Chapter 211: Reversal! Churchill's Tears (27)

A Wang Hu sedan with a black plate bypassed the square and stopped in front of the Chengxian Hall, and a slender man got out of the car, wearing a boat-shaped hat with feathers and holding a golden marshal's scepter, but he was not in a hurry to enter the mén, deliberately stood in front of the car, and looked up at the window where Gu Yingyang was.

"Is that him? ...... so quickly"

Gu Yingyang frowned, it was his predecessor - Liu Bailiang, who fell in the "August 2 coup" last year.

Su Sanling, who was on the side, quickly noticed the scene outside the window and couldn't help but be surprised: "Isn't this Ning Donghou?" He didn't ...... a long time ago."

"At this time, at that time, he will soon be the commander of the newly established East China Sea Theater."

Gu Yingyang deliberately avoided the unkind gaze of the shè downstairs, turned around and tilted his head towards Su Sanling: "Leave him alone, it's just a price for Jiāo Yi." ”

"Jiāo easy? Price? Su Sanling was puzzled.

Gu Yingyang smiled bitterly and sighed: "There is no free lunch in the world, one day you will understand - the situation in Turkey, what do you think?" ”

Su Sanling made no secret of what he said: "Once the railway junction in Aleppo is lost, the Ottoman Empire will be divided into three, the main force of the Turkish army in Asia Minor will lose the food, soldiers, horses, and arms supplied by our country in Syria and Iraq, and the Turkish 4th Army on the Palestinian side, which is completely dependent on railway supplies, will inevitably collapse quickly." ”

"As for our army's joint air force stationed in Turkey, it will lose Iraq's gasoline supply and the vital Aleppo relay airfield, and it will be difficult for the air force to fly even if it has wings - either hold the plane and wait for death, or burn the plane and go around the mountains and mountains to Iraq."

Gu Yingyang nodded solemnly: "It seems that the other party is prepared this time, and it is bound to be obtained-what about the plan of the combat department?" ”

Su Sanling returned to the table and reached out and clicked on the right side of the map to Baghdad, the capital of the Ottoman Empire's Iraqi province.

"The 19th Army of the Turkish Front is massing towards Baghdad, but so far only two full divisions of the 72nd Army have been deployed, plus about one and a half divisions of the Turkish 12th Army, which is under the command of the 19th Army."

"Since the railway between Basra and Mosul has just begun, water transport north of Basra is seasonally unreliable and supplies are mainly carried by mules and horses, supplemented by a small number of trucks. The Turkish Front believes that it will take at least a week to regroup the 72nd Army and the Turkish 12th Army to Mosul alone. ”

"Although the cavalry advance detachment organized by the 19th Army had arrived in Mosul a week earlier, it coincided with the outbreak of the local plague, and many people and horses were infected with the disease - according to the report of the army command, it was also necessary to isolate and recuperate for at least a week"

Gu Yingyang shook his head behind his back and said, "Even if there is no plague, that little cavalry alone will not be able to withstand anything." ”

Su Sanling snorted, and his fingers slid down the Tigris River: "The 2nd Armored Corps directly under the Turkish Front has been assembled in Basra, and if the logistics vehicles of the entire army are concentrated to supply a small number of combat troops in an extreme way, coupled with the support of the Mosul Oil Refinery and the railway line between Mosul and Aleppo, it is possible to organize a Jīng armored mobile detachment to quickly rush to the aid of Aleppo." ”

Gu Yingyang still shook his head: "The bus pulled to Aleppo, the journey is more than 1,000 kilometers, and there are untrimmed sand and dirt roads along the way. ”

Su Sanling drew a large arc to the left, and his fingertips stayed on the city of Konya in the south of the Asia Minor Peninsula: "The main force of our Turkish joint air force is assembling in Konya, and the logistics and transfer center there still has a certain amount of reserves, which is enough to support large-scale operations for two or three battle days......"

Gu Yingyang waved his hand to interrupt Su Sanling, stretched out his hand and flicked it on the map: "According to the known intelligence, the enemy forces on the Iskendelon Bay have strong air support, and if the Turkish Joint Air Force relies on the base west of Iskendelon Bay to fight, it is extremely risky and difficult to last. We can't risk this force, the Jīng Hua Ke of the Navy's shore-based aviation is there - in my opinion, the air force must immediately withdraw from Asia Minor, relay to Iraq, avoid the battle of Jiāo as much as possible, and give priority to the safety of the pilots. ”

"In this case, the Turkish army headquarters can only mobilize reserves to supplement the defense, and according to the current situation, two or three divisions should be able to be transferred ......."

Before Su Sanling could finish speaking, an officer on duty in the telecommunications room knocked in and handed over a telegram from the military liaison office in Ankara.

Gu Yingyang took it and glanced at it, and handed it to Su Sanling with a straight face: "Now they can't be transferred." ”

……

In the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France, in the corner of the pleasant Château de Chantilly, British Admiral Winston Churchill was strolling alone with his back hand, and his eyes were constantly flashing before his eyes the faces of the heads of state and dignitaries in the castle for the past two days, and their clamour, invective, quarrels, and conspiracies...... Plus no compromises.

The situation is very good, not ordinarily good.

In the last month: the Chinese Navy's proud aircraft carrier force has come under fire head-on in the waters of the Solomon Mén Islands;

The steel torrent of the Chinese Army is blocked on the borders of Eurasia;

The perfidious Romanians were duly punished in Bessarabia;

The German-Austrian army rushed into the Ukrainian hinterland, but failed to catch the main Russian force, but instead burst out of the weak flank due to the retreat of the Romanian army......

In the recent week, the dying Ottoman Empire has finally fallen into a desperate situation: the Cypriot expeditionary force has captured the port of Alexandretta in a flash, and the Greek expeditionary force has successfully landed in Smyrna;

Immediately afterwards, the Straits Expeditionary Force broke through the central line of the Turkish 1st Army, near Ankara's Western Great Mén-Esquibscher;

Subsequently, the Egyptian expeditionary force broke through the Gaza defense line of the Turkish 4th Army in one fell swoop, and with the assistance of the Arab guerrillas led by Major Lawrence, and the Jewish rebel army in Palestine, they marched towards the holy land of Jerusalem!

Finally, the Russian army attacking from the Caucasus, assisted by the Armenian rebels who resisted the Turkish massacre, once again approached the fortresses of Van and Erzurum, which were important cities in eastern Asia Minor.

The most striking event occurred on the Western Front: on 5 July, the Germans dispatched more than a dozen divisions to raid the British-held line south of Arras in two directions, attempting to flank the main Anglo-French forces on the front of the Somme front, and they almost succeeded - the British army guarding that section of the front had only four divisions in total.

However, the Germans never dreamed that the intentions of the two sides coincided: in order to detour the main German forces of the Somme front from the flank, the Entente had already secretly assembled a powerful assault corps in the rear of Arras.

The basic strength of this corps consisted of: 6 British infantry divisions, 3 French infantry divisions, and 3 American infantry divisions (one American division was about twice the strength of an Anglo-French division)—a total of 12 divisions, organized into four corps; 3 British Cavalry Divisions - formed into the 2nd British Cavalry Corps; 3 British tank brigades plus 1 French tank battalion - formed the British 3rd Panzer Corps.

Guided by 476 tanks, the Allied assault corps, hidden in the woods west of Arras, suddenly leaped out without artillery preparation, flanked the German troops who had broken through the battle line on three sides, and won a decisive victory in two days and nights—encircling three German divisions and inflicting heavy losses on the other six or seven.

Before such a favorable situation, the heads of the Allied powers naturally disdained the intention of the German Chancellor to negotiate peace talks secretly transmitted by the German Chancellor through neutral countries a few weeks ago.

The French wanted everything: Alsace-Lorraine, huge reparations, the west bank of the Rhine, up to the dismemberment of the entire German Empire.

The tormented and hysterical Russians demanded the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary and the severe punishment of Germany and Romania, and, of course, they hoped for their "well-deserved reward" in Asia Minor, especially in Constantinople and the Turkish Straits of Turkey.

The Italians, who had just been beaten by the outnumbered German-Austrian army at the Battle of Trentino, shamelessly talked about how to divide the Austro-Hungarian "legacy" in the Balkans, and then suggested that their country deserved a piece of the Ottoman corpse.

The British Empire, naturally wishing to maintain the balance of power on the European continent, could neither allow Germany to dominate nor see France or Russia too strong, and it "only demanded" that Germany withdraw from the Entente territories it occupied and give "appropriate compensation", and that its "superfluous" overseas colonies and naval vessels be disposed of by the Entente, and that "there was room for decent negotiation" on the rest of the questions.

Only the Americans are singing about the self-determination of peoples, freedom of navigation, the opening of the mén household, the League of Nations...... Shit like this, what the hell is to rely on these things to fight against the "kingship" of the Chinese Empire and the East Asian Alliance.

To deal with those aliens, you can only rely on iron and blood!

Churchill paused and casually looked at the rococo huā garden, sculptures, fountains, and pools in front of the castle against the backdrop of verdant trees......

The future is bright, but the journey is destined to be long: the wounds inflicted on the Chinese Empire by a naval battle of Solomon are insignificant; A single battle of Arras was far from enough to shake the foundations of the German Empire; Although the defeat of the Ottoman Empire was significant, it had little real impact on the operation of the two huge war machines of China and Germany; Russia is still unable to get rid of the strategic pincer of Sino-German superiority and strength; The Italians, on the other hand, ran out of energy early on the banks of the Izonzo River and in the foothills of the Alps......

Everyone is looking forward to the United States, and expects that the United States' huge industrial power and abundant manpower and material resources will be transformed into a decisive military power as soon as possible, leading its exhausted Western European allies to overwhelm the Sino-German alliance in one fell swoop.

However, the Americans also have their own problems: the humiliation of Hawaii, the real threat on the West Coast, and the delicate situation in the Southwest Pacific inevitably hold back the American decision-makers from focusing on the overall strategy of the Entente group, which "first subdues the Central European power bloc."

At this time, it was the man's iron will to put an end to the meaningless debate, to push the Entente countries to concentrate their will and strength to carry out the established general strategy, and even more so to find a way to guide the countries to continue to adhere to the indirect line strategy that had already achieved significant results: to take the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as an opportunity, then to subdue the weaker Bulgaria and Romania, and then to besiege and subdue the Austro-Hungarian Empire from several directions, and then to break into the lower belly of Bavaria, the weakest part of the German Empire. This is the true and wise way to victory!

Unfortunately, the man, Marshal Kitchener, the current Minister of War, was at this time on the cruiser Birmingham bound for Murmansk, and he was tasked with signing a new military agreement with the Russian base camp on behalf of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, and tying this huge and dangerous "European steamroller" more firmly to the Allied chariots.

"Winston, what are you doing here?"

As soon as Churchill turned around, he saw Prime Minister Lloyd George hurrying towards him with a few pieces of paper in his hand.

"There's good news again."

"One good news, three bad news."

Lloyd-George grim-faced, not like a joke.

Churchill realized the seriousness of the situation, took the message and quickly skimmed through it.

"The Ankara side sent a telegram for peace...... Expected. ”

"The discovery of the East Asian Grand Fleet in the Gulf of Aden, and the enemy shelling and landing of our Aden protectorate and the coast of French Somalia at the same time...... This shows that the main force of the East Asian Combined Fleet is still in the Indian Ocean, and our troops on the Australian side still have time to gather forces and consolidate their positions. ”

Churchill pretended to turn the next page with ease, and his face changed suddenly.

"Wait...... A coup d'état broke out in Petrograd! This...... How is this possible! How can you ...... at such a time?"

Lloyd George sighed lightly and reached out to pat him on the shoulder: "Don't move, look at it." ”

“…… The coup soldiers, who called themselves the 'Progressive Group', set up a 'Provisional National Salvation Committee' in Tsarskoye Village, claiming to have been authorized by the Romanov family council to demand that Tsar Nicholas II, who was in the Moscow stronghold, sign an abdication edict to relinquish the throne to Grand Duke Mikhail, and at the same time ordered the convening of the State Duma to consider and adopt a new constitution that would be "beneficial to all the Russian people"? - What kind of nonsense is this? ”

Churchill scoffed as he shook off the last telegram.

"The cruiser HMS Birmingham, on which the Secretary of War was travelling, lost contact yesterday after sending a distress signal in the waters east of the Shetland Islands, and the search and rescue fleet has not found anything ......so far."

……

Berlin, Lindenstrasse, Scholssplatz Royal Palace.

"On the one hand, a coup d'état broke out in the Russian capital, and squadrons landed in British Aden and French Somalia; On the other hand, the Turks sent a telegram for peace, and our army was thwarted at Arras - should I rejoice, or should I sigh? ”

Wilhelm II, Emperor of the Second German Empire, paced behind his desk and muttered to himself, and after a moment he stopped, turned and stood before the chief of staff, Field Marshal Falkingham, who bowed his head and was silent.

"What did you just say? What is an unexpected counter-assault? I don't care where the tanks of the British came from, I only know that you have exhausted the reserves on the Western Front again, and you only know that you have reached out to me to ask for reserves, and to the Eastern Front! ”

Fa Jinhan was sincerely afraid, but he insisted on his opinion: "Your Majesty, I have an unshirkable responsibility for this defeat, but the Western Front still cannot be without reserves......"

Wilhelm II interrupted him harshly: "Enough! I have been so disappointed in your abilities that as of this day you are no longer my Chief of Staff, and there is a man more suitable for this position than you. ”

The beard on the side of Fa Jinhan's mouth trembled slightly: "Forgive the minister, that person is ...... Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front, Field Marshal Hindenburg? ”

The emperor nodded without hesitation: "It's good to know the way, now you can retreat." ”

Falkingham retreated silently, and Wilhelm II watched his back disappear behind the thick oak mén, his eyebrows slightly twisted.

"Hindenburg, you must not let me down."

……