The offensive exercise in the plan was essentially a test of the unit’s deployment and coordination capabilities.
So, with an order from the headquarters, the soldiers at the assembly area gathered again under the command of their battalion and company officers.
Then began the first subject—a ten-kilometer armed cross-country run.
Unlike the training back at the camp, the focus of this armed run was to reach the “Line of Departure,” which was about three kilometers from the “enemy” forward positions.
Upon arriving at this position, the soldiers of the instruction unit did not get a chance to rest. Instead, they deployed into combat formations by platoon.
Light machine gun teams quickly moved forward to seize favorable terrain and establish fire support points; submachine gunners and riflemen spread out behind them, forming a dispersed attack line.
“First Platoon, left flank! Second Platoon, right flank! Fire team, follow me! Los! Los! Los!“
A company commander roared loudly, waving his arms to direct his troops to approach the designated target.
Soldiers wearing field gray uniforms, fully armed, ran, crawled, and jumped through the muddy fields and hills.
The “Exercise Director Department” would occasionally have the 75.8mm mortar teams fire a few smoke shells to simulate “enemy” artillery fire, testing the soldiers’ reactions and tactical movements.
When the troops advanced to a distance of about one kilometer from the “enemy position,” the 105mm Howitzer Battalion and the regimental 77mm Field Gun Company began “fire preparation.”
This time, they weren’t firing smoke shells, but live ammunition.
Amidst the roar of artillery fire, the veterans led the somewhat frightened recruits to launch rotating attacks on several trenches that had been dug in advance by the regimental Engineer Company, symbolizing “enemy trenches.”
Immediately following was the clearing of the trench interior, and finally destroying the “enemy” headquarters and artillery positions behind the trenches.
The defensive exercise was actually simpler; in reality, it was everyone digging trench fortifications together.
Except for necessary sentries, everyone in the regiment picked up entrenching shovels and dug trenches, communication trenches, and foxholes in full swing on the designated defensive sector.
After the fortification group basically took shape, Morin ordered everyone to withdraw to a safe distance.
Then, he had the 105mm Howitzer Battalion conduct another round of live fire on these positions just dug by the soldiers’ own hands.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Dull explosions echoed over the exercise field, lifting black mud and turf high into the air.
After the shelling ended, the officers carefully returned to the positions that had been bombed into a mess to carefully inspect the damage.
Where it collapsed, where the structure was unreasonable, which type of foxhole was most effective—these intuitive results were more convincing than any tactical textbook.
All in all, although the combat exercise in the second phase exposed a large number of problems, it was considered neither meritorious nor faulty, basically achieving the “assessment” effect Morin expected.
After all, when the instruction unit expanded, many of the soldiers were reservists.
Although they were also “aces” who performed excellently in training camps, they still lacked experience more or less.
Finally, there was the third phase of “Infantry-Knight Coordination” exercise. Three infantry battalions conducted cooperative combat training respectively with the Armored Knights and Knight Squires who had departed early but arrived last.
Yes, Ludwig and the others departed a day early, stopped and went along the way, and only arrived in the afternoon of the day after the main force arrived.
Since the only unit that had cooperated with Armored Knights in the urban battle of Amiens was the 1st Company at that time, most soldiers of the instruction unit were conducting close-range cooperation training for the first time now.
This was a novel experience for many people. After all, in the “Imperial Exercises” that some soldiers had the honor to participate in before, Armored Knights, like cavalry, was deployed into the battlefield as a special force, and there wasn’t much coordination with the infantry.
Morin stood on a small hill in the distance, observing all this with binoculars.
When he saw those Knight Squires on both sides of the Armored Knights, a thought suddenly popped into his mind—he decided to experience it personally.
After another round of exercises ended, he found Ludwig who was resting on the side.
Upon learning that Morin wanted to try the squire’s power armor, Ludwig naturally wouldn’t refuse. He called the squires to help Morin put on this complex magitech power armor.
The armor was heavy, but when the internal miniature magitech core was activated and the auxiliary systems of various joints began to work, Morin felt like he was just carrying a heavy hiking backpack, and his movements were relatively free.
He tried walking a few steps, then waved his fist, feeling the strength increase was very obvious.
“Nice stuff… it can totally charge while carrying a heavy machine gun. What’s the point of using cold weapons…”
While thinking about how to “mooch” a few sets of power armor in his mind, Morin nodded with satisfaction.
Then, out of habit, he wanted to cast [Mage Armor] on himself.
However, nothing happened.
After failing several times in a row, Morin looked at the prompt in the [Spells] tab, only to realize that spellcasters cannot cast spells while wearing armor…
This was also why none of the mages seen so far wore armor.
Including the Gauls’ “Sentinel” units, they only wore combat uniforms…
In addition, Morin also discovered during the drill that the positioning of Armored Knights, apart from lacking reliable long-range firepower, was actually somewhat like “Dreadnought Mechs”. (Warhamner 4K)
At least the suppression effect on ordinary infantry was about the same.
And those knight squires wearing power armor had the meaning of a “Budget Astartes” (Space Marine).
As for the ordinary soldiers of the instruction unit…
Morin looked at the soldiers ahead holding weapons and constantly launching attacks on the “enemy” positions, a thought that was hard to suppress flashed through his mind.
“Oh no, we’ve become the Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum)…”
…
The week-long first grand joint practice of the whole regiment finally drew a relatively perfect full stop amidst the lively scene of “Infantry-Knight Coordination.”
Of course, this “perfect” was only regarding the combat drill phase.
When the troops reassembled and embarked on the journey back to the Koblenz garrison, the “traffic disaster” that had been staged on the way there was replayed exactly as it was.
Although there was experience and lessons from the way there, and Stein’s maintenance support system operated more smoothly, the “fragile constitution” of the first-generation radiant crystal trucks still filled the entire return journey with various problems.
Tire blowouts, engine stalls, coolant leaks—
Various small glitches still popped up one after another as if agreed upon.
The entire convoy stopped and went. The journey originally planned to be finished in half a day dragged on until dark before barely arriving at the camp area.
On the command truck returning to the garrison, the atmosphere was even heavier than when coming.
The expressions of Kleist and Manstein had thoroughly changed from “high-spirited” before the exercise, to “solemn” at departure, to “dead ash” now.
Kleist didn’t say a word the whole way, just staring fixedly out the window, as if trying to carve every inch of land along the way into his brain.
Manstein, on the other hand, densely recorded several more pages of problem lists in his small notebook.
They had thought to perform well in front of Morin through this carefully prepared exercise, but didn’t expect to mess up big time.
The entire exercise process, especially the two long-distance maneuvers, simply made them feel ashamed.
“It was simply a complete failure.”
Kleist finally couldn’t help speaking, his voice hoarse, full of fatigue and frustration.
“We wanted to show the Commander, show the Army Department the future of motorized troops… but the result? We only showed a traffic jam 120 kilometers long.”
“The equipment is too fragile…”
Manstein also sighed, rubbing his throbbing temples.
“Perhaps the concept of ‘motorization’ is still too advanced for the current Imperial Army.”
Morin listened quietly without interrupting.
Until both of them fell into silence, he spoke slowly.
“You think this exercise failed?”
Kleist and Manstein looked at each other, seeing bitterness in each other’s eyes. Does this even need asking?
“No, I think it was very successful.” Morin said something astonishing.
Both raised their heads abruptly, looking at him in confusion.
“Let me ask you, how long does it take for a standard Imperial Army infantry regiment, plus an artillery battalion, to march 120 kilometers?” Morin asked.
“Under good road conditions, it takes at least three days, or even four days.” Paulus gave an accurate answer from the side.
“What about us?” Morin asked next.
“Round trip twice, the average time consumed was within six hours.” Paulus answered.
“See that?”
Morin spread his hands and continued to say to the two: “This is success. We used six hours to complete a maneuver that ordinary troops need three days to complete. Have you thought about the tactical value contained in this?”
“But, sir, our vehicle readiness rate was too low, and there were situations all along the way—”
Kleist was still somewhat unreconciled.
“That’s why we are called an ‘Instruction Unit’!”
Morin emphasized his tone.
“Our task is to test out all problems and then find solutions!”
“Comparing our unit, which is unfamiliar with this system, to a theoretically perfect standard is unfair in itself.”
“In my opinion, it is already a miracle that you could train the instruction unit into this state in a short time.”
“Our biggest harvest from this exercise isn’t firing a few shells or charging a few hills, but those two notebooks filled with problems.”
Morin pointed to the notebook in Manstein’s hand.
“Every problem recorded on it is the direction we need to improve next. This is the most precious wealth of this exercise.”
Morin’s words relaxed the atmosphere in the carriage.
Kleist and Manstein’s tense faces finally softened.
This young commander could always see hope of success in what they considered “failure.”
His vision was always further than theirs.
Morin didn’t say these things just to comfort the two. He truly felt that given the military thought, training methods, and soldier quality of this era, achieving this state in a short time was actually quite good.
Motorization and mechanization didn’t mean it was done once you had the equipment.
In the world before Morin’s transmigration, the countries that could truly master mechanization and infantry-tank coordination were actually few and far between.
When the convoy finally arrived at the garrison, although the soldiers were tired like dogs one by one, their faces wore an unconcealable excitement.
They chattered about what they saw and heard during the exercise, discussing the mighty Armored Knights and the feeling of speeding in trucks.
Kleist and Manstein looked at these vibrant soldiers, then looked at the calm Morin beside them, and an unprecedented confidence suddenly surged in their hearts.
Perhaps, they were really creating history?
The day after returning to the garrison, Morin summoned all officers and clerks of the headquarters to start compiling a detailed report on this full-regiment joint practice.
He personally held the pen and, with the help of Kleist, Manstein, and Paulus, wrote all the problems encountered in the exercise into the report in great detail, exactly as they happened.
From vehicle failure rates to command communication delays, from soldiers’ carsickness to that company that went the wrong way—he didn’t hide or embellish anything.
A few days later, this thick exercise report was sent to the Army Department and the General Staff.