Chapter 435 Air Transportation Line
Late night on March 23, Paris, France, Elysee Palace. Although it was almost midnight, the Elysee Palace was still brightly lit at this time. The cabinet members and military chiefs cheered up and stood on both sides of the conference table with solemn faces. No one dared to show the slightest impatience.
The reason is very simple, because their boss, His Majesty the Emperor of the French Empire is frowning, scanning the crowd back and forth with a hint of anger.
"Gentlemen, this is the eighth distress telegram sent back by the 3rd Army in the past 4 days. It seems that the situation in Kotka is indeed very bad. Now, my soldiers are short of clothing and medicine Fighting the despicable Swedes and shameful traitors, blood is shed every moment. As the important ministers of the Empire, you have the duty and responsibility to come up with the rescue of the 3rd Legion and our loyal allies to solve this crisis way." Xiao Jie said with a serious face. Only now did he realize that he had completely underestimated the severity of the battle. On the plains of Eastern Europe, the French soldiers of several legions made slow progress under the strong resistance of the three Eastern European countries. In the Gulf of Finland, the 3rd Army and the Polish Army were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people from each other, and they might run out of ammunition and food at any time. On the Western Front, the situation is also not optimistic. The French navy and those of the Kalmar Union continued to tremble in the Kattegat and Skagerrak. The cunning Kalmar Alliance Navy did not confront the French Navy at all, but scattered across the vast sea, fleeing desperately when encountering the French Navy, and specialized in attacking the French transport fleet. This made it difficult for the French army to clear the entire strait and land.
"Your Majesty, let my troops join the battle. I am sure that I will arrive in Moscow within a month." General Thomas, the commander of the 89th Army Corps, asked for orders. Now, in the entire French army, only the 88th Army, the Iberian 1st Army and his 89th Army are still on standby.
"No. The mission of the 89th Army Corps is to serve as the main force of the Western Route Army and land in Sweden. I will not agree to send the 89th Army Corps to Eastern Europe to participate in the war unless it is absolutely necessary." Xiao Jie flatly refused.
Seeing that Xiao Jie did not agree, Thomas had no choice but to sit back in his seat.
"On the entire battlefield in Eastern Europe, we have 5 legions, plus the Polish army loyal to us, a total of more than 600,000 troops. I think this is enough to end the war in Eastern Europe. As for the victory, it is nothing more than It's just a matter of time," Du Geer said. His words resonated with most generals. Indeed, with these troops, France is fully capable of suppressing rebellions in Eastern Europe, and the problems it is encountering now are only temporary.
"But how should we solve the plight of the 3rd Army? Should we send them some reinforcements?" Xiao Jie asked.
"I don't think it is necessary at all. The 3rd Army plus the Polish army has a total of more than 200,000 people. With these troops, it is not a problem for our army to resist the attack of more than 400,000 Swedish and Eastern European troops. Difficult thing. Even in the later stage, it is not impossible to turn defeat into victory." Eck said, "Currently, the main problem facing the 3rd Army is the lack of ammunition. As long as we can guarantee sufficient ammunition supply for them, I have reason I believe they can defeat the enemy. As for food, they can raise part of it on the spot."
"Minister Luo Di, can your General Logistics Department guarantee a sufficient supply of ammunition for the 3rd Army?" Xiao Jie asked.
"Before, the logistics and strategic materials of the 3rd Army, including the entire Eastern Allied Forces, were hoarded in St. Petersburg, and the betrayal of the three Eastern European countries caused us to lose a lot of combat materials. But this is not the biggest problem. Without materials, it will take a few days. , we can raise another batch at home. But the problem is that even if we have supplies, the road to Kotka has been cut off by the rebels, and there is no way for our supplies to be transported to Kotka.” Luo Di said with a bitter face.
"It can't be done on land, so how about we transport it by sea? At this time, the Gulf of Finland should also be thawed." Xiao Jie thought for a while and said.
"However, the northern part of the Baltic Sea is basically under the control of the Kalmar Alliance Navy. Unless we send a large number of warships to **** the convoy, we are not sure that we can safely deliver the war supplies to Kotka," Roddy proposed. the problems he faced.
"Marshal Boult, how many warships can the Navy deploy to **** the convoy?" Xiao Jie asked.
Bult thought for a while, and then replied: "Currently, the navy can mobilize up to 10 to 15 warships, most of which are 'Dolphin' class and 'Bayonet' class destroyers, and only a small number of 'Light Cavalry' class cruisers."
"At this point, isn't it too weak to be the **** mission of the transport fleet?" Xiao Jie frowned and said. Although the most advanced warships of the Kalmar Alliance's navy are far behind the French "Dolphin" class destroyers. But there are so many people! As the saying goes, "Many ants kill elephants", and there are still a large number of transport ships without attack power, which will greatly hinder the display of the strength of naval warships.
Xiao Jie nodded. The importance of the Azores is self-evident to France, and it is directly related to the future decisive battles with the US and Canadian navies, which cannot be ignored. At this time, it really shouldn't be drawn from here. However, the more than 200,000 people in the 3rd Army and the Polish Army are also very important.
"Your Majesty, why don't we temporarily give up competing with the Kalmar Union Navy for control of the Kattegat Strait and Skagerrak Strait, and devote our limited forces to escorting the transport fleet, and solve the problems faced by the Third Army?" Difficulties, and then turn around and deal with the Kalmar Alliance Navy." Bult suggested.
Xiao Jie thought for a while, this is a good way to solve the current problem. "Okay then, let's do it halfway according to Marshal Boult's proposal." Xiao Jie said.
"Your Majesty, we still have a problem. Even if we deploy the fleet to the Baltic Sea now, it may take a lot of time, and it will take a certain amount of time for us to raise supplies, and it will also take a certain amount of time to transport them to Kotka. Roughly Calculated, it will take at least 20 days for our supplies to be transported to Kotka. Marshal Lance and the others seem to be able to last for at most half a month." Roddy said suddenly.
Everyone just thought about how to safely transport supplies to Kotka, but forgot the most critical point. That is to say, whether the 3rd Army can last until the moment when the supplies arrive.
There was silence in the meeting room, and the joy and excitement that had been obtained because of the solution disappeared at this moment.
"Your Majesty, maybe my troops can solve this problem." Suddenly, a person said loudly. When everyone looked up, it turned out to be General Baldesius, commander of the Air Force.
Xiao Jie was also taken aback, but then he figured it out. That's right, it can't be delivered on land, and it can't be delivered on time by sea, so what about in the sky? There's no way the other party can stop it.
"General Baldesius, tell me your proposal." Xiao Jie said appreciatively.
"Okay, Your Majesty. The only Chinese troops trapped in Kotka are the French 3rd Army and our ally, the Polish Army. There are only about 200,000 people in total. Every day, these 200,000 people need to consume about 200 tons of supplies. Of course, the ammunition is not counted. In this way, our air force can fully build an air transport line. And if the weather permits, it will take up to 4 days for the air force to travel from the north of our country to Kotka. Therefore, we only need to mobilize 50 ships The large transport airships, 50 medium-sized transport airships, and the 50 small airships that have been escorted can fully meet the consumption of the 3rd Army and the Polish army." Baldesius said.
"Great~www.mtlnovel.com~ In this way, the crisis of the Third Army will be resolved, and we can even win the Battle of Kotka." Dugor said excitedly.
"Your Majesty, is the navy still preparing to transport supplies for Kotka?" Bult asked.
"Of course, the cost of transporting by airship is really too high. This time, we did it out of necessity. Therefore, the navy's transport fleet also began to prepare. Once the navy transports the combat supplies to Kurt If it is stuck, then the air force can stop the transportation." Xiao Jie said.
Burt nodded and said nothing more.
"Your Majesty, I have another proposal. In the future, when our army successfully lands in Sweden, our combat supplies will also need to be transported from the country to the front line. I think we should make preparations early to avoid being in a hurry." Roddy suggested road.
"Oh? Do you have any good suggestions?" Xiao Jie asked.
"I think we can build some material transfer stations first, and stockpile combat materials at these material transfer stations. When it is needed, we can directly transport the combat materials from these transfer stations to the front line." Roddy said.