OR1-EP5: Hymn of the Bridge (9)
After leaving South Africa, the defense forces suddenly got out of the rut of exhaustion and instead leisurely set up a blockade and pushed forward in steps along the Rhodesian border, planning to slowly strangle the Rhodesian rebels. The unauthorized entry of the South African garrison into other Commission jurisdictions rightly provoked protests, only for Governor-General Herzog to forcefully argue and ignore these objections, insisting that the original plan be followed to isolate the Rhodesian rebels. At this point, with the exception of South Africa, which was inevitably drawn into the war, the vast majority of the EU remained in a state of peace, with citizens occasionally taking to the streets to express their concerns about the war, and then continuing on with their lives as before.
It seemed that Governor-general Herzog didn't want the war's ferocity to soar anytime soon, and McNeil was given a break. His and his comrades' daily routine consisted of continuing to patrol near the borderline between the two sides' spheres of influence, and then returning to the barracks to continue to listen to half-truths about battle plans. In total, the South African army was twice the size of the Rhodesian rebels, and with the failure of the Rhodesian rebels to gain air power and receive a sustained blockade thus far, perhaps Rhodesia would collapse on its own, internally and externally.
There is also defensiveness among the soldiers. Those of darker skin color have always had a slight fear of white soldiers, and subconsciously move out of the way when they encounter white soldiers strutting down the middle of the road. Soldiers of Aboriginal descent also did not interact with the whites, and each side had its own group, distinctly forming different sections of the barracks. These phenomena were reported to the commander by some worried commanders, and the colonel didn't care about such trivial matters. To gain merit, one had to hit the enemy hard on the battlefield with his skills, and the colonel had always believed in that. Although most of his skills were used in flattery, his professionalism was no worse than anyone else's, and with the assistance of Adalbert and Smilas, the Colonel was moving step by step towards his ideal of a seamless scenario.
"Sir, we have received notification from friendly forces ... They say that the enemy Volunteer Division is crossing this route, probably to pick up the Guardian division that is confronting our forces on the front line."
Adalbert Herzog handed the information to the colonel and took a few steps back, standing straight at the entrance to the large tent. Originally not fat, he had gotten thinner and thinner since the start of the war, and what little flab was left on his body had been consumed, so that others could see the outline of his skeleton directly from his face.
The so-called Volunteer Division was not an army formed by the volunteers of the African Britannian civilians, but rather an elite unit established by the Rhodesian rebels in unison after the defection of the former Defense Army soldiers. At that time, the rebels hadn't yet conscripted militia to establish a Guardian division, and hadn't established a number for the unit, so Volunteer Division became its common and semi-official name. Now, no one seemed to think about what the unit should have been called, and since everyone was used to the name Volunteer Division, why make a change?
The colonel handed the map to Adalbert and commanded in a consultative tone:
"Then, this plan will come in handy. This is the fist of the rebels, and eliminating this unit will cause the rebel front line to completely collapse ... With enough luck, the war will probably be over quickly."
"Sir, the plan itself is flawed." Adalbert drew a few strokes around the mountain in the center of the topographical map, "Although we can separate the rebels here, without the cooperation of friendly forces, we will be quickly wiped out by the rebels. To be on the safe side, I suggest reporting the situation to division headquarters."
Duttmann feigned disinterest as he left his hastily constructed desk and walked to the door of his tent to look at the soldiers who were still training or resting. He wouldn't let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity go to waste; he had lived until he was almost fifty years old before he encountered a real war, and if he didn't take advantage of this opportunity to build a career, he would only be able to retire in the logistics department in the future. Risks always go hand in hand with opportunities, and since God had given him a chance, he would never let his luck slip away so easily. The colonel tightened his collar and kindly turned back to Adalbert:
"Your idea is well founded. However, we are the ones who have to lure this enemy force forward to rescue those Guardian units fighting our troops on the front line before we can figure out how to ambush them halfway. If the top decides to make a big move, the enemy forces will quickly notice the actions of our troops, and when that happens, they will fall back to the north to continue their defense, and then we won't have much of a chance. In addition ..." He looked at the restless black soldiers outside and continued, "I think this war should end in our hands. If they become credited with the war, it is conceivable what kind of revenge they will take on Rhodesia."
"That's a wrong statement, they're also legitimate citizens-"
"True, true, but they have not long learned to behave, and they still need us to guide and educate them." The Colonel told the guards to get Smilas over here, they needed to carefully deliberate the details of the entire battle plan. Karl Duttmann had always been reckless, and this time was even more audacious to the point of recklessness, he was going to make an open gamble in front of everyone's eyes, and the stakes were the battlefield of half of the Rhodesian battlefield. Faced with the defense forces' tightening grip, the rebels were gradually left on their own, having lost the freedom to flexibly deploy their troops, and could only place the majority of their forces on the front lines in order to fend off the defense forces' incursions - and carpet bombings. So far, despite the Air Force's maximum restraint in the war, the cities of Rhodesia (especially those in the north) have remained heavily damaged, with some of them razed to the ground, and many of the African Britannian civilians whose families have been broken up have chosen to defect to the Rebels in desperation.
Gene Smilas reviewed the program again, and he couldn't find any glaring shortcomings. The poor transportation environment and loss of air control would force the rebels to advance between the high mountains, from which the advancing rebels could be cut off by Colonel Duttmann setting up an ambush with a small number of troops in the mountains. In such a complex environment, most of the equipment that had been so effective on the plains would be rendered useless, and the trapped rebels would not only lose the opportunity to rescue friendly forces, but would also risk being caught in the crossfire by the defense forces that would follow. Smilas handed the document back to Adalbert and sat down on the stool next to him, offering his opinion:
"Actually, we don't need this many men." Smilas pointed at Adalbert's predetermined route of the rebels' advance, "Too many personnel could lead to the exposure of our plan, and the consequences would be unimaginable once we are trapped in the mountains by the rebels. Personally, I would suggest that we split our forces into two, with the second unit going to attack the town at the bottom of the hill, completely cutting off the nearest supply route for the rebels on the front line and forcing a diversion of any rebels that may be besieging the ambush force. In this way, we will be able to win a great victory if any of the friendly units around us are willing to come to our support."
Adalbert Herzog calmly pondered what Smilas had said, and he had to admit that Smilas and McNeil had thought of the same weakness. Before the outbreak of the war, Adalbert had come to visit the neighborhood with McNeil, and by then McNeil had already used his own intuition and instincts to judge that this place would be the focus of the battle between the two armies. Major Herzog believed in McNeil's idea, so he had prepared for a possible battle in the mountains, coming up with several contingency plans. However, when McNeil had first spoken to him about the available strategies, he hadn't favored attacking two enemy forces at the same time.
"Why?"
"That would require this force to be mentally prepared for total annihilation ... is a mission that you know you'll be sent to your death."
However, Adalbert thought left and right and pressed these doubts into his heart. He did not want to take the initiative to join the war, if the war inevitably came, then he would maximize the use of the war in order to achieve his own purpose. No one was a saint, and rather than grieve for the weak who would die sooner or later, he would take the opportunity to obtain resources more conducive to survival.
The Colonel asked for a few more details, and Adalbert answered them all. When the short conference was over, he stepped out of his tent and followed the path to McNeil's quarters, where the young soldier was talking with other black soldiers about the causes and consequences of the African Britannians' rebellion.
There was a relatively cordial atmosphere among the soldiers when no officers were present. Most of the soldiers joined the defense force to earn a living, and their imagination of the future was limited to earning more money, while some contemplated using the war as a way to achieve a higher status in the army. Compared to those who came from military schools, their future was much more limited and they lost many opportunities, perhaps without most of them realizing it. Unlike these comrades who were thinking of a better life, McNeil was generally talking about more specialized issues, either studying with the others how to cooperate with each other the next time a battle was fought, or inspiring the soldiers' enthusiasm for fighting with various examples. Looking at McNeil not far away, Adalbert only felt amused. McNeil was just a soldier, but his perspective of caring about the war was like a view only taken by those who waged war.
"I wonder what kind of past made him like this."
McNeil is explaining to the black soldiers the reasons why this war must go to the end. He said that the African Britannians had gone out of their way to collude with the Britannian Empire in order to maintain the status quo ante, not only out of culture and tradition, but with a combination of many economic factors behind it.
"Why do you guys think the African Britannians think you're lower than them?"
McNeil was not holding a rifle in his hand, but was sitting in a clearing with the other soldiers, and the black soldiers around him listened intently as he described some facts that they had never before had the opportunity to learn.
"Because we don't have money ..." Dumiso Tutu sighed, he could well understand the feeling of being discriminated against due to poverty, "Without money, naturally, we don't have the opportunity to learn the knowledge or skills that only their upper-class guys are exposed to, which makes them messed up people in their eyes ..."
"This is one of the factors - but, assuming that the African Britannians really believe that their superiority is unassailable, it is all the more reason for them to feel comfortable and bold in allowing you to compete with them, when in fact they fear the competition: they know that they're not as powerful as they are advertised to be. There are many good-for-nothing fellows among the African Britannians ..." McNeil overheard Adalbert about to step aside, and hastily ended the conversation by following Major Herzog to the rear of the tent. The Major fumbled in his coat pocket for a long time and found nothing, so awkwardly resting his right hand on a flagpole aside, he said to McNeil:
"The colonel intends to continue the attack, and it seems that he has the same idea as you."
"That's nothing to be surprised about ... That's a short cut for someone who wants to pursue a war effort." McNeil pointed to himself and then to Major Herzog, "We're one of a kind, as is the Colonel, and we differ only in our exact methods. If the conditions are sufficiently adequate, perhaps we are not justified in criticizing the Colonel, and would even go further than he did."
Adalbert was dumbfounded, "Indeed, I was going to explain to him the risks of the plan, and as it turned out I couldn't even talk myself out of the opportunity that fell in front of me. So, what do you think is the key to the plan?"
McNeil picked up a stick from the side and casually scratched the sand on the ground. He quickly sketched the outline of the hilly terrain, then drew the planned route of march for each of the two armies, and finally marked the position of the friendly forces on the periphery.
"My point is that most of the battle plans of modern warfare are about the coordination between the various departments. No matter how ingenious the plan is, once the logistics department or any other department fails to cooperate, the plan fails." McNeil tapped the rectangle representing friendly forces, "And for the scenario at hand, victory or defeat does not depend on us, it depends on friendly forces. All we have to do is to cut off the rebel reinforcements and supplies, causing the rebel Guardian divisions that are fighting against our forces on the frontal battlefield to collapse, but how long this process takes is entirely dependent on the efforts of the friendly forces. In other words, assuming that the friendly forces stay put from start to finish, we are asking for death."
Adalbert expressed his approval; it was for the sake of competing for credit that Colonel Duttmann had decided to carry out this risky plan alone. Should they succeed, he would logically become the number one hero of the counterinsurgency war, and then there would be no reason to continue restricting Duttmann's promotions, even for those officers who looked at him with disdain.
"How is the Colonel's relationship with the division command?"
"... Not very good." Adalbert replied stiffly, "To be exact, there's a big falling out. Strange to say, he's a man so keen on speculation that he ends up offending many of his superiors."
"That's a bit hard to do." McNeil scratched his neck, he always felt like he had cysts growing in the back, probably caused by an inexplicable infection. "Normally, the other troops would surely come to the rescue quickly, and when they and the combat troops on the front battlefield pinned down the stranded enemy, the main rebel force would be all but buried here. If the colonel's relationship with the chief is so bad that the chief would rather ignore the big picture than watch him go to his death, we have to consider a new countermeasure ... or retreat."
"No way?" Adalbert was taken aback, "Who would let weekday grudges get in the way of war?"
"In a place like this, I can't guarantee that their reverence for this profession will override personal grudges." McNeil sighed, "Adalbert, you know well what the Colonel did during the last Rhodesian operation. As a commander, he thought only of suppressing the situation when it was deteriorating rather than stopping it in time, and then took the lead in escaping after the situation was irreparable ... What he could do, his peers and superiors did as well."
"Damn it." Adalbert stamped his feet and beat his chest, sighing repeatedly, "Are we really no better than the Britannians? But their Britannian army is just as irredeemable."
"We should be better than whoever is stronger, not whoever sucks - otherwise, in case our opponents suddenly wake up, it's ourselves who will suffer." McNeil didn't want to judge the current Defense Force; the nasty problems the army had developed over the years couldn't be solved in a short period of time. As long as these officers were not oblivious, they should understand what would be a wise course of action to take.
The Volunteer Division in the Rhodesian rebel army was a real opponent that could fight the defense army head on, the militia was after all no match for a professional soldier who had been trained for a long time. If the 5th Infantry Regiment or even the Infantry Division it was attached to encountered the Volunteer Division in a frontal battlefield, it was feared that both sides would fight to a standstill, and then the consequence of the 5th Infantry Regiment challenging the enemy alone would be the total annihilation of the army. However, with the rebels losing air control, the rebels who were worried about being bombed by the defense forces halfway across the country had no choice but to hurry from the valleys and hills, while the defense forces with air support could easily block the rebels in the mountains. At this point, supported by other units rushing in from the northwest of Rhodesia, and then advanced together by the Defense Army units that were launching an onslaught from the southwest, the main force of the Rhodesian rebels that were surrounded in the middle of it had no choice but to sit back and wait for death.
"The soldiers of the Volunteer Division are all African Britannians, and the rebels will not recruit anyone else into the army."
The battle may last longer than expected. The rebels lack troops that can be mobilized, and they will deploy about 80% of their forces to the southwest to avoid having their defenses breached, while the continued heavy bombing by the air force has severely damaged Rhodesia's production capacity, and the rebels have reportedly given up on gun manufacturing and decided to engage in smuggling instead as a way to address their immediate needs. The rebels have not yet completely blocked the roads to the northwest, and that's because they just can't spare any more men. As for why the defense forces to the northwest had chosen to hold their ground, it was all because of orders from the Guardian Corp General Headquarters, and Lieutenant General Wood seemed to want to allow the Airborne Corps to sneak up on them from the rear. McNeil speculated that Lt. General Wood had a vested interest in the Airborne's commanders or backers, and that to do so, the Guardian Corp Commander-in-Chief needed to make sure that the majority of the rebel ground forces were on the front lines fighting the defense forces before he could feel comfortable enough to make a surprise attack. It was no secret that Lt. General Wood had made no secret of his intentions, after all, he had been the one who had initiated the idea of direct airborne assaults on the major cities of Rhodesia from the very beginning. The result is well known: the Airborne Corps, unwilling to bear the title of "Butcher" in the face of countless armed citizens, could not attack with confidence, and eventually fled shamefully into the territory of the Commission of East Africa. There are various accounts of this behavior within the army, but the accepted authoritative conclusion is that the Airborne Regiment really did not want to turn its guns on its own former compatriots.
Thus, when the Rhodesian rebels thought that the fact that the elite Airborne Regiment had fled in the face of armed citizens would be a huge blow to the Governor-general's prestige, the Governor-general aptly claimed that it was he himself who had ordered the Airborne Regiment to retreat - while also slamming the rebels, who were only interested in dragging the ordinary citizens with them to their burials, in his speech. Thus, the defeated Airborne Corps became a benevolent force that upheld humanity and showed mercy, and the victorious Rhodesian rebels were reduced to unscrupulous scum.
"I would like to reiterate to the citizens of South Africa the fact that we have always demanded maximum restraint from the armed forces." Despite privately claiming that the citizens of Rhodesia were veritable rebels, the Governor-general was always conciliatory in front of the media, "Therefore ... I would also like to hope that the citizens of Rhodesia who have started the rebellion in Rhodesia will recognize the truth in time and not squander the opportunity that the United Republics has bestowed upon you. If you persist, we will tear you to pieces as we did when we crushed the Russian Empire."
However, masked behind the optimism and fervent propaganda were concerns about the army's actual fighting ability. The Guardian Corps certainly did not have high expectations, and the poorly performing Airborne Corps became the focus of criticism in daily meetings, with Lt. Gen. Wood often black-faced and pretending to be asleep the entire time to avoid facing cross-examination from other officers. It was necessary to convince both insiders and outsiders that the army was compassionate rather than genuinely incapable of routing the rebels quickly, which was Governor-General Herzog's view. Therefore, he continued to maintain his alliance with Lt. General Wood, and even if there was already a conflict between the two sides, that would be after the war was over.
During that night, the troops commanded by Colonel Duttmann left the camp unnoticed and headed for the distant mountains. They would faithfully carry out their chief's orders and blockade to the death the rebel supply lines to the front.
A sleepy McNeil rose from his tent and watched these comrades run to the front. The resourceful colonel did not intend to send all of his men at once; he ordered Smilas to stay put to improvise. However, the colonel had taken four of the five fighting companies with him, and Smilas had only auxiliaries at his disposal, so he was afraid that he would be unable to support the front in case the situation changed.
"Looks like a saint on parade." Dumiso Tutu watched in awe from the sidelines at the soldiers with solemn or numb expressions.
"All mortal."
Gene Smilas solemnly shook hands with Adalbert, who was mixed in the middle of the group, as a farewell. He saw McNeil, who was observing something from the sidelines, and, forcing himself to sleep, walked up and said:
"There's something here that needs your attention. His Excellency the Governor-general announced a mobilization meeting, mainly to solve the problem of low morale of soldiers ... He asked all the officers above the Senior Officers to attend, but we have no one here to walk away." Speaking of this, Smilas stroked his growing beard, "As it happens, you and the Governor-general have a friendship. His Excellency the Governor-general probably won't deliberately give us a hard time if we send you, even though it's procedurally out of order."
"Back to the Transvaal?"
"Yes, you delegates go back the day after tomorrow on a transport plane." Smilas yawned and walked crookedly towards his tent, "If anyone else asks, just say you're His Excellency the Governor-general's handpicked delegates ... Forgive them if they don't dare to make an issue of it."
TBC
Chapter Notes:
It was recently discovered that the EU ranks in the Code Geass universe are very similar to the current Serbian ranks.
Racially mixed forces do encounter many problems at first.
