261 – Driving a Pile into the Enemy Country (2)
And two weeks later, Gdnia Castle, coastal area west of Warsaw.
After giving orders to disperse our expeditionary force into divisions and take over the western coastal area on the Glopino Plain, I led one of the divisions and headed toward Gdenia Castle.
As I expected, there were no soldiers inside the castle wearing proper armor, let alone soldiers wearing worn-out armor.
To be honest, since the soldiers who were protecting the city were gone, a vigilante-like organization was roughly guarding the walls instead.
As soon as I surrendered and told them to open the castle gates, the influential people of the castle leading those who remained in the castle of Gdenia immediately expressed their intention to surrender.
Although there were some differences in the process of the divisions dispatched to other western coastal areas, reports were made that the gates were all opened without resistance.
But a sigh came out of my mouth.
“Captain, are you unwell? “Your face looks a little off.”
I responded by waving my hand.
“No, Vincent. “If I wasn’t feeling well, would your sister next to me have stayed still?”
As I just said, there is nothing wrong with my body.
It’s just that the atrocities committed by the damned Grand Duchy of Warsaw’s army when they were vacating the castle are so outrageous that it makes me feel irritated and sigh.
If you read my thoughts, those bastards who took all the nobles of Warsaw and ran away without leaving a single soldier in this castle will say this.
‘This is a clear-field tactic, you Peter Jaeger! If you feel unfair, don’t occupy other people’s land!’
The cowardly bastards confiscated almost all of the people’s food until next year’s harvest and ran away.
Strategically and tactically, that is correct, but I thought that if the Archduke of Warsaw intended to engage in politics in the future, he would not go to this extent to maintain his image…
“I’m glad you don’t have any major problems with your body. As you probably know, please keep in mind that your body is not yours alone. “I would like to earnestly ask the captain, who is an officer in the secretariat of the expeditionary force commander and personally my brother-in-law.”
Charlotte nodded her head in agreement with Vincent’s words.
As far as I know, it is a tradition that has been handed down since the Paleolithic era for younger brothers and older sisters to bicker with each other, but why on earth do they get along so well in this family…
After lightening the mood through small talk, I asked Vincent.
“I asked you to come and see the situation in Gdnia Castle as an imperial soldier. What is the public sentiment toward the imperial army?”
“I don’t feel very good about the imperial army because the captain plundered the western coastal area and burned villages last time. “It is said that in the back alleys, there were often people trying to form groups to chase out the Reich troops.”
“What if we beat or kill citizens and serfs who show resistance to us for no reason because the public sentiment is evil? “According to the unit’s own inspection, it was reported that there were no crazy people disobeying my orders because I had threatened to apply military discipline so strictly.”
“It seems that those who do not comply with legitimate control are threatened with a sword, or those who are too rebellious are struck several times with a stick. However, seeing as crazy things like pulling out a sword and killing the natives of this castle, raping, and plundering are not even heard of in the back alley rumors…”
“It seems like everyone is following the controls well.”
When I entered the castle of Denia, the first thing I instructed the soldiers under his command was not to use unnecessary violence.
I even warned that if excessive suppression is discovered, I will personally punish them according to military law.
This order naturally applied to other divisions under my command that maintained security in other cities.
In this world where there is no medieval manly culture and no human rights for prisoners, it is a strange world where you are praised by the bards for being truly good if you do not rape or kill the residents of the occupied territory and steal half of their wealth.
Perhaps I, who banned the abuse and murder of civilians in accordance with the Geneva Conventions in accordance with the standards of the 21st century, may be seen as a foolish idiot.
In a situation where people’s sentiments are not good due to the plundering of coastal villages, if bloodshed is caused for no reason, something like a mass uprising by the residents could occur. That is why this measure was taken.
Seeing as the soldiers are following my orders well, I guess we won’t have to see one of the western coastal cities suddenly set on fire by the rebels.
I gave Vincent 2 silver in return for his hard work and said,
“You worked hard, you worked on holidays, so this is the holiday work pay I give you. And tomorrow, I will be away from work for a day under my authority, so if you don’t have anything special to do, you can rest comfortably.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Ah, on your way, please visit the division military police commander and tell him. I understand there is a personnel evaluation at the end of this year, and if you want to get promoted, you shouldn’t make any mistakes here. Instead, tell them that if they maintain good discipline among their soldiers until the peace negotiations, they will be guaranteed a reward and a promotion to the first rank.”
The discipline management referred to here has the meaning of preventing soldiers from causing accidents as much as possible, but it has a stronger meaning of ensuring that those who cause accidents are caught and severely punished.
Soldiers with an excited atmosphere of victory, average education in the lower grades of elementary school, and no concept of human rights are highly likely to cause problems in the occupied territories.
The problem is not simply a matter of stealing food from people selling in the market, but it is very likely to be violent crimes such as rape, murder, and looting.
It would be nice to be able to stop everything in advance, but if you find the person who committed the crime and execute him in front of everyone, you can prevent the anger of those who committed the crime from boiling over and exploding.
In addition, trust in the Reich Imperial Army was built to some extent.
Vincent, who had received the order, quickly disappeared, and I carefully opened the letter from Minister of Military Affairs Kaitel that Vincent had left behind.
From noble mtl dot com
Actually, there is no problem if you break it down a little, but this is the response that 2 million people living in the West Coast received after begging for months of food enough to not starve to death.
I thought that no matter how great Kaiemon was, there was a great deal of anger hidden inside him.
Personally, I am more scared and nervous now than when I was standing on an unfavorable battlefield.
[Dear Count Peter von Jaeger, I am reading your report from Warsaw. You also performed beyond imagination in Warsaw. He is very proud to have served as his second-in-command in the Stockholm Expeditionary Force. After all, it is a performance worthy of a great general who is called the treasure of the empire.]
…… A nobleman would send such pretty words every year, even in his New Year’s letter full of pretense and pretense, which rarely includes flowery language?
This is 100% foreshadowing that a sentence filled with great anger will follow.
Reading the next sentence makes me drool because I am so scared and nervous.
[You requested supply support for the national interest of the empire. To me, who believes that the true attitude of a Minister of Military Affairs is to listen as one should. You’re not the kind of person to ask for support you absolutely don’t need, are you? So, as soon as I received this letter, I delivered it to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty said this. ‘Captain Jaeger requested food support to feed 300,000 people for a year. Just add half more. In times like this, the more support materials there are, the better.’]
I requested food for 300,000 people, including supplies that would be lost during transportation, but one year’s worth of food for 450,000 people…
I am very grateful for His Majesty’s grace, but I feel like I will pretend to be because I feel burdened.
[But since I know your personality, I adjusted it accordingly and lowered it to around 350,000. And in order to prepare the supplies, I had a long argument with the Minister of Finance of the Empire, and then I went to the Chief of Staff, sat down in the logistics department, and did the paperwork myself. I used to cut piles in Stockholm, and I was so impressed by how hard the soldiers worked that I’m doing it again this time.]
Other details include that a year’s supply of food for 10,000 people will be transported by sea each month, and a year’s worth of food for 3,000 people will be transported by land, so food for 13,000 people will be transported per month. This was written:
There is also a story that all the staff members in charge of logistics in the General Staff Department are unable to leave work because they are squeezing out transportation capacity.
I am truly nervous to return after victory and meet Captain Keitel.
To the point where skin is already growing on my body.
Charlotte looked at me with concern as I was very nervous, and then I heard a sound outside the door.
“Influential people from the western coastal region came to visit. “Can I let you into the office?”
“No, let’s take you to the banquet room.”
If I don’t achieve the maximum results here, how much will I be robbed by His Excellency Kaiemon?