What is beautiful in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Behind this sentence is a helpless reality.
In southern Africa, Rock could do whatever he wanted without restraint, but when he came to Europe to join the British and French coalition forces, Rock faced significantly greater difficulties. The pressure came not only from the enemy, but also from the numerous conflicts within the Allied Powers.
Rock is really helpless. The British Army lacks a voice within the British and French coalition forces, and the Southern African Expeditionary Force lacks a voice within the British Army. This has nothing to do with the performance of the troops on the battlefield, but is a reflection of national strength in international status.
reaction.
The current strength of Southern Africa does not match its international status. As an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, the strength displayed by Southern Africa is surprising. Its importance to the United Kingdom is rising. This is a good thing, but at the same time, there are hidden dangers.
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For Britain, the more important Southern Africa is, the stricter Britain's control over Southern Africa will be. Before the outbreak of the world war, Rock also hoped that Southern Africa could achieve diplomatic independence after the war through its performance in the world war.
It now seems that this possibility is becoming increasingly slim as southern Africa's performance becomes more and more outstanding.
Rock is not in a hurry. When communicating with Phyllis, Rock also made it very clear that the reason why Britain is arrogant now is because Britain still has the qualifications to be arrogant. By the end of next year, I believe Britain will accept the reality.
While Rock was reunited with his family in Cyprus, a supply force was struggling to move forward in the violent snowstorm of the Anatolian Plateau.
The Anatolian Plateau covers an area of more than 500,000 square kilometers, and most of it is located in the Ottoman Empire. The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force's offensive had to be stopped, which has a lot to do with the bad weather in the Asia Minor Peninsula this winter.
Since the beginning of winter, there has been continuous heavy snowfall in the Asia Minor Peninsula. The snow around Ankara is one meter deep, and the snow thickness in some areas is more than two meters. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for the troops to transport supplies, let alone attack. The expeditionary force headquarters is doing everything possible.
To ensure the logistics supply of the troops, almost all methods including airdrops from transport planes were used. However, under bad weather conditions, transport planes were unable to take off. The supply of troops in some remote mountainous areas still had to be carried out using the most primitive methods.
Unlike southern Africa, which has always been building roads, the traffic situation in the Ottoman Empire was very bad. The roads were in disrepair and some sections were seriously damaged. Cars could not be used in the interior of the plateau. The most commonly used means of transportation became donkeys.
Sometimes they even relied on the shoulders and hands of the supply troops. The non-combat losses of the troops were very serious. Many officers and soldiers suffered frostbite, and in severe cases, their limbs even had to be amputated.
"To speed up, we must reach Kersehir before dark. How far is it from Kersehir?" The commander of the supply force was Captain Liu Zhen of the 19th Division. He did not wear woolen clothes.
Instead of an officer's windbreaker, he wore a sheepskin jacket with better thermal insulation performance. What he wore on his head was not a standard steel helmet, but the latest issued sheepskin hat. Even so, his eyebrows and eyelashes turned into white ice sculptures.
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The company led by Captain Liu Zhen has 150 people. The civilian men who transported the supplies were recruited from Ankara. There are 650 people in total, all of whom are Ottomans. The supplies they transported were ammunition and food, all of which were the most urgently needed supplies for the frontline troops.
"There are still five kilometers. It will be difficult to arrive before dark -" Deputy Company Commander Richard just turned 21 this year and graduated from Nyasaland Army Academy last year.
In the bad weather, every step forward was very difficult for the troops. The snow on the ground was more than half a meter deep, and the sight was completely white. It was difficult to tell where the road was and where the ravine was. If you were not careful, you would fall into the snowdrift.
Sometimes you need help with your hands to pull your feet out of the snow pit.
In order to clear a path through the heavy snow, Liu Zhen gathered his only a dozen donkeys to clear a path through the heavy snow. All the materials transported by the troops had to be carried by humans. Each adult could only carry two boxes.
Even two hundred boxes of bullets cannot meet the consumption of a medium-intensity battle.
Liu Zhen looked up at the sky, which was still filled with snowflakes. It was so gray that no clouds could be seen. Then he looked down at the compass whose needle was spinning crazily. He felt so desperate that he almost collapsed.
Five kilometers, for southern African soldiers, is a daily routine of armed training. They used to run once a day, but now it seems like an insurmountable chasm.
"No matter how difficult it is, if we can't reach Kirshehir before dark -" Liu Zhen looked ugly. The weather was too bad and the troops could not spend the night in the wild. Otherwise, someone would definitely get frostbite or even freeze to death during the night.
There is no precedent for this.
What's more, there are more than 600 Ottomans in the team who are ready to move. These people now look like docile sheep, but once they find an opportunity, they will turn into man-eating beasts.
"Speed up and keep moving forward!" Richard also knew that the situation was not good and urged the troops to speed up.
But the speed is really not fast. Unlike the well-protected expeditionary officers and soldiers, some Ottomans don't even have cotton-padded clothes and are still wearing summer singles. An Ottoman lost his footing and fell to the ground. Yellow-orange bullets suddenly fired.
It was scattered all over the floor, and two soldiers came over to help clean it up. There was no point in getting angry at this time. Only by working together can we complete the task.
When the soldiers were not paying attention, an Ottoman threw down the box on his shoulder and ran away. He did not think about how fast he could run in this environment even if he ran desperately, and how fast he could outrun bullets.
No one told him to stop, nor did Liu Zhen or Richard give orders. A soldier took off the rifle from his shoulder, loaded the gun with a cold expression, aimed directly and pulled the trigger.
Boom!
In an environment full of flying snow, the sound of gunfire could not actually travel very far, but the slightly dull sound of gunfire still silenced everyone.
It was too cold and the soldiers were not accurate, so the Ottoman ran a dozen steps and fell to the ground, wailing and screaming. He could clearly hear the sound.
No one came to help him, and no one replenished his gun. In this kind of weather, if he didn't get timely treatment, he would be dead in ten minutes at most.
"keep going!"
"Move, move, don't wait for me to kick your ass -"
"Anyone who dares to escape will be shot on the spot!"
Almost all the soldiers were urging the civilians to move forward. Regardless of whether these Ottomans could understand English, the meaning should still be understandable.
When the team set off again, the speed was obviously much faster.
There was another problem before we had gone very far. There was a river in front of the team. When the Ottoman troops retreated, they blew up the bridge and it has not been repaired yet.
"Send someone down to see if the river is frozen -" Liu Zhen's words were as cold as the surrounding environment.
Different from ordinary rivers, some rivers in the Anatolian Plateau are saltwater rivers. Lake Van, the largest lake on the Anatolian Plateau, is a saltwater lake. Saltwater does not mean that it will not freeze in winter, but compared with freshwater
The freezing point is lower, so Liu Zhen is not sure whether the water in this river has frozen.
Immediately, several soldiers dragged two Ottomans down and ordered them to go down to the river to see if the water was frozen.
The language barrier was really a big problem. The two Ottomans didn't know what the soldiers asked them to do. They thought the soldiers wanted to shoot them to vent their anger, so they cried bitterly and begged the soldiers to let them go.
"Isn't there anyone who can understand English?" Yoo Jin was really devastated. The translator provided by the army suddenly fell ill before departure, and now the problem has exploded.
"Sir, can I--" A citizen raised his hand in fear.
"Great, come here, tell them, let them go down to see if the river is frozen -" Liu Zhen finally forced a smile on his face, took out a pack of cigarettes and threw it to the trembling civilian husband.
The result is neither good nor bad. The river is indeed frozen, but no one is sure how thick the ice is, nor how deep the river is. For a river more than 20 meters wide, it doesn't matter whether it is deep or not.
The main reason is that if you fall in, you will freeze to death.
"Advance in batches -" Liu Zhen gritted his teeth. Now it doesn't matter whether he can reach Kirshehir before dark. Liu Zhen is competing with himself and must complete the task no matter what.
It took half an hour for the team to finally cross the river smoothly. It was already 6 pm at this time. It was already dark at 6 pm in the winter, but in the snowy environment, you could still see even at 6 pm.
We had to keep moving forward regardless of whether we could see or not. After another two hours, Liu Zhen finally heard cheers from the front of the team.
Kirshehir is not a city yet, but a relatively large town with not many people in the town. The 19th Division has a battalion here, and the battalion commander Paul warmly welcomed Liu Zhen and his companions.
"You don't know how dangerous the situation is. We have eaten up all the food of the residents of Kirshehir. Without supplies, we will all starve to death. Yesterday I ordered my horses to be killed. It would have been better if you had come a day earlier.
——" Paul felt sad. Soldiers would never kill horses unless they were at the end of their rope.
It is strange that the more indifferent people are to life and death, the more persistent they are in certain things. Perhaps it is precisely because they are used to life and death that they cherish the partners around them more.
"The division headquarters knows that your situation is very difficult. We originally sent a transport plane to drop supplies, but the weather was very bad and the transport plane could not be dispatched, so we were sent here." Liu Zhen was really sorry. Paul's eyes were bloodshot.
It was scary. There was a shocking frostbite on the left cheek, his face was unhealthy and flushed, and the bones were almost visible from the crack in his hand.
Paul was still the battalion commander, and he was already so miserable. You can imagine what it was like for the grassroots officers and soldiers in the army.
It would take a few days for supplies to arrive, and Paul and the others would probably have cannibalistic intentions.
This is not a metaphor but a fact.
(There are easter eggs in the author’s words. Brothers who can’t see it, are you feeling itchy——)