Chapter 247： Hechingen Brigade

Chapter 247 Heixingen Brigade

Shortly after the start of the third war of conquest, on July 15, France had begun to mobilize its troops. The next day, the French Parliament voted to officially declare war on Prussia.

Immediately afterwards, the four southern German states (Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hesse) with high nationalist sentiments completely fell to Prussia.

Prussia currently has three legions. The south is mainly the third legion led by Crown Prince Friedrich William (Frederick III), which consists of:

Fifth Army: Commander Kirchbach

6th Army: Commander Tumplinger

11th Army: Commander Brose

Bavarian 1st Army: Commander Tann-Rat Zamhausen

Bavarian 2nd Army: Commander Hartmann

Württemberg Division,

Baden Division,

Cavalry 2nd and 4th Divisions

Hexingen Brigade.

Because of the particularity of the Princely Kingdom of Hexingen, it was designated as a separate combat unit, theoretically at the same level as the Prussian army.

In this war, the Hexingen brigade was completely formed by the Hexingen royal family. Except for the personnel, the weapons and equipment were also self-sufficient. They were provided by the Hexingen arsenal in the German region. It is easier for the German state army to integrate with the logistics of the Prussian army.

Leopold served as the commander of the Hexingen Brigade and accepted the direct leadership of the regiment commander Frederick III.

A total of 4,372 people from the Princely Kingdom of Hexingen participated in the war. In addition to the third-year students of the former Hechingen Military Academy, there were also some second-year and first-year students, as well as some conscripts recruited by Hexingen and Sigmaringen.

…

"Boom boom boom..."

As the bell rang, the temporarily formed Hexingen Brigade assembled on the playground of the Hechingen Military Academy.

The Hechingen Brigade consisted of two infantry regiments. Under the leadership of Leopold, the assembly was quickly completed, and then turned to Stuttgart, approaching the west along the road, sitting on the convenient location, and arrived at the border in three days area. Except for the army of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which is fighting locally, the other states and the Prussian army have not yet arrived.

The Third Army, mainly composed of the South German states, supplemented by the Prussian army, this German army has 12 divisions, about 130,000 people (about 125,000 people in history), deployed in Baden and Karlsruhe in South Germany Nearby Palatinate region.

Heixingen was originally close to the Grand Duchy of Baden, and the Hexingen Brigade, as a national army, was the smallest of the Third Army, so it was more flexible to mobilize.

Two days later, the army of the Kingdom of Württemberg, which was next to Baden like Hexingen, arrived in Baden. At the same time, the Prussian army led by the Crown Prince of Prussia also arrived in the north that day.

As the supreme commander of the Third Army, Frederick III first inspected the armies of other states, except for the Bavarian army that had not yet arrived.

For the Prussian army, Frederick III is the most confident, but Baden and Württemberg have been at peace for a long time, and have not fought for a long time, so it is difficult to make people feel good. As for the Bavarian army, it is not too bad. After all, the two countries fought against each other last time.

Soon the armies of all the states were assembled. Looking at the bustling armies of the states, Frederick III was very dissatisfied, and his frown never relaxed. An army equipped with weapons from the three countries of Prussia, Prussia and Austria, even with such poor organization ability on weekdays, how can it be compared with the battle-tested Prussian army on the battlefield. And the enemy on the opposite side is the French Army, which is recognized as the number one army in the world.

Just when Frederick had no hope for the armies of other states, the Hexingen brigade in the corner of the corner caught his attention.

First impression: young, second impression: capable, third impression: tidy.

"Leopold, is this the Hechingen Brigade?" Frederick III came to Leopold and asked.

"Yes. Your Royal Highness, they are all a team formed by military students recruited by the royal family of Hexingen."

"Uh! Didn't I hear that Ernst was not interested in the military? Since he wanted to form an army, why didn't he go directly to the army? Prussia can provide him with a position."

"Hahaha, Ernst is not interested in the military. It's just an excuse. It's just a matter of self-knowledge. I think it's the right choice for him to go into business. Besides, these student soldiers are all prepared by him for his colony. If you want to Putting him in the army is out of the question," Leopold laughed.

"Oh! Prince Constantine is also considered a generation of famous generals. Why didn't Ernst inherit this from him." Frederick sighed.

"Everyone's choice is different, Your Royal Highness, and Prince Constantine is old enough to have a son, and Heixingen is only a single seedling. Naturally, he doesn't want Ernst to touch the battlefield again."

"Not to mention anything else, Ernst's so-called Hechingen Military Academy is pretty good. I heard that he himself is the principal, and he can manage the army in front of him like this. It’s pleasing to the eye, but it’s a pity that the number of people is too small.”

"Hehe, after all, the South German countries have their own military systems. If France hadn't declared war, they would have continued to exist independently, and the Prince of Hexingen was originally a Prussian prince, so the Hechingen Brigade naturally copied the template of the Prussian army. , its instructors are all selected from Prussian retired soldiers, and one thing you don’t know is that although Ernst is the principal of the Hechingen Military Academy, he is actually a hands-off shopkeeper. He usually does not participate in teaching and training at all, especially After the business grew, he often traveled on business, and many times when I visited Hechingen, I couldn’t see him.” Leopold laughed.

"Ernst is a fine person, but he does too many things. Besides business, he also engages in overseas colonization. Naturally, he spends little time in Hexingen, but overseas colonization does not seem to be very difficult? Even a businessman can do it. With such a smooth sailing, shouldn’t the unified Germany also participate more actively!” Frederick III said.

"Overseas colonization is indeed very attractive, but the British are not easy to deal with, and the place Ernst colonized, although it is not a bad place, is not so good. After all, even the Portuguese have been there for hundreds of years. Didn't see them do anything to East Africa."

"Forget it, don't think about it. The most important thing now is to deal with the French. If France is not defeated, there will be no future for Prussia and Germany. But these troops, in the South German state, the Baden and Württemberg armies It is not as good as Hechingen, even the Bavarian army is probably not good enough, and the battle between us and France is probably not easy." Frederick III said.

"It's hard to say. The elite troops of the Kingdom of Bavaria should still be good, and the image of the troops is secondary. We can only know whether they have strength on the battlefield." Leopold said.

"Then do you think, can this seemingly well-trained Hexingen brigade make great achievements on the battlefield?"

Leopold replied confidently: "Of course, although these are student soldiers who have never really entered the battlefield, they will inevitably suffer some disadvantages, but as long as they survive the first stage, they will definitely become an elite force."

…

The enemy opposite the Prussian Third Army was the French First Army, and the two sides faced off along the border from Saarbrücken to Strasbourg.

(picture)

The Franco-Prussian War broke out. The declaration of war aroused great patriotic enthusiasm in France. People rushed to the streets to send off the departing team, shouting: "Go to Berlin and kill Prussia!" People stuffed wine into the windows of trains full of soldiers and told them to teach the "square-headed Germans."

(end of this chapter)