Since learning that he had become an outcast, Opodo has not been good. I greeted Ivanov's family over and over again in my heart, but I had to make a confident appearance on my face to appease the army.

At this point, no matter how unwilling he is in his heart, Obodo can only play with the enemy.

Surrender is impossible, his roots are all in Russia, and his wife and children are still waiting for him to return to reunite.

It's not just that he doesn't have a choice, it's the same for all the top echelons of the Fourth Army. Either hold off the enemy's attack and drag it until reinforcements arrive; Or die on the battlefield and cover up your mistakes with blood donations.

Under the strong desire to survive, people can always burst out with superpowers.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the officers who were high in the past have all sent down their troops to ask for warmth, and from time to time they have been close to the front line to boost morale.

In order to save food, Obodo even ordered the cancellation of the officers' canteen, and all officers and soldiers ate together. Etiquette is respectful and humble, and it is not a matter in the face of survival.

The officers can't understand it or not, and now the materials airdropped are all of the same standard, all of which are high-calorie food for the soldiers, and there is no officer package at all.

Everyone knows that this private action has offended Marshal Ivanov severely, and no one dares to report it at this time.

Due to the limited capacity of the airship, weapons and ammunition are also transported. In order to save capacity, the food that was transported was meat except for compressed biscuits.

This time, the Russian army's military standards are closer to those of the British Army, mainly beef jerky and biscuits, as well as a small amount of canned fish, as if the meat is suddenly worthless overnight.

Wiping the blood from the corners of his mouth and biting at the beef jerky with difficulty, Opodo swore he had never eaten such junk food.

I couldn't eat it, so Obodo opened the canned fish and read the text on the label to know that it was made in Austria again. If nothing else, it should be the cheapest freshwater fish.

This is a characteristic of Europe, affected by industrial development, the rivers are heavily polluted, and many people do not eat freshwater fish. If there are fewer eaters, it will naturally be worthless.

This cheap raw material became the favorite of the capitalists. Once it's canned, who knows where these fish come from?

"The water is polluted, the fish have problems". As long as there is no immediate food poisoning, the latent hazard is nothing.

Especially for those exported to the Russian army, the quality is not guaranteed, and many unscrupulous businessmen are mixed with cheap potato flour, and the fish is only a small part.

So many shortcomings were still favored by the tsarist government procurement department for only one reason - cheapness.

Not only canned fish, but also beef jerky and compressed biscuits purchased by the Russians are the cheapest products.

Cheap is not good, since it is the cheapest commodity, the quality will naturally not be guaranteed.

Resisting the discomfort, Obodo ate the canned fish, and as for the beef jerky, it should be left for the person with better teeth, he was not blessed.

Even though canned fish doesn't taste great, there is one thing that deserves praise. Canned fish meat is specially treated so that the bones and bones can be eaten as is.

Time waits for no one on the battlefield, and it is certainly not appropriate to remove the fish bones slowly. In line with the principle that the customer is God, it is natural for the capitalists to meet this reasonable demand.

After chemical treatment, the bones and spines can be eaten. The sequelae don't matter, as long as the person eats it for a short time without problems.

Just as he wanted to rest for a while, a young officer broke into the headquarters and approached to report: "General, the enemy has attacked again, and the 41st Division has requested fire support. ”

Looking at the combat map, Obodo frowned and asked, "Didn't you already send them an artillery regiment, why do you need fire support?" ”

The young officer explained: "The enemy's fire was too fierce, and our artillery was completely suppressed, so ......"

Before he could finish speaking, Obodo waved his hand to stop: "Okay, tell the 41st Division to find a way for yourself, I don't have artillery to reinforce them now."

If the enemy's fire is too strong, then take a dodge. Now is an extraordinary time, don't be idle at night, you can divide a part of the soldiers to dig anti-artillery holes.

The enemy rushed up and fought with them with bayonets. Now that we are besieged, we are certainly inferior to the enemy in terms of firepower, but we are more afraid of death than them. ”

The plains are not good at all, and if you want to seize the advantageous terrain, you can't occupy it. If the small earthen bag 180 meters high is also considered a mountain, now the Fourth Army is also close to mountains and rivers.

Obodo was sure that the enemy was not willing to fight them, otherwise the attack would not be so small.

Piecemeal attacks, constantly saping their morale and strategic materials, and finally forcing them to surrender, is the normal operation.

If it were to annihilate the Fourth Army and pay 100,000 or 80,000 casualties, the Prussian army would have won and lost.

……

At the Prussian command, Moltke dragged his head with one hand and fell into deep thought.

The plan did not change quickly, and I originally wanted to use the Fourth Army as a bait to attract the main forces of the Russian army to come over and implement the encirclement and annihilation plan, but I didn't expect the Russians to be fooled at all.

In this way, the Fourth Army of the Russians became a problem, pinning down a large number of Prussian troops, making it impossible for them to advance or retreat.

If the Fourth Army had been attacked at the beginning and had not been given the opportunity to set up camp, the problem would have been solved long ago.

There were no ifs on the battlefield, misjudging the importance of the Fourth Army to the Russians and underestimating Ivanov's determination, and this bitter fruit could only be swallowed by Moltke himself.

The Battle of East Prussia had begun, the Battle of the Southern Front was about to break out, and the Battle of Warsaw had actually begun.

The Russian army launched an offensive from both sides in the northeast, and because the Russian Fourth Army contained a large number of Prussian troops, the Warsaw battlefield could only be held.

The ticking sound of the phone rang, waking up Moltke in thought, and he casually picked up the microphone and put it to his mouth and shouted: "I'm Moltke, what's the matter?" ”

A hoarse voice came: "Marshal, the commander of the Seventh Division, Winslet, reports to you." The enemy in the north suddenly increased the intensity of the attack, and our defensive line was in a precarious position, so we called for reinforcements. ”

It is unrealistic for a division to block an army in itself, let alone an army with a super-large size of the Russians, and it is even more impossible.

A crisis in the defensive line was inevitable, and the 7th Division was able to hold back the enemy for three days before calling for help, which was already very good.

Moltke frowned: "Major General Winslet, tomorrow the 11th Division will come over to take over your defense, is it a problem to hold on for another day?" ”

There was silence on the other side of the phone, and after half a ring, a hoarse voice rang again: "No problem, marshal!" ”

There was a heaviness in his tone, as if he had made a decision after a difficult mental struggle.

After hanging up the phone, Moltke instructed an officer not far away: "Send a telegram to General Hansgrohe immediately, telling him to eat the Russian Fourth Army within a week."

Tell him that the fish to the north has been hooked, and that he should stop delaying for a caged bird, and that he will run away if he drags the fish again. ”

Trapped beasts are still fighting, let alone people?

Knowing that now was the time when the enemy's resistance was at its fiercest, Moltke could only give this order. If the Russian Fourth Army is left to drag on, there will be problems on the battlefield in Warsaw.

Don't look at the fact that the Popo Federation has established a well-established defense line in Warsaw, but even the strongest defense line needs people to defend it.

What's more, Moltke did not want to hold Warsaw, but wanted to inflict heavy losses on the Russian army on the battlefield of Warsaw, which required even more troops.

In order to besiege the Fourth Army, the Prussian army invested nearly 600,000 troops, which were originally to be encircled and sent reinforcements, but now that the enemy's reinforcements are not coming, it will be worthless to drag it any longer.

Although it was known that this order would result in heavy losses at the front, these sacrifices were necessary for the sake of the overall situation on the battlefield.

The grim situation told him that the Battle of Warsaw had to be resolved quickly, and that the Berlin government needed a big victory to bring its allies aboard, even if it was a big victory with heavy casualties.

"Yes, Marshal!" The young officer replied

(End of chapter)