Chapter 1054 You Think Too Much 1

Chapter 1054 You think too much 1

"Every hour, even every minute, the monster called war is devouring a huge amount of lives. In the fortress area of ​​Lviv, the opponent's artillery is consuming our manpower. And in the fortress Inside, the Austrians were killing us bit by bit like blunt knives slicing flesh! It wasn’t until the end of the battle that we realized that we didn’t understand how to capture a modern fortress!” After the war, even the commander-in-chief of the battle Alexeyev admitted that the attack on the Lviv Fortress was a failure.

At the same time, on the Allied side, the prince and his staff have been paying attention to the offensive and defensive battle of Lviv Fortress, and among them there are also a group of people from the Western Front. General Falkenhayn came to observe the battle as a representative of the Prussian military in order to gain experience in how to capture a fortress in the future. To be honest, in this dimension, the German army had no experience in capturing a fortress established by a powerful country. The Burning Sun Fortress is nothing compared to a truly solid fortress.

Although the Verdun Fortress offensive and defensive battle no longer exists in this dimension (when the prince launched the Western Front Campaign, the German army achieved breakthroughs from both wings of the Verdun Fortress. The fortress was in danger of being isolated, so the French chose to withdraw from the fortress area. ), but the French still established a solid fortress system in Belfort and other areas. This made the German army on the Western Front very difficult to fight.

Falkenhayn was, after all, the Minister of War, a general of infantry, and a veteran. Therefore, the prince would also discuss both sides' views on the war with Falkenhayn in his free time. In particular, this prince of the plane does not want to fight another battle similar to the meat grinder of Verdun. The consumption is too great and the gain is not worth the loss.

"If possible, I hope that a situation similar to the Battle of Lviv Fortress will not occur on the Western Front." The prince said to Falkenhayn. "You must remember one sentence. If you cannot achieve a decisive victory within a month, then stopping the campaign immediately is undoubtedly the best choice."

"Your Highness, are you saying that it is irrational to storm the fortresses on the Western Front?" Falkenhayn frowned. Although he was aware of the difficulty of attacking the fortress, he still believed that the prince's view was too pessimistic.

"A battle of fortification is similar to a war of attrition, but at the same time it is not a war of attrition. A simple war of attrition in trenches can achieve a very good exchange ratio through tactics and troop quality. But a battle of fortification is different! Even if you concentrate 3 times the troops and 4 times the artillery , Even if you think you have blocked the opponent's supply channel with artillery, you still have the possibility of failure in this battle! Especially on the Western Front, the opponent's troop density is extremely high, the transportation situation is very good, and rapid support can be provided. I believe it. I, Markingham, would rather crawl in a field trench than try to capture a key fortress through a battle. This temptation is like an apple in the Garden of Eden, it looks beautiful, but it is very deadly!" the prince said seriously.

This is definitely not alarmist! On the Eastern Front, historically it took the Russians four months to capture the Przemyśl Fortress, from November 9, 1914 to March 22, 1915. It took a full 133 days,

The fortress was captured when the fortress defenders had no backup and were completely surrounded. This battle was almost fought under the best offensive and defensive conditions, and it was fought so weakly that the Austro-Hungarian Empire wasted so much effort! And what about the Western Front?

"Never believe in the superiority of troops and equipment in your hands. Facts have proved that these things are not easy to use in the fortress area. First of all, the reason why a certain place wants to build a fortress must be that it has a very big geographical advantage. Maybe It may be because it is condescending, it may block several roads, or it may be because the front is very narrow. In short, building a fortress in a certain place will definitely give the defenders an advantage!"

For example, the historical Fortress of Verdun was surrounded by mountains and had a very narrow front. Before the Battle of Verdun, there were a total of four positions, two of which were built on the northern branch and the northeastern branch of Mount Maas. It can be said to be condescending and difficult to conquer. As for the first line, it passed through the woodland. Moreover, the distance between the defense lines is very large, and there is sufficient depth to delay time and consume the opponent.

Looking at the terrain of the entire fortress, all important positions and support points are in deep ditches, mountains or woodlands. The permanent fortifications and field fortification areas are combined, and the depth of the defense line is more than 15 kilometers. Not to mention the equipment, this deployment alone has already allowed the French to win half the battle!

The Germans are not ignorant of this, and they have also made considerable preparations for this battle. Before the battle was launched, the French army had actually transferred many fortress defenders and equipment to other areas. The fortress area was unprecedentedly weak. , and the Germans also concentrated several times their troops and equipment!

Before the battle, the French had only three armies in this fortress area with an outer diameter of 45 kilometers and a defensive front of 120 kilometers. It was divided into the east bank and the west bank by the Meuse River. Among them, 2 corps and 6 divisions are stationed on the east coast, with 338 artillery pieces (including 152 heavy artillery pieces). One corps and two divisions are stationed on the west bank, with 294 artillery pieces (including 94 heavy artillery pieces). In the southern part of the fortification area, there are still three divisions of reserves.

And what about the Germans? In order to capture this fortress, they gathered the most elite Fifth Army. Commander, the Crown Prince of Germany. Moreover, 17 divisions were drawn from the reserves of 25 divisions on the Western Front! If we look at it in terms of military strength, the German army's military strength is three times that of the French army!

As for firepower? The German army concentrated more than 1,200 artillery pieces and 202 heavy mortars! Moreover, the number of heavy artillery is greatly superior to that of the opponent! For example, among the 850 artillery pieces deployed in the assault area, there were 490 heavy artillery pieces! And there are 29 380MM and 420MM heavy artillery to support the operation! If we talk about the number of artillery on the front line, the German army has three times as many artillery pieces as the French! In order to ensure the quality of the artillery bombardment, the Germans actually equipped the artillery with 168 artillery correction aircraft and 14 observation balloons...

In terms of offensive strength, the Germans also boldly innovated. Each battalion is assigned an engineer company, and a brigade can be assigned a flamethrower company. In the main offensive direction, there are a total of 39 engineer companies and 8 flamethrowers. The company was additionally strengthened, and subsequent divisions were also equipped with sufficient blasting equipment and explosives.

In order to ensure the huge consumption of the battle, the Germans also did a good job in logistics. The Germans invested 26 military engineering companies and 20 railway companies with a total of 20,000 people to build temporary railways. Each division was equipped with a Field Railway.

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