Chapter 922: Canal Battle

  Chapter 904: The Battle for the Canal

The battlefield had the upper hand, but Admiral Molex was in no hurry at all.

In addition to symbolically launching attacks and constantly putting pressure on the French army, the Austrian army hardly made any big moves, allowing the French to deploy their troops.

Vittorio Emanuele III “looked on and was anxious” as the Austrian army did nothing while the opportunity to fight was being lost day by day.

As a graduate of the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst, Vittorio Emanuele III had no shortage of basic military skills, even though he had never led a soldier.

However, he, the king, in addition to the honorary status on the surface, the substance does not have any power of speech.

After many unsuccessful attempts to persuade Admiral Morse to launch a full-scale attack, Vittorio Emanuele III even protested to the government of Vienna, requesting a change of commanders.

Undoubtedly, such a request was naturally not supported. The Austrians appeared to have the upper hand on the southern front, not so much if they really fought their way out.

The French were not as much of a bully as the Kingdom of Sardinia and could be pressed all the way through. The complex terrain of the Italian region and the poor transportation were all problems that the Austrian army would have to face.

As long as the front pushed forward a few hundred kilometers, the Austrian army’s firepower advantage no longer exists, not the Austrian army weapons and ammunition is insufficient, the key is the transport can not keep up.

Without the firepower advantage, facing the French army occupying favorable terrain, is bound to pay a terrible price.

This has been proven in the original time and space. After the outbreak of World War I, Austria-Hungary relied on only a small number of troops to easily hang Italy, but as the front moved forward, it soon lost to the terrain and logistics, and staged the tragedy of winning first and losing later.

The conservative line of attack on the southern front was naturally tossed out by Franz. In his opinion keeping the French Italian Legion was more valuable than taking them out.

Countless cases have proved that more armies are not better, and more armies likewise mean more consumption. Although the strength of France is strong, but to maintain a few million troops is also dwarfed.

The French reinforcement of the Italian region was exactly what Franz wanted to see the most.

Central Europe battlefield needs a lot of troops, the Egyptian battlefield needs a lot of troops, the southern front and then put a lot of troops, Africa needs ……

Where was the French government going to get so many troops? With their population of 30 million or so, it would be impossible to raise such a large army.

To solve the problem of insufficient troops, the French government either had to arm the colonial natives or conscript a large number of Italians into the army.

Either way, it would lead to a decline in the fighting strength of the French army, and the more troops that were expanded, the more the fighting strength dropped.

By contrast, the Anti-French League had a much greater advantage in this regard. Although the expansion of the army will also lower the fighting strength of the troops, but the quality of the soldiers is high!

It can be said that every time the army expanded, the balance of victory tilted one point in favor of the Antifa.

The European continent is not only two big countries, if the war situation suddenly clear, will immediately usher in the intervention of various countries.

Countries will not stand idly by and watch Austria split up France, otherwise as early as 1815, France would have been dismantled to pieces, there is no need to wait until now.

Quick war seems to win beautiful, but can not really cripple France, leaving behind is endless trouble.

In addition to winning a nominal victory, Austria simply can not get much benefit. Even the unification of the German region is not necessarily possible.

No one wants to have another boss on their head unless it is absolutely necessary.

Franz wanted a Shinra Empire that everyone cried out to join, not an empire that was forcibly unified by force, with so many internal contradictions that it could split up again at any time.

As for driving out the French and liberating Italy, that was just a political slogan shouted to the Italians, and was not the purpose of the Vienna government to the end.

It was supposed to attract the French troops, and Vittorio Emanuele III’s intention was, naturally, in vain.

……

Suez Canal

Open the map and you will know that whoever controls this golden waterway gets the initiative in this war.

From the outbreak of the war, Austria sent troops from the Austrian Sudan, Libya, Sinai Peninsula and other areas to besiege French Egypt.

The roaring sound of artillery fire continues, and the Suez Canal, which used to have thousands of sails in the past, has fallen silent at this moment.

Without the passage of ships, the harbor was naturally depressed. Coupled with the cause of the war, a large number of people fled to escape the war, the Suez port at the moment the most French soldiers.

Unlike others, John, who was quick-witted, did not follow the run, but expanded his tavern.

Soldiers are human beings, also need to relax, especially in times of war, but also need an outlet, wine is never missing.

The tavern’s business not only did not because of the war depression down, but became more and more prosperous, let John can not stop talking.

Really hope that this war can continue, the best is to play a heaven and earth, like the Hundred Years’ War like ……

The only shortcoming is that many French soldiers do not have alcohol, a few cups of wine down to lose themselves, often fights and brawls.

Mistakes are inevitable, people may be able to avoid, the tavern tableware, tables, chairs and benches suffered.

Just moments ago, John had handled a brawl. Said to handle, in essence, what he did was also just notify the officers to come and collect the people.

Unfortunately, this time the person in question was poor again, and after searching his entire body, he still didn’t even have a single franc.

No money means no money, and there was really nothing John could do about it except to resign himself to his misfortune and be forced to agree to a deferred compensation.

Here is the front line, there is no telling when these unlucky people will receive their lunch. Dead men don’t pay their debts.

If it was just these losses, John could care less. Wool comes from the sheep, because of the war the prices in Suez have already gone up.

What really worried John was the situation on the battlefield. He didn’t even need to go out to find out the news, just listening to the conversations of the drinkers, he was able to analyze three or five points.

So and so troops suffered heavy casualties, so and so people survived, so and so unlucky person ……

Regardless of the need for secrecy, a few cups of wine are given to shake out.

The speaker has no heart, the listener has the intention.

The battle for the Suez Canal continues, the final victory or defeat John can not be judged, but the French army casualties is an indisputable fact.

The port of Suez was also the front line, and once the Austrians used it as a breakthrough, the tavern business could not carry on.

Although John loved money, he valued his life even more. Guns on the battlefield have no eyes, if you do not pay attention, you will see God.

The government of Paris had issued a universal mobilization order, and at the moment of crisis, the governor of Egypt had the right to enlist all Frenchmen in his territory.

A week earlier, the Governor-General of Egypt had issued a draft order. According to the regulations, John was long overdue to report into the barracks.

But there are exceptions to every rule, and privilege is everywhere. With the help of the franc, John managed to avoid military service on the grounds that he was weak and sickly.

Unfortunately, dodging the first day does not necessarily mean that you can dodge the fifteenth. With years of life experience, John was certain that once the situation on the battlefield worsened, the colonial government’s conscription would be further increased.

Perhaps by then, even the step of physical examination will be saved, as long as they are not missing arms and legs, they will all have to go to the front line.

This is also the reason why the rich people are leaving the port of Suez. We are all people of status, how can we go to war and sell our lives?

Even though everyone had faith in France, it was in high hopes for the homeland, not for the Egyptian colonial government.

Without waiting for John to make up his mind, the war spread to the port of Suez. The Suez Canal was still too narrow, a few hundred meters, to be out of range of the cannons.

With the constant sound of rumbling, shells falling from the sky began to ravage the emerging city, as if it were a meteor shower.

Without any hesitation, John joined the fleeing army. From this night onwards, the city had officially turned into a military harbor.

……

“Fick, you idiot. I asked you to prepare boats, what’s the point of having just a few raggedy contraptions that won’t sink on their own if you put them in the water?”

A middle-aged officer growled at his men, it was obvious that he was really pissed off. Originally, he had prepared a good sneak attack on Suez Port, but in the end, when he arrived at the place, he found that there were no boats at all.

Fick’s young officer hurriedly explained, ”Colonel, this can’t be blamed on me. The Suez Canal is too narrow and the enemy’s artillery can cover it fully.

With a distance of a few hundred meters, any gunner is able to hit. The big ships can’t be hidden at all, so we can only get some rafts to make do.

But you can rest assured that the big ships of the French on the other side, were also destroyed by us, and there is no need to worry about them launching a sneak attack.”

After hearing this explanation, the middle-aged officer’s face became more and more ugly. Without enough ships, merely relying on a bunch of rafts to cross the river, the difficulty involved could be imagined.

Unlike other regions, the Sinai Peninsula was not a good place. If it wasn’t for the Vienna government’s early implementation of land fallow, relocating the population and curbing the expansion of desertification, it was estimated that even the troops’ drinking water could not be provided locally.

Except for a few strongholds of the garrison, the Sinai Peninsula is no man’s land. There are no people, and trying to figure out a local solution to the ship problem is simply not possible.

As for getting the mainland to send ships over, it was easy, but the problem was that without waiting for the ships to enter the canals, they were going to be destroyed under enemy fire.

At a distance of two to three hundred meters, it was simply not too easy to hit a ship. In this regard, even with the ships, the crossing of the river would not be smooth.

(End of chapter)