My Italian: Chapter 491 Sad 2nd Pacific Fleet

Remember [New] for a second,! The arrival of 1904, the hustle and bustle of the world has not been calmed down. At present, the war in the Far East is still continuing, and there is a growing trend.

However, a major change occurred on the battlefield at this time. The Japanese army captured the Lushun fortress. At the cost of 74,000 casualties, the Japanese army finally conquered this strategic point.

Speaking of overcoming this point, it is thanks to the Japanese army that the 280mm howitzer of the domestic coastal defense was pulled up. In order to make these heavy artillery powerful, the Japanese army also specially built circular rails, and these hard-drawn coastal defense heavy artillery also took so much trouble to deal with, their power is extraordinary, in the artillery attack on the 203 highland. Destroy its fortifications one by one. In addition to the heavy artillery, the base camp will also be the only active division remaining in the homeland, the seventh division adapted from the Tuntian Army, which has also been transferred to Lushun.

From December 25, 1903 to January 6, 1904, after 11 days of onslaught, the Russian army on Hill 203 was finally eliminated, and the Japanese army captured the high ground. According to the statistics after the event, only one living Russian soldier was found after the Japanese army conquered Height 203.

After occupying Height 203, the Japanese army took the initiative on the battlefield of Lushun.

Then the Japanese army pulled the siege artillery to the 203 height, and then they bombarded the Russian warships in the port and the Russian military facilities in the urban area with heavy artillery. Offshore. The First Pacific Fleet, who was trapped in a lonely port, is now blind, and even a famous general like Makanov has nothing to do.

Then the Poltava and Nicholas I, the only remaining Russian Pacific Fleet, were sunk by Japanese heavy artillery.

Then, the Japanese army took every step, like pushing a multi-bone rice card, first conquered a series of Russian fortresses, and then occupied more and more urban areas of Lushun.

On January 11, 1904, Steisel led tens of thousands of defeated soldiers and surrendered to the Japanese army. In addition to conquering the Lushun fortress, the Japanese army also had a surprise. The two Crown Prince and Victory, which were repaired in the dock, were captured by the Japanese army.

Faced with this unexpected joy, Togo Heihachiro was naturally overjoyed. After watching the two warships under maintenance overnight, he immediately sent a report to the base camp, requesting that the country immediately dispatch enough shipyard workers to rush to repair the two Lushun ships. A gift from the defenders.

When the news of the fall of Lushun Fortress came out, the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, which was a reinforcement, was still in the Indian Ocean. The Second Pacific Fleet circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope can be described as a disaster and a lot of troubles. I will not talk about the difficulty of bypassing the African continent. Because German profiteers can’t guarantee the supply on time, they have to load more coal as much as possible.

Russian sailors were filled with coal bags on decks, engine rooms, officer cabins, and even bathrooms. The warships were dusty, like a coal mine. Many sailors suffered from respiratory diseases. When passing through the tropics, the Russian navy also closed the ventilation ducts, increasing the number of people who got sick from coal (unlucky) dumping.

In addition, because no one could sleep in the cabin, the Russian sailors had to sleep outside the cabin. The problem was that there was coal all over the cabin too, and the hapless sailors had to sleep on the coal sacks. This group of unlucky people who deal with coal when they eat and sleep, evenly sprinkle coal into the boiler every day, and put out the fire to clean the boiler every three or four hours. Due to the huge coal dumping work, the Russian Second Pacific Fleet even created a world record of adding 120 tons of coal in one hour.

After finally being fortunate enough to complete a long-lost docking repair, the nearly collapsed sailors swarmed ashore to ask for leave, squandering the few military salaries on taverns, prostitutes and gambling. This also means that no one will clean up the algae, seaweed and other debris entangled on the ship, and no one will go to training. The commander, Lieutenant General Roger Stevinsky, was temporarily out of office due to mental weakness, but hoped to be able to sail again on January 14, 1904.

During this period, the logistics department of the Russian army lived up to expectations and made a lot of trouble. Due to chaotic management, the supply ships that came from the mainland were actually loaded with shells that the fleet didn't need at all. There were even special ships, which brought a bunch of winter uniforms to the officers and soldiers under the scorching sun in Africa, making the fleet enter a situation where even the uniforms were not enough.

In addition, the radio equipment of the fleet was mainly supplied by the Germans. Once the engineer leaves, it will become scrap metal due to frequent failures. Another refrigerated ship's power system failed, causing all the hundreds of tons of fresh meat in stock to spoil, forcing officers and soldiers to purchase local food at high prices.

It is a pity that the news of the fall of Lushun made His Majesty the tsar furious, and then the Admiralty understood it again, adding a new problem to him at the right time. In order to increase the winning rate of the decisive battle against Japan, they superfluous and formed the Third Pacific Fleet. As a result, 3 battleships and 1 coastal defense battleship were transferred to the Indian Ocean. Therefore, Roger Stevinsky was asked to remain in Madagascar until reinforcements arrived before he could go back on the road again.

But soon afterward, the French colonial authorities, who did not want the Russian fleet to stay longer, came to drive them away.

Faced with such a situation, Roger Stevinsky could only take the reluctant Second Pacific Fleet naval officers and men, and drove the battleship away.

So after some bad repairs ~www.mtlnovel.com~ the Second Pacific Fleet continued its march towards the far Pacific.

Lieutenant General Roger Stevinsky also recovered from mental weakness and began intensive fleet training.

Despite the army's lack of food and clothing and the collapse of morale, the grumpy coach did not take any effective measures to remedy it. Instead, he patrols the flagship every day, checking the quilts of the soldiers, checking whether the subordinates are neatly dressed, and turning a blind eye to the officers' beatings and scolding the soldiers. Then he burrowed into the office and corrected spelling mistakes in the report like a language teacher.

Such iron rod education also quickly paid off. Four officers and soldiers were hospitalized due to mental illness, 28 were choked from tuberculosis by the flying coal ash, and many more lost their combat effectiveness due to tropical diseases. The occasional suicide by jumping into the sea is a true portrayal of this painful expedition.

Even the warships that carried this group of vulnerable people were overwhelmed by no one to clean the bottom of the aquatic plants and serious overloading problems. The average speed of the fleet has dropped to a very dangerous 7.5 knots.

Fortunately, Germany has extended a hand of friendship at this time and is willing to open the Port of Manila to it, so they only need to cross the Indian Ocean, cross the Strait of Malacca, and sail for a while in the South China Sea, then they can get the opportunity to repair.