Chapter 426: Take over the entire Asian part of the Ottoman Empire?

Chapter 426: Take over the entire Asian part of the Ottoman Empire?

Chapter 426: Take over the entire Asian part of the Ottoman Empire?
In the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea, the Ottoman port of Iskenderun.

The sound of cannons roared as 62 warships of the British Royal Mediterranean Fleet and the French Mediterranean Fleet gathered here and were bombarding the port of Iskenderun.

Those involved in the bombardment included the British newest pure steam ironclad battleship HMS Devastation, and the French fleet's newest battleship HMS Ocean, which had just been repaired after being severely damaged in the naval battle with the South China Sea Fleet and was about to set out again.

Iskenderun is an excellent deep-water bay and a strategic location between Asia Minor, the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and the Levant.

The Levant is a historical term that includes most of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, roughly covering most of the territory of modern Israel, Jordan, and Syria.

Not far to the north of here is the famous ancient battlefield of Issus, where Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Emperor Darius III. This is the place where Alexander the Great became famous.

It turned out that this strategic point was heavily guarded by the Ottoman Empire's Fourth Army.

Now, as the two mechanized divisions of the Huai Army's Sinai New Army and the Tianfang New Army attacked northward, the Fourth Army went to the front line to fight, leaving only one regiment stationed in Iskenderun.

A mere regiment of marines, a newly-formed rear reserve force like the Fourth Army, was bombarded by such a large-scale fleet and immediately scattered like birds and beasts, running away completely.

The British and French warships docked one after another, and soldiers continued to go ashore. The soldiers on board were not British or French soldiers, but wore Russian uniforms. The leader was Ivan, the foreign general who was the assistant minister of the Qing Dynasty in Cyprus.

The 6,000 Cossacks under his command had not fought much since they surrendered to Shao Quanzhong. However, they went on a crazy robbery in France and made a fortune. Then, they returned to continue to garrison Cyprus for the Qing Dynasty.

Now, he finally received an order from Shao Quanzhong to board the British and French fleets, land in Iskenderun, and guard the nearby Syrian mountain pass to prevent the Ottoman Fourth Army from escaping.

Ivan was unsure. Shao Quanzhong didn't pay much attention to his 6,000 men, and their equipment was outdated and had not been updated much. They were still Enfield rifles, but with breech-loading rifles.

Well, it was equipped with Hale rockets, Gatling machine guns, Armstrong four-pound field guns, and Williams rapid-fire guns that were eliminated by the Huai Army, all of which were second-rate weapons.

The Hale rocket is even a third-rate weapon and few people use it.

Fortunately, the shells are new, with TNT gunpowder and smokeless powder primer.

But are we sure that a second-rate Cossack unit of only 6,000 people is not sending us to our deaths to stop the 50,000-strong Ottoman Fourth Army?
What's even more outrageous is that after the British and French fleets sent Ivan's Cossack Brigade ashore, they turned around and left...leaving the Cossack Brigade alone in Iskenderun.

The British and French fleets had to go. The reason they gathered such a large fleet was not to escort a mere 6,000 people ashore.

They were assisting the British, French, and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in attacking the Gallipoli Peninsula of the Ottoman Empire. Their strategic goal was to fight along the peninsula all the way to Istanbul and force the Ottoman Empire to surrender.

However, the Ottoman Empire had laid mines all over the Dardanelles, and the British and French fleets were unable to bombard Istanbul at all, and could only serve as support for the British and French Allied Forces and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

In case the battle situation turns unfavorable, the soldiers who have landed should retreat and not be surrounded by the Ottoman Fifth Army.

The situation in Gallipoli was unfavorable. The newly trained Ottoman army officers were surprisingly strong in combat. They dared to dig trenches 15 meters away from the British and French forces and engage in face-to-face combat.

It is said that the officers of the Fifth Corps of the Ottoman Empire were composed of the core members of the reformist "Turkish Youth Society" and they had ideals.

The landing army was pushed back down from the mountains. Now the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was gathered on a 500-meter-wide beach, fighting hard against the Ottoman Fifth Army on the mountain, and requested to turn around several times.

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps struggled to hold on under the strong orders of the British big brother. So after helping Shao Quanzhong, the British and French fleets quickly returned to the Aegean Sea.

It would be embarrassing if the morale of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps collapsed and they were wiped out on the beach. With the fleet behind them, at least they have a way to retreat, right?
The British and French fleets left, and Ivan and the Cossack Brigade were very confused.

Alas, we have received the Qing Dynasty's salary for many years, and Marshal Shao led us to take back Paris. We ate and took what was theirs, and the Cossacks were also dignified mercenaries, and they had to work hard for them.

Ivan made up his mind to try to defend the Syrian Pass no matter what.

If the casualties exceed 15%, I'm sorry, but we have done our best, Marshal Shao. It's not too much to surrender to the Ottomans, right?

Before letting the brothers fight to their death, they must have some fun.

Ivan showed the ferocity of a gangster. "Brothers! Loot Iskenderun for one day, and fight to the death at the Syrian Pass tomorrow!"

Iskenderun was quickly filled with smoke and fire, and everywhere there were veiled girls being chased by Cossack bandits...

The next day, the Cossack Brigade regrouped and reached the Syrian Pass in four hours. They arranged artillery positions, Hale rocket positions, Gatling machine guns and Williams rapid-fire gun firing points, dug trenches, and prepared to defend the pass.

Of course, Ivan was also ready to surrender immediately if the casualties exceeded his expectations...

A day later, Ivan finally saw a large number of Ottoman troops coming from the south through a telescope. There were more than 20,000 people, but why didn't they have guns? There were no cannons either. Was this a regular army?
No matter what, they were wearing Ottoman military uniforms anyway. Ivan gave an order, "First, try firing a hundred Hale rockets."

Twenty thousand Ottoman Empire soldiers rushed to the Syrian mountain pass, and suddenly, a hundred rockets exploded in the team. The hundred rockets hit the dense crowd, and the killing power was not very good. A total of less than 200 people were killed, but several hundred were injured.

When the fleeing soldiers looked up, they were shocked to see that the Syrian mountain pass was guarded by people. There were machine guns, rapid-fire cannons, and artillery positions, and the ones who showed their heads were all ferocious-looking old Russian Cossacks.

Have all the Lucia people come here?
They were defeated by the mechanized infantry divisions of the new army in the provinces of Arab and Sinai, and fled all the way, abandoning their guns for fear that they would run too slowly.

Seeing that the Syrian mountain pass, which was impossible for a single man to pass through ten thousand, was blocked by the Russians, they hesitated for a long time, then suddenly raised the white flag and surrendered to Ivan collectively.

Ivan is more confused than the enemy. Damn, we only launched a hundred expired Hale rockets, which are not much better than fireworks.

Before a single shot was fired, the enemy's 20,000-man army surrendered. Is my great master Ivan so famous? I am the god of war!
Ivan was so arrogant that he ordered his men to go down and kidnap people. Wow, with one move by Master Ivan, 6,000 prisoners captured 20,000 enemy soldiers.

The tying of the troops here was not yet complete, when we saw smoke and dust billowing from the south. Two mechanized divisions of the new army from Arabia and Sinai were chasing the Ottomans.

Ma Zhan'ao and Liu Jintang accepted Ivan's salute. Liu Jintang pointed behind him and said, "Colonel Ivan, take these prisoners with you to defend Haifa, Damascus, Amman and Beirut that we have captured."

Regardless of whether 6,000 people could defend four large cities, the two mechanized divisions drove through the Syrian mountain pass, did not stop in the ruined Iskenderun, drove into Asia Minor, and headed straight for Ankara.

…………

Tbilisi, Narikala Castle, Chief of Staff Grant is holding a combat meeting.

Emery, holding the latest intelligence, reported the battle situation to the generals present.

"Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered the Egyptian Governor Ismail to send troops to attack the Qing Dynasty's Sinai Province from behind."

"Governor Ismail responded by declaring Egypt independent and naming himself the king of Egypt."

"The four great powers of Britain, France, Russia and Qing immediately recognized the Egyptian regime, and Egypt declared neutrality in the European war."

Well, the Ottoman Empire was surrounded by enemies on all sides and was on the verge of destruction. If Egypt, which had only nominally obeyed the order, followed the order and went to war, it would be strange if it would suffer misfortune.

With Egypt's limited military strength, it may not even be able to defeat a regiment of new troops stationed in Port Said and a company of federal marines, so how can it attack the Sinai Peninsula? Are you dreaming?

"Greece, which had originally declared neutrality in the European war, saw the benefits and announced its joining the Allied Powers. It sent troops from Thessaloniki and has already invaded Thrace in the Ottoman Empire."

"Now, the Ottoman Empire's Fourth Army has been annihilated, and the Sixth Army has disbanded. In the entire Ottoman battlefield, the Ottoman Empire only has the First, Second, Third, and Fifth Armies left."

"The First and Second Legions were pinned down by Bulgaria on the Thracian front and had to deal with a sudden Greek invasion, so they were unable to escape."

"The Fifth Army is currently fighting hard with Britain and France on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Our new armies from Arabia and Sinai are advancing straight into Ankara, the core of the enemy's Asia Minor. There are only the Ottomans' temporary conscripted reserve guards there."

"Now, we just need to focus on taking down the enemy's Third Army in front of us. Basically, the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire is completely finished."

"But our mine-clearing work along the Kura River Valley is slow. I can't wait to get out of the valley and show the Ottomans a lesson on the vast, flat plains of Silvan and Mugan."

The speaker was Xu Bangdao. Tian Xing, who also led a tank division, was already famous in France. Xu Bangdao's Chu army was also a tank division, and it could only show its power on the plains, so it was extremely anxious.

Grant smiled and waved his hand. "No hurry. When we were in Armenia, the scout team of the Speed ​​Troop that was sent out to scout through the mountain trails of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains has returned."

"We have received intelligence that although the two plains in Azerbaijan are large grain producers, the autumn harvest had already passed when the Ottomans invaded Azerbaijan. The Russians seized all the grain there before the Ottomans arrived."

"Lucia mobilized 2.7 million troops in the first batch to participate in this European war, and 2.3 million in the second batch. The military rations required for 5 million troops are huge, and no amount is enough."

"Therefore, Azerbaijan is out of food now, and the people themselves can't get enough to eat. The Ottoman Empire's Third Army has more than 100,000 people, and they need to transport food from the rear. If we cut off their food supply, they won't be able to hold out for long, and there is no need to fight."

"Now, our only problem is—"

Grant pointed his finger at Baku, "Rusia has only two divisions of troops in Baku, but they are hoarding too much food and fodder that Russia has collected."

"Whether the Lucia troops can hold Baku under the fierce attack of the enemy's Third Army, which is crazy because of lack of food, is the key to our destruction of the enemy's Third Army."

Everyone looked towards Baku and fell into deep thought. What can we do now to help Lucia's two divisions defend Baku?

(End of this chapter)