Nor did Helton expect the war to come so suddenly.

June 15, 1939, Baku, the capital of the Caucasus Federation, a rainy night.

Clusters of orange firelight suddenly flickered around the city, piercing the darkness of the rainy night, and the whole city was plunged into war. The cannon roared, and the soldiers ran dazedly in the rainy night.

The garrison of the "Capital Division" stationed in Baku was hit hard, and under the reflection of artillery fire, the Red Guard "guerrillas" wearing red star cockades launched an attack on the barracks.

The so-called "Baku Revolution" broke out, the whole of Baku fell into chaos, and in just one night, the "Red Guards", under the cover of about two hundred tanks, overcame the barracks of the "Capital Division" and completely occupied the entire city.

On the next day, Baku proclaimed Soviet power, and in the Don republics the "partisans" began a large-scale offensive against Tsaritsyn, and in Ukraine the so-called "Ukrainian Liberation Army" captured Kharkov, Sumy and Chernihiv, and marched along the Desna River towards Kiev.

There is evidence that a large number of Soviet troops have joined these so-called "partisan groups" in an organized manner, and Germany and Austria have issued an ultimatum to Moscow, demanding that Soviet Russia immediately stop its invasion of these countries, otherwise Germany and Austria will fulfill their security obligations to Ukraine, the Don River, and the Caucasus Federation, and send troops to restore order in these three countries.

On 19 June, Germany and Austria announced a national mobilization, but the Italians vacillated between war and peace.

France sent a diplomatic note demanding that Germany and Austria cancel the general mobilization order.

Any illusions of peace have been shattered, and 22 June was a very tense day. The deadline for the German-Austrian ultimatum was reached, by which time the war had broken out for a week, the Soviet army had begun to attack Kyiv, and the Ukrainian government had moved south to Odessa.

9 a.m. Germany and Austria again submitted a second ultimatum to Moscow, giving Soviet Russia a reply within two hours. Time passed without any answers.

At 11 a.m., German Chancellor Strähler and Austria-Hungary Chancellor Dorfous made radio speeches in Berlin and Vienna, respectively, announcing that a state of war was already in place between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Soviet Russia.

At 4 p.m., Zhuashvili made a full-fledged speech. Moscow declared war on Germany and Austria.

The war began.

On 22 June, France declared war on Germany and Austria.

This is to be expected, because the ruling "Popular Front" in France has a close relationship with the Soviet Russian Social Workers' Party, and because of the last world war, the French people have always harbored a hostile psychology towards Germany, and under the deliberate propaganda of the ruling totalitarian government, the German-Austrian bloc has long become the "axis of evil."

However, on June 25, Britain declared war on Germany and Austria, which was somewhat unexpected by Lechelton.

The situation now is very much like that of 1914. But by no means a repeat of the 1914 war.

First, the German navy was already superior to the British Royal Navy, and second, Austria-Hungary controlled the Mediterranean, and the Suez Canal was under the joint control of Britain, Germany, France and Austria, and the British were likely to lose control of the Suez Canal within weeks of entering the war.

The war did not benefit the British in any way, and the main reason was that the British were also trying to regain control of Europe. If they are willing to cooperate with Germany and Austria, then Britain will lose its hegemony though. But still able to maintain the status of a world power, but this time. They are willing to risk losing a fortune in the struggle for hegemony.

It was really surprising.

In Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian General Staff is stepping up to send reinforcements to the countries of the East, and the recapture of the oil fields of Transcaucasia is a priority goal. Baku's oil fields, which account for 20 percent of Austria-Hungary's oil imports and Germany's 50 percent oil imports, are the most priority areas to guarantee.

Like the German General Staff in Berlin, the Austrian General Staff was surprised by the rapid progress of the Soviet invasion, which lasted only ten days. Kiev and Volgograd were already surrounded by Soviet troops, and on the Caucasus front, Tbilisi had already fallen.

It can be seen that the Soviet army has made careful and careful preparations for this war.

An escort flotilla led by the Austro-Hungarian battleships "Archduke Friedrich" and "Archduke Maximilian" protected the transport of the 3rd Division of the Austro-Hungarian 23rd Army from Constanta to Batumi. Since the beginning of the war, the fleet ended its vacation. Hurried to the Black Sea for reinforcements.

The situation in the Caucasus has become critical.

About four divisions of Soviet troops, opened the way by tanks, and with the support of heavy artillery and aircraft, advanced rapidly west along the Kura River. In addition, three divisions of Soviet troops already landed in Makhachkala and marched north of the Greater Caucasus to Grozny. The Soviet troops, one south and one north, like an open iron pincer, advanced towards the Black Sea coast.

As a result of the sudden fall of the capital, nearly 300,000 Caucasian Union troops fell into chaos and fled to the western coastal cities with little resistance. Denikin, the president of the Transcaucasian Federation, was fortunate enough to escape from the chaos in the capital, declaring Sochi a temporary capital and at the same time making a radio speech calling on the Caucasian people to take up arms to resist the Russian invasion.

At Denikin's request, the Austro-Hungarian General Staff sent a letter on June 23 to the commander of the Third Army stationed in Romania, Logtesz. Admiral Goge gave the order for the 23rd Infantry Division, stationed in Constanta, to immediately enter the Caucasus. Commander of the 23rd Infantry Division, Ivan. Major General Cindy ordered the concentration of troops in Constanta.

On 27 June, two days after the full-scale outbreak of the war, the 23rd Infantry Division set out from Constanta as an advance force. The operation of the 23rd Division was the first Austro-Hungarian military operation in the war, and it marked the determination of Austria-Hungary to prepare for another all-out battle with the Russians.

Due to the fact that two aircraft carriers of the "Grand Duke of Istria" class are undergoing modernization, the aircraft carrier "von . The 1st Task Force, consisting of two aircraft carriers, the Archduchess Gordon and Attila the Huns, and two battleships, Austria and Hungary, went to Port Said to control the Suez Canal, so in the Black Sea, no aircraft carriers were dispatched.

The commander of the 3rd battle fleet, Admiral Yankel, was indeed somewhat worried about the air defense of the fleet.

"What is the situation in the Caucasus now?" Yankel paid his greetings to Ivan, who was acting with the "Grand Duke Friedrich". General Cindy asked.

"I don't know, but the information coming from there is very confusing, and there is credible information that the 2nd and 7th Caucasian Divisions are engaged in fierce battles with the Soviets on the line of the Kra River." Ivan. "It's really not going to be good, and we risk being driven into the sea by the Russians." ”

"What is the situation with the planes of the Russians?" Yankel said.

"I don't know much about this, but several airports in the Caucasus have been damaged, and it is estimated that there are not too many Russian planes now." "But there are less than 300 combat aircraft left on the Caucasian side, and we need support from the aviation side." The Army's 3rd Air Division has already flown to airfields in Sochi and Sukhumi, and it is estimated that the 9th Air Division will also fly over in the next two days. ”

"That's fine, if there is no air support, our fleet will also take a big risk." Yankel breathed a sigh of relief, at least for now, the Army Air Corps had been dispatched in advance, and if he was bombarded from the air, he could call for reinforcements. (To be continued......) R1292