The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1383: Lone Army (Part )

The shells broke the silence of the early morning with a peculiar whistling sound.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! The Ottomans are coming!"

The old lieutenant yelled at the top of his lungs, but his voice was soon drowned out by the explosion of shells. The shrapnel shells landed precisely on the outer sentry posts, and the entire bastion (earth mound) was shaking.

The soldiers woke up from their dreams. Some ran to the barracks to wake everyone up, while others hid in the corner and trembled. Cries and screams were heard everywhere, and some people shouted and shot at the enemy thousands of meters away.

Gravel and wood chips were flying everywhere, and Russian soldiers were knocked down by the flying stones and shrapnel from time to time. Their companions seized the opportunity and quickly dragged them behind the pile of earth.

Russian commander Alexander Prinsky woke up in the bunker. He had been waiting for this day for a long time.

"Tell the soldiers to take up arms. In order to liberate our compatriots who are enslaved and oppressed by the Ottomans and for our beliefs, we must fight the Ottomans to the end!
Kill our horses! Let us have meat tonight!"

the adjutant asked hesitantly.

"Commander, why did you kill the horse? If, I mean, if the battle is not going well, how will you leave?"

“Hodensky, the ice and snow haven’t melted yet. Even if Your Majesty comes as quickly as possible, it will take two months. No one will come to save us.

Be happy, we will be martyrs."

After saying this, Alexander Prinsky put on his sailing cap. Prinsky wanted to see how the battle went. He had no intention of surrendering himself. Even if he died, he wanted to die heroically.

The Ottoman artillery fire was so fierce that the makeshift bastions (earth piles) were of little use. All this was within Prinsky's expectations.

However, the Ottoman infantry began their attack before the shelling stopped, which caught him off guard. After all, in his impression, the Ottoman artillery had always had poor accuracy.

Sure enough, one of the Ottomans' own artillery shells landed in the Ottoman infantry column in front, and there was a loud "boom" and a bloody mess.

This kind of accidental injury to one's own people caused immeasurable damage to one's own morale. After witnessing the tragic death of their comrades, the infantry, who were originally in high spirits, became hesitant in their steps. They did not want to die under the muzzles of their own guns.

The commander in front immediately noticed this change and began to swing the whip in his hand. The whip shadows fell on the soldiers like raindrops, reminding them of what punishment they would receive if they retreated.

Driven by their instinctive fear, the Ottoman soldiers advanced with their heads down, praying not to be hit by the shells.

However, the Russian commander Prinsky did not intend to let the Ottomans go, and he immediately ordered the artillery to open fire.

However, the primary target is the enemy's artillery. After all, in theory, as long as the enemy's artillery is destroyed, our firepower advantage will be infinite.

Prinsky was well aware that the quality of Russian artillery was indeed stronger than that of Ottoman artillery, but only to a limited extent.

Moreover, it is not easy to hit distant targets, and most of the shells will fall on the Ottoman infantry. He has been mentally prepared for this.

However, not a single shell from the Russian artillery salvos hit the Ottoman artillery, and the impact points were even hundreds of meters away from the enemy artillery.

This made Plinsky so angry that he cursed.

"What are those idiots in the artillery doing? They are getting paid twice as much as we do. Are they planning to make the Ottomans laugh to death?"

There was silence in the command room, and then an officer spoke.

"This is not normal, sir."

Hodensky said.

"Then go and see what's going on!" Prinsky roared.

"As you command, sir."

Hodenski called two orderly soldiers and hurriedly left the command room.

Although the Russian artillery bombardment did not cause any damage to the Ottoman artillery, it did hit the Ottoman infantry columns, and casualties were inevitable.

Compared with other powers that have already equipped themselves with large numbers of shrapnel shells, the Russian army is still using old solid bullets.

Although the killing efficiency of solid bullets is not as stable as that of shrapnel bullets, it does not mean that its lethality is insufficient.

The solid iron ball easily tore through the human body, smashed into the frozen wasteland and bounced off again, leaving only a bloody passage.

The iron balls hitting the frozen wasteland didn't seem to be moving very fast, and some people even wanted to stop the balls with their feet...
However, the result was that the iron ball easily penetrated the foot's defense line, leaving behind only a soldier with his body torn below the knees and his howling sounding like an inhuman voice.

"Take up arms and prepare to fight!"

The Russian front line was still in chaos, with a large number of soldiers rushing into their positions. Although the war had begun three or four months ago, the trenches of the Russian positions were still poorly dug.

Coupled with the crudely built bastion on the side and the breastwork built with logs and stones and watered with ice water, the entire position was fragmented and distorted like a Picasso painting.

The destruction caused by the Ottoman army's bombardment was like a cosmetic surgery.
"Who has my pipe?"

The old lieutenant shouted at the top of his lungs, like a woman whose child was missing.

"Lieutenant, it's here. I haven't had time to draw it yet!"

"Be careful, you little bastard! I'm not done with you after I've smoked all the cigarettes!"

Hearing the old lieutenant's curse, the soldiers all laughed and seemed to briefly forget the surging Ottoman army.

The Ottomans broke the joyful atmosphere with the rumbling of artillery fire. The Russians had obviously not yet adapted to the power of shrapnel, and people were often hit by shrapnel and fell to the ground, at a loss.

"Idiot! Get down!"

The old lieutenant shouted that he had participated in the anti-French war and had seen all kinds of cruel weapons of war. Even so, he had to admit that this time the power of the Ottoman artillery was almost catching up with that of the French.

The Ottoman artillery's target was not them, but the Russian artillery in the rear. At least the first goal of the Ottoman Armstrong artillery was to counter the enemy artillery.

The artillery position was hit directly, which was an unprecedented blow to the Russian artillery, as they had previously unilaterally defeated the Ottoman artillery in terms of firepower.

Even if there were occasional casualties on both sides, it was based on the premise that both sides were shooting at close range.

Especially in the previous test firing, the Russian artillery had raised the shooting angle and loaded as much gunpowder as possible, but the impact point was still hundreds of meters away from the enemy's artillery position.

So the Russian artillery took it for granted that this was just another battle like usual, and they just had to load and fire according to the routine.

At first the Russians thought it was a matter of wind direction and luck, but soon the second round of artillery fire arrived. Although it did not hit the artillery position this time, they discovered a more terrible problem.

The Ottoman army's artillery was far superior to theirs, and in fact the army adviser sent by the British was an artillery expert who knew very well where the Russians' limits were.

In order to maximize the power of the Armstrong gun, the Ottoman artillery was deployed in such a forward position rather than at the maximum safe distance.

(End of this chapter)