Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Before the outbreak of the First World War, due to the influence of the Russo-Japanese War, the armies of various countries generally adopted the tactics of detouring from the flank, including the two Balkan wars, and the Bulgarian army mostly adopted the tactics of detouring from the flank.

However, after the outbreak of the World War, everyone suddenly found that the defense lines of both sides moved hundreds of kilometers, and even the defense line of the eastern front was now over a thousand kilometers, making it extremely difficult for the troops to detour, so they began to adopt the tactics of frontal forcible breakthrough.

However, with the emergence of aircraft, it is difficult for large troops to hide from the enemy's eyes. Everyone can judge the enemy's main attack direction through the mobilization of the army, and it is not so easy to force a frontal breakthrough!

This problem also plagues commanders all over the world. This time the Russians organized a large-scale attack since the outbreak of the World War, and naturally also faced this problem.

More than 4.8 million troops from the three fronts launched an attack at the same time. This line of defense is more than 1,000 kilometers long, and it is definitely impossible to turn around on the flanks. As for finding weak points for a frontal breakthrough? Allied reconnaissance planes are still flying in the sky!

In order to solve this problem, Brusilov, commander of the Russian Southwest Front, convened a meeting of the commanders of the armies under his jurisdiction on February 18, and finally decided that each army should choose the breakthrough location.

In the end, more than 30 breakthrough points were selected on the front line of the entire 440-kilometer offensive of the entire Southwest Front.

Brusilov admitted that this would disperse the troops, but it would also prevent the enemy from judging the direction of the main attack, and naturally would not be able to effectively use the mobile troops, which would easily lead to tensions across the board, which would be conducive to the suddenness of the attack.

After seeing Brusilov's deployment, he can only sigh that this is a tactic tailored for the Russians, and no one can learn it at all!

At least in Europe, this tactic is only suitable for the Russians, and only they can play the best effect of the sea tactic.

According to Brusilov's deployment, as long as a point is broken through, the enemy's defense line will be torn apart, and the Russians with superior military force can quickly advance.

As the biggest hero of this battle, the Southwest Front Army of the Russian Empire has eight armies, with 80 infantry divisions and 20 cavalry divisions, a total of 1.06 million infantry, 100,000 cavalry, and 2,038 artillery pieces; the Austrian army on the opposite side has 59 There are 1 infantry division and 10 cavalry divisions, with a total of 750,000 infantry, 40,000 cavalry and 1,986 artillery pieces.

Although the Russian army was superior in strength, the advantage of being the offensive party was not great. According to the mainstream view at the time, the Russian army was simply unable to break through the great depth of defense of the Austro-Hungarian army.

March 26,

The Russian army launched a full-scale attack on a front line of thousands of kilometers, and the other two fronts still played fairly well, but the southwest front changed its previous tactics.

They canceled the long preparations for artillery fire and launched the charge only after a burst of artillery fire. To the surprise of the Austrians, the Southwest Front attacked almost all of their lines of defense.

The Russian infantry took the lead in tearing open the junction between the Austrian 2nd and 4th armies. When the Austrian commander, Archduke Ferdinand hurriedly put in all the reserves to seal the gap, the Russian 8th Army, which was in charge of the main attack, collapsed. The Austrian 7th Army then detoured from north to south to outflank the rear of the Austrian 4th Army.

In just two days, the Russian army completely broke through the first fortification of the Austrian army. The three armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were completely defeated. The Austrian soldiers dropped their weapons and fled westward in groups.

On April 6, the Russian army captured Lutsk, the logistics center of the Austrian army. It is ridiculous that until this time, the Austrian commander, Archduke Ferdinand, had not figured out where the main attack direction of the Russian army was, so he had to mix in among the defeated troops. Hastily fled west.

Under the uncharacteristic attack of the Russian army, the Austrian army collapsed across the board, about 350,000 people became prisoners of war, and the casualties were no less than 600,000.

Now the Russian vanguard can see the Carpathian Pass, and once there is a breakthrough, Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, will be within easy reach.

Looking at the battle report, Ferdinand was a little speechless. This is not because the Russians are too powerful, but the Austro-Hungarian army is too wasteful!

First of all, the response speed is too slow, and there is also a big problem with the cooperation between the troops. When the Russians attack, they can fully support each other.

The Austro-Hungarian troops were all guarding their respective positions, no matter how the brothers next door fought. This was one of the reasons why the defense line was broken through so quickly.

The performance in the back is even worse. Even if there is a gap in the defense line, there is always a reserve team. As long as the gap is plugged in time, there is still a chance to defend the defense line.

It's a pity that the commander of the Austrian army with the same name is also a complete idiot. No matter which direction the Russians attack from, you can't put all the reserves at once to plug the gap?

Even if Galicia falls, you can form a new line of defense again, and just run away. What's the matter? Had it not been for the timely arrival of the German reinforcements, the Bulgarian army would now have gone to Vienna to join forces with the Russians.

The performance of the Germans next door was much better. Although they also suffered heavy losses, the Russian army suddenly killed them from the Austro-Hungarian defense line, but they reacted in time and built fortifications immediately. collapse.

According to the analysis of the news from the Military Observer Mission, the Russians said that they killed two million enemies, which is reasonable in theory, and they indeed killed more than two million Austrian troops.

In this battle, the casualties of the Germans alone were more than 400,000, and the casualties of the Austro-Hungarian army were about 14.5 million. And the Russians themselves suffered about 15.6 million casualties.

Judging from the results alone, if it were put in Bulgaria, it would be a lose-lose battle. Even if it was placed in the British and French, it would be declared a tragic victory, but in the bear, it was a complete victory!

Well, in fact, the results of the Russian Southwest Front are still very good. This casualty ratio was only dragged down by the other two fronts and forcibly pulled up.

In particular, the Northern Front, which was responsible for attacking East Prussia, was beaten by the German defenders at the beginning. If the Southwest Front had not broken through the defense line of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in time, interspersed with the Germans' rear, otherwise the tsarist government would have received it now. Not a good news.

Secretly despising Nicholas II's low taste, Ferdinand was still envious. If Bulgaria also had such a population of woolly bears, he would have killed the Austro-Hungarian Empire long ago, so why pretend to be a grandson?

But the good days for the Russians ended here. After the defense line of the Austria-Hungary Empire was broken through, the German Chief of Staff Falkenhausen and the Austrian Chief of Staff Herzendorf reached an agreement.

The Austrian army cobbled together 24 divisions through domestic emergency mobilization, 10 divisions were drawn from the Belgrade front line, and 3 divisions were drawn from the Bosnia and Herzegovina area, while the German army drew 15 divisions from the Verdun battlefield on the western front, and mobilized again at home. 22 divisions were sent to the Eastern Front by rail.

After Germany and Austria added millions of troops to the Eastern Front, the Russian military advantage no longer existed, and Ferdinand knew that the Allies' front had been stabilized.

Of course, the tsarist government in St. Petersburg didn't think so. They also planned to push down the Austro-Hungarian Empire in one go, and then fight the Germans decisively.

In any case, Ferdinand sent a congratulatory message to St. Petersburg for the first time, boasting the Russian army to the sky, and the purpose is very clear that the Russians can continue their efforts to overthrow the Allies.

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At the same time as Russia broke out, Bulgaria was not idle, and the battle of Sicily came to an end. Due to the loss of sea control, Italy was unable to provide strong support to Sicily, and the Mafia naturally couldn't handle the regular army.

Under the command of Lieutenant General Cremon Ivanlov, the Bulgarian Army's 102nd Division, 105th Division, and 203rd Division launched a landing operation on February 8.

After the successful landing, the French also sent two colonial infantry divisions from Tunisia, and they followed up, and before this was over, John Bull also sent an Indian division from Egypt.

It seems that the allure of Sicily is great, and the two big hooligans are eyeing this place, and they don't care about their face.

Seeing the reaction of Britain and France, Ferdinand didn't say anything. Anyway, he never thought of taking Sicily by himself, which is very unrealistic.

The arrival of Britain and France also reduced the casualties of the Bulgarian army. Anyway, all they sent were colonial troops, and naturally they were used as cannon fodder.

This is also a tacit agreement between the three countries. If Britain and France want to take advantage of it, they naturally have to pay a price.

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