The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1108 Battle of Pressburg
A direct war is a completely one-sided situation. The military technology levels of the two sides are too different, and the quality of the troops is also very different.

The Hungarian army outside the city persisted for more than half a year without supplies and the encouragement of victory, and things like military spirit and morale had long since disappeared.

The sporadic resistance was quickly suppressed and the Hungarian line collapsed completely. Based on observations from the front, they skipped the second line of defense and rushed to the third line of defense.

Many people in the Austrian army participated in this series of wars throughout, and their most direct feeling was that the traditional infantry formation tactics were completely outdated.

Almost all the battles in which the Austrian Empire participated in 1848 were decided in skirmishes, and the main casualties of the Austrian army came from the line infantry.

While the Austrian Empire won one crushing victory after another, the exchange ratio of its line infantry showed no improvement, and in some cases it even had a negative value.

The huge target made them easy targets for the enemy, and even if the opponent did not have the firepower of the Austrians, it could always cause them heavy casualties.

According to the Austrians' own experience, even the French, known as the leader of the European army, could not withstand the firepower density of the Austrian army.

In the future, the power of rockets and artillery will only be further enhanced, but the defense of infantry will be difficult to improve.

In fact, the Austrian Empire had already begun research on infantry armor, but its protective capabilities were very limited and it was not practical on large-scale battlefields. The same was true for bulletproof shield vehicles.

Therefore, the status of long-range firepower on the front battlefield will continue to increase with the development of the times. Infantry, as the most important consumable on the battlefield, seems a bit inappropriate when forming a queue.

However, skirmishers also have their weaknesses, that is, the firepower density is insufficient, and it is difficult to form effective fire suppression, which is a huge disadvantage in defense and pursuit.

Compared with line infantry, the cost of using skirmishers is higher, especially since Franz invented the military insurance system. Although this solved the morale problem of the skirmishers, each death of a skirmisher meant a huge pension.

Such a high cost made generals dare not use human wave tactics easily, but it also reduced the death rate of soldiers to a certain extent.

Moreover, the Austrians traditionally prefer defensive tactics. They would like to build bastions and fortresses in front of the enemy, which will further reduce the casualties of the Austrian army.

Therefore, infantry tactics must be reformed in the future. Franz's suggestion was the three-three tactical formation, but it was quickly rejected by the Austrian military.

This is not to say that the three-three tactics are not good enough, but that they are not suitable for this era. Neither the firepower of the guns nor the training level is sufficient to support it in launching effective fire suppression.

However, in order to deal with the threats of artillery and rockets, Austria's infantry tactics must be innovated, otherwise the same disaster will sooner or later befall the Austrian army.

Humans have the strongest ability to learn war-related technologies. No matter how many restrictions there are, or how low the other party's starting point is, it is difficult to limit the spread of technology.

The speed of the advancement of the tactics used by Heinau at this time was really not commendable. After taking the first line of defense, the Austrian army immediately began to organize defense to prevent Hungarian counterattack.

Artillery and rocket units began to move forward gradually, and only the airship units continued to advance.

After all, the Hungarians had almost no air defense at that time, and could only use old-fashioned rifles and artillery to try to attack targets outside their range.

The course of the battle was still unremarkable. The Hungarian army quickly collapsed under the superior firepower of the Austrian army. However, this time the airship did not output firepower, but became a simple lookout outpost.

The ammunition carrying capacity of airships during this period was very limited, and what was even more fatal was that dropping bombs depended entirely on luck, so from the very beginning its main function was to deter the enemy rather than to kill.

Heinau had a hot temper, but he was not stupid. Although the Hungarian army's retreat was disorganized at this time, it would still be risky to pursue them rashly.

Behind the Hungarians, the flames were spreading relentlessly, but the Austrian army was obviously not facing such a threat. After weighing the two, it was clear that steady advancement was a wiser and more cost-effective strategy. But what Heinau could never have imagined was that the remnants of the Hungarian army actually broke through the flames, but the price of breaking through the flames was also huge, with at least thousands of people dying in the flames or smoke.

Of course, only a small number of them escaped, and most of the Hungarian soldiers were still squeezed in the limited space like sardines.

Some wanted to shout surrender, but the rumbling of artillery drowned out everything. Some wanted to raise the white flag, but the falling shells and rockets could not see it.

Hatred drives people crazy, just as it did to everyone else, and the murderous soldiers didn't want to give them the chance.

The remnants of the Hungarian army that broke through the flames also suffered heavy losses. In addition to those direct losses, everyone had burns to varying degrees, and their supplies and heavy weapons were also completely lost.

But they didn't care about the so-called losses. Everyone's face was filled with joy at surviving the disaster.

"We survived!"

However, a burst of gunfire broke their dream. A large group of militiamen were attacking them from behind the steam tanks.

After seeing the steam tanks, most of the remnants of the Hungarian army chose to give up resistance, and a few even jumped back into the fire like crazy.

The six-month-long Battle of Pressburg finally ended. The total casualties of the Hungarian army exceeded 54, more than were captured, and only people managed to escape.

The Austrian army suffered 3519 casualties, 29522 wounded and 782 missing.

At the same time, the four-month siege of the royal domain ended, with a total of 28,000 Hungarian casualties.

The royal territory suffered a total loss of 95813 military and civilians, including 79551 deaths in the massacre. More than acres of farmland were burned and more than houses were destroyed.

In fact, the main reason for the tragedy was that the deacon and militia commander of one of the royal estates did not want to be involved in the war and chose to surrender directly to the Hungarians.

Although most people chose to flee before the Hungarians arrived, there were still many people who were unwilling to leave their homes, and as a result, most of them became victims.

One of the two culprits chose to commit suicide, and the other chose to become a Hungarian citizen.

The traitor also gave himself a Hungarian name, Lajos Nagyr.

Although the Austrian Empire suffered heavy losses at this time, it still expanded its budget threefold for propaganda purposes.

When the news that more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians were brutally killed by Hungarians in the royal territory reached Vienna, the whole Austria was shocked.

However, compared with the shock caused in Austria, the impact caused in Germany was greater, because the German nation seemed to have not suffered such serious losses throughout 1848.

Whether it was the war against France or the Civil War, even if the total casualties in all the Confederate wars were added together, there would not be as many as 300,000.

What’s even more terrible is that this time the casualties were not just soldiers, but also unarmed civilians.

Then came the magical moment of journalism, when countless reports on the massacre, accompanied by some horrifying photos, made the nationalists who had just been suppressed boil over.

A large number of nationalists who were imprisoned and about to be sent to South Africa and Texas banged on the iron gates and asked to fight to do their last bit for the nation.