The pair of Kuropatkin and Brusilov had no idea that their good days were coming to an end. The victory that was within reach made them lose enough vigilance, but this is normal. Although the Chinese used a
Twelve thousand tons of crude oil left the French with a shame that can never be erased in the history of war, but it was in the closed Cam Ranh Bay, which is on the second largest river in Europe, covering hundreds of kilometers of river surface with crude oil
, this imagination is a bit too rich.
But they also overlooked one point. Yang Feng can only mobilize one oil tanker in Cam Ranh Bay, but here, the Romanians have an oil field with an annual output of more than 10 million tons. Not to mention covering a Danube River, it takes the entire Black Sea.
Crude oil coverage, for the Romanians, is just a matter of determination, and the output will be almost the same in less than half a year.
On a dark and windy night for a month, under the tight blockade of the army, all the oil pipelines at the crude oil terminal of Jurzhu Port were opened, and the black crude oil transported from the Ploiesti oil field was continuously poured into the Danube River.
Slowly moving downstream along the wide river at a flow rate of 1.5 meters per second, the crude oil on the calm river quickly expanded to form an oil film covering the river surface, moving intermittently.
At the same time, nearly 200 kilometers downstream, the Danube River split into two branches and did not merge again until dozens of kilometers downstream. The Dro coalition still controlled the island sandwiched in the middle, and this was the last point of the entire defense line.
An important link because the railway bridge from Bucharest to Constanta passes here.
But now, a train filled with crude oil is parked on the railway bridge, and then oil pipes are stretched out from the oil tanks. The crude oil continues to flow to the river, and soon all the nearly one thousand tons of crude oil loaded on this train are poured out.
After that, the rear end of the car started to move, quickly leaving the bridge and heading towards Bucharest Railway Station. At the same time, the second train waiting at a small station in the distance drove out and drove onto the bridge to continue pouring oil.
The crude oil dumped from here flows silently downstream, pushed by the water flow.
At this time, in the small town of Braila, a hundred kilometers away, under the cover of the gunboats of the Inland Fleet, Russian merchant ships sailing from Sevastopol were unloading boxes of weapons and ammunition, and then
It was transported to the Russian army on the front line. There, nearly 50,000 Russian troops led by Brusilov were blocking the more than 100,000 Dro coalition troops led by Baron Goltz, consuming millions of rounds of ammunition every day.
, all supplies rely on water transportation on the Danube River. Due to the tight transportation capacity, the front line is always in a state of tight ammunition. Almost every ship of ammunition delivered will be consumed in a very short time. It can be said that as long as a ship of ammunition cannot be transported,
It may have an irreversible impact on the war situation.
Baron Goltz, who already knew the start of the plan, has now stepped up his attack and did not stop even at night. Including the Romanian army attacking from the southern front, the two fronts were constantly attacking the Russian defense line. He wanted to
Before Brusilov notices, use up the ammunition in his hands as much as possible.
Brusilov was indeed unaware. The general was now focusing all his energy on the enemies attacking from both sides. Kuropatkin's responsibility was upstream, and he had no time to care about what was happening there.
But Kuropatkin upstream didn't notice at all, even though the stench of crude oil had begun to appear in the air. But in Romania, such a smell is very common, there is a large oil refinery in Bucharest, not to mention that the day's war has just ended.
The smell of gunpowder smoke and poisonous gas still permeated the battlefield, and when mixed with the smell of crude oil, it was difficult for the sleeping Russian soldiers to imagine that someone was pouring crude oil into the Danube River.
It was not until early morning that the vanguard of the crude oil belt had gone out for almost a hundred kilometers. The Russian army downstream, who were preparing to launch a new round of offensive, suddenly discovered that the Danube River in front of them had turned black.
After hearing the news, Kuropatkin, who was in the Constanta headquarters, was completely stunned. He never expected that the Germans would play this way. At this time, his indecisive character as a staff officer was exposed again.
This guy can't figure out how to deal with it. It's not surprising. Most people would have a hard time knowing what to do in this situation. In fact, Yang Feng himself couldn't figure out what to do.
What means to deal with a surging oil river?
The best way at this time is to stop the ongoing dumping of crude oil, but the problem is that the Russian army and the railway bridge are still separated by the defense line of the Dro coalition. Even if they fire artillery here, they can't reach there. As for blocking the ongoing
It is even more impossible to keep flowing to the crude oil belt downstream. This is the Danube River, the second largest river in Europe.
However, when he was at a loss, Brusilov, who had also received the news, responded immediately. This military commander was obviously much smarter than his commander. He ordered a Russian army on the east coast to risk
In response to the Romanians' blockage, he ran to ignite the crude oil flowing down the river in advance, thus blocking its continued flow downstream. But unfortunately, he failed. At this time, due to quantity issues, especially the impact of the water flow at the intersection,
Because of this, the crude oil on the river is far from covering a large area. It is just some intermittent mottled oil patches. Although it can be ignited, it cannot form a continuous fire.
What's more, the river water below is flowing, and the flames on the river are also flowing. In the desperate eyes of the Russians, the flowing Danube River is advancing slowly and unstoppably with burning flames, and it has soon arrived.
Braila.
The Russian merchant ships and gunboats of the river fleet that were here looked at the river of flames that was hitting them head-on. They were so frightened that they all turned around and ran away without hesitation. The flames on the river did not stop, but continued to slowly follow the escaping people.
Behind the fleet, they continued to move forward bit by bit, and as the downstream river became smoother and smoother, the crude oil strips that were originally broken and difficult to form a fire began to slowly gather, and the fire also grew larger and larger, and finally formed a burning wall of fire.
, firmly blocking the Danube River, and this wall of fire continued to expand while moving downstream.
Brusilov did not hesitate to order a full retreat, abandoning all supplies and this vital line of defense. The entire army retreated to the east bank of the Danube. Regardless of whether there were bridges or ferries, they just swam holding a wooden board.
It is also necessary to evacuate to the east bank before the fire completely blocks the retreat route to join the main force led by Kuropatkin. Otherwise, there will be more and more crude oil on the river, and the fire will destroy the army.
Completely cut off on the west bank, unable to obtain supplies, and being attacked from both sides, he would be in danger of being annihilated.
This guy's decision saved his 50,000-strong army, but of course not all of it was saved. The Romanian army that originally attacked from south to north and the German army that attacked from north to south would definitely not let him leave so easily at this time. Bru, who was attacked from both sides, was
Silov had no choice but to leave a division behind to block the attack, then swam the Danube with the remaining troops and quickly headed south to join the main force.
He escaped alive, but Kuropatkin upstream was unlucky. After this guy came to his senses, he immediately ordered another strong attack on the opposite side, trying to break through the defense line of the Dro coalition on the west bank of the Danube branch that had no crude oil.
, and then went west to seize the railway bridge where crude oil was being dumped. Even if it could not be captured, artillery fire must be able to reach there to prevent the Romanians from continuing to pour oil.
It's a pity that his attack still failed to succeed. This is not surprising. He has been attacking for almost a week without success. Naturally, it will be difficult to succeed this time. This is not the most unlucky. What is unlucky is his army of hundreds of thousands.
While they were risking their lives to attack the other side, the crude oil from upstream arrived. Although it did not form a continuous crude oil belt, the mottled oil blocks were ignited by the firepower of both warring parties and still frightened the charging Russian troops on the river to turn around.
Just run.
However, at least one division has already boarded the west bank. The Russian army, which was playing hand-to-hand combat with the Dro coalition, failed to withdraw. Their location happened to be a river bend, and the blocked crude oil formed a line of several hundred meters behind them.
The wall of fire, which was wide and two kilometers long, completely blocked their retreat. These Russian troops, who had no way to retreat, simply dropped their weapons and surrendered.
The surging black crude oil completely changed the war situation in Romania. A burning river turned the Russians' expectation of breaking through the Danube defense line into an unattainable dream, and this dream will always be out of reach. As long as Germany
If the Luo coalition is willing, they can pour crude oil into the Danube River at any time. Behind them is a large oil field with an annual output of more than 10 million tons. They can pour as much crude oil as they want and whenever they want, even if the Danube River turns black forever.
It's nothing more than pumping more oil wells.
In other words, as long as the Ploiesti oil field never stops production, the Russians can never hope to break through the Danube defense line. But if they cannot break through this defense line, they can never hope to stop the Ploiesti oil field. This is another
In an endless loop, the Russians suddenly fell into a predicament. And their troubles didn't end there. Soon they had to face the consequences of the reversal of the war situation. For this battle, Nikolai had already used up everything he had in his hands.
Mobile power, when Kuropatkin led his entire two armies, across the fire on the east bank of the Danube, watching German and Austro-Hungarian reinforcements arriving one after another, the German and Austrian troops on other fronts
The army will not miss such a good opportunity, especially the German army, which has been maintaining an offensive posture in East Prussia. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!