Chapter 564 War begins
On the other side of the Rhine, the German Allied Forces Command.
"A rabble" is what Archduke Albrecht said about the coalition forces, especially the volunteer armies composed of civilians from small countries.
But it was not that he looked down upon those people. On the contrary, Archduke Albrecht admired the courage of these people, but he also felt that war should be a matter for soldiers.
It is a failure of the government and the army to let untrained civilians go to the battlefield, so there are no civilians in his army, and even the transport team is composed of soldiers.
The weapons of the volunteers can be said to be diverse, ranging from cold weapons to muskets and matchlocks of the 16th and 17th centuries, to flintlock muskets, needle guns, homemade cannons, and even beech cannons.
Beech cannons are similar to elm cannons during the Anti-Japanese War. Although they are stronger, the wood is still wood after all.
First find a thick beech wood, saw it open, hollow out the middle, and put it into the barrel (this kind of barrel cannot meet the requirements of a real barrel, usually because the bore wall is too thin), and then use a few iron bars to cut the beech wood into pieces. Refasten it and drill holes for the fuse.
It is also very simple to use. Just put gunpowder, iron pieces, stones, glass and other things together. The advantages are that it is easy to obtain materials, simple to manufacture, and has strong lethality at close range. The disadvantages are also very obvious: the range is too close, the power is limited, and it is difficult to target solid objects. The fortifications caused substantial damage.
In fact, the cost of this thing was not much cheaper than a regular iron cannon, because the woods usually belonged to the nobles at that time.
This era was also an era of rapid development of the shipbuilding industry, so beech wood, which is very cheap now, was not cheap at that time, not to mention that the beech wood used to make beech cannons was all old and high-quality beech wood that met certain specifications.
In addition to weapons and clothing, it is impossible to unify the colorful and fishy style.
But what really annoyed Archduke Albrecht was the discipline of this group of people. Even the most notorious mercenaries would not be worse than them when they were bragging, drinking, playing cards, and acting drunk.
However, this situation was within Franz's expectation, so it was completely normal for one or two coalition soldiers to disappear in the Alsace-Lorraine region.
Albrecht didn't like this excuse for starting a war, but looking at the chaotic scene at this time, he felt it was reasonable.
At this time, an officer suddenly shouted: "Grand Duke! The French army on the other side of the river is massacring again!"
Upon hearing this, all the generals in the headquarters hurriedly picked up their binoculars and went outside to take a look. Sure enough, the French on the other side of the river had come up with something new.
The French soldiers tied some "poor" people in front of the muzzle of the cannon, and let those people howl and struggle to no avail.
"Artillery execution" was the thought that flashed through everyone's mind.
As the name suggests, artillery execution is the use of cannons to execute prisoners. This method is very bloody and shocking. The high-speed shells will break the human body into pieces.
The reason why Grouchy chose to do this was not only to humiliate but also to show his strength. After all, only large-caliber high-quality artillery can really "crush" people. At the same time, placing the artillery on the river bank also served as a warning to the coalition forces that they wanted to cross the river. People are what you end up with.
"Call everyone over here!"
Albrecht roared angrily, and other officers immediately got busy upon seeing this. In fact, there was no need for the officers to shout, many soldiers had already gathered near the river bank, after all, they came here because of this incident.
The French soldiers were laughing and talking while holding water-soaked mops to clean the barrels of the cannons. After all, scenes of artillery duels were rare, unless they were in places like Morocco or Guatemala, where rebellions abounded.
Another French soldier pierced the gunpowder bag and sprinkled the excess gunpowder on the prisoner. The latter twitched obviously out of fear, which caused a burst of laughter.
"Look! Those cowards." Grouchi also laughed loudly.
The solid bullet was put into the muzzle, and the next outcome was already within everyone's expectations.
With the roar of the new twelve-pound field cannon, the intense fire engulfed the victim, leaving only the green smoke rising from the muzzle.
The victims were scattered everywhere like pieces of broken porcelain.
One, two, three, four... until the last victim passed away, the coalition forces on the other side of the river were silent.
At this time, a military chaplain sang a requiem, and the soldiers and officers also sang voluntarily.
A sad atmosphere spread throughout the army, and Albrecht only had murderous intent in his eyes. In fact, he had already made a battle plan with Franz.
Although this was not the best time, France sent the best motivation.
"Shut up! France is attacking us! Shells have fallen on our camp! Prepare to attack!"
Albrecht mounted his horse and galloped wildly through the camp. As he roared, the drumbeats of the military musicians immediately changed, becoming rapid and murderous.
In fact, the boat used to cross the river has been prepared long ago, and the pontoon bridge is also ready upstream. As long as the cable is cut off, a new pontoon bridge can be built here while going downstream.
The soldiers immediately prepared for battle and performed their duties. After all, there was no better mobilization for war than this.
The coalition forces began to forcefully cross the Rhine River, which surprised the French army on the other side. After all, the French, including Grouchy, did not think that the Austrian army dared to forcefully cross the Rhine River.
But in fact the distance between the two sides is only 120 meters, which is why Albrecht chose this place to camp. Although it is not suitable for defense, it is very suitable for offense.
Moreover, it was the dry season of the Rhine River at this time, the depth was only about 1 meter, and the flow rate in this section of the river was relatively slow.
Grouchy was certainly not mediocre in being able to achieve so many victories. He would not be intimidated by such emergencies. On the contrary, he felt that the time had come for him to surpass Napoleon.
Grouchy didn't think there was anything wrong with inventing history. After all, history is written by the victors, and his only mistake was failure.
So Grouchy planned to be the winner, and he immediately ordered the cannon to be fired. The quality of the French soldiers was worthy of the title of the strongest army in Europe at this time. The cannons previously used for executions immediately turned into defensive weapons, and the French troops on standby in the town also rushed to support them.
However, the artillery that Grouchy had high hopes for failed to cause much damage to the coalition forces crossing the river. Instead, the excessive forward pressure of his own artillery position (execution ground) gave the Austrian artillery a chance to show off its skills.
Several consecutive artillery shells accurately landed on the French artillery position. It was intended to let the German allied forces see clearly, but now it unexpectedly caused trouble.
In fact, in addition to Grouchy's excessive and aggressive exposure of the artillery to the sight of the Austrian artillery, the new breech-loading rifled gun also made a great contribution.
In fact, rifled guns are not a new thing. They appeared in the seventeenth century, but they quickly disappeared in the long river of history due to too many shortcomings.
When Franz was studying breech-loading rifled guns, he inspired artillery designers to create breech-loading rifled guns. This finally solved the problem of difficulty in loading rifled guns and made it truly valuable in combat.