Chapter 203: Chapter 90, Turning Point

Translator: 549690339

Vienna

After the new rifle from Horsda Factory passed its real combat test, it entered the list of optional armaments for the Austrian army, and was named the Styer M1852 rifle.

This seems to be a European custom, with designers always fond of naming the weapons they create after themselves.

These are minor issues, Franz had no interest in delving into the rationale, as being on the list of optional military equipment didn’t mean it would be equipped on a large scale.

Breech-loading rifles had been around for more than thirty years, starting with the American Hall M1819. Unfortunately, this rifle’s bullets tended to veer left after 45.7 meters.

Then came the Prussian Dreyse M1841, which the Prussian Army had begun to equip. However, many generals opposed it, as clearly its performance had not yet won over the masses.

This rifle shone brightly in the Prussia-Denmark War and the Prussia-Austria War of 1864, although its advantages over muzzle-loaders were not as miraculous as later generations would tout.

This was evident from the fact that the Prussian Army did not fully equip it.

Despite its firing rate being four to five times that of a muzzle-loader, its firing pin was prone to damage. The initial industrial production of the M1841 often drew mockery: without a spare indicator, one should not even go to battle.

The breech often leaked gas, which could interfere with shooting and, in severe cases, burn the skin or even blind the shooter if they were unlucky.

Later improvements in production technology stabilized its performance, and the Dreyse M1841 began to stand out.

Franz had encountered similar rifles as well, many of which performed excellently in the lab but failed under large-scale industrial production.

Either the cost was too high, or the performance was reduced. Since this wasn’t a nuclear weapon, Franz naturally had to consider the cost; sacrificing performance was even less acceptable—what was the point of equipping a rifle without a performance advantage?

It wasn’t until the Styer M1852 came along that, in terms of performance, it was similar to the historic Chassepot rifle, albeit with a slightly shorter effective range.

These were minor issues—ensuring an effective range of 650 meters was already sufficient; at its maximum, couldn’t it hit over fifteen hundred meters, which could also be intimidating at long distances.

Franz had always believed that in actual combat, soldiers who could accurately hit an enemy within a hundred and fifty meters were excellent, and further out it was a matter of firing by feeling!

“Your Excellency Marshal, what do you think of this rifle, should we change our equipment?” Franz asked.

Marshal Radetzky replied cheerfully, “Your Majesty, based on the data collected, the performance seems quite satisfactory, and it has the potential for mass equipping.

However, the quotation from the armory for this rifle is 30 percent higher than regular rifles, and the ammunition consumption could be two to three times higher.”

Clearly, Marshal Radetzky was experienced and did not expect to achieve the theoretical limit of 15 rounds on the battlefield; otherwise, the ammunition consumption would increase significantly more than a mere trifle.

Franz calmly said, “A part increase in cost is acceptable, and it will reduce as we ramp up large-scale industrial production—as long as its power justifies the price.

If we order full capacity production now, the more than twenty armories in Austria could produce thirty to forty thousand of these rifles each month without any problem.”

This was thanks to the outbreak of the Near East War, which led Austrian armories to expand their production capacity. Compared to a year ago, Austria’s military production capacity had increased by fifty percent.

If they were producing muzzle-loaders, producing a hundred thousand a month would be no problem at all—otherwise, the Russian Army wouldn’t have been able to rearm so quickly.

Marshal Radetzky said calmly, “Your Majesty, it might be best to be cautious. First purchase a hundred thousand for trial use.

If they prove effective on the battlefield, we can then fully rearm. Currently, all the countries in the world are still using muzzle-loaders, our rifles are not behind the times.”

Franz nodded, realizing there wasn’t enough time for a large-scale rearmament. Unless he ordered a national mobilization now, Austria’s military production capacity still had a lot of potential to be tapped into.

“This is just like when the automatic rifle was introduced; everyone knew it was a good gun, but the terrifying rate of ammunition consumption—could logistics really keep up with the supply?”

“The limit of ammunition consumption is only known when the battle commences. Just like when the Montenegro Army tested the rifle, they were very satisfied with its performance, but after seeing the terrifying rate of ammunition consumption, they lost any intention of purchasing it.”

“You say the hit rate is high? True, the enemy fires at most two or three shots per minute, while you fire off seven or eight at will, your chances of hitting the enemy naturally increase, which is completely normal.”

“However, the improvement in hit rate isn’t two or three times more, it’s merely twenty to thirty percent, and that’s when the enemy is still unaccustomed to the weapon. If they adapt, it might even continue to decrease.”

“It may not seem like much on the surface, but when you consider how many bullets it takes to kill an enemy, you’ll realize it’s too expensive to afford without money.”

“During the muzzle-loading gun era, an average of a two-digit number of bullets was needed to kill an enemy; in the breech-loading rifle era, that number grew to four digits.”

“There’s no way around it, the era of line infantry has ended, and everyone is now firing from the ground, making it harder to hit the enemy. The later emergence of trenches and machine guns only exacerbated the consumption of ammunition.”

“In the semi-automatic rifle era, it rose to five digits; and later, with the number being too large to express in rounds, it was more appropriate to use tons as the unit of measure.”

Sofia Region

A Sardinian officer, filled with righteous indignation, said, “General, the Russians are still biting at us without letting go. What do we do now?”

“All of the British military intelligence has been leaked to the Russians, and they still dare to continue attacking here, which is simply outrageous.”

Mantuya clenched his teeth and said, “We cannot retreat now, it’s a matter of our honor and the glory of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

“You wouldn’t want to return to our country branded as a disgraced commander to face a military court, would you? Right now, we absolutely cannot be the first to lose our positions.”

“Since the Russians are so outrageous, let’s teach them a harsh lesson and show them we’re not easily bullied.

“Tell the soldiers that our pay is still in the hands of the British, and if we run now, all this effort will have been in vain. Anyone who dares to flee, I’ll execute them on the spot.”

“Yes, General!” The young officer immediately responded.

Mantuya, not fully assured, added, “Wait, let out a message privately, say that the British can hardly hold on anymore, and once their defense line collapses, we’ll immediately retreat.”

It turned out that once the Sardinian Army had their back against the wall, they still had fighting capabilities. The so-called ‘heavy casualties’ depended on what standard was being used.

A few casualties occurred, and they could easily add two or three zeros to it, reporting it as heavy losses when making their reports upward.

If someone paid attention to the previous casualty reports the Sardinian Army submitted to the Allied Forces, they would discover that their casualty rate had already approached one-fifth.

The British believed in this report, as the casualty situation of the British Army wasn’t too far off from this data. Judging others by oneself, the British never doubted it.

Faced with the sudden outbreak of the Sardinian Army, the Russians found this ‘soft persimmon’ wasn’t so easy to squeeze.

Fitzroy Somerset decided to test if the intelligence from above was accurate; after all, along the way, the Bulgarians had provided them with too much information, and it was not surprising that there were Bulgarians within the enemy forces.

When the Russians took action, Montes was almost driven mad by the battle report he had just received. Suddenly, a barrage of artillery fire erupted, accurately landing on their artillery positions.

If it had been just one position, one might claim it was luck, but all of the artillery positions were hit without exception, all visited in one go.

This was far from over. After the artillery positions had taken a beating, the military supplies warehouse took another precise licking.

Even though the distance was long and the Russian Army’s artillery accuracy low, such relentless bombardment still inflicted heavy losses on them.

Once the bombardment was over, the Russian Army accurately identified their weakest point and launched their fiercest attack.

Montes knew there was a traitor leaking intelligence, but at this point, all he could do was call for reinforcements. Even if they had to settle scores later, they had to stop the Russians first.

“How long before that idiot Oliver arrives at the frontline?” Montes asked again

The adjutant replied anxiously, “Major General Oliver reports that they have just recaptured Plovdiv from the guerrillas and expect to arrive in the Sofia Region after a week.”

A hundred and twenty kilometers or so, it’s normal to take a week. The regular marching speed of the British Army is just twenty to thirty kilometers a day, and now it’s understandable to be slower due to guerrilla attacks.

Montes ordered, “Tell that idiot to speed up, he must arrive at the frontline within three days, otherwise he will face military justice!”

“Yes, Commander!” the adjutant immediately responded.

Montes then instructed worriedly, “Wait, tell that idiot to send half of his troops with light gear to hurry over, and to keep the baggage with the rear troops, that will speed things up.”

The Russians were going all-in, a risk but also an opportunity. As long as the reinforcements could arrive, the Allied Forces could still turn defeat into victory.

Otherwise, Montes would have fled already. If the People of Sardinian didn’t want to continue fighting, they could find a way to make the British the scapegoats, and Montes could surely make the People of Sardinian take the blame, couldn’t he?

He was the commander of the Allied Forces, after all, and there were plenty of ways to set someone up.

Now it was the British and Ottoman joint defense, bearing the main pressure on the battlefield. If he gave up some positions to be defended jointly by the Sardinian Army and Ottoman Army, it was estimated that the Russians could break through the defense line in less than a day.

Montes still wanted military glory. If the Sofia Region was lost, even if he could put the blame on his allies, his role as commander would still be tarnished forever.

Oliver did have capabilities; it was just his lack of experience in his first battle that led to a series of setbacks.

Before Montes’s orders reached him, he had already quickened the marching pace, but the roads along the way were just too problematic.

As the operational area of the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team, how could they have not sabotaged transportation? They repaired roads as they marched, while also dealing with sniper fire from unknown locations.

They occasionally encountered sudden mines, courtesy of Franz in friendship. Originally concerned that the Russian Army might be defeated, he had already prepared a batch to block any pursuers.

No one anticipated that the Allied Forces would blunder repeatedly, unwilling to exert themselves to let allies gain an advantage, and squandered their lead.

The Russians didn’t value these crude bombs and gave them to the Bulgarian guerrillas; now it was Oliver’s turn to have a headache.

These mines were simply buried, and defusing them was very easy—the only thing needed was time.

There were no good solutions, but the dumb ones were plenty. The British drove animals to trigger mines through the fields, and the march’s speed was still unavoidably delayed.

On January 2, 1853, the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team suddenly attacked the British Army’s rear positions, creating confusion in the Allied Forces. At this critical moment, the People of Sardinian cut and ran, leading to the collapse of the defense lines Montes had worked so hard on.

There was no choice, he simply did not have the troops to anticipate an attack from behind by the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team, and they were caught off guard.

The most frustrating part was that at this time, the reinforcements were less than fifteen kilometers away from the front line. If the Sardinian Army hadn’t run away, and instead had tried their best to help, they could have held on until the reinforcements arrived.

Obviously, Mantuya didn’t have the determination to fight the Russians to the death. Given the opportunity to flee, they didn’t hesitate. After all, it wasn’t their responsibility since it was the British defenses that had collapsed.

To avoid blame, Mantuya even led some British soldiers away in their retreat.

By fleeing, Montes doomed himself—he was on the brink of facing a military tribunal as the general of a defeated army, that is if he managed to return alive, he would inevitably be put through that ordeal.

Major General Oliver, who had marched rapidly toward the battlefield, became the second unfortunate soul. He had rushed over, exhausted and disregarding losses, only to encounter the Russians in a skirmish immediately upon arriving at the last moment.

Unsurprisingly, on the battlefield, those with fewer numbers always suffer, and Oliver, in his rush, had not brought any cannons, putting him at a disadvantage as soon as the battle began.

After a hard fight, Oliver successfully led his men to retreat, and along the way, they also rescued a number of scattered British soldiers, making his efforts not entirely in vain.

The Russians too were exhausted, their soldiers lacking the strength to continue the pursuit. Seeing this, Fitzroy Somerset naturally chose to cut his losses and retreat.

Holding Sofia was out of the question; Montes had already considered this. Unfortunately, the city had been ravaged by the Ottomans, and its fortifications had long been destroyed.

The city’s populace, who deeply resented the Allied Forces, engaged the Russians in street warfare, becoming the first to fall into a people’s war.

Moreover, the efficiency of the Ottoman Government was too low; the supplies stockpiled in Sofia were insufficient for even a month’s consumption by the Allied Forces. If they dared to entrench in a siege, they would be waiting for their complete annihilation!

Now that the grand battle had reached this point, the Allied Forces were already strained in terms of manpower, with little hope of anyone coming to their relief.

Even if reinforcements were summoned from within their own borders, there wouldn’t be enough time. After the failure of the campaign, the Allied Forces began fleeing for their lives.

A battle line over ten kilometers long couldn’t be entirely destroyed—it was impossible. The Russians had merely ripped open a section of the Allied defense.

If it wasn’t to rescue more soldiers, Oliver would not have bothered to rush over and engage in a skirmish with the Russians; if they had just turned and fled, the Russians would not have pursued.

The half-year-long campaign, which saw both sides commit nearly 200,000 troops, ended with a pyrrhic victory for the Russians.

Looking at the casualty report, Fitzroy Somerset could say with responsibility: he had accomplished the Tsarist Government’s mission very well, indeed securing victory at great cost.

The total casualties amounted to a staggering 67,000, with the Russian Army nearly entirely rotated out, including 26,000 dead (including the wounded beyond help).

Even with continuous reinforcements from the rear, this Russian force was now devastated and urgently needed rest and recovery. The decline in the Russian fighting capability was evident in the final assault.

The heavy toll paid resulted in the following outcome: the defeat of 100,000 Allied soldiers, the death of 34,000 Allied troops, and the capture of 25,000 prisoners, including over 11,000 wounded Allied soldiers.

Based on the casualties, it would seem the Russians should have been the ones defeated. If not for the surge of the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team, the outcome of the battle would still be in question.

For the sake of appearances, Fitzroy Somerset did not hesitate to claim the achievements of the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team as his own, while ignoring the casualties they had suffered.

Of course, to keep the Bulgarians fighting for him, Fitzroy Somerset still requested commendations for them back home, highlighting the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team’s role in delaying enemy reinforcements, making an outstanding contribution to the victory of the war.

And that was that. Just this one act was enough for the Tsarist Government to agree to the terms he had promised earlier.

The Tsarist Government was already planning to annex the Bulgarian region, and St. Petersburg was concerned whether these guerrilla teams would become an impediment. Now, with the chance to integrate them, why would Nicholas I refuse?

No matter the losses on both sides, they could not diminish the historical significance of this battle, which historians recognize as the turning point of the Second Bulgarian Campaign.