The Tang Empire, which had a strong economic foundation, also reflected its wealth in the supply of expeditionary forces to Europe, and the officers and soldiers not only had sophisticated equipment, but also had a fixed monthly supply of cigarettes, chocolates and sugars to balance the nutritional needs of the soldiers.

In addition to the high standard of meat, eggs and milk for soldiers, each soldier was rationed canned beef, pork and fish, one per week for ordinary soldiers.

The only limit is what you have to post, and there is no room for self-picking.

This is undoubtedly an extremely luxurious luxury in today's European battlefield.

Mass starvation had begun in Germany, and Austria and the Ottoman Empire were no better, and the supply crunch had reached an unbearable level, even the factory workers were hungry.

For several years, the belt was tightened to supply the front line, and the anti-war voice within the Allied military bloc gradually increased, and the string that had been tight could be broken at any time.

Britain, France, Italy and other countries also starved to death from time to time, but backed by the Tang Empire, a steady stream of imported materials, compared with the German-Austrian alliance, the situation is much better.

What worries them the most is that they are in high debt, and they owe more and more money to the major consortia of the Tang Empire.

Inside the Senju Palace

this day

Tang Yezong, the emperor of the Tang Empire, and Lord Hu Yongtang, the prime minister of the wartime, and more than a dozen cabinet ministers and military dignitaries met with His Majesty, apparently to discuss important state affairs.

Inside the main hall

The Holy Emperor Taizu Richard sat on the Nine Dragons Treasure Tower, and the Emperor Tang Yezong sat on the dragon chair that was slightly lower, and the civil and military officials sat on the left and right sides. There are also officials from the Royal Secretariat, who are responsible for records and exchanges.

Marshal Chen Qiyu, Chief of Staff of the Royal Army, introduced the current situation of the war in Europe and the security wars in various colonies, the current strength and deployment of the Royal Army, and focused on the upcoming autumn offensive launched by the European Expeditionary Force in cooperation with Britain and France.

After his death, the second generation of Rongguo Gong has been in the Royal Army for more than 30 years, and is an out-and-out loyal old marshal.

As soon as he was introduced, seeing that the Holy Emperor Taizu and His Majesty the Emperor did not say anything, he continued to introduce the plan of the Royal Army Staff Headquarters.

The Allies planned to launch a new round of autumn campaigns in a little more than two months, with the main battlefields on the Western Front, dominated by France, and the Southern Front, dominated by Italy.

On the battlefield on the Western Front

The main forces of the French and Tang armies will attack on all fronts, with the British as auxiliaries, and the purpose of the campaign is to counterattack the German army out of France and burn the flames of war into German territory.

The five years of war so far have clearly shown how unreliable such a campaign objective is.

The biggest reliance on the part of the Entente was the expeditionary force of the Tang Empire, which was constantly being imported into Europe.

It is expected that by the time the campaign was launched in September, the total number of troops amassed by the Tang Empire in Europe would reach 2.5 million to 2.6 million.

On the Western Front alone, there will be more than 1.9 million men, which together with the British and French armies will be enough to launch a large-scale battle. The reinforcements of the Tang Empire also gave the Allied Commander's Command sufficient confidence.

However, the General Staff Headquarters of the Tang Empire deduced through war games that even if it had a double strength advantage, it would be difficult to break through the tightly guarded defense line of more than 2 million German troops.

Unless they are willing to pay a great price, it means millions of casualties.

At present, the Imperial Expeditionary Force is in close consultation with the Allied High Command to discuss the necessity of launching such a large-scale campaign.

The most optimistic estimates

This may push the front forward by several kilometers or even a dozen kilometers, but it is by no means possible to defeat the strong will of the Germans or push the Germans back.

In terms of the expeditionary corps of the Tang Empire, it was considered too optimistic that the Allied Commander's Command was planning a campaign.

On the battlefield of the Western Front

The Allies were indeed superior to the Germans in terms of total strength, but the Germans were constantly moving troops from the Eastern Front, and it had been proven that more than 17 German divisions had been reinforced on the Western Front.

These are German veterans who have been honed by the five-year war, their nerves are as tough as steel, and they are obviously overly optimistic in their vain attempt to defeat the Germans in one fell swoop.

At this time, on the Western Front, after a series of large-scale battles such as the Somme and Verdun, the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers paid an extremely heavy price, but neither of them was able to gain the slightest strategic advantage.

The stalemate between the two sides made the generals of both sides at a loss in front of the battle map.

The surviving soldiers of the belligerent countries could only endure the torment of the cold, damp and foul-smelling trenches for many years, and extreme boredom spread widely among the major belligerents such as Britain, France, Germany and Austria.

The morale of the newly entered Tang Empire expeditionary force was better, and the morale of Britain and France and other countries almost dropped to the bottom.

In particular, the French army, once ordered by the higher authorities to launch a large-scale campaign, may immediately face a large-scale mutiny in the army, after all, no one wants to die in vain.

Staying in the trenches is still endurable, and if you take the initiative to attack, you will suffer a large number of casualties, which has been proven to be an iron law countless times in the five-year war.

Therefore, the quarrel was very strong in the Allied high command, and the British had their own wishful thinking, wanting France and Tang to fight the main force, and the British expeditionary force to assist.

The French army was certainly unwilling, and Marshal Fu hoped that the main forces of Britain, France, and Tang would go into battle together to recover the land that France had fallen to as soon as possible and boost the spirit of the people.

The Tang Empire Expeditionary Force was also unwilling to do the wrongs, so it was working with the French to force the main force of the British Expeditionary Force to also participate in the Autumn Battle.

On the other hand, the situation in Germany is not optimistic;

The Germans quickly woke up from the euphoria of the defeat of Tsarist Russia, and they did win on the Eastern Front.

After Tang joined the Allied alliance and continuously sent a large number of troops to the Western and Southern Fronts, the German army's hard-won advantage was reversed in an instant.

Even if troops are withdrawn from the Eastern Front, it will be difficult to gain an advantage in the comparison of forces.

The German economy is now in extreme distress, and the whole country has been in place for several years.

A strong German worker in a factory was given only 5 slices of bread and 5 grams of sugar a day, and nominally a small slice of bad meat, which in fact had not been seen for a long time.

The supply of women and children has been halved, and millions of people in Germany's urban and rural areas are suffering from chronic hunger.

It's a miracle that we have been able to hold on until now.

As for the southern front battlefield planned by the Allied Command, it really has to be supported by the Tang Empire.

In the 12th Battle of the Izo River, the Italians were completely beaten back to their original form by the German army, and now they are suffering from severe "ethnophobia", and it is the kind that cannot be cured.

If it weren't for the second-line positions held by the reinforcements of the Tang Empire, even the capital of the Kingdom of Italy today would have been occupied by the Germans.

The purpose of planning the campaign on the South Central Front was to repel the German-Austrian forces, recover the territory of Italy that had fallen, and push the battle line back to the Iszo region.

Today, on the southern front, dominated by Italy, the strength of the Tang Empire has reached more than 630,000 people, which is more than the total number of Italian troops.

In the 12th Battle of the Izo River alone, the Italian army suffered more than 40,000 casualties, more than 210,000 prisoners, and nearly 300,000 people fled without a trace.

Almost 550,000 troops were wiped out in one fell swoop, while the German-Austrian army suffered only more than 17,000 casualties, and the Italian army was defeated for hundreds of miles.

The equipment of hundreds of thousands of troops and countless arsenals and logistical supplies were all sent to the German-Austrian army, and the losses were extremely heavy.

Now, with the help of Tang State's weapons and equipment, the Italian army has just recovered a little vitality, and it is still in shock.

Such an army is thankful that it does not lag behind, and does it still count on contributing to the battlefield on the Southern Front?

Richard frowned when he heard the report, but said nothing, and did not say anything clearly.

For the time being, let the expeditionary force and the Allied high-level get into trouble. They all want to take advantage, where are so many good things?

In his impression

It turned out that after June 1918, the parties involved in the war basically did not launch any large-scale battles, and the battle of one million people was not just a fight.

Take, for example, the Battle of the Somme

The artillery preparations for the opening of the battle alone bombarded the German positions for seven days and seven nights, and millions of shells were released to the German positions, and the effect was not very good.

The German positions have been set up with perfect anti-artillery bunkers, plus barbed wire and various trap pillboxes, heavy machine gun positions, artillery positions, the defenders can completely turn a range of 1500 meters into a hell of death.

That's really who goes and who dies, and tanks and planes can't break through such a strategic stalemate.

on the border between Germany and France

In addition to the Ardennes Mountains, which are crisscrossed by mountains, the Belgian mountains, the plains and hilly areas that can be interspersed with tank troops, have formed a continuous defense line of hundreds of kilometers, and the firepower is extremely intensive.

Unless this battlefield situation is overwhelmingly crushed, there is no room for tank mobile units to exert themselves, and they cannot make a detour to the flanks.

In the absence of trench equipment, it was even more impossible for the medium tanks equipped by the Tang Empire to cross the wide trenches and directly kill into the depths of the German battle line.

The British heavy Mark II tank was still possible because of its large size.

As a matter of fact

The Germans have long found a way to deal with tanks, and the survival rate of this thin-skinned tank on the Western Front is no more than 1/10, and it would be good to get 10 of 100 tanks back when they go out.

Although the medium tanks equipped by the Tang Empire are fast, durable, and have strong firepower, their key protection performance is really not good, which is a fatal weak point.

In the European theater of battle, which is heavily prepared for battle, dense firepower, and extremely layered, the survival rate of a frontal attack is not high.

As long as you take a cannonball, it's basically over.

On this cruel battlefield, thousands of artillery pieces shook the ground at every turn, and no tank could stand it, and the battle was unprecedentedly fierce.

Without the consciousness of hundreds or thousands of tanks resting on the battlefield, let alone a group armored attack.

Therefore, Richard's enthusiasm for launching a new round of offensive on the European battlefield was not high, and the same was true for the Royal Army.

(End of chapter)