Chapter 48: Master Math, Physics, and Chemistry, and Fear No Enemy in the World

As the sky gradually darkened, Lelouch peered through his binoculars, finally able to clearly make out the continuous rows of rural cottages in the town of Bailleul.

An hour earlier, after relieving Rommel's and List's companies, Lelouch had led his Company A in a relentless assault, pushing forward nearly another kilometer.

Had he chosen a direct frontal assault on the town, he would have already reached its outskirts by now.

Instead, he chose to bypass the town entirely, steering clear of the most heavily fortified sectors to drive a deeper wedge into the enemy's lines.

Because of this, he maintained a steady distance from the settlement, and the enemy troops and fortifications directly ahead of him finally began to thin out.

In the early stages of the First World War, even when the British Army and French forces employed an elastic defense, their defensive depth generally spanned only three to five kilometers, stretching to seven or eight kilometers in exceptionally critical sectors.

The German Army excelled in this regard, often establishing elastic defense positions with a full ten kilometers of depth.

Today, on the Ypres front between Armentières and Bailleul, because the railway in the rear secured the lifeline to the Ypres highlands, the British Army had constructed a fortified zone here with an unprecedented depth of ten kilometers—matching the defensive standard of the German Army.

Yet, to everyone's shock, this incredibly deep fortified zone had been completely shattered by the German Army's Stormtrooper Squad tactics in a single day!

...

After taking a moment to catch his breath and observe the enemy positions, Lelouch lowered his binoculars and ducked back into the trench.

"Commander, have some cold coffee," his guard squad leader, Klose, offered. He handed over a mess tin filled with coffee hovering near the freezing point, along with a chunk of black bread.

Nearby, his three platoon leaders—Model, Dieter, and Schweinsteiger—huddled together, gnawing on black bread.

They had polished off their sausages at noon and had nothing left but bread for dinner.

Pure pork rations were practically inedible when freezing cold, so the men made a habit of finishing them as quickly as possible once handed out.

Black bread, on the other hand, was the same regardless of the temperature. Even with snow falling from the sky, they could still force it down.

Lelouch swallowed a mouthful of coffee to moisten his throat before rallying his men. "Keep pushing, brothers. Bypassing the town might add four kilometers to our march, but we will absolutely clear it tonight!

Because we've already broken through the heavy fortified zone. From here on out, both enemy troop density and the density of their defensive works will drop drastically!"

The moment Lelouch finished speaking, the tactically inexperienced Schweinsteiger bought it completely, and Klose, whose faith in Lelouch bordered on fanatical devotion, didn't question it.

Only Second Lieutenant Model, the officer with the strongest grasp of tactical fundamentals, could not help but point out:

"Sir, but we've also completely left the fire support range of Major Keitel's artillery battalion. We've pushed ahead nearly ten kilometers! The Radio Set has become a mere decoration."

Lelouch patted his shoulder. "Commander Rommel reminded me of this when we handed over the position just now. I already have a solution."

As he spoke, Lelouch finished the rest of his cold coffee in a single gulp and scooped a tin of snow water into his mess tin.

He then pulled a rudimentary clinometer from his coat. Pointing toward a rammed-earth machine-gun bunker three hundred meters away to the northwest, he ordered a nearby Grenade Launcher crew:

"Do you see that rammed-earth bunker out there? Move your Grenade Launcher over this mess tin. Use this simple clinometer to measure your elevation angle, estimate the range, and fire a calibration shot!"

The soldiers had little schooling and lacked geometric imagination or physical thinking, but they knew how to follow orders, so they methodically did exactly as instructed.

To properly measure a barrel's elevation, standard artillery pieces were equipped with a Gunner's Quadrant—the protractor-like devices resting on gun barrels often seen in old black-and-white war footage.

The quadrant featured a built-in spirit level, allowing artillerists to easily measure the angle between the barrel and the horizontal plane.

However, Gunner's Quadrants were expensive, fragile precision instruments. Mortar crews were rarely issued them, let alone Grenade Launcher teams. They had to make do with a rudimentary clinometer, which sacrificed the built-in leveling function.

To compensate, mortar crews had to painstakingly level their baseplates before firing. Grenade Launchers, lacking a baseplate entirely, couldn't eliminate this inherent firing error. That made them notoriously difficult to aim.

This was the exact reason why Rommel's Grenade Launcher crews had wasted so much ammunition trying to knock out enemy strongpoints that afternoon; they simply couldn't accurately gauge their range.

Talented junior officers like Second Lieutenants Model and Dieter had originally assumed the problem was insurmountable, but after hearing Commander Lelouch's casual instructions, their eyes immediately lit up.

Of course! If a Grenade Launcher team couldn't find perfectly level ground to use as an elevation reference, all they had to do was fill a mess tin with water and use the water's surface!

A still body of water naturally formed a perfectly absolute horizontal plane.

While they pondered the reasoning behind it, several Grenade Launcher crewmen had already completed their aiming according to Lelouch's pointers. Three Grenade Launchers fired simultaneously; the grenades flew across a distance of several hundred yards, and sure enough, one of them scored a direct hit on the rammed-earth bunker!

"Quickly, seize the position! Light machine guns, suppress them!"

"The commander's advice works like absolute magic!"

A commander's flawless calculation was always the greatest boost to morale. The exhausted soldiers completely forgot their fatigue the moment they saw the bunker blown apart on the first volley, and all of them surged forward courageously.

Riding this overwhelming momentum, the unit pressed their advance. The soldiers now harbored a newfound trust and expectation in their Grenade Launchers' destructive potential.

Whenever Lelouch encountered further bunkers or machine-gun nests blocking their path, he adapted his tactics to the terrain, finding even more creative ways to apply his new methodology.

"If it's too dark to see properly or the mess tin is too small to measure against, you can fully utilize the natural water around us—we're fighting in the Ypres area! The standing water left by the Belgin forces blowing the dikes is everywhere!

You need to learn to observe your environment! Use the calmer puddles in the trenches. Before firing, hover the Grenade Launcher loosely over the water to measure your elevation!

If the water won't settle, try to find a spot with floating ice! It is winter right now! You won't find these little tricks in any combat manual, and the general staff couldn't possibly account for this specific environment! But people with a good grasp of math and physics, and a sharp mind, must learn to adapt!"

If Rommel's command style was as aggressive as fire, and Model's was as steady as a forest, then Lelouch's command style was that of a scholar-general; everything that could be calculated had to be precisely quantified.

This posture of holding the pearl of wisdom in his hand didn't just produce real results; it put his soldiers immensely at ease. It made them feel that everything was under control, and that even the most perilous environment was nothing to fear.

From this small glimpse, one could see the whole picture. Guided by this outrageously calm command, the nerves of the entire company became as resolute as steel. They executed their commander's orders without a shred of doubt, unflinchingly continuing their deep penetration.

By the time night fully fell, Lelouch had completely ripped through the enemy's defensive line in Bailleul's southwestern suburbs, infiltrating all the way to their rear flank.

Soon after, Major Bock brought the entire battalion through the gap as well, tearing the breach in the defensive line even wider. Following them was Major Rundstedt's 2nd Storm Battalion, which had been conducting a feint north of the railway during the day. Under the cover of darkness, they slipped to the south side of the tracks, outflanking to the front lines.

By the latter half of the night, even Colonel List's entire 16th Regiment of the 12th Division had slipped through the gap, forming a semi-encirclement on the southwestern flank of the town of Bailleul.

If the British 3rd Corps located in the town's defensive sector didn't leave soon, their railway escape route would undoubtedly be completely severed by the next day.

When that happened, even if they avoided complete annihilation, they would lose their main highway retreat route. If the town eventually fell, their only option would be to fall back northeast, fleeing straight into the Ypres highlands.

But if the British 3rd Corps retreated under those circumstances, they would at most evacuate their personnel. A lot of supplies absolutely couldn't be moved in time—heavy supplies and equipment could only be fully transferred via the railway. Scrambling up the slopes and hills to the Ypres highlands with no formal roads meant the soldiers wouldn't be able to carry much weight on them.

...

Inside Bailleul, it wasn't until midnight that Lieutenant General Pulteney, commander of the British 3rd Corps, finally realized the terrifying extent of the enemy's strength, and that if he didn't do something soon, he seemed to be in danger of total annihilation.

"The enemy actually broke through over ten kilometers in a single day! They've completely smashed through our fortified zone and entered our rear, where defenses are relatively loose and there isn't a trench network!"

"You useless trash! You don't even know how far the enemy has outflanked to our rear since breaching the defensive line! I need to know the severity of this infiltration, whether it will affect our army's retreat, and whether it will affect the railway connecting Stenford to Bailleul!"

Because the combat reports submitted by the subordinate units during the night were very unclear, Lieutenant General Pulteney could not help but fly into a rage, fiercely reprimanding them.

But his subordinates also felt terribly wronged and scrambled to explain: "General, you can't blame us! It's too dark out there, and the enemy remains elusive; we have no idea how they're attacking in the dark. Moreover, these enemies are too terrifying; they seem like they never get tired! They've been fighting all day and they're still attacking!"

How could these British Army officers know that Lelouch, in order to ensure the continuity of the attack, had the various companies of the Storm Battalion take turns resting and alternating tasks.

Although each company only got about two hours of rest per rotation before swapping again, it was enough for the utterly exhausted soldiers. The reason Lelouch didn't let them sleep longer was out of fear that the soldiers would freeze to death—this was the North Sea coast in December, and light snow was still falling.

In contrast, the British Army's sleep schedule was more uniform. Everyone had been exhausted all day, and facing a night battle had them on the verge of collapse.

After learning the true extent of the frontline's deterioration, Lieutenant General Pulteney also felt a secret, chilling dread.

He knew that if they continued to passively defend, the odds of their retreat path being cut off would only grow larger. After struggling with it in his mind, he finally made a decision:

"Tomorrow morning—no, make it 4:30 AM, have the 3rd Division shift from defense to offense and launch a flanking counterattack against the enemy force penetrating the town's southwest side! We must cut them off, otherwise our army's retreat route is finished! Then have the 7th Division north of the railway shrink back, detaching two regiments to assist the 3rd Division in covering the defense."

Pulteney's staff officer immediately went to make the call, notifying the 3rd Division's commander, Rawlinson.

After answering, Major General Rawlinson immediately complained bitterly: "General, you know our situation! Even before the battle, our division was down to only a third of its veterans, and the four newly replenished recruit battalions have barely even touched a gun. Having them fill a trench line is fine, but counterattacking is simply suicide..."

But Pulteney refused to bargain with him, forcing him to launch the counterattack and sever this pincer the enemy had thrust in! Otherwise, he could just wait to face a court-martial when he returned!

Rawlinson argued his case repeatedly, but ultimately couldn't avoid the assignment. He only received a consolation promise from the corps commander:

"This task must be executed! However, I also know your difficulties, and won't let you fight alone. I have already requested help from the rear; the commander-in-chief has promised to transfer the main cavalry corps stationed in Poperinge to reinforce us! When the time comes, you will launch counterattacks simultaneously, making it impossible for the enemy to cover both their front and rear! The cavalry brothers will help you draw the enemy's fire."

Hearing that there would be emergency reinforcements from the cavalry corps to coordinate with him, Rawlinson finally felt a bit relieved. He stated that he would launch a counterattack before dawn to sever the enemy's infiltration.

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