Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 914 - 177: Civilian Casualties

Three days later, a report titled "On Low-Altitude Dive Machine Gun Strafing" appeared before Governor Feslav.

Recording the course of battles and summarizing the gains and losses is a fine tradition of the Austrian Army and also its unique feature in this era.

Documenting the war’s progress may seem simple, but not everyone can accomplish it. At the very least, a country that hasn’t completed mandatory education wouldn’t be able to do so.

The advantages of doing so are obvious, perhaps most of the recorded combat experience is repetitive nonsense, but as long as one-thousandth of the content is valuable, it’s a gain.

This is especially true when it comes to the use of new weapons and the exploration of new tactics; these data are extremely important.

Therefore, only officers in the army write reports, but in the freshly formed Air Force, everyone is required to write reports.

Low-altitude dive bombing and low-altitude dive machine gun strafing are not new terms; similar concepts had been proposed decades ago.

Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with His Majesty Franz. Though Franz is a novice in military matters, he also understood that military concepts from later generations, though not bad, are based on specific conditions.

Take dive bombing as an example; it’s not just about flying at low altitude and dropping bombs. Not every aircraft possesses the capability to perform low-altitude diving.

Even if an aircraft’s performance is satisfactory, how exactly low-altitude flying is executed also needs to be explored in actual combat.

While achieving military results, it is also essential to ensure the safety of personnel and aircraft as much as possible, otherwise, it would be just a remake of the kamikaze squadrons.

Therefore, the great strategic concept of playing with airship low-altitude dive carpet bombing is not Franz’s masterpiece.

The emergence of this concept in the Austrian army wasn’t misplaced; it was supported by real combat examples.

When airships were just introduced into military use, the Austrian Airship Troop experimented on the Ottomans and achieved significant results.

At that time, this strategic concept even became mainstream in the world, receiving many recommendations from military influencers.

However, with the advent of anti-aircraft weapons, everyone realized that low-flying airships were sitting ducks, and this theory was quickly shelved.

Just because airships are not suitable doesn’t mean that airplanes aren’t either; at least for the moment, anti-aircraft weapons pose little threat to airplanes, making low-altitude dive strafing theoretically feasible.

Because of the insufficient load capacity of airplanes, strategic bombing turned into machine gun strafing, greatly reducing its power.

With the failure of airships as a precedent, General Feslav didn’t rush to make a decision but fell into deep thought.

Whether this is a singular case or a military concept with long-term development and application prospects remains a mystery to this day.

Seeing that Governor Feslav was hesitant to make a decision, Brigadier General Andrew McCarthy by his side added fuel to the fire.

"Commander, whether dive machine gun strafing has a future or not, it’s effective in the short term,"

"We’ve already conducted several drills, and the current anti-aircraft weapons pose very little threat to airplanes, making dive strafing easily achieve results."

"Even if the French discover this tactic’s weakness, it will take them time to devise a countermeasure. Until then, it does not affect our promotion of this tactic."

Brigadier General Andrew was so proactive, essentially due to pressure. Compared to the navy and army, the Air Force is just a junior.

If the Air Force were strong enough, this tactic, which requires no coordination with other branches, wouldn’t even need to be reported to the war zone commander; they could handle it themselves.

Military personnel still need to speak with their achievements. The Austrian Air Force was established too recently to have any notable accomplishments, naturally weakening their position in discussions.

If not for Franz’s support, they would still be part of the army’s aviation unit, incapable of becoming an independent force.

In this context, everyone in the Air Force was holding their breath, eager to prove their value on the battlefield.

That’s why the Air Force has always been the most proactive in promoting new tactics. Otherwise, they wouldn’t immediately verify the feasibility of a combat report they received.

After pondering for a moment, Feslav nodded, "Theoretically, it is feasible, but we still need more real combat cases to support it before it can be promoted throughout the army.

In the coming days, I allow you Air Force to carry out independent sorties to verify or, shall we say, refine this tactic."

The development of military technology is never smooth sailing. A major power like Austria has sufficient funds to "pay tuition" for the development of military technology, and any new tactic is built up through countless failures.

This is also why many weapons and tactical concepts, despite being invented, are slow to be adopted. Without the support of actual combat results, everyone lacks confidence!

...

With the support of the war zone commander, the Austrian Air Force stationed in the Sinai Peninsula immediately took action.

The Egypt Area "livened up," not only were positions and fortresses bombed heavily; streets, alleys, and farmlands also became hunting grounds for the Austrian Air Force.

Keen to gather more combat data, the Air Force no longer considered costs, trying every possible place.

As for the consequences, those were beyond Brigadier General Andrew’s consideration; after all, the bullets were landing on enemy territory, it was merely a question of the extent of the results.

...

Ever since the demise of the airship troops, the skies above Cairo became the territory of the Austrian Air Force, with airships and planes making irregular appearances to clock in for work every day.

For the sake of his life, Governor Jacob had to move the headquarters into the basement. In fact, he initially wanted to find a safer bomb shelter.

Unfortunately, Cairo, at the heart of Egypt, was never considered by the French to face an external threat, with the most recent military danger being the last rebel siege.

The native rebel army, at most, had a few crude cannons, whose shells could never reach the governor’s mansion. There was no need for a bomb shelter, so naturally, there was none.

After the outbreak of the war between France and Austria, Governor Jacob had only considered the issue of the Canal Defense Line; he had never anticipated a threat from the sky.

By the time the crisis had arrived, it was too late to think about digging one. After all, a bomb shelter that could accommodate the French Command was not something that could be constructed as simply as a large cave.

"Governor, the enemy’s air force is too arrogant, showing no respect for France. We must strike back," someone said.

Those words, of course, could not have come from a French soldier. Every officer present knew that it wasn’t that they did not want to strike back, but that they simply lacked the capability to do so.

Looking at the infuriated middle-aged man, Governor Jacob furrowed his brow and remained silent for a long while before he slowly began to speak, "Governor Abraham, please review the battle reports or at least pay some attention to the domestic political news."

"It’s not just us; even back home, the Austrian air force is unstoppable. Just a week ago, Paris also was attacked by the enemy," he added.

Upon hearing that Paris had been attacked, the expressions of everyone present drastically changed, clearly hearing this news for the first time.

Seeing everyone’s expressions, Jacob realized there was a problem with his outlook. Before the war, news from Paris would have reached Egypt in just a few hours.

The telegraph service in France was run by capitalists whose primary concern was profit maximization; strategic considerations were secondary.

Under these circumstances, a dedicated submarine cable from mainland France to Egypt was never a possibility.

Instead, the telegram would travel via land cables through the Algeria Region, passing through regions in Austro-Africa, even collaborating with Austrian telegram companies.

This compliance with international management had enabled the telegram to spread across most regions of the world over decades through regional cooperation.

If left to individual companies without collaboration, no single firm would have had the capacity to connect the globe.

The war in Europe erupted suddenly, having only brewed for a few months before it broke out. Even the French government was momentarily dumbfounded, let alone the telegram companies.

Economics had to make way for politics, and with the onset of war, the Austrian telegram companies naturally suspended their information transmission services.

Now, the connection between Egypt and the mainland relied primarily on military ships traveling between the two regions. Even the most informed sources now struggled to receive domestic news.

After a pause, Governor Abraham, realizing the gravity, exclaimed in horror, "Governor, are you sure you’re not joking?"

In the hearts of the French, modern-day Paris held a sacrosanct status. The news of Paris being attacked was terrifying, incomparably more severe than the daily bombings in Cairo.

Jacob nodded seriously, "Do you think if it hadn’t happened, I would joke about such a matter?"

"However, the situation is not as dire as you imagine. The enemy merely flew over Paris and did not cause significant damage.

As you may have noticed, the enemy’s air force is not as frightening as it appears. Despite their imposing appearance, the bombings have caused us minimal actual damage.

The homeland is already preparing to manufacture airplanes. As long as we hold on for a while, the enemy’s advantage will cease to exist.

Now, we…"

Bombing was terrifying, yet not so much. Although the French air defense troops were subpar, they still existed, and with outdated air defense weapons, they managed to keep the Austrian airships from flying at low altitudes.

Dropping bombs from a few thousand meters up had about the same probability of hitting their target as winning the lottery.

Purely in terms of lethality, the airplanes that performed occasional dive shootings caused more casualties to the French Army than the airship bombings did in terms of efficiency.

Governor Abraham interrupted, "Governor, I need to correct that, the enemy air force has caused us significant damage.

Since the bombings began, factories, shops, and recreational facilities within Cairo City can no longer operate normally.

The public has fallen into panic, and those with a bit of savings are desperately fleeing. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 15,000 civilians have left Cairo in the past week.

Not only has Cairo’s economy been severely impacted, but other regions of Egypt have also suffered to varying degrees, especially in terms of human casualties.

Based on reports from various regions, preliminary estimates suggest that the civilian casualties caused by the enemy air attacks have already exceeded ten thousand."

There was no help for it; even inefficient bombing, once the bombs were dropped, always had an effect.

The military, operating in limited areas and knowing how to preserve life under enemy bombardment, did not suffer high casualties after the initial adjustment period.

Civilians, however, reacted differently to enemy bombings; their first instinct was to run, with few having any sense of air defense.

A chaotic escape naturally led to high casualty numbers. Particularly after the Austrian planes started low altitude strafing, the situation worsened.

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Slamming his hand on the table, Governor Jacob vehemently said, "The Austrians are utterly despicable for involving civilians in war!

Governor Abraham, you are responsible for gathering the relevant information; we must expose their atrocities to the international community."

Receiving this response, everyone fell silent again. Diplomatic protests in those times were the last struggle of the weak; the powers-that-be preferred more direct methods of intimidation.

Regarding Jacob’s proposal to use international society to exert political pressure, naturally, no one held expectations.

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There was no choice in an era defined by competing deficiencies; every colonial empire had its own murky history. If these were to be unraveled, no one would have an easy time.

Compared to this, the civilian casualties brought by war were deemed insignificant, particularly since the conflict was taking place in Africa, minimizing impact on the European world.

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