Chapter 345

Gao Da had originally thought that this war in Europe would last a long time, but he did not expect that there was still a long time before the start of the Mount Shizi High School semester, and the war seemed to be coming to an end.

The breakthrough in the war was still here in Serbia.

There is no help for it; compared to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia's strength is far too weak.

Under the premise that the Russian army cannot reach Serbia, even if Serbia exerts all its strength, it will at most only delay the time of its defeat.

It only took the Austro-Hungarian Empire a few days to break through Loznica, which also resulted in a gap being torn open in Serbia's western border.

The subsequent Serbian attempt to counterattack Loznica was also to plug this gap, but unfortunately, they were completely behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of numbers and weaponry.

After the counterattack failed, the Serbian army retreated in the direction of Belgrade. Their original intention was good, which was to defend their capital, Belgrade.

After all, it has been mentioned that Belgrade is located on a protruding belt at the river mouth, facing the Austro-Hungarian Empire across the river on three sides.

If the land south of Belgrade cannot be held, the Serbian capital will be completely surrounded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is fatal for this small country.

Retreating toward Belgrade can certainly defend the capital, but for the cities in the south of the western border, this is not good news.

The Austro-Hungarian army also tried to attack Belgrade from the east, but they had long since learned how solid the defensive lines established by Serbia along this route were.

Although steady progress could be made, the time and manpower consumed were unacceptable to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Since there is a solid defensive line along the Belgrade front, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will no longer attack Belgrade. After all, Serbia is only a small country, and for Serbia, it is very painful wherever it falls.

After discussions, the southern army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's southern battlefield decided to continue southeast to attack Valjevo, a very important supply city on Serbia's western border.

The geographical location of Valjevo is very important; it is located in the middle of Serbia's western border and can radiate to the entire western border.

Precisely because of this, Serbia has stockpiled a large amount of supplies here, using this as a transit station to transport them continuously to the western front.

If Valjevo can be captured, it will not only cut off the supplies for Serbia's western border but also allow the Austro-Hungarian army to completely enter the main road, laying a good foundation for the subsequent offensive.

Valjevo connects to Belgrade in the north and to the important transportation hub city of Uzice in the south, making its strategic position quite important.

Before Serbia launched its counterattack, it was still heavily defended here.

Originally, there were only 20,000 troops on the border of Loznica and its north, while the supply city of Valjevo had a garrison of nearly 20,000 people.

But after Serbia planned the counterattack, most of the garrison here was transferred to the north to plan the counterattack on Loznica.

After the counterattack failed, the 35,000 Serbian troops retreated in a panic toward Belgrade, and the supply city of Valjevo was ignored by the Serbian army.

Now, the remaining garrison in Valjevo is less than 10,000, most of whom were temporarily mobilized after the war. The kind of standing army that truly possesses combat effectiveness almost does not exist, which is definitely good news for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Austro-Hungarian side naturally knows how much Serbia is worth. Since Serbia has the ability to organize a counterattack, it also means that the defensive strength of central cities like Valjevo is quite empty.

After the Serbian defensive battle failed, the Austro-Hungarian Empire left about 20,000 troops in Loznica for defense and transferred another 20,000 troops from the Bosnia region, reorganizing a 40,000-man army to launch an attack on Valjevo.

This important supply city, Valjevo, only held out for less than two days under the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before being broken.

After breaking through Valjevo, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not stay for too long; after leaving a portion of its troops to defend Valjevo, the remaining forces continued to attack the transportation hub city of Uzice to the south.

For the entire western border, the supply city of Valjevo is certainly more important. But for Serbia, the transportation hub city of Uzice is definitely more important.

Uzice is located at a three-way intersection; to the north is Valjevo, to the south is Serbia's southern border, and to the east is the Serbian hinterland.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire can capture Uzice, the cities in Serbia's hinterland will be undefended against the Austro-Hungarian army.

This is quite fatal for Serbia, but unfortunately, the Serbian army at this time has no more troops to mobilize.

In northwestern Serbia, north of Valjevo, more than 80,000 troops are gathered. Added to the troops in the south of the western border, this is almost all of Serbia's current main force.

The remaining soldiers are either lying in hospitals, not knowing if they will live or die, or are newly mobilized soldiers who have not yet been trained and have no combat effectiveness at all.

Upon learning that Valjevo had been captured and that the Austro-Hungarian army was attacking Uzice to the south, the Serbian government panicked completely.

On one hand, they ordered the troops mobilized in the hinterland cities to rush to Uzice, and on the other hand, they urgently destroyed the roads north and east of Uzice to prevent the Austrian army from using these two roads to quickly assault other Serbian cities.

In fact, the war has become very clear by this point; Serbia is simply unable to resist the Austro-Hungarian Empire's offensive, and no matter how they try, they are only delaying the speed of the Austro-Hungarian offensive.

Especially under the premise that Valjevo has been captured, Serbia's defeat has entered a countdown.

This supply city is quite important to Serbia's western border; from the moment the Austro-Hungarian Empire captured Valjevo, it meant that the western border Serbia had painstakingly managed for more than 10 years was completely disintegrated.

Without the solid defensive line of the western border, Serbia's interior has no good terrain to defend against the Austro-Hungarian offensive.

As time reached April, the Austro-Hungarian and Serbian armies launched another large-scale offensive and defensive battle in Uzice.

The Austro-Hungarian army reached 40,000 men, and taking advantage of the capture of Valjevo, the Austro-Hungarian Empire pursued the victory, which can be described as high morale.

As for the Serbian army, the soldiers transported to Uzice were either farmers who had not been trained much, or soldiers who had been driven back to the front line after being lightly or seriously wounded in hospitals, clearly soldiers who had been abandoned.

Relying on these people to hold Uzice is better than hoping that the Russians can quickly defeat Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a short time, ending this war from another angle.

The final result of this not-so-small offensive and defensive battle is also very clear; the Austro-Hungarian army won this battle with almost no effort.

The transportation hub city was completely reduced to ruins in the more than a week of attacks, and the corpses of tens of thousands of Serbian and Austrian soldiers were buried in these ruins.

But now there is no time to mourn these fallen soldiers, because what will greet Serbia next will be a hellish scene even more cruel than this.

Capturing Uzice is great news for Austria, and it also became the front-page headline of Austrian and Hungarian newspapers that day.

Various European countries also sent their own military observer groups to varying degrees, which also led to this news being reported in the newspapers of various countries almost without delay.

For Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this is certainly good news.

But for Serbia and Russia, this is like a death warrant from the Grim Reaper, indicating that they are not far from failure in this war.

Russia urgently changed its strategic deployment, deciding to fight a good battle before the end of this war to add a few bargaining chips for its own peace talks.

As for the Serbian government, Russia can no longer manage it at this time.

This war allowed Russia to see the strength of the German-Austrian Alliance, and even more so, the disadvantages of fighting alone.

For Russia, an expendable ally like Serbia is no longer important. Regardless of the outcome of this war, Russia must seek more allies after the war ends and sign the Franco-Russian Alliance treaty.

Only the Franco-Russian Alliance can counter the German-Austrian Alliance; this is also the only thought of Alexander III and Russian officials.

On the Spanish side, Gao Da also received the news that Uzice had been captured almost at the first moment.

Gao Da felt a little regretful; this means that this war is about to end, and it also means that the expansion of Spain's arms industry is about to end. More importantly, this war will change the landscape of Europe.

It is already fully foreseeable that the confrontation between the two major military groups, the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers, will happen sooner.

Even if the British had not emphasized the importance of limiting the scale of the war when it first broke out, I am afraid that Russia and France would already be discussing how to defeat the Germans in this war.

Britain's doing so did indeed prevent this war from evolving into a world war, but for the British, this is not good news.

The future European landscape will become a situation of the German-Austrian Alliance vs. the Franco-Russian Alliance; Italy is clearly on the side of the German-Austrian Alliance, which also makes the British an unprecedented and complete supporting role in Europe.

This is not the kind of supporting role that the British deliberately created by not participating in affairs, but a supporting role where the British want to participate in European affairs but cannot.

Either side of the two major military groups is more powerful than Britain, which is the most fatal news for Britain.

Gao Da also thought about how the British would choose at such a critical juncture, and even considered whether the British would come to Spain to sign an alliance treaty.

After all, among the European powers at this time, only Britain and Spain remain without a clear stance.

However, after thinking about it, Gao Da still abandoned this idea.

After all, there are irreconcilable contradictions between Britain and Spain; unless the British are willing to give up Gibraltar, it is impossible for Spain to form an alliance with Britain.

Even if Spain wants to choose a country to form an alliance with, Spain has better choices.

For the two major military groups about to be formed, Spain would be a very good ally.

France needs Spain to secure its southern border, and Germany also needs Spain to create a little trouble for France's southern border.

Although Spain's army and navy cannot enter the world's top three, they are maintained at the world's top five level; overall, the military strength is still quite good.

This also means that Spain will become a hot commodity in the future situation of the confrontation between the two major military groups, an existence that both sides want to win over.

This is different from the awkward scene of the British, and this is also the reason why Gao Da is not panicked at all in this situation, because Spain still has choices.

Unlike Spain, the choices on the British side are relatively limited.

The isolationist policy and regional balance policy that Britain itself pursues make it impossible for them to personally enter the fray when the two major military groups are in opposition.

Added to the fact that Britain's relationship with these European powers is not very good, even if the British want to choose, these powerful countries may not necessarily be willing to let the British join in.

Although Britain's joining would make the alliance's strength even more powerful, it also means that in the future, any benefits the alliance gains, the British will also get a share.

Britain is the most powerful country, which also means that when dividing the cake, the British get the largest share.

But Britain happens to be drifting outside the European continent, which also means that even if a war breaks out, the British will not be greatly affected.

If Britain were really allowed to join the alliance, perhaps in the end, when the war is won, the only ones to benefit would be the British.

Upon learning that the front line had successfully captured Uzice, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I personally sent a telegram to the generals on the front line, praising their excellent performance in the war and stating that he would personally award them medals and prizes after the war ended.

The old emperor's personal praise filled these generals with motivation; they planned to make their battle achievements even richer so as to gain more benefits during the process of rewarding merit after the war.

This is also the advantage of a monarchical country; titles and land can both be used as rewards to bestow upon those officers and soldiers who have performed excellently in the war.

Monarchy and the aristocratic class have been passed down in Europe for thousands of years, and the nobility of the aristocracy has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the European people.

Facing the opportunity to directly become a member of the aristocratic class, most officers will be quite tempted. Those who are not very tempted are likely already members of the aristocracy, and their titles are so high that military merit can no longer improve them.

Compared to the high morale of the Austro-Hungarian army, the situation on the Serbian army side is quite low.

Because various European countries are reporting such news, even if the Serbian side reacts slowly, they are all clear about the fact that the front line has been defeated one after another.

If Serbia were simply being invaded, it would be fine; a war of aggression can bring more morale and encouragement to the people.

But the problem is that the reason this war started was Serbia's shielding of the high-level rebels in the Bosnia and Herzegovina region, a point that was widely reported by Austrian media and spread to Serbia.

If the war is won, this is of course not a problem for Serbia. After all, who doesn't want their country to become more powerful?

Can the people in the Bosnia and Herzegovina region not be considered compatriots of Serbia? What is wrong with protecting one's own compatriots?

But if the war is lost, this is a huge problem and responsibility for the Serbian government.

If it weren't for the Serbian government shielding these high-level rebels, this war would not have started. If the war had not started, the Serbian people would not have lost their loved ones because of this war.

The Serbian people lost their loved ones for this war, and as a result, the enemy hit their home? How can the Serbian people endure this?

The terrible situation in Serbia is not just that the western border has been completely captured; the situation of the capital, Belgrade, in the north is also quite terrible.

More than half of the capital's area has been plowed by the artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this war has turned the homes of hundreds of thousands of Serbian people into ruins.

In such a situation, how can the Serbian people not be angry? The moment the news that Uzice was captured reached Belgrade, large-scale protests broke out in the southern urban area of Belgrade.

The Serbian people gathered together; they were quite dissatisfied with the government that provoked the war but was incompetent, and they were unwilling to let such a government harm their country anymore.

The people's protests gave the Serbian government a huge headache; they had not yet solved the Austro-Hungarian army and had to face the accountability of the domestic people.

But unfortunately, neither of these two problems can be solved at this time. The Austro-Hungarian army cannot be defeated unless Serbia can conjure up more than 100,000 troops at this time.

But this is clearly impossible; perhaps only the legendary God could do this. But it is very clear that even if there is a God, God will not favor Serbia.

As for the second point, it is even more impossible to solve. If it were in normal times, there would be many ways to solve the people's protests.

Either send officials to persuade them with kind words and promise to meet the requests of these people so that they can disperse quickly. Or mobilize the police or the army to suppress them by force, and then control public opinion to solve the trouble.

The situation at this time can no longer be solved by kind words; the people are quite suspicious of the Serbian government's ability, and they are also very dissatisfied with the poor performance of the Serbian army in the war.

Unless the Serbian army can win a battle at this time, such a crisis of trust cannot be solved.

Using the police or the army to suppress them by force is even more out of the question. The limited military forces around Belgrade have been sent to the front line, and it is simply impossible to mobilize the police or the army at this time.

Even if there were armed forces that could be mobilized, in such a situation, could they really go to suppress the protests?

If the army cannot fight the war well and instead turns their guns toward the people, isn't this accelerating the progress of the people overthrowing the government?

Neither civil nor military methods work, which left the Serbian government with no good way, and they could only act like turtles.

But acting like a turtle is clearly only a temporary solution and cannot completely solve the crisis of the people's protests.

What's more fatal is that the situation on the front line is getting worse and worse for Serbia. Under internal and external troubles, the Serbian Prime Minister's hair turned white almost overnight.

(End of this chapter)