Translator: Flowingcloud Editor: Arocks141
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Just As Water Seeps into the Earth
If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁
On this day, Takatsukasa Hiromichi was visiting his classmate from his days in the Military Academy, Otani Kikuzo, the headmaster of the Toyama Military Academy. 1
“So, Takatsukasa, what do you want to discuss?”
“Have you heard of the ‘machine guns’ that the British have been bringing into the war in the colonies?”
“The ones that can stop a charge of 5,000 African soldiers with four of them?”
“Yeah. What I would like to discuss this time is how we can defeat the enemy if they set up an encampment with large numbers of machine guns and defend their position with trenches.”
“Hmm… I see, so you think that since we’ve been successful in the colonies, this strategy will be used in wars between major powers, right, Takatsukasa?”
“Yes.”
“I agree as well… The first thing that comes to mind when trying to defeat this strategy is to destroy the enemy’s machine-gun positions with artillery, but if you think that was going to work, you won’t be coming to see me, right?
Perhaps Otani thought this was an interesting topic, but the atmosphere of the conversation changed.
“Yes, artillery shells don’t hit as you’d like for them to hit. A machine gun is a weapon operated by roughly two or three people per gun, so firing at a ‘point’ several kilometers away that’s only the size to hold that many people is too tall of a task for field artillery, isn’t it?”
“It is very likely that the enemy would know that we would try to crush them with bombardments, so the chances that they elaborately camouflage themselves is high. If your eldest son was one of those birds that he loves so much, he may be able to observe the battlefield from the air and see through the camouflage, but we cannot fly.”
In 1901, the first Wright Flyer hadn’t even flown yet. Balloons were the only means of conducting aerial reconnaissance, and they were used by both the Japanese and Russian armies during the Russo-Japanese War.
“Also, trenches are also worrying. Trenches are tricky since they are dug to protect you from bullets and shells, so even if you shoot an artillery shell at them, the shell won’t reach the soldiers inside.”
“I wonder how much thought we need to put into digging trenches. If artillery shells were to fall from directly above, they definitely wouldn’t be able to defend against it, but since the shells would be fired from a long distance, fire accuracy would become the problem. A hand grenade can release enough firepower directly into the trenches, but the machine guns would be able to mow the soldiers down before they even get into tossing range.”
“Artillery fire is unrealistic, a charge is out of the question. Then, breaking through is the issue… I tried summarizing my thoughts here.”
“…I see, you want me to evaluate the validity of this.”
The procedure suggested is written below:
1. Surprise the enemy’s front with intense artillery fire to temporarily disrupt their command and control, even if only for a short time.
2. While the enemy’s forefront is confused and unable to mount an effective counterattack, we should conduct a wide scope infantry assault. In order to avoid friendly fire and to prevent reinforcements to the enemy’s forefront, the artillery will change its target to the enemy’s second line of defense.
3. Infantry units assaulting the enemy’s forefront will attack not from reinforced points such as machine gun encampments, but by looking for blind spots and thin areas in the line of fire. After securing the minimum number of breakthroughs, the troops will charge directly into the enemy’s second line of defense and attempt to break through using the same methods as at the first line of defense. The artillery will change targets as necessary and support the infantry in their attempt to breakthrough.
4. After breaking through the enemy’s defense lines and penetrating the rear, the troops will attack the enemy’s command post and batteries to paralyze their functions and isolate the enemy front.
5. The isolated enemy front will not be able to mount an effective counterattack, so we will deploy our rearguard to surround and destroy the enemy front that had been cut off by our assault.
A portion of readers may recognize this. This is a penetration tactic. There was even a carefully prepared diagram showing a battle in the trenches. Youko had suggested to Hiromichi that they studied tactics now so that they could avoid the gruesome assault on modern encampments that represented the Seige of Port Arthur. 2
“It is modern common knowledge that by throwing all our strength into crushing the enemy’s reinforced points while we are in perfect condition, we can demoralize the enemy and cause a chain reaction of defeats on other fronts.”
“It is as you say.”
“Your way of thinking itself is definitely not wrong… No, I think it’s probably right. However, this would be something that would be difficult to implement in the current Imperial Army.”
“Personally, I believe there’s a lot of challenges ahead of us.”
“Still, there’s value in doing this.”
Otani looked at Hiromichi and grinned. Seeing this, a relieved smile Hiromichi appeared on his face.
“I am grateful for your assessment. As I expected, I’m glad I consulted you, Otani-dono. To be honest, I was expecting to be rebuffed for being unrealistic.”
“Something new can only be made if you take something unrealistic and make it realistic. Who do you think I am? I am the headmaster of the Toyama Military Academy.”
During this period, before the segregation of the Army Infantry Academy, the Toyama Military Academy was engaged in the research and education of infantry warfare techniques and tactics, as well as the training of their instructors. In other words, if infantry tactics, or penetration tactics, were to be studied earnestly, that would be the job of the Toyama Military Academy. Also, apparently, Hiromichi’s proposed penetration tactics were recognized as an interesting research subject.
“By the way, where did you obtain the idea for this? Did the German army think of something similar?”
“Errr… well, something like that…”
Hiromichi could not tell him, “My youngest four-year-old daughter proposed this,” and gave him a vague reply for the time being.
If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁
Author Note: It is not known if these two had any interactions, but please pretend that they are acquaintances in this world.
- Flowingcloud:
Otani Kizuko: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otani_Kikuzo
Toyama Military Academy (JP Wiki): https://bit.ly/2XE1S9z - Flowingcloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration_(warfare)
Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiltration_tactics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Port_Arthur