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18-December-1919
''We have multiple landings attempting to isolate Riga. There have also been smaller landings to take localities to the south, especially in Kurland. For the moment, the British forces have managed to reach the beaches, but the local defenders of the I Korps of the Eighth Army are containing their advances. We still do not have confirmed casualty figures, although the reports sent by the division commanders are optimistic. According to them, the fighting is turning out very favorable for us'' Manstein said while we observed a map of the Baltic Duchy that was slowly filling with figures of British soldiers, each one representing a new beachhead.
While I thought about our next move, Alexander entered the room carrying a telegraphic message.
''The attack in Estland was repelled thanks to the intervention of the Second Baltic Division. The enemy survivors were taken prisoner, although they suffered numerous casualties. Generalmajor Luitpold has declared his counteroffensive finished and reports that Reval has suffered considerable damage in some parts of its infrastructure due to the naval bombardment'' Alexander said while removing the figures surrounding the city.
''One less problem'' Manstein commented, without stopping his reorganization of the pieces on the map.
The British invasion, supported by French forces, had already begun in full. After the slap of reality we gave them during their first landing, when they fell directly into our trap, they had finally put on their trousers and begun attacking us seriously.
For a week, they struck us with naval artillery. They bombarded practically every coastal city, focusing on the buildings where they had detected our artillery and our anti-tank pieces, while gathering more men and military equipment, assembling more ships that joined the naval blockade.
That forced us to reposition much of the weaponry and hide it inside the cities. Many of the abandoned buildings were reduced to rubble because the British believed our men were still using them.
They were not completely wrong. Those were the most obvious places and, therefore, the first ones they would attack as soon as they had the chance.
Despite our attempts to prevent enemy reconnaissance with our own planes and rather rudimentary anti-aircraft systems, composed in some cases of eight machine guns connected to the same firing mechanism, we had not managed to stop them from locating several important buildings.
What they did not know was that most of them were empty.
I knew perfectly well that those constructions would be the first pieces of shit they would bombard as soon as they managed to identify them, so we had removed almost everything valuable long before the offensive began.
For the moment, we were resisting the British attack well. We had denied them access to the ports, which prevented them from easily landing their heavy weapons, vehicles and a good part of their supplies.
That allowed us to bombard their positions and ambush them inside the dense Baltic forests with almost insulting ease.
For obvious reasons, I now had a large number of young officers who had reached the ranks of generalmajor, generalleutnant and others like them in a very short time.
Most of the high-ranking officers of the Eighth Army who had served with us had previously left for the western front or returned to Germany, refusing to participate in the rebellion.
That had left an enormous number of gaps within our command and administrative structure. Naturally, I filled them with men who had proven themselves loyal, competent and effective in the fulfillment of their duties.
The great problem was that many of them had barely commanded forces of a thousand men before receiving their new posts. Now we had a high command composed almost entirely of young officers who were learning while fighting.
The oldest officer within our circle was Manstein himself, who was barely thirty-two years old and held the highest rank in the forces of the Baltic Duchy.
He had experience directing and organizing the logistics of the Eighth Army while serving under different commanders, which made him one of the few men capable of understanding the movement of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, animals, ammunition and supplies.
In addition to the reputation I knew he would obtain in the future, he now held the rank of generalfeldmarschall of the Baltic Duchy.
And he was directing our defensive forces quite well. Much better than any of us had expected.
The tactic we were using the most was elastic defense. We placed a force in front of the British that constantly engaged them while retreating in an organized manner, forcing them to pursue it. Then, when their lines stretched too far, we attacked their vulnerable points from the flanks using groups of Jägerkommandos that were wreaking havoc among the British lines.
Although those idiots were learning.
They no longer used visible insignia, and we had noticed that the officers themselves tried to look like common soldiers. That made our snipers' decisions much more difficult, because they could no longer easily identify who they had to shoot. There were still certain interactions and behaviors that made it possible to recognize an officer, but that made it much harder to apply the tactic of cutting off the unit's head.
Even so, we were winning the conventional war. If everything continued the same way, it should take only a few months before casualties forced the British to withdraw.
The problem was that British soldiers and officers were rejecting the surrender of my men.
Apparently, they did not recognize this conflict as a legitimate war and, therefore, did not grant my troops the corresponding rights of prisoners of war. They simply executed them on the spot.
That had placed me in a complicated situation.
At first, I had instructed my men that, if they found themselves completely surrounded and with no possibility of escaping alive, they should surrender to the British. My intention was to later negotiate their release by exchanging them for the enemy prisoners we kept under custody. We already had thousands of British soldiers locked up.
But they were not giving us the opportunity to do so.
For the moment, all my attempts to establish contact by telegraph had failed. The British refused to answer any message coming from us, unless it was to announce the complete surrender of our rebellion.
So now I had the real doubt of what to do with them.
I could easily resort to a war without quarter, order the execution of all the British prisoners we had and leave their bodies hanging in the forests for their comrades to find.
But that would only increase the British determination to keep fighting.
I did not remember something like that ever working, except to get the press to tear me apart and for neighboring countries to support the British more firmly. Therefore, it did not seem like the smartest idea, but I also could not place my men in a situation where their only options were to fight to the death or let themselves be executed after surrendering.
The good thing was that some former members of Abteilung IIIb, demobilized after the war, had joined my espionage network in Germany. Several had even emigrated with their families to the Baltic Duchy to collaborate with counterintelligence. Thanks to them, I received plenty of information about everything happening in Germany during the demobilization.
There had been some socialist and communist revolts, but none seriously threatened the governments of the different German States. None of the royal houses had abdicated.
What was increasing was the strength of the anti-socialist and anti-communist militias. The Freikorps were growing quickly among demobilized soldiers who could not find work. The German economy was contracting brutally due to the reduction of the military and chemical factories that had sustained the war effort for years.
Many veterans tried to return to their old lives, only to discover that the factories still staying afloat were already full and were hiring no one. Others were beginning to fail as military contracts disappeared and State demand decreased.
I still lacked many details about the true situation, but there was something my agents constantly repeated: the German press published my name every day.
Depending on its political leaning, I could appear as the Butcher of the Baltic, a war criminal, a traitor to the Kaiser or a national hero who refused to accept a humiliating peace.
That attention had caused members of the Freikorps and unemployed soldiers to begin traveling toward the Baltic Duchy to place themselves under our banner.
The trains left for Germany loaded with wheat to supply its markets and, sometimes, returned filled with enraged veterans looking for work and wanting revenge against the British. Serving under my orders offered them both things.
That was how a small trickle of German soldiers had begun, increasing every week. The less support the governments needed to smother the social revolts, the more members of the Freikorps were left without a clear function.
It would not be long before the civilian governments, after putting out their own fires, tried to disarm them completely.
When that happened, many of those men would have to choose between handing over their weapons or boarding one of my trains bound for the Baltic.
In addition, we were experimentally using new ballistic equipment. Some of the chemists the Kaiser had sent into my service had begun manufacturing materials with characteristics similar to Kevlar, and they were already testing them in helmets and personal protection.
Many of them had tried to abandon my service once the war ended, but scientists were easily frightened. A threat was enough to keep them still and focused on their work.
''With that, we should find ourselves in a better position. We will have to wait to see how the British react, but tomorrow the Kurland counteroffensive will begin. The First and Second Baltic Divisions will attack the British beachheads in the region. We should be able to expel them and leave only the enemy positions located near Riga'' Manstein said while continuing to draw up the plan and moving our two best divisions against the main British force deployed in the south.
''With that, we should buy time before more British reinforcements arrive. It is to be expected that they will bring troops from their Dominions, in addition to continuing to increase the number of prisoners of war we will have to maintain'' I said, approving the defensive plan for the next week of fighting.
When we were already sending the orders to all officers to move their units to the new positions, the Red Baron entered the room where we were holding the meeting. It was one of the warehouses located near the airfield east of Riga.
''Herzog'' Manfred greeted while removing his gloves.
''Anything to report? We were about to finish the meeting'' I said, looking at the Baron, who was smiling again.
''Nothing too important, except that I have just shot down two British aircraft and that seven other planes were put out of service after my Jagdstaffel intercepted them when they tried to bomb and observe our camps'' Manfred replied, very pleased with his results.
''Excellent news. Were you using the Fokker Dr.I or our prototype? I want to know your opinion. I only understand the basics, even after studying the Fokker's engine, but I think I could increase its power considerably'' I asked with interest.
''The increase in power was quite noticeable, although changing my companion's fuselage to one made of aluminum did not produce the speed increase I expected'' Manfred replied with a smile.
''I hope you did not damage it. I only want to remind you that obtaining that aluminum mixed with copper was extremely expensive. That prototype cost us the same as six or eight Fokkers'' I said, staring at Manfred.
''Yes, it has a good climb rate, lands well and the machine guns work without problems, but it turns terribly. It must be because of all the additional weight. However, I liked the enclosed cockpit. Clouds feel like little knives when one passes through them, and we always end up completely soaked. That idea of yours has solved one of our pilots' greatest complaints. It only needs a little more power. With that, I would say it would be ready to be produced and begin replacing the rest'' Manfred explained while nodding and adjusting the scarf around his neck.
''The seventh time is the charm. It is not a very common saying, but it only took seven prototypes for this shit to work'' I said, sighing in relief because finally something had worked.
''More respect for my companion. It already has two kills'' Manfred replied with a wide smile.
''Now we will have to check whether we can mount a heavier torpedo on it and send another British cruiser to the bottom of the sea before more ships arrive to reinforce the blockade'' I said, nodding.
''It would be too crude and heavy. One must also be careful when releasing so much weight all at once. An inexperienced pilot could lose control of the aircraft'' the Baron warned.
''I understand. Manstein, go take care of whatever you have to do. Alexander, send a telegram to Hans. We will need more duralumin. Tell him to use part of the money obtained from grain sales to Austria and the Ottomans and arrange for more aluminum to be sent from Hungary. We will begin building the eighth prototype while I review what other improvements the engineers can make to the engine'' I ordered while standing up and heading to review my diagrams
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