Chapter 548 Airship Bombing Brigade
Time flies, and in a flash, March has passed. Declaring war and not fighting for a month, if the time is changed, Franz can take this as a joke.
There is no way, war is in the service of politics. This kind of nonsense actually happened in reality.
In order to buy time for the Ottoman Empire, European countries evacuated their citizens at a snail-like speed. In the name of disposing of property, it is actually buying time to rush supplies to the Ottoman Empire.
Don't expect free trade once the war starts. However, the Vienna government issued a note early, and any ships entering the war zone should bear the consequences.
This is also the tacit agreement reached by everyone. If the Ottoman Empire is over, and the debts of Britain, France and other countries are wiped out, how can we not soothe the wounded hearts of all countries?
Osman is also an old-fashioned empire, even if it is in decline, there is still a family. Back then, across the Eurasian continent, they could grab a lot of good things, and the payment ability was still very strong.
In the face of life and death, the Sudanese government made every effort to raise funds to purchase materials. The treasures in the palace were emptied, and the nobles also took out part of their wealth symbolically to support the war.
In addition to this reason, training for the Russians is also a reason. Crossing the sea is no joke. If it's just spinning around in the Aegean Sea, Mao Xiong's health should be able to withstand it.
If they attacked farther areas, the soldiers would not have undergone sea navigation training, and a large area would collapse on the road, and they would be soft-footed shrimp when they landed. What would they rely on to fight?
The Tsarist government is a bunch of landlubbers, and they have no experience in expeditions across the sea, so they can ignore this.
Austria has a lot of experience. If you don't train and kick out the seasick guys, you will cry!
Facing an unreliable ally, Franz decided to endure. After all, the Russians were also fighting for Austria.
The harder the Asia Minor peninsula is fought, the smoother the war in the Middle East will be. Of these 150,000 Russian troops, God blesses the remaining half in the end.
If the Russian commander's ability is not enough, there may be another round. No matter how good a strategy is, someone needs to implement it.
Theoretically, with the advantage of sea power, it can avoid the reality and attack the weak area of the enemy. But it also involves intelligence, the commander's judgment, the speed of the army's mobilization and many other factors.
The Ottomans are a religious empire, and the Sudanese government has called for jihad. Regardless of their combat effectiveness, at least there are more people willing to work hard.
The resistance in the early stage will definitely be very fierce, and this situation will only change after the painful casualties exceed their hearts' capacity.
Didn't the tsarist government want to use Austria's hands to train troops? There is no problem. After the war, they will be kept and trained for them to train a good army, but they need to bleed a little more in the middle.
To suffer or to take advantage of, this question requires the benevolent to see the benevolent and the wise to see the wisdom.
Looking at the preparations of the Ottoman Empire, Franz wanted to feint a truce. Maybe it would be more appropriate to attack again after three or five minutes.
At that time, the strategic materials purchased by the Ottoman Empire with a lot of money will almost be scrapped, and the government's wallet will be emptied.
Or many times shouting wolf is coming, and it is possible to achieve the effect of defeating the enemy without fighting.
Just think about it, the real goal this time was not the Ottoman Empire, and Franz could not change the established strategy for the secondary goal.
After April Fool's Day, the ultimatum time has long passed. At this point, Franz could no longer afford to delay.
"Order the navy to attack and bombard the coastal cities of the Ottoman Empire. Remember to bow before the soldiers. We are civilized people. Before the bombardment, send airships to spread leaflets."
In this era of bombarding port cities, it is not accurate at all. How much victory can be achieved depends on character. The damage caused is far less serious than the consequences of panic.
Franz, who has always cherished feathers, naturally has to bow first and then soldiers. If all the people in the port run away, wouldn't even the deportation work be saved?
The goal of bombarding port cities is not just to create chaos, but also to conduct fire reconnaissance and choose landing sites.
There are many coastal ports in the Ottoman Empire, it is impossible to fully defend, and there will always be weak points.
There were no radio stations in this era, and it was very difficult to gather intelligence after the war broke out. Even if you get the information, if you want to pass it back, you have to go to Persia to make a detour, and the time does not allow it.
There may even be a trap, which requires a test of the commander's judgment.
...
Constantinople, Allied Headquarters
"At 10 a.m. on April 5, 1874, my Mediterranean Fleet launched shelling on the ports of Finike, Alanya, and Anamur.
It is preliminarily judged that the fire defense rating of Fickney Port is C-level, and the fire defense level of Alanya Port and Anamur Port is D-level.
At 3:00 pm on April 6, 1874, the Black Sea Squadron launched artillery fire on Ava and Karasu, and initially judged that the enemy's firepower defense level was ah-b.
April 1874…”
The fire defense level is artificially divided by the Austrian Navy in order to distinguish the firepower of the enemy's shore artillery. It is divided into seven levels of sabcdef from high to low.
Looking at the military map on the table, Aleister was a little confused and didn't know where to start. As an admiral, land warfare is not his specialty, and it is too difficult for him to choose a landing point.
Soon he decided to give up and hand over the choice to the Russians. If he chooses the wrong place and suffers heavy losses in the end, it is also the Russians' own business.
"General Ivanov, where do you think it would be better to land?"
Without hesitation for too long, Ivanov gave the answer: "It's still Ava, this is the closest to the Bosphorus Strait, and if you take this place for up to two months, you can completely control the Black Sea Strait.
Once we have done this, we have won most of the war. If the enemy wants to stick to the strait defense line, we can also drive straight in and attack the Ottoman capital Ankara. "
You don't have to wonder why, since the outbreak of the Near East War, the Russians' foreign trade has been inseparable from Austria.
Even if the Vienna government does not charge customs duties, shipping is always indispensable. Regardless of whether the two countries are allies or not, the railway company should receive no less than a penny.
Imports are fine, the big deal is to buy Austrian products, the impact of the reaction is not big, but the loss of exports is huge.
Seeing that the international grain price has been fired up, the domestic grain has piled up like a mountain, and Alexander II is about to go bald.
There is only one buyer left in Austria. If the capitalists do not take the opportunity to lower the price, will they still be capitalists? No matter how the price of food in the international market rises, the purchase price of Austrian capitalists has not changed.
That's all. If the Black Sea Strait is not opened as soon as possible, and if it is delayed until the end of the year, what will they do with the British?
The food-for-loan activity must not be stopped, otherwise the railway construction of the Russian Empire will be stopped.
After thinking about these issues, Arest deliberately reminded: "The importance of the Black Sea Strait is unquestionable, and the Ottomans also know that they have deployed heavy troops in this area.
Either choose an area where the enemy's troops are weak to land first, mobilize the enemy, and then launch an all-out battle. "
This is an established strategy, and Arrest doesn't want to be played by the Russians. If the head-to-head landing directly from Ava, heavy losses are inevitable.
The Russians are not afraid of the heavy casualties of gray animals, and Arrest is still worried about money. You must know that all materials are borne by Austria, and gold is no joke when the cannon is fired.
After hesitating for a moment, Ivanov nodded. The face of the gold master still has to be given. If Austria does not cooperate, they will not be able to swim.
It is impossible for the 150,000 Russian troops to land in one concentrated attack, and to divide troops to attack multiple areas will not affect his battle plan at all.
Seeing that the goal has been achieved, Arrest is very happy: "Well, I will let the airship bombing team cooperate and see if I can take the opportunity to destroy the enemy's shore artillery."
There is no way, limited by technical problems, can't play with the plane, Franz can only make up the number with the airship, the bombing group is the low-end version of the air force.
This unit still has some embarrassment in Austria. Since its establishment, it has not had a successful record. They didn't even have the chance to perform on the battlefield, but the airship transport team performed well.
If it weren't for the outbreak of the Near East War, the enemy's shore artillery would need to be dealt with before landing. It is estimated that Arrest would not have thought that Austria still has this force.
In recent years, Austria has generally been peaceful, except for the occasional banging in the colonies, which is an Anglo-Boers War.
The enemy of the colony does not need airship troops at all. "The Anglo-Boers War" was fought in vests again, and it was too conspicuous to come out with an airship. Once the lid is lifted, the play is not easy to go on.
After waiting for so many years, the airship bombing team finally had the opportunity to perform. Franz immediately transferred the unit to the Balkans to prepare for an actual combat test.
Although the original space-time airship appeared soon, it was eliminated by the aircraft. But the Germans also bombed the United Kingdom with airships, which proves that airships still have certain military value, and it is not a problem to use them to bully the Ottoman Empire, right?
By the way, I will make an appearance to attract the attention of various countries and increase everyone's military expenditure.
If every country created an airship air force and eliminated them overnight when the planes appeared, it is estimated that everyone's expressions would be very exciting.
...
Ava is just an ordinary port city in the Ottoman Empire. If there is any difference, it is probably close to the Bosphorus Strait!
The spring breeze blew across the earth, blew the earth green, and opened the willows, but it failed to blow away the smoke of war.
The tranquility of this small town has been shattered since it was shelled by the Austrian navy. The rich ran away early, and the market became depressed.
The sultan's "jihad" order has been communicated, and everyone has been mobilized. Without enough weapons, I developed it myself, and the blacksmith business in the city suddenly became popular.
As a senior blacksmith, Akyol's heart is very heavy, and he doesn't even work so hard. Thousands of trials have become a matter of coping, as if there is no worry about customer loss.
Now he is really not worried about the loss of customers. For this "jihad", he has been requisitioned for free, and he has heavy tasks every day.
Akyol shouted to the apprentice: "The son of Huangsmanraga, hurry up, if you can't complete the task, be careful to eat the whip!"
(Note: Before the promulgation of the "Law on Surnames" in 1934, the Ottoman civilians had no surnames, and one of the common names of "Son of King Sman Raja")
"Son of Kingsman Raja" is a young boy, only about thirteen or fourteen years old. After listening to Akyol's words, he immediately accelerated the speed of his hand, and complained in his mouth:
"Master Akyol, what's the use of us building these weapons? Don't we use guns in wars? With these things, it is estimated that even the enemy can't get close."
Ava is a port city with many people coming and going.
Everyone knows that the era of cold weapons is over.
Akyol glared at him: "Where does all the nonsense come from? This is something that the gentlemen have decided, and you still need to worry about it?"
This question, Akyol also wants to know. It is a pity that limited knowledge restricts his thinking ability, and he can't think of the use of these cold weapons at all.
In order to build these weapons, the officials confiscated iron weapons. Because of the shortage, they also smelted a lot of farm tools and even iron pots.
Akyoel's heart bleeds every time he sees the farm implements he had fortunately forged in the past turning into molten iron.
However, Akyol, who has long been worn away by life, won't ask why. The official master asked him to do this, so he would do it.
If you ask too many questions, wouldn’t it be unfair if the whip came down? The Ottoman Empire is not a country under the rule of law. If it is beaten by an official, it will be for nothing.
The young man was still a little unconvinced, but he didn't dare to contradict the master, and seemed to be afraid of the official's whip, so he just worked hard.
After a while, he complained again: "Humph! It's all to blame for those infidels. If it wasn't for them to invade, we wouldn't be so tired. When they come, I must give them some color!"
Akyol ignored the boy's complaint, he didn't want the enemy to land in Ava. Even if Dou Da was illiterate, he knew that the enemy was not so easy to deal with.
After the failure of the last war, the Ottoman Empire lost its capital, and a large number of powerful and powerful people fled back in embarrassment. Akyol saw it with his own eyes.