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16-26-October/1914
The day started early. As soon as the sun rose, we were already running endurance drills around the area, taking advantage of the rough terrain to build resistance.
I quickly noticed who lacked physical endurance. A two-hour intense jog around the training grounds left more than one man on the edge of collapse.
At least my body was in good shape and had solid endurance for this kind of work, though I still insisted I lacked flexibility. Still, these were the perfect moments to get the most out of being away from the front lines.
I added stretching routines, helping the soldiers reach their toes, then sent them back to shooting practice. For now, we only had sixty rifles equipped with scopes, so we rotated them so everyone could shoot, while also running camouflage shifts.
The problem was that our camouflage had been made for the forests of Prussia and northern Poland during summer and autumn. With winter approaching, those suits were useless. So instead, we focused on training them to use terrain and whatever they had available to hide.
Alongside the men I considered fit to operate with me, we searched for the soldiers during their concealment drills in the forest. We found all of them in less than thirty minutes, which was not a good sign. That might change once we had proper camouflage for every season, though that would be expensive, and the German state might not be willing to pay everything I planned to request for maximum operational efficiency. More likely, they would settle for snipers being able to put a bullet into a Russian or French officer's head from a kilometer away.
We started another round of shooting practice when we noticed movement in the distance. Soon enough, a large number of German soldiers arrived. These were the men I had been ordered to train. Unlike my own company, I couldn't just remove them if they didn't meet the standard. These were orders from above, even if they weren't the best candidates.
What I did instead was keep the best for myself. Anyone who could hit a target at 600 meters joined my group immediately. The rest stayed in standard sniper training. Unless I was specifically ordered to train infiltrators or saboteurs, there was no reason to invest in ghillie suits for them.
With the help of my trusted group, Hans, Ernst, and Friedrich, we divided ourselves to handle the training.
Rifle shots echoed constantly as the soldiers practiced long-distance shooting.
Another thousand men were expected to arrive the next day. That was when I started to understand why being an officer wasn't as great as it sounded. I had to constantly send reports via telegraph to the Empire's logistics units, requesting supplies, food, ammunition, weapons, and uniforms. I was now fully responsible for running this installation.
Fortunately, much of that burden was shared with my Leutnants. They handled most of the logistics, ensuring supplies were requested and coordinated for delivery.
By the afternoon, we ended the day's training. I returned to my father's house, wanting to start working as soon as possible on weapons and equipment for my men, and eventually for the rest of the German army if everything went well.
There was a chance I could be investigated for corruption, for favoring myself. But if I justified it by stating I needed specialized equipment that no one could provide, and I had documented proof of all the times manufacturers refused my requests for modifications, I should be safe.
"Hello father" I said as I entered the dining room and found him eating alone, surrounded by servants attending him.
"Karl… son… everything going well with your training?" my father asked, watching me closely as he placed another piece of meat into his mouth and chewed.
"Everything's fine. A bit chaotic. I have to make sure over a thousand men are supplied and trained at the same time. It's complicated, but I suppose this is how you learn" I said with a slight smile.
"And how long will they be here?" my father asked after wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"They'll stay for at least six weeks before returning to the front. My company might remain here longer until we're called back. They'll need me once the new snipers are trained" I replied, taking the chair across from him and sitting down.
"Serve my son some food" he said firmly to the servants, then looked back at me. "About the loan… I gathered everything I had available. I withdrew reserves from the bank and what I earned from selling the harvest to the army, leaving only what's necessary for yearly expenses. I got you 160,000 marks for your company. But understand this, I won't take a loan to support you further. That is more than enough for whatever you plan to do" he said, clasping his hands and staring at me.
"Thank you… father, truly… I'll contact the people I mentioned and start working immediately" I replied as they finally brought me a steak with mashed potatoes and placed a glass beside me, trying to pour wine.
"No… no wine…" I said, raising my hand slightly while trying to imitate my father's use of cutlery.
I started eating, cutting into the tender meat and taking a bite. The taste was rich, fresh, clearly from a recent slaughter, and I enjoyed every bit of it.
But my father's gaze didn't go unnoticed. He watched me carefully, thoughtful, studying every movement as I ate.
Everything was exquisite, without a doubt the best meat I had eaten in a long time after surviving on dried rations.
When my father finally took me to his study, he handed me a large amount of German paper marks.
''Ah… so these money?'' I said while examining the paper money.
''Not long ago. The month after the war began, the central bank was ordered to issue paper marks. It's easier than producing coins'' my father said, showing me a leather briefcase filled with banknotes.
''This is much more convenient. I wasn't sure how I was going to carry the money'' I said with a smile as I looked at the large sum.
''Please don't spend it on gambling…'' my father said before handing it over.
''Relax… I don't gamble anymore'' I said, bringing my hand to my cap. ''In fact, I have savings father. The last reward I received for my service was 15,000 marks, so I have more to work with. I've been thinking about this the entire time.''
''I'm glad to hear that'' my father said calmly.
''Well father, if you allow me, I'll start making moves as soon as possible. There are several things I want to get done quickly'' I said with a slight smile.
''Go ahead'' my father replied, still with his hands together.
Without wasting time, I left and headed to a building near the train station that I had noticed earlier. It had been a large furniture factory that sold goods to Russia and had been one of the first to collapse. In the first month of the war, it lost all its clients and had nothing left to sustain itself.
After asking around at the local administration, I found the owner. He didn't know what to do, and I managed to buy the factory for 40,000 marks, acquiring the property, the land, and the machinery. I needed some of those machines for my plans.
Poznan wasn't an industrial center in the way one might expect, but it was a food production hub. Much of its industry was focused on processing food, which was essential for the war effort.
Because of that, it wasn't difficult to acquire tools for modifying weapon barrels, but more complex equipment, like drying ovens, was harder to find. My main goal was to modify weapons by replacing the stock with treated wood reinforced with resin, making it waterproof and creating a composite stock. For that, I would need my father's help, since I couldn't travel to Berlin or the Ruhr due to my duties, and I needed specialized materials for working with resins and varnishes.
I quickly began planning how to divide the factory. One section would be dedicated entirely to treating wood, making it more durable and comfortable to use, while reducing weight.
In another section, I arranged a meeting with a local textile factory to purchase their machines, which were relatively new. I intended to use them to process fabrics for ghillie suits. At the same time, I sent for Herbert, the tailor from Prussia. He and his family already knew how to make these suits, so they would be valuable workers.
The last section of the factory would focus on optics. I would need to ask my father again to travel to the Ruhr and try to acquire machinery used by lens and scope manufacturers. My goal was to build my own telescopic sights with everything needed for precision shooting.
I had a lot of work ahead.
The following week was marked by a complete lack of free time. Between training sessions and managing logistics for 5,000 soldiers, everything became difficult. Food and ammunition had to be requested daily via telegraph. At the same time, I had to expand the barracks, since many soldiers were being housed in the city, which meant requesting construction materials as well.
That same week, Herbert arrived with his family. Conditions in Prussia hadn't stabilized yet, so they relocated without hesitation. We began producing the first ghillie suits, assigning him a section of the factory and hiring around twenty Germans to assist him with less precise work. Most of them had no experience, but I needed manpower.
We developed several patterns, winter and summer variants, white, green, and mixed tones. The fabric quality improved significantly since we could now order materials from across the Empire and treat them with resins and varnishes to make them more durable and waterproof.
While my father traveled to the Ruhr to acquire machinery, taking advantage of his status as a respected Junker, I continued overseeing training. We began issuing ghillie suits, reducing their cost to just 30 marks per unit. That alone saved the state a significant amount of money, while still earning me 5 marks per suit.
Camouflage training intensified. Now it was practical, especially with the changing climate. We introduced search and detection exercises to counter concealed targets.
By the end of the week, my father returned by train with a large amount of machinery, along with experienced workers. He must have pulled some favors, because I had no idea how he managed it. We immediately began installing everything in the factory.
We quickly started modifying Gewehr 98 rifles. We worked on the trigger, replaced the stock with treated wood, redesigned the buttstock, modified the barrel to allow a suppressor, and adjusted the rifle to mount a telescopic sight. Each modification cost around 40 marks, and I made a profit of 5 marks per rifle.
But the real profit came from the optics.
I knew exactly what was needed for a proper scope. The specialists my father brought only helped with the lenses, but I was the one who assembled the scope myself. Here, I could implement the most critical improvements. The scopes had adjustable magnification. They weren't comparable to modern optics, but being able to control zoom and clarity was a massive step forward. I also added a reticle for range estimation.
With this, by using a human figure as reference, distance could be calculated. It took a few days, but the first scope was completed.
Enemy officers were going to feel it.
And so would the German state.
I priced them at 300 marks each, making a profit of 100 per unit. Every rifle modification paired with one of these scopes created a perfect profit loop.
After spending nearly 100,000 marks, we were ready to begin full production. I immediately started using the remaining budget to acquire more military equipment.
Now all that remained was to invest the remaining 75,000 marks in land and begin agricultural reforms.
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