On May 16, after a long march, the Austro-Hungarian army finally crawled out of the endless grass.

They soon reached a distance of about 60 kilometers west of Kiev, with the first group meeting the enemy directly from the west, the second group in the southwest, and the two Austro-Hungarian armies forming three directions of attack with the Germans to the north.

If at this time there are also Allied troops in the east, then Kyiv is at your fingertips.

The Austro-Hungarian top brass hopes that Kuster will speed up its offensive against Ukraine and hit the outskirts of Kyiv as soon as possible.

Kuster was a little puzzled, but he was not reassured, and after handing over the Ukrainian affairs to Kemal, he stepped up his offensive to the north.

Kemal's approach did not fit with the Austro-Hungarian leadership, and he wanted to prioritize the occupation of the Crimea region to ensure that there would be no enemy threat behind him in order to have the courage to enter Kyiv.

Thus, even though there were signs of a breakthrough on the Dnieper, the Turkish army did not launch a large-scale offensive, but instead threw its main forces into southern Ukraine, encroaching on Crimea and establishing a vanguard on the other side of the river.

Turkish officers estimated that it would take at least four days to take Crimea, during which time they would not be able to launch any offensive west of the riverbank.

This means that if you want to fight Kyiv, you can only rely on the armies of Austria-Hungary and the Germans to attack, and the Turkish army will not be able to help.

However, Kemal and even Kuster did not convey the news of the austro-Hungarian attack beforehand, so that they thought that Kemal was ready to attack at any time, so they gave up the idea of sending troops to encircle the east.

Then the desire to encircle Kyiv has not been realized from the beginning, Kyiv's communication with the outside world has never been interrupted, and supplies from the rest of the region can still be transported here, although there are not many resources, but they can be used by the Russians.

The battle is destined to be an uphill one, and it will cost everyone a lot.

The Russians will definitely not be able to defend this city, the difference in strength is too great, around Kyiv, the German-Austrian army has a total of 480,000 people, while the Russian army in the entire Ukraine is only 200,000, and the number of troops stationed in Kyiv is only 70,000.

It is not easy for the German-Austrian forces to defeat it, even if they have a huge advantage, but because of the lack of a blockade, they may face a larger and more enemy, until finally the entire territory of Ukraine is completely dead, and then they can be captured.

The Austro-Hungarian officers, carried away by the victory, did not think so much and attacked directly from the northwest and southwest; Although the Germans, who had always been rigorous, resisted entering the Ukrainian campaign, the orders from the top made them have to cooperate with Austria-Hungary, and they had no choice but to attack from the north.

The commander of the Russian defenders in the city thought that he should make good use of the advantage of fighting at home, planting various traps on his own land, and at the same time setting ambushes in suitable positions, so as to deplete the living forces of the German-Austrian army and let them know the price of attacking Kyiv and trampling on the dignity of the Russians.

The position of the battle line is about 50 kilometers west of Kiev, and the Russian army is garrisoned by 30,000 people; to the south, 70 kilometers, garrisoned by 20,000 men; One hundred and twenty kilometers to the north, 10,000 men were garrisoned; To the east, friendly forces are defended by other units.

With this distribution, the Russian army in the city still has 10,000 reserves left to meet the unforeseen needs.

However, the Russians still tend to throw them to the east to maintain contact with friendly forces, otherwise the defense is unfavorable, the east may be broken through, and then Kyiv is really surrounded.

The construction of the fortifications continued into the evening, and the Russians wiped their sweat and looked at the enemy with some pleading in their eyes.

If the German-Austrian forces take this opportunity to launch a surprise attack, they will surely achieve great results, and it is likely that the battle line will be pushed to the city of Kiev overnight.

Fortunately, the German-Austrian forces did not attack.

The Austro-Hungarian top brass held a victory party in Vienna that lasted until the evening, and the high-ranking officials involved were reveling and indifferent to the fighting at the front.

When the soldiers saw that their superiors did not give an order, they all found a random place to lie on their stomachs, and they could rest for a while.

The Germans did not attack either, after all, they were ordered to cooperate with the Austro-Hungarian attack, and not to attack on their own initiative.

Until noon on May 17, the Austro-Hungarian high-ranking officials, who were in charge of the war, were very annoyed when they saw that the army had not launched an attack, and forced them to attack with whips.

Austria-Hungary underwent an emergency regrouping, and the offensive was launched in the afternoon of the same day, and the Battle of Kiev began.

The first group took the lead in attacking, they came from the northwest, swept the area around Kyiv, and plundered everything that had come before.

The second group attacked from the southwest, advancing almost twenty kilometers all the way before they began to see the positions of the Russians.

Soon, they made it easy for the Russians to get into a scorching battle. The artillery fire was continuous, and soon the grassland was blown to the surface of the moon.

The Russians, realizing that the second group was the main attack of Austria-Hungary, hurriedly threw their reserves to the southwest.

However, the Germans to the north also attacked, pushing the front fifty kilometers away. Although it is still forty kilometers away from the Russian position, it still puts a lot of pressure on the Russian army.

The Russian commander firmly believed that only the southwest was the real main attack, and the rest of the attacks were fake, all foam!

And immediately afterwards, a movement of the German army confirmed his conjecture even more.

After advancing a few dozen kilometers to the south, they suddenly moved north, mainly because the armored units in front of them went too fast and went back to find the infantry. But in the eyes of the Russians, this is a show of weakness by the Germans, a feint, and their real goal is still Petersburg! We don't need to care.

But the next situation may be beyond the expectations of the Russians.

After nearly two hours of fighting in the southwest, the Russians gradually figured out the strength of the second group, more than 120,000 people, while Austria-Hungary had a total of more than 400,000 people, so it was impossible for such a number to be the main attack.

The low-ranking Russian officer presented this speculation to his superiors, but the superiors just didn't believe it, and instead scolded him:

"This must be Austria-Hungary itself putting on a show, or their soldiers are too tired to continue fighting, we just need to strengthen the defensive line."

In the third hour of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian army in the northwest also attacked, uniting the Germans due north, totaling 600,000 men.

The Russians were frightened when they saw the overwhelming shells, and they retreated in panic.

The truest figures were placed in front of the Russian commander, which made him and those around him have to believe that the southwest was a feint.

But there was no time to make up for it, their forces were empty, and now the main forces were still invested in the southwest, and the army in the north basically surrendered after only one round of bombing, and the whole of Kyiv was in danger.

At such an existential moment, the Russian commander said to his subordinates:

"Or do we abandon Kyiv?"