Chapter 745 Total War
Digomie also stood up at attention with a stunned look on his face and said: "Yes, Your Highness! It's just..."
Joseph didn't give him a chance to shirk, and turned around again He turned to Berthier and said: "General Berthier, I appoint you as the combat strategist of the Rhine Front." Conspiracy."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"In addition, please issue an order from the General Staff to appoint Lieutenant Colonel Victor de Moreau as the second commander of the Rhine Front. Major Andre Massena served as the commander of the right corps of the Rhine Front. ”
Berthier was also quite surprised, but he still nodded and said: "Yes, Your Highness. I will inform them immediately."
Joseph secretly sighed in his heart that these talented commanders did not experience the loss of officers during the Great Order. situation, so the current military ranks are very low, and old officers like Digomière can only be used to support the scene at the front desk. [Note 1]
Morrow is currently the commander of the Tunisian Army, while Massena is only the second commander of the Alpine Army.
But Joseph knew that they all had the ability to command front army-level battles.
Of course, they also need to fight to accumulate experience, especially Moro. The Rhine front will be the main battlefield for France and the Anti-French Alliance, where they can grow the fastest.
People like the Duke of Brunswick in Prussia or Wilmser in Austria could not even touch the backs of Massena and the others.
And even if they make mistakes, Berthier, the battle-hardened chief of staff, will have the backing to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
Joseph continued:
"The Rhine Front will consist of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Royal Infantry Divisions, the Royal Longsword Grenadier Regiment, and the 1st and 2nd Royal Cavalry Artillery Battalions. ..."
He mentioned the numbers of more than a dozen units in one go. Basically, they are all corps directly under the General Staff, that is, the New Army, plus the Alpine Army and the Champagne Army, which are two higher-quality units. of old regiments.
The total strength reached 110,000!
And it includes 80% of the cavalry and all the cavalry artillery in the directly affiliated corps. It is definitely the most elite force in France at present.
They will face nearly 200,000 main forces from Prussia, Austria, Hanover and other countries.
But Joseph believes that whether it is the quality of soldiers, the quality of weapons and equipment, or the ability of commanders, the French Rhine Front can crush its opponents.
So, here will be his "straight punch" directed at the anti-French alliance!
Joseph whispered to Berthier again: "Let Masséna be responsible for the overall deployment, let Moreau be responsible for the main attack, and open the situation when there is a deadlock."
"Yes, Your Highness, I will keep your instructions in mind."
In fact, Massena is now 36 years old and has served for more than 20 years, so he is a relatively experienced officer.
Joseph knew that this was the master conductor in France second only to the Emperor. However, he has not been able to give full play to his commanding talents due to various reasons in history, and now Joseph has given him this huge stage for him to display.
Joseph waited for Berthier to finish recording the order, and then pointed to the location of the Southern Netherlands on the map: "And the Southern Netherlands Front will be commanded by me personally."
This is the order that the officers are least surprised by so far.
After all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has participated in many battles from Tunisia to the Southern Netherlands and then to Silesia.
Although they believed that it was most appropriate for His Highness to be responsible for overall command at the General Staff Headquarters, it seemed that His Highness's consistent style was to personally visit the front line, so they did not comment much.
In fact, after France's major strategic points are all connected by Chap signal machines, there is not much difference in the specific location of the General Staff.
It only takes less than 50 minutes to spread the message from the easternmost part of France to the westernmost part. The most time-consuming part is the process of distributing code books to all signal towers once a week.
Joseph continued to talk about the arrangements he had already thought of: "Colonel François Lefebvre and Colonel Jourdan will fight with me.
"And the Southern Netherlands The front forces included: the 4th Royal Infantry Division, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Royal Skirmishers, and the 4th Royal Infantry Division. 1. The second artillery battalion...
"And the Artois Army, the Reims Army, the Reiter Army..."
After he finished speaking, Berthiermo forget it At a glance, the entire South Netherlands Front has only more than 20,000 troops, and 40% of them are old-style troops.
He immediately suggested: "Your Highness, although the Southern Netherlands is not the enemy's main attack direction, it is estimated that there will be more than 60,000 troops.
"The troops you lead seem to be somewhat insufficient..."
Joseph just smiled lightly: "It doesn't matter, I just need to delay the enemy for at least two months, you don't need to worry.
"If the situation is urgent, I will mobilize the Paris Legion and even the Swiss Guard to go north."
The Paris Legion is a force that defends Paris, with more than 5,000 soldiers. The Swiss Guard is responsible for the security of the Palace of Versailles and has nearly 2,000 people.
The Paris policeman is Joseph's absolute direct descendant. Even if all the garrison troops in Paris are emptied, as long as he gives an order to the police, there will be no problems with the order of Paris.
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After speaking, Joseph looked around at everyone again and said: "Next, everyone will start to formulate specific deployment details."
Bertier frowned and reminded in a low voice: "Your Highness, You seem to have forgotten that there is no army in charge of the Swiss side."
Joseph nodded: "I have not forgotten, Your Majesty the Chief of Staff. Once Major Massena has eliminated the enemy forces on the Rhine front, his army will change. Become the Swiss Front Army”
"But..."
"Don't worry, with the terrain and barrenness of Switzerland, the Austrian army may not be ready to enter Switzerland when the battle on the Rhine is over."
...
Napoleon walked out of the General Staff Headquarters a little dizzy, but his eyes were dancing with joy.
He finally got the opportunity he had dreamed of - as long as he could win a few battles in Italy, he would be promoted quickly and enter the upper class of Paris.
He took out his notebook, looked through the officer assignments of the Italian Front, and said to himself: "Major Claude Victor and Major Auguste de Marmont. His Highness seems to have great respect for them.
"Well, La Alpe, Augereau, Serurier, Meunier, Juno... can also be transferred to Italy, so the war will be much easier to fight. ”
Most of these latter were his old subordinates. Joseph asked him to choose his own people, so these officers were able to join the Italian Front.
In fact, Victor and Marmont were the most important in history. He is also Nahuang’s old partner and cooperates It will definitely feel smooth.
[Note 1] During the French Revolution, a large number of officers with noble backgrounds were worried about being beheaded by the National Convention, so they chose to flee abroad. The number accounted for the total number of French officers. More than half.
This resulted in a severe shortage of French officers at that time, so many low-level officers were promoted under the exception, and it was not uncommon for them to be promoted to three or four levels at a time. Even Napoleon's rapid promotion had factors in this aspect.
(End of this chapter)