I've read your nice message. It is not rubbish, I can assure you.
I suppose you have read some of my previous messages concerning Reinhard
and Napoleon in the mail archive. I still hold the belief that when Mr.
Tananka was writing about Reinhard, his mind was actually occupied by
Napoleon, or more precisely, a perfected Napoleon. Mr. Tanaka makes sure
we understand it in the last volume
of the work: Napoleon was and Reinhard is that type of genius that
appear only once in a millenium.
I wish to point out the fact that Yang was not a very excellent student
at the military academy. Perhaps far from being competent. (In the
Second Season,) you can see that the (illegal) military court set up by
Truhnit tries to embarass Yang with this fact. On the other hand,
Reinhard was an excellant student at the Reich's military academy.
I know it is very cruel to Yang if he is compared with Wellington.
But he is to Reinhard and his leutenants as Wellington to Napoleon and
his. He is the "bogey" to the Reinhard's Imperial Army.
As far as warfare is concerned, I think the Logh resembles the
Napoleonic period than both the Second World War. A force in the Logh
of 10000 ships in space is like a force of 10000 men on Earth. I mean
a general in the Logh handles 10000 ships in the same way that a general
handles 10000 men on land on Earth. In WWII, in the European Scene,
there were relatively too many men and too little space. The forces
congested together. It's unlike the Logh. On the other hand, on the
Pacific, it seemed that a battle involving 10000 ships never occurred.
Yet it is the scales of the battles in the Logh. I think
the Napoleonic wars can give us the best models of the warfare in the
Logh. For example, the First Goetterdaemmerung resembles the Austerlitz
campaign. ( I think you know your nation's history much better than I.
So I don't go further into it.)
You have mentioned that inside-joke about names by Tanaka. It may be
deeper than just this. For example, the name of the Reuental's flagship
is Tristan. How did Tristan die? How does Reuental die?
Mueller's nickname is the Iron Wall. I remember Davout got the nickname
of the Iron Hand, or the Iron Marshal. Sometimes the things look
interesting even the names aren't. Look at Bittenfeld. I always feel
that he is the Ney (before April 1814) for Reinhard. The relationship
between Lannes and Napoleon resembles that between Siegfried and
Reinhard. Of course the latter goes deeper than the former. Both men are
well-known and well-respected because of their bravery. Both die because
of the master's mistakes.
I look forward to more discussions.
Reinhard-Siegfried