Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 89: Rewarding Merit and Achievement, Everyone Gets Promoted Together
"Congratulations, Commander Lelouch! You've finally been promoted to colonel!"

"He has a very promising future. He was promoted to colonel at the age of 24. If the war continues, he will become a general in no time. He will definitely become the youngest non-royal general in the history of the empire!"

"Although you're not of royal lineage, you can't just call Lelouch 'Commander' anymore! Remember to add 'Fon' to your name! You slowpokes are so slow to react, and you still can't shake your bad habits."

The day after Lelouch was promoted to colonel, the main officers of each assault battalion knew about it.

Everyone was happy for Lelouch and came to him to offer their heartfelt congratulations. Lelouch naturally wanted to entertain them, so he booked the best remaining club in Dunkirk to ensure that all the officers who attended the banquet had a great time.

No one objected to his youth. Everyone took it for granted that Commander Lelouch deserved any promotion, no matter how high he was promoted.

With such a significant and genuine achievement, what's wrong with being promoted to colonel!
In fact, when Duke Rupprecht returned to Berlin and went to the General Staff to help Lelouch with his promotion, some civilian officers in the rear who were in charge of the evaluation work had some doubts after seeing Lelouch's resume. It wasn't that they doubted his merits, but rather that he was too young and had been promoted too quickly, having just been promoted not long ago.

"Wasn't this Lieutenant Colonel Lelouch only promoted to lieutenant colonel after assisting in the capture of Mount Kemer, the airborne takeover of the Dunkirk coastal fortress, and the sinking of several battleships in Dunkirk harbor? He's only been a lieutenant colonel for less than half a month, and now he's going to be promoted to colonel? There's never been such a precedent in the history of the Empire's officer management!"

When faced with questions from the reviewers, Duke Rupprecht personally defended Lelouch:

"He captured Marshal John French, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, alive!"

"Marshal, please don't misunderstand. We're not against his promotion—how about we let him accumulate merits and experience first, and then discuss it again in the future, at least a few months later?"

"He captured Marshal John French, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, alive!"

"...He's already at the school level; we can't let him be promoted twice in the same month in February. We should at least wait until the beginning of next month..."

"He captured Marshal John French, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, alive!"

"..."

The civilian staff reviewers in the General Staff had no choice but to submit their applications.

Well, they're not even willing to wait ten days.

But there was no other way, so it was approved and filed in the documents archived in February.

Who can blame them when their military achievements are truly impressive?

Anyone who disagrees, let him go and capture the army commander-in-chief of a major enemy country alive!

……

"Actually, that's how the promotion approval process works. I have to thank the Marshal for personally arguing on my behalf."

Lelouch, holding a glass of locally produced champagne, truthfully recounted to his brothers the inside story and anecdotes he knew about the promotion.

This wasn't something the Duke told him directly, but rather something relayed by the Duke's adjutant. It was clear he was a good adjutant, able to ensure that everything the leader did was known to the beneficiary, thus making the beneficiary feel indebted to the leader.

The other commando officers listened with rapt attention, while the most unruly Rommel, lacking any emotional intelligence, remarked:
"That's truly legendary... but it's not surprising, considering he became a colonel at such a young age. Those old guys in the staff who have been holding down office positions for years wouldn't understand."

Upon hearing this, Model, who was relatively more reserved, nudged him with his elbow, signaling him to be careful what he said. Rommel then remembered that Commander von Bock was also there; he was a colonel, and his uncle was the Chief of the General Staff. It was best not to speak carelessly about the people in the General Staff.

Rommel then pretended that he had just drunk too much, picked up half a glass of cognac and downed it in one gulp to cover up his embarrassment.

Von Bock didn't look at him or say anything, acting as if nothing had happened.

As the host, Lelouch naturally changed the subject upon seeing this. He stood up, refilled everyone's glasses, and invited them to raise a toast.
"It's all in the past. Anyway, everyone has a bright future now, so let's not bring up those things anymore. The commander values ​​me highly, and I know more about things than you do. Today, we're all on the same side, so I'm not afraid to speak my mind."

After two months of rest, the troops will be deployed to the eastern front. The Lusa people have already launched a new offensive against our ally, the Oreo Empire, in the Carpathian Mountains in the southern part of the eastern front. Everyone should use this time to handle personal matters and get back into shape; that's the most important thing.

His colleagues and subordinates also raised their glasses and clinked glasses with him one by one. Everyone consciously took turns clinking glasses according to their military rank, and no one cut in line.

Of those present, only Federer von Bock, William Keitel, and Lelouch are now at the same rank, having also been promoted to colonel.

However, considering that Lelouch's starting point was much lower than his, and that Bock's uncle was the Chief of Staff, it was clear to everyone that Lelouch would definitely surpass him within this year.

As for Keitel, he was already a major before joining last year, with a very impressive resume, having fought from Liège to Namur and then to the Marne. This time, he repeatedly distinguished himself, and finally earned considerable credit for commanding the railway guns against the Royal Navy fleet, thus being promoted to colonel.

It must be said that in the early stages, naval and air force officers find it easier to accumulate military merits than army officers, as long as they genuinely sink more warships and shoot down more aircraft, demonstrating good personal skills. However, at higher levels, personal skill becomes less important, and things become more even. In the future, if Keitel wants to be promoted to general, he will definitely take longer than the other two.

This small team now has three colonels. When they arrive at the Eastern Front, Lelouch can lead an airborne regiment, von Burke can lead a regimental unit responsible for ground attacks, and Keitel can lead an experimental artillery regiment. Lelouch can use his connections to help him coordinate some new and special artillery pieces, giving him priority in equipment.

With such a combined arms force, many things can be accomplished. Moreover, Lelouch also serves as the army group's operations staff officer, allowing him to coordinate with friendly forces, further expanding his operational capabilities.

Of the rest, Gerd Lundstätter, Erwin Rommel, and Wilhelm Loeb were all promoted to lieutenant colonel, and could serve as battalion commanders of reinforced battalions or deputy regimental commanders.

Moreover, the personnel configuration was also very clever: Rundstedt was an old-school infantry officer, Rommel was an officer skilled in new-style assault tactics, and Loeb was an artillery officer.

This just so happens that Rundstedt served as von Bock's deputy, Rommel served as Lelouch's deputy, and Loeb served as Keitel's deputy.

If Rundstedt and Loeb achieve further military success, they could lead their own armies. But Rommel and Llusch had no intention of letting them go.

Because Lelouch would definitely rise through the ranks faster than others, he believed that by the time Rommel was qualified to be a regimental commander, Lelouch might already be a division commander. This way, Rommel could always serve as Lelouch's deputy, helping to fill in any gaps in his tactical fundamentals. Lelouch was very self-aware; he knew that specialized tasks should be left to specialists. He hadn't formally attended military academy; in his previous life, he was just an amateur military enthusiast. Although he had read a lot, his practical experience was insufficient.

He excels at using his exceptionally forward-thinking strategic vision and precognition to accomplish great things. As for the detailed tactics of commanding troops, Rommel is still needed to fill in the gaps, so that outsiders won't discover Lelouch's weaknesses.

Below that, there are many more trusted officers at the major level.

Walter Model and William Lister, both later renowned promising talents, were already majors.

Even Barak, Andri, and others who worked with Lelouch in the cavalry reconnaissance company when he first transmigrated have been promoted to major.

Barak rose through the ranks from lieutenant during the "Run to the Sea" campaign, getting promoted one rank for each major battle. Captain Andri, on the other hand, was seriously wounded in the final stages of the "Run to the Sea" campaign, but was promoted to major for his meritorious service at the time, and only returned to his unit after more than a hundred days of recuperation.

There were many more captains below him, but only Edward Dieter is recorded in history. When he joined Lelouch's unit, he was just a second lieutenant, like Model. Later, during the initial battle of the assault battalion and the attack on Kerstenford, Dieter was more seriously wounded. He survived only because a bullet hit his helmet and ricocheted, and he had to recuperate for an extra month or two, thus missing several opportunities to earn merit.

Model has been promoted to major and battalion commander, but he can only be a captain and company commander.

Among the other old friends who are not recorded in history, many more have become captains. Several of Lelouch's old colleagues in the communications platoon on the first day of his time travel, such as Schweinsteiger and Klose, are now captains and company commanders.

These men lacked the ability to lead troops independently, so Lelouch kept them around. These old colleagues, having worked together for a long time, were highly efficient in their cooperation. Schweinsteiger continued to lead the communications unit, while Klose took charge of Lelouch's regimental headquarters guard company.

It's also worth mentioning a couple of unrelated things: Lelouch's old friend, Mark Immelmann of the air force, was also promoted to colonel after the battle. However, Immelmann could only be considered a friend, not a colleague or subordinate in the same system; they were in different branches of the military.

This was also a stroke of luck for Immelmann. The air force was previously a blank slate, and as a pioneer in fighter application tactics, he built the Empire's fighter force from scratch. He also shot down so many enemy aircraft, rising from captain to colonel in just a few months – a remarkable achievement.

When Lelouch was a captain, Immelmann was also a captain. He's the only friend who has managed to keep up with Lelouch's promotion speed to this day. But as I said before, in the navy and air force, it's easier to rise through the ranks of lower-ranking officers based on personal tactical and technical skills. Reaching the general level is a different story. His future potential is definitely not as good as Lelouch's.

In addition, Lelouch's superiors have all been promoted by at least one or even two ranks. All the participating troops deserve credit for such a great victory as the Battle of Ypres-Dunkirk.

Even the commander of an army group has been promoted to marshal, so it's naturally easier for the commanders of the corps and divisions who are in charge of the main attack to be promoted.

For example, Lelouch's former division commander, Duke Rupprecht's second younger brother, Major General Karl, has now been promoted to lieutenant general and serves as the commander of the 2nd Army of Baria.

Lelouch's original commander, Colonel Richard Lister, has now been promoted to Major General and has succeeded Karl as commander of the 12th Division of the Baria.

It can be said that the military strength, prestige, and influence of the entire Baria State were elevated to a new level due to the complete annihilation of the Britannian Expeditionary Force.

After all, the 6th Army Group did at least 70-80% of the work of annihilating the Expeditionary Force.

……

Everyone got promoted smoothly, so the celebratory atmosphere was naturally harmonious. Even if a few people were promoted at different times for various reasons, no one bothered to care.

After hearing the inside information revealed by Lelouch in advance, and learning that the next stage might be to go to the Eastern Front, the ambitious colleagues had already begun to plan how to defeat the enemy and make contributions after arriving in the East. The Eastern Front was so long, which section was the easiest to deal with?

Rommel couldn't help but ask, "I've heard that the Lussa have launched a new campaign in the southern section of the eastern front, launching a full-scale attack along the Carpathian border."

In particular, the Pelemeshli fortress, a vital choke point on the Carpathian mountain defense line, was besieged by the Russa people before the start of this battle, or even shortly after the outbreak of the war last year.

As of now, the Pelmešli fortress has been besieged for four months. If it eventually runs out of ammunition and supplies and surrenders, the hundreds of thousands of Austrian troops there will be wiped out, and the Lussars might even advance to Budapest—yet they've only given us two months to rest and regroup. Will we be able to make it in time?"

Lelouch: "Erwin, you can't be too greedy and try to save everyone. We just finished such a bloody battle, the troops are exhausted, and the troops are being transferred by train to the Eastern Front. They will also have to stay for a while when they return home, allowing the soldiers to go home in batches to visit their families and take leave. Two months is already giving the Oreo people a lot of face."

I believe that when our army group reaches the Eastern Front, we will be able to turn the tide. I don't know if the Pelmeshli fortress can be saved, but given the Lusa's slow pace, even if it has already fallen by the time we arrive, it doesn't matter. The Lusa's railway system is dilapidated, and the Carpathian Mountains lack transportation infrastructure; they won't have time to transport all the prisoners of war back to the rear.

Therefore, it would be best if the Pelemeshli fortress hadn't fallen when we arrived at the Eastern Front. Even if it had, we could simply rescue the Allied troops who had breached the fortress. I firmly believed that the Commander had this capability, and I also believed that our reorganized new troops had this fighting strength.

In contrast, we should now focus more on how to improve our troops' infiltration, airborne, and mountain warfare capabilities, using these two months to address our weaknesses and adapt to the environment of the Carpathian Campaign.

Everyone will soon be going their separate ways and on their own vacation, so Lelouch must take advantage of the time before everyone disperses to say these things, so that the other officers don't waste their time in the next two months.

Lelouch himself wouldn't waste time. Even if he didn't have military affairs to attend to, he still had many business and industrial matters to plan.

Everyone agreed after hearing this, and they all kept the matter in mind, planning to think about it when they had the chance.

Before the party ended, Lelouch gave Captain Dieter a meaningful look. Dieter had been a nobody tonight, but after being stared at by his superior, he suddenly felt he had to pull himself together and work hard.

Lelouch knew that Dieter would become a mountain warfare expert in the future; this officer, who started as a machine gun platoon leader, had an amazing talent for mountain warfare.

He was wounded during the Dunkirk campaign and missed part of the fighting, which slowed his promotion. When he arrived on the Eastern Front, there were high expectations for his performance so that he could catch up with his colleagues as soon as possible.

Moreover, Lelouch had another consideration in mind, which was inconvenient to say in this situation: the Oreo Empire was utterly corrupt, and it was impossible to expect them to withstand the enemies on the southeastern front. Only when the Oreo people were on the verge of collapse could the Demanian army step in to turn the tide and reap the greatest benefits, forcing allies to recognize the situation and hand over more battlefield control to the Demanian army in the future.

Otherwise, even if Lelouch had rushed to rescue them from the start and succeeded, he wouldn't have gained much gratitude. The more of those divisive forces within the alliance remained, the more complicated the future plans would become.

It would be better to take this opportunity to establish authority, strike when allies are in the most danger, and then use the post-war assessment to purge and eliminate those who are hindering us.

(End of this chapter)