Holy Roman Empire

In front of nature, human beings are vulnerable.The Battle of the Rhine continued, but the intensity of the war was limited by the heavy snow.

It's not that the offensive French army doesn't work hard, but the snow and ice are really annoying.Not only did it affect the offensive on the front line, it also increased the difficulty of logistics.

Even if the two million troops are doing nothing, the daily consumption of materials is an astronomical figure, let alone fighting?

Facts have once again proved that fighting deep into the enemy's territory is not that simple.

That's right, Belgium and the Rhineland are areas with convenient transportation, and there is a complete railway network. The problem is that the road was destroyed when the coalition forces retreated!

Destruction is always easier than construction. After occupying these areas, the first thing the French army did was to repair roads.

After more than a month of hard work, the highway has basically been restored and the railway is almost restored.Seeing that the work was about to be completed, it was a pity that I encountered this heavy snow again.

Bad weather affects logistics and transportation, which has become the biggest challenge for the French army at the moment, even more troublesome than the Austrian machine gun trenches.

After all, no matter how powerful the machine gun trench tactics are, it can only defend on the spot.With the technology of these years, it is not possible to charge with a machine gun.

Can block the French army's way forward, but cannot threaten the French army's lifeline.The logistics is different. If something goes wrong, the two million French troops will be in danger.

Looking out the window, Marshal Patrice McMahon sighed.The war broke out in such a hurry that France was not prepared at all.

Who can imagine that the huge French Empire does not even have enough winter uniforms?In the end, the citizens had to be mobilized to donate cotton-padded clothes, which barely solved the soldier’s problem of keeping warm.

It is not that France's industry is not strong. As the world's second largest textile industry, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, millions of sets of winter clothing can be done in a month.

The problem lies in the raw materials. Seventy percent of the raw materials of the French cotton textile industry come from Egypt. As soon as the war broke out, the production of cotton in the Egyptian region was finished.

Such a big gap is not so easy to solve.Even if you want to buy from the international market, you can't find enough sources.

You must know that cotton is the same currency as grain this year. Most producers have fixed partners. It takes a big price to win love.

Capitalists do not have such a strong sense of the overall situation. Under the circumstance that they are not sure whether the war will continue, investing huge sums of money to grab cotton, the benefits and risks are completely out of proportion.

We must know that the French are very optimistic about this war. The mainstream public opinion generally believes that the French army will win within two to three months.

In such a small amount of time, the inventory can be used to survive, and there is no need to invest huge amounts of risk.

In theory, if no one is hoarding, under the condition of reasonable distribution, France will not be short of supplies now.

There is no way, most of the world can't compare the benefits.After the war broke out, prices continued to rise, and every day they dragged on, there was a new price.

No one will have trouble with money. Against this background, the bureaucratic efficiency of the Paris government is naturally not high.

The early stage of raising materials was too slow, which directly led to the failure of the French army to deliver enough materials to the front line before the arrival of winter. The transportation efficiency was greatly reduced when the snow fell, and the problem appeared.

"Marshal, because of the heavy snow, the transport convoy that should have arrived today has just arrived in Trier and is expected to postpone its arrival by one week.

This is the third time this month that supplies have been delayed. Since the snowfall, our supplies have not arrived on time."

Major General John, who was in charge of the logistics and transportation of the French army, reported bitterly.

Compared with the fat difference who is in charge of logistics distribution, those responsible for logistics and transportation have to work harder. Not only do they have to build roads themselves, they also have to face guerrilla attacks, and now they have to fight bad weather.

If it's just that, it's all right. The big deal is to suffer a bit. Anyway, there is a lot of oil and water to transport, which is enough to make up for everyone's injured soul.

The problem is that the servants in charge of transportation are not so obedient, and they will strike if the task is heavy.After all, no matter how rich the oil and water are, it will not fall on them.

There is no way. It is too risky to recruit laborers on the spot or use prisoners of war. It is impossible to say when they will hook up with the guerrillas.Even if you don't hook up with the guerrillas, the French army can't stand it.

For the sake of logistical safety, the civilian husbands in charge of transportation are all their own. Once these people cause trouble, the officers can only appease.

Upon receiving the bad news, Patrice McMahon frowned and thought to himself.

It was not long before the French army pushed the front line to the Rhine River, and was often hit by enemy airstrikes with heavy losses, and the stock of supplies was very limited.

From the beginning of the snowfall, the French army’s supplies fell into a state of making ends meet.Even if the intensity of frontline firefights has decreased and material consumption has decreased recently, it will not last long.

No way, the consumption of ammunition has decreased, but the consumption of heating materials has increased.Coal production in the Rhineland region is true, but the Germans blew up the coal mine before they withdrew, and it would take time to restore production.

The most important thing is that the locals are unwilling to cooperate. Under the power of hatred, the locals will not buy the French army at all.

This war has just begun, and it is still far from the time when the winner is determined. Even the capitalists who are accustomed to seeing the wind are not in a hurry to stand in line. Only a handful of people rushed to the French so early.

After a long time, Patrice McMahon slowly said: "Giving power to the country shows the dilemma we are facing, and let the War Department increase the number of transport teams.

Order the logistics department to give priority to the delivery of ammunition and medicine, and for other materials, everyone will go down and think of a way to collect as much as possible from the place to reduce our logistics pressure."

Raising supplies on the spot is certainly not the best policy.Originally, the relationship between the French army and the local area was tense. If another wave comes, it will be difficult for the guerrillas to develop.

"Marshal, when the enemy retreated, they destroyed the place very badly, not only blowing up the infrastructure, but also burning down the material warehouse.

The industries in Belgium and Rhineland are indeed good, but in the absence of industrial raw materials, there is no way to change materials.

In particular, the local area does not produce much food, and mainly depends on imports from Austria.Because of the war, the grain trade was interrupted for almost a month.

Local food prices have skyrocketed, and social order has deteriorated sharply. At this time, we will collect food again, I'm afraid..."

Seeing that Patrice McMahon's face became more and more ugly, Lieutenant General Albert decisively chose to shut up.

Everyone knows the problem, but the French army is about to run out of food.No matter how serious the consequences are, Patrice McMahon has no choice now.

Glancing at each other, Admiral Udino, who was waiting for his crimes, knew that it was time for him to take the blame.

Don't press your body when you have more debts. The previous big defeat has made him scandal, and he doesn't care about another infamy.

Be more ill-informed, and you can also sell more favors. Someone will help to speak during the post-war liquidation, so as not to go to the military court.

"Your Excellency, the question cannot be viewed in this way. After the war broke out, the local residents were not completely unprepared.

As far as I know, when the enemy retreated, not all the supplies were burned, and a large part of the food was distributed to the local people.We borrowed part of the food for emergency, but the problem is not big.

In addition to food, many materials we need can be raised locally, such as coal.

As long as everyone works hard, I believe it will not be difficult to restore the coal mine.With insufficient labor, we can still use prisoners of war.

Give them a task, and if they don’t get hungry, I believe they will compromise.

It's enough to raise other materials as much as possible, and you can count as much as you can. If you don't, find a way to transport it from the country.

If you are worried that the situation will get out of control, expel the locals to the opposite side, just to consume the enemy's supplies."

Udino just said what everyone wanted to do but didn't dare to do.Deporting the locals is not a big problem from a military standpoint, but the political consequences are very serious.

This is the European continent, not a remote colony. Once the French forces expelled millions of locals, it would have to arouse public anger.

Especially for many small European countries, the French can do this to Belgium and the Rhineland region today, and similar things may happen to them tomorrow.

Whether it is because of the tragedy of the rabbit and the fox, or for their own safety, these small countries will stand on the opposite side of France.

Patrice McMahon was silent. From the implementation of the plan to eat the enemy, the final result is the same if the locals are not expelled.

People are iron rice or steel, so they panic when they don't eat a meal.Without food in their hands, even if these locals want to stay, they cannot do it.

Escape from famine is a matter of time, not just a matter of direction.France must not be able to go. The refugees either flee to Switzerland or the Netherlands, or go to the German Federation.

The deportation by the French army was nothing more than to allow all refugees who might have flowed into Switzerland and the Netherlands to enter the German Federation, increasing the pressure on the anti-French alliance.

They are all their own, the French army can not help the refugees, but the coalition forces cannot sit idly by.

Suddenly adding millions of mouths to eat, no matter how big the anti-French alliance is, they can bear it.