Holy Roman Empire

Due to the large number of people involved, the French Army Command did not deal with the group of soldiers except to dismiss the officers involved and send them to a court-martial, but drove them home.

There is no doubt that such an understatement is undoubtedly a big failure.By the time the top French army reacted, the situation was out of control.

The power of role models is enormous. There will never be a shortage of people who are afraid of death in this world, and almost all French troops follow suit.

The high-level French army who reacted naturally also took measures to severely punish these guys. However, once the Pandora's box is opened, it cannot be solved by closing it.

In order to avoid punishment, all kinds of weird excuses appeared.Of course, most of them pretended to be wounded. Many people intentionally suffered minor injuries, and then hid in the rear hospital to recuperate.

It wasn't until Marshal Patrice McMahon came out to clean up military discipline and change the original punishment model that the situation improved.

No matter how you change it, the commander's preconceived impression will not change for a while.

All the factors came together to cause this tragedy.

From the perspective of the overall battle situation, the tens of thousands of casualties are not worth mentioning to the French Empire.

The problem is that in order to open the gap as soon as possible, Marshal Patrice McMahon put the main force of the French army on the front line, so it is precisely the elite French army who have suffered heavy losses.

Just look at the number of the troops. Generally speaking, the troops with smaller numbers or those with higher numbers are standing armies. They have been formed for many years, and their combat effectiveness cannot be compared with the newly formed troops.

When Napoleon IV was about to vent his anger, Prime Minister Terrence Burkin stepped forward and persuaded, "Your Majesty, the matter is over.

Let's find a way to deal with the aftermath, whether it is the enemy's aircraft, or the new machine guns and mortars that have just emerged, they are all worthy of our possession.

Today's battle is not entirely the responsibility of the frontline generals.The Austrians took advantage of these new equipment and caught us off guard, which doesn't mean anything.

Having learned the lessons of this failure, I believe that in the following battles, our army will exert its due combat effectiveness. "

Many people in the top ranks of the French government, including Prime Minister Terrence Bourgin, are not convinced by today's inexplicably lost war.

In their view, the Austrians were nothing more than relying on more advanced equipment to catch them by surprise. As long as the French army reacted, the situation would change.

After listening to the prime minister's persuasion, Napoleon IV's expression did not improve, and he immediately reprimanded the Minister of War: "What is the Ministry of War for? We invest so much military expenditure every year. Why is the equipment so much behind the Austrians?

Don't tell me this is an accident. Whether it is an airplane or a machine gun, it has been born for decades. Why is there no equipment in our army? "

After a series of reasons, the Minister of War buried his head even lower.No disaster, that's it.

Armament technology innovation has never been easy. The original space-time Maxim machine gun was the first to show its power, and it was used by the British to deal with the indigenous people. As a result, they still jumped into the pit in World War I.

Not to mention this time, Austria hid all these belongings at home, and the outside world knew nothing about it.

Before today, in everyone's consciousness: the Maxim machine gun is just an ordinary machine gun, which is not essentially different from the Gatling; the plane is a flashy toy, and it is useless except for flying performances.

This is the general judgment of all walks of life in the society. The Minister of War is not a time traveler, and he can open it without hanging up. Naturally, he cannot jump out of this circle of thinking.

Chapter 174 The Counterattack in Brewing

The war has progressed to this point, and France has put all its chips on the table. If it wins, it will dominate the European continent, and if it loses, it will become second-rate.

With the domineering style of France in the past, it has offended many people.When France was strong, no one dared to provoke it. Once it declined, it would be completely different.

Under the nest, the eggs are finished.

Whether it is Napoleon IV or the top leaders of the French government, they are all tied to the fate of this country.

At this time, taking a step back is no longer a vast sea and sky, but an abyss.

Whether it is for themselves or for the country, they must find a way to win this war.

In the face of life and death, face is already so cheap that it is worthless, so copy it!

Since the Austrian army's equipment is more advanced, it should be imitated accordingly.Could it be that the great French Empire cannot be created?

The emperor said a word, and the following ran with broken legs.Starting from the cabinet government, the pressure goes down level by level.

Although Napoleon III has the reputation of the socialist emperor, France is still a bourgeois country, and all military enterprises are in the hands of capitalists.

In the past, there were orders, and everyone rushed to grab them. The threshold of the Ministry of War was broken. Now the news has been sent out for a long time, but no one cares.

It's not that capitalists don't want to make money, the key is that everyone is unable to make this money.There is no way, the timing is wrong.

In the past, everyone could still place orders first, and then slowly figure out a solution, either independently research and develop technology, or purchase technology from outsiders.

But not now, there is too little time for independent research and development; at present these technologies are unique to Austria, Fao is in the middle of a war, no matter how much money they spend, it is impossible to buy the technology.

All capitalists with connections have received the news in advance and know the seriousness of the problem.We all know that at this juncture, if we take the order and fail to deliver the goods, we will get into big trouble.

The armament orders that were originally sought after by everyone have now become a hot potato, directly rotting in the hands of the Ministry of War and no one cares about them.

Of course, it's not that no one is really interested, it's just that everyone's strength is limited and they can't complete the task in a short time.

At present, many military factories have stated that as long as the Ministry of the Army comes up with design drawings, they can start work immediately.

"How about it, how long will it take you to imitate it?"

Minister of War Luskinia asked anxiously.

Although the military factory is owned by capitalists, this does not mean that the French government has handed over all the issue of armaments to capitalists.

The Ministry of the Army also maintains a group of military experts, and even has a military factory directly under it, but because of bureaucratic management, the production cost is too high, and there is no way to expand the scale.

Now the capitalists dare not take orders, and this drudgery falls into the hands of the Ministry of War itself.In any case, this was decided by the emperor and the government together, and the Ministry of War must find a way to complete it.

An elderly military expert replied: "Your Excellency, we have too little information.

We don't know anything about the weapon template, design principles, or performance parameters, and we don't even know the appearance and structure.There is nothing, how can we imitate it? "

Imitation also needs a reference object. If there is nothing, it is not an imitation, but an independent research and development.Since it is independent research and development, the time will naturally not be fast.

Of course, there is another research and development method, which is to design weapons according to needs, but this also takes time.

Luskinia, the Minister of War, said impatiently: "Isn't there already a machine gun, just improve the performance according to our machine gun.

Airplanes are a little more troublesome, but I remember it was in the papers and there was a demonstration in Paris.

A few folk enthusiasts can produce something, can't you also produce it?

If it really doesn't work, just pay to buy their technology, or incorporate them, how can there be so much trouble! "

It is not that the Duke of Luskinia is ignorant. Without knowing the principle of the Maxim machine gun, it is not wrong to think that the Austrian army is using an improved version of Gatling.

This is especially true for aircraft. Apart from dealing with the airship Shun Liu, the Austrian aircraft did not show amazing combat effectiveness.

These days, everyone's understanding of aircraft is still in the air show, and they don't realize that there is a huge technological gap between aircraft.

From the perspective of dealing with airships alone, most aircraft can do it.Anyway, the aircraft has the advantage of flexibility, as long as the endurance is long enough, a load of two to three hundred catties is enough.

The old man explained helplessly: "Your Excellency, from the design of a weapon to its use, there are many links in the middle, which require a lot of time, and it is impossible to do it without three to five years of hard work.

Even if the situation on the battlefield is urgent, we directly save the time for weapon testing, but the time for design and industrial production cannot be compressed.

Even in the most ideal state, it will take three months for us to produce a new type of machine gun; as for the aircraft, it is God's blessing to be able to produce it within half a year. "

Three months, half a year, this speed is indeed very fast.It would be a miracle if it could be done in such a short period of time.

After all, it is only 1890. Even though Franz's butterfly effect has accelerated the pace of technological development, it is mainly aimed at Austria, and France is only passively developing.

Compared with the same period in history, even if the development of France's scientific and technological level is accelerated, it is impossible to exceed ten years, and there will not be a qualitative gap.

……

The world does not revolve around one country. No matter how the French develop new equipment, the war will continue.

Because of political needs, the French government covered up the fiasco of the previous offensive.Since he was not defeated, he would naturally not be held accountable. Admiral Udino was lucky enough to escape the fate of being court-martialed.

There is no need to go to the military court, which does not mean that there will be no accountability.Now Udino is still commanding in front of the enemy, just because of the transitional period of command system adjustment.

If such a big thing happened, the French army must be held accountable.As the person directly responsible for the incident, it was only a matter of time before Admiral Udino went home to bring his grandson.

The French Army Command, since receiving the news of the failure of the attack, Marshal Patrice McMahon rushed to the front line to preside over the overall situation.

Seeing a group of officers dying, Patrice McMahon slammed the table and snapped, "Everyone, take a good look in the mirror and see if you look like a soldier.

Do you know that France's face will be lost by you.Especially you Oudino, did you forget the promise you gave me earlier?

Isn't it just a loss, just find an opportunity to get it back from the enemy later.Could it be that he thinks that he is about to retire, and he can go about his life unscrupulously.

Let me tell you, if you don't want to live with infamy for the rest of your life, cheer me up.Remember them all, the shame of failure can only be washed away with blood and victory. "

In fact, the low morale of the French officers and soldiers was not just due to the heavy casualties.

Tens of thousands of casualties are not unheard of by everyone, and it is not enough to make people despair; what really makes everyone feel desperate is still not optimistic about the prospects of the war.

Except for the heavy losses on the first day of attack, there was no full-scale battle in the next few days, but small-scale battles happened every day.

You don't know if you don't fight, but when you fight, everyone suddenly discovers that the Austrian army is not as corrupt and incompetent as the government's propaganda, but a downhill tiger.

In Linlin's broken battle, the two sides played a record of 1.3:1.The French army is 1.3, which is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the French officer who claims to be the world's number one army.

This is not an offensive and defensive battle, but a direct collision in the wild.Everyone found helplessly that with the same strength, the French army was no longer the opponent of the Austrian army.

Of course, this is also related to the recent low morale of the French army, but the main reason is the sequelae of the crazy military expansion.

Even for the so-called elite troops, at least one-fifth of them are recruits, and their combat effectiveness will inevitably decline.

It is inconvenient to transmit news these days, and it is impossible for the French government to promote Austria, so that the middle and high-level members of the military did not understand the particularity of the Austrian military service system.

Everyone judged through brain supplementation, and took it for granted that everyone was an army after the expansion of the army, and there were a bunch of recruits holding back.

I saw that under the same conditions, the French army was suppressed and beaten by the Austrian army, and it was not an exception. This was true on the fronts that spread hundreds of miles.

The French commander who witnessed all this with his own eyes naturally lost confidence in this war.Of course, there is no essential difference between this misjudgment and knowing the truth.

Anyway, the facts have proved that with the same strength, the expanded French army cannot defeat the Austrian army.

Some people may talk about equipment, but the problem is that weapons and equipment are also part of strength.It's not the age of chivalry anymore, who cares if it's fair as long as wars can be won.

In a sense, Austria's greatest ally is the Italians.The pessimistic thoughts were the first to spread among them. After the frontal attack failed and suffered heavy casualties, it quickly spread among the French army and began to exert influence from the bottom up.

Marshal Patrice McMahon rushed here just to restore the morale of the troops, but the scene in front of him told him that the situation was worse than he had imagined.

The air defense siren of "Woooooo..." broke the tense atmosphere in the headquarters.

From bombing others to being bombed every day.It was only a few days before and after, and few people could bear this kind of psychological gap.

Witnessing this scene with his own eyes, Marshal Patrice McMahon somewhat understood why everyone's morale was low.

As the supreme commander of the French army, Patrice McMahon knew more about the situation than anyone else.

Sometimes knowing too much is not a good thing.Everyone is drunk and I am sober, but it is not so easy to bear.

Unlike the radical guys in the country, who dreamed of breaking Vienna, Patrice McMahon's battle plan was only to take the territory west of the Rhine from beginning to end.

It's not that Patrice McMahon has no ambitions, it's just because he knows that the French army is not as strong as the government's propaganda, and the enemy is not as weak as it is in the propaganda.

By taking the territory west of the Rhine, France can defend against danger, and even if Austria breaks out, he is confident in blocking it.

As for breaking Vienna, shouting slogans will suffice.Patrice McMahon is old, well past his radical years.

Admiral Udino said bitterly: "I'm very sorry, Marshal. I let you down! If it weren't for my command error in front of me, our originally good situation would not have collapsed."

The situation collapsed?

The battle situation is obviously not serious enough, the French army still occupies the initiative on the Central European battlefield.

As for the counterattack launched by the Austrian army, it was all pediatrics.It is certain that the Austrian army will not be able to fight the French army until sufficient forces are gathered.

Patrice McMahon: "Don't talk nonsense, now I have only one request, and that is to tear the Rhine defense line as soon as possible.

This is your last chance. No matter what method you use, you must complete this order before the arrival of enemy reinforcements. "

There is still a word in his heart that has not been said, that is: this is also France's last chance.

If this opportunity is missed, it will be difficult for France to win the war.

Even if the French army broke out in the later stage and won the war by luck, it would only be a victory on the surface, but the real situation is that both sides suffer.

"Marshal, the biggest problem now is the enemy's trenches. According to the information we have collected, it can be determined that the enemy has deployed at least [-] machine guns, thousands of heavy artillery pieces, and more than [-] pieces of ordinary artillery on the Rhine River line.

Relying on the trenches, the enemy has built a dense firepower network, and our troops can't rush up at all.

In order to reduce the casualties of officers and soldiers, our soldiers can only charge while crawling.Even if you are lucky enough to rush to the enemy's position, you still have to face the obstruction of the iron net.

If you want to tear through the Rhine defense line, the best way is to choose one main attack, concentrate our artillery to launch a sneak attack, and suppress the enemy's firepower in this area at the first time..."

The method is what people want to pass on. Although there is no such thing as crawling forward, the essence of crawling and charging is the same as crawling forward.

Concentrating firepower and focusing on bombing to gain regional firepower advantage is also the most suitable for the French army at the moment. From this point of view, Admiral Oudinot is still qualified.

Patrice McMahon nodded: "Very well, I have approved your battle plan. Udino, I will give you one last chance. I don't want to hear any bad news."

Frankly speaking, Patrice McMahon did not want Udinot to continue commanding the troops.But there is no way, there are only a handful of officers in the French army who are capable of commanding hundreds of thousands of troops to fight.

Among these people, Oudino's ability is also ranked high.If it weren't for the previous mistakes, another name will rise.