Iron Cross Fire

On May 10, the Turkish army led by Kemal successfully joined the German army on the north bank of the Dnieper River.

After Austria-Hungary learned of this, it quickly accelerated its offensive against the Russian army in Ukraine.

The number of Austro-Hungarian troops did not increase at all, but they still quickly broke through the Russian defense line, and then drove the Russian troops on the highlands to the plains one by one.

At this time, the Russians were at the end of their game. Without the strong offensive capabilities they had in Galicia, they could only be surrounded and wait for death.

After being surrounded, the most intuitive consequence is that no supplies can be sent to Ukraine.

In the past, we could still deliver a few guns and a few cannonballs, but now nothing can be delivered. If you want food, you can only eat corpses.

As a result, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has no way to replenish fuel. Fortunately, they have not done much in the first place, and the fuel they have accumulated is enough to allow them to continue sailing at sea for more than ten days.

However, apart from shelling the opposite coast, they may basically stop taking action and reserve the fuel for use at critical moments.

Germany did not launch another attack on Ukraine. After all, it wanted to go directly to Petersburg to force the Tsar to sign a peace treaty.

He also wanted to bring Kemal and Austria-Hungary to the north to fight, but for them, the rich Ukrainian region was obviously more important.

Russia's defense line on the Dnieper River is impregnable, blocking Kemal's army on the east bank, and there will be no danger for a while.

However, the defense line in the Carpathian Mountains to the west was like paper. Austria-Hungary quickly broke through there and continued to spread deeper.

Austria-Hungary attacked from three directions, using Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary as starting points to flank the Russian army.

The Polish military base in the north is Krakow. The Fourth and Second Army quickly maneuvered along the railway line to the front line, got off the bus and marched towards Kremeniec. After eighteen hours of fierce fighting, they successfully conquered the surrounding areas.

Then it took another four hours to attack Zdorbov 58 kilometers away, Teofipoli 54 kilometers away, and Volochsk 70 kilometers away to expand the front.

After stabilizing the war situation, they once again engaged in the battle to tear apart the Russian defense line.

Russia's deep defense line only has two layers. They have just broken through the first layer of the main force's defense line. The next thing they face is the reserve team in the plains and the guerrillas in the mountains.

The Fourth Army was responsible for covering the flanks, while the Second Army turned and attacked southward, outflanking the Russian forces in the Carpathians from the north.

They first captured Terebovnia as a stronghold, rested for nearly three hours before setting off again, attacking Galich to the west and rendezvousing with friendly forces.

At this point, after the Austrian troops of the Polish Ministry joined the Austrian troops of the Slovak Military District, the Polish Ministry has exceeded its mission. Their superiors ordered them to repair for twelve hours, during which time they built a defense line to prevent the Russian reserve forces from counterattacking.

The Austrian army in the Slovak Military District, or the First Army, totaled 200,000 people. They used Bratislava as a base to attack Carpathia.

Originally, their main attack directions were Stray and Rashif.

The reason for choosing the former is that it is a very important gentle road in the mountains and a strategic location. Walking there can lead directly to the plains behind the mountains. And it is close to Poland, so you can quickly support friendly forces after a breakthrough.

The latter is because it is located under the Carpathian Mountains, is very easy to attack, and has great strategic potential. After defeating the Russian army, use the cavalry to pursue the victory, leaving them defeated and unable to resist, and then they can break through the Russian defense line.

The attack went smoothly at first, but after arriving in the Stre area, the troops participating in the attack suffered an ambush and suffered heavy casualties. The seven divisions were caught off guard and were beaten to their knees, losing more than eight regiments.

Another division was more fortunate and was not seriously affected and suffered minor losses.

The remaining two divisions were not damaged at all because they were reserves. Among them was Kuster's hometown, the 27th Infantry Division.

After this battle, the First Army gave up its attack on Stre and instead used fire suppression and blocked contact.

They devoted their main forces to Lahiv, but before reinforcements arrived, the Russian army was repulsed.

The cavalry acted according to the plan and rushed into the dangerous Carpathian Mountains to pursue the deserters.

If the Russians had the intention to deploy a few machine gunners along the way when they were fleeing, they could kill this group of intruding cavalry and reduce their own casualties.

But they obviously only wanted to run away, and they only regretted that their parents did not give them dozens of extra legs, instead of regretting that their brains were not fully developed. There was no obstruction along the way, allowing the Austro-Hungarian cavalry to march straight in.

The result was obvious. After encountering the Russians, the cavalry with machine guns quickly dismounted to fight. After defeating them, they mounted their horses again to pursue them. In this round and round, eight hours later, the cavalry finally broke out of the Carpathian Mountains.

What appeared in front of them was the endless green grassland. This was the most primitive place and the natural place for the cavalry.

The cavalry continued to pursue the defeated soldiers in three divisions, fighting all the way to the Sniaten area before they camped and rested.

The rest of the infantry also quickly took the opportunity to crawl out from the Carpathian Mountains to support the cavalry in the battle.

In just twelve hours, six divisions poured out of the gap in the mountains, forming a complete breakthrough.

They are like bamboo shoots, with the roots behind them being the hard earth, and in front of them being the vast stars with infinite possibilities. In particular, this spring bamboo shoot is very powerful and may break through the sky at any time.

And such a spring bamboo shoot with great potential will inevitably be feared by people living in the sky, and thus be attacked from all sides.

The Russians launched seven attacks, flanking them from the east and west, but the mountains were too steep, and even though they had the possibility of success several times, they all failed in the end, and lost a lot of territory.

In order to expand the results of the battle and ensure that the breakthrough was not cut off by them, they attacked from the east and west sides respectively to expand the size of the gap.

They fought all the way to Galic and met the friendly forces of the Polish department. Their actions were considered completed, and they were ordered by their superiors to digest the Russian troops surrounded in the west.

Compared with the other two friendly forces with many achievements, the Austro-Hungarian army of the Hungarian department seemed a little inconspicuous, but they also played an important role.

They did not attack, mainly based in Budapest, sending supplies to the friendly forces in nearby Slovakia, and at the same time launched a mild delaying attack on the Carpathians (to put it bluntly, it was to launch an attack to fix the enemy and prevent them from going elsewhere).

However, their offensive may not be worthy of being called a delayed offensive, because they only used artillery to clean the ground and never let the infantry go up to die.

But this is reasonable, after all, they only have two divisions, a total of 30,000 people.

As of May 13, the offensive launched by Austria-Hungary was stopped. Many of the troops fought for more than a day in a row, and every soldier was exhausted.

They had to rest to ease the soldiers' emotions, but once the offensive stopped, the Russians might transfer their troops back to the breakthrough point.

But Austria-Hungary didn't care. They had already reached the plain, and it was very easy to break through again, but it would only cause more deaths.

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