Iron Cross Fire

On February 15, the offensive of Army Group B gradually became effective, and it was no longer as difficult as before.

In just one day, they advanced 14 kilometers. They captured Batumi, Kulo, and Akhaltsikhe on the Black Sea coast of Russia.

Russia wanted to withdraw the defenders in the south to the north. But every time they withdrew one, the Turkish army would strengthen its offensive. This put the Russian army in a dilemma.

From February 16 to 22, the battlefield returned to a stalemate.

The Turkish army only advanced 22 kilometers to the north in 6 days, but at least pushed the front line to a flat area.

This alarmed the Russians. They quickly drew troops from the south to the north in an attempt to stop the Turkish army's pace;

As for Armenia, Russia decided to abandon it and set up the defense line in a more rugged place.

At first, it was only a small-scale mobilization to prevent attracting the attention of the Turkish army.

But on February 24, the Turkish army had the same fierceness as before and pushed 18 kilometers.

The Russian army had to start large-scale adjustments of its troops. They withdrew many troops stationed in Armenia and redeployed them in Georgia.

After hearing about the reduction of Russian troops on the front line, Kust ordered Army Group C to be quickly deployed in Armenia without hesitation.

At the same time, most of the cavalry was also transferred to Army Group C so that they could have faster mobility.

In the north, Army Group B also increased its offensive to gain greater benefits while the Russian army was in chaos.

On February 25, before the Russian army was fully adjusted, Army Group C began to attack.

After many gaps were made in the Russian army in Armenia, the mobile forces began to move.

Six cavalry divisions marched along the foothills. In one day, they advanced 34 kilometers. Now they tried to connect to encircle one Russian unit after another.

But these achievements were not as good as the armored forces led by Seloven. The armored battalion soon reached the center of Armenia-Yerevan.

Kust ordered them to keep only the railway controlled by the Turkish army, and destroy all other railways connected to the Russian army.

As long as the railway is destroyed, the Russian army in Armenia will not be able to obtain logistical support. This will gradually make them lose their offensive capabilities and thus unable to threaten the mobile forces.

Army Group A quickly moved to various places along the railways taken down by friendly forces, preparing to fill the gaps in the attack of Army Group C.

On February 27, a message that was extremely unfriendly to Russia came: the vanguard of the Turkish army had conquered the entire Armenia.

The Russians who were still building fortifications were surprised, but at this moment they had to stop working and set up their guns desperately, waiting for the Turkish army to arrive.

They believed that they could cope with any military action with only the steep mountain seals and winding roads.

Kuster would tell them that this was wrong and extremely outrageous.

On February 28, when the Turkish troops stationed in Armenia saw the Russian soldiers lying in the trenches and not daring to show up at all, they laughed and let the artillery bombard the Russian positions.

But this did not have much effect. Turkey's existing artillery is too old, and their large-caliber artillery is not as powerful as the medium-caliber artillery of other European countries.

It was not until the four steel giants reached the top of the mountain that the long and terrifying bombing session came to an end, but there were still sporadic explosions.

The elite Austro-Hungarian infantry walked near the tanks to ensure their safety without fear of life and death. The tanks also took the opportunity to pour ammunition towards the Russian positions.

The Russian troops on the hillside were all amazed to see this posture. They had never seen such an orderly attack before.

Some peasant soldiers were scared and quickly climbed out of their positions, trying to escape the battlefield. As a result, they were amazed on their buttocks.

The Austrian army looked so strong thanks to their commander, Kuster's eldest son, Major Vasalai.

This major was a position Kuster gave him blindly. But Vasalai did study at the German Military Academy for a period of time and learned a lot of ways to govern the army.

Vasalai was now more than ten meters behind a tank, constantly directing the attack of these Austrian troops.

Fortunately, he was honest and did not wear fancy clothes like other officers: he just wore an ordinary helmet, held a telescope, and had some blasting supplies wrapped around his back.

This also made the Russian sniper mistakenly think that he was just an ordinary engineer and ignored him. Instead, he tried to attack the people in the tank.

But the power of the rifle was far from enough to penetrate the armor. The tanks still rushed towards the Russian positions, and the Russian soldiers felt desperate.

The remaining Russian elites still fought stubbornly to defend the name of the Tsar. Little did they know that the Tsar at this moment did not care about them at all, but was just thinking about how to send people to the battlefield.

But they still relied on favorable terrain to deal with the Allied forces and held on for four hours.

During this period, no matter how the Turkish army bombed, they still held on.

Until the end, Vasala handed the blasting tools on his body to a soldier and blew up a relatively solid bunker, which crushed the will of the Russian army.

Less than a hundred Russian soldiers walked out of the fortifications and stretched out their hands to surrender. You know, before the war, they were an army of several thousand people.

They knew that it was impossible for reinforcements to come, and they lost their fighting spirit at this moment.

After being captured, the Austrians gave them good treatment, at least making them look like human beings.

But everything that happened here was not eye-catching. Everyone was concerned about the overall situation, so who would have the mind to carefully observe a conflict?

Just like Kuster, after receiving the news of the successful breakthrough, he still ordered the armored battalion to go deep into the Russian army and let them die, regardless of the dusty armored battalion.

But at least the hell is finally over. As long as they crawl out of a few more dead bodies, the Austrians can go home.

On March 1, the four cavalry divisions of Army Group C and an armored battalion marched fiercely towards Baku along a relatively flat area.

On the way, they also defeated many Russian troops who obstructed them.

After the Russian army learned of the collapse of the defense line, they hurriedly ordered the troops to return to support. But every army that returned to defend encountered the Turkish defense line.

This is not surprising. Army Group A has already filled the gaps in the front line and served as a filling force to defend the front line.

And what they need to ensure is the attack of Army Group C.

After encountering the enemy's defense line, the mobile forces of Army Group C will wait for the arrival of follow-up troops. After the infantry successfully breaks through the enemy's defense line, they will follow the gap to go deep into the enemy's territory.

This is Kuster's tried-and-tested offensive method, and it is also a conservative and radical means.

The results are also quite significant:

Starting from Lake Sevan, the Turkish front advanced at least 60 kilometers to the east. This is just one day's advancement distance, which is enough to match other fronts in a month.

On March 2, the Turkish army that climbed out of the ravine did not stop as expected, but continued to attack and divided its troops on the flat terrain 114 kilometers away.

Two cavalry divisions marched westward to cooperate with Army Group B to capture Georgia.

Four cavalry divisions and armored battalions went east to prepare to capture Baku.

Now, they are less than 250 kilometers away from Baku. And going along the flat road will be faster.

On March 4, due to defensive omissions, Russia lost Baku, a major city in the Caucasus.

And their Georgian defense line also collapsed under siege from multiple directions, and it was not far from being completely occupied.

Now, every shot fired in the Caucasus is knocking on Russia's long-corrupted door.

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