Chapter 571: Hooking Up

  Chapter 558: Hooking Up

After capturing the Ava region, the Russian army did not stop the war, but went straight to the Bosphorus, which is the first gateway to the Black Sea is crucial.

Had it been a few decades ago, a direct sea crossing from Constantinople would have been sufficient, but not now. With the development of artillery technology, it was too easy for shore guns to blockade the strait.

The Allies had considered attacking from the Sea of Marmara as well, except that the Ottomans had concentrated all their naval forces there before the war broke out.

Austria left few warships in the Sea of Marmara, and it was possible to suppress the Ottoman navy, but it was not possible to destroy them.

In the face of the enemy cowering in the harbor, it is still more convenient to fight over the land, the navy rushed into the duel, the price to pay is too big.

Inside the Ava command headquarters, Lieutenant General Harosov, who had been convicted of a crime, reported in a low voice: “Your Excellency the Commander, the attack ahead has been blocked, and the enemy is resisting too fiercely.

It’s even very despicable to disguise themselves as old and weak women and children so that our troops can let their guard down before launching a sneak attack. The frontline troops are making slow progress, requesting support from the blimp bombardment team.”

“Disguised as old and weak women and children”, that’s clearly old and weak women and children. These days, make-up isn’t as good as it used to be, but the difference in size still can’t be hidden.

With the propaganda of the Sudanese government, the Russian army has been transformed into cannibalistic demons, and the people have long been mobilized, either voluntarily or under duress, and these people have created a lot of trouble for the Russian army.

Admiral Ivanov glared fiercely, his dissatisfaction overflowing: ”Rubbish, could it be that our soldiers won’t be able to fight after leaving the airship unit?

Tell the frontline troops that the airship units are not their babysitters, and that they have to figure out how to fight their own battles.

Right now the airship unit is carrying out a strategic bombing mission, this concerns the entire war situation, it’s not exclusively for them to wipe their asses.”

The Austrian airship units were limited in size, and even if they were all sent out, there were only so many of them, and they simply couldn’t spare enough troops to support the Russian troops on the front line while carrying out strategic bombing.

Ivanov was able to become the commander of the Russian army, is not a slip of the tongue and afraid of the horse mixed to the top, strategic vision or not lack of.

From the overall situation, now bombing Ottoman cities, weakening the enemy’s war potential, blowing up roads and bridges along the way, increasing the pressure of the enemy’s logistical supply, than to take one or two lines of defense is much more important.

If you just stare at the battlefield in front of you, stupidly hard and fast, colliding all the way down. Do not say 150,000 Russian troops, even if it is a million and a half Russian troops, fighting to the end can not be left a few people.

To Harosov Lieutenant General this underling, Ivanov is still very much in his sights, or else on the matter of Ava, he would be able to let him go home to his old age, how could he possibly stay and wait for the crime to be accomplished?

Ivanov is very clear about this Near East war, is seen by many people as a good opportunity for gold-plating, this 150,000 people in the Russian army mixed with a large number of relations.

Moving around and wanting to ask for help, most likely it is again the officer of that relationship to get out of the way. If the Austrian zeppelin unit is under his command, Ivanov will be happy to sell a favor.

Unfortunately, this time the two sides are under separate command. Since the Russian army insisted on launching the Black Sea Straits Raid, the Allied General Command has been completely reduced to the Logistics Department + Relationship Coordination Committee.

Both sides are now fighting their own battles, and joint operations are non-existent. Austria’s cooperation was also limited to providing them with logistics and, if necessary, ships to transfer troops.

This mode of command is not a problem, the Austrian army in the Middle East to start the war, the Russian army in Asia Minor Peninsula bitter war, the two places are far away from each other want to join forces can not be done.

The airship unit should be forgotten, because of the asymmetry of information, the first few times of cooperation in the accidental injury to friendly forces, the two sides also had a big fight.

Then, Arest completely let the Russians fly, whatever the Russians fight, pretend not to see. The airship units were all sent out for strategic bombing, far away from the front line.

Distance produces beauty, without the cooperation of the airship unit, the Russian army immediately misses the benefits of having someone on their head to cooperate with them. The airship unit may not be able to kill many enemies or destroy many fortifications, but it is very important in breaking the enemy’s heart.

According to past experience, the Ottoman army resistance is fierce, as long as a few bombs fall from the sky, instantly the morale will drop a level.

Ivanov could not admit that the Russian army would not be able to fight without the help of Austria, and could only carry on with his head. Besides, the strategic bombing by the airship units would benefit the whole battlefield.

Lieutenant General Harosov explained, ”Your Excellency Commander, the casualties of our army have indeed been a bit high lately, the last two days have seen more than a thousand casualties.

After paying such a high price, we are still only able to advance a dozen kilometers a day, and with the casualties from the Battle of Ava, our casualties have already surpassed eight thousand.

At the current rate of progress, it will take at least a month to capture the Bosphorus. The casualties to be paid could be in the tens of thousands.

This is already more than we can afford. The Bosphorus is just the beginning, only a small step away from the first phase of the strategic mission.

If this situation is not changed, we simply cannot win this war with our current troop strength. Even if we are able to continue to increase troops at home, there are still a lot of problems that need to be involved.”

When the enemy doesn’t want to die, the war will naturally be hard to fight. In this short period of more than a week, the Russian army had already set a record of defeating 58,000 enemy troops, annihilating 12,000 enemy troops, and capturing 836 enemy troops.

That so few prisoners were taken was all the result of propaganda by the Sultan’s government. The Ottoman soldiers thought that the Russian army was going to decimate them, so naturally they wouldn’t surrender.

The prisoners that were taken were basically the result of the earlier landings in the battle. Since the news of Ava’s massacre spread, Ottoman soldiers rarely surrendered.

The enemy chose to fight to the end, and the number of Russian casualties inevitably went up. Now the Russian army suffered more than 8,000 casualties, including more than 2,000 killed in action, and even if they were effectively treated, only half of them were able to return to the battlefield in the end.

Ivanov shook his head, ”I’m aware of these circumstances, but it’s still not possible. The airship unit is not our army, the command is in the hands of the Austrians.

The allied command is still in Constantinople and has no intention of moving. Even if we were to coordinate, we would have to send someone back to Constantinople first.

How much time will that take? If we do this every time, how can we fight the war from behind?

We have a clear agreement with Austria, and it’s only a matter of asking them for help once or twice now, but if the entire war requires their help for us to be able to win, things won’t be so simple.

Countries look at the benefits between them, and no one will give one way or the other. Behind every time we ask for help, we need to pay a price, and these are benefits that should belong to the Russian Empire.”

When anything involves politics, it becomes anything but simple. Stabbing between allies was not uncommon on either side.

It was only embarrassing that the Austrians did it more subtly, and could not be caught in the open; instead, the Czar’s government did things, and a lot of things were caught in the crossfire.

These open and secret struggles, the following people are not yet clear, Ivanov has been exposed to. For the sake of interests, these contradictions and conflicts, were suppressed by both sides together.

But the gap has been buried, today you assassinate me, tomorrow I assassinate you, almost every time a conflict arises, the relationship between the two countries is one point further away.

The Vienna government refused to renew the contract, the tsarist government did not jump out to accuse, that is, because by Austria to catch the handle more, fight the war of words does not occupy the reason.

These things are not exposed, or you and I good everyone good, once the lid is uncovered, the back of things will not end well, at least the two countries hostility is rare.

The high level of collusion, the direct pitfalls of the following officers and soldiers. Otherwise, even if the airship unit is insufficient, can’t the Vienna government replenish it?

It can’t be said that Austria doesn’t even have a single airship in reserve, just the one hundred and twenty airships on the front line.

To know the Austrian airship force but the existence of more than ten years, such a long time, midway retired airships naturally quite a lot, these airships can not be dismantled and sold for scrap iron, is still sealed up.

As long as the Vienna government is willing, can be activated at any time. Anyway, the Ottomans do not have anti-aircraft firepower, even if the performance of the airships is a little worse, used to bombard the enemy is not a big problem.

Want to change this situation is not impossible, as long as the tsarist government is willing to bow down, or willing to pay a certain price, you can achieve the purpose.

Unfortunately, this can only be wishful thinking. In this Near East War, the two countries joined forces solely because of interests. Since interests are involved, there is no way to compromise on many issues.

The casualties of a few soldiers were not seen by the Tsarist government, so how could they give in?

The front line of the war is still burning, the Russian soldiers rushed forward and backward to fight with the Ottomans, the two sides killed in the dark.

St. Petersburg is also not quiet, since the receipt of the reopening of the Polish parliament for the election of the king, the tsarist government can not sit still.

The fact was that William I did not even have a strong competitor in the election, and there was no doubt that he would win.

Once Poland and Prussia were co-rulers, the union of the two countries was bound to become even closer, and there was even the possibility of a merger into a single state.

Caused the two countries to intensify the union is the tsarist government, the existence of the Russian empire to the ruling class of the two countries has brought heavy pressure, the two countries of the knowledgeable people know that only united, they have and the Russians of the power of a war.

This could not be resisted by individuals, and what prevented this from happening until then was the intervention of the Great Powers. After all, after the Russo-Prussian War, the Russian Empire was in some misery and the Tsarist government looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Not wanting to add another piece of cake to the table, Britain, France and Austria intervened forcefully in the election for the Polish throne, kicking William I out at the first opportunity. Not to be outdone, the Prussians simply pushed the revolutionaries into power and secretly supported them to stop the throne election.

The delay in resolving the Polish throne was the result of the joint meddling of all parties. Now that the situation had changed, no one expected the Russian Empire to recover so quickly after Alexander II’s reforms.

Perhaps not as powerful as it was at its peak, but still much more powerful than Prussia and Poland now. If you calculate the combined national power, the Russians were almost twice as powerful as Prussia + Poland combined.

This action of the Berlin government was also forced out. Without annexing the Kingdom of Poland, then the war that followed was almost doomed to be lost.

After Alexander II’s reforms, the Russian Empire was much more solid. There was no panic in the hand, even if it was painful in the agricultural crisis, but in the war years this was an advantage.

The tsarist government was able to feed and the gray animals had the power to fight. Trying to wear out the Russians, don’t be ridiculous, the Tsarist government hasn’t even retreated to Moscow yet?

No matter how many battles were lost on the front, the Tsarist government with food in its hands would not collapse. After the Agricultural Crisis broke out, Alexander II gritted his teeth and collected grain directly as taxes, turning this grain into strategic reserves, which was the root cause of the Tsarist government’s financial near-bankruptcy.

Otherwise, after the tax reform, cleaned up so many moths. Even after losing a large part of the territory, the financial income of the tsarist government should have exceeded the previous, how could it be almost bankrupt?

Scanning the crowd, Alexander II asked, “William I jumped out at this time to fight for the Polish throne, what do you think?”

The Tsar was not doing well either, from the time he ascended the throne, Alexander II had not had a few good days.

Because of the error of judgment, the beginning of the succession thought of restricting Austria, ignoring the threat of the Kingdom of Prussia, which led to the current unfavorable situation, the internal dissenting voices have not been broken.

If not for Alexander II’s political skill, he would have been ousted long ago. It’s not as if the replacement of the Tsar hadn’t happened before in the Russian Empire.

The last role model was Peter III, coincidentally because he was pro-Prussian. Alexander II obviously learned his lesson and decisively chose to beat up Prussia and retained his throne despite losing the war.

The Russian public was still generous in this regard; victory and defeat were commonplace, and as long as the Tsar was able to keep an eye on the interior of the government, the underclass wouldn’t revolt over a lost war as long as they were able to fill their bellies.

Foreign Minister Chris Basham: “Your Majesty, the Prussians’ action at this time is related to the current international situation.

Napoleon III died of illness, the French government is caught in the whirlpool of power struggle, and has no energy to participate in international affairs in a short period of time. As long as the Prussians are willing to pay a certain price, it is not difficult to get the French to look on coldly.

With the Russian-Austrian relations turning cold, the government in Vienna has not been without the idea of supporting Prussia to hold us back. Even if it doesn’t now, it will in the future.

Now. Both our and Austria’s energies are being held back in large part by the Near East War, and if the Prussians are willing to spend a lot of money, there is a chance that the Vienna government will acquiesce to their actions.

With France and Austria neutralized, it would not be difficult to convince the British again. The government in London would not intervene with troops, even if they objected.

If the British, French and Austrians don’t make a move, the Prussians won’t let go even if we intervene with troops, which will inevitably lead to a new war.

We are not yet ready, and the war in the Near East has held back part of our strength, and the outbreak of war now is very unfavorable to us. The Prussians should have seen this opportunity and taken advantage of it.”

After Chris Basham ran through this, things became clear. Although there was a solution, it was a pity that the decision-making power was not in the hands of the tsarist government.

Without France and Austria stepping in, they alone could not intimidate the Prussians at all. They were enemies anyway, and the Berlin government didn’t care what they thought.

……

(End of chapter)