Chapter 48: Master Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, and Fear No One in the World

The sky was gradually darkening, and Lelouch could already clearly see the continuous rows of farmers' flat-roofed houses in the town of Bailleul through his binoculars.

An hour ago, having taken over the mission of Rommel's and List's companies, Lelouch led his Company A in a brave assault, pushing forward for nearly another kilometer.

If he had chosen to launch a direct frontal assault on the town at that time, he should have reached the outskirts of the town by this very moment.

Instead, he chose to bypass the town, avoiding the areas with the most heavily fortified defenses to carry out a deeper penetration.

Therefore, up until now, he had always maintained a certain distance from the town, and the enemy forces and defensive fortifications right in front of him had finally begun to thin out.

At the beginning of World War I, even when the British and French armies employed elastic defense, the depth of their positions was generally between 3 to 5 kilometers, with exceptionally important locations reaching a depth of 7 to 8 kilometers.

The German army performed the best in this regard, frequently establishing elastic defensive positions with a depth of 10 kilometers.

Today, on the Ypres front, between Armentières and Bailleul, considering that the rear of this railway sustained the lifeblood of the Ypres Heights, the depth of the fortified positions operated by the British army here had reached an unprecedented 10 kilometers, performing just as well as the German army.

Yet, they never expected that such a deep fortified zone would be breached by the German Stormtrooper tactics within a single day!

The "frontal assault speed record" achieved by Lelouch and his men today had already surpassed the second-place record since the beginning of this World War by at least three times over!

...

After taking a short breath and observing the enemy situation for a moment, Lelouch lowered his binoculars and pulled his head back into the trench.

"Company Commander, have some cold coffee." His guard squad leader, Klose, handed over a mess tin of cold coffee that was already close to freezing point, along with a piece of dark bread.

Nearby, the three platoon leaders—Model, Dieter, and Schweinsteiger—were also gathered together, similarly gnawing on dark bread.

The sausages they carried had been eaten at noon, so they could only have bread for dinner.

Because pure pork products tasted truly awful when cold, everyone had grown accustomed to eating them up as quickly as possible once they got their hands on them.

The dark bread, however, didn't matter whether it was cold or not; even with snow still falling from the sky, it could still be eaten down.

Lelouch swallowed a mouthful of coffee to moisten his throat, and then began to encourage his brothers: "Everyone, push a little harder. Despite having to walk four kilometers to bypass the town, we can definitely get around it tonight! Because we have already broken through the heavily fortified zone. Further ahead, both the density of enemy distribution and the density of defensive fortifications will decrease drastically!"

As soon as Lelouch finished speaking, the clueless Schweinsteiger immediately believed it, and Klose, who held an unconditional and fanatical trust in him, did not question it either.

Only Second Lieutenant Model, who possessed the most solid tactical common sense relatively speaking, couldn't help but remind him:

"Sir, but we have also completely left the fire support range of Major Keitel's mortar battalion. We have advanced nearly ten kilometers! The radio sets have become mere ornaments."

Lelouch patted him on the shoulder: "Company Commander Rommel already reminded me of this issue when we handed over command earlier, and I already have a countermeasure."

With that said, Lelouch finished the remaining cold coffee in his mess tin in one gulp, and scooped a box of snow water into the mess tin.

Then, taking out a most rudimentary clinometer from his chest, he pointed at a rammed-earth machine-gun pillbox three hundred meters away to the northwest, and instructed several nearby grenadier soldiers:

"Do you see that rammed-earth machine-gun pillbox in the distance? Move the grenade launcher on top of the mess tin, then use this simple clinometer to measure the elevation angle, estimate the range, and register a shot!"

The soldiers had little education and lacked imagination in geometry and physical thinking, but they at least knew how to carry out orders, so they followed them rigidly and meticulously.

To measure the barrel elevation angle, regular artillery pieces were all equipped with an "artillery quadrant"—the device resembling a protractor placed on the barrel often seen in black-and-white World War II footage.

That thing came with its own level vial, capable of easily measuring the angle between the barrel and the horizontal plane.

However, the quadrant was relatively expensive, precise, and fragile, and mortar squads were not issued them, let alone grenade launcher squads. They could only be replaced with a simplified version of the "clinometer," at the cost of omitting the function of "finding the horizontal plane."

To compensate for this, mortar squads had to level the mount baseplate before firing. Since grenade launchers lacked a baseplate, they could never eliminate this error by themselves, which was why they were difficult to use.

In the afternoon, when Rommel's company's grenade launcher squads tried to knock out firepower points, they repeatedly failed to gauge the range accurately and wasted a large amount of ammunition, which was the main reason.

Talented junior officers like Second Lieutenant Model and Second Lieutenant Dieter originally thought this problem was impossible to solve, but hearing Commander Lelouch's understated words just now, their eyes immediately lit up.

Ah, yes! If the grenade launcher could not find an absolutely level ground as an elevation reference surface, wouldn't it suffice to simply catch a box of water in the mess tin and use the water surface as a reference plane?

The still water surface in nature must certainly be absolutely horizontal.

While they were pondering the rationale behind it, several grenade launcher operators had completed the aiming under Lelouch's guidance. Three grenade launchers fired a grenade simultaneously, and the high-explosive grenades flew over a distance of hundreds of yards, with one of them indeed striking the rammed-earth pillbox squarely!

"Quickly seize the opportunity to capture the position! Light machine guns suppress!"

"The company commander's guidance is truly turning decay into magic!"

The "infallible calculations" of their own commander had always been the most effective morale booster. The soldiers, who were originally quite exhausted, forgot their fatigue the moment they saw the divine gunner knock out the pillbox with the very first shot, and they all charged forward bravely.

The troops thus continued their advance with unstoppable momentum, and the soldiers gained a few more layers of trust and expectation regarding the striking power of the grenade launchers.

When Lelouch encountered pillboxes or machine-gun firepower points blocking his way during the advance, he adapted to local conditions and continued to play more tricks with his previous tactical guidance.

"If you feel that the dim visibility makes it bad and the mess tin area is too small to measure, you can make full use of natural water surfaces—we are fighting in the Ypres area right now! The puddles left behind by the Belgian people blowing up the dikes and releasing water are everywhere! You must learn to observe the environment! Utilize the calmer areas of accumulated water in the trenches, hold the grenade launcher loosely over the puddle to measure the elevation before firing! If the ripples cannot settle down, try to find locations with floating ice! It is winter now! These little tricks won't be written in combat manuals, and the General Staff cannot foresee this special environment! But people with good math, good physics, and a good brain must learn to improvise!"

If Rommel's command style was as swift as a raiding fire, and Model's was as slow as a tranquil forest,

Then Lelouch's command style was that of a scholarly general, where everything that could be calculated had to be precisely quantified.

This posture of having victory well within his grasp was not only genuinely effective, but it also made the soldiers feel particularly at ease, always feeling that everything was under control and that there was nothing to fear no matter how dangerous the environment was.

Seeing one spot gives a glimpse of the whole picture. Relying on such chillingly calm command, the nerves of the entire company's soldiers were as firm as steel, executing the company commander's orders without a shred of doubt, and forging ahead into the depths without a backward glance.

When the sky became completely dark, Lelouch had thoroughly torn open the enemy's defenses in the southwest outskirts of Bailleul, infiltrating the flank and rear of the defense line.

Subsequently, Major Bock led the entire battalion to infiltrate as well, tearing the gap in the defense line even wider. Following that, Major Rundstedt's 2nd Assault Battalion, which had served as a feint on the north side of the railway during the day, also slipped to the south side of the railway under the cover of night and outflanked the front lines.

By the second half of the night, even Colonel List's entire 16th Regiment of the 12th Division had drilled through the gap, forming a semi-encirclement on the southwest flank of the town of Bailleul.

If the British 3rd Army located in the town's defensive sector did not leave soon, its railway retreat route would definitely be cut off tomorrow.

By then, even if they were not encircled and annihilated, they would lose the route to retreat along the main road. If they ultimately failed to hold the town, they would only be able to retreat to the northeast and up onto the Ypres Heights.

However, if the British 3rd Army retreated under such circumstances, at best they would only evacuate personnel, and a great deal of supplies would definitely be too late to be moved away—heavy supplies and equipment could only be fully transferred by railway. Climbing up the Ypres Heights along hillsides without formal roads, the soldiers would not be able to carry much load on their bodies.

...

Inside the town of Bailleul, Lieutenant General Putney, commander of the British 3rd Army, did not truly realize the extent of the enemy's strength until midnight—that if he did not do something, he seemed to be in danger of annihilation.

"The enemy actually broke through more than ten kilometers in a single day! They completely broke through our fortified zone and entered the rear, which has relatively relaxed defenses and no trench networks!"

"You bunch of trash! You don't even know how far the enemy has outflanked into the rear after breaking through the defense line! I need to understand the degree of threat posed by the enemy's penetration, whether it will affect our army's rear route, and whether it will affect the railway connecting Stansford to Bailleul!"

Because the combat reports sent up by various subordinate units at night were very unclear, Lieutenant General Putney could not help flying into a rage and severely reprimanding them.

But his subordinates also felt very wronged and tried every possible way to explain: "General, this cannot be blamed on us. It is too dark, and the enemy is still elusive. We have no idea how they advance in the dark. Moreover, these enemies are too terrifying; they seem never to get tired and are still attacking after fighting all day long!"

How could these British officers know that, to ensure the continuity of the attack, Lelouch had made the various companies of the assault battalion rest in rotation and execute missions alternately.

Although each company might only get two hours of rest per rotation before changing again, this was enough for the extremely exhausted soldiers. Lelouch didn't let them sleep longer because he was afraid the soldiers would freeze to death—this was the North Sea coast in December, and light snow was even falling.

In comparison, the British soldiers had a more uniform sleep time. Everyone had been tired for a whole day, and facing night combat on top of that was driving them to the verge of a breakdown.

When Lieutenant General Putney learned the true extent of the deterioration on the front line, he also felt secretly chilled.

He knew that if they continued passive defense, the probability of having their retreat cut off would grow greater and greater. After struggling in his mind for a while, he finally made a decision:

"Tomorrow morning—no, let's make it 4:30 AM—have the 3rd Division transition from defense to offense and launch a flank counterattack against that enemy force that has penetrated into the southwest side of the town! You must cut them off, otherwise our army's retreat route will be finished! Also, have the 7th Division on the north side of the railway pull back and detach two regiments to assist the 3rd Division in bolstering the defense."

Putney's staff officer immediately went to make a phone call to notify Major General Rolinson.

After answering, Major General Rolinson groaned inwardly: "General, you know that our division only had one-third of its veterans left before the war, and the four newly recruited battalions that just joined have barely touched their rifles. Using them to plug gaps is fine, but counterattacking is simply sending them to their deaths..."

But Putney would not bargain with him, forcing him to launch a counterattack to sever this pair of pincers the enemy had thrust in! Otherwise, he could just wait to face a military court upon returning!

Rolinson argued on reasonable grounds repeatedly, but in the end failed to avoid this chore. He only obtained a comforting promise from the general:

"This mission must be executed! However, I also know your difficulties and won't let you fight alone. I have already asked the rear for reinforcements, and the Commander-in-Chief has promised to transfer the main force of the Cavalry Corps stationed at Poperinge to reinforce us! At that time, you will launch counterattacks simultaneously, leaving the enemy unable to attend to both head and tail! The cavalry brothers will help you draw the enemy's firepower."

Hearing that there were urgent reinforcements and coordination from a cavalry corps, Rolinson finally felt somewhat more at ease, and stated that he would launch a counterattack before dawn to sever the enemy's penetration.