The officers fell silent. Morin’s words had made these professional soldiers acutely aware of the brutality of urban warfare.
On the other side, Morin looked at Battalion Commander Major Thomas: “Major, I suggest immediately applying to Regimental Command to disband the Regimental Machine Gun Company and distribute its weapons to our battalion’s companies!”
“Disband it? But the heavy machine gun is the regiment’s most important fire support, especially in defensive combat. Furthermore, everyone has seen the power of these machine guns in the past few days…” Major Thomas hesitated. “Wouldn’t concentrating the machine gun emplacements maximize their advantage?”
“In urban warfare, a concentrated heavy machine gun emplacement is a sitting duck!” Morin countered bluntly. “Leaving aside the enemy’s flying Mages, who can attack concentrated positions at any time, even enemy infantry can flank the position. A few grenades tossed in, and it’s all over!”
“But if we disperse them—one machine gun team, coupled with two or three riflemen for cover, positioned at a window with a good field of fire or a street corner with cover for movement, and properly camouflaged—they can completely seal off an entire street!”
“Machine gun emplacements must not be static. They are easily targeted by the enemy. If you sense anything is wrong, you must immediately transfer to an alternate firing point.”
“We also need to use everything we can find to construct barricades. I remember the Baggage Train delivered barbed wire; don’t hold onto it—lay it all out in the streets!”
Morin rapidly dictated everything he knew, and the officers, including Major Thomas, immediately pulled out their notebooks to jot down the points.
“Finally, our artillery.” Morin looked toward the edge of the city. “Once urban warfare begins, our 77mm field guns and 105mm howitzers will struggle to provide accurate indirect fire support because we and the enemy will be completely mixed together.”
“Instead of leaving them idle in the rear, we should pull them into the city as well!”
This idea was more insane than all his previous suggestions. The entire command post was stunned. Pull the artillery into the alleys? Is this young man mad?
“Second Lieutenant Morin!” Major Thomas’s voice was strained. “Artillery is a precious asset. Committing them to urban combat will result in massive casualties!”
“Major, I know this is a huge risk.” Morin looked at his Battalion Commander, explaining with firm patience. “But a cannon firing point-blank in an alley is the most powerful weapon we possess in urban warfare, especially those 77mm field guns! I know they are equipped with old-style shrapnel shells; fired flat, a single shell can sweep an entire street clean!”
“As for the 105mm howitzer, it’s a mobile battering ram! As one of our colleagues asked earlier, what do we do if the enemy occupies a building?”
“The answer is simple: shell it with 105mm high explosive rounds!”
“If the Brigade Command wants to hold this city, they must first consider how to defend it, and then worry about reconstruction later.”
The temporary command post fell into complete silence, broken only by the heavy breathing of the officers. Every officer, including Major Thomas, was utterly shocked by the new blueprint for war Morin had painted.
Atomizing the unit, relying on buildings, interior movement, machine guns locking down streets, bayonets fixed to cannons… These disparate tactics combined to form a complete and formidable system for urban combat. Though they had never encountered it, as professional soldiers, they instantly grasped the system’s feasibility and immense power.
“A genius… absolutely a genius. You, lad, were truly born to fight wars.” Captain Hauser muttered, his gaze towards Morin shifting from admiration to near-awe. After all, it was hard for any ordinary person to conjure up these ideas.
Major Thomas trembled with belated excitement. He grabbed Morin’s arm, appearing utterly elated. “Morin! You… You… I must go to the Brigade Headquarters immediately! I must report this plan to the Regimental Commander and Brigadier General Paul! If there is a plan to hold Seville, it is this tactical system you’ve just described!”
With that, he gave Morin no chance to respond, snatching up the notes he had scribbled down, and rushed out of the command post like a whirlwind.
After Major Thomas left, the remaining officers swarmed around Morin, asking him for details on every aspect of the plan.
“Second Lieutenant Morin, how do we deal with enemies possibly hiding in the dark?”
“How do we set up the most effective fire point in a room?”
“What if the enemy also follows our lead and punches holes in the walls?”
Morin, surrounded by the crowd, felt a headache coming on. Yet, he patiently answered their questions one by one. He knew that the deeper their understanding of urban warfare was, the greater their chance of survival, and the more secure the Seville defense line would be. He had to ensure that his unit could still stand when the Armored Airship arrived; his own chance of survival depended on it.
After finally sending everyone off, Morin could take a breath. He sat casually on an empty ammunition crate, but a new question popped up in his mind.
His entire tactical system was based on the premise of infantry-versus-infantry, built on traditional thinking. However, the enemy had Mages and Armored Knights.
He wouldn’t worry about the Mages for now; they seemed vulnerable to firearms. But what about the eight white Iron Cans of the Order of Garter Knights? In open terrain, they were a devastating charge weapon. In the narrow environment of urban warfare, they would become an even more unstoppable mobile fortress. Given the strength they had previously demonstrated, they could easily smash through walls, crush barricades, and ignore all infantry fire.
The thought of that scenario sent a shiver down Morin’s spine.
“Perhaps the infantry in the other world felt this same panic when they first saw a tank…” The thought crossed Morin’s mind, but he knew he had to find a solution. Otherwise, the seemingly perfect urban warfare system he had just devised would be nothing more than a paper lantern that those steel behemoths could easily pierce.
Could infantry destroy them with grenades or military explosives? Setting aside whether the explosives were powerful enough, Morin doubted infantry would even get close to a rampaging Armored Knight in an urban environment. Their agility was clearly much higher than early tanks; ‘anti-tank gymnastics’ would hardly work on these Iron Cans. Their weapons and the accompanying Knight Attendants would shred any infantry attempting to approach.
What about artillery?
This was the only possibility Morin could think of. He had just recommended bringing artillery to the front line for direct fire. Could these cannons pose a threat to the Armored Knights?
He couldn’t answer that question himself. So, he needed to find someone who understood Armored Knights and ask them.
Ludwig.
With that name in mind, Morin didn’t hesitate, immediately standing up and running toward the Teutonic Knights’ small detachment’s garrison.
The Teutonic Knights’ garrison was completely different from the infantry’s temporary camps. There were no noisy soldiers, only technicians in greasy coveralls and Attendants quietly and efficiently working. Six Armored Knights that had survived the previous battle were parked in the open, with technicians climbing all over them, using various tools for emergency repairs. The sound of hammering and tapping was constant, and the air was filled with a strange, mixed scent.
As Morin entered the camp, someone immediately noticed him.
“Second Lieutenant Morin?” It was Ludwig’s voice.
Morin looked over and saw Ludwig standing on the shoulder of his own machine, holding a wrench. Seeing Morin, a look of surprise crossed his face, and he nimbly leaped down from the three-meter-high Armored Knight, landing steadily on the ground.
“What brings you here? Did you want to talk about Patrizia again?” Ludwig wiped the oil from his hands as he walked toward Morin, his voice friendly and familiar.
Morin secretly admired the man. Despite participating in the Armored Knight’s maintenance, he wore no oil stains other than on his gloves; he still looked elegant. However, Morin was still a bit unaccustomed to the change in the man’s attitude, but this was not the time to dwell on it, so he got straight to the point.
“Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig, I have a very urgent question I need to ask you.”
Seeing Morin’s serious demeanor, Ludwig dropped his smile and his expression became earnest. “Go on.”
“Can our 77mm field guns and 105mm howitzers, when firing direct fire at close range, pose a threat to the Order of Garter Armored Knights?”
(End of Chapter 44)