On December 26, as Kuster had anticipated, it quickly became the center of the war between Russia and Austria.

In order to rescue the besieged army group, the Russian army dispatched the 6th, 4th, and 8th armies. Together with the Third Army, the Russian army totaled 970,000 people.

And the Austro-Hungarian Second Army also suffered a sharp drop in pressure due to the enemy's maneuvers, gaining a high degree of freedom of operation.

The then commander-in-chief, Boehm-Elimoli, wanted to launch a counter-charge and break down the enemy's lines; However, he was stopped by the highest echelons of the Empire, who asked him to go to the San River in the north to assist Kuster in completing the battle plan to break the siege.

I don't know how he felt, but he still led his army to the east bank of the San River, assisting in the defense while threatening the enemy's flank.

At present, Austria-Hungary also has 860,000 people in this area, which is comparable to that of Russia.

But fatally, only 400,000 of them were put into the frontal battlefield to defend against the Russian attack of 890,000.

The remaining 460,000 men are picking up the leaks, just encircling the remaining 80,000 men of the Russian Third Army without launching any offensive. An attempt was made to get the Russians to surrender by cutting off information and supplies.

It simply doesn't get any more stupid than that!

If you want to block the enemy's attack, you must first have a small gap in manpower, and the number of Russian troops is more than twice that of the Austrians on the defensive line. This simply can't be beaten!

At this moment, the Austro-Hungarian army was like a Roman legion, and they surrounded the Russian defenders, who were far weaker than them; And on the outside, the three Russian armies were far stronger than them.

Defend or attack first? It would have been Caesar who had to decide. And who was Caesar of Austria-Hungary? Undoubtedly, it's Kuster. He is the most powerful and capable here.

He made a proposal to the General Command: to ask most of the Austrian troops participating in the encirclement to move to the Eastern Front for defense.

He gave a number requirement: no less than 700,000 people, otherwise the battle could not be fought, and he would also resign from the post of lieutenant general and go home to farm.

Yes, Kuster is threatening the upper echelons of the empire, threatening to resign.

This threat is productive. A few days ago, due to excessive propaganda, the Austro-Hungarian people thought that once they lost Kuster, they would be beaten out by the Russians, so every citizen of the empire took to the streets and used all means to force the top to give Kuster's orders.

And the Germans moved even faster than Austria-Hungary, and they learned about it earlier. Emperor Wilhelm also pressured the Austro-Hungarian government to agree.

The hesitant Austro-Hungarian government, after being pressured from many sides, had to accede to Kuster's demands.

The Austro-Hungarian Chief of the General Staff, Conrad, excitedly demanded that the First and Fourth Armies shift most of their forces to the east.

He had a good strategic vision, and he had long regarded the defense of the east as a top priority, but he was unable to mobilize them.

At this moment, Kuster's resignation is a great opportunity to move the army reasonably.

But Conrad suddenly stopped from his euphoria, and sat quietly to think about the gains and losses.

Conrad was in Vienna, far from the front line, and had no specific knowledge of the movements of the various army groups, so he could only give them some advice.

If you want to fight together, you must have someone who understands the situation of the battle to be the commander-in-chief, and this person must be capable and prestigious.

But now the Austro-Hungarian capable officers are basically dead, and most of the remaining army commanders are newcomers with no prestige, or a bunch of rice buckets.

Thinking about it, there is no one at the level of commander of a group army who is suitable.

Therefore, I had to ask for the next best thing and downgrade by one level, and the best candidate for the first rank was Kuster.

But Kuster had gained a lot of prestige before, and now he was appointed as the supreme commander, and he did not know what disaster would be brought in the future. And he's a person who especially likes to cause trouble, and the empire wipes his ass many times.

As the minutes passed, the tension of the front-line battle made the civilians in the rear more and more panicked.

Maybe Conrad had time to worry about all this, but the civilians didn't.

By the afternoon of the same day, they finally couldn't wait any longer, and they joined forces to smash the state-owned buildings of the empire, trying to get Conrad to choose Kuster soon.

The German side also expressed the Kaiser's thoughts through the embassy: he asked Kuster to be the commander of the three armies by name, for no other reason; Among the Austro-Hungarian officers, Wilhelm II knew only the man Kuster and thought he was very powerful.

More and more pressure came over him, and Conrad turned his begging gaze to Austrian Franz, but he only shook his head helplessly.

No way, since the Battle of Galicia, Austria-Hungary has basically been a pendant on the thigh of Germany.

The people in the command couldn't help but sigh, and finally published a promotion table:

After 27 December, Kuster became provisional commander-in-chief, with supreme command of the four armies that Austria-Hungary had committed on the Eastern Front. This appointment was made until no more gunfire was heard in the San River area.

There are also three eye-catching names in the lower right corner: Emperor - Franz, Commander-in-Chief of the Reich - Friedrich, Chief of the Reich General Staff - Konrad.

There may have been some negative emotions along the way, but they eventually agreed to Kuster's command and entrusted him with the future of the empire.

As soon as the news broke, the whole of Vienna sang and danced; When the German top brass in the north learned about this, they also became generally optimistic.

On the Eastern Front, Hindenburg and Ludendorff launched another series of offensives against Russia, directly expressing their expectations of Kuster in a crude physical way.

General Mackensen also swept for them not far to the north: as soon as there was a gap in Kuster's front, they would tear through the Russian lines like tigers to relieve the pressure on Kuster.

It can be said that the time, place and people are all right, and it depends on how Kuster fights; Countries are also focusing on the San River area.

But the rear were full of confidence in Kuster, because they had not experienced the war firsthand, and therefore had no way of knowing the difficulties that Kuster was facing at this time—a full-scale Russian attack.

Although a certain number of Austrian troops had been drawn from the encirclement, there were still many who resisted going to the front, so that by the time the Russians launched an attack, the Austrians had barely managed to gather 600,000 troops, and it was difficult to withstand the force of the Russian steamrollers.

The first was the Russian cavalry, who managed to break through part of the Austrian army; However, they suffered a lot of losses in the process of breaking through, and it was difficult for them to have any organization to support them to expand their results, and in the end, they did not open a channel.

Then the Russian infantry launched a general attack on all fronts, accompanied by fierce and majestic artillery fire, rushed to the Austro-Hungarian fortifications, and fought fiercely with the Austro-Hungarians in them.

They were so heroic that they were on the verge of relieving the besieged Third Army - and if it weren't for the timely mobilization of two select divisions by the great villain of Custer, they might have really won.

But because of the arrival of these two select divisions, the Russian offensive came to an abrupt end. The reason was not that the Austro-Hungarians were stubborn and stubborn, but that the Russians ran out of shells; Not just today, but the shells for the next few weeks are overdrawn.

With Russia at a standstill, it was Kuster's turn to take the initiative.