Chapter 560: Airship Bombardment Brigade
Chapter 548 – Airship Bombardment Brigade
Time rushed by, and in a flash the month of March passed. Declaring war for a month without fighting, if it were any other point in time, Franz could have taken it as a joke.
There was no way around it; war was in the service of politics. This kind of bullshit actually happened in reality.
In order to buy time for the Ottoman Empire, European countries evacuated at a snail’s pace. In the name of disposing of property, they are actually buying time to grab supplies for the Ottoman Empire.
Once the war started, don’t expect free trade. The Vienna government sent out a note that any ship entering the war zone would be responsible for the consequences.
This is also a tacit agreement reached by everyone. If the Ottoman Empire is finished, Britain and France and other countries of the debt are in vain, not to appease the wounded hearts of the countries how to do it?
Ottoman at least is an old empire, even if the decline, the family background is still there. When they crossed the Eurasian continent, they can rob a lot of good things, the ability to pay is still very strong.
In the face of life and death, the Sudanese government is doing its best to raise money to buy supplies. The treasures in the palace were emptied, and the nobles also symbolically took out part of their wealth to support the war.
Besides this reason, practicing for the Russians was also a reason. Crossing the sea to fight is no joke, if it’s just spinning in the Aegean Sea is fine, the hairy bear’s body is good should be able to withstand.
If the attack on more distant areas, the soldiers did not go through the sea navigation training, the road to fall a large number, on shore is also a soft shrimp, rely on what war?
The Tsar’s government was a bunch of dry ducks and had no experience in sea crossing expeditions, so they could not take this seriously.
Austria has a lot of experience, if you do not train and kick out the seasick guys, then you will wait to cry!
Faced with an unreliable ally, Franz decided to put up with it anyway. No matter what, the Russians were also fighting for Austria.
The more grueling the fight in Asia Minor, the smoother the war in the Middle East would be. It was God’s blessing that half of these 150,000 Russian troops could be left in the end.
If the Russian commanders aren’t competent enough, there might even be a round of replacements. Even the best strategy needs someone to execute it.
Theoretically, with the advantage of sea power, you can avoid the real world and specialize in attacking the enemy’s weak areas. But this also involves intelligence, the commander’s judgment, the speed of army mobilization, and many other factors.
The Ottomans were a religious empire, and the Sultan’s government had already called for jihad. No matter how good they were at fighting, at least there were plenty of people willing to put up a fight.
The resistance in the early stages would definitely be very fierce, and this would only change when the tragic casualties exceeded their heart’s capacity to bear.
Didn’t the Tsarist government want to borrow Austria’s hand to practice? No problem, after the end of the war, I will give them a fine army, but only need to shed more blood in the middle of the process.
Whether to suffer or to take advantage, this question is a matter of opinion.
Looking at the preparation of the Ottoman Empire, Franz wanted to make a false truce, perhaps after three to five years to attack more appropriate.
By the time the Ottoman Empire bought the strategic materials, also almost scrapped, the government’s wallet has been emptied.
Maybe cry wolf a few more times, and possibly achieve the effect of giving up without a fight.
Just think about it, the real target this time was not the Ottoman Empire in the first place, and there was no way Franz would change the established strategy for a secondary target.
After April Fool’s Day, the time for ultimatums had long passed. At this point, there was no room for Franz to stall.
“Order the navy to strike and shell the coastal cities of the Ottoman Empire. Remember to be courteous first, we are civilized people, before shelling, send blimps to spread leaflets.”
Shelling port cities in this era, it was not at all accurate, how much battle results could be achieved all depended on the character of the people. The destructive power caused was far less serious than the consequences of panic.
Franz, who had always loved his feathers, naturally had to be polite first. In case the people in the harbor all run away, won’t it even save the deportation work?
The goal of shelling the harbor city was also not just to create chaos, but more of a fire reconnaissance to choose a landing site.
The Ottoman Empire had so many coastal ports that it was impossible to fully fortify them, and there would always be weak points.
There were no radio stations in this era, and it was very difficult to collect intelligence after the war broke out. Even if they got the intelligence, they had to go to Persia to make a detour if they wanted to pass it back, and time simply did not allow it.
There could even be traps, which would require a test of the commander’s judgment.
……
Constantinople, Coalition Headquarters
” On April 5, 1874, at 10:00 a.m., our Mediterranean fleet launched an artillery barrage on the ports of Phoenicia, Alanya, and Anamur.
The preliminary fire defense rating of the Port of Phoenicia is C. The fire defense rating of the Port of Alanya and the Port of Anamur is D.
On April 6, 1874, at 3:00 p.m., the Black Sea Fleet launched shelling on Ava and Karasu, and the preliminary judgment of the enemy’s fire defense class was ahB.
April 1874 ……”
Fire defense class, this is the Austrian Navy in order to distinguish the enemy shore artillery fire strength artificially divided, from high to low is divided into SABCDEF seven levels.
Looking at the military map on the table, Arest had a few moments of confusion, not knowing where to start. As an admiral, land warfare is not his specialty, and choosing a landing site is too difficult for him.
Soon he decided to give up and leave the choice to the Russians, in case he chose the wrong place and ended up losing a lot of money, it would be the Russians themselves.
“General Ivanov, where do you think is a better place to land from?”
Without hesitating for too long, Ivanov gave his answer, “It’s still Ava, it’s the closest to the Bosphorus, and after taking this place for at most two months, we can completely control the Black Sea Straits.
Having done that, we will have won most of this war. If the enemy is going to die defending the strait, we can also drive in and attack the Ottoman capital of Ankara.”
It didn’t take much thought to realize why, since the outbreak of the Near East War, the Russians had been unable to keep their foreign trade away from Austria.
Even if the government in Vienna did not collect transit tariffs, the freight charges were always small. Railroad companies do not care whether the two countries are allies or not, the money that should be collected that is not a penny less.
Import is okay, the big deal is to buy Austrian products, anyway, the impact is not big, but the export will lose a lot.
Seeing the international food prices were speculated up, but the domestic food is piled up, Alexander II are worried about bald.
Austria is the only buyer left, if the capitalists do not take advantage of the price, it is still a capitalist? No matter how much the international market price of grain rises, the purchase price of Austrian capitalists is no change.
If they don’t open the Black Sea Channel as soon as possible, and if they delay until the end of the year, what can they use to trade with the British?
Grain for loan activities, that is never stop, or the Russian Empire’s railroad construction, will stop.
After thinking clearly about these problems, Arest deliberately reminded: “The importance of the Black Sea Channel is indisputable, this point the Ottomans also know, in this area they are deployed heavy troops.
Why don’t we first choose an area where the enemy’s troops are weak to land, mobilize the enemy, and then launch a full-scale battle.”
This was the established strategy, Aleister didn’t want to be played out by the Russians. If they landed hard directly from Ava, heavy losses would be inevitable.
The Russians were not afraid of high casualties of gray livestock, Arest was still heartbroken about money. You know that all the supplies are Austria in the bearer, the cannon is not a joke when the gold ten thousand taels.
After hesitating for a moment’s effort, Ivanov nodded. The face of the gold master should still be given, if Austria does not cooperate, they can not swim past.
One hundred and fifty thousand Russian troops can not be landed in a one-time concentration, split troops to attack multiple areas, does not affect his battle plan at all.
Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Arest was very happy, “That’s good, I’ll have the dirigible bombing brigade cooperate and see if they can take the opportunity to knock out the enemy shore guns.”
There was no way, limited by technical problems and unable to play with airplanes, Franz could only take the airships to make up the numbers, and the bombing brigade was the low-profile version of the air force.
This unit in Austria there are still some embarrassment, since its establishment, there is no take the war record. Even on the battlefield performance opportunities are not, on the contrary, airship transportation brigade performance is good.
If not for the outbreak of war in the Near East and the need to solve the enemy’s shore artillery before landing, it is estimated that Arest would not have thought that Austria still had this unit.
In these recent years, Austria was generally peaceful, except for the occasional knocking around in the colonies, which was an Anglo-Boer war.
The enemy in the colonies, there is no need to use the airship unit. The “Anglo-Boer War” was fought under a vest, and it was too conspicuous to take out the airships. Once the lid is lifted, the play will not go down well.
After waiting for so many years, the airship bombing brigade finally had the opportunity to perform. Franz the first time, the unit was transferred to the Balkans, ready to test it in real combat.
Although the original time and space blimp appeared on the battlefield soon after the airplane was eliminated. But the Germans also took the airships to bomb the United Kingdom, it proves that the airships still have a certain military value, used to bully the Ottoman Empire is not a problem, right?
By the way, it’s a good way to shine a light, attract the attention of various countries, and increase everyone’s military consumption.
If every country to get a blimp air force out, and wait for the emergence of the aircraft overnight to them out, I guess everyone’s expression must be very wonderful.
……
Ava is just an ordinary port city in the Ottoman Empire, and if I were to say anything different, it’s probably the proximity to the Bosphorus!
The spring wind whipped across the land, blowing the earth green and blowing away the willows, but it failed to blow away the smoke of war.
Since the Austrian navy shelled the town, the tranquility was shattered. The rich ran away early, and the market became depressed.
The Sultan’s order of “Jihad” had been delivered and everyone was mobilized. If they did not have enough weapons, they would develop their own, and the blacksmith stores in the city were suddenly in full swing.
As a veteran blacksmith, Akhjol’s heart was heavy, and he was not even as attentive to iron working. Thousands of hammers turned into a cope, as if he wasn’t the least bit worried about losing customers.
Now he really does not worry about losing customers, for this “holy war”, he has been expropriated without pay, every day there are heavy tasks.
Akhjol shouted at the apprentice, “Son of Emperor Mansaragar, hurry up, if you can’t complete the task, beware of eating the whip!”
(Note: Before the Law on Taking Surnames was enacted in 1934, Ottoman civilians did not have surnames, and “the son of Reinsman Raga” was one of the common names used.)
The “son of King Smanlaga” was a young boy, about 13 or 14 years old. Upon hearing Akhjol’s words, he immediately increased the speed of his hands and grumbled under his breath:
“Master Akjol, what do you think is the use of building these weapons? Aren’t all battles fought with guns, with these things, I guess we can’t even get close to the enemy.”
Ava is a port city, a lot of people come from the north and south, under the ear and eye, everyone knows that the era of cold weapons has come to an end.
Akjol glared, “Where is so much nonsense, this is something the lords decided, still need you to worry about?”
This was a question that Akjol equally wanted to know. Unfortunately, his limited knowledge constrained his ability to think, and he simply couldn’t think of any use for these cold weapons.
In order to build these weapons, the lords went on a rampage to collect iron, and because of the lack of quantity, they also melted down a lot of agricultural tools, and even iron pots.
Whenever he watched the agricultural tools that were fortunately and painstakingly built in the past being turned back into iron, Akjol’s heart was dripping blood.
But has long been life has worn away the edges of the Akjol is not going to ask why, the officials let so do, then so do good.
Asked more, a whip down, is not wrong? The Ottoman Empire is not a country of law, if the officials hit, it will be in vain.
The teenager is still a little bit unconvinced, but do not dare to contradict the master, and seems to be afraid of the official whip, just bury his head and work hard.
After a while, and then complained: “Humph! It’s all because of those heathens, if they hadn’t invaded, we wouldn’t be so tired. When they come, I must give them some color!”
Akjol ignored the teenager’s complaint, he didn’t want his enemies to land in Ava. Even if he couldn’t read a bucket load of words, he knew the enemy wasn’t that easy to deal with.
The last time the war was lost, the Ottoman Empire lost its capital and a large number of powerful people fled back in a mess, Akjol had seen it with his own eyes.
Thank you HHHDGF for the reward, plus one more. Hai Yue has been busy lately, first owe, later to pay.
(End of chapter)