Holy Roman Empire

The people in the city gritted their teeth against the coalition forces, relied on the city to fight street battles with the Russians, and they were the first to fall into the people's war.

Moreover, the efficiency of the Ottoman government is too low, and the supplies hoarded in Sofia are not enough for the coalition forces to consume for a month. If they dare to sit in an isolated city, they will wait for the entire army to be wiped out!

Now that the battle has progressed, the strength of the coalition forces is already very tense, so don't expect anyone to rescue them.

Even if reinforcements were dispatched from the country, there would be too little time.After the failure of the battle, the coalition forces scrambled to escape.

With a front that is more than ten kilometers long, total annihilation does not exist or is impossible, and Russia only tore apart a section of the coalition defense line.

If it wasn't for saving more soldiers and leaving, Oliver wouldn't have to rush over to fight the Russians, they would turn around and run away, and the Russians wouldn't chase them at all.

The battle, which lasted half a year, with nearly 20 troops invested by both sides, ended in a tragic victory for the Russians.

Looking at the casualty report, Fitzroy Somerset can say responsibly: He completed the tasks of the Tsarist government very well, and really won the victory regardless of casualties.

The total casualties before and after add up to 6.7, and the Russian soldiers basically changed again, of which 2.6 were killed (including the wounded who were not rescued).

Even if there is a steady stream of supplementary troops from the rear, the Russian army is now crippled and needs to be repaired urgently.In the final battle, it can be clearly seen that the combat effectiveness of the Russian army has declined.

After paying such a high price, the results obtained are: defeated 10 coalition forces, killed 3.4 coalition soldiers, and captured 2.5 coalition forces, including more than 1.1 coalition wounded.

Judging from the casualties on both sides, it was the Russians who were defeated in this battle.If it weren't for the outbreak of the Bulgarian guerrillas, the outcome of this battle is still uncertain.

In order to look good, Fitzroy Somerset swallowed the record of the Bulgarian guerrillas without hesitation, and ignored the casualties they paid.

Of course, in order to let the Bulgarians continue to work for him, Fitzroy Somerset still asked for credit for them at home, emphasizing that the Bulgarian guerrillas delayed the enemy's reinforcements and made outstanding contributions to the victory of the war.

Then there is no more, this one alone is enough for the Tsarist government to agree to the conditions he promised before.

Originally, the tsarist government was planning to annex Bulgaria, and St. Petersburg was worried that these guerrillas would become obstacles. Now that they can be incorporated, how could Nicholas I refuse?

Regardless of the losses of both sides, it cannot affect the historical status of this battle. This battle is recognized by historians as the turning point of the Second Bulgarian Battle.

Chapter 91 "How Deserters Are Made"

After the Battle of Sofia, Montes, who escaped unharmed, was summoned back to the country by the London government. What awaited him was a one-day trip to the military court. This time the British were ashamed.

Although Montes repeatedly explained that the defeat of the war was due to the betrayal of the traitors, it didn't work.

Losing is losing, even if they caused more casualties to the Russians tactically, but everyone knows that in this battle, the coalition forces lost.

The culprit is that the British army failed to hold the line of defense, allowing the Russians to break through.The matter of being flanked by guerrillas was decisively ignored by everyone, and the British were too embarrassed to mention it.

Oliver, who was successful in the rescue, was promoted to the commander of the British army. The promotion was a good thing, but Major General Oliver was not happy at all.

He still has self-knowledge. The so-called meritorious service in rescue is just an excuse. If it is not for his strong background, he is also to blame for the failure of this war.

If he hadn't engaged in the so-called decoy plan, trying to wipe out the guerrillas, and the reinforcements would be stationed in various key locations in advance, the main force of the guerrillas would not be able to gather and attack from behind. In fact, he killed Montes in this battle.

This kind of thing fooled the domestic bureaucrats and fooled the soldiers who fought, but they couldn't fool the officers who fought on the front line.

Under such circumstances, can he convince everyone that he is the commander of the expeditionary force?

"Have our casualties been counted?" asked Oliver.

The middle-aged officer with a beard and a beard replied: "Only a part of the statistics are calculated. The Third Army of the Expeditionary Force has a total of 6876 people who were killed, missing or captured, and 2847 people were injured.

The casualties of the First and Second Corps of the Expeditionary Army are still being counted. At present, we have gathered 11621 routs, including 924 wounded. It is said that some routs have withdrawn to the Macedonian region together with the Sardinians. "

This is not only a heavy loss, the expeditionary force was completely disabled.I haven't returned to the team for half a month, and the chance of being able to return to the team is already very low.

There is no way around this. When the battle was defeated and fleeing for their lives, everyone ran in a swarm, who cares what direction it is.

With the failure of the Battle of Sofia, the entire southwestern part of Bulgaria is the territory of the Russians. It is unknown how many people can escape the pursuit of the Russians and Bulgarian guerrillas.

In this era of poor communication and the soldiers' language barrier, even if they escaped, it would be very difficult for them to find their way home.

If the sense of direction is not strong, it is not impossible to go directly in the opposite direction.

Oliver patted his head. Now that the 3 British Expeditionary Force has fought, he has more than [-] people left in his hands. Even if he includes those who went to Macedonia with the Sardinians, it will not exceed [-].

What's more important is that the morale of the army is completely low. After a long period of hard fighting, these soldiers are very war-weary, even the third army that just arrived not long ago is the same.

If the combat power of the British army was 10 before, now there are only 5 left.Without half a year of repairs, it is impossible to restore combat effectiveness.

But the battle still has to be fought, and the French have asked them to build a line of defense to prevent the enemy from coming from the west.

Oliver wouldn't mind retreating all the way back to defend Constantinople if possible.Fighting in coastal areas, they can get the fire support of the navy, making it easier to gain an advantage in battle.

Obviously this is impossible, not to mention the opinions of the Ottomans, the coalition forces and the Russians are still fighting hard in the Sliven area, and they cannot withdraw at all.

A blind retreat is likely to turn into a rout, and the consequences will be serious.

Oliver said solemnly: "In any case, we must stop the Russians in the Kazanlak and Stara Zagora areas now, otherwise the coalition forces will fail in this battle.

The London government has issued a death order, and it is absolutely impossible for us to cause the battle to fail.

I have requested reinforcements from home, and the cabinet government has guaranteed that at least [-] reinforcements will arrive within two months.

After the Sofia war, the Russians also suffered heavy casualties, and they also need time to recuperate. They should not launch a major offensive in the next two months. "

A young officer questioned: "Your Excellency, Commander, with all due respect, even if the Russians launch a tentative attack, I may not be able to stop it.

On the way back, we lost all our artillery, and one-third of the soldiers now don't even have a rifle. If it is not repaired, the troops will have no combat effectiveness at all. "

This is not nonsense. If a main division of the Russian army came over at this time, the more than 3 British troops would continue to run away.

Oliver glared at him and said: "Colonel Furhu, you are too worried. The loss of weapons and equipment has been replenished domestically, and it can be made up in half a month at most.

The morale of the army depends on everyone's hard work.Now we will not have new combat missions, we just need to do a good job of releasing and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. "

Passive or not, Oliver couldn't care less.He knew that if he relied on the fortifications to defend, the soldiers could still exert part of their combat effectiveness.If you take the initiative to attack, then you have to write a book - "How Deserters Are Born".

……

Kraljevo, Serbia

The Third Battalion of the Fourth Regiment of the New Austrian Seventh Division, Lieutenant Colonel Haydn, encountered a big problem. There were a large number of routs in his defense area.

A young officer aged about 22-23 whispered, "Lieutenant Colonel, the British have sent representatives."

Haydn said lightly, "Ask him to come in."

The current situation is a bit special. Austria is maintaining neutrality in the war between Britain and Russia, but Austria is an ally with the Russians and is still at war with the Ottoman Empire, an ally of the British.

This kind of intricate international relations made Lieutenant Colonel Haydn very embarrassed.If this is the territory of Austria, then disarm the British as a neutral country and repatriate them back to the country after the war.

It's a pity that the sovereignty of Serbia still belongs to the Ottoman Empire. If the British don't cooperate, Lieutenant Colonel Haydn doesn't know whether to forcibly disarm them or deport them.

Not long after, a somewhat embarrassed British officer walked in, and Lieutenant Colonel Haydn said, "Nice to meet you, Colonel Daniel, what do you need to drink?"

Colonel Daniel replied politely: "Thank you, the coffee is just fine, and it's better to have some pastries."

It could be seen that his stomach had stopped protesting, and the sound of "gurgling" sounded, reminding him that it was time to eat.

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn shrugged and said, "Sorry, I don't have pastries here, but I still have bread, canned food and beef jerky. Would you like some?"

Here is the battlefield, and even in Kraljevo, the Austrian army does not have the luxury to supply pastries.

Colonel Daniel said matter-of-factly, "Bread and cans are fine."

When they were fleeing for their lives, they carried the most hungry beef jerky, and now they are almost vomiting, so it would be nice to have bread at this time.

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn ordered: "The guards will make a cup of coffee for Colonel Daniel, bring a piece of bread and two cans."

Both of them are soldiers, and the communication between soldiers has always been straightforward.

After a pause, Lieutenant Colonel Haydn stated the conditions: "Colonel Daniel, you have two options:

Or, according to international practice, as a third-party neutral country, we will disarm you, and the London government will communicate with Vienna on the following issues. After the war, you will be repatriated to your home country.

Or, you leave now, and for the sake of the friendship between the two countries, I can pretend that I didn't see anything.You are now leaving the Kosovo region, and there is still time to go back through the Macedonian region. "

He didn't want to have a conflict with the British at this time. There are a lot of British soldiers entering the Kraljevo area. If they can't be dealt with in time, troubles may arise.

Colonel Daniel replied without hesitation: "We choose the first option, the Russians have already occupied the Kosovo area, and our retreat has been cut off.

We agree to be disarmed, but you must provide us with treatment that matches our status, and guarantee that we can only be repatriated to our country after the war. "

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn was a little bit dumbfounded after hearing Daniel's nonsense.He finally understood why such a person strayed into the Kraljevo area.

What is wrong with this, it is simply running here on purpose.

The war lasted for almost a year, and the British participated in the war for more than half a year.After fighting for such a long time, the troops have not been rotated. It is natural for everyone to be more war-weary.

The treatment of British Army soldiers in this era is not high. Looking at the logistics supplies, you can tell that if they have status, the bureaucrats in the logistics department would not dare to mess around like this.

Compared with the navy, they are raised by stepmothers, and their treatment is less than one-third of that of navy soldiers.This kind of differential treatment naturally aroused their dissatisfaction.

Now that everyone is war-weary, it is natural to find a way to escape this war.It is not advisable to be a deserter in the first place, which must be dealt with by military law.

With the defeat of the Sofia battle, their chance came.This time, he was defeated across the board, so he must run for his life.

If he ran back, he would inevitably go to the battlefield later.If they surrendered to the Russians, the bears had a bad reputation in this era, and they were afraid of being massacred.

Besides, being a prisoner of war would be disgraceful, and Mao Xiong was an enemy, so they wouldn't even have a chance to fight for treatment if they surrendered.

At this time, some smart people thought of a way, ran to a neutral country to be disarmed, and then waited for repatriation after the war.

Not only escaped the war, but also did not have to worry about being liquidated domestically.It is normal to panic on the battlefield, and who knew that the Austrians occupied Serbia?

Anyway, the London government did not issue a document to notify them, so everyone can pretend to be confused and say they don't know, and they can reason that it was a normal retreat, and then strayed into Austrian territory.

The bureaucrats of the London government must recognize that this is in line with the regulations. They rely on this set of mechanical rules to protect their own interests, and naturally they cannot be easily broken.

In fact, not only the British did this, but even some people from the Sardinian army came over, but because of their hatred with Austria, not many people came here.

As for whether it will bring trouble to the London government or affect the Anglo-Austrian relationship, this is beyond their consideration.

Anyway, the Austrians must treat them with delicious food and drink, which is a bargaining chip with the London government.

Even in order to be more convincing, they also found a step and insisted that the Russians had occupied the Kosovo area and cut off their way back.

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn thought for a while and said, "Yes, but all British soldiers must sign the agreement.

We are sure that you strayed into Kraljevo by yourself. Because the Russians cut off your way back, you lost your logistical supplies, so you asked us for help. "

After changing the rhetoric, everyone's face has been taken care of.He also changed the term for disarmament, and Britain and Austria will not have conflicts over this issue in the future.

Colonel Daniel complained: "No problem, then Lieutenant Colonel Haydn, please provide us with supplies as soon as possible. We have not had a normal meal for several days along the way."

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn asked: "Yes, how many of you are there? I'll send someone to deliver a batch of supplies to you right away."

Colonel Daniel replied: "A total of 1531 people, including 426 Sardinian soldiers, must enjoy the same treatment, and there are 62 wounded who need medical treatment.

There should be some troops behind, and this number may continue to increase in the future. You'd better prepare more supplies. "

It wasn't just a few people who ran away, it was the officers who led the soldiers to run away collectively, and they ran in such a fresh and refined manner.

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn nodded, and ordered people to prepare supplies.In any case, let's stabilize these British soldiers first.

Lieutenant Colonel Haydn didn't have any objection to Daniel's request for loyalty, anyway, the London government would pay for them.

Chapter 92 is waiting to jump into the pit

Vienna

Affected by the failure of the Battle of Sofia, the negotiations between the Austrian government and Ottoman have achieved phased results, only some details are still under negotiation.

Franz didn't care much about the outcome of the negotiations. Even if the two countries signed an agreement, the possibility of it being fulfilled in the future is less than one-third.

The international situation is ever-changing, and the outcome of the Near East War will directly affect Austria's income. From the perspective of interests, the Russians' tragic victory is of course the best choice.

It can not only let them rush to the front to pull hatred and share the pressure of Austria; but it will not let the Russians really soar into the sky and lose their restrictions.

The Minister of War, Prince Wendisch Gretz, said with a strange look: "Your Majesty, there is a battle report from the Serbian front. A group of British soldiers entered by mistake and were disarmed by us."

Franz asked suspiciously: "The war in the Near East can't spread that far, isn't there the Kosovo area in the middle?"

This erroneous deviation is too great. Even if the Battle of Sofia fails, the Kosovo area is still controlled by the Ottomans, and they can completely ask the local government to send a guide.

Prince Wendisch Gretz handed over the battle report, Franz glanced at it, and finally understood why his expression was so weird.

Franz thought for a while and said: "This is also a good thing. We have another small chip in our hands. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the British and asked them to send people to discuss and lure these people back to China."

Undoubtedly, these people will definitely be detained after the war, and now informing the British is nothing more than telling them that Austria has a group of British officers and soldiers.

These people are useless now. When the Near East war escalates and the news of the heavy casualties of the British troops on the front line is sent back to the country, after causing a sensation, the London government will have to pay attention to these soldiers.

Franz admired the person who came up with this method.

This is a genius. They are all deserters. Others have worked so hard to run away and hide in Tibet. After the war, they still worry about being liquidated and unable to return home.

They also became deserters, and stayed in Austria until the end of the war. They had good food and drink, and the London government couldn’t afford to lose them in salary and benefits. After the war, they had to be taken back.