Chapter 1356 Lessons From the Battle of Turin

Franz's first major personnel appointment after Christmas was to appoint his father, Archduke Franz Karl, as the Viceroy of Northern Italy.

In a sense, this can be regarded as a compensation for Archduke Franz Karl. Although he may not care about power and money, in Franz's eyes, no one is more suitable to be the Viceroy of Northern Italy than Archduke Franz Karl.

The weird system of the Viceroy should have been abolished long ago, but the so-called tradition is not so easy to change.

The so-called Viceroy's powers are similar to those of the Governor of Lombardy-Parma-Modena-Venetiana on the surface, but in fact, he also has to be the Consul General and Minister of the Court of Tuscany and the Papal States.

In the past, it was a way to protect the power of the family and share the pressure of the emperor. However, times have changed, and such practices will only aggravate the division of the country and hinder the efficiency of the imperial government.

However, even if Franz is the emperor, if he really carries out drastic reforms endlessly, the ending may not be good.

Therefore, it is definitely a good idea to let Archduke Franz Karl serve as the Viceroy of Northern Italy. As for the office location, it is better to set it up in Tyrol.

Archduke Franz Karl was named the Viceroy of Northern Italy to shut up many people, although he had neither ability nor ambition.

But no one can deny that he is definitely qualified, after all, Archduke Franz Karl is the emperor's father.

The Viceroy's palace was set up in Tyrol to allow Archduke Franz Karl to retire. You know, Northern Italy is a big melting pot.

Even people with strong wills can hardly avoid having other thoughts. People with simple minds are more likely to be used by others. Franz doesn't want anyone to disturb Archduke Franz Karl's happy life.

The Habsburg family is very popular in Tyrol, and Archduke Franz Karl also likes Tyrol. It is also close to the Alps, which is definitely a paradise for him.

Archduke Franz Karl lived a long life. After a few decades, people had long forgotten this position, and it would not be so difficult for Franz to abolish it.

On the other hand, the war between the Austrian Empire and France on the land of the Kingdom of Sardinia was not as easy as it seemed. The quick victory in the newspapers and the great victory in the government's mouth made people ignore the truth of the facts.

In fact, it was a very tragic victory. The French army lost 83,000 people, and the Austrian Empire suffered a total of 48,000 casualties. The exchange ratio between the two sides seemed to be good.

But before that, the Po River Guard also lost almost all combatants. More than 10,000 people participated in the war, but only 1,327 survived.

Add to that the unknown number of volunteers, 50,000 Sardinian Kingdom troops and countless Sardinian civilians, and this number is very ugly.

Moreover, the entire war was designed by Franz from the beginning. Every step of the French army was within Franz's expectations, and the Italian Legion had long been prepared for this.

Before the two sides officially exchanged fire, the French army was repeatedly weakened by the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Po River Guard. Before they could catch their breath, the Austrian Empire surrounded the French army with several times the force.

The result turned out like this?

The first thing the Austrian military thought of was to shirk responsibility. The problem was that Marshal Radetzky was definitely a famous general, and the Italian Legion was also elite.

Could it be that the lower-level officers were afraid of death? More than 5,000 officers died in one battle, close to 20% of the total number of casualties.

Was it because the soldiers lacked courage? It is impossible to lack courage to suffer such heavy casualties in less than seven days of attack.

This disaster was actually the price paid by the Austrian military for its outdated tactics. Facing the French army, which was already at the end of its rope, Marshal Radetzky first razed the defense outside Turin to the ground.

Then he chose to believe in himself and use his best human wave tactics. Marshal Radetzky believed that his subordinates were brave and loyal, and would never be like those Frenchmen.

He was also very aware of the progress of this era, and the power of artillery was far greater than before, but he felt that it was enough for the soldiers to keep two to three steps apart.

In history, the Austro-Hungarian Infantry Drill Manual of 1867 stipulated that the soldiers in the skirmish line must be separated by more than one step (0.75 meters), which was formulated after learning the lessons of the failure of the Austro-Prussian War.

However, the weapons of the Austrian Empire were developed earlier at this time, so the understanding of the skirmish line was also more advanced, but they still underestimated the speed of weapon development.

Facing the Austrian army's human wave tactics, the French commander Cavaignac taught the Austrian military a lesson with 30,000 rockets.

Marshal Radetzky finally realized the despair of the French army on the northern front in 1848. The rockets in the sky turned the sea of ​​people into a sea of ​​blood, and the entire battlefield was like a purgatory on earth.

The soldiers of the Austrian Empire launched rounds of fearless charges, but the death concerto composed of artillery shells and rockets eventually broke the will of Marshal Radetzky. He did not want the soldiers to continue to make unnecessary sacrifices.

So Radetzky adopted a more conservative offensive strategy, but he didn't know that the French army had already been exhausted, and as long as the attack continued for another hour or two, the French army would collapse first.

But this battle also made the Austrian military understand a truth, that the tactics of the Napoleonic era were completely outdated, whether it was the French or the Austrians, who still held on to the glory of the past and refused to let go, then the tragic situation in front of them would be their final outcome.

After this battle, weapons experts and infantry commanders of the Austrian Empire were gathered together. After repeated discussions, calculations and practices, they jointly decided that the minimum distance of the skirmish line was 6 steps, or 4.5 meters.

At this distance, the skirmish line can ensure the survival probability of soldiers as much as possible while ensuring firepower output.

Franz also decided to strengthen the connection between the Weapons Development Bureau and front-line commanders, and set up an army combat laboratory and a navy combat laboratory, as well as a joint combat laboratory and a special combat laboratory.

In fact, Franz also planned to set up an air force combat laboratory, but at this time no one in the Austrian Empire recognized the air force as a branch of the military.

The airship force, the army and the navy each built their own, and looked down on each other. The army's airship pursues speed and altitude, and its help in the war is more to detect the battlefield and deter the enemy.

In fact, the army's airship troops can hardly hit the target they are aiming at, even if the enemy's headquarters is close at hand, they will most likely miss.

Moreover, in this war, low-flying airships are no longer safe. The French have developed an ultra-long artillery that can hit slow-flying airships.

Franz initially thought that the French had developed anti-aircraft guns. When the airship was successfully developed, the Austrian military had already studied anti-aircraft guns under Franz's instruction.

However, the experimental products developed had various problems, especially some problems that could not be solved at the current technical level.

The Austrian Empire also seized several French "anti-aircraft guns", but after testing, this so-called anti-aircraft gun could not attack targets flying at an altitude of more than 400 meters.

And because of the material problem, it is very easy to explode, which is why the French did not make the barrel longer.

The aiming method is even simpler and cruder, without too complicated mechanical principles or mechanical power, and directly uses human-animal hybrid power.