As the Turin Offensive and Defense Battle reached its fiercest point, a new round of the Central European campaign was also about to begin.
Unlike World War I in the original timeline, the French had no fortifications to rely on this time. To create conditions for their counteroffensive, the Allied forces had conveniently demolished the fortifications along their withdrawal route, including the famed Liège Fortress and Meuse Fortress, which now lay in ruins.
The proud French perhaps had never considered that they might lose. After occupying these regions, they had never organized manpower to repair the fortifications.
Of course, this could not be called an oversight on Marshal Patrice MacMahon's part. After all, the local populace had been driven away, and production had long since ceased.
To restore those damaged fortifications, both raw materials and labor would have to be transferred from within the country. That was an impossible task.
The French Government had already exhausted every ounce of its strength merely to ensure supplies for the frontline troops. It simply had no spare manpower or resources to repair fortresses.
With no fortifications available, after their defeat in the previous Central European campaign, the French Army had been forced to imitate the Allied forces by digging trenches and constructing simple temporary defensive lines.
At French Army Headquarters, Marshal Patrice MacMahon asked, "When will the latest batch of artillery and machine guns arrive?"
No one would have believed it if they were told: the mighty French Empire, fighting practically on its own doorstep, was actually suffering from a shortage of weapons and equipment.
Yet that was the truth. Both artillery and Gatlings were far too cumbersome. Following the defeat in the previous campaign, the French Army could only abandon them in pain in order to relocate its troops as swiftly as