Chapter 198: A Wrong War

Balkans

The Russians have been bloodied with the coalition forces. It is worth mentioning that the Ottoman army with the largest number has become a supporting role in this war. The main forces of the coalition forces have become Britain and France.

In the Sliven area, the two sides fell into a stalemate. The French blocked the advance of the Russians, and now every step forward was filled with human lives.

Because the Ottomans were not strong enough, they were restrained by the Russian army with a small amount of troops. Now it is 160,000 French troops against 280,000 Russian troops. It is very difficult for the French to stop the Russians, and there is no counterattack.

The French army commander Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier had a very headache. In the previous battle, he used 10,000 French troops to fight off 20,000 Russian troops, which is a brilliant victory.

It is a pity that the allies are not strong enough. The Russian army just divided a partial division, and together with tens of thousands of Bulgarian guerrillas, they pressed more than 400,000 Ottoman troops to fight, and they were able to gain the upper hand. Faced with such teammates, everyone will have a headache.

Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier admitted that the Ottoman army's incompetence in combat was mainly caused by the tradition of taking short pay.

Even if it is discounted, there are always more than 300,000 Ottoman troops, almost twice the strength of the army, and he is drunk even if he is pressed and beaten by others.

The plan cannot keep up with the rapid changes, overestimates the strength of allies, and the war has turned into a war of attrition. Even if you win this battle, you will lose both.

"Your Excellency Commander, good news from the front!" a young officer said in a deep voice

"Read!" said Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier calmly

"Yes!" replied the young officer

"In the early morning of September 14, 1852, the 7th Infantry Division had a confrontation with the enemy's 16th Division in the eastern area of ​​Sliven. After a day of bloody fighting, our army defeated the incoming enemy army.

In this campaign, 1,328 enemy troops were killed, 16 enemy troops were captured, several enemy troops were wounded, 8 horses, 628 rifles, 28 pistols, and some ammunition were captured.

Of course, our army also paid a heavy price. The 7th Infantry Division suffered 1,236 casualties, including 784 killed, 652 wounded, and 196 missing. Major General Olehaton, the division commander, was concentrated by stray bullets, and his life and death are unknown. "

Is this a victory? Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier was very suspicious that his officers had forgotten the concept of victory.

He also came up from the bottom, and he was tired of playing this little trick. Defeat the enemy? It was clear that the battle ended at night, and they dispersed.

If you win the battle, you can still lose nearly 200 people? If the French army had so many idiots, this war would not have to be fought. Maybe these people are now in the Russian prisoner of war camp.

Aimable Jean-Jacques Pelissier frowned and ordered: "Send someone to ask if that idiot Aurehatten is dead, and if he is still alive, give me the fastest speed to come here. Report. If he's dead, have the chief of staff come over."

"Yes!" the young officer replied immediately

Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier did not believe this battle report. The casualties of the 7th Infantry Division should be real. No one dared to fake these things.

But most of the brilliant victories are nonsense. If they really win, the prisoners will not be so few. The Russian army is not the master of death, and the French army will not slaughter prisoners at this time.

Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier did not care about the outcome of such an encounter. The battlefield was changing rapidly, and it was acceptable to suffer a small loss occasionally.

There is also a gap in the combat effectiveness of the French Expeditionary Force. The troops with strong combat effectiveness can hang all the Russian troops, and the troops with the weakest combat effectiveness are also not the elite opponents of the Russian army.

The combat effectiveness of the 7th Infantry Division is only moderate in the French army. If it encounters the main force of the Russian army, it is not surprising that it suffers a little loss.

After pondering for a while, Aimable Jean-Jacques Pelissier ordered: "Order the troops, focus on defense, and try not to engage in a decisive battle with Russia.

All we have to do is drag them in the Sliven area, and after the breakthrough in Sofia, we will have a decisive battle with the Russians. "

The Ottoman army was ineffective, and the Sliven area was unable to make a breakthrough, and Aimable Jean-Jacques Pelissier had given up his plan to fight the Russians here.

This is not France. It is not necessary to work hard for the Ottomans. In Aimable Jean-Jacques Pelissier's view, the primary task now is to preserve strength.

They have restrained the main force of the Russians and have fulfilled their obligations as allies. Now it is the Ottoman army that has not completed the task of cooperating, making the battle plan impossible to implement, and it is not their responsibility.

After the British have won the victory in Sofia, they will join hands to annihilate the Russians in front of them. Anyway, the Russian army over there is only more than 70,000, and the 50,000 British army plus 20,000 Sardinian army and 30,000 Ottoman army has an absolute advantage.

Otherwise, if you are desperately fighting with the Russians now, even if you win the war, there will not be much left of this French expeditionary force.

...

Russian Army Headquarters

Commander Menshkov didn't know yet, but he narrowly escaped. If the French are desperately reckless at this time, there is still a good chance of winning.

The combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army is not good, that is, when it is in a head-to-head battle, it may not be when the wind is down.

As long as the French army is willing to suffer casualties, and willing to rush up in front, to knock down the arrogance of the Russian army, these Ottoman troops will follow the wind and fight against the wind, and the combat effectiveness will come out.

"Order the troops, give me an attack at all costs, and we must tear down the enemy's line of defense as soon as possible. Don't worry about casualties, in the Principality of Wallachia, we still have 50,000 reinforcements, and in Ukraine we need 300,000 reinforcements.

All we need is victory. The Russian Empire has waited almost two hundred years for this victory, and nine generations have fought for it.

Now that Constantinople is less than 300 kilometers away from us, we tear open the enemy's line of defense, and no one can stop us. "

Menshkov said enthusiastically, as if this was not the headquarters, but the podium, and he was giving an exciting speech.

How much are the Russians willing to pay for Constantinople? No one knows this question, but ask it another way.

Is it worth paying millions of casualties for Constantinople? The Russian answer is: it is worth it!

From the first Russo-Turkish war to the present, the Russians have paid more than one million casualties for this fortress city. Are they shaken?

Menshkov knew the determination of the tsarist government that victory had to be won.

The small goal of this Russian-Turkish war is to capture Constantinople and lock the Bosphorus Strait. The highest goal is to occupy the land along the two straits and turn the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea into Russia's inland sea.

Casualties were not in the Tsarist government's mind from the very beginning. As long as the war is won and tens of thousands of casualties and hundreds of thousands of casualties are paid, in the eyes of the tsarist government, this gap is only a number.

Lieutenant General Boulder questioned: "Your Excellency Commander, now that we have done our best, if we increase the intensity of the attack, it is likely to leave opportunities for the enemy.

We all know the fighting power of the French. Except for a small number of elite troops that can compete with them, we can only rely on the superiority of our troops.

In the surrounding area of ​​Sliven, on the front line of more than 100 kilometers, we do not have absolute military superiority, but in many places, the enemy has military superiority.

Now we have the upper hand, that's because the Ottomans are weak. If you blindly attack the French positions, it will consume a lot of strength.

If we don't take precautions and the French suddenly attack, we will probably suffer a small loss. At that time, these Ottoman troops with low combat effectiveness are likely to give us a fatal blow. "

Menshkov shook his head and said, "General Burde, you are too worried. The French are really strong in combat, but their troops are too small.

To attack the French army now is to fight against them. The French are not gods, they will collapse if the casualties are heavy.

As I said, with 3,000 casualties a day for them, the French will collapse in less than a month.

With hundreds of thousands of casualties, winning this battle is really worth it.

If instead of destroying the elite French troops, we bully the Ottoman rabbits, even if we kill all these hundreds of thousands of rabbits, the war will continue. "

The arm can't touch the thigh, and the coach asks to attack, so naturally he can only fight. Anyway, all the dead animals are gray animals, and they don't need officers like them to charge.

...

Sofia battlefield

What Montes didn't know was that the French allies had put the burden of victory on him, and now he was counting on a breakthrough on the Sliven battlefield, and he beat the underdogs.

As for commanding the army, defeat the Russian army in front of you, and then go to the Russians' back path and win this battle.

For such a difficult thing, let your allies do it! In Montes' view, the fighting force in his hands is 50,000 British troops, plus 20,000 Sardinian troops at most, and the Ottomans can't count on them at all.

There are also more than 70,000 Russian troops on the opposite side, as well as a Bulgarian guerrilla. The combat effectiveness of the guerrillas is not worth mentioning.

With 70,000 to 70,000, even if you win, you have to lose a lot.

Montes is just here to reassure his exploits, not to ask for trouble. Domestic bureaucrats don't care, their contributions on the battlefield are only viewed by the results.

Simply put, it is how many enemies you kill and how much you pay. The French in front of them were deeply encircled, and they could play a 1:1.3 exchange ratio. They are now playing 100,000 to 70,000, and they must play more beautifully.

The guerrillas were not considered by the London bureaucracy, they could not be counted in the record, they only regarded the regular army.

Before the fight against the Russians, Montes was still confident. After the fight, that confidence is gone. In terms of comprehensive combat power, the British army does have an advantage, but this advantage is not obvious.

At least 50,000 British troops can't defeat 70,000 Russian troops. If the Russian troops on the opposite side have not changed their clothes, then with the advantage of firepower, it is not impossible to do so.

Before the replacement, the rifle used by the Russian army had a range of only 200 yards, while the range of the British rifle was more than 1,000 yards. The British rifle was at least 30% faster in rate of fire, and the artillery had a greater advantage.

(Note: 1 yard is equal to 0.91 meters)

Historically, in the Crimean War, the Russians suffered a huge loss of equipment and were brutally abused by the British and French forces.

It's different now, and the Russian troops who have changed their clothes are catching up with firepower. It was these troops who fought against the British in the early stage, which directly made Montes overestimate the strength of the Russians.

Based on this judgment, Montes made a limited attack and decided to consume the strength of the Russians first. To put it simply, it is to command the Ottoman army as cannon fodder, rush to the front to fight the Russian army, and the British as the supervising team.

surface

On the surface, this is no problem, but in fact he ignores that this kind of battle is actually helping the Russians train their troops.

An army wins one battle and becomes a veteran; after winning three or five battles, it becomes an elite. This is how the elite teachers of this era came out.

Consecutive victories increase not only combat experience, but also confidence and morale.

The Ottoman army, which was rushing ahead and vulnerable to combat, was sending experience to the Russians to help them complete the upgrade.

Fortunately, the Russian commander, Fitzroy Somerset, did not notice this either. Otherwise, he will transfer all the Russian troops to rotate several times, and the Russians will add another elite division.

Then there is no need for the British to fight in the next battle. Although their training is stricter than that of the Russians, the elite troops cannot be built by training, and they have to be baptized by blood and fire.