Chapter 611 Ottoman Italy
On January 5, George returned to Petrograd.
The Russian New Year has not yet arrived, and the Julian calendar used by the Russian Empire is 13 days later than the Gregorian calendar.
Petrograd during the war was not much different from before. After all, the front line was 1,000 kilometers away from Petrograd.
It can be seen that in order to create a festive atmosphere, the Petrograd local government has put a lot of thought into it. Farmer delegations from various places also arrived in Petrograd to celebrate the New Year.
But compared with the messy front line, the peaceful singing and dancing in Petrograd is particularly ironic.
Three days ago, in retaliation for George's "bombing" of Berlin, Hindenburg launched another attack on the Russian army.
In just three days, the Russian army lost another 80,000 people.
George didn't even notice that George was now becoming numb to these numbers.
“All the elite troops of the Northern Front were lost in Tannenberg. Since then, the front line has been in a vicious cycle. New recruits arrived on the battlefield and were defeated by the German army before they were even familiar with the environment——”< br>
The Guards Division that Demeter brought back from Tannenberg was completely wiped out in the Battle of Warsaw.
Since the outbreak of the war, the Russian army has lost more than 1.2 million people, which is about the same as the population of Petrograd.
Looking at it this way, it seems that the loss is not that big and is still within the acceptable range.
Sukhomlinov was very dissatisfied with the performance of the Russian army. The conflict between him and Nicholas Jr. broke out at the military meeting. Nicholas Jr. accused Sukhomlinov of failing to protect the front line. Regarding the logistics of the troops, Suhomlinov believed that the Russian army wasted too many opportunities.
George has long been notorious for his indifference to the Kingdom of Serbia.
However, the performance of the Russian army in the Balkans has become the only bright spot of the Russian army in the past six months.
On the first day of the meeting, there was no result except blaming each other.
In the evening, George stayed at the Winter Palace for dinner as usual.
Nicholas asked George whether Suhomlinov's position should be adjusted.
The conflict between Nikolai Jr. and Sukhomlinov has been going on for a long time. One is the frontline commander and the other is the chief of general staff in charge of logistics. A disagreement between the generals is simply a disaster.
When Nicholas raised this issue, George thought that Nicholas wanted to replace little Nicholas.
The performance of the Russian army on the northern and western fronts in the past six months fully proved the great ambition and talent of little Nicholas.
As early as after the Battle of Warsaw, someone in Petrograd proposed that George should be made the commander-in-chief of the European Theater and Nicholas Jr. should be allowed to go to the less important Balkans.
This suggestion is terrible. Replacing the theater commander is not as simple as a piece of official paper.
The army commanders in the Balkan theater are all George's confidants.
The same is true for the European Theater of Operations. When George went to the European Theater of Operations, he could not have 100% trust in Ruzsky and Alexeyev.
Relatively speaking, changing the chief of general staff will have less impact on the front line.
However, as the oldest general in the Russian Empire, Suhomlinov also has great influence in the military.
At least one suitable reason is needed before Suhomlinov can be dismissed justifiably.
If George were given the choice, George would let Suhomlinov replace Nicholas Jr. as commander-in-chief of the European Theater.
Although Sukhomlinov did not directly accuse Nicholas Jr., the implication behind his words was that the defeat of the Russian army on the front line was caused by Nicholas Jr.'s incompetence.
The only royal family members currently holding senior positions in the Russian army are Nicholas Jr. and George.
If Nikola ignores the facts and favors Nikola Junior during the conflict between the two, the chain reaction may be greater than replacing Nikola Junior.
Witt later said that from George's point of view, George should not give any advice.
Witt was wrong, George's position was not with the Romanov family, but with the Russian Empire.
The Winter Palace has no secrets from Petrograd.
So at the military meeting the next day, George was attacked by Rodzianko, Speaker of the State Duma.
Rodzianko attributed the destruction of the Kingdom of Serbia and the loss of 300,000 Serbian troops to George's indifference.
At the moment of the meeting in Petrograd, the Battle of Belgrade was underway. The 11th Army led by Brusinov had already invaded Belgrade and was engaged in fierce street fighting with the Austrian army.
Rodzianko believes that with the strength of the Russian army in the Balkans, if the Russian army entered the Kingdom of Serbia as soon as the Austrian army launched its attack and joined forces with the Serbian army to fight, then the Kingdom of Serbia would not only not be destroyed, but maybe now Already included Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"What you say sounds so nice, why don't you serve as the commander-in-chief of the Balkan Theater?"
George directly pushed back. He is not a professional, so don't point fingers in areas that you are not familiar with.
Sitting in the office in Petrograd, the frontline troops are just pennants on the sand table. Anyone can talk on paper.
At George's level, war is no longer pure, but an auxiliary means to serve politics.
"Sorry Grand Duke, I didn't mean to accuse you. If my inappropriate wording caused you to misunderstand, I will apologize to you."
Rodzianko's arrogance in the past and his conscientiousness in the rear are simply ridiculous. The winner does not accept criticism. Little Nicholas said nothing during the meeting on the second day, did not communicate with George, and left directly after the meeting.
George has nothing to say. Even if he is not the commander-in-chief of the war zone, little Nicholas is still a grand duke and has a high status.
If we cannot win this war, everyone in this room will lose everything.
Not necessarily.
Back at Yuriev Palace, Alexander came to visit. George felt a little hungry. Anne had dinner delivered to her. George and Alexander ate and talked.
“After St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd, many things have changed. Your Majesty has spent most of the past six months touring various places. Now it is the Queen who controls St. Petersburg.”
Alexander Not very satisfied with current St. Petersburg.
Nikolai is indeed conscientious. Since the outbreak of the war, Nikolai has either gone to various places to supervise mobilization work, or appeared in the military camp to visit the mobilization troops preparing to go to the front line, or inspected production work in the factory.
Alex also did something. With her help, the Russian army on the front line established 60 field hospitals. She and the two eldest princesses often went to the hospital to help, and also provided support for the Russian army on the front line in the Winter Palace. Military organization charity fundraising.
However, Alex's desire for power was so terrible. With her intervention, the empire had almost changed its ministers in the past six months, including the minister of finance twice.
As he left, Alexander told George: "That guy is back again -"
Alexander was referring to Rasputin.
George is curious, is this person not dead yet?
Not really dead.
Rasputin's vitality is very tenacious. He was stabbed in the abdomen by a maid last year and almost died, but miraculously survived.
After the war broke out, in order to improve the hospital's medical capabilities, Nikolai sent Alexei's personal medical team to the front line to help, which gave Rasputin the opportunity to return to the center of imperial power. .
"This man is very cautious, has no fixed abode, and never appears in public."
Anne also knew about this, but she did not realize the seriousness of the problem.
Before George had time to learn more about this matter, news came from Constantinople that the Ottoman Empire tore up the agreement and sent troops into the demilitarized zone on the east side of the Bosporus.
The Treaty of St. Petersburg stipulates that the 50 kilometers east of the Bosporus is a demilitarized zone. The Ottoman Empire can send officials to manage it, but the army cannot enter.
Muhammad V’s reason was that there were remnants of rebel forces on the east side of the Bosporus. In order to eliminate these remnants of rebels, Muhammad V had to send troops into Africa. military zone.
This reason seems to be very suitable.
George identified this move as a test by the Ottoman Empire.
If the Balkan Theater does not respond to this and allows the Ottoman Empire to enter the demilitarized zone, then in the next step, the Ottoman Empire can set up artillery on the east side of the Bosporus and directly attack Constantinople Dinburg attacks.
The timing is also very clever.
George is currently attending a meeting in St. Petersburg, not in Constantinople.
The 11th Army is in Serbia, the 12th Army and the 13th Army are in Transylvania, and the 14th Army stationed in Constantinople, although it is a group army in name, there are actually only two The army has four divisions.
George sent a telegram to Yankov and ordered Yankov to lead the 14th Army to cross the Bosporus and enter the east coast of the strait.
Since there are rebels on the east side of the strait, it makes sense for the Balkan Theater to send troops to suppress them.
After the Russo-Japanese War, Yankov retired and no longer held official positions.
After the war broke out, Yankov served as the head of the East India Mobilization Committee and was responsible for the mobilization work in East India.
Yeluoxin is in Amur and cannot leave.
Yangkov was getting stronger and stronger, and took the initiative to apply to come to the front line.
The Ottoman Empire reacted strongly to the landing of the 14th Army on the Peninsula of Asia Minor. Instead of restraining, Muhammad V continued to send troops into the demilitarized zone. In just one week, the Ottoman Empire entered the demilitarized zone. The army has reached 300,000 people.
The total strength of the 14th Army is only 68,000.
Seeing that the situation was becoming more and more dangerous, George dispatched two divisions from the Kingdom of Greece to reinforce.
Compared with the Balkan theater, the mobilization speed of the Greek army was relatively slow. The two divisions mobilized by George had not yet boarded the ship in Thessaloniki, and the First Army of the Ottoman Empire launched an attack on the 14th Army.
The Ottoman Empire officially entered the war.
Almost at the same time that the Ottoman Empire entered the war, the Kingdom of Italy made a request to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to return the occupied territories to the Kingdom of Italy.
The old emperor rejected the request of the Kingdom of Italy without hesitation.
Emmanuel III was very angry and determined to take back the occupied territories by force.
On January 17, the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the longest, cruelest, and most ridiculous soap opera during the First World War began.
During World War I, there were hundreds of large and small battles between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with a total of 12 large-scale battles.
These 12 battles were all named the Battle of Isonzo River.
(End of this chapter)