Iron Cross Fire

This May is not a good month for Austria-Hungary. Its strength is very poor. It basically depends on the Germans to break through the Ukrainian front.

The war against Greece is not going well. Even though Bulgaria's strength can crush Greece, it can't stop its allies from sending troops to the Balkans.

Its internal ethnic divisions also make this old empire collapse at any time, and its successors will also be fragmented; the problems brought by a pluralistic society are extremely serious.

It can be said that Austria-Hungary has been holding on, both externally and internally, and it is close to the collapse limit of this ancient empire.

Now that Italy has joined the war, it has brought greater pressure to Austria-Hungary. What's more fatal is that they have no regular army there, all local garrison troops, and their combat effectiveness is extremely worrying.

It should be noted that the local troops are of a unified ethnicity and were born and raised in the local area. They have an extremely firm fighting will and are much stronger than the regular army of Austria-Hungary to some extent.

But they only have a few tens of thousands of people, while Italy on the opposite side has hundreds of thousands of people!

Those elite Italian mountain infantrymen had undergone long-term training and their combat capabilities were even better than before, not to mention the help of the French.

No matter from which angle you look at it, it is almost impossible for the Tyroleans to stop this army. They are great if they can delay it for a few hours!

If the Tyrolean defense collapsed and the Allies broke out of the Alps, hundreds of thousands of troops would be deployed instantly, and the Balkans of the Allies and even the Austro-Hungarian capital Vienna would face the threat of large-scale encirclement.

The Austro-Hungarian high-level officials were very frightened when they learned that Italy had joined the war. They stopped all offensives, withdrew 30% of the troops from the Eastern Front to defend, and appointed Borojevic as the commander.

As for the expeditionary force in the Caucasus, it was not withdrawn because the high-level officials believed that the distance was too far and it would be too late to return. However, they asked Kuster to launch an offensive to ease the pressure on the Ukrainian front.

Austria-Hungary responded quickly. Italy joined the war at noon on May 2, and emergency deployment began at 2 pm.

But how fast can it be? It is at least 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine to the Alpine front, and it will take at least four or five days to transport it.

If the Tyroleans can hold out for so long, they will definitely be rewarded after the war.

However, Italy will not allow it. As the last European power to join the war, it has extremely sufficient war preparations. The reserves of rifles, artillery and ammunition are far greater than those of Russia, and the weapons and equipment produced in the United States are enough to arm several divisions.

If possible, they can completely cover the entire sky with artillery shells, or even penetrate the mountains. Elite infantry will follow closely and rush up the mountains to capture the Alps.

Although it is just a fantasy, it will soon become a fact. Tyrol cannot be defended, everyone thinks so.

As if to confirm people's conjecture, the battle went smoothly at the beginning. The Austro-Hungarian troops in the plains withdrew after a short time, and soon approached the Battle of the Isonzo River.

Thousands of artillery pieces sounded together, and the huge force could cause the earth to shake violently.

The positions left by Austria-Hungary were full of craters, and bloody fog remained in the sky. Everything went smoothly.

Until the battle area turned into a mountainous area, Italy gradually became unable to move forward.

The terrain of the Alps is extremely complex, and heavy weapons can hardly be used here. Cannons must be dragged to the mountains with ropes to work.

The cold climate is also a kind of tempering for soldiers, and the snow-capped mountains may collapse at any time.

The training courses of Italian soldiers did not let the soldiers suffer from the cold, and they were still too tender compared to the native Tyroleans.

However, the huge advantage of troops can completely cover up this defect, and the soldiers are also extremely professional. They know the methods of mountain warfare and disperse to harass the enemy.

The offensive against Tyrol was very huge, and Italy's reserves also rushed to the Apennines continuously, joining the battle with friendly forces.

The battle lasted for nearly a day and a night, and the Austrian-Hungarian defense in the mountains was almost worn out, and the resting place in the cave was also blown down.

Such bad things will continue. The Tyroleans have no artillery to counter the enemy's artillery fire. The smoke on the battlefield alone can drown them.

With the appearance of the Italian infantry, a more fierce attack began. Hundreds of thousands of people almost flattened everything in the Alps.

But the result was shocking. Even though the Italian attack was fierce, it still could not break through Austria-Hungary at all.

This anxiety lasted until four days later, when the first batch of reinforcements finally arrived. The newly appointed Borojevic quickly reorganized all the troops and put them into battle, successfully blocking the attack.

As the war progressed to this point, the Austrian-Hungarian defense line in the Alps was gradually improved. It was impossible for the Italians to break in. Next, they could only fall into an endless war of attrition like the Western Front.

Conrad, the Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, praised the brave and combative garrison troops and awarded medals to all of them.

It was not only the Italian soldiers, the so-called national spirit, and his endless ambitions that were frustrated.

This failure dealt a heavy blow to the Italian government's reputation, and social contradictions intensified again, but not on a large scale as before, just a group of literati fighting each other.

More people were indifferent to this and focused on their own work; just like Kuster, who was far away in the Caucasus, he was discussing how to deal with Russia's defense.

After 6 days of preparation, the remaining Russian troops in the Caucasus had been completely digested and a new offensive could be organized.

Russia's troops have also returned to support, but they are already at the end of their strength. Only less than 500,000 people can join the battle, of which only 200,000 are equipped with rifles, and the rest use cold weapons. The vicious cycle of less and less equipment has already been reflected in Tsarist Russia.

On the other hand, Kuster's equipment is getting bigger and bigger. He has recruited troops along the way, and his troops have reached 450,000. It is easy to break through the plains, so what he should think about should not be how to win, but how to use the victory.

At present, the first priority should be to expand the front line, which is mainly due to Russia's shortage of troops, and it can also share the pressure for allies.

Kuster believes that the front line should be pushed to the north bank of the Sea of ​​​​Azov-the junction of the Volga River and the Caspian Sea.

This is undoubtedly very bold, especially when Italy suddenly joins the war and Austria-Hungary is delayed, there will be no friendly forces to support him.

But Kuster doesn't care. He finally crossed the Caucasus Mountains. If he doesn't drive fast in such a good area on the prairie, it would be a shame for the painstaking efforts of several months.

It is 400 kilometers from the Caucasus to the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov, and 350 kilometers to the Volga River. This is not a difficult task for his army. They can completely control it in a few days.

He kept wandering in front of the map of the new headquarters, pointing his hand on the map, and finally waved his hand, and the whole of Eastern Europe fell into war again.

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