Chapter 943: Eating from the Enemy
Chapter 924: Eating on the Enemy
In front of nature, human beings are vulnerable. The Battle of the Rhine continues, but the intensity of the war, is limited by the snow.
It’s not that the attacking French army doesn’t try hard, it’s just that the icy weather is too annoying. It not only affects the frontline offensive, but also increases the difficulty of logistical transportation.
Even if the two million troops did nothing, the daily consumption of supplies was an astronomical figure, let alone fighting.
Facts once again proved that fighting deep into enemy territory was not that simple.
That’s right, Belgium and the Rhineland region are both conveniently located areas with well-established railroad networks, the problem is that the Allied forces destroyed the roads when they retreated ah!
It is always easier to destroy than to build. After occupying these areas, the first thing the French did was to repair the roads.
After more than a month of hard work, the highway has basically been restored to open, the railroad is also almost repaired. The road was almost finished, but unfortunately, it was met with a heavy snowfall.
The bad weather affects the logistic transportation, which has become the biggest challenge for the French army, even more troublesome than the machine gun trenches of the Austrian army.
After all, the machine gun trench tactics are no longer powerful, that can only be defended on the spot. With the technology of these days, there is no possibility of holding a machine gun and charging.
Can block the French army’s front road, but can not threaten the lifeblood of the French army. Logistics is different, if something really goes wrong, the two million French troops will be in danger.
Looking out the window, Marshal Patrice McMahon sighed. This war had broken out in such a hurry that France was not prepared at all.
The huge French Empire actually did not even have enough uniforms for the winter, who could imagine that? In the end, the nationals had to be mobilized to donate cotton clothes, and only then did they barely solve the problem of keeping the soldiers warm.
It is not that the French industry is not strong, as the world’s second largest textile country, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, a few million sets of winter clothing in a month to get it done.
The problem lies in the raw materials, France’s cotton textile industry seventy percent of the raw materials from Egypt, the outbreak of war in Egyptian cotton production is finished.
Such a large gap, not so easy to solve. Even if you want to buy from the international market, you can not find enough sources.
You know that these days cotton is the same as food through hard goods, the vast majority of producers have a fixed partner, want to take love is to pay a big price.
Capitalists do not have such a strong sense of the big picture, in the case of uncertainty about the continuation of the war, invested huge sums of money to grab cotton, the return and risk is completely disproportionate.
It is important to realize that the French were very optimistic about the war, and mainstream opinion generally believed that the French army would win within two to three months.
There was no need to invest huge sums of money to take the risk, as the stockpile would last for such a short period of time.
Theoretically, if no one hoarded, in the case of rational distribution, France is not now lack of supplies.
There is no way, the heavens and the earth are bigger than the greatest interests. After the outbreak of war, the price of goods is rubbing up, every day dragged on, another new price.
No one would have a problem with money, and against this background, the bureaucratic efficiency of the Parisian government was naturally not high.
Raising supplies in the early stage is too slow, which directly led to the French army did not send enough supplies to the front before the onset of winter, the snow a big reduction in the efficiency of transportation, the problem arose.
“Marshal, because of the snow, the transportation convoy that was supposed to arrive today is just now arriving in Trier, and is expected to be delayed by a week.
This is already the third time this month that supplies have been delayed in arriving, since the snowfall began, our supplies have never arrived on time.”
Major General John, who is in charge of the logistical transportation of the French army, reported with a bitter face.
Compared to the fat job of logistic distribution, the one in charge of logistic transportation is much more miserable, not only do they have to build their own roads, but they also have to face guerrilla attacks, and now they have to fight against the bad weather.
If this was the only thing that mattered, the big deal was to suffer a little bit, but the transportation was also a lot of oil, enough to make up for everyone’s broken hearts.
The problem is that the people in charge of transportation below are not so obedient, and they will strike if the task is too heavy. After all, even if the oil is abundant, it will not be shared with them.
There is no way, local conscription of laborers, or the use of prisoners of war is too risky, there is no telling when they will hook up with the guerrillas. Even if they don’t hook up with the guerrillas, the French army can’t stand a passive laborer.
For the sake of logistical security, the people in charge of transportation are all their own people, once these people make a fuss, the officers can only be pacified.
Receiving this bad news, Patrice McMahon frowned, secretly calculating.
The French army has not long pushed the battle line to the Rhine River line, and often suffered heavy losses from enemy air raids, the reserves of supplies are very limited.
From the beginning of the snowfall, the French army’s supplies fell into a state of not being able to make ends meet. Even if the intensity of the front line firefighting is reduced in recent times, the consumption of supplies is reduced, but also can not last long.
The consumption of ammunition has decreased, but the consumption of heating materials has increased. It is true that the Rhineland produces coal, but the Germans blew up the coal mines before withdrawing, and it will take time to restore the production capacity.
The most important thing was that the locals were not willing to cooperate, and under the trend of hatred, the locals simply did not buy the French army’s argument.
The war has only just begun, and it is still far from being decided, even the capitalists who are accustomed to seeing the wind and steering the ship are not in a hurry to take sides, and only a very small number of them have gone to the French so early.
After a half a sound of effort, Patrice McMahon slowly spoke, “Send a telegram to the country, explaining the dilemma we are facing, and have the War Department increase the number of transports.
Order the Ministry of Logistics to prioritize the delivery of ammunition and medicines, and for other supplies everyone go down and think of a way to try to raise them locally to reduce our logistical pressure.”
Raising supplies locally was certainly not a good idea. The relationship between the French army and the local community was already strained, and with this wave, it would be difficult for the guerrillas not to develop.
“Marshal, the enemy destroyed the place very badly when they retreated, not only blowing up the infrastructure, but also burning down the supply warehouses.
The industries in Belgium and Rhineland are really good, but there is no way to turn out supplies against the backdrop of no industrial raw materials.
In particular, the region did not produce much food and relied heavily on imports from Austria. Because of the war, the food trade has been interrupted for almost a month.
Local food prices have skyrocketed and the social order has deteriorated dramatically, I’m afraid that if we go back to collect food at this time, I’m afraid ……”
Seeing Patrice McMahon’s face becoming more and more ugly, Lieutenant General Albert decisively chose to shut up.
The problem was known to everyone, but the French army was also about to run out of food. Even if the consequences were more serious, right now Patrice McMahon had no choice.
With a glance at each other, Admiral Udino, who was waiting to be convicted, knew that the time had come for him to take the blame.
The debt was more than enough, the big defeat in front of him had already made him a name, and he didn’t care about one more curse.
If he took the blame, he could still sell some favors, so that when the war was over, he would have someone to talk to, and he wouldn’t have to go to the military court.
“Your Excellency, you can’t look at it that way. When the war broke out, the local population wasn’t completely unprepared.
As far as I know, when the enemy retreated, they didn’t burn all of their supplies, and a large portion of the food was distributed to the local population. It’s still not a big problem for us to borrow some of the food for emergencies.
In addition to food, quite a few of the supplies we need can be raised from the local area, for example: coal.
As long as everyone is willing to work hard, I believe it won’t be difficult to restore the coal mines. If we don’t have enough labor, we can still use prisoners of war.
If we give them a task and starve them if they don’t complete it, I believe they will compromise.
We will try to raise as much material as we can, and if we don’t have enough, we will find a way to transport it from China.
If you’re worried about the situation getting out of hand, then deport the locals across the border, just to deplete the enemy’s supplies.”
Udino simply stated what everyone wanted to do, but didn’t dare to do. Deporting the locals away was not a big problem purely from a military point of view, but the political consequences would be very serious.
This is the European continent, not a colony in the backwoods, once the French army expelled millions of locals, it would have to trigger public anger.
Especially for the many small European countries, the French today can do this to Belgium, the Rhineland region, similar things may happen tomorrow on them.
Whether it is because of the death of the rabbit, or for the security of their own families, these small countries want to be on the opposite side of the French.
Patrice McMahon was silent, from the beginning of the implementation of the plan to eat on the enemy, driving or not to expel the locals in the end, the result is the same.
Man is iron and food is steel, a meal is not eaten to starve. Without food in their hands, it was impossible for these locals to stay even if they wanted to.
Fleeing the famine is sooner or later, it’s just a matter of direction. France certainly can not go, the refugees are either fleeing Switzerland, Holland, or to the German Confederation.
The French army’s move to deportation was only to let all the refugees who might have originally flocked to Switzerland and Holland enter the German Confederation, increasing the pressure on the Anti-French Alliance.
The French could not do anything to help the refugees, but the Allies could not just sit back and do nothing.
The Antifa alliance, no matter how big they were, could not stand the increase of several million mouths to feed.
The sea month in preparation for the examination, can only weekly more ????
(End of chapter)