Holy Roman Empire

After learning he had become a pawn to be discarded, Obodov was in terrible shape. Though he cursed Ivanov and his entire family over and over in his heart, he had no choice but to maintain an air of confidence to reassure the troops.

At this point, no matter how unwilling he felt inside, Obodov could only grit his teeth and prepare to fight the enemy to the death.

Surrender was out of the question. His roots were in Russia, and his wife, children, and family were waiting for him to return triumphantly.

It wasn’t just him, every senior officer of the Fourth Army was in the same position. They either hold off the enemy until reinforcements arrive or die on the battlefield, using their blood to cover up their failures.

In moments of life and death, people often display extraordinary abilities.

The senior officers of the Fourth Army were starting to show this now. To stabilize morale, the once-distant officers descended to the ranks, offering words of comfort and even boosting spirits on the front lines.

To save food, Obodov went as far as to abolish the officers’ mess hall, ordering all officers to dine alongside the soldiers. Matters of hierarchy and etiquette meant nothing when survival was at stake.

The officers had no choice but to understand. The supplies being airdropped were standardized for soldiers—high-calorie rations with no special meals for officers.

Everyone knew that this unauthorized operation had thoroughly offended Marshal Ivanov, and no one dared to file a report and risk provoking him at a time like this.

Due to the limited carrying capacity of the airships, which also had to transport weapons and ammunition, the food being delivered was minimized. Apart from compressed biscuits, most of the supplies consisted of meat.

This time, the Russian Army’s supply standards seemed to align with those of the British Army, focusing on beef jerky and biscuits, with a small amount of canned fish. It was as if, overnight, meat had suddenly lost its value.

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Obodov struggled to chew on the tough beef jerky, swearing that he had never eaten such terrible food in his life.

Unable to stomach it any longer, he opened a can of fish. One glance at the label confirmed it was Austrian-made. If nothing else, it was likely the cheapest freshwater fish available.

This was a quirk of Europe. With industrial development severely polluting rivers, many people refused to eat freshwater fish. With fewer consumers, naturally, the price dropped.

These inexpensive raw materials became a favorite of capitalists. Once turned into canned goods, who could tell where the fish had come from?

“Polluted water, tainted fish.” As long as there was no immediate food poisoning, any long-term harm was hardly a concern.

Especially for products exported to the Russian military, quality was even less assured. Many unscrupulous merchants mixed cheap potato starch into the canned fish, with actual fish meat making up only a small portion.

Despite these flaws, the procurement department of the Russian government was particularly fond of these products for one simple reason: they were cheap.

It wasn’t just the canned fish, even the beef jerky and compressed biscuits purchased by the Russians were also the cheapest available on the market.

Cheap goods rarely come with quality assurance. Since these were the lowest-cost items, their quality was naturally questionable.

Suppressing his discomfort, Obodov forced down the canned fish. As for the beef jerky, he decided to leave it for someone with better teeth. It was beyond his capacity to enjoy.

Even though the canned fish tasted less than ideal, there was one thing worth praising. The fish had undergone special processing, making the bones and spines entirely edible.

Time was a luxury on the battlefield, and carefully picking out fish bones was obviously impractical. Following the “customer is king” philosophy, the capitalists had to meet this practical demand.

With a bit of chemical treatment, even bones and spines could be eaten. Long-term side effects? Irrelevant. As long as the consumer didn’t have immediate problems, that was good enough.

Just as he was about to take a short rest, a young officer burst into the command center and approached to report, “General, the enemy has launched another attack. The 41st Division is requesting fire support.”

Glancing at the battle map, Obodov frowned and asked, “Didn’t we already assign them an artillery regiment? Why are they asking for fire support again?”

The young officer explained, “The enemy’s firepower is overwhelming. Our artillery is completely suppressed, so…”

Before he could finish, Obodov waved him off, “Enough. Tell the 41st Division to figure it out themselves. I don’t have any more artillery to reinforce them right now.

If the enemy’s firepower is too strong, then lay low for now. This is an extraordinary situation so don’t stay idle at night. Allocate some soldiers to dig anti-artillery trenches.

If the enemy gets close, fight them with bayonets. We’re surrounded now. It’s clear we can’t match the enemy’s firepower, but we can outdo them in fearlessness.”

The flat terrain presented its own challenges. There wasn’t even advantageous ground to occupy. If small hills barely a hundred meters high could be considered mountains, then the Fourth Army could be said to have secured a position by the “mountains” and “water.”

Obodov was certain the enemy wasn’t willing to risk everything against them. Otherwise, the attacks would have been far more intense.

The normal strategy would be to wear them down through scattered attacks, gradually eroding their morale and strategic resources, ultimately forcing them to surrender.

If the goal were to annihilate the Fourth Army at the cost of 100,000 or 80,000 casualties, even a Prussian victory would be a loss.

…

In the Prussian command center, Moltke rested his head on one hand, deep in thought.

Plans never keep up with changes. Originally, the idea was to use the Fourth Army as bait, luring the Russian main forces into a trap for encirclement and annihilation. But the Russians refused to take the bait.

As a result, the Russian Fourth Army had turned into a problem, tying down a large portion of Prussian forces and leaving them unable to advance or retreat.

If the Prussians had launched an all-out assault on the Fourth Army from the start, denying them the chance to establish camp, the issue would have been resolved by now.

But there are no “what-ifs” on the battlefield. Misjudging the Fourth Army’s importance to the Russians and underestimating Ivanov’s resolve… This bitter fruit was now Moltke’s to swallow.

The Battle of East Prussia had already begun, the southern front was on the verge of erupting, and the Warsaw campaign was, in essence, already underway.

The Russian army launched an offensive from two directions in the northeast. With the Russian Fourth Army tying down a significant portion of Prussian forces, the Warsaw front could only hold its ground defensively.

The beeping of the telephone interrupted Moltke’s contemplation, pulling him back to the present. He casually picked up the receiver and shouted, “This is Moltke. What is it?”

A hoarse voice came through, saying, “Marshal, this is Major General Winslet of the 7th Division reporting. The enemy to the north has suddenly intensified their attack. Our defense line is on the verge of collapse. We request reinforcements.”

It was unrealistic for a single division to hold off an entire army, especially one of the oversized Russian formations. The crisis in the defense line was inevitable. The fact that the 7th Division had held out for three days before asking for help was already an impressive feat.

Moltke furrowed his brow and replied, “Major General Winslet, the 11th Division will take over your defense tomorrow. Can you hold out for one more day?”

There was silence on the other end of the line. After a long pause, the hoarse voice replied again, “No problem, Marshal!”

The tone was heavy, as if the decision had been made after a painful internal struggle.

After hanging up the phone, Moltke instructed an officer nearby.

“Send a telegram to General Hansgrohe immediately. Tell him he must eliminate the Russian Fourth Army within a week. Inform him that the fish in the north have already taken the bait, and he mustn’t waste more time on a caged bird. If we delay any longer, the fish will escape.”

A cornered beast fights the hardest, how much more so when it’s human?

Even knowing that this was the enemy’s most desperate moment of resistance, Moltke had no choice but to give the order. If the Russian Fourth Army continued to bog them down, the Warsaw front would soon face critical problems.

While the Prussian-Polish Federation had established strong defense lines in Warsaw, even the most fortified positions required manpower to hold.

Moreover, Moltke’s objective wasn’t merely to hold Warsaw but to deliver a crushing blow to the Russian forces on this battlefield, which demanded even more troops.

To encircle the Fourth Army, nearly 600,000 Prussian troops had been committed. The original plan had been to encircle and destroy reinforcements, but now that the enemy reinforcements weren’t coming, further delays would be meaningless.

Although Moltke knew this order would result in heavy losses at the front, such sacrifices were necessary for the bigger picture.

The dire situation made it clear that the Battle of Warsaw had to be resolved swiftly. The Prussian government needed a decisive victory to rally allies to their cause, even if it was a pyrrhic one.

“Yes, Marshal!” the young officer replied.

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