I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 613 Too watery

Regardless of whether George planned this incident, in the eyes of outsiders, George is the most suspicious.

George doesn't care about outside speculation. His attention is now focused on the Anatolian Peninsula.

Many people will wonder why Nicholas did not let George be in charge of the European war zone, but instead let George come to the Balkans.

The reason is that only George can ensure stability in the Balkans.

If Nicholas the Younger were to come to the Balkans, regardless of whether he could withstand Conrad's attack, the Balkan Alliance would probably fall apart.

The Ottoman Empire chose a good time to join the war when Constantinople was at its weakest.

If it had been little Nicholas, the Ottomans might have succeeded.

Once the outlet to the Black Sea was taken away by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire's connection with the Mediterranean would be cut off, and the Balkan Alliance would not be able to withstand the pincer attack from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

Yangkov was experienced and made great contributions by withstanding the sudden attack of the Ottoman Empire.

Things will be easy after that. As reinforcements arrive one after another, George may have the opportunity to turn the Black Sea into an inland lake of the Russian Empire.

This is an outcome the British would never want to see.

So while George was organizing troops to reinforce the Anatolian Peninsula, Kitchener was planning to send the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to land on the Anatolian Peninsula.

Before returning to Constantinople, George proposed to Nicholas to withdraw the main battleships of the Baltic Fleet to reinforce the Adriatic Sea and encircle and annihilate the Austro-Hungarian fleet.

Little Nicholas was so overwhelmed that he had no time to care about the Baltic Fleet.

After annihilating the German Baltic Fleet, the Russian Baltic Fleet had only one mission left, to defend Petrograd.

This task does not require a battleship at all, a cruiser can complete it.

In January, another Queen Maria-class battleship was commissioned, bringing the Baltic Fleet's total to six super-dreadnoughts.

George transferred all four "Ganguts" to the Mediterranean, leaving only two "Queen Marias".

Nicholas did not create any obstacles on this issue. George was the Minister of the Admiralty and had the power to deploy troops.

It doesn't matter if George transfers all the warships of the Baltic Fleet.

But as long as Germany could attack Petrograd through the Baltic, it would be George's responsibility.

Peter felt a little regretful, as he really wanted to lead the main force of the Russian fleet to fight Tirpitz.

Unfortunately, Tirpitz did not give Peter a chance and did not even dare to leave the naval port. The battleships that the Russian Empire had spent huge amounts of money to build could only be used as patrols.

To reach the Mediterranean, you first have to pass through the Denmark Strait.

After the outbreak of the war, Denmark announced the closure of the Denmark Strait and refused entry or exit of warships of any belligerent country. The warships of the Russian Empire were also within the blockade.

Peter ignored Christian X's ban and ordered his fleet to force its way through the Denmark Strait.

The reinforcement fleet led by Peter consisted of four Gangut-class battleships, six cruisers, and a supply ship.

Fleet Chief of Staff Rajkovich was concerned about provoking a conflict between the Russian Empire and Denmark.

"It doesn't matter, the Danes won't fire—"

Peter is full of confidence. He has already contacted the Danish side through Georgi.

Before serving as the ambassador of the Kingdom of Greece to St. Petersburg, Georgy had been serving in the Danish Navy. The Danish Navy Commander Marshal Valdemar was Georgy's uncle. When Georgy first arrived in Denmark, he even lived directly in Valdemar's house.

Although Valdemar did not make any promises to Peter, he stated in his reply to Georgy that if the Russian Baltic Fleet forced its way through the Danish Strait, the Danish Navy would not stop it.

Having said that, Rajkovic was still nervous when the reinforcement fleet passed through the Denmark Strait. As the throat of the Baltic Sea, the Denmark Strait is one of Denmark's most important sources of tax revenue, and uploading through the Denmark Strait is subject to tax.

In order to ensure the safety of the Denmark Strait, the Danish Navy not only built a large number of artillery batteries, but also installed torpedo tubes in the strait. If a warship rashly sails in, even if it can withstand the attack of coastal defense artillery, it cannot withstand the torpedo.

Peter was very cautious and ordered the fleet to enter the Denmark Strait along the center line of the strait and pass through it one by one.

Valdemar was also interesting. The Danish Navy sent a patrol boat to walk in front of the reinforcement fleet, using a loudspeaker to speak to the reinforcement fleet as it walked.

"This is the Danish Navy. You have illegally entered Danish naval waters and are about to be attacked. Please withdraw from the Danish Strait immediately—"

This was simply amazing, Peter didn't even have to worry about mines.

The Danes did not actually blockade the strait.

Otherwise, as long as the Danes announced that they had laid mines in the Denmark Strait, Peter would not dare to enter the strait even if Valdemar promised not to fire.

I won't shoot at you.

But if your ship hits a mine and sinks, it is entirely your own fault.

Now with the Danish Navy's patrol ships leading the way, the reinforcement fleet passed through the Danish Strait smoothly.

George didn't care how the reinforcement fleet passed through the Denmark Strait. On January 1, the First Battle of the Isonzo River ended.

After the Kingdom of Italy declared war, Luigi Cardona led the Italian army to attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Isonzo River basin.

A total of 20 Italian troops participated in the attack.

The defending Austrian army consisted of only 6.5 troops.

Like the British and French forces, the Italian army launched a week-long artillery bombardment on the Austrian positions before attacking, and then deployed ground troops.

The terrain on the Italian-Austrian border was complex, and the Austro-Hungarian troops' fortifications suffered little damage from the Italian artillery fire.

The Italian army suffered successive setbacks and the offensive achieved no results.

After losing 2.5 men, Cardona called off the offensive.

The Austrian army lost about 1 men in this battle.

George was a little skeptical when he received the report. 2.5 casualties can be considered a battle?
If the casualties on the Eastern and Western Fronts were less than 100,000, it could not be called a battle.

Moreover, after only 20 Italian troops were lost out of 2.5, Cardona stopped the attack.

This Italian army is too weak to fight.

"Look at this paragraph—"

Demeter reminded George that a large part of the Italian army's casualties were caused by themselves.

When the Italian army began to launch ground forces to attack, for some reason, they did not notify the artillery to stop shelling.

So the Italian troops, who had just entered the combat position, were bombarded by Italian artillery.

In the subsequent battles, some Italian soldiers fell into ice caves and drowned, some froze to death, and some even disappeared due to an avalanche.

George was very curious. After a week-long bombardment, was it possible that even the snow on the mountain was not destroyed?

Some Italian soldiers even resorted to self-mutilation to escape the attack.

So George didn't know how much truth there was in this battle report.

(End of this chapter)