The sudden bombing came and went quickly, and it ended for more than an hour, leaving only a mess.

After confirming safety, Major General Ozguer walked out of the command center, looked at the rolling smoke rising all over the city, and hurriedly ordered: "Give it a quick organization of people to put out the fire, and the food and ammunition warehouse must be kept."

The young officer who accompanied him replied, "Yes, General!"

After saying that, he immediately ran to convey the order. During the bombing just now, the telegrams and telephone lines exposed outside were unfortunately damaged and had not had time to recover.

At this point, Major General Ozguer no longer had any illusions about defending the enemy outside the country.

The problem is to stop the enemy from landing with artillery. What should the enemy in the sky do? If they do not solve the threat above their heads, they will have to be passively beaten.

No matter how tight the defense is, a wave comes over your head, but you will still collapse. The casualties are still counted, and Major General Ozguer no longer has the courage to face it.

Holding his beloved telescope and looking out at the battlefield for a moment, Major General Ozguer knew that the losses were absolutely heavy.

In just over an hour, the airship brigade tilted hundreds of tons of bombs on their heads. If Shanghai Army shells were added, the number would be even larger.

For the small port of Ava, so much ammunition can be blasted in one major blow. Not only is the port facilities severely damaged, the key is that the fortifications were destroyed.

Time passed minute by minute, and in the evening, the casualties report appeared in Major General Ozguer's hand. A thin piece of paper in his hand seemed to be as heavy as a thousand pounds at this moment.

After suppressing his uneasiness in his heart, Major General Ozguer quickly browsed the losses.

More than half of the artillery were lost, 686 people were killed, 1,468 people were injured, and 315 were missing. Most of the artillery was hit with devastating blows, one-fifth of the material loss, one-third of the buildings in the city suffered varying degrees of losses, and several civilian casualties...

The force of a regiment is gone, don’t look at the number of wounded people, and think that it can be recovered in the future. In fact, with the medical conditions of the Ottoman army, the mortality rate of wounded people is generally not less than 40%.

Simply put, it is to resist yourself. If you are lucky, the wound will not become inflamed or suppurated, so you will save your life, otherwise you will leave it to fate.

"Battlefield Rescue", where did the Sudanese government go to find so many medical staff? Even if there are medical staff, they do not have enough medicines.

In this era, medicines are much more expensive than human life. For example, penicillin that can only be produced in laboratories is dozens of times more expensive than equal amounts of gold.

Due to the influence of chemical technology, large-scale industrial production cannot be achieved, and small-scale production can only be carried out by manpower, with an annual output of less than 20,000 units.

Austria itself is not enough for this output. It naturally became a sky-high price when it flowed into the international market. The black market has been hyped up to 1,000 ASUS/branch, but there is still a price but no market. How could the Sudanese government provide it to soldiers for use?

If you are injured on the battlefield, I'd better look forward to the blessing! Most soldiers can only undergo simple bandages, which also tests luck. Basically, they use whatever cloth they have in front of them.

If you are not lucky and have not disinfected gauze, you can make do with it by tearing a piece of your clothes. A group of big-headed soldiers don’t know so much professional knowledge.

After reading the report, Major General Ozguer relaxed his hands and let the documents in his hand fall. He sat down as if he was pulled out of his soul.

After a while, Major General Ozguer slowly calmed down and sighed deeply: "Oh!"

He shook his head: "Immediately send someone to report what we encountered to the higher authorities, request reinforcements from the country, and remind the country to be careful of the enemy's airship."

Airships have been around for many years, and because of their cost-effectiveness, they are not very practical and rarely seen in life.

If it weren't for reading newspapers, Major General Ozguer might not have known that this thing existed, let alone being used in war.

However, this is all the past. After this battle, airships will soon appear in the armies of various countries. Everyone has a strong learning ability in this regard.

Sorry, this exceeds Major General Ozguer's ability. I guess after being bombed a few more times, I may have summarized the experience and lessons.

...

Compared with the bleak Ava defenders, the atmosphere in Constantinople's Joint Command was much warmer. The airship brigade made great contributions as soon as it took off.

Originally, they thought that it would cost a heavy price to destroy Awa's shore artillery fortifications, so the Russian army was preparing to land from nearby areas and attack from land.

Speaking of which, it is very simple to land from the surrounding areas. In fact, due to geographical restrictions and no excellent ports, ships cannot dock at all, and the Russians are ready to board bamboo rafts.

There is no doubt that this approach is quite dangerous and requires human life to be filled. Austria has landing craft, but unfortunately, due to insufficient preparations in advance, it was not delivered to the Black Sea in time. If you land on the Mediterranean coast, it would be fine.

Whether intentional or unintentional, this question will not be mentioned for the time being. In short, the landing craft cannot come. If the Russians can wait, it will happen in a while.

This kind of small boat can be produced in a small boat yard on the Danube River. Without considering the service life, inferior goods can be produced in two or three months. Anyway, it is no problem to log in two or three times.

Now, the enemy's shore artillery has been severely damaged, so just go directly to the point. Even the feint plan prepared in advance has died.

The Tsarist government urgently needed to occupy the Black Sea Strait to ensure the smooth flow of this most important foreign trade channel. In order to deliver a satisfactory answer to the country, General Ivanov decided to be quick.

Before the Ottoman Empire could react, it was the first to land in Ava. The combat plan formulated before was not completely invalid, but the execution strength was greatly reduced.

The commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Arest, was very dissatisfied with this act of tampering with the combat plan without authorization and ignoring the prior agreement between the two countries.

Although Arest was not from the army, the Vienna government provided him with professional staff.

Everyone could see the risk of changing the combat plan at a glance. According to the original plan, as long as you land in areas with weak troops in the Ottoman Empire, implement the scorched earth strategy, and drive out the people into the inland, you can drag down the enemy.

There is no need to fight hard at all. As long as you keep sabotaging, you can win the war. After the plan is changed, the Russian army must fight the Ottomans to a decisive battle.

The Russian army is gradually confident, but the Austrian military does not have that strong confidence in them. Everyone is in a clear sense of how strong the gray animals are after losing the tactics of the sea of ​​people.

I have to say that the first impression is very important. From the very beginning, Arest believed that the Russian army had limited combat effectiveness. According to Austrian standards, the Russian army basically failed in all training.

...

Arrest sternly scolded: "General Ivanov, this combat plan was jointly recognized by both governments.

Before this, both of us had carefully evaluated and selected the most suitable solutions from the numerous combat plans.

According to this combat plan, the losses of both of us can be minimized. At the lowest price, I think this is everyone's common pursuit."

Ivanov shook his head: "No, Commander. This combat plan is too conservative. It takes at least three to five months to attack the enemy from all directions.

But this is based on the fact that the Ava defenders have strong defensive firepower and have caused great trouble to landing. Now the enemy's shore artillery has almost been destroyed by us, so we can launch an attack immediately.

Now that the Ottomans have not reacted, we can definitely fight a time difference. Even if the enemy gathers more troops, we have air superiority.

Believe me, no army can maintain combat effectiveness under the bombing of airships, and the decaying Ottoman Empire can be broken with just one stab.

We do not need to argue about these meaningless issues. Victory belongs to us. General Arest, let us create our glory together!"

Arest frowned and said earnestly: "General Ivanov, you are too optimistic. Airships are not invincible. Many special terrains, such as airships in the jungle, are difficult to play a role.

If a decisive battle breaks out, even if we can win, you will suffer heavy losses. The young men follow us to fight, and they must take them back as much as possible."

After a moment of silence, Ivanov shook his head. According to the established combat plan, he wanted to reduce casualties as much as possible.

But the problem is that the country cannot withstand it, the Black Sea Strait is cut off, and the Russian Empire's foreign trade has been severely damaged. If the channel cannot be opened as soon as possible, the loss will be even greater after the autumn grain is in storage.

As soon as the war broke out, the Tsarist government repeatedly ordered him to speed up. War needed to serve politics, and soldiers must also consider national interests.

Austria can let the war go, the longer it drags on, the greater the benefits Austria can gain from the trade between Russia and Austria. By monopolizing the profits brought by the trade of most of the Russian empires, it can almost erase the losses caused by the war, so the Vienna government is naturally not in a hurry.

"Mr. Commander, I still insist on changing the combat plan. This is what St. Petersburg means. The economic losses caused by the war are too great, and the Russian Empire can no longer afford to delay it."

Arrest wanted to speak but stopped. At this point, unless he strongly organized, for example, Austrian transport ships and warships did not cooperate, otherwise he could only convince St. Petersburg.

After pondering for a while, he spoke, "Okay, I will report to Vienna. If the General Staff agrees, we will cooperate with you."

...

At the Vienna Palace, Franz, who had not had time to be happy, received news that a "strategic dispute" broke out on the front line.

He knew that the Russians wanted to open up the black stake, but he didn't expect that the Tsarist government would be unable to hold on so quickly and didn't even care about the casualties of soldiers.

Well, it seems that the Tsarist government has never cared about soldier casualties. This issue should not be considered from the beginning.

Franz patted his forehead: "What do you think? The Russians are so anxious to attack. Should we agree or refuse?"

Prime Minister Felix: "Your Majesty, this question is the same, but I personally prefer to agree with the Russians' choice.

This war is just a strategic fraud, and the outcome is not that important. If we follow the original plan, we can say that it is a must-win, and it is uncertain whether the Ottoman can exist.

Now the Russians are willing to change their strategies, so let them go. If the Russian army suffers heavy losses on the front line, we can take the opportunity to end the war."

Well, I just don’t bother to consider military affairs, and the outcome doesn’t matter at all. If this salted fish strategy is spread, no one will believe it.

Perhaps only when future generations study this history and connect everything together can the truth be revealed. Of course, the possibility of being led to deviation is greater.

Franz turned his attention to the military, and he needed the military to give an answer, comprehensively weigh the pros and cons, and make a decision.

It seemed to have noticed Franz's gaze. Army Secretary Albrecht: "Your Majesty, after changing the combat plan, the Russians' chances of winning in the Asia Minor Peninsula were greatly reduced. Even if they could win the war, they would suffer heavy losses.

However, the victory or defeat of the Asian Peninsula Minor campaign does not affect our Middle East strategy.

Now the Sudanese government dares not take the risk of increasing its troops in the Middle East, and no one can guarantee that we will not increase our military investment in the Asia Minor Peninsula.

If the Russians are defeated or suffer heavy losses, we can send troops to attack at any time, and the Sudanese government will not dare to act rashly."

Franz: "Then tell Arest, don't worry about what the Russians want to do, and let them do whatever they want."

As long as it does not affect the Middle East strategy, Franz will be fearless. At worst, it will send troops to the Russians to deal with the aftermath. It is nothing more than a matter of money. Compared with the oil in the Middle East, this is not a problem.

...

Constantinople, after receiving Franz's order, Arest gave up and continued to fight, and warned earnestly: "General Ivanov, you must insist on landing from the Ava region first, we agree.

However, all the consequences caused by this are yourselves. If the main force of the Ottoman Empire is attracted, the next strategy cannot be continued, so don’t blame me for not reminding you.”

This is not to shirk responsibility, but to reasonably turn the blame. Since the Russian army has changed the combat plan that has been agreed upon in advance without authorization, it is naturally necessary to bear responsibility for it.

Now let’s make it clear and you can get less skin in the future. Even if the Russian army suffers heavy losses, they can only swallow their tears.

Ivanov replied happily: "Don't worry, Commander. We are old opponents with the Ottomans. It is clear how much strength they have, and there will be no problem."

...
Chapter completed!