Chapter 263 Playing the long game to catch big fish
The Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Italy, which was bad news for Napoleon III who was already at war.
Napoleon III said tiredly to the French generals: "It is now certain that the Austrians will not take any action in our war with Prussia, which also means that we will face more Prussian troops."
This news was undoubtedly heavy for the French army. Before the war, France was rather contemptuous of Prussia, but after the fighting broke out, France found itself trapped in the Prussians' endless human wave tactics.
France was currently at a disadvantage. The Army of the Rhine had been on the passive defensive, while McMahon's troops in the south were completely at a disadvantage and at risk of collapse at any time. The Fifth Army that went to support them also made no achievements. Although it inflicted huge losses on the Prussian Fifth Army by surprise, the two sides were deadlocked in the Saverne area because of the Hechingen Brigade that went to Saverne for support and the Third Brigade led by Robert.
Unable to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Napoleon III's expectations for the Austro-Hungarian Empire grew stronger. This was due to the Austro-Prussian War. Some people in Austria did have a vengeful mentality towards Prussia. If the Austrian Empire still existed, the Austrians might really have launched a sneak attack on Prussia, but now it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Prussia also had the support of Tsarist Russia.
"Your Majesty, we can no longer count on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These Italians are simply brainless. They actually declared war on the Papal States despite the Austro-Hungarian Empire's tough statement. We should not have withdrawn our troops from the Papal States in the first place..."
History does not allow assumptions. If history could really be changed, what Napoleon III would most want to do now is to help the Austrian Empire during the Austro-Prussian War.
Unlike Napoleon III who was gloomy, the Prussian high-ranking officials suddenly realized the truth and turned to ecstasy after hearing that Austria-Hungary had declared war on Italy.
"Now, we finally understand the reason for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military mobilization. They have long been eyeing Italy, and this time Italy has stepped into their trap. I'm afraid Italy's fate will be..."
"This is good. We don't have to worry about the Austro-Hungarian Empire stabbing us in the back. We can also go all out against the French. As for the Kingdom of Italy, who cares if they live or die?"
…
Italian-Austrian border.
The Isonzo River defense line is divided into two layers. The lower reaches of the Isonzo River run from north to south and are the only place in the region that is advantageous for defense. Therefore, Italy will not abandon its positions on the west bank of the Isonzo River. However, the terrain on the west bank of the Isonzo River is lower than that on the east bank and is easily bombarded by Austro-Hungarian artillery fire. Therefore, Italy set up a second line of defense 20 kilometers west of the Isonzo River.
“Boom…Boom…Boom…”
The Italian speculation was correct. On the day the war broke out, the Austrian artillery units deployed on the Bainsiza Heights and the Carso Heights on the east coast began to bombard the Italian positions on the opposite bank.
At this time, Italy had two main defense points: one was the northern defense line based on the Alps in the north, and the other was the southern defense line along the west bank of the Isonzo River in the south.
The Italian side had about 150,000 troops, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire had only more than 80,000 troops, including 20,000 from the Kingdom of Hungary. Both sides dispatched their main forces.
Venice and Lombardy were what Austria was determined to obtain. In addition to their important geographical location and port conditions, economic and historical reasons also led the Austrian government to actively promote this war. As for Hungary, it wanted to gain some benefits. As long as Austria did not take action in the German region, Hungary would fully support attacking Italy and Tsarist Russia.
On the high ground on the east bank of the Isonzo River, Archduke Albrecht of Austria-Hungary looked at the results of the Austro-Hungarian artillery forces with satisfaction through a telescope.
Albrecht was a famous general of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the son of Archduke Karl, a famous general of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Napoleonic era. He served as the Director General of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1869. He emphasized the development of industry and railways; the establishment of a short-term military service system to train more reserve troops and expand war potential; the equipment and further improvement of new weapons for the troops; and the establishment of a sound general staff system.
The Franco-Prussian War broke out on June 20, 1870. In order to prevent him from raising an army for revenge, Prussia awarded him the title of Prussian Marshal and the Grand Order of St. George. He was one of the Austrians mentioned earlier who harbored malice towards Prussia.
According to the original history, Albrecht should be in France helping it deal with Prussia, but in this time and space, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already determined its strategy to attack Italy, so he was appointed by Franz as the supreme commander of this war against Italy.
As the shells fell, the first line of defense built by the Italians quickly turned into a pile of tofu dregs. In fact, Italy also knew that the first line of defense was under the range of Austro-Hungarian artillery fire, so it was not built with all its heart. It did not abandon this place directly in order to delay the Austro-Hungarian army to prepare more time to strengthen the second line of defense.
"Marshal! Why don't we attack the Italian army under the cover of artillery fire? Now the Italians have been suppressed by our artillery fire and can't even raise their heads. Moreover, we have built solid bridgeheads in Tolmino and Gorizia on the west bank of the Isonzo River. The troops should be able to cross the river directly!" asked an Austro-Hungarian general in confusion.
"It is not the time to start this war. We need to make the Italians realize the seriousness of the problem and create illusions in Italy so that they can mobilize more troops to the Eastern Front, making it easier for us to wipe them out in one fell swoop. Attacking now can indeed quickly defeat the Italians, but it would be bad to scare them." Archduke Albrecht said contemptuously.
It's not that Albrecht is arrogant. The reason why Albrecht is a famous general in Europe is that his greatest record is that he commanded 80,000 Austrian troops to defeat 120,000 Italian troops commanded by Emmanuel II in the last Italo-Austrian War.
Therefore, the 150,000 troops deployed by the Kingdom of Italy on the Eastern Front were not enough in Albrecht's eyes. Although he still had 80,000 troops this time, they were all elite troops of the empire.
"Marshal, do you want the Kingdom of Italy to continue to send troops to the front line?"
"Yes, if the Italians knew that their opponent was me again, they would definitely continue to increase their stakes on the front line, so we have to give the Kingdom of Italy time to prepare."
"But, Marshal, Italy is not the attacker this time! If Italy uses fortifications to resist, even if we win this time, it may not be as easy as last time."
"Of course I know this. My goal is to hurt Italy thoroughly and make it never become an enemy of the empire again. If we want to severely damage Italy, we must let it gather more troops to the front line. Otherwise, it will be very troublesome to deal with them one by one after we enter Italy. To avoid Italy's subsequent resistance, we must eliminate most of its manpower in one fell swoop on the front line."
Of course, Albrecht had another purpose that he did not mention, which was to attract as many Italian troops as possible to Venice and Lombardy to provide favorable conditions for the Austrian army hiding in Rome.
Why did the Italians not dare to act rashly when the French were stationed in Rome? Apart from the fact that France was strong and close to the Papal States and could provide easy support (Corsica), another reason that cannot be ignored is that Rome is not far from the current Italian capital, Florence.
If Albrecht could make good use of this special force lurking in the Papal States, he would definitely let the Kingdom of Italy know what a surprise is.
In fact, Albrecht's plan was being implemented. After finding out the front-line commander and approximate strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Italy mobilized troops and they were continuously rushing towards Venice from the rear. The Italians were preparing to build a third line of defense, and the third line of defense was near the city of Venice.
Because of the last war, Emmanuel II was impressed by Albrecht's command ability, or was a little afraid of it. An army of 150,000 was too unsafe, even if Italy was on the defensive.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
