Chapter 1,666 The Desperate French 1
Chapter 1666 The Desperate French 1
It is said that some people are happy and some are sad. When the prince was reading the battle report sent and preparing to turn his attention to the domestic struggle, at this time, in the French high command in Paris, it can be said that there was a gloomy cloud. , everyone's face is full of clouds, if you look at it yourself, you can see an expression called failure!
As the frontline commander of the French army, General Joffre was quarantined and examined after returning to France. At this time, the people sitting in the conference room were the commander-in-chief of the French Western Front and the Minister of Army, Marshal Gallieni (note : Historically, this guy performed well in the famous Battle of the Marne and was known as the savior of Paris). General Nivelle, the commander of the French Paris Front (this guy was also a tough guy in tactics. In the Nivelle campaign he led During the offensive, the loss ratio between the French and German troops was almost the closest in the entire campaign. As the attacker, the French exchanged 187,000 Germans for 163,000 Germans! However, ironically, in the tactical exchange ratio, the most At a good time, the French army mutinied...)
The British General Douglas Haig also attended the meeting as a representative of the British army. (This guy is also very cool. He suppressed the Mahdi Uprising and participated in the Second Boer War. Looking at this time span, he can be called a living fossil of the modern British army!)
As the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in the Mediterranean theater, General Pétain attended this important meeting as the party being questioned, or even questioned. The main content of this meeting is not actually about the disposal of Xiafei, because from a political point of view, as the most elite French army, a group army-level force was directly eaten by the Bavarian Army, so someone must take the blame. of! Xiafei's outcome has been doomed, and it is unlikely that he will lead independently in the future. As the Eastern Front is about to end, the Bavarian Army is very likely to advance westward on a large scale in the coming year. The most critical thing is to learn from experience and lessons. Otherwise, as the commander-in-chief of the British army, Douglas Haig will not come in person. Here it is.
"Strategically speaking, General Xiafei made no mistakes, at least no obvious ones. Our biggest problem lies in the equipment performance and the combat quality of grassroots officers and soldiers. According to our frontline statistics, a Wolf tank is on the front More than 3 FT10 tanks can be easily destroyed in a field battle! This exchange ratio is simply unbearable! As long as it is a field battle between both sides, even if we concentrate our superior forces, or even in extreme cases, we can concentrate several times our forces, we will still be Suffering huge losses, I think this miserable exchange ratio may lead to the collapse of the French Army." Pétain said sadly.
"Aren't we equipped with Saint Mengsha that can fight against any armored target? Within the effective range of both sides, Saint Mengsha can destroy each other with Wolf tanks. Isn't this anti-tank gun effective?" Galli Erni frowned and said.
"The St. Munsa tank is the only one we have that can threaten the Wolf tank, but any weapon equipped on the German tank can easily destroy the St. Munsa tank. This is the difference. Whether it is the ancient Cricket tank , or a new wheeled armored vehicle,
They are all the enemies of Saint Mengsha. Before killing the opponent's Wolf tanks at the Saint Mengsha point, the opponent can often easily penetrate our frontal battle line, and then kill the lightly protected Saint Mengsha tanks at the rear one by one. " said Petain.
"What's more, there is a very important issue. The number of Wolf tanks equipped by the Bavarian Army is far more than that of our St. Mengsha! This gap in industrial capabilities coupled with the terrible battle exchange ratio will definitely It will bring disaster to France in the future," Pétain added.
"This industrial gap has been reflected in the entire military system. Technically speaking, whether it is armored personnel carriers, self-propelled howitzers, self-propelled cannons or fighter jets, the French Republic and the British Empire are not inferior to their opponents, even in component technology It may still be slightly exceeded, but due to the limitations of industrial production capacity and the cruel losses on the battlefield, we simply do not have enough production capacity to produce brand-new equipment. I think General Haig also feels this deeply, right?" Bei When said.
"It is true. For example, in terms of engines, we already have 400 or even 500-horsepower engines, but fighter jets including Dromedaries still use old engines. This is because new engines take too long to work and require too many raw materials. There is too much pressure on production. At the same time, whether the old production line is converted to produce new engines or a new production line is installed, it will have an impact on the supply of the front line. Under the current system of war of attrition, a little carelessness may lead to catastrophe. situation, so we are still hesitant about replacing old aircraft with new engines." General Haig said.
The predicament of the French is even worse. It is not that the French cannot produce armored personnel carriers, nor that they do not have the technology and ability to produce self-propelled howitzers. On the contrary, the world's first self-propelled cannon, the GPF194MM heavy cannon, is a masterpiece of the French. But now, it is difficult for the French industry to even ensure the supply of the most basic artillery and machine guns. If it were not for the pressure brought by the Bavarian Armored Forces, , French talents will not devote precious industrial resources to the production of Saint-Montcha.
The French have high expectations for this self-propelled artillery. They regard it as the sharpest spear of the French attack force. It not only blocks the opponent's attack, but more importantly, it can work with the FT10 to tear apart the opponent's defense line. As a The engine of the attack! But what about the result? All I can do is laugh.
"The Kingdom of Bavaria is too powerful. It actually controls two regions, Bavaria and Bohemia, with an area of about 150,000 square kilometers. Although it is not large, it is the most industrially developed region in the Allied Powers. We conservatively estimate that Witte The industrial capacity of the area controlled by the Ersbach family is at least equivalent to about 60% of that of the French Republic! And now, this huge force and his powerful legions are about to be freed from the quagmire of the Eastern Front."
"Unless God bless, next year we will face an additional powerful army of 700,000 troops, about 2,000 tanks and armored vehicles, and more than 1,800 various aircraft. They will make the entire German army on the Western Front The combat effectiveness will increase by about 25% to 30%! And this does not include the Mackensen Army that may be drawn from the Eastern Front!" Pétain's words were full of pessimism.
The third update is here~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!