The Rise of the Empire

In terms of combat effectiveness, these troops are composed of soldiers who have undergone systematic military training and are of the most appropriate age. Their equipment may not be the best, but they are definitely the most combat-effective troops. You know, the current Bavarian Army only has about 180,000 troops, and it takes three years to double its strength in peacetime! This speed of violent troops is almost unparalleled in a kingdom-level country, right? Who among France, Britain, Germany, and Russia can double the size of their army in three years?

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that the person standing in front of me was Prince Leopold, the winner of Germany's highest honor in World War I and the future commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front. Maybe Ruprecht's first reaction was to pull this man out and beat him a hundred times.

But as someone who participated in the Franco-Prussian War and then fought all the way through, killing hundreds of German generals all the way to the marshal and commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, it is impossible to say that he has no ability! The reason why he dared to submit this thing to Ruprecht showed that he could do it in all likelihood.

"If it were Bavaria before, I wouldn't dare to think about it, because we couldn't find so many high-quality soldiers and enough funds to support this plan, but now, I can responsibly say that this plan can definitely be done. !”

"Relative to funds, the personnel problem is the most difficult to solve. The income from Bavaria's industrial development and government finance and taxation, plus US dollar loans, are enough for us to feed these troops, and the entire Allied Powers are preparing for war. As important arms manufacturers , Bavaria is providing arms for at least 800,000 additional troops. There is no need to worry about money."

"Personnel is the biggest problem, but a few years ago, before you took full charge of the army, I formulated a cold start plan. This plan did not pass you. This is a plan that your father agreed to and supported. .”

"The so-called cold start refers to the mobilization mechanism commonly set up in European countries. The latter mobilization is to recruit the national reserves in a very short period of time and fill them into reserves or reserve corps to cope with the war. need."

"But cold start is different. This kind of start-up process will last for a long time and is carried out for a planned war. The biggest difference between it and the reserve system is that it allows the selected officers and soldiers to continue to be exposed to the most cutting-edge military things. Techniques, tactics, training to keep them in shape so they don't drop too much, etc."

"Future wars will be dominated by technical arms and technical equipment. Ordinary infantry who can charge with a rifle are no longer the key to determining the outcome of the war. Artillery, armored forces, air force, elite commandos and well-trained Logistics personnel are the real masters of the battlefield. However, the training of these technical arms requires time and a lot of investment, so the biggest feature of the cold start plan is to increase the reserve of reserve arms during peacetime and keep them sufficiently energetic."

"The Empire's Blue Legion once participated in the Boer War and the North African War. These people are elite officers and soldiers who have been tempered by the war, so after they retire, the military will train them regularly every year, because most of these people are assigned They are in factories or enterprises directly under Bavaria, so there is no problem with this kind of training. These people have always maintained a good condition and can serve as grassroots commanders in the upcoming war. Similarly, some did not participate in the war, but still performed well. Retired personnel will also receive this kind of treatment, of course, compensation is indispensable. And we have a total of 7,000 such personnel!"

“And precisely because of the existence of these people,

It made it possible for Bavaria to have more than 300,000 troops in 1912. We could at least provide officers for those newly formed units that were less than a year old. Artillery, armor and other technical arms, as well as necessary backbone veterans. said Prince Leopold.

"So if a war breaks out, how many more troops can we mobilize?" Ruprecht thought for a while and asked.

"No more than one division at most," Leopold said with a smile.

"Zhou Cao, I feel that the gap is a bit big!" Prince Ruprecht said with a slight change in expression.

"The so-called cold start is actually equivalent to the first wave of wartime mobilization in other countries. We are just mobilizing personnel with higher quality and greater quantity. It is another kind of early mobilization. So before carrying out in-depth mobilization, we The number of troops will not increase significantly because of the beginning of the war."

"What's more, if the war lasts for a long time, we need to continuously supply personnel to the army. As the royal family, we obviously don't want our citizens to die in vain, so we at least need to let them complete the most basic training so that they can There are opportunities for self-preservation on the battlefield, and for those who are not of military age and who are complete newcomers, we need time to adapt them to war,” Prince Leopold explained.

"As a result, we will basically not replenish our troops until the fourth month after the war begins. After that, we will send troops to the front line according to a certain cycle."

"Then what happens after that? I mean, what happens after the two sides have fought for half a year or more, passed the initial offensive, and entered a stalemate?" Ruprecht asked. "In addition, I have another question. In the future, ordinary Bavarian divisions should account for the majority of our army, but now it seems that in the pure Bavarian army, assault divisions and rapid divisions account for the main part."

"Let me answer the second question first. The Bavarian army is limited in size and its human resources are also very limited. Especially our military industry requires a lot of labor. In this area alone, there are 200,000 adult male workers working in various related departments, so , it would be somewhat difficult to rely solely on the Kingdom of Bavaria to build more than 25 divisions."

"But now, we have the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which can help us solve many problems, the most important of which is the problem of military strength! Even if Bohemia and Moravia cannot implement the cold start plan I formulated, they will During the war, we can also concentrate the strength of at least 4 corps and 8 divisions. Except for the two German fast divisions we helped build, the remaining 6 to 8 divisions are no different from ordinary Prussian divisions." said Prince Leopold.

"In other words, the number of our ordinary divisions will be around 10 to 12? In this case, if all the troops are included, our total strength may reach more than 500,000! The size of two large group armies!" Lu Precht said.

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