I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 648 What to do if you can’t beat him?

Over a million Greeks were massacred by the Ottoman Empire.

George encourages repaying kindness with kindness and repaying evil with justice.

The Greeks did not fail George.

Within 200 kilometers of the Anatolian Peninsula on the east side of the Black Sea outlet, only Slavs and Greeks remain.

The situation was even worse around Ismail in the western part of the Anatolian Peninsula, where only Greeks were left.

These Greeks had just moved in after the Russian army occupied the area.

Like Brusinov and Vasily, Yankov continued to advance eastwards after receiving reinforcements.

The Ottomans also changed their commanders as they changed their knives. After driving the British troops out of the Anatolian Peninsula, Ataturk was appointed commander-in-chief of the Austrian army by Muhammad V, leading 40 Austrian troops to fight against the 14th Army led by Yankov.

The total strength of the 14th Army has now increased to 20, and the Greek army cooperating with the 14th Army is about 10.

Unlike the three heroes, Ataturk did not fight hard, but made full use of the complex terrain of the Anatolian Peninsula and dealt with the coalition forces.

Yangkov played steadily and Ataturk couldn't find any chances.

The Greek army was ambushed by the Ottoman army in Mura, one brigade was completely wiped out, another brigade was defeated, and the loss exceeded 7000.
Yankov had to send out the reserve troops to fill in the line and clean up the mess for the Greeks.

The British were unwilling to be left out, so this time they did not send troops to land on the Anatolian Peninsula, but instead contacted the Ottomans on the Persian Peninsula to launch a rebellion.

The British finally found their correct position in the world war.

This is what the British do best.

George also gained something by secretly occupying a small island next to Socotra Island.

The Socotra Islands are located at the exit of the Gulf of Aden and consist of four islands. The British army has built a military base on the main island, Hideb Island, and designated the archipelago as a restricted area.

In early March this year, the Russian merchant ship Hercules encountered a storm in the Indian Ocean and barely made it to the Socotra Islands and ran aground.

The Hercules asked the British army for help, but the British army ignored it.

So the crew of the Hercules was stranded on this island, which the crew named "Little Stone".

Two months later, the British army came to Xiaoshi Island for inspection again and found that the crew of "Hercules" had actually built a simple dock on Xiaoshi Island.

The British army was very angry and demanded that the "Hercules" leave immediately.

The crew of the Hercules was helpless.

When the crew of the Hercules asked the British army for help, the British army ignored them.

The crew had no choice but to find a way to repair the Hercules and then leave.

The Hercules was loaded with construction materials that were originally destined for Constantinople.

Repairing a ship is a troublesome matter. You can't just do it with nothing. At least you need a dock.

If you want to build a dock, you must first build a pier.

Although the crew of the Hercules had good reasons, it still caused strong concern among the British army.

The crew members said they would leave after repairing the boat.

The boat is repaired, but what about the dock and the shipyard?
Just abandoned like that?

The British don't believe that Russians are so easy to talk to.

On June 6, more than 19 British soldiers arrived at Little Rock Island in patrol boats, demanding that the crew of the Hercules leave Little Rock Island immediately and demolish the pier and dock built by the crew.

As well as houses and warehouses.

The crew cannot live on the ship all the time. Since there are building materials, it is only natural to build some houses for the crew to live in.

If you want to get a ship into the dock, you must first unload the cargo on the ship, so there came into being a warehouse.

But with houses, warehouses, docks, and shipyards—

This is already a port!

The crew of the Hercules were unwilling to abandon ship and left, and clashed with the British troops who landed on the island.

What is speechless is that not only did the British army fail to expel the crew, but they were beaten by the crew instead.

Not only did they receive a beating, but the crew of the Hercules also took the initiative to complain and sent a telegram to the Russian troops stationed in the Suez Canal, asking for help.

After receiving the telegram, Yuri went directly to the British Commissioner for Egypt, William Henry McMahon.

Yes, that’s the McMahon from the “McMahon Line”.

McMahon's father was a lieutenant general in the British Army. In 1880, McMahon began his military career in India.

After the outbreak of the World War, McMahon was appointed High Commissioner to Egypt, and he was the one who planned the Ottoman rebellion in the Persian Peninsula.

When Yuri came to McMahon, McMahon was worried about Yuri's troops.

The British asked George to send people to help defend the Suez Canal because it was threatened by the Ottoman army.

For this reason, all expenses of the Russian troops stationed in the Suez Canal were borne by the British.

Eating and drinking are actually nothing to the British Empire. After all, the British Empire is rich and can afford it.

What the British didn't expect was that it is easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away.

What McMahon is worried about now is how to drive away these Russian troops.

Yuri barged into McMahon's office without an appointment.

"General, please wait a moment—"

McMahon's secretary didn't dare to stop him and trotted along beside Yuri.

"Go away!"

Yuri's face was gloomy. He not only carried a gun with him, but also an adjutant and guards.

When he arrived at McMahon's office, Yuri didn't knock, but pushed the door open. McMahon was helpless, the Russians were so rude.

"What happened to your people? Why did you attack the Russian crew?"

Yuri got straight to the point.

McMahon was confused. What on earth was going on?

After learning the whole story, McMahon was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"General, the Socotra Islands are not under my jurisdiction, and those soldiers are not under my jurisdiction."

McMahon said that every wrong should be dealt with by its perpetrator, and that the matter should be addressed to the British Admiralty.

"Is that so? Very good!"

Yuri suddenly smiled and turned away.

It came with such great momentum and left so anticlimactically.

McMahon subconsciously sensed that something was wrong and immediately sent a telegram to London.

late.

Just four hours after the crew of the Hercules sent a distress signal, an East India cargo ship arrived at Little Rock Island and unloaded a batch of building materials and daily necessities, as well as 120 Marines.

East India is nearly 5000 kilometers away from Xiaoshi Island, which is too far to fly there in just 4 hours.

The only explanation is that the Hercules was near Little Rock Island when it sent out the distress signal.

When the Marines disembarked at Little Rock Island, Henry Jackson, the newly appointed British Secretary of the Admiralty, was talking about Little Rock Island with Lloyd George, who had also recently become British Prime Minister.

After the British army withdrew from Mersin, Churchill resigned and Henry Jackson succeeded Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty.

Before the outbreak of the war, Lloyd George served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. After Kitchener's death, Lloyd George succeeded Kitchener as Secretary of War.

After the Battle of the Somme broke out, the British army suffered heavy losses that were beyond the British public's tolerance. Prime Minister Asquith was forced to resign and Lloyd George formed a cabinet.

The combination of a novice Admiral and a novice Prime Minister is as powerful as two Nicholas.

Jackson asked George what to do?
What Lloyd George was curious about was: Why couldn't the British army defeat the sailors?

And this was despite the fact that the British army had the upper hand in numbers.

“Since Socotra is not the frontline, all the soldiers stationed in Socotra are second-line personnel, who are not good at combat in the first place.”

Jackson thought it was understandable that he couldn't win.

There are many people who cannot defeat the Russians. They cannot defeat the Austrians and the Ottomans, and Germany can only draw at best.

"The Russian Empire and we are allies. Soldiers cannot use their weapons and have good intentions towards our allies. However, the Russians have no regard for our allies at all. They are simply animals!"

Jackson has good reasons.

"Marshal, this is not a reason why a sailor cannot beat a sailor."

Lloyd George was not satisfied with Jackson's explanation.

Even though the sailors are on the second line, they are still regular British troops.

No matter how good the sailors are at fighting, can they defeat the regular army?

This is ridiculous!
"I now suspect those sailors are marines!"

Jackson finally found a reason that Lloyd George could accept.

Okay, this explanation makes sense.

“So, the Russians invaded our little rock island.”

Lloyd George characterized the incident.

Jackson frowned.

Although the British army has a base in the Socotra Islands, the Socotra Islands are not British territory and the area is now disputed.

In 1834, the Socotra Islands came under the jurisdiction of the East India Company.

In 1886, Britain first proposed to buy the island at a low price and incorporate it into the territory of the British Empire, but this attempt was rejected by the local Sultan, so Britain occupied the island by force.

The local Sudan still does not recognize Britain's sovereignty over the Socotra Islands.

"To be precise, it was the Russians who invaded Little Rock Island."

Jackson corrected, dropping the “our.”

"Very good, since Little Stone Island is not ours, there will be no problem."

Lloyd George did not want to fall out with the Russian Empire over this matter.

Lloyd George had been dealing with the Russians for a long time. As early as 1895, Lloyd George became the leader of the radical wing of the Liberal Party and was active in British politics.

Because of Sarawak, Britain has often had verbal battles with Russia.

The negotiations were very difficult at that time. Sarawak first reported the situation to the British Straits Settlements, the Straits Settlements then reported to London, the London Foreign Office contacted the St. Petersburg Foreign Office, and St. Petersburg conveyed the British request to George, who then asked what was going on in East India.

After George learned about the situation, he returned along the same route, and the round trip took more than half a year.

It's easy to avoid such trouble. Just send people to the island and drive the Russians away directly. The most you have to do is pay compensation.

If you can't drive them away, you have to accept the fait accompli created by the Russians.

George had good reasons, too.

If Nicholas asked, George would show him how far it was from Amur to Constantinople by sea.

The key point is that the Russian merchant ships don’t even have a supply point along the way. How can this be possible?

George didn't intend to build any large-scale buildings on Little Stone Island, he just wanted to set up a supply point.

(End of this chapter)