Chapter 924: Filled Out Passageway

  Chapter 906 – Filled Out Passage

The battle continued, the sunlight had fallen sparsely, reflecting the blood red river surface, the atmosphere appeared eerie, as if it was a hellish river of the underworld.

The rafts that crossed the river have already been lost in the previous battle, the enemy’s position is still as stable as Mount Tai.

Even if there is a small group of troops to complete the task of crossing the river, but also in the French army’s tenacious resistance to defeat, forced to return.

This was not to be a deserter. According to European cultural traditions, soldiers who have run out of ammunition are allowed to surrender, and the Austrian army was not able to make an exception.

The soldiers who took part in the sneak attack were all trained swimmers, and a Suez Canal was not enough to stop them.

Moreover, there were also shell-destroyed and scattered rafts, which could be used as a means of escape, so naturally there was no need to surrender.

However, the way back was not always smooth, from time to time there were French soldiers shooting at the river. Fortunately, these days, the French did not have large-scale equipment machine guns, otherwise there is no chance to retreat.

Putting down the binoculars in his hand, Colonel Boardman put down his last fluke, and his face became vicious, as if he was in a fierce heart struggle.

“Order the artillery, adjust the guns to aim at the opposite riverbank, and switch to solid shells for an all-out attack!”

For the safety of the canal, from the beginning of the battle until now, France and Austria were using open shells, and occasionally using solid shells that were aimed at the opposite fortress.

The chief of staff on the side warned, “Colonel, knocking down the opposite embankment will block the canal, when the time comes ……”

Colonel Boardman waved his hand and interrupted, “Wrong, we are only attacking the enemy’s fortress, the riverbank damage that is the French see the momentum has gone, before escaping deliberately blew up.”

This reason was very far-fetched, but Colonel Boardman could not care less, anyway, something is better than nothing. If headquarters could not make up its mind, he would do it for them.

Political issues were not something he, as a colonel, should consider; purely from a military point of view, Colonel Boardman’s order was completely correct.

As for the follow-up, it would be a test of the Austrian government’s diplomatic ability and how thick the government’s skin was.

After struggling for a while, the Chief of Staff chose to compromise. The same order, given by a different person, had a very different political impact.

“The general will do as he is told.”

Not an empty phrase, but also applies in Austria. Moreover, the Emperor had not issued an order prohibiting the destruction of the canal; it was the Austrian government that demanded the protection of the Suez Canal.

The Theater Command belongs to a special wartime organization, the military and political power of the front line in wartime is a handful, as the commander of the Admiral Fischlaff, naturally, we must consider the problem in a comprehensive manner, and we can not disregard the government’s request.

But Colonel Bodman such as the army middle layer is different, they are only loyal to the emperor, do not need to be responsible to the government at all.

Even if the government was no longer upset, it couldn’t directly meddle in the army beyond the Emperor.

As long as the battle is won, the government can only keep its opinions to itself, and no one in Austria can target a meritorious officer on the battlefield for no reason.

The real risk is still a defeat on the battlefield.

But the opposite enemy gave Colonel Boardman confidence, more than half of the garrison are natives, if this can not win, then he also have no face in the army.

……

As a new round of bombardment began, the riverbank across the river gradually began to crumble under the barrage of artillery shells.

By the time the command received the news the wood had been turned, and there was practically no choice but to go down hard.

Admiral Fislav was in tears at such an ending, just an hour ago he had just sent a telegram asking the Emperor to fill in a channel, and it happened immediately.

It was too late to withdraw, the urgent telegrams from the front line were delivered first, and now Fislav stiffly sent another telegram to explain.

As for the initiator of the Colonel Bodman is actually the merit or the culprit, this question still depends on the development of the war situation, Fislav now also do not have the heart to pursue responsibility.

Without any hesitation, Admiral Fislav made a decision: “Order the front line units, do not be afraid of the end, all give me to let go of the work.

Now I have only one request, to cross the river in the shortest possible time, defeat the French on the other side, and all based on the Suez Canal.”

Soldiers who want to have a hard waist still need to speak with their battle results. As long as the battlefield is won, these problems can only be considered passing dust.

……

Vienna Palace, looking at the hands of two very different telegrams, Franz do not know whether to praise Admiral Fislav obedient, or should be criticized for his brain dead.

After thinking about it, Franz still thinks that the front line of the senior generals or obedient a little good, after all, with the assured ah!

As for the self-interested Colonel Boardman, that was even less of a problem. As a pure soldier, thinking only from the military, this is exactly what Franz wants.

He’d rather take up the slack for these simple guys than have the frontline generals turn into forward-thinking politicians, the latter is what spells disaster.

Not waiting for Franz to reply to the telegram, the cabinet people came to the door, looking at the face, you can tell that everyone is in a very bad mood.

Think about it is right, painstakingly created international political advantage, now was completely disrupted, put on who will not be happy.

“Your Majesty, what happened in the Middle East war zone ……”

Without waiting for Weissenberg to finish, Franz interrupted, “Well, I already know about the Suez Canal.

At this point in time, it is useless to talk about this, even if we want to pursue responsibility, it is something that will happen after the war.

It is imperative that we all find a way to do it later! The French are not to be feared, with that bunch of lords in Paris dragging their feet, even if someone in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs discovers a problem and wants to take advantage of the opportunity to make things happen, it will be bad for these guys.

Trouble is the British, do not forget that not long ago they are still agitating European countries, want to unite countries together to make trouble co-management of the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal is a piece of fat meat that everyone has been salivating over for a long time.

Only before the Suez Canal has been held by us and the French, countries have to restrain their ambitions.

After this incident, the British have a stronger case for international co-management, and there’s no telling how many countries will be persuaded by the British next.”

Changing the subject had been a basic skill that Franz had practiced over his many years as emperor. Anyway, he was the emperor, and it was impossible for his men not to give face and die on an issue.

It was a time of war, and internal conflicts could never erupt, so it was better to provoke external conflicts.

With the war going on now, Franz can kind of see that the butterfly effect is no more powerful than changing the fact that this is a world that is more than rotten.

Look at the performance of the French to know, gave them to create so many opportunities, now did not take out Belgium to kill the hinterland of the German region.

In that case, there is no harm in wrongly accusing the British again, anyway, they are still pk. with the Russians, even if they personally went down, it is not possible to abandon India to help the French.

Besides, it may not be a wrongful accusation, with John Bull’s style, it is almost inevitable that such a thing will happen.

Brought off the topic, the original angry want to seek the Middle East war zone bad luck of the foreign minister, had to calm down to think about countermeasures.

A few moments later, Foreign Minister Weissenberg slowly said: “Your Majesty, the British government has been eyeing the Suez Canal, they will most likely not let go of this opportunity to make trouble.

Judging from the current international situation, Belgium, Germany, Montenegro and Greece are our allies and will definitely not respond to the British call.

Switzerland and Holland, limited by their geographical location, should not take sides before the victory or defeat in the war against France is known.

The French wanted to monopolize the Suez Canal, and before the defeat of the Continental War, the French government was mostly against international co-management of the canal as well.

In a short time, the British will at most create some public opinion and give us some trouble, not enough to create an absolute advantage.”

The international situation is still so chaotic that there are no absolute enemies or friends in front of interests, but only common interests.

Russia and Austria are still allies, but in the issue of the Suez Canal, Weissenberg are not sure that the tsarist government will support Austria, after all, the Vienna government is not likely to take the canal benefits and share them.

Instead, the French, who were at war, were in agreement with Austria on the issue and would certainly oppose international co-management of the Suez Canal.

Prime Minister Karl: “As long as it can be delayed until we defeat the French on the battlefield, none of this will be a problem.

At that time, we can buy Spain and Switzerland with the French interests, together with the independent Italian states and our present allies, the European continent is what we say it is.

Until then, however, the Foreign Ministry must not let its guard down, especially since the war in Afghanistan has recently eased, and it must be doubly careful.”

There is no way around it, in international politics there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. No betrayal has taken place, and that’s only because the chips that prompted it weren’t enough.

Now that France and Austria are vying for continental hegemony, the Austrian government will have to be more vigilant because there are enough chips on the table.

Putting aside the direct war of France, qualified to compete for hegemony of Britain and Russia, the same may jump out to pick the peach at the critical moment.

Look at Austria’s military operations to know, the African battlefield, the Suez Canal battle, the home front did not draw troops over, responsible for the implementation of the colonial troops, or the African home front mobilized troops.

Mobilized one after another more than three million troops, really put into the battlefield only hundreds of thousands of troops on the southern front, the rest of the troops, in addition to reinforcement of the millions of troops in Central Europe, are still at home nesting.

In theory, as long as all these troops are sent out, it is already able to meet the current operational needs. However, the follow-up mobilization work is still going on.

This is certainly due to the fear of the French bursting and the loss of the front line, but equally not without the factor of distrust of the Russians.

……

The decisions of the government did not affect the fighting at the front. There was no turning back from the bow, and as it was done, it had to be done.

Filling the Suez Canal by shelling alone was too drafty, and in order to speed things up, the troops on the front had to fill the river and create land against the threat of enemy fire.

Looking at the cars that were hit by enemy artillery and crawled halfway up the road with black smoke, Colonel Boardman frowned.

To know that the car is a rare object, in addition to the main force at home to prepare a large number of troops, overseas troops are only a small amount of equipment in the logistics department.

The garrison in the Middle East is considered lucky, because of its own oil production, Austria also has a refinery over here, oil supply is convenient, only to have a car company per regiment in full bloom.

However, this is limited to the pre-war period, from the beginning of the great expansion of the army, such a good thing is over.

The newly produced military automobiles were prioritized to satisfy the local troops, and very few of them were allocated to the Middle East war zone.

Without any exception, Colonel Boardman’s infantry division was also expanded, from a pre-war regiment to a division.

All other weapons were available in open depots, and the number of automobiles remained the same as in the original automobile companies, which were used primarily for transporting logistical supplies.

Watching these treasures, just fall on the battlefield, Colonel Boardman’s heart constantly dripping blood.

After hesitating for a long time, Colonel Bodman, as if he had made a difficult decision, said fiercely, “Order the automobile company to suspend operations and wait for the night!”

There was no way around it, the cars were a little too big a target, and on an average run of three or five trips, one of the cars would die heroically.

As long as victory could be won, the loss of more cars would be worth it. The problem was that at the present rate, the automobile company would be finished before the Suez Canal was filled in.

Waiting for follow-up reinforcements is certainly possible, but the problem is that time has passed. At the same time to start filling the river troops, not only Colonel Bodman’s division, the Austrian army is a multi-point attack.

Anyway, the French will blow up the canal if they lose the war, so it’s not a big deal to fill in a few more roads.

“Colonel, stopping now and relying on animal transportation alone, I’m afraid it will be difficult to be the first to complete the mission.” The Chief of Staff warned

As the first unit to blow up the Suez Canal and initiate the river filling operation, if he can’t fill in a road in time for the army to cross the river, Colonel Boardman will really have no “bright” future.

“There was no way around it; the automobile was too large a target and it was difficult to avoid enemy artillery fire. The enemy has built a perfect fortification, and we have no way to destroy their fire points in a short time.

If we hold out, our losses will be very high. Unlike these exiled criminal laborers, the car companies are skilled soldiers, and there’s no way to replenish them if we lose the seed.”

Thanks to Franz’s big green strategy, a large number of criminals were exiled to the Middle East every year, and once the war broke out these guys naturally transformed into laborers.

Laborers are a valuable asset of Austria, but once the word “criminal” is added, their value instantly plummets, from a valuable “asset” to a “cancer” in society.

……

At the French command headquarters in Cairo, Governor Jacob’s mood had worsened since the news that the Austrians had filled the river.

Originally, he planned to capture the Sinai Peninsula, all the Suez Canal, for the French to establish a great success.

Unfortunately, the plan did not change quickly, he just took action, the Austrian army on the African continent killed over, a time Egypt fell into the dilemma of enemies on all sides.

Facing the enemy like a tiger, the troops on the border could not hold back, Governor Jacob had to shrink the defense line on the one hand, and on the other hand, he drew reinforcements from all over to support the front line.

Draw to the canal line of troops, also became inevitable. After all, the Egyptian region just a few years ago broke out a big turmoil, population loss is serious, Governor Jacob even if you want to militaristic, but also do not have enough young men.

Originally, Governor Jacob also hoped that the Austrian army afraid of international pressure, dare not easily destroy the so-called “eternal neutrality of the Suez Canal”.

As long as it lasted a few months, the Egyptian region would have won without a fight when the mainland was divided.

Unfortunately, “international pressure” this tiger skin deterrent effect is too low, this only delayed a few days, was poked and prodded tiger.

Bad to bad, on their own operation of the canal defense, Governor Jacob still have a few points of confidence, even if the enemy can not be defeated, but also not a short period of time can be broken through.

“Order the troops on the canal line to rely on fortifications to defend on the spot, give the enemy a head-on attack, and fight the prestige of the French Army ……”

(End of chapter)