Chapter 579: The Last Idealism

  Chapter 566 The Last Idealism

Influenced by the heavy Russian casualties, the war in Asia Minor slowed down, and the Allied Forces, in addition to continuing to harass and bombard, just landed once in a while to wreak havoc.

The Ottoman government wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack, but unfortunately reality did not allow it. It had just experienced a major defeat, and the loss of men and material was serious. The Ottoman Empire’s transportation was inconvenient, and there was no way to complete the replenishment in a short period of time.

In the Middle East theater, Lieutenant General Fislav was looking at Jerusalem and sighing. Religious cities were just troublesome, there were too many iconic buildings in them, and if they were accidentally broken, it would be very troublesome later on.

Otherwise, Fislav would have ordered an artillery bombardment a long time ago. Not being able to use heavy firepower was only one aspect, he also had to control the casualties of the main force.

The main purpose of practicing was to practice, Austria was not Russia and could not take the lives of its soldiers seriously.

In order to minimize losses, Lt. Gen. Fislav attacked the city using artillery fodder troops as much as possible, which was the reason for the slow progress.

The guard reminded, “General, the meeting will start soon.”

Fislav nodded and turned to enter the command headquarters.

……

A young officer stood up, his face full of sadness, paired with his boyish cheeks, made people feel awkward no matter how they looked at him.

“General, we can’t attack so strongly. If we continue like this, we’ll lose all the troops in our hands before the war is over.”

There was no doubt that the troops commanded by the young officer were being used as cannon fodder. Native soldiers had no place in the Austrian army, and were not established in ordinary times, but were recruited temporarily only when needed.

Fislav replied with an expressionless face, “Major Rick, war is never cruel, not being afraid of sacrifice is the essence of a soldier, what you have to do is to learn to adapt.

If you’re worried about high troop casualties, then you need to find a way to bring them down yourself, instead of complaining to me here.

Right now you are commanding a colonial unit, we could care less about such casualties. If one day you command a regular army, this casualty figure can already send you to a court martial.”

The sacrifices were cannon fodder, Fislav naturally didn’t care. If the regular army lost that much, he would have to think about how to explain it to the country.

In reality, Franz didn’t care about soldier casualties either, but the casualties had to be worthwhile. If it was an officer’s poor decision making that led to heavy troop losses, even if they won the war, they still needed to be held accountable.

In contrast, the status of the cannon fodder troops was much lower, just die and recruit again, the Vienna government would not even ask.

This war, in addition to Jerusalem, is through the actual battle to develop the command ability of young officers, basically all high.

For example: Rick is a division commander of the colonial forces, or a major, not yet qualified to appear in the military conference.

Rick’s young officer hurriedly explained: ”No general, I just think this kind of blind attack is meaningless.

Without being able to use heavy artillery, it’s hard to achieve results if we attack strongly like this, maybe change to a more effective way of attacking the city.

For example: recruit young men on the spot and let the Ottomans kill each other to weaken the morale of the defenders in the city. Or drive the people into the city to consume the enemy’s food.”

These two methods had actually been mentioned in the previous military meeting. The reason it was rejected was very simple: it was because of reputation.

In order to make political capital, the government of Vienna had already cried out for the recovery of the Holy Land. The Holy See, which was not willing to be left alone, also spontaneously jumped out to wave the flag.

A large group of war correspondents who are not afraid to die, came here from the European continent. Every move of the Austrian army was watched by the eyes of countless people, and Lieutenant General Fislav naturally did not take extreme measures.

This approach naturally some people do not understand, these days everyone’s reputation is not good, Austria in the colonial movement means also not clean, why care about reputation.

After hesitating for a few moments, Fislav shook his head: ”No, the military is for political service, the status of Jerusalem is extraordinary, we must consider the international impact.

If the casualties of the soldiers in your hands exceed one-third, you can first suspend the attack on the city, we have cut off the water source, the people inside will not be able to hold out for long.

This war is a practical training, take what you have learned and live it out on the battlefield, losses are secondary.”

What seemed like an easy answer was full of helplessness. Pinning one’s hopes on the enemy’s lack of preparation was not something a general should do.

But the reality needs, Fislav has reported the situation to the government of Vienna, the answer is: Jerusalem can not be down for a while, it does not matter, Austria is not bad this time, but the international reputation must not be bad.

Another young officer proposed: “Why don’t we let go of an opening, and send people to spread rumors and encourage local ****ists to enter Jerusalem to defend the Holy Land.

There’s also the fact that we’ve captured prisoners and can create an opportunity for them to escape back to Jerusalem. Whether the city’s defenders accept them or not, it will be to our advantage.”

This subtle tactic seems much more civilized.

Fislav nodded, “That’s a good suggestion, order the patrols on the north side to release the water and deliberately leave an opening to allow people to enter and exit.

Then send someone to have a good talk with the local powerhouses, have them guide the local **** into Jerusalem, and if they don’t cooperate just find an excuse to get rid of them.

Regardless of whether the city’s guards let people into the city or not, first send people to the bottom of the city for me. Do it discreetly, don’t let anyone find out.”

……

The blood-red evening sun was fading, the Russian and Polish sides were still fighting fiercely, and the battlefield was already a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

At the moment of life and death, the Polish army showed courage that surprised the Russians. However, this can not change the direction of the war, as time pushes, the Polish army strength disadvantage, gradually exposed.

As night fell, the blackness of the night stopped the Russians and both sides were forced to close ranks. The faltering Kiev held out for another day, and as a garrison officer Preital was worn out.

With less than one-fifth of the Russian army, he had held the city for a week, and reinforcements still had not arrived. The surrounding friendly armies had long since collapsed, and Kiev had been reduced to an isolated city.

After dragging his tired body and counting the casualties, Preetar was left with only a sigh.

The Polish government had deployed one infantry division and two garrison regiments in the Kiev area, totaling up to 16,000 troops, and now less than half of them were able to fight.

This is still after the outbreak of the war, Preital against the pressure, the Kiev region of all the troops concentrated results, otherwise can not hold back the Russian army for a week.

The strategic places outside the city have been almost lost, the Russian army attacked the city during the day, if there is no reinforcement, the loss of Kiev is the doomed result.

Pretar no longer has any illusions about reinforcements, he just expects the government not to waste the time that the 16,000 defenders have fought for with their lives.

Late at night, after deploying the garrison, Preital wrote his last letter, or suicide note, to the Polish government.

The telegraph from the Kiev area to Warsaw had been cut off, and now only primitive means of communication could be used, and it was an open question whether the letter would reach the Polish government or not.

This time Pressal did not ask for help, reason told him that it would be very foolish to fight a duel with the Russians in the Kiev region.

The best battlefield was in Warsaw, although the losses would be very great if the battlefield was placed in the capital. But without a popular base, it was too difficult to win with weakness.

War always requires sacrifice, and in Prethal’s opinion there was no price that could not be paid for victory.

Today the defenders of the Kiev region could sacrifice for their country, so tomorrow Warsaw, as the capital, could make the same sacrifice.

As one of the leaders of the Polish Revolution, after Poland’s independence Preital voluntarily left the center of power and chose to defend the least popular Kiev front.

In making this decision, he was ready to sacrifice for his country. The Russian Empire was not easy to deal with, and the tsarist government made a comeback, as many expected.

It just came a little too early, and Poland did not revive after independence, and after a few short years of work was once again reduced to a fish out of water.

……

Warsaw, when Prime Minister Dombrowski received Pretal’s suicide note, the news of the fall of the Kiev region and Pretal’s suicide followed, pulling out the final nail in the coffin, with the Russians pointing their troops straight at the Sluch River.

Putting down the epistle in his hand, Dombrovsky shook his head. In his opinion Preital was too idealistic, and at this point in time it would be good for the Kingdom of Poland to be preserved.

Instead of fantasizing about concentrating their forces to hit the Russians hard in the Warsaw area, they should count on the reinforcements from the Prussians to arrive soon.

Just a day before the loss of Kiev, the Polish parliament had already elected William I as king, and the merger of Prussia and Poland was finalized.

As the war progressed, the Kingdom of Poland had already lost. In just half a month, the Kingdom of Poland had already lost 80,000 troops and one-fifth of its territory, so what was it going to do to fight the Russians?

Failure of the war always needs someone to be responsible for, as a loser, Dombrowski, the temporary prime minister, is not far from the day of resignation.

Under the pressure of the Russians, all sectors of Polish society favored a compromise with the Prussians in exchange for the protection of the Berlin government.

All these years of political career, Dąbrowski was not in vain, long time ago, not the simple revolutionaries.

Combined with the current situation, he analyzed, he knew that the Prussian and Russian countries secretly have a deal. The Berlin government cannot be unaware of the reasoning that lips are dying and teeth are cold, however, the Prussians are still slow to move, which is enough to explain a lot of problems.

It was no longer up to the Polish government to decide how the war would end. Odds are that when the Russians get their hands on the agreed upon territory, that’s when everyone will sit down and negotiate.

The intervention of the international community is all thunder and no rain. If Britain and France really want to intervene in this war, then just send troops to the Baltic Sea to bully St. Petersburg, and keep the Czar’s government will make a compromise.

(End of chapter)