"If you want to win this battle, it is not difficult to say, it is not easy to say, I think the key is how to limit the 'iron cavalry' of the Norman army."

Next to the sand table, Weiss calmly spoke. In the final weeks of the Delafig High Staff Academy, the battle of the Marorgos-Sercilo Line was the hottest tactical topic. In order to allow the students to conduct targeted deduction and analysis, the academy asked for first-hand data from the General Staff and organized the production of 6 sets of sand table wargames, which were basically in a state of being used from morning to night. As for how the federal army in a defensive posture could make the most of its strengths and avoid its weaknesses and thwart the Norman army's attack, the instructors and students summed up no less than ten routines.

There was no need to hide it when it was time to act, and then Weiss listed the three defenses he felt were the easiest and most feasible in as clear a coherent manner, fluent language, and vivid expression as possible. After he finished explaining, he looked at the officers of the division headquarters, all of whom were still chasing his train of thought.

Wei Sike did not get carried away because of this, and he said in a timely manner that although he was good at tactical strategy in theory, his actual combat experience was far from that of his predecessors, and his understanding of the battlefield was still very shallow, and he needed to learn more from everyone in the future.

The newcomer has the ability and attitude, and Major General De Luca seems to be more satisfied with this. He told Weiss that he started as an ordinary soldier, and experienced dozens of battles in the last war, during which he was wounded four times, and after the war, he entered the military academy twice for further study, from company commander and battalion commander to regiment commander and division commander, down-to-earth, conscientious, and felt good about himself before, but when he fought with the Normans again, he suddenly found that his vision and thinking had been unconsciously thrown behind by the times. When he learned that his superiors intended to appoint him as the commander of the new defense division, he was worried that he would not be able to do the job, so he took the initiative to apply for a short training at the Delefig Senior Staff College. Every officer in the divisional headquarters, from the chief of staff to the general staff, was asked by his superiors after careful consideration: the chief of staff, Colonel Butich, with whom he had worked for nearly ten years, seemed to him to be a perfect combination of wisdom and courage, a model who could keep a cool head at all times; Major Sacanio, the quartermaster, was his old subordinate, not only diligent and dedicated, but also a mathematical genius with very strong organizational and coordination skills; Captain Hartbauer, an intelligence staff officer, was an outstanding graduate of the Batton Military Academy and a well-known rising star of the 3rd Garrison District......

After introducing this circle, Weiss suddenly found that these seemingly ordinary officers around him all had outstanding points. For a fledgling novice like himself, being able to be in the company of a strong man can be said to be a good thing that cannot be desired.

In the next two days, Weiss met the main officers of each battalion one by one, and judging from the contact situation, the adage that there are no weak soldiers under the strong general is highly consistent with the situation of the 11th National Defense Division. The fly in the ointment is that the time for this unit to assemble and train is relatively short, and the running-in between the officers and men is not sufficient; even if the officers show the ability to be admired by the soldiers during the training exercises, it will be difficult to win the trust of the soldiers for a while and a half -- this trust is directly related to the tenacity of a unit on the battlefield and its ability to resist setbacks in the face of adversity. This is undoubtedly very important for the current federal army.

On the fourth day of Weiss's report, the 11th Defense Division received an order to evacuate, and the officers and men boarded the train overnight, but they did not know the exact destination of the trip until the train started.

The unknown makes people curious and apprehensive. That night, except for arranging for rotation on duty, Major General De Luca did not give any instructions to the divisional officers, nor did he talk to them. The officers rarely talked to each other, and they tried to recharge their batteries, but few of them were able to sleep peacefully.

At dawn, the train stopped at a small station called Fort Hagen to replenish water, and the officers and men were able to move a little on the rudimentary platform, and Major General De Luca and Lieutenant Gosen, the communications staff, went to the station duty room. After a while, the two of them came back from the duty room, their faces looking quite solemn.

Walking among the officers, De Luca suppressed his voice and said, "Guys, I have very bad news, Bellakaser Fortress...... It was captured by the Norman army last night. ”

Hearing this, Weiss suddenly chuckled in his heart: Fortress Belakaser was lost, what happened to the 1st Defense Division stationed there? What happened to the old headmaster, Van Luo? What happened to those former classmates who survived the border battle?

The officers looked at each other, not knowing what to say. De Luca continued, "The other four fortresses of the Monamolin Line are still in our possession, so the superior ordered us to work with our allies to retake the fortress of Belakase. ”

"Synergy?" The Chief of Staff, Colonel Butich, was the first to ask.

"Yes, synergy." De Luca was the first to confirm his concern, "but it is not yet known which unit will be the main attacker." ”

The chief of staff raised his hand and looked at his watch: "This is still 744 miles away from the Monamolin Mountains, if the trip goes well, we will arrive at the starting position of the attack at noon, and in the afternoon we can follow the friendly forces into battle, maybe we can take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold, quickly recapture the fortress, or we may fall into a bitter battle." In fact, in the current state of the 11th Defense Division, it is clearly more suitable for defense than for active offense! ”

"Of course, they are well aware of this, and the task assigned to us was to garrison near the town of Nathan, east of the fortress of Belakase, and wait for an opportunity to reinforce the fortress, but now the situation leaves them with no choice but to grit their teeth and let us go." Major General De Luca whispered as he watched left and right. In the absence of combat alert, many soldiers left the carriages and gathered on the platform in groups to chat. Looking at their demeanor and demeanor, they obviously didn't know that the battle situation ahead had suddenly deteriorated.

Colonel Butich took a deep breath and said nothing, and Major General De Luca frowned and remained silent. At this time, Weiss cautiously asked, "This time they don't plan to use a transport ship to transport our soldiers along with equipment?" ”

The fortress of Belakaser is located in a pass in the northern part of the Monamolin Mountains, at an altitude of more than 6,800 feet. The reason why the Norman army has been unable to attack repeatedly before is because it has failed to seize air supremacy on the battlefield, and has failed to succeed in several strong attacks using flying ships. Now the offensive and defensive forms are reversed, although there are only seventy or eighty miles from Nathan Town to Bellakaser Fortress, but most of them are uphill sections, and only four or five freight cars can be driven up by using double locomotives, and ordinary cars don't have to think about it. If we rely on people to carry horses and horses to transport equipment and materials, the combat efficiency can be imagined.

De Luca looked at Weiss and replied calmly: "The specific deployment will not be known until we arrive at the new assembly area, I hope the situation will not be too bad." ”

Weiss had nothing to say other than "I hope so."

Fill up with water and the train continues westbound. During the troop movement, hot meals and hot meals could not be counted on, and the officers and men could only use kerosene stoves to make tea and fill their stomachs with field rations.

Near the front line, there was also congestion in rail transport. While waiting for the line to be dispatched, several trains carrying the wounded passed in opposite directions, looking at the wounded who were dying and lying side by side, and at the wounded who were wrapped in bandages and looked blank, and the ensuing oppressive atmosphere made it difficult for people to breathe......

Just after noon, the train stops at a makeshift station that doesn't even have a name, from which you can see not only the snow-capped mountains of the Monamolin Mountains and the smoke rising in the distance, but also the faint sound of rumbling cannons. A herald arrived on horseback and handed a written order to De Luca. Without any hesitation, the general ordered his troops to assemble on the spot and prepare to rush to the front on foot.

The division had more than 15,000 officers and men, plus weapons and equipment, and combat baggage, and four trains were used. In view of the fact that it was still nearly 20 miles away from the town of Nathan and that it would take 3-4 hours on foot to get to the starting position of the attack, Colonel Butage suggested that the infantry should be regimental units and auxiliary combat units should be battalions as units, and that all the soldiers and equipment should be drawn one by one when the equipment was expired. The equipment and materials were handed over to the baggage troops to follow up.

Since there is an order from the superior, and there are no obvious errors or loopholes, it is necessary to implement it directly. To Weiss's surprise, Colonel Butich argued with the Major's staff officer, who was much younger than him, and made some concessions to his understanding and application of the command's orders—agreeing that the infantry regiments would only be drawn after the soldiers were fully assembled, rather than rushing to the designated area as battalions and companies.

Half an hour later, the 931st Regiment arrived, and more than 2,600 officers and soldiers were assembled on the spot, lined up in a neat queue, and marched forward amid loud slogans. De Luca rode to the junction and saw off the troops who were the first to go to the front, while Weiss and others, under the leadership of Colonel Butich, used the operational maps and battlefield data brought by the major staff officer to determine the marching route and deployment position of the troops, so as to avoid the poor situation of lack of equipment and disorder when the troops received the battle order.

Colonel Butich's shrewdness and quickness taught Weiss, who was above the novice and not yet an old bird, a good lesson.

After nearly an hour of waiting, the 932nd Regiment was fully manned, and the army carried the assigned field guns and rapid-fire guns. Although this would slow them down the march, Colonel Butich insisted on it, and De Luca supported it, causing the major staff officer sent by the Western Front command to complain uselessly.

Shortly after the departure of the 932nd Regiment, a field telephone line was connected to the communications directly under the division headquarters. The major staff officer who was in charge of the task of liaison on the battlefield immediately talked to the command of the Western Front on the phone, and then his face became very strange. I saw that he first looked at the mountains to the west, and then turned to look at De Luca: "The Normans actually forcibly landed one of their Wallegg-class battleships on the ruins of the fortress of Bela Casser, and they actually used it as a fixed battery!" ”

Hearing this, De Luca's eyes widened, Colonel Butage lowered his head and fell into deep thought, and Weiss also wondered: where did the Normans sing this? Could it be that their artificial star source stone technology has made a breakthrough to the point where the value of the battleship has been reduced to the point where it can be thrown on the ground? Or, in their opinion, the strategic weight of capturing and holding the fortress of Belakaser was completely worth sacrificing a battleship?