18th century total war

Chapter 358
After Borcha captured all the administrative centers of the Iliban Peninsula, he did not stop military operations. The war in the Iliban Peninsula entered the next stage - the eradication of the guerrillas.

The war at this stage obviously caused Bolcha even more headaches, because the guerrillas had geographical advantages and popular support.

When the army arrives, the guerrillas will sneak into the ravines and lurk. Once the army pursues them, even mountain troops composed of sharpshooters can easily be shot!
Although guerrilla warfare in the mountains and forests, the sharpshooter unit has always had a superior casualty ratio.

But the number of guerrillas is endless, and the number of sharpshooters is indeed limited. Bolcha does not want his soldiers to suffer heavy casualties in guerrilla warfare!
For this reason, Bolcha began to formulate a local joint sitting system in the Iberian Peninsula in the name of Carlos IV's rule.

All regions should form their own militias to attack guerrillas or provide information about guerrillas.

Once there is a vicious incident of guerrilla attacking the French Legion in a certain area, everyone in this area will be punished by the joint sitting system.

At the least, they are sent to a labor service center for reform, and they are directly escorted to a big city with troops stationed there, or even to the mainland of France.

If the circumstances are serious, they shall be shot on the spot!

It is easy to avoid punishment.

Provide a hiding place for the guerrillas and help the French Legion to destroy the guerrillas.

Bolcha's strategic intention is very simple, using power and massacres to forcibly separate the connection between the people and the guerrillas.

When the army arrived, the guerrillas could hide in the mountains and forests, but those ordinary civilians who depended on the mountains and the water to eat and drink, couldn't abandon their belongings.

Without land or houses, how could they get enough food and clothing?

There are two ways for a guerrilla to survive.

Open up a large area of ​​farmland in the valley and establish a self-sufficient grain production model.

Ammunition can be replenished from the outside, and ammunition is not consumed at all if there is no war.

The main battles of the guerrillas are small-scale, and the ammunition provided by the outside is sufficient to support them.

But food is a big consumer. The larger the guerrilla, the higher the dependence on food!

If a person does not eat for a day, he will be so hungry!

Throughout human history, the vast majority of guerrillas were wiped out because of food shortages.

The self-sufficient model Bolcha will naturally not provide. There are not many lands suitable for large-scale food cultivation in the mountains and forests, and Bolcha has already swept away with his army.

When the Roman Guards are in action, they generally avoid them, except for the guerrillas who are really hard-headed.

After all, even the regular army is not an opponent of the Roman Guards. What is the difference between a guerrilla fighting head-on and dying?

If the guerrillas had the guts, they would have died in a direct confrontation with the Roman Guards.

Therefore, Bolcha can completely order the army under his command to go into the mountains to sweep during the busy farming season, and completely destroy the fruits of the guerrilla's own labor.

In this way, even if the guerrillas have a small amount of crops, it is impossible to fill their stomachs, and they can only rely on the support of the local people.

As soon as the continuous sitting system comes out, unless the guerrillas do nothing, they will inevitably implicate the local people.

The local militia protection group formed by the local people, for their own safety, cannot allow the guerrillas to attack foreign invaders in their own jurisdiction, otherwise the whole family will suffer!

As for the guerrillas who want to drag everyone in an area into trouble, the local militia will often find a hiding place immediately after the attack. Under the pressure of the French Legion, they will fight to the death with the guerrillas to atone for their sins.

In the beginning, there were still many local militia organizations who wore the same trousers as the guerrillas, but after Bolza led troops to clean up dozens of villages, there were no more nationalists who were not clear-headed...

Why in the history of mankind, invaders like to frighten conquered nations with massacres?

It is because this method is simple and efficient!
Even the Spanish guerrillas and Portuguese guerrillas supported by the anti-French alliance behind them were made miserable by Bolcha's system of mopping up and sitting together.

In just one or two months, many guerrilla members couldn't stand it anymore. They were not defeated, but tortured by hunger, and took the initiative to go out of the mountains, throwing away their weapons and integrating into the lives of local residents.

There are even many guerrilla members who were reported by the locals as soon as they came out of the mountain, and then they were arrested and sent to the dark labor office to work until they died!

Fortunately, many guerrillas are operating near their local hometowns. Those guerrillas who can't survive simply bury their weapons, return to their hometowns, pick up hoes, and become good citizens.

In fact, during the guerrilla war, not many guerrilla members were actually killed, and the number of civilians who had not been massacred by Porcha was large, but the Spanish guerrilla war was quelled in this way.

Of course, this is inseparable from the powerful combat effectiveness of the Roman Guards. When the system of consecutive sittings was first promulgated, many places colluded with the guerrillas to rebel, and then were defeated and wiped out by the Roman Guards.

Absolutely strong military power is the guarantee for the policy of massacre and sitting, otherwise the massacre will only make the ruling situation worse and worse.

By the beginning of 1811, except for the sporadic small groups of guerrillas on the Iberian Peninsula who could not make waves, Bolcha had basically won the overall victory of this guerrilla war.

Since then, the French Legion has begun to escort a large number of slave labor in labor services on a large scale, while returning to the mainland of France.

The rule of the Iberian Peninsula was handed over to the French local militia and a small number of Spanish puppet troops formed by the Carlos IV cabinet.

Of course, Borcha did not leave any troops. In major cities on the Iberian Peninsula, such as Madrid and Lisbon, he left about two divisions of troops scattered and stationed.

These forces are to prevent the London government from suddenly implementing landing operations on the Iberian Peninsula.

As for the civilians in the Iberian Peninsula, they have been completely killed by the French Legion. Those who disobeyed the discipline were either turned into corpses, or entered into labor offices and taken to the mainland of France.

The purpose of taking away the captive slave workers is naturally to prevent them from being rescued and becoming new guerrillas.

After all, after Bolcha left with the main force of the French Legion, the Iberian Peninsula would not have enough military power if he wanted to go into the mountains to sweep and implement the continuous sitting system.

When Borcha led the main force of the French Legion to fully withdraw from the Iberian Peninsula, the fifth anti-French war from the beginning to the present has lost a total of more than [-] people.

Except for more than 1000 sharpshooters, all those killed were the main guard infantry.

Of course, not all the soldiers who died in battle died in the Battle of the Iberian Peninsula, and some died in the Battle of Hanover and some battlefields on the Eastern Front.

Although there were no major battles on the Eastern Front, encounters between small units often broke out.

Some are infiltration warfare, while others are exploratory attacks.

The fall of the Iliban Peninsula made the anti-French alliance become turbulent and full of troops. The Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire even mobilized desperate troops and shifted into a full defensive mode.

Like the European countries such as the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire, the London government is in debt to support its allies on the continent.

It's a pity that just one year is not enough to reverse the absolute strength of both sides.

Why did Li Wei have the mood to keep fashion show activities during the war?

Just because he knew that the victory of this war would belong to him!
Although the army of the Anti-French Alliance is getting bigger and bigger, the General Bureau of Military Intelligence has already found out that the age of soldiers who join the army has been lowered to 14 years old for those troops with a regular army establishment!
Up to 55 years old!
Even the gray-haired old man put on a military uniform and carried a spear!
The Russian Empire even armed women, giving full play to the old Maozi's style of fighting to the end...

Compared with the Prussian Kingdom, which can't explode many troops, the war potential of the Russian Empire is undoubtedly huge. At least the General Administration of Military Intelligence has not yet detected the upper limit of the Russian Empire's violent troops.

The short-term expansion of the army has brought about a sharp decline in the quality of the anti-French allied forces.

In the Kingdom of Prussia, due to the method of bringing the old with the new, all the regular armies except the [-]st Grenadier Corps have become groups of recruits.

There even appeared on the battlefield, a company that collapsed without even a round of Roman Guards platooning guns!

This is in no way comparable to the Prussian regular army that could stand up straight and shoot at the Roman Guards.

Of course, the decline in the quality of the enemy's army is not the reason for Li Wei's slack. Li Wei is the only one who is slack. He has always followed the highest standards for the troops below.

Otherwise, Bolcha would not be forced to kill in the Iberia Peninsula. Although the Iberia Peninsula has been pacified, everyone knows that without a ten-year recovery period, it is basically impossible for the Iberia Peninsula to have much production. Production capacity fed the Roman Empire.

On the Spanish peninsula at this time, large areas of abandoned farms, burned villages and even cities can be seen everywhere.

It was like a scene of purgatory on earth.

These are the traces left by the French Legion.

Of course, there are benefits, at least even if the Anti-French Alliance forcibly lands on the Iberian Peninsula, it will be difficult to obtain sufficient supplies from here...

Porcha's eagerness to withdraw his troops is inseparable from the huge damage to agricultural production in the Iliban Peninsula. His troops will not be able to support them if they stay any longer!

After the French Legion led by Bolcha returned, he went into the attack without much rest.

The direction of the attack was not as expected by the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire, directly starting the decisive battle on the Eastern Front, but going north to invade the mainland of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The Kingdom of Denmark had a very weak presence in the Fifth Anti-French War.

There is neither a developed industry nor a powerful army here, and even the natural resources are mediocre.

Doesn't seem to have any offensive value.

Moreover, there is no shortcut to enter the Kingdom of Prussia by tying Denmark. If the Kingdom of Prussia is defeated first, Denmark will not be able to sustain it with its national strength.

Therefore, the anti-French alliance did not expect that the Roman Empire would take the lead in using the troops that were transferred back to attack the Kingdom of Denmark.

Naturally, no extra reinforcements were prepared to support Denmark.

After the outbreak of the fifth anti-French war, the Danish army has indeed expanded several times, and there are 10,000+ people on the books.

Then the 10,000+ Danish Army, facing the same 10,000+ French Legion, either surrendered or was annihilated in just one week. less than a fraction of...

The reason is that the Kingdom of Denmark was not exaggerated by nationalism at this time, and the Danish officers and soldiers only knew that they were fighting for the king.

Coupled with the fact that the tyrant Li Wei was invincible in Europe in the previous anti-French wars, the fear of France was widespread in the Danish army, and his performance on the battlefield was naturally unsatisfactory.

The result was a light poke by Borza that pierced the entire country...

The fact that the war ended so quickly is also related to the fighting situation in the era of queuing up and shooting.

The range and rate of fire of muskets are destined to have an advantage over defense.

The good news is that after the capture of Denmark, the Danish royal family surrendered simply and agreed to go to Vienna to be brainwashed by Li Wei.

The brainwashed King of Denmark immediately called on all Danes to join the Holy Alliance headed by the Roman Empire.

In European countries, this war is called the Anti-French War, but in the Roman Empire, the official announcement of this war is called the Holy War.

However, mainstream public opinion in Europe still believes that this is the fifth anti-French war.

In the war of words of public opinion, Li Wei has never won...

In addition, Polcha was also in the Danish Army and seized several howitzers produced by the British.

That is, an improved version of the mortar, which uses a stabilized bomb and a curved-fire artillery with ready-made grenades.

With these sample guns, it won't take long for the Imperial Academy of Sciences to imitate them in large quantities.

However, the military of the Roman Empire soon discovered that although this kind of howitzer is very lethal, it is not very useful on the battlefield. The reason is that the rate of fire of this howitzer is very poor, and it is not even as good as ordinary field guns!
These howitzers basically only have one shot if the infantry charges...

Of course, the most important thing is that the morale crushing value of the guard infantry is too high, and the help provided by the howitzer is minimal.

After the fall of the Kingdom of Denmark, the mainland of the Kingdom of Prussia was immediately surrounded by the Roman Empire.

Immediately afterwards, under Li Wei's strict order, the Eastern Front Army led by Karl launched an all-out campaign to occupy all the salient parts to the west of the Kingdom of Prussia. It took three days to annihilate more than The one hundred thousand Prussian army defeated hundreds of thousands of Prussian soldiers at the same time!

This battle completely shattered the national self-confidence brought about by the large-scale military expansion of the Kingdom of Prussia. The Prussians suddenly discovered that the combat effectiveness of their expanded army was no different from that of the militia. Compared with the tyrant Livy's army, it was nothing.

This victory greatly shook the hearts of the Prussian army, and Karl launched another full-scale attack under the momentum of the victory. In just one month, he swept through most of Prussia and advanced all the way to Berlin, the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia!

(End of this chapter)