The Rise of the Empire

Just when the prince was a little bit more excited because of the breakthrough in the aviation industry, and was about to go home and have fun with his wife, the arrival of his uncle, Prince Leopold, made Ruprecht busy again. Good things rarely come together, so, according to this principle, the arrival of Prince Leopold brought bad news.

"Our attack speed is still too slow. An attack speed of less than 50 kilometers a day does not allow us to complete the encirclement of the opponent's military-level units. Come and take a look at this picture." Prince Leopold brought the prince to In front of a map, on this simple map, a blue line represents Russia's defense line, which is about 80 kilometers from the scale. The two red lines on both sides represent the Bavarian Rapid Army, which is responsible for outflanking.

"The speed of less than 50 kilometers a day is the speed we travel on the road. It must not be achieved in actual combat. Although a discount can guarantee a speed of more than 25 kilometers, this speed is obviously for encirclement. Not enough, because the opponent may have a reserve team to intercept, and the Russian army, aware of the danger of the flank, is likely to shrink the line of defense, or retreat, they are walking in the inner circle, we are the outer circle, and the speed advantage is not enough to stop the opponent actions, so the speed doesn’t make much sense.”

"The number of our assault troops will not be very large. One to two divisions may be concentrated in one attack direction, and we can choose at most 2 to 3 breakthroughs in the long line of defense, because these alone will use up our 4 to 6 divisions. The troops we attacked could not quickly encircle, nor could they immediately attack the Russian logistics center hundreds of kilometers away, which is impossible.” Prince Leopold explained.

"Moreover, I have to say that in a combat situation, if soldiers fight continuously and march for a long distance, the physical exertion will be very huge, and this must be paid attention to. If these problems are simply faced with the enemy directly, It’s not bad, but if you want to implement your plan to go north and encircle and annihilate Russian troops that may attack East Prussia, it is absolutely impossible. Maybe the tanks can support it at that time, but the accompanying infantry will definitely not be able to support it.”

"The biggest problem is the speed of the infantry, right?" the prince thought for a while and said.

"That's right, it's the infantry's movement speed. Although I admit that the use of a large number of vehicles has greatly reduced the burden on the troops and the size of the cavalry has increased the movement speed of the army, but this improvement is still not enough, because there is still no solution to one problem." The movement ability of the short-board infantry that greatly restricts the movement speed!" The prince nodded in agreement.

In fact, if you think about it, you can understand that an army can transport artillery, shells, and a large amount of supplies by car or carriage, but the soldiers themselves have to bring their own clothes, a semi-automatic rifle, bayonet and 120 rounds of ammunition. Bar? With the addition of 5 grenades and some accessories, the weight is not light. If it is a long-distance battle, among other things, you need to bring three days of rations and a water bottle by yourself, right? The addition of these weapons and the accompanying equipment is already quite a lot.

If you count up a little more, sometimes you have to carry the machine guns and 60MM mortars in the company by yourself. In addition to their own weapons, the machine gun squad may also carry a canvas belt with 250 rounds of bullets. This makes the infantry bear a very heavy load, and the movement speed will not be lost quickly. It is almost impossible for an infantry unit with heavy weapons but not fully mechanized to maintain a speed of more than 40 kilometers per day.

Some people may say why the speed of the Red Army's Long March and other actions such as flying to seize the Luding Bridge was so fast,

How do you say this? The so-called established system here refers to the division level, which has a large number of artillery and supplies. Let alone when the Red Army will have the firepower comparable to that of the regular German divisions in World War I. From the perspective of the soldiers' own loads, no rifleman can Got 120 rounds, right?

"If we want to encircle several military-level units, then our fast troops must ensure that they can advance at a speed of 60 kilometers per day without interference. It is impossible for infantry. Therefore, I don't think it's appropriate for you to assign a large number of infantry and artillery to the assault force. Although the attacking ability has been improved, the speed that is crucial to the victory of the battle has not been substantially improved. If we can penetrate the opponent's line of defense, then Even if there are obstacles in the future, it is just a field battle, the intensity will not be great, and a large number of infantry and heavy artillery are a bit wasted." The prince said.

"If you want to increase the attack speed, there are only two ways in theory, but I'm afraid there is only one way in practice." The prince said.

"The first method is that we let every soldier sit in a car, so the speed will naturally be faster, but this is only theoretically applicable, and the economic cost is actually too high. The other method is also The only feasible way is to replace the infantry with cavalry, and at the same time greatly reduce the number of artillery. Turn the normal German division into a special division that is fast but has limited attacking capabilities."

The fastest attack in this era is always the cavalry. In the Russo-Polish War, there was a record of the Third Cavalry Army rushing 810 kilometers in 21 days. The cavalry army crossed 3 rivers, and with the cooperation of infantry, captured 4 provincial capitals and 35 towns, and severely damaged the Polish First Army. Annihilated more than 20,000 enemies. Although the average daily attack speed is 40 kilometers, but if you consider the continuous battle, this result is quite impressive!

Of course, the pure-blooded cavalry will definitely suffer when facing a large number of well-equipped infantry divisions head-to-head. However, in the environment of the Eastern Front, the ordinary Russian infantry divisions are obviously not well-equipped. Take military-level troops as an example Well, the total number of a Russian army is 48,700, the total number of a French army is 44,200, and the total number of a German army is 45,600.

A French army has 30 artillery companies, and each artillery company has 4 artillery pieces, which means that a French army has 120 artillery pieces! A German army has 28 artillery companies. Although the number is smaller, 24 of them have 6 artillery companies, and the remaining 4 companies have 4 artillery companies. The number of artillery companies has reached an astonishing 160! Coupled with the advantage of the artillery caliber, it is more than a step higher than the French!

Then look at the number of artillery in a Russian army, there are only 14 artillery companies! Although 12 of them are 8-gun companies, and the remaining 2 are 4-gun companies, the total number of artillery pieces is only 104. The Russians had nearly 10% more troops and nearly 15% fewer artillery pieces than the French. that is it.

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