The veterans who had fought under Morin before were completely and unconditionally committed to the current high-intensity training regime of the 1st Company.
They had personally experienced the brutality of heavy machine gun suppression and street fighting, and knew that the seemingly ‘torturous’ training they were undergoing now could save lives on the battlefield.
The non-commissioned officers in each platoon were even stricter in their demands on the soldiers under their command.
They were not as gentle as Morin. Any failure to execute a movement correctly would result in a merciless reprimand, or even a direct kick.
The newly supplemented soldiers, including the three Platoon Leaders, were entirely unaccustomed to this training method.
Every day after training, they were exhausted like dead dogs, lying on their beds without the strength to even twitch.
Many new recruits even suffered from exhaustion and vomiting directly during the drills.
Yet, they dared not utter a single complaint.
Because the Company Commander was present on the training ground every day, enduring the same, or even higher, intensity of training alongside them.
With the Company Commander pushing himself so hard, they felt genuinely ashamed to complain or cry foul.
They just got the job done.
As for the three new Platoon Leaders, Morin’s military academy classmates.
They had initially tried to leverage their friendship with Morin to ‘negotiate,’ hoping to reduce the training intensity a little.
However, after the first day of training, all their temper was gone.
Watching Morin’s figure, which seemed to never know fatigue, they could only grit their teeth and push through, unable to say another word of protest.
Could it be that they were going to be outperformed by a mere ‘playboy’?
This was the collective thought in the minds of the three.
However, during a break in the training, Company Sergeant Major Klaus, still looking concerned, approached Morin.
“Company Commander, isn’t this training intensity a bit too much? I’m worried the new recruits won’t be able to handle it physically.”
Klaus handed Morin a flask, his brow furrowed as he looked at the new recruits sprawled on the ground, panting heavily.
“I understand your concerns, Klaus.”
Morin took the flask and took several large gulps—he knew drinking like this was unhealthy, but he couldn’t help himself.
“But we can only conduct this high-intensity training now, while the troops are resting in the rear, logistics supplies are ample, and the daily rations haven’t been cut.”
Morin’s order for high-intensity training was not a snap decision.
Before the formal training began, he had personally checked with the Quartermaster, the Commissary, and even the Division’s Bakery Company.
As he just said, the troops currently resting in the rear were receiving the most generous supplies.
The daily staple food per soldier generally rotated between 750 grams of bread, 500 grams of field biscuits, and 400 grams of hardtack.
Meat rations were either 375 grams of fresh meat or 200 grams of cured meat.
Side dishes rotated between 1,500 grams of potatoes, 125–250 grams of fresh vegetables, and 60 grams of dried vegetables.
Plus, 25 grams of coffee, 3 grams of tea, 20 grams of beet sugar, and 25 grams of salt.
Not to mention the tobacco and beer…
In short, when supplies were adequate, the Saxon Imperial Army’s rations, setting aside the taste, were certainly not small in quantity.
A soldier’s daily caloric intake was calculated to exceed 4,000 calories, which was the fundamental basis for sustaining the daily high-intensity training.
Morin returned the flask to Klaus and continued:
“Only by pushing their physical limits and willpower to the extreme will this training be effective. They will also have a greater chance of surviving the battlefield.”
“Klaus, when the time truly comes to execute combat missions, supplies will never be as abundant as they are now…”
“They’ll be gnawing on black bread and drinking thick soup while forced-marching through the mud. There will be no chance to train like this then.”
The Company Sergeant Major fell silent after hearing this… then quietly became even stricter in the training drills.
The 1st Company’s training ground quickly became the most noticeable spot in the entire camp.
Initially, only a few officers from the 16th Brigade who had also participated in the Battle of Seville would drop by during their own unit’s training.
Most of them were Battalion or Company Commanders who had personally witnessed the failure of traditional tactics in that hellish battle.
Watching the new tactical movements being drilled by the 1st Company, they began to ponder deeply, and the seeds of new tactical thinking were quietly sown in their minds.
Whenever the whistle blew for a training break, several Captains and Lieutenants from other companies would gather around.
“Lieutenant Morin, what is the principle behind having your soldiers advance in small groups like this, instead of the entire platoon charging together?”
The speaker was a Company Commander from another battalion in the 32nd Regiment, a Captain who had performed bravely in the street fighting.
“Captain, my thinking is that this reduces the time we are exposed in open ground.”
Morin picked up a stick and quickly drew a simple diagram on the ground, then continued:
“During this process, we use the fire of one part of the group to suppress the enemy, covering the other part to maneuver to a more advantageous position.”
“Fire suppression, covering maneuver…”
The Captain chewed on the words, nodding thoughtfully.
“We were forced to do something similar in the city, especially when crossing streets, but the actual execution was messy and completely lacked any established procedure.”
Morin: “That is why systematic training is necessary.”
These words resonated with the other officers who had participated in the battle. They quickly joined the discussion, and the scene briefly turned into a tactical seminar.
These officers, who had crawled out of piles of the dead, quickly grasped the core points, and their questions became increasingly profound.
The news that “First Lieutenant Friedrich Morin is hosting a ‘Seville Combat Veterans Tactical Seminar’ on the training ground” quickly spread within the 16th Brigade.
Before long, the officers who had just been transferred from the reserve forces and had no combat experience also couldn’t sit still.
They might not yet have a concept of tactical revolution, but they weren’t fools.
The officers who had survived the brutal fighting were constantly coming to the 1st Company’s training ground; there had to be something valuable there!
So, the number of officers in the ‘Officer Observer Group’ by the 1st Company’s training ground doubled the next day.
A few days later, some officers from the 8th Infantry Division who had just arrived from the homeland also came to observe after hearing the news.
This placed immense pressure on Kahn, Barrack, and Lahm, the three newly promoted Platoon Leaders.
The training intensity was already high these days, and now there was a row of veteran Lieutenants and even Captains standing by the training ground, watching.
So, the three could only dedicate all their energy to commanding their platoons to execute the tactical movements, terrified of making a mistake and embarrassing their unit.
Company Sergeant Major Klaus, however, relished the attention. He straightened his back, shouting commands louder than ever, as if showing everyone the spirit of the 1st Company.
“Snap to attention, all of you! Didn’t you eat? Run faster! The whole Division is watching us!”
During the days the 16th Brigade rested in the rear, the twelve infantry divisions General Mackensen brought from within Saxony, coordinated with the International Brigade and the National Army, completely stabilized the front line.
The Britannians, after suffering severe losses in Seville, also became more conservative, no longer easily deploying Mages and Armored Knights to the front line…
Although Madrid was technically still held by the Kingdom Army, the cautious Lieutenant General Mackensen was in no hurry to recapture the symbolically important city.
After all, Seville was now under their control, and the Mediterranean Fleet was conducting a combat patrol in the sea southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, preventing any Britannian landings in that area.
This meant the primary objective of the military operation had been achieved. The next phase would largely be a responsive ‘counter-move’ against the Britannians.
Meanwhile, another piece of news began to circulate slowly in the garrison.
It was rumored that the Gallic Republic, which had remained neutral, had begun mediating the conflict between the Saxon Empire and the Holy Britannian Empire.
Diplomatic officials from both sides were reportedly heading to Paris, the capital of the Gallic Republic, to prepare for negotiations.
Could this local war, which suddenly erupted due to the Aragonese Civil War, be heading toward a peaceful resolution?
Although Morin was unsure of the Gallic Republic’s motivations for this sudden move, the news brought a sigh of relief to everyone else.
After all, not everyone loved war, and not everyone wanted a full-scale conflict with the world’s leading power.
In addition to this, there was another, relatively more urgent piece of news:
His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Georg of the Saxon Empire would be personally visiting the Aragon front line within the next couple of days.
One of the purposes of his visit was to personally award medals to the officers and soldiers who had performed valiantly in the Aragon campaign.
The 1st Battalion of the 32nd Zwickau Infantry Regiment was one of the units selected for the Crown Prince’s inspection.
And, according to custom, the 1st Company, which was at the forefront of the regiment’s line of attack, would serve as the honor guard standing at the front.
This unexpected assignment immediately gave Morin a massive headache.
He hadn’t learned any of the procedures for an honor guard. Although it looked simple and easy, there were actually many details to pay attention to.
Fortunately, when ‘hosting a dignitary,’ nearly every country placed great emphasis on image. It was even more crucial for an inspection by the Crown Prince.
The 8th Division Headquarters dispatched an officer with experience in this area to help guide them.
So, in addition to patrolling the camp, handling the company’s daily affairs, scrounging for supplies from the battalion quartermaster, participating in tactical and physical training, and organizing daily training review meetings…
Morin had one more task: preparing for the Crown Prince’s inspection.
He was so busy that he was almost gone crazy!
On the third day after receiving the news, the special train carrying the Crown Prince arrived.
(End of this Chapter)