Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 484 Project 17 (Seeking monthly votes!)
The news of Germany's undeclared war on Luxembourg and Belgium could not be kept secret, and this action caused panic in many European countries.

If even neutral countries are invaded by superpowers like Germany, wouldn't that mean that every single small and medium-sized country in Europe is facing the risk of annihilation?
Many countries initially believed that the Declaration of Neutrality, signed after Edward VII's funeral, would be a lifeline for many small and medium-sized European nations. However, what was disheartening was that after learning of the German invasion of Belgium, the British government offered only verbal condemnations and remained completely silent.

The British government has expressed its willingness to accept the Belgian royal family and government-in-exile, but the problem is, what's the point of accepting a government-in-exile when the country is no longer there?
The only thing that might offer some reassurance is the reaction of the Spanish government, another initiator of the Declaration of Neutrality, to Germany's brazen invasion of Belgium and Luxembourg.

Like the UK, the Spanish government also strongly condemned the German government's undeclared invasion of a neutral country.

In addition to condemning the export of military supplies to Germany, including weapons such as rifles, machine guns, and artillery, as well as medicines, the Spanish government has also ordered a ban on the export of military goods to Germany.

Because Germany was the instigator of the war, France was thus relegated to the role of the invaded party. For this reason, Spain's export ban on military supplies targeted only Germany, not France, Russia, or Austria-Hungary—countries drawn into the war for other reasons.

Spain's military embargo is of little consequence to Germany, but it is the only consolation for other small and medium-sized European countries.

After all, the British government has not taken any actual action so far, which means that the British government is secretly supporting the German government's invasion of Belgium.

Regardless of what other European countries thought, the Belgian royal family, whose country had just been destroyed, was really unwilling to seek refuge in London.

The reason is quite simple: before Germany invaded Belgium, the British government had persuaded the Belgian government to allow German troops to pass through its territory.

This essentially represents the British government's stated stance: it supports Germany in the matter of German troops passing through Belgian territory.

The subsequent reaction of the British government also reveals their attitude; compared to the Anglo-German relationship, Belgium was clearly the one who was abandoned.

Based on this alone, it would be impossible for the Belgian royal family and the government-in-exile to travel to London.

For the current Belgian royal family, they also have a better option: to go to Spain.

The current King Albert I of Belgium is the son-in-law of Prince Charles Carles, having married Carles' eldest daughter, Princess Sofia. The two royal families maintain relatively close ties.

If it weren't for its proximity to Britain, Belgium would have long ago sided with Spain. After all, sandwiched between Germany and France, Belgium was destined not to side with either, and needed a strong ally outside of Germany and France to help and maintain its independence.

The British might have been an option before, but their support for Germany's abandonment of Belgium made Albert I see the true colors of the British.

Faced with the invitation from the Spanish royal family, Albert I hardly hesitated and led the royal family and the Belgian government-in-exile to Spain for refuge.

Albert I was quite astute. Compared to England, a superpower located right on his doorstep, Spain was a better choice.

On the one hand, Spain's overall strength is no less than that of Britain, which can ensure Belgium's survival between Germany and France.

On the other hand, Spain is quite far from Belgium, and with France in between, Spain will not have much influence over Belgium, allowing Belgium to have more autonomy.

Carlos's reasons for inviting the Belgian royal family to Spain were quite simple. On the one hand, he was concerned about the safety of his eldest daughter, Sofia; on the other hand, he genuinely wanted to express his stance and gain favor with smaller European countries by taking in the Belgian royal family and their government-in-exile.

So far, Spain's approach has been quite effective. Although none of the countries have explicitly stated it, they have all strengthened their ties with the Spanish diplomatic corps behind the scenes, essentially securing a way out for themselves.

Because the causes of this world war are completely different from those in history, Carlo is still quite concerned about the ongoing war.

Despite the fact that four countries are involved in the current super war, the main battlefield of the war is actually focused on the German-French theater. On the Eastern Front, there were no large-scale battles between Germany and Russia or between Russia and Austria.

One of the main reasons for this was the exaggerated speed of mobilization by Germany and France.

Before Germany declared war on France on July 17, the German government had already mobilized its forces and transported a large number of troops to the western border.

After declaring war on the French army, the German army amassed more than 150 million men in just a few days, a number far exceeding the size of the Russian standing army.

It took Germany 16 days to conquer Belgium. After Belgium declared its demise on August 4, the total number of German troops on the Western Front was close to 2 million, more than twice the size of the German standing army before the outbreak of the war.

It's important to know that Germany also has nearly 80 troops on the Eastern Front. This astonishing speed of troop mobilization makes Germany the country with the largest army in Europe at present.

France's mobilization speed is not much slower either.

Although the event that Belgium warned France had not yet occurred, the French government was not entirely unprepared for war.

Germany's occupation of Belgium was indeed a difficult situation for France, but the good news was that France was able to mobilize nearly 200 million troops in those 16 days.

Compared to the German government's estimate that France's mobilization would take 25 days, the French government's performance was indeed far superior.

The number of troops currently engaged in a standoff on the German-French border has reached 450 million, making this super war unprecedented in history.

Including the Eastern Front and the subsequent mobilization of troops by various countries, it was easy for all countries to deploy tens of millions of troops in this super war.

This is a milestone worth remembering in human history. After all, a hundred years ago, there were very few countries in the world with a population exceeding ten million.

After the outbreak of the war, the Spanish government immediately contacted the German and French governments, hoping to send a military observer mission as a neutral country to study and record the tactics used by Germany and France in the war.

The German government did not refuse the Spanish government's request, and the French government was even less likely to refuse.

The German government was also aware that even if it refused, France would agree to Spain's demands.

More importantly, it has become almost a routine practice in Europe for neutral countries to send military observer missions to record the performance of participating countries in the war and some of the brilliant tactics they use.

The military's weapons and equipment are constantly being updated and replaced, and various tactical ideas and strategic decisions also need to be deduced and improved according to different eras.

For countries that have not experienced war for a long time, sending military observer missions to observe the performance of various countries in war is a rare opportunity to discover their own tactical and strategic shortcomings.

It wasn't just Spain; Britain, as a neutral country, also sent a military observer mission, which included two major generals. This demonstrates the importance Britain placed on this war.

The war on the western front had been going on for almost half a month, while the war on the eastern front had only just begun.

Faced with the aggressive German advance, the French government was somewhat flustered. They asked their ally Russia to launch an attack on Germany's ancestral homeland, East Prussia, in order to force Germany to divert some of its troops to the Eastern Front to defend its ancestral homeland.

The importance of East Prussia to Germany is no joke. It was once the territory of the Teutonic Knights, but it was secularized by Albert, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, who was also from the Hohenzollern family. He established the Duchy of Prussia, which was connected with Brandenburg of the Holy Roman Empire, and eventually became the Kingdom of Prussia.

The core of the German Empire was the Kingdom of Prussia, and East Prussia was a relatively core part of Prussia, so it was naturally very important to Germany.

When the German army learned that Russia had mobilized a million troops to attack East Prussia, even though they knew the western front was extremely important, Chief of the General Staff Moltke the Younger had no choice but to divert some troops back to the eastern front to ensure the safety of East Prussia.

After Germany withdrew its troops, France on the western front did indeed breathe a sigh of relief. The German army originally outnumbered the French army by 50 men, and with the German occupation of Belgium, it could launch a five-pronged attack on France, overwhelming the French army and causing them to suffer heavy losses in a short period.

However, with the withdrawal of German troops, Germany no longer had any numerical advantage on the Western Front. The French army not only managed to hold off the German offensive, but also fought the Germans to a standstill, winning many offensive battles.

The only country that suffered was probably Russia, which faced millions of German troops.

Russia is definitely a large land power, but definitely not a strong land power.

Russia's million-strong army's invasion of East Prussia was entirely intended to draw French fire, but it did not expect that such an action would be somewhat akin to setting fire to itself.

The German and Russian armies soon clashed in the Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia, a battle that thoroughly revealed Russia's decline to the European countries.

Theoretically speaking, the number of German and Russian troops in East Prussia was not much different. Even if the German army had a slightly higher overall combat capability, the Russian army should not have faced a crushing defeat.

After all, nearly half of the German troops had just been transferred from the Western Front and had crossed the entire country in a short period of time, so these soldiers must have been quite exhausted.

Surprisingly, the Russian army's performance in this battle can only be described as terrible.

Before the arrival of German reinforcements, the Russian army held a numerical advantage. During this period, the Russian army also advanced into East Prussia, and the situation appeared very favorable.

The problem was that the victorious Russian army had completely relaxed its guard, and they never imagined that the defeat of the German army was a deliberate act.

When Alexander Samsonov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Second Army, realized his predicament, the Second Army had already been completely encircled by the German army.

The German troops that arrived later easily annihilated the Second Army. The army's commander-in-chief, Alexander Samsonov, knew that his blind advance had caused this disastrous defeat, and committed suicide after the defeat.

Although his suicide seemed courageous, Russia, having lost the ability to launch an attack on Germany after this defeat, was forced to switch to strategic defense and pray for more time to be gained.

Although Carlo had long anticipated the Russian government's incompetence, he did not expect that with Spain providing a large amount of weaponry, the Russian army would still be able to deliver a major victory to the German army, just as it had in history.

Russia was no longer capable of attacking Germany, which meant that Germany could finally concentrate its forces to attack France.

The good news is that, seeing Russia's crushing defeat, Austria-Hungary did not send troops to help Germany attack France. Instead, they chose to move south to attack Serbia and expand their territory.

On August 11, 1912, Austria-Hungary launched an undeclared war on Serbia, with hundreds of thousands of Austro-Hungarian troops advancing from the north, west and southwest, seemingly poised to annex Serbia.

Serbia was already a member of the Entente Powers. After being declared war on by Austria-Hungary, Serbia also chose to declare war on Austria-Hungary and Germany, officially joining the war.

Austria-Hungary promised to share Serbia with Bulgaria, so after Serbia declared war, Bulgaria also declared war on Serbia, and the Balkans officially descended into chaos.

Although the world war broke out prematurely, for Carlo, the war so far has not changed much from history.

This is good news. As long as the collapse of Russia is slowed down, the Franco-Russian Entente can hold off Germany for several years.

Several years would be enough to completely drain the potential of the belligerent nations like Germany and France. If Spain then joined the war and quickly defeated Germany, it could become the sole victor.

Britain is currently the only country that Spain needs to be wary of. To deal with Britain, Spain needs to build more capital warships, which is why Spain has not reduced its military spending so far.

Not only did he not reduce military spending, but after the outbreak of the war, Carlos even convened a cabinet meeting to announce that starting this year, military spending would increase by 30% annually, with no upper limit.

Like Spain, in addition to building a large number of battleships on its own soil, the British government was also paying close attention to the situation of the war between Germany and France.

For Britain, the outbreak of war between Germany and France was good news, as it could greatly weaken two countries that posed a significant threat to Britain.

The only bad news was that Spain did not join the war, which meant that Spain's overall national strength would not be weakened in any way, and the Spanish navy still posed a significant threat to Britain.

Another reason why Britain closely monitored the situation on the European battlefield was to choose the stronger side to join the war, thus making Britain a victor as well.

In this way, if Spain wants to intervene in the war again, it can only choose to join the weaker side.

It won't be easy for Spain to help the weaker side turn the tide. If Spain dares to join the weaker side, Britain, in alliance with the stronger side, has plenty of ways to defeat Spain.

If Britain could defeat Spain, the threat posed by the Spanish navy would be eliminated. After all, a defeated nation is not entitled to have such a large army; once Spain was defeated, the disbandment of its army and navy would be inevitable.

The German and French governments were well aware of the ulterior motives of Britain and Spain.

However, they couldn't care less about that at the moment; the situation on the front lines was the most important thing. Both French Chief of the General Staff Joffre and German Chief of the General Staff Moltke the Younger wished they could live on the front lines to precisely control troop deployments.

Apart from the unexpected Russian invasion of East Prussia, the war between Germany and France proceeded according to their respective offensive plans.

At this time, French Chief of the General Staff Joffre still firmly believed that France's Operation 17 would be successful.

According to France's Operation 17, France would need to deploy nearly 160 million combat troops to occupy Alsace and Lorraine.

Although a significant portion of these troops needed to remain in France as reserves, Joffre deployed as many as 160 million troops along the Alsace-Lorraine line to ensure the success of the offensive plan.

The downside of doing so is also obvious: France now has fewer than 40 troops left on its northern border with Belgium.

At this time, Belgium had been occupied by the German army, and the 40 French troops were facing a German army of over a million.

Doesn't French Chief of the General Staff Joffre understand the pressure faced by the 40 troops on the northern border?

Of course he knows.

However, there was no other way. In order to ensure the smooth execution of Plan 17, they had to make do with the 40 troops building a defensive line to defend against the millions of German troops.

For Joffre, losing some territory on the northern front was acceptable. After all, as long as Alsace and Lorraine were captured on the eastern front, the Ruhr region would be threatened, which would be fatal for Germany.

To ensure that the French troops along the Alsace-Lorraine line carried out Operation 17 in an orderly manner, French Chief of the General Staff Joffre frequently traveled by car from the French General Headquarters in Le François to inspect the front-line combat troops.

In order to be able to travel quickly between various combat units and the headquarters, Joffre even hired a driver who had won the French Grand Prix many times as his personal driver.

Because Spain invented the automobile a long time ago, cars are not unfamiliar to European countries today.

Various car races are held in major European countries, serving as a platform for drivers to showcase their skills and for car manufacturers to demonstrate the performance of their vehicles.

These car races have led to more detailed classifications of automobiles. What were once relatively simple categories have been divided into four types: passenger cars, sports cars, racing cars, and trucks. Basically, those participating in car races are mostly sports cars and racing cars—the two types that prioritize performance and speed. When European countries need to hire drivers, they generally give priority to these award-winning drivers.

On the one hand, these professional drivers are more skilled with cars, and on the other hand, their excellent driving skills enable them to avoid various dangers encountered in daily car travel, while also reacting quickly to help dignitaries from various countries escape danger.

It is worth mentioning that there were many reasons why the Grand Duke of Fiji was assassinated in history. One of the reasons that led to the success of the assassination was that his driver was not skilled in driving.

In his haste to reverse after taking the wrong turn, the slow, deliberate reversing allowed the assassin to successfully hit Archduke Ferdinand.

If the car were driven even a little faster, the assassin wouldn't have such a high hit rate. This also shows how important a professional driver is; if an inexperienced novice were in charge, the passengers would likely become sitting ducks.

During the 16 days that the German army was attacking Belgium, the French army was not idle; instead, they were meticulously preparing for the attack on the 17th.

Before the offensive was launched, French Chief of the General Staff Joffre personally visited the various units of the First Army in his own car to learn about their preparations and urged the army's commander-in-chief to complete all preparations as soon as possible to launch the offensive against the German army.

Speaking of the commander-in-chief of the French First Army, this general actually did not have a very good relationship with the French Chief of the General Staff, Joffre.

Joffre's frequent visits to the First Army were actually aimed at gaining the support of the army's commander-in-chief, General Dibai, to ensure that Plan 17 would not fail due to the army's lapses.

The good news is that although General Dibai, the army group commander, and Joffre did not have a good relationship, as an excellent general, General Dibai did not refuse Joffre's order to attack.

The first stronghold that Operation No. 17 needed to capture was Mouloz, a key town on the German border, located 40 kilometers ahead of the French army.

In order to give Operation 17 a good start, French Chief of the General Staff Joffre specifically ordered the 7th Corps of the 1st Army, consisting of four infantry divisions, one cavalry division, five mountain battalions and one artillery division, to launch an attack on Mouros under the command of General Bonoux, commander of the 7th Corps.

It's no exaggeration to call Muroz an important town; the geographical location of this region is simply too important.

If the French army can capture Mouloz, they will be able to seize the railway junction in southern Alsace and travel along the railway to Belfort or Basel.

If you go further east, you can even use the railway bridge to cross the Rhine River and reach the Ruhr region, the industrial heart of Germany.

If this important town were to fall to the French, the German army would have to cut off the railway lines to the German interior, which would also affect the German army's own logistical supplies.

If this important town remained in German hands, a steady stream of supplies could be transported to the front lines by rail, allowing the German army to maintain its superior firepower.

In other words, whoever controls Mouloz will gain an advantage along the Alsace-Lorraine line. The German army absolutely cannot allow the French to breach their defenses, and the French army is determined to capture Mouloz as well.

To defend the strategically important city of Muroz, the German army deployed a reinforced regiment. Several thousand defenders were more than enough for such a small city.

However, the German army never expected that the French army would be able to send tens of thousands of troops to attack Mouloz. Although the overall combat effectiveness of the German army was higher than that of the French army, the gap was not too large.

Despite having a nearly tenfold numerical advantage over the French army, the well-equipped German garrison in Muroze could not withstand the French onslaught for long.

The subsequent results were obvious: the French army, at the cost of thousands of casualties, captured Mouloz and several surrounding small towns, and gained control of the nearby railway hub.

French Chief of the General Staff Joffre was thrilled with the victory achieved by the French army. Less than an hour after the news of the victory reached the General Headquarters, Joffre's commendation had already arrived at the front-line troops.

Joffre affectionately referred to General Bono and his 1st Army 7th Corps as heroes of all France, the vanguard that led France to complete its revenge and wipe away its shame.

Numerous French newspapers also reported the news. When the French people learned of the army's victory at the front, they cheered for General Bono and praised the French army as the bravest warriors in Europe, saying that the German army was simply no match for the French army.

The French people cheered, but their cheers didn't last long.

Because the German army, having recovered, reoccupied Muroz on the very next day.

Even with a larger number of French troops putting up a tenacious defense, they were unable to stop the German advance.

Within a mere 48 hours, Mouloz had changed hands twice. The German and French armies suffered thousands and tens of thousands of casualties in their efforts to capture this crucial town.

Just how devastating was this European war? The casualties of the German and French armies in Mulroz within 48 hours clearly illustrate the situation.
When the French army was on the offensive, its casualties were around 5,000. When they were on the defensive, despite the advantage of defense, they still suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

As a result, the total number of casualties has exceeded 1.5, and this is only the number of casualties suffered in the small town of Muroz in less than 48 hours.

The German army also suffered heavy casualties. The initial reinforced regiment, acting as the defender, had already lost more than three thousand men.

In an effort to retake Muroz, the German army launched a desperate offensive, suffering nearly 10,000 casualties in the process.

This resulted in a total of nearly 1.3 casualties for the German army, bringing the total casualties on both the German and French sides to nearly 3 within 48 hours.

French Chief of the General Staff Joffre was not concerned about the casualties of the French army; what he cared about was that he had just sent a message back home that the French army had just captured Mouloz.

Less than 24 hours later, Muroze was recaptured by the German army. How could Joffre explain this to the excited people at home?

The disappointed French people would then direct their anger at the government and military. To avoid being held accountable by the public, French Chief of the General Staff Joffre immediately ordered the First and Second Armies to launch a full-scale offensive, sparing no effort to retake Mouloz and achieve even greater results.

As long as he could reclaim Alsace and Lorraine for France, no matter how the war unfolded, Joffre would be a legend in this war.

This is no joke, just like Spain's recapture of Gibraltar.

Carlos, who recaptured Gibraltar, had already become the greatest king in the hearts of the Spanish. If Joffre could recapture Alsace and Lorraine, even if he couldn't become the greatest general in the hearts of the French, he would definitely be among the top and become the pride of the French.

For Joffre, the French Chief of the General Staff at this time, the most important thing was to conquer Alsace-Lorraine and complete his original Plan 17.

Although the latest intelligence obtained by the French command indicates that the German army intends to strengthen its troop deployment in Belgium in order to launch an attack on France in the northern border region.

But for Joffre, he could not return to the Franco-Belgian border at this time.

The reason is simple: if we abandon Operation 17 at this point, it would mean that all our pre-war planning has been in vain. Wouldn't that be directly proving our incompetence to the government and other military personnel?

On the other hand, Joffre himself believed that the French army still had a good chance of victory and could still achieve results by relying on Plan 17, forcing the German army to transfer more troops to the Alsace-Lorraine line.

Joffre considered the Alsace-Lorraine line too important and firmly believed that the German army would come to Alsace-Lorraine's aid and would not allow the main French army to attack the region so easily.

If Germany really plans to move most of its troops to Belgium to attack France, then at worst it will be a one-for-one exchange with Germany.

Large tracts of land north of Paris could be ceded to Germany in exchange for Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhineland and Ruhr region further east.

In Joffre's view, such a deal was quite worthwhile. The recapture of Alsace and Lorraine would boost the morale of the French army and people, while the occupation of the Ruhr region in Germany would paralyze German industry.

As for northern France, as long as Paris can be saved, these areas in the north are not necessarily irreplaceable.

After all, one cannot have both fish and bear's paw. When the French army planned to recapture Alsace and Lorraine, it had to consider giving up some territory to Germany.

After thorough preparations, the French First and Second Armies, with nearly 60 troops, launched an offensive against German forces in the Alsace region.

Because of orders from French Chief of the General Staff Joffre, these two army groups spared no effort and were essentially mobilized at full strength.

Six hundred thousand troops is roughly the maximum France can muster. The area of ​​Alsace and Lorraine is limited, making it impossible to deploy more troops for an offensive.

With Germany heavily equipped with artillery and machine guns, if the French army's formation was too dense, it would essentially be tantamount to handing over lives and military achievements to the German army.

Compared to France's Plan 17, Germany's Schlieffen Plan predicted the possibility of a French attack along the Alsace-Lorraine line.

Anticipating a possible French offensive along the Alsace-Lorraine line, the German army had already prepared its defenses for the region.

Although the German army needed to concentrate its forces on the Eastern Front and attack Paris, France, through Belgium, this did not mean that Germany would abandon Alsace and Lorraine.

Even before the outbreak of war, Germany had deployed numerous defensive lines in Alsace and Lorraine, built a series of dense military fortifications, deployed barbed wire along the French army's route, dug trenches, and even set up barricades to prevent surprise attacks by French cavalry.

When the 60 troops of the French First and Second Armies arrived at the border, they were met with a formidable and impenetrable German defensive line, a death line that not even a bird could fly through.

No one knew what the French soldiers were thinking at that moment, but their somewhat complicated expressions suggested that they were not optimistic about the offensive plan they were carrying out.

To ensure the success of the offensive plan, Joffre specifically dispatched supervisory troops to prevent French soldiers from becoming weak and retreating on the battlefield.

Before the war began, Joffre gave a speech to the First and Second Armies, solemnly telling the French soldiers: "France will never accept fear or retreat, nor will it accept surrender or desertion."

On the battlefield, you only have two choices: either charge forward without fear, or you might be lucky enough to escape from the enemy's guns.

They would either be shot dead by their comrades; deserters only had one fate: death.

As it turned out, Joffre's speech was not a joke; he genuinely intended to execute all deserters.

To urge the First and Second Armies to launch their offensive, Joffre dispatched a large number of supervisory teams, and these marines showed no mercy.

Let alone deserting, even the slightest hesitation during a charge would prompt the supervising officers to raise their rifles and decisively aim at those hesitant soldiers.

Once you've aimed, if you hesitate even a little, you fire immediately.

Such a strict supervisory team policy aroused widespread dissatisfaction among the French army, but it must be admitted that it did have a good effect on the front lines.

Looking at the heavily fortified German positions before them, many French soldiers felt a pang of fear. But they had no other choice; not advancing meant certain death, so they might as well charge forward—perhaps there was a real chance of survival.

The real battlefield is not like the one depicted in TV dramas, and the bullet accuracy is not that high.

Even the most elite German and French armies currently require thousands of bullets to kill a single enemy.

And this is only the most elite German and French army at present. As for the Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies on the Eastern Front, it often takes thousands of bullets to kill a single enemy.

Unless it's a frontal enemy charge where the defenders can effectively counterattack using the terrain, most battles don't result in fatalities. Most injuries are from stray bullets, and only a few extremely unlucky individuals are hit in vital areas by these stray bullets.

Unfortunately for the French army, because they were on the offensive, they were destined to suffer the most casualties.

French soldiers might not be able to kill a single German soldier even after firing thousands of bullets, but German soldiers, taking advantage of the defensive terrain, could kill a French soldier with just a few hundred bullets.

I wonder what the French Chief of the General Staff, Joffre, thought when he saw the battle reports from the front. What is certain is that the French soldiers on the front were definitely cursing, and they were cursing Joffre's mother one hundred percent.

The German Sixth and Seventh Armies were responsible for defending the Alsace-Lorraine region.

The German Sixth Army, led by Prince Luprecht of Bavaria, consisted of five corps and three cavalry divisions.

The German 7th Army, commanded by Herlingen, consisted of three corps and one cavalry division.

Although the combined strength of these two army groups is only 35 men, far less than the 60 men of the French army.

However, in order to defend the Alsace and Lorraine regions, Germany equipped these two army groups with more than 1200 artillery pieces and made it clear that the command of the two army groups would be unified under the control of General Luprecht, the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Army.

With unified management and extremely powerful firepower, the combat effectiveness of this German army was considerable.

On the other hand, the French army also has two armies, but the command of the First Army and the Second Army belongs to their respective army commanders.

Except when Chief of the General Staff Joffre issued orders, the two French army groups mostly fought independently.

After two days of fighting between nearly a million troops from four German and French army groups, General Dubai, commander of the French First Army, exclaimed that he could no longer endure it.

The reason is simple: his First Army Group has nearly 30 men, and in the past two days, the number of casualties has already approached 3.

Adding to the 1.5 casualties suffered in the previous attack on Muroz, the First Army's casualties have now exceeded 4.5.

Such casualties were unbearable for the First Army, and also made Dubai question again the offensive plans of French Chief of the General Staff Joffre.

If this continues, forget about whether we can recapture Arthas and Lorraine; the First Army's soldiers are about to be wiped out.

Real-world armies don't survive like in games, where only one soldier remains. Generally, an army that loses 30% of its soldiers experiences a reduction in combat effectiveness of at least half.

An army that loses 50% of its soldiers is essentially rendered ineffective. If it loses more than 70%, forget about combat effectiveness; the remaining soldiers would be considered incredibly brave not to desert.

The First Army Group has now lost 4.5 troops, and its overall combat effectiveness has been reduced by at least 20%.

The situation of the neighboring Second Army is not good either. Army Commander Dubai really wants to ask French Chief of the General Staff Joffre whether such an offensive plan is really a good choice for France.
Is France really going to suffer hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of casualties for Alsace and Lorraine? Is it really worth it?
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(End of this chapter)