Chapter 600 The First Snow in 1914
The Balkan countries do not have Slavic brotherhood towards Serbia similar to the Russian Empire.
George hopes that Nicholas will put aside his desire to help others and respect the fate of others.
Nicola is indeed in no mood to mediate the internal conflicts of the Balkan Alliance.
The German counterattack was more violent than expected. Mackensen's use of artillery was superb. The Skoda artillery with excellent performance would only become a trophy of the Russian army in Conrad's hands; Mackensen concentrated the artillery. Used to force Ivanov's army, whose strength was several times his own, to retreat hastily.
Hindenburg's attack was equally fierce, and he attacked all the way to the gates of Warsaw before being desperately stopped by the Second Army and the Fifth Army.
The Second Group Army and the Fifth Group Army are affiliated to the Northern Front Army and the Southwest Front Army respectively. Command coordination has become a new problem. The two group armies cannot cooperate closely.
On October 3, the 12th Army led by Vasily took the lead in launching an attack on the Austrian Fifth Army.
Like Mackensen, George's generals are also very good at using artillery. The results of previous Amur exercises have proven that artillery can only exert its greatest effect when used intensively.
Compared with the Amur period, the 12th Army also received assistance from the Air Force. After the Russian coalition occupied Orbe, Vasily built a field airport in Orbe, with more than a hundred aircraft stationed there. .
With the help of the air force, the Austrian army was completely unable to resist the crazy assault of the Kohi Corps and collapsed at the first touch. The Nagasaki Infantry Division, mainly composed of Nagasaki people, advanced a distance of 50 kilometers in one day and night, which was called a military miracle.
While advancing, the Nagasaki Division also broke through two lines of defense of the Austrian army, killing 4,000 Austrian troops, capturing 15,000 prisoners, and capturing more than 100 artillery pieces.
On the 4th, the 13th Army joined the battle and launched a pincer attack on the Austrian Fifth Army from the flanks.
The Fifth Army retreated across the board. In just 48 hours, the retreat distance reached 120 kilometers, leaving Vasily and Andrei beyond their reach.
This is also understandable.
The Austrians did not build two wings, but used the railway to retreat quickly and deploy a new defense line along the Tisza River.
The Austrians accepted the lessons from the Battle of Galicia and blew up roads and bridges as much as possible during their retreat to slow down the Russian attack.
Vasily was very happy and ordered the troops to move forward faster.
Andrei reminded Vasily that the 12th Army's front line was too long. The Nagasaki Division rushing at the front was already out of touch with the main force of the 12th Army and was at risk of being outflanked by the enemy.
Vasily was not worried and even hoped that the Austrian army would take the initiative so that Vasily could annihilate the enemy in mobile warfare.
What Vasily didn't expect was that his crazy attack not only broke Conrad's liver and gallbladder, but also made Falkenhayn look at him with suspicion.
On October 7, Mackensen led the newly formed German 10th Army, ran 300 kilometers from Galicia to the Tisza River defense line, and immediately surrounded the Nagasaki Division, which was alone in depth.
The 10th Army led by Mackensen was composed of 5 divisions, the main force of which was the 2nd German Guards Division.
Vasily was curious, why was Mackensen, who was far away in Galicia, able to seize the flaw of the 12th Army in the first place?
Based on the performance of the German army during the counterattack, Vasily sent a telegram to George, suspecting that the Russian army’s telegram code had been leaked.
This is not impossible.
The Russian army was defeated at Tannenberg. The German army captured several military radios that the Russian army had no time to destroy. The Russian army's communication code was probably leaked at that time.
It was only then that George noticed that the Russian army’s military code had not been updated for two months after the World War started, and the communication code from last year was still used.
Regardless of whether the password was leaked or not, George directly sent a telegram to Little Nicholas to activate the second set of backup passwords.
Miraculously, just after the Russian army activated the new password, the German attack actually stopped.
This is not entirely due to the new password, but also directly related to the battlefield situation.
The conflict between Ruzsky and Ivanov directly affected the Russian army's operations on the front line. Nicholas Jr. and the chief of staff of the theater Alexeyev came to Ivanov's command. Ministry, take matters into your own hands.
Ivanov was very angry and demanded that the commander of the Northern Front be replaced and Ruzsky removed from his post.
Alexeyev’s investigation results proved that the defeat of the Southwest Front was not due to Ruzsky’s incompetence in combat, but to Ivanov’s lack of ability.
Ivanov has the largest field army in Russia under his command. The combined strength of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th armies is more than George’s troops. There is no reason why they cannot withstand Mackensen. attack.
The German 9th Army previously led by Mackensen was hastily formed. Together with the Austrian cavalry divisions that cooperated in the battle, there were only 7 divisions in total, with about 100,000 people.
The Russian infantry divisions are also larger than the German army, with an average of four more battalions per division.
Even if Mackensen can concentrate all his forces to attack every time, the Russian army's strength on the front line is still more than three times that of Mackensen's army.
Compared with the Ivanov Army, the Northern Front under Ruzyski only had the hastily reorganized First and Second Army. The 10th Army had not yet been assembled and could not be put into combat. It could withstand the defeat in Warsaw. Hindenburg's offense has fully proved Ruziski's ability.
Nicholas Jr. made a decisive decision and dismissed Ivanov from his post. Alexeyev, Chief of Staff of the Theater Command, served as commander-in-chief of the Southwest Front Army, and placed the Fifth Group Army, which was originally affiliated with the Southwest Front Army, under Ruziski commanded the Northern Front.
Ivanov's problem was serious. In the Battle of Galicia, Ruzsky's outstanding performance concealed Ivanov's mediocrity and was not exposed. After Ruzsky took over the command of the Northern Front, Ivanov's true colors were revealed. His command was very clumsy and he put the troops into the front line in batches. This resulted in the Russian army's front line troops being almost the same as the German army, completely unable to demonstrate its strength advantage. .
After obtaining the Fifth Army, Ruziski had enough troops to resist Hindenburg's attack, and the German offensive came to a standstill.
Markenson was on the Tisza River, hoping to replicate the miracle of the San River, eat the Nagasaki Division, and weaken the 12th Army.
Nagasaki Division Commander Makarov refused to let Mackensen get his wish. After realizing that his troops were surrounded, he immediately reduced his troops and stood still waiting for reinforcements.
There is not much time left for Mackensen. Reinforcements from the 12th Army will arrive within 24 hours. Mackensen must eat the Nagasaki Division before the reinforcements arrive in order to achieve his tactical goal.
The Nagasaki Division did not carry heavy weapons due to its lightly armed advance.
The continuous heavy rains some time ago completely turned the area near the Tisza River into a swamp.
So in the mud of the swamp, the Nagasaki Division and the 2nd German Guards Division engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
The German Guards and the Russian Guards are different in form. They are essentially the best of the best, with extremely outstanding combat effectiveness.
When George recruited the Japanese troops to fight in Europe, he promised them that if they survived until the war, they could become Russian citizens.
Before each soldier joins the army, their family members have received a generous settlement allowance.
In the event of injury or death, the soldier himself or his family members can also receive generous pensions.
With George's promise, the soldiers of the Nagasaki Division may not be as tall as the soldiers of the Second Guards Division, but their fighting will is stronger.
Faced with brutal hand-to-hand combat, the soldiers of the Nagasaki Division did not flinch, and fought an exchange ratio of nearly 1:1 with the Second Guards Division.
Makarov doesn't care, the colonial servants will make up for the death one by one, and there will be no delay or debt.
Markenson could not accept this loss.
The battle continued until midnight on the 7th. The German army retreated on its own initiative, and Makarov escaped.
The German army's combat effectiveness is still very strong.
When the German army retreated, the Nagasaki Division had less than 3,000 combat soldiers left. Makarov's division headquarters staff were also armed and ready to fight the German army to the death.
After suffering such a big loss, Vasily was furious and ordered the 12th Army to cross the Tisza River and continue to attack the German-Austrian forces.
So the Kumamoto Division, which was mainly formed by Kumamoto soldiers, suffered a devastating blow from the German-Austrian artillery when crossing the river.
Although the attack of the 12th Group Army was forced to stop, at this time Vasily and Andre's attack had fully achieved the tactical purpose, and the next target would be Budapest.
While the Tisza River line was in a stalemate, Alexeyev and Ruzsky finally began to counterattack the German army.
Alexeyev took the lead and ordered the Fourth Army to cross the Vivas River and launch an attack on the Austrian army.
The Austrian army suffered more than 40,000 losses and retreated 60 kilometers before reorganizing the front.
The Austrian army's retreat also caused the German army's flanks to lose protection, and Hindenburg had to order a retreat.
When Hindenburg retreated, he completely destroyed the transportation facilities along the way. Roads and bridges were blown up, railways were demolished, and all the properties of residents in Russian towns along the way were plundered.
Vasily and Andrei were not idle either.
Transylvania is a territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. According to the agreement between George and Ferdinand, Transylvania will be handed over to the rule of the Kingdom of Romania after the war.
So for Transylvania, the Russian army is purely a passer-by.
Since you are a passer-by, you are welcome.
For a long time, the Kingdom of Hungary has benefited greatly from its privileges within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so Hungarians living in Transylvania are generally quite wealthy.
The Romanians living in this area are protected by the Kingdom of Romania, and the Russian army is not excessive.
The Austrians and Hungarians were unlucky. They were liquidated by the Russian army and suffered huge property losses. The real estate that the Russian army could not take away was also divided among the local Romanians.
George didn't care what the Russian army did on the front line. The armies of all countries these days were essentially like bandits. Kitchener was clearing the country in South Africa, and Hindenburg was looting in Warsaw. George couldn't use excessively high weapons. Moral standards required of the Cossacks of the 12th and 13th armies.
On October 15, the first heavy snowfall of the winter of 1914 fell on the Tisza River front line, and military operations on both sides came to a standstill.
(End of this chapter)