Naggiar Plains - April 6, 1836
"During our scouting foray toward the Gallian encampment, we encountered a Gallian cavalry unit out on patrol. Trooper Viktor Bieber of our forward screening force reported back at approximately thirteen hundred hours to Oberst Franz and I, reporting the presence of Gallian forces in the area. The enemy amounted to approximately eighty men. As this represented a force numerically superior to our scouting party, Oberst Franz ordered myself and the majority of the men to take up firing positions in a-"
Gunther looked up from his report as another officer stepped in through the tent flap.
"Ehren, the Colonel wants to see you." Captain Dieter Furst was the other captain assigned to the II Imperial Heavy Cavalry, and a good friend of Gunther's.
"Danke, Dieter," Gunther said as he stood up. "Is this about the strategy meeting?"
"Presumably. Is that the action report on the battle you and the scouts fought a few days ago?" Furst asked as he spied the half-finished paper on Gunther's desk.
"Ja. I need to submit it to Brigadegeneral Gregor before this evening, so I need to finish it when we get back. He'll probably pick it to pieces finding exactly what went wrong during the engagement and give us a lecture on the subject. The man cares so much about II Brigade's reputation that he forgets about everything else sometimes."
Furst shrugged. "Mm. Well, at least that's better than those commanders that just read the report and never give any feedback at all. It shows he cares."
"Hypothetically, anyway." Gunther couldn't help rolling his eyes slightly.
"Ah, Hauptmann Gunther," Colonel Franz said as the captains approached. "Would you be so kind as to accompany me to the briefing?"
"Always glad to be of service, sir."
"See you around then, Ehren," Furst called as he walked off.
Gunther waved back, then wheeled and saluted smartly. "What's our basic plan of action, Sir?"
"Nothing at the moment, unfortunately. The General doesn't seem quite sure of what to do."
"Not sure of what to do?" Gunther stared. General Hermann was not always right, as many of his men had learned in the Eastern Campaign, but he was always sure he was.
"Well, it seems the powers that be are staying the General's normally... straightforward tactics." That was putting it mildly. Gunther still remembered the siege at Movileni, where the Imperial Army had bled itself white trying to break through defensive works kilometers deep. "At any rate..." the Colonel gestured towards the briefing room. "Shall we?"
The atmosphere in the room tensed as Gunther ducked under the flap.
"Ah, Franz. So glad you could come," the General said genially as the pair came to attention and saluted.
"Oberst Franz reporting for duty sir." Franz replied formally.
"Hauptmann Gunther reporting for duty sir."Gunther echoed.
"At ease, at ease," the General said, waving the two officers towards a pair of unoccupied chairs in a corner. "Now that we are all assembled gentlemen, let us discuss our plan of action for putting down this insurrection. I was originally planning to drive for Vasel, establish a bridgehead, then swing around and capture Randgriz. However, I have been ordered to proceed cautiously, as his Majesty the Emperor is of the opinion that the Gallians may be able to ambush us as we advance. Such caution is not suited for this particular plan. Thus, I have gathered you here to gather suggestions on how we might proceed."
The assembled officers' eyes all swung in unison to Gregor, the next senior officer present. Gregor looked around, and seeing that no one else was about to speak, sighed and steepled his fingers as he began. "I must agree with his Majesty's opinion that the Gallians may prove troublesome along the approach to Randgriz. This is, after all, their home soil. Thus, I suggest we wheel north and recapture Fouzen, their primary industrial base. Without it, the Gallians would then be sorely pressed for arms and ammunition."
Gregor paused for a moment to rub at his temples. "We should then work our way steadily south, pacifying the settlements along the way, employing our usual...methods to keep them in line. These Gallian irregulars will probably desert and head home to "protect" their families. Scattered like that, any remaining force should be easily crushed, and we can mop up the rebels remaining in their towns at our leisure."
The officers began to murmur and nod, showing their support for Gregor's plan. Gunther was nodding himself when Franz broke in. "With all due respect Brigadegeneral, I believe that such a plan is not an ideal way to go about subduing Gallia." Gregor lifted a thin, aristocratic eyebrow.
"Oh? Why would that be, Oberst Franz?" Gregor said, placing a slightly contemptous emphasis on the officer's title.
"Well sir, that is a textbook strategy for putting down a servile insurrection, taught in every Imperial academy in basic tactics. These Gallians are deserters from the Imperial Army; they're not citizen militia from some backwoods town. I would say they're at least as professional as most of the boys we have along.
"Traitors," Gregor sniffed.
"True, but that's neither here nor there, sir. My point is that these men we're talking about are professional enough not to desert at the first sign of trouble. If we start placing Imperial garrisons in every bite-sized town in Gallia to pacify them all, the Gallians are good enough to defeat them without taking significant losses. At some point, we're going to have to have a stand-up battle to stop our forces from being defeated in detail. Like you've said yourself General, this is their country."
Franz paused to gaze down at the map of Gallia spread out before them. "They can disappear into it better than we can. I think every man here from the East can say the same." Heads nodded around the table. "They can choose a battlefield that favors them, not something I would want if a good part of our force was off somewhere else playing nursemaid to a handful of towns with no strategic significance."
"An interesting argument Oberst," General Hermann said thoughtfully. "What would you suggest then?"
Franz waited a moment before voicing his suggestion. "Stay here, sir."
"Stay...here?" The General's usually ever-present smile strained at the edges slightly. "We must occupy Gallia, Oberst, That is why we are here."
Franz was ready for that. "I know sir, but the Gallians will attack us if we stay here. It's much easier to defend than attack, and I believe that using General Gregor's occupation stategy would be much easier if we smashed their regular army first. At the most, we'd have a partisan band or two which the city garrisons could deal with on their own."
"You said the Gallians would choose their own battlefield when you killed my plan, so why should this be any different?" Gregor pointed out peevishly.
"Yes, but General Damon won't be able to withstand all the politicians in Randgriz shouting in his ear to attack us here. We are an invader, Brigadegeneral, and no country can long afford to let an invader camp within its borders and maintain the goodwill of its people. Damon might be able to say that caution is necessary if we smash the garrison at Fouzen first, as according to your plan."
Gunther almost clapped his hands. Nothing slipped by Franz at all.
General Hermann was beginning to warm up to the idea as well. "If we smash their army here, there shouldn't be any reason we can't push on toward Randgriz and capture it like I wanted, right Oberst?"
"None at all, sir. Your plan would probably work beautifully if there was no army to oppose us.
Hermann beamed. That hit him where he lived. "Very well, we shall wait here as Oberst Franz has suggested." He turned to the other officers. "Draft orders to your men to build field entrenchments around our encampment, and fortify our position in general."
"Jawohl!" the men chorused and began to file out.
Within the hour, sandbag walls began springing up around the camp, bristling with Imperial field artillery.
Author's note: As always, thanks to Markal and Chiemiangel for the beta.