Rise of Australia

Chapter 417 Disagreements in the German Military

The German Chief of Staff Falkenhayn and the former Chief of Staff Moltke Jr. have completely opposite ways of doing things.

Xiao Maoqi upholds the attitude of not interfering with the decisions of frontline commanders, and is only responsible for formulating macro strategies, while microscopic operations are handed over to the commanders-in-chief of the frontline armies.

But Falkenhayn was different.As Germany's new chief of staff, Falkenhayn not only fully participated in the formulation of the macro strategy, but also frequently commanded and commanded the various armies on the front line.

Falkenhayn put forward his own point of view regarding the current possible encirclement of all Russian troops and a good time to catch them all in one go: divide the troops and conduct a two-pronged attack, and the main attack will still be taken by Mackensen's 11th Army, which has just won a large-scale victory. The area between the Vivas and Bug rivers.

The second line of troops is the 12th Army in the direction of East Prussia, and the attack direction is the northern root of Poland, and strives to cut off all the prominent areas of Poland.

But Hindenburg, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, had very different ideas.Hindenburg believed that launching an attack from the Neman River, directly inserting into Minsk via Kovno, and directly cutting off the retreat of the Russian army from the Russian rear would not only occupy a large area of ​​Russian territory including Poland, but also wipe out more The main force of the Russian army created a decisive victory for the entire Eastern Front battlefield.

Falkenhayn's plan is still to fight in Poland, while Hindenburg's plan has penetrated into Minsk on Russian territory, which is more than 200 kilometers away from the Russian border.

Although going around Minsk can indeed cut off the retreat route of the Russian army on the eastern front, it is more likely to obtain more results.

But the problem is that such an in-depth combat plan must invest more troops in order to ensure that the flanks of the advancing army are not threatened.

More troops also meant more supplies, which was a problem for German logistics.

You must know that although the transportation in East Prussia is very developed, this does not mean that the transportation in Poland and Russia is sufficiently developed.

Compared with Germany's well-developed railway network and road network, Russia's transportation environment will be more primitive. Not only will it be more difficult to mobilize troops, but the burden of unscrupulous transportation will be unbearable.

More importantly, it is now approaching September, and the winter in Russia is not far away.If the battle cannot be ended quickly before winter arrives, the winter in Russia will be a hell of ice and snow for German soldiers.

At that time, in addition to conventional food and supplies, the German logistics department will have to transport a large number of cotton coats and winter items to ensure that the German army will not suffer from frostbite.

Due to various factors, Hindenburg's plan was no longer realistic.The German logistics department cannot guarantee that a large number of German troops can receive sufficient supplies, let alone distribute cotton coats and winter items to every German soldier in the coming winter.

As the two most powerful voices in the German military, Falkenhayn and Hindenburg were unable to convince each other, causing the German army to be unable to decide on the final battle plan against Russia.

Seeing that the best opportunity to destroy the Russian army was about to be missed, Falkenhayn had no choice but to go to persuade William II.

William II was easier to persuade than the already headstrong Hindenburg.

Falkenhayn said bluntly that Hindenburg was a self-willed and self-willed guy.

Hindenburg's plan simply didn't work.Russia's territory is very vast, and there is great room for maneuver.

According to the current strength of the German-Austrian coalition forces, it is impossible to achieve an effective encirclement of all Russian troops, let alone achieve operations deep into the Russian interior.

If the German army is not defeated by the countless swamps, lakes, forests and terrible roads in Russia, it is destined to be defeated by the winter that will come in a few months.

Falkenhayn said that if William II does not want to face the predicament that Napoleon did back then, he should carefully consider his combat plan against Russia and adopt a more conservative plan with a higher success rate.

Falkenhayn's words really worked.Napoleon is known to everyone in Europe, and Napoleon's achievements far surpassed William II.

But Napoleon, who was once unstoppable, was defeated by Russia's vast territory and cold winter, not to mention the current German army.

William II was quickly persuaded by Falkenhayn. He unreservedly supported Falkenhayn's plan and ordered all troops on the front line to follow Falkenhayn's plan.

The good news is that most of the German army followed Wilhelm II's orders and acted according to Falkenhayn's plan.

The bad news is that Hindenburg was the only one who followed Falkenhayn's plan on the surface, but secretly ordered his subordinates to prepare according to his own plan.

Hindenburg's obedience to William II's order actually represents a sad fact that the German imperial power has gradually been emptied by military power.

While the German army was plotting the next round of offensive, the Russian army was already extremely pessimistic about the current war situation.

After the last defeat, the angry Nicholas II directly dismissed Ivanov, commander-in-chief of the Southwest Front Army, and appointed Alekseyev as the new commander-in-chief of the Southwest Army.

At the same time, Nicholas II repeatedly questioned Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army.If it weren't for the sudden change of command that would lead to the collapse of the army's morale, I am afraid that Grand Duke Nicholas' position as commander-in-chief of the Russian army would have been dismissed by Nicholas II long ago.

The Russian High Command believes that after the failure of the Battle of Goerlitse, the Russian army suffered a heavy blow.

Not only faced serious casualties and losses, but also lost a large amount of materials, which made the front-line troops scarce and ammunition insufficient.

Coupled with the damage to the morale of the army, the combat effectiveness of the frontline troops has been weakened, and it is not suitable for a direct confrontation with the German and Austrian coalition forces.

Grand Duke Nicholas also ordered that until the above-mentioned problems were resolved, any army was prohibited from taking offensive actions against the German-Austrian coalition forces, and a large-scale retreat was implemented on all fronts that were not conducive to the Russian army.

When necessary, the army can withdraw from Warsaw and transfer to Brest behind Warsaw.

This is actually equivalent to Russia unilaterally giving up most of Poland's land, and switching from a full-scale offensive to a full-scale defense on the Eastern Front.

Although such a decision will cause Russia to lose a large amount of land, it is the only correct decision that Russia can make at present.

In order to facilitate the integration of the Southwest Front Army and restore its combat effectiveness, the new commander-in-chief of the Southwest Front Army, Alekseyev, asked the armies of the Northwest Front Army to hold on for at least one month to cover the retreat of the Southwest Front Army in Warsaw and reorganize its forces in the Brest area. .

The day after the retreat of the Russian Southwestern Front began, Germany launched a large-scale offensive.

On September 1915, 9, the German 3th Army, the Bug River Army and the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army launched a large-scale battle, launching a fierce attack on Tomaszow and Krasnik.

It is worth mentioning that, knowing that the Russian army did not have sufficient artillery, the German artillery positions were even very close to the Russian front line, less than one kilometer from the nearest point.

Shooting directly at such a close range is equivalent to shooting with a rifle within one meter, and the hit rate will be greatly increased.

Of course, as the hit rate increased, the lethality of this short-range artillery would be astonishing.

Thanks to the closer distance, the German artillery could hit the Russian trenches almost accurately, killing a large number of Russian soldiers in the trenches.

The tragic scene of the armies of various countries moved people, and even the German officers could not help but feel sorry for the Russian soldiers who died tragically.

Of course, as soldiers, they are only pitiful for a few seconds at most, and then they will strangle the Russian army with a more courageous posture.

The Russian army held on for four days in these two areas, and suffered close to 10 casualties, and finally the front collapsed and retreated.

In mid-September, when the German army forcibly crossed the Bug River, Russia finally dispatched the planes purchased from Australasia for the first time to bombard the German-Austrian coalition forces crossing the river, and continued to shoot with machine guns.

This is the first time that the Russian army has used aircraft to fight a war, and it is also the first time in Russian history that it has conducted air-ground coordinated operations. It is a worthy writing in the history of Russian warfare.

Russia dispatched a total of more than ten planes and dropped a total of more than three tons of bombs in a few days.

Under the emergency training of some Australasian experts, Russia finally trained more than a dozen pilots before it was able to dispatch aircraft for combat for the first time.

Fortunately, the first flight of the plane achieved considerable results, and Nicholas II rejoiced that his money on the plane was not wasted.

After the failure of the 11th Army to cross the river forcibly, the German 12th Army also began to attack from the lower reaches of the Narew River in the direction of East Prussia.

Compared with the Russian army faced by the 11th Army, the Russian soldiers faced by the German 12th Army were much weaker.

When attacking Galicia, Russia transferred some of its elite troops to the Southwest Front, which also resulted in the weak combat capability of some Russian troops in East Prussia.

Under the fierce artillery fire of the 12th Army, the Russian army could only retreat to the city, relying on the chaotic streets and alleys in the city to start street fighting with the German army.

All of a sudden, the unprepared German army suffered a lot of casualties in the street fighting.

The Russian army gave full play to the spirit of shooting to change places, and launched guerrilla warfare in street fighting, so that the German army could not find where the enemy was, and it was in chaos for a while.

Reinforcements from elsewhere pushed back the Germans, leading to the failure of Galvez, commander of the 12th Army, in his attempt to force the Narew across.

However, Galvez was quick to use his wits and thought of another good way, which was to cross the river in other areas by detours.

After some searching, Galvez finally found an area where the Russian army was weaker, forcibly crossed the Narew River from the Rochany area, and successfully controlled the important ferry on the Narew River.

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(End of this chapter)