Chapter 433: War-ridden Europe
Kotka is a small coastal city on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. However, with the outbreak of war, the tranquility here was broken. The French Eastern Front cluster departs from St. Petersburg and heads west along the Gulf of Finland. On the first day of the war alone, the Swedish army's defense line on the border was broken through. By the afternoon of March 19, the Eastern Front Group had reached Kotka, only about 100 kilometers away from their first target, Helsinki. During two days of fighting, they defeated more than 100,000 Swedish troops. Of course, these were achieved by the armies of the three Eastern European countries at the forefront, while the French 3rd Army and the Polish army followed behind them.
After the occupation of Kotka, the commander of the Eastern Front Group, Marshal Lanz, the commander of the French 3rd Army, ordered the French 3rd Army and the Polish army to enter the city, while the troops of the three Eastern European countries were stationed 20 kilometers west of Kotka. place, to continue to maintain pressure on the Swedish army.
However, something happened beyond everyone's expectations. When the French 3rd Army and the Polish army entered Kotka, they had not had time to start defending. Nearly 300,000 troops from the three Eastern European countries rushed to the city like a tide. Beside them, there were more than 100,000 Swedish troops that were defeated yesterday. In an instant, Lance realized that what he was worried about had finally happened. The three Eastern European countries allied with Sweden and rebelled against France.
At this time, Lanshi did not panic, and while ordering the soldiers to prepare for defense, he sent the news back to Paris. At this time, the enemy's offensive began, and hundreds of thousands of people attacked Kotka's low city wall one after another. Fortunately, their combat effectiveness is much worse than that of the French 3rd Army, and their weapons are also much worse. After paying a certain price, the French 3rd Army finally repelled the enemy's attack.
After repelling the enemy's attack, someone suggested that Lanshi break out, but he refused. Now that the three Eastern European countries have betrayed France, their retreat must have been blocked. Perhaps after doing their best, they can break through the encirclement, but such a loss must be unbearable for the French 3rd Army. Now is the time for the war to start. If the losses are too large, they will definitely be withdrawn to rest. That would be a great pity for militants like them. Therefore, Lanshi issued an order to stand by and wait for help. Lanz believed that the French 3rd Army and the Polish Army combined had more than 200,000 people. Although the enemy has twice as many troops as their own, it is basically impossible for them to occupy Kotka. After investigation, the dry food and ammunition carried by the French 3rd Army and the Polish army were enough for them to use for nearly half a month. Lanshi firmly believed that the reinforcements would arrive within half a month. After all, the French 3rd Army is a regular French army, and those bigwigs in the staff department must not want to see a record of the annihilation of an entire army.
After the news of the rebellion of the three Eastern European countries reached Paris, it immediately caused a shock in the French high-level. The French media, with the support of the government, criticized this shameless act of the three Eastern European countries one after another, directing the people's anger to attack the three Eastern European countries. Under such circumstances, the people demanded that the empire send troops to eliminate these rebels.
On the afternoon of February 20, in order to deal with the current crisis, Xiao Jie summoned military and political officials and held an emergency meeting. Cabinet members and military dignitaries in Paris attended the meeting.
"Gentlemen, everyone should know what happened by now. The sudden rebellion of the three Eastern European countries disintegrated our long-planned Eastern Front Group, and even the French 3rd Army and our loyal ally, the Polish Army, were surrounded. , The situation is very unfavorable to us. If it is not handled well, it will be a disaster for France. I believe that everyone knows the voice of the people. I have brought you here today to discuss with you how to solve it. The crisis in front of us." Xiao Jie said seriously. He looks a little tired now. Since the news of the rebellion of the three Eastern European countries yesterday, he has been discussing the solution with Dugor and Eke, and he has not rested all night.
"It happened so suddenly. I believe that the three Eastern European countries and Sweden must have colluded for a long time. Otherwise, they would not have cooperated so well, causing the French Third Army to fall into crisis." Prime Minister Forbeck said. Since Cambáceres stepped down as prime minister due to his age, Forbeck has been promoted from deputy prime minister to prime minister.
"I agree with General Thomas' point of view. As far as the previous situation is concerned, the entire three Eastern European countries have only 600,000 troops. And 300,000 troops have been sent to join the Eastern Front Cluster. Then there are only 300,000 people left in the country. And we are in Eastern Europe also deployed the French 2nd Army, the French 4th Army and the Iberian 3rd Army. The three legions have a total strength of more than 300,000 people. If it is not for the hidden strength, I think the three Eastern European countries must be out of their minds Otherwise, I would never dare to rebel at this time." Eke also said.
"What you said is very reasonable. Maybe this is the case. I think we should make preparations for this." Xiao Jie nodded and said.
"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter whether the three countries in Eastern Europe have hidden their forces. What we need to do now is to send troops to support the French 3rd Army. Otherwise, the longer the time drags on, the worse it will be for us," Dugel said.
Xiao Jie nodded, then thought for a while, and said: "Let's do this. Send a report to the French 2nd Army, asking them to march to Moscow and threaten the Russian Federation. Order the French 4th Army, asking them to attack St. Petersburg, for France. The 3rd Army opened the channel to retreat to the south. The 3rd Iberian Army attacked the Kingdom of Russia to the north and wanted them to know how badly they betrayed our country. In addition, the 2nd Iberian Army set out from Bavaria to assist the French 2nd Army in Eastern Europe .The 88th Army and the 1st Iberian Army are on standby and ready to go into battle."
"In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will immediately send special envoys to the Central European countries. Be sure to stabilize them and not let them fall to the enemy's side. The Navy should also strengthen its vigilance to prevent the United States and Canada from taking advantage of the fire. The Western Front Group will operate according to the original plan. Line clusters, we also want to kill Sweden and the Kalmar Alliance." Xiao Jie then ordered.
"Hey! Our military strength still seems a bit insufficient! Your Majesty, should we reconsider appropriate military expansion?" Eck suggested.
Xiao Jie pondered for a moment, now that France's military strength has reached the limit of its national strength, if it expands its military, it will have a very serious impact on economic development. Moreover, although France's military strength is a little empty now, it can still handle it. Besides, the French army has always relied on advanced weapons and strong combat effectiveness to defeat the strong with the weak. Therefore, in the end Xiao Jie still did not accept this suggestion.
At this time, Foreign Minister Gregor suggested: "Your Majesty, I have a suggestion for our country's military strength. We may solve it by forming a European coalition. Although some countries rebelled, there are still many countries that are against our country. They are more loyal. We can ask them to mobilize troops to help us counter the rebellion. At most, we can share some benefits with them after the war.”
Everyone thought about it, and this method is indeed feasible, so the staff department issued the order to recruit troops again to those dependent countries that did not rebel~www.mtlnovel.com~ That night, the order to send troops was issued to the French 2nd and The 4th Army and the 3rd Iberian Army, these three legions had already begun combat preparations when the three Eastern European countries rebelled. So when the order came, they were able to strike quickly.
On March 21, the French 2nd Army set off from Warsaw and marched towards Moscow. The French 4th Army set out from Nizhny Novgorod and marched towards St. Petersburg. The Iberian 3rd Army set out from the Don River area and marched towards Orenburg. However, they were all stopped on the road by the troops of the three Eastern European countries that had been prepared.
Among them, the French 4th Army was intercepted by 50,000 Russian Federal Republic Army and 100,000 Russian Democratic Republic Army in the Kineshma area on March 22. The battle was in a state of anxiety, although the French 4th Army was sure to break through the enemy's interception , but this obviously takes some time. On March 23, the Iberian 3rd Army, which was attacking north, was also intercepted by 150,000 Russian Royal Army in the Saratov area. Similarly, their combat effectiveness is definitely higher than that of the Royal Russian Army, but it also takes time. On March 24, the French 2nd Army, which was marching towards Moscow, was also intercepted by the 200,000 Russian Federation Army who had already been guarding here on the Minsk Heights in the west of Minsk. The two sides are currently evenly matched, and there is no possibility of a breakthrough in a short time. For a time, the full strength of the three Eastern European countries was exposed, which greatly shocked France and other countries.