Chapter 725: Stopping Losses
Chapter 708 Stop Loss
On November 27, 1880, the Prussian army arrived in the Poznan area, and after a brief rest, launched an attack on the Russian Eighth Army the following day.
Under the harassment of the Russian cavalry, airships, from Warsaw to Poznan, just less than 8 days, the Prussian army fact illustrates what is the speed of soldiers.
Anyone with some military common sense knows that the larger the army, the more difficult it is to coordinate and the slower it marches.
The total strength of the Prussian army is as high as 468,000, and the fact that it was able to complete a march of more than 280 kilometers in eight days is a complete miracle in military history.
If the organization was not strong enough, perhaps the troops in front arrived at their destination, while the troops behind had not yet departed.
Anyway, with so many people lined up, there could be two rows from Poznan to Warsaw.
There is no doubt that the rapidity of the Prussian army’s movements exceeded the Russians’ estimates. The Ninth Army, which was much closer, had not even arrived before the enemy did.
In spite of the brave resistance of the Russian Eighth Army, it was of no avail. Not to mention intercepting the westward return of the Prussian army, it was questionable whether it could hold Poznan.
……
Russian Army Command, looking at the telegram in his hand asking for help, Ivanov sighed helplessly.
“Order the Eighth Army to hold Poznan and wait for reinforcements, order the Ninth Army to speed up its march and reinforce the Eighth Army as soon as possible.”
Staff officer Julian Beneteu reminded, “Marshal, the main force of the Prussian Army arrived in the Poznan area two days ago, and the city of Poznan may be surrounded by now.
If the Ninth Army rushes over at this time, it will be difficult to immediately join up with the Eighth Army in the city, but instead, it may be surrounded by the enemy.
The Eighth Army has a city to defend, and it will not be a problem to support it for ten days and half a month. Why don’t we let the Ninth Army join up with the Eleventh and Seventeenth Armies before heading over for reinforcements.”
Militarily speaking, Julian Beneteau’s fears were very justified. A single Ninth Army in a field battle was indeed no match for the enemy’s main force.
In the event of an encounter, a light battle would result in heavy losses, or the entire army would be wiped out. Without the Ninth Army, the two second-line armies behind it alone would likewise be no match for the enemy.
Ivanov sneered and said, ”There is no need, if Mauch has such a good appetite, what would be the point of giving them the Ninth Army?
The Eighth Army has a total strength of up to 216,000 and the Ninth Army has a total strength of 187,000, adding up to more than 400,000, how can they be swallowed so easily.
If we can’t have a quick battle, our Eleventh and Seventeenth Armies arrive on the battlefield. Even if Mouche could win, how many troops would they have left after the battle?
When the main force is depleted, it won’t be possible to recover overnight, and we won’t give them time.
Now this unit in Mauch’s hands is the cream of the Prussian army, if he’s willing to take it out in exchange, why should we be petty!”
The Berlin government has already begun the mobilization of the entire population, the newly formed troops have not been able to form a fighting force, the main reason is the lack of officers and the number of veterans is too small.
This elite of the Prussian army in the hands of Mauch became particularly important. With this unit in place, with veterans leading new recruits, the Prussian army still has the chance to explode one last wave again.
Of course, it is not easy to explode, the Prussian army lacks enough time, Ivanov will not leave them a chance to breathe.
The war had gotten so far that losses no longer mattered. Opening the map reveals that the PUP Federation has lost 55% of its territory, 40% of its population, half of its food production capacity, and a third of its industry.
This was just the beginning, the war had already reached the hinterland of the Kingdom of Prussia, and once the Warsaw region fell, only a third of the Pupo Commonwealth would be left.
No matter how beautifully the Prussian army fought on the battlefield, it could not make up for the gap in national strength, and the Prussian army’s inability to follow through had become more and more obvious.
……
The fact that the Russian army suffered losses in Poznan does not mean that it suffered losses on other battlefields as well.
Along the Baltic Sea, the Russians have maritime superiority, the sea and land pressed the Prussian army hard, has occupied a quarter of East Prussia.
Warsaw area, from the withdrawal of the main force of the Prussian army, the strength and weakness of the situation has been transferred. Although they had not been able to break through the city of Warsaw, but they were close.
It was not that the Poles defending Warsaw did not sell out, it was that the Russians were so insidious that they deported large numbers of refugees into the city, increasing the pressure on the defenders.
The Russian Tenth Army, responsible for the raid on Berlin, was now less than eighty kilometers away. Of course, this distance may be the limit, and any further advance is beyond the ability of the Tenth Army.
From a military point of view, the Russian Tenth Army’s raid was clearly a failure, and did not serve the purpose of a raid at all, having been detected by the enemy early on.
Politically it was a different story, the appearance of the Tenth Army in the vicinity of Berlin had a disastrous effect on the Puppo Federation, and more and more people were pessimistic about the war.
If there had not been so much hatred with the Russians and so many chips pressed up for this war that there was really no turning back, it is not unlikely that the Berlin government would have already compromised with the Russians.
London, after determining that the Pupo Federation was lost, Benjamin’s Cabinet was thinking about how to stop the losses in time to minimize Britain’s losses.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Garfield: “After analyzing the data from our survey, the most optimistic estimate is that in the event of the defeat of the Pupo Confederation, we will have lost at least 300 million pounds of wealth.
And the entire overseas assets of the Pupo Federation combined may be less than 150 million pounds, including the last deposits in the Berlin government account and the gold pledged to us.
Most of these overseas assets, spread across Austrian Africa and in private names, we couldn’t freeze even if we wanted to.”
There is no doubt that it’s hard enough to stop the losses now. The Pupo Federation was so thin that much of the collateral was based on the premise of winning the war before it could be cashed in.
Theoretically, immediately freezing the Berlin government’s bank accounts in Britain and confiscating their collateralized gold and overseas assets could minimize the losses.
In practice, there was no possibility of operation at all. As the world’s hegemon, Britain also wants to face, this time to fall into the well, let the other little brother heart how to think?
Although Britain is powerful, it is not to the point where it does not need a little brother.
Now is the era of Britain, France and Austria, there is no one who can be a dominant force. In the context of the three major countries do not support on the battlefield, who pulls together more little brothers, who will have the advantage in international politics.
Foreign Minister Edward: “Freezing assets is a no-brainer, including the gold that the Berlin government has mortgaged to us, which likewise can’t be touched, at least we can’t move it until the Pupo Federation is finished.
It is imperative that we find a way to preserve the Pupo Federation, or at least the Kingdom of Prussia.
We need to set an example so that the world knows that even if cooperation with Britain fails, we have the strength to keep them.”
In a sense, the Prussian-Russian War was also a continuation of the British-French-Austrian conflict, and the three countries used the war for political gaming, except that the French withdrew halfway through the war, and it finally became a game between Britain and Austria.
Great power competition is not overnight, today lost tomorrow to win back is. If it is because in the struggle suffered a loss, turn to stab the little brother a knife, who still dare to cooperate with them?
Finance Minister Garfield nodded: “Of course, this is necessary. We can only recover our investment if the debtor is there.
The current Berlin government is too poor, even if we freeze all their assets, it won’t make up for our losses.
The question is, can we keep them? Now that the Russians have the upper hand, I don’t think the Czar’s government will let this great enemy go just because of our face.”
How much face does Britannia save? This is a question that has no precise answer and varies from region to region and country to country.
From the time the London government supported the Pupo Federation, their face was not good enough in the Russian Empire. The Tsarist government didn’t care about any British threat when it was hurting its own interests.
Foreign Minister Edward: “It is not for the Russians to say no, no country wants to see Russian power deep in Central Europe, including Austria who supports them.
How can Austria’s dream of a Central European empire be realized if the Russians are allowed to annex the Puppo Federation? The bottom line for the Vienna government should be for the Tsarist government to take back the Polish-Lithuanian region.
The only thing to worry about was that Russia and Austria might have the secret of dividing up the Polish-Polish Commonwealth. This is the strong point of the Vienna government, and who knows how many secret treaties they have concluded over the years.”
The “Austrian secret pacts” were also one of the hot topics in Europe, with the Russian-Austrian, French-Austrian, Anglo-Austrian, Western-Austrian, Dutch-Austrian …… pacts as well as the secret pacts with the German states being widely circulated.
There is no doubt that many of these secret treaties are nonsense. Most of them were just ordinary treaties, which were kept secret for a while because of political needs, and then became so-called “secret treaties” in the outside world.
The Vienna government never explained, this thing is originally the more smear the more black, many even if the content of the treaty is exposed, there are still a large group of people do not believe.
The water is more and more muddy, true and false content mixed together, the outside world is more difficult to distinguish.
The Russian-Austrian secret treaty is certainly exist, otherwise the bright side of the agreement, not enough to make the Vienna government to the tsarist government invested blood, the specific content of the London government is not clear.
Prime Minister Benjamin: “This is not a problem, Austria is not ready to divide the Prussian-Polish Confederation at this time, and they do not have the courage to swallow the Kingdom of Prussia in one bite.
I have studied Franz, he is very serious about his personal reputation, even if he wants to annex the Kingdom of Prussia, he will not choose this time to cooperate with the Russians.
It is still imperative to gain French support, and we can’t delay any longer. I have a bad feeling, I always feel that something big is going to happen in Europe.”
Foreign Minister Edward laughed, “Prime Minister, you are so humorous! Something big has already happened in the European continent, after the end of the Russo-Prussian War, the European political landscape was reshuffled, and in the future, France, Austria, and Russia will be the three kingdoms.
Although we failed to support the Pupo Federation this time, the situation on the European continent is still good.
The Russians won the war, the European continent has added another competitor, I’m afraid that the future days of the Vienna government will not be easy.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Garfield: “Sir, you are too optimistic. The Russian-Austrian relationship is still very good, and there is no possibility of flipping in the short term.
The Prussian-Russian War brought the Russians a lot of losses, and for a long time to come, the Tsarist government will have to recuperate and will not move westward at all.
On the contrary, we are about to be in trouble. The Russians have cleaned up the Pupo Federation, and their next target is likely to be Central Asia.”
Persimmons looking for the soft one to pinch, in this age of the weak and the strong, it couldn’t be more normal.
The Russian Empire, which was greatly wounded, was incapable of competing with Austria, but it still had no problem bullying a few khanates in Central Asia.
(End of chapter)