Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

On May 1868, 5, two armies of the Prussian army, totaling about 1 men, faced off against the French Army of Châlons, about [-] men.

Moltke had fought countless tough battles in his life, taking advantage of various advantages, using long hands and short hands, and various tactics to knock the enemy's head off.

And today Moltke will usher in his most glorious battle. There will be no favorable terrain, and there will be no messy and false strategies. Moltke's biggest advantage now is his military strength, which is twice that of the French army and more ferocious. of firepower.

In the main direction of attack, Moltke deployed all artillery and his three armies, about [-] soldiers and [-] engineers.

Dust was flying around the Sedan Fortress, and Prussian engineers were repairing the fortifications overnight. McMahon realized that the situation was getting worse and worse, so he could only order the French army to break out from the direction where the fortifications had not yet been built.

McMahon did not spend all his money on a general offensive at one go. He initially searched for [-] infantrymen to break out of the encirclement. Of course, these [-] soldiers would definitely be seeking death if they ran into the Prussian position.

You were already at a huge military disadvantage, so you divided your forces. McMahon's [-] men were cut and surrounded by the Prussian cavalry. They were basically wiped out. Only some of them escaped back to Sedan. McMahon did not give up and decided to concentrate his forces and try again. Breakout.

Immediately another [-] soldiers gathered and launched a fierce attack on the position in the direction of Bittenfeld. The defenses here were not well built and the defense line was shaken. Coupled with the large number of new soldiers and the lack of artillery assistance, the French army once occupied Forward position.

But this kind of partial victory did not have much effect. Although the Prussian army was repulsed, the French army could not consolidate the front. When Rudolf's reinforcements came, the French army was pushed back again. The huge disadvantage in numbers still caused the French army to be beaten back. McMahon's operational errors led to this series of tactical failures.

Sedan Castle was built in the [-]th century and was the most magnificent fortress at the end of the Middle Ages. It was not easy to storm it when it was already very strong.

There are also many fortress cannons inside, which cannot be moved, but can prevent the Prussian artillery array from bombarding them at will.

For this reason, Old Moltke ordered to dig through the ground, kept digging, and hid the cannon in the trench. Through simple trenches and tracks, he moved the cannon step by step to the foot of Sedan City to fight tunnel battles with the French.

Basically everyone in Prussia was equipped with an engineer shovel. Specialized engineers were responsible for key tracks, and the rest of the infantry could also prepare trenches.

Anyway, remember one sentence, it is not that trench warfare is outdated, but that our trenches are not dug deep enough. As long as our trenches are dug deep enough, the tanks on the opposite side will not be able to drive through.

As an expert in trench warfare, Moltke Lao knew a lot about this and invented many advanced methods of using trenches, so that the trenches could not only squat, but also be used for counterattacks. The next step was continuous bombardment of the French positions.

The French army at the top of the city of Sedan made little movement at first, because they did not have enough artillery shells and could not get supplies from the outside world, so they had to use them sparingly. However, the domestic arsenal in Prussia was overflowing with productivity, and a large number of orders and wealth were poured into the military industry. Enterprises have awakened those sleeping capitalists.

Moreover, now that the country is mobilizing, the working hours of workers have been extended, and the capitalists are smiling crookedly, but August certainly cannot let them earn too much, so the income tax has also been raised a lot.

Because if this group of people learns to make money by selling arms, they will definitely make trouble all over the world. They will stir up racial and geographical conflicts everywhere, deceive the war, and then sell weapons. After all, this guy can make much more money than in peacetime.

Therefore, we can give them a little more money during the war, but not more, otherwise there will be endless troubles.

But now it was too late when the French army turned back and prepared to counterattack with artillery. If the artillery shells could not hit [-]%, they would basically not cause much damage. The trenches could well protect the soldiers hiding underneath.

This was a huge tactical victory, and the balance of victory had tilted towards Prussia.

McMahon's operation was also somewhat inoperable. His tentative attack did not make a hole, but caused heavy losses to his side. He still couldn't spare it.

McMahon didn't dare to bet all his wealth on whether he could win, or he didn't think he could win. His counterattacks were very weak, and he was probably at the end of his rope.

France's mobilization system is imperfect. The problem of the standing army system makes it impossible for France to mobilize quickly during war. If the standing army is exhausted, the remaining recruits will all be strong men caught on the spot.

There is no use for eggs. They are just for eating popcorn. Compared with the Prussian recruits, their combat effectiveness is much worse.

Of course, the Prussian recruits are naturally a little timid. This is everyone's first time, so of course there is no reason not to pee here, but compared to Napoleon III opposite, Auguste here is much more appealing.

Just like Bittenfeld once shouted, Moltke also raised his arms and shouted, "For His Highness August, for Prussia!"

The recruit immediately pulled up his pants, picked up his rifle, pumped up his blood, and prepared for phase rush. Any negative emotions were not a problem.

During the Prussian bombardment, the French frontline positions were already in chaos. There were too many people. McMahon could not command them by himself. Moreover, many of the new recruits had peed. McMahon could not make up some reasonable nonsense. to drum up emotion.

You mean for Napoleon III? Don’t you know what kind of virtue Napoleon III was?

If you say that people don’t respect Napoleon III, that’s certainly not justified. Everyone indeed respects Napoleon III.

But Napoleon III himself had little self-confidence. This was his own attribute. He had a low self-esteem when he won three, and he couldn't hold his head high. As a commander, you are no longer confident. Why should you ask others to be confident?

Napoleon can only look forward to his black technology, which is the large-caliber cannon and machine gun that he can take out. However, both of these things have problems. Although the cannon is very powerful, it is too heavy. Rats, and the output is not high, there are only five of them. One shot can make dust ten meters high.

The range of the machine gun is too close. If the Prussian army does not charge, this big thing is actually useless.

Tina personally came to the rear position of the artillery and took a look. It was less than five kilometers away from the French city wall, and some artillery shells could be seen in the distance. She wanted to see the Prussian army conquering Sedan at the closest distance. .

On May 5, after Moltke completed the final preparations, countless Prussian artillery began to bombard. The dense artillery shells hit the French city wall. The sound of the artillery was deafening. This was the largest artillery array ever launched by Prussia.

The impregnable Sedan Fortress was blown to pieces by artillery shells like a house of cards, dust was flying, and body parts and corpses were mixed in.