Chapter 369: ‘Right Hook-Fist’ Plan (Part 1)

"Generals, Russia has declared war on France, and millions of Russian troops are launching fierce attacks on the French army. The Russian Southwest Front is coming to Vienna. It will be at most one week before we can reach Vienna. Then we will be the time to fight back. But before that, we must defend Vienna. Now, the French army has gathered nearly 500,000 people to surround Vienna, but a large part of them are those French servants with low combat effectiveness, and there are not many French troops in there. So we don't have to be afraid. Now, Austria has reached the moment of life and death.

As long as we can withstand the French attack, the Austrian revival will start from now on. If we cannot withstand the French attack, then it will be difficult for us in Austria to have a future. Therefore, you must put out all your energy to resist the French attack." Grand Duke Chali mobilized all the generals of the Austrian army before the war. In order to boost everyone's morale, he deliberately concealed the Russian army's attack that was not smooth and the French army's real strength, just to be able to resist the French army outside Vienna, win time, and allow the Russian army to arrive at the battlefield as soon as possible.

Outside Vienna, the commanders of the French army from three routes also met. Now they have received telegrams from Paris and are very clear about the current situation. Therefore, they decided to implement Xiao Jie's order as soon as possible, capture Vienna, and eliminate the main force of the Austrian army.

"Now, our army has surrounded Vienna, with a total of more than 300,000 Austrian troops surrounded in Vienna. As long as we can eat all these Austrian troops, Austria will be greatly damaged." General Mike, the commander of the 1st Iberian Army, smiled. He was very optimistic. Although the number of Austrian troops was relatively large, he believed that it was not difficult for them to eliminate these Austrian troops.

"Although the Austrian army has more than 300,000 people, we have more than 400,000 people, and we have a great advantage in terms of military strength. Besides, there are more than 100,000 mobs in the Austrian army, and only more than 200,000 regular troops. Under such conditions, we can say that we will win." General Kurt, the commander of the 3rd Iberian Army, also agreed.

"But don't forget that in our army there are more than 100,000 troops from the vassal states. The combat effectiveness of these troops is much worse than that of the regular Austrian army." General Otis, the commander of the 2nd Iberian Army, said that he is not as optimistic as the two before.

"Yes, although we have many advantages now, don't forget that there are 200,000 Austrian troops coming or coming, which determines that we have to end the battle in Vienna at the best speed. Also, Vienna, as the capital of Austria, has been operated by Austria for so long, and there are countless defenses. It is probably not so easy to conquer Vienna." Besier, the commander of the 2nd French Legion, also said with some concern.

"What should we do? Can't we just wait like this? His Majesty the Emperor wants us to solve Austria as soon as possible so as to focus our energy on dealing with Russia." Kut asked.

"Of course we can't wait. No matter how difficult it is, we cannot retreat. Although Vienna has almost been operated by Austria, we must level it up. Everyone, we will prepare for it. On April 19, the day after tomorrow, we will launch a general attack on Vienna at the same time." Bessier said. As one of the oldest marshals, Bessier was appointed as the interim commander of these three armies.

"Okay, Mr. Marshal." The commanders of the other three legions took the orders one after another. They went back to make the final preparations. To capture a city like Vienna, they had to concentrate enough firepower, such as bombing with the air force or large-scale artillery bombing, and then the combat engineers opened the way in front of the attack. In this way, the speed of the attack would be greatly increased. However, since Russia suddenly joined the battle, the main force of the air force had begun to move to Poland. They could not use many airships at this moment, and it was impossible to carry out large-scale bombing, so they could only focus on bombing in a certain area.

The rest must be handed over to the artillery. But this undoubtedly requires a large amount of artillery shells, which puts great pressure on the logistics, especially the poor road conditions in Austria, which makes the French army's logistics supply line more fragile. Finally, there are combat engineers. In the British war, the combat effectiveness of combat engineers was well demonstrated, and after the war it became one of the preferred branches of troops for each legion. But even so, combat engineers are still relatively rare in each legion. Generally speaking, each legion has one regiment of combat effectiveness. Therefore, the French army still faces many difficulties in conquering Vienna in a short period of time.

On April 18, three corps of the Russian Central Front arrived at the front line, and Kutuzov immediately threw them into the battle without reservation. The Russian Central Front was worthy of being the most elite unit in Russia. Their combat effectiveness was not much different from the French army. Due to their joining, the French defense line suddenly became very tense. Especially in the Rhosov area, under the fierce attack of the Russian army, it was actually broken by the Russian army. More than 200,000 Russian troops entered southern Poland, and France was immediately given

The army's defense line was almost collapsed. Fortunately, on April 20, the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the 88th Army arrived on the battlefield. Their appearance immediately stopped the Russian attack, and joined forces with the remnants of the Polish and Prussian troops to launch a counterattack against the Russian army, driving the Russian army out of Poland step by step, and returning the front to its original state. The Biavestok and Lublin areas also made the defense line more stable due to the arrival of the 88th Army.

Seeing this situation, Kutuzov was very disappointed and had to ask Nikola to increase his troops again. The reason was that the French ace troops had been dispatched, so the central front army had no reason to stay in the rear. I don’t know if it was because of some helplessness or fear of defeat. This time, Nikola did not make any excuses and sent the remaining 180,000 central fronts to the front line very happily.

During this period, the French and Jewish coalition forces made great progress in the war situation in Turkey. Now, the coalition forces of the two countries have attacked the Aegean coast, and with the help of the Mediterranean fleet, they once again defeated the Turkish army in the Izmir area of ​​the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, annihilated nearly 200,000 Turkish troops. However, since the entire France is now focusing on the war in Europe, not many people will pay attention to the war in Turkey.

On April 19, the French army's general attack on Vienna also kicked off. French air force and army artillery units launched a intensive fire strike on Vienna, intending to clear obstacles for the advance of infantry. Although the Austrian army suffered heavy losses under the intensive fire strike of the French army, almost 30,000 people died directly from bombing and artillery attacks, and many fortifications were destroyed. However, this did not cause them to suffer to the extent of injury. The Austrian army still had strong combat power, and they also understood the importance of this battle and their morale was very high.

The French army launched a fierce attack on Vienna from four directions: east, south, west and north. Among them, the French 1st Legion attacked northern Vienna, the Iberian 2nd Legion attacked western Vienna, the main force of the Iberian 1st Legion plus more than 100,000 minions attacked southern Vienna, and the remaining eastern Vienna was led by the Iberian 3rd Legion. Compared with the other three directions, the army attacked southern Vienna was the most, but their strength was the weakest.

The attack methods in the four directions are basically the same. They are all made by a combat engineer regiment in the front and a large number of infantry are followed behind. When encountering Austrian strongholds, barricades or small fortresses, infantry always provide cover for combat engineers. The combat engineers carry out blasting, and both sides cooperate to pull out these Austrian strongholds. If they encounter more rigorous fortifications, they call the headquarters to shell the target or bombard the air force. With the combination of these offensive tactics, the French attack speed is still very fast.

However, Vienna is a very large city. Although the French attack speed is very fast, the attack speed must be accelerated in comparison.

The Austrian army's will to resist was very tenacious and showed great courage in the cruel street battles. The French army had to spend a lot of strength to compete with the Austrian army for positions. These positions may be a street, a house, or even a ruin.

The first day of the battle ended soon. After a day of fierce fighting, the French army lost nearly 30,000 people, but they only occupied about one-tenth of Vienna. If this ratio is based on this ratio, wouldn’t it be a loss of 300,000 people to completely occupy Vienna? This is something the French army would never want to see. And there is no time left, so the French army had to increase the attack in the future attack, otherwise they would probably not be able to complete the task stipulated by Xiao Jie.
Chapter completed!