Just as they emerged from the desert and reached the city of Luxor, the Eighth Division of the uprising army had not yet had a chance to launch an attack when they were met by the surging waters of the Nile. Fortunately, they were far enough from the Aswan Dam that the floodwaters had already dispersed in all directions. Although the water level downstream had risen, it had not reached the point of submerging the city. Gazing at the ceaseless flow of the Nile, Lieutenant Colonel Hutier sighed: “Order the troops to camp here and rest for a day. Send out scouts to quickly find out what happened upstream.” Although he did not know the exact details, Hutier was certain that it was related to General Jarrett. Falkenhayn remarked, “From the water level, it’s clear that the uprising army must have destroyed the Aswan Dam. The only question is how much damage they inflicted. If they managed to deal a heavy blow to the French forces, then our secret infiltration here is not just about feigning an attack on Luxor.” Everyone present was an elite of the Austrian army, and battlefield changes did not escape their eyes. Originally, the uprising army’s headquarters had ordered the Eighth Division to infiltrate in secret, stage an attack on Luxor, and draw the French main force back in order to buy time for the uprising army. But calling it an infiltration was somewhat misleading. After all, an army of nearly ten thousand could not possibly erase all traces of its movements. At first, Hutier and his men had braced themselves for an ambush by the French and had proceeded with extreme caution, even taking a detour through the desert. However, it turned out they had completely overthought the situation. The French hadn’t even taken them seriously. Which made sense, really. Egypt was still full of tribes, and although battles involving thousands of people were rare, they weren’t unheard of. The Eighth Division was a ragtag force to begin with. Their march was chaotic, and they didn’t even have standardized uniforms. They looked more like civilians than soldiers. By the time they arrived at the gates of Luxor, the French still hadn’t reacted. If the march hadn’t exhausted them, Hutier would have taken the opportunity to launch an assault on the city. Of course, that was just wishful thinking. The Eighth Division wasn’t even a proper fighting force. If he were to give the order to attack now, there was no telling what this unruly mob might do. Stern-faced, Straussenburg said, “Given the current situation, we may have underestimated Jarrett. He is not as much of an idiot as he seems on the surface. Luxor is strategically crucial because it is located in the middle of the Nile. The French rely on this city as a key transit point for their logistics and supplies. If we launch an attack, they will have no choice but to rush back and defend it. If the battle in Aswan does not go well, we will just be bait. Our role will be to draw French fire and buy time for the uprising army’s main force to retreat. But if the flood has worked in our favor and the uprising army has won, then we will be positioned right in the path of the French retreat. A full-strength French army is beyond our ability to stop. A defeated one, however, is a different story. We may not be able to wipe them out entirely, but we can certainly harass and pick off stragglers. If we hold them here long enough, we might even trap a significant portion of their forces.” Having just stepped onto the battlefield, these young officers had been taught a lesson by the very “useless fool” they had looked down upon. The blow to their confidence was not insignificant. The atmosphere inside the tent grew tense. The older and more experienced Hutier was the first to react: “Enough. No need for pointless speculation. We were sent here to learn from our mistakes. These are things you can’t pick up in a classroom. If you don’t experience them firsthand, you’ll never truly take them seriously. Whatever Jarrett’s plan may be, the final decisions are still ours to make. Whether we follow the plan or not depends on whether it aligns with our mission.” There was no need for consolation. Soldiers were not so fragile. If they couldn’t handle a setback like this, they might as well go home now. Those without mental resilience had no place in the military. After regaining his composure, Major Potiorek chuckled: “The lieutenant colonel is right. We are here to learn. If a British lieutenant general could be so easily seen through by us, then the world would be far too simple. By the way, have any of you noticed that something seems off about Luxor? It’s said the garrison there has two regiments, one of which is entirely French. Yet they didn’t send troops to harass us while we were still vulnerable.” Now that he mentioned it, the others quickly caught on. The city’s garrison was said to consist of two defense regiments, totaling over four thousand men. One of these regiments was entirely composed of French soldiers. Given their numbers, they should have seized the opportunity to attack before the uprising army had time to establish itself. Yet the French had remained holed up in the city, doing nothing. Surely, it wasn’t because they were pacifists who couldn’t bear to shed blood? If the enemy refuses to seize an easy victory, then either the city’s commanding officer is a fool, or the garrison inside Luxor is too weak to risk fighting in the open. Falkenhayn said, “It’s very likely that when Adolphe passed through, he took the city’s garrison with him. If that’s the case, Luxor is nothing more than an empty city now. Tomorrow, we can probe their defenses. If it really is an empty city, we’ll seize it and cut off the French supply lines.” Why wait until tomorrow instead of attacking today? The answer wasn’t as simple as bad morale though that played a part. The truth was that the Eighth Division was made up of undisciplined troops. Hutier and his officers had taken command too recently to fully transform them. The fact that they could even enforce basic discipline was already a remarkable achievement. Expecting them to fight while exhausted was out of the question. That much had been proven during the march. Any increase in marching intensity led to desertions. The army’s combat effectiveness was questionable at best. Their only real advantage was sheer numbers. If they lost even that, what intimidation factor would they have left? After all, they weren’t here to conquer Egypt with just this force. That was impossible. Instead, they needed to expand the “uprising army.” Drawing from classic Eastern rebellion tactics they had studied, they all agreed that the most effective method was to become roving bandits. Sweeping across the land with hundreds of thousands of people, consuming everything in their path, and leaving devastation behind would cause far more destruction than simple looting and pillaging. The more people they had, the greater their power. With so many bodies to cover them, escaping and blending into the chaos would always be an option if things went south. The Eighth Division might have been a ragtag force, but they were seeds of future bandit leaders. Every soldier here had the potential to become a gang leader in their own right, so they could not be wasted lightly. … In the city of Luxor, the elderly Mayor Olai was currently cursing Governor Adolphe’s entire family, completely forgetting that he had been the one who insisted on sending the garrison away in the first place to claim some undeserved credit. Now that the enemy was at the gates and the city’s defenders were nowhere to be found, the elites of Luxor were in a state of panic. The rebel army’s blades do not discriminate. If Luxor fell, every high-ranking figure in the city would suffer the same fate and there would be no exceptions. Wealthy individuals whose roots weren’t deeply tied to the city had already begun fleeing. As long as they had a horse, the rebels outside, traveling on foot, would likely be unable to catch them. With the army gone, the burden of defense fell on the police. Police Chief Anthony reported, “Mr. Mayor, we have already issued a public notice to recruit able-bodied men for the city’s defense. However, this is far from enough. The rebels outside number an entire division. With our current strength, we won’t be able to hold out for long.” Although Luxor was a colonial city, it was also deep in the interior. The French had controlled it for over a decade, and peace had long been established. As a result, the city’s combat readiness had severely declined. The once-fierce colonial militias had gradually turned into business owners, focusing on legitimate enterprises. At most, they maintained a few dozen hired enforcers to guard their properties. The days of large, well-armed militias numbering in the hundreds or thousands were long gone. This was still Egyptian land, after all. Unsurprisingly, the majority of Luxor’s population consisted of Egyptians, while the number of actual French settlers barely reached a few hundred. In normal times, Luxor’s garrison consisted of only a single battalion. The two regiments currently stationed there had been hastily assembled only after the rebels began their rampage. Pulling together such a force once was difficult enough so doing it again would be unsustainable. Now, with the city recruiting able-bodied men for its defense, most of the recruits were Egyptians, while the number of Frenchmen remained very limited. As colonial rulers, the French now faced a dual threat. Not only did they have to defend the city from external attack, but they also had to guard against potential collusion between the Egyptian populace inside and the rebels outside. The elderly Mayor Olai rubbed his forehead and said, “I’ve already sent a telegram requesting reinforcements. There may have been a change in the situation at the front, as Governor Adolphe has not yet responded. But don’t worry, I’ve also sent calls for aid to the cities of Qena, Girga, and Akhmim. Reinforcements should arrive within a week at the latest.” One week was the most optimistic estimate. With the governor out of contact at the front and no central authority to coordinate, whether these independent cities would actually send troops remained uncertain. Mutual defense was ideal in theory, but self-preservation came first, especially for bureaucrats, who were masters of looking out for their own interests. Qena, the nearest city, was less than 100 kilometers away and also at risk of a rebel attack. The forces that could have arrived the fastest would likely wait until reinforcements from farther cities arrived to secure their own safety before committing any troops to Luxor. As the officials continued planning their military defense, a telegraph operator suddenly burst into the room saying, “Mr. Mayor, we have an urgent telegram from Esna!” Mayor Olai frowned, suppressing his irritation as he took the message. The moment he read it, his face turned pale, and his body seemed to lose all its strength. Anthony reacted quickly, catching the elderly mayor before he collapsed and guiding him into a chair. He then called to the attendants, “Fetch a doctor immediately!” Catching his breath, Olai weakly waved his hand and said, “No need, I’m fine. I was just startled by bad news from the front. I only need a moment to recover.” The room grew tense. The rebels were already at the gates, yet Olai had only furrowed his brow, showing no real panic. But now, a single message had left the experienced mayor utterly shaken. This had to be something far worse than they had expected. Police Chief Anthony immediately asked, “Mr. Mayor, what happened?” *** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
[Previous | Table of Contents | Next]
Thanks for the bonus chapters ^^
ReplyDelete