Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 484: Baptism of Blood and Fire

The change in British foreign policy quickly triggered a chain reaction. The French ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation and accepted the British into the alliance, shifting the pressure onto Austria.

This winter in Vienna was particularly cold. Christmas had not yet arrived, but Schönbrunn Palace was already covered in a layer of silver.

Walking on the snow, the crunching sound was still as pleasing as ever.

In high spirits, Franz was no longer troubled by the changes in diplomacy. Since the French dared to let the British join the alliance, he didn’t mind having another troublesome ally.

The Franco-Austrian alliance was already unstable. Now, with the addition of the British with their own agenda, Franz could already see the future collapse of this alliance.

Of course, in the short term, there would still be benefits for everyone. The Anglo-Franco-Austrian alliance could elevate everyone’s prestige to its peak, making all the countries in the world tremble under this alliance.

Foreign Minister Wessenberg was already present when Franz entered the conference room. There was a cup of steaming coffee on the table, indicating he had been there for a while.

The purpose was obvious: to communicate with Franz in advance about whether to ally with the British.

Thanks to the British reputation, the Austrian government had never been enthusiastic about allying with them. Even the pro-British faction within the government didn’t consider the British to be good allies.

After the customary greetings, Franz asked directly, “What do you think?”

Foreign Minister Wessenberg paused for a moment, seemingly organizing his thoughts, and then replied, “Your Majesty, the French have already compromised, so there’s no need for us to continue being stubborn.

With the British joining the alliance, the lifespan of this alliance is destined to be short. However, the Franco-Austrian alliance had always been a union of interests, and it would have expired in a few years anyway.

We never had plans to maintain the alliance in the long term, so letting the British come in and stir things up, leading to an early dissolution of the alliance, might not be a bad thing.”

Franz nodded. The purpose of the alliance was to buy time for peaceful development. Now that the French had been led into a trap, they were incapable of causing trouble on the European continent in the short term, thus achieving the initial goal.

At this point, the alliance’s importance to Austria had become negligible. Therefore, there was no need to stubbornly hold on to it. Making the last use of the alliance to boost Austria’s prestige in the world was also a good choice.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should continue negotiating with the British. If it doesn’t affect the outcome, try to delay the alliance formation until the second half of next year.

The Anglo-Boer War has dragged on for so long that it’s unlikely to end anytime soon. Since so many people have invested heavily, we need to create an opportunity for them.”

As a good leader, Franz was well aware of the contributions of the African nobles. Many nobles had gone all out for this war.

Although the Austrian government was covering the military expenses, the war still resulted in casualties, and the losses of their private troops couldn’t be recovered overnight.

Not to mention, some unfortunate nobles had fallen on the battlefield. Regardless of the circumstances, they had sacrificed for national interests, and now the Austrian government needed to give them an explanation.

If they failed to conquer Cape Town due to their own incompetence, then they would have to deal with the consequences of their own making, and no one would have any objections.

But if the Austrian government forcibly called off the war for diplomatic reasons, wouldn’t their efforts be in vain?

Without military achievements, there would be no rewards. If they couldn’t advance further, relying solely on the government’s military pay wouldn’t even allow them to recoup their costs.

Franz would never do something disheartening. Extending the time by a few months could significantly increase the loyalty of the African nobles, which was very worthwhile.

After all, these expenses could be recouped with South Africa’s mineral resources. The better the performance on the battlefield, the stronger the bargaining position in post-war negotiations.

As for the decline in the local population due to the war, that couldn’t be helped. Everything came with a price.

Wessenberg replied, “Yes, Your Majesty. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will do its best to buy time for the front lines, ensuring that their blood is not shed in vain.”

By now, the losses on the South African battlefield were astronomical. The Boer republics had lost a total of 341,500 soldiers, though the majority of this figure consisted of auxiliary troops, with only a small fraction being Austrian casualties.

Otherwise, the entire population of the Boer republics would have to die twice over to make up this number.

The British forces hadn’t fared much better, with casualties in the tens of thousands, primarily from auxiliary units. The loss of white soldiers was over 20,000, a significant portion of whom were prisoners, while around 7,000 to 8,000 had been killed in action.

The main factor causing the disparity in casualties, aside from the British suffering initial defeats, was largely due to the siege of Cape Town.

On average, it now took over a dozen cannon fodder soldiers to take down a single British soldier, naturally widening the casualty gap between the two sides.

This situation was expected to continue until the Indian colonial corps arrived, setting the stage for a major cannon fodder showdown between the two colonial empires.

Viscount Falkner was aware of the high-level decisions of both countries. The ever-increasing casualty numbers were alarming even to him, as a colonial leader.

At this moment, he somewhat admired the Russians, who had managed to pile up enough human lives to force the French into abandoning Constantinople due to unsustainable losses.

It was important to note that the sacrifices in South Africa were mainly natives, while the Russians had used their own people as cannon fodder, which was an entirely different concept.

With Christmas approaching, Cape Town remained steadfast. After so many days of fighting, the Boer republics’ forces had only managed to knock down the British’s outer fortifications.

But this had cost them a hundred thousand cannon fodder troops. If they continued fighting like this, there wouldn’t be enough able-bodied men in South Africa to fill the ranks.

Viscount Falkner said wearily, “Everyone is aware of the situation on the battlefield. I have already contacted the Governor of Congo, and they have promised to send 100,000 cannon fodder troops soon. The Governorate of East Africa has also agreed to send 50,000 troops.

As for the distant West Africa, we can’t count on them. There aren’t many natives there, to begin with, and the distance is too great, requiring too much time.

South Africa is even less promising. Apart from the native tribes deep in the mountains and forests, all the others have already been conscripted, leaving very few able-bodied men.

Continuing to drag this out isn’t a solution. Even if we exhaust the 100,000 cannon fodder troops we have and those sent from various regions, we still might not be able to conquer Cape Town.

The plan to capture Cape Town before Christmas has now failed and British reinforcements will arrive soon.

At this point, we need new tactics, at least to reduce the casualties of our attacking forces. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to wear down the British.”

Frontal assaults with the main force would result in too many casualties, which Viscount Falkner couldn’t afford. That’s why he chose the tactic of using cannon fodder troops for attrition warfare.

No matter how disproportionate the exchange rate, the besieged British would suffer. Once their losses exceeded their limit of endurance, they would concede.

Of course, this was the ideal scenario. Given the importance of the Cape of Good Hope, the British wouldn’t give up easily. War is about resources, and if it dragged on too long, Austria would also be unable to bear it.

Chief of Staff Jacob thought for a moment and said, “There are ways, but if we use them now, they’ll be less effective later. Ending the war before Christmas seems impossible.”

Blindly assaulting was the dumbest approach. Initially, it was done because logistics hadn’t caught up and there wasn’t enough food in the army to sustain many cannon fodder troops, so they had to be sent to their deaths.

As time passed, the logistics problems had gradually been resolved, and the number of cannon fodder troops was declining sharply. Now, there was no need to continue sending them to their deaths.

After all, there would still be many places needing cannon fodder later. Even if the British defensive lines were breached, it would still take a lot of lives to press on.

Viscount Falkner shook his head and said, “Never mind all that. If there’s a way, use it first. At worst, when British reinforcements arrive, we’ll implement our second plan.

The British have sea transport channels for resupply. This kind of siege warfare incurs too many losses, and the chances of capturing Cape Town are slim to begin with.

With just these few days left, even if we bring in the main force, it’s impossible to end the war before Christmas.”

It wasn’t that Viscount Falkner was unwilling to bear the casualties. The main issue was that the number of main troops was limited and couldn’t afford heavy losses. If they suffered severe losses, even if they broke through the defenses, they could be pushed back by the British.

Without a firepower advantage to suppress the British forces, relying solely on cannon fodder troops likely wouldn’t achieve anything against the British.

Jacob nodded and said, “Then we should dig trenches to get as close as possible, and then dig tunnels to blow up the enemy’s fortifications.

The British never imagined there would be enemies inland, so these fortifications were mostly built hastily. If we can loosen the foundations, even ordinary artillery can take care of them.”

In fact, direct artillery fire could also breach them, but it would require heavy artillery. However, the Boer republics’ heavy artillery was limited, and they couldn’t suppress enemy fire while attacking.

This was an oversight in the initial planning, assuming that the Cape Town area had limited cement and couldn’t quickly construct many reinforced concrete fortifications, so they didn’t prepare enough heavy artillery.

Viscount Falkner’s plan to end the war before Christmas was based on the assumption that the British hadn’t built modern fortifications. He didn’t anticipate that Delf, that old fox, had prepared in advance.

As soon as they reached the gates of Cape Town, they were met with rows of hastily constructed bunkers and fortifications. Though not perfect, these dashed Viscount Falkner’s hopes for a quick victory.

The operational objectives had now changed. Viscount Falkner no longer fantasized about ending the war before Christmas but aimed to deplete the British forces as much as possible before their reinforcements arrived.

This was to implement the second plan: lure the enemy deep and change the battlefield for a decisive battle.

The biggest problem with the second plan was that it required the British to dare to come out. Otherwise, no matter how much they prepared, it would be useless.

This required the British reinforcements to be numerous enough to give Governor Delf sufficient confidence for this frightened bird to possibly come out.

So the current strategy was to keep applying pressure, forcing the British inside the city to request reinforcements from the British government. The more reinforcements, the higher the chances of the British falling into the trap.

As for whether the enemy’s numbers would be too overwhelming for them, that wasn’t within Viscount Falkner’s considerations.

If the British could increase their forces, so could Austria. On the African continent, the British had little chance of victory.

Without hesitation, Viscount Falkner decided, “Then let’s try it and see the effect.”

...

Perhaps God dislikes war, for this summer in South Africa was extraordinarily hot. The sun blazed like a fireball, scorching the earth. The air was stifling, and the ground was so hot that people felt their feet burning as they walked on it.

The scorching summer heat brought significant troubles to the besieging army. If not for the occasional breeze bringing a bit of coolness, many would have likely succumbed to heatstroke under the blazing sun.

Major Hanks, while commanding his troops, wiped the sweat off his forehead and cursed helplessly, “Damn this weather.”

The rumbling sound of artillery fire erupted again, signaling the attack. Without any hesitation, Major Hanks immediately urged, “Get up, you bastards, time to assemble.”

As he spoke, he was also kicking people. Acting at the same time were not only Major Hanks but also some black officers.

After about a quarter of an hour, this ragtag group finally assembled. It took another quarter of an hour, with the help of the black officers, for Major Hanks to barely get this unit to the battlefield.

Major Hanks had given up hope on this cannon fodder unit. Anyone with even a bit of ambition had already become an officer. The officers’ role was to assist in managing this cannon fodder unit, not to charge into battle themselves.

War is the best teacher. After experiencing the baptism of blood and fire, Major Hanks underwent a transformation.

Initially, he planned to train this cannon fodder unit to serve as an auxiliary force for the main troops.

After all, untrained cannon fodder had too poor combat capability and couldn’t handle real combat tasks. The Boer Republic army needed an auxiliary force with some combat ability, perhaps a higher-grade cannon fodder unit.

Reality proved that Hanks was not a military genius and didn’t have the power to turn the rotten into the miraculous. After two months of attempts, he was forced to abandon his initial fantasies.

Since they had no training value, they could only serve as low-grade cannon fodder. Each day, they launched routine attacks. If they died, so be it; if they lived, they repeated the same menial tasks.

If they managed to kill a British soldier, they could be promoted to an officer, provided they survived and brought back evidence of their accomplishment.

Such lucky ones were few and far between. Most fell on the charge, while some, after killing a British soldier, also perished on the battlefield.

After wasting half an hour, this futureless unit, under the threat of the supervising squad, launched their attack on the enemy.

The scene of flesh and blood flying no longer affected Major Hanks. Now, he cared only about one thing: estimating the battle results.

One general’s success is built on the sacrifice of hundreds of soldiers. Amid blood and fire, countless young Austrian officers received their baptism and matured.