360 As long as Massena attacks, everything will be fine!
When An Ning heard that Archduke Karl was arrested, he felt bad.
Now nothing happens according to his idea.
What was originally thought to be a large-scale annihilation war has now become a continuous siege war. Every time a city is captured, the French army suffers heavy casualties. The most important thing is that it takes a lot of time.
Then the Archduke Karl was originally released, intending to let him take orders in the face of danger. However, the Archduke himself mobilized the Bohemian army, which aroused the suspicion of his brother, and he was imprisoned early.
Also, the Italian side originally planned to only use Davout and Massena as support, but it turned out that Massena was planning to march north from Italy to attack Vienna.
Sure enough, it is difficult to expect everything to run as you expect.
Forget it, An Ning thought about it and decided that it would be good to do this now. Let's see if his famous generals can win the war on their own. If they can win this, he can retreat to the second line to engage in industrialization and strive for success.
Let France lead Britain and enter the steam age first.
Anning was very interested in how world history would evolve after France completed the Industrial Revolution first.
**
Zurich.
After Davout led the French army across the Alps, they entered Swiss territory.
Davout didn't know that the route he took was the route of Suvorov in another time and space. In the history of that time and space, Suvorov hurriedly wanted to participate in the battle in Zurich, but Massena made a quick move.
, a direct victory in Zurich.
That was the highlight of Massena's life.
But now that Massena was in northern Italy, the command of the Battle of Zurich became Davout.
However, there may be some connection between the famous generals. After Davout personally viewed the terrain around Zurich on horseback, he chose the same breakthrough point as Massena in another time and space.
On June 15, the Battle of Zurich ended. The Austrian army suffered more than 8,000 casualties and surrendered 15,000.
After the field battle, the Swiss nobles in Zurich chose to surrender in Kaicheng.
The French army's reputation for establishing republican rule instead of robbing local nobles when arriving in new places has spread. Many nobles, especially the new nobles, are ready to compete for power with their fellow villagers in parliament.
In this way, Davout's 30,000 men, including about 800 wounded soldiers and the same number of corpses, marched into the city of Zurich in a mighty manner.
Yes, Davout only paid less than 2,000 casualties in total to disintegrate the Zurich garrison.
On the day of entering the city, as soon as they settled in the city, Davout's chief of staff came to congratulate Davout: "General, your tactics are so beautiful, they can be compared with Lord Frost!"
Davout frowned slightly and turned to look at the chief of staff.
"Have you ever attended the Military Academy? Let me ask you, did the Military Academy teach you such extensive use of skirmishers?"
The staff officer didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Dawu's gourd, so he replied doubtfully: "No. The officer school teaches us that the attack must be line infantry..."
"Yes. And I will adopt this unconventional approach because you have keenly discovered the difference between our army and the kingdom's army. Do you understand? Because it is our army, we can use many tactics that we have never thought of before.
.
"In addition, the prestige of our army that your Excellency demonstrated also caused the Austrian army to collapse at the first touch when facing our army's bayonet charge.
"I can win so easily just because I stand on the shoulders of a giant like you. Make no mistake, Chief of Staff."
Davout said seriously.
"How could I have such unrealistic thoughts about sharing the same glory with you?"
He paused, then sighed: "Actually, I think that your Excellency should not fight now, but should return to teach at the Military Academy. He may be able to create a new military school.
"It's a pity that France still needs him to be active on the battlefield. This is actually a pity."
After Davout finished speaking, he let out a long sigh.
**
Massena here.
He was observing the Austrian defense line on the mountain with a telescope.
Although Davout left, the Austrian commander still did not dare to fight the French army in the wilderness. Instead, he built positions in the mountains and assumed a defensive posture.
Because the French navy was weak and had no way to bypass the Austrian army by sea, Masséna could only attack the mountains.
Only after taking this place can he begin to advance towards Vienna.
However, after nearly a day of fierce fighting, the situation on the battlefield is still unclear.
Although the morale of the Austrians was low, they seemed to have spiritual support with the fortifications. The French army had to pay a high price to rush into the fortifications in order to force the Austrian army out of the fortifications in a hand-to-hand battle.
Once they leave the fortifications, the Austrian troops will disperse.
However, the Austrian army seemed to have anticipated this, building several lines of defense on the mountain and developing a defense-in-depth approach many years in advance.
In fact, this has a similar effect to the Northern Front Allied Forces' approach of holding on to a fortified city in sections, using space and time to offset the high morale of the French army.
Massena's current feeling is the same as the tranquility on the Northern Front: "Damn it, these cowards are coming out to fight us!"
The chief of staff said worriedly: "If this continues, our reserve forces will be exhausted. How about we try to bypass the defense line?"
"I also want to take a detour, but there must be a way."
The area between Italy and Austria is completely mountainous.
It should be said that the entire southern part of the country Austria is mountainous, and the transportation inconvenience has not improved much even in the 20th century.
During World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were at odds in the mountains for several years, and neither could advance further.
In another time and space, Napoleon was able to break through this mountainous area because of faster strategic maneuvers. Archduke Karl underestimated the French army's maneuver speed and rushed over before he could block the entrance.
Later, Archduke Karl's troops also raced quickly and slowly with the French army, and finally outran the French army by relying on the defenses at several key passes, and finally established a relatively reliable defense in front of the French army.
Just when Archduke Karl was about to rely on his defensive position to give the French a head-on attack, his brother Franz surrendered.
Archduke Karl in another time and space was a tragic hero who was repeatedly cheated by his brother. Although he eventually became famous as a hero of Austria's national salvation, in the end he aroused the suspicion of his brother and lost all his power.
Masséna didn't know this. While observing the Austrian army's position, he said to himself: "Looking at this attrition rate, if we have another 20,000 people, we can forcefully conquer the pass. As long as there are 20,000 more people!"
Chief of Staff: "But we don't have any more."
Massena cursed.
At this moment, a staff officer shouted: "General, what do you think that is?"
Masséna turned his head sharply, and then he saw a red army coming along the road in a mighty manner.