Nanyang Storm 1864

November 28st

"Launching a new offensive in early May is completely unrealistic. The artillery shells delivered to our army so far number only 110,000, and my artillery units used them up in two hours. It's not enough at all."

Marshal Chu-Zhenghui, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, shook the telegram from the Supreme Command and casually put it aside, giving the order.

"Reply to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers;"

Our forces have captured Thrace and are now conducting a full-scale mopping-up operation. We have used up more than 70% of our ammunition and are no longer sufficient to launch a new large-scale offensive.

The enemy forces gathered in front of our army number over 60, with hundreds of thousands of reinforcements on their way, creating a situation of accumulating a large force.

In the current situation
Our unit urgently needs a large amount of ammunition to launch the Battle of Istanbul. We request the support of the Supreme Command.

Our department plans to launch a new round of the Istanbul campaign on May 12.

The required ammunition shortage is enormous and must be replenished within two weeks; otherwise, the effectiveness of the campaign will be questionable and will affect the next stage of the war in Europe.

Please pay close attention to this point.

Send this message as soon as possible.

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The officers under his command quickly drafted a telegram and ran off to carry out the order.

Marshal Chu-Zheng Hui stood up with a stern expression, walked to the large military map, and began to observe it with a deep gaze.

The current war situation is becoming increasingly dire, with Ottoman troops crammed into a narrow fjord area, with Istanbul, Europe's largest city (note: excluding London), behind them.

How densely packed are the troops?
It's fair to say that every step forward involved stepping over the corpse of an Ottoman, leaving virtually no room for maneuver or detours.

Under the holy war slogan of defending the capital, the Ottomans all turned into groundhogs, digging holes all over the 60-kilometer-long isthmus and building countless bunkers and firing positions. The towering fortifications were terrifying.

Every morning, a new cluster of bunkers would appear on the Ottoman positions ahead, springing up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

The disastrous defeat at the Battle of Thrace nearly terrified the Ottoman army.

Therefore, the troops at the forefront were a mixed force of German and Ottoman troops, with one German division paired with one Ottoman division, like a sandwich.

Inspired by the example set by the German army, the Ottomans regained their confidence and numbed themselves with the slogan of holy war, almost falling into a state of frenzy.

If there isn't enough firepower to cover the area, then enough cannon fodder will be needed to fill the gaps.

In Marshal Chu-Zheng Hui's plan
If the Supreme Command fails to gather enough artillery shells within two weeks and launches a new campaign, then cannon fodder will be used as cannon fodder.

Disobeying orders? That doesn't exist.

New orders issued by the Supreme Command will certainly be communicated with the highest ruler in the empire first, and will only be issued after obtaining approval.

This is not a battle involving a few thousand or tens of thousands of people, but a large-scale battle involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. How could it be undertaken lightly?

Due to inherent geographical limitations

Faced with the current Ottoman defensive posture, which was in fact an ironclad fortress laid out by senior German generals, there was no room for trickery; the only option was to break through it head-on.

Istanbul, located on the European side of the Bosphorus Strait, is a city built on seven hilltops, earning it the nickname "City of Hills." It possesses an inherently advantageous defensive position and has always been renowned for its formidable city walls.

On the outskirts of the city

Istanbul also had a fairly well-developed defensive line. After the disastrous defeat in the Thrace campaign, the Great Chu Empire's million-strong army besieged the city, triggering a severe crisis of national annihilation for the Ottoman Empire from top to bottom.

During this period, ships of all sizes have been transporting troops, weapons, ammunition, food and other supplies from the Asian territories across the Bosphorus Strait to the European side day and night, with massive amounts of cargo piling up like small mountains at the docks.

Upon arrival, the Ottoman soldiers immediately disembarked and marched rapidly toward the front lines, as if their backsides were on fire.

The Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force did not stand idly by while the Ottomans built new battle lines. Now, almost every day from morning till night, air force squadrons would continuously drop bombs over the enemy's head, engaging in fierce battles with German warplanes.

However, launching a new round of attacks consecutively is not feasible at the moment.

After completely conquering Thrace, the overwhelming Chu expeditionary force blocked all the limited roads.

Artillery positions were moved forward, ammunition was moved forward, command posts were moved forward, and a large amount of logistical supplies also needed to be delivered in a timely manner. The few roads in the Thrace region were almost completely blocked.

The situation only improved slightly after being stuck in traffic for more than ten days.

The relocation of hundreds of thousands of troops was no small matter. There was only one railway line in Thrace, which handled almost half of the army's logistical transport, and it was far from sufficient.

The redeployment of forward positions takes time, and thousands of artillery pieces and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition need to be transported to the front lines. In addition, the logistical supply of hundreds of thousands of troops is a huge military mobilization task.

Fortunately, Thrace is located near the Aegean Sea, and there are many ports along the coast that can be used, which greatly alleviates the pressure on transportation and resource allocation.

Even so, it cannot be completed in a week or two.

Under orders from the Supreme Command to launch a new offensive, Marshal Chu-Zheng Hui, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, had no choice but to make use of the existing conditions and launch a limited offensive.

Anyway, we have more than 300,000 newly formed volunteer soldiers at our disposal, which can be used as cannon fodder.

Haste makes waste. Battles in Europe often last for months, with repeated fighting on the front lines. There are very few victories as decisive as the Thracian campaign.

If there is

That is, the German army's repeated victories over the Russian army, often capturing hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, severely hampered the German army's logistics.

Two weeks later
On the Istanbul front
Several thousand Thracian young men, escorted by heavily armed imperial soldiers, arrived behind a hill, their eyes filled with confusion, helplessness, and a mixture of anger and fear.

But no one dared to resist; the one who did resist had already become a corpse.

Behind the hills, a large number of blood-stained military uniforms were scattered and piled up. Under the orders of the white puppet troops, these young Thracian men had no choice but to step forward, pick up the uniforms, and put them on.

"Grab your uniforms and move forward! Don't stop, hurry... You idiots! Move forward, you damn fools!"

"Don't stop! Everyone can get a piece of bread and water up ahead. Remember, one piece of bread per person."

The water was drawn directly from the river next to them, placed in wooden buckets by the roadside, and a few wooden ladles were haphazardly thrown on the ground.

Thirsty Thracians grabbed wooden spoons and gulped down their mouths. After only a few mouthfuls, they were driven forward and not allowed to linger. Otherwise, they would be whipped or beaten with rifle butts. Anyone who dared to resist was immediately shot dead.

The roar of artillery fire was deafening, and fighter jets roared across the sky, carrying the strong smell of gunpowder and blood.

The further you go, the more intense the atmosphere of the battlefield becomes.

Ahead lay a pile of broken weapons: rifles with broken stocks, deformed bayonets, machetes, and even wooden sticks, all mixed together haphazardly.

Each of the Thracians passing by would be given a weapon and driven forward without being allowed to stop or think.

Soon they arrived at the ruins at the front line, a place scorched black with countless shell craters of all sizes. Fully armed Imperial soldiers, armed with heavy machine guns, were hiding in well-preserved front-line bunkers.

"Listen up, everyone! As soon as the shelling stops, launch an immediate attack. You can only advance, not retreat. Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy."

"Remember this: only by advancing and killing the Ottomans can you gain merit and the rewards of bread and women. Any retreat or cowardice will be punished according to battlefield discipline, and violators will be killed without mercy."

"As soon as the cannon fire stops, launch an immediate charge. The time has come to show your bravery."

Just then, the thunderous cannon fire abruptly stopped.

Thousands of Thracian locals were driven into the battlefield, where they could only scream and charge forward desperately, with no chance of turning back.

On the battlefield before us

Many people quickly picked up the fallen guns, swords, axes and anything sharp, and rushed into the trenches amidst the enemy's hail of bullets, where they fought fiercely with the Ottomans.

This situation
Along a front stretching tens of kilometers, battles raged as the Great Chu Empire launched wave after wave of attacks on the Ottoman-defended lines with fierce artillery fire, hovering fighter planes, and cannon fodder thrown into the fray.

The bloody battle raged from morning till night, unprecedentedly fierce and brutal.

From May 12 to June 7, in just 26 days, the Imperial Expeditionary Force launched hundreds of attacks, using ground artillery and aerial strangulation to launch a bloody offensive against the Ottoman positions, causing them heavy losses.

During the first phase of the 26-day campaign, the Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force carved out more than 20 kilometers of Ottoman lines through sheer force, causing heavy casualties of over 33 German and Austro-Hungarian troops.

On the side of the Great Chu Empire

Due to overwhelming ground firepower and air superiority, the Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force, which was on the offensive, suffered only over 200,000 casualties, more than 80% of which came from the Volunteer Army.

Throughout the entire campaign, the Tiger II tanks belonging to the Great Chu Empire never appeared.

The Allied Commander-in-Chief Marshal Chu-Zheng Hui was reluctant to use such expensive land weapons. On the front lines of such intense artillery fire, the Tiger II tanks were not very effective and were more likely to be lost.

Marshal Chu-Zheng Hui resolutely refused to engage in such a losing proposition.

These senior generals of the Imperial Expeditionary Force were extremely experienced in combat and had received systematic military theory training. They possessed a high level of military awareness and knew that the narrow terrain of the Battle of Istanbul was not suitable for tank attacks.

During the first phase of the 26-day campaign, of the 176 German warplanes deployed by the Allied forces, 139 were destroyed, and the rest were all damaged to varying degrees and were essentially wiped out.

The attackers' biplane fighters, with their superior numbers and performance, regained control of the skies.

At this stage of the war, the German army was launching a large-scale spring campaign on the Western Front, engaging in fierce aerial battles with fighter planes from Britain, France, and the United States, suffering considerable losses.

In the short term, it was also impossible to provide support for more German fighter planes.

After regaining control of the skies, the air force wing of the Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force launched an even more frenzied bombing campaign against the city's outskirts, with a single fighter jet taking off and landing as many as seven or eight times a day, killing and wounding a large number of defending troops.

The German and Austro-Hungarian forces now hide in their trenches, afraid to show their faces, as they endure endless bombardment from the air and artillery fire from the ground.

The Ottoman artillery positions dared not show themselves, for if they were discovered, they would quickly attract a large swarm of aircraft and be destroyed in no time.

On one side of the Great Chu Empire's position, dozens of tall artillery observation balloons were upgraded.

As soon as the Ottoman artillery opened fire, it was quickly recorded, the ballistic firing data was calculated, and then fighter planes were dispatched to scout and determine the location of the last enemy artillery position.

Every day, fighter jets roared through the air, guiding ground artillery to targets and inflicting casualties on key military objectives of the German-Austrian coalition, especially artillery positions, ammunition depots, logistics supply centers, barracks, and bunkers, all of which were within the range of artillery fire.

The expeditionary fighters that dominated the skies also carried out a frenzied crackdown on the Ottoman supply lines.

As soon as a convoy was spotted, the fighter planes would dive and straf the Ottomans, dropping bombs, determined to destroy their supply lines.

This forced the Ottomans to mobilize more laborers to carry supplies by hand and under the cover of night to deliver them to the front lines, daring not to show their faces during the day.

As night falls

Hundreds of thousands of people, like moving ants, carried loads and goods, moving forward in the darkness to deliver food, ammunition and other supplies to the soldiers at the front.

Both sides persevered in the difficult environment, daring not to relax.

On June 7, the fierce fighting that had been going on all day suddenly stopped, and an eerie silence descended.

Soon, the Supreme Command sent an inquiry telegram to the General Headquarters, and the reply left the Allied Supreme Command speechless.

Their ammunition reserves are exhausted, and they are awaiting replenishment, making it impossible for them to continue their offensive.

Although they used them sparingly, the daily consumption of 10,000 to 20,000 shells still depleted the expeditionary force's reserves, forcing them to temporarily halt their offensive.

Fortunately, just two days later, a fleet from the Great Chu Empire arrived, unloading hundreds of thousands of cannonballs. After being urgently transported to the front lines, the second phase of the offensive was restarted.

November 13st

After a brief six-day silence, the thunderous sound of artillery roared again, and the second phase of the offensive began.

Compared to the first phase of the attack, the second phase was more targeted. The Thracian soldiers who were driven to the battlefield were now armed with rifles, bayonets, and large machetes for close combat.

Under the fierce artillery fire of the Imperial army, the German and Austro-Hungarian allied forces, which were often hit, had not yet launched a counterattack when the charging volunteers broke into the positions, and the two sides engaged in a bloody close-quarters battle.

These Thracian soldiers had no choice; behind them were the dark muzzles of the overseers' guns. They could only advance, not retreat.

Wearing the uniforms of the Chu expeditionary force and carrying rifles and bayonets, neither the Germans nor the Ottomans dared to show mercy, much less let them go.

To survive, one must be ruthless. (End of Chapter)