Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 915 - 168, France Needs Allies

The diplomatic protest raised by Governor Jacob was, in fact, merely a defiant remark. France couldn’t afford to lose face by begging the international community for assistance.

Losing battles and pinning hopes on international intervention is the behavior of losers, unbefitting of France’s great nation status.

Of course, the main issue was that the protest was futile. With the four power brokers of the European continent brawling among themselves, one couldn’t expect a group of minor countries, playing cheerleaders, to step in and interfere, could they?

War inevitably brings casualties. French civilian casualties were high, but those on the side of the Anti-French Alliance were far from minor.

In particular, the already occupied regions of Belgium and the Rhineland, though lacking specific statistics, one could be certain that civilian casualties numbered in the tens of thousands.

This is the peak era of the colonial empires, and also the peak of racial discrimination, not all ethnicities have human rights.

It would be better not to lift this lid, for once lifted, the result would be "incurring heavy losses to oneself while inflicting less on the enemy".

If mishandled, and European countries came to believe that France was finished and one by one flocked to embrace Austria’s thigh, the trouble would be serious.

The current Anti-French Alliance was already troublesome enough; if the Austrians managed to cheat a few more allies into their fold, there would be no need to fight the ensuing battles.

In fact, the greatest threat the Austrian Air Force posed to the French Army was not the direct damage on the battlefield.

Whether it was airship bombings or aircraft strafing, the battle outcomes were a matter of luck.

When lucky, a single air raid could inflict casualties in the thousands; when not, the results wouldn’t even cover the cost of fuel.

Compared to the direct battle achievements of the Austrian Air Force, Governor Jacob was more worried about the impact on military morale and spirit.

After a series of blows, the pride of the French Army gradually eroded, and more and more people lost confidence in the upcoming battles.

Misfortunes never come singly, and just as Governor Jacob was worried about the Austrian Air Force,

a burly young military officer ran in from outside, gasping for air and said, "Your Excellency, Governor... something terrible has happened!"

Governor Jacob’s heart tightened at the sight of the young officer’s anxious expression; he knew big trouble was looming.

Having weathered many storms, Jacob quickly adjusted himself and pretended to be nonchalant, saying, "Olen, slow down. The sky hasn’t fallen, where did the enemy bomb this time?"

Compared to other bad news on the battlefield, Governor Jacob would still prefer to hear that the upcoming bad news was about enemy air force bombing.

Having had airships in the military domain for so many years, with Austria being the first to use them in combat, the French, though proud, were not foolish and could not be unprepared for such an enemy.

When establishing military supplies warehouses, Governor Jacob had considered the threat from the sky early on. This was why the French Army, even after losing air superiority, suffered heavy personnel casualties only.

The young officer Olen hastily shook his head: "It’s not an air raid! The enemy has breached our eastern defensive line again, the Aswan Region is in danger."

Hearing the word "again," Governor Jacob only felt a toothache. There was no helping it, from the outbreak of the war to now, the defensive lines deployed by the French Army in the Sudan area had been broken through three times.

Fortunately, the colonial territories were vast enough to allow the French Army the opportunity to establish new defensive lines further back. Regrettably, the colonial troops were always unreliable, each line failing to hold for more than a few days.

In Jacob’s view, it would be more accurate to say that it was not the French frontline forces resisting the Austrian invasion, but rather the harsh geographical conditions and poor transportation hindering the enemy’s advance.

"Order General Parker to gather the defeated troops on the frontline and construct a new defensive line in the Aswan Region.

Order the 17th and 24th Divisions to head there immediately for reinforcement.

Order the garrisons in areas like Comm emb and Iddefu to be prepared for battle..."

A series of commands were issued, indicating that Governor Jacob had little hope for the frontline French Army. The active defense was merely to buy time, not with the expectation of holding back the enemy.

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Otherwise, it would be concentrating forces to create a single defense line to hold back the enemy’s onslaught, rather than preparing for war on a regional basis and engaging in defense at every step to trade space for time.

There is no best tactic in this world, only the one that is most suitable.

According to the Paris Government’s plan, the task of the African Colonial Government was to hold their ground and buy time, waiting for the French Army to secure a victory on the European continent. Explore more stories at novelbuddy

Without a doubt, Governor Jacob was strictly implementing this plan. Except for a few ambitious offensives organized at the outbreak of the war, he soon entered a state of total defense.

Unfortunately, no plan can keep up with rapid changes. The war on the European continent had reached a stalemate, and the French Army was struggling to breach the Rhine defense line, making the situation in Egypt dire.

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In the Aswan Region, the area had already become a battlefield. The sounds of artillery fire and battle cries intertwined, echoing to the heavens.

After putting down the binoculars in hand, Lieutenant General Herzendorf revealed a satisfied smile. But following his smile was a deep concern.

Without question, the increasing role of the air force on the battlefield posed a challenge to the army.

Even though the army still maintained its dominant position for the time being, the air force was developing rapidly. If nothing unexpected happened, the nation would certainly increase its investment in the air force after the war.

If it were only the air force growing stronger, Lieutenant General Herzendorf might not be so worried, after all, the air force was just starting out and couldn’t catch up with the army in a short time no matter how fast it developed.

The problem was that Austria also had a large navy. Given the clear international situation, the Vienna Government would definitely increase its investment in the navy after the war to compete with the British for naval supremacy.

Compared to them, the army was going to have a much tougher time. Everyone knew that Austria could not maintain an army of five or six million troops for an extended period. It was inevitable that the army would be downsized once the war ended.

The navy could not be downsized, and the scale of the air force was limited. Even if it were to be downsized, according to tradition, the airship troops would be transferred directly to logistical transport. The only real downsizing would be within the army.

With the addition of the navy and air force and the subtraction from the army, the army’s advantage would be offset. In the future, Austria’s military landscape would be one in which the three services of land, sea, and air would check and balance each other, never again returning to the army’s sole dominance.

This was exactly what the Vienna Government wanted to see. The navy’s vigorous development in the past decade and the airship troops’ ability to branch off from the army to form a separate force had all been strongly promoted by the government.

Of course, none of this lacked the Emperor’s tacit approval. The core of political games is a balance of power, and the Emperor did not want his subordinates to be too unified.

As an army officer, he naturally did not want to see all this happen. Even if Austria had a large family business, the funds invested in the military were limited. The rise of the navy and the air force would inevitably dilute the army’s resources.

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Knowing this was useless, it was an open secret. From the day the Austrian Air Force was established, the new pattern had already been determined.

Logically, Lieutenant General Herzendorf should not have known this.

After all, the matter had not yet occurred, and the government was just intending to promote it. No one had mentioned it in any setting, and it had not yet been implemented. Throughout the process, no news had leaked out.

However, the world is never short of clever people, and Lieutenant General Herzendorf was one of them. He had drawn his conclusions from various subtle clues.

Sometimes, knowing too much is also a trouble. Lieutenant General Herzendorf felt this very acutely. Originally, he did not even believe that the air force could grow. But after personally witnessing its role in combat, he was forced to accept the reality.

The performance of airplanes was still limited at the moment, and bombing had to rely on airships. But technology was advancing rapidly these days!

Soon, Lieutenant General Herzendorf dispelled the messy thoughts in his mind. If the sky were to fall, it would be the taller people who would bear it first; there were so many big shots within the army’s higher echelons, it wasn’t yet his turn as a lieutenant general to worry about these things.

Regardless, Austria’s geographical position determined that it was necessary to develop land power, and the army’s share could not be reduced no matter what.

After all, as the cake became bigger, even if it had to be shared among more people, what each person received in the end would still be more than before.

Checking his watch, Lieutenant General Herzendorf ordered the officer who approached, "Send the command, after half an hour, the 225th Division will launch an attack from the front, the 236th Division will launch an attack from the right flank, the 241st Division from..."

It’s impossible for a lieutenant general to command more than twenty infantry divisions in combat under normal circumstances. According to the Austrian Army’s organization, division-level officers were generally lieutenant generals.

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One able to command an army of over three hundred thousand would at least start as a general officer.

However, such so-called "norms" were all broken after the massive army expansion.

With the inclusion of the colonial troops, the Austrian Army swelled from just over half a million before the war to over six million.

Since the completion of the army reforms, Austrian military ranks became precious, especially as the number of generals was kept particularly tight.

Before the war erupted, there were fewer than seven hundred generals in the entire army, including those retired. With forces expanding by more than tenfold overnight, Franz obviously could not produce so many generals.

Without military achievements, the threshold to become a general was difficult to cross, but there was an abundance of reserve field-grade officers. If generals were lacking, colonels were used to fill in, and some divisions were even led by lieutenant colonels.

This was the war era—without control, generals would be everywhere after the war.

To avoid the embarrassment of having more generals than soldiers, Franz decisively adopted the policy of assigning lower ranks to higher positions. After all, after a few battles, those with military achievements would soon catch up.

Against this backdrop, the emergence of a lieutenant general like Herzendorf as an army group commander was not surprising.

…

As the defense battle of Aswan commenced, a stream of requests for assistance continually flew from Cairo to Paris; at the peak, Napoleon IV could receive three telegrams from the Governor of Egypt in a single day.

It wasn’t just Egypt—telegrams for help were incessant from other regions of Africa. Even though the Paris Government had already decided to temporarily abandon swathes of the colonies, it still couldn’t turn the tide on the unfavorable situations on the battlefields.

Government withdrawal from the colonies wasn’t a simple task; it involved not just relocating government offices but also a large number of civilians who needed to leave.

Others might be abandoned, but surely soldiers’ families can’t be left behind, can they?

If France were to abandon the families of its soldiers to Austria, there would be no point in continuing the fight.

To cover the evacuation of government agencies and soldiers’ families, the frontline French forces had to keep holding on. Therefore, the reinforcements promised to the Governor of Egypt existed only in theory.

Whether they could actually arrive depended on how many forces could be pulled from the front lines. Only after ensuring the security of the Algeria Region could surplus forces be allocated to Egypt.

Don’t think that the African battlefield doesn’t seem essential and won’t affect the outcome of the war on the European continent—the French Government didn’t take it that seriously.

On the contrary, African colonies provided one-third of France’s industrial raw materials and one-fifteenth of its agricultural products, holding significant strategic importance to France.

From the beginning, the French government placed great emphasis on the African Continent. Unfortunately, their strengths were limited in the Region of Africa, and faced with fighting on two fronts at home, they simply did not have the capacity to deploy substantial forces to their African Colonies.

Out of necessity, the Paris Government deliberately put on an unconcerned facade to make it seem as though they undervalued Africa, rather than conceding that France could not defeat Austria in Africa.

There was no choice; such is politics. The complex international situation dictated that France needed to keep appearing strong, as showing even the slightest sign of weakness could trigger a domino effect.

Faced with the steadily deteriorating situation in Africa, Napoleon IV finally could not sit idly by anymore. The Rhine Defense line hadn’t been breached yet, and if Africa fell first, that would spell massive trouble.

Not to mention the losses the fall of French African territories would bring to France, strategically speaking, once French Africa fell, Austria would almost unify the entire African Continent.

By then, even if the French Army broke through Vienna, the war would continue. There was no way around it—the stakes were just too high for them to find any reason to concede defeat.

Even in constant battlefield defeats, Austria had the resources to drag on, potentially exhausting France to its demise.

With the lesson of the Prusso-Russian war before him, Napoleon IV had to consider the terrifying consequences of French Africa falling.

"With the African situation completely deteriorating, what is the Army Department prepared to do?"

Minister Luskinia’s face turned red as he awkwardly replied, "Your Majesty, our disadvantage on the African Continent is too evident. Even if we send reinforcements from the homeland, it will be very difficult to reverse the situation.

"Right now, we can only perform a strategic contraction, focusing our forces on retaining the most important regions of Egypt and Algeria. All other areas can only be temporarily abandoned."

It was impossible to send reinforcements. The European warfare had exhausted nearly all of France’s strength; there simply wasn’t the capability for a distant expedition.

Even if the Army Department gritted its teeth and cobbled together a few hundred thousand troops, how would they manage the logistics and supplies?

It should be known that the cost of an expeditionary campaign far exceeds that of domestic warfare, and the French presence in Africa was not as entrenched as the Austrian’s in Austro-Africa.

After the outbreak of war, the Vienna Government only invested in weaponry and medicine in the African Battlefield, while all other strategic materials were being handled by the local governments themselves.

In contrast, the French African colonial government simply couldn’t afford such enormous expenses. The natives’ ability to generate wealth was not at all on par with the Austrians.

Napoleon IV’s face darkened; clearly, he was dissatisfied with this explanation.

If they could hold onto the vital regions of Egypt and Algeria, the situation might be acceptable. But now, even Egypt seemed on the brink of being lost.

One only had to look at a map to see France’s holdings on the African Continent shrinking day by day. At the current rate, within a year or so, France would have no affairs left in Africa.

"Is this all we have?"

Facing the Emperor’s piercing questioning, Luskinia’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat. There was no helping it; this question was too vexing.

"Your Majesty, although the situation in the African Continent is deteriorating, it won’t collapse immediately.

Regardless, we still have close to a million troops on the African Continent; it’s possible to stall for time.

As long as we win the European war, what the Austrians have taken now will have to be paid back, both principal and interest."

"A million-strong army," if this number reached the uninformed, it might scare quite a few.

Unfortunately, those present were well aware of the true quality of those troops. If the colonial troops had even half the combat effectiveness of the main forces, the situation wouldn’t have collapsed so dreadfully.

Napoleon IV waved his hand dismissively: "Enough, I don’t want to hear these platitudes anymore.

Everyone knows that the European war is the key to victory, provided that we can win the war on the European Continent.

If we continue to be deadlocked like this, the moment French Africa falls, how am I supposed to hold up against Austria? Rely on the British?"

It wasn’t that Napoleon IV was impatient; the situation on the battlefield was simply too distressing. The African battlefield was a complete disaster, and the situation on the European battlefield was not much better.

As time went on, the Austrian army poured more and more troops into the Rhine Defense line, and the chances for the French Army to break through were getting slimmer.

For this war, France had staked way too much, and now they simply couldn’t afford to lose.

After hesitating for a moment, Luskinia slowly said, "Your Majesty, we need allies. Real allies, not the kind of British who stab us in the back at any moment!"

This was a lesson written in blood; one only had to look at history books to see that France was almost always fighting alone.

Often, despite having the strength of the foremost power on the European Continent, they were horrifically beaten by enemies on all sides.

It wasn’t that nobody had noticed the issue. The main problem was that by the time they realized it, France had already managed to offend every other European country.

The same was true now; Napoleon IV too longed for allies, but there were none to be found.

If he had not been driven to desperation, he wouldn’t have sought an alliance with Britain, his archive enemy.

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