CHAPTER 260: CHAPTER 249: THE ENEMY IN PARIS

The waters of the Rhine River continue to flow silently; Prussia and the German allied forces have already established a solid defense line on the eastern bank of the Rhine River.

However, the French side has not made any significant moves; the French have yet to arrive, so Prussia is naturally not in a hurry. Troops and equipment from the rear are continuously converging toward the front lines via railways and canals.

In the frontline command post, Mochi personally introduces his operational plan to William I and others: "Here is the Alsace and Lorraine region, with Metz and Strasbourg separated by the Vosges Mountains. According to our staff’s data analysis, the French railway capacity in Strasbourg can’t handle the complete mobilization of French forces, so Metz in the northwest will share this pressure, and the French army will be divided into two parts. If we attack actively, we will also be affected by the Vosges Mountains, dispersing our main forces, which is obviously disadvantageous for us. Thus, I propose to wait firmly for the French attack on the banks of the Rhine River, as leveraging the Rhine for defense will be much easier."

William I asked, "What is the current status of troop assembly?"

"The current Prussian active troops have already assembled, and volunteers from the rear are being recruited from various places, but it will take some time for all the federal states, and the third corps from the south — the Bavarian main force — has not yet arrived at the front." Mochi replied.

The communication within the Prussian army is extremely smooth, thanks to their telegraph network. Siemens, founded by ’the father of German electricity,’ Werner von Siemens, had crafted the most advanced telegraph network for Prussia at the time, allowing the General Staff to precisely monitor the exact location of armies, divisions, and regiments by the hour. After the last Prussia and Austria war, Prussia had been promoting the installation of telegraph networks across German territories, aided by the customs union, which also enabled widespread usage in Southern Germany.

"For some unknown reason, Austria has relocated its main forces from the northern border region, so this time we are mobilizing more forces from the east to confront the French. Just waiting for them to fall into our trap." Mochi said excitedly.

From the winter of 1868 to 1869, Mochi started drafting a plan against France, so on a personal level, Mochi had been waiting for this day for a long time.

In fact, shortly after the formation of the North German Federation, Mochi was striving to take initiative to go to war against France, as at that time France was rearming with the new Chassepot breech rifle, which significantly outperformed the Dreyse rifle. If France completes the rearmament, their combat power would rise to another level.

However, Bismarck was firmly opposed at the time: "If we declare war against France actively, it would turn into an act of aggression and make us war mongers, not only would the French stand against us unanimously, but other countries wouldn’t support our actions either, and even within the North German Federation, there wouldn’t be support for us."

Thus, this matter was delayed, resulting in 1870 when Bismarck used just one telegram to humiliate all of France, leading to France’s rage, with Napoleon III rashly declaring war against Prussia.

When France declared war, Mochi was still on vacation; after the declaration, Mochi urgently ended his holiday and organized the Prussian army according to plans to commence mobilization, equipping and transporting 300,000 soldiers to the border within 18 days.

"We still need to be wary of Austria. I don’t believe they would be content with their previous defeat, though up till now, there hasn’t been any statement from the Austrian government, which makes their intentions uncertain." William I said.

"It might be due to fear of the public opinion within German territories. Austrians know there’s nothing much they could do; no matter if they support France or not, they cannot stop Prussia’s actions in Southern Germany. The only thing they could do now is hope France completely defeats us without intervening, to prevent us from unifying the German territories."

The principle is clear, if Austria takes any actions to interfere in the Prussia-France war, and France wins, Austria becomes a ’traitor to Germany.’ And should Austria truly intervene, they might not necessarily defeat Prussia; Prussia could rally Italy to attack Austria from north and south, while Russia would also take action.

...

The gloomy weather in Paris mirrored Napoleon III’s mood, as he realized after declaring war on Prussia that he had been deceived by his subordinates.

The speed of French troop assembly was not ideal; compared to Prussia’s conscription system, France placed more emphasis on professional soldiers, usually having stronger individual combat abilities than conscripts.

French soldiers had unquestionable combat capabilities, but now France faced the situation of long-standing colonial wars leading to overly dispersed forces.

Since Napoleon III, France had pursued a unique neutral policy in Europe, learning from Napoleon’s times when they were besieged.

Unable to expand in Europe, France rapidly emulated Britain in the colonies; concurrently, Napoleon III actively collaborated with the British, engaging in actions hardly related to French interests, like the Crimean War and the Far East allied British-French forces.

Besides cooperating with the British, France also actively participated in actions in Mexico (supporting Maximiliano, interfering in Mexican internal affairs), Southeast Asia, North Africa, and other colonies. Under Napoleon III’s direct maneuvering, the Kingdom of Italy was born, striking the Austrian Empire, allowing Prussia to challenge the Austrian Empire, combined with previous Crimean War, devastating the Russian Empire.

With two powerful enemies of France during their wars vanquished by the French, this was undoubtedly a great victory. Although the newly founded Kingdom of Italy had severed France’s traditional expansion routes, it wasn’t a significant issue.

Colonial activities led to the dispersion of French forces, with colonial troops needing time to return to the French mainland, and now, as the war machine had already started, there wasn’t enough time, no matter what could be said further.

The most crucial aspect was that France had always had ambitions for the Rhine River lands, leaving a significant French military presence on the French-German border that could be assembled temporarily; although fewer in numbers than the German Alliance, France, as usual, confidently faced two adversaries at once. The commanders were also very confident, and since the military said there was no issue, Napoleon wasn’t in a rush. What truly made Napoleon III furious was the logistics department.

"You bunch of incompetents, the frontline troops have waited so long, and you still haven’t delivered supplies to the front lines? Should we let the Empire’s warriors face the Prussians on empty stomachs?"

"Your Majesty, please calm down, there are reasons; the declaration of war was too sudden, and our system couldn’t fully operate at the moment, after all, suddenly gathering over a hundred thousand troops at the front line requires an enormous amount of supplies." The logistics department is already coordinating with the railway for more trips to transport supplies to the front lines.

"So you never had a plan for a war against the German territories? Only reacted after the war had commenced?" Napoleon III lambasted.

The Emperor was furious, while the subordinates remained silent, looking at the incompetent, Napoleon was tempted to send them immediately to the front lines as cannon fodder.

After calming himself, Napoleon III said, "I don’t care what methods you use, the frontline supplies must be guaranteed within ten days; if this can’t be done, then all of you in the logistics department may as well stop working, and all will be sent to the front using your prepared supplies to fight against the Germans."

After reprimanding the logistics department, Napoleon turned to criticize the intelligence department: "And you, when asked where the troops were, you said you didn’t know, maybe, probably? Is this the capability of your intelligence department?"

"Your Majesty, mainly overseas troops are overly dispersed, the distances too far, communication over the sea can only be done by ships, which takes significant time round-trip; Northern Africa and Rome are relatively close and negotiable, but other regions may not be contactable within ten days to half a month."

"Then you at least should have some understanding of the enemy! By now, haven’t you figured out the size and composition of the Prussian Army?"

"Prussia isn’t a nation that can be speculated by common sense; everyone knows Prussia has universal conscription, revealing any number of troops wouldn’t be surprising. And if adding the German federal states, the workload for our department is extremely daunting, and our manpower is far from sufficient."

The intelligence department completely shifted the responsibility, government sectors are all the same style, and Napoleon III was infuriated, but helpless against them. He clearly realized the true foe resides in Paris, not Berlin, as the royal and republican factions were both hoping he’d run into trouble.