While the Central European front remained deadlocked, the Egyptian theater had also reached a critical stage. Ever since the Austrian army cast off its political restraints, the Suez Canal, once a natural barrier, had become a thoroughfare. It was no longer an obstacle to the Austrian advance. Once the two sides clashed at close range, the weaknesses of the French forces began to surface. There was no helping it. France’s manpower was limited, and it was simply impossible to deploy endless numbers of regular troops to Egypt. With insufficient elite forces, the French had no choice but to make up the numbers with colonial soldiers. Although they might have looked similar at a glance, their combat effectiveness was vastly different. It had only been a few years since the last Egyptian rebellion, and French rule in the region was far from secure. Watching the Austrians and the French tear into each other, the Egyptian population had little interest in taking sides. If they weren’t being forced at gunpoint, no Egyptian would willingly go to the front lines and become cannon fodder. Inside the Governor’s Palace in Cairo, Governor Jacob stared grimly at the map laid out before him. The brightly colored arrows showed clearly how unfavorable the French strategic situation had become. If not for the strength of the French navy, which still held Egypt’s coastline, they would have already been completely encircled. They were not yet surrounded, but it would not take much longer. With the enemy attacking on three sides, the colonial administration alone could not hope to hold the line. After a long moment, Governor Jacob turned around and asked, “When will reinforcements from the homeland arrive?” Unable to win with the current force, he could only turn to the mainland for help. The entire African front was already a string of French defeats, so asking for aid in Egypt would hardly be seen as shameful. “Governor, the Ministry of War has denied our request for reinforcements. They have instructed us to uphold the fine traditions of the French army and overcome difficulties through resolve...” Before the middle-aged officer could finish, Governor Jacob swept the documents off his desk in a fury and roared, “Enough! I don’t need to hear the rest.” “Those damn bureaucrats must have smashed their brains against some woman’s belly and lost all understanding of basic military principles. Every child in France knows what Egypt means to us. If we let the Austrians take it, they might as well wash their necks and wait to be slaughtered!” … Looking at a map of Eurasia makes it clear that Egypt is not only home to the most important canal in the world, but also the final barrier preventing Austria’s African territories from connecting directly to the mainland. If Egypt were to fall into Austrian hands, it would give rise to a colossal empire, one that would dwarf any previous power in history. At that point, France would be in serious danger. With its vast manpower and resources, Austria could wear down any opponent over time. This much is obvious to anyone with even a basic grasp of military strategy. Naturally, the Ministry of War understood the stakes. Understanding the problem, however, does not mean being able to solve it. The best course of action would of course be to send reinforcements to Egypt, but such an operation is not something to be taken lightly. The enemy is Austria, not a tribal militia. Simply sending more troops will accomplish nothing. Reinforcements must be accompanied by sufficient firepower, otherwise it would just be a long march to slaughter. The stronger the firepower, the greater the logistical demands. France had already committed two million troops to the Central European front, another 1.5 million to the southern front, and still had to supply over a million colonial soldiers across Africa, including those in Egypt. The strain on logistics was already becoming a repeat of the First World War in the original timeline. Even though France in this world was far larger and more resourceful, the allied suppliers that had once propped up the Entente were nowhere to be found. Britain, its only current ally, was certainly not selling off the family jewels to help France this time. Instead, the British were sipping coffee in peace at home, watching a grand spectacle called the Europa Universalis unfold. Naturally, taking advantage of the chaos to profit from the war was also part of the plan. Since the start of the conflict, tariffs between Britain and France had risen by 57%, while exports of strategic goods had doubled. Don’t want to buy? That’s fine. Once you walk out that door, every shop down the road still belongs to me. Make your own choice. After all, there are only a handful of true industrial powers in this world, and monopoly is the name of the game. As the war dragged on, the French government was forced to endure both the high cost of purchasing supplies and a series of issues such as poor product quality and delayed deliveries. If the conflict continued, it wouldn’t be the battlefield that spelled France’s defeat, but its finances and logistics. In order to quickly break through the Rhine defenses, the French government had just decided to send reinforcements to the front lines. Naturally, the troops originally intended for Egypt were no longer available. Seeing that Governor Jacob had finished venting his frustration, the middle-aged officer added, “Governor, the homeland has already decided to scale back our colonial holdings in Africa. There are plans to temporarily abandon regions such as Niger, Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania. Once the colonies are withdrawn, the forces stationed there will fall back and regroup in Algeria. The Ministry of War has stated that, if we need it, twenty infantry divisions can be reassigned here as reinforcements.” Governor Jacob understood the situation in Africa all too well. This so-called temporary withdrawal was little more than a fig leaf. Most of those territories shared a border with Austrian Africa. From the very start of the war, they had been dealt the heaviest blows from Austrian forces. The scenes had been utterly miserable. Even without a formal withdrawal, it was only a matter of time before they fell. Since the French government could no longer spare forces for Egypt, it was unimaginable they would defend a thousand-mile-long front across North Africa. The colonial empire was crumbling. For a man like Governor Jacob, who had devoted his life to it, the realization was devastating. Still, for Egypt, this was just barely good news. Regardless of how capable these reinforcements were, they at least signaled that the homeland had not entirely abandoned them. Though the result was far from satisfactory to Governor Jacob, in a situation with no real alternatives, some reinforcements were better than none. “Tell the Ministry of War that we are up against Austria’s regular army, not some ragtag colonial militia. If we are to stop the enemy advance, the reinforcements must be made up entirely of French troops. There is no need to send over native units just to waste food.” After the war began, in a desperate effort to preserve the colonial empire, the French government had once dispatched reinforcements to the colonies. Now, the backbone of the military presence in the colonies was made up of forces seeded from those reinforcements and bolstered by locally stationed French settlers. They were several tiers stronger than the native troops, but due to insufficient training and inferior equipment, still fell short of mainland French units. Nevertheless, they were just barely usable. Before the middle-aged officer could speak, the air was suddenly filled with a long, wailing sound followed by a series of loud explosions. This was Cairo, over a hundred kilometers from the front lines. Artillery shells simply could not reach this far. The moment he heard the blasts, Governor Jacob immediately sensed something was wrong and quickly ordered, “Send word immediately. Have the airship units take off to intercept the enemy dirigibles. The anti-air units are to provide support.” At this point in time, anti-air units existed primarily to deal with or drive away low-altitude airships. As for high-altitude dirigibles, only other airships could engage them effectively. Of course, all of that had become outdated after the air battles along the Rhine. Whether it was to maintain secrecy, a result of bureaucratic negligence, or the belief that it was unnecessary, the latest changes in military doctrine had not yet been communicated to Governor Jacob. With the order given, the scene once witnessed along the Rhine was repeated in Cairo’s skies, although on a much smaller scale. In a way, Governor Jacob’s command was still the right one. The destruction of the airship units also helped ease the supply burden on Cairo’s garrison. After all, from the moment airplanes appeared, airships without fighter escort became nothing more than flying targets. Leaving them grounded was also a waste of resources. Maintaining an airship was no small matter. The upkeep costs of one were on par with that of a destroyer. France might have the ability to produce airplanes, but expecting them to field functioning fighter aircraft in a short time was nothing more than a fantasy. … Rat-a-tat-tat… The sound echoed as the gasbag of a French military airship was punctured, and it began to plummet rapidly. After casually tossing in a specially designed bomb to finish the job and confirming the enemy was finished, Second Lieutenant Wade finally stopped. Looking around, all the French airships had either crashed or exploded, and the few still in the air had already become targets for other pilots. Planes slaughtering airships didn’t require teamwork. At this point, jumping in to steal a comrade’s kill was something Wade wouldn’t stoop to. “Looks like today’s haul ends here. I’m really jealous of those assigned to the Central European front. I heard that during the air battle over the Rhine, someone racked up a triple kill record. But not here. Too many pilots, not enough prey. Damn those Frenchmen, still calling themselves the premier power in Europe, yet they can’t even field a few more airships for us to shoot down.” The young man next to him piloting the plane couldn’t hold back and joked, “Alright, brave Second Lieutenant Wade, I know you’re the most courageous warrior. Shooting down helpless enemy airships like this is just too tasteless. It doesn’t match your lofty reputation. A true show of valor would be something like jumping down right now to capture the French commander Jacob. That would be a new miracle in military history. Don’t worry, I’ve got the parachute ready for you. If you’re willing, I wouldn’t mind opening the hatch again.” Flushed with embarrassment, Second Lieutenant Wade snapped, “Shut up, Adolf! That joke isn’t funny at all. I’ve already explained it a thousand times, things said when drunk can’t be taken seriously.” There was no doubt that this was one of Wade’s infamous blunders. Theoretically, if someone parachuted out of the sky, it was possible they could land in the enemy’s command post. And if the enemy were dumb enough, they might actually manage to capture the opposing commander. In another timeline, a lucky American pilot who landed in the wrong spot managed to capture an entire Italian unit. But such cases were always seen as miracles in military history. And while some Italian soldiers were mixed among the French troops below, most were still French. Wade had clearly been drunk when he came up with such a ridiculous plan. Now that he was sober, there was no way he’d do anything so suicidal. Adolf smiled, “Alright, my bad. Let’s put the jokes on hold. Our mission is complete, but sitting around like this isn’t ideal either. Why don’t I lower our altitude a bit and you can try strafing the ground with the machine gun? Maybe we’ll get lucky and bag something interesting.” Austria had been developing aircraft for years, but its air force still had virtually no combat experience. In that regard, even the overpowered Franz couldn’t help. A military force needed extensive experience to mature. Franz’s knowledge of air warfare was extremely limited and mostly came from random anecdotes online. Trying to use that as a proper air force training manual would be practically suicidal. “You’re not joking?” Wade asked in disbelief. His facial expression gave away his shock, as if to say Adolf’s suggestion had completely upended his expectations. “Of course not,” Adolf replied confidently. After a brief pause, he explained, “If the enemy dared to launch airships, it proves they haven’t received news of the battle over the Rhine. If they’ve never encountered airplanes before, they won’t have any countermeasures prepared. Using anti-airship tactics against us is simply not good enough. We’ll try it at 500 meters. If it gets dangerous, I’ll pull away immediately. No way their reaction speed can match ours. And if we’re lucky enough to take down a big fish, we’ll hit the jackpot.”
*** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH) Support the translation and read more chapters at https://ko-fi.com/dragonlegion
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Enough of the french misery porn, just get it over with.
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