Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 919 A ​​Huge Tragedy

When Roque came to Cyprus, the Mediterranean Fleet couldn't wait to launch an attack on the Dardanelles.

In fact, as early as November last year after the Ottoman Empire entered the war, Winston had sent a warship to the Dardanelles.

A mere warship destroyed the outermost fortress of the Dardanelles in just half an hour. Capture the Dardanelles before the Ottomans bring their forces back from the Mesopotamia.

Now the Ottoman Empire has formed the Fifth Army, with a total strength of about 8.7 troops, and the commander is Otto Liman von Zanders from Germany.

Now London's trust in Roque is still very limited. Although Roque was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Roque did not have the right to designate the chief of staff. Roque's chief of staff was the former commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force Ian Hamilton.

Compared with Roque, Ian Hamilton is really miserable. He only served as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force for less than a month, and then was demoted to chief of staff.

Rock could understand Ian Hamilton's mood, so Rock put the headquarters in Cyprus, but Ian Hamilton remained in Lemnos, and Rock didn't let Ian Hamilton report as soon as possible.

The island of Lemnos belongs to Greece, and it is only about [-] kilometers away from the southernmost tip of the Garibaldi Peninsula on the Dardanelles side. Because the Battle of the Dardanelles was launched quite suddenly, the Ministry of War's plan was not detailed, probably The plan is that the ground troops will land from the Garibaldi Peninsula, the Mediterranean fleet will cross the Dardanelles to attack the Bosphorus, and finally occupy Constantinople.

There is a problem here, whether the ground troops will land first or the navy will attack first. According to Roque's thinking, the fleet must first cover the landing of the ground troops, and the landing troops will gradually clear the forts on both sides of the Dardanelles, and then the fleet will pass through. Dardanelles.

Sackville Carden didn't think so. On March [-]th, as soon as Rock arrived in Cyprus, and the ground troops had not yet assembled, Sackville Carden ordered the Mediterranean Fleet to rush forward to the Dardanelles.

"Send a telegram to General Carden, telling him not to rush to attack. Without the cooperation of the ground troops, how can those battleships that are about to be decommissioned put on their wings and fly across the Dardanelles?" Rock really couldn't figure it out, Sackville Carden is also an old navy. He joined the navy in 1870, but now he makes such an obvious mistake, which is really incomprehensible.

It is also normal. The Royal Navy has been invincible across the sea for hundreds of years. If you own the sea, you have everything. Soldiers from island countries also find it difficult to understand the mentality of soldiers from mainland countries.

To put it bluntly, everyone thinks that they can be the savior.

"General Carden's telegram said that the mines deployed by the Ottoman Empire in the Dardanelles should be cleared first, so as to facilitate the navy's next move—" Before Ian Hamilton came to Cyprus, Cecil Milner temporarily served as the K's chief of staff.

This is also random. Cecil Milner has never held any military position. The rank of colonel is given temporarily. He is qualified as a secretary. As the chief of staff, besides helping Roque draft telegrams, what can he do? Can't help.

But Rock can accept it. At least Rock and Cecil Milner have a good relationship. Although Cecil Milner doesn't understand military affairs, he has a huge advantage. He knows when to speak and when not to speak. Talking, and will not find awkwardness with Rock.

"Without the cooperation of ground forces, what's the use of clearing mines?" Rock was furious. The narrowest part of the Dardanelles was only 1.2 kilometers. Without the cooperation of ground forces, the Mediterranean Fleet cleared mines during the day and would retreat at night. No matter how bad the Chinese navy is, it is still possible to complete tasks such as laying mines in the dark.

Zanders is not a fool, and he also has "Fon" in his name. Although there may be a gap between him and the dead Goltz, it is not too far behind.

The point is that the navy's early action will lead to another serious consequence, that is, the strategic goal of the Allies to open up the second battlefield was exposed in advance, which gave the Ottoman Empire enough time to respond, which will bring greater difficulty to subsequent actions.

The Ottoman Empire has been aware of the intention of the Allied Powers to open up a second battlefield, but it does not know that the British and French coalition forces will choose the Dardanelles as their target. Xia is the actual owner of Constantinople. He once commanded the Caucasus campaign, but the Ottoman army suffered a disastrous defeat. Now Enver Pasha is very wise to give up the command to Zanders. Zanders inspected the Ottoman Empire Worried after military deployment in Garibaldi Peninsula: Wish Ian Hamilton would give him eight days.

Like Roque, Zanders does not believe that the navy is the key force that determines the Garibaldi Peninsula campaign, and the decisive battle of the ground forces can determine the outcome of the Garibaldi Peninsula campaign. Zanders still does not know that Roque has replaced Ian ·Hamilton served as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, which is one of Rock's advantages.

In fact, during the period when Roque was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, the eight days Zanders hoped for had already passed. If Ian Hamilton's plan was followed, Zanders would have nearly a month to prepare.

Roque would not give Zanders so much preparation time. When Ian Hamilton was the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, a single unit could not be commanded. Before Roque arrived in Cyprus, the 501st and 502nd divisions had already left Beirut Port Depart for Lemnos.

Winston was right to choose Roque instead of Ian Hamilton. Ian Hamilton served as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and all logistics materials needed had to be coordinated by the War Department.

There are many advantages for Roque to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Don’t forget that Roque has a lot of companies under his name besides being the Minister of Defense and Minister of War in Southern Africa. The strength of the Asaran Ocean Shipping Company has also been integrated. Compared with the British Royal Navy, although the strength of the Southern African Navy is weak, the task of escorting minesweeping can still be completed. When encountering the huge but backward fleet of the Ottoman Empire At that time, light cruisers with more advanced technology were not without power in the First World War. The ships that sent the 501st and 502nd Divisions to Lemnos Island were the transport ships of the Nyasaland Ocean Shipping Company.

The ships that also sent the Anzacs from Alexandria to Lemnos also came from the Nyasaland Ocean Shipping Company, and the ships that transported supplies for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to support logistics also came from the Nyasaland Ocean Shipping Company. It will only appear when Rock is the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. If Ian Hamilton is still the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, let alone the logistical support. moon.

As for the logistics support, it was another disaster. When another space-time coalition landed, the artillery and shells were not on the same ship. As a result, the artillery could only be beaten passively after landing. It was not until the third day after landing that the artillery had shells to fight back. .

Now this situation will definitely not happen.

"What's the use of getting angry with me? General Carden has to show his value." Sidney Milner and Roque were not polite, and getting angry really didn't solve the problem.

"When will the three divisions promised by Greece be in place?" Rock's main task now is coordination. After the Greek troops join, the situation of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force will be more complicated.

"Athens is negotiating with London. It is difficult for three Greek divisions to be in place in a short time." Sidney Milner is not optimistic. There are still some countries that have not participated in the war, such as Greece and Italy. These two countries are likely to join On the side of the Allied Powers, the diplomats of the Allied Powers are trying their best to persuade these two countries.

Although the troops of the Kingdom of Italy did not perform well in the Italian-Turkish War, the Kingdom of Italy has a huge advantage in that it has a large enough population. Before the outbreak of the World War, the Kingdom of Italy joined the Allied Powers led by Germany, but remained neutral after the outbreak of the World War, claiming The Triple Alliance is for defensive purposes only and has not officially entered the war.

The so-called "alliance" is a mouthpiece. As long as it does not participate in the war, it is possible to switch to the Allied Powers. Both Britain and France hope that the Kingdom of Italy can join the Allied Powers, because the Kingdom of Italy mobilized 100 million troops after the outbreak of the war.

The current 100 million troops are of great importance to the Allied Powers, but neither the United Kingdom nor France has a clear understanding of the Italian Army. The Allied Powers still imagined that the 100 million troops of the Italian Kingdom would change the situation of the war after joining the war. No one expected That's another tragedy.

Tragedy is everywhere, the kingdom of Italy is tragedy, so is Greece.

Greece's problems were mainly in the Russian Empire.

Considering the distance between Greece and Constantinople, one of the requirements for Greece to join the Allied Powers was to obtain Constantinople after the war.

Not to mention one, for this purpose, the Russian Empire is absolutely unacceptable. Kitchener chose the Dardanelles as the second battlefield. One of the reasons was the telegram sent by the Tsar to Kitchener, hoping that the British and French allied forces would open up the first battlefield. The second battlefield, to reduce the pressure on the Russian Empire on the Eastern Front.

It is estimated that the Tsar never expected that Kitchener would choose the Dardanelles as the second battlefield.

After this purpose was notified to the Russian Empire, the Eighth Army of the Russian Empire had stopped all military operations, and the hundreds of ships assembled by the Russian Empire in the Black Sea were all parked in the military port. Kitchener originally hoped that the Eighth Army would continue to attack and alleviate the war. The pressure of the British and French coalition forces in the Dardanelles did not expect that the Russian Empire itself was unable to capture Constantinople, and was unwilling to let others capture Constantinople.

This is the situation Rock is facing. Before accepting the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Rock knew that the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was a mess, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.

(End of this chapter)