Holy Roman Empire

A middle-aged officer stood up: "Your Excellency, we can't attack the enemy's airship, but we can always avoid the bombing, right?

If the enemy bombs at an altitude of a thousand meters, then setting up some bunkers, for example: camouflaging weeds and bushes to interfere with their vision, may reduce casualties. "

There is a bunch of grass or a nest of bushes on the head. This kind of low-tech bunker has appeared in the military, but it is not used for air defense, but for ambushes in field battles.

Lieutenant Colonel Saltus objected: "No, it may be effective in the jungle area, but in the port of Savoy, there are some messy things, aren't they creating targets for the enemy!"

The middle-aged officer's face darkened, and he retorted: "Whether it works or not, we will only know after trying it. We can artificially expose some false targets and attract enemy airships to bomb them. These small changes are not so easy to notice."

Major General Ozgul rubbed his forehead. He was happy to see conflicts among his subordinates. Only when his subordinates fought could his authority be perfectly guaranteed, but that was a non-war period.

Now that the enemy may attack at any time, internal conflicts are terrible, and a bad one will bring disaster.

……

Soldiers are extremely fast, and since they have decided to land from the Ava area, they will naturally not leave time for the enemy to prepare.On the third day after the bombing, the coalition forces were ready to land.

On April 1874, 4, under the cover of Austrian airships and warships, 18 Russian troops launched a landing operation to the Ava area.

The roaring cannon sounded, and the airship roared towards it.Gunpowder smoke filled Ava again, and the cry of blood and fire seemed to vent the sorrow of the earth.

Above the airship, Colonel Jules looked down at the earth through his favorite telescope.Roaring gunfire and explosions, in his opinion, this is the most beautiful movement.

The Austrian airship bombing brigade has been established for more than ten years. There has been no shortage of various materials, but there is no record. Every airship soldier has heavy pressure on their shoulders, and they urgently need to prove themselves.

As the only directly-administered force of the General Staff, they are separated from the army and navy, and they are inevitably brought up to speak out in the battle for military expenditure every year.

As time went on, calls for the cancellation of the airship unit grew louder in the Austrian army, which would have disappeared from the Austrian army had it not been for the support of His Majesty the Emperor.

Lack of records and failure to prove their worth is the biggest shortcoming of the airship unit.The army is the world of the strong, and the words of record are more effective than anything else.

With the outbreak of the Second Near East War, the airship force finally had a place to use.After the bombing of Ava, the Austrian military was shocked.

For the first time, everyone realized the threat overhead, and the talk of canceling the airship unit disappeared overnight.Especially the navy, which witnessed the bombing scene, immediately reported to the country, requesting to be equipped with anti-aircraft weapons.

It doesn't matter whether it is there or not, weapon research and development is also carried out according to demand.The navy is aware of the threat from the sky, and if it wants to equip anti-aircraft weapons, the arsenal will naturally develop them.

As the commander of this airship bombing brigade, Jules has always had a dream to turn the airship unit into an air force and stand side by side with the army and navy.

It's very difficult, and if you don't have a good record, it's almost impossible to achieve it.Both the Army and the Navy will strongly oppose it, and neither wants to have another competitor for military spending.

Air support is needed in future wars. It doesn’t matter that they engage in Army Aviation and Hainan Airlines. It’s just a short time now, and everyone hasn’t realized it yet. It won’t be long before someone will bring it up.

The sense of crisis made Jules pay special attention to this battle.If you want to win the support of high-level government officials, talking about your achievements is more convincing than any reason.

Intensive gunfire rang out, even at an altitude of several hundred meters, Colonel Jules could hear it.Through the telescope, he also saw a small dot, flashing past a few meters away.

Colonel Jules reacted in an instant, and hurriedly ordered: "Order the fleet to take off, fly at an altitude of 200 meters, and carry out high-altitude bombing."

At this time, two airships had already been shot. Fortunately, the power of these rifles was limited. As long as they didn't hit vital parts, the damage would be fatal.

The airship bombing brigade took off, and the Ottoman army below breathed a sigh of relief.In the brief air-to-air shooting, there have been many accidents.

There is no way, not all rifles can shoot directly at the sky.In the design process, the designers did not consider the threat from the sky at all.

The height of 200 meters has exceeded the effective range of most breech-loading rifles.This distance not only greatly reduces the hit rate, but also reduces the lethality of the bullet, or it can't be hit at all.

As a price, the hit rate of bombing will also be greatly reduced.In many cases, you can only gamble on character, and the best way to ensure the hit rate is to bomb at low altitude.

Apparently, the enemy was prepared, and thousands of guns were fired into the air. Colonel Jules did not dare to take the risk.

In case of bad luck, if an airship is hit critically, it will be reimbursed.This kind of luxury, the entire Austrian army only has dozens of ships, and he can't afford to lose it.

Even high-altitude harassment is enough. Most of the coastal fortifications have been destroyed in the last bombing. This cannot be repaired in just two or three days.

Now it is bombing by airships and attacking by naval guns. How can the passively beaten Ottoman army have a good life?

It is not known whether the casualties were heavy or not. Anyway, the Russians have already started to land on the beach.On the airship, Colonel Jules could also see through the binoculars that after the Russian soldiers landed, they were attacked by Ottoman soldiers in the bunker.

Gatling, who emerged from the corner, galloped across the battlefield, and the Russian army suffered heavy casualties for a while.But this is not a problem for Mao Xiong, and the artillery was quickly set up to counterattack.

From the moment the Russians successfully landed, there was no suspense in this landing battle, it was nothing more than a matter of casualties.

Seeing that the overall situation has been settled, Colonel Jules smiled happily: "Order the troops to bomb freely, stay away from the port area, and don't accidentally injure friendly troops."

For the entire landing campaign, the coalition forces have already taken the upper hand, and it can be said that the overall situation has been settled.But for the Russian soldiers fighting hard below, the trouble has just begun.

The Ottomans were not so vulnerable. Many hidden fortifications were only exposed at this time, causing heavy casualties to the Russian army.

The horn of "offensive" has sounded, countless Russian soldiers...

Chapter 122 The End of an Era

The landing battle lasted until the evening, and the night drew a comma for this battle.At this time, the Russian army had successfully landed and established a camp.

The news of the victory has been transmitted to the Allied Forces Command in Constantinople along with the return of the airship troops.The celebration banquet has already begun, and Arrest, as the commander-in-chief, did not participate in the celebration.

According to the report from the airship unit, the Russian army also paid a lot during the landing process, and even a troop carrier was hit by enemy shells and almost sank in the port.

When the firepower was fully suppressed and bombs were falling from the sky, the defenders still launched an effective counterattack, which proved that the defenders were not trash.

If the defenders are smart enough, they will fall back and arm.Anyway, the range of naval guns is limited, and if you step back a little bit, the shells will not be able to hit them.

In hand-to-hand combat in the field, the role of airship bombing was also lost.Once the two sides fought together, no one would dare to drop bombs, and no one could bear the responsibility of accidentally injuring friendly troops.

You know, you know, Aleister didn't bring it up to spoil the fun, anyway, the dead are all Russians, and the Russian generals are not afraid of casualties, so why should he worry about it?

Silently reported the analyzed situation to the Vienna government.Arrest arranged for the navy and airship troops to continue to attack the coastal cities of the Ottoman Empire, and all the battles in the Ava area were handed over to the Russians themselves.

At midnight, the Ankara Palace was brightly lit, the news of the coalition forces landing in Ava had already spread, and the Sudanese government could not sleep.

Frankly speaking, strategically this was beneficial to the Ottoman Empire.If the plan of the Vienna government is really followed, as long as the scorched earth plan is implemented within 30 kilometers of the coast and the people are expelled into the inland, the refugee wave can collapse the Sudanese government.

However, this does not make the Sudanese government feel relieved. Both Russia and Austria are big countries. As long as the two governments are willing to increase their military input, it is no problem to open a few more fronts.

Abdul Aziz I: "The enemy has landed in the Ava area. It seems that our judgment is correct. The Russians cannot tolerate the closure of the Black Sea Strait for a long time.

What we have to do now is to drag the enemy in Ava until the Russians can't hold back and withdraw from the war, so the Black Sea Strait must not be lost.

Before that, we have to deal with the threat of enemy airships. What plans does the military have? "

Minister of War Almode: "Your Majesty, according to the analysis of the information from the front, neither rifles nor artillery can pose a threat to airships, so the only thing that can deal with airships is airships.

The War Department suggested purchasing a batch of airships from abroad as soon as possible to deal with the enemy's airship force.Before that, we could only disrupt the enemy with our rifles. "

Ermod was aware of the industrial strength of the Ottoman Empire, so he chose to import rather than produce himself very wisely.

It's not that the Ottoman Empire couldn't produce them. The problem is that the quality of the airships produced is not guaranteed.What should I do if the performance is not good and I can’t fly?

This kind of oolong incident like this happened from time to time in the Ottoman Empire.Taking the counterfeit breech-loading rifle as an example, Ottoman is even worse than the Russians. On the basis of being stupid, big, thick, and tall, he also adds "advantages" such as frequent jamming and bombing.

"Building is worse than buying" has long been recognized by the military, and Airmode has no confidence in the domestic manufacturing industry.

Everyone doesn't know much about airships. Many people think that this kind of weapon that can fly in the sky is a high-tech product, and it cannot be made by the Ottoman Empire, so let's buy it!

In a way, this decision is completely correct.With the degree of corruption of the Ottoman bureaucracy, they are responsible for the production of airships, if they can't fly, forget it.What I am most afraid of is that it will fall down as soon as it flies up, and it will kill people.

……

In London, the British government is also discussing the issue of airships. No matter how useful they are, Great Britain must have what other people have. This is a matter of principle.

Secretary of the Navy Robert sarcastically said: "The power of airships is spreading wildly outside, and some media are even catching rumors, irresponsibly saying that the era of belonging to the sky has come.

This is complete nonsense.Not to mention that the performance of the airship is not stable enough, even if it flies into the sky, is there nothing we can do?

Is it difficult to design a artillery for air attack?At that time, the airship built at a high cost will be a living target in the sky, and there will be no shelter if you want to avoid it. "

What a joke, the age of sea power has only begun for a few years, and the Royal Navy has not enjoyed enough glory. How could it be possible for the era of "air supremacy" to come?

The talk of a living target may be an exaggeration, but airships are certainly not invulnerable.Moreover, the cost of airships is still very high, far exceeding that of army equipment, and is about to catch up with naval warships.

Secretary of the Army Fox echoed: "Yes, the power of the airship is indeed not as great as the outside world said, but it still has a certain value in the military.

Especially in land warfare, this kind of overhead threat has too much impact on the morale of the army. The Ministry of War proposed to add an army airship unit to defend Britain's airspace. "

Secretary of the Navy Robert immediately retorted: "To protect the safety of Britain, leave it to our navy. As long as the Royal Navy is here, the enemy cannot come over.

Only when the airship troops are placed under the flag of the navy and used to deter overseas enemies can they exert the greatest effect. "

……

The dispute between the two sounds a bit awkward.It is obviously full of contradictions to belittle the role of the airship in the front, and then want to include the airship troops in the back.

However, Prime Minister Gerston didn't bother to care about it, it was nothing more than the need for political struggle.The army and the navy first teamed up to defeat the status of the airship unit, but they also wanted to take it under their own command and increase their say in the battle for military expenditure.

Gerston waved his hand: "You two, the time for the annual budget has not yet come, so don't be so anxious to quarrel. If you are interested in the airship unit, go back and do it yourself!"

This is allowed. The military expenditures of the army and navy are all at their own disposal, as long as they can pass the review of Congress.It is legal to tamper with the army aviation airship fleet and the sea aviation airship fleet.

Everyone can hear the implication. It is no problem to have an airship army. If you want the government to increase military spending, then you can't, at least not now.

Prime Minister Gerston is not a military novice. He knows very well that the airship force cannot be established in a day. At least it will take time to develop and manufacture the airship.

The Austrian airship force has existed for more than ten years, but it has a relatively low sense of presence and no outstanding record, so it has been ignored by everyone.

Even if the Vienna government doesn't pay much attention to it, after so many years of development, airship manufacturing has come a long way.It will take a few years for Britain to catch up.

Prime Minister Gerston does not believe that the transition from civilian airships to military airships can be completed in a few days.Moreover, there are very few civilian airships in Britain.

There are no airships, so what to use to form an airship force?At this time, special military allocations are increased, that is, meat buns beat dogs.The army and navy have done such things as defrauding military expenditures.

Especially the navy, which is the best among them. The news of instigating an arms race with the French and Austrian navies and defrauding military expenditures has spread throughout the European continent.

Since the window paper was pierced, there has been no arms race among Britain, France and Austria for so many years.Who wants to advocate the "two-strong standard" again, everyone's first reaction is "here comes the military cheat again."

Facts once again prove that as long as John Bull does not engage in trouble, international conflicts will be much less.If the British Parliament does not increase military expenditures for the navy, the arms race will naturally cease.

France and Austria are just unwilling to accept the "two-power standard", but it does not mean that the two countries are ready to catch up with the Royal Navy. The gap in financial resources is still obvious.

France+Austria>Britain>Austria>France, this financial equation relationship is still very clear to everyone.

There is no war in Britain in a short period of time, so why bother?After a few months, the arsenal should also design the military airship, and it will not be too late to discuss the formation of an airship force.

If you can't get it out, you can buy it directly from Austria, or exchange technology.There is no such thing as technology blockade these days, as long as you spend money, you can buy any technology.

Prime Minister Gerston is in no rush. It is the Irish problem that is giving him a headache.Britain is a big colonial power, what if it gives Ireland the status of self-government, and the overseas colonies follow suit?

On this issue, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party have been arguing for many years, and it has continued until now, and there is still no result.

This is a problem of positioning. From the very beginning, the London government defined Ireland as a colony rather than a native country, which caused this series of problems.

The bourgeoisie should bear most of the responsibility for this. They have not been able to integrate the Irish for so many years. The most important thing is that the capitalists want cheap labor and refuse to treat the island of Ireland as a native land.

Including the Great Irish Famine from 1845 to 1852, man-made disasters outweighed natural disasters.After the famine broke out, the London government not only did not mobilize food relief.

Instead, capitalists and big landlords were allowed to drive up the prices of local agricultural products. In just seven years, the local population of Ireland dropped by a quarter, and the seeds of division were planted.

Since then, the Irish have fought for independence and self-government every now and then.National integration, don't dream, the two sides simply can't pee in a gourd.

Prime Minister Gerston has a pursuit, and wants to completely solve the Irish problem and pull out this hidden danger for Britain.

In his view, this issue is much more important than the Near East War.When the British Empire was strong, the Irish question could be suppressed.Once Britain falls, this hidden danger threatens the security of Britain.

The British Isles are self-contained, which is based on the mutual recognition and unity of everyone. If someone leads the way, the mainland of Britain will not be so safe.

……

In Paris, the French government no longer cared about the issue of airships, and they didn't even have the time to pay attention to the Near East War.

In the Palace of Versailles, Napoleon III has come to the end of his life, and the high-level government officials are all gathered together, waiting for the emperor to die, not to listen to the emperor's teachings.

As his death was approaching, Napoleon III naturally had to arrange his funeral.Crown Prince Eugene was 18 years old, about the same age as Franz's succession to the throne. Napoleon III believed that his son could handle government affairs well, so there was no need for a regent.

After arranging the posterity and dismissing the others, only Crown Prince Eugene was left in the room.Napoleon III held his son's hand, and the father and son looked at each other.

"Eugène, the empire will be handed over to you. France is not as stable as it appears on the surface, and the internal undercurrent has never stopped.

Remember to be vigilant at all times. Paris has not been stable since the Great Revolution, and new ideas among the people are too active.It's like a powder keg, a little spark might explode.

What France needs now is to lay a solid foundation and try to avoid wars with European countries before completely digesting the Italian region.Even if we really want to fight, we cannot initiate the war on our own initiative.

European countries are very vigilant against us. Annexing the Italian region is the final bottom line of all countries, and one step further is the abyss of hell.

And... be careful... Ying... O..."

Before he could finish his words, Napoleon III died.It might be a good thing for him to leave at this time.Compared with the sad ending of the original time and space, Napoleon III is now an unprecedented success.

Economically, France's industry and commerce developed rapidly in the era of Napoleon III, and it was the second country among the great powers to complete industrialization.He also made Paris successfully get rid of the "stinky" word series, and since then only "stinky London" is left in Europe.

Politically, Napoleon III broke the shackles imposed on France by various countries after the Anti-French War, and completed the great revival of France.Annexed the Italian region and satisfied the people's dream of a great country.

Diplomatically, the Triple Alliance of Britain, France and Austria was established, which established France's status as a major power in the world and got rid of the situation of being isolated.

In the military, no matter if you don't mention it, there is no meritorious achievement.Fortunately, no achievements have been made in this regard, otherwise it is unknown whether the French Empire is still in existence.

Crown Prince Eugene, who was already in tears, suppressed the grief in his heart, and gently put down Napoleon III's hand.Call everyone in to discuss the aftermath.