The night is deep, the stars are shining, and a long river sparkles like jade, winding its way through the rolling hills and plains. On both sides of the river, the lush vegetation of trees and vegetation is nowhere to be seen, and instead a large number of trenches are as dense as spider webs. From time to time, the sound of combat boots stepping on the sand sounded lowly, adding a bit of solemnity to this lonely and desolate night.

This is the Prut River in the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, where Romania and Russia are separated. A little more than a month earlier, the ambitious Romanian army had crossed the rushing river and launched a massive offensive against the Russian army on the other side, intent on retaking the region of South Bessarabia, which had been forcibly ceded to Russia in 1878. However, these Dacians have the attributes of Italy with a heart higher than the sky, but a life thinner than paper. Although the Russian army is clumsy, it is by no means comparable to the Romanian army, which is negligent in training, outdated in equipment, and has a uniform that is more blind than Shi Huang 59; Under the counterattack of the Russian army, the two Romanian armies that attacked were all defeated, and if it were not for the fact that two of the German divisions were the mainstay of the Russian army, so that the Russian army did not dare to pursue too much, it was entirely possible to stage a crushing defeat such as the Battle of Tannenberg!

From 23 September, the Romanian army withdrew from Russian territory east of the Prut River and began to regroup, awaiting the arrival of domestic reinforcements. And with the disclosure of the Russian army's strategic plan to prepare a large-scale attack on Romania, the Dacians panicked and went crazy to build their own front fortifications. However, since the length of the border between the two countries is more than 700 kilometers, it is longer than the entire French front; At present, the total number of Romanian troops is only one-fifth of that of the Anglo-French forces on the Western Front. It is completely impossible to build a strong and solid line of defense!

In light of this. The chief of the Romanian General Staff, Florescu, had to resort to another tactic. That is, to abandon the unrealistic all-round defense, but to build complete fortifications on some core areas, implement key fortifications, and wait for the moment of counteroffensive promised by the German and Austrian armies. Sufficient food and ammunition were stockpiled in advance to the defensive positions, and various measures to clear the fields began to be carried out in the northern land: to Florescu's heart, the troops of the German 9th Army, dressed in Austro-Hungarian uniforms, had appeared near Brasov in Trasylvania, which meant that they were able to rush to his aid at a rather rapid pace.

While the Romanian army was digging fortifications and preparing to hold on, the Russian army was also stepping up preparations for its offensive. With the fall of Paris. and the new offensive launched by the German army in northern France, Britain and France urgently needed Russia to make moves on the Eastern Front, and Nikolai was definitely a righteous ally, and after learning about the difficulties of Britain and France, he stepped up his urging General Alekseev to launch a military operation against Romania. On October 18, a batch of rifles and bullets purchased from Japan at a high price arrived in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, after half a month on the train. To the surprise of the Russians, the Japanese side took into account the problem of logistical supply and maintenance for them in a very humane manner. The rifle bullets provided to them this time were all trophies captured from the Russian army on the battlefield in Manchuria eight years ago. They're completely easy to use.

The banks of the Prut River were as calm as every night before, but in the early hours of October 21, the picture was torn to shreds by the fury of war. With the rising of the offensive flares, a deafening roar broke out on the Russian land on the east and north banks of the Prut River, startling the distant forest birds to scatter into the sky; And less than ten seconds later, the land southwest of the river bank burst into a cloud of red, purple, orange and red dazzling lights, reflecting the entire battlefield in red!

Due to the limited number of Russian artillery shells, the artillery preparation lasted only ten hours before it was over, and its density was very different from that of the German attack on Paris on the Western Front; However, for the untrained Romanian army, this was already a devastating and horrific shelling. A large number of Russian engineers, holding the cylinders of the rafts that had been prepared for a long time, stepped into the chest-deep cold river without hesitation under the cover of artillery and machine guns, fixed these floating objects in the water, and tied them into a pontoon bridge. The Romanian army almost did not encounter much resistance, and broke through the defense line of the Prut River guarded by the Romanians, and drove their attacking army and the massive amount of materials they had dug into the ground to the enemy's territory.

The four Russian armies attacked at the same time, rushing from Bessarabia to the southwest like a tidal wave. By the night of October 22, Lechtsky's Russian 3rd Army had driven 16 kilometers west, approaching the city of Ragat, an important town in eastern Romania; The 7th and 9th armies under the command of Sakharov and Shcherbachev also crossed the river for the most part, and the important town of Iasi in northern Romania was in danger of being encircled. The only attack that was thwarted was Karekin's 11th Army, which was responsible for covering the flank, and during their attack on the Austro-Hungarian area of Bukovina, they encountered fierce resistance from the Austro-Hungarian army.

Unlike the Austro-Hungarian multi-ethnic mixed army, the defense of the front line in Bukovina was carried out by Austrian or Hungarian units; Not only are they better equipped and trained than the miscellaneous armies, but most importantly, they do not have the language barrier of the mixed troops, and they are able to give full play to their due strength on the battlefield. In order to keep this vital forward position, the Austrians did not open the gates like the Romanians, but fought a fierce positional battle with the invading Russian army in the small land of Bukovina. When the Russian engineers entered the river and prepared to build a bridge, the Austrian soldiers first spat out a deadly orange tongue of fire from the mouth of the carefully built concealed fire on the opposite bank; And the Russian soldiers in the water cannot dodge in any way like on land, and can only become a fixed target for the opponent's rifles and heavy machine guns!

Guns roared, and artillery fire was like a rainbow. From time to time, thin jets of water burst into the rushing river, and the scattered waves drenched the Russian officers and soldiers to the bone. The Russian engineer barely stayed in the river for more than two minutes before he was pierced through his body by bullets fired from the opposite bank, blood gushed out, and he was rushed downstream screaming; Even the raft pontoons in their hands were washed down by the river. Seeing that the direct construction of the pontoon bridge was blocked, the Russian army changed the bridge to a forced crossing, but the Russian soldiers sitting in rowboats also had to expose themselves to the guns of the defenders for a long time. Under the Austro-Hungarian machine gun fire, the Russian soldiers on the rowboat screamed and fell into the water, and even the small boat was hit by the dense rifle fire on the opposite shore and lost the ability to break through in the continuous flooding.

After a full day of fierce fighting, the Russians finally established several bridgeheads on the Prut River, which was held by Austro-Hungarian troops; This was all the result of Admiral Karekin's surprise attack on the weak points at night after testing the deployment of the Austrian army along the river during the day. However, pontoon bridges, which are vital to the Russian army, are still difficult to build. The prepared Austrian artillery constantly bombarded the Russian bridge-building team in the river, and their artillery was either invisible or impossible to the Russian artillery. The operation of the Russian army to build bridges and strengthen the forces of the bridgehead could only be forced to take place at night. During this period, the Austrian reserve forces either stormed the Russian bridgehead with superior forces, or waved shovels in front of it to build fortifications, preparing to fight the Russians to the end here. In the daytime, the Austrian troops fighting at home were again bombarded with artillery fire, and the pontoon bridge that the Russian army had built with great difficulty at night was once again bombed to pieces, and the raging flames that crackled and burned on the pontoon bridge in the river made every Russian officer and soldier look at it.

"I have sent the most elite forces of the empire to the front-line battlefield, and the death and injury of each and every one of them is shaking the foundation of the empire! Therefore, I sincerely hope that your army will be able to attack as soon as possible and share some of the pressure on the officers and men of our army who are fighting the front line. At the field headquarters, 100 kilometers south of Bukovina, the Austro-Hungarian commander-in-chief, Herzendorff, spoke eagerly at Xing-Lu in front of him, and his thin face already carried a hint of anticipation.

For Austria-Hungary, a dualistic and multi-ethnic state, the armies of Austria and Hungary were the basis for maintaining the empire's rule, and the regimes in Vienna and Budapest could only be maintained if they remained strong to deter them. You must know that even if the Germanic and Hungarian ethnic groups of Austria are combined, their total population is only 45% of the entire empire, and once the regular armies of these two countries lose too much, the armies of other nationalities are very likely to be ready to move, and even independent rebellion on the basis of the nation! Although it has been 65 years since Emperor Franz implemented the vertical rule of the enlightened dictatorship, and the country's economy, culture, and society have made great progress, in Eastern Europe, where the national issue is like a pot of porridge, there are absolutely many nationalist forces that are dissatisfied with the dual rule of Austria and Hungary and intend to be independent!

"Your Excellency, it is not yet time for our army to attack. Only when the main forces of the Russian army penetrate deep into Romanian territory can our 8th Army advance to the east, otherwise once our army is exposed in advance, the strategic concept of encircling the main forces of the Russian army will be a complete failure. In the face of Herzendorff's slightly urging request, the fat Hindenburg only replied unhurriedly, "Our German army will never ignore the danger of friendly troops, and the previous Polish campaign has proved this point." In about a week, when the main forces of the Russian army have completely crossed the Prut River, our army will launch the most fierce offensive to the east and complete this Super Tannenberg battle in one fell swoop! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of book friend Long Cheng Xiaoyi~~~ In other words, the subscription results have not been good in recent days, and the author's heart is as cold as the wind in November