On the 1st of June 1877, the Tsar's grey beasts attacked the city of Pleven in a neat formation.
Ten days earlier, on the 21st of May, the Russian army had suffered a defeat in Pleven. Pleven was located in the north of Bulgaria, and it was a strategic location. The Russian army declared war on the Turks under the slogan "Liberate our Slavic brothers". After breaking through the Danube defense line, 300,000 Russian troops crossed the Danube in April and entered Bulgaria.
The Bulgarians welcomed the Russian army. Along the way, the sound of gongs and drums, firecrackers, and red flags were waving. That scene ~ ~ ~ was really quite spectacular. The Russian army had undergone military reform. Even if they did not think that Pleven, which was occupied by the Turks, could really put up a fierce resistance, they did not underestimate the enemy. A brigade of troops entered the town of Pleven.
After the brigade entered the town along the main road, from the open windows of the houses, from behind the courtyard walls, and from the depths of the grass, rifles were protruding out. At the other end of the main street, Gatling guns mounted on small artillery carriages were also pushed out. The Osman army fired a storm of bullets at the Russian army.
In addition to the roar of the Gatling guns, China's modified cartridge boomerang rifle showed great firepower in close combat. In less than 20 minutes, the Russian brigade lost more than 3,000 men. The brigade commander was killed, and one of the two regimental commanders was killed and the other was injured. The defeated soldiers escaped from the city of Pleven and brought the news of the Turkish main force appearing in Pleven to the Russian headquarters.
After the 300,000 Russian troops crossed the Danube, the city of Pleven threatened the flank of the Russian army and the bridge over the Danube. The Franco-Prussian War had only ended a few years ago. This time, the Tsar personally led the army, and the lesson of the fiasco of Sedang was very clear. The Russian army, preparing to break through all the way, had to turn to Pleven and take care of the city first. The Russian army's quick strategy was ruined by the sudden occupation of Pleven by the Osman army.
There were 30,000 troops defending the city, and the commander was Osman Pasha? Nuri Pasha. This time, he volunteered for the attack, and suddenly appeared in Priven City in the form of a rapid march. Together with the thirty thousand troops, there were also twenty-five thousand supply troops. They relied on the five thousand modern flat frame cars with bearings purchased from China, plus other means of transport, and all the troops almost carrying the maximum load, to transport more than thirteen thousand tons of supplies into the city of Priven.
The slow movement of the Russian army gave way to Osman. Nuri Pasha had ten days. In the first five days, twenty-five thousand soldiers also joined in the construction of the defense system. After the Russian army began to outflank the city of Pleven, Osman was defeated. Nuri Pasha ordered his troops to leave Priven and withdraw to the rear. He personally led the troops to complete the construction of the city's defense system.
In a secret command post on the frontline, Osman was there. Nuri Pasha put down his binoculars and said to a young officer next to him, "Lieutenant Colonel Li, why are you also staying here?"
Side with Osman? The officer next to Nuri Pasha was called Li Weiren. He was twenty-seven years old this year, a distant cousin of Li Yifang's cousin, Levis. In a sense, he was also the "uncle". In fact, some people used this to make fun of Li Weiren.
Hearing this question, "Uncle Li" put down his binoculars and said confidently, "There is a chance to build a fortress, there is a chance to fight against the Russians, I don't want to leave."
Osman? Nuri Pasha did not say much. This young China "aristocrat" did show an extraordinary level of fortress defense. Osman? Nuri Pasha did not want Li Weiren, who designed the defense system, to leave.
The horizontal line of the Tsar's gray livestock was getting closer and closer. Li Weiren could not help but slightly raise the corner of his mouth, revealing a sarcastic smile. In 1856, Li Weiren was only six years old. He was not yet qualified to go to the battlefield. He could only learn from the military school that whether it was the armies of the European powers or the Liberation Army of China, they all adopted this horizontal line attack mode. At that time, the Liberation Army was rising and fought the British in the Battle of Foshan. In Europe, in the Crimean War, the British and French allied forces also used this tactic to defeat the Russians in Crimea. After the Crimean War, the Russians learned from their mistakes and carried out military reforms. They did not expect to change it again and again. Soon, the sound of cannonballs piercing the air was heard, and the Russians' artillery began.
The Russian army in Europe had 300,000 troops, and this time they sent 30,000 troops and more than 400 artillery pieces into the battle. The artillery smashed into the fortress that was transformed from the city of Priven like a storm. The city of Priven was not big and the buildings were not tall. Under the attack of thousands of artillery shells, the buildings in the fortress were constantly blown up. The houses collapsed and smoke billowed.
Before the end of this dark artillery bombardment, the Russian army temporarily paused and began to move forward. When they were 2,000 meters away, the Osman army began to shoot. The density was not high, but the continuous shooting did not cause any damage at first. It was not until the Russian army was 500 meters away that people began to be hit by the bullets. But the small number of casualties had no effect on the overall formation.
The Russian commander felt that this was the desperate counterattack of the remnants of the Osman army who had suffered heavy casualties under the fierce Russian artillery bombardment. The Osman army may have retreated after the battle ten days ago, leaving only a small number of troops stationed here. This was also easy to imagine. Priven was in northern Bulgaria and could threaten the Russian flank and the Danube bridge. It was easy to be surrounded by the Russians. In the face of 300,000 Russian troops, the small Priven was nothing.
The Russians continued to advance and began to fire back with a volley of guns. Smoke quickly spread through the Russian formation. According to the rules of the volley, the Russians continued to move forward, walked out of the smoke, and then continued to shoot.
The artillery bombardment just now was very powerful, but the actual results were very small. Li Weiren knew that his "fortress defense system" was actually Vézé's idea. The Li family, represented by Levis and Li Yuchang, all wanted to take the path of a civil official and then go to the government. Li Weiren's health was not particularly good, so he could only be called not sick. But his dream was to join the army and make a career on the battlefield.
After being admitted to military school, Li Weiren could only pass all the examinations and assessments with low expectations. After graduating from military school, his military career was not smooth. Li Weiren focused more on defense, so everyone thought that he was more suitable to be an engineer. But Li Weiren was proud and arrogant, and he sneered at the slow promotion of engineers. In the Liberation Army, which advocated offense, Li Weiren did not do well.
Later, Li Weiren took the opportunity to follow his cousin Levis to see Vézé once, and he told Vézé about his thoughts on fortress defense. That was two years ago, and Li Weiren could still clearly remember the faint smile on Vézé's face. It was a reassuring smile that an elder and a strong person would show to a junior with limited ability.
Li Weiren's first thought at that time was that if he did not get Vézé's advice, he would have no direction in his life. So Li Weiren shouted anxiously: "Commander in Chief, please tell me what you think about fortress defense."
His pleading seemed to be effective, and Vézé said: "I have never studied fortress defense, so I can only tell you some scattered things. In the past, fortress defense was about standing high and seeing far. Now, artillery technology is advancing rapidly. If you set up such a tall turret, the enemy will come to your blind spot and fire a shot, and the fortress will be finished. Now, fortress defense needs to be low. I'll put a bunch of turtle shells on the ground, and if the enemy doesn't come within a certain range, we won't open fire. This requires us to have firing points, and these firing points must be distributed in echelons, and they must be able to support each other … "
Li Weiren benefited a lot from that consultation, and it also made him understand why those big shots, who Li Weiren could only look up to, would always respect Vézé from the bottom of their hearts. At first, Li Weiren thought that this was the authority that an emperor should have, but now he understood that those big shots were in awe of Vézé's ability. In the next two years, Li Weiren began to digest and learn Vézé's concept of fortress defense.
But the army's personnel department probably had no intention of nurturing Li Weiren. After selling weapons and equipment to the Osman Empire on a large scale, the personnel department promoted Li Weiren to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and sent this "thorny imperial uncle" far away to the Osman Empire. At least that was what Li Weiren thought.
Now, Li Weiren's knowledge finally had a place to use. Priwen Fortress was a "low" fortress. In the ten days of construction, tens of thousands of troops desperately dug tunnels, used the limited iron plates they carried, and built solid firing points and command points. The tunnels were connected to the various positions, and there were cannon-proof holes and armour-hiding holes dug one after another.
The Russian artillery did destroy many buildings, but those buildings were just camouflage left by the Osman Army to confuse the Russian army. The usable wood and bricks in those buildings had long been removed.
Now the Russian army finally entered 200 meters with relatively small losses under the not so dense hail of bullets. In the unharmed frontline command post, Osman Pasha?? Nuri Pasha ordered, "All frontline troops, change to rapid fire!"
The Russian army felt that the firepower of the Osman Army on the opposite side had suddenly stopped, and they thought that the Osman Army was ready to give up resistance. The Tsar's gray livestock let out a deafening cry, "Hurrah! Hurrah! "and rushed towards the fortress with their rifles.
What welcomed the Russian troops was the relentless firing of the Gatling guns in the individual firing points. The Russian troops in the shell-proof holes also rushed up to the somewhat dilapidated position and used their five-gauge rifles to fire fiercely at the advancing Russian troops less than 200 meters away.
Even in the face of an unexpected head-on attack, the Tsar's gray livestock did not collapse. They followed the instinct of cruel training, reloaded, raised their guns, and fired. This kind of bravery was really commendable, but the firing speed of the two sides was too different. The intensity of the firepower of the Osman Army was almost three times that of the Russian army.
In the binoculars, Li Weiren saw that the Russian army was knocked down one by one, and those who were still standing on the battlefield by the goddess of luck stood alone in the pile of dead and wounded people, crying as they continued to shoot. Until the Osman Army shot them down with a barrage of bullets.
The battlefield was full of dead and wounded people. In the Osman Pasha's hands? While Nuri Pasha was overjoyed, Li Weiren put down the binoculars and said calmly, "Immediately withdraw the troops in the position, I'm afraid the Russian army is going to fire again!"
Li Weiren's guess was right. As soon as the excited Osman Army retreated to the artillery holes, the Russian artillery began to fire fiercely. Li Weiren did not know if it was an illusion, but this round of artillery fire did not make him feel as scared as the previous round. Instead, Li Weiren felt that the Russian commander was hysterical.
After the long artillery fire ended, the Russian army launched another attack. The second attack was just a copy of the first attack, the only difference was that the Russian army was more tenacious and lasted longer. It also caused more losses.
After the battle, the Russian army calculated that more than 290 officers and 11500 soldiers were killed or wounded, accounting for 40% of the total force. Moreover, after a whole day of fighting, the Russian army did not have the ability to bring the wounded down, so the total number of dead soldiers was more than 4400.
In the post-war statistics of the Osman Army, they had 110 killed and 410 wounded. 500 casualties did have a little impact on the 30,000 Osman Army. But it was still far from making the army completely lose the ability to fight.
After the Russian army collected the bodies under the white flag the next day, the Osman Army did not celebrate at all. They began to further transform the fortified city of Pleven according to Li Weiren's instructions. This victory was far from enough to reverse the situation of the war. It would not be long before Pleven Fortress would face the fierce attack of the Russian European Army. That would be the real test.
The tunnels that had been barely dug were dug deeper, and the tunnels that had not been dug in time were dug out. After the accumulated experience of this battle, the outer position was expanded a little, and the firepower was arranged more layers. This included water sources, toilets, and burial places to prevent the outbreak of plague. These details needed to be carefully perfected.
"We have to save food. Go and collect food now." Li Weiren gave his opinion.
"Suleyman Pasha will come back to help us." Osman Pasha? Nuri Pasha was very confident in his comrades.
Li Weiren wanted to say something, but he held it back. Today's battle fully demonstrated the strength of the Osman Army. If the Liberation Army had fought this battle, the casualties of the Osman Army would have doubled. Whether it was training or command, the Osman Army was far inferior to the Liberation Army. This great victory relied on this new fortress and the fast guns provided by China. Based on the combat power shown by the Russian army, if it was on the plains, the Osman Army might not be able to easily overwhelm the Russian army.
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