"Boom boom boom..."
In the early morning of May 10, 1829, at the front of Adrianople, starting from 6 a.m., the rumbling explosions of artillery shells rang out simultaneously throughout the Turkish first line of defense!
This time, the Eastern Romans were showing off their skills. Hundreds of 75mm and 105mm breech-loaded howitzers opened fire at the same time, firing explosive shells filled with picric acid. The power was quite astonishing!
For a time, the Turkish army position at the front of Adrianople was filled with smoke and dust, fire was shooting into the sky, and even the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.
Standing in an anti-gun bunker near the front line, holding a telescope and witnessing the Turkish forward position a few kilometers away, Nicholas I was so excited that he burst into tears when he was completely submerged by the clouds of smoke from the artillery shells. Orbital.
This was the first time after 376 years that Eastern Roman artillery exploded on the battlefield near Constantinople!
With such fierce artillery fire, no one on the Turkish position that was hit could survive, right? Nicholas I thought to himself: "It seems that Marshal Wittgenstein underestimated the firepower of the world's largest army... How can such a strategy take five to ten days? 72 hours, it should be It’s enough to break through the Turkish defenses of Adrianople, and within a week, the eagle flag of Eastern Rome will definitely fly on the walls of Constantinople again!”
Thinking of this, Nicholas I felt his eyes moistened, his nose became sore, and tears flowed down uncontrollably...
...
The area known as the "Adriaple Trench Zone" or the "Edirne Trench Zone" is located just west of Edirne (Adriaple Castle), between the Strandia Mountains and Thrace. between mountains. This is a piece of terrain that is neither too dangerous nor too open, just tens of kilometers wide, and is cut in half by the Densa River.
Therefore, in the previous battles of Adrianople, no one had ever adopted the strategy of "taking control of the enemy's territory". Whether it's cold weapons or queuing to kill, a "Great Wall" must be built to guard a wide frontage of dozens of kilometers. Moreover, the Thracian Mountains and the Strandia Mountains are not insurmountable natural dangers. Therefore, it is not cost-effective to build fortifications here, so let’s leave it open for field battles!
However, in this battle that determined the life and death of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, a layer upon layer of trench defense system emerged due to the full use of barbed wire, machine guns, and various trench defenses. With barbed wire, machine guns, etc., defending trenches saves labor. One division can defend a line of defense of more than ten kilometers, and a few divisions on a front of dozens of kilometers is enough.
The person who presided over the construction of these defense systems was Hugh Gough Pasha, who had suffered a huge loss from the "Bagua Machine Gun Formation" in Peshawar.
Yes, Hugh Gough is also a pasha now... He was forced to retire from the British Army prematurely because he took the blame for the defeat in Peshawar, and he didn't even get a job in the Indian Army. Fortunately, his old boss, Lord Wellesley, became the British Prime Minister and found him a job as a pasha in Turkey.
However, Gough was quite happy to be the pasha, because Sultan Mahmud was a polite corporal and a good sultan who valued talents. Not only did Gough become a pasha, but he also asked the Grand Vizier Kara Pasha to lead him there. The slave market in Constantinople "rescued" a very cute-looking Greek girl named Alexia. It was captured by Ali Pasha's Egyptian army in Greece and sent to Constantiniya for sale. Gov Pasha sympathized with her plight, so he asked Kala Pasha to redeem her and become a Greek tutor for him...
With the status of pasha, the Greek girl as a tutor, and of course the house and treasures rewarded by the sultan, Hugh Gough felt like he was meeting his master. Of course, Hugh Gough Pasha, who met the Ming Dynasty, had to work hard for the Sultan, so these days, he used his true skills that he had exchanged for the life of Indian Asan in Peshawar to help the Turks build layers of Eight lines of barbed wire and trench positions formed a large area of trenches, blocking the west, north and south of Edirne. Of course, the eight lines of trench defense were not straight, but winding, and seven of them were boarded. The Sa River was cut into two parts, and part of the Eighth Route spread out along the Maritsa River, forming a protrusion around the city of Edirne, and then extended north to the Strandja Mountains.
Although there are eight lines of trench defense, as well as 100,000 new Turkish officers and soldiers and hundreds of thousands of mobilization troops arriving from Constantinople, Hugh Gough is still not sure of victory... After all, in previous wars, the performance of the Mao Xiong Army was much better than that of the Turks!
Moreover, the Rakshasa Kingdom is much stronger than Turkey, and the Czar of the Bear is a master of one word! Although it is impossible to completely turn the Rakshasa with a population of more than 30 million into a war machine due to serfdom, it can still pull out an army of millions.
In addition, after raising the banner of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Moldavia, Wallachians, Bulgarians, and Greeks in the Turkish Empire have all sided with the Bear.
As for the Turkish Sultan... to put it simply, he was the city lord of Constantiniya. Apart from the 100,000 new troops hired with money, he could only mobilize the residents of Constantiniya, and Only the Tianfang believers among them will obey his orders.
To talk about a ridiculous fact, the Eastern Roman Caesar Nicholas I could mobilize more troops in the Ottoman Turkish Empire than the Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire could mobilize.
Thinking of this, Hugh Gough, who was hiding from artillery shells in a bunker at the front of Edirne's defense line, sighed and thought to himself: "Although Mahmoud II performed very well and was not afraid of strong enemies. The emperor tried his best to mobilize the army and even came to Edirne to supervise the battle. However, his fate with Turkey was still doomed. The most he could do was to shed more blood on the Rakshasa people... But his demise would not be a big deal. It must be valuable to the British Empire, and this is an honor for him and Turkey!"
At this moment, the sound of artillery coming from the front had become a little sparse. After about a few minutes, the sound of artillery finally stopped abruptly.
Hugh Gough took out his pocket watch and looked at it, then whispered: "After an hour... Nicholas I is still careless, he doesn't have many cannonballs!"
As he spoke, he put away his pocket watch, turned around, and quickly walked out of the bunker.
Outside the bunker is a tall barn, where Hussein Pasha's former enemy command post was located. When the Rakshasa people started shelling just now, most of the people in the command post hid in several anti-gunnery bunkers. At this time, the bombardment was over, and everyone came out of their bunkers and took their places.
When Hugh Goff walked into the command post, there was already a commotion inside. The phones rang one after another, and the staff officers of the New Turkish Army picked up the phone receiver and asked loudly about the situation on the front line.
"Hey...report the damage! Can you still maintain the position?"
"What? There aren't many casualties? Okay, okay...we must hold our position!"
"Report the situation of the Rakshasa people in front of you..."
"Hey, hey, hey...check the line! Contact with Line 15 has been interrupted!"
Using telephone lines as complicated as a spider web to connect the entire position to form a whole is a command method that began to appear during the Napoleonic Wars. This command method is perfect when combined with a solid position composed of machine guns, barbed wire, and trenches!
The generals responsible for commanding operations can now easily understand the situation in various positions, dispatch reinforcements at any time, and can also uniformly direct the artillery to block and fire the enemy's attacking troops... It is really convenient.
"What? A large number of Rakshasa people appeared in front of position 11 in a dense formation...Okay, okay, continue to observe!" At this time, a staff member of the New Turkish Army suddenly shouted to Hugh Gough in English. Said, "Goff Pasha, the Rakshasa Bears have begun to attack. Their first target is position No. 11 near the Densa River!"
Hugh Goff nodded heavily: "Okay! Now we can start killing the bear!"
