Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 80 Promotion and Recruitment

On the very day that Mackensen met with Morin, his promotion appointment was officially issued to the 16th Brigade, along with other orders from the division headquarters.

【兹任命：陆军少尉弗里德里希·莫林，晋升为陆军中尉，并调任帝国陆军第4军-第8步兵师-第16步兵旅-第32茨维考步兵团-第1营-第1连连长，此令！】

The good news is that, as the first company in the sequence, it is traditionally the main force company of the battalion, and its equipment and personnel replenishment will be given priority.

The bad news is that the main force companies often mean they are responsible for the first wave of attacks, and their casualties are usually the heaviest.
On the same day, the rest of the 8th Infantry Division, along with a large number of reserve soldiers to be supplied to the 16th Brigade, arrived one after another on multiple military trains.

The entire camp instantly became lively, filled with new faces and noisy voices, and Morin's 1st Company also received a large number of reinforcements.

According to the officer in charge of the handover, the training level of these reserve soldiers was fine, and they passed the assessments for drills and shooting.

Many soldiers even received 'shooting ornaments', which signified excellent shooting skills.

The only downside is that I've never seen a battlefield with bullets flying everywhere, nor have I ever seen blood.
Of the four company commanders of the 1st Battalion of the 32nd Tswickau Infantry Regiment, three, including Captain Hauser, were killed in previous battles.

Besides Morin being promoted to company commander of the 1st Company, the remaining two vacant company commander positions were filled by recruits from several reserve battalions of the 8th Infantry Division that were training new recruits domestically.

There were also platoon leaders with extremely high casualty rates, who were transferred from the reserve battalion, and the three second lieutenant platoon leaders assigned to Morin's command.
That happened to be his classmate at the Central Military Academy.

Unlike Morin, who was sent directly to the front lines by General Mackensen after graduation, these three second lieutenants, who were assigned to the 8th Infantry Division, all went to reserve battalions in the country.

While training new recruits, it is also a 'newbie training hurdle' for them.

At first, they were complacent about being assigned to a platoon leader position under a main force battalion, feeling that this was a recognition of their abilities by their superiors.

This optimism lasted until they finished their report, after which Major Thomas sent someone to lead them to Morin, and then it vanished without a trace.

"Lieutenant Morin, these are the three platoon leaders assigned to the 1st Company."

The messenger leading the way saluted Morin with a respectful expression.

Besides his military achievements, Morin was also known in the 1st Battalion for being easy to get along with, treating officers and soldiers alike equally.

This also made him very popular in the 1st Battalion.

Therefore, when these messengers in the battalion saw Morin in a non-combat situation, they all felt like they were meeting an idol.

Morin nodded to the other party, and the messenger led the man away from the 1st Company's post, leaving the three newly promoted second lieutenant platoon leaders bewildered in the wind.

The three of them were stunned when they saw Morin's familiar face; none of them had expected to see Morin again under such circumstances.

Aren't we all classmates?
How come you became our superior less than a month after we left military school together?
They just couldn't understand how that playboy, who was seen by his military academy classmates as someone who only chased after women and was a good-for-nothing, could become so fierce on the battlefield.
However, upon seeing the sergeant behind Morin, who was radiating a certain murderous aura, the three immediately reacted, stood at attention, and saluted Morin.

"Sir, Second Lieutenant Kahn (Barak, Ram) reporting for duty!"

"The First Company welcomes you. Now is the time when we need you."

Morin returned their greetings, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then had Klaus summon the company's key personnel to 'recognize faces'.

Finally, three platoons of sergeants led their new platoon leader back—just as Captain Hauser had done.

Currently, the 1st Company under Morin's command, apart from the three transferred platoon leaders, consists of non-commissioned officers of all ranks who are veterans who fought their way through the street battles of Seville.

These veterans who followed Morin out of the hell of street fighting also received promotions in rank and position.

Former platoon sergeant Klaus is now a company sergeant major, while Bowman and other non-commissioned officers under each platoon have become platoon sergeants in three platoons.

At the same time, many brave soldiers were promoted to sergeants and replaced Bowman and his men in their previous positions.
After receiving three "old classmates," Maureen was initially worried that they might not get along with veterans like Klaus and Bowman.

But as it turned out, he was worrying unnecessarily.

A raw recruit who has never been on a real battlefield, regardless of whether you are an officer or a nobleman.
In terms of presence, they were completely incomparable to these veterans who had crawled out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in Seville.

When his old classmates saw that even the soldiers in the company clerk, the field kitchen, and the supply corps seemed to be covered in 'blood,' they all became as docile as kittens, not daring to breathe loudly.

They obeyed whatever Morin said, carrying out orders with remarkable efficiency. As for the reserve soldiers supplied to the 1st Company, although they were all inexperienced recruits, Morin believed that recruits also had their advantages.

They haven't been training for very long, so their combat mindset and training methods haven't been solidified yet, making it easier for Morin to train and discipline them according to his own ideas.

Before the next battle, Morin hoped his company could at least be a little more agile.

He didn't want to see these young soldiers lining up to charge the enemy's machine gun positions.

Those veterans who had experienced urban warfare became Morin's most capable assistants in promoting the new training model.

Sergeant Major Klaus, along with the platoon sergeants and officers, would carry out every single one of Morin's orders without any deviation.

Soon, the replacements in the 1st Company discovered that they were beginning to receive a training method that was completely different from that in the rear.

Because the Saxon Army has always emphasized discipline and formation training, the soldiers in these reserve battalions have been training in formation according to the 1906 edition of the Infantry Training Manual.

This is a training manual from 8 years ago.

This version of formation training is, in fact, no different from the "Articles of 1812" and "Articles of 1847".
In the reserve battalion's daily training, most of the time is spent on these visually pleasing, dense formation changes, synchronized marches, and turns.
And how to conduct precise volley fire and launch an attack according to the commander's drumbeats and flag signals.

However, Morin drastically reduced these traditional training contents, retaining only basic formation training to maintain organization and discipline.

Then, those dense formation changes that were impossible to perform in the face of enemy fire were eliminated.
Besides the regular basic drills, shooting, and bayonet training, the soldiers of the 1st Company train their physical fitness the most, especially during long-distance marches in full gear.

In the traditional Saxon Empire army, physical training actually accounted for a significant portion of the training, and full-equipment field exercises were not uncommon.

The main purpose of these training exercises is to ensure the basic marching speed and field mobility of the troops.

However, in addition to basic physical training, the 1st Company also conducts a large amount of more intense and realistic tactical maneuver training.

In particular, tactical maneuvers such as short-distance sprints, lying down, and crawling forward are performed in small teams (two squads) or platoons.

These movements, etched into Morin's mind, were broken down step by step by him. He then had two clerks draw out the breakdown diagrams based on his movements, which were then copied and given to the sergeants in charge of company training.

In his view, the basic military skills of Saxon soldiers, especially their rifle shooting accuracy, were top-notch throughout Europe and could even be promoted as a model.

However, their combat doctrine and formations are still completely stuck in the 'previous version'.

That kind of attack method—marching towards the enemy's machine gun positions in dense formations, beating drums—would be a highly efficient form of suicide in future battles.

Since the Crown Prince wants to implement reforms, he will start with his own company and try to make some changes.

Morin instructed the company to operate in platoons as the basic unit during combat. The three platoons no longer clustered together as before, but instead maintained a certain distance from each other to coordinate their actions.

Within each platoon, they repeatedly practiced team coordination and alternating cover.

He ordered his soldiers to abandon the pursuit of uniformity during the charge and instead make use of all available terrain features to engage and eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible.

This kind of training places extremely high demands on the soldiers' physical fitness.

Often, a single training session involves a continuous series of 50-meter, 100-meter, or even longer full-gear sprints.

The daily intensity was designed to completely drain the last bit of strength from the soldiers' bodies.

On the training field, the sergeants of all ranks in the company shouted commands at the top of their lungs, repeating tactical maneuvers over and over again.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! You guys are running slower than my grandmother!"

"Lie down! All of you, put your butts on the ground! Are you trying to get shot in two by a machine gun on the battlefield with your butts sticking up like that?"

"3rd Platoon! Where is your fire support? Why are you still maneuvering when the attacking force has already charged forward?"

(End of this chapter)