Wild North America 1846

Chapter 544 Unpredictable
After France formally declared war on July 1870, 7, its actions were quite slow. By the end of July, the French army had gathered about 19 people in 7 armies on the border. Napoleon III rarely served as the commander-in-chief in person. Chief of the General Staff of the French Army.

after the official declaration of war

The enthusiasm of French residents is quite high. Experienced retired soldiers have responded to the government’s mobilization to join the army. The proportion of professional soldiers in the French army is quite high, with strong military quality. Many people have accompanied the colonial army to fight all over the world.

However, due to the lack of preparations for the hasty declaration of war, it was difficult to quickly deploy a large number of troops to launch a military attack on the Kingdom of Prussia after the declaration of war.

On the other hand, the Kingdom of Prussia has already prepared everything, quietly gathered on the Prussian side of the Rhine, waiting for the French to step into this trap that has already been set.

The Prussian army was led by William I himself as the commander-in-chief, and General Moltke as the chief of staff.

According to the battle plan, the superior forces will be concentrated to attack Alsace and Lorraine, trying to annihilate the main force of the French army on the Franco-Prussian border or drive them to the north of France, and then attack Paris.

The mobilization plan of the Prussian army was well planned, the troops were quickly transported by railway, and all aspects of measures were effective.By the end of July, the Prussian army had assembled 7 legions of about 3 people and 47 artillery pieces on the border.

In terms of military strength alone
The strength of the Prussian army was more than double that of the French army, but they never took the initiative to attack. Instead, they waited for the French to cross the border first and detonate the war, and then gave the French a strong taste.

The advantage of this is that the Kingdom of Prussia can occupy the moral high ground, and France, as an invading army, cannot stand no matter what reason it finds.

This move can win the support of most European countries and major powers outside the region. It can be attacked when it advances, and it can be defended when it is retreated.

What the generals of the Prussian army could never have imagined was...

The French army in the plan moved too slowly, neither left nor right, and only 22 troops were assembled in more than ten days. Isn't this too funny?
After the Kingdom of Prussia declared war in France, the entire country immediately mobilized quickly to enter a wartime state, and the wartime state plans that had been formulated long ago were put into practice one by one.

Armed militias from various towns and states in the Kingdom of Prussia quickly assembled into battalions and companies, and then assembled into larger divisions and regiments nearby. They were given designations at the first time, and quickly went to the designated battlefield by train.

Regardless of the fact that the Kingdom of Prussia has assembled 47 people on the banks of the Rhine, there are actually no less than 50 reserve troops in major cities.

After receiving the order from the General Staff Headquarters of the Prussian Army, they can take the domestic trains extending in all directions for reinforcements at any time, and they will all arrive at the designated positions within a week.

Thousands of calculations have been made, but it was not counted that France was so broken, and the French army was not mobilized so slowly.

King William I of Prussia and others were anxious and angry. They asked about the French army's assembly situation at least four or five times a day, and a big fire bubble burst out of their mouths. They had to get up in the middle of the night to ask once.

no way

The Kingdom of Prussia and the North German Confederation have gathered millions of troops to prepare for the attack. Everything is ready here, and the French have assembled 22 troops there. There is no sign of a cross-border attack. Can we not be anxious?

Why don't you hurry up?

It is a huge cost for this million-strong army to eat horse chews every day, and only two ships are needed for the supply of frozen meat every day, so as to ensure that the soldiers have enough nutrition and a high pre-war state.

If we count the social forces mobilized for this, it will have to be doubled.

It's the busy season
Millions of capable laborers (in addition to millions of troops, including war logistics support personnel) were drawn to prepare for this war. The fields were full of women and children, and even children in their teens had to follow them to do farm work. It can be seen that To what extent is the labor force scarce?
these days
All the pressure was concentrated on William I. After the military meeting of the General Staff was held, General Moltke, the Chief of Staff, had to adjust his strategic deployment.

Adjust the original plan of waiting for the French army to fully break through the Rhine before resolutely implementing a counterattack to;

As long as the French army attacked across the border, the Prussian army would take the initiative to annihilate this group of enemies, and burn the flames of war into the territory of France, actively seeking to annihilate or severely damage part of the French field corps, so as to win a favorable war situation.

This is tantamount to overturning the overall combat plan carefully formulated before the war, and changing "luting the enemy to go deep" into "active attack". The General Staff Headquarters of the Prussian Army has borne the greatest pressure for this.

This is a big blow

Gathering the power accumulated by the Kingdom of Prussia for decades, in order to increase the probability of defeating a strong opponent, the Kingdom of Prussia also borrowed several sums from the Tang Empire, totaling 1.2 million Tang Yuan, for the preparation of war materials.

It can be said that the preparations of the Kingdom of Prussia are very solid, more adequate than in the original history, and able to explode more combat effectiveness.

It's a pity that the Frenchman doesn't cooperate!
The General Staff Headquarters of the Prussian Army studied and judged the troop mobilization speed based on the current French movements;

If you wait until the French army mobilizes enough forces to launch a full-scale offensive, it will take at least one month to about 40 days, probably in mid-to-early September.

After such a calculation, I really can't sit still.

After waiting for such an indefinite period, the Kingdom of Prussia could not hold on under the huge logistical pressure.

Now the millions of soldiers of the Prussian army are full and well-fed. The meat can be seen immediately, and the bread is open and made, but they can't do anything in the barracks. The family of the Kingdom of Prussia can't stand it.

The huge amount of materials stored is consumed very quickly, and spending money is like running water, which cannot be stopped.

On August 1870, 8, the French army finally moved. They crossed the border between the two countries in the Saarbrücken area with 2 divisions, and first launched a tentative attack on the Prussian army.

However, the French army did not take resolute combat operations. It only had some small-scale contacts with the Prussian vanguard, and retreated after the exchange of fire.

News comes
Cheers were heard from the General Staff Headquarters of the Prussian Army. The expression of William I who had been anxious for more than ten days finally calmed down. said;
"My valiant Prussian soldiers;
The war that the wicked French have imposed on us has broken out, and just now I have received the latest news from the garrison of Saarbrücken;
The French brazenly crossed the border between the two countries and launched a war of aggression against the Kingdom of Prussia. The war has already begun.

Facing a powerful enemy, the great and industrious German nation has fallen into an unprecedented crisis of war. The enemy covets our fertile land and rich cities, intending to conquer the great German nation through shameless force.

In the face of this major crisis of life and death, I hope that the people of all Germany will unite and fight to the end, fighting to maintain our traditional life, maintain the tranquility of our homeland, and maintain the continuation of the German race.

I will lead you to fight to the death against the French invaders until the last moment of my life.

Let us take up our swords and guns and fight to the end, long live the German nation, and the German iron-blooded spirit will never die..."

"Fight to the end with the French, the spirit of Germany will never die..."

"Fight to the end, long live the German nation!"

"War, war, we need war..."

The angry Prussian army uttered a sonorous and powerful cry, and the boundless barracks boiled instantly. The invasion of the French army aroused the infinite anger of the German nation, and they wanted to make a resolute counterattack.

just one day apart

On August 1870, 8, the Prussian army crossed the border and aggressively attacked the French positions, and a large-scale fierce battle between the two sides began.

On the freshly harvested golden fields
The Prussian army lined up all over the mountains and fields with neat musket teams, attacking the French positions under the cover of artillery fire. The sound of "rumbling" artillery was deafening.

French General Douai put down the binoculars in his hand solemnly, and said to the herald firmly;
"Send my command;

Immediately report the emergency military situation to His Majesty the Emperor. The enemy in front of me is the main force of the Prussian army. It is a large corps with the third army of the Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich William as the core. The total strength is about 24 to 25. Launched a wave of violent attacks on our army's positions.

The enemy's force is more than ten times that of our army, equipped with a large number of advanced artillery and rifles, and the attack momentum is very violent.

More than 25700 members of our army fought bravely, blocked the enemy's sharp offensive with a fearless spirit of sacrifice, and planned to adopt a combat plan of step by step to defend the invincible glory of the French army.

However, there is a huge gap in the strength of the enemy and our army, and our army cannot support it alone.

Here, our department urgently asks His Majesty for reinforcements, and we can last for another 12 hours at most. Without strong support, the entire army may be in danger of being wiped out.

Our generals will hold back the enemy's main force without fear of sacrifice. Long live the great French Empire! "

The herald recorded the order solemnly, then raised his hand and gave a solemn military salute, and replied, "Your Excellency, I will send your order back to the staff headquarters as quickly as possible, long live the great French Empire!"

After finishing speaking, the herald hurriedly ran to the side of the war horse, quickly turned on the horse, then raised the whip and slapped the horse's buttocks, driving the horse to gallop...

The military situation is like a fire, and there is no delay for a moment.

The situation on the battlefield was extremely unfavorable to the French army. Originally, General Douai's troops were preparing to attack the Prussian army, so they did not build solid defense facilities at all.

During the tentative attack two days ago, General Douai felt the strength of the Prussian defense was extremely tenacious, and realized that the Prussian army was fully prepared for war, and its strength might not be inferior to his own.

For the sake of caution, General Douai led his army back to the French side, waiting quietly for the arrival of the French army from behind.

At that time, the soldiers will be gathered together, and it will not be too late to consider the quality of the defense of the Prussian army.

General Du Ai is an experienced professional soldier. He has participated in more than 10 foreign colonial wars in the army for decades, and also participated in the unprecedentedly brutal Crimean War from 1853 to 1856. His response measures are very sophisticated.

But he never imagined
A tentative attack led by himself actually poked a hornet's nest, and attracted the full-scale attack of the third army, the main force of the Prussian army. Hundreds of thousands of troops overwhelmingly pressed up, which caught him off guard, and the whole army was directly forced to the desperate situation of life and death.

What... the war seems to have changed from the very beginning.

(End of this chapter)