The diplomatic protests raised by Jacob were actually just an angry word. France could not afford to lose this person to ask for help from the international community.

If you cannot win on the battlefield, and hope to interfere with the international community is the behavior of the weak and does not conform to France's status as a great power.

Of course, the most important thing is that protest is useless. The four referees on the European continent fought each other in pairs. They couldn't expect a group of small countries acting as cheerleaders to interfere, right?

Since it is a war, there will inevitably be casualties. The civilians in France are suffering a lot, and the civilians on the anti-French alliance are also extremely scarce.

Especially in the already occupied Belgium and Rhineland areas, although there are no specific statistics, it is still possible to determine that civilian casualties are above five digits.

Now is the peak period of the colonial empire, and it is also the peak period of racial discrimination. Not all ethnic groups have human rights.

It would be fine if this lid was not opened. If it was really opened, the final outcome would be "killing one thousand to kill three hundred enemies."

If the operation is not good and European countries mistakenly think that France is not good and run to hold Austria's thighs one by one, it will be a big trouble.

The anti-French alliance is already difficult to deal with. If the Austrians are allowed to fool a few of their allies, there will be no need to fight the battles that follow.

In fact, the biggest threat the Austrian Air Force brought to the French army was not direct killing on the battlefield.

No matter whether it is bombing an airship or strafing a plane, it depends on luck to achieve any results.

When you are lucky, a wave of air strikes can cause thousands of injuries; when you are unlucky, the results of the battle are not enough.

Compared with the direct results achieved by the Austrian Air Force on the battlefield, what Governor Jacob is more worried about is the influence of military morale.

After a series of blows, the French army's arrogance was gradually exhausted, and more and more people lost confidence in the subsequent war.

Good fortune never comes in singular misfortune, just when Governor Jacob was worried about the Austrian Air Force.

A burly young officer ran in from outside and said breathlessly: "Governor...God, big things are not good!"

Governor Jacob felt nervous. Just looking at the young officer's nervous expression, he knew something was going to happen.

Having seen strong winds and waves, Jacob quickly adjusted and said as if nothing had happened: "Oren, say slowly. Before the sky fell, where did the enemy bombard it?"

Compared with other bad news on the battlefield, Governor Jacob still hopes that the bad news will be the enemy's air force bombing.

After so many years of airships entering the military field, Austria was the first to invest airships in the military field. Although the French were arrogant, they were not stupid. It was impossible for them to be unprepared for such an enemy.

When establishing a material warehouse, Governor Jacob considered the threat from heaven early on. This was also the reason why the French army suffered heavy casualties after losing air superiority.

The young officer of Oren shook his head quickly: "It's not an air strike! The enemy has once again tore through our eastern defense line, and the Aswan area is in danger."

When Governor Jacob heard the word "again", he felt only tooth pain. There was no way. From the outbreak of the war to the present, the defense line deployed by the French army in the Sudan area has been broken three times.

Fortunately, the colony was large enough that the French army had the opportunity to re-arrange the defense line in the rear. Unfortunately, the colonial army was always useless and could not last for a few days for each defense line.

In Jacob's view, it is better to say that the French army on the front line are resisting the invasion of the Austrian army than to say that they are harsh geographical conditions and poor traffic environment, which are delaying the speed of the enemy's advance.

"Order Lieutenant General Parker to gather the defeated troops on the front line and build a new line of defense in the Aswan area.

Ordered the 17th Division and the 24th Division to go to reinforce immediately.

Order the defenders in Kom Umbu, Idfu and other areas to prepare for combat..."

A series of orders were issued, and it was obvious that Governor Jacob had no hope for the French army on the front. Active defense was just to gain time, not to expect them to be able to block the enemy.

Otherwise, it would be to concentrate efforts to build a line of defense to block the enemy's troops, rather than prepare for war in different regions and resist step by step, and exchange space for time.

There is no best tactic in this world, only the most suitable tactics.

According to the Paris government's plan, the task of the African colonial government is to stick to it, delay time, and wait for the French army to win victory on the continent.

There is no doubt that Governor Jacob was strictly implementing this plan. In addition to the early stages of the war, he actively organized several offenses, and then entered a full-scale defensive state.

However, the plan did not change quickly, the European War was in a deadlock, the French army was unable to break through the Rhine defense line, and the situation in Egypt became worse.

...

The Aswan area has now become a battlefield. The sound of artillery fire and the shouts of killing are intertwined, resounding throughout the sky.

After putting down the telescope in his hand, Major General Hetsendorf showed a satisfied smile. After laughing, he felt deeply sad.

There is no doubt that the increasing role of the Air Force on the battlefield is also an impact on the Army.

Although the Army cannot shake the dominance of the Army now, the Air Force is developing rapidly. If nothing unexpected happens, the domestic investment in the Air Force will definitely increase after the war.

If the Air Force was just growing, Major General Hetsendorf was still worried. After all, the Air Force was just starting out, and no matter how it developed, it would not be possible to go along with the Army in a short period of time.

The problem is that Austria has a large navy, and the current international situation is already very obvious. After the war, the Vienna government will definitely increase its investment in the navy and compete with the British for maritime hegemony.

In contrast, the army is much more difficult. Everyone knows that Austria cannot maintain five or six million troops for a long time, and it is imperative to disarmament once the war is over.

The navy cannot be laid off, and the air force is limited in size. Even if it is dismissed, the airship troops will be directly transferred to logistics transportation as usual. The only ones who are actually laid off are the Army.

With each increase and decrease, the army's advantage is offset. In the future, Austria's military structure will be checks and balances between the army, navy and air force, and it will no longer be the only one in the army.

This is what the Vienna government wants to see most. In the past decade, the rapid development of the navy has been made. The government has made great efforts to break away from the army and become an independent army.

Of course, the emperor's acquiescence is indispensable behind this. The core of the political game is the checks and balances of power, and the emperor does not want his subordinates to be together.

As an army general, I naturally don’t want to see all this happen. Even if Austria has a big family and its military funds are limited, the rise of the navy and the air force will inevitably divide the army’s resources.

It’s useless to know, this is originally a conspiracy. From the day the Austrian Air Force was established, a new pattern was already destined.

Logically speaking, Major General Hetsendorf should not be known.

After all, the matter has not happened yet. The government just intentionally promoted it. No one has raised it in any place, let alone implemented it. From the beginning to the end, no news flowed out.

However, there is never a shortage of smart people in this world. Major General Hutsendorf is one of them, and he draws the conclusion from some clues.

Sometimes knowing too much is also a worry. Major General Hutsendorf is like this now. He originally didn't believe that the Air Force could grow, but after witnessing the Air Force's battle, he had to accept reality.

The performance of aircraft is still limited now, and bombing depends on airships, but the technology has been updated quickly these days!

Soon Hutsendorf gave up the messy thoughts in his mind. The tall man was holding on to the first step when the sky fell. There were so many big bosses in the army's senior management, and it was not his turn, the major general, to worry about it in the future.

In any case, Austria's geographical location determines that the land power must be developed, and no matter how it belongs to the army, it must be missing.

After all, the cake is getting bigger and bigger, even if there are more people sharing it, each person still gets more than before.

After looking at the watch, Major General Hezendoff ordered the officers near the front, "Send the order, half an hour later, the 225th Division launched an attack from the front, the 236th Division launched an attack from the right wing, and the 241st Division..."

It is impossible for a major general to command more than 20 infantry divisions to fight under normal circumstances. According to the organization of the Austrian army, officers at the division level are basically major generals.

Those who are qualified to command more than 300,000 troops to fight will at least be the general.

However, these so-called conventions were all broken after the great expansion of the army.

Including the colonial forces, the Austrian Army suddenly expanded from more than 500,000 before the war to more than 6 million.

Since the military reform was completed, Austria's military rank has become more precious, especially the number of generals has been controlled with extreme strict control.

Before the war broke out, the army, including retired generals, had less than 700 people. The troops suddenly expanded by more than ten times, so naturally Franz could not produce so many generals.

Without military achievements, the general's threshold is difficult to cross, but there are many school-level officers reserved. If the general is not enough, he will use the colonel to make up the numbers, and even the division commanders of some troops are under-equipped to the lieutenant colonel.

It is a war era. If we don’t control it, we will not fly all over the sky after the war.

In order to avoid the situation where the general is more embarrassed than the soldiers, Franz decisively took measures to lower the title and high the allocation. Anyway, after a few battles, he caught up with the military achievements.

Against this background, it is not surprising that a major general army commander like Hetsendorf appeared.

...

As the Battle of Aswan began, letters of request for help were continuously flying from Cairo to Paris. At most, Napoleon IV could receive three telegrams from the Egyptian Governor in a day.

Not only Egypt, but also other parts of Africa, there are still constant telegrams for help. Even though the Paris government has decided to temporarily abandon large areas of colonies, it has not been able to reverse the adverse situation on the battlefield.

The retreat of the colonial government is not a simple task. Not only is the government agency relocated, but a large number of people also need to leave.

Others can be abandoned, but the soldiers’ families can’t throw them away too, right?

If the soldiers' families were thrown to Austria, there would be no need to fight the battles behind them.

In order to cover the retreat of government agencies and soldiers' families, the French army on the front still had to continue to stand. Therefore, the reinforcements promised to the Egyptian Governor only existed in theory.

Whether it can be in place in the end depends on how many troops the front line has withdrawn. After confirming that the security of the Algerian region can be guaranteed, Egypt will be given the turn of surplus troops.

Don’t look at the African battlefield that doesn’t seem to be very important, and it won’t affect the final outcome of the Continental War, and the French government doesn’t pay much attention to it.

On the contrary, the African colonies provided France with one-third of industrial raw materials and one-fifth of agricultural products, which was of great strategic significance to France.

From the very beginning, the French government attached great importance to the African continent. However, their strength in Africa was limited and their local areas was facing two-line battles, and they were unable to invest a large amount of troops into the African colonies in a short period of time.

Forced by helplessness, the Paris government deliberately acted indifferent, making the outside world think that they did not value Africa, rather than France's failure to beat Austria in Africa.

There is no way, this is politics. The complex international situation determines that France must remain strong. Anyone who shows a trace of fatigue may trigger a chain reaction.

Faced with the deteriorating situation in Africa, Napoleon IV finally couldn't sit still. The Rhine defense line had not yet been broken, and if Africa fell first, it would be a big fun.

Not to mention the losses caused to France by the fall of French Africa. From a strategic perspective, once French Africa falls, Austria will almost unify the entire African continent.

At that time, even if the French army conquered Vienna, the war would continue. There was no way, the capital was too strong, and I really couldn't find a reason to admit defeat.

Even if it fails on the battlefield, Austria can continue to consume resources and drag France to death.

As the precedent of the Prussian-Russian War, Napoleon IV had to consider the terrifying consequences of the fall of French Africa.

"The situation in Africa is completely collapsed, what should the Army Department do?"

Army Secretary Luskinia blushed and replied a little embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, our disadvantage on the African continent is too obvious. Even if we send reinforcements from the country, it will be difficult to reverse the situation.

At present, we can only carry out strategic contraction and concentrate our forces to protect the most important Egypt and Algeria, and other regions can only give up temporarily."
To be continued...