Chapter 944

Compared to the wailing in the French camp, the situation in the Allied Army was completely different.

There was a meteor shower in the sky and a series of explosions on the ground … The exact results of the battle hadn't been calculated yet, but the French corpses all over the ground were enough to explain a lot of things.

There was only one word in the minds of the soldiers of the Allied Army who witnessed everything: "Massacre."

Whether it was in the sky or on the ground, it was a one-sided massacre by the Austrians against the French.

The soldiers of the Allied Army, who were originally dispirited and confused about the future of the war, were now in a completely new state of mind.

…

Allied Army Command Center

General Adrian said eagerly, "Marshal, the French suffered heavy losses in the battle during the day. It won't be peaceful tonight. It's a good time for us to counterattack."

From a military point of view, this judgment was correct. The heavy casualties had dealt a severe blow to the morale of the French army.

In particular, these casualties were caused by the misjudgments of the higher-ups. This made the soldiers at the bottom level even more resentful toward the higher-ups.

"No!"

Grand Duke Albrecht refused decisively.

"It's not the time to counterattack yet. The French army suffered heavy losses today, and Oudino has at least five divisions that didn't participate in the battle.

We don't have enough mobile troops, and the newly reorganized troops are still resting. They don't have much combat power at all.

The troops that fought during the day are already very tired. There are no more than six infantry divisions that can participate in the battle now, including the three infantry divisions that were withdrawn from the Belgian frontline last week.

The French aren't idiots. They'll definitely increase their vigilance after suffering such a huge loss. With our current troops, it'll be difficult to achieve the results we want even if we take the opportunity to counterattack.

Besides, the French Third Division is less than fifty kilometers away from the frontline unless we can finish off the enemies in front of us in a day. "

It was impossible to finish the battle in a day. No matter how much of an advantage they had during the day, it didn't change the fact that the Austrians didn't have enough troops, even with the addition of the German and Belgian troops.

Although the morale of the Allied Army had recovered a little after today's battle, other than the Austrian troops, the combat power of the other armies was still recovering.

For example, the Belgian army had just lost their homeland a few days ago, and they were still in tears. Unless they launched a campaign to recover the Belgian territory, it would be very difficult for them to fight at their peak.

Needless to say, the German Army was barely managing the command system. The soldiers were still in a state of adjustment. They could do odd jobs and do logistics, but sending them to fight the French army was like sending them to their deaths.

Time was on the Allied Army 'side. Reinforcements were coming from the rear, and Grand Duke Albrecht.

The enemy's airship troop had been destroyed. As long as they held the Rhine River defense line, it would only be a matter of time before the French army was defeated.

Of course, there was another reason that couldn't be said.

If the sneak attack had succeeded, the French army would have suffered heavy losses and retreated to their own territory. The following battles would be difficult to fight.

If they fought in France, the mainland of France, they France, Army to French army. If, the France, they would..

If they were to enter France for a decisive battle, not to mention the fortifications, just international interference alone would be a big problem.

One had to know that the international community was currently supporting the anti-French alliance. It seemed like they were just shouting slogans without any real action, but in fact, the governments of various countries were secretly creating trouble for the French.

Army in from from from from from, France French of Army of of Union of Hundred million Franc Army. Army in Army. to the war, France of Over. of.

If the tables were turned, the anti-law alliance would be the one to suffer. The Government of Vienna couldn't ignore the position of the other countries.

If the news of the battle in the day got out, it would affect the governments' judgment of the strength of the two warring parties. It might even affect their foreign policy.

But Grand Duke Albrecht was sure that the French wouldn't report what happened in the day. They would even try to cover up their failure. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to answer to their country.

As for the news announced by the Allied Army, even if it was the truth, people wouldn't believe that the French army had suffered so many casualties.

The reason was naturally the shocking results announced by both sides. According to the numbers, the French had killed 3.46 million Allied Army soldiers, while the Allied Army had killed 2.47 million French soldiers.

Since the war broke out, both sides had killed an average of 70,000 people per day. The death toll on the battlefield had reached an astonishing 140,000 per day.

If the number of casualties was tripled, then the French army's total death toll would be 12.35 million, while the Allied Army's total death toll would be 17.3 million.

If such an exaggerated result really happened, the war would have been over long ago. Anyone who believed it would be a fool.

In fact, in the beginning, the results announced by both sides weren't that exaggerated. Even if it was done in an artistic way, everyone held back. At least it didn't develop to the point of adding a zero.

For example, after a battle, the French army was going to announce that they had killed 8,000 Allied Army soldiers. When they saw that the Allied Army had killed 12,000 French soldiers, they couldn't show any weakness. Then, with a wave of a pen, they changed the number to 50,000.

When the French army announced that they had killed 50,000 Allied Army soldiers, the Allied Army couldn't lose out either. In the blink of an eye, they found ways to increase the number to tens of thousands. No one was willing to show weakness anyway.

If it wasn't for the loss of the Luxembourg defense line and the loss of more than half of Belgium's territory, the Allied Army wouldn't have been at a disadvantage in terms of the number of enemies they killed.

Even so, the word game was still ongoing. As time went on, the results announced became more and more ridiculous, and the truth was getting further and further away from the public.

There was nothing strange about it. Bragging was a common problem for humans. If you flipped through the history books, you would know that the ancient people played this way thousands of years ago.

Up until now, both sides had only killed a few million enemies. Crossing off a zero was very close to the real number. It was completely incomparable to the big shots who had killed hundreds of millions of enemies.

However, according to the results announced by both sides, if the war continued for a few more months, it wouldn't be a problem for the number of deaths on paper to exceed a small target.

…

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night. As telegrams were sent out one after another, many big shots couldn't sleep.

The Allied Army was fine. As the victors, they received good news.

Other than finding it hard to believe and needing to verify the news, the politicians were in a good state of mind.

Some active fellows had already decided to have a night of fun to celebrate this hard-won victory.

Of course, this didn't include Franz. After receiving the telegram, he replied: Got it.

Then, there was no then.

He was already mentally prepared, so this surprise wasn't so sudden. Naturally, he went to sleep when it was time.

Unsurprisingly, Franz's calmness in the face of danger added another stroke to his career as an emperor and left a small story for the later generations.

…

Compared to the quiet Palace of Vienna, the Palace of Versailles was brightly lit at the moment. Faint roars could be heard from time to time.

There was no doubt that apart from Napoleon Iv, no one else dared to not sleep and roar in the Palace of Versailles in the middle of the night.

Since tearing apart the Luxembourg defense line, the French army had been galloping in Central Europe. They "punched the old women of the German Confederation and kicked the children of Belgium".

In Napoleon Iv's plan, the French army should continue in this state and kill all the way to Vienna to defeat Austria.

However, the plan didn't change fast. Just as they were about to drink the Rhine River, they were hit hard.

It was hard for Napoleon Iv not to be angry. If it was anyone else in his position, they couldn't guarantee that they would perform better at this moment.

First, the bad news of the heavy losses of the airship troops in the frontline came, announcing the end of the airship era. It symbolized that France's investment in airships over the years had all been wasted.

Napoleon Iv was an emperor who grew up with a new education. He could reluctantly accept the change in technology.

It was just a plane. With France's strong family background, it would only take a few months for it to be built.

In any case, the power of airplanes was limited. Other than restraining airships, it couldn't play as big a role on the battlefield as in the future.

Even if they lost the air superiority, Napoleon Iv was still full of confidence in the French army.

In his opinion, without the assistance of the airship bombardment troops, the cost of winning the war would only be higher, and the time would be pushed back.

Unfortunately, the French army, which he had high hopes for and had a long history, gave him an answer with a score of only single digits.

The number of deaths was more than 30,000, and the number of casualties was as high as 50,000. This wasn't a battle, but a battle that lasted for a day.

They paid such a heavy price, but the results were minimal. A conservative estimate of the Austrian army's casualties was at most three digits.

Most of these were caused by artillery, and a small number were caused by the airship bombardment. Even though the airship bombardment troops only dropped a few bombs before they were destroyed, they still fell like a giant bomb.

Of course, after the airship bombardment troops were destroyed, they didn't forget to visit the French camp while destroying the Allied Army.

They were all treated equally in this regard. It was all up to God's will to decide where they landed.

As for the infantry who initiated the attack, even though they suffered heavy casualties, they actually just walked around the battlefield and gave away a bunch of heads.

The situation was even worse than the Battle of Somme in the original timeline. The British only ignored the threat of the machine gun network, and the bureaucrats were just mechanical.

The French army didn't even know what a Maxim machine gun was, and they just charged forward. It wasn't a big deal if they just didn't know.

When the frontline commanders discovered the heavy casualties, they would definitely report to their superiors. As long as they adjusted their offensive tactics in time, the losses wouldn't be that great.

Unfortunately, this didn't apply to the French army. Let's tell a story.

During the attack on Luxembourg, there was a mixed French-Italian infantry division that was ordered to attack the enemy's position.

After the battle started, the valiant French soldiers charged forward wave after wave. One of the infantry divisions, which was mainly composed of Italian soldiers, performed exceptionally valiantly during the battle.

Nearly two-thirds of the 2,146 soldiers of the regiment fell halfway through the charge. The division commander was so frightened that he immediately called for a halt and replaced them with other soldiers to rest.

In the end, after the troops retreated in the evening, the final headcount revealed that there were actually 2,101 soldiers out of the 2,146 that were supposed to be there.

Without the platoon, the corpse collection team only found seven corpses. Whether the rest of the soldiers died on the battlefield or escaped, there was no way to confirm.

Due to the large number of people involved, the French command only dismissed the officers involved and sent them to the military court. They didn't punish the soldiers and only chased them home.

Without a doubt, this kind of understatement was undoubtedly a huge failure. By the time the higher-ups of the French army reacted, the situation was already out of control.

The power of an example was great. There would never be a lack of people who were afraid of death in this world. Almost all the French army had imitators.

The higher-ups of the French army naturally took measures to punish these fellows severely. However, once Pandora's Box was opened, it couldn't be closed again.

In order to escape punishment, all kinds of strange excuses appeared. Of course, most of them pretended to be injured. Many of them purposely made minor injuries and hid in the rear hospitals to recuperate.

It wasn't until Marshal Patrice McMahon came out of retirement and reorganized the military discipline and changed the original punishment method that the situation improved.

No matter how much he changed, the preconceived impression of the commander couldn't be changed in a short time.

All of these factors came together and caused this tragedy to happen.

Looking at the overall situation, a mere tens of thousands of casualties was not even worth mentioning to the French Empire.

The problem was that in order to quickly open up a gap, Marshal Patrice McMahon sent the main force of the French army to the front line. Thus, the heavy losses were all from the elite French army.

The details could be seen by looking at the number of the troops. Generally speaking, troops with smaller numbers or at the front were regular troops that had been established for many years. Their combat power wasn't something that the new troops could compare to.

When Napoleon Iv was almost done venting, Prime Minister Terence Burkin walked forward and persuaded, "Your Majesty, the matter has come to this.

We should think of a way to deal with the aftermath. Whether it's the enemy's planes or the newly emerged machine guns and mortars, they are all worthy of our possession.

Today's battle isn't entirely the responsibility of the generals at the front line. The Austrians used these new equipment to catch us off guard, but that doesn't mean anything.

After learning from this failure, I believe that in the following battles, our land forces will be able to display the combat power that they deserve. "

Including Prime Minister Terence Burkin, many of the higher-ups of the Government of France weren't convinced by the inexplicable loss of today's war.

In their view, the Austrians had simply relied on more advanced equipment to catch them off guard. As long as the French army reacted, the situation would change.

After listening to the prime minister's persuasion, Napoleon Iv's expression didn't improve. He immediately reprimanded the Minister of War, "What is the Ministry of the Army doing? We invest so much in the military every year, why is our equipment so far behind the Austrians?

Don't tell me this is an accident. Whether it's planes or machine guns, they have been around for decades. Why isn't our army equipped? "

After a series of why's, the Minister of War buried his head even lower. This was an undeserved disaster.

Technological innovation in armaments had never been easy. In the original universe, the Maxim machine gun was first used by the British to deal with the aborigines. In the end, they still jumped into the pit during the war.

Needless to say, this time, the Austrians hid all their assets at home, and the outside world had no idea at all.

Before today, everyone's consciousness was that the Maxim machine gun was just an ordinary machine gun, no different from a Gatling gun. Planes were even more of a flashy toy. Other than being used for flying shows, there was nothing else that was good for.

This was the widespread judgment of all walks of life. The Minister of War wasn't a transmigrator. He didn't have any cheats, so naturally, he couldn't jump out of this circle of thinking.