I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 402: Have fun

Although Kantung is important, Amur's industrial capabilities are crucial to Kantō and even the entire Russian Empire.

Spring is approaching, the ice and snow are about to melt, and the Japanese army may launch an attack on Amur at any time. At this time, even if Kuropatkin comes out with his words, George will not send his troops to Kanto.

Although it is impossible to increase troops, Amul should give him a lot of support.

After the war broke out, the Amur Military District made every effort to deliver supplies to Arthur Fortress.

In just one month, the Amur Military District delivered nearly 10 artillery shells, 240 heavy machine guns, and more than 3000 million rounds of ammunition to Arthur Fortress.

The Amur Military District's support was so strong that Chief of Staff Withoeft, who was temporarily acting as the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific, couldn't help but say that one bullet was enough for one Japanese person.

George only hoped that so many heavy machine guns would not become Japanese trophies in the end.

In addition to military supplies, the Amur Military Region delivered more than 12 tons of other supplies to Arthur Fortress, and there were 40 military trains running between Vladivostok and Arthur Fortress, far exceeding the design capacity of the Middle East Railway.

In addition to the troops, Kuropatkin also hopes that the Vladivostok Shipyard can deliver two "Borodino" class battleships to the Pacific Fleet as soon as possible.

The two "Borodino" class battleships undertaken by the Vladivostok Shipyard, one is named "Bear" and the other is named "Tiger".

The progress of the "Bear" is relatively fast, and the weapon system outfitting has been completed. If the third sea trial is not carried out, it can be delivered at any time.

The main gun of the "Tiger" is being hoisted and is expected to be delivered in half a month.

Delivery was no problem.

The problem is how the Pacific Fleet can get the warship back to Port Arthur.

Port Arthur is now blocked. The main force of the Pacific Fleet is hiding in the port and dare not go out to sea. The sea areas from Japan to Port Arthur are all controlled by the Japanese combined fleet. As long as the "Bear" and "Tiger" appear, they will definitely Besieged by the Sixty-sixth Fleet.

"Can the Siberian Fleet support the Pacific Fleet?"

Kuropatkin was whimsical.

"Ah--"

George sneered.

The Siberian Fleet has a total of two heavy cruisers, both of which are in East India and not in Vladivostok at all.

Now that the connection between East India and Amur has been severed, the artillery shells of the heavy cruisers have to be sparingly used. Once the ammunition is used up, there will be no place to replenish it.

Before the war broke out, the Pacific Fleet had as many as seven battleships. The Navy Department was full of confidence from top to bottom, believing that it had completely suppressed the Japanese Combined Fleet.

As a result, after the war broke out, the two most advanced battleships of the Pacific Fleet were sneak attacked by Japan and are still stranded at the anchorage. The Pacific Fleet tried every means but failed to tow the battleships back to the dock for repairs.

The Russian Empire made almost all the mistakes it could make after the war.

The generals were changed in St. Petersburg. Makarov had just boarded the train and was on the road. Acting Commander-in-Chief Wittehoeft refused to leave the port on the grounds that the enemy was strong and he was weak. He always stayed in the port and gave up control of the sea.

Now that we know that the enemy is strong and we are weak, what about the arrogance before the war broke out!
How arrogant he was before, he is so cowardly now.

"George, how do you think we should fight?"

Kuropatkin finally remembered George, a famous royal general.

"If you want me to take command, you can give me command of all the troops in Guandong."

George didn't refuse to play.

After the war broke out, someone in St. Petersburg proposed appointing George as governor of the Far East so that George could go to war.

Nicholas was quite moved and held a royal meeting to discuss the matter.

This proposal was opposed by almost everyone on the grounds that George only performed well in exercises and had not been tested in actual combat, and the quality of the "famous general" was insufficient.

Nikolai finally chose the experienced Kuropatkin, who had participated in the Central Asian War and the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, and later served as commander of the Transcaucasian Army and governor of Central Asia.

There are actually problems with this appointment.

In the command sequence of Kantung, Kuropatkin was subordinate to Alexeev, the governor of Kantung, and had to obey Alexeev's orders.

So the one who really directed this war was Alexeyev, the idiot.

Alexeyev's chief of staff was Zhilinsky, who had deserted his men and escaped alone during the Rivno exercise.

Even with Zhilinsky, George couldn't possibly be inferior to Alexeyev.

Kuropatkin had no choice but to leave without staying in Vladivostok for too long.

George didn't care about Kuropatkin's mood. With the arrival of spring, Amur might be attacked by the Japanese army at any time.

Vladivostok is easy to say, with forts, submarines, and "Kirov airships" in the sky. If Dongxiang dares to come, George will have plenty of ways to deal with him.

The isolated island of Sakhalin has no defensive capabilities and is the weakest link in Amur's defense.

Sakhalin Island covers an area of ​​76400 square kilometers. The north is relatively flat and is dominated by hills and mountains. The south is composed of the East Sakhalin Mountains and the West Sakhalin Mountains. The highest peak is 1420 meters. There are more than 6000 rivers and 1600 lakes on the island. .

There are currently about 2 people living on Sakhalin Island, mainly concentrated in the northern plains, mainly immigrants from the Qing Empire.

After the war broke out, George took the initiative to evacuate most of the residents of Sakhalin Island to Vladivostok in order to reduce losses, leaving only 500 Cossacks on the island and about 1500 reservists who were unwilling to leave Sakhalin Island.

If the Japanese army attacks Sakhalin Island, the island's troops will retreat to the mountains and start guerrilla warfare with the Japanese army. If the Pacific Fleet cannot accept the "Bear" and "Tiger", George will organize personnel to receive them for use in breaking diplomatic relations.

It's a bit wasteful to use battleships to break up engagements. The most suitable warships are cruisers.

The biggest problem now is that the heavy cruisers cannot return to East India, and the light cruisers are limited to a limited range and are insufficient in deterrence.

If George wants to counterattack in an all-out way, he can only hope that the two "dreadnought ships" that have already laid the keels will be launched as soon as possible.

There are two "dreadnoughts" in Vladivostok, one is called "Yuryev" and the other is called "Romanov".

This naming is not in line with Russian imperial tradition, because the Pacific Fleet has a heavy cruiser named "Yuryev".

George doesn't care.

The Siberian Fleet belongs to the Amur Military District. The ships were built with George's money and the Admiralty has no control over them. This was confirmed by Nicholas himself.

After the war broke out, Alexeyev hoped that Nicholas would order the transfer of the Siberian Fleet to Port Arthur and accept the command of the Pacific Fleet. This suggestion was approved by Navy Minister Alexey.

Nikolai was still not thick-skinned enough and directly rejected Alexeyev's request without going to the Imperial Council for discussion.

If this goes to the Imperial Council, it's probably impossible to save it——

Keep it!
George was no longer the George who had allowed St. Petersburg to take whatever it wanted.

Even if Nicholas asked George to hand over the Siberian Fleet to the command of the Pacific Fleet, George would still have a way.

Okay, the ship is in East India and Vladivostok. The Pacific Fleet wants it and sends someone to get it. George is not cheap enough to deliver it to your door.

Forget it if the Pacific Fleet doesn’t send anyone.

If he really had to send someone over to receive it, George had plenty of ways to delay it.

Dragging until the entire Pacific Fleet was annihilated——

The Pacific Fleet doesn't even exist anymore, so who can we leave it to?

When George fully supported Port Arthur, he did not ignore the construction of Amur.

At the same time as the new army was being formed, the armored fighting vehicle that Yeluoxin had been dreaming of finally left the factory. George, Milyutin, Yeluoxin, Chief of General Staff of the Amur Military Region Maslov, and Andrei, Vasily and other Amur military personnel all All the main battle generals were present.

This Vladivostok tank was completely developed for war. In order to adapt to wild terrain, the tank does not use tires, but uses the same track structure as a tractor to enhance off-road capabilities.

In order to adapt to the advancing speed of infantry, the maximum speed of the tank in the field is 10 kilometers per hour. It has two crew members, namely the driver and the machine gun shooter. The weapon is a 12 mm large-caliber machine gun.

Considering the attack capabilities of the Japanese army, the tank only has strengthened frontal armor, which can withstand continuous close-range fire from a 12mm machine gun at a distance of 100 meters.

This defensive capability is enough for the Japanese army.

"The turret of the combat vehicle can rotate 360 ​​degrees for shooting, and the 20mm high-quality armor can provide sufficient protection for the shooter; the driver uses a periscope to observe while driving. We have verified many times that there is currently no weapon that can attack our combat vehicles. The car poses a threat."

Kuklev was full of pride, and the Vladivostok Arsenal finally had its own flagship product.

Milyugin and Ye Luoxin looked at the chariot with gleaming eyes.

Andrei and Vasily had many problems.

“What is the mean time between failures for an engine?”

"How is your climbing ability? Can you climb out if you fall into a ditch?"

"Who said there is no threat? Landmines can't do it either?"

Kuklev's face is full of displeasure, and you two are too damn good at spoiling it.

The Amur Military Region organizes confrontation exercises between the Fu Division and the Kazakh Division every year. If you have heavy machine guns, we will have mortars; if you send cavalry, we will dig three-dimensional trenches.

If George hadn't stopped him, Vasily and Andrei would have used the "Kirov airship" in actual combat long ago. That thing is truly unmatched——

So as soon as they saw the tank, Vasily and Andrei began to study the tank's weaknesses. This was the difference in thinking between the main battle general and the research and development personnel.

"From now on, Fu Tuan and Ha Tuan will start practicing the coordination of foot combat."

George knew that the tank had weaknesses. The 20mm armor was actually not very thick. Vladivostok could always bring out a direct-fire gun with a caliber above 20mm if necessary.

Forget about Japan.

The Japanese haven't even figured out how to use machine guns yet.

As early as the Second World War, machine guns were used in actual combat in Japan.

Japan also has insufficient understanding of the role of machine guns. As of now, the Japanese army has only 60 machine guns.

It’s not that I don’t want to equip more.

The key is that this thing consumes too many bullets, and the Japanese army simply cannot afford it.

The Russian troops in Kwantung were not much better before the war.

Only in the Amur Military Region, the machine gunners can shoot casually during training. The machine gunners of Fu Master and Harbin Division have already mastered heavy machine guns.

(End of this chapter)