Chapter 918 France Needs Allies

Jacob's diplomatic protest was actually just an angry remark. Asking for help from the international community, France can't afford to lose this man.

If you can't win on the battlefield, and hope for the intervention of the international community, that is the behavior of the weak, and it is not in line with France's status as a great power.

Of course, the main thing is that protests are useless. Four referees on the European continent fought each other two by two. Can't expect a group of small countries acting as cheerleaders to interfere?

Since it is a war, there are bound to be casualties. Civilian casualties in France were high, and civilian casualties on the side of the anti-French alliance were not small.

Especially in the already occupied Belgium and Rhineland regions, although there are no specific statistics, it can still be determined that civilian casualties are above five figures.

Now is the peak of colonial empires, and it is also the peak of racial discrimination. Not all ethnic groups have human rights.

It's good that the cover is not lifted. If it is really lifted, the final outcome will be "one thousand kills and three hundred enemies."

If the operation is not good enough to make European countries mistakenly believe that France is no good, and run to hug Austria's thighs one by one, it will be a big trouble.

The current anti-French alliance is already difficult enough to deal with. If the Austrians are allowed to fool a few more allies, there will be no need to fight the next battle.

In fact, the biggest threat that the Austrian Air Force brought to the French army was not direct killing on the battlefield.

Whether airship bombing or plane strafing, what kind of results can be achieved depends on luck.

When you are lucky, a wave of air strikes can kill thousands of people; when you are unlucky, the results are not enough.

Compared with the direct results achieved by the Austrian Air Force on the battlefield, Governor Jacob was more worried about the impact on military morale.

After a series of blows, the arrogance of the French army was gradually exhausted, and more and more people lost confidence in the next war.

Fortunes and misfortunes do not come singly, just when Governor Jacob was worried about the Austrian Air Force.

A burly young officer ran in from outside and said breathlessly, "Governor... Your Excellency, the big thing... is not good!"

Governor Jacob's heart tightened. Just by looking at the nervous expression on the young officer's face, he knew that something big was about to happen.

After all, he had seen strong winds and waves. Jacob quickly adjusted and said as if nothing had happened: "Olen, speak slowly. The sky hasn't fallen yet, where did the enemy bombard?"

Compared with other bad news on the battlefield, Governor Jacob still hopes that the next bad news is the enemy's air force bombing.

Airships have entered the military field for so many years, and Austria is the first to put airships into the military field. Although the French are proud but not stupid, it is impossible to be unguarded in the face of such an enemy.

When building the material warehouse, Governor Jacob considered the threat from heaven early on. This is also the reason why the French army suffered heavy casualties after losing air supremacy.

The young officer in Oren hurriedly shook his head: "It's not an air strike! The enemy has torn apart our eastern defense line again, and the Aswan area is in danger."

Hearing the word "again" gave Governor Jacob only a toothache. There is no way. From the outbreak of the war to the present, the defense line deployed by the French army in the Sudan area has been broken through three times.

Fortunately, the colony was large enough that the French had the opportunity to rearrange their defenses in the rear. It is a pity that the colonial army has always been unusable, and every line of defense cannot last for a few days.

In Jacob's view, it was not so much that the French troops on the front were resisting the Austrian invasion, but that the poor geographical conditions and the poor traffic environment were slowing the enemy's advance.

"Command Lieutenant General Parker to gather up the fallen troops from the front and build a new line of defense in the Aswan area.

The 17th and 24th divisions were ordered to immediately send reinforcements.

Ordered the defenders in Kom Ombo, Edfu and other areas to prepare for battle..."

A series of orders were issued, and it could be seen that Governor Jacob had no hope for the French troops on the front line. Active defense is just to buy time, not expect them to be able to hold off the enemy.

Otherwise, focus on building a line of defense to block the enemy's front, instead of preparing for battle in different regions and resisting, trading space for time.

There are no best tactics in this world, only the most suitable tactics.

According to the plan of the Paris government, the task of the African colonial government is to stick to it, delay time, and wait for the French army to win the victory on the European continent.

There is no doubt that Governor Jacob is strictly implementing this plan. In addition to the early days of the war, Ambitious took the initiative to organize several attacks, and then entered a state of comprehensive defense.

However, the plan did not change quickly, the European Continental War was at a stalemate, the French army was unable to break through the Rhine defense line, and the situation in Egypt became worse.

...

The Aswan region has now become a battlefield. The sound of artillery fire and shouts of killing intertwined, resounding through the sky.

Putting down the telescope in his hand, Major General Herzendorf showed a satisfied smile. After laughing, there is a deep sadness.

There is no doubt that the increased role of the Air Force on the battlefield is also a shock to the Army.

Although the dominance of the Army cannot be shaken yet, the Air Force is developing rapidly. If nothing else, China will definitely increase its investment in the Air Force after the war.

If only the Air Force is growing, Major General Herzendorf is still worried. After all, the Air Force has just started, and it is impossible to keep pace with the Army in a short period of time.

The problem is that Austria still has a large navy. Now the international situation is very obvious. After the war, the Vienna government will definitely increase the

The input of the navy, and the British competition for maritime supremacy.

In contrast, the army is much harder. Everyone knows that Austria cannot keep five or six million troops for a long time. Once the war is over, disarmament is imperative.

It is impossible for the navy to be laid off, and the air force is limited in size. Even if it is laid off, the airship force will be directly transferred to logistics transportation by convention. Only the army is really abolished.

With one increase and one decrease, the advantages of the Army are offset. In the future, Austria's military structure will be that the three armies of the land, sea and air will check and balance each other, and the army will no longer be the dominant force.

This is what the Vienna government wants to see most. The navy has flourished in the past ten years, and the airship unit can be separated from the army and become an independent army. The government has made great efforts.

Of course, behind this, the emperor's acquiescence is also indispensable. The core of the political game is the balance of power, and the emperor does not want his subordinates to be monolithic.

As an army general, I naturally don't want to see this happen. Even if the Austrian family has a great business, the funds invested in the military are limited. The rise of the navy and air force will inevitably dilute the resources of the army.

It is useless to know, this is a conspiracy. From the day the Austrian Air Force was established, the new pattern was doomed.

Logically speaking, at the level of Major General Herzendorf, he should not know.

After all, things haven't happened yet. The government is only pushing it on purpose, and no one has proposed it anywhere, let alone implemented it. So far, no news has come out.

However, there is never a shortage of smart people in this world, and Major General Herzendorf is one of them, drawing conclusions from a few clues.

Sometimes knowing too much can be a problem. Major General Herzendorf is like this now. Originally, he still did not believe that the Air Force could grow, but after witnessing the Air Force combat, he had to accept the reality.

Now the performance of the aircraft is still limited, and the bombing still depends on the airship, but the technology is changing rapidly these days!

Soon Herzendorf dismissed the messy thoughts in his mind. When the sky fell, it was the taller who stood up first. With so many bigwigs at the top of the army, it was not his young future's turn to worry about it.

In any case, the geographical location of Austria has determined that land power must be developed, and no matter how it belongs to the army, it cannot be less.

After all, the cake is getting bigger and bigger, even if there are more people to share, each person will still get more than the original.

Looking at his watch, Major General Herzendorf instructed the officers in front of him: "Go on, and after half an hour, the 225th Division will attack from the front, the 236th Division will attack from the right flank, and the 241st Division will attack from the right flank. from……"

A major general commanding more than 20 infantry divisions is impossible under normal circumstances. According to the establishment of the Austrian army, the officers at the division level are basically major generals.

Those who are qualified to command more than 300,000 troops in combat must at least start as generals.

However, these so-called conventions were all broken after the big military expansion.

Counting the colonial troops, the Austrian army has swelled from more than half a million before the war to more than six million.

Since the completion of the military reform, Austria's military rank has become precious, especially the number of generals has been strictly controlled.

Before the war broke out, the army, including retired generals, had less than 700 people. The troops swelled more than ten times at once, and Franz naturally couldn't take out so many generals.

Without military exploits, the threshold of generals is difficult to cross, but there are many school-level officers in reserve. If there are not enough generals, the colonel is used to make up the number, and even the division commanders of some units are assigned to lieutenant colonels.

Now is the age of war. If you don't control it, there will be no generals flying all over the sky after the war.

In order to avoid the embarrassment of having more generals than soldiers, Franz decisively adopted measures of lower ranks and higher ranks. Anyway, after fighting a few battles, you will catch up with your exploits.

In this context, it is not surprising that a major-general army commander like Herzendorf appeared.

...

With the start of the defense of Aswan, letters of help were continuously flown from Cairo to Paris. At most, Napoleon IV could receive three telegrams from the governor of Egypt a day.

Not just from Egypt, but also from other parts of Africa asking for help. Even though the Paris government had decided to temporarily abandon large swathes of the colony, it had not been able to reverse the unfavorable situation on the battlefield.

The retreat of the colonial government was not a simple task, not only the government offices had to be relocated, but also a large number of people had to leave.

Others can be thrown away, but soldiers’ families can’t be thrown away too, right?

If the family members of the soldiers are really lost to Austria, there will be no need to fight in the following battles.

In order to cover the retreat of government agencies and soldiers' families, the French troops on the front line still had to continue to stand up. Therefore, the reinforcements promised to the governor of Egypt only exist in theory.

Whether it can be put in place in the end depends on how many troops have been withdrawn from the front line. After confirming that the security of Algeria can be guaranteed, Egypt will be given to Egypt when there is a surplus of troops.

Don't think that the African battlefield seems to be not very important, it will not affect the final outcome of the European War, and the French government does not pay much attention to it.

On the contrary, the African colonies provided France with one-third of industrial raw materials and one-fifteenth of agricultural products, which was of great strategic significance to France.

From the very beginning, the French government has attached great importance to the African continent. However, their strength in the African region is limited, and the mainland is facing two-front battles, and they are simply unable to invest a large amount of troops in the African colonies in a short period of time.

Out of desperation, the Paris government deliberately made an appearance of indifference.

Let the outside world think that they don't pay attention to Africa, not that France can't beat Austria in Africa.

There is no way, this is politics. The complex international situation has determined that France must continue to be strong, but any trace of fatigue may trigger a chain reaction.

In the face of the deteriorating situation in Africa, Napoleon IV finally could not sit still. The Rhine defense line has not yet broken through. If Africa falls first, the fun will be great.

Not to mention the fall of Africa and the loss to France. From a strategic point of view, once French Africa fell, Austria almost unified the entire African continent.

By that time, even if the French had broken through Vienna, the war would have continued. No way, the capital is too rich, and there is really no reason to admit defeat.

Even if it has been failing on the battlefield, Austria can rely on resources to consume it and drag France to death.

With the lessons of the Russo-Prussian War, Napoleon IV had to consider the horrific consequences of the fall of French Africa.

"The situation in Africa has completely collapsed. What is the War Department going to do?"

Army Minister Luskinia blushed and replied slightly embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, our disadvantage on the African continent is too obvious, even if we send reinforcements from home, it will be difficult to reverse the situation.

At the moment, we can only carry out strategic contraction and concentrate our troops to keep the most important Egypt and Algeria, and other regions can only temporarily give up. "

It is impossible to increase troops. The European Continental War has consumed almost all of France's strength, and it is simply unable to carry out labor expeditions.

Even if the Ministry of the Army gritted its teeth and assembled hundreds of thousands of troops, what about the logistics materials?

You must know that the cost of labor expeditions is far greater than that of local operations, and French Africa is not as deep as Austrian Africa.

After the war broke out, the Vienna government's investment in the African battlefield was only weapons and medicines, and other strategic materials were provided by the local government itself.

In the case of French Africa, the colonial government simply could not afford such a large expenditure. The ability of the indigenous people to create wealth is simply not comparable to that of the Austrians.

Napoleon IV's face sank, obviously this statement did not satisfy him.

If you can defend the most important Egypt and Algeria, then you can accept it in front of you. The problem is that the Egyptian region will not be guaranteed.

When you open the map, you can see that France's territory on the African continent is shrinking day by day. At the current rate, in the past year and a half, there will be nothing to do with France on the African continent.

"Is that all there is to it?"

Facing the emperor's soul torture, Luskinia's forehead was sweating. There is no way, this problem is too embarrassing.

"Your Majesty, although the deterioration of the situation on the African continent cannot be reversed, it will not collapse immediately.

In any case, we still have nearly one million troops on the African continent, and it can be done with delay.

As long as we win the European War, now the Austrians will have to pay back what they eat. "

If the "Million Army" falls into the ears of uninformed people, it is estimated that it can scare many people.

It's a pity that all those present are insiders, and they know very well what those troops are. As long as the colonial troops have half the combat effectiveness of the main force, the situation will not collapse so badly.

Napoleon IV waved his hand: "Enough, I don't want to listen to these old platitudes.

Everyone knows that the continental war is the key to victory, provided that we can win the war on the European continent.

If the stalemate continues like this, once French Africa falls, what will I use to fight against Austria? Count on the British? "

It wasn't that Napoleon IV couldn't hold his breath, it was just that the situation on the battlefield was too bad. The African battlefield was a complete defeat, and the European battlefield was not smooth.

As time went on, the Austrian army invested more and more troops on the Rhine defense line, and the hope of the French army breaking through the defense line became less and less.

For this war, France put too many chips, and now they simply cannot afford to lose.

After hesitating for a moment, Luskinia said slowly: "Your Majesty, we need allies. We need real allies, not the British who stab in the back at any time!"

This is the lesson of blood, and if you open the history book, you will know that most of the time France is fighting alone.

Many times, it is horrific to be surrounded and beaten by the enemy even though it has the strength of the most powerful country in the European continent.

It's not that no one has discovered this problem, it's mainly that by the time they reacted, the countries on the European continent had already been offended.

Now is no exception. Napoleon IV is also eager to gain allies, but he can't find them!

If it wasn't for force, he wouldn't be scheming with his old enemies, the British and tigers.

...