Chapter 211: How Deserters Are Made
Chapter 207: How Deserters are Made
After the end of the Battle of Sofia, escaped Montes was summoned by the London government to return home, waiting for him is a day trip to the court-martial, this time the British lost a great deal of shame.
Although Monteith repeatedly explained that the war was lost due to the betrayal of traitors, are of no use.
A loss is a loss, even if tactically they inflicted greater casualties on the Russians, but everyone knew that the battle was lost on the Allied side.
The culprit was that the British army was not able to hold the line and let the Russians break through. The matter of being attacked back and forth by the guerrillas was decisively ignored, and the British were too embarrassed to mention it.
Oliver was promoted to commander of the British army, the promotion was a good thing, but Major General Oliver did not have half a bit of joy.
He still has a self-awareness, the so-called rescue merit is a pretext, if not the background of the deep, the failure of the war he is also to blame.
If he did not engage in the so-called bait plan, attempting to put the guerrillas in a net, reinforcements stationed in advance of the various key areas, the guerrillas could not be assembled from the back of the sneak attack, this battle is actually his pit death of Montes.
This kind of thing fooled the domestic bureaucrats, fooled the soldiers in combat, but could not deceive the front-line combat officers.
Under these circumstances, could he convince everyone when he became the commander of the expeditionary force?
“Have our casualties been counted?” Oliver asked
The bearded middle-aged officer replied, “Just a part of the count, the 3rd Expeditionary Corps, the total number of people killed, missing or captured is 6,876, and 2,847 are wounded.
Expeditionary Army 1st and 2nd Corps, casualties are still being counted, so far we have collected 11,621 routed soldiers, including 924 wounded, and it is said that some of the routed soldiers have withdrawn to the Macedonian region together with the Sardinians.”
It had been more than just heavy losses, the expeditionary force was simply crippled. The chances of being able to return to the army after half a month are already very low.
It couldn’t be helped, when fleeing from a losing battle, everyone was running around in a swarm, who cared about the direction or not.
With the defeat at the Battle of Sofia, the whole of southwestern Bulgaria was now Russian territory, and it was an open question how many people could escape the pursuit of the Russians and the Bulgarian partisans.
Communication was poor in this era and the soldiers could not speak the language, even if they escaped, it was very difficult for them to find their way back.
If the sense of direction is not strong, it is not impossible to directly backtrack.
Oliver patted his head, 80,000 British expeditionary force fought to the present, his hands left more than 30,000 people, even if it is added and the Sardinians ran to Macedonia region, but not more than 40,000 people.
More critical is still military morale is all gone, a long time of hard fighting, these soldiers are war-weary, even if the third legion, which has just arrived not long ago, is also the same.
If the British army’s fighting strength was 10 before, now it is only 5. Without half a year’s restoration, it is impossible to recover the fighting strength.
But the battle still has to be fought, the French have asked them to construct a defense line to block the enemy from killing from the west.
If possible, Oliver wouldn’t mind retreating all the way back to fight a defense of Constantinople. Fighting along the coast, they would have access to naval firepower and could more easily battle to an advantage.
Obviously this was not possible, and not to mention the Ottomans’ opinion, the Allied forces and the Russians were still fighting bitterly in the Sliven area, and could not withdraw at all.
A blind retreat would probably turn into a rout, and that would have serious consequences.
Oliver said seriously, ”No matter what, we have to hold off the Russians in the Kazanlek and Old Zagora area now, or else the allied forces will fail in this meeting.
The London government has already given a death order that we absolutely cannot cause the Rendezvous Battle to fail because of us.
I have asked for reinforcements from home, and the Cabinet Government has promised that at least 50,000 reinforcements will arrive in two months.
After the great battle of Sofia, the Russians have also suffered heavy casualties, they also need time to recuperate, and they should not launch a major attack in the next two months.”
A young officer questioned, “Your Excellency the Commander, with all due respect, even if the Russians launch a tentative attack, I may not be able to stop it.
On the way out, we lost all of our artillery, and a third of our soldiers don’t even have a rifle right now, so if we don’t make repairs, the troops won’t have any combat power to speak of.”
This is not nonsense, if a main division of the Russian army were to fight over at this time, all of these 30,000+ British troops would have to continue to run.
Oliver glared at him and said, “Colonel Vohu, you’re overthinking it. The loss of weaponry has already been replenished domestically, and it will take at most half a month to make up for it.
The issue of military morale depends on everyone’s efforts. We won’t have any new combat missions now, just do a good job of putting up guards and wait for reinforcements to arrive.”
Passive or not, Oliver couldn’t care less anymore. He knew that if he relied on the fortress fortifications for defense now, the soldiers would still be able to exert some of their combat power. If they took the initiative, they would have to write a book – How Deserters are Born.
……
Kraljevo, Serbia
Lt. Col. Haydn, 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment, New Austrian 7th Division, had a big problem with the number of deserters that had appeared in his defense area.
A young officer, about 22-23 years old, whispered, “Lieutenant Colonel, the British are sending representatives.”
Haydn said faintly, “Invite him in.”
The current situation was somewhat unique, Austria was maintaining neutrality in the war between the British and the Russians, but Austria was also an ally with the Russians, and was also at war with the Ottoman Empire, an ally of the British.
This intricate international relationship made it very difficult for Lt. Col. Haydn. If this was Austrian territory, then disarming the British as a neutral nation and repatriating them back home after the war would be.
Unfortunately, now the sovereignty of Serbia still belongs to the Ottoman Empire, if the British do not cooperate, Lt. Col. Haydn does not know whether to force them to disarm, or deport them.
Not long after, a somewhat distressed British officer walked in, and Lt. Col. Haydn said, “Good to see you, Colonel Daniels, can I get you something to drink?”
Colonel Daniels politely replied, “Thank you, coffee would be fine, and preferably some pastries.”
It was obvious that his stomach was already protesting, and the sound of a grumble reminded him that it was time to eat.
Commander Hayden shrugged and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any pastries, but I do have bread, canned goods and beef jerky, would you like some?”
This was a battlefield, and despite being in the city of Kraljevo, the Austrian army didn’t have the luxury of being able to serve pastries.
Colonel Daniel said matter-of-factly, “Bread and canned goods are fine.”
When they were fleeing for their lives, they were carrying beef jerky to top off their hunger, and now they were all on the verge of vomiting, so bread would be good at this time.
Lt. Col. Hayden ordered, “Guards make Colonel Daniel a cup of coffee and fetch a loaf of bread and two canned goods over here.”
Both men were soldiers, and communication between soldiers was always straightforward.
After a pause, Lt. Col. Hayden stated the terms, “Colonel Daniels, you have two choices:
Either, in accordance with international practice, we, as a third-party neutral country, will disarm you, the latter issue will be communicated by the London government and Vienna, and you will be repatriated after the war.
Either, you will leave immediately now, and for the sake of the friendship between the two countries, I can pretend that I didn’t see anything. It is not too late for you to leave from the Kosovo area and cut your way back through the Macedonia area.”
He didn’t want to get into a conflict with the British at this time; there were a few too many British soldiers entering the Kraljevo area at the moment, and if they couldn’t be dealt with in a timely manner, there was a good chance that there would be a mess.
Colonel Daniel replied without hesitation, “We’ll go with the first one, the Russians have already occupied the Kosovo area, and our back roads have been cut off.
We agree to be disarmed, but you must provide us with status matching treatment and guarantee that we can only be repatriated back home after the war.”
Hearing Daniel’s open-eyed statement, Lt. Col. Hayden cried a little. He finally understood why so many people had mistakenly entered the Kraljevo region.
This wasn’t any kind of mistaken entry, it was simply a deliberate attempt to run over.
This war has lasted for almost a year, and the British have been in the war for half a year. After fighting for such a long time, the troops have not been rotated, and it is natural for everyone to be a little more war-weary.
The treatment of British Army soldiers in this era was not high, as evidenced by the logistical supplies, and if they had status, the bureaucrats in the Logistics Department would not have dared to be so disruptive.
Compared to the Navy, they were the stepchildren, treated less than one-third of the Navy soldiers. This differential treatment naturally inspired their discontent.
Now that everyone’s war aversion is high, it’s natural to think of ways to escape this war. Being a deserter is not desirable in the first place, it is subject to military justice.
With the defeat at the Battle of Sofia, their chance came. This time it was a total defeat, so it was definitely time to run for their lives.
If they ran back, they would inevitably have to go to war later. If they surrendered to the Russians, the hairy bears had a bad reputation in this day and age, and they were afraid of being massacred.
Besides, it is not honorable to be a prisoner of war, and the Maoist bears are the enemy, so if they surrendered, they would not even have a chance to fight for their treatment.
At this time, some smart people thought of a way to go to a neutral country to be disarmed, and then wait for repatriation after the war.
Not only escaped the war, but also do not have to worry about being liquidated at home. Panic on the battlefield is normal, besides, who knows the Austrians occupied Serbia?
Anyway, the London government didn’t send them a document to inform them, so people could pretend to be confused and say they didn’t know, and they could just shrug it off as a normal retreat and then mistakenly enter Austrian territory.
The bureaucrats in the London government had to recognize that this was in line with the rules, and they relied on this mechanical set of rules, to defend their interests, so naturally they couldn’t break them easily.
In fact it wasn’t just the British who did this, even some in the Sardinian army ran over after them, only not many because of their feud with Austria.
As to whether it would bring trouble to the London government or affect the Anglo-Austrian relationship, it was not in their consideration.
Anyway, the Austrians must treat them well, which is a bargaining chip with the London government.
Even to be more persuasive, they found a step, a bite of the Russians have occupied the Kosovo region, cut off their way back.
Lt. Col. Hayden thought for a moment and said, “Yes, but all British soldiers will have to sign the agreement.
It establishes that you entered Kraljevo by mistake on your own, and that you turned to us for help because you lost your logistical supplies due to the Russians cutting off the way home.”
Changing the rhetoric, everyone’s face was taken care of. It also gave a different argument for disarmament, and there would be no future conflict between Britain and Austria over the issue.
Colonel Daniels grumbled in return, “No problem, then Lieutenant Colonel Hayden please provide us with supplies as soon as possible, we haven’t had a normal meal for days after this journey.”
Lt. Colonel Hayden asked, “Yes, how many of you are there, I’ll send a batch of supplies over to you right away.”
Colonel Daniel replied, “There are 1,531 men in all, including 426 Sardinian soldiers, all of whom must be treated the same, and 62 wounded, who need to be treated.
There should be some more troops back there, and this number may continue to increase in the future, so you had better have more supplies.”
It wasn’t an individual who had run away, it was entirely the officer leading the soldiers to run away en masse, and in such a refreshingly unassuming manner.
Lieutenant Colonel Hayden nodded and ordered the men to prepare the supplies. No matter what, let’s stabilize these British soldiers first.
For Daniel’s righteous request, Lt. Col. Hayden had no opinion, the London government would pay for them anyway.
(End of chapter)