Chapter 829

Affected by the heavy casualties of the Russian Army, the war in the Asia Minor peninsula eased. In addition to continuing to harass and bomb, the Allied Forces occasionally landed to cause damage.

The Osman government wanted to take the opportunity to counterattack, but reality did not allow it. They had just experienced a great defeat, and the loss of personnel and supplies was very serious. The transportation in the Osman Empire was inconvenient, and there was no way to complete the replenishment in a short period of time.

In the Middle East theater, Lieutenant General Fislav was looking at Jerusalem and sighing. Religious cities were troublesome. There were too many landmark buildings inside. If they were accidentally damaged, it would be very troublesome in the future.

Otherwise, Fislav would have ordered the bombardment. Not using heavy firepower was only one aspect. He also had to control the casualties of the main force.

The main purpose of training was to train. Austria was not Russia, and the lives of soldiers could not be taken seriously.

In order to reduce losses, Lieutenant General Fislav used as much cannon fodder to attack the city as possible, which was also the reason for the slow progress.

The guard reminded, "General, the meeting is about to begin."

Fislav nodded and turned to enter the headquarters.

…

A young officer stood up. His face was full of worry. Coupled with his tender cheeks, it made people feel uncomfortable no matter how they looked at it.

"General, we can't attack so forcefully. If this continues, the war will not end, and the troops in our hands will be lost first. "

There was no doubt that the troops commanded by the young officer were used as cannon fodder. The indigenous soldiers had no status in the Austrian army. There was no establishment in normal times, and they would only be recruited temporarily when needed.

Fislav replied expressionlessly, "Major Rick, war has always been cruel. Not afraid of sacrifice is the essence of a soldier. What you have to do is learn to adapt.

If you are worried about the casualties of the troops, then find a way to reduce the casualties yourself, instead of complaining to me here.

Now that you are commanding the colonial forces, we don't care about such casualties. If one day you are commanding the regular army, this number of casualties is enough to send you to the military court. "

Fislav naturally didn't care about the sacrifice of cannon fodder. If the regular army suffered such a heavy loss, he would have to think about how to explain it to the country.

In fact, Franz didn't care about the casualties of the soldiers, but the casualties must be valuable. If it was an officer's mistake that caused the troops to suffer heavy losses, even if they won the war, they still had to be held accountable.

In comparison, the status of the cannon fodder troops was much lower. They could be recruited again after they died. The government of Vienna wouldn't even care.

In this war, other than Jerusalem, the young officers' ability to command was trained through actual combat. Basically, all of them were highly qualified.

For example, Rick was a division commander of the colonial forces. Otherwise, a major was not qualified to appear at the military meeting.

The young officer Rick hurriedly explained, "No, General, I just think there is no point in this blind attack.

In a situation where we can't use heavy cannons, it will be very difficult for us to achieve any results with such a forceful attack. Perhaps we should change to a more effective siege method.

For example, recruiting young and strong men on the spot to let the Ottomans kill each other and weaken the morale of the defenders in the city. Or drive the people into the city to consume the enemy food. "

In fact, these two methods had already been mentioned in the previous military conference. The reason he was rejected was very simple. It was because of his reputation.

To Vienna, the Holy land, Holy to Holy Holy, World, Holy, Holy Church, the holy. The Roman Curia, who was unwilling to be left out, also jumped out to wave the flag and cheer.

A large group of fearless war correspondents from the European continent came here. Every move of the Austrian army was watched by countless people. Naturally, Lieutenant General Fislav wouldn't take extreme measures.

Naturally, some people didn't understand this approach. Everyone had a bad reputation these days, and Austria was equally unclean in the colonial movement. Why care about reputation?

After hesitating for a moment, Fislav shook his head. "No, the military serves politics. The status of Jerusalem is extraordinary. We must consider the international impact.

If more than one-third of your soldiers are injured or killed, you can pause the siege. We have cut off the water supply, and the people inside won't be able to hold on for long.

This war is an actual combat training. Put the knowledge you have learned into practice on the battlefield. Losses are secondary. "

The seemingly relaxed answer was full of helplessness. It was not what a general should do to pin his hopes on the enemy's lack of preparation.

However, Fislav had already reported the situation to the Government of Vienna. The reply he received was that it didn't matter if Jerusalem couldn't be taken down for a while. Austria didn't need that much time, but its international reputation must not be damaged.

Another young officer suggested, "Why don't we make an opening and send people to spread rumors to encourage the local Islamists to enter Jerusalem to defend the Holy Land.

Also, we can create an opportunity for the prisoners we capture to escape back to Jerusalem. Whether the defenders in the city accept it or not, it will be beneficial to us. "

This kind of obscure method seemed to be much more civilized.

Fislav nodded. "This is a good suggestion. Order the patrols in the north to deliberately leave an opening to allow people in and out.

Then send people to talk to the local forces and let them guide the local Muslims into Jerusalem. Find an excuse to deal with those who don't cooperate.

Regardless of whether the defenders in the city let people in or not, send the people to the bottom of the city first. Do it carefully and don't let anyone find out. "

…

The blood-red sunset gradually faded. The Russian and Polish sides were still fighting fiercely. The battlefield was already covered with mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

At the moment of life and death, the courage of the Polish army surprised the Russians. However, this couldn't change the direction of the war. As time went on, the disadvantage of the Polish army was gradually exposed.

Night fell, and the darkness blocked the Russian Army's attack. Both sides were forced to retreat. The crumbling Kiev held on for another day. As a garrison officer, Pretar was mentally and physically exhausted.

With less than one-fifth of the Russian Army's strength, he had held the city for a week, but the reinforcements still hadn't arrived. The surrounding allies had long been defeated, and Kiev had become an isolated city.

Dragging his weary body, Pretar counted the casualties, and all he could do was sigh.

The Polish government deployed an infantry division and two garrison regiments in the Kiev area. The total force was as high as 16,000, and now less than half of them could fight.

This was the result of Pretar gathering all the forces in the Kiev area after the outbreak of the war. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to stop the Russian Army for a week.

The strategic points outside the city were almost lost. The Russian Army attacked the city during the day. Without reinforcements, the fall of Kiev was inevitable.

Pretar no longer had any illusions about reinforcements. He only hoped that the government wouldn't waste the time bought with the lives of 16,000 garrison troops.

Late at night, after deploying the garrison mission, Pretar wrote the last letter to the Polish government, or rather, a suicide note.

The telegraph from the Kiev area to Warsaw had been cut off. Now they could only use primitive communication methods. It was unknown if this letter could be delivered to the Polish government.

This time Pretar didn't ask for help. Reason told him that it was stupid to fight the Russians in the Kiev area.

The best battlefield was in Warsaw, although the losses would be very high if the battlefield was in the capital. But without the support of the people, it was too difficult to defeat the strong.

War always required sacrifices. In Pretar's view, there was no price that couldn't be paid for victory.

Today, the garrison in the Kiev area could sacrifice for the country. Tomorrow, as the capital, Warsaw could also sacrifice.

As one of the leaders of the Polish Revolution, after Poland's independence, Pretar voluntarily left the center of power and chose to guard the most unpopular Kiev front.

When he made this decision, he was ready to sacrifice for the country. The Russian Empire wasn't easy to deal with. The Tsarist government's comeback was within many people's expectations.

But this time came too early. The independent Poland didn't recover, and in just a few years, it became a fish on the chopping block again.

…

In Warsaw, when Prime Minister Dombrowski received Pretar's suicide note, the news of the Kiev area's fall and Pretar's suicide also came. The last nail was pulled out, and the Russians' vanguard was directed at the Sluch River.

Dombrowski put down the letter in his hand and shook his head. In his opinion, Pretar was too idealistic. At this point, it was already good enough that the Polish Kingdom could be preserved.

Instead of fantasizing about concentrating forces in the Warsaw area to deal a heavy blow to the Russian Army, it was better to hope for Prussia's reinforcements to arrive faster.

Just the day before Kiev fell, the Polish Parliament elected William I as the king, and the Polish-Polish confluence was a foregone conclusion.

Until now, the Polish Kingdom had already lost. In just half a month, the Polish Kingdom had lost 80,000 troops and lost one-fifth of its territory. How could it fight against Russia?

Someone had to be responsible for the failure of the war. As the loser, Dombrowski, the interim prime minister, was not far from resigning.

There was no other way. Under the pressure of Russia, all sectors of Polish society advocated compromise with Prussia in exchange for the Government of Berlin's military protection.

Dombrowski's political career over the years wasn't in vain. He was no longer a simple revolutionary.

Combined with the current situation, he knew that there was a secret deal between Poland and Russia. There was no way the Government of Berlin didn't know the principle of interdependence. However, the Prussia people still didn't move, which was enough to explain a lot of problems.

How the war ended was no longer something the Polish government could decide. It was estimated that when the Russians got the agreed territory, it would be time for everyone to sit down and negotiate.

The intervention of the international community was nothing but thunder and no rain. If Britain and France really wanted to interfere in this war, then they could directly send troops to the Baltic Sea to threaten St. Peter's castle. The Tsarist government was guaranteed to compromise.