Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 1095 - 109: Logistics Emergency

Chapter 1095: Chapter 109: Logistics Emergency

The British Government ran into trouble, and naturally, the rest of the world knew nothing about it. In those days, there was neither satellite surveillance nor convenient internet communications.

Being able to roughly assess a country’s industrial capabilities was already impressive. Trying to ascertain the situation of each and every sub-industry within was simply impossible.

Even the collection of intelligence started from within the British Government. If the government itself hadn’t done any statistics in advance, then no one else could possibly do it for them.

With such a significant incident happening, it naturally had to be kept strictly confidential. Eternal secrecy was unrealistic, but a short-term blackout on news was still attainable.

While the British were waving their notes around, buying everything in sight, the Russo-Japanese War also entered into an intense phase.

Perhaps learning from lessons of past wars, or perhaps merely due to the weakness of the Russian navy, the Tsarist Government surprisingly demonstrated a moment of rationality this time, refraining from launching a distant expedition.

...

Of course, the official statement was that they were waiting for the warships ordered from Shinra to be commissioned before going to settle accounts with Japan.

Whether anyone believed it or not, the Russians certainly did.

Breaking away from their previous brute-like image, the Russian Army put all its effort into defensive operations in the Far Eastern region, relying on fortified strongholds to delay the Japanese military’s advance and to buy time for the Siberian Railway to become operational.

A decisive battle was out of the question. Regardless of how the Japanese military provoked them, the Russian Army simply held its ground resolutely.

The Russian Empire may not have had much else, but it did have land in abundance. “Trading space for time” was something the Tsarist Government was not afraid to do.

Unlike the original timeline, under Franz’s butterfly effect, the tactics being used had already progressed to World War I level.

Machine guns, trench warfare, and mortars—this cheap, simple, and practical set of tactics had already become widespread in the Russian Army.

If the logistics had been able to keep up, a retreating defeat might not have occurred at all. After all, an enraged bear was not an easy adversary.

The Russian Army holding its ground spelled trouble for the assaulting Japanese military. Anyone with a bit of military knowledge knows that casualties during an offensive are much higher than during a defense.

Even though Japanese soldiers were more willing to risk their lives, that didn’t change the fact that they suffered heavier casualties. In just a short span of half a year, the total casualties for both sides exceeded 300,000.

Among these, Japanese military deaths were around 98,000, and injuries numbered about 112,000; Russian deaths were approximately 53,000, with about 64,000 wounded.

In a sense, the Russo-Japanese War also set a new record for warfare. In modern warfare, it was rare to see such a close number between deaths and injuries.

Based purely on casualty numbers, it seems like the Russian Army had the upper hand, but that wasn’t really the case.

Although the Russian Army had the defensive advantage, during their continuous retreat, another 20,000 Russian soldiers were captured, and 30,000 went missing.

Including these figures, an overall view would suggest that neither Russia nor Japan came out ahead, with both sides suffering heavy losses.

…

In St. Petersburg, since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Nicholas II’s nerves had never been at ease.

As Nicholas II’s first foreign war since his accession to the throne, the outcome of the war with Japan was not only related to the strategic future of the Russian Empire but was also linked to Nicholas II’s personal reputation as a monarch.

Unlike his father or grandfather, who were strong political figures, Nicholas II’s talents in the realm of domestic politics were quite mediocre.

Of course, this wasn’t Nicholas II’s fault. In his youth, due to his frail health and indecisiveness, Alexander III had never even considered him as a successor to the throne.

Nicholas himself wasn’t prepared to inherit the throne either, especially since Alexander III had four sons, providing ample choices for succession.

However, plans change faster than expectations; two of his brothers died young, and another brother was so crazed with love that he eloped in a scandalous marriage between nobility and commoners.

Before he could even react, Nicholas became the sole heir. To prevent the throne from falling into the wrong hands, Nicholas had no choice but to reluctantly succeed to the throne, like a duck being pushed onto a perch.

It proved true that melons forcibly plucked were not sweet. Even though he was assisted by the wise old ministers left behind by Alexander III, Nicholas II, after ascending the throne, still saw a decline in the efficiency of the Tsarist government’s administration by more than just one level.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, this situation became even more apparent. Many times, the plans of the Tsarist government would turn out to be one thing, but the implementation would morph into something else entirely.

Lacking sufficient political acumen, Nicholas II had his reputation greatly damaged soon after he took office, and although he managed to clear his name after much effort, the diminished prestige of the monarch was not something that could be easily restored.

Seeking to change this state of affairs, Nicholas II was in urgent need of a victory, to boost his standing in the hearts of the populace and to strengthen his grip on the government.

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Wish as he might, reality always had a way of slapping one in the face. The Japanese military, thought to be easily defeatable, displayed remarkable resilience on the Far Eastern Battlefield and did not cease its advancement despite suffering great casualties.

That could have been tolerated, as the Japanese were willing to sacrifice lives, and Nicholas II was not one to show weakness.

Regardless, the “gray beasts of burden” that belonged to the Russian Empire were far more numerous than the Japanese.

Should it come down to a battle of attrition, the Russian Empire, with triple Japan’s population, had a very large chance of victory.

Unfortunately, war is never a simple matter of who has more or fewer soldiers. As the war progressed, the situation gradually developed in an unfavorable direction.

Setting down the telegram in his hand, Nicholas II said coldly, “Major General Kuropatkin has sent a wire, stating that strategic resources in the Far Eastern region are in critical shortage.

Calculating by the current rate of battlefield consumption and resource replenishment, the supplies we have stockpiled in the Far Eastern region will be completely exhausted in no more than six months.

At the point where the Siberian Railway’s construction stands, will it be possible to open it before the supplies run out?”

Modern warfare is all about logistics. The more advanced the equipment and the more powerful the firepower, the higher the dependence on logistics.

Compared to the original timeline, the equipment of the Russian Army was clearly much more advanced, and consequently, the demands on logistics were much higher.

What hadn’t been anticipated was the Japanese daring to engage in war without a declaration, which resulted in the Tsarist government’s strategic reserves in the Far Eastern region being severely insufficient.

And that was already the case on the defensive. Should the offensive be taken, the consumption of resources would be even greater.

Even with strenuous efforts at domestic replenishment, the stock could only last for six months, which indicated that the quantity of stockpiled materials was already dangerously low.

Now that the war had progressed to this point, no one continued shouting the slogan of reaching Tokyo in three months.

It had already been proven that the Japanese were not easy targets, and anyone with clear sight knew that it would be impossible to end the war within half a year.

Prime Minister Sergei Witte said, “We have already done our utmost to rush the construction, but to open it within six months still faces many difficulties.

The main issue is the climate. The climate of Siberia is indeed harsh.

In the current season, we can barely manage continuous construction day and night, but once winter arrives, many places don’t even have the basic conditions necessary for construction.”

This was not an excuse; the winter in the Siberian region indeed made it unsuitable for railway construction.

Even if one didn’t care about the lives of French laborers, the most basic quality of the railway still needed to be taken into account.

It wasn’t too much to hope that the railway would last for decades like a regular one, but it should at least hold up until the war was over, right?

Even such a low requirement was not easy to meet. It wasn’t just about precision in the technique; the demands on the materials were also high.

Not to mention other things, the rails and sleepers both had to be frost-resistant. Otherwise, under the extreme low temperatures of minus fifty or sixty degrees Celsius, ordinary tracks could not withstand it.

… (Sending this out for attendance first)