Chapter 263 259. Italian battlefield

The direction of the entire Pakatan Harapan War was due to a series of previous factors, and there had been huge deviations from the beginning of the war.

If calculated based on the historical timeline, the First Prussian Army had already captured Kischen and the Elbe Army behind him successfully crossed the Elbe River. The Second Northern Army also crossed the two fortresses and was heading towards Vienna.

Only a few days later, Austria seeks peace and the two sides stop the war. The "seven-week war" will end in one month. As for the remaining three weeks, it is nothing more than pulling each other and mediating the French incoming the game.

Old Moltke knew very well that continuing to attack would only attract other external factors, such as Russia in the east and France in the south. The most important thing is to quickly win the established goals of the war.

The direction of the war was the same as he thought, because Austria's seeking peace came too quickly, and the French ended without having time to react. This greatly reduced the space for the French to do things in the war, and the plan to help the weak and eliminate the strong was not possible.

But now the situation is very different.

At the same time node, the attack speed of the First Army was greatly frustrated and stopped around Gabrentz. Next, it would have to go through the two major obstacles of the Kischin and the Elbe River crossing. If the western front does not move, the northern front cannot move. Lao Maoqi has decided to send the Third Army, which was cleaning up the mess in South Prussia, to support the First Army.

However, what he didn't expect was that something happened to Italy, which had originally separated the Austrian troops, was at this critical moment.

In fact, it was already very good that Italy could last until October. The Italian army in history did not go to Brecht's hands until the next day, which was equivalent to collapse at one touch. But at that time, Brecht knew very well that the Ludwig army in the north could not resist the attack from Prussians, so he gave up chasing the Italians and returned to the northern line.

Italy had poor combat effectiveness but did not surrender. Brecht's decision also gave the Italians a valuable opportunity to cheer up and reorganize, and took the opportunity to launch a new round of offensive against Austria.

In two weeks, Italy summoned a total of 14 divisions, including some troops that had been defeated and scattered in the past.

There were not many left-behind Austria troops, but they were beaten to retreat in the next month. The Mahayana battlefield on the other side had already been decided, and the two sides had peace talks, and the war on the Italian Peninsula was completely over.

Now on the Italian battlefield is Franz's younger brother, Maximilian. His combat style is different from Brecht's wind and wind. Under the premise that the northern line is stable and there are defeats on the western line but not obvious, he can slowly deal with the Italians and gradually erode the territory and consolidate his advantages.

This slow-cooked attack method of low-fire makes the Italian battle situation wander outside the sight of the Berlin command. After all, in the old Moltke's plan, the Italians can successfully distribute the energy of the Austrian army.

In fact, when Maximilian set foot in Italy, the ally had lost the initiative, and the entire north was defeated by the Austrian army.

What makes the Italians even more uncomfortable is that the former naval governor of the Austrian Empire is more willing to use naval battles to destroy the will of his opponents than Grand Duke Brecht.

Before the war began, the naval fleet of the Kingdom of Italy was the sword in the hearts of the people. They were a huge fleet twice the number of Austrian warships. The people and soldiers believed that their country was sure to win on the surface battlefield.

Brecht lacked understanding of the Imperial Navy, and considering the huge difference in number, the navy remained unmoved. It was not until the end of the war that he counterattacked under the attack of the Kingdom of Italy and successfully defeated the opponent.

At that time, the victory and defeat between Austria could no longer change the entire situation, and Austria still ended with defeat.

Maximilian, who now replaces Brecht in Italy to command the southern line troops, is very clear about the strength of his own navy. The navy between Austro-Italy countries is not only the gap in the hard power of warships, but also the rich experience and skills of Admiral Tigerhov.

After gaining advantage in the land battlefield in the early stages of the war, he allowed Tighof to assemble a fleet to advance toward the port of Ancona in Italy.

This Austrian fleet consisting of 10 armored ships, 11 gunboats, 2 mast-sail battleships, 7 cruisers and 3 light cruisers was still slightly inferior to Italy in terms of quantity. But under the leadership of Tighoff, they successfully launched a surprise attack.

The Italian Navy's reconnaissance was very poor, and there was no response plan when facing a surprise attack, and the fleet's communication was not good.

Coupled with the commander's indecision, the opportunity to counterattack in a timely manner was delayed.

In this battle, the flagship "The King of Italy" was easily sunk by the opponent's armored ship, and together with 400 crew members on the ship were buried under the sea. Other gunboats and battleships also lost their combat effectiveness one by one in the opponent's artillery attacks, and even lost the Ancona military port.

The naval battle took place on October 5, but the news of the defeat was too humiliated and was not released reluctantly by the Italian military on October 9.

It was five days later when it reached Old Moltke's ears.

The failure of the naval battle greatly stimulated the nerves of the people and completely defeated the already weak morale of the Italian army. Immediately in the next few battles, the remaining tens of thousands of main forces of the Italian army were successively buried in the hands of King Alfonso.

Only the volunteer army organized by the national hero Garibaldi, who shined in the Second War of Independence, could organize sporadic resistance against the Austrian offensive.

But this resistance is completely futile.

They failed to set foot in the northeastern Venice region controlled by Austria, but instead gave up a large area of ​​northern land in the Kingdom of Sardinia, including the Lombardy region that returned to Italy during the Second War of Independence.

On October 7, Maximilian stabilized the situation in northern Italy and basically wiped out the opponent's army.

Instead of resting for a whole week like Brecht in history, he left half of his troops, and he personally took charge of Lombardy and continued to pursue the dispersed enemy troops. The troops who were divided out chose to go north under the leadership of his deputy to prepare to rescue the confusing Austrian land.

The Austrian troops were basically sent to the front line, and there was only a large part of the 12th Army in the rear capital, so the primary goal of the retreating troops was Vienna.

But just like naval battles, even though this news that might influence the entire Pakatan Austrian battlefield was captured, Italy did not send it out in time.

Their command did not change like the battle between Pu'aoyi, and in the eyes of others, they were still extremely vague. Delaying the message was harmful and no benefit. In addition to letting people see the incompetence of the Italian army two days later, they were the last trace of stubbornness left after the self-esteem of the Italian army command.

The news that should have been sent on October 7 was delayed for two days before appearing at the telegraph station. At that time, Lamin suffered his first defeat, while the southern defense troops of Maximilian's troops were already close to the Aoi border.

By the time the telegram entered Lao Maoqi's sight in many places, it was October 12th.

It was also at this time that the Prussian First Army officially launched a full-scale attack on Lamin. Old Moltke looked at the overall situation and found that the troops heading north were likely to change lanes and advance westward due to the failure of the Western Front.

On the battlefield where the combat power is slightly tilted towards the Prussian side, it is a very terrifying thing that a force of tens of thousands of people suddenly appeared.

He quickly revised the original offensive plan and wrote the handwritten letter to Prince Carl, the commander of the First Army. He either quickly took down the Sixth Army and Kischin, or retreated to Gabrunz to watch the Austrian army's movements.

Prince Carl's command ability is not too strong, but his courage is extraordinary.

Seeing that he could not eat the Sixth Army, he gave up the fat meat that had been roasted for three days and refused to eat it. Under the persuasion of the Chief of Staff, he issued an order to withdraw the army.

But no matter how fast the withdrawal of troops was, it could not make up for the time the Italians were delayed in sending messages. Prussia, which should have the advantage of telegram transmission speed, became very passive because of Italy's strange operations.

As early as three days ago, Lamin received news about reinforcements [1].

This is just a message coming, not an order. What supports him in playing the tough battles these three days is his judgment on the situation.

Unlike the highly concentrated command of Prussia, Austria's command is not entirely in the hands of Grand Duke Brecht. Franz has the power to change military orders, and Maximilian on the southern line also has certain autonomy.

Maximilian also further decentralized his power.

The order he gave to the retreating force was not to "return to Vienna and wait for the command center to dispatch", but to deal with changes on the battlefield like checking for omissions and filling in the gaps.

So after the troops passed the Austrian border, they sent a large number of scouts. After learning that the war on the Western Front was tight and the northern Front was still safe, they kept leaving an incredible route of marching on the southern Austrian land.

Lamin's actions responded to the force. Although the Sixth Army suffered heavy losses and the 40,000 troops were left after the successive failures of the 40,000 troops, it successfully blocked the Prussian offensive.

After such trouble, the First Army began to withdraw its troops one after another on the night of the 15th, giving the Sixth Army a chance to breathe.

After a night of rest, the Sixth Army also began to withdraw its troops.

The so-called reinforcements did not enter the temporary barracks of the Sixth Army until the afternoon of the next day because of the rain on the road for two days. At this time, the Prussians completely retreated to Gabrents, and the Sixth Army only marched about 5 kilometers towards Kischin due to insufficient marching speed.

"Deputy Marshal Laming, I'm late."

The commanders of the two armies met each other in the temporary tent set up by the Sixth Army. The two quickly exchanged their own information: "How are you losing now?"

"You saw it when you came. Now there are only one division that can fight with guns, and the others are wounded. This is the situation."

"It's so tragic, but now it's fine. The three divisions in my hands can safely send you back to Kischin."

Laming sat on the chair with a dirt face. The military jacket on his body was either bloody or burnt holes, and there was a lot of dust rubbing against it. The map on the table was also ragged. His left hand was wrapped in a bandage and hung on his chest. He must have been injured. He only found half a piece of cigar from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth with his right hand.

Lamin lit himself: ".I thought I wouldn't come."

"I learned about the battle situation on the Western Front the next day after crossing the Auroi border, and then got news about the security of the Northern Front and the capital, and went over Kischin to come here without stopping."

The visitor took off his wet shawl and found a chair to sit down: "I originally planned to arrive yesterday afternoon, but it suddenly rained heavily on the road, and the speed of the team was reduced. It would be great if there were railways in the southern region, but unfortunately there were only a few decent roads to go."

Ramin lost his previous momentum when fighting with Kavey, and he seemed weak: "It's good that I can come, I'm very grateful. If it weren't for your letter, I would definitely have ordered the withdrawal of troops. If we really retreated, we might have become the living targets of the Prussians."

There were only two of them in the tent, and the atmosphere was heavy and a little awkward.

"Let's say some good news. Italy is completely destroyed, and the army and the navy are almost destroyed by us."

"That's not necessarily." Lamin sat upright and vomited two smoke rings. "I've participated in the French-Austrian War and fought with Italians. These Italians who like to eat tomato pizza are like flies, and they don't look combat-effective, but they just keep flying around you, flying, flying, and flying, which is very annoying."

"Marshal Maximilian is staring at Lombardy, no problem."

"Have you taken Lombardy?"

"right."

The good news only made Laming sigh twice. The successive failures and high-intensity confrontations seemed to have ruined his few remaining fighting enthusiasm: "I didn't expect that you are now half a deputy marshal."

"I dare not be a man, I am just an ordinary general." Although the visitor is as Count as Laming, he is still far from his military position. "I can only take this position with the support of the King and Marshal Maximilian."

"Okay, OK." Laming didn't want to continue chatting, "I fought with the Prussians for three days, and I'm so tired. Next, the Sixth Army is under your control. Please bring all these soldiers back."

Considering the uncertainty of the Prussians' subsequent movements and the strong enemy is in front of them, the process of handing over command can only be simple, even as simple as a bit of a playful story.

Laming just gave the two chiefs of staff in his command to each other and became the boss. What he left behind was a mess full of wounded soldiers, and it was not easy to send them to Kischen safely.

“Where is the head of surgery?”

"The head of the surgery in our military department has long been missing." Internist O'Locke wiped the blood on his hands and said, "Now the original surgeon Dornelson takes over that position, but he, a surgeon, can do very little."

"There are so many wounded soldiers, but there are not many doctors who can operate. We have to send people away as soon as possible."

"Did you bring enough carriages? There is no carriage here!"

Oluke looked back at the wounded men lying all over the floor, no beds, no stretchers, and no cover sheds and blankets. They were helplessly wet with the drizzle of autumn and endured the pain caused by the wound.

"If that medical team didn't leave, at least they could save more people."

This was not thought about, and it was just Oluke who said it casually based on his previous memory. But the speaker was unintentional and the listener was intentional. The newly appointed commander in front of him seemed particularly sensitive to the word "medical": "Medical team? What medical team?"

"Oh, I heard that I received an order from Grand Duke Brecht to support our surgical team from the northern line." Oluk said, "I originally wanted to stay, but who knew that Deputy Marshal Laming would not let them intervene, so I left as soon as the war started."

Those who can go south from the northern line to support it, are they?

Several familiar faces appeared in the new commander's mind: "Where have they gone? Go back to the North Line?"

Oluke recalled the situation and said, "It must have been to Kischen. The evacuation route in the north has long been blocked by the Prussians and cannot leave."

"Wait, I came from Kischin. I haven't met them all the way!"
Chapter completed!