On January 17, Kuster officially came to the Caucasus region under the guise of a military adviser.

But in reality, he was in complete control of the Caucasian native army.

Previously, Hussein was appointed as his aide-de-camp, mainly because he was more timid and easier to dominate.

Now, Kuster and his party are reviewing the soldiers. Seeing the clothes of the Turkish army, he was very angry.

The elite army is okay, they have sleds on their feet and a ski pole in their hands; The rest of the area was also covered by thick clothes, as if ready to protect against the cold.

But the further back on, the worse the equipment of the Turkish army became, and it was even unbelievable: was this really worn in the ice and snow?

They don't have boots for the snow, and many of them wear slippers; The body is in rags, and it is difficult to withstand the harsh climate of the Caucasus.

When the slippers get wet, they will freeze and frostbite the toes; Then the cold will spread to the whole body, freezing the whole person.

Not only the Turkish army, but even the Russian army has many casualties that are frozen. It can only be said that these two sleeping dragons and phoenixes.

Although he was disappointed, there was nothing he could do. After a brief consultation, Kuster walked into the headquarters and prepared to command the entire army to fight.

At this time, Brother Franz, who was far away in Ukraine, told him by message:

After Kuster was ordered to support the Turks, the eldest son Vasalai was coaxed by the Austro-Hungarian high command to join the army, but fortunately, Franz was well-informed and took him over, and now as a guard, he had time to send him to the Caucasus to accompany his father.

The Austro-Hungarian top brass can be said to have done a great job, not only expelling Kuster from the center of the empire, but also his son.

But without Wiltok's blind eye, it would have been hard to do so. Kuster was well aware of the boasting he had been boasting about in the newspapers in the rear these days, and at the same time he was on guard against Wiltok.

Returning to the battlefield, the Turkish army has the upper hand overall, and successive offensives have defeated the Russian army one after another.

Needless to say, the rugged terrain and the poor preparation of the Turks allowed Kuster to guarantee that if he were Russian, he would be able to capture Asia Minor in a matter of months.

At this time, the situation of the Russian army was even worse: after the battle of Przemyśl, their front was leaking everywhere, and they had to transfer the troops of the Caucasus, so that the original advantage became a disadvantage.

However, the Turkish army could not seize the opportunity to defeat the enemy, but instead made the situation here evenly matched.

After quite a long time, the Russian army has established a strong defensive line here. Their commanders also resorted to the tactics of clearing the wilderness, making every step of the Turkish army pay a terrible price.

The Russian defense line is about 350 kilometers from the Black Sea to Lake Saifan, and Russia is heavily defended here; Another 150 kilometers from Lake Sevan to the Persian border, there is not much defense here.

It seems that it will be easier to break through from the south, but the terrain here is actually very rugged and there is plenty of strategic depth. If the Russian army can't bear it, then they will retreat 50 kilometers, and several peaks on the road will be enough for the Turkish army to eat a pot.

But this does not mean that there is no possibility of a breakthrough, after all, Kuster is very flexible in fighting, and if he is deflated, he will change the direction of attack.

After an initial analysis, Kuster decided to leave enough reserves and put a significant number of troops to the north, and then tried to convince the Russians that they would attack from the north.

As long as the Russian army is deceived, then quickly throw reserves into the south to prepare for a breakthrough.

But this mistake of pinning the hope of victory on the enemy is undoubtedly foolish. Therefore, at the same time as psychological warfare, let the north launch an offensive and force the Russian army to transfer troops through tough means.

If the Turkish army is too low to break through the enemy's defenses, then ask the German-Austrian coalition to launch an offensive and make the Russian army here even smaller.

After the defeat of Serbia, the fighting in the Balkans was temporarily suspended. Austria and Bulgaria left only a small number of troops here to suppress the guerrillas, and all the rest were sent to fight in the east against Russia.

On the Eastern Front in Europe today, the Allied coalition forces have 1.8 million men, which is enough to launch an offensive against the Russian army.

Kuster had 100,000 ways to prevent Russia from concentrating its forces in the Caucasus, which would also doom Russia to defeat.

But the battle will definitely go slowly, after all, the Turkish combat power is there, and the harsh terrain and climate are obstacles to the offensive.

On January 20, the 9th, 10th, and 11th armies of the Turkish Third Army launched an offensive against Tbilisi from two directions, and the Greater Caucasus campaign officially began.

The Turkish army unscrupulously wants to transfer the Russian army to the north:

They sent a bunch of prisoners of uniform caliber, and everyone said that the Turkish army was going to storm Georgia.

The intelligence services also rebelled against some Russian peasant soldiers, telling them to go to their superiors with 'intercepted messages'.

They even used explicit codes to indicate that the Turkish army would attack Armenia in an attempt to misjudge their actions by the Russian army.

But none of this seemed to have much effect, and the Russian Caucasian Army remained unmoved and remained entrenched in Armenia.

Perhaps in their minds, the Turks are a bunch of fools.

The Turks have been frantically spreading 'Armenia' and 'Georgia', two regions related to the Caucasus, for the past three days, and it is difficult not to think of their next move.

The other members of the Entente were very afraid, especially at this time when Russia had lost the battle on all fronts and could not penetrate the Allied defenses.

They feared that Kuster, an extremely dangerous general, would lead the Turkish army to crush the defenses of the Caucasus, and that Russia would not have the Caucasus Mountains as a line of defense, but would be open steppes.

The final result could only be the defeat of Russia, which would inevitably lead to the collapse of the existing Russian political system, and thus His Majesty the Tsar.

It is precisely for this reason that Russia must not be careless at such a critical juncture, so they will not transfer troops for a considerable period of time.

This was also expected by Kuster, who had long thought of such an outcome.

But how many peaks can it hold for a few days? Can you cover the majesty of Kuster again?

He believed that as long as the Russian army in Georgia could not withstand the pressure, it would be the time when Russia was on the verge of extinction.

Therefore, he ordered the front-line troops to slow down the offensive and wait for the artillery ammunition to be transported before launching an offensive on the Georgian region.

In such a complex terrain as the Caucasus, surprise attacks are not uncommon. And to prevent this risk, then we must not be in a hurry, we must take our time, fight a protracted war, and let poor logistics drag Russia down, which is the most suitable way.

Although Turkey does not look like a European country at all, its transportation and logistics are worse than those of Russia. By this time, however, the connection with the Balkans had been opened, and the support of the Allies could be reached at any time.

Russia, on the other hand, was blockaded by the Allies, both in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Most of the workers in the country were transferred to the front lines, and the factories were all deserted, and there was no productivity at all.

There are many internal contradictions, and there are strong enemies outside. Under these conditions, Russia had no chance of winning.

Perhaps, 1915 was the last year of the Romanov dynasty?