224 – Siege of the Royal Capital of Oslo (1)
Reich Imperial Army Command Headquarters Barracks.
“A toast to the Stockholm idiots and Warsaw barbarians who died with their heads broken!”
“Corporal, if you drink so quickly, you will be in big trouble. “Take a bite of the meat here first.”
“Long live the Baumann Platoon!”
Outside the barracks, junior officers and soldiers are eating and drinking as much as they want, celebrating victory in the war.
However, instead of eating and drinking, we in the barracks had to work without resting according to Captain Keitel’s orders, even though we had won the war.
Desperate victory in the war and complete defeat of the enemy, earnest attention was focused on me, the second-in-command, asking for relief from this terrible situation where one could not play.
The captain spoke in a cool voice to all the officers gathered at the table.
“We won the war, but now there is so much to do. In this situation, decisions must be made as quickly as possible. “Isn’t that right?”
There was not a single mistake in what Captain Keitel said.
Because the instructions were strictly based on principles, if you protest against those words, you will receive a lengthy rebuttal full of logic and rationality.
As a mere second-in-command, I did not dare to say to him, ‘Can you please give me a break for today?’
“Furthermore, I did not convene like this because I did not want to give the victors a break. I also want to rest. However, I am doing this because as the commander of the empire, I have to decide on a future policy and move forward. So, everyone, just do what you have to do and rest in peace.”
Of course, if you are in a situation where you have not finished everything you have to do, you should rest after you have finished everything you have to do.
If you don’t do that, you don’t know what kind of repercussions will come back later.
“You guys know it well. “I, Gernhard von Keitel, will not touch you as long as you do everything you need to do and rest.”
Generally, people who say things like this often say things even if they are resting after completing all the work they really have to do.
When Captain Kaitel takes a break after finishing all his work, he encourages him to rest more by buying him beer or meat.
In other words, no matter what we did, we could not secure a justification for escaping from the ‘task’ created and presented by this person…
“Now, let’s finish our work and run to rest. First, let’s discuss what our future strategy should be. Under normal circumstances, we would have to enter into end-of-war negotiations here… But before that, what do you guys think? Anyone who is in favor of entering into negotiations for the end of the war as is, please raise your hand.”
At those words, most of the officers except me raised their hands.
“This is Major General Battenburg, commander of the 23rd Division. Although the imperial army has now achieved a great victory, it is believed that further supply support will be difficult. So shouldn’t we pretend to be generous to the enemy and enter into negotiations?”
“You don’t have to worry about supplies, Major General. With this victory, our expeditionary force succeeded in securing a safe supply route, and it is possible to carry out operations for more than half a year just with the supplies sent from port cities in the north and northeastern regions of the empire.”
“Then, sir, are you thinking about an additional offensive?”
“If it had been a decent victory, I would have just wanted to go back. However, Vice Admiral Jaeger’s performance exceeded my expectations. I’m a little greedy. And isn’t the Kingdom of Sweden currently attacking the northern part of the Kingdom of Stockholm? In times like this, if the armies of both countries join forces…”
The captain didn’t say anything, but everyone here must have thought this.
‘If the South and North cooperate to attack, the Stockholm Kingdom Army will be unable to respond. Therefore, compared to usual times, we will be able to occupy greater territory and interests with less effort.’
And I completely agree with this opinion.
No, after achieving a great victory in this war, I thought that if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it with great enthusiasm.
If someone asks how hard you plan to go, it’s like people who have a fool come down and empty their salary account.
“Captain, if we go further, how much supply support can you provide? Also, please let me know how much support you can provide.”
“Before that, tell me where you want to go.”
“I plan to go to Oslo, the capital of the Kingdom of Stockholm.”
At those words, the officers’ surprised gaze all focused on me, and Captain Keitel looked at me in extreme shock, as if he hadn’t even thought of this.
But instead of asking what kind of medicine I had taken to give me such a crazy idea, the captain answered my question seriously.
“It’s about 200km from here, so if we march, it will take about 15 days. If we expand the supply route, there won’t be any problems. There are several ports near Oslo that are good for holding ships. If you secure it properly, you could stay for a year or two. “In theory, yes.”
At this level, the supply problem, which was considered the biggest limitation to carrying out the operation I had envisioned, was completely resolved.
“As the deputy commander of this expeditionary force, I make a formal recommendation. Siege the royal city of Oslo and threaten the King of Stockholm. “Why not conduct post-war negotiations with such a strategic advantage, or even an overwhelming advantage?”
“I think it’s quite possible in the current situation. “There’s something stopping me, do you know what it is?”
“Are you concerned about reinforcements coming from northern Stockholm or elsewhere?”
If a situation arises where the capital is attacked and not just other places are attacked, they will conscript as many soldiers as possible from all over the Kingdom of Stockholm and try to intercept us.
Because if I don’t do that, if the worst happens, the King, his family, and even the nobles will all be taken prisoner by me.
I would never have even dared to bring up such a suggestion.
“The Kingdom of Stockholm is currently fighting against two countries, Sweden and the Reich Empire, and the Kingdom of Stockholm is in a situation where it is gathering all the troops it has and somehow blocking both fronts.”
“Otherwise, it would have been impossible to conscript over 150,000 soldiers from the Kingdom of Stockholm, which has a smaller population than ours. As you said, they tried to stop us by gathering our souls.”
“In such a situation, it is difficult to gather additional soldiers, so it is impossible for them to mobilize more troops than us and engage in battle just because they have surrounded the royal capital. So the battle will lead to a siege.”
For your information, I have no intention of attacking the royal capital directly.
The reason for this is that the walls that protect the capital of any kingdom are really solid, so if we attack them carelessly, we will be the only ones left broken.
However, since it will take a really long time for reinforcements to arrive, it will be possible to at least bring endless fear to those trapped within the capital.
“We will directly surround the royal capital and attack the walls along the way with long-distance siege weapons such as arrows, magic, catapults, and ballistas. “The traitors under Ishtaven’s command among the captured prisoners will be cartwheeled according to the customs of the northerners.”
“The nobles trapped within the castle walls will be very scared.”
“After the siege is over, I will of course block information, and I plan to often mobilize prisoners from the Kingdom of Stockholm to reduce their morale.”
If the Stockholm prisoners could at least sing a song from their hometown for the poor people trapped in the capital who cannot go home because the capital is under siege, they would be so happy and shed tears.
In addition, when a castle is surrounded, food is controlled from the king above to the soldiers below, so they have no choice but to live a hungry life…
If there is no problem with supply, our soldiers can often drink some alcohol, rest, and eat grilled meat while avoiding the commander’s eyes.
Because, although it is really fun to eat and drink for the besieging allies, it will be a morale-lowering operation that will bring more stress and fear than you can imagine for the residents who have lived in a place that has been directly attacked only a handful of times in the history of the Kingdom of Stockholm. .
“I would like to start a civil unrest, but to do that, I would have to lay siege for about six months to a year. So, let’s not go to that extent and just instill fear of the Reich Empire in their hearts.”
When he said that, some of the officers present clapped loudly.
At that time, Captain Keitel asked as if pouring cold water on it.
“What if? “What happens if the plan you mentioned goes astray?”
In normal times, I would have denied it and provided evidence that there was no reason for it, but now I thought there was no need to do so.
Even if we were to lift the siege due to sudden support from the enemy, the mere fact that the imperial army had reached the royal capital had great political and strategic significance.
“The biggest meaning of this operation is to show the enemy that ‘you are cornered to the point where the royal capital is threatened.’ So just by moving more soldiers and showing the siege of the royal capital, we can say that we have achieved sufficient results.”
From noble mtl dot com
The operation I proposed was passed without a hitch, and Captain Keitel decided to take charge of rear support and command of the entire army as the commander-in-chief near the Osby Plain.
Then, I was entrusted with 85,000 troops and took on the role of besieging the royal capital, Oslo, as deputy commander.