Chapter 26: The Future Generals of the Empire

"Gerd von Rundstedt — Lieutenant Colonel, currently Chief of Staff of the 15th Corps."

"Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb — Major, currently on the staff of Army Group A."

"Walter von Reichenau — Captain, currently on the staff of the 7th Cavalry Training Division."

"Erich von Manstein — Captain, currently assistant staff officer of the 10th Army."

"Heinz Wilhelm Guderian — Captain, currently commanding the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment."

"Otto Moritz Walter Model — Captain, currently on the staff of the 36th Reserve Division."

"Erwin Rommel — Captain, currently on the staff of the 64th Army."

"Albert Kesselring — Captain, currently on the staff of the Bavarian 3rd Corps."

After Bock left the Army Group commander’s office and returned to his own, he opened the list Crown Prince Wilhelm had handed him.

A long string of unfamiliar names jumped out at him. Their backgrounds were all over the place — some came from traditional Junker aristocratic families, others from ordinary stock.

But they all had one thing in common: except for a tiny handful, just about everyone had staff officer experience.

And they were all young — mostly clustered in their 30s to 40s.

Their ranks were low too. The highest was just a lieutenant colonel. The rest were almost all company-grade officers.

Bock was a thinker. The second he saw that list, he figured it out — this was the Crown Prince building the talent pool for the future German military.

Ten or twenty years down the road, once the Empire crawled out from under the shadow of defeat and rebuilt a strong army, these men — with their hard-won combat experience and staff credentials — would be the finest commanders the Empire could ask for.

Just thinking about it got Bock’s blood pumping.

He couldn’t wait to see what the Imperial Army would look like twenty years from now.

Bock moved fast. In less than a week, he’d rounded up every single name on that list.

By mid-December, Bock marched back to Saarbrücken with all those young officers in tow.

Crown Prince Wilhelm personally received them and kept them close to his side — ready to start drilling them on the new tactics of the future, especially armored warfare.

Back in World War I, tanks had barely just been invented. Every country was still fumbling around trying to figure out how to use them. Nobody had nailed down the right armored doctrine yet.

But as a time traveler, Wilhelm didn’t have to waste time experimenting. He could just skip straight to the armored tactics of World War II and beyond.

"Future wars won’t be like this — both sides stuck in trenches, staring at each other, unable to do a damn thing."

"The attacker just needs to concentrate a massive armored force. With air cover and coordination, they can rip a hole straight through the enemy’s defensive line."

"Then, using the speed of those armored units, they race deep into the enemy’s weak rear — cutting supply lines, seizing capitals and key cities as fast as possible."

"Do that before the enemy can fully mobilize, and you win the war. I call this tactic — Blitzkrieg."

Those words hit the young officers in the room like a thunderbolt.

They’d never imagined war could look like that.

More than a few of them just pictured the scene the Crown Prince described in their heads — and felt their breath catch, their hearts pounding.

Put yourself in the defender’s shoes. Facing an enemy that doesn’t bother grinding against your front lines but just drives straight for your heart? That’s pure despair.

Regular infantry — whether it’s mobility or the ability to crack defenses — can’t hold a candle to armored forces. Even if you see what the enemy’s doing, you can’t catch them. You just have to watch your capital get taken right in front of you.

But some people had their doubts. They’d actually seen enemy tanks on the battlefield, and those things weren’t anywhere near as scary as the Crown Prince made them sound.

"That can’t be right. I saw British and French tanks in combat. They look intimidating, sure, but they’re slow, clumsy, and break down constantly. Half of them stall out mid-drive and turn into sitting ducks for us. They scared our frontline troops at first, but after a while, nobody gave a damn about them anymore."

"Exactly. For the kind of tactics you’re describing, armored units need to be way faster and more mobile than infantry. The current tanks top out at under 15 kilometers per hour."

"That’s faster than marching troops, sure. But if the infantry hops on a train — or even a truck — they can catch up and overtake those tanks, set up a fresh defensive line before the attack even arrives."

"Right. Enemy tanks have a combat range of under 100 kilometers. Their attack radius is super limited. Even if they punch through locally, they can’t push deep into the rear."

Some opposed. But naturally, some supported:

"Hey, the Crown Prince never said we’d use these tanks for Blitzkrieg. If today’s tanks don’t cut it, that doesn’t mean tomorrow’s won’t."

"You all know Karl Benz, right? The guy who invented the automobile? When his first car hit the road, everybody laughed at him."

"Too slow. Too short-ranged. Too heavy. Burns coal. One ride and you’d come out looking like a chimney sweep. It couldn’t hold a candle to a horse-drawn carriage."

"But look at us now — cars are everywhere, and carriages are museum pieces."

"Back when our army reached the gates of Paris, if the French hadn’t thrown thousands of military trucks into the fight to rush reinforcements to the front, we might’ve taken their capital already."

"Technology moves fast. Don’t judge the future with today’s eyes. Who’s to say what happened with cars won’t happen all over again with tanks?"

That argument landed hard. Crown Prince Wilhelm couldn’t help but take a second look at the officer who’d spoken up.

It was none other than the future Father of Armored Warfare — Guderian.

Sure enough. Gold shines wherever it’s buried.

Even though he was still an infantry commander right now, he already had the foresight to see the massive potential of armored warfare.

Guderian’s words got everyone in the room thinking.

Manstein, Rommel, and the others didn’t say a word — but they were clearly chewing on the feasibility of the idea.

Maybe Guderian had a point. Technology moves faster than anyone expects. By today’s standards, these tanks really were useless.

But as tech advanced and tactical thinking evolved, maybe one day there really would be a perfect tank — fast, heavily armed, thickly armored, reliable, with real range.

And if that tank actually showed up? The whole shape of war could change completely.

As soldiers, every one of them had wrestled with the same question everyone else had:

How the hell do you break the trench deadlock?

Both sides had spent four years bleeding millions of men dry, racking their brains for a way out of the stalemate, and trying everything they could think of.

The British came up with tanks — using armor and firepower to shrug off machine guns and plow through barbed wire.

The Germans didn’t have tanks, so they built the Stormtroopers — elite infantry armed with submachine guns and other close-quarters weapons, who’d racked up some real results in assault operations.

Both sides seemed to have their hand on the doorknob of the right answer. But neither could kick the door open.

Combine the tactics and weapons of both sides... and isn’t that exactly the armored assault doctrine the Crown Prince just described?

Guderian’s speech riled up the old guard, who jumped in to push back:

"Guderian, you’re just an infantry commander. Don’t act like a big shot. What the hell do you know about armored warfare?"

"So what if I’m infantry? Does that stop me from switching to armored corps? Your Highness — if the Empire ever forms its own armored units, I’m signing up first!"