Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 4: War – Chapter 20: Case Yellow (Day 5 – Guidance)

After eliminating the Ninth Army's chain of command, Beaumont fell in less than two hours. Whatever went down in Château de Beaumont was quite a spectacle, something that dealt a massive blow to the already battered morale of the remaining Ninth Army resistances. The remaining Loyalist soldiers either fought till their bitter end chaotically or outright surrendered. Either way, the siege of Beaumont was ended swiftly by a decapitating strike, thus giving Army Group A the leeway to further press the advantage.

While the Defense Corps protects our flank down at Monthcornet, the Attack Corps is divided into two major spearheads. The first spearhead will use Beaumont as a stepping stone to push for the cities of Cambrais and Arras. The plan here is twofold: Undermining the Southern defenses of the Darscen capital, Brussel, and forcing an engagement against the Eruesean Expeditionary Force, thus preventing them from reinforcing the Darscen capital city.

Meanwhile, the second spearhead will rush to seize key communes and cities like Abbeville, Amiens, Peronne, and Saint Quentin. This is to form a long frontline against Loyalist forces in the direction of Paris and to create the first part of the blockade against the EEF. The seizing of Cambrais and Arras will form the second part of the blockade. The fall of Brussels and the territories beyond it will form the last part to complete the encirclement of the EEF. After that, well, now that's where the fun begins.

After another short rest, I command the vanguard units of Army Group A for another push of the front. More specifically, I will be heading to Cambrais to take a personal look at the state of the Eruseans. I wonder, how will they react when I suddenly show up at their doorstep with an entire Army. I can just about imagine those Erusean Generals spurting out their tea in quick succession when the shells start landing.

Before that though, there's an obstruction in our way to Cambrais. Someone has bivouacked right out in the open, and that someone is the Loyalist 5th Motorized Infantry Division. Plopping down their tents, with half of their camp inside a patch of forest while their vehicles are parked neatly by the roadside, the 5th Infantry Division posts only a minimal security detail. They seemingly do not expect any attack to come, or at the very least not from Beaumont's direction. Well then, I won't say no to a free kill. Though this may be a good time to check my little protege.

"Oh, Daria~!" I say in a singsong voice while looking at the girl who is buried neck-deep in a stack of documents.

Yup, we still have to deal with paperwork even while on the march. However, I must say that Daria has had it worse as she has to regularly juggle the logistical numbers. Keeping our armored and mechanized forces top-up is no easy feat, especially on a Blitzkrieg. Daria, despite her extremely young age, has been doing her administrative tasks pretty darn well thus far.

Looking up from filing away another digital document through her tablet, Daria is about to reach for another work folder before her brain finally registers my voice. Her pearly blue eyes look up at me, curious and attentive. "Yes, Marshal?"

"Take a look at this and give me a rundown of what you will do." I send the data acquired by battlefield surveillance to Daria's work tablet.

Intrigued, Daria lays down the logistical papers and peruses the information package I gave her. As the girl swipes her fingers up and down, I use the master credential in my tablet to help her finish some of the work she hasn't touched yet. I don't want her to work overtime because I throw her another task out of the blue. Around ten minutes later, Daria looks up at me.

"Marshal, if I may speak?"

I smile before putting down my tablet. "Go ahead, Daria."

"Thank you, Marshal." Daria gives me a thankful nod before saying with a very concentrated and serious look. Honestly, the attempt is more cute than anything due to her young age. "From what I can see here, the 5th Motorized Infantry Division is seemingly unguarded. However, I do not expect that they won't put up heavy resistance if they spot us on the horizon. With our vanguard only a few hours away from their campsite, it will only be a matter of time before they wise up to mount a defensive front."

I lean forward slightly, my elbow resting on a folding desk with my hand supporting my chin. "Go on."

"Despite Army Corp A heavily outnumbering the Loyalist 5th, an alerted encampment will still be able to do meaningful damage to us. The forest, a natural fortification in which half of their camp seems to be located, provided them with enough room to install static artillery and AT emplacements. While they have minimal patrols and other defenses against our angle of approach, the forest still has a clear field of fire against us. If they have heavy guns in the tree lines, the Loyalists can cause serious damage if we attack frontally. However, if we're to make the best speed to Cambrais, ignoring this encamped Division is impossible. We will have to tackle them head-on as any delay will give more chance for Cambrais to be reinforced by either the Eruseans or the Loyalists."

I nod, showing a small yet pleased smile. "It's good that you have seen these points, what else?"

Daria continues, albeit with a more spirited voice seeing my acceptance. "When taking a look at the live video feed, I can't help but notice that the 5th Infantry seems to park all of their tanks and vehicles by the roadside, with nearly all of them apparently unmanned. From our angle of approach, there's an elevated position that will offer our MBTs a full view of that parked convoy. By setting up our tanks there, we can have them take out the enemy vehicles before they can even be boarded and turned against us."

"Noted." I nod. "But there's still the probable gun emplacements in their forest. Those guns will have a clear line of sight to our tanks on the hill."

Daria continues, offering a counterpoint. "If possible, we can time the tanks' attack alongside that of an airstrike from our Air Force. To provide cover for our tanks, we can have the Phantoms or Skyraiders drop Willy Pete and Napalms in the tree lines. The bombs will no doubt flush out any entrenched positions. They will also have the benefits of adding to the confusion and preventing the enemy from effectively targeting our units."

"A good choice. A suppressive tactic will do the trick for us to approach closer. Now then, what about when we get close enough to see the white in their eyes?" I pose another question to Daria.

Daria answers. "From behind the hills that our MBTs will be using, there's a gentle slope and a road that leads to the enemy's encampment, albeit at slightly different vectors. These two paths should carry any force that uses them to wrap around the Loyalist 5th. If possible, I will send two mobile units, consisting of Pumas and even some Leopards, to encircle the encampment using these two pathways. After that, they will slowly choke out the remainder of the 5th Infantry with the aid of precision artillery and CAS. Ultimately, the Loyalists will have to surrender or die fighting. The elimination of the 5th Infantry will give us a direct path to Cambrais and beyond. Without them around, we won't need to worry about our rear flank all that much."

She suddenly stops her spiel, coughing slightly with a light blush. "Marshal, does my outline fit what you've deemed to be acceptable?"

I giggle lightly, giving her a nod. "That they're, Daria. The outline is perfectly acceptable and is one of the best ways to go about this situation."

I then stand up, going behind Daria before laying my hands on her shoulders. "However, you're overlooking one key point even though you have already mentioned it in your speech."

Daria perks up, understandably curious and slightly disappointed in herself for not noticing what she missed. Honestly, the girl needs only a tiny, little bit of backbone. She needs to know that inputs and advice from others, even myself, are to be taken under serious consideration, not so that they can be used only to find faults in herself. However, I guess it's a thing that she will learn with some time and guidance. Starting from now, actually.

I smile before ruffling her hair. "It's nothing that serious, depending on how you look at it, but you have forgotten that we are racing against Time, Daria. Your outline of a plan, while it can serve as the basis for a perfect plan to eliminate a major enemy unit, will cause us the better half of a day to execute. The Time of which is something that we can use for other, better purposes. Something like relocating our assets and giving the boys and girls some downtime before another high-intensity operation. In that sense, what we need is to strike one singular, yet decisive backbreaker blow. Something that the Loyalists can never hope to guard against, or to survive against."

Daria realizes what she's been missing out in her planning. Of course, the terrain makes it so that the Loyalists have room to hide and scurry about for some time even with their encampment lost. Hunting them down one by one to secure their backline will be a time-consuming project. To avoid this, Belka must bring out something big, heavy, and capable of cleaning much if not all of the slate. Daria struggles to think of something that may be able to do that. After a few seconds, she says.

"MLRS?"

I chuckle. "Close, but no cigar."

I tap my finger on her tablet, flicking it a few times to reopen the live drone footage of the Loyalist 5th Infantry's encampment. "Watch closely, Daria, for you're about to see the Hammer of the Reich in action."

Daria turns to watch the video shown on the tablet with a face full of seriousness. I am half tempted to poke her cheek like what my family tends to do to me whenever I work. However, my reason wins and I let her watch everything in peaceful contemplation.

The site where the 5th Infantry is hunkering down? It seems to be somewhere nice, breezy, filled with the scent of flora, and lively with the birds chirping. A nice picnic spot, truly. It's no wonder that the Loyalists decided to camp there prior to their departure to the frontline. Perhaps they opted for such because it's the only place left on this side of the front where the soldiers could enjoy the last few moments of peace... Literally.

Slow enough to be captured by the UAV's camera yet fast enough so that Daria can't even form a coherent sentence, the bombs start falling. The amount? Well, let's just say that, for a single moment, nearly the entire camp is covered by blackspots falling from the sky, and you have to know that a Division-level encampment is pretty dang huge. One second, they're still there. The next, everything erupts into flame, smoke, and ashes. The cumulative explosions thrum through the air, blasting apart the ground and the forest alike. Trees start falling due to the sheer shockwave with most of the forest being cut down by the blasts and debris. If not for us still a few hours away from the site, we would have been able to hear the explosions much more clearly. Regardless, the bombs have done it. Loyalist 5th Infantry Division, defunct if not completely destroyed by the carpet bombing that our Air Force just deployed.

The scene is best described as Hell on Gaia with how the ground is deformed and pits emitting smoky black pillars can be seen over what used to be a scenic site. If I squint hard, I can barely the remnant of a Loyalist tank but I could be wronged. The bombs we dropped weren't small, after all. Honestly, by the time Army Group A gets there, it will be easier to count the survivors than the deaths.

Daria looks on, stunned. It's an understandable reaction, truly. She did just witness thousands of lives snuffed in mere moments. I pat her shoulders comfortably before reaching over them for a hug. Daria slowly mutters. "W-What just happened...? H-How-"

I squeeze her a bit tighter, letting her head rest against my heart. "Shush... Take a deep breath, Daria. In, and out. Repeat until you feel that you won't scream."

As Daria struggles to follow my soothing command, I stroke her blonde hair. "It's unfortunate, but this is War, Daria. It's easy for any of us to draft and decide on a plan, to see soldiers and lives as statistics and numbers. But don't forget, don't you ever forget that whoever is executing our orders is a living, breathing being. Don't forget that each and every single one of our actions has consequences, seen or unseen. As of earlier, I have called in the B-40 bombers of our Air Force. They carried enough bombs to level an entire city and I used them all against the Loyalist 5th to save not just Time but the lives of our soldiers from here onward. To our people, I will be seen as a heroic figure for decisively eliminating an entire enemy Division with just a single order. Yet, to our enemy, I may as well be a mass murderer and executioner if they hear of my doings."

I stop before turning my head to look into her teary eyes.

"This is the bipolar aspect of modern warfare, Daria. In such a large-scale conflict, lives are snuffed out by the hundreds if not thousands each and every single day. Some rise, some fall, and the decisions we make, and the things we see, will stick with us for the rest of our lives. You have seen me slaughter the Loyalists by the thousands all to serve my purpose, my conquest. If you're to stick to your path to the very end, soon you will also have to get your hands dirtied, sometimes even personally. While it may not be to such a scale like this, it's still something that may traumatize you, break you, Daria. If comprehending the mortality of your enemy has caused you a mild panic like this, what will happen to you when the time comes to those under your command or you in person?"

"Can you tank it all, not buckling under the pressure to achieve what you wanted, Daria? Because to travel on this path of blood and iron, this..." I gesture to the video feed of the leveled area. "Is but the tip of the iceberg. I can't trust you later for a command if it results in my men and women dying needlessly."

It takes some minutes, but Daria has finally come to terms with what she witnessed first-hand. She takes a deep calming breath with closed eyes before exhaling and opening her eyes to look at me. I smile as I see her unflinching gaze.

Daria says in a level tone. "I am sorry, Marshal, I was... Taken by surprise. Truly, knowing and seeing are two very different things. Witnessing it for yourself truly put it into perspective that, indeed, we're at war, a World War."

"However," Daria adds. "For the Reich, for the family I have, for Ningyo... I will do everything it takes to ensure our future. If this means I have to break down the innocent, rose-tinted glasses I viewed the world with, then so be it. I will not become a killing machine, but I will not shy away from using heavy methods to achieve victories if that is strictly necessary. I have too many things on the line to be pulling my punches... Much."

I smile proudly, ruffling her hair like the good older sister I am. "Atta girl~! Though you shouldn't thank me, I did forcefully tear down a bit of your worldview."

Daria smiles understandingly. "It seemed to be needed then, big sis Yuki, so just accept my sentiment."

"Heh." I look away, scratching my cheek.

Honestly, some of the girls around me are just too good in their own, unique ways.