The next morning, Alexandra had decided to call Saunders out for an announcement. There was a lot of work they needed to do still as yesterday's battle had revealed some weak spots within their forces.
"Okay students." Alexandra began. The students looked at her as the others came up to her side to represent her. "We weren't able to get through yesterday's battle, but we shouldn't be loafing around especially when we could be thinking on how we can improve the team. It's still clear that we haven't learned to assault enemy strongpoints and trenches as the artillery and the mud proved to be a hindrance rather than helping us. We still need to improve on our tactics, and we need better leadership if we are to break through the enemy. With the results we have gathered from yesterday's battle, we have decided to build mockup trenches for you to practice in to see what we can learn to be applied in future battles to come." Alexandra explained to the students before pointing to the mockup trenches that they were going to learn to practice in. better weapons were overrated, they needed brilliant leadership if it meant winning the fight. The trenches had three lines and there were three trenches in layers, Alexandra remembered that they had only been able to take the first layer of trenches thanks to Nelly before the attack ran out of steam and they went on the defensive. Alexandra was hoping to take notes from this exercise to see what worked and what didn't and apply them to their new tactics.
The student trench line was constructed in a similar way to the enemy. The enemy positions were marked by wooden stakes to represent enemy soldiers in this training exercise. Some of the students like Konstantina and Nelly had begun digging as they were trying to sap their way to the enemy without having to go through barbed wire defenses. Alexandra handed the artillery crews the layout of the enemy trenches and saw what they were going to do if they were going to achieve a breakthrough. Alexandra was also going to have the armored cars and the cavalry were not going to participate as this was the exercise for just the infantry. Alexandra noticed the two tunnels being sapped to the enemy trench and decided to take note. Some of the students were attempting to cross to the enemy under the obstacles so they weren't exposed to the artillery and machine guns, they wanted to get the jump onto the enemy if it meant securing a victory.
"Interesting." Alexandra told herself. Then the artillery guns began to open up and they were opening fire on the trenches. Some of the students had been able to spot the brightly colored marks on the tops of the stakes that were in the trenches; boxes of wood were to represent machine gun pillboxes that they were going to take out. The artillery shells landed in the trenches, the wooden stakes were blown apart by firecrackers. The dirt near the trench moved as Konstantina's head popped out to see the damage so far. The artillery crew were doing their job and Konstantina knew coordination with the artillery was key to breaking through. Konstantina got out the radio while they were trying to hook it up.
"So far so good, maybe have one of the crews take out the machine gun position." Konstantina told the artillery that they needed to begin hammering the enemy if they were to conduct a successful charge. One of the more immediate changes Alexandra had made was the inclusion of trench mortars. These were mobile artillery with a higher rate of fire. While not as devastating as normal artillery, these mortars could pack a hard enough punch in large numbers. Alexei's friends had brought along ten such mortars for practice and began to fire them off. Konstantina listened as the mortars began to rain down ahead of them. One of the mortars destroyed the wooden box while more landed on the trenches ahead.
"Order the artillery to stop, we're going to go ahead and begin the attack." Konstantina told Alexandra that she wanted to attack now rather than devastate the trench line.
"Okay artillery stop firing." Alexandra told the artillery. Konstantina knew now was the time to shine. She and her group along with other saps in the trench line cross out into the territory of the enemy. Konstantina raced out with the group as this group was equipped with carbine rifles and extra grenades. Konstantina went prone with the other girls before they got out one of their grenades, pulled out the pins and chucked them over into the trench. The multiple grenades exploded, taking out many of the stakes, the forward saps were very effective, Konstantina and her group still had the energy to continue to push the attack and they would take less casualties crossing the land between the trenches.
Alexandra continued to observe the offensive maneuvers of Konstantina who looked like she had the energy to keep going. For a lady in the cavalry, this was a strategy that she could get behind. Megumi and the others had ordered the regular infantry forward as they were going to be attacking in the second wave. The first wave was most likely a shock tactic and the infantry that followed was to support the shock troops attack. The second wave caught up to the first one as they began to fire their rifles at the wooden stakes as a means of advancing up further. They had taken the tunnels that Konstantina and another group dug out to avoid any barbed wire. Once done, the machine guns moved up. This was proving to be a bit more costly than the regular infantry and the shock troops lugging a heavy water cooled maxim gun and the ammunition around was proving to be much more cumbersome through the tunnels compared to overland. They would have needed to destroy the barbed wire in order to help clear a safe lane through.
"Definitely some changes to be made if we are to break out properly." Alexandra told herself. Then came the last wave to complete the breakout, the cavalry, they began to gallop ahead as they leaped over the first trench, the cavalry was going to race ahead of the infantry and the machine guns, they leaped over the barbed wire with ease while continuing to cross to the enemy trench. The cavalry leaped over the enemy trench while racing up ahead. The students crossed through the trenches and cleared out the holes. The cavalry reached the artillery of the first trench line and began to slice the wooden stakes apart. The artillery was pounding away at the second line of defenses. Konstantina and her group were now digging their way through to come up and take the enemy by surprise. They were going to attempt to do all of this again. Alexandra knew practice made perfect and continued to watch. Konstantina and her friends popped from their cover and charged at the enemy obstacles, they pulled out their grenades, pulled the pin and chucked them into the enemy trenches, they blew up and took many of the wooden stakes with them before they entered the trenches, then the regular infantry joined the assault, then the machine guns and finally the cavalry charged on ahead to help with the breakout. Alexandra was impressed with how the shock tactics were and how effective they were turning out to be.
"Very nicely done." Alexei told Alexandra. The latter nodded with approval.
"Yep this is the plan going forward if we are to launch successful offensives." Alexandra smiled as this was tried against wooden stakes, she didn't know how well this was going to be used against another school's army of students. Alexandra knew there was still a lot of planning they needed to do if they were to launch a successful attack. Megumi came forward as she began speaking next.
"We can break through lines of enemy wood within a half hour and take all of the objectives using the four wave tactic to break through the enemy defenses, we could advance up to a mile and a half an hour at this rate. We should also figure out where we should coordinate our strikes if it means staging a successful offensive." Megumi told Alexandra while dripping with sweat, this attack was proving to be effective. Alexandra nodded.
"Okay, tell the crews to continue practicing their attacks. I want to speak at a round table with my leaders." Alexandra told Megumi that she wished to speak to her while the students continued to practice. Alexandra walked with Megumi and Alexei while the students were going to perfect their tactics if it meant gaining more experience.
Alexandra rolled out some maps that she had just received and it highlighted where Saunders was currently. The enemy was both the Dual Alliance and Kuromorimine. Megumi, Alexei, Lola and Naomi were present and they needed to plan this attack well. Alexandra placed some of the markers down.
"Okay, if there is something that the Lake Naroch offensive has taught us, it is that attacking on a narrow front is not the way we should be fighting. I want to propose a new plan that involves us attacking on as wide of a front as possible. This way, in case the enemy decides to call for help, there will be many holes for them to patch together and we can just keep blasting new holes for the enemy to patch together. This plan will definitely work as the enemy will have to take some of the pressure off of BC Freedom which is the ultimate objective." Alexandra explained what the main objective of this offensive would be if they were to do their coordinated assault.
"Sounds reasonable." Lola replied while cracking her knuckles. "Though the question remains, where do you think we should launch the offensive?" Lola asked curiously. Alexandra began to think about what her friend had asked. She decided to look at her map. Kuromorimine owned much of the northwestern and western parts of the front. Only the southwestern front was manned by the Dual Alliance. Alexandra knew Kuromorimine was tough but they had better experience fighting the Dual Alliance and they knew they would easily fall apart under pressure from their attack. Alexandra continued to study the map, their formations began from Pinsk and terminated at Czernowitz. An attack here wouldn't be too bad, she thought. Alexandra knew that she needed to divide up the battle into five zones of attack.
"I think where the Dual Alliance is stationed is the best chance for an offensive." Alexandra told Lola. She knew she needed to begin assigning groups and squadrons of students if she was to make the offensive successful, "I'll be dividing the offensive into five groups." Alexandra began. She drew the lines for where the armies would be separated depending on the composition. Megumi was confused about what they were going to assign themselves.
"What should we call our five army groups? The 1st army, 2nd army, 3rd army, 4th army and 5th army?" Megumi asked while going in numerical order. Alexandra knew those names were too easy and boring. Alexandra knew she needed to change things up if they were going to proceed with a successful breakout.
"You aren't thinking tactical enough Megumi, if we number our armies such as this, the enemy will figure out our unprofessional assignment and would figure out who is attacking and where. I am going to assign the army numbers at random and the location where these armies will be located." Alexandra began. She knew she needed to pick some wise numbers if it meant trying to figure out where they were going to attack. Lola sat around as she began to think what she was going to do. Alexei was sitting up straight, remaining confident. Naomi was growing bored with Alexandra's thinking. She wanted to speak but Megumi looked at her thinking she needed to not say a word while Alexandra was thinking. Finally She raised her finger as if she plucked a fish from the water.
"Did you find the best numbers for our army groups?" Naomi asked if Alexandra had made a decision.
"Yes." Alexandra began. These army groups will be the 3rd army, 8th army, 11th army, 7th army and 9th army." Alexandra began while jotting the army names down onto a sheet of paper. Now that the army group names had been listed, now came the composition of these army groups. Each army group will be assigned eight infantry groups and three cavalry groups. The 8th army and 11th army will have armored car support as there are definite clear roads where I want to be attacking along. The 9th army will have mortar support which will help with breaking through enemy lines much more effectively and I will be in charge of the Gregor legion." Alexandra told her group what their composition would be of while they were to be conducting the offensive.
"That sounds fair." Alexei told Alexnadra, he definitely had the support of this attack.
"Where will the army groups be located if we are to stage the attack?" Lola asked. Alexandra was thrown into another round of thinking if she was to begin coming up with a way to conduct the attack.
"The 3rd army will assigned between the line running between Pinsk and the road running from Sorny. The 8th army will be assigned from the Sorny road past Dubno. The 11th army will be assigned between Dubno road to Tarnopol. The 7th army will be assigned between Tornopol and the Strypa. And the 9th army will be assigned between the Strypa and Czernowitz." Alexandra labeled where the army groups will be located. She still needed to work on objectives they needed to take as overall goals. And she better get a force to be her Plan B if Kuromorimine noticed their ally getting ravaged and decided to try to shore up the line. "Would you want to take the names of what army groups you guys want to be assigned to?" Alexandra asked them if they wanted to be assigned to lead their army groups. She held out four strips of paper as she knew she had chosen an army to lead herself. Lola, Megumi, Alexei and Naomi reached over with their hands and began to pull the strips of paper to see what they were going to be assigned. They made sure to do this blindly so they didn't end up cheating. Once they pulled their paper slips back, they opened their eyes and began to read their assigned armies.
"I got the 11th army." Lola told herself with excitement. Megumi unrolled her slip. She had chosen to lead the 3rd army.
"Looks like I'm leading the 9th army." Alexei told himself. Naomi opened her eyes as she had chosen to lead the 7th army. Alexandra knew what she had picked. She was going to be leading the 8th army by herself.
"I'm still planning on the operation itself as we still have to figure out objectives, we're going to be doing plus who we're going to be going up against." Alexandra told them that the planning of a major offensive such as this one was far from over. "Meeting dismissed." Lola, Megumi, Alexei and Naomi walked out of the room; they were excited for the armies they had been assigned as this meant that the plan for the operation was going to occur.
"This is so exciting; Alexandra is giving us the chance to lead!" Lola called out as she couldn't contain her excitement.
"Okay Lola calm down, Alexandra doesn't have all the details laid out as of yet and is still working on it. Once we figure out what we're going to be going up against and what our objectives are, we will launch the offensive. The worst thing you can do on the field of battle is show excitement and make a blunder that will cost you the battle. If you know yourself and know the enemy you will not fear the next hundred battles to come." Megumi told Lola to keep her excitement contained for now as one slip up could mean disaster. Kay was watching from afar, she felt jealous that Alexandra hadn't assigned her an army to launch the offensive with. She looked on jealousy, there was no way she was going to be able to figure out how to launch a said attack without her.
Lola had arrived back with Konstantina as they were still practicing cavalry and armored car operations. They had wrapped up while Nathalia walked up to Lola.
"So did you get assigned to an army as of yet?" Nathalia asked her if she had received an army that she will be leading.
"Yes I have, it's the 11th army." Lola replied. She handed her the slip of paper which said the 11th army title and the composition it contained. Nathalia began to read it over. Lola was going to have eight infantry groups, three cavalry groups and an armored car group to help support her attack. Nathalia placed the paper down before she began to speak again.
"Wow, I never knew you were going to be launching a support attack." Nathalia told her friend. She went over to sit down on the table with Konstantina as they were going to talk about it more.
"Yeah so who's being assigned to who? I heard that Alexandra has assigned armies to us but I don't know if I will be working with you two or not. Even Nelly, and the Gregor legion are going to be working with Alexandra. I bet she's going to take all the best students with her to have it be her own fist. I can be wrong about this but this is what I am guessing." Lola tried her best to describe the situation of what the attack was going to be.
"That I can guess you can be certain, if we're grouped up to be Alexandra's main attack, she's probably going to need us for something big. She always takes the biggest and best along with her as she thinks everyone else will be leading supporting action is they are to tie the enemy down and if that section of the front turns into a stalemate, Alexandra is going to hit the front again from another section, She'll keep doing this until one of two possibilities occur. Either she takes all the captured objectives or she runs out of steam and is no longer able to launch follow up attacks." Nathalia described Alexandra's plans to Lola. "I've seen first hand what she is capable of and to be frank, it's not pretty as she is pretty ruthless at times." Nathalia told Lola that anyone had a brain and the bravery was going to get grouped up with Alexandra. Lola knew this but the one detail she didn't know was what Alexandra's objectives were going to be.
"If Alexandra has any sort of objectives for the big offensive, what are they going to be? I don't know what they will be but we have to be ready for anything regarding this offensive." Lola tried her best to tell her friends what they were going to be doing.
"Well we should do everything to be ready for the upcoming attack." Konstantina nodded to Lola. They were nervous about the upcoming attack. "I think Alexandra wants us to practice on some students first before she makes the offensive as she's still running some tests. She's still planning out the offensive so we might as well get more experience first regarding what she has in mind."
"You know who we're going up against?" Lola asked.
"Kebab. She wants us to practice on Kebab students first before launching the offensive. She wants the extra day or so to plan out what we're going to be doing." Konstantina told Lola.
"So the four waves attack, you understand them?" Nathalia asked Lola if she was paying attention to the attack.
"What four waves?" Lola asked curiously.
"The first wave are the shock troops of the army. They have bolt action carbine rifles and five grenades total as they are to be made to breach the enemy line and throw their grenades into the trenches to take out machine gun positions. The second wave would be the regular soldiers as they have the long rifles, they are to assist the shock troops when they blow their way into the first trench. Then the machine guns will come along as they will be reinforcing the defensive perimeter of the first two waves. They aren't as fast as the infantry and we still need to get mobile machine guns for the troops to help clear out enemy trenches and provide immediate automatic firepower until those machine guns get set up. The last wave will be the cavalry, they will race on ahead as they will complete the breakout. Since they and armored cars are very mobile, we can use those to exploit the rear trenches and take out any enemy artillery by hand, the enemy will be scrambling their forces forward while the infantry catch up and the cavalry moved to the rear. We will repeat the process while steadily moving the front forward." Nathalia explained to Lola how the attack waves will be conducted.
"Okay. I have the reasons, the reason why Kebab will be practiced first is the fact that Alexandra is still making refinements. She doesn't want to go in unless she feels confident enough." Lola replied. Nathalia and Konstantina smiled before they both got up.
"We'll see you later. We wish you luck for the road ahead." Nathalia explained to Lola before walking away. Alexandra was still meticulously planning the operation and more details were going to be told the next day, for now, everything was silent.
The time was counting down for the major offensive.
[A/N]: This chapter was the chapter where the students began to practice new tactics and Alexandra began planning for something big regarding the operation. The attack waves have been explained and now Alexandra has chosen an area to attack, what armies will be attacking and who will be leading. This is all she tells the reader about for now. Students like Kay, Himari, Nelly, Konstantina and Nathalia hadn't been assigned anything as of yet as Alexandra is figuring out the enemy composition and sizing up what she will be facing against. She thinks practicing against Kebab first will be the optimal strategy before launching the attack to see what they could improve on and if these tactics work against another school or not. Anyways, the next chapter will be them testing out these said tactics. See you later.
Chapters to the offensive remaining: 1