Iron Cross Fire

On May 14, the Austro-Hungarian army and Kemal in the east of Ukraine launched a series of attacks on the Russian army inside.

At first, the Russians with the advantage of fortifications could still hold out for a while, but more and more Austrians and Turks arrived and gradually tore through the defense line one by one.

All Russian troops on the east bank of the Dnieper River were withdrawn to the west, and they also built some bunkers in the north in advance, which should be able to defend for several months.

However, there would be basically no one coming from the north. Germany focused on ending the war in advance in Petersburg and was unwilling to spend too much time on Ukraine, which had no strategic significance.

Kemal in the east also stopped to rest for a while, but Austria-Hungary accelerated the offensive speed and soon joined the German army to divide and encircle the Russian army in the Ukrainian zone.

The encirclement operation was not hindered by anyone, and the whole operation was very smooth. Except for a few unlucky people who died in accidents, there were basically no casualties.

Conrad, the Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff, reorganized the troops and distributed his army as follows:

The three previous war departments (i.e., the Polish Department, the Slovak Department, and the Hungarian Department) were all dismantled and changed to army groups.

In recent days, the offensive launched by Italy in the Alps has obviously weakened, allowing Austria-Hungary to withdraw two army groups from there.

Although it is still unknown whether one army group can withstand the Italian attack, seven army groups will definitely be able to flatten the entire Ukraine.

According to Conrad's budget, they will have two army groups, namely the Volyn Highland Army Group and the South Carpathian Army Group.

The Volyn Highland Army Group is referred to as the First Army Group, which is affiliated to the Imperial War Headquarters and directly governs the First, Second, Fourth, and Sixth Armies. It mainly launches raids in the plains in northwestern Ukraine, and the ultimate goal is to take Kiev directly.

During the operation, they can ask the Germans for help and cooperate in the fight to take Kiev. As long as they pull in favors, I believe they will have to send some troops to Ukraine.

The Carpathian Army Group is referred to as the Second Army Group. It is under the Hungarian War Department and has the Third, Seventh and Eighth Army Groups under its jurisdiction. They mainly delay the Russian army in the mountains while advancing as far as possible into its depth.

Simply put, the role of the Second Army Group is to attract hatred to the group, attract as many enemies as possible, and cooperate with them to capture Kiev, and do all the dirty work for them.

In order to win, Conrad made quite sufficient preparations. Whether it was unifying opinions in domestic affairs or specific military actions, he did everything. I just don’t know if it can be implemented. After all, he is a master of talking on paper.

The Imperial Military Department called Kuster and asked him to assist them in conquering Kiev in the name of the emperor.

As for how to assist, the top leaders of the empire believed that either the main force should be sent to Ukraine, or the troops should be distributed to Kemal to let him fight Ukraine.

Moreover, they also said that a famous person like Kuster should not betray his motherland... and reputation.

After seeing this, Kuster just smiled disdainfully, rolled the telegram into a ball and threw it into the mud pit, then sent more reserve troops to the Central Asian steppe to fight the Russians in the north, in order to inform the imperial high-level officials that he had no extra soldiers.

However, he agreed to Kemal's request to expand the army, but required him to conquer Crimea first.

On the Austro-Hungarian side, when they saw Kemal start to move, they thought that Kuster's reinforcements had fought with the Russians, so they didn't even notify them and directly threw the entire army into the battlefield.

The first group marched along the avenue, with a total of seven attack directions, only two of which were towards Kiev, and the rest were all directed to the depths of other Russian cities.

The second group was still sitting opposite the Russian army in the Carpathians, competing to see who had better endurance and could wear out the opponent.

If it was normal, this behavior would be normal. After all, no one wanted to die. It was an extraordinary enjoyment to hide behind and fire cannons and watch the enemy on the opposite side being blown away, while lying safely in the position.

But today was not an ordinary day. Conrad came out from the rear and personally went to the front line to inspect the officers and soldiers.

When he learned about the fierce breakthrough of the first group, he seemed extremely happy, but when he asked about the actions of the second group, the answer he got was obviously not enough to satisfy him.

So he punished a few lazy unlucky guys, and at the same time strengthened his orders, requiring them to fight over the mountain.

After being encouraged, the second group quickly arranged the team, and all the soldiers entered the wartime state.

After hundreds of artillery fired at one point for nearly five minutes, the Carpathian Mountains were almost blown bald, and basically no people could be seen on it. Their commander ordered a charge.

As expected, the Austro-Hungarian army had no casualties, but no Russian bodies could be seen. Perhaps they were turned into ashes in the wind.

This is what all officers thought in their hearts. After a brief check of the terrifying power of the giant cannon, they began to continue their march.

But they were soon surrounded by the Russian army, and the number seemed to be quite large!

The officers may not recognize these Russians, but the soldiers do. They are the old enemies of these soldiers, and have been fighting in the Carpathians for months.

However, they still can't figure out why these people are still here when they should have been blown to death. Have they found a way to be immune to artillery shells?

The soldiers continued to fight with such doubts until the evening of the day. They successfully repelled wave after wave of attacks with their superior artillery fire and temporary positions.

They didn't know why the enemy appeared here, but the officers knew that it was nothing more than this group of Russians running to the back to avoid artillery fire. They might be secretly happy that they had avoided a big wave today, but they didn't know that the position had been lost.

The Russian army wanted to recapture the position frantically, but no matter how they attacked, they would be repelled, and the soldiers were getting more and more tired. The Austro-Hungarian officers seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack, driving all the Russians on the high ground out and driving them all the way to the plains.

These Austrian Hungarians were like crazy. The frustration of the past few months seemed to be about to bury them, making the current outbreak of anger so powerful.

With this momentum, they chased for more than 100 kilometers without stopping, and exhausted the fleeing Russians, and they surrendered to them one after another.

After a series of attacks, the second group was able to advance frantically. Now it is still 400 kilometers away from Kiev. You know, they couldn't even get through the mountains before.

Conrad laughed so hard that his mouth dislocated after learning that the second group had successfully broken through. He immediately ordered the first group to stop resting and speed up the march to the north of Kiev, forming a north-south pinch with the second group.

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