Chapter 529

The flames of war in the The Balkans were ignited once again. This was the largest battle in the history of Europe. Both sides had invested more than a million troops on the battlefront that spanned more than 400 kilometers.

This battle that was destined to go down in history unfolded in a very comedic manner. Logically speaking, as the initiator of the battle, the Russians should have had a great advantage because the allied forces were not sufficiently prepared. They should have even secured victory.

The reality was very tragic. As the initiator of the attack, the Russian Army was also in a mess.

Preston, the commander of the artillery regiment, cursed angrily, "Damn it, we're artillerymen. You actually sent me a bunch of bullets. Do you want me to feed bullets to the cannons?"

The officer in charge of delivering the supplies replied mechanically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Colonel. This is an order from above. If there are any problems, please contact the command center. Please sign for the supplies now."

Preston's artillery regiment had just arrived. The infantry regiment that was originally stationed here had already advanced forward, but the logistics department was still distributing the supplies according to the original plan.

Preston frowned and replied, "We'll report this to the higher-ups, Mr. Major. I don't have any use for these supplies now. It's better for you to take them back! "

The major said sternly, "No, Sir. The order I received is to deliver these supplies to the garrison here. Please be sure to sign for it.

As for how to deal with these supplies, do as you see fit. You can dispose of them privately or find a place to throw them away. Just report the losses after the battle.

These supplies are an infantry regiment's supplies for the next week. There are also many good things inside. You won't lose out, Colonel. "

After hesitating for a moment, Preston still signed his name. It would be a waste not to take the money that was delivered to his doorstep.

In any case, the artillerymen were the treasures of the command center. They were different from those worthless gray animals. As long as they reported it, their supplies would still come.

…

The main force of the Russian Army was divided into two in this battle. Fitzroy Somerset led four infantry divisions, two artillery regiments, and one cavalry regiment, a total of more than 73,000 people to attack the Sofia region.

The battlefield was ever-changing, and the troops were frequently mobilized. The logistics system could not keep up. Unlike the previous battle, it had been very easy to resupply in the Donau River valley. Even if there was a mistake, it could be quickly adjusted.

It was different now. The frontline had advanced two hundred kilometers, and it would take a few days for the logistics to be delivered. Without a telegraph, they could only rely on messengers to notify them, and the news received by the logistics department was often delayed.

At this time, the mechanical Russia bureaucracy came into play. The officers who transported the logistics had to deliver the supplies to the designated location.

Even if the original troops were no longer, they would still have to hand over the supplies. Colonel Preston's case was not the military. of the army of the Russian.

"Order the logistics department to increase the supply of supplies to the frontline troops to one month. From now on, the supplies won't be at a fixed location and must be delivered to the troops.

Troops below the division level will not be transported individually. All of them will be sent to the division headquarters for distribution. The artillery and cavalry divisions will be sent directly from the headquarters. "

A middle-aged officer reminded, "Chief of Staff, this is against the rules. I'm afraid …"

Fitzroy Somerset shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I'll explain this to Hua Xia. Send someone to contact Commander Menshikov. I believe he has encountered the same problem. "

…

After changing the logistics system, the Russian Army's logistical chaos was finally resolved. Of course, the supplies that had been lost earlier could not be found. They were all considered to have been lost.

The battle of Sofia began. The Russian Army was only thirty kilometers away from Sofia, and the two sides had already started exchanging fire.

In the command center of the Sofia Allied Forces, Montes asked, "Have you found out the enemy's strength?"

"Commander, we have. The Russian Army has sent out four infantry divisions, two artillery regiments, and one cavalry regiment, a total of 73,000 people.

In addition, there are about 20,000 Bulgarian guerrillas. However, they seem to have a disagreement with the Russians and did not act together. "

The one who replied was an Ottoman military officer. The task of investigating the enemy's situation was naturally left to them to the snakes. If they were to send British soldiers out, they would not even know how to get back if they got lost due to the language barrier.

Montes said calmly, "Our reinforcements will arrive tomorrow night. Order the troops not to be in a hurry to engage the enemy. Leave a small number of troops to slow down the enemy's advance.

Apart from a few important strongholds that must be defended, withdraw the rest and wait for reinforcements to arrive before engaging the enemy in a decisive battle. "

Montes could be considered a rare "veteran" in the British army. He had once commanded a battalion of troops and suppressed a rebellion of hundreds of people.

There was no helping it. Who asked the British Empire to be peaceful and prosperous for the past decade or so? Without a major war, the British Army could only bully the natives in the colonies apart from suppressing the Irish mobs.

The largest scale of the battle was also at the level of a team. High-ranking generals like Montes who had been on the battlefield were rare. Thus, he had become the commander of the British Expeditionary Force.

There was no experience, but he could learn. Montes was doing very well, following the requirements of the art of war. Even if he could not gain the upper hand, he would not lose out.

…

Evening.

In a camp, soldiers were gathered in twos and threes, gazing at the starry sky.

A man with a Genoese accent asked, "Arturo, why do you think our country sent us all the way to the Balkans to fight the Russians?"

Arturo said carelessly, "Didn't those old men say that they are fighting the Russians for revenge? It's said that the Russians supported Austria in the last Austro-Hungarian War, and they are still allies.

Anzo, why are you asking all this? We are all just trying to make a living. If we could find a job in our country, who would come here to suffer? "

"Nothing, I'm just asking. I feel that there's something fishy about this. They sent us all the way to the Balkans to fight the Russians for no reason. No matter how I look at it, it's not normal.

Even if there's a need for revenge, it should be the nobles and capitalists who need it. Paupers like us have nothing to lose, so why would we come here? "Anzo shook his head.

Despite their suspicions, they were uneducated and couldn't think too much. All of them joined the army for the sake of earning a living.

"I say, what are you guys talking about? Hurry up and get your food tomorrow. If you miss it, you can settle it yourself."

A familiar voice sounded. The two stopped talking and ran as fast as they could to line up for their rations.

After getting their rations, Anzo's expression turned ugly. He complained, "Damn the British, do they really like to eat corned beef and hard biscuits?

They don't even provide us with a piece of bread. These days are inhumane. They are deliberately abusing us. I'm afraid our rations can't even compare to the Osman's! "

In this war, the expenses of the Sardinian army were all borne by the British, and the logistics were naturally handled by the British as well.

It couldn't be considered deliberate abuse, but the rations of the British soldiers were the same. They all had the same standard: two pounds of corned beef and three hard biscuits per person per day, and that was it. (One pound was equivalent to 0.4536 kilograms)

Not to mention fruits and vegetables, there wasn't even a piece of rye bread. The British didn't do this to save money. From a cost perspective, the price of corned beef wasn't low, and rye bread was much cheaper.

The reason for this tragedy was the bureaucratic system. The bureaucrats in the British Supply Department thought that corned beef jerky was easy to transport, so they just slapped their butts on the head and became the British army's rations in this war.

On the surface, it seemed like having beef to eat every day was not a bad meal. If it was beef jerky, and they ate it every day, the feeling wouldn't be so wonderful. The first test was whether the teeth could take it.

Not only was the beef hard, but the biscuits were even harder. These were probably the earliest compressed biscuits. If they weren't soaked in water, if you could bite them, they would be iron teeth and copper teeth.

This kind of food was simply disastrous for the Italians who pursued delicacies.

No matter how poor the Sardinian Kingdom was, their army never skimped on food expenses. The quality of the food was much higher than the British.

"Anzo, stop complaining. If the Osman found out, they wouldn't mind trading with you. Would you really be willing to trade with them?" Arturo said with a smile.

Happiness came from comparison. The food provided by the British was the worst, but at least they didn't have to worry about going hungry.

The beef jerky could also be processed a second time. If the conditions were right, they could get some vegetables and boil them together. They didn't even need to add salt.

The Osman army's rations were the worst. They were also required to bring their own rations to the battlefield. What kind of rations they received depended on luck. It was considered a good season if they ate until they were seventy to eighty percent full.

Because of the daily free pay, the Osman bureaucrats had the good habit of giving discounts according to the rules. If a certain army didn't have a vacancy, then it would be terrible. The whole army should be prepared to go hungry.

Anzo shook his head and said, "Fine, I didn't say anything. However, the British logisticians really should be executed. I'm willing to bet that more soldiers have died because of them than on the battlefield."

Arturo said with a smile, "I don't know about that. Maybe the British have a different stomach from us and can take it.

Let's not talk about this. We remember that you plucked a few vegetables during the day. I still have two potatoes here. Tomorrow, we'll stew it with the beef jerky and make do with it! "

The two of them looked at each other and smiled. Even if the standard of supplies was low, the Italians could use their talent and improve their meals as much as possible under limited conditions.

In this respect, the Sardinian army also contributed. Their arrival directly improved the quality of life of the British army and reduced the number of scurvy patients among the British soldiers.

The British soldiers who traveled with them quickly learned these excellent lessons and spread them as fast as possible. In the past, they only went out to rob goods, which was really too wasteful.

Now that everyone learned to be smart, the crops in the fields and the cows and sheep on the hillsides could all be turned into spoils of war. Many soldiers even learned to preserve food and used all the conditions to store food.

The direct consequences of this was that the marching speed of the army was greatly reduced, and military discipline became more lax. With the Sardinian army's old foxes, they did whatever the officers ordered them to do.

The law didn't punish the masses. Faced with a group of unified soldiers, the officers didn't dare to do anything to them.

At the same time, they also led the British astray. Everyone discovered the power of unity. As long as they were united, the officers didn't dare to touch them.

In the end, they arrived in Sofia two days later than Montes had predicted. On this battlefield where time was of the essence, two days was enough to change a lot of things.

The most direct change was that the Russian Army had already pressed in. Due to the lack of manpower, Montes didn't dare to send too many troops to guard the surrounding strongholds, and they had already fallen.

With the delayed arrival of the reinforcements, the Allied Forces had already lost the best opportunity to fight back. It was already too late to launch a counterattack while the Russian Army had yet to stabilize their footing.

Montes roared angrily, "You bunch of good-for-nothings, you actually delayed such a short journey by two days. Were you on an outing along the way? Do you know what military law is? "

The Sardinian army's Major General Mantua lied with a straight face, "Commander, we were ambushed by the guerrillas on the way, and they even caused us dozens of casualties. We were only delayed in order to eliminate the guerrillas."

None of them were fools. In order to avoid military law, they all said that they were ambushed by the guerrillas, and the casualties were the proof.

"The guerrillas are so arrogant. You have so many troops, yet they dared to ambush us?" Montes asked doubtfully.

Mantua had an idea and said, "Commander, the guerrillas are very cunning. They didn't fight us head-on and only ambushed us in the dark.

"They dug traps along the way and shot arrows at night. They're very difficult to deal with, and there were quite a number of them. In order to prevent them from cutting off our army's retreat, we eliminated them. "

He wasn't spouting nonsense. There were really soldiers who fell into the traps, but they had accidentally fallen into the traps when they went into the mountains to hunt for prey. There were also sneak attacks, and they were also shot by hunters who encountered the Osman in the mountains.

This was the first time Montes had met such a high-level talent who could lie without batting an eyelid. The British officers were more honest, completely different from the Italian officers.

It wasn't Mantua's first time doing this either. Back when he was working under Marshal Bartolio, they had collectively lied to their country. Now that they were fooling the inexperienced Montes, there was naturally no pressure.

Montes snorted coldly, "Hmph!"

Then, he scolded, "Even if that's the case, you shouldn't have delayed for so long. Couldn't you have left a small force to encircle the guerrillas and rushed over with the main force?

Do you know how much damage you've caused to our army because of your delay? You even missed the best opportunity to counterattack! "

But this time, he didn't mention military law, and everyone couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. Mantua didn't continue to defend himself. What was there to be afraid of being scolded? It wasn't like he would lose a piece of flesh.

After the defeat of the Osanian War, there weren't many generals in the Kingdom of Sardinia who could retain their titles. Mantua was one of them, not because he was good at fighting, but because his military ability was very limited.

His greatest ability was to be eloquent and observe people's expressions. He pushed all the responsibility to others and stood on the king's side at the first moment, gaining the king's trust. That was how he had the chance to make a comeback.