I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 605 The demons dance wildly
Compared with the Romanov family, the harmonious relationship between Grand Duke Yuriev and his daughter-in-law was enough to make Nicholas envious and jealous.

Starting from mid-November, representatives from various countries attending Polis' wedding arrived in Constantinople one after another.

The kings of the Balkan countries were all present in person. Although George V did not come, he sent Crown Prince Edward.

Colonel House, personal representative of US President Wilson, arrived in Constantinople in early November. Even his opponent, William II, sent Duke Karl as the representative of the Hohenzollern family.

Carl William II congratulated George, and this congratulation was not just for George personally, but also for Ferdinand.

After all, both Ferdinand and Anne were from the House of Hohenzollern.

"I never thought that we would be reunited under these circumstances."

Karl was very sad. After returning to Germany, he worked hard for peace, but unfortunately to no avail.

"Things change all the time—"

George didn't know what to say, he could only say that it was fate.

Before the outbreak of the world war, all countries were full of confidence and decided to decide the fate of the world with a major war.

Now, all countries have tasted the bitter fruit of war.

Before the end of 1914, Russia's casualties had exceeded one million. Although France's losses were slightly smaller than Russia's, France had a smaller population than Russia, so the French losses were more serious.

Germany was not much better off, with losses on the Eastern Front alone exceeding 30 people, and losses on the Western Front about double that.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire suffered the most. Less than three months after the war broke out, the 55 regular troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the war had been completely lost, and now all those on the front line were mobilized soldiers.

Karl remained in Constantinople for a full week before heading to Adrianople.

During his time in Constantinople, Carl toured the city thoroughly.

George did not restrict Carl's actions. Even when Carl asked to visit the arsenal, George let Carl look around freely.

Then Karl understood why the German generals were so wary of George.

George is so famous that no one can ignore his existence.

Before the war, the British and Germans praised little Nicholas to the skies, so George came to the Balkans.

The Germans blew up Little Nikolai in order to choose a more suitable opponent.

The British praised Nicholas the Younger because they were worried that the Russian Empire would gain greater benefits.

With George's strength, if he were to be the commander of the European theater, then if the Russian Empire defeated Germany and the two merged into one, Britain would be completely marginalized.

Even if George did not attack, according to the plan made before the war, watching the German-Austrian alliance and the Anglo-French alliance deplete, it would be a disaster for Britain.

George had too much capital. Not only did he have Amur as a strong rear base, but he also gradually restored the industrial strength of Constantinople in a very short period of time. This made Karl more confused about the future.

At the Constantinople train station, Karl experienced a new round of shock.

The situation of the Russian army was already very complicated. The Guards, Cossacks, Steppe Army, and Turban Army all had different uniforms.

As the seat of George's headquarters, Constantinople had frequent exchanges of personnel from various countries. Bulgarians, Romanians, Greeks, and the Serbs who were expelled from the Balkan League some time ago were all George's allies.

The troops directly under George included regular troops from the Amur Military District, vassal troops from Japan and Goryeo, and now reinforcements from the Russian Empire.

These troops are also easy to distinguish. They are regular troops from the Amur Military District. Their hats are usually made of various furs, mainly white.

The hats of the vassal army were a steel helmet paired with a woolen hat, which was both warm and defensive.

The hats worn by the Imperial reinforcements come in a variety of styles, and are usually self-produced.

Karl now just hopes that the Russians will not be fooled by the British and French.

If Nicholas was instigated by the British and French, George was asked to take the initiative to attack Austria-Hungary.

Karl really didn't know how many German reinforcements were needed to withstand the attack of George's Legion.

George doesn't hate Carl. It's understandable that everyone serves his own master.

The Serbian Crown Prince Alexander is more annoying.

After the fall of Serbia, Peter suffered a severe mental trauma. After drinking too much, he was hospitalized with a serious illness. He is almost blind and is currently receiving treatment in St. Petersburg.

A week ago, Alexander officially became regent of the Kingdom of Serbia.

Part of the Serbian army withdrew to Bulgaria, and part withdrew to the Greek island of Corfu via Albania.

Serbian troops retreating to Bulgaria are resting.

The Serbian soldiers who withdrew to Corfu were directly requisitioned by the Mediterranean Fleet to participate in the construction of port facilities in Corfu.

Alexander was very dissatisfied and hoped that George would provide weapons and equipment to the Serbian officers and soldiers on Corfu Island and provide training so that they could return to the battlefield as soon as possible.

George didn't communicate much with Alexander. After their first meeting, Alexander came to see George again, but George refused to meet him on the grounds that he was busy with official duties.

George really couldn't care less about Alexander.

Because of Polis's wedding, people from all walks of life gathered in Constantinople and Adrianople, and there was a lot of information that George needed to pay attention to.

After arriving in Adrianople, Karl met with the Ottoman Sultan's brother and the two had a very pleasant conversation.

After leaving Constantinople, Alexander did not get off the train in Adrianople, but went to Sofia to visit the Serbian officers and soldiers who were resting in Sofia.

The British Crown Prince Edward told George that if George needed, he could send an expeditionary force to the Balkans to assist the Balkan Alliance in the war. George was curious, how could Britain complete the mobilization so quickly?
not at all.

Kitchener's million-dollar mobilization plan is less than half completed.

The reinforcements Edward referred to were the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

George really didn't know how effective the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was.

"The descendants of criminals and robbers should not have too high expectations."

Demeter looked down on the Anzacs.

Demeter had officially become Chief of the General Staff of the Balkan League, a position that did not require the approval of Petrograd.

Demeter's first order was to require Romania, Greece and Bulgaria to continue mobilizing and increase the number of troops that each country could mobilize by another 10 before the arrival of next spring.

That means there will be a new offense next spring.

George suddenly remembered that in another time and space, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps had fought in the Battle of the Dardanelles.

The result was that the 50 British and French troops were no match for the 8.5 newly formed Ottoman Empire troops.

Even so, Britain still has the nerve to designate the day when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed as Anzac Day and celebrate it with great fanfare.

I don't know what to celebrate.

It's really like a funeral being a happy occasion.

Considering the nature of Britain, George decisively refused.

The Balkan Alliance had just managed to defeat a thorn in its side, and if the British came, George was worried that the good situation would be ruined.

In view of the fact that Britain made much ado about nothing after the outbreak of the World War, George hoped that the Royal Navy would take the initiative to destroy the German High Seas Fleet and demonstrate the strength of the Royal Navy.

It cannot be said that the Royal Navy did nothing. In August, the Royal Navy and the German Navy did fight each other.

This battle, which was promoted by the British as the most important naval battle since the 20th century, resulted in 712 German deaths and 336 prisoners.

The British army suffered only 35 deaths and 40 injuries.

But this cannot be blamed on the Royal Navy.

Don’t listen to Tirpitz’s loud shouts before the war. As the initiator of the arms race, Tirpitz began to implement the strategy of “avoiding war and protecting ships” after the outbreak of the war, strictly prohibiting the German army from going out to sea to fight.

So why does Germany spend hundreds of millions of marks on shipbuilding every year?
Of course, this cannot be blamed on Tirpitz, because the German Navy was really no match for them.

The German High Seas Fleet is doing okay, at least it has retained its strength.

After the outbreak of the war, the German East Asia Fleet was immediately destroyed by the Russian Pacific Fleet and was completely wiped out.

The Baltic Fleet was not much better.

We also have to thank Denmark for its policy of neutrality.

Denmark declared neutrality after the outbreak of the war, and subsequently blocked the Denmark Strait, prohibiting navies from all countries from entering or leaving.

This prohibition is very spiritual.

It is known that the strength of the Imperial Russian Baltic Fleet is far stronger than that of the German Baltic Fleet.

Therefore, after the Denmark Strait was blocked, Germany was unable to provide support to the Baltic Fleet, and the Baltic Sea became an inland lake of Imperial Russia.

Just when the Pacific Fleet attacked Jiaoao, Peter personally led the Baltic Fleet's all-heavy artillery battleships to attack the German Baltic Fleet.

The Germans were very practical. They knew that their fleet could not win, so they used mines to blockade the port and relied on artillery to prevent the attack of the Imperial Russian fleet.

Traditionally, fleets would not dare to challenge the artillery batteries if the enemy used mines to blockade the port.

But now Peter has bombers under his command, and the form of war has been completely changed.

On September 9, bombers of the Imperial Russian Navy bombed the home port of the German Baltic Fleet.

The Germans were very smart. They converted heavy machine guns into anti-aircraft machine guns to resist the attacks of bombers.

Heavy machine guns are extremely powerful when used against infantry, but they are seriously lacking in power when used against large bombers.

The bombing was very effective and most of the German artillery positions were destroyed.

Peter took the opportunity to order the fleet to close in and fire, and sent out torpedo planes to attack the German warships docked in the port.

On September 9, with the last cruiser being sunk in the harbor, the German Baltic Fleet followed the Far East Fleet and was also completely wiped out.

Starting from September 9, the Russian Empire's most powerful Baltic Fleet began to be idle.

In another month, the first ship of the Queen Maria class battleship will be put into service.

Nicholas was discussing with his cousin Christian X, hoping that Denmark would open the Denmark Strait to the Russian Baltic Fleet.

Christian X did not agree. The Kingdom of Denmark was very busy doing business on both ends during this period, and it was too busy counting the money to do so, so it did not want to offend anyone.

Denmark is now a middleman between Germany and the UK, with Germany buying industrial goods from the UK through Denmark and the UK buying chemicals from Germany through Denmark.

George felt that he could also do such business.

(End of this chapter)