Chapter 871 Slow

On September 21, 1889, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over the gauntlet to the British Minister in St. Petersburg. Following the end of the First Near East War, Britain and Russia went to the battlefield again.

This time, the time was sufficient, and the Russian army launched the attack on the third day after the declaration of war, in full compliance with international law.

Of course, this was not the tsarist government following the rules. Mainly in the deep inland areas of Afghanistan, the British had no time to lay a cable, and it would take more than a week to transmit the news at the earliest.

London

In the British government building, Prime Minister Gladstone frowned and asked: "Isn't it that the Russians are not ready for war, why did the war break out earlier?"

Britain is not an iron man. While preparing for war, he did not forget to collect information about the Russians' preparations for war.

Just yesterday, Gladstone had been given the sworn assurance that the Russians would not be ready for war for at least three months.

It is now late September, and within three months the Russian Empire will be covered with ice and snow. Generally speaking, the tsarist government will not launch a war at this point in time.

In the end, the British government came to the conclusion that the war would break out in March or April next year, and the preparations for the war were also carried out according to this progress.

Foreign Secretary George replied very depressed: "The Russians are indeed not ready for war, and our intelligence officers lurking in the Russian Empire have confirmed many times.

The war broke out early. Perhaps the Tsarist government was aware of our plan and acted first. "

There is no problem with intelligence, and the British government's judgment is logical, but the Russians don't play cards according to the routine.

When this kind of thing happened, everyone who wanted to be held accountable couldn't run away, and Prime Minister Gladstone naturally wouldn't go into it.

After pondering for a while, Prime Minister Gladstone asked uncertainly: "The Russians have launched the war in advance, can our troops in Afghanistan be able to hold it?"

In recent decades, the wars between Britain and the European powers have all ended in failure, and even the Afghan indigenous people have suffered heavy losses.

Now to go to war with the Russians, Prime Minister Gladstone is really having a hard time raising his confidence in the Army with this series of glorious records.

Defeating the Russians is of course the best option, but Prime Minister Gladstone does not think that the troops on the front line are so powerful, or else he will not ask for more troops at home.

At this time, Prime Minister Gladstone had to be thankful that the question of whether to reinforce or not was thrown to Parliament.

If the reinforcements were not timely and the frontline suffered heavy losses, the council also shared most of the responsibility.

The Secretary of the Army, Rosario, shook his head: "The Russians are aggressive, and they won't stop until they take over the Afghan region.

The Prussian-Russian War is a lesson from the past. At its peak, the Russians mobilized four or five million troops, and the front-line combat troops remained at two million.

Although Central Asia is no better than Eastern Europe, the Russians cannot invest millions of troops, but they can still invest 300,000 to 500,000 troops.

If the troops in the Afghan area are all elites in the army, I can guarantee that the Afghan area can be defended and even have the strength to launch a counter-offensive.

But the problem is that most of our troops in Afghanistan are Indian colonial divisions, and their combat effectiveness is less than one-tenth of the main force.

Unless the Russians throw in no more than 200,000 troops on the offensive, it will be difficult for us to take advantage. "

Could the Russians put in less than 200,000 troops?

This is obviously not possible. To attack the Three Khanates of Central Asia, the tsarist government successively invested more than 600,000 troops.

Next, to compete with Britain for the Afghan region, only tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops will be invested, unless the tsarist government is in the dark.

After a pause, Rosario continued to add: "The war has broken out. In view of the complicated situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of War proposes to expand sixty infantry divisions, twenty artillery regiments, two cavalry divisions..."

Before Rosario could finish speaking, Lord Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key interrupted strongly: "Your Excellency, are you kidding me? Not long ago, the Army just expanded three infantry divisions, and the total strength of the Army has reached A staggering three hundred thousand.

According to your current military expansion plan of the Ministry of the Army, the total troop strength must exceed the one million mark.

As far as I know, the mountainous region of Afghanistan is not conducive to large army operations at all. The Russians will put in at most 300,000 to 500,000 troops, and any more logistics will kill them.

We have already occupied the first-mover advantage, and the troops on the front line can rely on the terrain to build fortifications and defenses on the spot, and they don't need much troops at all.

One million army, are you planning to fight all the way from Central Asia to Moscow? "

No objection, no, Britain's military spending is not unlimited, if the army gets more, the navy gets less.

Because of the war in Afghanistan, the British government stopped the arms race, and the navy has long been dissatisfied.

Now that the Army is jumping out to grab resources under the banner of war, Sir Astley Cooper Key can't bear it!

As for the need for war, that in itself is a fallacy. Different styles of play require different forces.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Xiaoji Childers: "Sir is right, we don't need that many troops in Afghanistan, and we don't have the capacity to support millions of troops fighting in Afghanistan.

The army is not our strong point in the first place, and a decisive battle with the Russians in Afghanistan is simply unrealistic.

All we need is to hold on to the Afghan region and stop the Russians from going south, not for a decisive battle with the Russians in Central Asia.

simple

The defense of the Indian colonial army can also be used. We have as many troops as we want, even if the casualties are large, there will be no trouble, and the cost is much lower. "

Originally speaking, Rosario did not expect the government to agree, and it was expected that he would be opposed.

"I'm afraid the two of you haven't figured out the seriousness of the problem. War is not a game, and the enemy will not follow our plan. The Russians provoked the war in advance as proof.

The troops on the front line cannot fight forever. The troops need to be rotated and replenished. We must have enough reserves.

The Ministry of War is calculated according to 3:3:4. Not only 300,000 combat troops have been invested in the front line, but another 300,000 troops can be stationed in the Indian area for reinforcements and rotations at any time, and 400,000 troops are prepared domestically to deal with emergencies.

Judging from the casualties of the Russian-Prussian War, such a force is actually very small, and it needs to be supplemented by the Indian colonial army.

The expansion of the military cannot be accomplished in one or two days, but the situation on the battlefield is constantly changing, and we have to consider the worst-case scenario.

 …”

Lord Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key: "Absurd, the Army is prepared to fail from the very beginning. Could it be..."

Seeing the quarrel escalating, Prime Minister Gladstone stopped him and said, "Enough! The Russians are all calling, and if the quarrel continues, everyone is ready to collect the bodies of the troops on the front line!

Ordered the Governor of India to form another 500,000 troops, and authorized Governor Lytton to send troops to reinforce the battlefield in Afghanistan at any time according to the changes in the battle situation on the front line.

In addition, seven infantry divisions were drawn from the mainland, and one infantry division was drawn from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to immediately reinforce the Afghanistan area.

The army immediately began to expand, with an expansion of 400,000 troops first. If necessary, it will be discussed later according to the actual situation. "

Originally, Prime Minister Gladstone wanted to reinforce the twenty infantry divisions on the front line in one go, but there were not so many troops in the country.

If you want to continue to increase troops in the mainland, then wait for the expansion of the army to be completed. Now you can only let the Indian colonial army stand up first.

The plan to expand the army was slashed by laziness. Rosario originally planned to continue to increase, but after glancing at the expressions of everyone, he decisively chose to give up.

It is already very difficult to allow everyone to expand the army in the same way. If they play too much, maybe these guys think the army is too expensive and use cheap colonial troops to fight the Russians.

Don't look at Rosario's efforts to belittle the combat effectiveness of the colonial army. In fact, there are still a few capable troops in the British colonial system.

The combat effectiveness is not comparable to the main force of the British army. That is because the weapons and equipment of the colonial army are too poor. If the same equipment is really replaced, it is still unknown who is stronger or weaker.

The British government did not want to use these cheap troops with strong combat power. It is not that everyone does not want to, but it is mainly worried about loyalty.

The arrogant soldiers are no joke. These guys with strong combat power are not as good as the Indian colonial army. If they are not good, they will cause trouble.

Everyone still understands the truth of raising tigers. There are so many colonies in Britain, and there is no situation where the place becomes bigger. It is this kind of caution.

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