Chapter 767

The sudden bombing ended as quickly as it came. It took more than an hour to finish, leaving behind a mess.

After confirming that it was safe, Ozzur walked out of the command center and looked at the billowing smoke in the city. He quickly ordered, "Quickly organize people to fight the fire. We must protect the food and ammunition warehouses."

The accompanying young officer replied, "Yes, General!"

Then, he immediately ran to convey the order. In the bombing just now, the exposed telegraph and telephone lines were unfortunately damaged and hadn't been restored yet.

At this point, Major General Ozzur didn't have any illusions about defending against the enemy outside the country's gate.

They relied on the artillery to stop the enemy from landing, but what about the enemy in the sky? If they didn't solve the threat above them, they could only be passively attacked.

No matter how tight the defense was, it would still collapse if there was a wave of attacks from above. The number of casualties was still being calculated. Major General Ozzur didn't have the courage to face it anymore.

Holding his beloved binoculars, Major General Ozzur looked at the battlefield and knew that the losses were definitely heavy.

In just a little more than an hour, the airship fleet dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on top of them. If the Navy's artillery was added, the number would be even higher.

For a small port like Ava, this amount of ammunition was enough to carry out a big explosion. Not to mention the port facilities were heavily damaged, the key point was that the fortifications were destroyed.

Time passed by, and in the evening, the casualty report appeared in Major General Ozzur's hand. The thin piece of paper in his hand seemed to weigh a thousand pounds at this moment.

Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Major General Ozzur quickly scanned the losses.

More than half of the artillery was lost, 686 people were killed, 1,468 people were injured, and 315 people were missing. Most of the artillery was destroyed. One-fifth of the supplies were lost. One-third of the buildings in the city suffered varying degrees of damage. There were also many civilian casualties …

A regiment of soldiers was destroyed. Don't think that they could recover in the future just because there were a lot of wounded. In fact, with the medical conditions of the Osman army, the casualty rate was usually no less than 40%.

In short, they had to take it themselves. If they were lucky, the wound didn't become inflamed or suppurated, then they would survive. Otherwise, it was up to fate.

"Battlefield rescue," where could the Sudanese government find so many medical personnel? Even if they had medical personnel, they didn't have enough medicine.

In this era, medicine was much more expensive than life. For example, penicillin, which could only be produced in the laboratory, was ten times more expensive than gold on the market.

Due to the influence of chemical technology, it couldn't be produced on a large scale and could only be produced on a small scale.

The annual production wasn't even enough for Austria. Once it entered the international market, it would naturally become sky-high. On the black market, the price had already risen to 1,000 Divine Shields per piece, and there was still no supply for it. How could the Sudanese government provide it to their soldiers?

Since he was injured on the battlefield, he could only hope for God's blessings! Most of the soldiers could only do simple bandages, which also depended on luck. Basically, they used whatever cloth was in front of them.

If he was unlucky and didn't have any sterilized gauze, he could tear a piece of cloth from his clothes and make do with it. As, Hao, Army of the general as he as they could he. as possible.

After reading the report, Major General Ozzur loosened his hands and let the documents fall to the ground. He sat down as if his soul had been sucked out of his body.

After a while, Major General Ozzur slowly recovered and let out a deep sigh, "Sigh!"

He shook his head. "Immediately send someone to report our situation to the higher-ups. Ask for reinforcements and remind the country to be careful of the enemy's airships."

Airships had been around for many years. Due to their low price-performance ratio, they weren't practical and rarely seen in daily life.

If he didn't love reading newspapers, he wouldn't even know about their existence, let alone using them in war.

However, this was all in the past. After this battle, airships would soon appear among the armies of various countries. In this aspect, everyone's learning ability was still very strong.

As for countermeasures, sorry. This was beyond the scope of Ozgur's abilities. He reckoned that after a few more explosions, he would have learned his lesson.

…

Compared to the gloomy Ava garrison, the atmosphere in the Constantinople's joint command center was much more enthusiastic. The airship fleet had just arrived and they had already made a great contribution.

Originally, they thought that they would have to pay a heavy price to destroy Ava's shore artillery. The Russian Army was preparing to land from nearby areas and attack from land.

Actually, it was easy to land from nearby areas. In fact, due to the geographical restrictions, there were no good ports, so the ships couldn't dock at all. The Russians were preparing to board bamboo rafts.

Without a doubt, this method was extremely dangerous and required human lives. Austria had landing ships, but due to insufficient preparation, they weren't sent to the Black Sea in time. If they could land from the Mediterranean coast, there wouldn't be a problem.

Whether it was intentional or not, this was not a question. In short, the landing ships wouldn't arrive in a short period of time. If the Russians could wait, they would arrive soon.

The small shipyard on the Danube River could produce these small boats. Without considering the lifespan, they could produce low-quality goods in two to three months. Anyway, it wouldn't be a problem for them to land two to three times.

Now that the enemy's shore artillery was damaged, they could just force their way in. Even the feint attack plan was aborted because of this.

The Tsarist government urgently needed to occupy the straits of the Black Sea to ensure the smooth flow of this important foreign trade route. In order to give his country a satisfactory answer, General Ivanov decided that speed was of the essence.

Before the Osman Empire could react, they had rushed to land on Ava. The previously formulated battle plan wasn't completely useless, but the execution was greatly reduced.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, Arest, was very dissatisfied with this kind of unauthorized modification of the battle plan and disregard of the agreement between the two countries.

Even though Arest didn't come from the army, the Government of Vienna gave him staff officers who were all professionals.

Everyone could see the risk of changing the battle plan at a glance. According to the original plan, as long as they landed in the areas where the Osman Empire's troops were weak, they would carry out the scorched earth strategy and drive the people inland.

There was no need for a bitter battle. As long as they continued to cause destruction, they would be able to win the war. After changing the plan, the Russian Army had to fight the Osman Empire.

The Russian Army was full of confidence, but the Austrian Army didn't have that much confidence in them. A mere 150,000 Russian Army had to fight against hundreds of thousands of Osman troops. After losing the human wave tactic, no one knew how strong the gray beasts were.

One had to admit that first impressions were very important. From the beginning, Arest had thought that the Russian Army's combat power was limited. According to Austria's standards, the Russian Army basically didn't meet all the training requirements.

…

Arest sternly reprimanded, "General Ivanov, this battle plan has been approved by both countries' governments.

Before this, both sides had carefully evaluated and selected the most suitable battle plan from the numerous battle plans.

According to this battle plan, we can minimize the losses on both sides and use the least cost to win this war. I believe this is the common goal of everyone. "

Ivanov shook his head, "No, Commander. This battle plan is too conservative. We have to attack from all sides and force the enemy to split up before attacking Ava. This will take at least three to five months.

However, this is built on the premise that the defensive firepower of Ava's garrison is strong and will cause a lot of trouble for us to land. Now that the enemy's shore cannons have almost been destroyed, we can launch an attack immediately.

The Osman still hasn't reacted, so we can make use of the time difference. Even if the enemy has gathered more troops, we have the advantage in the air.

Believe me, no army can maintain their combat power under the bombardment of airships. The decaying Osman Empire will be broken with a single poke.

There's no need for us to argue about these meaningless issues. Victory belongs to us. General Arest, let us forge our own glory together! "

Arest's brows were tightly knitted as he said in a sincere tone, "General Ivanov, you're too optimistic. Airships aren't invincible. There are many special terrains, such as jungles, where airships can't play a role.

If a decisive battle breaks out, even if we win, you will suffer heavy losses. The lads have followed us to fight, so we must try our best to bring them back. "

After a moment of silence, Ivanov still shook his head. According to the battle plan, he also wanted to reduce the casualties as much as possible.

However, the problem was that the country couldn't withstand it. The Black Sea Strait was cut off, and the Russian Empire's foreign trade had suffered a heavy blow. If they couldn't open up the passage as soon as possible, the losses would be even greater after the autumn grain entered the warehouse.

The war had just broken out, and the Tsarist government had repeatedly ordered him to speed up the pace. War needed to serve politics, and soldiers also had to consider the national interest.

Austria could let the war drag on, but that was because the longer it dragged on, the more benefits Austria could gain from Russian-Austrian trade. Relying on the profits from monopolizing half of the Russian Empire's trade could almost make up for the losses caused by the war. Naturally, the Government of Vienna wasn't anxious.

"Your Excellency, I still insist on changing the battle plan. This is what St. Peter Castle wants. The economic losses caused by the war are too great, and the Russian Empire can no longer afford to drag on. "

Arest wanted to say something, but stopped himself. At this stage, unless he forcefully stopped it, such as if the Austrian transport ships and warships didn't cooperate, he could only convince St. Peter Castle.

After pondering for a while, he said, "Alright, I will report to Vienna. If the General Staff agrees, we will cooperate with you."

…

In the Palace of Vienna, Franz, who received the airship bombardment team's success, didn't even have time to be happy when he received the news that a "strategic battle" had broken out at the frontline.

He knew that the Russians wanted to open up the Black Sea, but he didn't expect the Tsarist government to be so impatient so quickly that they didn't even care about the casualties of their soldiers.

Well, it seemed that the Tsarist government had never cared about the casualties of their soldiers. This question shouldn't have been considered from the beginning.

Franz slapped his forehead. "What do you think? The Russians are so eager to attack, should we agree or refuse?"

Prime Minister Felix: "Your Majesty, it's the same no matter how you choose, but personally, I'm still inclined to agree with the Russians' choice.

This war is just a strategic deception, and the outcome isn't that important. If we follow the original plan, we can say that we will definitely win, and it's uncertain whether the Osman will exist.

Now that the Russians are willing to change their strategy, let them go. If the Russian Army suffers heavy losses at the frontline, we can also take the opportunity to end this war. "

Fine, I don't even want to think about the military, the outcome doesn't matter at all. If this kind of idle strategy was spread out, probably no one would believe it.

Perhaps when future generations study this period of history, they will be able to connect all the events to uncover the truth. Of course, the possibility of being led astray was still higher.

Franz looked at the military. He needed the military to give him an answer and weigh the pros and cons comprehensively before making a decision.

As if sensing Franz's gaze, the Minister of War Albrecht said, "Your Majesty, after changing the battle plan, the Russians' chances of winning in Asia Minor will be greatly reduced. Even if they can win the war, they will suffer heavy losses.

However, the outcome of the battle in Asia Minor will not affect our Middle East strategy.

Now the Government of Sudan doesn't dare to take the risk of increasing the number of troops in the Middle East, and no one can guarantee that we won't increase the number of troops in Asia Minor.

If the Russians are defeated or suffer heavy losses, we can always send troops to feint an attack at any time. The Government of Sudan won't dare to act rashly. "

Franz said, "Then tell Albrecht to ignore what the Russians want to do, let them fight however they want."

As long as it doesn't affect the Middle East strategy, Franz has nothing to fear. At most, he will send troops to deal with the aftermath of the Russians. It's just a matter of money, which is nothing compared to the oil in the Middle East.

…

Constantinople. After receiving Franz's order, Albrecht gave up on fighting and warned earnestly, "General Ivanov, you must insist on landing at the Ava area first. We agree.

However, you will be responsible for all the consequences that result from this. If the Osman Empire's main forces are attracted here, causing the following strategy to be unable to proceed, don't blame me for not reminding you. "

This isn't shirking responsibility, but a reasonable shift of responsibility. Since the Russian Army changed the battle plan that they had discussed beforehand, they naturally have to bear the responsibility.

By making things clear now, they can avoid a lot of wrangling in the future. Even if the Russian Army suffered heavy losses, they can only hold back their tears and swallow it.

Ivanov replied happily, "Don't worry, Your Excellency. We are old rivals with the Osman Empire. We know how strong they are, there won't be any problems. "