Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 20

Ovlesser speaks very loudly and carries a big axe.

Episode 20 of Legend of the Galactic Heroes goes back to the Empire’s Civil War between the official government forces, led by Reinhard, and the nobles making up the Lippstadt League. The dominant theme of this episode is the Lippstadt League seemingly not knowing what it is doing and Oberstein’s pragmatism making it that much worse.

The episode begins with a look at the Fortress Geiersburg. It is a fortress similar to Iserlohn, though not as strong. The Lippstadt League is using it as a command base, but they have also set up 9 other fortresses in the hopes of weakening Reinhard’s force before it gets to Geiersburg. Merkatz, though, points out that at any time Reinhard could just go straight at Geiersburg at any time without being forced through the proposed gauntlet of 9 battles. He recommends minimal forces at the other bases and concentrating on one main battle at Geiersburg with the long journey weakening Reinhard’s fleet. Admiral Staaden latches onto that idea and says he wants to send a fleet back to Odin to go after the Kaiser. Alfred von Lanzberg, is thrilled at the brilliance of the plan as he represents the thoughts of the other young nobles. He asks who will lead that expedition, and as no one else has an idea Staaden is forced into it.

Merkatz is unimpressed at it all, but he does nothing to stop it from going ahead. Bernhard von Schneider asks if it is to teach them a lesson, and Merkatz tells him that he realized that he nothing he could say would convince the young nobility from rushing ahead with a disastrous plan.

As the battle is about to begin, Reinhard deploys Mittermeyer to take charge of defeating Staaden. Mittermeyer had studied under Staaden, but realizes that he was always better at theory than actual practice. He is certain he can beat him.

Mittermeyer motivates his subordinates by telling him it is an honor to lead the charge under Reinhard’s orders. He sets up a minefield, and the two sides wait it out three days.

On Phezzan, Adrian Rubinsky is informed about the upcoming battle as the Empire makes it’s first military moves in the civil war.

On Staaden’s ship, his subordinates are restless. Staaden fears an attack that would allow Mittermeyer to live up to his “Gale Wolf” nickname. They then receive a message that Mittermeyer is waiting for Reinhard’s fleet to arrive before starting. Staaden thinks it is a leak, but his subordinates led by Hildesheim convince him to send part of the forces around the mines and in effect trap Mittermeyer.

The attack begins, and part of Staaden’s is defeated easily. Mittermeyer even has enough time to go around the minefield and catch up to Staaden’s main force. A clearly ill Staaden issues the command to flee to the Rentenberg fortress. At Geiersburg, Staaden is considered a failure.

Meanwhile, Reinhard is debriefing Mittermeyer on the battle. He tells him that he heard they fled to Rentenberg, and Mittermeyer expresses regret for allowing him to escape. Reinhard, though, sees this as an opportunity to take Rentenberg and use it as a base for attacking Geiersburg.

Oberstein draws up a plan to seize the fortress which relies heavily on breaking through one passage. Reinhard chooses Reuenthal and Mittermeyer to lead to attack on the basis of their superior bravery, even in land battle. He warns them though of Ovlesser, a High Admiral considered by Reuenthal to be a barbarian.

The siege begins and the Empire is able to get troops into the passage. Hand-to-hand combat ensues and the Lippstadt men look to be weak, until Ovlesser shows up and single-handedly turns the tide. After 8 waves of attacks, Reuenthal and Mittermeyer are getting frustrated at their men being killed by a Neanderthal. They want to kill him, as does Reinhard, but Oberstein wants him captured alive. He says he can show Reinhard how to scatter suspicion amongst the nobles using him as an example.

Ovlesser then sends a message directly to Reinhard. Essentially he says the Reinhard has been unbelievably lucky to get to where he is and betraying the Empire. He then moves on to call Annerose a deceitful woman who deceived the Kaiser with false promises of love. Reinhard then angrily orders Mittermeyer and Reuenthal to bring Ovlesser in front of him. The two admirals are surprised and Reuenthal remarks that Reinhard can still be controlled by his emotions.

The two have a plan to capture Ovlesser. They will go out themselves as bait. They taunt Ovlesser into attacking them, but before he can reach them he falls into a hole. A simple trap for someone like him. The rest of the forces surrender quickly without their leader.

The two admirals argue for executing Ovlesser, but Oberstein continues to insist on using him alive. So they arrange for a ship to take him back to Geiersburg alone and let him leave.

Once there, Ovlesser is treated with hostility. As he is the lone survivor, the rest of the nobles believe he has betrayed them. Ovlesser says he’s been set up, but they don’t believe him. As he steps toward Braunschweig, he’s ordered to be executed. Ansbach ends up shooting him through the side of the head, and leaving the League unable to cover this incident up.

With one of their leaders officially executed for treason, unease begins to set in amongst the nobles.

Thoughts: When did they have time to make a trap in the tunnel, and how did Ovlesser not see them constructing it?…Was the segue to Phezzan really needed at all?…Is Merkatz just mailing it in as head of the Lippstadt League military?…This was probably in the bottom 3 or 4 episodes I have watched thus far. The only thing I really got out of this was the contrast between Oberstein and Reinhard, and how well they seem to work together…And yes that battle in the passageway was just as camp as I thought it would be.