Chapter 714: Outcasts
Chapter 698 The Outcast
Upon receiving the telegram from the Fourth Army asking for help, Ivanov’s entire being became bad.
Very obvious thing, a little bit of military common sense people know, the lone army deep into the realization of the situation is not right, should immediately retreat.
The Fourth Army did not act with a combat mission, and was completely free to play. After discovering a large group of enemies, immediately adjust the marching speed, and the enemy to maintain a safe distance, waiting for reinforcements to arrive is not good?
Even if it was an afterthought, the Fourth Army could have chosen to break out and join the Russian army in the rear before the enemy encirclement was completed.
The Fourth Army has a cavalry unit, it is impossible not to have discovered the enemy’s traces, hundreds of thousands of troop movements, there is no way to keep it secret.
Ivanov in the rear are received the news of the mobilization of the Prussian army, only a little late, before they had time to react, the Fourth Army’s telegram for help came.
These days there is no radio, the Fourth Army’s telegram for help was still sent to the rear of the 107th Division through the airship unit, and then forwarded to the headquarters.
Obviously there was plenty of time, but did not act in time, to Obodo this kind of generals without the big picture, Ivanov has always been abhorred.
The reason Ivanov is also very clear, the Fourth Army is a private action, if there is not enough war credit, it will come back in the dust, Obodo and other commanders of the future are gone.
Waiting for the opportunity to move, grasp the opportunity of war, the prerequisite is that it must be successful, failure is not to grasp the opportunity of war.
The competition within the Russian army is also very fierce, once there is a stain, then want to go further is almost impossible.
Add to that the matter of acting privately without asking for permission, and you’d be lucky to get an early retirement.
For the sake of their personal future, the commanders of the Fourth Army took a chance and delayed it until now.
This telegram for help seems to be plain, but in fact it is not without the meaning of dumping the pot, it is estimated that the entire Fourth Army is looking forward to Ivanov can order them to retreat.
Anyone who understands the deployment of the Russian army knows that the Fourth Army is very important to the next Warsaw battle, and the Vistula River is even more relevant to the next logistical transportation of the Russian army.
“Bang!”
Ivanov slammed the table and cursed angrily, “Ёбтвоюмать!”
“Пошёлнахуй!”
……
Listening to Ivanov’s rant, everyone in the command center was on edge, afraid of drawing fire.
It was only after a quarter of an hour of cursing that the dry-mouthed Marshal Ivanov stopped. He was really angry, he had never seen such a pit against his superior.
The fourth army is finished, the Russian army wants to win the war in Warsaw will be difficult. Militarily speaking, the situation on the front line is now unknown, the risk of venturing out to rescue is very high, and it is very likely that the enemy will be surrounded.
Ordering the Fourth Army to break out and save as much strength as possible is the best choice strategically.
However, in reality it could not be done. When it came to Ivanov’s position, the soldier also had to consider politics.
Ordering the Fourth Army to retreat, in case the troops suffered heavy losses, the responsibility for this would be his.
Looking at Obodo’s tawdry maneuvering it was clear that there must be someone behind him, and when such an opportunity arose, it was inevitable that these people would mash it up and put the blame on Ivanov.
Politics doesn’t care about right and wrong, it’s only about pros and cons. Don’t expect mercy from your opponents, the bottom line for politicians is never the lowest, only lower.
Having calmed down, Ivanov’s frown tightened. Surveying the map, he pondered the enemy’s true purpose.
The Fourth Army was of great importance to the Battle of Warsaw, but it was so-so to the entire Russo-Prussian War. When the battle was fierce, the Russian army lost more than a hundred thousand men a month.
If he could win the war, sacrificing the Fourth Army Ivanov wouldn’t bat an eye.
After contemplating for a few moments of effort, Ivanov walked over to the combat staff and asked, “Our closest troops to the Fourth Army, where have they gotten to?”
The combat staff replied apprehensively, “The closest is the 107th Division of the Ninth Army, which is now staying in the Radom area; the next closest are the Fifth and Seventh Armies, but they are north of Warsaw and have no way to travel to reinforce them.”
Ivanov’s frown tightened, a division’s troops transferred up to reinforce, it was estimated that they would be eaten by the enemy before they were even halfway there.
In order to relieve the Fourth Army, at least one army would need to be committed, and unless the troops that were carrying out the southern front strategy were transferred, no other troops would be able to make it there in a short period of time.
After looking at the distribution of the Russian army on the map, Ivanov shook his head, in order to rescue the Fourth Army to give up the battle on the southern front, the strategy is completely outweighed by the loss.
The battle on the southern front could be resupplied from Austria, and the logistical pressure was minimized. As long as the enemy’s defenses were broken, it would be very tempting to attack Berlin to the west or capture Poznan to the north.
Take Berlin, and the Prussian-Polish Confederation was finished; take Poznan, cut off the enemy’s connection with the rear, and the Prussian army in the Warsaw area became a lone army.
After contemplating for a few moments, Ivanov slowly said, “Order the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Armies to immediately form the Southern Front Army.
The commander of the Eighth Army, General Mathilde, will also be the commander, the commander of the Ninth Army, General Mettler, will also be the deputy commander, and the commander of the Tenth Army, General Mourinho, will also be the chief of staff.
Order them to complete the organizational construction as quickly as possible in the shortest possible time, and within a week I want to receive news of the outbreak of the battle on the southern front.”
Extremely irregular personnel appointments, but special treatment for special times. There is no aspect army this level in the Russian army establishment, the army is already the largest unit, aspect army is only temporarily established during the war.
The enemy’s main force in the Warsaw battlefield, most of the troops on the southern front are second and third line troops, said the southern front army actually have to fight separately.
Really if you set up a command of airborne troops, when they run through the situation of the troops, at least a month is needed.
On the battlefield, soldiers are quick, wasting a month’s time is simply fatal.
Prior to this, the Russian army also had a Southwest Front Army, only to be crippled by Mauch in last year’s Winter War, and then disbanded.
With the passage of time, the Russian army’s strength is constantly expanding, an army’s strength is less than 100,000, more than 200,000 or so, completely with the ability to fight alone, the demand for the establishment of the Frontier Army is not so great.
In front of the Russian army is mainly defensive, most of the time, it is Marshal Ivanov in direct command of the large regiments, just decentralized on the Fourth Army unauthorized action thing.
Directly canceled Ivanov’s idea of forming a front army, if not the situation is forced, he will not establish the southern front army.
To know, the losses caused by the chaos of a Frontier Army can be much more serious than an army.
Fresh out of the South Frontier Army, the internal checks and balances are very serious, the three army commanders are also the commander of the Frontier Army, no one want to act recklessly.
Battle time directly separate command, are very familiar with the old troops, grinding are not needed, can in a short period of time to burst out the maximum combat power.
As for the side effects, Ivanov could no longer care. As long as he could win the war, any bigger problems were trivial.
After pausing for a while, Ivanov added: ”Order the Fifth and Seventh Armies to launch an attack on the Warsaw area, let them control their own tempo, don’t repeat the old story of the Fourth Army, I don’t have that many troops to wipe their asses.
Houteff draft a message to St. Petersburg reporting on our battle plans, and the personnel appointments just made.”
There was no mention of the Fourth Army, and it was clear that Marshal Ivanov was prepared to ignore them. Anyway, the Fourth Army had gotten greedy on its own and acted without asking for instructions, so even if the whole army had been wiped out, he wouldn’t be held responsible.
A middle-aged officer asked stiffly, “Marshal, what about the Fourth Army?”
Ivanov glared at him fiercely and replied with great dissatisfaction, “What to do? What to do, what to do!
Didn’t that idiot Obodo boast that he used the army like a god? Now’s the chance to show it, as long as he can command the Fourth Army to defeat the Prussian Army, all problems are solved!”
Defeat the Prussian army?
The crowd had already begun to mourn for the Fourth Army in their hearts. Without a doubt, this was an impossible task.
Seemingly realizing that he had lost his temper, Ivanov sighed, ”Order the Third and Sixth Armies in the rear to go to the rescue, hopefully it’s not too late.
Send orders to the Fourth Army to make their own battle plans, reinforcements will arrive as soon as possible.
Order the airship units to airdrop supplies to them, and send a message to St. Petersburg to get a bunch of transport airships over here as soon as possible, preferably Austrian Flying Eagle 4s.”
Do your best.
This sentence appropriately summarizes Ivanov’s order, the Third and Sixth Armies are repairing and replenishing in the rear, and when they have assembled and rushed to the front, it is impossible to get it done without ten days and half a month.
If something happened in the middle of the journey, for example, if they encountered an obstruction by the Prussian army, they might not even be able to make it in a month.
There was only one way to make it faster, and that was to send in the cavalry. Unfortunately, the Russian cavalry was dispersed to various units, or else they could have assembled more than 200,000 cavalry to try to rescue them.
Of course, this only exists in the ideal state. A hundred and twenty thousand cavalry gathered together, the light logistics are able to make people collapse.
Now that the Fourth Army could only rely on itself, the airship supplies were more like a comfort. The Russian army has only a few dozen transport airships, and theoretically all of them are able to put up to forty or fifty tons of supplies per day.
In fact, on average, seven or eight tons of supplies per day are considered God’s blessing.
The airships also needed maintenance, and each time they flew, they needed to be inspected, which consumed a lot of time.
In addition, the Russian transport airships were scattered all over the country, and only a limited number of them could be assembled in the short term. Also take into account the bad weather, the average down to be able to drop seven or eight tons of supplies per day, really not easy.
Such a small amount of supplies, to supply the consumption of more than 100,000 troops, was a complete drop in the bucket. However, if all the high-calorie food was delivered, it would be able to satisfy the rations of the soldiers.
(End of Chapter)