I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 647: Giving You a Chance for Revenge

As time went on, resentment towards George grew among the allies and in St. Petersburg.

The root cause is that George's record is too outstanding.

The British and French forces were in a mess on the Western Front. Haig and Joffre kept winning, killing more than 10,000 German troops every day. After two years of fighting, the front line was still within France.

Young Nicholas lost Warsaw, and even after Nicholas himself became commander-in-chief, he failed to recapture Warsaw.

When Nicholas the Younger was alive, people blamed him for not being able to lead the Russian army to victory, and all the responsibility lay with him.

Nicholas' biggest mistake was that he should not have served as commander-in-chief himself.

The Tsar could not be wrong.

So the only one who was wrong was George.

George's mistake was that although he had great strength, he did not actively attack and share the pressure with the Russian army and the British and French forces on the northern front.

It is as if the 250 million enemy troops wiped out by the Balkan coalition did not exist at all.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Balkan Alliance has destroyed a total of 250 million enemy troops, including 120 million Ottoman troops, 110 million Austro-Hungarian troops, and 20 German troops.

George thought that the occupation of Budapest and Zagreb would leave the allies and St. Petersburg speechless.

Unexpectedly, this caused even greater controversy.

The controversial point is that the Balkan coalition had clearly surrounded Budapest and Zagreb last year, so why did it take until now to take them down?

Grand Duke Yuriev was a respectable man and would not argue with ordinary people.

There was a great scholar who debated for Grand Duke Yuriev.

On June 6, the fourth day after the Battle of the Somme, Vasily Maklakov, one of the leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party, a famous lawyer in St. Petersburg, and a member of the Third and Fourth State Duma, published an article in Russian News entitled "Why are we so harsh on our heroes?"

The article details George's contributions to the empire since the Russo-Japanese War.

And it lists the evil deeds committed by Britain and France against the Russian Empire.

The article concludes: The Balkan war zone commanded by Grand Duke Yuriev is the only bright spot for the Empire - even for us and the so-called "Allies" - after the outbreak of the war. Compared with the support the Empire gave to Grand Duke Yuriev, he has given the Empire the most outstanding return.

We are in an unprecedented difficult time. Please stop being too harsh on Grand Duke Yuriev. When you criticize Grand Duke Yuriev, please ask yourself, if you or anyone else were in his place, could you have done better than Grand Duke Yuriev?

If not, please offer our most sincere blessings to Grand Duke Yuriev. It was because of his bravery in the front that the war did not reach St. Petersburg.

Marklakov caused a sensation in St. Petersburg last fall when he published an article titled "Tragic Situation, Crazy Drivers."

The article "The Driver", which described the empire as an out-of-control car running on the edge of a cliff and Nikolai as the driver, resonated strongly among Russians.

After the publication of "The Driver", the royalists in St. Petersburg positioned Maklakov as an oppositionist and banned him from publishing any articles in the newspaper.

The publication of the article "Hero" fully proves the complexity of human nature.

In today's St. Petersburg, the royalists are not protecting Nicholas, but defending the imperial system.

The purpose of the Constitutional Democratic Party is not to establish a constitution, but to govern.

The queen was not the queen of the Russian Empire, but a German spy.

The attack in the Balkan theater was launched a week earlier than the time St. Petersburg was notified.

This became irrefutable evidence that the Queen was a "spy".

There are many factions within the royalist faction in St. Petersburg, including the pro-queen faction and the anti-queen faction regarding the queen.

Those who protected the queen were the grand duchesses, who, like Alex, also came from Germany.

Those who are against the Queen are the ladies' husbands.

The anti-Tahrir faction believed that if the Balkan theater had launched the offensive according to the time notified to St. Petersburg, the offensive would not have been so smooth.

The reason was that Germany and Austria-Hungary would use this week to make better preparations.

As for why Germany and Austria-Hungary knew the time of George's attack, you have to ask the Queen.

George didn't know what to say.

George didn't like Alex either.

But we cannot ignore the facts.

Before the attack, the Russian army had surrounded Budapest and Zagreb. No matter how much time was given to Falkenhayn, he would not send reinforcements.

If it was going to be sent, it would have been sent earlier, not waiting until now.

Now the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme were breaking out simultaneously on the Western Front. The main force of the German army was on the Western Front and had no way of escaping.

The current situation is that after Brusinov occupies Slovenia, the Russian army will merge with the Italian front line.

After Vasily and Andrei occupied Budapest, the Balkan theater will also join forces with the Russian army on the northern front.

This seems like a good thing.

Actually, not necessarily.

The soap opera about Italians and the Austro-Hungarian Empire has entered its 9th season.

Conrad, who was beaten badly by George, finally proved himself after being transferred to the Isonzo River. He defeated the Italian army in the Battle of Trentino and pushed the front line forward by 30 to 50 kilometers.

The current progress of the Russian army on the western and northern fronts is calculated in "meters".

Conrad's victory was enough to prove that Conrad was not a bad fighter, but George was too strong. The troops Conrad commanded in Trentino were all Austrians, with no German troops.

So in this way, the contempt chain of world war is very clear.

The Balkan war zone led by George was unique. He was invincible and led the Balkan coalition forces to capture cities and plunder territories. The royal military god was worthy of his reputation.

The German army maintained its offensive in both the east and west directions and remained at the top of the food chain.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire could not defeat the Russian Empire, but it could bully the Kingdom of Italy.

The British Army was assisting the French Army, but the Navy was able to block the German High Seas Fleet in its home port and prevent it from leaving.

Even the Balkan countries can follow George's lead and bully others.

Italy and the Ottoman Empire were at the bottom of the food chain.

Based on this food chain, Demeter was worried that the Balkan coalition would be affected by the Italian army and the Russian army on the northern front.

When the Balkan coalition forces fought alone, they would fight if they could win, and would hold their ground and wait for reinforcements if they were not sure. They mainly took the approach of allowing the enemy to come and go as they pleased.

Cooperating with the Italian army and the Russian army on the northern front would cause many problems.

If George wants to attack in the future, he must fully consider the capabilities of the Italian army and the Russian army on the northern front.

The significance of a battle line is to balance strength and advance and retreat together. Once a salient is formed, it will be besieged by the enemy.

This is how Zhilinsky was defeated in the Battle of Tannenberg.

George was going to attack next. He did not expect much help from the Italian army and the Russian army on the northern front. He had to first consider whether the Italian army and the Russian army on the northern front could hold their own front lines.

If the Balkan coalition forces were to make unstoppable progress while the Italian army and the Russian army on the northern front were to suffer a crushing defeat, the Balkan coalition forces would be doomed to death.

No matter how good Brusinov, Vasily and Andrei were at fighting, they could not withstand the siege of Hindenburg, Ludendorff, von Bilow and Mackensen.

George now finally understood why Rommel said he wanted to ally with the Italians and send 50 divisions to protect Italy.

An ally like Italy should be treated like the Kingdom of Hungary.

surrender?

No! I will not allow you to surrender, you must fight like the Huns.

"The occupation of Budapest and Zagreb has consumed all the supplies we stored over the past winter. We need time to accumulate strength."

George lied with his eyes open.

Demeter's eyes widened in disbelief.

The big traitor Marklakov, who became famous for the article "The Driver", has just praised you so highly in the newspaper. Are you going to let him down?

In fact, George was not afraid of fighting. Although supplies in Constantinople were piled up like mountains, how to transport them to the front line was a big problem.

Haig had spent the previous winter's stockpile of artillery shells, which he had expended within a week of the outbreak of the Battle of the Somme.

French Army Minister Marshal Joseph Gallieni worked so hard to organize logistics for Joffre that he became ill. His condition worsened this summer and he died at his post, but Joffre still did not have enough artillery shells.

Constantinople has Amur as its backing, and its own military industrial capabilities are gradually improving. The output of artillery shells is increasing every month, and the situation seems to be very good.

Constantinople is 1050 kilometers from Budapest and 1100 kilometers from Zagreb, both in a straight line.

Although the Austrians were not good at fighting, they were not stupid. When they retreated, they also fortified their cities and cleared the countryside, taking away everything they could. If they couldn't take away, they would rather blow up or burn it than let the Russian army use it.

Railways were the focus of destruction.

After breaking through the Carpathian Pass defense line, the Russian army waited for a whole winter for traffic to be restored.

The Russian army was repairing the railway last winter and this spring.

The Russian-occupied area was not stable. Small Austrian units took advantage of the cover of local people to launch frequent attacks, focusing on destroying railways, especially bridges.

How to transport supplies to the front line has always been the biggest headache for the staff.
If it is other supplies, it is easy to deal with. If the railway is not available, it can be airdropped.

The shells are very safe and the fuse is only installed when they are used. Without the fuse, they will not explode even if burned by fire.

The consumption of artillery shells is calculated in "10,000 tons". George sent out all the transport planes, and the transport volume for one winter was probably enough for Andre's artillery to fight for two days.

That's why George doesn't seem to be active enough.

Of course, the situation was not as bad as George described.

After the war broke out, the Balkan countries did not seem to have many opportunities to perform.

In fact, all the dirty work is done by the troops of the Balkan countries.

In Transylvania, the Romanian army was busy suppressing Hungarian resistance and putting out fires everywhere.

The focus is to maintain the Russian army's transportation lines on the front line, and the railways must be unobstructed.

The Kingdom of Bulgaria is responsible for the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Greek army did even more.

How did the Ottomans massacre the Greeks?

Now is your chance for revenge.

(End of this chapter)