Just after the German 8th Army launched a general offensive east at Bukovina, the German 9th Army and the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, pre-positioned in Transylvania, also launched a full-scale attack on the same day.

Unlike later Romanian territory, Transylvania was still under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary before World War I, and it became a salient deeply embedded in Romania. When the German-Austrian army is deployed here, it can directly enter the heart of the country's hinterland. Almost in the blink of an eye, a large net had been formed, heading towards the Russian army that was rushing at the top of the hood.

When the vanguard of the Russian army, driven by the mentality of fearing that the military merit bonus would miss them, advanced all the way forward at full speed and exhausted themselves, they were greeted not by the rich and weak Romanian lamb as expected, but by the main force of the German army, which was as strong as a mad tiger. In front of the extremely powerful artillery group built by the elite of the German and Austrian armies, the Russian soldiers were blown to pieces, and the wolves rushed backwards and fled quickly. In order to prepare for this battle, the German-Austrian army had prepared a large number of shells in advance, with a quota of up to 1200 rounds per field gun, and even heavy artillery shells of more than 100 mm had 500~600 rounds per shell. Compared with the pitiful consumption of only 5 rounds per day stipulated by the Russian artillery, the German-Austrian forces have achieved an overwhelming advantage in firepower.

Back five months ago, the situation of the German 8th Army in East Prussia was strikingly similar to that of the current Russian army: the enemy's main army launched a pincer offensive, and it was in the center of the crab claws that were about to be clamped. This time, however, the Russians were unlikely to replicate the miracle of the Battle of Tannenberg. At that time, the German army was fighting on the inner line, and the well-developed railway network allowed them to achieve rapid transfer and redeployment of troops. And the German army had a large number of well-trained and capable officers and soldiers. It also ensures that this redeployment of the headquarters can be carried out efficiently. And now the Russian army is deep into Romanian territory. In a hurry, the available railway capacity is almost zero, even if the Russian commanders have the intention to kill the thief, but the cruel reality is that they are powerless!

On the night of October 27, the German 20th Army, which was the spearhead of the 8th Army, pushed under the city of Iasi and lifted the Russian siege of this important town in northern Romania. With the participation of two German brigades attached to the 15th Reserve Army, the Romanians remained intact after a week of siege and did not collapse. The large amount of baggage ammunition that had been stockpiled in the city in advance allowed the 20th Army to replenish on the spot as planned. The pressure on logistics and transportation has been greatly reduced, so that the advance speed of the troops can always be maintained at a high level. The Romanian army, which had finally been waiting for a savior, was also demoralized in the cheers and celebrations, and enthusiastically participated in the vigilance and defense of the German troops that followed up. After the breakthrough of the vanguard forces, it is also necessary to have a sufficient number of follow-up personnel to consolidate the fruits of victory, so as to turn the front that their side has passed through into a trench that the Russian army cannot cross.

On the 28th, the German-Austrian army continued its onslaught in Romania. To the south and west, the main German-Austrian forces in full swing advanced steadily, and a German reserve sent to support Austria-Hungary also solved the problem of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army's dull advance in the offensive. On the north side. The headquarters of the German 8th Army had successfully crossed the river, and they were east of the Prut River. The river was successfully used as a natural barrier to block the retreat of Russian troops to the rear. The Russians actually got into the pocket more than Xinglu expected, and the 8th Army, which advanced on the German northern route, did not encounter any decent resistance from its vanguard after defeating the original Russian 7th Siberian Army. The officers and men of the 20th Army walked more than 35 kilometers east on the same day. Although the field heavy artillery was left far behind, there were still a large number of mortars in the German army; Coupled with the support of the air forces, its sharp edge is also not something that the Russian army can resist.

The sudden appearance of German troops from all directions made Alekseev feel like a thunderbolt from the sky.

Due to the attack on the Russian troops in Romania, there was a situation in which they had previously invaded East Prussia due to the deep entry into the enemy territory and poor communication, and it was not until the night of the 28th that Alekseev, who moved to Ukraine to command the operation, learned what happened to the various armies yesterday. If the rapid defeat of the 7th Siberian Army on the 26th made him a little uncertain, then after receiving the battle reports from the various armies, Alekseev has completely understood the current situation in front of him. The presence of German troops all over Romania, and the fact that there were still a large number of German troops in the flanks and rear, showed that the Germans had already spread their arms in Romania, waiting for their main forces to pounce on each other, and then to encircle the two wings on an unprecedented scale!

What about François being the spearhead of the German offensive? Alekseev groaned in his heart again and again, feeling great pain and remorse for the cunning of the Germans and his own negligence. In fact, the transfer of the 11th Army to the Northern Front by the German command was not entirely motivated by the lure of smoke bombs. François's unruliness and repeated disobedience on the battlefield made Ludendorff, who believed in the traditional Prussian military dogma and the supremacy of discipline and command, feel uncontrollable and angry; In this case, Ludendorff honestly and unceremoniously threw him on another front, out of sight. And François's hatred attribute is also at the max level, and the eyes of the Russian General Command were instantly attracted by his attack on the northern front, and the director's judgment of the direction of the German army's main attack was completely miscalculated.

Now for the Russians, they must immediately assemble a single force at their disposal in order to thwart the German attempts to outflank the rear. Although this will inevitably cause the front-line troops to shrink and retreat, which is contrary to the Tsar's will to attack, it is obvious that Alekseev can no longer continue to be an ostrich in this situation. He immediately gave the corresponding retreat order to the commanders of the various army groups under his command. However, due to the confusion and obstacles in communication, his orders were bound to not be delivered to the commanders of the armies in the first place, and these telegrams, which had only been encrypted in the first place, could hardly keep any secrets for the German army!

On the 29th, the German 8th Army continued to advance along the east bank of the Prut River, quickly completing this heavy stroke of sealing the retreat route of the Russian army. The advantages of the German cavalry's flexibility and mobility were once again vividly demonstrated in this encirclement battle against time; When these cavalry, fully equipped with rifles and armed with machine guns, mortars and small-caliber field guns, occupied the key passes, they were no less capable of digging fortifications for blockade and defense than the pure infantry!

Most of the Kirov airships, which were like castles in the air, did not continue to carry out bombing missions at this time, but flew to the South Bessarabia region with full soldiers and dropped 70-man parachute units at the target location. After Qing Ying used this trick of airlift in the border campaign, the German General Staff found that it was valuable, so he quickly recruited a group of volunteers in the army to carry out parachute training that was more effective in battle, and formed the first airborne unit in the German army. By now, the Germans had a force of more than 2,000 paratroopers, delivered by burrowing into the empty bomb storage room of the Kirov airship. However, due to the slow speed of the airship, the small number, and its very different from the airplane's lift-off principle, it is also unable to throw too many heavy objects at one time, and the German army is currently asking the military industry to focus on the development of transport aircraft specially designed for delivering paratroopers, so as to more efficiently realize the cross-regional flyover of the army force.

In order to complete the blockade of the Russian army as much as possible, Xing-Lu used all the forces that were transferred from the Western Front to support them. With white edelweiss fluttering from the sky, the German 1st Airborne Battalion, with 728 soldiers and 6 light and heavy machine guns, appeared in the rear of the Russian army; Although they were few in number, their surprise attacks were still surprisingly effective. The Russian troops in the rear did not expect the Germans to come so quickly, and all kinds of patrols and vigilances were neglected, and the German paratroopers took advantage of the night to raid and seize three key crossings on the Prut River in one fell swoop, blowing up all the pontoon bridges on the river. In the early morning of the next day, they fought another stubborn defensive and blocking battle: in the face of thousands of Russian troops preparing to recapture the ferry, the German paratroopers worked closely, made full use of the terrain and exerted machine gun firepower, and successively repelled four rounds of large-scale charges by the enemy who had an absolute superiority in numbers, and held out until the arrival of the main cavalry of their own side in the evening.

The successive losses of the crossing on the Prut River surprised Alekseev. In order to determine the victory of the first battle, he threw almost all the soldiers near Romania into this attack; At present, the whole of southern Ukraine is in an unprecedented state of emptiness, and only Odessa still has two regiments of fortress garrisons, and these people are obviously not enough to attack from the east to retake the crossing. Once the Germans gained a foothold on the east bank, their three main armies were all turtles in the urn! After some urgent planning, Alekseev decided to divide his troops into two lines: the 9th and 11th armies, which were on the right flank, attacked the same area from inside and outside the encirclement, respectively, to tear apart the German front; The 7th and 3rd armies in the center and on the left flank moved due east in the direction of the Black Sea in order to escape from the Danube Valley, where the Germans had not yet set foot.

Ironically, however, this telegram of order was intercepted and deciphered by the German communications department and delivered to the Hing-Lu duo before the Russian front-line commanders received it. And this made the last chance of escape for the Russian army come to naught, and the Germans soon had a decisive advantage in the race to the Black Sea. By October 31, a huge encirclement on the Black Sea had been fully formed, and the next thing for the Germans to do was to launch a final general attack. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the update ticket support of the book friend pigeon model ~~~~

Today, the author logged in and found out that the chapter uploaded yesterday was not sent out, and the author apologized to everyone

Now that the chapter has been sent, this is today's chapter