Chapter 881: Countdown to War
Chapter 864: Countdown to War
St. Petersburg, receiving the news that Minister White was killed in London, Alexander III was directly furious.
If not the last vestige of sanity remains, restrained the idea of getting the British Minister killed as revenge, the century’s biggest political scandal is about to happen.
“This is the British explanation, clearly taking us for fools!”
After saying that, Alexander III directly tore up the paperwork, proving with practical actions that he was really angry.
There was no way not to be angry, according to the British, the main responsibility was that Minister Wyatt had blurted out his words and enraged the British public before the accident happened.
Dead people don’t talk, all the parties involved were controlled by the British, and the truth of the matter could not be discerned at all.
Whether others believed it or not, Alexander III would not believe it anyway. Minister White was appointed by him personally, perhaps with many faults in him, but definitely not a fool.
If he had been sent to some small country, there might have been a real possibility of arrogance. But as the minister to Britain, where did White get the courage to be arrogant?
Especially admitting that the Russian army sneak attacked the British army in Afghanistan is bullshit.
Not to mention that this is a falsehood, even if it really happened, in the case of the tsarist government firmly denied, the minister abroad is also impossible to recognize.
Field Marshal Ivanov, the Minister of War, persuaded, “Your Majesty, calm down. There is no need to get angry over the damned English.
When the war in Central Asia is over, we’ll settle things with them slowly.”
Having become the boss of the main war faction, Marshal Ivanov still hadn’t changed his usual steady style.
Revenge against the British was a must, and that would have to wait until the fight was over.
To turn against the British in advance, except for shouting a few times, in essence does not have half a role to play, and may even increase the difficulty of the war.
The British and Russian systems were not the same, the Tsarist government controlled all the rights of the country and could prepare for war at any time; however, the British government had to be subject to Parliament.
Before the war began, the government could not go beyond Parliament and directly order the nation to mobilize. Even if it did prepare for war, it could only do so on a small scale.
It would be foolish not to take advantage of the advantages before us.
After pausing his efforts for a while, Alexander III nodded, ”Since the British want to fight, let’s make it happen.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should do a good job with France and Austria, and cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to raise as much money as possible. This war is not something that can be ended in a short period of time.”
Having made the decision, Alexander III was still unsure in his heart. With the lesson of the Prussian-Russian War in mind, Alexander III was not willing to go to war with any of the great powers.
Nay, the great power was not something that could be swayed by individual will. The repeated provocations of the British had touched the bottom line of the Russian Empire.
……
Afghanistan battlefield, the outside world has not yet reached the flurry, and Lieutenant General Patrick did not know that a telegram in which he shirked his responsibility could become another twist in the Anglo-Russian relationship.
At the moment, Lt. Gen. Patrick is still fretting about the increasing number of casualties.
Especially after the camp tsunami at the headquarters of the 7th Indian Colonial Division after a guerrilla attack two nights ago.
“Hurst, where’s that idiot, why didn’t he come to the meeting?”
This meeting was supposed to be about accountability, and with the person in question actually not showing up, it was understandable that Lt. General Patrick was fuming.
A young officer near the front replied, “Your Excellency the Commander, Major General Hurst was attacked by a bomb on his way to the command headquarters and is currently being rescued.”
This answer made Patrick’s heart go cold.
In the mutiny two days ago, a number of senior officers of the 7th Colonial Division had gone to meet God, and if Hurst, the Major General Division Commander, had also met God, things would have been bad.
Generally speaking, dead people are not responsible. Meeting God in an attack on the way to a meeting is also a death in the line of duty.
The officers who can take responsibility are all dead, and the following officers are not qualified to take responsibility, this black pot can only be taken by Patrick, the commander-in-chief.
It is important to realize that in Britain’s foreign wars, it has been many years since an officer of the rank of Major General has been killed in action.
Even for officers of the Indian Colonial Division, which was to be one rank lower than the regular army, a major general was still a major general.
The life and death of the man in question was unknown, and Lt. General Patrick was not in a frame of mind to continue his accountability.
“Got it, read the 7th Division’s casualty report.”
The young officer behind him holding the document immediately replied, “Yes!”
“After the camp tsunami, the Seventh Division suffered 786 deaths, 565 injuries, and 1,218 missing on the spot, of which 76 officers died and 94 were injured.
There were another 7 material warehouses, which were incinerated by the flames, and an ammunition warehouse also exploded ……”
Listening to the casualty report, Lieutenant General Patrick’s heart felt like it was dripping blood, the enemy’s shadow hadn’t even been touched, and a regiment’s strength was just tossed away.
Failure loss is also even if, anyway, this is a colonial division, the soldiers died can be recruited again, India is the least lack of people.
The loss of officers is not the same, the seventh colonial division of the senior almost been a pot end. You should know that the colonial division’s middle and senior officers are also British, lost on the battlefield, there is no way to immediately replenish.
Once it was reported back home, it would be another fatal stain on Lieutenant General Patrick’s military career.
As for the missing soldiers, because they are all Indians colonies are plentiful, this kind of cannon fodder is worthless, directly ignored by Lieutenant General Patrick.
“As you all heard, what happened in the 7th Division was a wake-up call for all of us.
No one knows better than yourselves what kind of soldiers you lead. All of you keep an eye on the troops, I don’t want something like this to happen again.
Now that the 7th Division has suffered heavy losses, it must be withdrawn for rest and recuperation. In the next siege battles, it will be up to you to draw in your troops and fill in the gaps.”
Hearing that the troops had to be divided, the crowd’s complexion instantly tensed up.
The Afghan region was not small, and in this siege plan, each unit’s defense area was large, and it was inevitable that the troop strength would be somewhat insufficient, and then splitting the troops would put even more pressure on everyone.
A slightly older officer opened his mouth and persuaded, ”Your Excellency the Commander, our 11th Division’s defense area is over one hundred London, if we further divide our troops, I’m afraid that it will be difficult to complete the task of encircling the guerrillas.
It is said to be known that it is not only the 11th Division’s defense area that is large, but the situation faced by all units is similar.
The war had broken out so long ago that no one had had a rest, and the morale of the army had fallen to its lowest point since the beginning of the war.
It’s no longer appropriate to continue to go into the mountains to encircle the guerrillas, so why don’t we pull our troops back to rest and recuperate for a period of time, and wait for reinforcements to arrive before we encircle them again.”
The facts were in front of us, since the outbreak of the war, these troops hadn’t had a proper rest and recuperation.
The occurrence of the battalion tsunami in the Seventh Colonial Division was not unrelated to the decline in military morale and the highly tense spirit of the soldiers after days of fighting.
“Your Excellency Commander, Major General Winston is right, the troops do need to rest and recuperate. If we keep fighting like this, the troops are going to mutiny.”
“Your Excellency the Commander, the troops do need to rest and recuperate ……”
……
As Lieutenant General Patrick said, only he knew best what kind of soldiers he was leading, and it was precisely because it was too clear that everyone didn’t have the backbone to divide their troops.
The sound of three or two persuasive voices rang out, causing Lieutenant General Patrick to sober up, and now the troops were indeed tired.
To realize that these troops, are not any elite troops, to be able to continuously fight for several months, is already a super level of performance.
No, “continuous combat” seems to be a bit exaggerated. However, on average, there were still combat missions once every ten days and half a month, mostly to besiege the guerrillas.
For the elite troops, it might not be much different from a field trip. But for the Indian Colonial Division, it was pushing the limits.
But there was something about giving up just like that that made Lt. Gen. Patrick a little reluctant. It had been so hard to surround the main force of the guerrillas, and to call it quits at this point would be a total loss of all the previous efforts.
The next chance, if we retreat now, I’m afraid there won’t be a next chance.
The London government was already very dissatisfied with the British army’s poor performance on the battlefield, and if they could not achieve any more results, a change of command would be a matter of time.
Lieutenant General Patrick did not want to go back in disgrace, he had to deliver a passing grade now, so that the country would recognize his ability.
“Reinforcements will arrive next week, all of you have worked so hard for so long, I believe you don’t want to return without any success!
Hold on for one more week, and someone will come to replace you all. Everyone work hard, I’m sure you’ll be able to overcome the difficulties ……”
Receiving the good news of reinforcements arriving, the crowd reluctantly accepted the results. After all, an arm can’t resist a thigh, you can’t resist orders on the battlefield!
(End of chapter)