John said sharply.
"That's why we need our own aerosteamers," Hans replied, looking over at Chuck. "Their bombing of land targets is more a nuisance then anything else, but they are taking a toll of galleys and they'll know where we are, and we won't. They'll be able to see how we've positioned our troops, have maps made of our fortifications, and when they hit they'll know far more of us than we do of them."
Hans walked down the length of the table and stabbed the northwest flank with his stubby finger tracing the line where the fortifications went into the forest for ten miles to finally end atop a steep-sided ridge, the line then turning back east at a right angle for several miles.
"They'll come against us up here."
"That's where our fortifications are strongest," Andrew said, almost as if to reassure himself. "The entire section is reinforced with log blockhouses, ditched and faced with abatis as well."
"Yet this is where they'll hit," Hans said emphatically. "We have to have a flank somewhere, and that's where the blow will land."
Into the forest?" Kal interjected, "Hans, we've been going over this since last fall. It would mean the Merki would have to backtrack in an arc of several hundred miles. The woods are pathless, except for our own line of fortifications. That flank is secure ."
"A flank is still a flank," Hans replied. "We've built these defenses almost too well. But we had to. We're nearly a hundred miles out into the steppe down here. If they break through anywhere along our front, their mobility would destroy us. So we fortified to the teeth, and now they'll go for the flank. If they take it, two days of hard riding would get them up to the ford where we first met the Tugars, and from there they're bound to jump the Neiper further up river."
"You still want us to abandon our forward position and fight on the Neiper, don't you?" Pat asked.
"Our gunboats can hold the line up to the ford," Hans said. "Beyond that we can hold the river line with two corps for fifty miles into the forest beyond."
"It's fighting on our home territory," Andrew said quietly. "Lose anywhere, and the enemy is inside our land. If they flank Suzdal, we'll be cut off from Roum and the rest of our country."
"We might be fighting that way anyhow," Hans replied, his voice full of warning.
"The amount of rail construction we've done down here, if the same effort had been applied to running a line along the Neiper for a hundred miles north of the ford, we'd be secure."
"We went over that a year and a half ago," John replied sharply. "That terrain is murderous for rail construction, nothing but hills and marshy gullies, It's a wilderness, worse than the one in Virginia. The Merki will get tangled in it if they ever get that far."
"And besides," he added quietly, "what's done is done."
Andrew felt the old sense of exhaustion seeping in. Since the end of the naval war every moment had been consumed with preparing for this next conflict. He had decided over two years ago that their defense against the Merki, if they should move against Rus, would be a forward one, attempting to block the enemy before he got anywhere near home territory. All of his thinking had been predicated upon this basic principle of avoiding war on one's own land at all cost. Hans had been in full agreement at the beginning, but starting in mid-winter he had begun to grow cautious, and now he was finally coming down on the other side.
Andrew knew that the typhoid had sapped his strength, leaving him feeling weak psychologically as well as physically. But beyond that was the deep seated fear that had been gnawing at him all along that no matter how much they did, the Merki, now armed with modern weapons, would be too much for them, and that everything attempted would in the end result in ruin.
"What you're saying here is that we can't hold them on this front," Andrew said quietly.
Hans looked around the room and nodded.
"Then where the hell will we hold
"That's why we need our own aerosteamers," Hans replied, looking over at Chuck. "Their bombing of land targets is more a nuisance then anything else, but they are taking a toll of galleys and they'll know where we are, and we won't. They'll be able to see how we've positioned our troops, have maps made of our fortifications, and when they hit they'll know far more of us than we do of them."
Hans walked down the length of the table and stabbed the northwest flank with his stubby finger tracing the line where the fortifications went into the forest for ten miles to finally end atop a steep-sided ridge, the line then turning back east at a right angle for several miles.
"They'll come against us up here."
"That's where our fortifications are strongest," Andrew said, almost as if to reassure himself. "The entire section is reinforced with log blockhouses, ditched and faced with abatis as well."
"Yet this is where they'll hit," Hans said emphatically. "We have to have a flank somewhere, and that's where the blow will land."
Into the forest?" Kal interjected, "Hans, we've been going over this since last fall. It would mean the Merki would have to backtrack in an arc of several hundred miles. The woods are pathless, except for our own line of fortifications. That flank is secure ."
"A flank is still a flank," Hans replied. "We've built these defenses almost too well. But we had to. We're nearly a hundred miles out into the steppe down here. If they break through anywhere along our front, their mobility would destroy us. So we fortified to the teeth, and now they'll go for the flank. If they take it, two days of hard riding would get them up to the ford where we first met the Tugars, and from there they're bound to jump the Neiper further up river."
"You still want us to abandon our forward position and fight on the Neiper, don't you?" Pat asked.
"Our gunboats can hold the line up to the ford," Hans said. "Beyond that we can hold the river line with two corps for fifty miles into the forest beyond."
"It's fighting on our home territory," Andrew said quietly. "Lose anywhere, and the enemy is inside our land. If they flank Suzdal, we'll be cut off from Roum and the rest of our country."
"We might be fighting that way anyhow," Hans replied, his voice full of warning.
"The amount of rail construction we've done down here, if the same effort had been applied to running a line along the Neiper for a hundred miles north of the ford, we'd be secure."
"We went over that a year and a half ago," John replied sharply. "That terrain is murderous for rail construction, nothing but hills and marshy gullies, It's a wilderness, worse than the one in Virginia. The Merki will get tangled in it if they ever get that far."
"And besides," he added quietly, "what's done is done."
Andrew felt the old sense of exhaustion seeping in. Since the end of the naval war every moment had been consumed with preparing for this next conflict. He had decided over two years ago that their defense against the Merki, if they should move against Rus, would be a forward one, attempting to block the enemy before he got anywhere near home territory. All of his thinking had been predicated upon this basic principle of avoiding war on one's own land at all cost. Hans had been in full agreement at the beginning, but starting in mid-winter he had begun to grow cautious, and now he was finally coming down on the other side.
Andrew knew that the typhoid had sapped his strength, leaving him feeling weak psychologically as well as physically. But beyond that was the deep seated fear that had been gnawing at him all along that no matter how much they did, the Merki, now armed with modern weapons, would be too much for them, and that everything attempted would in the end result in ruin.
"What you're saying here is that we can't hold them on this front," Andrew said quietly.
Hans looked around the room and nodded.
"Then where the hell will we hold
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