The Rise of the Empire

"The road is tortuous, and the result is certain." After the exercise, Ruprecht sighed. Although his uncle was more entangled in the fight, he finally defeated the self-righteous traverser. Although the process was tortuous, the two things I made were also recognized by the military. It can be regarded as achieving the goal. As for the problem of losing face? The traveler firmly believes that if this matter gets out, the most embarrassing thing must be his uncle, and his image in the eyes of outsiders will be a hero who bravely resists a strong enemy and is finally heroic! Well, after YY, I really felt a lot more balanced in my heart!

Overall, my hard work paid off. The two epoch-making weapons carefully plagiarized have been recognized by my uncle. Relying on my uncle's qualifications and influence, it should be promoted in the Bavarian army. It should be no problem to replace the old weapons. The imitation M1897 rapid-fire gun and Vickers machine gun will definitely allow the Bavarian Army to maintain its technological advantage for the next ten years.

Although it is also a rapid-fire gun, it is still divided into grades and grades. The French M1897 can fire 15 to 18 rounds of 7.2KG shells in one minute. The projection capability of the German 1896 77mm rapid-fire gun is only 8 to 9 rounds of 6.85KG shells per minute. The Japanese 75MM rapid-fire gun has a rate of fire of only 6 to 7 rounds per minute, and the weight of the bomb is only 5 kg! The performance gap is clear at a glance!

Although the French 75 rapid-fire guns were suppressed by various howitzers with longer ranges, longer ranges, and greater power during the First World War in history, it can only be attributed to technological progress. After all, you are using weapons from 1897 to deal with weapons from around 1910. Weapons, the technical gap of more than ten years can't be saved by God! It cannot be said that Miss 75 is not excellent, it can only be attributed to historical limitations.

As for the Vickers machine gun? Generally speaking, there is not much difference in the performance of water-cooled machine guns equipped by several countries in World War I. There are two reasons for choosing Wicks. One reason is lightness! Another reason is that the field of fire is better. The Vickers machine gun using a tripod is naturally lighter than the one using a sled quadpod, and the field of fire is also wider. The weight of the grab frame is more than ten kilograms less. A very objective weight. As for the firepower of several machine guns, they are really similar.

"Tell me what you think." Immediately after the servant brought coffee and tea, there were only two uncles and nephews left in the room. The prince stared at the nephew in front of him and said calmly.

"The popularization of rapid-fire automatic weapons will be a historical necessity. Many countries are studying it, including our old enemy-France! Machine guns and rapid-fire guns will change the situation of warfare sooner or later. The army that can be one step ahead will gain a huge advantage." Said His Royal Highness, who said so on the lips, but was thinking about how much money he could make in his heart.

"If both sides are equipped with a large number of rapid-fire artillery and machine guns, do you think we are an advantage or a disadvantage?" The prince suddenly asked an irrelevant question.

"Disadvantage! The French are not stupid, they will also update their arsenal in time, and when a large number of rapid-fire weapons are equipped with troops, very few troops can intercept the attack of large-scale troops. If they are combined with fortifications, the defender's The advantage will be greater than that of the attacker, and as a country in the middle of the European continent, we must pin our hopes of victory on a quick victory, otherwise France in the west and Russia in the east will eventually drag the empire down." After all, it is As a traverser, he is still very clear about how Germany died in World War I. He couldn't move on the Western Front, and was finally beaten to death by gangs. How about even having an artillery advantage to begin with? Wasn't it still blocked from Paris in the end?

"The most critical thing is logistics! The ammunition consumption of rapid-fire guns and automatic weapons is too high, you know? We fought for 6 months in the Franco-Prussian War, but each infantry only fired 65 rounds on average! This number even Less than the amount of ammunition the soldiers carried. But now, if memory serves me, a machine gun can fire more than 450 rounds a minute! The logistical pressure on fully automated troops is too great,

It is impossible for us to maneuver quickly when we are separated from the railway line, and if there is no mobility, once the opponent completes the mobilization, our plan for a quick fix will come to naught, which is absolutely fatal! ’ said the Prince.

With a slap, the spoon in Ruprecht's hand fell into the cup. The prince's words hit the point. He demonstrated the reason why Schlieffen's plan must fail from a logistical point of view! At this time, Schlieffen has not yet become the chief of staff, and has not started to study his plan that has been planned for more than ten years! This sharpness and insight can be described as amazing, otherwise he could be the commander-in-chief of the German Eastern Front! This vision and ability is really amazing!

If the tactical essence of the Schlieffen plan is to concentrate forces on the right flank and then completely defeat the opponent in a blitzkrieg with an overwhelming force advantage in a short period of time, then the logistical essence of this plan lies in using the railway as an offensive tool. By seizing the opponent's railway line, transport troops to the battle position in a very short time, and run all the way to Paris!

But what about the plan? The idea is good, the reality is cruel! In the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans beat the French to the ground with a godlike assembly speed, wouldn't they learn from it? Not to mention France, Russia will too! Historically, by August 19, 1914 in World War I, the French had transported 1 million troops and 400,000 horses to combat positions, and at the same time returned 115,000 British troops and 46,000 horses. It was sent to the front line, and Russia, which was backward, was unambiguous. It took 18 days to destroy two-thirds of its troops. If everyone used the railway line to mobilize the troops inside, the Germans would not have the advantage.

Well, let's look at the outer line of the Schlieffen plan. Why did the Germans attack Belgium? Seizing the Belgian railway and then entering France is one of the very important reasons! But what happened. When Belgium was occupied, 26,000 German railway soldiers worked hard for a long time before repairing 600 kilometers of railways. At that time, the total length of Belgian railways was 4,000 kilometers... Of the 43 large railway buildings, only 3 were finally repaired in the Battle of the Marne! The vanguard is 100 kilometers away from the end of the railway! This distance can only be transported by horses!

Schlieffen seemed to have considered this issue and equipped the troops with a large number of livestock. At the beginning of World War I, the ratio of men to horses in the German army was as high as 3 to 1! The First Army alone has 84,000 horses! However, all of this is of no use. Leaving aside the issue of the horse's transportation capacity, the simple problem of feeding the horse is not easy to solve! 8. 40,000 horses consume 2 million pounds of feed a day! These four-legged animals are pickier eaters than humans! People can continue to fight by eating potatoes, so let the horses eat them! Tens of thousands of horses have gnawed all the young crops in the fields, but they still can't fill their stomachs, so why talk about transportation?

So from the perspective of the traverser, the first battle on the Western Front is almost unsolvable, because it restricts you to death in terms of logistics. The speed at which the Belgians destroyed the railway must have been much faster than your attack, and your horse transport capacity must have been far inferior to the French's internal railway transport capacity. The failure of the Battle of the Marne is a historical inevitability, even if the opponent has not found a joint Weaknesses, the fragile logistics of the Germans remained insufficient to support. Even if the Germans have an advantage in heavy artillery, even if the Germans have a large number of machine guns!

Some people say that the reason for the failure of Little Maoqi was that he was not very courageous, and the right wing was not strengthened enough, but it is useless if you strengthen it. The logistics supply is not enough, you can't let the soldiers eat grass, right? Well, there is no grass, and the young crops in the Belgian and French fields are being eaten by the horses...

Prince Leopold is not a time traveler, but it is indeed too powerful to realize this problem with his years of military experience. Although Schlieffen also participated in the Franco-Prussian War, he was a staff officer. He might be decent in drawing and making plans in the room, and he could also use oral ballistics to defeat the opponent in war games, but his perception of war is the same as when he fought Compared with Prince Leopold in the front line, there is a gap. And Little Maoqi? How should I put it, this buddy is not as experienced as Schlieffen in actual combat. Then the traveler had to sigh with emotion, it was really unfair to lose in the first battle of the German stick!

In fact, look, none of the 4 marshals who won the Grand Iron Cross in World War 1 (not to mention William II, they can get it just by their status) was a pure staff officer. Hindenburg, Prince Leopold and Mackensen all fought on the front lines in the Franco-Prussian War. Ludendorff was later in charge of munitions production. This fully illustrates a problem. Generally, an NB general comes up slowly from the front line. It is really unreliable for the staff to directly parachute! As for the pinnacle of the staff's death, it depends on Japan during World War II...

In short, after seeing the new weapons, His Royal Highness expressed concern about the situation of the foreign German troops, while His Royal Highness was proud of the upcoming Mark. But what the traveler didn't expect was that a bigger fortune was about to fall on his head! Because the construction of the German Navy is about to begin!

During the upload of the new book, a buddy at the top of the new book list has crossed from 300 favorites to 1000 favorites in three days... The lateral pressure is huge~~~. Double update today, second update in the afternoon! Give some strength to the side position, can everyone also give some strength? ? ? Counting new and old books, it takes nearly 10,000 words a day! For the sake of hard work~~~, can everyone support me a little bit? ? ? ?