Chapter 917 Civilian Casualties

Three days later, a "Report on low-altitude diving machine gun fire" book appeared in front of Governor Feslav.

Recording the experience on the battlefield and summarizing the gains and losses is the fine tradition of the Austrian army, and at the same time the Austrian army is unique in this era.

Recording the course of the war seems simple, but not everyone can do it. At least in countries that have not completed compulsory education, it is impossible to do so.

The benefits of doing this are self-evident. Perhaps most of the recorded combat experience is repetitive nonsense, but as long as one-thousandth of the content is valuable, it is earned.

Especially in the application of new weapons and equipment and the exploration of new tactics, these materials are particularly important.

Therefore, only officers write reports in the Army, but in the newly released Air Force, everyone has to write reports.

Low-altitude dive bombing and low-altitude dive machine gun strafing are not new terms. Similar concepts have been proposed as early as more than ten years ago.

Don't get me wrong, this has nothing to do with the great Franz. Franz's military ignorance is true, but he also knows that although the military concepts of later generations are good, they are also based on specific conditions.

Take dive bombing, for example. It's not just low-flying bombs. Not what kind of aircraft has the ability to fly at low altitudes and dive.

Even if the performance of the aircraft is satisfied, the specific low-altitude method of this low-altitude flight must be explored in actual combat.

While being able to achieve results, it is also necessary to ensure the safety of personnel and aircraft as much as possible, or it is a replica of the Kamikaze brigade.

So the great strategic idea of ​​playing low-altitude dive carpet bombing with airships is not Franz's masterpiece.

The emergence of this concept in the Austrian army is not without a target, but is supported by actual combat cases.

As soon as the airship was put into military use, the Austrian airship force tried it on the Ottomans, and achieved remarkable results.

At that time, this strategic concept became the mainstream of the world and was recommended by many military leaders.

It's just that with the emergence of anti-aircraft weapons, everyone found that a low-flying airship is a living target, and this theory was quickly shelved.

The inapplicability of airships does not mean that aircrafts are also inapplicable. At least at this stage, the air defense weapons of various countries pose little threat to aircraft. In theory, low-altitude dives have become feasible.

Due to the insufficient carrying capacity of the aircraft, the dive-type strategic bombing turned into a machine gun fire, and the power was weakened more than one step.

With the failure of the airship, Admiral Feslav did not rush to make a decision, but fell into contemplation.

Whether this is an example or a military concept with long-term development and application prospects remains a mystery so far.

Seeing that Feslav could not make up his mind, Air Force Major General Andrew McCarthy on the side added another fire.

"Your Excellency Commander, no matter whether there is any prospect of diverging, it is only effective in a short period of time.

We have conducted many drills, and the existing anti-aircraft weapons pose very little threat to the aircraft, and dive strafing can easily achieve results.

Even if the French found a weakness in this tactic, it would take time to figure out how to deal with it. Prior to this, it does not affect our promotion of this tactic. "

Major General Andrew's performance was so positive that he was essentially forced out. Compared with the army and navy, the air force is a little brother.

If the Air Force is strong enough, this kind of tactical promotion does not require the cooperation of other arms, and there is no need to report to the commander of the theater at all, and it will be done by itself.

Whether the soldiers still have to talk about their achievements, the Austrian Air Force has been established for too short a time, and there is no record at all. Naturally, the waist is not strong enough.

If it wasn't for Franz's support, they would still be the Army Flying Corps, and would not have the ability to form an independent army at all.

In this context, the Air Force is holding a sigh of relief, eager to prove its worth on the battlefield.

Therefore, in the promotion of new tactics, the Air Force has always been the most active. Otherwise, it is impossible to verify the feasibility of a battlefield report immediately after receiving it.

After pondering for a while, Feslav nodded: "It is theoretically feasible, but it needs more practical cases to support it before it can be promoted to the whole army.

In the days to come, I allow your Air Force to strike out on your own to verify or perfect this tactic. "

The development of military technology has never been smooth sailing. A big country like Austria has enough capital to pay tuition fees for the development of military technology. The promotion of any new tactics is the result of numerous failures.

This is also the reason why many weapons, equipment and tactical concepts have not been adopted for a long time after they were born. Without the support of actual combat results, everyone is at a loss!

...

With the support of the theater commander, the Austrian Air Force stationed in the Sinai Peninsula took immediate action.

The Egyptian area has become "lively". Not only positions and fortresses have become the hardest hit areas for bombing, but the streets and fields have also become hunting grounds for the Austrian Air Force.

In order to collect more actual combat information, the Air Force can't even think about the cost, no matter where it is, it has to try a wave.

As for the consequences, this is not within the scope of Major General Andrew's consideration. Anyway, the bullets hit the enemy's ground.

...

Since the end of the airship force, the sky over Cairo has become the territory of the Austrian Air Force. Every day, there will be a combination of airship + aircraft from time to time.

Come check in to work.

For the sake of life, Governor Jacob had to move the headquarters into the basement. In fact, he originally wanted to find more secure gun holes.

It is a pity that the city of Cairo is in the heart of Egypt, and the French have never considered the threat of foreign enemies. The last military threat was the last time the rebels besieged the city.

The rabble of indigenous rebels had at most a few local cannons, and the shells could not hit the Governor's Palace at all. There is no need for anti-gunning, so naturally there is no anti-gunning hole.

After the outbreak of the Franco-Austrian War, Governor Jacob was only thinking about the issue of the canal defense line, and he never thought about the threat from the sky.

When the crisis comes, it is too late to want to dig now. After all, the anti-gun cave that can accommodate the French army headquarters is not a big cave.

"Your Excellency, the enemy's air force is too rampant, and it simply ignores France. We must fight back."

Those who can say such things are naturally not French soldiers. Any officer present knew that it was not that they did not want to fight back, but that they simply did not have the ability to fight back.

Looking at the angry middle-aged man, Governor Jacob frowned, and after being silent for a while, he slowly said: "Senior Abraham, please read the battle report, or pay attention to the current affairs news in China.

Not to mention our side, even the domestic Austrian air force can't help it. Just a week ago, Paris was also attacked by the enemy. "

Hearing the news of the air raid on Paris, the expressions of everyone present changed greatly. Obviously, it was the first time everyone received the news.

Seeing the expressions of everyone, Jacob knew that there was a problem with his concept. Before the war broke out, news that happened in Paris could reach Egypt in just a few hours.

The telegraph business in France is run by capitalists. The first consideration is how to maximize profits, and what is strategic and not strategic must be backed up.

In this context, it is naturally impossible to lay a dedicated submarine cable for the telegraph from mainland France to Egypt.

Instead, it went through the land cable channel through the Algeria region and passed through the Austrian African region along the way, or cooperated with the Austrian Telegraph Company.

This is also in line with international management. Telegram can be extended to most parts of the world within a few decades, relying on regional cooperation.

If they all do it alone, there is no telegraph company that has the ability to connect to the world.

The European Continental War broke out too suddenly. After only a few months of brewing, it suddenly broke out. The French government has had a brief period of confusion, not to mention the telegraph company.

The economy must also make concessions to politics. After the outbreak of the war, the Austrian Telegraph Company, which had cooperated with them, naturally suspended the business of providing them with information transmission.

At present, the connection between Egypt and the mainland mainly relies on the transmission of information by warships traveling back and forth between the two places. Even the most well-informed master in the past is now difficult to receive domestic news.

After a pause, the high-ranking Abraham who reacted was shocked and said: "Your Excellency Governor, are you sure you are not joking?"

Paris these days has a very sacred status in the hearts of the French. The news of the attack on Paris is too appalling. It is not comparable to Cairo being bombed every day.

Jacob nodded cautiously: "Your Excellency, if it didn't happen, would I joke about this kind of thing?"

"However, things are not as serious as you think. The enemy just passed by in Paris and did not cause us much damage.

Everyone must have discovered that the enemy's air force is not so terrible. Aside from the sound of the bombing, the real damage to us from the bombing was not great.

The country has already prepared to produce aircraft. As long as we persist for this period of time, the advantage of the enemy will cease to exist.

Now, we……"

Bombing is scary and not scary. Although the French air defense units are rubbish, they have it. With their backward air defense weapons, they still make the Austrian airships dare not fly at low altitudes.

Throwing bombs from a height of several thousand meters, the hit rate is so touching, it is almost catching up with winning the lottery.

Purely in terms of lethality, the casualties brought to the French army by a dive plane from time to time are higher than the efficiency of airship bombing.

High-ranking Abraham interrupted: "Your Excellency Governor, we need to correct here, the losses caused by the enemy air force are not small.

Since the bombardment of the enemy, the factories, shops, and entertainment venues in Cairo City have not been able to operate normally.

The folks have already fallen into panic, and those with a little bit of money are all desperately running outside. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 15,000 people left Cairo in the past week.

Not only Cairo's economy has been hit hard, other parts of Egypt have also suffered losses to varying degrees, especially the casualties are shocking.

After analyzing the news from various places, it is initially estimated that the number of civilian casualties caused by the enemy air force attack has exceeded five figures. "

There is no way, no matter how bad the bombardment is, as long as the bomb is dropped, it will always have an effect.

The area where the troops can operate is limited, and they know how to save their lives under the bombardment of the enemy. Apart from the initial discomfort, the casualties of the troops behind are not too great.

Civilians are different. When encountering enemy bombing these years, everyone's first reaction is to run, and few people have air defense awareness.

As soon as he ran in chaos, the number of casualties naturally went up. Especially after the Austrian aircraft began to fire at low altitudes, the situation became more serious.

With a slap on the table, Mr. Jacob

The governor shared the enemy and said: "The Austrians are too despicable, how can the war involve civilians!

Senior Abraham, you are responsible for collecting relevant information, and we want to expose their atrocities in the international community. "

After receiving this answer, everyone fell silent again. The diplomatic protests of these years are the last struggle of the weak, and the foreign powers prefer direct threats.

Naturally, there will be no expectations for Jacob's proposal to use the international community to exert political pressure.

There is no way, in this rotten era, behind any colonial empire there is a dark and dark history. If it is really revealed, no one will think about it.

By contrast, civilian casualties from war are nothing at all. Especially when the place of war is still in Africa, the influence on the European world is even smaller.

...