However, what Tanya and the others do not know at this mont is that, often, what makes tough tis so tough is that they do not happen at the ti and place of your choosing.
Thus, there was no way of knowing that the report that Tanya and the others so skillfully put together that day, stating that "the Commies are up to sothing strange," would lead to a chemical reaction that no reasonable person would anticipate. The truth is that their defeating the enemy chanized mage unit and swift drafting of a report, which was submitted to so many persons, would result in tough tis of their own.
The possibility of a newly ford and effective enemy force. The appearance of a new paradigm in the east. Or perhaps, simply, the military exploits of a young attaché.
Regardless of what circumstances had served as the trigger, among those in the Imperial court who read the Kampfgruppe's report, there was one, in particular, who was of an extrely serious nature.
Soone with fundantally good intentions. No one would ever disagree with that.
This person's na was Alexandra. As the youngest daughter of His Majesty the Emperor, she was a hereditary commander in the Imperial Army, leading the 23rd Regint of Imperial Guards.
Strictly speaking, as an Imperial Guard regint, the unit was not a stand-alone unit. Together with the 13th Regint, the 23rd Regint of Imperial Guards was part of the 3rd Guard Division.
Naturally, when it ca to combat operations, the 3rd Guard Division was in command. The regint was not doctrinally set up to be deployed to the front lines on its own. Although, you could say this was all for show, as the commander of the 3rd Guard Division was none other than the current emperor's younger brother.
The real situation was more of an uncle looking after niece. The Imperial Guard, after all, was a reserved post for important people. All important positions in the existing, three-division sized Guard, were occupied by various mbers of the Imperial family.
As an antiquated relic, they usually spent their ti training for an Imperial march that obviously would never co, or serving as a glorified stopover post for injured soldiers or a place where the decorated could enjoy a bit of R and R. Occasionally, it might be used as a recruiting pool
for instructors. But its titles, such as regintal commander, were never used except for ceremony's sake.
However, this particular regintal commander, who was connected to an unrestricted and inviolable noble lineage, took her military duties very seriously.
"The Imperial Guard's place is to guard the Imperial castle; I will not argue that. However, the fact that they have not seen actual combat is unfortunate. With due consideration to the lessons learned in war, should my regint not be sent to the front lines as well? I believe it would be best if they, or at the very least, regintal command get experience on the front"—and so on and so forth, she insisted, ever serious.
In a sense, she was right.
Of course, she did not consider the implications of sending mbers of the Imperial family to the deadlocked eastern front of all places. Not to ntion, she'd be accompanied by all of regintal command, which, while in possession of so degree of individual training, comprised a range of important people, including won from multiple distinguished and high-ranking aristocratic families.
In other words, the Imperial Guard was a show army, excellently trained as ornantation but not sothing you would want to send to the front lines. It was an institution for Imperial family mbers and aristocrats who wanted to play soldier. That was all.
The Empire was ho to several outdated regulations. Hence why such posts still remained.
If you traced back the origin of the Imperial Guard, there were many posts for female mbers of the Imperial family and the children (including girls) of high-ranking aristocrats. This included regintal commanders of the Guards Cavalry, even in a ti when female soldiers were relatively rare. For important positions in the Imperial Guard, as in court, it was not rare for n and won to be nearly equal.
For attached soldiers as well, training was relatively thorough; several had actual combat experience, including those in the capital temporarily or on R and R. They were also well equipped.
However, whether Guard Division or Imperial Guard regint, these units had not experienced the battlefield as a unit. And in terms of unit experience, most soldiers had experience at the company level at best,
perhaps occasionally at the battalion level if one looked for exceptions.
The majority were parade or ceremonial honor guards.
At the sa ti, since it was a waste to keep such an extensive unit purely for leisure, they also accepted new recruits for training at the battalion level. However, as soon as these recruits beca useful soldiers, the General Staff waved a magic wand to quickly whisk them away.
With the flash of a pen, a bit of ink, and a few docunts, what had once been a "battalion of Imperial Guards" could be divided up in the na of "expansion and reorganization," transferring nearly all personnel with useful combat experience elsewhere. The label of "previous Imperial Guard" served as a bit of convenient luster for core personnel in newly ford infantry regints.
The majority of those left behind in the original Imperial Guard battalion were the children of high-ranking aristocrats or those few others who required "special consideration."
This arrangent worked out well for everyone involved.
So long, of course, as no damnably serious blue blood decided to suddenly discover a sense of noblesse oblige and decide it wasn't right to sit around as decoration during these tis of total war.
To great general misfortune, Her Highness the princess, who had an estimable sense of obligation even in normal tis, got it into her head that her honorary duties should be literally fulfilled. The reports from the front had apparently beco too much to bear.
But what if we were to send the 23rd Regint of Imperial Guards to the front as reinforcents?! It was a proposal that anyone familiar with reality could only recoil from.
General Staff and Eastern Command were both left cradling their heads.
Under normal circumstances, they might have politely refused. But this was a proposal from a duteous, well-intentioned mber of the imperial household. A role for the Imperial Guard—on the front lines! Such a courteous and honorable proposal from such a noble daughter of the imperial line. The Empire was formally an imperial governnt, and those in the military had pledged loyalty to the imperial household. Once the Emperor himself added his say, that "a week or so of on-site experience couldn't hurt," there was nothing to do but acquiesce to imperial order.
Even General Hans von Zettour was no exception.
The general glared with montary rage at the aide-de-camp who had delivered the ssage.
"I must go to the palace at once and speak with His Majesty…" That was all General Zettour said.
Indeed, the general stood up imdiately and half jogged from the room. As Colonel Uger, a top-ranking adjutant, dashed about in a panic arranging for palace access, the aide who had been left behind stumbled down the General Staff Office hallways weakly before rushing into the nearest restroom.
Having received a drink earlier in the day from Her Highness Alexandra herself, as well as a cup of coffee from General Zettour, the unfortunate ssenger soon found himself sharing that sloshy mixture in his stomach with one of the General Staff toilet bowls.
In short, the man threw up. Stomach juices and all.
However, the aide was not the only one to suffer in such a way that day. General Laudon also threw up that day. In fact, as did General Zettour. Yes, all the important people were throwing up.
This was the nature of the Empire in which they lived, the imperial system. But they did attempt to fight back. They tried, and they tried, and they even managed to stop the full regint's deploynt. Perhaps not a feat of historical proportions, but within that organization, as deeply colored as they were by its culture and its restrictions, it was still a feat that demanded every iota of effort.
It was not a victory, however, but a compromise.
If the entire regint couldn't go, then perhaps an on-site inspection? After all, there was no stopping the serious once they set their very serious minds on sothing.
User Comments
0 comments from readers