Chapter 263 Playing the long game to catch the big fish

The Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Italy, which was bad news for Napoleon III during the war.

Napoleon III tiredly said to the French generals: "Now it is certain that the Austrians will not take any action in our war with Prussia, which also means that we will face more Prussian troops."

This news was undoubtedly heavy for the French army. France looked down upon Prussia before the war, but after the war, France found itself trapped in the Prussian's endless human sea tactics.

The current war situation in France is already at a disadvantage. The Army of the Rhine has been passively defending, while McMahon's troops in the south are completely at a disadvantage and are in danger of collapse at any time. The Fifth Army that went to support has not made any achievements, although it relied on surprise to The Prussian Fifth Army caused huge losses, but due to the Hechingen Brigade and the Third Brigade led by Robert who subsequently went to Saverna to support, the two sides were in a stalemate in the Saverna area.

Unable to open up the situation on the battlefield, Napoleon III's expectations for the Austro-Hungarian Empire became increasingly intense. This was due to the Austro-Prussian War. Some people in Austria did have revenge against Prussia. If the Austrian Empire still existed, It is really possible for the Austrians to sneak attack Prussia, but now it is the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and there is Tsarist Russia supporting Prussia.

"Your Majesty, we can't count on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These Italians have no brains. They actually declared war on the Papal State despite the strong statement of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We should not have withdrawn our troops from the Papal State in the first place..."

History cannot be assumed. If history can really be changed, what Napoleon III wants to do most now is to help the Austrian Empire during the Austro-Prussian War.

Unlike Napoleon III, who was gloomy and gloomy, when the Prussian leaders heard that the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war with Italy, they suddenly understood and turned to ecstasy.

"Now, we finally understand the reason for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military mobilization. They have long been eyeing Italy, and this time Italy is going to press the gun. I'm afraid what will happen to Italy next..."

"That's good. We don't have to worry about the Austro-Hungarian Empire stabbing us in the back. We can also attack the French with all our strength. As for the Kingdom of Italy, who cares about their life and death!"

…

Italian-Austrian border.

The Isonzo River defense line is divided into two layers. The lower reaches of the Isonzo River runs north-south and is the only place in the area that is conducive to defense. Therefore, Italy will not give up the position on the west bank of the Isonzo River, but the terrain on the west bank of the Isonzo River is relatively The east bank was low and easily vulnerable to Austro-Hungarian artillery fire, so Italy set up a second line of defense twenty kilometers west of the Isonzo River.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

The Italian side's speculation was correct. On the day after the war broke out, Austria's artillery units deployed on the Bainsiza Heights and Carso Heights on the east coast began shelling Italian positions on the other side.

At this time, Italy's deployment mainly focused on two defenses. One was the northern defense line established in the north based on the Alps. One is the southern defense line deployed along the west bank of the Isonzo River in the south.

The Italian side had about 150,000 troops, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire only had more than 80,000 troops, including 20,000 from the Kingdom of Hungary. Both sides dispatched their main forces.

Venice and Lombardy are inevitable for Austria. In addition to their important geographical location and port conditions, economic and historical reasons also make the Austrian government actively promote this war. As for Hungary, it wants to gain some benefits, as long as Austria does not attack Germany. To take action in the region, Italy and Tsarist Russia and Hungary all agreed with their hands.

On the high ground on the east bank of the Isonzo River, Archduke Albrecht of the Austro-Hungarian Empire looked with satisfaction at the results of the Austro-Hungarian artillery unit with a telescope.

Albrecht, a famous Austro-Hungarian general, was the son of Archduke Karl, a famous Austro-Hungarian general during the Napoleonic era. He served as the director of the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1869. He advocated the development of industry and railways; established a short-term military service system to train more reserve soldiers. Expand war potential; equip the troops with and further improve new weapons; establish and improve the staff system.

The Franco-Prussian War broke out on June 20, 1870. In order to prevent him from raising troops for revenge, Prussia awarded him the title of Marshal of Prussia and the Grand Order of St. George. He was one of the Austrians mentioned earlier who had malicious intentions towards Prussia.

Historically, Albrecht should be in France now to help it deal with Prussia, but at this time and space, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already determined its strategy to attack Italy, so Franz appointed him as the supreme commander of the war against Italy.

As the shells fell, the first line of defense built by the Italians quickly turned into a pile of rubbish. In fact, Italy also knew that the first line of defense was under the artillery fire range of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so it did not build it carefully and did not directly build it. The purpose of abandoning this place was to delay the Austro-Hungarian army's preparations for strengthening the second line of defense.

"Marshal! Why don't we attack the Italian army under the cover of artillery fire? Now the Italians have been suppressed by our artillery fire and can't even raise their heads. Moreover, we have built forts in Tolmino and Gorizia on the west bank of the Isonzo River. With a strong bridgehead, the troops should be able to cross the river directly!" an Austro-Hungarian general asked in confusion.

"In this war, now is not the time to take action. We need to make the Italians aware of the seriousness of the problem, and at the same time give Italy a false impression, so that more troops can be mobilized to the eastern front so that we can catch them all in one go. It is indeed possible to attack now It would be bad to defeat the Italians quickly, but to frighten the Italians." Archduke Albrecht said contemptuously.

It’s not that Albrecht is arrogant. The reason why Albrecht is a famous European general is that his strongest record so far is that he commanded 80,000 Austrian troops to defeat 120,000 Italians commanded by Emmanuel II in the last Italian-Austrian War. army.

Therefore, the 150,000 people placed by the Kingdom of Italy on the Eastern Front were really not enough in Albrecht's eyes. Although he still had 80,000 people in his hands this time, they were all elite troops of the empire.

"Marshal, do you want the Kingdom of Italy to continue to increase its troops on the front line?"

"Yes, if the Italians know that their opponent is me again, they will definitely continue to increase their stakes on the front line, so we have to give the Kingdom of Italy time to prepare."

"But, Marshal, Italy is not the attacker this time! If Italy uses fortifications to resist, even if we win this time, it may not be as easy as last time."

"Of course I know this. My purpose is to completely inflict pain on Italy so that it will never become an enemy of the empire. If we want to severely damage Italy, we must let it gather more troops to the front line, otherwise we will enter It will be very troublesome to clean up one by one in Italy. To avoid subsequent resistance from Italy, most of its effective forces must be eliminated in one fell swoop on the front line."

Of course, Albrecht also had another purpose that he did not mention, which was to attract Italian troops to Venice and Lombardy as much as possible to provide favorable conditions for the Austrian troops lurking in Rome.

Why did the Italians dare not act rashly when France garrisoned Rome? In addition to France being powerful and close to the Papal State for support (Corsica), another reason that cannot be ignored is that Rome is not far from Florence, the current capital of Italy.

If he can make good use of this surprise force lurking in the Papal State, Albrecht will definitely let the Kingdom of Italy know what a surprise is.

In fact, Albrecht's plan is being realized. After figuring out the frontline commanders and the approximate strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Italy's subsequent mobilization of troops is continuously coming towards Venice from behind. The Italians are preparing to build a third line of defense. The third line of defense is near the city of Venice.

Because of the last war, Emmanuel II was impressed by Albrecht's command ability, or a little afraid. An army of 150,000 was too unsafe, even if Italy was on the defensive.