Academy Genius Commander

60 – What is war? (One)

Imperial Staff College.

This graduate school, like the gateway that officers who have graduated from the academy and gained practical experience must go through to get a star, is, in a word, a place like a mess.

Well, of course there is no killing someone because of a sword fight between students like in a real hell or where Asura lives.

It is a place where there is an enormous academic competition that can be compared to that, and it is also a place where many people’s dreams and talents are frustrated.

It means that even among officers who graduated from the academy, they are excellent enough to be in the top 5% if they come here.

This is because about 10 to 20 percent of students drop out or finish with a diploma every year because they do not have all the military knowledge required for graduation.

On the other hand, since this is a place where only geniuses gather, professors with half-way knowledge or abilities often refuted the theories presented by students.

Of course, the professors at the College of Staff are among the elites, so it’s something that only happens once every 10 years.

It is such an amazing school.

As I was immersed in such thoughts, I was standing in front of the door of the classroom where the students were waiting.

In the past, when I was in high school or when I presented at an academy, my heart trembled, but this time I think I have to teach at least dozens of students.

It’s kind of tense.

Still, the class I prepared is a summary of what I have proven through actual combat, so it will work well.

“Now then, let’s go into the real classroom.”

As I opened the door to the classroom and entered, the eyes of the students immediately focused on me.

However, their interest was less in admiration for their professors than in the analysis of their competitors.

“You look very young. How old are you? Are you 23 or 24 years old?”

“Ha… I also came here after passing the first promotion screening in our jockeys. It is also a staff university. All kinds of people are coming.”

“I can’t be pushed by such a young guy.”

Considering that the minimum age of students in this class is 25, and the major is over 35 at the worst, it is natural.

In this era, there are newspapers and textbooks made using metal movable type, but printing technology has not developed to the extent that a person’s face can be inserted, so we have no choice but to recognize them.

However, their expressions changed significantly after seeing the various decorations and epaulettes that symbolized rank on my clothes.

If the reaction up until now had been towards a competitor, now I felt astonished as if I were seeing a monster.

“My father, who works as the head of the staff department, asked me to watch and learn that Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger was coming as a professor, but was this class?”

“Crazy. It’s a double award from the Silver Knight’s Sword Medal.”

“To think that our professor was a lieutenant colonel and even a baron at the age when I was promoted from mandarin fish to lieutenant… what the hell are we going to teach?”

They might think I didn’t hear them because I purposely didn’t pay attention to what they whispered in a low voice. That’s not it. It sounded really good.

Still, they did not ignore me, a professor who was younger than them, and admired the surprising fact that I was the youngest professor at the General Staff College in the history of the Empire, and the medals and career that supported him.

In the past, there was a time when there were only people who ignored me and tried to put me down before I did anything, but as I gradually built up my balls and went up, only praise and admiration came out.

It’s so ecstatic and sweet.

So, naturally receiving their gaze, I went up to the podium and spoke in a stern voice as if I were dealing with new officers.

“I think you’ve heard rumors about me. This is Lieutenant Colonel Baron Peter Jaeger, who has been appointed as a professor starting this semester by order of His Majesty the Emperor. From today, we will teach the subject ‘What is war?’, and in this class, you will write and evaluate a total of 3 mock war situation strategy papers, including exams and assignments.”

No professor in Korea taught with this tone, but since this is an army, it would be better to proceed like this.

However, in most classes, the professor takes precedence over the students, and the education is done in an injection style, but I don’t want to do that.

I wrote on the blackboard ‘What is war?’ and asked students to respond.

“It is to win and win the battle against the enemy.”

“It is to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible and preserve our own soldiers.”

“Blood is shed to defeat the Emperor’s enemies and obtain glory.”

It’s not that what they said was wrong.

Because war is an act of winning a battle and forcing the enemy to make territorial, indemnity, and diplomatic concessions like a bully extorting money.

As they say, defeating the enemy in war is an important part, but isn’t it not enough to define strategy and tactics/politics as one?

In my case, when I was an academy student, subjects related to decency, etiquette, and martial arts were not allowed, so I gave up all of them early, so I focused on getting grades in strategy and military science to somehow avoid failing.

I could see how far the limits of what they said and how lacking they were.

“Not a single word you said was wrong. But what I think is a little different.”

At that, the students of the General Staff College, who would have been studying without putting a book in their hands when they had a little time to spare even went to the battlefield, looked puzzled.

All of the things they said were different from person to person, but the essence was like the essence of the theory that the academy and staff university professors wrung their brains out.

But since you deny that, it’s ridiculous.

However, whenever I talked about strategy and tactics, Laura, who was sitting at the front of the classroom, always presented a theory that was quite different from what she had learned and learned in military science textbooks during her academy days, and proved that it was correct. He looked at me with eyes full of anticipation of presenting something new and different.

“That is the view you see when you command a company as a junior officer and receive instructions from a superior, and as a high-ranking officer or commander, your view of war should be wider than that. You cannot win a war simply by fighting and winning.”

I took a deep breath and said as if declaring.

“War means crushing the enemy’s fighting ability, occupying the territory that is the basis of combat power, and depriving the enemy of the will to fight. When you strategize with these three principles in mind, you can win a worthy victory.”

Currently, the war between the Reich Empire, which I belong to, and other countries is establishing a strategy that focuses on consuming enemy soldiers and occupying territories.

We are not researching tactics that deprive us of the will to fight so that we cannot even think of fighting.

That’s why I stepped forward and said, ‘Now then, let’s start with massacring the civilians of the enemy country.’ I do not mean to insist on the same Hitler-like massacre theory.

Because massacre not only violates human morality, but also helps strengthen the enemy’s will to fight.

It’s because most of the cases are just crazy things that make enemies that don’t exist.

I wrote on the blackboard this time:

‘What is the purpose of the war?’

“Simple. It is to force the enemy, who has fought and defeated us, to do something he doesn’t want to do. For example, this would be the case of ceding territory to the enemy or paying a huge indemnity. Besides that, it is economically very unfavorable for the enemy to conclude a treaty, and so on.”

Of course, if this goes too far, it could end up like World War II.

To be precise, countries like France, Britain, Italy, and the United States, which lost countless soldiers and citizens during World War I, robbed Germany of their territories and colonies.

Furthermore, in Germany, which was beaten by severe inflation and the Great Depression, the rest of the demand for a huge war reparation of 132 billion marks provided a stage for a madman named ‘Adolf Hitler’ to rampage.

“Thus, war is one of the means of diplomacy and politics, and in exchange for executing it, soldiers’ blood flows. Staff officers and commanders are responsible for determining how to effectively use and enforce this tool. And what is decided here is the plan ‘strategy’ of war.”

It includes supply efficiency, supplying new weapons to train useful soldiers more quickly, tactics to win battles, and so on.

So I continued to write everything I said on the blackboard and said.

“Okay then, let’s take a break for 10 minutes and move on to the next class.”