All-Out War

Dugommier, equally stunned, rose and stood at attention. "Yes, Your Highness! It's just..."

Joseph gave him no chance to demur, turning to Berthier instead. "General Berthier, I appoint you operations staff officer of the Rhine Army."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Additionally, have the General Staff Headquarters issue orders appointing Lieutenant Colonel Victor de Moreau as second-in-command of the Rhine Army, and Major Andre Massena as commander of the Rhine Army's Right Route Army."

Berthier was quite surprised as well, but he still nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. I will notify them at once."

Joseph sighed inwardly. These genius commanders had not lived through the loss of officers during the Great Revolution, so their ranks were still very low. He could only have veteran officers like Dugommier hold up the front for now.[Note 1]

Moreau was currently the commander of the Tunis Legion, while Massena was merely the Second Regiment Commander of the Alpine Legion.

But Joseph knew that both of them possessed the ability to command army-group-level battles.

Of course, they still needed battle to accumulate experience, especially Moreau. The Rhine front would be the main battlefield between France and the Anti-French Alliance, where they could grow fastest.

Men such as Prussia's Duke of Brunswick and Austria's Würmser could not even touch Massena and the others' shadows.

And even if they made a mistake, Berthier, this battle-hardened Chief of Staff, stood behind them to cover the gaps and ensure nothing went wrong.

Joseph continued:

"The Rhine Army will command the Royal 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Divisions, the Royal Longsword Grenadier Regiment, the Royal 1st and 2nd Horse Artillery Battalions..."

In one breath, he named more than a dozen units, nearly all of them directly subordinate legions—that was, the new army—supplemented by the Alpine Legion and Champagne Legion, two old-style legions of