for the Greater Demania armored division, spoke up, alongside several regimental commanders who had only recently arrived in Dzhankoy and were unfamiliar with the local geography.

"We understand the deployments on the other fronts. But if our division can strike Troitske from Dzhankoy, secure a major breakthrough, and go on to threaten Melitopol and Zaporozhye, why would the enemy leave a mere single division to defend Troitske?

"Do they not realize our combat capabilities? Or did they underestimate the forces we've massed at Dzhankoy? Or is their intelligence simply that atrocious—were they fooled by one of our deception operations?"

It was a perfectly logical question. If there was such a glaring gap in the line, why hadn't the enemy plugged it? They couldn't just be completely stupid.

Lelouch didn't mind their bluntness. He nodded. "It's an excellent question, though I assume those asking have only just arrived and haven't had time to study the local geography. Once I explain, you'll understand completely.

"As I mentioned, the enemy deployed a full seven or eight divisions between Kherson and Armyansk, yet left only one in Troitske. The reason is simple: the geographical difficulty of advancing along these two routes is vastly different.

"The only major land bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to the Great Plain of Kievan Rus is the Perekop Isthmus at Armyansk.

"Because of that, even though we've seized the key ports and rail lines on the Crimean Peninsula and stockpiled massive amounts of troops, weapons, and supplies, the enemy can only make one conclusion. They anticipate we'll launch a renewed offensive onto the mainland, but they assume our thrust will drive northeast from Armyansk, right through the Perekop Isthmus. Naturally, they've concentrated the bulk of their forces on that front.

"On the other hand, there was originally no overland route between Dzhankoy and Troitske. The Perekop Isthmus doesn't stretch down to Dzhankoy. Dzhankoy and Troitske on the opposite shore are actually separated by the sea—or, more accurately, by a lagoon.

"Back in 1905, in an effort to strengthen rail links with the Crimean Peninsula, the Tsar had a railway bridge built across the narrowest section of the lagoon between Dzhankoy and Troitske, spanning four hundred meters of water.

"Because it was built over relatively shallow, stagnant water, the engineering wasn't particularly difficult. That bridge is what allowed the creation of the rail line running from Zaporozhye, through Melitopol and Troitske, down into Dzhankoy, and finally terminating in Sevastopol.

"Yet even with this bridge, advancing from Dzhankoy to Troitske under normal circumstances is a nightmare. South of the bridge lies a remarkably narrow fifteen-kilometer stretch of peninsula. In the few places where the land widens slightly, it's riddled with swamps and lagoons. The only viable path for an assault is an incredibly narrow frontal corridor right along the rail line itself.

"Once you cross the bridge, you face another narrow strip extending twenty kilometers along the northern bank. Just like the south, troops can only maneuver along the railway. If you deviate more than a kilometer to either side, you immediately hit lagoons and bogs—unique geographical formations created by seawater eroding the low-lying isthmus.

"Furthermore, the depth of these lagoons is stubbornly inconvenient—neither deep nor shallow. Even if our naval warships sail around the Kerch Peninsula and into the Sea of Azov, the water here is too shallow for them to enter.

"Conversely, it's impossible for men to wade across on foot, let alone drive horse-drawn carriages or motor vehicles through the water. The depth ranges strictly between 1.5 and 2.5 meters. It's the most obnoxious depth imaginable: too deep for land transit, yet too shallow for heavy ships.

"The Lushans believe they have a full thirty-five kilometers of natural barrier to hide behind. They think tossing a single division here as bait is more than enough, entirely convinced we could never breach the successive layers of their defense.

"Moreover, they figure that even if our forces did manage to carve through the fifteen-kilometer defense in depth on the southern peninsula, what would it matter? The enemy would simply blow the four-hundred-meter bridge connecting the two peninsulas. All our blood and effort would be wasted, completely in vain.

"But immense risks yield enormous rewards. The enemy has stacked eight divisions between Kherson and Armyansk, whereas this crossing point linking Dzhankoy to Troitske sits a full seventy kilometers east of Armyansk.

"Therefore, if we punch through this gap, we will emerge a full seventy kilometers behind the flank of the enemy's frontline defensive forces. Capitalizing on their vulnerable rear, we can launch a blistering push north. Taking Melitopol will be absolute child's play. Taking Zaporozhye might require more effort.

"But breaching this point means easily trapping three or four of the enemy's corps in a pocket. That is exactly why I suggested to the Field Marshal that we attempt this route.

"We can mass our heavy artillery, dispatch a specialized strike force in small boats across the lagoon to secure the bridge, and unleash an armored force the likes of which the enemy has never seen. Together, they will rapidly shatter every layer of defense. The enemy will soon learn that their vaunted thirty-five kilometers of defense is nothing but paper!"

Had it not been for the sheer breakthrough capability provided by the armored forces, Lelouch would never have dared propose such a plan.

Likewise, if he hadn't been confident in the small-boat strike force's ability to bypass the Perekop Isthmus, outflank the enemy via a separate landing point, and seize the bridge, he would have abandoned the idea immediately.

But as fate would have it, both conditions were met. In particular, the plan to navigate small boats through the marshy lagoons east of the Perekop Isthmus to launch a surprise attack on the bridge owed a great debt to a war from his past life—a conflict that had been ongoing right before his transmigration.

The special forces of Kievan Rus during the Kherson counter-offensive had provided him with an exact, real-world case study on "how to infiltrate the isthmus's marshlands using small boats and launch a surprise assault on the Dzhankoy region of the Crimean Peninsula."

Of course, Lelouch was executing the route in reverse. In his previous life's Kherson counter-offensive, forces had launched their boats from the northern bank to raid the south. This time, Lelouch was striking from the south to the north.

For this highly specialized mission, Lelouch entrusted the command to Major Student, the officer in charge of special insertion operations within his unit, alongside Captain Falkenhorst, who had just been seconded from Field Marshal Mackensen's command in the north.

Merely half a month prior, Captain Falkenhorst had overseen the amphibious assaults on Hiiumaa Island and Saaremaa Island in the Gulf of Riga. It marked the Demanian Army's first successful amphibious landing in history, securing both massive islands.

Admittedly, Falkenhorst's men didn't fall under the jurisdiction of the 6th Army, nor were they Field Marshal Rupprecht's subordinates. But Lelouch was a man of extensive connections. During the Gulf of Riga campaign, Lelouch had rendered Field Marshal Mackensen a massive favor. Calling in that favor now to temporarily borrow a team of experienced amphibious warfare veterans to mentor his own troops was perfectly reasonable.

Field Marshal Mackensen certainly wouldn't be stingy over a few majors and captains serving as battalion and company commanders.

Hearing how thoroughly their division commander had prepared, the assembled officers felt their confidence swell. All lingering apprehension about breaching the enemy's so-called natural barrier evaporated.

From the outflanking amphibious assault to secure the bridge, to the fleet of small boats built in absolute secrecy, to the precise bombardment the army group's attached heavy artillery brigade would unleash to shatter the fifteen kilometers of enemy defenses along the southern peninsula, and finally to the relentless push the armored forces would make—tearing through the broken enemy lines, crossing the bridge, spanning that four-hundred-meter-wide stretch of "sea," and seizing a bridgehead on the northern peninsula...

Lelouch had planned every phase to the letter. All his subordinates had to do was execute the plan perfectly, adapt to whatever the battlefield threw at them, and crush any sudden counterattacks the enemy might mount.

Nothing was ever a hundred percent guaranteed in war. But as long as the potential rewards outweighed the risks, it was a gamble worth taking.

"Does anyone have any further questions?" Lelouch asked, having finished laying out his entire strategy and thought process. He made it perfectly clear: if they had concerns, they needed to voice them now. Otherwise, they were to follow his orders to the letter, with zero hesitation once the battle began.

"No further questions! We will execute the Division Commander's plan flawlessly! We will shatter the enemy's coastal defenses and strike straight into their deep rear!"

—

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.