Chapter 43: Target Ypres, Sortie!

With the mobilization speeches concluded, it was time to issue the soldiers their new equipment and drill them on the new formations and tactics.

His Grace the Duke, serving as the army group commander, and the two division commanders hardly had time to spare, so they departed right after their speeches. The remaining work fell to the two majors commanding the battalions and Lelouch, the captain serving as deputy battalion commander.

The rear echelons had been pressed for time, and the arsenals in Thuringia and Karlsruhe simply couldn't produce enough new weapons to outfit all 2,200 men across both battalions. As a result, the equipment distribution couldn't strictly follow Lelouch's proposed restructuring. A portion of the soldiers would have to make do with older firearms.

With limited supplies, distribution naturally skewed in favor of the 1st Storm Battalion where Lelouch was stationed. Priority was placed on fully equipping the company under Lelouch's direct command. The remainder went to the 2nd Storm Battalion.

To prevent resentment over the uneven distribution, the weapons were issued to each battalion separately.

As for the men of the 2nd Battalion, Lelouch simply had a word with their commander, Major Rundstedt, asking him to bear with the shortfall. He didn't bother explaining the situation to the lower ranks; the fewer complications, the better.

Rundstedt was fairly open-minded about it. At forty years old, he had endured a rough climb up the ranks. Knowing that Major Bock of the 1st Storm Battalion had the Chief of the General Staff for an uncle, Rundstedt knew better than to fight him for resources.

Just securing a spot in such an elite unit, with its ample opportunities for commendations and promotions, was satisfying enough.

Besides, it wasn't as if Lelouch had completely denied him the new submachine guns—the 2nd Battalion just received slightly fewer than the 1st, which was entirely acceptable.

While the new equipment was being distributed, Lelouch took the opportunity to brief the subordinate officers on the Storm Battalion's weapons allocation and squad formations.

The loadouts hadn't been dictated by him alone. He had drafted the initial proposal, but over the past two days, he had consulted with Bock, Rundstedt, and Rommel, making minor adjustments before finalizing the plan.

"Each assault platoon consists of four squads, with fifteen men to a squad.

"Every squad has one squad leader equipped with an MP15 submachine gun, three hundred rounds of 9mm ammunition, and a pair of Carl Zeiss binoculars.

"The remaining fourteen men are divided into an assault team and a fire support team. The assault team has eight men, and the support team has six.

"Within the eight-man assault team, five men carry MP15 submachine guns with three hundred rounds of ammunition each. Two men carry Mauser G98 rifles, and one man carries a Mauser C96 pistol with one hundred rounds.

"The submachine gunners bear a heavier ammunition load, so each man carries only six stick grenades. The pistol wielder serves as a dedicated grenadier. This role must be filled by the strongest soldier in the squad, as he will carry thirty grenades! The riflemen will carry twenty grenades each, and these roles should go to men capable of throwing over long distances."

(Note: The grenades modified by the protagonist weighed roughly the same as the M24 stick grenade, though slightly heavier at about 0.75 kilograms, or roughly one and a half jin each.)

After detailing the assault team's loadout, Lelouch took a sip of water and continued, "The six-man fire support team is split into a three-man light machine gun squad and a three-man Grenade Launcher squad. The machine gun squad operates one MG15 light machine gun. The assistant gunner and ammo bearer will not carry main weapons; they'll each be issued a single C96 pistol for self-defense. The saved weight will go entirely toward carrying more machine gun ammunition.

"The primary gunner will only carry a two-hundred-round belt, which can be loaded directly into the weapon. The assistant gunner and ammo bearer, however, will each carry eight hundred rounds. Two grenades per man will suffice for them. As a rear-echelon element providing suppressing fire, they will rarely have the opportunity to throw grenades.

"In the Grenade Launcher squad, the primary gunner will carry the Grenade Launcher and six general-purpose shells. The assistant gunner and ammo bearer will carry twenty general-purpose shells between them, alongside their Mauser G98 rifles and one hundred rounds of ammunition."

After a few minutes of briefing, the officers and men essentially grasped the assault squad's firepower arrangement and familiarized themselves with their new roles.

The inclusion of two riflemen in the assault team was primarily born out of tactical necessity. It ensured that if the team was pinned down by enemy machine gun or sniper fire—well beyond the effective range of a submachine gun—the riflemen could provide counter-fire, giving the team a fighting chance to strike back.

Secondly, there simply weren't enough submachine guns to go around, making the riflemen a necessary compromise. The layout of five submachine guns per squad was an ideal only Lelouch's own company could meet. In Rommel's company, that number dropped to four per squad.

For Companies C and D in the 1st Battalion, and throughout the entirety of Rundstedt's 2nd Battalion, squads were limited to just three submachine guns each, requiring the addition of two more riflemen. Fortunately, the riflemen's lighter ammunition load meant they could carry more grenades for close-quarters breakthroughs.

As for the machine guns, Lelouch had previously secured an agreement with Schmeisser in Thuringia to deliver one hundred new light machine guns before the year's end. Only then would they figure out the mass-production process. Because these initial hundred were part of a small-scale trial run without proper molds, every component had to be individually milled on machine tools, resulting in exorbitantly high production costs.

They only absorbed the high cost to allow for simultaneous testing and refinement.

Even now, Schmeisser hadn't fulfilled the entire order; barely over eighty units had arrived. Thus, only Lelouch's 1st Storm Battalion would be equipped with the domestic MG15 light machine guns. The 2nd Battalion would have to make do with the Danish Madsen light machine guns intercepted at the onset of the war.

When the World War first broke out, Denmark was fulfilling an order of six hundred Madsen light machine guns placed by neutral Switzerland. The shipment was transiting through Demania by rail, en route to Bern via Nuremberg. The Bavarian Royal Family had seized the Swiss order, though they did compensate them for the goods rather than simply confiscating them outright.

After intercepting those 1903-model Danish light machine guns, a portion was gradually issued to frontline troops. However, due to differing barrel calibers, most of the weapons required time to be re-barreled for the 7.92mm Mauser ammunition. Since Rundstedt's battalion was short on the newer light machine guns, these older models would fill the gap. At the very least, they could share the same ammunition.

While the Danish hardware lagged behind the MG15 in accuracy, reliability, and rate of fire, its remarkably light weight meant Rundstedt wasn't exactly getting a raw deal.

Conversely, Bock and Lelouch's battalion had to recruit the most physically robust men to operate their MG15s. Hauling a weapon that weighed over twenty kilograms when fully loaded with a belt, over rugged terrain and into enemy trenches, was no small feat.

...

With every battalion, company, platoon, and squad outfitted and briefed on their roles, the restructuring was complete.

The next few days were dedicated to specialized training aimed at elevating the men's tactical proficiency.

Previously, the German Army lacked such dedicated grenadiers and light machine gunners. Soldiers assigned to the light machine gun squads had to undergo additional drills on rapidly deploying and mounting their weapons, as well as marching cross-country while burdened with the heavy gear.

The Grenade Launcher operators, meanwhile, focused on calibrating their firing angles, utilizing a few simplified shortcuts Lelouch had hastily taught them. This training ensured that they could accurately set their initial elevation when firing shells, making range control far easier. The previous method of blindly lobbing shells relied far too much on luck and sheer experience.

The dedicated grenadiers tasked with close-quarters assaults used dummy grenades to refine their throwing mechanics, systematically learning how to gauge and control their throwing distance.

Real combat wasn't like a video game where a visible trajectory arc appeared before tossing an explosive. Translating physical exertion into accurate distance required relentless repetition and muscle memory drilled with dummy grenades.

Finally, Lelouch added a crash course for every soldier transitioning to the new submachine guns:

Close-quarters combat with an entrenching shovel.

It was a last-minute scramble to sharpen their edge.

The German Army infantry's previous close-quarters training had strictly revolved around bayonet combat. The sheer length of the Mauser G98 rifle, combined with the natural height and reach of the German soldiers, gave them a distinct advantage in bayonet charges.

But switching to a submachine gun meant losing the bayonet mount entirely. Even if one could be jury-rigged, the submachine gun was far too short to parry a rifle effectively.

Majors Bock and Rundstedt had initially been inclined to write off the submachine gunners' melee capabilities entirely. It seemed like a lost cause.

Yet it was the ever-resourceful Lelouch who had preemptively ordered a batch of entrenching shovels from the Thuringia arsenal—forged from high-grade steel with sharpened edges.

Not only were they perfect for modifying the terrain in complex trench environments, but they doubled as brutal melee weapons in a pinch.

The only pity was that Lelouch's own physical combat prowess was dismally low; his melee capabilities were virtually non-existent.

Even as a hardcore military enthusiast in his past life, he certainly didn't know any specialized "shovel martial arts." The most advice he could offer was: try to smash the flat of the shovel against the enemy's skull, or hack at their neck with the sharpened edge.

As for specific routines or stances, he had to rely on the soldiers to figure things out for themselves, or hope some gifted officer would formulate a fighting style on the fly.

...

For nearly a week, the junior officers and enlisted men immersed themselves in mastering their new weapons and tactics.

Meanwhile, the company and battalion commanders began receiving drips of operational intel from high command. The two battalion commanders and eight company commanders keenly felt the looming shadow of the impending offensive.

The only reason high command hadn't finalized an assault date was due to the weather. Before the Belgian army had been routed, they had detonated the Yser Canal's locks, creating a massive inundation zone. The terrain surrounding the Ypres salient was treacherous and waterlogged.

The delay was a calculated move to wait for a deeper freeze, hoping the floodwaters would solidify enough to support troop movements.

But over the past few days, the temperature had merely hovered around the freezing point. There had been occasional light flurries, but no heavy snow or hard freeze.

This stalemate lasted until December 18th, when heavy snow finally began to blanket the region between Lille and Ypres.

Watching the heavy, downy flakes drift from the sky, Lelouch knew the general offensive was imminent.

"Do you think high command will order the offensive for today or tomorrow?" Majors Bock and Rundstedt asked, discussing the situation with Lelouch as they watched the falling snow.

Lelouch pondered for a moment before answering. "I doubt it. But it'll happen within the next two or three days. Heavy snow impacts the attackers just as much as the defenders.

"Furthermore, it isn't the snowfall that brings the bitter cold, but the aftermath. Once the snow tapers off and the underlying floodwaters truly freeze solid, conditions will be ideal for the offensive. But I expect high command will issue the final operation orders today."

Lelouch's prediction was spot-on. Before they retired for the night, division headquarters transmitted the operational plans, ordering them to stand by for immediate deployment.

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