There is a premise that must be made clear. For the UK to control the Black Sea outlet, it does not need to control all the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara and Bosporus. It only needs to control any of the above three places.
, can achieve strategic goals.
This is not the case for the Russian Empire. If the Russian Empire wants to gain access to the Black Sea, it must control all the above three places, so that the Russian Empire's Black Sea Fleet can freely enter and exit the Black Sea.
Now that the Dardanelles Strait and the Sea of Marmara are in the hands of the Mediterranean Fleet and the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, the only thing the Russian Empire can fight for is the Bosporus Strait, so Roque is really in no hurry. The British and French coalition forces open the Black Sea
The mood for access to the sea is very urgent, and the mood of the Russian Empire is even more urgent.
Just like Roque said, the entire coast of the Sea of Marmara was empty of defenses for the Ottoman Empire, and there were landing points for troops to land everywhere. Under the cover of the Mediterranean Fleet, on July 1st, the 9th ANZAC Division only
It took three hours to land near Sharkey and after defeating the defenders, the regiment marched into the inland mountains and penetrated behind the Second Army's defense line.
In the previous stage of the battle, the ANZAC suffered heavy losses, and the small harbor named "ANZAC Bay" became a sad place for all ANZAC officers and soldiers.
The 9th Division arrived in the Mediterranean relatively late and did not have time to participate in the previous stage of the battle. Now everyone in the 9th Division is holding their breath to avenge their shame.
On July 2, a brigade of the 19th Division landed at Gazikoy, and then another brigade landed at Tekirdag, which is closer to the Bosporus. Both brigades made rapid progress.
Like the 9th Division, in the previous phase of the battle, the 19th Division was used as a reserve force for the entire Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and was not put into combat at all. Now the 19th Division still retains a complete organization, so at the beginning of the third phase,
Roque sent the 19th Division and the 9th Division to the front line to give other troops more time to rest.
The 19th Division is a unit composed mainly of Bechuanaan people. The main members of this unit are also Chinese, accounting for more than 80% of the total number. It is one of the units with the highest proportion of Chinese soldiers in southern Africa.
Time has entered July, and for the Allied Powers, in addition to the rapid progress of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, there is finally some good news. The biggest development is that the Kingdom of Italy has finally joined the war.
However, whether this news is good news remains to be verified.
In order to get the Kingdom of Italy to join the war, the Allied Powers made great efforts. Since October last year, the Allied Powers began to lobby the Kingdom of Italy, hoping that the Kingdom of Italy would defect from the Allies and join the Allied Powers.
The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy at the time, Antonio Salandra, was waiting for a price. In order to bargain for as much benefit as possible, Antonio Salandra declared that the Kingdom of Italy could send 1 million troops to fight foreign countries. Britain and France even shadowed the 1 million troops.
The troops who have not seen it are salivating. Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also have expectations for the Kingdom of Italy. However, the attitudes of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire towards the Kingdom of Italy are not unified. The Austro-Hungarian Empire hopes that the Kingdom of Italy, which has not yet joined the war, can join the war.
The identity of the mediating country appeared on the Eastern Front to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire get out of the mud. Germany saw clearly the nature of the Kingdom of Italy through the Italian-Turkish War and just hoped that the Kingdom of Italy would remain neutral.
In this way, it is obvious that the conditions offered by the Allied Powers to the Kingdom of Italy are better. The conditions offered by British Foreign Secretary Gray to the Kingdom of Italy are very attractive. If the Kingdom of Italy joins the war, then after the war, the Kingdom of Italy will be able to obtain the seaport city.
The vast area south of Astre and the Alps, as well as islands in the Aegean Sea, part of the Balkan Peninsula, plus part of the Asia Minor Peninsula, Tripoli and Cyrenaica were also taken out as
The terms of the negotiation were that as long as Italy joined the Entente, the Entente would recognize Italy's ownership of Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
It is worth noting that most of the land promised by Gray belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, so if the Kingdom of Italy wanted to get these lands, it had to wait until it defeated the Allies. Before defeating the Allies, the Kingdom of Italy would get nothing.
Look at this negotiation, they are very skillful in being generous to others. On the surface, they promise a lot of things. In fact, Britain has lost nothing and it has gained the help of 1 million troops.
If the one million troops promised by Antonio Salandra can really play the role Gray expected, it is obvious that Gray regarded the one million troops promised by Antonio Salandra as something similar to the Southern African Expeditionary Force.
of powerful troops.
On June 20th, the Kingdom of Italy officially declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The funny thing is that at this time, the Kingdom of Italy was still nominally an ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Triple Alliance still existed.
On July 5th, the Kingdom of Italy officially launched an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the First Battle of Isonzo began.
After seeing this "first time", many brothers should know that this is another super long series.
That's right, the Battle of Isonzo was fought a total of twelve times. The Kingdom of Italy paid a price of 1.5 million people but failed to break through the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Isonzo River defense line. In the twelfth Battle of Isonzo, also known as Capo
In the Battle of Leto, only 10,000 people in the Kingdom of Italy were killed and 30,000 were wounded. However, at the same time, 265,000 soldiers voluntarily laid down their arms and surrendered, and another 300,000 soldiers fled the battle and became deserters.
The Battle of Caporetto also became Italy's national humiliation.
At present, the Allied Powers do not know that the performance of the Kingdom of Italy will be so miserable, and they are full of expectations for the Kingdom of Italy. Joffre and Frenzi also expressed their great welcome to the Kingdom of Italy's participation in the war, but Roque disagrees.
According to Antonio Salandra's promise to Edward Gray, after the Kingdom of Italy entered the war, five divisions would join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and assist the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in launching an attack on the Bosporus.
This should be good news for Roque who is short of troops at hand, but Roque, who is deeply impressed by the Kingdom of Italy, does not want these five divisions at all.
"The Kingdom of Italy during the Italian-Turkish War was a disaster. The Indian Legion behaved like Xiang. The troops of the Kingdom of Italy are not much better than the Indian Legion. If they join our Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, they will only become a drag on us. I dare not
Send the Italians to the front, and whoever cooperates with them will be unlucky." Roque dismissed the Kingdom of Italy. The five divisions had nearly 90,000 people. If he said he didn't want it, he wouldn't want it.
"Although the troops of the Kingdom of Italy are not as good as the Southern African Expeditionary Force, they are not as bad as you think. During the Italian-Turkish War, the Kingdom of Italy was indeed scum, but after such a long time, the Kingdom of Italy should have learned its lesson, even if they still
If you are not used to the world war, you should be able to do auxiliary operations." Winston still has expectations for the Kingdom of Italy, and he has not yet said the famous saying "a good appetite, but a mouth full of rotten teeth".
"The Italians can be sent to the mountains on the Garibaldi Peninsula to suppress bandits, so that we can mobilize the 29th Division and the First and Second Divisions of the Anzac Corps." Ian Hamilton did not know enough about the Kingdom of Italy.
"Okay!" Roque followed suit. Since both Winston and Ian Hamilton agreed, Roque would not firmly object. He hoped that the Kingdom of Italy could mobilize faster.
The landing of the 19th Division and the 9th Division created huge trouble for the well-positioned Second Army. Zanders did not expect that Roque would give up the land attack and instead send troops to land from behind the Second Army.
Although there were not many troops landing, Zanders could not ignore the actions of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. In order to deal with the landing troops of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Zanders mobilized troops to pursue and intercept the landing troops, and landed the 19th Division at Gazikoy.
Troops surrounded him.
"In order to surround the Second Brigade that landed at Gazikoy, the Second Army dispatched three divisions. It is estimated that Zanders wanted to reenact the Battle of the ANZAC Gulf, but we have sea and air control, and the landing force can pass through the sea at any time.
Withdraw." Ian Hamilton said that the pressure was not great, and under the premise of having control of the sea, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force could advance and retreat freely.
"Without withdrawal, order the Second Brigade to hold its position and send troops to land on both sides of Gazikoy to counter-encircle the Ottoman troops. I want to swallow these three divisions and hit their center." Roque had a big appetite.
, the 501st and 502nd Divisions have completed their mission of clearing the southern side of the Dardanelles, and the 1st ANZAC Division has taken over the defense. Now that Rock has a reserve team in his hands, it would be better to cut off one of his ten fingers.
"Landing to counter-encirclement -" said Ian Hamilton. The landing operation itself is difficult enough. Now that we have to encircle the enemy in a roundabout way after landing, and then annihilate the enemy, the difficulty has increased exponentially.
"The defense of the Second Army has been disrupted by us. We ordered the 29th Division to launch an attack on Kavak, so that Zanders could not provide timely support. We ordered the 9th Division to advance to Gazikoy and join the landing troops for joint operations." Luo
Ke was like a fish in water. On the cruel Western Front, too many troops poured into the narrow front. The troops had no room for detours and could only engage in cruel trench warfare.
Roque's side is much better. The troops have enough space to make detours, and the Mediterranean Fleet has control of the Sea of Marmara. If Roque can't achieve results like this, then Roque will really feel sorry for Winston and Kitchener.
trust.
Now the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force has become a life-saving straw for Winston and Kitchener. Kitchener hopes that Rock will achieve results and consolidate his position, so he does not hesitate to allocate the artillery shells originally intended for the Western Front to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, which leads to the conflict with Folan.
Qi's relationship deteriorated further.
Winston hoped to return to the center of power by relying on the achievements of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was precisely because of Winston's persistence that the coalition launched the Battle of the Dardanelles.
(How many brothers are reading pirated copies? The duplicate chapter 774 has 500 more subscriptions than other chapters. How can my conscience bear it? God is so clear. It was 3:30 in the morning when I coded this chapter. I woke up faster than a chicken
