When the officers saw the Crown Prince arrive, they hurriedly stopped their discussion, rose one after another, and bowed. "Your Highness, you've come."
"Your Highness."
Joseph came to the conference table and smiled, gesturing for everyone to sit. "Then let's begin the meeting."
As was customary, an operations staff officer stepped before the map and briefed the senior commanders on the latest situation at the front.
Captain Ferris pointed a thin wooden stick at the north side of Luxembourg. "At present, the Prussian Ferdinand Corps, eighty-six thousand men in total, has assembled east of Marnach and is preparing to launch an attack on Luxembourg City.
"Lieutenant Colonel Massena's combat preparations along the Wiltz-to-Grevenmacher line are basically complete. At the same time, our deceptive war preparations in Verdun will continue expanding in scale.
"Once Ferdinand begins advancing on Luxembourg City, the Massena Legion will follow the plan and cut off the enemy near Diekirch, launching a counterattack simultaneously along a thirty-kilometer front."
Joseph nodded slightly.
He had taken part in drafting this operation plan.
Although the Massena Legion had only sixty-five thousand soldiers, its combat strength was not the least bit inferior to Ferdinand's—meaning Duke of Brunswick's—force of more than eighty thousand.
Under Massena's command were the Royal First Infantry Division, the Royal Longsword Grenadier Battalion, the Royal First Horse Artillery Battalion, and other elite French units.
They were likely the most elite troops on the entire European Continent as well.
Previously, Massena's forces had clashed with Duke of Brunswick's army many times, continually feigning defeat and "retreating" all the way from the Luxembourg border to the vicinity of Luxembourg City.
Meanwhile, France's Verdun Defense Line had been extremely busy lately. Huge quantities of supplies moved through the area, and thousands of troops appeared to be moving in every day, creating