To the northeast of Saarbrücken is still the top of the hill. Xiao Letian has been watching the battle for a whole day. He breathed a sigh of relief only after the news that the French army finally stopped attacking came.
"Well, the city of Saarbrücken has been saved! Although the casualties are heavy, it's worth it!"
Wang Huaiyuan put down the telescope in his hand and rubbed his sore eyes, "Isn't it too early to say I'll keep it?"
Xiao Letian did not answer, but Sima Yun next to him spoke: "One drum is as powerful as a tiger, and two drums are as weak as a dog! The French army's strength of four to one has not taken the city for twelve hours. This morale has been completely exhausted." , they will also be finished tomorrow!"
Xiao Letian nodded, "That's right, unless the French army is replaced by a new force, the second army alone will not be able to survive!"
"Soldiers rely on momentum when fighting. This momentum can suppress the fear of death. Every French soldier attacking today is inspired by patriotic enthusiasm and loyalty to the emperor. Of course, they also have the dream of promotion and wealth... "
"It is this high-spirited emotion that supports their attack without fear of life and death! During the battle, all human energy is focused on the enemy. They have no time to think about life and death, whether it is worth it, or whether it is worth it. Thinking about dangerous questions…”
"But once they retreated and retreated to the camp, they saw with their own eyes that the comrades around them suffered heavy casualties, and saw with their own eyes that the comrade they had eaten with yesterday had now turned into a cold corpse... Do you think they would not think about it?"
"Death is not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing is that life is worse than death. Those soldiers who have lost their hands and feet, those poor people who are disabled for life, their fate is really crueler than death!"
"It's over, morale has collapsed. This Saarbrücken, the Second Army will never be able to survive!"
At this time, Luo Huo next to him suddenly asked, "But aren't there many examples of desperate battles in history? Death inspires the living. They fight bravely to fight the enemy, and finally win with one against ten!"
“What if the French’s character explodes?”
"Hahaha... How is this possible? Luo Huo, you are thinking too much!" Xiao Letian shook his head.
"That special case of losing morale first and then counterattacking desperately must have put the enemy to death before resurrecting! The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. If we don't sacrifice our lives, our entire army will be annihilated!"
"In this case, if you don't work hard, everyone will definitely die. If everyone works hard, there may be a glimmer of hope! Only in this way will a miracle happen!"
"This is not the case with the French army in Saarbrücken right now. They already have an advantage in terms of strength, but they can't even win in a four-to-one comparison. What do you think the soldiers will think? Can they win tomorrow?"
"What's more, they are not dead soldiers in the Jedi. They still have hope in their hearts, hoping that the army behind them will support them. This kind of dependence cannot allow them to create miracles!"
At this point, Xiao Letian suddenly curled his lips, "There is another very important reason that you haven't figured out! The vanguard troops sent by Napoleon III this time are all veterans of the empire's hundreds of battles!"
"These veterans are the treasures of all countries. If you kill one of them, you will lose one. These generals will have the idea of conserving their strength!"
"These veterans on the battlefield are actually veterans. They know that the value of one veteran is equal to or even greater than ten recruits!"
"It doesn't matter if all the new recruits are dead. There are plenty of ordinary people anyway, but the veterans are like gold!"
"As long as there are enough veterans, this army will theoretically have enough company and platoon commanders and other grassroots officers. It will not take more than a year and a half to restore the army to its original state!"
"How many veterans did Frossard lose today? Can he not feel bad? Just wait and see, the battle situation tomorrow will definitely be weaker than today!"
"Frossard! You might as well just fight to the end with all your strength. No matter how heavy the casualties are, as long as you can capture this city, the morale of your army will not collapse!"
Xiao Letian's analysis was not wrong at all. The statistical results of this night were horrific and tragic!
In nearly twelve hours of bloody battle, the French army suffered casualties of more than 6,500, while the Prussian army was no better and lost more than 4,000 soldiers in a bloody battle.
Ten thousand innocent souls were left behind in this small town. Frossard was so distressed that his gums were swollen that night!
"They are all veterans of the empire! They are all the seeds of the army! Why do so many people die? Why do so many people die?"
The dead soldiers lay quietly in the graves, covered with a thin layer of soil amidst the prayers of the military chaplain, ending their short lives.
Those who were seeing off their comrades on the side looked gloomy and said nothing!
What's even more miserable are the wounded who can't die. Due to the lack of anesthesia, many operations were performed by soldiers enduring severe pain. Many soldiers even died of pain in the hospital bed.
The entire camp was filled with wails of pain. None of the soldiers could sleep well. They were all holding their rifles and meditating, not knowing what they were thinking.
Only the artillery continued to bombard, and at this moment the bombing was more like a punishment to maintain morale. The French army relied on the roar of the cannon to express their anger.
The chaotic night finally passed, and the next day's attack started as scheduled. However, Frossard's morale collapsed so unexpectedly that the first three waves of attacks almost collapsed.
There is no such tragic scene as yesterday where the two armies were stuck together and fighting hard for more than half an hour.
Often both sides would shoot intensively and then charge with bayonets. After a slight contact and dropping bodies on the ground, the French army would immediately retreat and ask for support.
But there is no support. The artillery has almost worn out the rifling, half of the shooters of the heavy machine gun team have been killed, and all the available support has been used up.
At the end of the war, Frossard even ordered the cavalry to attack the city, trying to use the war horses to break through the Prussian military formation at the city gate. Unfortunately, the enemy's tenacity was beyond imagination. On two occasions, the cavalry almost saw the church square in the center of the city. , but in the end he was killed by the Prussian army and fled the city.
In this refueling tactic, a precious day was wasted. Frossard had no idea that he had lost a precious opportunity to save the Franco-Prussian War.
At this moment, less than seventy kilometers east of Saarbrücken, another border encounter has broken out!
Wissembourg! A very strategically important fortress on the German border, controlling the main route from the north of Salzburg into Germany.
Just yesterday, the advance troops of the French McMahon Corps successfully occupied this place. The more than a thousand Prussian troops in the fortress abandoned the city and fled after only a slight resistance.
