July 30, 1870.

Franco-Prussian front.

"Your Majesty, we should attack Prussia at once! According to the information sent by our intelligence officers, the number of Prussian troops has been increasing rapidly these days, and the Prussian railways are almost four to five times more efficient than ours, and a large number of men and supplies are being sent to the front in a steady stream. If we continue to wait, the strength of the Prussian front-line troops will be stronger by the day, and then we will be defeated by numbers alone. Napoleon III's counselor Leboeuf analyzed.

"Why can't our railways achieve this effect?" Napoleon III asked with some annoyance.

The era of Napoleon III was also the era of rapid industrialization of France, and many new railways were built, which were no worse than Prussia in terms of quantity.

Leboeuf explained: "Your Majesty, although the French railways developed earlier and attached great importance to the role of the railways, but those merchants only took economic interests into account when building the railways, Prussia used the railways as a strategic resource long before the Austro-Prussian War, and even established the Ministry of Railways to manage the dispatch of railways in wartime, the essence of which was to serve the Prussian army, we realized this, it was already after the Austro-Prussian War, but the government was ...... out of financial problems."

Leboeuf didn't finish speaking, but Nasan already understood, and he sighed: "We are still too short-sighted, I remember the first time we used the railway to transport troops was when we were in the war between France and Austria in Italy!" ”

"Yes, but the effect was not very good, although we and Austria used the railway to transport soldiers to the front, but the logistics problem was ignored, resulting in a shortage of food for more than 100,000 people on the front line, so this plan was shelved, who knows that the Prussians at that time noticed the great role of the railway in the war, and Prussia has also actively invested in the construction of the railway in recent years."

"If we adjust the rail policy now, will we be able to increase capacity?"

"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty, now that our railway lines have been formed, they cannot be easily changed, and even if we build a few new lines, we will not have time, and our mobilization capacity will not catch up with Prussia. We have only four strategic railways, while Prussia has five or six, three from Berlin through northern and central Germany to the border, and three from Hamburg, Dresden, and Munich. Prussia's railways not only have an advantage in quantity, but also in terms of quality, which cannot be compared with our railways. Most of Prussia's railways are double-tracked, so we can run an average of 50 trains a day to the border area, while we can only run 12. ”

"So, if we continue to drag on, France will fall into the Prussian crowd tactics?"

"That's right, Your Majesty, we must interrupt the Prussian mobilization for war, which can only be accomplished by taking the initiative to attack, and the sooner the better."

The Duke of Gramont, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, also reminded him: "Taking the initiative now is the only way to attract Austria, Italy and Denmark to the French camp." ”

Napoleon III pondered for a moment and said: "Give orders to the various units to launch an attack on the territory of Prussia." ”

……

The outskirts of Saarbrückensea.

At this time, the French army was in a no-man's land, and in half a day advanced more than a dozen kilometers, which were ceded to Prussia after the defeat of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. However, most of the people here were oriented to France, and the men had escaped Prussian military service, and when the French army passed by, they only saw women and children.

"Bang...... Bang...... Bang......"

"Enemy attack, find cover nearby, don't panic!"

There was no need to remind the lieutenant that the French soldiers, who were experienced in combat, had already fallen to the ground on their own and began to shoot back in the direction of the woods ahead.

The advance of the troops of the Rhine Corps collided with the advance of the troops of the 2nd Prussian Corps on the west bank of the Rhine. The sound of the exchange of fire between the Chasebo rifles and the Dreiser's rifles broke the calm on the continent.

Fifteen minutes earlier, a platoon led by Lieutenant Gamuel Lehu of the French army had encountered a Prussian company hidden in the woods. The Prussians, taking advantage of their numbers, rushed out of the woods with the intention of encircling and destroying the French army. Le Huan immediately ordered his subordinates to lie down, used the ridges as cover, and opened fire on the Prussians who rushed over, and a rain of bullets blocked the Prussians. Le Huan then ordered his men to advance 10 meters, and fired again in a kneeling position, and the Prussians could not resist it and began to scatter and flee.

The Prussian officer, two hundred meters away, saw that his men were so embarrassed by so few French troops that he waved his flag and planned to reassemble his ranks.

"Everyone, listen to my orders, don't get entangled with the French, and retreat in the direction of Saarbrücken, and I will lead the first platoon."

Such a conspicuous target, the French commander Lieutenant Le Huan naturally would not let go, picked up the Chasebo rifle and aimed it at the Prussian commander waving the flag, and the second shot knocked him to the ground.

Although the commander fell, the order he had laid out had been given, and the remnants of the Prussian army, under the leadership of the deputy commander, began to flee to the rear.

"Chase after victory! Don't let the Prussian barbarians run away. Seeing that the Prussian army was beginning to flee backwards, the French commander shouted Lieutenant Strangle.

In this way, a French platoon defeated a Prussian company, and in this small battle, the superiority of the French in the fighting qualities of the Chasepol rifles and personnel was vividly demonstrated.

……

"Your Majesty, the French have moved, the front troops of Saarbrücken have exchanged fire with the forward troops of the French Rhine Corps, our men are not sure how many French troops have been dispatched at the moment, and now the front troops are already in the fortifications in the rear waiting for the French to attack."

"Let's start fighting back according to your deployment!" William I said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Moltke said.

"Send me a report to the headquarters of the Second Army Corps, inform Prince Frederick, let them move closer to us, Napoleon III will definitely attack us at Saarbrücken, the First Army is small in number, not enough to fight hard with the main French army, and the French troops should not be many, concentrate our forces and fight a decisive battle with the main French force with superior forces."

"Send a telegram to the Third Army Corps, and let the Third Army of Crown Prince William (Frederick III) go south to the Vosges Mountains, and isolate the French army south of the Vosges Mountains from the main French army, and not let them join the French main force."

……

Palatinate.

The 3rd Army Corps was stationed.

"We have just received an order from the General Command that the French have launched an offensive in the Saarbrücken area, and the General Staff has asked us to immediately march towards the Vosges Mountains and block the northward movement of the French army south of the Vosges Mountains, and everyone will follow my orders and march in the direction of the Vosges Mountains."

"The 2nd and 4th Cavalry Divisions immediately moved south to clear the French troops along the road to Wiesenburg, and at the same time surveyed the situation of McMahon's headquarters and opened the passage for the large army to move south."

"Leopold, General Kirchbach, you are leading the Heshingen Brigade and the Fifth Army to the Saverna area, respectively, and beware of the North French Army moving south to support McMahon's Chalon's corps."

"The rest of the troops will march with me in the direction of Strasbourg, and we will fix McMahon to the south of the Vosges Mountains."

Frederick III methodically arranged the mission, and McMahon had only 40,000 men, and the Third Army was more than three times larger.

In the superiority game, the generals of the Kingdom of Bavaria asked the two armies of Bavaria to take the lead and attack the Wiessenburg area first.

On the one hand, McMahon has few troops, only four divisions are still scattered in four areas, while Wiesenburg has only one French division, while Bavaria has two corps. On the one hand, the Bavarian army needed to replenish the "supplies" of the inhabitants and Wiesenburg along the way, and if the troops of Prussia and other states were allowed to pass first, they would not be able to catch it.

Although he knew the careful thinking of the Bavarian army, Frederick III did not refuse, and let them wade through the water first.

(End of chapter)