Chapter 378: The Wrong Use of Relying on the Enemy for Food

"Take what is needed from the country and take food from the enemy, so the army can have enough food"

--"The Art of War"

March 27, 1796

Nice, Savoy, Italy

When Napoleon first arrived in Italy, he inspected his troops; what came into view was a beggar army with ragged clothes, hungry stomachs, and low morale.

"Any French general with connections will not accept the position of commander of the Italian Army." Only then did he understand the true meaning of this sentence.

This is an abandoned army. Not only were the officials in Paris unwilling to provide it with supplies, but the soldiers and officers under its command did not know what military discipline was, and theft was rampant.

The entire army of 43,000 people had no military pay, no military rations, no feed, no shoes and socks, no clothes, no tents, no camping furniture, no means of transportation, and their material life was extremely difficult. The hungry army robbed and stole everywhere, rebellion and desertion occurred from time to time, and morale was very low.

Napoleon clearly realized that if he wanted to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, he had to rectify military discipline, but how easy was it? Just shooting some people would not help at all.

What his officers and soldiers really needed was to have enough food and warm clothes, and to mail money to their families after they had money. Paris would not provide these necessities, and if they wanted to get them, they had to use bayonets to demand them from the enemy.

So, he delivered the famous speech:

"Soldiers, you are short of food and clothing. The Republic owes you a lot, but the country has no power to repay the debt. I am here to lead you into the richest plains in the world. The rich provinces and wealthy towns are all at your disposal. Soldiers, facing such a prospect, can you not muster up the courage to persevere?"

This was his first speech to the soldiers, but it was enough to be recorded in history.

After that, under the excellent command of this young commander, the Italian Army won victory after victory in Piedmont. Piedmont, the gate to northern Italy, was opened by Napoleon in less than a month. And his generous promise was successfully fulfilled - the troops received a large amount of supplies.

Back to the book

At this time, Jean Durd also wanted to emulate the former emperor, and the French soldiers who were familiar with the allusion also began to work hard on their old business - robbery.

The Wallonia region is indeed a rich place. The French officers and soldiers reaped a lot of rewards. In just one day, they robbed enough food for them to consume for several months, and even their weapons and ammunition were fully replenished.

Not to mention that the looted property was enough to pay them dozens of military salaries. In addition, they also temporarily formed twelve military prostitute camps, including a hospital specializing in the treatment of syphilis.

Napoleon won six victories in fifteen days and captured 21 military flags. He was so excited that he didn't sleep well for a month.

Now Jean Durd has won nine victories in just one day and captured dozens of military flags. Looking at the entire European history, it is a unique record.

Therefore, he had expanded to an unstoppable degree. He not only surrounded the 40,000 main forces of Prussia with only more than 10,000 people left, but also sent 5,000 people to continue chasing the remaining enemies and planned to take down the Liege Fortress.

Usually, when attacking a city, you have to surround three sides and leave one side open, so that the enemy can escape and kill them from behind, so as to achieve the purpose of breaking the enemy's morale and annihilating the enemy's main force.

However, Jean Durd did not intend to let a Prussian go. His goal was to achieve success in one battle and completely eliminate the living forces of the German Confederation.

Albrecht's vanguard reconnaissance troops ran into French reconnaissance scouts in the Walloon area and had a fierce exchange of fire with them. One side was an elite force that had fought many battles, and the other side was a newborn calf but with high morale.

The hunters of both sides wrestled with each other in the swamps and hills, fighting with all their might. In the end, they only eliminated this tenacious scout force through the Walloon locals' informant.

After the battle, it was discovered that this so-called army had less than 500 people but fought with the momentum of 5,000 people, and even suppressed the Austrian vanguard of 3,000 people.

However, before Albrecht had time to reprimand his men for their incompetence, he immediately sent out his most elite 5,000 cavalry to launch a tentative attack on the French defense line, and then led his 20,000 elite troops to fight a decisive battle with the French army under the city of Namur.

At this moment, he was ready to fight to the death.

Although he encountered an outpost, the strength of this army had greatly exceeded his cognition, and the rest of the French troops that broke into Belgium would probably be even stronger than this.

Albrecht was vaguely worried that if his side could not quickly eat up the French army in Namur, he was afraid that the 100,000 Dutch troops behind him would turn against him in an instant and stab him in the back.

By that time, he would be the eternal sinner of Austria. He even regretted whether he should have listened to Franz's advice and taken on the responsibility of garrisoning the Walloon region, leaving the rest to the Dutch and Belgians.

But now he can't care so much, he can only hope that time is on his side.

Walloon, Namur City

The Prussian soldiers in the city trembled. They didn't know how many French troops were besieging the city; maybe 100,000, or maybe 200,000. In short, their situation was very bad, and being surrounded was extremely uncomfortable.

The proud deputy commander of the German Confederation, Prince William Friedrich Ludwig, resolutely refused to surrender to his opponent, and it seemed that he had made plans for a last-ditch effort.

The morale of the officers and soldiers fell to the bottom, and the groans of the wounded who were trampled by their own people echoed throughout the military camp.

The civilians in Namur originally planned to cooperate with the French, but the news coming from outside the city proved that these French soldiers were beasts in human skin.

In order to avoid being robbed by the beasts outside the city, they spontaneously organized militia to help defend the city. But even so, it could not change the low morale of the Prussian army. Fortunately, Namur is a strong city and should be able to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

The French army outside the city lived an emperor-like life, even to the point that almost every accompanying soldier was accompanied by a temporarily recruited prostitute, and there were two civilians waiting for their orders. They drank fine red wine and ate ham that civilians could only eat once a year.

Jean Durde used the mansion of the senior official as his temporary headquarters. He had just executed three "ineffective" mayors and was enjoying the pleasure brought to him by power.

"I'll give you a week. I want 100,000 young men with weapons to follow me to conquer Berlin, then destroy Vienna first, and then slaughter Moscow."

The senior officials of the provinces of Hainaut and Brattban barely managed a smile.

"Sorry, respected General Jean Durde, our two provinces only have 600,000 people, and 100,000 young men are equivalent to withdrawing one-sixth of the population, which is really difficult to do. As for the weapons, we have previously donated them to France, and the inventory has been emptied."

"Those rags are also called weapons?" Jean Durde raised his gun disdainfully and pointed it at the two senior officials, who immediately raised their hands obediently.

"General, we really have no choice. Otherwise, how about this, after you conquer Namur Province, our three provinces will work together to find a solution"

Before he finished speaking, there was a deafening explosion outside. As the advance team sent by Albrecht, its 5,000 cavalry had arrived outside the city of Namur.

The commander, Major General Gabrenz, found that the French army was resting and defenseless, and it seemed that they were holding a celebration party, so he decisively launched a surprise attack.

These 5,000 elite soldiers carried cavalry guns and rocket launchers with them. After all, cavalry attacking trenches was tantamount to committing suicide. Soon, the fifty rocket launchers and thirty six-pound cavalry guns in a row launched a fire coverage on the French army's north gate position.

Who would have expected that at this moment, the "tough" enemy not only did not hide in the trenches, but swaggered on the open ground, singing and dancing, drinking and having fun.

When rockets exploded above their heads, they could not find any objects that could provide a little cover to cover their bodies.

The sudden "fireworks show" instantly caused the French army outside the north gate to lose a large number of manpower, and then the sharpshooters began to count the remaining enemies.

The stunned French army was unable to organize an effective counterattack. The most ridiculous thing was that the Prussian officers in the city actually thought it was just a fireworks show.

The Prussian army admiring the fireworks on the top of the city and the Austrian army chasing the remaining enemies under the city formed a weird and ridiculous picture.

When the French army from other places came to support, the deafening explosion sounded again on the west side of Namur.