Chapter 719: The Battle of Warsaw Without a Winner

  Chapter 703 The Battle of Warsaw without a victor

Prussia and Russia on the battlefield changes in the wind and clouds, a direct impact on the European financial markets, a time of the wind, where the Prussian-Polish Federation issued war bonds, all the market value plummeted.

A bit of common sense people know, if Mauch in the back of the war can not save the day, Pu Po federal defeat, there will inevitably be a debt default.

The financial winter is coming.

Prime Minister Benjamin, who was far away in London, felt the chill.

Debt is too much, sometimes it really doesn’t weigh down. By now the people most afraid of the end of the Pupo Federation, in addition to themselves, is the British.

The more information he had in hand, the more clear Prime Minister Benjamin was about the seriousness of the problem.

The defeat of the PBF, not only the loans released become bad debts, bonds issued on their behalf become waste paper, the more critical is the Berlin government owes the payment of goods.

The losses in front of them were nothing more than financial institutions and speculators, who were themselves well-funded and more risk-resistant.

The latter payment is different, large enterprises may be able to resist, small and medium-sized enterprise capital chain is weak, simply can not withstand the toss.

If we add the banks’ taking advantage of the fire, the day the Pupo Federation is finished will be the beginning of the industrial crisis in Britain.

The actual situation may even be worse, after all, the capitalist world is already overcapacity. After the war the market will become more and more competitive and a wave of corporate bankruptcies is inevitable.

These small and medium-sized enterprises do not account for a large proportion of the economic structure of Britannia, but they are the ones that provide the most jobs.

Bankruptcy wave and unemployment wave a pair of good brothers, never “Jiao is not far away from Meng, Meng is not far away from Jiao”. An economic crisis of unprecedented scale has already begun to brew in Britain.

Sometimes knowing too much is a burden.

Benjamin asked, “Sir Edward, what did the French say?”

Wanting to reverse this war was no longer something the British alone could do, the French position was crucial.

Foreign Minister Edward shook his head, “The Paris government rejected our proposal, they believe that the Prussian-Russian conflict can no longer be unraveled, and even if they forcefully call off this war, there will be another one.

The French are betting on both sides of this war, they don’t have much to lose from the defeat of the Prussian-Polish Confederation, and it’s even possible that they may have reached an agreement with the Russians in secret.”

Prime Minister Benjamin nodded helplessly, he knew that the grudge between Britain and France was cut and dried. The French couldn’t wait for the British to be unlucky, so how could they possibly step in and pull them out?

Take this Prussian-Russian War, initially Britain and France supported the Berlin government together, except that the British got the gold reserves of the Prussian-Polish Confederation and almost monopolized the financial benefits.

As it turns out, eating alone is not so tasty. The more you eat, the more you pay. The British took over most of the Berlin government’s loans and bonds.

The French chose to let it go for a variety of reasons. Apart from the fact that the benefits were too small, there was also the development of French Africa, which required the investment of a large amount of capital, and the Paris government artificially restricted the outflow of capital.

Although it still didn’t stop the capitalists’ greed, the total amount of outgoing capital shrank dramatically.

Without government guidance, a significant portion of this capital flowed not only into the Puppo Federation, but likewise into the Russian Empire.

It was the equivalent of betting on both sides, and no matter which side won, the French had their share. With fewer interests involved, the Paris government naturally became less active.

Napoleon IV, unlike his father, was born at the time of the revival of France, and was born with a sense of pride that made it impossible for him to subordinate himself to others.

It can be seen from the French foreign policy, the Paris government’s foreign policy is becoming more and more tough, the last two or three years of Anglo-French relations, French-Austrian relations have been deteriorating.

The British Army is limited in strength and wants to intervene in this war.

Now that the French refused to be a fighter, the London government had materially lost the ability to intervene directly in this war.

After contemplating for a while, Prime Minister Benjamin said fiercely, “Then we will settle for the second best. No matter what method is used, make sure to find a way to preserve the Kingdom of Prussia. We need the debtors to exist and give an account to the country.”

The defeated Kingdom of Prussia, naturally, did not have the ability to repay its debts. But as long as the debtor existed, there was a possibility of repayment.

The post-war Berlin government had limited financial resources, and perhaps for many years their annual repayments would not be enough to cover the interest.

But it was better to have hope than no hope at all. The London government needed a hope for the population to have confidence in the market.

Garfield, Chancellor of the Exchequer: “Prime Minister, you are being too pessimistic. Perhaps things aren’t as bad as you think, and the Pupo Federation is still holding on to the fight.

If Mauch works a miracle and wins the Battle of Warsaw ahead of the Russians, they still have the possibility of ending the war with dignity.”

Foreign Secretary Edward denied, “Sir Garfield, that is impossible. All indications are that the Austrians want the Puppo Confederation to lose the war and lay the groundwork for the unification of the German region.

Mauch, even if he performed a miracle, still couldn’t change the fate of the defeat of the Pupo Federation. With Vienna’s support, the Czarist government’s troops will keep pouring up and eventually pile them up.”

“Superiority in numbers” is perhaps what touched the European nations the most. The Russians proved with facts, “If our army is large enough, the enemy is powerless.”

……

While the British were trying to figure out how to make up for their losses, the Russo-Prussian War entered a new phase. The Russian Fourth Army had been completely outmaneuvered by the Prussian army and could only survive by relying on improvised fortifications.

What is surprising is that the Prussian army did not completely annihilate the Russian Fourth Army, but left two infantry divisions and a group of militia posing as the main force to besiege the Russians, while the main force quickly moved north.

In order to avoid detection by Russian airships, the Prussian army this time unprecedentedly chose to sleep during the day and march at night, rapidly reinforcing the Warsaw battlefield.

On November 10, 1880, the main force of the Prussian army arrived in Warsaw and together with the Warsaw garrison launched a counterattack on the Russians, catching the Russian Fifth Army off guard with heavy losses.

This was only the beginning, as the Russian Fifth Army was forced to retreat with its remnants, and the Russian Seventh Army was exposed to the Prussian forces in an interlocking position.

The Russians proved to be no match for the Prussians after losing their superiority in strength.

The Russian Seventh Army failed to perform a miracle, and their comrades warned them too late to withdraw in time, losing one-third of their troops to the Prussian attack.

The Battle of Warsaw ended with the victory of the Prussian army, but Mauch’s face did not have the slightest joy, because the time belonging to them had been lost.

There is no way, the Russian army is not paper mache, defeat the Russian fifth army rely on sneak attack, they only spent two days, defeat the Russian seventh army they spent a full five days.

Time is life on the battlefield, by this time the Russians’ third and sixth armies, were already only two hundred kilometers away from them.

Theoretically speaking, halfway to intercept, delay the enemy’s marching speed, drag on ten days and a half months is still possible.

With such a long period of time, they could still gallop to the southern front, for example: first take out the enemy’s Eighth Army, which was besieging Poznan, and the Russian Ninth Army, which was staying in the center.

In reality, this was simply impossible. The Prussian soldiers were human beings, and they needed time to recuperate after battles if they wanted to keep their troops in fighting shape.

Even if they only rested for two days, Mauch didn’t have enough time.

Don’t look at from Warsaw to Poznan only 278 kilometers, the train can be sent overnight, but to transport hundreds of thousands of troops over there, it is not one day or two days can be completed.

Once the army is there, it does not mean that the war can start immediately. Depending on whether the enemy was willing to fight with them or not, the Russians could have dragged their feet.

For example: find favorable terrain to hold. Anyway, if they are not annihilated, the rear of the Prussian army will be unsettled, and the longer the delay, the more favorable it will be for the Russians.

Without waiting for them to finish off the Russian Eighth Army, Russian reinforcements arrived in Warsaw. Without the main force, Warsaw can’t be defended.

The fall of Warsaw also means the fall of Poland. At that point, even if they finished off the Russian Eighth Army, Mauch could only withdraw back in disgrace for the defense of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Giving up the Polish region, the war was already lost for the Prussian-Polish Confederation. Having lost most of its territory and population, the only remaining Kingdom of Prussia had even less war potential, and simply did not have the capital to fight on with the Russians.

Without the time to resolve the threat on the southern front, it could only hope that the defenders at home could give a little more strength and hold out until they finished off the Russian reinforcements, and then go back to help the country.

The prerequisite is that this is the last of the Russian reinforcements, otherwise the Warsaw offensive and defense will continue. Judging from the current situation, it is more likely that the war will continue.

Looking at the map, Mauch was at a loss for words for the first time.

“Marshal, this is the battle report we have tallied, please take a look.” A young officer whispered

Mao Qi raised his head and waved his hand to signal the young officer to put down the battle report and go out. After a few moments of silent effort, a calm Mao Qi slowly opened the war report.

The cold numbers on the paper seemed to instantly cause the temperature in the room to drop a few more points.

War is to die, the last month of the Prussian army but the results are brilliant, has disabled the Russian Fourth Army, Fifth Army, but also hit the Russian Seventh Army.

The total number of enemy troops annihilated and captured was more than 430,000, which broke up the Russian Warsaw offensive and created the world-shocking “Warsaw Victory”.

However, behind this splendor, there were also 110,000 Prussian soldiers permanently fell on the battlefield, in addition to 150,000 additional wounded.

These were only casualties, but they were far more than that. Civilian casualties aside, Mauch didn’t take the Poles seriously.

Economic losses were not his concern as a Field Marshal, the consumption of weaponry and strategic materials was not to be taken lightly.

In just one month, the Prussian army has knocked out half of the ammunition in the warehouse and consumed nearly one-third of the strategic materials.

(End of chapter)