The Balkans were once again ignited in the battle of the largest in the history of the European continent, with more than one million troops committed by both sides on a front of more than 400 kilometers.

This battle, which is destined to go down in history, is very comedic. It stands to reason that the coalition forces are not well prepared, and the Russians, as the initiators of the campaign, should take advantage of it, or even directly lock in the victory.

The reality is very tragic, as the party that launched the attack, the Russian army also appeared in chaos.

Artillery Commander Preston scolded angrily: "Hell, we are artillerymen, you actually sent me a bunch of bullets, do you want me to feed bullets to the cannon?" ”

The officer transporting the supplies replied mechanically: "I'm sorry, Mr. Colonel, this is an order from above, if you have any questions, please contact the command, and now please sign for the supplies." ”

Preston's artillery regiment had just arrived, and the infantry regiment had moved forward, but the logistics department was still distributing supplies as originally planned.

Preston frowned and replied, "We reacted to the top, Mr. Major." Now these materials, I have no use at all, you better pull them back! ”

The major officer said solemnly: "No, Your Excellency, I have received an order to send this batch of supplies here to the defenders, please be sure to sign for it."

As for how to deal with these materials, you can do it yourself, you can dispose of it privately, you can find a place to throw it away, and just report the war damage directly after the war.

These supplies are the supplies of an infantry regiment for the next week, and there are still a lot of good things in them, and you will not suffer a loss, colonel. ”

After hesitating for a moment, Preston still signed his name, and the money sent to the door was not earned in vain.

Anyway, the artillery is the treasure of the headquarters, and unlike the worthless gray livestock, once a report goes up, their supplies will still come down.

……

In this battle, the main force of the Russian army was divided into two, and Fitzroy Somersee led four infantry divisions, two artillery regiments, and a cavalry regiment, totaling more than 73,000 men, to attack the Sofia area.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and troop movements are frequent, and the logistics system cannot keep up. Unlike the last battle, it was in the Danube Valley, so it was easy to resupply, and even if you made a mistake, you could quickly adjust it.

Now it is different, the front has advanced two hundred kilometers, it takes several days for logistics and supplies to be delivered, there is no telegram and can only rely on the messenger to inform them, and the news received by the quartermaster department is often delayed.

At this time, the mechanical Russian bureaucracy came into play, and the officers who transported the logistics had to deliver the supplies to the designated places.

Even if the original troops are gone, they have to hand over the supplies. Colonel Preston's case of artillery receiving infantry supplies is not an exception.

Fitzroy Somerset is a good general, he has to take care of this kind of thing, how can he fight a war without solving the logistical problems?

"The Logistics Department was ordered to increase the amount of material supplies for the front-line troops to one month, and the future supply of materials was not in a fixed place, but must be handed over to the troops where they were located.

Units below the division level are not transported separately, but are all sent to the division headquarters for unified distribution of supplies, and the artillery regiment and cavalry regiment are directly dispatched by the headquarters. ”

A middle-aged officer reminded: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, if you don't follow the rules by doing this, I'm afraid it will be ......."

Fitzroy Somerset shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I'll explain this issue to the country." Now send someone to contact Commander Menshikov, I believe he is also experiencing the same problem. ”

……

The logistics supply mode has been changed, and the logistics supply chaos of the Russian army has finally been reluctantly resolved. Of course, the lost materials transported in front of you will definitely not be recovered, and all of them will be counted as battle damage.

The Battle of Sofia began, and the Russian army was only thirty kilometers away from Sofia, and the two sides had already begun to exchange fire.

At the headquarters of the Sophia coalition forces, Montes asked, "Have the enemy's forces been detected clearly?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, you've figured it out. The Russian army dispatched a total of 4 infantry divisions, 2 artillery regiments, and 1 cavalry regiment, totaling 73,000 people.

In addition to this, there were about 20,000 Bulgarian partisans. However, they seem to have had a disagreement with the Russians and did not act together. ”

It was an Ottoman officer who replied, and the matter of reconnoitring the enemy's situation was naturally done by them with their heads bowed. If you send British soldiers out, you won't know how to get back if you get lost due to the language barrier.

Montes said calmly: "Our reinforcements will arrive tomorrow night, and we order the troops not to rush into battle with the enemy, and leave a small number of troops to contain the enemy's marching speed."

With the exception of a few important strongholds that had to be held, the rest were withdrawn and fought against the enemy after reinforcements arrived. ”

Not calm, Montes is a rare "veteran" in the British army, once commanded a battalion of troops and suppressed a colonial rebellion of hundreds of people.

There is no way, who has made the British Empire peaceful in the last ten years? There was no major war, and the British Army could only bully the colonial natives except to suppress the Irish mob.

The largest battles also stayed at the regimental level. It was rare for Montes to be such a high-ranking general who had served on the battlefield, so he became the commander of the British Expeditionary Force.

There is no experience to learn, and now Montes is doing very well, in full accordance with the requirements of the art of war, even if he can't take advantage of it, he can't suffer a big loss.

……

evening

In one camp, soldiers gathered in twos and threes to look up at the stars.

A man with a Genoese accent asked, "Arturo, what are you trying to do when you say that China sent us to the Balkans to fight the Russians?" ”

Arturo said indifferently: "Didn't those old men say, this time they beat the Russians to take revenge, it is said that the Russians supported Austria in the last Austro-Saxon War, and now they are still allies."

Aonzo, why are you asking this? We are all here to eat, and if we can find a job in the country, who will come here to suffer! ”

"No, just ask. I always felt that there was something wrong with this, and for no reason we were allowed to run to the Balkans to fight the Russians, no matter how you look at it, it is not normal.

Even if it is to take revenge, it is the aristocracy and capitalists who need to take revenge, and we poor sticks have no loss, so why should we come here? Aonzo shook his head and said

Doubts are doubts, they are uneducated, they can't think so much. They all joined the army for the sake of making ends meet.

"I said what are you talking about, hurry up and get tomorrow's food, and if you miss the time, you can solve it yourself."

A familiar voice came, and the two stopped talking, running over to line up to receive supplies as fast as they could.

After receiving the food, Aonzo's face turned ugly, and he complained, "Damn the British, do they like corned beef and hard biscuits so much?"

Not even a piece of bread is provided, and this day is simply not a human life. They are deliberately treating us badly, and these provisions are probably not as good as the Ottomans! ”

In this war, the expenses of the Sardinian army were borne by the British, and the logistics and supplies were naturally handled by the British.

Deliberate mistreatment is not enough to talk about, and the British soldiers are provided for the same as them. It's all the same standard, 2 pounds of corned beef and three hard crackers per person per day, and then it's gone. (1 pound equals 0.4536 kilograms)

Not to mention vegetables and fruits, even black bread does not have a piece. The British did not do this to save money, if you consider the cost, the price of beef is not low, and it is much cheaper to change to brown bread.

The cause of this tragedy is the bureaucracy. The bureaucrats of the British Quartermaster Department thought that corned beef jerky was easy to transport, and then a pat on the head became a supply for the British army in this war.

On the surface, beef is eaten every day, and this kind of food is also good. If you change to beef jerky, or eat it every day, the feeling is not so wonderful, and the first test is whether your teeth can stand it.

It's not just the beef that's hard, but the crackers that are distributed are harder, which is probably the earliest compressed biscuit. If you don't bubble in water, if you can bite it, it's iron teeth and copper teeth.

This kind of food, for Italians who are looking for deliciousness, is simply disastrous.

No matter how poor the Kingdom of Sardinia was, their army never saved money on food, and the food was much higher than that of the British.

"Aonzo don't complain, if you let the Ottomans know, they don't mind trading with you, are you really willing to trade with them?" Arturo said with a smile

Happiness is contrasted, and the British serve the most unpalatable food, at least without worrying about hunger.

These beef jerky can also be reprocessed, and if possible, you can get some vegetables and cook them together, without even putting salt.

The supplies of the Ottoman army were really rotten, and there were those who were required to bring a certain amount of dry food to the battlefield. What kind of food you can get depends on luck, and it is a good time to eat until you are seven or eight minutes full.

Because of the daily empty salary, the Ottoman bureaucrats also had a good habit of discounting according to the regulations, and if there was no shortage of a certain army, it would be miserable to prepare the whole army to go hungry.

Aonzo shook his head and said, "I didn't say it, but the British logistics officer really should be shot, and I bet that there are definitely more soldiers who are killed by them than on the battlefield." ”

Arturo smiled and said: "I don't know about this, maybe the stomach of the British is different from ours, they can stand it."

Let's not talk about that, we remember that during the day, you plucked a few vegetables, and I have two potatoes here, which will be stewed with beef jerky tomorrow, so let's make do with it! ”

The two looked at each other and smiled, even if the logistics supply standard was low, the Italians could use their talents to improve the food as much as possible under limited conditions.

In this respect, the Sardinian army also contributed. Their arrival directly improved the quality of life of the British army and reduced the number of scurvy patients among the British soldiers.

The British soldiers who traveled with them quickly learned these excellent experiences and spread them as quickly as possible. In the past, they went out to rob goods and goods, which was really wasteful.

Now that everyone has learned well, the crops in the field and the cattle and sheep on the hillside can be turned into trophies. Even many soldiers learned to pickle food, using all conditions to store food.

The direct sequelae of this is that the speed of the march has greatly decreased, and military discipline has become even more lax. There are these old fritters of the Sardinian army, and whatever the officers order, they are all supposed to do what they should do.

The law does not hold the people accountable, and in the face of a group of big-headed soldiers who stand on a unified stand, the officers do not dare to do anything to them.

By the way, the British were also bad, and everyone found the power of unity. As long as they are united, the officers will not dare to touch them.

The final arrival in Sofia was two days later than Montes had expected. On this battlefield where time is like life, two days is enough to change things.

The most direct thing is that the Russian army has pressed up, and the surrounding strongholds are not strong enough to garrison Montes because of the lack of troops, and now they have fallen.

With the delayed arrival of reinforcements, the coalition forces have lost their best fighters, and it is too late to launch a counteroffensive while the Russian army is not firmly on foothold.

Montes roared angrily: "You rice buckets, Lu Chen has been delayed for two days for such a little time, are you on an outing on the road?" Do you know what military law is? ”

Major General of the Sardinian army, Mantua, lied in a serious manner: "Your Excellency, Commander, we were attacked by the guerrillas on the road, and we were killed and wounded by dozens of people, and we waited for time to exterminate the guerrillas. ”

Everyone is not stupid, in order to escape military law, everyone said that they had encountered a guerrilla attack, and the wounded were proof of this.

"The guerrillas are so rampant, and they dare to sneak attack with so many of your troops?" Montes asked, confused

Mantua had an idea and said: "Your Excellency, the guerrillas are very cunning, they do not fight us head-on, but only sneak attack in secret.

They dig into the road and release cold arrows at night, which is very difficult, and there are quite a few of them. In order not to cut off the rear of our army, we exterminated them. ”

He didn't talk nonsense, there were really soldiers who fell into the trap, but they accidentally fell when they went to the mountains to look for prey. Cold arrows also exist, and it was also in the mountains that the Ottoman hunters were hit by the arrows.

This kind of high-level talent who lies and does not change his face, Montes is still the first time to encounter, and the British officers are still relatively honest, and the Italian officers are completely different concepts.

It's not the first time that Mantua has done it, when they were messing with Marshal Badolio, they collectively deceived the country, and now there is no pressure to fool Montes, who has little experience.

Montes snorted coldly: "Hmph! ”

Then he scolded with a slashing face: "Even if this is the case, you shouldn't delay it for so long." Won't you leave a small force to encircle and suppress the guerrillas and rush over with the main force?

Do you know how much loss your army has brought to our army due to your delay, and you have missed the best opportunity for a counteroffensive! ”

However, at this time, he did not mention military law, and everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Mantua did not continue to defend himself, he was afraid of something, and he would not lose a piece of meat.

After the defeat of the Aussian-Saxon War, there were not many generals in the Kingdom of Sardinia who could retain the title of general, and Mantua was able to become one of them, not because he could fight, but in fact his military capabilities were very limited.

His greatest ability is to be able to speak well, observe words and feelings, put all the responsibility on others, and stood on the side of the king at the first time to gain trust, so that he had the opportunity to make a comeback.