Holy Roman Empire

The battle in the Balkans is ignited again. This conference battle is the largest in the history of the European continent. The total strength of the two sides on the front line of more than 400 kilometers has exceeded one million.

This battle, destined to be named by Qing Shi, was very comic.It stands to reason that the coalition forces were not fully prepared. As the initiator of the battle, the Russians should take advantage of it, or even directly lock the victory.

The reality is very tragic. As the party launching the offensive, the Russian army also appeared chaotic.

Preston, the artillery commander, scolded: "Damn, we are artillery, you actually sent me a bunch of bullets, do you want me to feed the artillery bullets?"

The officer who transported the materials replied: "Sorry, Mr. Colonel, this is the above order. If you have any questions, please contact the headquarters. Now please sign for the materials."

Preston ’s artillery regiment had just arrived. The infantry regiment originally stationed here had already moved forward, but the logistics department still distributed materials according to the original plan.

Preston replied with a frown: "We responded to it, Mr. Major. Now these materials are useless for me. You should pull them back!"

The major officer said solemnly: "Your Excellency, the order I received was to send this batch of materials to the defending army. Please be sure to sign it.

As for how to deal with these materials, you can do it yourself. You can deal with it in private. You can just throw it in a place and just report the damage after the war.

These supplies will be supplied by an infantry regiment in the next week, and there are still many good things in it. You will not suffer a loss from the colonel."

After hesitating for a while, Preston still signed his name, and the money sent to the door did not make money.

Anyway, the artillery is the treasure of the headquarters. Unlike the gang of worthless gray animals, a report will go up, and their supplies will still come down.

...

In this battle, the main force of the Russian army was one-two. Fitzroy Somerset led four infantry divisions, two artillery regiments, and a cavalry regiment. A total of more than 73,000 people launched an attack on the Sofia area.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and troops are frequently mobilized, and the logistics system cannot keep up.Unlike the last battle, it was in the Danube basin at that time, and it was easy to supply, even if it was wrong, it could be adjusted quickly.

It's different now. The front has advanced 200 kilometers. The logistics materials have to be delivered for several days. Without telegrams, we can only rely on the notice of the soldiers, and the news received by the quartermaster often lags behind.

At this time, the mechanical Russian bureaucracy came into play, and the military officers who transported the logistics materials had to transport the materials to the designated location.

Even if the original troops were gone, they had to hand over the supplies.It is not unusual for artillery such as Colonel Preston to receive infantry supplies.

Fitzroy Somerset is a good general. He has to manage such things. How can he fight without solving the logistical problems?

"Ordered the logistics department to increase the supply of materials for the frontline troops to one month. The future supply of materials will not be in a fixed location, and must be handed over to the troops.

At the division level, troops are not transported separately, and all are sent to the division headquarters for uniform distribution of materials. The artillery regiment and the cavalry regiment are sent directly from the headquarters."

A middle-aged military officer reminded: "My Excellency Chief of Staff, this is not in accordance with the rules, I am afraid that ..."

Fitzroy Somerset shook his head and said: "Don't worry, I will explain this issue with the country. Now send someone to contact the commander of Myshkov, I believe he has encountered the same problem."

...

Changed the logistics supply model, the Russian army's logistics supply confusion was finally resolved.Of course, the lost materials in front of the delivery must not be recovered.

The battle of Sofia started, and the Russian army was 30 kilometers away from Sofia, and the two sides had begun to exchange fire.

At the Sofia Allied Command, Montes asked: "Is the enemy's force investigation clear?"

"His Commander, I have figured it out. The Russian army dispatched a total of 4 infantry divisions, 2 artillery regiments, and 1 cavalry regiment, totaling 73,000.

In addition, there are about 20,000 Bulgarian guerrillas.But they seemed to have diverged from the Russians and did not act together."

It was an Ottoman officer who responded by investigating the enemy's situation, and naturally they did it by bowing the snake.If the British soldiers were sent out, they would not know how to get back if they lost their language and lost their way.

Montes calmly said: "Tomorrow our reinforcements will arrive, ordering the troops not to rush to fight the enemy, leaving a small number of troops to contain the enemy's marching speed.

With the exception of a few important strongholds, all the rest were withdrawn and waited for the decisive battle with the enemy after the reinforcements arrived."

Not calm, and Montes is a rare "veteran" in the British army. He once commanded a battalion and suppressed hundreds of colonial rebellions.

There is no way, who can make the British Empire peaceful and peaceful in the last ten years?Without a major war, in addition to suppressing the Irish mob, the British Army could only bully the colonial aborigines.

The largest battle also stayed in the group battle.It is rare for Montes to be on the battlefield, so he became the commander of the British Expeditionary Force.

There is no experience to learn. Now Montess is doing very well. According to the requirements of the military law, even if he can't take advantage of it, he can't suffer a big loss.

...

Evening

In a camp, the soldiers gathered in twos and threes looking up at the starry sky.

A Genoese accented man asked: "Arturo, you said that the country sent us to the Balkans to fight the Russians. What is the picture?"

Arturo said indifferently: "Don't the gangs say that this time the Russians were beaten for revenge. It is said that the Russians supported Austria in the last Osage War and they are still allies.

Aangzo, what are you doing?We are all for mixing food, if the country can find a job, who will come here to suffer!"

"No, just ask casually. I always feel that there is a problem. For no reason, let us run to the Balkans to fight the Russians. It is not normal to look at it.

Even if you want to take revenge, it is also the noble masters and capitalists who need to take revenge. We poor rods have no losses. Why should we come here?"Aangzo shook his head and said

Doubts are suspicious. They have not been educated and can't imagine that much.They all joined the army for the sake of eating together.

"I said what you are talking about. Hurry up and get tomorrow's food. If you miss the time, you will solve it yourself."

A familiar voice came, and the two stopped talking and ran to the queue to receive support at the fastest speed.

After receiving the food, Aangzo's face became ugly and complained: "Damn british, do they like corned beef and hard biscuits so much?

Even if you do n’t provide a piece of bread, this day is simply not a human life.They are treating us deliberately, and these supplies may not be as good as the Ottomans!"

During this war, the expenses of the Sardinian army were borne by the British. Naturally, the logistics were also handled by the British.

The deliberate injustice is not enough. The British soldiers are no different from them.They all have a uniform standard, with 2 pounds of corned beef and three hard biscuits per person per day, and then they are gone.(1 pound equals 0.4536 kilograms)

Not to mention vegetables and fruits, even if there is no piece of dark bread.The British did not do this to save costs. If considering the cost, the price of beef is not low, and it is much cheaper to change to black bread.

The reason for this tragedy is the bureaucracy.The bureaucrats of the British Quartermaster Service believed that the corned beef jerky was easy to transport, and then the head of the buttocks became the supply of British troops in this war.

On the surface, beef is eaten every day, and this kind of food is also good.If you switch to beef jerky and eat it every day, the feeling is not so wonderful. The first thing to be tested is the unbearable teeth.

Not only beef is hard, but the biscuits delivered are harder, this may be the earliest compressed biscuits.If you don't put bubbles in the water, if you can bite, it will be iron teeth and copper teeth.

This kind of food is catastrophic for Italians who are looking for delicious food.

Even if the kingdom of Sardinia is poor again, their army never saves on food, and the food grade is much higher than that of the British.

"Aonzo don't complain, if the Ottomans know, they don't mind changing with you, are you really willing to change with them?" Arturo said with a smile

Happiness is contrasted. The food provided by the British is the most unpalatable, at least without worrying about hunger.

These beef jerky can also be processed a second time. If conditions permit, you can get some vegetables and cook them together without salt.

The supply of the Ottoman army is really bad, and some are required to bring some dry food to the battlefield.What kind of food you can get depends on luck, and it is a good season to eat until you are full.

Because of the daily rations, Ottoman bureaucrats still have a good habit of discounting according to the regulations. If a certain army has no shortage, it is a tragedy to prepare the whole army to be hungry.

Aangzuo shook his head and said: "I haven't said it, but the logistics officer of the British guy should really be shot. I bet there are definitely more soldiers killed by them than dead on the battlefield."

Arturo said with a smile: "I don't know this. Maybe the stomach of the British is different from ours. They can bear it.

Not to mention this, we remember that during the day, you also pulled a few vegetables, and I still have two potatoes here, and they will be stewed with beef jerky tomorrow, just eat it!"

The two smiled at each other, even if the standard of logistics supply was low, the Italians could use their talents to improve the food 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 of British soldiers.

The British soldiers who accompanied them quickly learned these excellent experiences and spread them at the fastest speed.In the past, when they went out, they simply robbed their goods, which was too wasteful.

Now that everyone has mastered the skills, the crops in the field and the cattle and sheep on the hillside can be turned into loot.Even many soldiers have learned to preserve food and use all conditions to store food.

The immediate sequelae of this is that the marching speed has been greatly reduced, and the military discipline has become more scattered.There are old fritters from the Sardinian army. Whatever the officer should order, what should they do?

The law does not blame the public. In the face of a group of soldiers who stand in a unified position, the officers do not dare to treat them.

By the way, the British were also broken, and everyone discovered the power of unity.As long as they are united, the officers will not dare to move them.

The last time I arrived in Sofia was two days later than Montes estimated.On this battlefield like life, two days are enough to change things.

The most direct thing is that the Russian army has been pushed up. Because of the lack of military strength in the surrounding strongholds, Montes dare not divide too many troops to station, and now he has fallen into exhaustion.

After the delayed arrival of the reinforcements, the coalition forces have lost the best fighters. It is too late to launch counterattacks while the Russian army is not firmly established.

Montes growled angrily: "Your group of rice bins, this morning, the road is actually delayed for two days. Are you on a road trip? Do you know what is military law?"

The Sardinian Army Major General Mantua lied in a serious way: "His Commander, we were attacked by guerrillas on the road, and caused us dozens of casualties. It was only a delay to kill the guerrillas.

Everyone is not a fool. In order to escape the military law, everyone has said that they encountered a guerrilla attack, and the wounded are proof.

"The guerrillas are so rampant, so many of your troops, they dare to sneak attack?" Montes asked suspiciously.

Mantua said: "His commander, the guerrillas are very cunning. They do not fight against us head-on, but secretly attack in secret.

They dig into the road and throw cold arrows at night, which is very difficult and has a large number of people.In order not to allow these people to cut off our army's back road, we only killed them."

He wasn't talking nonsense. There were soldiers who fell into the trap, but they accidentally fell when they went to the mountains to find their prey.Fang Leng also exists, and it was also encountered in the mountains where the Ottoman hunter hit the arrow.

This kind of senior talent who lied and did not change his color was the first time Montess met. British officers were quite honest, and they were completely two concepts with Italian officers.

This is not the first time Mantua has done it. When he first followed Marshal Bardolio, they collectively deceived the country. Now, Montess, who fools him with little experience, naturally has no pressure.

Montes sneered: "Humph!"

Then he scolded his head and shouted, "Even if this is the case, you shouldn't delay it for so long. Wouldn't you leave a small group of troops to siege the guerrillas?

Do you know how much loss your army has caused due to your delay, and you have missed the best chance to counterattack!"

But at this time he did not mention the military method, and everyone could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.Mantua did not continue to justify, and was afraid of being scolded, and would not lose meat.

After the defeat of the Osage War, there were not many generals who could keep the general title, and Mantua could be one of them, not because he could fight. In fact, his military capabilities were very limited.

His greatest ability was to be able to speak well, to observe and observe, to blame all the responsibilities on others, and to stand on the side of the king to gain trust in the first time, only then had the opportunity to come back.