Battle of Astarte Valley: Part 3

Abbreviations:

Chinese Federation: CF

The first morning of the battle arrives, as all the armies and soldiers have moved into position. It is only a matter of time before the fighting begins…

Area 10-CF Border: Astarte Valley

Reinhard looks forward, confirming that all of his officers and soldiers were in position, and then makes an army-wide announcement. He says "Everyone! We will begin our advance on the army positioned 1 hour away from us. Follow your officers' orders, and we shall claim both glory and victory! Forward!" Following the announcement, the various staff officers gave their orders, following Reinhard's general strategy, although not every officer held complete faith in the operation.

Officer Staden drinks his tea, and grumbles while saying "That young fool will get us all killed… If things go sour, I will make a safe retreat. I will not die for that brat!" The other officers did not share those sentiments, although Officer Merkatz was still not completely convinced of the plan. He mutters, "That boy might be clever, but I just cannot understand how he can have such faith in this plan. If the enemy just has two of their three armies join together, we will be crushed…"

1 hour later, Officer Jeremiah's unit makes contact with the east-most enemy army, and makes a fierce assault. They are caught completely off guard, as a CF soldier shouts, "Why are they on the offensive? No one told us about this!" And because the other two separated CF armies were too far away, the advantage in numbers was effectively reversed.

Back at the East army's command center, the commanding officer looks on in shock, as his troops were being overrun by a force nearly 5000 soldiers greater. He knocks a glass out of his way, and shouts "What the hell is going on?" As his advisers look on in shock, he tries to regain his composure, and orders "Send word to the other armies! They'll be wiped out if they don't join together!"

But as the communications staff try to send a message to the other armies, one worker announces, "Sir! Our communications are being blocked! The enemy might have brought jamming devices with them!" The commander slams his fist onto the table, and says "Damn! We won't be able to hold on like this… Order a full retreat! We'll regroup with one of the other armies once we have a chance."

Reinhard saw the enemy troops shifting about, as they prepared for a retreat, which caused him to slyly grin. Kircheis says, "Now it is Fahrenheit's turn, correct?" Reinhard smiles and says "You think just as I do… Send the word to Fahrenheit." Kircheis nods and does so, instructing Fahrenheit to move his force to flank the retreating army.

Because Fahrenheit's troops managed to avoid the bulk of the fighting so far, they were free to break away and approach the fleeing CF army at its flank, especially since the CF army was still disorganized by their sudden loss in advantage. And when Fahrenheit's troops engaged with the fleeing enemy, they were thrown into disarray. When the East Army commander sees this, he yells "What's going on?" The combined assault from both Fahrenheit and Jeremiah, along with Merkatz's forces nearby, decimated the enemy with them barely suffering any losses themselves. After the bulk of the combat ended, Merkatz contacts Reinhard and says "The enemy has been routed. We will now commence with the mop up operation."

Reinhard replies, saying "That will not be necessary, Officer Merkatz. We will immediately begin our march towards the North Army." Merkatz nods, salutes, and ends the transmission. After the conversation ended, Kircheis says "The eastern army will not be able to impact the battle anymore, will they?" Reinhard smiles and says "Exactly…"

The Reinhard army advances towards the North Army, as the two remaining CF armies remained confused. The commander of the North Army says "Do we have any confirmation on the East army?" A young communications officer says "No sir… The enemy is using signal interference devices." Following that, the commander replies "It doesn't matter! We will ride out to assist the East army! All units, advance!" But the communications officer says, "But sir, what if the East Army is already lost? Shouldn't we join up with the battlefield commander in the West Army?"

The commander laughs and says "Are you a fool? There's no way our East Army has already fallen! The soldiers there are highly experienced veterans. Do you doubt our soldiers, boy?" The communications officer panics and says "No sir! Not at all sir!" Then the commander says "Then shut up and do as you're told!" Then, the commander mutters, saying "Besides, there's no way I'm sharing the glory… The one to rescue the East Army will be me…"

The North Army advances, which was something well within Reinhard's expectations, so he moved his forces outside of the path that the North Army would take. He also ordered Fahrenheit to lead about 2000 infantry and a few tanks, to hide them away for later. And before the North Army could reach where the East Army was, Reinhard had his army attack the North Army at their flank, confusing them. The two armies clash, as the North Army commander shouts "Where the hell is the East Army? And why is the enemy here?" Even though their numbers were fairly even, things were clearly in Reinhard's favor, because they were able to start the encounter while the CF were unprepared. So the North Army commander says "Damn… All units, we will make a breakthrough into their heart, and disrupt their formation!

The North Army begins their frontal breakthrough, while periodically sending soldiers to the back lines, allowing fresh troops to continue the attack. Upon noticing this, Reinhard says "Not a bad plan… While we're on the defensive, they can continue to cycle in fresh troops, while giving their tired ones some time to recover. If the encounter drags on, we will be the ones at a disadvantage…" Then Kircheis smiles and says "But if we can sneak some of our soldiers past them, where they can't easily react to…" Reinhard smiles, and sends off a signal flair, giving Fahrenheit his order to proceed.

As the CF's first wave ended, and those troops reached the back to have their respite, they heard the sounds of advancing troops. And when they looked behind them, they saw a Britannian force of mainly infantry and a few tanks charging at them, somehow able to avoid the fighting at the front. Fahrenheit yells, "The troops here are winded! Advance without hesitation, everyone!" When the North Army commander realized this, he shouts "Where did those soldiers come from?"

Suddenly, the North Army was trapped in a double envelopment, as Fahrenheit used his smaller force to keep pressure on their back while Jeremiah pushed forward. In the matter of an hour, the first two CF armies were routed, while Reinhard's army barely suffered any casualties. And he made sure not to squander opportunity, so he orders his troops to advance upon the West Army.

Astarte Valley: CF West Army

Because of Reinhard's generous use of jamming devices, it took much longer for news to reach the West army, about the current state of the battle.

When the battlefield commander of the West CF Army finally heard the reports, he was terrified. He mutters "Both the East and North Armies were wiped out? We'll be outnumbered now… We must retreat… I'll get another chance to promote. I will not die here!"

But by the time the West Army made their preparations to retreat, Jeremiah's unit was already in view. The West Army commander shouts, "Everyone, turn around! The enemy is advancing upon us!" Sadly, that warning came too late, as the combined might of Jeremiah's vanguard forces and Fahrenheit's flanking caught the West Army completely off guard. At this point, it was a simple matter of numbers, as the West Army had 6000 soldiers while Reinhard's army still had 10000 soldiers. However, Staden was angered that Reinhard's insane ploy worked, so he thought up a plan to outshine him.

Staden orders his troops to circle around the West Army, as they were distracted by Fahrenheit and Jeremiah. But while they were trying to successfully reach the West Army's unoccupied flank, they were noticed by that flank, so the CF soldiers there quickly engaged. And because Staden was only brought a small force for this 'idea', their forces were isolated and were quickly wiped out. The CF were doubly motivated, since they were already at a major disadvantage, so they needed to get whatever edge in the battle that they could. Staden's command center begins to blow up, as a piece of metal flies toward him from a nearby explosion. As he succumbed to his injuries, he muttered, "That damned brat… Why was I posted here anyway…?"

When Reinhard learns of Staden's unit, he quickly says "Have Merkatz advance and reinforce the left flank! We won't let the Chinese Federation use this to their advantage." Kircheis frowns and says "It's a shame about Staden…" Reinhard nods and says "Yes, but it would have happened eventually." Kircheis nods and says "You're probably right, Commander Reinhard…"

Thanks to Reinhard's quick thinking, Staden's death did not have a large impact on the overall battle. The West Army was routed, which led to a total Britannian victory.

After the battle, Reinhard gathers his officers, so he says "I would like to congratulate you all for your impressive performance. This is our victory, and it saddens me that Officer Staden must look on from afar. I would like to make a toast…" Then, servers bring in glasses of champagne, and each officer receives a glass. Reinhard raises his glass, and says "To our victory! Prosit!" The other officers raise their glasses, and shout "To our victory! Prosit!"

With this, the Battle of Astarte Valley finally ended. Soon, the various people across the globe would react to this seemingly insignificant battle…

Notes:

This chapter has a bit of a reference to a strategy used in the manga Kingdom. If you're a fan of it, you might notice the reference!

Of course, I had to keep 'prosit' in.

The next chapter will be a bit of a post-Astarte thing, where different people will react to Reinhard's victory. I'll see where I can squeeze in Yang's El Facil story as well. That might end up being its own chapter.

If you liked this chapter, or story in general, then feel free to leave a review! Reviews really help let writers know if they're on the right track. I'll make sure to leave a response whenever a new chapter is released.

And now for responses to reviews:

HortensiA1412: It's definitely true that Reinhard will have an easier time when he's not facing off against someone at the level of Yang Wen-li, but that also works well with a lot of early LOGH battles and events where there were more incompetent officers/commanders. Things should get trickier for Reinhard (or Yang) if they eventually clash with Lelouch or any other more competent character from Code Geass.