Chapter 771: Albrecht Who Pits His Teammates
Chapter 754 – Albrecht’s Pit Mate
Military meeting, Albrecht: “Ottoman situation is clear to everyone, the long border line of Asia Minor Peninsula, are the battlefield.
In view of the current special circumstances, I decided to divide the troops into multiple lines and points of attack to disrupt the enemy’s strategic deployment.
Considering the language barrier and the difficulty of cooperating in combat, for the time being, the troops of each country will command operations independently, and when the landing is completed, they will then act jointly in close proximity to each other according to the actual situation on the battlefield.
During the landing operation, the Austrian Navy will be responsible for transporting the troops of each country and providing the necessary fire support.
The Allied Command will send someone to record the military achievements, and everyone’s performance on the battlefield will become the reference for the distribution of trophies after the war.
Who has questions that can be raised now?”
“Splitting up the army”, this news was too sudden and completely out of everyone’s expectation.
Prior to this, the Allied Command had been coordinating the cooperation between the countries, and Albrecht did not consult with them before proposing the “division of forces”.
It is not that Albrecht is arbitrary, but mainly because there are too many people attending the meeting, and when there are too many people, it is easy for their intelligence to be offline.
Especially when there were four countries represented, everyone was considering the issue from their own standpoint, and their starting points were different.
Pulling everyone together for a discussion would not be half as useful as wasting time.
Russian Commander-in-Chief Ivanov was the first to speak up, “Your Excellency the Commander, there is no problem with splitting up the army, the question is how will the logistics be secured?”
Albrecht replied calmly, “The Allied General Command will uniformly distribute the supplies according to the number of people in each unit, and when not in combat, they will be sent down directly to the divisions.
After launching the landing operation, the General Command will distribute the supplies to the national commands, and you will be responsible for distributing them to the units yourselves.
The General Command can send ships to deliver to your designated ports, provided that you guarantee the safety of your designated ports.”
After a little thought, Ivanov replied, “On behalf of the Russian Empire, I am in favor of dividing the troops!”
There was no way around it, whoever mastered the logistics on the battlefield would talk tough.
Albrecht was able to subdue so many proud soldiers so quickly, not because of his formidable battle record or how strong his personality was, but by controlling the right to distribute the logistics of the allied forces.
This is the reality of the decision, anti-Turkish alliance four countries except Austria rich a little, the remaining three are poor.
Montenegro and Greece are poor and small, let them provide logistical supplies for the army, the troops on the front line will starve to death.
The Russians were able to provide some of the supplies, and after the Russo-Prussian War they had a lot of strategic supplies left over, but unfortunately they couldn’t be shipped over in a short period of time.
Logistically, they were completely dependent on Austria, and the power of the allied forces naturally fell into Austria’s hands. Albrecht, who was responsible for the distribution of supplies, naturally became the most powerful person in Constantinople.
The Russians also contributed more than 300,000 troops, and splitting the army had little effect on them. With so many troops in place, even if they were to fight the Ottoman Empire alone, Ivanov was not a coward.
The biggest impact of splitting up the army is still Montenegro and Greece, although the independent command avoids the risk of becoming cannon fodder, but the risk of total annihilation has also increased.
Follow the main force of the allied forces together, of course, there is the possibility of doing dirty work, but after all, we are all allies, encountered danger, the Russians and Austrians can not be impossible not to pull a hand.
For political reasons, once the troops suffered heavy losses, the Allied General Command would immediately have them thrown into the rear to do the dirty work.
Soldiers were few that also represented a country that belonged to one of the unshakeable four court pillars of the anti-Turkish alliance. If the whole army was lost, that would be equivalent to one less country.
Militarily, the effect is not great, but politically, it is very fatal. Whether it was Greece or Montenegro, Albrecht, the commander-in-chief, would be the first to be blamed for the destruction of any of them.
It’s not the same when you split up your army, you go out on your own as a nation, and you are responsible for the battles you command. Even if the whole army was wiped out, the political repercussions were greatly reduced.
Especially for the Duchy of Montenegro, with only one reinforced regiment of troops, one slip of the tongue would result in the total annihilation of the army.
Marshal Maxim Trentiev of the Principality of Montenegro hurriedly asked, “Your Excellency the Commander, how will the specific battle plan be distributed?”
Whether or not there was any danger in splitting up the troops for combat, one could tell by looking at the combat missions.
Maxim Trentiev had already made up his mind, if the risk was high, he would act like a wimp, anyway, the Principality of Montenegro didn’t have much of an international reputation and wasn’t afraid of being embarrassed.
This is also a historical and cultural tradition, from the 14th century, and the Ottoman Empire began to die, with a corner against the Ottoman up to five hundred years without extinction, enough to prove how strong their ability to survive.
Don’t look at them every few years, and the Ottoman Empire to have a friendly game, in fact, that are all guerrilla warfare is the main, at the drop of a hat to drill the ravine.
If they had to fight to the death, their population would have been exterminated in the 14th century, so how could they survive?
Albrecht calmly replied: “The combat mission will be decided according to the number of troops of each country, now I only have a preliminary draft, the detailed combat will be formulated by the command of each country.
Considering the command needs, I plan to divide the battlefield into five major war zones, which are the Black Sea War Zone, the Caucasus War Zone, the Marmara Sea War Zone, the Mediterranean War Zone and the Middle East War Zone.
As the name suggests, the Black Sea War Zone is to launch an attack from the Black Sea coast, and all of the Ottoman Empire’s coastline in the Black Sea is within the scope of the battle.
After completing the landing, then inland to fight. Specifically how to fight, to fight to that point, are decided by the theater command, in principle, the General Command does not interfere.
Considering the actual situation, the Russian army was responsible for the Black Sea theater and the Caucasus theater, and the Austrian army was responsible for the Middle East theater, the Mediterranean theater and the Marmara Sea theater.
The Montenegrin and Greek armies will serve as reserves for the time being and will be reinforced according to the actual situation on the battlefield.”
Nothing wrong with that, just assign Russian and Austrian combat missions. As for Greece and Montenegro, from the beginning Albrecht never took them into account.
Politically, Austria needed Greece and Montenegro to hold up the facade; militarily, these two bean counters were completely dispensable.
Greece and Montenegro were too small to be used as cannon fodder. On the battlefield, there are so many changes that no one knows if there will be a sudden change.
Greece, at least, has two infantry divisions; Montenegro has only one reinforced regiment, the chance of total annihilation is too great.
Albrecht did not want to be blamed for harming his allies, and if he lost these two little ones, he would not be able to return home.
This realistic answer, so that the representatives of the two countries very hurt, this is nakedly look down on their strength.
Said nice is as a reserve team, in fact, not as a last resort, Russia and Austria will not let them these reserves on the field, which relates to the face of the two countries.
Ask Greece and Montenegro for help? Are you kidding me? Do the Russians and Austrians still want to be in the game? If there is a shortage of men on the battlefield, then increase the number of troops, and there is no rule that you can’t send reinforcements.
Field Marshal Ivanov replied with satisfaction, “No problem, this battle plan is very reasonable and fully utilizes our respective advantages.”
There was no way not to be satisfied, an important factor for the Tsarist government to enter this war was to occupy the Black Sea coast and keep Austria out of the Black Sea.
By giving the task of attacking the Black Sea coast to the Russian army, Albrecht was undoubtedly acquiescing to this mode of distributing benefits.
Seeing that Russia and Austria had reached an agreement, the Greek representative, Marshal Publius, turned pale. They had come to this war to take advantage of it, and if they were playing in the rear, what qualifications did they have to share the spoils after the war?
Russia and Austria are not charitable people, without contributing on the battlefield, the war proceeds will naturally not have their share.
Publius said stiffly, “Your Excellency the Commander, it’s a bit wrong to put us in the rear, isn’t it!
We are participating in this war to get justice from the Ottoman Empire. If the Greek army hasn’t even been on the battlefield, how can I explain this to the people at home?”
Albrecht nodded in sympathy, “Alright then, after we finish the landing operation, you guys will be responsible for purging the local area of the Ottoman remnants.”
Publius grimaced, this task was also just a little better than playing at home. It was said to be purging the remnants of the enemy, but in reality it was just policing.
At most, he would catch a few partisans, a typical hard job, with hard work but no credit, and if he messed up, he would have to take the blame.
After a few moments of hesitation, Publius asked for battle, “Your Excellency, the Greek army is not afraid of sacrifice, we want to go to war.”
Thinking of the horrific consequences of the Montenegrin army not leaving the country after the war and then being blamed by all sides.
Maxim Trentiev hastily followed suit and asked for battle, “Your Excellency the Commander, the Montenegrin army is not afraid of war, we will go to the front as well.”
Obviously they had seen that Albrecht wasn’t prepared to use them as cannon fodder. The main reason for not letting them go to war was that they didn’t want to take responsibility.
Also an ally, if the Russian Empire lost 100,000 or 800,000 on the battlefield, no one would say that Austria was pitting its teammates, they could afford to lose.
If replaced by Greece, casualties of 10,000 to 20,000, that is the bones; replaced by Montenegro, casualties of more than 100 is a heavy loss, casualties of more than 1,000 is a major injury.
However, this level of casualties is very normal on the battlefield, it is impossible to avoid completely.
After hesitating for a few moments of effort, Albrecht said with a wry smile, “Since the two of you want it so much, then the Marmara Sea Battle Zone is in your hands.”
It was obvious that Albrecht was not a fan of these two scraping by. Invite to fight, right, then good to give you a combat mission, by the time you fail to complete the consequences.
Marmara sea war zone is located in the Black Sea strait, the last near east war here is the first to fall, so far has not recovered.
The terrain is flat, easy to attack and difficult to defend. The Ottoman Empire has deployed few troops here, and it is the easiest place to make a breakthrough among the five major war zones, so it is really not in Albrecht’s pit.
It’s just that on the battlefield, it’s still a matter of strength. For Russia and Austria, the Marmara Sea battle zone is not worth mentioning; for Greece and Montenegro, it is still a challenge.
Seeing that the two did not reply, Albrecht added: “The Marmara Sea Battle Zone is not the center of gravity of this war, there is no need to end the battle immediately, you just need to hold the enemy here.
When the other battle zones have made a breakthrough, then we will kill back from behind and attack the enemy front and back with you.”
“The center of gravity of the war?”
Unfortunately, there was never going to be a center of gravity in this war.
Albrecht’s battle plan was to win the war by making breakthroughs on all sides.
If it was about defeating the enemy, Publius certainly wasn’t confident, and no matter how small the Turkish army in the Sea of Marmara was, it was still over 100,000 men.
Greece + Montenegro is still less than 30,000 troops, with fewer than more Publius is not sure. But just to hold the enemy, Publius thought he could still try.
Anyway, there is the advantage of sea power, if you can’t win, you can still retreat, the big deal is to continue to land in a different place, as long as there is no ceasefire, you can hold the enemy forces.
After hesitating for a moment’s effort, Publius replied, “No problem, guarantee to complete the mission.”
Seeing that the Greeks accepted, Maxim Trentiev could only accept it with a stiff upper lip, there would be no place for them in the allied forces if they retreated at this time.
……
Vienna, looking at the battle plan sent from the front, Franz’s entire body was a bit confused.
This time is the battle for the destruction of the country, the resistance of the Ottomans will certainly be very fierce, casualties will certainly not be few.
The establishment of the Anti-Turkish Alliance, in addition to pulling allies to share the international pressure, but also more for the purpose of pulling cannon fodder.
Now, the sudden division of troops meant that all of Franz’s prior preparations were useless.
As a military novice, Franz is still self-aware, and does not think that his command ability will be superior to the frontline generals.
After reading Albrecht’s list of 18 disadvantages of joint operations, Franz decisively accepted the front’s battle plan.
……
(End of chapter)