I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 803: The Battle Along the Rhine
When the officers saw the crown prince coming, they stopped talking and stood up to salute, "Your Highness, you are here."

"Your Highness."

Joseph came to the conference table and motioned for everyone to sit down with a smile: "Then let's start the meeting."

As usual, a combat staff officer came to the map and introduced the latest battlefield situation to a group of senior generals.

Captain Ferris pointed to the north of Luxembourg with a thin wooden stick: “At present, a total of 8 Prussian Ferdinand Corps are gathering east of Marnach, preparing to launch an attack on Luxembourg City.

"Lieutenant Colonel Massena's combat preparations on the line from Wirtz to Grevenmacher are basically complete. At the same time, our combat deception operations in Verdun will continue to expand.

"Once Ferdinand begins his march towards Luxembourg City, Masséna's Corps will, as planned, intercept the enemy near Diekirch and launch a simultaneous counterattack along a 30-kilometer front."

Joseph nodded slightly.

He participated in the formulation of this battle plan.

Although Massena's army had only 6 soldiers, its combat effectiveness was no weaker than that of Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, who had more than 5 soldiers.

Massena commanded the 1st Royal Infantry Division, the Royal Sword Grenadiers Battalion, the Royal 1st Cavalry Artillery Battalion and other elite troops in France.

It should also be the most elite force in the entire European continent.

Before this, Massena had had several contacts with the Duke of Brunswick's army and had been pretending to be defeated, "retreating" all the way from the Luxembourg border to the vicinity of Luxembourg City.

At the same time, France's Verdun defense line has been very busy recently, with a large amount of supplies traveling back and forth, and thousands of troops stationed here every day, showing their determination to defend this place to the death.

In fact, there were less than 3 local troops here. The so-called "large amount of logistical supplies" was just more than 30 horse-drawn carriages loaded with sundries entering Verdun during the day, leaving from the lower reaches of the Meuse River at night, and coming back the next day, over and over again...

Verdun is the only high ground on the eastern border of France. It has a group of fortresses and is the gateway to Paris.

France's defensive preparations here obviously mean it is going to give up Luxembourg, which has become "undefendable".

The Duke of Brunswick apparently also received this news from his own country's spies, so he prepared to take Luxembourg, which was within his grasp, as soon as possible and then march into France.

At present, its main forces are basically in Luxembourg.

Massena had previously prepared to deal with 11 enemy troops, but more than half a month ago, at the request of Francis II, the Allied Forces transferred more than 3 troops from the Karlcroit and Klefalt Corps to Brussels for emergency assistance.

That was originally the reserve army of the Duke of Brunswick.

This greatly reduced the pressure on Massena. In this case, if he still couldn't defeat the Duke of Brunswick when he entered his ambush position, he could just resign and go home.

Moreover, this time, the Duke of Brunswick has sent out all his troops. Once defeated, the coalition forces will have no troops available in the entire Rhineland region!

The Rhineland refers to the area on the west bank of the Rhine, from Aachen to the Palatinate.

It borders the Southern Netherlands and the Netherlands to the west, France to the south, and the hinterland of Germany to the east. It is a strategic buffer zone between France and Germany. Once a war breaks out in Europe, the Rhineland will be a battleground.

At present, the Rhineland is still the sphere of influence of Prussia and Bavaria. There is also a Duchy of Trier.

Captain Ferris pointed to the location of Freiburg on the east side of the map: "On the southern Rhine line, 9 Austrian Wurmser Corps are preparing to move south and enter Basel. "According to the analysis of the General Staff, they should be crossing the river at the 'Rhine Knee', bypassing the Strasbourg Fortress from the south of Alsace, and launching an attack on Lorraine. [Note 1]

"The Moreau Corps has made combat deployments according to the original plan."

Moreau's Corps had only 4 men. Although it was the elite force of the entire new army, it was still too far behind the 5 Austrian troops. Therefore, his main task was to carry out strategic defense.

Basel is a small border town in Switzerland, but its geographical location is very important. It is an important ferry near the "Knee of the Rhine".

Of course, because Switzerland is too weak, Basel is almost a "public toilet". Whether it is Austria, France, or even Bavaria, people can come and go as they please.

Therefore, France had no need to count on Switzerland to resist invasion.

Moreau was to intercept the Austrian army as it crossed the river near Basel.

After Captain Ferris finished speaking, Lefebvre stood up and said, "According to Lieutenant Colonel Massena's judgment, the general offensive will be launched in about five days. At the same time, the Moreau Corps will also launch a surprise attack on the Austrian pontoon bridge east of Basel."

He looked at Joseph again, bowed and said, "Your Highness, we just had a brief discussion. For now, our army can retreat to Brussels to hold its ground. This will save some troops and allow them to go from Liege to Luxembourg to assist the Massena Corps in the battle."

He is definitely not arrogant.

Although the Anglo-Prussian and Austrian coalition forces had about 5 people, and the French army in the Southern Netherlands had less than 2 people, judging from the previous battle process, the Walloon Defense Force was fully capable of being used, which meant 5 fresh troops.

At the same time, if a defensive war was to be waged relying on Brussels, even the more than 4 Flemish surrendered soldiers could be put to use - they could still fire from behind the breastwork under the cover of the city's defense artillery.

Therefore, it is entirely possible to draw out five or six thousand main French troops to fight in Luxembourg.

Even if we take a step back and assume that the coalition forces are suddenly possessed by the god of war and start winning battles one after another, the French army can still retreat step by step and delay time.

The Brussels area was too large and had abundant supplies. Before that, the Dutch, whose morale was so low, had defended Brussels for nearly a month and a half.

As long as the French army avoids being annihilated on a large scale, it will not be a problem to hold the Duke of York here for two or three months.

Two months later, Massena had already defeated the Rhineland coalition forces and sent troops to reinforce Brussels.

Officers such as Davout and Masson also nodded in agreement. This was the consensus they had just reached.

Joseph smiled, took out a report, and shook his head, saying, “I think the strength of the Massena Legion should be sufficient.

“We can’t just think about defending Brussels.”

Everyone looked at us in surprise. With such a small number of troops, are we going to attack instead of defending?
Joseph pushed the report to the middle of the table. "This is the news that has just been delivered. We have taken control of Leuven."

【Note 1】The “Knee of the Rhine” refers to the 90-degree sharp turn between the southern and middle sections of the Rhine River.

The Rhine River changes from flowing east to west to flowing north to south here. The rapid change in direction slows down the Rhine River significantly. Since 1790, several bridges have been built in this section of the river, making it very suitable for crossing the river.

(End of this chapter)