Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 910 - 173: Impact

Compared to the wailing at the French camp, the situation with the Allied Forces was starkly different.

A meteor shower in the sky, a series of rapid-fire sounds on the ground... The specific results of the battle had not yet been tallied, but the ground littered with French corpses was already quite telling.

The officers and soldiers of the Allied Forces who witnessed all this had only one word in their minds—"massacre".

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Whether it was the aerial combat in the sky or the attack and defense on the ground, it was a one-sided slaughter of the French by the Austrian army.

The spirits of the officers and soldiers, originally dispirited and unstable in morale, and confused about the prospects of the war, were now completely rejuvenated.

...

Allied Command

General Adrian was eager, "Marshal, the French suffered heavy losses in today’s battle; tonight will definitely not be peaceful. It is a good opportunity for us to counterattack."

Militarily speaking, this assessment was not wrong; the heavy casualties had severely impacted the morale of the French forces.

Especially since these losses resulted from high-level misjudgments and command failures, the complaints of the lower-ranked officers and soldiers against the upper echelons were even more pronounced.

"No!"

Archduke Albrecht decisively refused.

"Now is not the time for a counterattack. Only the forces deployed by the French today suffered heavy losses, Uddino still has at least five divisions that did not engage in the battle.

Our mobile forces are too limited, the newly reorganized units are still resting, and they lack significant combat strength.

The units that fought today are already exhausted. The forces we can commit to an attack now do not exceed six infantry divisions, including three that were withdrawn from the Belgian front last week.

The French are not fools; after suffering such a heavy blow, they will certainly strengthen their vigilance. With our current strength, even if we launch a counterattack, it’s hard to achieve the results we desire.

Moreover, the Third French Army Group is less than fifty kilometers from the front line—unless we can resolve these enemies within a day."

Finishing the fight within one day was simply impossible. No matter how advantageous the situation appeared during the day, it still hadn’t changed the reality of the Austrian army’s insufficient forces, even if the troops from Germany and Belgium were added.

Although today’s battle somewhat restored the morale of the Allied Forces, except for the Austrian troops, the combat effectiveness of the other armies was still recovering.

Take the Belgian Army for example; having just lost their homeland a few days ago, they were in mourning. Unless there was a campaign to reclaim Belgian territory, it was difficult to have them perform at their peak.

As for the assimilated German troops, it was fair to say that the command system was barely organized, and the officers and soldiers were still adjusting to each other. They were suitable for handling logistics and miscellaneous tasks; sending them to engage in a decisive battle with the French was tantamount to sacrificing lives unnecessarily.

Time was on the side of the Allied Forces; reinforcements from the rear were continuously arriving. Archduke Albrecht could afford to wait.

The enemy’s airship troops had already been rendered useless; now, just by holding the Rhine Defense Line, the defeat of the French was only a matter of time.

Of course, there was another reason that couldn’t be mentioned.

If the surprise attack succeeded and the French sustained heavy losses and retreated to their homeland, the subsequent battles would become difficult.

Fighting the French on the territories of Germany and Belgium, Austria could still raise the banner of anti-aggression and gain the support of the local populace.

If they were to enter French territory for a decisive battle, not to mention the plethora of fortifications, international interference alone would be a major headache.

You should know that the international community currently supports the Anti-French Alliance. Apparently, it is only about shouting slogans without any substantial actions. In reality, governments are creating significant trouble for the French behind the scenes.

With these minor tactics alone, France has to increase its expenses by billions of Francs each month. The money is spent, but the supplies might not arrive on time.

If the balance of power were to reverse, it would be the Anti-French Alliance suffering now. At least until the end of the Egyptian campaign, the Vienna Government cannot ignore the stance of various countries.

If the details of today’s battle were to be leaked, it would definitely affect how different governments perceive the strength of the warring parties and might even influence their foreign policies.

However, Archduke Albrecht can be certain that the French will not report the true situation of today’s battle and will even desperately cover up any failures, otherwise, they couldn’t explain it to their own people.

As for the news published by the Allied Forces, even if it is the truth, everyone will involuntarily discount it, not possibly believing that the casualties of the French Army are so vast.

The reason, of course, is the shocking battle achievements previously announced by both sides. According to the combatant announcements, the French have already eliminated 3,460,000 of the Allied Forces, while the Allied Forces have also killed 2,470,000 of the French Army.

Based on these figures, since the outbreak of the war, both sides have been killing an average of 70,000 of each other’s troops each day, with total battlefield casualties reaching a staggering 140,000 per day.

With so many dead, if the number of wounded is estimated to be three times the number of fatalities, the total casualties of the French Army are 12,350,000; while the total casualties of the Allied Forces reach an astonishing 17,300,000.

If such exaggerated battle results were true, the war would have ended long ago, and anyone who believes them is a fool.

In fact, initially, the battle results announced by both sides were not so exaggerated. Even if there was some artistic embellishment, there was some restraint, at least not to the point of adding zeros.

Latterly, however, it became too much. For example, after a battle had concluded, the French Army intended to announce they had killed 8,000 of the allied troops. Seeing that the Allied Forces announced 12,000 French killed, they couldn’t appear weak and then grandly marked up to 50,000 enemies killed.

Seeing the French Army announce the annihilation of 50,000 Allied troops, the Allied Forces could not afford to lose out either, and swiftly concocted a number of tens of thousands killed in response, as no one wanted to lose face.

If it weren’t for the fall of the Luxembourg Line and the near total occupation of Belgium, the boasting would have been unsustainable, and the Allied Forces wouldn’t have fallen behind in the number of enemies killed.

Even so, the word game continued. And as time went on, the published results of the battle became more and more absurd, and the truth grew increasingly distant from the public.

There is nothing surprising about this. Bragging is a common human flaw. Just read history books, and you’ll know that people thousands of years ago played this game too.

Until now, both sides had killed only a few million of each other’s troops in battle, just drop a zero and it is quite close to the real number, which can’t compare at all with those claiming to have killed hundreds of millions.

However, given the current state of the published battle results by both sides, if the war were to continue for a few more months, reaching a small target number of paper casualties wouldn’t be a problem at all.

...

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night, and as telegrams are sent out, many big figures can’t sleep.

The Allied side is better off, being the victorious party, receiving good news.

Apart from needing multiple confirmations initially due to disbelief, the mental state of the politicians is still quite good.

Some active individuals have already decided to party all night, celebrating this hard-won victory.

Of course, this does not include Franz, who replied with a single message after receiving the telegram: "Understood."

And that was that.

He was already mentally prepared, so the surprise wasn’t so sudden; naturally, he went to sleep.

Without any surprises, Franz’s calm demeanor has added yet another tale to his imperial career, leaving behind a little story for posterity.

...

In contrast to the tranquil Vienna Palace, the Palace of Versailles was ablaze with lights, and intermittent roars could be faintly heard.

Without a doubt, the only person who would spend the night roaring in the Palace of Versailles, aside from Napoleon IV, could not be found.

Since tearing through the Luxembourg Line, the French Army had rampaged across the Central European Region, "punching the German Federation and kicking Belgium like a children’s shoe," unstoppable in their path.

In the plans of Napoleon IV, this state of the French Army was supposed to continue, all the way to shatter Austria in Vienna.

However, plans never move as fast as changes, and just as they were preparing to drink from the Rhine River, they faced a severe setback.

It was hard for Napoleon IV not to be angered; anyone in his position would hardly be able to ensure they behaved any better.

First came the dire news of heavy losses from the airship troops at the front, signaling the end of the era of airships and marking the futility of the French Empire’s years of investment in them.

Napoleon IV, an emperor raised with modern education, was somewhat able to accept technological advancements and updates.

It was just airplanes, after all. With the substantial resources of France, they’d figure it out in a few months.

Anyway, the power of airplanes at that time was limited; apart from countering airships, their role in battlefields was not as significant as in later times.

Even though they lost air superiority, Napoleon IV still held immense confidence in the French Army.

In his view, without the aid of the airship bombing squadrons, it simply meant that the cost and time to win the war would be greater.

Regrettably, this French Army, upon which he pinned high hopes and which possessed a venerable history, delivered to him a report card with a score in the single digits.

With over thirty thousand dead and fifty thousand wounded, it was not a battle but a day’s fight.

The price paid was tremendously heavy, yet the results achieved were negligible. At best, Austrian casualties were estimated to be only in the hundreds.

Most of these were caused by artillery, and a few by airship bombings. Though the airship troops did not drop many bombs before they spectacularly crashed, their crashes themselves acted like giant bombs.

Of course, after the airship troops crashed, while they wreaked havoc on the Allied Forces, they did not forget to visit the French camp.

In this regard, they were indiscriminate; where they fell was entirely up to God’s will.

As for the attacking infantry, despite their heavy casualties, in reality, they merely strolled around the battlefield, delivering a plethora of heads to the enemy.

The situation was even worse than the original Somme and Verdun battles where the British simply overlooked the threat of the machine gun barrage, bureaucratically blundered.

The French didn’t even know what a Maxim machine gun was and just charged forward. Being uninformed wasn’t really the problem.

Once the frontline officers and soldiers realized the heavy casualties, they would surely report to the higher-ups. If the attack tactics had been adjusted in time, the losses wouldn’t have been so great.

Unfortunately, none of this applied to the French Army. Let me tell a story.

During the attack on Luxembourg, a Franco-Italian mixed infantry division was ordered to launch the main attack on the enemy’s position.

After the battle commenced, the brave French soldiers charged forward repeatedly, including an infantry battalion primarily composed of Italian soldiers, who displayed exceptional valor in the fight.

Nearly two-thirds of the entire battalion of 2146 men fell halfway through the charge, frightening the division commander so much that he immediately called a halt and swapped them out for rest.

As the troops regrouped at dusk, the regiment, which should have counted 2,146 soldiers, had only 2,101 present.

The missing squad, with only seven bodies found by the corpse recovery team, left it unclear whether the rest had died in battle or had deserted, and this had yet to be determined.

Owing to the large number of soldiers involved, the French Command demoted the officers involved and sent them to a military court but did not punish the soldiers, merely sending them home.

Without a doubt, such an understated approach was a significant oversight. By the time the higher echelons of the French Army realized, the situation had spiraled out of control.

The power of example is tremendous—this world is never short of people afraid to die, and nearly all French military units followed suit.

The upper echelons of the French Army eventually took measures, enforcing strict punishments on these soldiers, but once Pandora’s box was opened, it could not simply be closed again.

To avoid punishment, all manner of bizarre excuses were made. Of course, many pretended to be injured, deliberately inflicting minor wounds on themselves and then hiding out in rear hospitals to recover.

It was not until Marshal Patrice McMahon emerged to discipline the troops and change the punishment regimen that the situation began to improve.

However, the Commander-in-Chief’s first impressions were not so easily altered.

All these factors came together to cause this tragedy.

In the grand scheme of the war, the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers seemed trivial for the French Empire.

However, due to Marshal Patrice McMahon’s eagerness to create a breach quickly, he committed the army’s main forces to the frontline, making it precisely the elite troops of the French Army that suffered heavy losses.

A look at the unit numbers showed that the lower the number or the more prominent placement, the more likely the unit was a standing army, established for many years, with combat capabilities far surpassing newly formed units.

After Napoleon IV had vented substantially, Prime Minister Terence Burkin stepped forward and suggested, "Your Majesty, what’s done is done.

We should think about damage control now, whether it’s the enemy’s planes or the newly emerged machine guns and mortars; they are worth having.

Today’s battle is not entirely the fault of the frontline generals. The Austrians simply used their new equipment to catch us by surprise, indicating nothing more.

Having learned from this defeat, I believe in subsequent battles, our army will perform to its potential."

Many among the top ranks of the French government, including Prime Minister Terence Burkin, were indignant about this bewildering loss.

In their view, the Austrians had merely capitalized on more advanced equipment to catch them off guard—once the French Army recovered, the tide would turn.

Upon hearing the Prime Minister’s advice, Napoleon IV’s expression did not improve, and he immediately chastised the Army Minister, exclaiming, "What is the Army Department doing, consuming so much military budget every year, yet our equipment is so far behind the Austrians?

Don’t tell me this was an accident, whether planes or machine guns, which have existed for decades, why hasn’t our army been equipped with them?"

After a series of questions, the Army Minister bowed even lower. This was a disaster unprovoked.

Arms modernization has never been easy. The original Maxim guns first demonstrated their might when the British used them against natives, and yet they stumbled in World War I.

This time was no exception; Austria had hidden these assets at home, completely unknown to the outside world.

Until today, the common perception was that the Maxim gun was just an ordinary machine gun, no different in essence from the Gatling, and that planes were merely fanciful toys good for nothing beyond flight shows.

This widespread judgement pervaded all levels of society; the Army Minister was not a transmigrator, with no cheats to exploit, and naturally could not break out of this conventional thinking.