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

Chapter 143 | The British Troublemaker
"Your Majesty, yesterday, after many days of preparation, the enemy launched another large-scale offensive."

"The enemy made some progress in the east and south of the city, but we dealt them a heavy blow in the north of the city."

"The defending forces suffered nearly two thousand casualties yesterday, while the enemy suffered even more."

"Overall, the stalemate has not been broken, and the tug-of-war in the city will continue for a long time before the enemy makes a decisive advance."

In a large air-raid shelter on the hill behind Buda Palace, Sigrid is listening to a report on the war situation.

She has lost several pounds since the Battle of Budapest began.

To launch such a sharp counterattack when the enemy was launching a major offensive? That guy always brings good luck... I'm very pleased.

The hard-won tactical victory was exhilarating, and Sigrid felt her anxious heart calm down considerably.

Today might be a lucky day, as good news came one after another from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs around noon.

"The Controlling Government's urging of Marianna's side has been effective!"

"Ok?"

The attendant could not hide his delight and said happily, "The Marianna people acknowledge that they should assume responsibility for the security of Europe and have agreed in principle to send troops, but the Varland people seem to be putting on a brave face."

Upon hearing this, Sigrid frowned and said, "The relationship between the two countries has never been completely thawed. Old William is very arrogant. If he insists on waiting until the most critical moment to back down... I'm afraid it will be too late."

The attendant sighed and said helplessly, "The Chinese and Americans are working hard to mediate, hoping that the urgent situation will persuade old William to agree."

"He's too stubborn."

To be honest, though it may be disrespectful, Sigrid felt that old William had lived far too long.

This is actually a troublesome situation.

Although Marianne and Varland appear to be on good terms, the deep-seated hatred between the two countries has led them to stand in the same foxhole.

The Republic of Marianna has its own selfish motives, naively believing that Valland is strong enough to stand up to Ivanlos, so they just sit back and watch the two of them fight each other.

As for myself, I can just stay in Western Europe and relax.

Marianne had ample excuses for this – Britain to the north and the Taliban to the southeast, so she wanted to focus her efforts on containing them.

In addition, Varland refused to lower his head and actively seek help.

The Varland side has long held Ivan Ross in contempt, believing that the latter are still as numerous as they were during the European war, but lack strategic offensive capabilities.

Therefore, the upper echelons of the Valland Empire felt that they were on their own, and that everything would be fine as long as Marianne didn't stand on the opposite side and cause trouble.

These two old rivals completely underestimated the seriousness of the situation, their outward harmony masking underlying discord, which directly led to the emergence of the crisis.

Therefore, since the outbreak of war, the Republic of Marianna has only carried out an initial mobilization, and more than two million troops have continued to be stationed in the homeland and colonies to observe the situation.

The Grand Unified Federation was quite dissatisfied with this.

The ruling government began urging Mariana's side a month ago, but the latter made excuses and stalled.

Therefore, the Controlling Government called on the Union Government of the United States to put pressure on Marianne and Varland, trying to bring them together.

At the beginning of the 20th century, on the eve of the European war, the United Kingdom signed an agreement with the Republic of Mariana, also known as the 'Sincere Understanding'.

According to the agreement, the Republic of Mariana will voluntarily compromise in all areas of the world where it has disputes with the United Kingdom. As the name suggests, the essence of the agreement is that the two countries will temporarily put aside their grievances and cooperate.

With such a precedent, the ruling government naturally assumed that another copy could be made.

You've already forgiven your mortal enemies before, can't you forgive your old adversary one more time? Don't you understand the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold"?

What time is it now? Ivanros's army has already reached the gates of Perrin!

The Grand Union urged the Republic of Mariana to be more proactive, take responsibility for maintaining peace, and send troops to support Varland and Hurry.

Looking at the big picture, the current situation is extremely precarious.

The Valland army's counterattack on the Oder River was quite impressive, eliminating hundreds of thousands of enemies in one fell swoop, but it also depleted a large amount of its own mobile forces.

Ivan Ross's General Staff strategy was to strike while the iron was hot, applying continuous pressure across the entire front and giving Varland no chance to catch his breath.

Although the frontline troops complained constantly about insufficient supplies and were exhausted from continuous combat, Veronica Alexandrovna disagreed with taking a break.

In her words, "Your situation is difficult, but the Vallanders are in an even more difficult situation; we must crush them!"

In the latter half of the third Alexander (Alexandrovna) offensive, General Nikolai Yudenich experimentally employed a new tactic.

He discovered that even if his tank forces managed to break through the enemy's defenses, the enemy would promptly deploy reserves to plug the gaps and launch a counterattack when his forces were exhausted.

Therefore, he attempted to break through on multiple fronts, establishing multiple parallel main attack directions, and significantly increasing the number of second and third echelons to a level that could withstand the enemy's counterattack.

This is called: a parallel breakthrough, a sustained offensive.

This places high demands on the unit's organizational capabilities, requiring close coordination among multiple echelons.

Therefore, the results of the first two attempts were unsatisfactory, and subsequent troop coordination was poor.

Although the results were not as expected, General Yudenich believed that this could be gradually improved through battlefield experience, and he was convinced that he had found a way to deal with the flexible defense of the Varland army.

However, he doesn't have much time left.

The massive offensive that lasted for more than two months inflicted heavy losses on Ivanrod's army.

While there was more than enough light weapons, there was a problem with technical equipment. Although the production speed of the military industry in the rear was increasing, the losses at the front were also intensifying.

Especially now that we've entered Valland territory, the enemy's logistical distance has been shortened, resupply is easier, and the efficiency of firepower projection has been significantly improved.

The General Staff estimates that, based on the current trend, the war will only last another month and a half before it becomes unprofitable – the Varland army is killing its own side more efficiently than pre-war expectations!

In this process, the United Kingdom indirectly provided a lot of assistance, mainly in logistical matters, to maintain the offensive capabilities of the Ivanros Empire.

比如最近的十一月初，第三支船队抵达摩尔曼斯克，一下子送去了32个火车头、940节车厢、216辆坦克、1200辆卡车、1700吨炸药、2.5万个轮胎等等。

They also leased 74 de Havilland Albatross transport aircraft, and later leased another 50.

There was also a back-and-forth struggle between Renton and St. Peter's Castle, with the Ivanros trying every means to drag the Britons into the conflict.

For the Britons, the best course of action was to help the Ivanros defeat the Varlanders without directly participating in the war; personally getting involved was not so dignified.

Rather than going to the battlefield, the self-proclaimed gentlemen of Britain seem to prefer playing the role of troublemakers.
(End of this chapter)