The direction of the entire Austro-Prussian War had a huge deviation from the beginning of the war due to a series of previous factors.
If calculated according to the historical timeline, the Prussian First Army has already broken through Kischin and successfully crossed the Elbe River with the Elbe Army behind it. The Second Army of the Northern Front also crossed two fortresses and was heading towards Vienna.
Just wait for Austria to sue for peace and both sides stop fighting in a few days, and this "Seven Weeks War" will be over in a month. As for the remaining three weeks, it was nothing more than pushing each other and adding the French to mediate.
Old Moltke knew very well that continuing to attack would only attract other external factors, such as Russia in the east and France in the south. The most important thing was to achieve the established goals of the war quickly and quickly.
The war was going as he expected, because Austria's request for peace came so quickly that the French ended before they had time to react. This greatly reduced the space for the French to cause trouble in the war, and the original plan to support the weak and eliminate the strong was impossible to implement.
But things are very different now.
At the same time point, the First Army's offensive speed was greatly frustrated and stopped around Gablenz. Next, it had to pass through the two major passes of Kisschin and Elbe River crossing. If the Western Front does not move, the Northern Front cannot move. Old Moltke has decided to send the Third Army, which was cleaning up the mess in South Prussia, to support the First Army.
However, what he didn't expect was that something happened to Italy, which had originally taken away Austria's troops, at this juncture.
In fact, it is good that Italy can hold on until October. Historically, the Italian army did not make it to the second day in the hands of Brecht, which is equivalent to collapse at the first touch. But at that time, Brecht knew very well that Ludwig's army in the north could not withstand the Prussian attack, so he gave up pursuing the Italians and returned to defend the northern front.
Italy's fighting power was poor, but it did not surrender. Brecht's decision also gave the Italians a valuable opportunity to cheer up and regroup, and took the opportunity to launch a new round of offensive against Austria.
Within two weeks, Italy had assembled a total of 14 divisions, including some troops that had been defeated and scattered before.
There were not many Austrian troops left behind, and they were defeated steadily over the next month. On the other side of the Prussian-Austrian battlefield, the men and women have been decided. The two sides have negotiated peace, and the war on the Italian Peninsula has completely ended.
Now on the battlefield in Italy is Franz's younger brother, Maximilian. His combat style is different from Brecht's stormy clouds. Under the premise that the northern front is stable and the western front has a but not obvious defeat, he can slowly deal with the Italians and gradually encroach on the territory to consolidate his advantage.
This low-fire, slow-cooking attack method kept the Italian war situation out of the sight of the Berlin headquarters. After all, in Moltke's plan, as long as the Italians could successfully divert the Austrian army's energy.
In fact, when Maximilian set foot in Italy, this ally had already lost the initiative, and the entire north was turned into an empty shell by the Austrian army.
What makes the Italians even more uncomfortable is that the former naval governor of the Austrian Empire is more willing to use naval battles to weaken his opponents' will than Archduke Brecht.
The Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Italy was a sharp sword in the hearts of the people before the war began. They are a huge fleet with twice the number of Austrian warships. The people and soldiers are convinced that their country has a guaranteed victory on the surface battlefield.
Brecht did not know enough about the Imperial Navy, and considering the huge disparity in numbers, the Navy remained on hold. It was not until the end of the war that they counterattacked under the attack of the Italian Kingdom's fleet and successfully defeated the opponent.
At that time, the victory or defeat between Austria and Italy could no longer change the entire situation, and Austria still ended in defeat.
Maximilian, who now replaces Brecht in commanding the southern front troops in Italy, is very aware of the strength of his navy. The gap between the two navies of Austria and Italy is not only the hard power of warships, but also Admiral Taghoff's rich naval warfare experience and skills.
After gaining the upper hand on the land battlefield in the early stages of the war, he asked Taghoff to assemble a fleet and head for the Italian port of Ancona.
The Austrian fleet, composed of 10 armored ships, 11 gunboats, 2 mast battleships, 7 cruisers, and 3 light cruisers, was still numerically inferior to Italy. But under the leadership of Taghoff, they successfully launched a surprise attack.
The Italian navy's reconnaissance was very poor, it had no response plan in the face of a surprise attack, and the fleet's communications were also poor.
This, combined with the commander's indecision, delayed the opportunity for a timely counterattack.
In this battle, the flagship "King of Italy" was easily hit and sunk by the opponent's armored ship, and the 400 crew members on the ship were buried at the bottom of the sea. Other gunboats and battleships also lost their combat effectiveness one by one under the opponent's artillery attack, and also lost the Ancona military port.
The naval battle took place on October 5, but the news of the defeat was so humiliating that it was not released reluctantly by the Italian military until October 9.
It was already five days before the news reached Old Moltke's ears.
The failure of the naval battle greatly stimulated the nerves of the people and completely frustrated the already weak morale of the Italian Army. Immediately afterwards, in the next few battles, the remaining tens of thousands of the Italian army's main army were gradually destroyed in the hands of King Alfonso.
In all of Italy, only the volunteer army organized by Garibaldi, the national hero who shone brightly in the Second War of Independence, could still organize sporadic resistance against the Austrian offensive.
But this resistance is entirely in vain.
They failed to set foot in the northeastern Venetian region actually controlled by Austria. Instead, they gave up a large area of northern land in the Kingdom of Sardinia, including the Lombardy region that returned to Italian hands during the Second War of Independence.
On October 7, Maximilian stabilized the situation in northern Italy and basically wiped out the opponent's army.
He did not retreat and rest for a whole week like Brecht did in history. Instead, he left half of his troops and took charge of Lombardy himself to continue to pursue the defeated enemy army. The separated troops chose to go north under the leadership of their deputies, preparing to rush to the Austrian mainland where the situation was confusing.
Basically all the Austrian troops were sent to the front line, with only most of the 12th Army in the rear capital, so the primary target of the retreating troops was Vienna.
But just like the naval battle, even if it captured this piece of news that might affect the entire Prussian-Austrian battlefield, Italy did not send it out in time.
Their command headquarters did not undergo any changes like the battle situation between Prussia, Austria and Italy. In the eyes of others, they were still extremely messy. Delaying the release of the news will do no good. In addition to letting people see the incompetence of the Italian army two days later, it will only leave the last trace of stubbornness after the pride of the Italian army command.
The message that was supposed to be sent on October 7 was delayed for two days before appearing at the telegraph station. At that time, Lamin suffered his first defeat, but Maximilian's southern defense troops were already close to the Austrian-Italian border.
By the time the telegram came into Moltke's sight after many rounds, it was already October 12th.
It was also at this time that the Prussian First Army officially launched a full-scale attack on Lamin. Old Moltke looked at the overall situation and found that the troops retreating northward were likely to change course and move westward halfway because of the defeat on the Western Front.
On a battlefield where the combat power is slightly tilted towards Prussia, it is very terrifying to suddenly appear an army of tens of thousands.
He quickly revised the original attack plan and wrote the personal letter to Prince Karl, commander of the First Army. Either quickly capture the Sixth Army and Kischin, or retreat to Gablenz to wait and see the Austrian army's movements.
Prince Carl's commanding ability is not very strong, but his courage is extraordinary.
Seeing that he could not eat the Sixth Army, he gave up the fat meat that had been roasted for three days and refused to eat it. Under the persuasion of the chief of staff, he issued an order to withdraw the troops.
But no matter how quickly the troops withdraw, they cannot make up for the time the Italians missed in sending the message. Prussia, which should have had the advantage in telegraph speed, became very passive because of Italy's strange operations.
As early as three nights ago, Lamin received news of reinforcements [1].
This was just news, not an order. What supported him in these three days of tough battle was his own judgment of the situation.
Unlike the high concentration of command in Prussia, the command in Austria was not entirely in the hands of Archduke Brecht. Franz had the power to change military orders, and Maximilian on the southern front also had certain autonomy.
Maximilian also further decentralized power.
His order to the retreating troops was not to "return to Vienna and wait for the command of the headquarters", but to respond to changes on the battlefield like checking for leaks and filling vacancies.
Therefore, after this force passed the Austrian-Italian border, it sent a large number of scouts. After learning that the war on the Western Front was tense and that the Northern Front was still safe, they rushed non-stop and left an incredible marching route on Austria's southern land.
Lamin's move responded to this force. Although the Sixth Army suffered heavy losses, with less than 10,000 troops left after successive failures of the 40,000-strong force, it successfully blocked the Prussian offensive.
After such a setback, the First Army began to withdraw its troops one after another on the night of the 15th, giving the Sixth Army a chance to breathe.
After resting for a night, the Sixth Army also began to withdraw.
Due to the rainy weather for two days on the road, the so-called reinforcements did not enter the temporary military camp of the Sixth Army until the afternoon of the next day. At this time, the Prussians completely retreated to Gablenz, and the Sixth Army only marched about 5 kilometers to Kisschin due to insufficient marching speed.
"Deputy Marshal Laming, I'm late."
The commanders of the two armies met each other in the temporary tent set up by the Sixth Army. The two quickly exchanged the intelligence they had: "What are your losses now?"
"You saw it when you came here. Now, under Ling Ling, there is only one division that can fight with guns, and the rest are wounded soldiers... This is the situation."
"It's too tragic, but now it's better. The three divisions in my hand can safely send you back to Kisqin."
Laming sat on the chair in disgrace. The military coat he wore was either stained with blood or had burnt holes on it, and was stained with a lot of dust. The map on the table was also in tatters. His left hand was wrapped in a bandage and hung on his chest. He must have been injured. He only used his right hand to find half a cigar from his pocket and stuff it into his mouth.
Lamin lit himself on fire: "...I thought you weren't coming."
"I learned about the war situation on the Western Front the day after crossing the Austrian-Italian border, and then received news about the safety of the Northern Front and the capital, so I crossed to Kisschin without stopping and came here."
】
The visitor took off his wet shawl and found a chair to sit down: "I originally planned to arrive yesterday afternoon, but it suddenly rained heavily on the road, which slowed down the team's progress. It would be great if there were railways in the southern region, but unfortunately now There are only a few decent main roads to go on.”
Laming lost the momentum he had when he was fighting Qavi, and he looked weak: "It's great that you can come, I'm already very grateful. If it weren't for your letter, I would definitely order the withdrawal of troops. If we really go back, Withdraw our troops and we might become a target for the Prussians."
There were only two of them in the tent, and the atmosphere was heavy and slightly awkward.
"Let's talk about some good news. Italy is completely finished. The army and navy were almost completely destroyed by us."
"That's not necessarily true..." Lamin sat up straight and blew out two puffs of smoke. "I participated in the Franco-Austrian War and fought against the Italians. These Italians who like to eat tomato pizza are like flies. , they look completely incompetent, but they just keep flying around you, which is very annoying.”
"Marshal Maximilian is watching in Lombardy, no problem."
"Taken Lombardy?"
"right."
The good news only made Laming sigh. The successive failures and high-intensity confrontation seemed to have drained away his remaining fighting enthusiasm: "I didn't expect you to be considered half a deputy marshal now... "
"I don't want to be a general. I'm just an ordinary general." Although the visitor is a count like Laming, he is still far behind in military positions. "With the help of the king and Marshal Maximilian, I Only then can I sit in this position.”
"Okay, okay." Laming didn't want to talk any more. "I fought with the Prussians for three days and I'm too tired. The Sixth Army will be under your control next. Please take all these soldiers back."
...
Considering that the next movements of the Prussians were unknown and the powerful enemy was in front of them, the handover process of command could only be kept simple, even to the point of being ridiculously simple.
Laming just gave the other party the two chiefs of staff in his headquarters and acted as a hands-off shopkeeper. What he left behind was a mess of a battalion full of wounded soldiers. It was not easy to send them safely to Kisschin.
"Where is the head of surgery?"
"The head of surgery in our military department has disappeared a long time ago." Physician O'Rourke wiped the blood on his hands and said, "Now the original chief surgeon, Dr. Donelson, is temporarily taking over that position, but he is only a surgeon. It’s very limited.”
"There are so many wounded soldiers, but there are not many doctors who can operate. We must send them away as soon as possible."
"Have you brought enough carriages? We don't have any carriages here!"
O'Rourke looked back at the wounded lying on the ground around him. There were no beds, no stretchers, and no coverings or blankets. They were helplessly soaked in the drizzle of autumn and endured the pain caused by their wounds.
"If the medical team had not left, at least a few more people could have been saved..."
This was said without any thought, it was just said casually by O'Rourke based on his previous memory. But the speaker was unintentional, and the listener was intentional. The newly appointed commander in front of him seemed to be particularly sensitive to the word "medical": "Medical team? What medical team?"
"Oh, I heard that they were ordered by Archduke Brecht to support our surgical team from the northern front." O'Rourke said, "I originally wanted to stay, but I didn't know that Deputy Marshal Laming wouldn't let them intervene. So we left as soon as the war started.”
The only ones who can support from the north line south are those few, could it be...
Several familiar faces appeared in the new commander's mind: "Where have they gone? Back to the Northern Front?"
O'Rourke recalled the original situation and said: "It should be to go to Kisschin. The northern evacuation route has long been blocked by the Prussians and cannot be used."
"Wait a minute, I just came from Kissin, and I haven't met them along the way!"
