Chapter 925: Pit Teammate Middle Stage
Chapter 907 – Pit Teammate Middle
Before a wave subsides, another wave rises.
Not waiting for the Vienna government to complete the aftermath of the destruction of the canal, the battlefield in Central Europe changed again.
After 27 days of hard fighting and paying the tragic price of nearly 50,000 casualties, the French army still tore through the Luxembourg defense that the German Confederation had painstakingly managed, and the gateway to the German region was opened.
If earlier, Archduke Albrecht naturally did not mind the French army in the German region, anyway, the Austrian reinforcements are still on the road, who can not say anything.
Now not, Austrian reinforcements have arrived at the front line, the nearest troops from Luxembourg line less than thirty kilometers, and then look at the end of the ally, that would not be acceptable.
But rescue is not easy, to realize that these troops also have a mission, the Belgians are waiting for them to save it.
Unlike the German Confederation, Belgium is truly a small, bulletproof country, and the war has gone on so far that it has been a nation of young men and women who have all gone to war, and can be said to have exploded its full war potential.
There’s no way around it, it’s the geographic location that caused the trouble. After the outbreak of the war, the Kingdom of Belgium, which is the weakest, passively undertook the heaviest combat tasks in the anti-French alliance.
Austria is too far away, the German Confederation and slow action, did not provide them with timely support, the Kingdom of Belgium can only bite the bullet and hold on, and now has reached its limit.
Since Belgium held out until now, Archduke Albrecht naturally could not watch them finish, and after the arrival of reinforcements, the first time ordered to reinforce Belgium.
As for the Luxembourg, Rhineland line, the German Confederation’s manpower after all to be more, the troops are still relatively sufficient.
However, the reality is so comical, the shaky Kingdom of Belgium has not yet collapsed, the strength of the more powerful German Federation was first broken through the defense line.
“Luxembourg line has three hundred and fifty thousand troops to defend, the Rhineland region of more than 400,000 German troops can also cushion, why the defense suddenly collapsed?”
Archduke Albrecht asked in no uncertain terms.
There was no way for him not to be angry, the Luxembourg defense line had failed sooner or later, and it had collapsed when it should not have collapsed the most.
A few days earlier the defense line collapsed, Austrian reinforcements are still on the way, naturally do not have to take responsibility for this; a few days later the collapse of the Austrian army’s main force have come over, not afraid and the French PK.
It is now not, arrived at the front line of the Austrian army advance force only fifteen divisions, reinforcement of Belgium to help stabilize the line of defense is still okay.
If you want to have a duel with the French, there is no hope without doubling the number of times, Archduke Albrecht does not think that the Austrian army can be bullish enough to be outnumbered.
Adrian, the German Federal Admiral in charge of coordination, bitterly explained: “Your Excellency, this is a complete accident.
As you know we have a large number of states, this is the first time that all the states have acted jointly, and it is inevitable that there are some problems with the command of the army, so ……”
The chain of command “having some problems”, that was completely Admiral Adrian sticking it in his own face.
As a matter of fact, the issue of the command of the German Confederation’s army has never been straightened out.
Each state’s army has its own command, and the commander-in-chief appointed by the central government is more like a coordinator of a military alliance, with no mandatory binding power over the state’s forces.
Even the battle plans were formulated together by the representatives of each state country. Even in the event of an unexpected situation, it is necessary to meet together to decide, otherwise the troops of each state country’s simply do not give a damn about the command.
Fortunately, the German army has been relying on fortifications for defense, the need for military movement is not much, otherwise this chaotic command system, would have been killed by the French.
The first day of the year, but can not avoid the fifteenth. The evil consequences of the chaotic command system still broke out, as the price of the German Confederation lost the Luxembourg defense line.
Archduke Albrecht waved his hand, interrupting Admiral Adrian’s long speech: ”Well, this is not the time to pursue responsibility, and I am not interested in knowing those rotten things.
Now tell me how far the French have fought, and what are the losses of the front line troops, or how many of them are in your hands that you can control?”
When you lose a battle, there is inevitably chaos. Especially since the German federal army was still acting on its own, the situation was even more critical.
At this point, Archduke Albrecht only hoped that these guys running away could burst their potential and retain as much vitality as possible in order to delay the French advance in the next battle.
Adrian replied in a deep voice, ”After days of fighting, the troops at the front have long been physically and mentally exhausted. Suddenly suffering a great defeat, many of the troops have been broken up into formations.
Right now we are collecting the routed troops, and the initial estimate is that the loss of troops this time will be more than half.
The enemy army has already broken through the defense line and marched in two directions, one way to Belgium and one way to the Rhineland area.
We have constructed a second line of defense in the Rhineland region, but the incident was sudden, the front line is not enough troops ……”
After saying this, Adrian came to an abrupt end. There was no way around it, it was just too humiliating. Not only is his own defense line hole, even Belgium has been pitched by the German army.
Pit teammates is nothing, Adrian is not a saintly mother, the problem is that once Belgium fell, the German Confederation is also difficult to escape.
Austrian allies did come, but the limited strength of the Austrian army that arrived at the front line could not plug the gap.
Looking at the map, Archduke Albrecht said coldly: “Reinforcements will not be forthcoming. The front line has lost its momentum, and these dozen divisions in my hands are simply unable to take care of both fronts.
It is imperative that we find a way to hold the Rhine and create the conditions for a counterattack later on. As for other areas, we should give up at this time.
Your Excellency should be well aware of the importance of the Rhine, and if you don’t want to see the French army galloping through the hinterland of the German region, then immediately contract your forces and hold on.”
It looked like a difficult face, but in fact, Archduke Albrecht was already happy deep inside.
Dueling with the French army in the German region, and dueling with the French army in the territory of France, those are two completely different concepts.
In addition to the military gains, the more important thing is the political gains. The defeat of the German army on the front line will inevitably awaken a sense of crisis in the German population.
In a sense, the worse the defeat on the front now, the higher the call for post-war unification would be.
Especially the populace who experienced this war first hand would be able to appreciate the importance of a strong nation.
The small Germany dominated by Hanover obviously could not satisfy everyone’s needs. When the time comes, public opinion will spontaneously push for the unification of the German region, creating a general trend.
As for a group of state governments, after the war, it was about time for them to realize the reality, especially the states that suffered directly from the war, and needed Austria’s help even more after the war.
After a pause, Archduke Albrecht added: “By the way, the Belgian side will have to be explained by Your Excellency.”
Explanation, all come to this point, any explanation is futile. No amount of talk could change the reality that Belgium was being screwed.
If it didn’t want to lose all of its family’s treasures, the only way for the Belgian government to do so was to give up most of the country and hold on to a handful of military fortresses.
If you are lucky, you will be able to hold out until the Austrian main force arrives; if you are not lucky, you will have to go into exile.
It can be imagined that for a long time to come, the relationship between Germany and Belgium could not be good. In the later war, the two countries can not count on cooperation.
However, this has nothing to do with Archduke Albrecht, in order to the unification of the German region, pay some sacrifice is inevitable.
Borrow the French hand to solve the force of this group of vassals, it is better than the Vienna government bare arms on the battlefield to cut the feudalism.
“Your Excellency the Marshal, there is still hope to send troops to close the gap, and there is even ……”
Not waiting for Adrian to finish his sentence, Archduke Albrecht forcefully interrupted, “Your Excellency, this is all wishful thinking on your part.
If it was possible to plug the gap, the Rheinland Legion would have acted long ago. But up to now, no action has been seen from them, are they waiting for my order?
At this point in time, the most important thing is to stabilize the situation and create an opportunity for a counterattack later on, not to gamble for the unlikely possibility.
Your Excellency should know clearly that we cannot afford to lose now. If the front line suffers another defeat, the international situation will be reversed, and all the countries that were originally inclined towards us may turn to the French.”
Excuses were never exhausted, and Archduke Albrecht, who had made up his mind to kill with a borrowed knife, naturally would not be moved.
……
In the royal palace of Brussels, Leopold II, who had just awakened from his siesta and had not yet had time to wash his hands, received the shocking news of the collapse of the Luxembourg defenses.
Anyone with a little bit of military common sense knows that once Luxembourg falls, Belgium’s flanks are exposed to the French army’s front.
The war has been carried out to the present, the Kingdom of Belgium has already exerted all its strength, within a short period of time can not get enough troops to build the left flank of the defense line.
“Waste!”
“All a bunch of wastes!”
“Nearly 800,000 troops, but they can’t even defend one Luxembourg, are the generals of the German Federation all shit-eaters ……”
……
In the face of the king’s incessant cursing, no one bothered to correct the German army defending Luxembourg, and there was no small matter of eight hundred thousand.
“Your Majesty, the Germans are retreating, our left flank is directly exposed to the enemy, and now we can only ……”
Prime Minister Auguste was still politically astute enough not to utter the word exile outright until he was sure of Leopold II’s position.
Perhaps the venting just now soothed the mood, or the prime minister’s persuasion played a role, calm down Leopold II said in a deep voice:
“Didn’t Albrecht send us reinforcements. Send these troops up, they can’t be losers too!”
“Your Majesty, these troops are not coming. Just now the allied command sent a telegram that Archduke Albrecht is preparing to build a Rhine River defense.
It is recommended that we shrink our forces, abandon unnecessary defenses, and guard only a few key areas, waiting for the next big counterattack.”
Army General Desmet replied.
“Hmph!”
“Waiting for the big counteroffensive, that’s easy for him to say. Anyway, the battlefield is not in Austria, so it doesn’t matter how you fight.
But what are we to do?
What about the six million Belgian people?
Brussels or Austria?
……”
Leopold II posed a series of questions that kept pounding the crowd, a doomed and fruitless soul-torture within everyone.
……
(End of chapter)