Chapter 647 009 Radical Yugoslav Offensive

Philippolis was already a town when the Greeks were still in their hometown. The King of Kings of Persia once made this place a subject, and it also belonged to many Hellenistic countries and barbarians. After the Greeks, this place was also a "spot" visited by the Goths and Bulgarians.

Solovyov came from Ukraine, and it seemed that it was the route of the Gothic invasion.

The Turks, on the other hand, now enjoy the feeling of fear that these Christian countries had in the past when they fought from Asia.

"It looks pretty good here. The Romans can leave ruins everywhere. When we were in Italy, we saw some theaters from the Nero period."

Solovyov likes to visit scenic spots wherever he goes, and it is also very convenient to go to these places on horseback.

There is a large arena ruins in Philippolis, which are still well preserved, but they have not been excavated at this time, and many of them are still buried under the mounds of earth.

Among the local residents, those who were afraid of the Russian army had already run away. After all, the battle on the Danube River sounded too scary. It was true that so many people died, but the charm of journalism is also here. I really can’t figure it out. How many people died.

"Mishka, you're not in a hurry now that you're here."

"We arrived early, we always have to pick up stragglers, and we have to use this place as the strategic center. And here"

He said he came out to check in, but actually he also used the commanding heights to see the topography of Philippolis.

It is surrounded by a dense water network, and there are swamps and some irrigation facilities.

It’s just that many of the Turks’ irrigation facilities were damaged.

"There are high mountains to the south, so there is no need to worry here. We are backed by mountains, and this side is not suitable for any large troops to maneuver."

"But there are plains on three sides. We also need to know the movements of the Turks in advance. If they come this time, we will still have to fight for the initiative. Mick, this is what you said."

Clausewitz emphasized that the results of the discussions at the pre-war meeting were mainly Solovyov's own decision-making, and there must always be a place to rely on.

Because he sent troops first and indeed occupied an important stronghold, Philippolis was a battleground for military strategists on the plains, and the Turks would definitely press here.

"Yeah, but how's the Hussars' reconnaissance going?"

The last time the Belarusian Hussars were caught off guard by the Turkish army, and a battalion commander was beheaded by the Turkish light cavalry, he still had some concerns about outpost warfare.

"The Turks are still far away from here. The number of their troops this time is not as good as when they were in Lom, and they are scattered in several directions."

Clausewitz pointed to the plains to the north and east and continued: "The Turkish troops in the north have passed the mountain pass. The size of this enemy group is roughly equivalent to one of our divisions, and they have arrived in the Ivan-Vasovo area."

Of course, he also raised his own questions later.

"How come the place where we are still has a Greek name, but the place to the north has a Bulgarian name?"

"Haha, who allowed the Bulgarians to establish political power here twice?"

To put it nicely, it is caused by the migration of ethnic groups, but what if it is said to be ugly?

The Slavs at that time were probably still considered barbarians. Now they are civilized people, but they are still regarded as barbarians by people in Western Europe.

Regardless of this place name issue, the Turkish army in the north is relatively isolated, and after passing the mountain pass, it seems to be the easiest to fight.

Therefore, when Uvarov heard such a group of people, he became excited.

"Misha, I think we can attack this lone enemy army first."

"But it's too far away, and what are they doing after crossing the mountain?"

Clausewitz then said: "The camp was established there, and there was no intention to continue the operation. According to the situation detected by our cavalry, the more threatening thing was the Turkish army from the east, but they divided their troops into three groups. , one on the south bank of the Maritsa River, and the other two on the north bank of the Maritsa River, the Chilpan River Brezovo, are marching towards us. "

"The terrain along the road is quite a lot of swamps, rivers and forests, right?"

"Yes, they divided their forces into four groups like this. It seems that they want to attack together. It's just that the Turks in Ivan-Vasovo always look like a decoy."

"Is it a bait?"

"This requires sending the Cossacks to capture a few officers. Maybe we can understand the situation by capturing a few officers and messengers."

"That's the method, but the Turkish cavalry is difficult to deal with."

The Russian army was able to defeat the Turkish army many times because of its infantry. The cavalry and cavalry were often evenly matched, and the Turkish army even had a greater advantage.

In this war, many cavalry regiments in the Russian army were newly formed, and they suffered a lot in the previous years of war.

Therefore, Solovyov strongly requested to mobilize some old cavalry regiments to join the Danube Front. His Macedonian Army is here. Although it is a combination of old and new structures, there are also several dragoon regiments and dragoon regiments that participated in the battles in Poland and Sweden. The Hussars can at least deal with the Turkish army.

Pre-war reconnaissance was actually very troublesome, so Solovyov called Fyodor again.

"Fedenka, I have something to send you. Do you dare to do it?"

"Is there anything I wouldn't dare to do?"

"This time it's not like destroying the arsenal to create chaos for the enemy. We need to find out the movements of the Turkish army in several directions. We need to defeat them one by one before they get close. Intelligence is crucial."

"As for catching tongues, it's not the first time I've done it, and it's more to my liking to take a detachment. You don't have to give me too many people. I'll take a detachment of dozens of people and act separately. When the enemy is not on guard, I'll catch a few people back."

"No need to tell you more. How many times have you done it before?"

After sending Fyodor out, some other people were assigned tasks in several directions.

For the rest of the time, Solovyov was also taking in the soldiers who fell behind. In addition, he was on guard against the appearance of Turkish scouts nearby.

Of course, those who go out for reconnaissance must pay attention to the enemy's movements. During counter-reconnaissance, they may be able to catch some Turkish officers with important tasks.

He thought so, and his opponent also cooperated.

The Serbian volunteer cavalry that was added encountered a group of Deli light cavalry of the Turkish army while patrolling. They not only repelled the enemy, but also captured several prisoners.

However, there was not much intelligence, that is, the two Turkish troops coming from the north bank of the Maritsa River were obviously the main force, and Musa Pasha was among them.

"That's it. The Turks seem to be paying attention to our movements. What should we do?"

"How about we lure them over?"

Soloviev looked at the situation, and Arkady then proposed to lure the enemy.

However, it was unlikely to lure the enemy deep into the country. The four Turkish troops were relatively scattered. If they attacked the enemy who came over the mountain pass, the other two Turkish troops might not be able to return in time if they were too close to Philippopolis.

If they fought, they would also target the enemies on both sides of the Maritsa River. It was still the old way, but if they wanted to take action, they would also target the road south of Maritsa.

Soloviev did not want to use his main force to cross the river to fight the Turkish army in the south, so he looked at Dobnyak who led the Serbian cavalry.

"Peter, I'll assign you a task, can you do it?"

"Sir, just give us your orders, we have all the equipment you gave us now, no matter where we fight, we Serbian cavalry are the sharp swords in your hands."

"Okay, you lead your cavalry to attack the Turkish army in the south, and make it as loud as possible, so that our main force will attack the enemy along the way, and will not return to Philippolis' camp in a short time, so as to lure the rest of the enemies into the trap."

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"Then you have to give me some cavalry guns. If there are artillery, I think the Turks can't tell them apart."

"Okay, I'll allocate some cavalry guns and half-Pute unicorn guns for you. You have to act more realistically. Do you need infantry?"

"Infantry is unnecessary. We Serbs are good at moving in the mountains. We can also act as infantry when we get off the horse, just like the dragoons in the past."

"Okay, then you have to act more realistically. I'll also arrange the ammunition trucks for you. The Turks will definitely communicate through the roads between the swamps. We just want to let the enemy know that our 'main force' has moved."

After arranging the task for Dobnyak, Solovyov also allocated an infantry regiment and two combined grenadier battalions from Prince Trubetskoy's division to support the actions of the Serbian volunteer cavalry behind Dobnyak.

And this guy is very bad. The uniforms prepared for the Serbian cavalry look like the Kazan Dragoon Regiment, which is also a kind of deception.

Among them, some Serbian cavalrymen wore mixed uniforms after joining the Russian battle sequence, and some were even old uniforms of Russian cavalrymen.

It would be best if the enemy's cognition could be confused.

As for the main force of the Russian army, Solovyov actually wanted to intercept or ambush the main force of the Turkish army halfway by "leaving Philippopolis empty", and also to achieve the goal of defeating them one by one.

If it is placed in the defense of Sicily, it is probably a radical method that was popular in the 1950s, called the "Yugoslav Offensive", which is a more intense way.

He doesn't care what the Turks think, but just focuses on me.

If these Turkish troops that have been detected are allowed to merge, it will not be so easy for the Russian army to fight them.

After crossing the Danube, the Macedonian Corps has been stretching its own transportation lines, turning back to the east to Philippopolis, and is also preparing to use battles to make the Turkish army give up the idea of ​​​​recovering Sofia to the west, and it will not pose any threat when the Macedonian Corps moves south.

Therefore, a quick victory is needed. Solovyov's arrangement is indeed more radical. It is different from the situation in Lom, where he even had time to consider luring the enemy deep into the enemy and slowly trapping the enemy to death.

At the same time, Musa Pasha has indeed divided his troops from several directions. In addition to the Turkish army in the north, they can also respond to each other. The distance between them on the plain is not far. If they gather on the banks of the Maritsa River, the subsequent Turkish army will increase its troops and stick to the Russian army.

It does look good, but the current situation is always changing.

In his tent, he soon got the news that the scouts he sent out were discovered by the Russian army. Soon, the Turkish army on the northern mountain pass was attacked by the Russian army, and the situation of the Turkish army south of the Maritsa River was not optimistic.

Musa Pasha did not expect that the Russian army was bluffing in the south. In the hot summer, the smoke and dust covered the sky and even made the Turks think that the Tatar cavalry came this time.

As for the subsequent firing of the artillery, there were grenades from the Unicorn cannon that exploded between the Turkish positions.

With the Unicorn cannon, no matter how powerful it is, whether it is one or half a putt, it is the main force of the Russian army.

When the Turks judged the actions of the Russian army, they judged it more or less by their firepower.

But they did not expect that the Russian army would cheat and put some Unicorn cannons among the cavalry cannons to bluff.

Seeing this situation, Musa Pasha also believed that the Russian army was making a big move in the south, and that his side was relatively safe at present, except that the scouts were discovered by the Russian army in front.

So his idea was to have the main force of the Turkish army merge first and then march towards Philippolis.

If the troops merged, it would indeed make this group larger, which would be more difficult to deal with.

The Russian cavalry was also conducting reconnaissance nearby, and they also noticed that the two Turkish armies were approaching, so it seemed that they were heading for Philippolis.

But they did not notice that Musa Pasha's four armies were actually detected by the Russian army, and some Turkish troops were still behind and did not approach Musa Pasha's army in front.

Solovyov's idea was also to intercept the main force of the Turkish army, try to kill this enemy first, and then cross the Maritsa River to eliminate the attracted enemy divisions.

In this way, the three enemies are almost done.

But there are also problems. He does not know how many Turkish troops there are in the future.

But at this time, the Russian army wants to seize the initiative, and it must first use its quality advantage to give the Turkish army a heavy blow.

At this time, there is a problem for both sides, that is, swamps, forests and a large number of irrigation facilities have a splitting effect on the forces of both sides.

Not only the Turkish army had to attack in a divided and coordinated manner, but the Russian army also had to attack in a divided and coordinated manner. If they were not careful, they might end up like Solovyov's late old friend, Verosser, who was divided by the natural terrain in the forest and then defeated one by one. After the main force was dispersed, there was nothing left to do.

At this time, it was still a test of the troop deployment of the commanders of both sides. If the Turkish army was crowded together, it could still cause a lot of trouble. (End of this chapter)