Chapter 925 Refugee Tide

A new day begins, and the snow is still flying all over the sky. Generally speaking, in such weather, neither the coalition nor the French would launch an attack.

Captain Hoeger, who was on patrol, did not dare to take it lightly. There was no large-scale attack, which did not mean that small-scale attacks would not happen.

The 25th Division, where Captain Guang Hoeg was located, was attacked seven times by the French in just half a month, causing hundreds of casualties.

Of course, the coalition forces also organized a number of retaliatory counterattacks. Generally speaking, it was a winner and loser, and the Austrian army also took a little advantage.

Against the bone-chilling wind, Captain Hoeger sneezed, and an ominous premonition arose spontaneously.

"All cheer me up, be careful to be shot by the French."

The battlefield is the best teacher, and experience is learned slowly. I don't know since when, both sides fell in love with sniper games.

Four or five hundred meters away, three or five soldiers with good marksmanship were ambushed, and they attacked the enemy's patrol team, and they were not afraid of the previous platoon.

Subject to the accuracy of firearms, they can hit more than 30% at a distance of 200 meters, and they are elite soldiers.

For a distance of four or five hundred meters, except for sharpshooters, ordinary soldiers rely entirely on luck, and they cannot constitute effective killing at all.

The soldiers in ambush fought if they could win, and ran if they couldn't. In recent times, most of the casualties on both sides of the war have come like this.

"Don't worry, Captain. The terrain here is flat, and you can see the situation three or five miles away, and you can't hide anyone.

You see, there is a vast expanse of white ahead, and it doesn't look like someone is passing by, unless the French lie in ambush in the snow in the middle of the night. "

The person who answered was a middle-aged veteran who had been demobilized and returned to the army after the outbreak of the war. It can be seen from the eyes of everyone that his status in the patrol team is not low.

The army worships the strong, and being respected is naturally due to its ability. It is no exception here. The middle-aged veteran is respected. Naturally, he has rich combat experience and has obtained military medals.

In almost all Austrian army companies, there will be such veterans, and the value of their existence is to impart battlefield experience.

Captain Hoeger took out his binoculars, glanced ahead, determined that there were no traces of pedestrians, and breathed a sigh of relief.

There is no overnight ambush, the temperature in the middle of the night is minus ten degrees, in the ice and snow, without any heating facilities, it will kill people.

As for digging holes and setting up bunkers, that only exists in divine dramas. In reality, it is impossible at all. Frozen soil is not so easy to dig. How can it be dug out silently overnight?

Just as he was about to put down the telescope, a looming figure suddenly appeared in the distance, and Captain Hoeg's expression suddenly became solemn.

"Signal, the enemy has appeared."

The distance is so far that it can only be seen through a telescope. Although it was unreasonable for the French army to launch an attack in such weather, the battlefield was not a reasonable place.

Captain Hoeg went to a military school, and countless classic battles told him that classic battles were won by breaking the rules.

It's not feasible in theory, but it doesn't mean it won't happen in reality. For the French army, it is not good to launch an attack in ice and snow weather, but it is not completely without benefits.

In such ghost weather, the Austrian planes and airships can only rest at home, and do not need to worry about threats from the sky.

The task of the patrol team is to detect enemy traces and report them in time. Sensing the change, Captain Hoeger naturally wanted to report it.

"Captain, are you sure it's the French army? It's not good for the French to launch an attack now. You must know that fighting in this ghost weather will cause huge casualties to the soldiers!"

In normal times, soldiers are injured, and when they collect their bodies in the evening, they can also take the wounded back for treatment.

This kind of ice and snow weather is different. The wounded lie in the snow for several hours, and the wound has been frozen for a long time, and the possibility of recovery is greatly reduced.

Anyone with a little bit of military common sense knows that the number of wounded on the battlefield is usually several times, or even a dozen times, the number of dead soldiers.

If the wounded can't be rescued, the battle damage will go up all at once. France is not a populous country, and they cannot bear such a loss.

Hoeger shook his head: "Lieutenant Hans, do you think other than the French, other than the French, will there be people running towards us in groups like this?

Don't forget, this is war time. This is the battlefield where we are fighting the French army again. I don't think any normal person would want to run away and die! "

On the battlefield, the guns and guns have no eyes, and the two armies have no innocence in front of them. They ran over to join in the fun, and they died in vain.

Nearby residents had already fled, and no one was left to be bombed. Captain Hoeger directly ruled out the possibility of civilians.

Hans' middle-aged man shook his head: "No, Captain. Don't forget that mines and factories in the Rhineland region have closed down. After losing their livelihood, ordinary people can't last long.

In this icy weather, it is difficult for the French to protect their own logistics, and it is impossible to provide relief at all.

According to past experience, every war produces a large number of refugees. For example, in the last war in the Near East, we created a large number of refugees for the Ottoman Empire. "

It can be seen that it is not that Lieutenant Hans has strong analytical skills, but he has participated in it himself, and the impression in his mind is too deep.

There are ready-made success stories, and the French have no reason not to follow suit. As for the after-effects, this is what Lieutenant Hans can take into account.

heard this

Explain that Captain Hoeg gave up his plan to withdraw immediately. Anyway, the distance between the two sides is still far away, so it doesn't matter if they stay for a while.

"Stop sending the signal, and the scouts will observe for one kilometer to determine whether the team in front is the French army."

Oolong on the battlefield, the consequences are very serious. If the refugees were mistakenly regarded as the enemy and greeted directly with a cannon, it would be another tragedy.

Captain Hoeger had a conscience and didn't want to direct a tragedy himself.

...

The coalition headquarters, at this moment, the high-level officials of the Bideo three-nation coalition gathered together.

Archduke Albrecht said with a cautious face: "Everyone, I just received news from the front line that a wave of refugees is coming to us.

Different from the scattered refugees before, the number of refugees this time may reach nearly 10 million, and we are under great pressure.

There are various indications that this time the French were creating an artificial famine and forcing the people to leave.

The French are now out of skill and have no way to defeat us on the battlefield, so they are trying to drag us down with such despicable means. "

The Austrian officers were okay, but the officers of the two countries were directly fried, especially Leopold II, who attended the meeting, who was even more panicked.

On the surface, a large number of refugees will consume the supplies of the coalition forces and increase the logistical pressure on the anti-French alliance.

If you analyze it at a deeper level, this is the prelude to the complete annexation of Belgium and the Rhineland by France. The locals are gone, and naturally there is no way to prevent the French from occupying these areas.

As long as the French government placed a group of immigrants on it, the annexation was essentially complete. Even after the war, European countries intervened together, and there was no way to restore Belgium, after all, it was all French.

A similar routine was used during Austria's annexation of the Ottoman Empire. When European governments reacted and wanted to intervene, the Ottomans were almost gone.

As a result of the established fact, European countries have no way to send the Ottomans back from Russia, and in the end they can only watch Austria annex the Ottomans.

After reacting, Leopold II immediately said: "Marshal, we must rescue the refugees no matter what."

There is no way, the basic board of Leopold II's rule of Belgium has now become a refugee.

A country exists because of people, and there are people who have a country. If Leopold II wanted to restore his country, he had to keep these refugees.

Otherwise, after a famine, Belgium, which has a small population, will be completely cold.

For the relief of refugees, it is better to count on Austria than on the anti-French alliance.

There are many members of the Anti-French Alliance, but only Austria, and only the world's largest exporter of agricultural products, is able to provide relief to refugees, and can provide so much food.

Archduke Albrecht nodded: "Of course, it is what the Alliance should do to help refugees. But how to help is a problem.

Belgium plus the Rhineland has a total population of more than 11 million. Even if the local population declines due to the war, it will not be less than 10 million.

Since the French have made a move, they will definitely not make small troubles. If nothing else, the number of refugees we want to take in is probably between 9 million and 10 million.

It is not so easy to solve so many people's eating, drinking and sleeping. It must be properly arranged, otherwise there will be a big mess.

Fortunately, the refugees did not come on the same day, and we can also evacuate the refugees. "

"Evacuation" is obviously not as simple as it sounds. As the so-called evacuation is easy, gathering is difficult. Once these refugees are dispersed and resettled, it is not so easy to gather them back.

No matter what allies are allies or not, if you can become a member of the great powers, Austria will naturally not be a vegetarian.

With so much high-quality labor, once Austria has eaten it, it will be difficult for them to spit it out.

A sentence of "go and stay free" can stop everyone's mouth and make everyone have to suffer this dumb loss.

Not to mention leaving everyone, it is still possible to leave half of them. Only those who have experienced war know the value of peace.

It's too dangerous to be a neighbor with France, and a small country like Belgium is too insecure. Why leave when you can get a better life in Austria?

This is still based on the fact that Austria wants to face the situation. If the Vienna government is benevolent and malicious and deliberately sets up some obstacles to prevent the refugees from leaving, it will be even more troublesome.

Leopold II hurriedly objected: "Marshal, this is not good! As long as we win this war, the refugees will still have to return home.

Considering everyone's local situation and the convenience of returning home in the future, I propose to build a refugee camp nearby to resettle the refugees. "

If you don't jump out, you can't do it. The German Confederation is a mess, and the Rhineland region does not belong to any state. The representatives of the states present are simply impossible to come forward.

It does not involve self-interest. For the representatives of the states, as long as Austria is sure to provide money and food to resettle these refugees, other issues are easy to discuss.

Archduke Albrecht shook his head: "Your Majesty. In principle, I support your proposal, but the problem is that we simply can't do it.

Just to maintain the operational needs of the coalition forces, the logistical pressure is already very great. Now it is impossible to add nearly 10 million refugees.

After all, refugees need to be clothed and fed. So many people have to consume tens of thousands of tons of supplies every day. We simply cannot satisfy them.

if you don't want to

Seeing a large number of refugees freeze to death and starve to death, the only way is to send them to the rear for scattered resettlement.

In fact, it is also very stressful for us to disperse so many people in a short period of time. "

Not that I don't know, but I was startled. Hearing that tens of thousands of tons of supplies are consumed every day, everyone present was not calm.

Although not everyone is good at math and can calculate it right away, one can be sure that Archduke Albrecht couldn't have lied about this.

Leopold II's face sank, deep in his heart he wanted to oppose, but the cruel reality really made him despair.

No amount of reasons can equal a set of cold numbers. If the material problem cannot be solved, it can only accept Austria's suggestion.

As for the future, we can only look forward to the eating of the person from the Vienna Palace. Now Belgium has lost the qualification to bargain.