Iron Cross Fire

On January 22, the Turkish Third Army, which had been fully replenished with weapons and equipment, launched a joint offensive, and the Turkish Second Army covered its flank.

Strictly speaking, this was not a suitable time to attack.

It was winter, the roads were muddy, the foothills were blocked by ice, and the storm swept across the Caucasus. Any action of the army would fail under such conditions.

Therefore, the Turkish army just let the artillery continue to bombard the enemy positions to consume their manpower, making Russia's situation worse.

The Russian army did not dare to come out to fight the Turkish army, and could only passively be bombed.

I wanted to use artillery to counterattack, but the shells had already run out, and the factories in the rear had almost lost their production capacity.

Kuster hoped that the bombing would continue until mid-spring before launching a general offensive. This would make the next battle easier and achieve a hearty victory.

But the war was changing rapidly, and there was no time for him to be so leisurely.

In order to relieve the pressure on Russia, the British and French forces continued to attack the German Western Front.

At the same time, Britain and the Egyptian Arabs attacked the Arabian Peninsula.

There are also some Allied troops gathered in the Mediterranean region, pressing the Turkish Strait.

But none of these can attract Kuster's attention. The most fatal is Russia. After experiencing a failure, they quickly learned from experience and organized an efficient command group, which is under the unified command of one person.

According to reliable information, the newly appointed Russian Supreme Commander is Brusilov, the commander of the Eighth Army who was defeated by Kuster.

He attacked the Austrian army from the side in the Battle of Galicia and won a great victory, thus becoming famous.

In the battle launched by Kuster to relieve Przemyśl, his army suffered the least damage, so he became the commander-in-chief.

Although the internal adjustment of the Russian army has nothing to do with Kuster, what happened next is related to him:

After careful comparison, the Russian army believed that the German army\u003e Russian army\u003e Austrian army, so it gathered heavy troops in the western Ukrainian area and launched a series of offensives.

The battle lasted until February 8, and the result was shocking. Even with Bulgarian reinforcements, the Austrian army was still pushed back 50 kilometers, and eastern Poland returned to Russia's control.

Fortunately, Austria-Hungary still controlled a certain amount of Russian territory, so it was not a disgrace.

Such a failure can only be blamed on Austria-Hungary. If Kuster was not withdrawn, relying on a solid defense line, even God himself could not defeat it.

This short battle had a great impact:

The enthusiasm of other countries to join the Allied Powers has stopped.

Italy began to wander back and forth between the two military groups, and Romania withdrew its troops again.

But fortunately, Bulgaria, which had already boarded the black car, had no chance to get off.

As the leader of the Allied Powers, William II criticized Italy's behavior of jumping left and right; he praised Bulgaria's unswerving determination.

Facing so much pressure at the same time, the Allied Powers had to pin their hopes on Kuster, expecting him to launch a large-scale offensive in the Caucasus and succeed.

But Kuster seemed to be out of the matter and did not make any moves.

So the German Emperor personally sent a telegram, specifically asking him to attack the Caucasus.

The next day, the Turkish leader Enver excitedly took the telegram to Kuster.

Helplessly, he had to recruit troops to prepare for the attack.

Fortunately, after a long time, and with his title as the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Armaments, he was able to obtain a lot of advanced equipment he had previously made, enough to equip seven divisions.

The Austrian 19th Army, which originally belonged to him, was also requisitioned to the Caucasus, and its four divisions were also replenished, and the previous losses had been made up.

The eldest son Vasalai and the youngest son Seloven were also secretly transported by Franz, and even the armored battalion was delivered to Kuster intact.

Now everything is ready, the advantage has been formed, and the battle has begun.

That night, Kuster reorganized the army:

The second and third Turkish armies were renamed Army A and Army B; the reinforcements sent by Austria-Hungary and the elite Turkish troops were divided into Army C.

Army Group A (Armenia) has 220,000 troops, Army Group B (Georgia) has 340,000 troops; Army Group C, the reserve, has 170,000 troops.

From the distribution, we know who has a pivotal position, and according to Kuster's previous perfect plan, we know which battle he is imitating.

On February 9, Army Group B took the lead in launching an attack on Georgia. In order to protect its flank, Army Group A began to attack Armenia, while exerting considerable pressure.

The Caucasus Campaign officially entered the full-line combat period, which was bound to kill many people.

After learning about this, countries around the world had different reactions.

Allied members stated in newspapers that after the end of this battle, Russia was almost at the end.

The Allies increased their offensive efforts on other fronts, but still failed to achieve any results.

As for other countries that have not yet participated in the war, they also carried private goods, mixed with words that were beneficial to their own political system while making objective descriptions.

The view returned to the Caucasus. Without the ability to make Russian intelligence transparent in one direction, Kust played very conservatively here, but blood was spilled on the battlefield at any time.

Until February 14, during this period, the Turkish army had to pay thousands of people for every kilometer it advanced.

After advancing about four kilometers, the Russian defense line was still not broken, and they still had a lot of troops in Georgia.

Frontline officers and soldiers reported: The number of Russians in this area should be no less than 300,000; their equipment is poor, their fighting will is not strong, and the fortifications they built are very unprofessional.

But we can't be too anxious to break through it, at least until March to uproot the Russian positions one by one. This is the suggestion of many Turkish officers.

Kuster didn't think so. Although the weather had been warming up for a while by then, and the road was open.

But once the attack stopped, those Russian soldiers who cherished their lives would react and dig holes in the ground like mice.

And as time goes by, these fortifications will become stronger.

If it really comes to March, the biggest enemy of the Turkish army will not be the bad terrain, but the endless Russian positions.

So not only did they not interrupt the attack, Kuster also ordered them to intensify the offensive.

"No matter what the cost, we must take Georgia this month." These are his original words.

Logically speaking, the commander-in-chief's order is top secret and cannot be said in public.

Especially since there were many Russian spies in the crowd, Kuster still did it, and he did it so decisively.

He was looking forward to Russia's reaction when he learned that the Turkish army did not reduce the offensive force here after the setback, but strengthened it.

The Russians had no choice. Believe it or not, they had to withdraw troops in the end.

As long as their troops in the Armenian area were transferred, Army Group A would press forward step by step, giving Russia a strong deterrent.

At the same time, Army Group C would also secretly gather in the Armenian region, waiting for the best opportunity to attack.

When the time came, Army Group C would follow the road opened by Army Group A and attack Baku directly.

In Baku, the terrain would be slightly flat, and the strongest point of the mobile force would naturally be reflected, beating the Russians without any chance to fight back.

Now, the Russians cannot lose a single battle. Otherwise, if Turkey seizes the opportunity, they will be beaten one after another until the troops collapse or surrender.

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