Wild North America 1846

Chapter 544 Caught off guard

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 544 Caught off guard

France officially declared war on July 19, 1870, but its actions were quite slow. By the end of July, the French army had assembled on the border in eight corps with a total of about 220,000 people. Napoleon III was the rare commander-in-chief himself, and Marshal LeBoeuf was the commander-in-chief.

Chief of the General Staff of the French Army.

Official declaration of war

The enthusiasm of French residents is quite high, and experienced retired soldiers have responded to the government's mobilization to join the army. The French army has a high proportion of professional soldiers and strong military quality. Many of them have accompanied colonial armies in battles around the world.

However, due to the hasty declaration of war and insufficient preparation, it was difficult to quickly devote a large number of troops to launch a military attack on the Kingdom of Prussia after the declaration.

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

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

According to the combat plan, superior forces will be concentrated to attack Alsace and Lorraine, in an effort to annihilate the main force of the French army at the Franco-Prussian border or drive it to the north of France, and then attack Paris.

The Prussian army's mobilization plan was well-planned, with rapid railway transportation of troops and effective measures in all aspects. By the end of July, the Prussian army had assembled three regiments of about 470,000 people and 1,584 artillery pieces on the border.

In terms of military strength alone

The Prussian army assembled more than twice as many troops as the French army, but they never took the initiative to attack. Instead, they waited for the French to cross the border first and trigger a war, and then gave the French a powerful taste.

The advantage of this is that the Kingdom of Prussia can occupy the moral high ground, and France as an invading army will not be able to stand no matter what reasons it looks for.

This move can win the support of most European countries and major powers outside the region. It can advance, attack, retreat or defend, and it is completely adaptable.

What the Prussian generals never expected was...

The planned French army moved too slowly. They didn't wait either left or right. They only gathered 220,000 troops in more than ten days. Isn't this too funny?

After the Kingdom of Prussia declared war in France, the entire country immediately mobilized and entered a wartime state, and the wartime state plans that had been formulated were implemented one by one.

Armed militiamen from all towns, towns and states in the Kingdom of Prussia quickly gathered into teams based on battalions and companies, and formed larger divisions and regiments nearby. They received their numbers as soon as possible and quickly headed to the designated battlefield by train.

Despite the fact that the Kingdom of Prussia had assembled 470,000 troops on the banks of the Rhine, there were actually no less than 500,000 reserve troops in major cities.

After receiving the order from the Prussian Army General Staff Headquarters, reinforcements can be sent forward at any time by domestic trains that extend in all directions, and all of them will arrive at the designated location within a week.

No matter how many times I calculated, I could not have predicted that France would be so defeated and that the French army would be mobilized so slowly.

King William I of Prussia was so worried that he asked about the gathering situation of the French army at least four or five times a day. Big bubbles burst out of his mouth, and he had to get up in the middle of the night to ask.

no way

The Kingdom of Prussia and the North German Confederation have gathered millions of troops to stand ready. Everything is ready here. Over there, the French have assembled 220,000 troops. They are so slow that there is no sign of a cross-border attack. Can we not be anxious?

Would you rather come soon?

It costs a lot of money to feed the millions of troops every day. The supply of frozen meat alone requires two ships a day to ensure that the soldiers have adequate nutrition and a high pre-war condition.

If we count the social forces mobilized for this purpose, it would have to be several times higher.

Now is the busy farming season

Millions of capable laborers (in addition to millions of troops, including war logistics auxiliary personnel) were eliminated to prepare for this war. Women and children were busy in the fields, and even children over ten years old had to follow them to do farm work. It can be seen that

How deep is the labor shortage?

these days

All the pressure was concentrated on William I. After convening a military meeting of the General Staff, General Moltke, the Chief of Staff, had to adjust his strategic deployment.

The original combat plan of waiting for the French army to fully break through the Rhine before resolutely implementing a counterattack was adjusted to:

As long as the French army crosses the border to attack, the Prussian army will take the initiative to annihilate the enemy and burn the flames of war into France, actively seeking to annihilate or severely damage part of the French field corps to win a favorable war situation.

This was tantamount to overturning the overall combat plan carefully formulated before the war, and changing "luring the enemy deep" into "taking the initiative". The Prussian Army General Staff Headquarters bore the greatest pressure for this.

This time a full blow

It brought together the power accumulated by the Kingdom of Prussia for decades. In order to increase the probability of defeating its strong opponent, the Kingdom of Prussia also took several loans from the Tang Empire, totaling 120 million Tang Yuan, for the preparation of war materials.

It can be said that the Kingdom of Prussia is very well prepared, more fully prepared than in its original history, and able to unleash more combat effectiveness.

It's a pity that the French don't cooperate!

The Prussian Army General Staff Headquarters conducts research and judgment on the speed of troop mobilization based on the current trends of the French;

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

After thinking about it this way, I really can’t sit still.

After waiting so long, the Kingdom of Prussia could no longer hold on under the huge logistical pressure.

Nowadays, the Prussian army's millions of troops are well fed and well-fed, with meat every meal and bread freely available, but they can't do anything in the military camp. The family of the Kingdom of Prussia cannot withstand such a mess.

The huge amount of supplies stored is consumed very quickly, and the money is flowing like water and cannot be stopped.

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

However, the French army did not take resolute combat operations. They only made some small-scale contacts with the Prussian advance guard and retreated after the exchange of fire.

news comes

The Prussian Army General Staff Headquarters burst into cheers. William I's anxious look for more than ten days finally calmed down. He held out his stomach, touched the big bubbles that burst out of his mouth due to anxiety with his hand, and waved his other hand vigorously.

Said;

“My brave and fighting Prussian officers and men;

The war forced on us by the evil French broke out. Just now, I received the latest news from the garrison in the Saarbrücken area;

The French brazenly crossed the border between the two countries and launched a war of aggression against the Kingdom of Prussia. The war had already begun.

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

In the face of this major life-and-death crisis, 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 swords and guns and fight to the end. Long live the German nation, and the German iron-blooded spirit will never die..."

"Fight the French to the end, and the German spirit will never die..."

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

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

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

Just one day apart

On August 4, 1870, the Prussian army crossed the border and invaded the French army's positions. A large-scale fierce battle between the two sides began.

On the golden fields that have just been harvested

The Prussian troops all over the mountains and plains lined up neatly with musketry, attacking the French positions under the cover of artillery fire. The "rumbling" sound of the artillery was deafening. The artillerymen on both sides were doing their best to deliver firepower, and the battlefield was filled with smoke.

The French General Douai put down the telescope in his hand with a solemn expression and said to the herald in a firm tone;

“Preach 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 Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm as the core. The total strength is about 240,000 to 250,000 people. It is currently

Launched a wave of violent attacks on our army's positions.

The enemy's strength 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 fierce.

More than 25,700 members of our army fought bravely, blocking the enemy's sharp offensive with a fearless spirit of sacrifice, and planned to adopt a step-by-step combat plan to defend the invincible glory of the French army to the death.

However, there is a huge gap in military strength between the enemy and ours, making it difficult for our army to support itself.

Here, our troops urgently request your Majesty for reinforcements. We can persist for another 12 hours at most. Without strong support, we may face the risk of annihilation.

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

The herald recorded the order with a solemn look, then raised his hand in a solemn military salute and replied: "Your Excellency, General, I will transmit your order back to the staff headquarters as quickly as possible. Long live the great French Empire!"

After saying that, the herald hurriedly ran to the war horse on the side, quickly got on the horse, then raised his whip and spanked the horse's butt, driving the horse to run wildly...

The military situation is like a fire and cannot be delayed 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 strong defense facilities at all.

During the exploratory attack two days ago, General Douai felt that the Prussian army's defense was extremely tenacious, and he realized that the Prussian army was fully prepared for war, and its strength was probably not inferior to his own.

To be cautious, General Douai led his army back to the French side and waited for the arrival of the French army from behind.

At that time, when the troops are gathered together, it will not be too late to consider the quality of the Prussian army's defense.

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

But he never expected

A tentative attack led by himself actually stirred up a hornet's nest, triggering an all-out attack by the Prussian main force, the Third Army. Hundreds of thousands of troops pressed forward overwhelmingly, which caught him off guard and forced the entire army into a desperate situation.

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

(End of chapter)