Chapter 690: The Dominance of Imperial Russia
"If anyone dares to take a step back without my order, from Vorontsov down, all will be shot." Grand Duke Nicholas, who finally arrived in the Caucasus, learned of the current dangerous situation and issued a murderous order, "Troops from all over the country will gather near Sakalemish. It is December now. I don't believe the Ottomans can hide it from everyone. The Ottomans want a war of their own, give it to them!"
The Russian soldiers in the freezing cold listened to the instructions of Grand Duke Nicholas conveyed by officers at all levels, standing upright in the biting cold wind. The Russian soldiers in gray military coats found inner peace in the prayers of Orthodox priests, and the chaos in the city disappeared.
In their place stood a dense mass of grey animals, the European steamrollers of the Russian Emperor.
"We must not only win this battle, but also enter Constantinople and make this country that has been blocking our way for three hundred years disappear, forever." In the city of Sakalemishe, the Russian general shouted loudly with his saber raised high.
"Ura..." Countless Russian soldiers shouted loudly. When the residents in the city saw this scene, they felt relieved.
At the Russian military headquarters in St. Petersburg, countless uniformed staff officers have drawn up specific response plans for the current situation. For the entire Russian Empire, this is extremely disadvantageous in terms of grand strategy. The empire and other allies of the Entente are separated, and it has to face the siege of the entire Central Powers alone. It is necessary to break this extremely harsh situation of being surrounded.
Nicholas II convened a royal meeting, where the ministers had a fierce argument, but eventually they came up with a war plan that had to deal with the Allies. The main focus was on containing the Allies' strongest force, the German army, and on attacking the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. However, this situation was unsustainable. A war under total encirclement could not last long, and the British had to find a way to break the Allied encirclement of the empire.
"At this time, there is nothing shameful in asking the allies for help." Nicholas II said with finality, "The entire war situation is tense. If the British help us, they are also helping themselves."
Grand Duke Nicholas, who had defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Battle of Galicia and rushed to the Caucasus, quickly calmed down the chaotic Russian army. At this time, Enver Pasha's Ottoman army had already started fighting with the Russian army.
After the Battle of the Marne and the Franco-Italian Border Campaign, the British and French forces could finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, the telegram for help from St. Petersburg could not calm the British and French.
The Russian Empire was surrounded by the entire Allied Powers and was in a state of fighting alone. Once the Russian Empire could not withstand this pressure and was crushed, millions of Austro-Hungarian and German troops on the Eastern Front would surge to the Western Front like a tide. This was something that Britain and France did not want to see. The Russian Empire was not only an ally, but also the country with the most abundant human resources in the Allied camp. Some countries have great value by their existence, and there is no doubt that Russia is such a country.
"What we must do is to find a way to defeat the Ottoman Empire, the weakest of the Central Powers, and reconnect the entire Allied Powers. The most important thing now is to restore the overwhelming naval advantage in the Mediterranean, and then launch a powerful amphibious landing offensive to restore the Russian Empire's external connections through the Dardanelles." The Secretary of the Navy Churchill said in a worried but hopeful tone.
By now, all the cabinet members knew what the consequences would be because of the two battleships. But could they admit that they had made a mistake? They absolutely could not admit it, and they could only find a way to solve the problem.
"What does the Minister of the Admiralty think?" Herbert Henry Asquith looked at the Minister of the Admiralty who was the source of the problem. Now the entire Allied Powers had to pay an unimaginable price for two battleships.
"The southern front of the Ottoman Empire is Egypt, which we control. I suggest transferring the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to Egypt to form a military force to attack the Ottoman Empire on the southern front, and cooperate with the Russian Empire to attack from both sides to force the Ottoman Empire to withdraw from the war. At the same time, the control of the Mediterranean Sea must be restored immediately. We should seize the opportunity to work with the French Navy to inflict heavy damage on the Italian Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy." Churchill pondered for a moment and said, "The Ottoman Empire is not a nation-state. The entire country is bound by religion. We can convince the Arabs to oppose the rule of the Ottomans, which can greatly weaken the power of the Ottoman Empire. As far as I know, there is also a Christian legion in the Persian Gulf region, which was formed by a foreign Pasha of the Ottoman Empire. If we can convince them to stand on our side."
"But according to our current information, this richest man in the United States seems to be a person with an extremely obvious pro-German stance." Herbert Henry Asquith frowned and said, "Moreover, this man's family has been cooperating with the Ottoman Empire for many years, and has a history of several decades. Judging from his words and deeds, he sympathizes with some ancient empires. Can't the US government control this person?"
"Prime Minister, probably not! This man is a senior figure in the ruling Democratic Party of the United States. He has great prestige in half of the country. He also represents a group of white supremacists." The Minister of the Interior smiled bitterly, "There are even rumors that the reason why he has a bad impression of the British Empire is because we did not help the American Civil War decades ago."
"That's really a irrational anger! Let's try everything. Regain control of the Mediterranean, find a way to open up the lifeline of the Russian Empire, coordinate attacks from the north and south to force the Ottoman Empire to withdraw from the war. How do you know it's useless if you don't try it?" Herbert Henry Asquith sighed helplessly. If it were peacetime, he could have regarded it as the incompetent rage of a class that had been eliminated by history. But now they seem to be doing well. If Britain cannot win the war, it is at risk of being eliminated.
"I believe that independence will be a huge motivation for the Arabs," Churchill said confidently.
The Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, the three hundred years of feud, finally stood on opposite sides again. Both the Allies and the Entente held their breath.
This was a rare respite for both camps. France finally blocked the German advance on the capital. The German army and the British and French forces were racing to advance towards the Atlantic Ocean. The long trenches and barbed wire became a new round of competition. The war was not going to end in a short time.
Germany has a weaker agricultural base than France, and there have been reports of food shortages. However, the German government has decisively disclosed its grain reserves, indicating that there is no problem with domestic food supply. Even if there is no harvest for a whole year, there will be no food crisis.
On the Caucasus front, the Ottoman troops who were marching hard were still striving for victory. The Ninth Army still successfully marched 80 kilometers of mountain roads in three days and arrived at the old city outside Sakalemish on Christmas Day.
The other 10th Army attacked northwards towards Ortu and Adalhan as planned, and defeated part of the 20th Infantry Division led by Istomin of the Russian Army. However, after the victory, Hafez Haki was so excited that he pursued this small part of the Russian Army and delayed the time for the reunion. As a result, after receiving an urgent order from Enver on Christmas Day, Hafez had to ask the troops to march 30 miles southeast within a day to reunite with Enver. However, on the marching route of the 10th Army, there were mountains as high as 3,000 meters and a blizzard.
As we all know, William Pasha's military supplies were still on the way, and many Ottoman soldiers went to war in autumn uniforms.
By the time the two main Ottoman troops joined forces, the Ottoman Tenth Army had lost 10,000 men just because of crossing the mountains and the blizzard. Enver Pasha demanded to launch the attack on the 26th despite everyone's opposition at the military meeting. However, although there were only about 4,000 Russian troops in the city, the extremely exhausted Ninth Army could not make much progress. The Tenth Army that arrived that night was in even worse condition, so Enver had to order a 36-hour delay in the attack.
When the city was officially attacked, only 18,000 officers and soldiers of the two armies with more than 50,000 soldiers were able to participate in the battle, while the Russian army's strength had increased to seven regiments with about 14,000 people. The bloody battle lasted for a whole day. The 17th Division of the Turkish Army and other units rushed into the city to fight the Russians with bayonets, while the Russian army responded with heavy machine guns and city defense artillery.
The Ottoman troops finally managed to break into the city, but were immediately bombarded with grenades and machine gun fire. The Russians also followed their glorious tradition and launched a bayonet charge against the Ottomans in the dark. With the earth-shaking sound of "Ura", the two sides fought bloody battles in the dark night of Sarikamosh.
The defense of the city of Sarikamosh gave Grand Duke Nicholas a good opportunity to calmly mobilize his troops. He appointed Chief of Staff of the Caucasus Army, Yudenich, to launch a counterattack. The Russian army, which turned from defense to offense, finally woke up after facing the sudden attack of its arch-enemy, defeated the attacking Ottoman Third Army and began to counterattack. The various units of the Caucasus Army pursued, divided and surrounded the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Armies of the Ottoman Third Army.
After several days of fighting, the collapse of the Ottoman Third Army was inevitable, and Enver Pasha had to order a retreat, hastily ending the offensive campaign he had initiated. So far, the first battle between the two arch-enemies, the Russian Empire has won a complete victory.
"As expected, not every army can fight in winter wearing only a single layer of clothing. It has been hard on the Ottoman frontline soldiers." Although Enver Pasha had kept the news strictly blocked, Sheffield, who was responsible for transporting military supplies, could not have been unaware of the details of the battle.
The news from the Russian army was highly praised by Britain and France, who believed that the Russian Empire had made an outstanding contribution to the final victory of the war. "We can launch a campaign to directly force the Ottoman Empire to withdraw from the war."
Encouraged by the Russian army, this kind of voice appeared among the top leaders of the British and French allied forces. The Ottoman Empire was a broken house that could be destroyed with just one kick.
(End of this chapter)
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