Rise of Australia

Chapter 416

As the situation on Russia's southwest front deteriorated, the defeat of the Third Army also put the nearby flanks of the Fourth and Eighth Armies under serious threat.

In order to ensure the safety of their own flanks, the Russian Fourth and Eighth Army had to follow the retreat speed of the Third Army and retreat toward the rear.

The [-]th and [-]th armies are okay, after all, they evacuated in an orderly manner.However, in order to speed up the retreat, the third army, which was close to collapse, discarded its helmets and armor along the way, throwing artillery, heavy machine guns, some shells, ammunition and supplies that were not easy to carry and transfer, all at the frontline positions and retreating. on the way.

If it weren't for the danger of the river from the San River to the Dniester River, I am afraid that the German army will advance all the way and occupy the entire Polish region.

On August 8, the Russian army, which took a short rest, reorganized its defensive position near the San River in an attempt to fight the German army to the death.

But at this time, the Russian army was already at an absolute disadvantage in terms of firepower. Germany seized a large number of Russian artillery and heavy weapons, and it had formed an absolute crush on the Russian army in terms of firepower.

Obviously, the Russian defense line built hastily in a few days could not stop the German attack at all.

Under the heavy bombardment of the German artillery, the Russian army lost tens of thousands of soldiers every day, but the German casualties were minimal.

If Ivanov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Southwest Front, hadn't issued a death order, requiring the third, fourth and eighth armies to block the German attack at all costs, I am afraid that it would only be a matter of time before Poland was broken.

Under the violent bombing of the Germans, the Russian soldiers have formed a tacit understanding with the German soldiers.

Whenever the Germans bombed, the Russian soldiers would huddle in their positions, taking the time to rest or replenish their strength.

After the German artillery fire stopped, Russian soldiers boarded the trenches one after another and launched a counterattack against the German army with rifles and a small number of machine guns.

Even when the German-Austrian coalition forces were quite close to the position, a large number of Russian soldiers would jump out and fight the German-Austrian army hand-to-hand, using their lives and bodies to block the pace of the German-Austrian coalition forces.

Although Germany has advantages in firepower and weapons and equipment, the advantage in the number of Russian soldiers has emerged again in the bayonet fight.

In the battle of cold weapons, after all, victory is won by numbers.Although the Russian army could not achieve complete victory in hand-to-hand combat, it still used the bodies and lives of the soldiers to temporarily block the German army on the San River defense line.

Of course, the Germans are not without ways to deal with it.When the assaulting army stopped, the Germans were transporting a large amount of materials and supplies to the front-line positions, and at the same time, a steady stream of reinforcements arrived.

This also allowed the German artillery to fire at the Russians unscrupulously, and the artillery fire almost covered the entire Russian position.

Of course, there is no good news for Russia.On the fourth day of the Battle of San River, the peace treaty of Constantinople was signed, and the Ottoman Empire officially withdrew from the war.

This also means that hundreds of thousands of troops from the Balkan countries can be put into the Eastern Front, and the southeastern border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is at stake.

On August 1915, 8, the troops of the Balkan countries assembled on the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and launched a fierce attack on the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Among them, the Serbian attack was the most ferocious.Commander Martin led hundreds of thousands of Balkan troops to attack Sarajevo, the Danube and the Carpathians from the borders of Montenegro, Serbia and Romania.

The army in the direction of Montenegro includes 8 troops in Montenegro, 5 troops in Greece, and 8 troops in Australasia, totaling 21 troops.

The Serbian direction includes Serbia's 25 troops and Greece's 10 troops for a total of 35 troops.

There are only 20 Romanian troops in the Romanian direction, but there are also Russian troops in the northern Carpathians, which can cooperate with each other.

With the participation of the Balkan countries, the pressure on Russia is instantly reduced.

But what Russia did not expect was that the Austro-Hungarian Empire organized nearly 20 troops to defend the southern border, and deployed 15 troops from other areas, and did not transfer troops to fight with Germany.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire is obviously betting that the German-Austrian Allied Forces can annihilate the main force of Russia before the Balkan countries break through the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which will seriously damage Russia.

At that time, millions of German-Austrian allied forces will march south again, and the armies of the Balkan countries will naturally be no match.

On August 1915, 8, the Russians did not wait for the withdrawal of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but they waited for a more frenzied attack by the German-Austrian Allied Forces.

At this time, the Russian army had stood on the front line of the San River for ten days, and had suffered more than [-] casualties. The Fourth and Eighth Army suffered heavy losses, and the combat strength of the Third Army was even less than full. a quarter of.

To use a more appropriate sentence to describe the current three Russian army groups, it is the end of the battle.

On August 8, with the advance of the German-Austrian coalition forces, the Russians had to abandon Przemysl.

You know, when the Russians occupied Przemysl, it took a lot of casualties.

Facing such a strategically important location, if the Russian army hadn't reached the point of desperation, it would never give up such a site in vain.

With the urgent retreat of the Russians, Hindenburg and Ludendorff made a decisive decision to launch a pursuit and launch a large-scale offensive across the board.

At this time, the central breakthrough tactics had been completely successful. The Germans mobilized millions of German-Austrian allied forces, and the 11th Army broke through directly, trying to deal a fatal blow to the Russian army.

In fact they did.Originally, the Russian Southwest Front Army was already at the end of its strength. Facing the full-scale attack of the German army, the Russian army collapsed very quickly.

At the end of August, the Russian Southwestern Front was completely defeated. It not only handed over the occupied Galicia, but even retreated to the rear of Poland.

The Battle of Gollitze, which took nearly a month, ended in a disastrous defeat for the Russian army in all aspects.

The German-Austrian coalition suffered less than 10 casualties, a considerable part of which was the Austro-Hungarian army.

On the Russian side, the number of casualties reached more than 50, and more than 30 Russian soldiers were captured.

Not only was the Third Army nearly wiped out, but the Fourth and Eighth Armies also lost more than [-] people each, and the loss of equipment and supplies was even more immeasurable.

At the same time, after Russia lost Galicia, the results of the previous battles against the Austro-Hungarian Empire almost disappeared.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire reoccupied Galicia, it was difficult for the Russians to capture this area again.

More importantly, the German-Austrian coalition had sufficient time and opportunity to resist and even defeat the Balkan coalition.

Of course, the losses of the Russians are far more than that.

After this fiasco, the morale of the Russian army plummeted, and the soldiers seemed to have no confidence in resisting the German-Austrian coalition forces.

Some Russian officers were even more fearful of the enemy. When they saw the German army, they were frightened and ran away in a panic.

Anti-war sentiment among ordinary soldiers also began to spread. Soldiers feared death and were tired of wars without any results.

In Russian politics, this failure also caused an earthquake in the entire political arena.If the previous Russian government and Nicholas II were able to suppress the domestic rebellion, then after this defeat, Nicholas II seems to have been unable to control the domestic situation.

Demonstrations took place in both St. Petersburg and Moscow's Red Square. The angry crowd not only demanded that Tsar Nicholas II abdicate, but also demanded that the empress who was benevolent and wronged the country be sent to a monastery, that the court favorite Rasputin be hanged, and that Russia be returned to Russia. Peace in politics.

As one of the old powers, the Tsarist Russian Empire, the people cannot accept such a heavy loss in the war.

If it weren't for the fact that this war was relatively smooth in other areas, I am afraid that the angry people would have demanded that Nicholas II be hanged at this time.

It can be said that the entire Tsarist Russia was in chaos at this time.If it hadn't been for Arthur's advance layout and control of some revolutionary parties, a rebellion would have broken out in Russia at this time, and Nicholas II would not be far from being overthrown.

In response to the current very serious crisis in the country, Nicholas II decided to dispatch Cossack cavalry to carry out armed suppression of the rioting area.

Even if the riots were too serious, Nicholas II specially authorized the Cossack cavalry commander to attack the crowd of demonstrations.

Armed suppression of demonstrations is the last choice, and it is also the helpless choice of Nicholas II.

Once force is used against the crowd of demonstrators, even causing casualties to the crowd, it also means that Nicholas II and the tsarist autocracy are moving towards the opposite of the Russian people.

If quelling the unrest fails, then the Russians may not demand a change of monarch, but the annihilation of the entire monarchy.

In addition to various domestic crises, the situation of the Russians on the frontline battlefield is also very bad.

After the defeat at the Battle of Gollitzer, Russia's strategic state was already in an extremely dangerous situation.

In the entire Southwest, there are only three small group armies left, and the combined number of soldiers is only more than 50.

Although the Northwest Front Army still has eight armies, the Northwest Front Army is held back by a part of the German army, and its position is also very unfavorable for the war.

It can be seen from the map that the Russian army on the entire eastern front has been surrounded by the German-Austrian coalition forces on the north and south wings in a semicircle.

If the German-Austrian coalition forces attack from the north and south flanks, all Russian troops on the frontline battlefield will be wiped out.

Of course, the German General Staff will not let go of such a favorable opportunity, but the decision-making at the highest level of the German General Staff is not uniform about what kind of strategy to use to realize the plan to encircle all Russian troops.

At present, there are two forces with a relatively high discourse power in the German military. One is Falkenhayn, the chief of the German general staff, and the other is Hindenburg and Ludendorff, the commanders-in-chief of the Eastern Front who have just won a big victory on the Eastern Front.

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(End of this chapter)