Chapter 831 Massena is never simple
Bruner shook his head repeatedly:
"Oh God, our offensive plan may have to be delayed until next year."
As he was talking, Major St. Ellair, the battalion commander of the cavalry, urged the horse to come and said to Macena, "Mr. Commander, more than 25,000 Prussians crossed the Moselle this morning, and there are more updates to follow up. Many enemy troops gathered on the north bank of the river. This is the latest reconnaissance report."
Bruna looked at Massena: "It seems that we have to take all our troops back to the Luxembourg Fortress for defense..."
As for the information currently in hand, the Duke of Brunswick has 85,000 soldiers, 40,000 German state coalition forces that are about to arrive, plus the Duke of York on the way, the enemy will concentrate more than 150,000 troops on the front line of Luxembourg!
France has only 65,000 troops here.
There is no need to expect an attack, and being able to hold on is considered a victory.
St. Elare turned over and dismounted, nodded in agreement: "The location of Luxembourg City is almost the best. As long as you make good use of the Betlius Fort, you can persist in sending reinforcements to the country."
There is only a narrow pass to the north of Luxembourg City, and a strong fortress guards the pass.
The Betlius Fort is the core part of the fortress. It can accommodate thousands of soldiers, is equipped with more than 120 artillery pieces of various caliber, and has a tunnel system connecting water sources inside, which is absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack.
But Massena stared at the map unfolded by Staff Wassel and thought:
"Our previous deployments were to facilitate the counterattack against Ferdinand from the flanks."
He stroked his fingers through the narrow strip on the west side of Luxembourg: "Our front line has been unfolded for 18 kilometers and suddenly retracted to Luxembourg City, and he will likely contact the enemy on the way. He will be attacked by the enemy's superior forces."
According to the established combat plan on the Luxembourg front line, the French army's main force was more than 50,000 people hiding along the western border of Luxembourg in the middle of the Ardenne Plateau.
When the Duke of Brunswick attacks the Luxembourg Fortress, they will launch a counterattack from their waist and behind them, destroying the coalition's rear troop and baggage troops.
If the Duke of Brunswick returns not in time enough, his main force's retreat will be cut off. By then, he would not be able to chew the strong Luxembourg fortress, and he would only have the result of surrender.
However, the coalition's military strength advantage is too huge now, and if the French rashly attacked the Duke of Brunswick, they are likely to be surrounded.
Brunner said anxiously: "But the 15,000 soldiers in Luxembourg City alone cannot stop so many enemy troops. We can only take the risk to return to defense!"
Massena shook her head: "I remember His Highness the Prince once said that the worst tactic is passive defense. It will only allow the enemy to calmly exert their combat effectiveness.
"Also, it is difficult for reinforcements to come in a short period of time. If you are besieged in the Luxembourg Fortress, you will not even be able to obtain supplies."
Bruner and St. Elare looked at each other and became even more anxious: "What should we do? Should we withdraw Verdun?"
"What are you talking about?" Massena glanced at him angrily, then looked at the map, "Perhaps we can use the terrain to actively defend."
"Active defense?"
"Yes," said Massena, "to fight at the defensive positions we choose, while leaving ample room for detour.
“For example, it’s OK to be northwest of Luxembourg.
"There is the Arden Plateau there, which is very suitable for condescending defense. At the same time, Bastogne can also provide our army with a steady stream of supplies from behind."
Bastogne is a transportation hub in southeastern South Netherlands, only more than ten kilometers away from Luxembourg.
"If the coalition offensive is too fierce, we will shrink westward, and the Arden Plateau has a range of dozens of kilometers for our army to maneuver. "After that, we must use the advantage of mobility, pull the coalition's formation, find gaps to carry out surprise attacks, and gradually accumulate advantages .
"The biggest advantage of doing this is that we don't need to mobilize troops on a large scale."
The French army is now on standby in the abdomen of the Arden Plateau, just arrange the defense line on the spot, avoiding the dangers encountered by the enemy while moving and superior.
Brunner nodded repeatedly when he heard this. It was indeed much better than defending Luxembourg. To take a step back, even if the Luxembourg Fortress is really broken, at least its main force still has a chance to withdraw to the South Netherlands, rather than being surrounded and killed in the fortress.
He suddenly frowned again and looked at Massena and said, "But there is another most important question - what if Ferdinand continues to move south without launching an attack on the Ardennes front line?"
Massena smiled: "It's very simple. I deliberately leaked our army's deployment. The Pu'ao spy will help us..."
After he finished talking about his plan, he saw that Bruna and St. Elaer had no objection, so he asked Vasel to submit it to the General Staff for approval - this is actually a process, and the Legion commanders of this era have very many Great decision-making power in the face of war.
Massena suddenly remembered something and asked Wassel: "Where have the troops of Thuringian, Bavaria and other countries gone now?"
"Based on our intelligence, the Thuringian and Hessen-Kassel troops should have arrived in Kobrentz. The troops of Bavaria and the more eastern states are even further away."
Koblenz is an important town and ferry on the Rhine River. It is basically a place to pass from North Germany to Luxembourg.
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
Massena asked again, "Which legion is we on the north side of Clevo?"
Wassel recalled and said, "It should be the Udino Legion, Commander. The second and fourth regiments of the Second Infantry Division, the Sixth Scattered Corps, and a cavalry artillery company. ”
There are less than 5,000 people in total. Massena hesitated for a moment, and ordered: "Let the Udino Legion find the gaps in the enemy's army, cross the Saul River eastward, and attack the Thuringian army from the area between Fort Neuer to Georolstein."
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Thuringia and Hessen-Cassel's army should have more than 10,000 people, but if they attack them during the march, there is still a high possibility of success.
If they meet with the Prussian army, the combat effectiveness they can exert exponentially under the command of the Duke of Brunswick.
So taking risks is necessary.
And if we can go deep into Trier to defeat the enemy, it will cause a significant blow to the morale of the coalition forces.
Massena judged that the enemy would definitely not expect that the French army would dare to cross the border to attack when they were under military strength, which was also his confidence in taking risks.
...
Cities in northern Luxembourg, Dickich.
According to Massena's original plan, this was an important battlefield for him to launch a counterattack against the coalition forces, but at this time it had been occupied by the coalition forces and became the headquarters of the Duke of Brunswick.
A major officer in charge of intelligence walked into the Duke of Brunswick's office under the guidance of his servant and saluted: "Mr. Marshal, according to reliable intelligence, the French are planning a huge raid on our army. ”
(This chapter ends)