Chapter 250 The Enemy in Paris
The water of the Rhine River is still flowing quietly, and the Prussian and German Allied Forces have set up a solid defense line on the east bank of the Rhine River.
However, there has not been much movement on the French side so far. The French are not in place yet, and Prussia is naturally not in a hurry. Mobilized troops and equipment from the rear are constantly coming to the front through railways and canals.
In the frontline headquarters, Moltke personally introduced his combat plan to William I and others: "This is the Alsace and Lorraine regions, and Metz and Strasbourg are separated by the Vosges Mountains. , the French railway capabilities in Strasbourg, according to the data analysis of our staff department, there is no way to complete the entire mobilization of the French army, so Metz in the northwest will share this pressure, and The French army will also be divided into two parts. If we take the initiative to attack, we will also be affected by the Vosges Mountains and disperse the main force. This is obviously disadvantageous to us. Therefore, I advocate standing up on the Rhine River to wait for the French attack. With the help of The defense of the Rhine is also easier."
William I asked: "How is the troop concentration now?"
"Currently, the Prussian active-duty army has been assembled, and rear conscripts are being recruited from all over the country, but it will still take some time for the states. The Third Army in the south and the main force of Bavaria have not yet arrived at the front line." Moltke said.
The Prussian army communicated information very smoothly, thanks to their telegraph network. Siemens, founded by Werner von Siemens, the "Father of German Electricity," built Prussia's most advanced telegraph network at the time, allowing the General Staff to know the exact location of armies, divisions, and regiments down to the hour. After experiencing the last Austro-Prussian War, Prussia has been promoting the laying of the telegraph network to the entire German region. With the help of the Customs Union, the southern German region has also been popularized.
“For some unknown reason, Austria transferred its main forces from the northern border area, so this time we mobilized more forces from the east to deal with the French, and waited for the French to fall into their trap.” Mao Qi said excitedly.
From the winter of 1868 to 1869, Moltke began to formulate a plan for combat against France, so from a personal perspective, Moltke had waited for this day for too long.
In fact, shortly after the establishment of the North German Federation, Moltke was trying to take the initiative to go to war with France, because France was replacing the new Chassepo breech-loading rifle at that time. This rifle far surpassed the Germans in performance. As for the rifle, if France is allowed to complete the replacement, its combat effectiveness will rise to a higher level.
However, Bismarck strongly opposed it at the time: "If we proactively declare war on France, it will turn into a war of aggression and warmongering. Not only will the French share the same hatred, but other countries will not support our actions, not even within the North German Federation." Support us."
This matter was delayed. The result was that in 1870, Bismarck humiliated the entire France with just one telegram. The French people were so angry that they declared war on Prussia.
Moltke was still on vacation when France declared war. Moltke urgently ended his vacation, organized the Prussian army to start mobilizing as planned, and equipped and transported 300,000 soldiers to the border within 18 days.
"Austria still needs to be careful. I don't believe they will be reconciled to the last failure. However, so far, I have not heard of the Austrian government's stance. This is really uncertain about their plans." William I said .
“It may also be that they are afraid of the public opinion in the German region. The Austrians know that they can’t do anything. Whether they support France or not, they cannot stop Prussia’s actions in South Germany. The only thing they can do now is Only by allowing France to completely defeat us without taking action can we prevent us from unifying the German region.”
The reason is very clear. If Austria makes any move to interfere in the Franco-Prussian War and France wins, Austria will become a "traitor". And if Austria really interferes, it may not be able to defeat Prussia. Prussia can summon Italy to launch a north-south attack on Austria, and Tsarist Russia will Take action.
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The gloomy weather in Paris represents the mood of Napoleon III. After declaring war on Prussia, Napoleon III found that he had been deceived by his men.
The speed of gathering French troops is not ideal. Compared with Prussia's compulsory military service system, France focuses more on professional soldiers. In terms of individual combat capabilities, professional soldiers are generally better than compulsory soldiers.
There is no doubt about the combat capabilities of French soldiers, but the situation France is facing now is the perennial colonial war, which has caused French troops to be too dispersed. Starting from Napoleon III, France pursued a unique neutrality policy in Europe, which was based on the lessons of being besieged in the Napoleonic era.
Unable to exert its influence in Europe, France quickly followed the British in its colonies. At the same time, Napoleon III also actively cooperated with the British, such as the Crimean War, which had almost nothing to do with French interests, and the Anglo-French coalition in the Far East.
In addition to cooperating with the British, France itself also ended up in Mexico (supporting Maximiliano and interfering in Mexico's internal affairs), Southeast Asia, North Africa and many other colonies. At the same time, under Napoleon III's personal micro-management, the Kingdom of Italy was born, which severely defeated the Austrian Empire and allowed Prussia to challenge the Austrian Empire. In addition, the previous Crimean War severely damaged Tsarist Russia.
Two powerful enemies during the anti-French war were eliminated by the French. This was undoubtedly a great victory. Although the newly established Kingdom of Italy cut off France's traditional expansion route, it was not a big problem.
Colonial activities have led to the dispersion of French power, and it will take time to transfer colonial troops back to France. But now that the war machine has been launched, there is no time, and no more words will help.
The most important thing is that France has always had its own ambitions for the land on the Rhine, so there has always been a large number of French troops on the German-French border, which can be temporarily assembled. Although the number is not as large as that of the German Alliance, France has always been one against two. The generals were also confident about the existence of the army. Since the military said there was no problem, Napoleon was not in a hurry. What really made Napoleon III angry was the logistics department.
“You trash, the frontline troops have been waiting for so long, and you haven’t sent the supplies to the frontline yet? Do you want the soldiers of the empire to compete with the Prussians on an empty stomach!”
“ Your Majesty, there is a reason for calming down. The declaration of war was too sudden, and our system is currently unable to operate at full capacity. After all, more than 100,000 troops suddenly gathered on the front line, and the required material consumption is huge. The logistics department is already coordinating with the railway to fight for it. More trains will transport supplies to the front line. "
"In other words, you never had a plan for the war in Germany?" Napoleon III angrily said.
The emperor was angry, and the people below were silent. Looking at these wine bags and rice bags in front of him, Napoleon wanted to send them to the front line immediately to serve as cannon fodder.
After calming down, Napoleon III said: "I don't care what methods you use, we must ensure that the supply of frontline materials is in place within ten days. If we can't do it, then everyone in the logistics department will no longer have to work, and everyone will give in." I will send you to the front line and use the supplies you have prepared to fight the Germans."
After training the logistics department, Napoleon turned around and began to reprimand the intelligence department: "And you, when I asked where the troops were? You actually told me that I didn't know, probably, maybe these words? This is your intelligence department work ability?”
“Your Majesty, the main reason is that the overseas troops are too scattered. , the distance is so long that information can only be transmitted by ship on the sea, and it takes a lot of time to go back and forth. North Africa and Rome are relatively close, but other areas may not be able to be contacted within ten days and a half. "
"Then you should know something about the enemy, right? You still haven't figured out the size and organization of the Prussian army? "
"Prussia is a country that cannot be speculated based on common sense. Everyone knows that all Prussians are soldiers, and it is not surprising how many soldiers they have. If we add the German states, this workload will be huge for our department. It’s too difficult now, we simply don’t have enough manpower.”
The intelligence department completely passed the blame. Government departments were all of the same character. Napoleon III was so angry that he couldn't do anything about them. He knew very well that the enemy was in Paris, not Berlin. The other two factions, the royal family and the Republicans are all hoping that something will happen to them.
(End of this chapter)