Chapter 42: Pre-battle Mobilization: The Assault Battalion is Not About Reckless Valor!

Three days later, on the morning of December 12th.

Lille, a former major strategic stronghold in northern Frankish territory.

This city had been captured by the German forces back in August, and the Frankish army failed to recapture it during the subsequent Race to the Sea. The frontline of the Frankish northeastern defensive line currently remained along the Arras-Lens sector.

Lille was now situated directly south of Ypres, which was under British control, posing a certain threat to the southern flank of the Ypres salient.

When the subsequent offensive was launched, the German 6th Army planned to push along the railway line from Lille northwestward, piercing through the flank and rear of the salient, and cooperating with friendly forces from the 4th Army to the north to completely sever this protrusion.

Therefore, early that morning, Lelouch, Major von Rundstedt, Major von Bock, and other newly integrated platoon and company commanders of the two assault battalions, along with newly replenished soldiers, were all brought to the barracks in the western suburbs of Lille.

What awaited them was the final pre-battle coordination and supplementary training in new tactics. Until the final moments before the outbreak of war, they would remain quartered within the city of Lille.

Everyone had at most a week to coordinate before being thrown back into combat—and there was no need to complain about this short timeframe, as they were all elites to begin with. Although the soldiers had generally received about twenty days of rest, they were not completely idle once the rest period ended.

In particular, the wounded soldiers who had returned to their units had actually spent even longer integrating, and most comrades were already familiar with one another.

As for the traditional military taboo of "soldiers not knowing their commanders, and commanders not knowing their men," it was perhaps considered extremely serious in other nations' armed forces.

Yet in the Demanian military, this was not nearly as pronounced, entirely thanks to the traditional Demanian observance of strict orders and harsh military discipline dating back to antiquity.

Even if the soldiers were not very familiar with their superior officer, and even if the officer had been dropped in out of nowhere, the soldiers would still mostly carry out the orders as long as they were given.

This was something the enemy forces found rather difficult to achieve. The Frankish people, in particular, revered freedom, and their soldiers tended to have many independent thoughts—though this could hardly be called a bad thing, since freedom was, after all, a good thing.

At six in the morning, with the sky just beginning to brighten, approximately 2,200 soldiers formed up and assembled within the camp. A light snow was falling, but it did not affect the soldiers' formations in the slightest.

They were to listen to an address by Army Group Commander General Rupprecht, followed by speeches from two division commanders, and finally, words from the two assault battalion commanders, von Bock and von Rundstedt.

All the soldiers had been outfitted in brand-new gear. They wore M15-style steel helmets (actually styled after the M56 helmet), forged from high-manganese steel with leather-framed cushioning pads on the inside, and wrapped on the outside in linen camouflage canvas to prevent reflection from the metal helmet.

Their bodies were all clad in grey-base brown-and-white mottled camouflage uniforms. The clothing was not tight, but rather somewhat bulky, allowing winter cotton padding to be tucked inside.

On their feet were work boots with anti-smash steel plates embedded in the toes, secured with lace-up leather gaiters—whereas the Imperial Army soldiers' previous jackboots relied on buttons along the sides for tightness, making them very inconvenient to put on and take off. Switching to side-laced boots, while still somewhat more cumbersome than a zipper, was at least better than buttons.

(Note: The anti-slip self-locking zipper was only invented in the United States in 1913 and was not yet widespread. The older, primitive style of zippers lacked a locking mechanism and came undone very easily, making them even less reliable than shoelaces.)

The soldiers' weapons had not yet been issued, as they were to be adjusted later according to specific military branches; thus, for now, everyone remained unarmed.

Once fully assembled, the Duke gave a mobilization speech, the content of which was relatively common and formulaic.

"...Soldiers, today we are fighting against the evil financial speculators of Britannia! If the Empire cannot win this war, then in the future there will be no sense of honor left upon the Earth, only a single faith: the worship of gold!"

Standing slightly behind and to the side of the Duke, Lelouch heard it all very clearly, and he knew that this rhetoric had been spoken by Emperor Wilhelm not long ago; the Duke was merely repeating those phrases. Moreover, its persuasiveness was indeed quite low, and many soldiers cared little for such high-sounding platitudes.

There were no audio broadcasts in this era, and it was impossible for the soldiers to have heard the voice of their ruler through a radio.

Therefore, it was quite normal for the Emperor's speeches to be repeatedly quoted by subordinate commanders at all levels, and the soldiers had no way of knowing that this was merely reheated fare.

Following the Duke, the division commanders and assault battalion commanders gave their own speeches, which were also pre-battle mobilizations devoid of novelty.

Finally, it was the turn of Lelouch—the originator of the assault battalion concept and deputy commander of the 1st Assault Battalion—to say a few words.

Lelouch's approach was much more down-to-earth. Since everyone else had already spoken words of morale-boosting, he prepared to talk about practical matters.

"Soldiers! I know that you are all battle-tested warriors, strictly disciplined, and accustomed to prompt obedience. But I also know that the concept of the assault battalion, this very name, may cause doubts in your hearts—or at least, it may have done so in the past.

Some of you might feel that the Empire and the Army Group are having you shoulder dangerous tasks, placing an even heavier burden upon your shoulders! But I want to clarify a fundamental truth: the Army Group cherishes every single soldier! The Commander cherishes the life of every subordinate!

The assault battalion will not be squandered recklessly; we merely undertake the task of breakthrough at critical points. When battle commences, we will never allow officers at any level to arbitrarily widen the attacking front, nor to waste the physical strength and lives of our soldiers!

Within every company, platoons will advance by alternating bounds! Within every battalion, companies will rotate for rest in turn!

Once we pierce the enemy's defensive line, if we can immediately call up friendly main forces to reinforce and occupy the positions, we must call for reinforcements in a timely manner!

When encountering heavily fortified enemy strongholds, if we can use radio to call for precise artillery support to eliminate them, we must never hesitate to request a barrage!

Please trust me implicitly; I, too, have crawled out of piles of corpses! Two months ago at Nieuwpoort, I faced a desperate situation where a single reconnaissance company had to break through three divisions of the enemy!

This very eye of mine was injured by tear gas during that campaign and has never fully healed; I can feel the pain every single moment. Therefore, please believe that we will cherish every soldier!

Furthermore, this Major von Bock is the nephew of the Chief of the General Staff! Even the Chief of the General Staff trusts his own nephew enough to let him join the assault battalion, so what is there for anyone else to worry about? The assault battalion will be employed in the most appropriate manner, and everyone will have far greater opportunities for meritorious service, decoration, and promotion than in regular troops!"

Lelouch's speech was remarkably grounded. Unlike old-school officers who merely emphasized honor and discipline, he placed great emphasis on making the soldiers believe that they would receive the best treatment, that they would not be treated as cannon fodder, and that heroic combat would most certainly be recognized by the leadership without getting buried in a morass of unrewarded merit.

This combination of grace and severity genuinely caused the Demanian soldiers—who had never witnessed Eastern-style methods of winning hearts and minds—to brim with high morale, raising their fighting spirit and cohesion to yet another level.

Especially the soldiers in the front rows, looking at the deputy commander's blood-red left eye, could all feel that he was not some aloof, high-and-mighty officer lord, but someone who had fought his way up from the ranks just like them.

The deputy commander's current treatment, the recognition he received from superiors at all levels, and the fact that even the Commander held him in high regard—all of this provided the soldiers with a vivid template for striving upward, a typical case study of climbing from a regular "old squad leader" to a mid-level officer.

Within the crowd of soldiers below, Lieutenant Model and Lieutenant Dieter, the two platoon leaders, were also moved to tears. They too were of humble origins, completely devoid of background, and upon entering military service, they had started from the very bottom, step by step earning merits to climb higher.

"In the future, I must certainly fight as bloodily as Commander Lelouch! Fight the Britannia running dogs to the very end!" Model, who had entered military service after graduating from high school and spending only a year at a non-commissioned officer school, had his fighting spirit for merit and promotion thoroughly ignited.

Meanwhile, Major von Bock and Major von Rundstedt on the reviewing stand cast looks of newfound respect at Lelouch, thinking to themselves in unison: "This young man... seems to pay much more attention to appeasing and winning over the rank-and-file than any officer we have seen before. Previous imperial traditions were far too inclined toward responsibility upward; very few paid as much attention to the sentiment below as he does. The times are truly changing..."

"Victory! Absolute victory! Absolute victory!" On the parade ground, a few soldiers finally began to shout, and soon the others were swept along, joining in the cries spontaneously.

Feeling the soldiers' genuine cheers, Lelouch's own heart surged.

Over the past month or so, he had gradually figured out certain conditions, particularly regarding his left eye, which had been injured by poison gas and stubbornly refused to heal completely. By now, the vision in his left eye was entirely normal, functioning just like any other eye, but the blood-red hue of the iris simply refused to fade. He suspected it would remain red and blue from then on.

At first, he had wondered if his left eye possessed some sort of supernatural ability, but he later discovered that it seemed to have nothing particularly miraculous about it, other than making him more resonant and inspiring to his fellow countrymen and kin when he spoke. Perhaps seeing his eye reminded people of the merit he had earned by shedding blood for the country, thereby generating a sense of trust or awe.

To test this, he had even secretly conducted some control experiments. For instance, when capturing Ostend earlier, he had also interrogated and interviewed some captured Frankish officers, even generals, attempting to persuade them to cooperate more deeply with Demania.

Yet throughout the entire process of persuasion, Lelouch felt no bonus whatsoever regarding "increased persuasiveness"—if reasoning did not work, it simply did not work.

Thus, after strict comparisons, it seemed that this blood-red left eye possessed no influence-boosting modifier for foreigners outside his own kin; it merely served to inspire his own compatriots more effectively.

Perhaps it also held a certain appeal for Demanian people in foreign lands—who knew?—but it certainly held no sway over foreign aliens.

Today, after giving this mobilization speech to the 2,200 assault battalion soldiers and observing their impassioned reactions, Lelouch felt this realization even more profoundly, finally confirming it once and for all.

Perhaps in the future, he could leverage this old wound that could never fully heal—this "man's medal"—to become a better orator, capable of rallying more soldiers and people to unite around him under equal conditions, but that was the extent of it.

At this very moment, with all mobilization work completed, it was time to issue equipment to the soldiers and conduct tactical briefings.