Chapter 424: Chapter 225: Rout Like a Landslide
While Spain’s reservists and machine gun units were undergoing large-scale training, the war on the Balkan Peninsula had already reached a fever pitch.
The heavily battered Russian Army received support from Romania and within the country, quickly gathering 150,000 reinforcements.
This allowed Russia to launch a renewed attack on the Plevna Fortress, deploying over a thousand artillery pieces with a stance of going all out against the Ottoman Army at the Plevna Fortress.
Although the Russian Army had nearly 100,000 casualties in the previous assaults, the Ottoman Empire’s casualties were similarly high.
The Ottoman Army’s weaponry was superior to that of Russia, yet it was significantly outmatched by Russia in terms of artillery numbers.
This gave the Russian Army enough artillery to suppress the Ottoman Empire’s artillery during their attacks, causing the Ottomans considerable casualties as well.
Russia quickly gathered 150,000 reinforcements, but where could the Ottoman Empire find 150,000 reinforcements?
Of the 280,000 troops the Ottoman Empire had on the Balkan Peninsula, only slightly more than 200,000 remained, distributed across Serbia, Bulgaria, and Black Mountain.
Along the Bulgaria and Romania borders, the Ottomans had just over 100,000 troops available, and facing the Russian force of over 200,000, the Ottomans could only adopt a defensive stance.
The Plevna Fortress was quite sturdy, serving as a crucial military stronghold for the Ottoman Empire.
But no matter how strong a fortress is, there comes a day when it falls. The Russian Army dug over 70 kilometers of trenches and engaged the Ottoman Army in a prolonged tug-of-war around the Plevna Fortress.
Ultimately, after suffering nearly 50,000 casualties, the Ottoman Empire was forced to retreat southward.
This resulted in the encirclement of the 30,000 Ottoman troops within the Plevna Fortress, and after holding out for a month, the fortress officially fell to Russia.
With the fall of Plevna Fortress, the dynamics of the war on the Balkan Peninsula changed dramatically.
The Russian Army successfully broke through the mountain passes, and south of the Plevna Fortress, there were scarcely any fortresses capable of halting their advance.
The road for the Russian Army to Constantinople and the Constantinople Strait was quite open, and the Ottoman Empire had lost its numerical advantage in soldiers.
After the fall of Plevna Fortress, Russia held the advantage in both troop numbers and armaments on the Balkan Peninsula.
The battle for Plevna Fortress cost Russia nearly 150,000 troops, with over 50,000 directly killed in action and nearly 100,000 sustaining varying degrees of injury.
Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire suffered heavy losses as well. The 30,000 defenders of Plevna Fortress were captured, and the earlier battles cost an additional 70,000.
The Ottoman Army on the Balkan Peninsula was reduced to less than 180,000 troops, while Russia’s deployment was not only unyielding but increased to nearly 350,000.
Consequently, Russia’s troop numbers on the Balkan Peninsula became double that of the Ottoman Empire’s.
This calculation does not include the Bulgarian and Serbian militias supporting Russia. Under these circumstances, the Ottoman Empire had fallen into a significant disadvantage.
Tsar Alexander II would not miss this opportunity. He personally visited the battlefield, making decisions himself, commanding the Russian Army to continue the offensive toward the south of the Balkan Mountains despite the cold.
With the fall of Plevna Fortress, the year was now 1877’s November. November in Bulgaria was quite cold, especially near the Balkan Mountains, with temperatures generally below 5 degrees Celsius.
However, for Russian soldiers living further north, this was not considered cold. The Russian Army naturally pressed on, undeterred by the cold, launching an offensive south of the Balkan Mountains.
In contrast to the high morale of the Russian Army, the Ottoman Army’s morale had hit rock bottom.
Worse still, the front-line commanders, despite the shortage of troops, not only forbade retreat but ordered the Ottoman Army to hold their positions and defend.
Clearly, they had overestimated the Ottoman Empire’s combat capability. For an army that just suffered defeat and heavy losses, the priority should have been to withdraw to the rear to recuperate.
Thus, the Ottoman Army was overwhelmed by the Russian tide of attacks, with important Bulgarian cities like Sofia and Pernik falling in quick succession, and the Russian advance reaching Bulgaria’s south, Plovdiv.
In the Ottoman Empire’s new Dolmabahce Palace, a gathering of high-ranking officials, nobles, and military leaders from the empire had convened.
Their sole purpose in gathering at the new palace was to discuss how to resolve this war.
The Russian Army had reached Plovdiv, and further southeast lay the Ottoman Empire’s former capital, Edirne. Edirne was not far from Constantinople, which meant the Russians were almost at their doorstep.
If it weren’t for the Navy’s blockade of the Marmara Sea with British help, the Ottomans might be discussing terms to seek peace with Russia to prevent the empire’s collapse.
The Ottoman Empire’s territory was vast, yet it was divided into two parts by the Marmara and Aegean Seas, specifically the European and Asian parts.
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