After the Hollster factory's new rifle passed the actual combat test, it entered the Austrian army's list of candidates and was named the Styron M1852 rifle.
This seemed to be a European habit. Designers always liked to name their weapons after themselves.
These were all small problems, and Franz was not interested in getting to the bottom of it. Entering the army's list of candidates did not mean that they could equip it on a large scale.
The breech-loading rifle had been around for more than 30 years. The earliest was the American Hall M1819. Unfortunately, this rifle's bullets would fly to the left after 45.7 meters.
Then there was the Draisel M1841 from Prussia. The Prussia army had already begun to equip it, but many generals were against it. Obviously, its performance had not conquered the public.
This rifle shone in the Prussian War and the Prussian War of 1864. Of course, its advantage over the preloaded rifle was not as amazing as later generations claimed.
This could be seen from the fact that the Prussia army was not fully equipped.
Although the firing rate was four to five times that of the preloaded rifle, its firing pin was easily damaged. The first industrially produced M1841 was ridiculed and said, "Don't go to the battlefield without a spare firing pin."
The breech often leaked air, and the leaking gas could easily interfere with shooting. In serious cases, it could burn the skin, and if unlucky, it could even blind the gunner.
Later on, the production technology was improved, and its performance gradually stabilized. The Draisel M1841 began to shine.
Franz had come across many similar rifles. Many rifles had excellent performance in the laboratory, but once it was produced on a large scale, it would not work.
Either the cost was too high, or the performance was reduced. This was not a nuclear weapon, so Franz naturally had to consider the cost. Sacrificing performance was even more undesirable. Was there a need to equip a rifle without performance advantages?
Until the Styron M1852 came out. In terms of performance, it was similar to the historical Chassebeau rifle, but the effective range was a little shorter.
These were all small problems. It was enough to ensure an effective range of 650 meters. The furthest it could go was more than 1,500 meters. It was also good to scare people from a distance.
Franz had always believed that in actual combat, those who could accurately hit the enemy within 150 meters were excellent soldiers. Farther away, it was better to rely on instinct!
"Marshal, what do you think of this rifle? Should we change it?" Franz asked.
Marshal Radiski replied with a smile, "Your Majesty, from the data collected, the effect is not bad. It has the value of large-scale equipment.
However, the price quoted by the Munitions Factory for this rifle is 30% higher than that of an ordinary rifle, and the ammunition consumption may be two or three times higher. "
Obviously, Marshal Radski was experienced. He did not expect this rifle to be able to fire the theoretical limit of 15 rounds on the battlefield. Otherwise, the ammunition consumption would increase by a lot.
Franz calmly said, "It's acceptable to increase the cost by a bit. After large-scale industrial production, the cost will still decrease. As long as its power is worth the price, it's fine.
If we immediately give the order to concentrate on mass production, there won't be any problem for the more than 20 munitions factories in Austria to produce 30,000 to 40,000 of these rifles per month. "
Thanks to the war in the Near East, Austria's military factories had expanded their production. Compared to a year ago, Austria's military production had increased by 50%.
If they were to produce pre-loaded rifles, there wouldn't be a problem at all. Otherwise, the Russian Army would not be able to change their equipment so quickly.
Marshal Radiski calmly said, "Your Majesty, it's better to be cautious. Let's first purchase 100,000 rifles for trial.
If the effect is good on the battlefield, then we can change it completely. Right now, the rest of the world is still using pre-loaded rifles. Our rifles are not behind. "
Franz nodded. There wasn't enough time for a large-scale change of equipment. Unless the entire country was mobilized now, there was still a lot of potential in Austria's military production.
This was the same as when the automatic rifles were first introduced. Everyone knew that it was a good rifle, but the terrifying ammunition consumption, could the logistics support them?
The limit of the ammunition consumption could only be found out on the battlefield. Just like how the Montenegro Principality's army was very satisfied with the rifle's performance after testing it. After seeing the terrifying ammunition consumption, they no longer had the intention to purchase it.
You said that the accuracy was high? That's right, the enemy could at most fire two or three shots per minute. If you could fire seven or eight shots per minute, the probability of hitting the enemy would naturally be higher. This was a very normal thing.
But this increase in accuracy was not two or three times, it was only twenty to thirty percent. This was when the enemy had just used it and was not used to it. If they had gotten used to it, it might continue to drop.
On the surface, it didn't seem like much, but if you considered how many bullets were needed to kill an enemy, you would realize that you couldn't afford it without money.
In the era of pre-loaded rifles, an average of two digits of bullets were used to kill an enemy. In the era of breech-loading rifles, it increased to four digits.
There was no other way. The era of firing platoons was over. Everyone was crawling on the ground, and it became more difficult to hit the enemy. The appearance of trenches and machine guns in the later stages further increased the consumption of ammunition.
In the era of semi-automatic rifles, it rose to five digits. Using rounds as the unit of measurement later on was too large. It was more appropriate to use tons as the unit of measurement.
…
Sofia Theater
A Sardinian officer said indignantly, "General, the Russians are still biting us. What do we do now?"
They had already leaked all the military intelligence of the British to the Russians, but they still dared to continue attacking here. This was simply too much.
Mantua gritted his teeth and said, "We can't retreat now. This concerns our honor, and it also concerns the honor of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
You don't want to go back to the country with the name of a defeated army and go to the military court, right? Now we must not be the first to lose our position.
Since the Russians have gone too far, then we will teach them a lesson and let the Russians know that we are not easy to bully.
Tell the soldiers that our salaries are still in the hands of the British. If we run now, we will have wasted our efforts. If anyone dares to run, I will kill him now. "
"Yes, General!" The young officer immediately replied.
Mantua added worriedly, "Wait a minute. Privately release the news that the British are about to collapse. When their line of defense collapses, we will retreat immediately."
It turned out that the Sardinian army still had combat power when they fought with their lives on the line. The so-called heavy casualties also depended on the standard.
If there were a few wounded, they could also add two or three zeros to the number, and the report would be heavy casualties.
If anyone paid attention to the casualty report submitted by the Sardinian army to the allied forces, they would find that their casualty rate was close to one-fifth.
The British believed this report because the casualties of the British army were not too far from this figure. The British never doubted it at all.
Faced with the sudden outbreak of the Sardinian army, the Russians found that this soft persimmon was not easy to deal with.
Fitzroy Somerset decided to test if the intelligence was true. After all, along the way, the Bulgarians had provided them with too much intelligence. It was not surprising that there were Bulgarians among the enemy.
…
As soon as the Russians made their move, Montes was about to go crazy from the battle report he had just received. Suddenly, there was a burst of artillery fire, and the shells accurately landed on their artillery positions.
If it was only one place, it could be said that it was luck, but all the artillery positions were hit, and all of them were raided.
This was not the end. After the artillery positions were unlucky, the military supplies warehouse was accurately baptized.
Even though the Russian Army was far away and the accuracy of the artillery was low, they still suffered heavy casualties after this round of bombardment.
The artillery fire was completed, and the Russian Army accurately found the weakness of their forces, and launched the fiercest attack.
Montes knew that a traitor had leaked the intelligence, but at this point, he could only call for reinforcements. Even if he wanted to settle the score, he had to stop the Russians first.
"How long before that idiot Oliver arrives at the frontline?" Montes asked again.
The attendant replied nervously, "Major-General Oliver reported that they have just recovered Plovdiv from the guerrillas, and are expected to arrive in Sofia in a week."
It would not be a problem for them to cover a distance of more than 120 kilometers in a week. The normal marching speed of the British army was only 20 to 30 kilometers a day. Now that there were guerrillas attacking, it was understandable that they were slower.
Montes ordered, "Order that idiot to speed up. He must arrive at the frontline in three days, or else he will be punished according to military law!"
"Yes, Commander!" the attendant immediately replied.
Montes was still worried, so he instructed, "Wait a moment. Tell that idiot to send half of his troops here with light equipment. Leave the heavy supplies with the troops at the back. That will speed things up."
The Russians were playing poker. This was a risk, but it was also an opportunity. As long as the reinforcements arrived, the allied army could still turn the tables.
Otherwise, Montes would have fled long ago. If the Sardinians did not want to continue fighting, they could find a way to make the British the scapegoat. Why couldn't Montes make the Sardinians the scapegoat?
He was the Commander of the allied army, and he had many ways to make people suffer.
Right now, the British and Osman armies were working together to bear the brunt of the pressure on the battlefield. As long as he gave up some of his positions and let the Sardinians and Osman armies defend together, the Russians would probably be able to break through the defensive line in less than a day.
Montes still wanted military credit. If they lost Sofia, even if his allies took the blame for them, he would not be able to absolve himself from the blame as a Commander, and it would leave a permanent stain on his reputation.
…
Oliver was still capable, but it was his first time on the battlefield, and his lack of experience had led to a series of failures.
Before Montes' orders arrived, he had already sped up his march, but the road along the way was simply too bumpy.
As the area where the Bulgarian guerrillas were active, how could they not disrupt the traffic? They were repairing the road as they marched, and they also had to deal with snipers who came out of nowhere.
Occasionally, there would be landmines, which were sponsored by Franz. He had been worried that the Russian Army would be defeated, so he had prepared a batch of landmines in advance to block their pursuers.
He did not expect the allied army to make such foolish moves. None of them wanted to do anything to let their allies take advantage of them, and so they lost their advantage.
The Russians were not interested in these cheap bombs, so they gave them to the Bulgarian guerrillas. Now, it was Oliver's turn to have a headache.
These landmines were the simplest to set up, and it was very easy to clear them. The only thing that was needed was time.
There were no good ideas, but there were many stupid ones. The British drove their animals through the landmines, but their marching speed was inevitably delayed.
…
On the 2nd of January, 1853, the Bulgarian guerrillas suddenly attacked the back of the British position, and the allied army was in chaos. At this critical moment, the Sardinians fled, and the defensive line that Montes had painstakingly built was broken.
There was no other way. Montes did not have enough troops to guard against the possible appearance of the Bulgarian guerrillas, and was caught unprepared.
The worst part was that the reinforcements were less than 15 kilometers away from the frontline. If the Sardinian army did not flee, and instead did their best to help, they could still hold out until the reinforcements arrived.
Obviously, Mantua did not have the resolve to fight the Russians to the death, and would not hesitate to flee if they could. After all, the British defensive line had failed, and they could not be blamed for it.
In order to avoid being blamed, Mantua even abducted some of the British soldiers to flee with them.
This escape caused Montes to die. As a defeated general, he was not far from being court-martialed. If he could make it back alive, he would inevitably have to go there.
Oliver, who had hurried all the way, was the second unlucky fellow. He had come at the last moment, exhausted and disregarded his own losses, and had arrived at the last moment, only to be immediately engaged in a battle with the Russians.
Unsurprisingly, on the battlefield, one with fewer men would always be at a disadvantage. Oliver was in a hurry, and did not bring any cannons, so he was at a disadvantage.
After a bitter battle, Oliver successfully led his troops to flee, and rescued a group of scattered British soldiers along the way. At least his efforts were not in vain.
The Russians were also exhausted, and the soldiers did not have the strength to continue the pursuit. Seeing this situation, Fitzroy Somerset naturally chose to stop while he was ahead.
There was no way to defend Sofia to the death, and Montes had long considered this problem. Unfortunately, the city had been tossed around too much by the Osman, and the city's defenses were long gone.
The people in the city gnashed their teeth in hatred of the allied forces. By relying on the city to fight the Russians in the streets, they were the first to fall into a civil war.
Moreover, the Osman government was too inefficient. The supplies they had accumulated in Sofia were not even enough for the allied forces to consume in a month. If they dared to stay in the isolated city, they would be completely annihilated!
At this point in the battle, the allied forces were already very strained, and they could not count on anyone to help them out.
Even if reinforcements were to be mobilized from within the country, there would not be enough time. After the battle was defeated, the allied forces scrambled to escape.
It was impossible to completely annihilate a battle line that was more than ten kilometers long. Russia had only torn open a section of the allied forces' defensive line.
If it wasn't for the fact that he had to rescue more soldiers, Oliver would not have had to rush over to fight the Russians. They could have turned around and fled, and the Russians would not have chased them at all.
After half a year, both sides invested nearly 200,000 troops in the battle, which ended in a pyrrhic victory for the Russians.
Looking at the casualty report, Fitzroy Somerset could responsibly say that he had completed the Tsarist government's mission well, and had achieved victory regardless of the casualties.
The total number of casualties was as high as 67,000. The Russian Army had basically been replaced, and 26,000 of them had died in battle (including the wounded who could not be rescued).
Even with a steady stream of reinforcements from the rear, the Russian Army was now badly damaged, and urgently needed to be reorganized. In the final battle, it was obvious that the Russian Army's fighting strength had declined.
After paying such a heavy price, the results were: defeating 100,000 allied forces, killing 34,000 allied forces, and capturing 25,000 allied forces, including 11,000 wounded allied forces.
Judging from the casualties on both sides, it was Russia who had lost this battle. If it weren't for the Bulgarian guerrillas, the outcome of this battle would still be unknown.
For the sake of saving face, Fitzroy Somerset did not hesitate to swallow the achievements of the Bulgarian guerrillas, and ignored the casualties they had paid.
Of course, in order to make the Bulgarians continue to work for him, Fitzroy Somerset reported to his country that the Bulgarian guerrillas had delayed the enemy's reinforcements, and had made an outstanding contribution to the victory of the war.
That was all. This alone was enough for the Tsarist government to agree to the conditions he had promised.
Originally, the Tsarist government was prepared to annex the Bulgarian region, and St. Peter's Castle was worried that the guerrillas would become an obstacle. Now that they could be incorporated, how could Nicholas I Of Russia refuse?
Regardless of the losses on both sides, the battle's place in history could not be affected. This battle was recognized by historians as the turning point of the Second Bulgarian War.
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