Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Prior to the outbreak of World War I, due to the effects of the Russo-Japanese War, armies of various countries generally adopted flanking tactics, including the two Balkan wars, and most Bulgarian troops adopted tactics flanking the flanks.

However, after the outbreak of the World War, everyone suddenly found that the defense lines of both sides were moving hundreds of kilometers, and even the defense lines of the eastern line now have thousands of kilometers.

However, with the advent of aircraft, it is difficult to hide the enemy ’s eyes from marching through the army. Everyone can judge the enemy ’s main attack direction through the movement of the army. It is not easy to force a breakthrough!

This problem also haunts commanders around the world. This time the Russians organized a large-scale attack since the outbreak of the World War, and naturally they will also face this problem.

The three fronts have more than 4.8 million troops, and they have launched an offensive at the same time. This line of defense has more than 1,000 kilometers, and the flanking circuit is certainly impossible. As for finding weak points to make a positive breakthrough? Allied reconnaissance planes are still flying in the sky!

In order to solve this problem, Brusilov, the commander of the Southwestern Front of Russia, convened a meeting of the group commanders on February 18 and finally decided that each group army would choose to break through the site.

Finally, the entire Southwest Front chose more than 30 breakthrough points on the 440-kilometer offensive front.

Brusilov admits that this will disperse the forces, but it will also make it impossible for the enemy to determine the main attack direction, and naturally it will not be able to effectively use the mobile force, which will easily cause tightness on the entire line and help to achieve the suddenness of the attack.

After watching Brusilov's deployment, he can only sigh, this is a tactic tailored for the Russians, and everyone can't learn it!

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

According to Brusilov's deployment, as long as one point was breached, the enemy's defense line was torn open, and the Russians with military advantages could quickly advance.

As the biggest contributor to this battle, the Southwestern Front of the Russian Empire has eight army units, with 80 infantry divisions and 20 cavalry divisions, with a total of 1.06 million infantry, 100,000 cavalry, and 2038 artillery; the Austrian army on the opposite side has 59 Each infantry division and 10 cavalry divisions had 750,000 infantry, 40,000 cavalry, and 1986 artillery.

Although the Russian army was superior, the advantage of being an attacking party was not great. According to the prevailing view at the time, the Russian army was unable to break through the large depth of defense of the Austrian-Hungarian army.

On March 26, the Russian army launched a comprehensive offensive on the front of thousands of kilometers. The other two fronts were still quite satisfactory, but the Southwest front changed their previous tactics.

They cancelled a long period of artillery preparations and launched an assault after only one round of rapid fire. What surprised the Austrian Army was that the Southwest Front launched offensives on almost all their lines of defense.

The Russian infantry took the lead in tearing the defense line joint between the 2nd and 4th Army of the Austrian Army. When the Austrian Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand hurriedly invested all the reserve teams to close the gap, the Russian 8th Army responsible for the main attack was defeated. The 7th Army of the Austrian Army detoured the rear of the 4th Army of the Austrian Army from north to south.

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

On April 6, the Russian army captured Lutsk, the logistical material center of the Austrian Army. It was ridiculous that, until then, Archduke Ferdinand, the Austrian army commander, had not yet figured out where the Russian army's main attack was, and had to confuse it in the middle of the collapse Hasty escape.

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

Now the Russian striker can already see the Carpathian Pass. Once it breaks through, the Austro-Hungarian capital Vienna will be within easy reach.

Looking at the battle report, Ferdinand was a little speechless. This is not that the Russians are too powerful, it is totally a waste of the Austro-Hungarian army!

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

The Austro-Hungarian empires all held their own positions, regardless of how the fraternal forces next door fought. This was one of the reasons why the defense line was breached so quickly.

The performance of the latter 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 closed in time, there is still a chance to defend the defense line.

Unfortunately, this Austrian commander with the same name is also a complete fool. No matter which direction the Russians attack, you can't send all the reserves to block the gap and invest all at once?

Even if Galicia falls, you can set up a new line of defense again, and run away directly. What's going on? Had it not been for the German reinforcements to arrive in time, the Bulgarian army would now go to Vienna and meet with the Russians.

The Germans next door performed much better. Although they also suffered heavy losses, the Russian army suddenly killed them from the Austro-Hungarian defense line, but they responded in time and immediately built a fortification. They are still pk with the Russians. There is no full line. collapse.

According to the analysis from the military observation mission, the Russians said that they killed two million enemies, and theoretically justified that they did destroy more than two million Austrian troops.

In this battle, there were more than 400,000 casualties in the Germans alone, and the Austro-Hungarian army casualties were about 1.4 million. And the Russians' own casualties are about 1.5 million 600 thousand.

Judging from the results alone, if it is left in Bulgaria, this is a battle that has suffered both losses. Even if it is placed in the British and French families at most, it will be declared a terrible victory, but it will be a complete victory on the bear.

Well, in fact, the results of the Russian Southwest Front were very good. This casualty ratio was only dragged by the other two Fronts, forcibly pulling them up.

In particular, the northern front, which was responsible for attacking East Prussia, was defeated by the German garrison at the beginning. If it was not for the southwest front to break through the Austro-Hungarian defense in time and penetrate the Germans, otherwise the Tsarist government will receive it. Not a good news.

Secretly despised the low taste of Nicholas II, Ferdinand was still envious. If Bulgaria had a population of woolly bears, he would have already killed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, why would he pretend to be a grandson?

However, the Russians have come to an end. After the defense line of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was breached, the German Chief of Staff Falkenhausen and the Austrian Chief of Staff Herzendorf reached an agreement.

Through the domestic emergency mobilization, the Austrian army assembled 24 divisions, and another 10 divisions from Belgrade and 3 divisions from the Bosnia and Herzegovina. The German army extracted 15 divisions from the Verdun battlefield on the west. After 22 divisions, they were sent to the east by rail.

After Germany and Austria increased their troops to the east by one million, the Russian military advantage no longer exists, and Ferdinand knew that the alliance's front had been stabilized.

Of course, the Tsarist government far away in St. Petersburg did not think so. They also planned to flatten the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then fight the Germans.

In any case, Ferdinand sent a congratulatory message to St. Petersburg the first time, exaggerating the Russian army, the purpose is very clear that he hopes that the Russians can continue to work hard over 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 power, Italy cannot provide strong support to Sicily. UU reads www.uukanshu. Com mafia naturally can't do the regular army.

Under the command of Lieutenant General Kremon-Ivanov, the Bulgarian Army's 102nd Division, 105th Division, and 20th Division launched a landing operation on February 8.

After the successful landing, the French also transferred two colonial infantry divisions from Tunisia, and followed them deadly. John Bull also transferred an Indian division from Egypt.

It seems that the seductive power of Sicily is great, and the two big hooligans are staring at it, and they can't care less.

Seeing the response from Britain and France, Ferdinand did not say anything, anyway, he did not think about swallowing Sicily alone, which is very unrealistic.

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

This is also the tacit agreement reached between the three countries. Britain and France naturally need to pay a price if they want to find cheap.

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