It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 130 | Is there always a virtuous person guiding you behind the scenes?
“这就是事实，商上校，敌人对A2、A5、B2、B3、C1防区的试探性进攻全部失败，我们估计敌人总计伤亡800～900人，仅你所在的方向敌人就损失了大约300人。”

The chief of staff gave a brief overview of the situation along the entire front.

Seriously? Not a single step forward all day?

Shank stared at the telegrams and said with satisfaction, "This is good news in a bad situation. The Ivanros people completely underestimated the city's defense system. This is a good sign. Let's try to defeat them in Budapest."

“Victory?” Major General Ratz/Jenne smiled calmly. “All I know is that Budapest is the graveyard of invaders, and also my graveyard.”

Although there is no certainty of victory, there is a determination to die!
Shank nodded approvingly, then said, "Our opponents are quite clever. We can't underestimate them. Tukhachevsky might adjust his offensive tactics in a few days."

"Then we'll 'deal with whatever comes our way'."

"This idiom is used correctly."

Field warfare and urban warfare are two different concepts, especially when attacking a large city, which is extremely difficult.

Ivanros and the Romanian army had no idea what a terrible opponent they were facing; many of them had naively believed the city was within their grasp just twenty hours earlier.

After these days of emergency preparations, Budapest has effectively become a fortified city fraught with danger.

Shank even felt he had gone a bit too far; this was clearly setting a novice enemy up against hellish difficulty right from the start.

The current Ivanos army is inferior to the Soviet army of 1942 in almost every aspect. Even setting aside subjective factors and comparing only objective factors, the weaponry and equipment of the Ivanos infantry are not satisfactory.

Historically, the Soviet army only began to value submachine guns after suffering losses in the Winter War and learning from those experiences; before that, submachine guns were only regarded as weapons exclusively for junior officers.

The same was true of the Ivanos army today. On average, a company had only three or four PPD Degtyarev submachine guns. Like many interwar submachine guns, the PPD submachine gun still used a time-consuming and laborious milling process and was only equipped with a 25-round magazine, without a large-capacity drum magazine.

【Picture】

Given the extremely limited availability of automatic firepower, it is easy to imagine the immense difficulties faced by the Imperial Russian soldiers during their assault on Budapest.

As they pulled the bolts through narrow stairwells and alleyways, countless people cursed the nobles of the Imperial War Council.

However, the soldiers' plight was something that the high-ranking military and political officials could not truly empathize with.

残酷的近距离作战从11月3日持续到11月6日，三面进攻布达珀斯的伊凡罗斯与罗曼尼亚军队进展甚微，第113步兵师甚至报告已经蒙受接近30%战斗减员重大损失。

The Imperial War Council was utterly baffled by the stalled advance toward Budapest, repeatedly questioning Tukhachevsky's army as to why they couldn't capture even half the city when it was at their gates.

Veronica's energy was primarily focused on the million-strong army battle on the Oder River, leaving her little time to assess secondary issues.

"Your Majesty, the offensive of the 10th Army and the 9th Romanian Corps against Budapest has been thwarted," Major General Kovalev said cautiously.

These past few days, the third Alexander Offensive—the Battle of the Oder—has been at its most intense and crucial stage. Everyone is extremely tense. Veronica hasn't slept well for two nights, and Kovalev doesn't want to provoke her anger.

"Why?" Veronica's voice was full of weariness and displeasure.

"Tukhachevsky claims that the Huns have made ample defensive preparations, and Budapest is not as unprepared as previously thought. He is reorganizing his attack, Your Majesty." "If I remember correctly, according to intelligence, the Huns have not deployed a large force to defend the city; the garrison in Budapest numbers only 30,000 to 40,000 men."

"Yes, only three infantry divisions," Major General Kovalev described casually. "The Huns even withdrew the artillery units from those three divisions, leaving only the infantry."

"If the enemy is hiding in a house, then blow the house up and wipe Budapest off the face of the earth! What is Tukhachevsky waiting for?"

Veronica saw several servants bring her a map showing the direction of Budapest. Based on the team logos and numbers marked on it, it was clear that her side had surrounded Budapest from three sides with overwhelming force.

"Perhaps he feels that a city so easily captured isn't worthy of honor," Kovalev casually remarked, before returning to the main point, saying seriously, "The General Staff has approved the reinforcement request, which includes..."

Hmm? Is he deliberately complaining to show how hard-won his success was?
Veronica's gaze sharpened for a moment, then returned to a calm, unwavering expression.

After a moment, she said, "Give Tukhachevsky what he wants, but there won't be a next time. Resources must be concentrated in the direction of the Oder River."

She stared absently at Bolin on the map.

There, the battle had devolved into a relentless, piecemeal fighting tactic; "meat grinder" was an understatement to describe the situation—it was a living hell of iron and blood.

The final outcome is still unknown; what we are competing with now is the strength and will of both sides.

After much procrastination, the British finally fulfilled part of their promise—announcing a blockade of the English Channel and the North Sea, prohibiting any Walland merchant ships from passing through.

Veronica thought to herself, "We must drag the British down with us completely."

Later in the day.

In the army group headquarters on the eastern outskirts of Budapest, Tukhachevsky was listening to reports from several mid-level officers, who described their personal experiences.

"...Commander, as you can see, once you enter this pre-designated killing zone, the defending troops usually have four to five machine guns blocking the area, with two-thirds of their firing arcs overlapping, and at least one concealed flanking firing point."

"...We discovered that many machine gun firing ports were positioned extremely low, right next to the base of the wall, with the muzzles less than twenty centimeters from the ground. The defenders would lay damp cloths in front of the firing ports to prevent dust from splashing and exposing them, which was very cunning and vicious."

After hearing the reports from several majors and lieutenant colonels, Tukhachevsky fell into deep thought.

His thoughts raced, and he made many connections in a short period of time.

He commented: "A very ingenious arrangement. Since this is not an isolated case but a common occurrence, I have good reason to suspect that the Huns have introduced a sophisticated urban defense strategy."

"Perhaps they are Khitans? Their advisory group hasn't left yet," a colonel operations staff officer speculated.

“Impossible. Why would you think that the Khitans, who haven’t been to war for decades, could apply these ideas?” Tukhachevsky glanced at him and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “This is clearly the guidance of the Varlanders.”

There must be a virtuous person guiding them behind the scenes?

(End of this chapter)