Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 82: Sword Pointing at the Maine River! (Please subscribe!)

Lieutenant General Draven is not just a fancy general.

Ryan understood this when he heard several people arguing with each other.

The reason is also very simple.

The highest-ranking people in the empire were first the peasants and workers, and then their children – the soldiers.

In order to gain the trust of the people, even the emperor of the empire had to join the army at a young age and serve in the army for more than sixteen years in accordance with the national traditions of the empire.

When Ryan first met Draven, he just regarded him as an ear and ear for the emperor. But after he overheard the quarrel between Draven, Hellingen and Schubert, he immediately realized that Draven was no mere show-off.

After all, the only people in the empire who could argue with Hellingen and Schubert were the soldiers who had experienced life and death with them.

This can also be considered a tradition of the empire.

It was precisely because of this that when Draven and Hellingen continued to curse at each other, Ryan chose to interrupt their conversation.

He believes that Draven is not a difficult general to deal with as Brinkman and others say.

"A tug of war?"

Ryan's words piqued Walbeck's interest, but it was Draven who spoke.

He removed the cigar from his mouth and placed it on the nearby tobacco rack. He stared at Ryan with his eyes still narrowed, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking. "Is there any evidence? Or is this just your own speculation, Captain Flig?"

Ryan had already prepared himself to be questioned. He then turned his gaze to the map of Europe hanging on the north wall of the conference room and walked over slowly.

The map was very well drawn. Although it was not as accurate as the satellite maps on Earth, it did not have any marking errors. In addition, the staff had also thoughtfully marked the current battle lines of the Imperial forces.

Ryan briefly examined the map and, after confirming all its contents, took a teaching stick from Ms. Catherine beside him. "The following is just my personal opinion, but for the current empire and Farlan, it is basically correct."

He first buffed himself, then pointed to the location of the Lie Sun Fortress. "The Empire launched an offensive against the Lie Sun Fortress at the beginning of this month. Their goal was to seize Lie Sun, which has a railway hub, to provide transportation capacity for the subsequent attack on Farlan."

"But the Empire wasted far more time in the Kingdom of Perijie than originally anticipated. This gave Farlan enough time to transfer sufficient forces to the north to block the Imperial offensive."

He pointed to the original battlefield, but soon moved the staff to Palu, which was not far from the border, and drew a line.

"According to intelligence sent by my friends in the Central Headquarters, the Empire's current troop strength on the right side of the battle line, that is, in the north, does not meet the 180 million troops required by Field Marshal Schlieffen. The actual deployment of 140 million troops is indeed a large number, but it will be difficult for them to expand their gains under the current circumstances."

"The reason is that the Kingdom of Perijie is a vassal of the United Kingdom. After the Empire attacked the Sun Fortress in Perijie, the United Kingdom will inevitably try to send reinforcements."

"This group of troops represents the intention of the United Kingdom's top brass. They don't want the Empire to occupy the Kingdom of Perijie, as this would cause the United Kingdom's homeland to face direct threats from the Empire, even if the Empire is only seeking self-preservation and has no intention of declaring war on them."

"On the other side," the teaching staff pointed to the Russian Empire on the eastern side of the empire, "the eastern part of the empire should not have been invaded by the Empire yet, so the current peace on the eastern border can continue for a while longer."

"But that doesn't mean there won't be fighting in the east."

"On the contrary, the Russian Empire will inevitably begin mobilization within a short period of time, I think most likely next week, and launch its first offensive before September."

"This battle will, and will only, end with victory for our Imperial Army, but that's where the problem lies."

Ryan said, pausing deliberately.

Vice Admiral Draven, sensing Ryan's suspense, raised an eyebrow. Walbeck, reclining in his chair, regained his composure. "Why are you so sure the Tsarist Congress will declare war?"

"Because they also don't want to see Farlane become a territory of the Empire."

Ryan said succinctly: "The United Kingdom hopes that the Farland, the Empire, and Tsarist Russia can maintain a relatively tense relationship. This will enable the United Kingdom to ensure that the international status it has spent two hundred years building will not be threatened."

"And in order to maintain their position, they will inevitably ask Tsarist Russia for assistance in launching an offensive and delaying the Imperial Central Army's operations."

"Go on." Draven's eyes widened a little.

"Yes."

Ryan shifted his position and pointed to the current location of the Central Army. "Our current Central Army has 140 million men, but Marshal Schlieffen's plan requires at least 180 million men to ensure the ability to suppress all Farlandian forces along the way."

"After Tsarist Russia declares war and attacks, the Imperial Capital's headquarters will inevitably use the internal strategy to draw an army group from the 140 million troops, totaling at least troops, to carry out defensive operations."

Ryan used the red chalk on the tip of his teaching stick to draw an arrow from the scorching sun to the easternmost border of the empire, and then wrote the words 120 million in the place of the scorching sun.

"This will make it even more difficult for the already understaffed Central Army to fight against the Farlan troops. A large number of easily infiltrated gaps will appear between the subordinate units of each army group, further reducing the efficiency of movement and combat effectiveness of each unit."

"Unfortunately, the Empire's combat strategy is to fight a quick battle and win a quick victory. As the shortage of manpower becomes more serious, the front-line troops not only have to face possible enemies, but also the Farlan guerrillas in the rear."

"This would immediately ruin Field Marshal Schlieffen's plan and force the Central Army, which was unable to continue advancing, to switch from its original offensive thinking to a defensive-first strategy."

Ryan put down his stick and stopped talking.

"Are you saying there's a flaw in Field Marshal Schlieffen's plan?"

Draven calmly took a puff of his cigar, and a thin blue smoke flowed into the sky.

Ryan immediately denied it: "The Marshal's plan is naturally flawless, but the officers of the staff and headquarters forgot that the implementation of the plan has prerequisites."

"This premise is that the Empire can guarantee to occupy Palu before the 39-day deadline and force the Farlan government to sign a treaty of defeat."

"But once the headquarters decides to hold the line and not attack, the Farlans will inevitably make the same decision to hold on to the death."

"Is the plan...bankrupt?"

Draven muttered to himself.

Ryan ignored his muttering and raised his staff again. He found a river called Maine near the Farlan capital of Palu and said in a low voice, "I believe this is the maximum distance the Empire can advance in its current state."

"Maine River...huh?"

Hellingen recognized the location that Ryan pointed to at a glance. It was a river that was more than 500 kilometers long and shaped like an inverted L, dividing a long section of land in the eastern part of Paliu.

Moreover, the river is very turbulent and only half of it is navigable.

It is a natural terrain.

"Yes."

Ryan nodded. "The Farlanes will undoubtedly deploy a large number of troops along this river to hinder the Imperial Army's movements. Since this area is very close to Palu, they can easily replenish the troops there, and the transportation of supplies will also be very smooth."

"The reason for this is that the large-scale fortress artillery clusters built by the Farlans in the area bordering the southern border of the empire provide them with a safe rear environment."

"There are only two options for the Empire's forces to win."

"1—Mobilize the main force back to the Empire. After reorganization, have the troops advance along the Rhine Valley south of the Vosges Mountains into the interior of Farland, launching an offensive from south to north."

"2--The Imperial Army completely defeated the Farlan forces in the battle around the Main River, completely occupied Palu, and began to annihilate all the Farlan forces in sight all the way south."

Finished speaking.

The only sounds in the entire conference room were the party music leaking in from the window and the breathing of ten people.

Ryan stood there quietly. He could see that Wolbeck's face was getting darker as he spoke. He could also see that Hellingen and Draven's expressions turned blue, then red, and finally turned black in a surprisingly consistent manner.

Only Schubert was still smoking a cigarette, with an expression that said, "Give me the soldiers, and I don't care about anything else."

After a while, as if they had figured something out, Draven and Hellingen spoke almost simultaneously: "Chief of the General Staff Moltke will definitely choose to hold the front and advance slowly. This will not change."

They exchanged a quick glance, then, surprisingly, looked away. Hellingen tapped the table in front of him in frustration. "The Farlanders in the south wouldn't dare attack. I know Joffre; he doesn't have the ability."

"The Seventh Army and the Sixth Army can retain only nine divisions. According to Marshal Schlieffen's plan, the southern border will not be breached." Ryan added immediately.

"Can the remaining troops of the Sixth and Seventh Armies advance through the Rhine Valley?" Walbeck asked Ryan with one hand on the table and his eyes on the map.

Ryan: "No problem, but I don't think this is a good choice."

"When I attacked Belfort, I confirmed the train station built by the Farlans in Belfort. It has two railways, one leading to the north and the other to the south of Farlan."

"It would be great if we could capture it, but they have six armies deployed on the front lines. We can't defeat them with just two armies."

"This is a dead end..." Draven exhaled. "If that's the case, then there's only the second option left."

He looked at Ryan, his eyes wide open, completely devoid of his previous nonchalant demeanor.

Ryan noticed that Draven was getting serious, and he began to think about what Ms. Catherine had written on the note.

【Training troops】

He thought that perhaps the generals had been arguing about the size of the troops they were training.

But for Draven and Walbeck who were further behind, the training program proposed by General Hellingen might very well mean that they would lead their troops directly to the front line.

Ryan is not a fool, he would not be stupid enough to ask such a question, but he has thought about what he will say next.

"In fact," he looked at Draven, "Your Excellency, there is a solution to Method 2."

Draven almost immediately raised his head and looked at Ryan: "What's the plan? Tell me about it."

Then Ryan turned his head and looked at Hellingen beside him: "Commander, I would like to ask, can the reconnaissance team of Warrant Officer Soma Perris from the Second Air Force Fleet participate in the front-line combat mission?"

Hellingen looked at Ryan with some confusion: "Why did you mention them?"

"Those people are the treasures of the Second Fleet. Just training one of them would cost dozens of kilograms of gold. Sending them to the front lines wouldn't be enough even if you had a dozen Blue Star Musks."

"But..."

Heilingen said, his tone changing: "They are all first-class fighters, and they are not incapable of carrying out combat missions."

"Mobile soldiers?" Walbeck glanced at Hellingen. "Aren't you afraid of being torn apart by the air force?"

"Just discuss the matter."

Hellingen waved his hand and looked back at Ryan: "Do you have any ideas, Captain?"

"Yes!"

Ryan said immediately.

"I believe that a force primarily based on airships is essential if we are to break through the possible battle lines along the way!"

Ryan had seen the airships in this world.

Unlike airships on Earth, those large airships that are as long as iron lunch boxes obviously have larger passenger space and better transportation capabilities.

According to subsequent records, the four Republic-class airships that were previously destroyed by the assault company had a maximum transport capacity of more than five tons, which was close to some bombers and transport planes during World War II.

More importantly, the airship makes very little noise, and it is almost impossible for people to hear the sound when it flies in the sky.

Everyone looked curious, and Draven even started to urge him, "Tell me what you think, young man."

Having received permission from the Lieutenant General of the General Staff, Ryan nodded immediately.

He used his staff to draw a straight line on the map starting from Paliu all the way to Verdun, and noted the words "Imperial and Farlandic Defense Lines".

"Based on my previous experience fighting in Alsace, the Farlan army generally adopted a strategy of separating infantry and artillery to form a battle line."

"They would dogmatically launch a massive bombardment of the front lines and immediately afterward send out troops to try to break through the lines."

"However, here at the Maine River, because the battle line is extremely stretched, the focus of both sides will likely shift from positional warfare to maneuver warfare. Breaking through the gaps between the opposing army groups and encircling the enemy forces will become the primary tactical and strategic objectives."

"Therefore, I believe that the battle lines between the two sides will inevitably be stretched to a terrifying extent, perhaps covering from Paliu to Verdun."

Several generals nodded. They understood why Ryan said that.

Verdun is located at the northernmost end of the group of huge artillery fortresses built by Farland on the border of the empire. If Joffre had any brains, he would definitely build his own defense line with the line from Paliu to Verdun as the core.

"Based on the above premise," Ryan said, "I believe we can utilize the airship fleet's transportation advantages to deploy a sufficient number of elite troops to the enemy's rear in the dead of night, especially to key locations like Verdun, and swiftly eliminate the enemy's rear artillery units."

"As long as we're fast enough."

"In this way, the troops can complete the breakthrough of the enemy's defense line with only our artillery support."

"Then the Imperial Army will be able to follow the gap in Verdun and break into the rear of the Farlan fortress line. By simultaneously advancing westward and southward, they can quickly establish a double encirclement of the Farlan forces on the Maine River and the fortress line."

After saying that, Ryan officially put down the teaching stick in his hand, leaned against the side of the map, and breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't know much about the Battle of the Marne, and what he just said was the limit of what he could do.

As for tactics.

In this world where technology is obviously more advanced than that of Earth at the same time, Ryan always gets some unexpected surprises.

Whether it is an airship or a weapon.

He looked at Hellingen, Draven, and the three colonels from the General Staff.

The two generals remained surprisingly silent, their brains working rapidly to judge the rationality of what Ryan had just said.

The officers took out their own maps and small soldier chess pieces and began to quickly reconstruct the entire process of the battle that was bound to happen in the future according to what Ryan had just said.

The air in the conference room suddenly turned from cold to hot. As all the Farlan chess pieces on the small map were eaten, the most senior staff officer immediately came to Draven's side.

He bent down and whispered in Draven's ear for several minutes, even longer than Ryan's speech just now.

But obviously, his report and summary were enough to satisfy a staff lieutenant general like Draven.

Draven tapped his cigar between his fingers, then addressed the staff officer, "Immediately draw up a battle plan, including but not limited to the required manpower and possible reinforcements. Send someone back to the Imperial Capital by plane tonight and submit it to General... No, to Marshal Schlieffen for review."

The staff officer immediately took the order and walked to the desk in the corner.

Draven turned his attention to Ryan.

"Captain Flig, you just mentioned that you wanted to use airships in the battle. Do you have an idea?"

Ryan: "Yes, General."

Draven nodded in satisfaction.

"Now you can speak your mind."

(End of this chapter)