Chapter 95: God’s Help
Chapter 95: God’s help
“The enemy has five divisions”, Marshal Badorio’s first reaction was that the enemy reinforcements had arrived, and quickly reversed that judgment.
The main force of the Austrian army are in Hungary, this year the traffic in the Hungarian region is not good, want to send five divisions of troops from Hungary to Trento, not so simple.
By train? The railroad from Hungary had not even been built yet.
Or cavalry? Time-wise, cavalry could indeed come over in a week.
But militarily that doesn’t make sense, unless the Vienna government is out of its mind to send five divisions of cavalry to Trento!
It wasn’t that Marshal Badorio didn’t suspect the frontline officers of misrepresenting the military, this was an enemy that was able to defeat three Sardinian divisions in one night, and no matter how you looked at it, the enemy couldn’t possibly have fewer troops!
“Has the enemy ever had a major troop movement?” Marshal Badolio asked suspiciously
“No, apart from the 18th of May when they sent two regiments to reinforce Trento, there have been no major troop movements.” Chief of Staff Orteles replied affirmatively
It is simply impossible to draw troops from the Venice area, Austria’s total strength here is less than 100,000, if five infantry divisions were drawn from it, the defense line would have been empty long ago, how could this possibly be hidden from their eyes?
After a few moments of silence, Marshal Badorio said with a bitter smile: “I’m afraid that the enemy’s reinforcements have arrived.
Perhaps the Hungarian reinforcements are just a cover for the enemy, deliberately used to lure us into a trap, the real reinforcements are still from Austria.
The Republic of Hungary is just a bunch of rabble, the Austrian government doesn’t need to mobilize so many troops if they want to suppress the rebellion.
I am afraid that from the very beginning the enemy was bluffing, and that old fox Radetzky deliberately made a false impression of insufficient troops to lure us into a trap.
The Austrian troops sent to Hungary to suppress the revolution were not four hundred thousand at all, and a large portion of these troops were directed at us.”
Hearing the marshal’s brainstorming, the crowd’s faces changed drastically; this was the most reasonable explanation.
They didn’t think that three Sardinian divisions could still not defeat three Austrian regiments, if the difference in strength between the two sides was so great, this war would have ended a long time ago.
Everyone is politically intelligent, pit teammates is the most commonly used means of diplomacy, the Hungarians in order to let them send troops to Venice as soon as possible, did not tell them the news is also normal.
Orteles worriedly said: ”Marshal, Austria is still a European power even if it is corrupt, if the Vienna government is willing, it is not a problem to put 200,000 to 300,000 troops into the Venice area.
If we can’t figure out the number of enemy reinforcements, I’m afraid we’ll suffer a big loss in the later battles!”
This is a very realistic question, how did Austria send troops to Trento unknowingly? The number of this supporting army, and how many?
Weaponry, firepower configuration, these were all things they needed to figure out immediately.
Marshal Badorio thought for a moment and said, “Immediately send people to scout the enemy’s strength, so many troops the enemy can’t hide, there will always be traces left behind.”
After a pause, he had pointed at the unlucky guards who reported the military situation and asked in a bad mood, “Stupid, how are the casualties of our army?”
The unlucky guard who was named stammered and replied, “Marshal, the three divisions that participated in the Battle of Trento were all hit hard, the casualties are still being counted, and the preliminary estimate of the personnel loss will not be less than 10,000 …….”
Hearing the specific loss figures, the crowd’s faces changed color in unison, which meant that for a long period of time in the future, the troops of these three divisions had lost their combat power.
“Marshal, since the enemy’s reinforcements have already arrived, it’s almost impossible for us to capture Venice, why don’t we stop the attack and save the gains we have in our hands first!” Major General Mantua suggested stiffly
They really didn’t want to fight, the Austrian army wasn’t at all such a waste as described by the politicians, instead it was still powerful.
From the outbreak of the Battle of Venice until now, they hadn’t taken much advantage. This time the enemy reinforcements arrived, their strength advantage no longer exists, this battle will be even more impossible to fight.
Marshal Badorio thought for a moment and said, ”Order all units to stop attacking and turn to defense on the spot.
General Mantua you lead the 4th, 5th, and 8th divisions to the Ara area to set up a defense and watch over the enemy in Trento.
The deployment of troops in other areas will remain the same, everyone will do their own thing, and I will report the rest to the country, so let’s wait for orders from the country!”
The Sardinians had been completely carried away, the Austrian reinforcements had indeed arrived in the Venice area, only instead of going to Trento, they were rushing to Vicenza.
In order to avoid responsibility, General Messer lied about the military situation to make the Sardinian command make the wrong military deployment, using a large number of maneuvering forces in defense of the non-existent Austrian main force in Trento.
At this time, Lieutenant General Messer naturally couldn’t care less, he was busy catching strong men to make up for the shortage of troops.
There was no way, after being attacked by the enemy, many of the troops under his command were dispersed, everyone was in a hurry to flee for their lives, and no one could care about collecting the routed soldiers.
After running to Bergamo, his three divisions combined couldn’t even make up a full division. These circumstances, Messer would never dare to report.
In order not to wear a gang, Messer helplessly chose to pull people to fill the number, anyway, now is the time of war, the back of a few battles, he can wipe out the loss.
Sardinia is not so clear, Messer is still the King Charles Albert’s lineage, as long as the face passes, we turn a blind eye will pass.
Walking on the streets of Bergamo, looking at the hairy eyes of the populace, Sizer only felt creeped out, and stiffly suggested, “General, the situation over here is not right, I’m afraid it’s not a place to stay for long!”
Lieutenant General Messer’s performance was much stronger, sneering, “What are you thinking? Just a bunch of pariahs, is there a reason to worry?”
The hearts of the people? This thing had long since ceased to exist, and when the troops retreated to Bergamo, military discipline was gone.
The Sardinian soldiers, who had been suffocated, vented their frustration here, such as cordially greeting the young women of the city, and collecting a labor fee on the way out.
This is also a tradition in Europe, for thousands of years, the armies of various countries in the war at the same time, all part-time robbery. Although the Sardinian army had transformed into a modern army, these bad habits were still retained.
In the eyes of a young nobleman with an unresolved conscience like Sizer, it was still a bit hard to accept, but to Messer, who had fought in the war against France, it didn’t matter at all.
Sizer said with difficulty: “But General, if we do this, will there be trouble in the future when Italy is united? Those parliamentarians, if they take these issues, I’m afraid ……”
Messer patted Sizer’s shoulder, sighed and said, “Sizer, you’re thinking too much.
Not to mention whether we can unify Italy or not, even if we do unify Italy, no one will remember these things.
Don’t forget that the power of speech is always in the hands of the few. We haven’t touched a single one of the nobles and capitalists, as long as they don’t hate us!”
There was no doubt that this battle had knocked the wind out of Mercer’s sails, and that he had lost all confidence in this war.
At this time he was no longer thinking about how to win the war, but was trying to find ways to escape punishment and avoid being liquidated after the war.
This is a society where morality is lost and money is paramount, there is nothing that money can’t solve, and even if there is then it must be that there isn’t enough money!
General Messer was not the commander-in-chief, even if he needed a scapegoat for the defeat, he was not qualified. Now first scavenge a huge sum of money, take back to the domestic activities, the responsibility for the defeat will be thrown out, undoubtedly can be the most in line with their own interests of the choice.
The people of Bergamo were unfortunately victimized, and fully felt what “Sardinia sends warmth” is.
……
(End of chapter)