Chapter 924: Eat for the enemy

In front of nature, human beings are vulnerable. The Battle of the Rhine continues, but the intensity of the war is limited by the heavy snow.
The French, who were not offensive, did not work hard, but the snow and ice weather was too annoying. This not only affected the frontline offensive, but also increased the difficulty of logistics transportation.
Even if the two million troops do nothing, the daily consumption of materials is an astronomical figure, not to mention fighting?
Facts have once again proved that it is not that simple to go deep into enemy operations.
That’s right, Belgium and the Rhineland are both areas with convenient transportation and a complete railway network. The problem is that the road was destroyed when the coalition forces retreated!
Destruction is always easier than construction. After occupying these areas, the first thing the French army did was rush to repair the road.
After more than a month of hard work, the road has basically been restored and the railway has been repaired. Seeing that it was about to be completed, it was a pity that this heavy snowfall was encountered again.
Bad weather has affected logistics and transportation, and has become the biggest challenge for the French army. It is even more troublesome than the machine gun trenches of the Austrian army.
After all, no matter how powerful the machine gun trench tactics are, they can only defend on the spot. With this year's technology, there is no possibility to charge with a machine gun.
It can block the French way, but it cannot threaten the French lifeline. The logistics are different. If something goes wrong, these two million French troops will be in danger.
Looking out the window, Marshal Patrice McMahon sighed. The war broke out in a hurry, and France was simply not prepared.
The huge French empire has not even enough military uniforms in winter. Who can imagine? In the end, it was necessary to mobilize the nationals to donate cotton clothes, so that the soldiers' cold protection problem was barely solved.
It is not that the French industry is not strong. As the world's second largest textile industry, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, millions of sets of winter clothing can be done in a month.
The problem lies in the raw materials. Seventy percent of the raw materials of the French cotton textile industry come from Egypt. As soon as the war broke out, cotton production in the Egyptian region was over.
Such a large gap is not so easy to solve. Even if you want to buy from the international market, you can't find enough supplies.
To know that cotton is the same hard commodity as grain this year, most producers have fixed partners, and wanting to win love with a knife will cost a lot.
Capitalists do not have such a strong sense of the overall situation, and they are investing huge amounts of money to cotton without knowing whether the war will continue, and the benefits and risks are completely incompatible.
It is important to know that the French are very optimistic about this war, and mainstream opinion generally believes that the French army will win in two to three months.
Such a little time, you can rely on the inventory to support the past, there is no need to invest heavily in risk.
Theoretically, if no one hoards strangely, in the case of reasonable distribution, France will not be short of supplies now.
There is no way. After the outbreak of the war, prices rose in droves, and every day they dragged on, it was a new price.
No one can live with money. Under this background, the bureaucratic efficiency of the Paris government is naturally not high.
In the early stage, the speed of raising materials was too slow, which directly caused the French army to fail to transport enough materials to the front line before winter. The transportation efficiency was greatly reduced under heavy snow, and the problem appeared.
"Marshal, because of heavy snow, the transportation convoy that should have arrived today has just arrived in Trier, and it is expected to arrive a week later.
This is the third time that supplies have arrived late this month. Since the snowfall, our supplies have not arrived on time. "
Major General John, who was responsible for the logistics of the French army, reported bitterly.
Compared to the fat spread responsible for logistics distribution, logistics transportation is much harder. Not only do you have to build roads yourself, you also have to face guerrilla attacks, and now you have to fight against bad weather.
If it is just this, then it’s a big deal. It’s a bitter suffering. Anyway, there is a lot of oil and water transported, enough to make up for the hurt of everyone.
The problem is that the following people in charge of transportation are not so obedient, and they will strike if the task is heavy. After all, no matter how rich the oil is, it won't fall on them.
There is no way to recruit labor locally, or to use prisoners of war is too risky to say when it is possible to hook up with the guerrillas. Even if you don't hook up with guerrillas, you can't stand a passive French army.
For the safety of logistics, the civilians responsible for transportation are all their own people. Once these people are in trouble, the officers can only appease them.
Receiving the bad news, Patrice McMahon frowned and secretly calculated.
It was not long before the French pushed the front line to the Rhine, and they were often heavily damaged by enemy air raids, and the stock of materials was very limited.
Starting from the snowfall, the French army's supplies fell into a state of hardship. Even if the intensity of front-line crossfire has decreased and the consumption of materials has decreased recently, it will not last long.
No way, the consumption of ammunition has been reduced, but the consumption of heating materials has increased. The production of coal in the Rhineland region is not false, but the German army blew up the coal mine before evacuation, and it takes time to restore production capacity.
The most important thing is that the locals are unwilling to cooperate. Under the trend of hatred, the locals simply do not buy French military accounts.
This war has just begun, and it is far from the time to win or lose. Even capitalists who are accustomed to seeing the wind and rudder are not in a hurry to stand in line. Only a few of them ran to the French so early.
After a little bit of effort, Patrice McMahon slowly said, "Generating electricity domestically means that we are facing a dilemma and allows the Army Department to increase the number of transport teams.
Order the logistics department to give priority to the delivery of ammunition and medicines, and other materials. Everyone goes down to find a way to raise funds as far as possible to reduce our logistics pressure. "
Raising supplies on the spot is definitely not a good strategy. Originally, the relationship between the French army and the localities was tense. With such a wave, it would be difficult for the guerrillas to develop.
"Marshal, when the enemy retreated, they destroyed the place very badly, not only blew up the infrastructure, but also burned the material warehouse.
The industries in Belgium and Rhineland are indeed good, but there is no way to change materials without industrial raw materials.
In particular, the local food is not produced very much, mainly relying on imports from Austria. Because of the war, the grain trade has been interrupted for almost a month.
Local food prices have skyrocketed, and social order has deteriorated sharply. At this time, we will go to collect food again, I am afraid..."
Seeing that Patrice McMahon's face was getting ugly, Lieutenant General Albert decided to shut up.
Everyone knows the problem, but the French army is about to run out of grain. Even if the consequences are serious, now Patrice McMahon has no choice.
After glancing at each other, Admiral Udino, who had done a good job, knew that it was time to bear the blame.
The debt is too much, and the previous defeat has already made him lose his name, and he doesn't care about one more infamy.
Be more secretive, and sell more human feelings. Someone will speak during the liquidation after the war to avoid going to the military court.
"Lieutenant General, the problem cannot be seen this way. After the war broke out, the local residents were not completely unprepared.
As far as I know, when the enemy retreated, they did not burn all the supplies, and a large part of the food was distributed to the local people. It is not a problem for us to borrow some food for emergency.
In addition to food, many of the materials we need can be raised locally, such as coal.
As long as everyone is willing to work hard, I believe it is not difficult to restore the coal mine. We can still use prisoners of war if there is not enough labor.
Set a task for them and never achieve hunger. I believe they will compromise.
It is enough to raise other materials as much as possible, and how much can be raised, and if it is not enough, find a way to ship from domestic.
If you are worried about the situation getting out of control, then expel the locals to the opposite side, which just consumes the enemy's supplies. "
Udino just said what everyone wanted to do but didn't dare to do. The expulsion of locals from the country is purely military, but the political consequences are very serious.
This is the European continent, but it is not a colony in a backcountry. Once the French army expels millions of locals, it must cause anger.
Especially for many small European countries, the French can do so in Belgium and the Rhineland today, and similar things may happen to them tomorrow.
Whether it is because of the death of the rabbit and the sorrow of the fox, or for the sake of their own safety, these small countries want to stand on the opposite side of France.
Patrice McMahon was silent. Since the implementation of the Enemy Enemy Program, the end result is the same whether or not the locals are expelled.
People are iron rice and steel, so they are hungry without eating. Without food in hand, even if these locals want to stay, it is impossible.
Fleeing the famine is a matter of time, but it is only a matter of direction. France must not be able to go. The refugees either fled to Switzerland, the Netherlands, or went to the German Confederation.
The French army's expulsion was nothing more than allowing refugees who might have swarmed into Switzerland and the Netherlands to enter the German Confederation, increasing the pressure of the anti-French alliance.
They are all their own people, the French army can not help the refugees, but the coalition forces can not sit idly by.
Adding millions of mouths to eat all at once, no matter how great the anti-French alliance is, it will be enough for them.
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