Chapter 1016 Reconnaissance Balloon
Faced with the Austrian reconnaissance balloons in the sky, the French army was helpless. Lamosilier actually thought of using artillery at the first time, and the problem of insufficient elevation angle was quickly solved.
The artillery's own elevation angle is not enough, which can be solved by artificial slopes or raising the launch platform.
However, these cannot solve the biggest problem, that is, the insufficient firing height.
At this time, the range of the French artillery was mostly between 800 meters and 1200 meters, but the firing height was mostly less than 300 meters, even the M1841 Little Napoleon's firing height was less than 400 meters.
If solid bullets were used, the firing height of these artillery would be further reduced. Moreover, the hot air balloons in the sky are a black spot for the gunners on the ground, and even if the range is enough to hit, it depends on luck.
The Austrian Empire's reconnaissance balloons usually fly at an altitude of about 600 meters, which fundamentally cuts off the possibility of French artillery shooting down reconnaissance balloons.
As for why the flying altitude is only about 600 meters, it is not because the Austrian Empire's technology is not good, but that higher altitudes are not conducive to reconnaissance.
The visual distance of ordinary people usually does not exceed 500 meters, and even the distance at which specially selected lookouts can distinguish scenery usually does not exceed 800 meters.
Of course, Franz could not rely solely on the natural talents of these people to fight. Each hot air balloon was equipped with a fixed three-fold or six-fold military binoculars for detailed observation.
At this time, the Austrian Empire was far ahead of other countries in the field of optics. Why were the telescopes equipped with three-fold and six-fold mirrors, while the local governors during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty used nine-fold and even twelve-fold mirrors.
First of all, the uses of military telescopes and astronomical telescopes are different. One is to quickly understand the battlefield situation, and the other is to explore the universe.
Too high a magnification is not conducive to observation, because the magnification is inversely proportional to the image stability. The larger the magnification, the worse the stability, the smaller and darker the observation field, and the image jitter it brings is also greatly increased.
The ten-fold telescopes used by Germany and France during World War II usually need to be fixed with a bracket before use. The so-called ten-fold mirror is also the so-called scissor telescope, which is actually a submarine periscope.
Moreover, countries around the world are still using old-fashioned monoculars at this time. The advantages of this telescope are simple structure and low cost, but the disadvantages are also obvious. The observation field is small, it is not conducive to observing dynamic targets, and it is easy to make users tired.
The binoculars designed by Franz do not have these problems at all. Coupled with the development of photography technology, the focus is not unfamiliar to Austrian scientists. After all, eating, drinking and having fun are the driving force of human beings.
In fact, Franz wanted 7x binoculars. After all, 7x mirrors are the most suitable for the physiological structure of the human body.
However, due to the lack of too much front-end technology and some minor problems in the industry, the cost of 7x mirrors is much higher than 6x and 9x mirrors at this time, so Franz can only use 6x mirrors instead.
At this time, the height of the reconnaissance balloon is usually only about 600 meters above the ground, and the observation distance is usually within 1,000 meters, so the 6x mirror seems more than enough.
The battlefield is one-way transparent to the enemy, which is intolerable to any commander, so La Mosilier raised his own reconnaissance balloon.
As the first country in the world to use hot air balloons for military purposes, the French military has a complete system. They will dig a support trench behind the army's position and then release reconnaissance balloons.
Albrecht did not have the kind of artillery specifically used for air defense like Franz, but this did not bother this famous general.
A true general can quickly discover the enemy's weaknesses and take advantage of them. The French reconnaissance balloons are hung with long cables, which is their fatal weakness.
At this time, most of the records and design plans for hot air balloon research were created by the French. In 1804, Frenchman Gay Lussac flew to an altitude of 6,900 meters. This record was not broken until 1862 by the British.
However, no matter how high the French balloons rise, as long as the towing rope is broken, they will be finished.
The French are not idiots. As mentioned earlier, in order to prevent this from happening, they even dug support trenches to prevent the cables from being broken by enemy artillery fire.
But they overlooked a problem. Breaking the cable does not necessarily have to be done by explosion, but can also be done by burning. Times have changed. Compared with decades ago, the incendiary weapons in 1848 have made great progress.
Due to the appearance of Franz, rockets were widely used on the battlefield, and the development and research of oil led to the Austrian army's unique arson in Europe.
A large number of heavy rockets mixed with petroleum derivatives fell near the French support trenches. The raging fire soon turned the French reconnaissance balloons into kites with broken strings, and the French army became blind again.
However, humans have a strong ability to learn in war. Lamosilier quickly figured out Albrecht's tactics and wanted to copy the successful experience.
However, after sacrificing several batches of excellent scouts, the French army still did not find the safety rope of the coalition hot air balloon. Lamosilier had no choice but to give up.
He only hated that there were no real warriors in his army, but what he didn't know was that Austria's new hot air balloons had no safety ropes at all.
For the Austrian Empire, which could build airships, it was not a problem to build a few hot air balloons that could control the direction.
But Albrecht soon discovered the problem. The tactics used in previous simulation training were not effective in actual combat.
Due to the influence of wind, the hot air balloon is always in constant motion. If you want to keep the reconnaissance balloon from far away from the battlefield, you have to keep adjusting the direction, which greatly increases the difficulty of operation and observation.
So the reconnaissance balloon team was increased from two to three, and an additional operator was added to adjust the direction. The remaining two were responsible for lookout and conveying information to the ground with flags.
However, the effect was not good. Not only did it increase the fuel consumption, but it also made the operability worse.
Finally, on the fifth day after the war, the Austrian military adopted the French approach and fixed it with a safety rope.
However, at this time, Lamosilier had given up the plan to shoot down the Austrian reconnaissance balloon. In the days to come, he only planned to defend Salburg and wait for other roads to break through.
At this time, the Austrian reconnaissance balloon was still hanging over the French position like a sword of Damocles. After confirming that the French artillery was suppressed, the coalition's infantry finally began to advance.
The advance of the brigade was a very clear offensive signal, and Lamosilier sent troops to fill the front line.
However, he did not send too many troops, after all, the hot air balloons in the sky would send signals to the German coalition positions at any time.
During this period, Lamosilier had fully experienced the power of the Austrian artillery, and he did not want to be lured out by the Austrians and then blown up.
Moreover, according to the French textbooks and materials, the tactics of the Austrian army were usually very mild. They would order the miscellaneous troops in the army to make continuous tentative attacks, and then adjust the strategy according to the enemy's reaction and firepower until the enemy showed a flaw.
Although the author of the textbook had never been on the battlefield, what he wrote made every French officer believe it, and even some veterans who participated in the Napoleonic Wars believed that he must have experienced those battles