Holy Roman Empire

As long as the commanders of the Fourth Army are not stupid and stabilize the morale of the army, there will be no danger of being destroyed in a while.

The Tsarist government just leased a hundred transport airships from us yesterday, presumably to provide supplies to the Fourth Army.

If all these airships are used by the Fourth Army, they can drop more than a hundred tons of materials every day, plus the materials they carry themselves. If they are lucky, they can support them until the reinforcements arrive. "

On the issue of "military morale", I have to admire the Russians.Being besieged is not a problem at all, as long as sufficient supplies can be guaranteed, Mao Xiong will have combat effectiveness.

Perhaps influenced by Russia's special culture, or perhaps because the soldiers are too nervous, the performance of the Russians in this regard is fully worthy of the title of "fighting nation".

Even so, Albrecht is still not optimistic about the Fourth Army.The reason is self-evident, everything is theoretical, and it is impossible for the Prussian army to watch the Russian transport indifferently.

Under the blocking of the enemy, it is unknown how much material can be put in at the end.

Of course, being blocked is not terrible.Air defense firepower is limited these days, as long as the airship does not fly at low altitude, it is not so easy to be shot down.

The best way is for the airship to deal with the airship. However, it takes time for the airship to start, unless it happens to hit it, or it will run away when you take off.

In this context, "luck" has become the key to determining the fate of the Fourth Army.However, pinning your hopes on luck is an unreliable performance in itself.

"Ivanov has already made a move, so what is Moltke thinking at this time? You won't just go to war just for a Fourth Army, right?" Franz asked suspiciously

Albrecht waved his hand, and replied with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, you think too highly of Moltke. No matter how powerful he is, he is just an ordinary person.

No matter how powerful his layout is, the Russians must be willing to be fooled.Ivanov used his troops very steadily, no matter how many baits he released, he was indifferent.

Conspiracies and tricks can't play a role. In the end, it is strength that determines the outcome of a war.Next, as long as the Russians don't act as monsters, winning the war is almost inevitable.

Moltke wanted to make a comeback, only to quickly win the Battle of Warsaw on the battlefield, and then quickly send troops to cut off the back of the Russian Southern Front, and conduct another encirclement and annihilation battle.

To be blunt, this is almost impossible to implement militarily.The Russians are not fools. There is no need for a decisive battle on the Warsaw battlefield, and it is enough to delay the time and wait for a breakthrough in the southern strategy. "

Franz asked uncertainly, "Is there?"

Albrecht nodded very determinedly.This problem can be regarded as a common problem of time travelers, and they will be a little more afraid of famous figures in history.

Moltke in the original time and space was promoted to the altar, and Franz heard so much that he left the impression of being "invincible".

Even though after traveling through time, seeing many celebrities, this impression has faded a lot, but the fear in my heart still hasn't dissipated.

Albrecht naturally didn't know these things.He couldn't understand the excessive attention to Franz.

After thinking about it, Franz said perfunctorily: "I see. It may be that the newspapers of the Pubo Federation have been read too much, and they have been touted too much, and they have been affected."

……

Looking at the Prussian-Russian War as a bystander, there are loopholes everywhere. The problems of both Prussia and Russia are endless, and the mistakes made are countless.

However, this is an outsider's view.In fact, there are still many things worth learning in this war.

The greatest impact on Europe is the training of military personnel, and the Russo-Prussian War was also a watershed in the training of military personnel.

Prior to this, when European countries cultivated military talents, except for grassroots officers, they all went in the direction of cultivating famous generals.

However, "famous generals" are things that can be met but not sought, and there is too much luck.The most troublesome thing is that no one knows what it is before it has gone through the fire test.

The Russo-Prussian War told the world that in the era of hot weapons, the "halo of famous generals" is fading, and strength is the key to determining the outcome of a war.

"Famous generals" can indeed improve the chances of winning, but after the scale of the war has risen to the million level, the role of personal power on the battlefield is really too small.

Especially for a big country like Austria, instead of betting on the probability of a "Moltke-style genius", it is better to train tens of thousands of stable generals like Ivanov.

Quality cannot be combined with quantity, and improving the military literacy of the overall officers is far more valuable than cultivating one or two "famous generals".

Chapter 2 Seventy

Ever since he learned that he was an abandoned child, Obodo has been in a bad mood.I greeted Ivanov's family over and over again in my heart, but I had to act confident on the face to appease the army.

Now that the matter has come to this point, no matter how unwilling he is, Obodo can only bite the bullet and play his life with the enemy.

Surrender is impossible. All his roots are in Russia, and his wife, children and children are still waiting for him to go back and reunite in a prosperous way.

Not only did he have no choice, but all the senior leaders of the Fourth Army were the same.Either block the enemy's attack and drag it until reinforcements arrive; or die on the battlefield and cover up your mistakes with blood.

Under the strong desire to survive, people can always burst out superpowers.

The top brass of the Fourth Army have started to explode now. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the high-ranking officers in the past have all come down to the army to ask their relatives, and from time to time they even approached the front line to boost morale.

In order to save food, Obodo even ordered the cancellation of the officers' mess hall, and all officers and soldiers had meals together.Etiquette, dignity, and inferiority are nothing in front of survival.

The officers can't understand it. Now the airdropped materials are of uniform standard, and they are all high-calorie food for the soldiers. There is no officer meal at all.

Everyone knew that Marshal Ivanov was offended by this private action, and no one dared to make a report at this time.

Due to the limited capacity of the airship, weapons and ammunition must also be transported.In order to save transportation capacity, the food delivered, except for compressed biscuits, is all meat.

This time, the Russian Army’s munitions standard has moved closer to that of the British Army, mainly beef jerky and biscuits, and a small amount of canned fish, as if the meat suddenly became worthless overnight.

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, and biting the beef jerky with difficulty, Obodo swore he had never eaten such rubbish food.

Unable to eat any more, Opodo opened the canned fish, and by looking at the words on the label, he knew that it was produced in Austria again.If nothing else, it should be the cheapest freshwater fish.

This is a characteristic of Europe. Affected by industrial development, rivers are seriously polluted, and many people do not eat freshwater fish.If there are fewer eaters, it is naturally worthless.

This cheap raw material has become the favorite of capitalists.As long as it is processed into cans, who knows where these fish come from?

"Water is polluted, fish have problems".As long as there is no immediate food poisoning, the latent harm is nothing at all.

Especially those exported to the Russian army, the quality is not guaranteed. Many unscrupulous merchants mix cheap potato powder in it, and fish meat is only a small part.

With so many shortcomings, it is still favored by the Tsarist government procurement department for only one reason-cheap.

Not only canned fish, but also beef jerky and compressed biscuits purchased by the Russians are the cheapest products.

Cheap is not good. Since it is the cheapest product, the quality will not be guaranteed.

Suppressing the discomfort, Opodo ate the canned fish. As for the beef jerky, he should leave it to those with better teeth.

Although the taste of canned fish is not very good, there is one thing that is worthy of praise.The fish meat processed into cans has been specially treated, and the bones and bones of the fish can be eaten directly.

Time waits for no one on the battlefield, and it is definitely inappropriate to slowly remove fish bones.Based on the principle that the customer is God, capitalists naturally have to meet this reasonable requirement.

After chemical treatment, the bones and thorns can be eaten.The sequelae don't matter, as long as there is no problem within a short period of time after eating.

Just about to rest for a while, a young officer broke into the headquarters and approached to report: "General, the enemy has launched an attack again. The No. 40 Division [-] requests fire support."

Looking at the battle map, Obodo frowned and asked, "Didn't you already send them an artillery regiment, why do you need fire support?"

The young officer explained: "The enemy's firepower is too fierce, and our artillery has been completely suppressed, so..."

Before he could finish speaking, Opodo waved his hand to stop him: "Okay, tell the 41st Division to find a way, I don't have artillery to reinforce them now.

The enemy's firepower is too fierce, so hide first.Now is an extraordinary period, don't be idle at night, you can assign some soldiers to dig anti-blasting holes.

When the enemy rushed up, they bayoneted with them.Now that we are besieged, we are definitely not as good as the enemy in terms of firepower, but we can be more fearless than them. "

This is not good in the plain area. If you want to seize the favorable terrain, you don't have to occupy it.If the 80-[-]-meter-high small soil bag is considered a mountain, the Fourth Army is now surrounded by mountains and rivers.

Obodo can be sure that the enemy is not willing to fight them desperately, otherwise the attack would not be so weak.

It is a normal operation for piecemeal attacks to continuously wear down their morale and strategic supplies, and finally force them to surrender.

If it cost [-] to [-] casualties in order to annihilate the Fourth Army, the Prussian army would lose if it won.

……

At the Prussian Army Command, Moltke dragged his head with one hand, lost in thought.

The plan did not change quickly. Originally, I wanted to use the Fourth Army as a bait to attract the main force of the Russian army to implement the encirclement and annihilation plan. I didn't expect that the Russians would not be fooled at all.

As a result, the Russian Fourth Army became a problem, restraining a large number of Prussian troops and making them unable to advance or retreat.

If they had stormed the Fourth Army from the very beginning and had not given them a chance to set up camp, the problem would have been solved by now.

There are no ifs on the battlefield, misjudging the importance of the Fourth Army to the Russians, and underestimating Ivanov's determination. This bitter fruit can only be swallowed by Moltke himself.

The Battle of East Prussia has already started, the Battle of the Southern Front is about to break out, and the Battle of Warsaw has actually begun.

The Russian army launched an attack from the northeast. Since the Russian Fourth Army held back a large number of Prussian troops, the Warsaw battlefield could only hold on.

The beeping sound of the phone woke up Mao Qi who was in deep thought, he picked up the microphone and put it near his mouth and shouted loudly: "I'm Mao Qi, what's the matter?"

A hoarse voice came: "Marshal, Winslet, commander of the Seventh Division, is here to report to you. The enemy in the north has suddenly increased their offensive intensity. Our defense line is in jeopardy. Please support."

It is unrealistic for a division to block an army, let alone an army with such a large establishment as the Russians, it is even more impossible.

A defense crisis is inevitable. The Seventh Division was able to block the enemy for three days before asking for help, which is already very good.

Moltke frowned: "Major General Winslet, the No. 11 Division will come over to take over your defense tomorrow. Is there a problem if you persist for another day?"

There was silence on the other side of the phone, and after a while the hoarse voice sounded again: "No problem, Marshal!"

There was a heavy tone in his tone, as if he had made a decision after a difficult inner struggle.

After hanging up the phone, Moltke told an officer not far away: "Send a power call to General Hansgrohe immediately, and tell him to eat up the Russian Fourth Army within a week.

Tell him that the fish in the north are already hooked, don't delay for a caged bird, and the fish will run away. "

A trapped beast is still fighting, let alone a human?

Knowing that now is the time when the enemy's resistance is fiercest, Moltke can only issue this order.If the Russian Fourth Army is left behind, there will be problems on the Warsaw battlefield.

Regardless of the fact that the Pubo Federation has established a complete defense line in Warsaw, no matter how strong the defense line is, it needs people to guard it.

What's more, Moltke didn't want to defend Warsaw, but wanted to severely damage the Russian army on the Warsaw battlefield, which required even greater troops.

In order to besiege the Fourth Army, the Prussian army invested nearly 60 troops. It was originally intended to encircle and fight for reinforcements. Now that the enemy's reinforcements are not coming, it will be useless to delay it.

Although knowing that this order is issued, the front line will suffer heavy losses, but for the overall situation on the battlefield, these sacrifices are necessary.

The grim situation told him that the Battle of Warsaw must be concluded quickly, and the Berlin government needed a big victory to pull allies on board, even if it was a big victory with heavy casualties.

"Yes, Marshal!" replied the young officer

Chapter 271 Not enough officers

Theory and reality often run counter to each other.Perhaps it was Opodo's effective response, or perhaps the officers had no way out, and the besieged Russian Fourth Army broke out with combat power beyond the expectations of the Prussian Army.

Seven days passed in a flash, and the Fourth Army was still stuck there like a nail, leaving the Prussian army in a dilemma.

Looking at the ever-increasing number of casualties in his hands, and thinking of his mission, the beard of General Hansgrohe, who was in charge of encircling and annihilating the Fourth Army, was about to turn gray.

The enemy suffered more than half of the casualties, and there was still no sign of surrender, making it clear that they would die to the end.

If the Russian army is so tenacious, there is no need to fight this war.The Popo Federation has a limited population, so it is simply impossible to fight.

After rubbing his forehead, Hansgrohe ordered to the adjutant: "Send a power to the headquarters, report the situation here in detail, and tell Marshal Moltke to give us another five days to ensure that this enemy army can be wiped out.

If other areas need support, we can dispatch some troops to leave first. Now there is no need for so many troops to surround us. "

After these days of fighting, Hansgrohe has determined that the enemy will not run away.In order to complete the task, he even deliberately set aside a way to lure the enemy to break through.

As a result, the enemy acted as if he hadn't seen it, and still stood firmly in place, giving him no chance at all.

It is completely unreasonable not to run away if there is a chance. Hansgrohe doesn't know what the Russian commander is thinking. In short, he is very depressed.

"Yes, General!"

……

Not only the Prussian army was depressed, but the besieged Lieutenant General Obodo was even more depressed.The Prussian army seemed to have gone crazy, and launched an attack regardless of casualties, so that the Fourth Army could only parry, but had no power to fight back.

After falling into the encirclement, he didn't know anything about the situation outside, and he didn't know why the enemy was crazy.

There was a whistling sound, and airships flew from the sky one after another. This was the happiest and most tense moment of the day for the Russian army.

I don't know when it started, the airship whizzing over has become the spiritual pillar of the Fourth Army, bringing them hope for life.

This is the most tense time. Except for the first few days, every time the airship troops come over, there will be an air battle.

In just ten days, the Russian army paid a total of 35 crashes, and three airships died in air battles almost every day.

Of course, the Prussian army is not feeling well either. The gap between the two sides is almost the same. The airship unit may be the unit with the closest combat effectiveness between the two countries.

Obodo picked up the binoculars and observed the thrilling aerial battle, counting silently in his heart: "1, 2, 3, 4... 49".

"49" airships, this number made Opodo feel ecstatic. Compared with yesterday, it has increased by a full third, and the enemy on the opposite side is only half of this number.

The number gap is half, even if there are transport airships among the Russian airships, they still have an absolute advantage.

Although there are combat airships and transport airships these days, it is common for transport airships to be used as combat airships.

The airships are all big, and a few ordinary bullets can still withstand them.The heavy machine guns used by the Air Force have not yet been invented, and the real killer move is artillery.

Regardless of whether the combat airship or the transport airship is equipped with artillery, they can go to the battlefield, but the hit rate is pitifully low.If it hits, then the result is the same, everyone is crispy.