The Rise of the Empire

"Are you ready?" Little Maoqi glanced at the pocket watch in his hand. The time is now 6:30 in the morning. In 30 minutes, the exercise will officially begin. This is an exercise without any plan. Both sides will do their best. Defeat the opponent, and for this day, the Prussian General Staff has been busy for 2 and a half months!

"Everything is ready. There are only three areas in the entire exercise field suitable for launching large-scale attacks. We did not choose the defense method of evenly distributing 75MM rapid-fire guns. This would leave loopholes in our defense line. We finally adopted The three-layer defense line is arranged in depth." Hindenburg used the last time to review the layout of the entire defense line.

"We did not deploy combat defense artillery on the outermost line of defense. We completely used landmines and light howitzers to delay the opponent's advance. This is a warning line used to judge the opponent's attack direction. After the opponent breaks through the first warning line, the overall length of the battle line It will shrink rapidly, and the three lines will become two lines. We have deployed 12 75MM rapid-fire cannons on each line of defense. In this way, we still have 36 75MM rapid-fire cannons, half of which are mounted on trucks for mobile defense. The other half is ready to cooperate with our commandos to launch a counterattack. The third line of defense deploys most of our reserves and mobile corps."

"Where's our artillery?" Little Maoqi asked.

"We have a total of 2 companies with a total of 8 150MM cannons. These artillery positions are relatively far back. There is also a company of 4 210MM heavy howitzers and 3 150MM heavy howitzers. We will deploy them in conjunction with the second layer of defense. They are most likely to choose a breakthrough point between the two lines of defense, so we decided to set up a pocket here and deploy the most powerful heavy firepower here."

"The remaining six companies of 105MM howitzers are generally assigned to various fronts, and are generally temporarily hidden and used as mobile artillery. These reserve artillery are deployed behind the third line of defense." Hindenburg was responsible for the overall defense, and ultimately Moltke's army had a total of 120 artillery pieces. It was less than the expected 140 pieces, but it increased the number of heavy artillery pieces.

"The mobile corps under my command consists of a complete tank battalion, 3 cavalry regiments and a towed artillery battalion. It is unrealistic to use such forces to break through Prince Ruprecht's defense line. So we decided to attack in the opposite direction. When the second line of defense launches an attack, the main attacking force wedges itself behind the defense line, and the rapid corps attacks the flanks and rear of the opponent's attacking force from the flanks," said Mackensen, who is in charge of the mobile corps.

"Then what? Should we directly take advantage of the situation to divide and encircle them, or should we return to the mode of positional warfare? How do you choose?" Xiao Maoqi asked.

"If the Rapid Corps still has strength after cutting off the opponent's armored spearheads, we will continue to penetrate. However, it is not realistic to completely separate and surround all the opponent's troops because our artillery is too far back and most of the artillery cannot reach it. Behind them, after all, we do not have a systematic accompanying artillery," Hindenburg said. The 75MM artillery of the towed artillery regiment accompanying the Mackensen operation only solved the problem of presence or absence, but it is still too naive to want to use the 75MM cannon to knock open a division's defense line.

"Well, this is not a good ending, but it is the most realistic, isn't it?" Little Maoqi said. "Now it depends on how the Bavarian Army will act."

"The Prussians chose a very good position. Their first line of defense is about 12 kilometers long, but what is certain is that this line of defense is virtual and can be broken with a poke. The real line of defense is the second line.

The frontage was reduced to 8 kilometers. There are mountains and newly formed swamps on both sides, making it impossible to pass. If they concentrated all their rapid-fire artillery here, it would be difficult to fight, and the defense density would be a bit high. And the opponent also has sufficient reserves. Therefore, the method of fighting to the end with one sword will not work, but fortunately we have been prepared in advance. "

"Although the opponent has strong military strength, an exercise is still an exercise. It can simulate battlefield conditions but cannot simulate the entire war. For example, the opponent only has such a small number of troops and will not have additional reinforcements. Moreover, we know the opponent's military strength very well. , So, what I mean is very clear, slowly kill them! We don’t have to race against time. First use bombers to eliminate their artillery positions, then use our long-range artillery to suppress their artillery, and then use mobile corps to repeatedly Attack the opponent's front. In short, time is on our side." Ruprecht personally arranged the entire battle. Compared with the tactics of Moltke and others, the plan formulated by the prince can be described as rogue.

To put it another way, it means that they continue to take advantage through technical advantages, continuous bombing in the air, and short assaults on the ground, making them unable to find the main direction of attack, and finally forcing the opponent to take the initiative when the opponent can't bear it anymore. This involves slowly cutting the opponent with a blunt knife. In fact, it goes against the idea of ​​blitzkrieg, but there is no way, because the enemy on the opposite side is a bit strong...

What should an immature air force and immature armored forces do when faced with an opponent with high defense density and powerful firepower? It’s hard to say whether you can win if you dive in head first. The Xiao Maoqi light speed cannon on the opposite side has prepared 60 of them! It’s scary to think about it! This much artillery was deployed on a shorter front. Isn't this a way to seek death if you rush forward?

But it doesn’t matter. There is no time limit for this exercise. The 36 bombers in the prince’s hands can be blown up slowly! According to the bomb load of an aircraft of 500KG, then a wave of bombs will be 18 tons. By the way, some people have to ask, why is the bomb load of this aircraft so large? It's very simple, and the distance is short. The distance from the airport to the battlefield is between 75 and 90 kilometers. In other words, the combat radius is only 80 kilometers...

This distance is far from satisfactory even in the later stages of the first battle. Not even as far as the Paris cannon! After all, the latter has a range of 132 kilometers! But now, this is the combat power that spans the ages. I thought that before these aerial gods of death entered the war, no weapon could reach a range of 80 kilometers! Of course, it is also possible to expand the combat radius, it is just to install fewer bombs.

"When will the results of the aerial reconnaissance be available?" Prince Ruprecht asked.

"Our reconnaissance aircraft has already taken off. It is estimated that the first batch of targets will be locked by 8 o'clock in the morning. There will be no problems with navigation. We have special guidance and reference coordinates here, and the enemy relies on the terrain. . The exercise ground is not large, so there will be no major deviations." said Colonel Harel von Hallerstein, who is responsible for Air Force liaison.

The third update is here~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!