Chapter 744 Total War

Chapter 745 Total War

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Digomier also stood up with a look of surprise, saying: "Yes, Your Highness! But..."

Joseph did not give him a chance to shirk, and turned to Berthier and said: "General Berthier, appoint you as the combat staff of the Rhine Front Army."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"In addition, please ask the General Staff to issue an order to appoint Lieutenant Colonel Victor de Moreau as the second commander of the Rhine Front Army, and Major Andre Massena as the commander of the right wing of the Rhine Front Army."

Berthier was also quite surprised, but still nodded and said: "Yes, Your Highness. I will notify them immediately."

Joseph sighed in his heart that these talented commanders did not experience the loss of officers during the Great Revolution, so their current military ranks are very low, and they can only let old officers like Digomier to support the scene in the front. 【Note 1】

Moreau is currently the commander of the Tunisian Corps, while Massena is only the second commander of the Alpine Corps.

But Joseph knew that they all had the ability to command front-level battles.

Of course, they also needed to fight to gain experience, especially Moreau. The Rhine front will be the main battlefield for France and the anti-French alliance, and they can grow the fastest here.

People like the Duke of Brunswick of Prussia or the Austrian Wurmser can't even touch the backs of Massena and others.

And even if they make mistakes, there is Berthier, the experienced chief of staff, to ensure that everything is safe.

Joseph continued:

"The Rhine Front will be under the jurisdiction of the Royal First, Second, and Third Infantry Divisions, the Royal Long Sword Grenadiers, the Royal First and Second Cavalry Artillery Battalions..."

He said the numbers of more than a dozen troops in one breath, basically all of which were directly under the General Staff, that is, the new army, plus the Alpine Corps and the Champagne Corps, two old-style corps with higher quality.

The total force reached 110,000 people!

Moreover, it includes 80% of the cavalry and all the cavalry artillery in the direct corps, which is definitely the most elite force in France at present.

They will face nearly 200,000 main forces of Prussia, Austria, Hanover and other countries.

But Joseph believes that whether it is the quality of soldiers, the quality of weapons and equipment, or the ability of commanders, the French Rhine Front will crush the opponent.

So, this will be his "straight punch" to the anti-French alliance!

Joseph whispered to Berthier again: "Let Massena be responsible for the overall deployment, let Moreau be responsible for the main attack, and open the situation when it is deadlocked."

"Yes, Your Highness, I will remember your instructions."

In fact, Massena is now 36 years old and has served for more than 20 years. He is a more experienced officer.

Joseph knows that this is the French commander second only to the emperor. However, he has not been able to fully display his command talent for various reasons in history, and now Joseph has given him this huge stage for him to display.

Joseph waited for Berthier to finish recording the order, and then pointed to the location of the Southern Netherlands on the map: "And the Southern Netherlands Front will be commanded by me personally."

This is the order that the officers are least surprised about so far.

After all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has participated in many battles from Tunisia to the Southern Netherlands to Silesia.

Although they think that it is most appropriate for His Royal Highness to be in charge of the overall command at the General Staff, it seems that His Royal Highness's style is to go to the front line in person, so they didn't say much.

In fact, after the main strategic points in France are connected by Chap signal machines, it doesn't matter where the General Staff is located.

It takes less than 50 minutes to transmit military intelligence from the easternmost part of France to the westernmost part.

The most time-consuming process is the process of distributing code books to all signal towers once a week.

Joseph continued to talk about the arrangements that he had already thought of: "Colonel François Lefebvre, Lieutenant Colonel Jules will fight with me.

"And the Southern Netherlands Front includes: the Royal 4th Infantry Division, the Royal 1st, 2nd and 3rd Skirmishers, the Royal 1st and 2nd Infantry Artillery Battalions...

"And the Artois Corps, the Reims Corps, the Rethel Corps..."

After he finished speaking, Berthiemer calculated that the entire Southern Netherlands Front had only more than 20,000 people, and 40% of them were old-style troops.

He immediately suggested: "Your Highness, although the Southern Netherlands is not the enemy's main attack direction, it is estimated that there will be more than 60,000 troops.

"The troops you lead seem to be a little insufficient..."

Joseph just smiled indifferently: "It doesn't matter, I only need to delay the enemy for at most two months, you don't need to worry.

"If the situation is urgent, I will transfer the Paris Corps or even the Swiss Guard to the north."

The Paris Corps is a force to protect Paris, with more than 5,000 soldiers. The Swiss Guard is responsible for the security of the Palace of Versailles, with nearly 2,000 people.

The Paris police were Joseph's absolute direct line. Even if all the garrison troops in Paris were emptied, as long as he gave an order to the police, there would be no problem with the order in Paris.

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After speaking, Joseph looked around at everyone and said, "Next, everyone will start to work out the specific deployment details."

Berthier frowned and reminded in a low voice: "Your Highness, you seem to have forgotten that there is no legion in charge of Switzerland."

Joseph nodded: "I haven't forgotten, Mr. Chief of Staff. When Major Massena solves the enemy forces on the Rhine front, his corps will become the Swiss Front."

"But..."

"Don't worry. Given the terrain and barrenness of Switzerland, the Austrian army may not be ready to enter Switzerland after the battle on the Rhine front is over."

...

Napoleon walked out of the General Staff a little dizzy, but his eyes were dancing with joy.

He finally got the opportunity he had dreamed of - as long as he could win a few battles in Italy, he would be promoted quickly and enter the upper class of Paris.

He took out his notebook and looked through the officers of the Italian Front, muttering to himself: "Major Claude Victoire, Major Auguste de Marmont. His Highness seems to respect them very much.

"Well, La Harp, Augereau, Sérurier, Meunier, Junot... can also be transferred to Italy, so that the war will be much easier. ”

Most of the latter were his old subordinates. Joseph let him choose his own men, so these officers were able to join the Italian Front.

In fact, Victor and Marmont were also old partners of Emperor Napoleon in history, so they would definitely work together without any problems.

[Note 1] During the French Revolution, a large number of officers of noble origin were worried that they would be beheaded by the National Convention, so they chose to flee abroad, accounting for more than half of the total number of French officers.

This led to a shortage of French officers at the time, so many low-level officers were promoted exceptionally, and it was not uncommon for them to be promoted three or four levels at a time. Even Napoleon's rapid promotion was due to this factor.