Security Reinforcement (2)
Before arriving in Ireland, the Duke of Norfolk had done some serious preparation. He studied some previous battles between the rebels and the British Army and discovered a characteristic of the Ireland rebels' fighting style—they had virtually no experience in storming fortified strongholds. The Duke of Norfolk believed that this indicated that these rebels lacked the ability to fortify strongholds, or at least were incapable of doing so. This would be a weakness that the Britain army could exploit.
Secondly, the British Army had suffered some losses in previous battles, which the Duke of Norfolk believed was mainly due to the dispersion of their forces and their accidental entry into enemy ambush zones. However, these battles also showed that the Ireland rebels' combat capabilities were significantly inferior to those of the British Army —their attacks relied mainly on harassment and landmines, and they rarely managed to annihilate the British Army completely, not even in battles involving a single platoon of the British Army.
Of course, His Highness the Duke also recognized that the Ireland rebels had many advantages. For example, most Ireland supported the rebels, at least in spirit. Even some Ireland people who were still serving the United Kingdom were no exception.
The Ireland are unreliable, but they are still needed in many places for the time being. This gives the Ireland rebels another advantage: intelligence superiority.
"Gentlemen," the Duke of Norfolk said to his officers at a military conference before the expedition, "Looking back at previous battles, if our troops do not disperse, we will not be able to find those rebels at all; but once our troops are dispersed, we will be attacked by the superior rebel forces. If we cannot solve this problem, our work may be twice as Duke of Norfolk and half as effective."
"In fact, the Ireland problem is not a military problem, or at least not the main one. The main problem is a political one. Therefore, to resolve the Ireland rebellion, a combination of political and military means is necessary, perhaps even seven parts politics and three parts military."
What are these seven political aspects? First, it's about eliminating spies. As you all know, if our every move is under the enemy's watchful eye, yet we are completely unaware of their actions, then we are blind and deaf. Even if a blind and deaf person is as strong as Samson, who can they defeat? Therefore, our first step is to gouge out their eyes. Then, we must find a way to win over those among them who are willing to cooperate with us, making them our eyes and ears. Only in this way can we achieve true victory.
Secondly, we must act cautiously and not fall into the enemy's trap as easily as before. Gentlemen, please look at this map. On this map, I have divided the whole of Ireland into three regions.
The first type of area is one we have complete control over, like where we are now. I call this type of area the "security zone," marked as a green area on the map. In this area, the enemy mainly operates underground, and their primary method of sabotage is stealing various secrets.
The second category of areas is those where both our forces and the rebel forces can infiltrate to a high degree, such as the suburbs of cities we control. These places are close to us, and our army needs very little time to react. The enemy forces are not absent in these areas, but they can only operate on a small scale with limited strength. I call these areas quasi-security zones, and mark them in orange on the map.
The third category of areas consists of those controlled by the rebels. These areas are mostly rural, far from our strongholds, and difficult for us to control—the rebels' strongholds. The rebels can operate openly in these areas, while those who are inclined towards us can only operate underground if they reach these areas. I call this area the "non-security zone."
Gentlemen, our mission differs in different areas. In the lawless zone, our main task is to capture spies and blind the rebels.
We must establish a strict secrecy system to prevent leaks, and at the same time strengthen security and eliminate spies. We must implement strict identity document and household registration investigations. Everyone in the city must have identification documents to prove their identity. Well, we can call them 'good citizen certificates'. Ireland people holding 'good citizen certificates' must have guarantors, and they can act as guarantors for each other. If anyone is a spy or has contact with spies, all guarantors will be punished together.
In addition, we should organize Ireland people here who are willing to find us, give them certain powers and benefits, let them deal with those Ireland spies, and even use them to help us fight in the second and third categories of areas.
Gentlemen, our forces are limited, and we have so much territory to control. The United Kingdom is currently fighting against France, expanding overseas, and suppressing rebellions like this. If the United Kingdom has to commit too many resources to Ireland, even if we win, it may very well be a strategic loss.
Therefore, please do not fantasize about mobilizing 300,000 to 500,000 troops from within the country to suppress the rebellion. While it is not entirely impossible, if it really comes to that, the United Kingdom will certainly pay an even greater price in other regions. If it really comes to that, you, including myself, will become a laughing stock of the entire United Kingdom due to our incompetence. Therefore, using the Ireland to fight the Ireland is the most economical and reasonable approach. I hope you can all understand this.
In the second category of areas, we must gradually strengthen our presence, establish more strongholds in these areas, expand our control, protect those who are willing to support us, and vigorously crack down on those who are inclined to rebel.
In this region, we must build a strong fortress in every village and station some troops there. Between several small strongholds, we will establish a large stronghold and station an army capable of quickly supporting the battles at the other strongholds. We will also build roads between these strongholds to facilitate mutual support. In addition, we will build blockade walls and trenches to prevent the enemy from moving quickly.
Ultimately, we must ensure that the people in this area can see our guard posts when they look up, and our blockade ditches when they look down. Their doors will lead directly to our roads, and they'll encounter our patrol teams within short walks. Only in this way can we consolidate these areas and transform them from Category II to Category I regions.
As for the third category of areas, we are now mainly using force to combat them.
Gentlemen, the rebels are incapable of engaging our army in direct combat. In the third category of areas, our army must maintain large-scale military operations and avoid easily dispersing its forces. Our operational objective is not merely to arm the rebels themselves, but also to eliminate the very foundation upon which they exist. Those rebels are able to exist because the Ireland in those areas support them. And those Ireland support them because they believe the rebels can bring them benefits.
Therefore, our actions were intended to persuade them, to make them recognize reality, and to make them realize that the rebels could not protect them and would only bring them suffering. In this way, they would no longer dare to support the rebels. Without the support of these Ireland farmers, the rebels would be utterly vulnerable.
Therefore, gentlemen, our military's operational principle in non-security zones is—to instill as much fear and suffering as possible in the Ireland people of that region. To put it more simply, that is..."
At this point, the Duke of Norfolk stood up, placed his hands on the table, leaned forward, and his eyes flashed with a fierce light. "Kill anything we see that can move, whether it is a man, a woman, or a child; burn down all the buildings we see, whether they are mansions or huts; take everything we can take that is of value, whether it is money, goods, or even just a chick."
Gentlemen, this is a necessary move for political reasons; this is our policy! You must strictly implement this policy. Any hesitation, or so-called sympathy or chivalry, is a betrayal of His Majesty the King and of the United Kingdom —do you understand?"
All the officers stood up at the same time and answered loudly, "Understood!"
"Very good," said the Duke of Norfolk. "Please be seated, gentlemen. Now I will explain the objective of our operation. Our objective is to create a great deal of panic in the non-police zone, thereby weakening the rebels' strength and buying us time to consolidate our police and quasi-police zones without interference."
Gentlemen, the more you kill, burn, and loot in the non-security zones, the easier it will be for us to consolidate our security zones and quasi-security zones. This time, our operation plan is called 'The Noose.' Now, let's have General Anderson lay out the specific battle arrangements..."
After the meeting, 40,000 British Army sprang into action, divided into eight divisions that set out from Dublin to sweep eastward. Their battle plan was to first encircle a large area of rural land east of Dublin, and then gradually tighten this encirclement like Noose. The British Army would destroy everything in their path.
According to the plan, eventually, a large number of rebels, as well as the peasants who supported them, would be surrounded in a gradually shrinking encirclement and eventually eliminated. The Duke of Norfolk believed that if this operation succeeded, it would deal a heavy blow to the Ireland and turn the tide of the entire Ireland war.
Regarding this operation, the Duke of Norfolk believed his chances of success were quite high. First, only a limited number of high-ranking officers knew the entire plan, making a leak highly unlikely. Second, even if the plan's objective were leaked, he didn't believe the rebels could relocate such a large area of farmers in such a short time. Therefore, the Duke felt he only needed to wait patiently for good news at the Governor's Palace.