Chapter 489: Preparing for the Duel
Chapter 478 Preparing for the Battle
The influence of John Bull in this era is still extraordinary, although it is not comparable to the same period in history, it is also a call for a group to respond.
Italian Revolutionary Party, French Revolutionary Party, as long as it is called out the name of the organization, have sent representatives to London.
Looking at the information in his hands, Franz’s first reaction was: the British really rich!
In other countries, not to mention whether these revolutionary organizations give face or not, it is not easy to find them.
Revolution is also the head off, if not careful, Napoleon III would have killed them. The British could have found them all in such a short time, unless both sides had been in contact.
Besides the “money power”, what else could make these revolutionaries cooperate? The Italian revolutionaries were just as bad, but the British and the French were sworn enemies, so why would the French revolutionaries buy the British’s account?
Anyway, Franz can’t afford to give this money. Instead of using it to support this group of rabble, it would be better to invest it in domestic economic construction to increase their own strength.
It is not that he discriminates against the revolutionaries, this era of the French Revolutionary Party are the white gloves of the bourgeoisie, the value of existence is to make profits for the bourgeoisie.
With the exception of a few individuals, most of them are losers in the struggle for power, fighting for their own interests. Apart from bearing the banner of a revolutionary party, in reality they were not really revolutionaries.
The Italian Revolutionary Party is relatively better off, at least they are fighting for national independence, and despite the internal disorganization and mix-ups, they call themselves a revolutionary party.
Since they were a revolutionary party, naturally they could not play with Franz, the Emperor. In front of the national interest, it is a fallacy to talk about justice or not.
The sacred mission of financing the Revolutionary Party was given to the British. Originally, the Americans also had a part to play. In order to sell the republic, they were also trying to spread money.
But after the end of the Civil War and a socially toxic beating, both the federal government and the Confederate government settled down and didn’t dare to reach out to Europe again.
With one less gold master to fund, the revolutionary voice in Europe has dropped considerably from even the same time in history, and social security has significantly surpassed that of the original time period.
The exception was the Italian region, where the Italian people who were not willing to be ruled by the French were still rising up in revolt. It’s understandable that the French were so busy suppressing the revolts that they neglected social security.
Raising an army is not so easy, and it is time to work for the British.
Perhaps they also volunteered, anyway, the blood sacrifice is not their own, with the British support the success rate is even greater. In case of success, they will make a lot of money.
In contrast, the reaction of the European countries was much more subtle. Perhaps it was the French diplomacy that did the trick, or the fact that Austria did not intervene that made them think otherwise.
In any case, everyone was condemning the French with their mouths and shouting slogans to the heavens. To take practical action, one by one, like a changed person, east and west a whole lot of reasons, just do not send troops.
The choice of countries, Franz is not surprised at all. The French are not soft, Napoleon III has already put out a war at all costs, governments are weighing the pros and cons, no one wants to be the head of the pack.
To put it bluntly, everyone wants to be a fisherman, unwilling to lose their own strength. In the final analysis, it is still because of the interests, the British this anti-Pharaoh big do not take the lead on, how can we expect the little brother to sell their strength?
The way things are going now, it’s just making the countries isolate France. To attack the French lair and break the Great French Empire, a main force is still missing.
In this respect, the French picked a good time. With Prussia and Russia in a period of recovery, and Austria having an alliance with the government in Paris, there was not a single remaining country that could fight.
As the situation in Europe stabilized day by day, things changed on the African continent. In order to support the war in South Africa, the British had increased their troops three times, and as of now, the number of British troops in the Cape Town colony had exceeded 180,000 troops.
Of course after removing the cannon fodder troops, this number was directly cut sharply in half, even so it was still amazing.
After the Near East War, this was the battle in which the British had invested the most troops. The total strength of the Austrian side was not much different, Franz directly used this war as a practice ground.
No, it should be an officer training camp. The regular army could not appear on the battlefield, or Austria’s neutrality would not be guaranteed.
Just because the soldiers couldn’t be in the field didn’t mean the officers couldn’t be in the field. Taking off their uniforms and going to war as individuals would be none of the Vienna government’s business.
Including the voluntary participation of the nobility, in fact, are the Austrian Reserve Officers Corps in the Austrian Reserve Officers Corps, the rules of the German region, wartime nobles are unconditional enlistment.
Increasing the actual combat capability of these men was likewise increasing Austria’s defense force. It was not easy to find an opponent like the British, so of course they had to make the most of it.
The native cannon fodder units formed on the spot were for the officers to practise on. Many battles were now fought by officer corps sent from the General Staff to command these native units for tactical experiments.
Although they were not representative and were carried out by different armies, the final results would be very different.
But no matter what, it was still better than talking on paper. If commanding cannon fodder troops, all of them were able to win, wouldn’t that be more proof of everyone’s command ability?
The reality was very face-saving, more than ninety percent of the tests ended in failure. Often times it is the cannon fodder troops that lose the battle, and then Viscount Fikeni commands the “Boer Republican Army” to take care of the aftermath.
The war has come to the present, the Boer Republican Army and the Austrian troops of the combat effectiveness is similar, originally is a system of training, including the source of soldiers, officers are from the German region.
This unit, now about 38,000 people, and then add more than 100,000 cannon fodder troops, and the British to fight equal, enough to prove their combat power.
Of course, this also had to do with the fact that the British army was a mixed bag, and many of the white troops from the colonies were, in effect, mucking about.
In the original time and space the Boers had even fewer troops, the British attacked with ten times their strength and both sides fought for two or three years. If the supplies hadn’t been cut off and the Boers had been unable to follow through, it’s unlikely that the war would have continued.
This time the South African war situation is very different, the British want to blockade is impossible, casually the London government is no longer good at dancing sleeves, Austrian colonial government of Africa is also impossible to cut off the supply of their own people.
War expenses, no relationship Franz, the emperor is not afraid, the front line officers are still afraid of what. Many people seem to be the British and Austrian game, the relationship between the Austrian hegemony in the African continent.
By the end of 1870, the casualties of this South African war can not be fully counted, and even their own casualties, there is not an accurate number.
On the South African battlefield, Franz was maximally decentralized. All officers were allowed to recruit cannon fodder troops, and the losses of the native troops were always counted only as an approximate figure.
Anyway, if you lose 10,000, you can still replenish 20,000, and if there is not enough recruitment within the Boer Republic, let the colonial government in the rear send people over.
The British side has already had the dilemma of not having enough cannon fodder troops, a large number of young men were sent to the battlefield, and it is not known how many tribes will perish as a result.
Christmas is not far away, this time the “Boer Republican Army” has already pushed the battle line to the hinterland of British South Africa colony, only 200 kilometers away from Cape Town.
Viscount Fikeni did not want to continue to delay, everyone wanted to finish the war for Christmas. If we delay too long, the British reinforcements will come again, and then the war will not be easy to fight.
Attacking from the interior, logistics was always the biggest constraint, and if it wasn’t for a few rivers in South Africa, the war would have ended a long time ago.
Pointing to the hand-drawn military map on the wall, Viscount Fikeni said, “Gentlemen, this is a map of the British troop deployment, and as the battle line moves forward, the British resistance gets stronger and stronger.
If we can’t end the war within the year and drag it to the beginning of spring next year, then the fourth batch of reinforcements from the British will arrive, and by then it will be difficult for us to capture Cape Town.
We don’t have much time left to fight. If we are not able to fight quickly, I am afraid that it will be difficult to capture the whole of South Africa before the negotiations between the two countries.”
There was no way around it, the war had reached this point, and to end it would require one side to soften and admit defeat. The British are not Ironheads, if you can’t beat them, then admit defeat, John Bull has never been afraid of anyone.
Localized war is just, the Vienna government to take South Africa’s position how firm, that can not be said, including Franz, the emperor is only ready to take the gold mining area first.
How much land was eventually taken from the British, people were not so concerned. The main thing is that only the capture of Cape Town, all based on South Africa to be able to maximize military success.
Don’t look at the war has been fought for half a year, everyone is a great success, but the actual results of the war is very limited.
Leaving aside the annihilation of the cannon fodder troops, the British army’s troop loss was definitely not more than ten thousand. Both sides of every engagement, are only defeated not able to wipe out, the war results naturally on the not go.
This is also no way, the British commander Delphi Governor is an old fox, every time is to let the white soldiers go first, with cannon fodder troops rear.
If throwing 10,000 is not enough, then throw 20,000, anyway, the cannon fodder troops are worthless. These are hidden dangers, in case of straying into the rear of the population gathering place, the damage caused will be big, Viscount Fikeni had to send people to clean up.
It takes time to catch tens of thousands of pigs, let alone people. Once the shrimp soldiers were settled, the main British force constructed another line of defense.
Unable to annihilate the main British force, this war naturally would not end anytime soon.
A middle-aged staff officer frowned and said: ”I’m afraid this is a bit difficult, to capture Cape Town, we still don’t have enough troops in hand, these indigenous troops can’t be counted on at all.
When we get to Cape Town harbor, the British still have naval fire support, we lack heavy artillery in our hands, it’s hard to capture the city in a short period of time, once the war drags on, the situation will change again.
The nearest reinforcements from the British will only take a week to come from Ethiopia, and the native reinforcements will only take a month.”
This was the reality of the problem, Austria was not short of troops, but the number of troops that could be put into the South African theater was very limited.
On the one hand, it is because of logistics, the regular army is different from the indigenous cannon fodder, as long as you give a bite to eat, equipped with swords and spears can also go into battle.
The problem of food can be solved, South Africa is also rich in produce, the Boer Republic can provide part of the rear supply part of the supply, you can also go to rob part of the.
When necessary, only need to protect the regular army logistical supply, put the cannon fodder troops out on the enemy food, is not impossible.
Weapons and ammunition would have to be supplied from the rear, and this supply line would be very long. Part of it goes through the Congo region, and the other part is sent through Egypt on the Nile.
On the other hand, the war was, after all, fought under the title of Boer. The tiny Boer Republic, able to come up with thirty-eight thousand troops, is already very much against the grain, and it would not be at all justifiable to get a hundred thousand or eighty thousand.
Although the powers are shameless, but the Vienna government’s cheek, not so thick. If you really piss off the British, everyone will not be happy.
Now the two sides are still within the rules of the game game, the battlefield suffered a defeat, it can only prove that the British army combat effectiveness is not good. If you are incompetent and want to start a war, don’t blame others for retaliating.
Viscount Fikeni lured: “Bad fight, still have to fight on. I’m sure everyone would like to see that the post-war summary states that 100,000 British troops were wiped out and British South Africa was captured.
Instead, it is written that the British conspiracy to plot against the Boer Republic was crushed, 10,000 enemy troops were annihilated, and the British were forced to admit defeat!
After winning this most crucial duel, it’s not a problem for everyone who wants to be promoted to a higher rank. If we call it quits now, most of us will only be able to salvage a commendation.”
……
(End of chapter)