Chapter 199: Passing the Buck
Vienna
At the Austrian General Staff, Marshal Radetzky had gathered a group of officers to conduct a practical case analysis, focusing on the recent Balkan campaign.
Based on the intelligence in their hands, everyone analyzed the gains and losses of both sides in the campaign, drawing lessons from it.
Those in the thick of it were blind; onlookers saw clearly.
As outsiders, the Austrian General Staff—a bunch of armchair strategists—criticized both sides until neither was worth a thing.
The Russians: strategic miscalculation. Instead of breaking through the weaker Ottoman Army, they had chosen to lock horns with the French. Assessment: the commander lacked military competence and did not know how to adapt.
The allied forces: unclear command authority, endless infighting, and constant dragging each other down, failing to capitalize on their numerical advantage. Assessment: an inevitable result of multinational cooperation, beyond the power of human effort to resolve.
Common ground: severe bureaucracy, chaotic command, and a garbage logistics system.
Overall assessment of military combat effectiveness:
The French: 9.4
The British: 9.6
The Russians: 7.8
The Principality of Montenegro: 10.5
The Ottomans: 5
The Sardinians: 5
Franz's expression was most amusing as he looked at the assessment report. The British Army's combat effectiveness was supposedly above that of the French—probably not many people could accept such a claim.
Even more bizarrely, the Montenegrin Army's combat effectiveness had blown through the roof, surpassing all the great powers.
The rest was fairly normal. The Ottoman and Sardinian armies were both dregs with combat effectiveness of only five, a view widely accepted by the Austrian military.
The Greeks had not yet entered the war, so no accurate assessment could be made. The Bulgarian guerrillas were not regular troops and had been ignored by the General Staff.
Seeming to notice