Chapter 351 Past
Samuel: "You have to be even more careful when you are in a strange environment, especially the environment in Eritrea. During the day we can overwhelm the natives, but what if it is night! Then we face Although the grain road was cut off and The risk of being attacked by surprise."
Zarpeto thought he had determined why the Kingdom of Italy failed in the Italian-Austrian War. Even the "military geniuses" of the kingdom were so timid, how could they fight against it. What about the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire!
So Sarpeto said with some contempt: "Hahaha, General! You think too highly of the Abyssinians. Can they still hold spears against the heavily armed Italian army?"
Seeing how blind Sarpeto was, Samuel shook his head and said: "Mr. Sarpeto, if you think so, you are totally wrong!"
Sarpeto: "What's your advice, General?"
Samuel: "Do you know how I made my fortune in the war?"
Sarpeto shook his head.
Samuel recalled: "When I first joined the army, because the kingdom was facing the threat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the recruitment was very hasty, and my company could be said to be a group of people who had just been laid down from the fields. Composed of farmers with hoes, they can't even tell the difference between left and right, and they are even more confused about military orders. I am at a loss, and I am also a young man who knows nothing about military affairs. Do you think such an army has any hope against the well-trained Austro-Hungarian Empire? "
Sapeto shook his head and said firmly: "No."
In fact, he himself served as a soldier and knew these things relatively well, otherwise he would not have gone to Eritrea to colonize after retiring.
Samuel continued: "This is not the worst. Even the stupidest people know how to advance and retreat on the battlefield. When farmers get weapons in their hands, even if they cannot aim accurately, they can still The enemy is causing pressure, but you know what! Only half of the people in my company are assigned guns, and there are even old antiques left over from the Napoleonic era, but even they are old antiques. For some people, this is a luxury. During training, everyone can only take turns. It is not until the time to go to the front line that a batch of rifles are withdrawn from the front line. Various problems continue, and some simply cannot be used. This is for For me, who is just starting out, this is simply a disaster.”
Zarpeto said in disbelief: “It’s not like the kingdom doesn’t even have rifles. !”
Samuel: “I thought so too, but something like this really happened to me. When I reported this problem to my superiors, the fat-headed battalion commander at the time It was told to me that the kingdom was ill-prepared to face the surprise attack by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but in fact our mobilization had been carried out long before the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war. At that time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no roots I haven't called them yet."
Sapeto yelled: "These damn corrupt officials! They still haven't made any progress after decades! It was the same when I was a soldier, but then. It’s not that we don’t even have guns anymore, but we are embezzling soldiers’ funds. I bet that your guns may not have even left the factory, and the accounts were wiped out!”
Samuel: "Haha, I bet that most of the soldiers did not get the military expenses for the Italian-Austrian War. In addition to those who sacrificed their lives, there was also the shortage of funds after the war, which has been in arrears. This was because the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not ask Italy "
After hearing this, Sarpeto changed his view of Samuel. He respectfully asked Samuel: "General, in this case, how did you defeat the Austro-Hungarian army? ”
“It’s simple, sneak attack!”
Samuel: “Yes, it’s disgraceful, but it’s me. The winning secrets, after all, when the life and death of the Italian Kingdom is at stake, there is no need to think too much about the choice of tactics.”
In this era, European countries fought like this. They preached the so-called spirit of chivalry and defeated the enemy with dignity. Although in actual wars, there were always people who broke the rules. The most typical example was the students of the Hechingen Military Academy who were keen on "sneak attacks" and "guerrillas" , This has a lot to do with the textbooks they study. A large number of Eastern military classics have been added to the textbooks to broaden the horizons of the students at the Hechingen Military Academy. However, when everyone starts a war, they mainly compete on the frontal battlefield.
Samuel: "The enemies I face in my area are mainly the coalition forces of the two kingdoms of Austria and Hungary. I know that the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are well-trained, but many of their troops are organized according to ethnic groups, so , In terms of command, Austria definitely cannot be perfect, they will make mistakes frequently, and the performance of the Austro-Hungarian Army also confirms my thoughts."
"The Austro-Hungarian Army often makes mistakes. The troops acted contrary to common sense, which allowed me to seize the opportunity. In the early days, due to inferior equipment, the troops I led often launched attacks on the Austro-Hungarian Empire at night, and used the darkness to reach the vicinity of the Austro-Hungarian army. , take the initiative to engage them in close combat. The Austrian Warndel rifle is very advanced. Not only is it faster to load and fire, but its accuracy is also much higher than ours. Not to mention the Warndel rifle, even the Hungarian Lorenz rifle is better than the one in our hands. They are ragged and advanced, and they are also supported by artillery of various calibers, so I know that the only way to compete with the Austro-Hungarian Empire is through close combat."
Sappeto: "This is indeed the only way. Otherwise..."
Samuel: "Otherwise, we will suffer huge casualties, and we will not cause the same trauma to the enemy. This is only possible if we use several times the superior force and fill it with more lives. It was a trivial victory, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire is already larger than us, and if this continues, it will become increasingly detrimental to the Kingdom of Italy. This is also the lesson I learned when I fought against the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the first time.”
"General, you have failed too!" "It's not a failure. It's just my lack of experience on the battlefield for the first time, which caused some losses. After seeing that it couldn't be done, I changed my strategy in time. In fact, we didn't have much trouble in the first place. Action, the artillery fire of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not give us a chance to launch a large-scale attack."
"Then how did you deal with the enemy's artillery fire?"
"With help? Terrain, retreat in an orderly manner, do not confront the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the day, and recover the position at night."
"Then how do you respond to the order from your superiors! If the superiors do not let you retreat, resist to the end? ”
Samuel laughed out loud when he heard Sarpeto's words: "Hahaha, do you expect orders from above! In fact, the Italian army has been retreating, the command system has long been gone, and everyone is running for their lives. My earliest The battalion commander disappeared when the war broke out, but they didn't know that the faster they escaped, the easier it would be to be wiped out by the Austro-Hungarian army. Seeing Italy's future The morale of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was greatly increased, so when I commanded the troops, I never synchronized with the friendly forces. Even if I wanted to escape, I could not let the Austro-Hungarian Empire seize the loopholes and let the pursuers use their weapons. "
"If the command system fails, how do you obtain ammunition and other supplies?"
Samuel: " To put it bluntly, the Kingdom's supplies for the cannon fodder troops are completely non-existent, so my troops mainly rely on captured weapons from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Warndel rifles are much more reliable than the weapons we produce ourselves... This is also The reason why I don’t underestimate the Abyssinian Empire is that when I faced the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire army, I also used a lot of cold weapons. Weapons, in hand-to-hand combat, the machete is much more reliable than the kingdom’s antique rifle. I can deal with the Austro-Hungarian army in this way, so why can’t the natives use the same method to deal with me?”
Samuel himself is familiar with this! Damn, he didn’t believe that the Abyssinian Empire, which also had a history of thousands of years and a population of tens of millions, didn’t have people like him.
After hearing Samuel’s experience, Sarpeto was in awe of the young general in front of him: “General Samuel, you are a real soldier!”
Samuel sighed: "I just did what a soldier should do, not what they call a military genius."
Samuel remained humble, but Sarpeto admired the young man even more : "Your Majesty General, I used to be a soldier of the Kingdom. After retiring, I made some achievements in Eritrea. I am quite familiar with the local area. Now I am starting to I will fully support and cooperate with all your orders."
Samuel: "Mr. Sarpeto, thank you for your support. I really need the experience of an elder like you in Eritrea."
So Samuel began to ask Sarpeto about various aspects of the Abyssinian Empire and the situation of surrounding forces.
Zarpeto: "Speaking of the area around the Abyssinian Empire, because of the opening of the Suez Canal, there are indeed many new forces nearby. In addition to Italy, there are also Britain and France, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. In addition, there is the East African Kingdom in the south, which should be under the influence of the Germans.”
Samuel: "The Kingdom of East Africa? The one related to Austria!"
Samuel remembered that when the Kingdom of East Africa was established last year, the first one to support it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was Germany. people.
“There is some relationship, but the problem is not big. As long as we don’t provoke them, it doesn’t matter. The monarch of this East African kingdom is Prince Constantine of the Hohenzollern family, so I think they should have a closer relationship with Germany. Better, and Prussia has a good relationship with our Kingdom of Italy. If the communication is good, they may be able to provide some help to us. "
Samuel: "That's good, I'm just worried that if they are with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they will hinder our actions. "
Actually, there is no such thing in East Africa. As long as you pay attention to the Kingdom of Italy, it doesn't matter even if Italy turns the Abyssinian Empire upside down. The Boers are the top priority of the East African Kingdom.
Later, Samuel asked Sarpeto for a lot of information, covering all aspects of the Abyssinian Empire, but Sarpeto, who couldn't even handle the port of Assab, didn't know much about Abyssinia.
Samuel: "We still know too little about the Abyssinian Empire. In this way, we will start with intelligence. After thoroughly studying the Abyssinian Empire, we will formulate a reliable plan. Plan, the future of the kingdom does not allow us to make mistakes.”
(End of this chapter)