Holy Roman Empire

What we have to do now is to ask for loans and supplies from France and Austria as much as possible. They want us to work hard, so we must take advantage of it. "

After hearing this explanation, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.It doesn't matter to provoke the French-Austrian war, as long as it doesn't affect the Afghan battlefield.

Chapter 138 The Winter Offensive and the Guerrillas

The winter in Afghanistan is very cold, but the severe cold did not stop the pace of war.I don't know whether the British are too incompetent or the Russians are too powerful.

In the last month of 1889, the Russian army took over Mazar Sharif, Kunduz, and Chahcharan successively, and one-fifth of the territory in Afghanistan changed hands.

Even the Wakhan Corridor and Herat, where the British army is heavily concentrated, are shaky and may be conquered at any time.

Open the window, the cold wind howls.Looking at the flying snowflakes, Lieutenant General Patrick shuddered.

The spooky weather of minus ten degrees is really unfriendly to the British army. Britain has never experienced such a cold day.

Not to mention going out to fight, Lieutenant General Patrick felt the biting cold wind even staying in the command post with the stove burning.

The domestic bureaucrats misjudged the situation, and the winter coats they prepared were configured according to the domestic temperature, which was totally useless.

Fortunately, the bureaucrats of the logistics department carried forward the fine tradition and prepared cotton clothes according to the previous number.

The dead and missing soldiers are naturally unnecessary, and the officers and soldiers who go out to perform missions can put on two layers of cotton clothes.

Even so, the number of non-combat attrition personnel of the British army has increased sharply since the beginning of winter.In some areas, the number of non-combat casualties exceeded the number of casualties in combat with the Russian army.

The defeat on the front line is not so much that the Russian army is too strong, it is better that the winter in Afghanistan is too painful.

Especially for some Indian soldiers living in tropical areas, the winter in Afghanistan is hell on earth.

Hands, feet, ears, face... as long as the whole body is exposed, nothing is good.

In contrast, the Russian army on the opposite side is much better. Although there are non-combat attrition, they are only a very small number.

Except for a few areas, the winter in Afghanistan can be called milder than that in the Russian Empire.

As a result, it goes without saying that the Russian soldiers enjoyed themselves here, and the British army lived here like a year.

The roar of artillery fire continued, and the offensive and defensive battle in Herat began again. Lieutenant General Patrick, who was in command at the front line, was already panicking at this moment.

He finally understood why the Russians dared to start a war before winter came.

"When will domestic reinforcements arrive?"

Indian reinforcements are hopeless. The war has been going on for three months, and the Governor of India has sent him 15 reinforcements.

The number seems to be quite a lot, but unfortunately the fighting power is too touching.Relying on fortifications for defense is okay, participating in field battles is giving away heads.

Especially after winter came, many Indian soldiers who had lived in tropical regions for many years suffered from frostbite, and nearly one tenth of them lost their combat effectiveness.

In contrast, the native British soldiers are much better, not only stronger in combat effectiveness, but also much stronger in frost resistance.

The British Isles also have winter. Although it is not so cold, there are still weathers of several degrees below zero.

In this context, the general adaptability of British soldiers is much better than that of Indian soldiers who have never seen snowflakes.

The middle-aged officer behind replied: "If there are no accidents, the first batch of domestic reinforcements will arrive in one and a half months."

From the outbreak of the battle to the arrival of reinforcements, it only took four and a half months. For the British Empire, this was also a qualitative improvement.

According to the past practice, it is because the domestic bureaucrats are brave enough to send reinforcements within half a year.

Of course, this high efficiency was also forced out.The enemy is the invincible Russians, and they are coming for India. It is difficult for the British government not to be nervous.

Although this efficiency is not low, Lieutenant General Patrick is still not satisfied.The situation on the front line cannot be delayed, the longer it drags on, the harder it will be to fight the battle behind.

"Send someone to remind them, and also inform them to prepare warm items, the winter in Afghanistan is not easy."

Although it may be too late to say this now, Lieutenant General Patrick still chose to remind.

The commander of the expeditionary force is not easy to do, and the casualties of the Indian colonial army do not matter, but once the main force of the British army suffers heavy casualties, Lieutenant General Patrick will be in bad luck.

In a short period of time in China, there is no hope.Although the situation encountered by the expeditionary force has been reported, but when the domestic masters make a decision, organize production and transport them over, winter is probably almost over.

Asking the reinforcements to prepare for the cold is actually letting the officers and soldiers figure out their own solutions.

The British army had to pass through many areas along the way. In theory, it was possible to purchase some materials to keep out the cold.

Anyway, your life is your own, whether you want to spend money to increase your chances of survival on the battlefield - feel free.

……

Against the cold wind, a transport convoy slowly drove out of German City.Judging from the direction the convoy is heading, it can be roughly determined that this is leading to the Afghan region.

"Cheer up your spirits. I'm about to enter the Afghanistan region. It's not peaceful there. If I'm not careful, I'll see God in advance."

The loud voice of the middle-aged officer spread throughout the transport convoy, and everyone's expressions became serious.

The Afghan region is not peaceful. There are Russian troops holding customs outside and guerrillas looting inside. Even the seemingly honest and responsible old farmers may violently attack the transport team at any time.

In less than a year, British transport convoys were attacked 470 times, of which 46 suffered heavy losses, and five times the entire army was wiped out.

A total of 1371 guard officers and soldiers were killed in action, and 3476 civilian husbands were killed in action, and the loss of materials cannot be counted.

High risk also means high return. Although escorting supplies is threatening, the rewards are also rich.

Generally speaking, loss is allowed in material transportation.This is everyone's source of income, as long as it does not exceed the specified upper limit, the higher-ups will not interfere.

If you encounter a guerrilla attack, you can also report the loss to the police, and you can make a fortune.

As long as you don't go too far, the higher-ups will turn a blind eye and forget it.Of course, the share that should be given out must be given.

If it weren't for the rampant guerrillas in Afghanistan, delivering supplies would actually be a good job.

There is a lot of oil and water, and the danger is small. If the front line is won, the contribution of the transport convoy is not small; if the war is lost, it has nothing to do with them, and they are usually the first choice of the gold-plated officers.

Unfortunately, the Afghan region is an exception. From the perspective of the casualty ratio alone, the casualty rate of the transport team is not smaller than that of the front-line troops.

Those in the expeditionary force who have a relationship background are responsible for the transportation of materials in India, and those who are sent to Afghanistan to perform transportation tasks are all masters with insufficient relationship background.

A young officer responded, "Don't worry, lieutenant colonel. We have walked this road more than a dozen times, and we were attacked by mobs once. The really dangerous road is ahead."

This is a fact. The deeper you go into Afghanistan, the more dangerous it is. This is the consensus of the British army.Most of the attacks occurred in inland areas, especially the most dangerous mountainous areas.

After a long period of attacks and counter-attacks, the British army also summed up a set of plans to deal with the guerrillas.

For example: In the event of an accidental attack, the aborigines in the surrounding area will be retaliated against, forcing them to stand on the opposite side of the guerrillas.

In order to establish their prestige, the British army did a lot of things like massacring villages and towns.While arousing the hatred of the local people, it also brought fear.

Human nature is the most complicated. Not all Afghans can see death as home, and there are also [-] youngsters who betrayed the guerrillas to join the British army for their own benefit.

The more densely populated area is, the more unfavorable it is for guerrillas to lurk.It was also inconvenient to run away after the attack, so most of the attacks were moved outside the city.

"Shut up, Weir! Your experience is shit. If you want to live long on the battlefield, the most important thing is to be cautious..."

Before the middle-aged officer finished speaking, a bullet whizzed towards him and hit his right arm.

Immediately afterwards, random gunshots rang out, and everyone knew that the guerrillas were coming.In the panic, the civilian husbands who escorted the supplies were in a mess, and some carriages had already galloped out.

The guarding officers and soldiers rushed to fight back with their guns, and the injured middle-aged officer endured the pain and continued to direct the battle.

It seemed that they realized that the transportation team was not easy to mess with. After about a quarter of an hour, the guerrillas gave up their preparations to continue the strong attack, leaving a few corpses behind.

Similar attacks are staged almost every day in Afghanistan.As a matter of routine, the guerrillas often went out to lay ambushes.

Regardless of the strength gap between the two sides, they will attack when they encounter the British army.After the attack, they retreated immediately, without dragging their feet.

Seeing the guerrillas receding, the injured middle-aged officer breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly shouted to his subordinates: "Stop chasing, quickly count the casualties, and continue on the road."

Their mission was to deliver supplies, not to chase guerrillas.The extermination of the guerrillas was just an accidental military achievement, but if the supplies were lost because of the extermination of the guerrillas, it would be a military court.

There are many negative teaching materials in this regard. Some people were caught in the trick of diverting the tiger away from the mountain. As soon as they went out to investigate, they were taken by the guerrillas to the transport convoy; …

The number of transport convoys was small, except for more than 800 civilians, there was only one battalion of escorts, and the number of casualties was counted very quickly.

After a while, Weir's young officer went forward to report: "Lieutenant Colonel, we have suffered heavy losses this time.

人员伤亡共计184人，其中护卫官兵伤27人、亡11人，民夫伤127人、亡19人，物资损失7车……”

The middle-aged officer waved his hand, probably because of the wound he touched, his face suddenly turned pale, he suppressed his discomfort and ordered: "Send the order to continue on the road.

Before dark, we must rush to the next stronghold, otherwise it will be dangerous at night. "

This is the experience that Lieutenant Colonel Jack has summed up, but any convoy targeted by guerrillas will not only attack once.

In many cases, even if they know that the attack is impossible to succeed, the guerrillas will still launch the attack.Just like brown sugar, once it sticks, you can't get rid of it.

Not to mention that this kind of guerrilla group of dozens of people, even if it encountered a lone ranger attack, Jack would not dare to stay longer.

Discovering that Lieutenant Colonel Jack's right arm was injured, Weil asked with concern: "Lieutenant Colonel, you should take care of your injury first, it's easy to get inflamed if it drags on."

Gunshot wounds are also fatal these days.Even if it only hits the arm, if the wound is not treated in time, once the wound becomes inflamed, it is also possible to die.

Many amputee soldiers did not mean that the limbs were blown up by shrapnel, but probably just scratched the skin by bullets.Because the body could not resist, the wound became inflamed and had to be amputated.

Lieutenant Colonel Jack shook his head: "What to do? There are no military doctors here, and we have no time to delay.

Don't worry, I've already bandaged it.It's winter now, so it's not so easy to get inflamed.

Take the wounded and set off immediately.Leave the dead officers and soldiers alone, and collect their bodies when they come back. "

The reality is so cruel, even middle-level officers have no guarantee of safety on the battlefield.

The British army's traditional Chinese medicine hospitals are very limited, and they have not yet had the luxury to equip the transport team with medical staff.

Even if there were medical staff, Lieutenant Colonel Jack would not dare to receive treatment at this time.

As the commander of this transport convoy, Jack knew very well who his men were.

Regardless of how they repelled a guerrilla attack just now, if the guerrillas attack again, it is unknown whether they can stop it.

It's not that the troops have no combat effectiveness, but the main reason is that the morale of the army has been tossed and gone.

Originally, when transporting supplies in the days of ice and snow, everyone was full of grievances.If there is no more morale, the soldiers will run away.

It happened before, because the transport team was attacked by guerrillas many times, and the officers and soldiers escorting the supplies could not bear the pressure and ran away.

In order to reduce the risk of being attacked again, Lieutenant Colonel Jack had to hurry up.So much so that there was no time to deal with the bodies of the officers and soldiers who died in battle.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that coming back to deal with it is just a delay.By the time everyone escorted the supplies there and turned back, the corpses no longer knew what animals to feed.

But people are selfish, not to mention the task, just sleeping in the wilderness, everyone rejects it from the bottom of their hearts.It's not that you can't bear hardships, the main thing is that it's really dangerous.

As the convoy left, the land returned to calm again, only the messy corpses on the ground proved that there had been a battle here.

As night fell, the British transport convoy finally arrived in the small town of Thakal, and the dangerous journey came to an end for the time being.

In the wilderness, beside a bonfire, several young men were whispering to each other.

A middle-aged man with beards said sharply: "I don't agree with your plan, it's not yet time for a decisive battle with the British, storming the town of Takar will only bring us unnecessary losses.

The Russians are only our temporary allies. You wouldn't be naive to think that they really came to help us expel the British, right? "

The manpower is short, but the mouth is soft.

After receiving the Russian weapon aid, the combat effectiveness of the Afghan guerrillas has been greatly improved, as can be seen from the success rate of recent affairs.

No matter how you improve, relying on a guerrilla force of hundreds of people to storm the towns controlled by the British, there is still a lot of pressure.

……

Remarks: In the 19th century, the Wakhan Corridor and the Pamirs belonged to the Qing Dynasty. In 1895, they were designated as the British-Russian buffer zone, and then they were given to Afghanistan.

Chapter 139 The British New Strategy

With the deteriorating situation on the battlefield in Afghanistan, the concept of high-level British government is also changing.

Army Secretary Rosario: "The Russians' rapid advances in the Afghan battlefield are entirely due to the support of France and Austria.

The enemy we are facing now is not the Russian Empire at all, but the Triple Alliance in which the Russians sent troops and France and Austria contributed money and supplies.

Although Britain is powerful, it does not have the strength to fight against the three major powers in Europe at the same time.To win this war, we must cut off the support of France and Austria for the Tsarist government. "

When a battle is defeated on the front line, it is always necessary to give an explanation to the country.Moreover, Rosario is not talking nonsense, the victory of the Russian army is indeed inseparable from the support of France and Austria.

To be precise, it is the support of Austria, and the French government is also supporting the Russians, but limited by the Anglo-French alliance, the range of actions is still relatively small.

For the Ministry of War, the purpose of expanding the army has been achieved, and now the most important thing is to find a way to win the war.

Rosario is very aware of the strength of the British army, and has no ability to turn defeat into victory in the short term.The best way to win the war is to cut off the Russians from foreign aid.

Without Fao's money and material assistance, and relying on the strength of the Russians alone, the war lasted for a year and a half, and the tsarist government's finances would not be able to withstand it.

Whether it is defeating the Russians head-on, or killing the Russians, as long as the war is won.Rosario is a pragmatist, but not so particular.