Balkans

The Russians have already killed each other with the coalition forces. It is worth mentioning that the Ottoman army, which has the largest number of people, has become a supporting role in this war, and the main force of the coalition forces has become Britain and France.

In the Sliven region, the two sides were in a stalemate. The French blocked the Russians' pace of progress. Now every step forward requires human life to fill it.

Because the Ottomans were not strong enough, they were restrained by the Russian army with a small amount of troops. Now 160,000 French troops are fighting against 280,000 Russian troops. It is very difficult for the French to be able to block the Russians, and a counterattack does not exist.

French commander Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier had a headache. In the previous battle, he used 10,000 French troops to defeat 20,000 Russian troops, which was a brilliant result.

Unfortunately, the allies were not strong enough, and the Russian army only divided a partial division, plus tens of thousands of Bulgarian guerrillas, and they suppressed more than 400,000 Ottoman troops and could still gain the upper hand. Facing such teammates, anyone will have a headache.

Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier admitted that the lack of combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army was mainly caused by the tradition of empty salary. The actual number of people on the battlefield was nominally less than two or three levels.

Even if it is discounted, the Ottoman army has more than 300,000, and it is almost twice the advantage in military strength. It is also drunk when people are suppressed and beaten.

The plan cannot keep up with the rapid change, overestimating the strength of allies, and the war has become a war of attrition. Even if you fight like this, you will lose both sides.

"Hisser Commander, good news on the front line!" A young officer said in a deep voice.

"Remember!" Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier said calmly

"Yes!" the young officer replied

"In the early morning of September 14, 1852, the 7th Infantry Division had an encounter with the 16th enemy division in the eastern part of Slivan. After a day of bloody battle, our army defeated the invading enemy troops.

In this battle, 1,328 enemy soldiers were killed, 16 enemy soldiers were captured, several enemy soldiers were injured, and 8 war horses, 628 rifles, 28 pistols, and several ammunition were seized.

However, our army also paid a heavy price. The 7th Infantry Division suffered 1,236 casualties, including 784 people killed in battle, 652 injured, and 196 missing. The division commander Major General Aurehadon was concentrated by stray bullets, and his life and death are unknown now."

This is also considered a victory? Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier was very suspicious that his officers had forgotten the concept of victory.

He also got involved from the bottom of the house, and he had long been tired of playing this little trick. Had he defeated the enemy? It was obvious that he had fought until night and they all dispersed.

If you win a battle, you can still lose nearly 200 people? If the French army had so many fools, there would be no need to fight this war. Maybe these people have now entered the Russian prisoner-of-war camp.

Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier frowned and ordered, "Send someone to ask if the idiot Aurehadon is dead. If he is still alive, I will come here to report as quickly as possible. If he dies, let the Chief of Staff come."

"Yes!" the young officer replied immediately

Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier does not believe this battle report. The casualties of the 7th Infantry Division should be true, and no one dares to fake these things.

But the brilliant results are mostly nonsense. If they win, there will be no fewer prisoners. The Russian army is not the leader who is ready to die, and the French army will not massacre prisoners at this time.

Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier did not care about the outcome of this kind of encounter. The battlefield changes rapidly, and it is acceptable to suffer a little loss occasionally.

The combat effectiveness of the French Expeditionary Force is also different. The strong combat power can defeat all Russian troops, and the weakest combat power is also not an elite opponent of the Russian army.

The combat effectiveness of the 7th Infantry Division is only medium in the French army. If it encounters the main Russian army, it is not surprising that it will suffer a little loss.

After pondering for a while, Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier ordered: "Order the troops to focus on defense and try not to fight decisively with Russia.

We just need to drag them to the Slivan area and wait until the Sofia battlefield is made to make a breakthrough before the decisive battle with the Russians."

The Ottoman army was not effective in combat and could not make a breakthrough in the Slivan area. Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier had given up his plan to fight the Russians here.

This is not France, and there is no need to fight for the Ottomans. In the view of Aimabre Jean-Jacques Pelicier, the first priority now is to preserve strength.

They restrained the Russians' main force and fulfilled their ally's obligations. Now it is the Ottoman army that has not completed the cooperation task, which has caused the operational plan to be unable to be implemented, which is not their responsibility.

After the British won the victory in the Sofia region, they will join forces to encircle and annihilate the Russians in front of them. Anyway, the Russian army there is only more than 70,000, 50,000 British troops, 20,000 Sardinian troops, and 30,000 Ottoman troops, which has an absolute advantage.

Otherwise, if we rashly fight the Russians now, even if we win the war in the end, there would be not much left of this French expeditionary force.

...

Russian Army Command

Commander Minshkov didn't know that he had escaped by chance. If the French had tried their best to make a desperate move at this time, it would be very likely that they would win.

The Ottoman army has poor combat effectiveness, which is not possible during a head-on decisive battle, and it may not be possible if it is a good fight.

As long as the French army was willing to suffer casualties and rushed upwards in front and defeated the Russian army's arrogance, these Ottoman troops would fight with the wind and their combat effectiveness would be revealed.

"Order the troops to attack at all costs, and we must tear open the enemy's defense line as soon as possible. Don't worry about casualties. In the Principality of Wallachia, we still have 50,000 supplementary troops, and in Ukraine we still need 300,000 reinforcements.

As long as we win, the Russian Empire has been waiting for this victory for almost two hundred years, and nine generations have fought for it.

Now Constantinople is less than three hundred kilometers away from us. If we tear open the enemy's defense line, no one can stop us."

Minshkov said passionately, as if this was not the command center, but the podium, and he was giving an exciting speech.

How much is the Russians willing to pay for Constantinople? No one knows this question, but a different way of asking.

Is it worth paying millions of casualties for Constantinople? The Russians' answer is: It's worth it!

From the First Russian-Turkish War to the present, the Russians have paid more than one million casualties for this fortress city. Have they been shaken?

Menshkov knew the determination of the Tsarist government, that was to win.

The small goal of this Russian-Turkish war is to seize Constantinople and lock the Bosphorus Strait. The highest goal is to occupy the land along the two straits and turn the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea into Russia's inland sea.

The casualties of the Tsarist government were not considered from the beginning. As long as the war was won, tens of thousands of casualties and hundreds of thousands of casualties were paid, the gap in the Tsarist government was just a number.

Lieutenant General Boulder questioned: "His Excellency Commander, now we have done our best. If we increase the intensity of the attack, it is likely to leave a chance for the enemy.

Everyone knows the combat effectiveness of the French. Apart from a small number of elite troops that can compete with them, we can only rely on the advantage of military strength.

In the surrounding area of ​​Slivan, we do not have an absolute advantage in military strength on this front of more than 100 kilometers. In many places, the enemy has an advantage in military strength.

Now we have the upper hand, that is, the Ottomans are not strong enough. If they blindly attack the French positions, they will consume a lot of strength.

If we don't take precautions and the French suddenly launch a sneak attack, we may suffer a small loss. At that time, these Ottoman troops with low combat power may give us a fatal blow."

Minshkov shook his head and said, "General Bourd, you are too worried. The French are indeed very strong in combat, but their troops are too small.

Now attacking the French army is fighting for consumption with them. The French are not gods, and they will collapse if they suffer heavy casualties.

I said that if they cause three thousand casualties every day, the French will collapse within a month.

It is really worth winning this battle with more than 100,000 casualties.

If we don’t destroy the elite French troops and bully the Ottoman rabbits, even if we kill all these hundreds of thousands of rabbits, the war will continue."

If the arm cannot force his thighs, and the coach asks for an attack, he will naturally have to fight. Anyway, the dead are all gray animals, and they don’t need them to charge into battle.

...

On the battlefield of Sofia

Montes didn't know that the French allies had handed him the burden of winning, and now he was still counting on the breakthrough on the battlefield, and he beat the dog in the water.

As for commanding the army, defeating the Russian army in front of you, and then catching the Russians' retreat to win this battle.

It's better to let the allies join such a difficult thing! In Montes's opinion, the combat-capable troops in his hands were only 50,000 British troops, and at most 20,000 Sardinian troops, the Ottomans could not count on them at all.

There are more than 70,000 Russian troops opposite, and there is also a Bulgarian guerrilla team. The combat effectiveness of the guerrilla team is not worth mentioning. It is estimated that it is half a pound with the Ottomans, and the two just offset each other.

If you use 70,000 to 70,000, you will have to suffer heavy losses even if you win.

Montes is just a reliable military achievement, not a person who causes trouble. Domestic bureaucrats don’t care. Their contributions on the battlefield are only based on the results of the battle.

Simply put, it means killing many enemies and paying the price. The Frenchman in front were deeply trapped and could score a 1:1.3 exchange ratio. They are now fighting 100,000 to 70,000, and they must fight more beautifully.

The guerrillas were not considered by London bureaucrats and could not be included in their record. They only recognized the regular army.

Montes was still very confident before he fought with the Russians. After the fight, this confidence was gone. In terms of overall combat effectiveness, the British army did have the advantage, but this advantage was not obvious.

At least 50,000 British troops cannot beat 70,000 Russian troops. If the Russian troops on the opposite side have not changed their clothes, then it is not impossible to do it with their firepower advantages.

Before the replacement, the Russian army used a rifle with a range of only 200 yards, and the British rifle had a range of more than 1,000 yards. In terms of rate of fire, the British rifle was at least 30% faster, and the artillery had a greater advantage.

(Note: 1 code equals 0.91 meters)

Historically, during the Crimean War, the Russians suffered a great loss in equipment and were tortured by the British and French coalition forces.

It's different now. The Russian army who had changed their clothes caught up with firepower. These troops were fighting with the British in the early stage, which directly made Montes overestimate the Russians' strength.

Based on this judgment, Montes made a decision to attack with a limited amount of force and first consume the strength of the Russians. Simply put, it was to command the Ottoman army to be cannon fodder, rush forward to fight against the Russian army, and the British were the supervisors.

On the surface, there was no problem, but in fact he ignored it. Such a battle was actually helping the Russians train troops.

An army won a battle and became a veteran; after winning three or five battles, it became an elite. This is how the elite troops of this era fought.

Continuous victory increases not only combat experience, but also confidence and morale.

The Ottoman army, which was rushing ahead with vulnerable combat power, is giving experience to the Russians and helping them complete their upgrades.

Fortunately, the Russian commander, Fitzroy Somerset, did not notice this either. Otherwise, he would have transferred all the Russian troops to rotate several times, and the Russians would have to add another elite division.

Then there is no need for the British to fight later. Although their training is stricter than that of the Russians, elite troops cannot be established through training, and must be baptized by blood and fire.
Chapter completed!