Chapter 90
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Chapter 90 - 나비가 날았다 (2)
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“I'll get straight to the point. Are you mentally prepared?”
“I made it through the mountain division training of the Free Democratic Republic of Prussia just fine. My mental fortitude isn't so weak that I'd collapse from something like this.”
I threw a cool, hard fact in the face of Chief of Staff Yosef.
“The 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion is trash.”
“…….”
The face of the boastful Yosef stiffened instantly. I wondered if he was about to spit blood again.
But I had no intention of stopping.
Major Yosef Levandofski was the most enterprising and competent officer I had met so far, among all the field-grade officers.
There's a reason people say you need to experience foreign lands. Even in reality, the difference in thought and capability between officers who had been on foreign deployments and those who hadn't was clear.
However, that didn't change the fact that he was still a frog in a well.
Even if he was someone who had established strategies and organizational structures that were quite innovative and aggressive by Ukrainian standards, he was still sorely lacking when compared to the future structure of the battlefield.
That's why I had to hit him with the facts.
With someone of Chief of Staff Yosef's caliber, he would fully understand what I was saying and be able to make major strategic adjustments.
“To be precise, the Ukrainian military itself is trash. The rank system isn't properly organized, and the command structure is a mess.”
“May I ask why you think so?”
“You're free to ask. Even if I am the deputy battalion commander, you are my senior by a mile and hold a higher rank, after all.”
“Hmm, right... That's true. I almost forgot for a moment.”
Yosef nodded and added.
“I agree that the Ukrainian military is trash, but I don't think our battalion, which even achieved some results at the Riemansk Ordnance Depot, is at that level...”
“We're just better than that trash military, but we're still lacking. Haven't you seen the mountain division of the Free Democratic Republic of Prussia directly?”
As far as I knew, the mountain division of the Free Democratic Republic of Prussia was an elite unit that could operate at 100% effectiveness even at the start of the war.
That was one of the reasons it was most recommended for newbies in Hearts of General.
If you holed up in that mountain division before the Great War broke out, your military achievements would pile up sky-high the moment the war started, and you'd be on the fast track for promotion.
The reason the mountain division could exert such combat power wasn't just due to its harsh and well-organized training.
The biggest reason was its organization.
“The mountain division of the Free Democratic Republic of Prussia is composed of a total of 3 mountain regiments under which fall 12 battalions. And those battalions are composed of an average of 300 personnel, divided into 3 combat companies, 2 reserve companies, and 1 support company.”
I rattled off the organization of the mountain division that I had studied beforehand. Yosef had also spent nearly a year there, so he obviously knew this.
“When you first conceived of the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion, didn't you get the idea from there?”
“That's right. I first planned to focus on training combat companies, leaving the 2 reserve companies, which are of lower importance, for later.”
“That's where the problem lies. How important a role do you think the reserve units play? Besides, the support company's organization is also strange. A support company isn't just the staff headquarters.”
The name 'Reserve' might seem incredibly low in importance at a glance. Reserve numbers, reserve army, reserve personnel, etc. It gives off a strong feeling of being held in reserve just in case something happens.
But on the battlefield, it's not like that.
On the battlefield, the reserve unit is one of the most effective organizations for minimizing a unit's losses, and it's a crucial organization that determines the victory or defeat of a battle.
Since when has a war ever gone according to plan? Both historically and from my own experience, a unit classified as a reserve has never once been left out of the actual fighting in the history of warfare.
“Just last time at Riemansk, if we had a reserve unit, we wouldn't have had to pull in the 3rd Battalion.”
“That's... true.”
“Besides, we're a unit tasked with conducting a special operation called an 'Assault,' aren't we? We're performing a mission completely different from the mountain division of the Free Democratic Republic of Prussia, and we're a unit created for an operation that has never existed before.”
I kept pressing him. With every word I spoke, Major Yosef's arm began to move rapidly.
His eyes were fixed on me, and his hand was moving like crazy... It was such a bizarre scene that anyone who didn't know the circumstances would have been startled and run away.
“The 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion must be reorganized into the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Combat Group, not a magic infantry battalion.”
Yosef's hand, which had been scribbling furiously, stopped abruptly.
“Combat Group...?”
“It's a concept that doesn't exist in the Ukrainian military, or even in other nations' militaries, but since we're already the world's first to operate an assault unit, it's not so strange, is it?”
When I was still with the Intelligence Directorate, I once had a conversation with a deployed American officer about organization.
The U.S. military, deployed all over the world, is based on the “Brigade Combat Team (BCT),” which maximizes mobility and versatility rather than dispatching large-scale forces.
It was the result of compactly scaling down operations at the division level to be manageable at the brigade level.
It was a U.S. style of military organization that formed one brigade with 3 combat battalions and one each of reconnaissance, artillery, engineer, and support battalions to allow for flexible responses to any situation.
I was planning to bring that here now.
If you consider the game's setting is from the late 19th to the 20th century... It's a structure that's a century ahead, but still.
It would be quite effective until the all-out, total war breaks out in five years.
A unit with both mobility and versatility is such a cheat key.
“Tell me more about this Combat Group.”
The pupils of Major Yosef's eyes shimmered. I had thrown the bait, and the major had bitten it hard.
After that, the discussion between Chief of Staff Yosef and I continued.
The sun was still high in the sky just a moment ago... By the time I finally left the staff headquarters, a pitch-black darkness had already settled over the unit.
Even after talking so much, I still had a lot to do.
Soni Chepelin had received a promise of maximum autonomy from Duke Orlando Ruse III.
I was going to use this authority to its fullest to completely remake the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion.
The opportunity had come sooner than I expected.
But that doesn't mean I can afford to be leisurely about it.
I took a cigarette from my pocket and looked up at the night sky where the Milky Way was pouring down.
Damn, it's so beautiful.
“Did everyone sleep well?”
A few days after I first shared the concept of the 'Battalion Combat Group' with Major Yosef.
I was able to receive a piece of mail that had been sent from the Petrovna Palace in the capital, Kyiv.
[His Highness, Duke Orlando Ruse III, has recognized Captain Enok Levandel, Acting Battalion Commander of the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion, with full authority over personnel administration, training, and unit organization.]
[However, it is not permitted to organize them under a formal rank. You must be fully aware that while local appointments will be made, they will not be reported to the Personnel Command.]
In short,
Sincerely, at this point, there was nothing bad about this.
In fact, considering that the internal factions within the Ukrainian military are far more threatening than the Sovye Empire right now, there's no need to publicly advertise things like a battalion combat group or local appointments.
Anyway, I had received the official permission from the sovereign, the sky-like national commander, and the supreme ruler of the Duchy.
I immediately assembled all the battalion members.
“Unit, attention—!”
Chuk, chuk.
“Acting Battalion Commander~ Salute!”
“Glory to the Fatherland!!”
The more than one hundred personnel lined up on the review stand returned the salute in perfect unison. Their thunderous voices echoed across the entire battalion grounds.
“Glory. Unit, at ease.”
“Unit, at ease!”
Ah, yes... This is what a commander should be.
Even if I'm just the acting one for now.
Seeing the entire unit looking at me with sparkling eyes, waiting for my next words, the goals I had failed to achieve in my past life came bubbling up to the surface.
I finally get to play battalion commander, a role I could never have dreamed of, no matter what crazy things I did.
I savored the emotion for a moment, then quickly got a hold of myself.
I cleared my throat and unfolded the speech I had prepared.
“Did everyone sleep well? Before we begin, let us honor our comrades who sacrificed themselves and burned their all away in the last battle.”
A solemn silence immediately fell over the review stand. Since they were unit members I had shared hardships with for over a month, a few of the soldiers who had been close to the fallen began to sniffle.
The six who had died had increased by two, making it eight. Soldiers Randle and Schmidt, who had been attacked by mutants.
Despite Bell Mayer's and the medics' efforts, the two had finally crossed the threshold of life.
As more and more soldiers grew agitated, and the tear stains on the dirt ground multiplied,
I spoke.
“However, one thing is certain: our 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion has seized a clear victory against that wicked Sovye Empire. We accomplished the first-ever raid on the Empire's mainland in Ukrainian history.”
The soldiers slowly began to lift their heads and look at me.
“Who did it? You did. We not only successfully completed the mission, but we also discovered the Empire's terrible underbelly there, and it has become a weapon to grip the Empire's throat by.”
“Your courage, which charged relentlessly at the enemy, your pride, which tried to take responsibility for every last comrade to the very end.”
“Those noble and honorable actions have reached the distant capital. The personnel I am about to call forward, please come to the podium.”
I called their names in order.
“Tchaikovsky, Rick Hanson, David Song, Brian Taylor, Robert Haley...”
They were all soldiers. They seemed to have no idea why they were being called. I stepped down from the podium and approached them, looking utterly bewildered.
Then, I grabbed the hand of Sergeant Tchaikovsky, who was standing at the very front, and shook it.
“Congratulations, Sergeant Tchaikovsky.”
Not only did I call him a sergeant, but I also took the rank insignia from my pocket and pinned them to both of his shoulders.
Only then did the soldiers' faces slowly fill with shock.
The first step in reorganizing the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion into a Combat Group.
Today, thirty soldiers were unofficially promoted to non-commissioned officers.
A much larger number of personnel received unofficial promotions.
And also, Ukraine's first 'Officer Candidate' was born.