I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 585 Cleaning up the portal
Until the last moment, Nicholas had not really made up his mind. Although this mobilization was no longer limited to the Rivne area, it was still not a national mobilization. Only reservists of appropriate age received orders to report to the nearest conscription office within a week.

The reason for emphasizing the appropriate age is that the size of the Russian Empire's reserve force is too large. Retired soldiers remain in the reserve force until they are 45 years old. If all reservists are required to be transferred to active service, the Russian Empire's military strength will quickly expand to 450 million.

If that were the case, the Empire wouldn't even have enough weapons to arm them, not to mention other aspects.

Therefore, the first phase of mobilization of the Russian Empire only required reservists under the age of 30 to return to the army.

Even so, after the first phase of mobilization, the size of the army will expand to 260 million people.

Of course, this is not necessarily the case.

After several military reforms by Milyutin and George, Russia's conscription system is now very humane, and the only labor force in the family does not need to serve in the military.

Before Milyutin's reform, soldiers who joined the army became monks, so many soldiers got married immediately after receiving the conscription letter, hoping to leave offspring for themselves.

After Milyutin's reform, the situation has improved greatly. Soldiers can go home after serving for 7 years. It is no longer a lifelong system, and sudden marriages have decreased.

George's military reform was further optimized, and the only labor force in the family did not need to serve in the military, so things returned to the starting point. In order to avoid military service, many Russians got married suddenly.

According to statistics from the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the first week of mobilization, the number of military-age people who suddenly got married in Russia reached 50, which had a certain impact on the mobilization, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to relax the age limit to 35.

This is just a second-level mobilization.

If it is a national mobilization, not only will the age limit be lifted, but the gender limit will also be lifted. At that time, all Russians will enter the reserve force and obey the imperial distribution, either going to factories, joining the army, or going to develop (exile) Siberia.

Not everyone evaded military service. The rate of Cossacks responding to conscription was extremely high. Almost every Cossack who received a conscription letter took the initiative to report to the conscription office as soon as possible, and many even brought their own weapons and equipment.

At 8 a.m. on August 2, the Kingdom of Romania responded to the Russian Empire and announced the beginning of mobilization.

That morning, Baron Gysse, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Belgrade, announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Serbia on the grounds that Serbia did not stop mobilization within the time set by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Baron then boarded the train with his packed luggage and left Serbia to return to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This caught the Kingdom of Serbia off guard.

The day before, Baron Giselle presented ten demands to the Kingdom of Serbia on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Kingdom of Serbia agreed to most of the provisions, with only some ambiguity.

This was originally just a bargaining method of the Kingdom of Serbia, but was regarded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a second humiliation.

George received an order that the Garibaldi Military District where Constantinople is located, together with the Amur Military District, following the Kazan Military District, Kiev Military District, Moscow Military District, and Odessa Military District, should be put on alert.

In addition to the above-mentioned military districts, the troops of the Warsaw Military District, Vilna Military District and St. Petersburg Military District have been assembled and can enter combat status at any time.

This situation is important to Germany because these three military regions can pose a direct threat to Germany.

The Germans obviously took notice of this, and Wilhelm II sent a sternly worded telegram to Nicholas demanding that the Russian Empire immediately cease mobilization or Germany would respond.

Mobilization, once started, cannot be stopped.

Especially when the Austro-Hungarian army had begun moving towards the Austro-Serbian border.

Of Conrad's 25 plans, only three remain, namely "Plan R" to attack the Russian Empire, "Plan B" to attack Montenegro and Serbia, and "Plan R+B" to go to war with three countries at the same time.

After the first mobilization, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a total of 48 divisions. Conrad divided these troops into three echelons: Echelon A to deal with the Russian Empire, the Balkan Cluster to attack Serbia and Montenegro, and Echelon B as the general reserve.

There are a total of 9 armies in Echelon A, forming the First, Third and Fourth Army Groups respectively.

The Balkan Cluster is relatively small, with only four armies forming the Fifth and Sixth Army Groups.

The Second Army, which made up the B echelon, also consisted of four armies, and was the only mobile force in Conrad's hands.

After obtaining Germany's commitment, Conrad transferred the Second Army to the Balkans, a decision that aroused strong opposition from Germany.

After transferring the Second Army to the Balkans, the Austro-Hungarian Empire only had 28 divisions left in Galicia. If war broke out at this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not be able to provide sufficient assistance to the German army.

Although Moltke promised to immediately transfer the main force back to the Eastern Front after defeating France, at a meeting of the Chiefs of the General Staff earlier this year, Moltke gave a time of about six weeks.

According to the agreement between the Russian Empire and France, if war breaks out, the Russian Empire must launch an attack on the German army within 15 days.

William II did not know that in George's plan, the Russian Empire would sit on the sidelines and watch the fire, so even if the Russian Empire fulfilled its agreement and launched an attack on Germany, the scale would be extremely limited.

Based on William II's understanding of Nicholas, once the Russian Empire launched an attack, it would go all out.

In order to attack France, Germany concentrated its main forces on the Western Front, and there was only the 8th Army led by General Prittwitz in East Prussia.

The 8th Army was only a name now, and it would not be able to receive reinforcements until Germany began to mobilize. With the strength of the 8th Army, it would certainly not be able to withstand the attack of the Russian army, so at the beginning of the war, the German army needed the help of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At this time, Conrad actually transferred the Second Army to the Balkans, and it was obvious that he did not care about the Russian Empire at all.

On the one hand, German War Minister Falkenhayn frantically sent telegrams to Conrad, asking him to immediately transfer the Second Army to Galicia. On the other hand, he could not wait to announce that Germany had begun general mobilization.

After learning about this situation, Nicholas the Younger immediately proposed to St. Petersburg to launch an attack on Germany before Germany completed its mobilization, in order to strike first.

Sukhomlinov called back Nicholas the Younger, asking him to follow the pre-arranged plan and not to take the initiative to launch an attack on Germany.

Little Nicholas was very angry and complained to Nikolai, accusing Sukhomlinov of wasting fighter planes.

Sukhomlinov felt aggrieved. Since the battle plan could be modified at will, what was the point of having a plan? Wouldn't it be better to just respond to the situation as it arises?

After George learned about the verbal dispute between little Nikolai and Sukhomlinov, he was truly helpless.

The war hasn't even started yet and there's already a conflict between the theater commander and the chief of general staff. This is not a good sign.

George also had troubles. After Conrad transferred the Second Army to the Balkans, he gathered 30 troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire only ten kilometers away from Belgrade. War could break out at any time.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire severed its relations with the Kingdom of Serbia, Peter frantically asked George for help.

But Peter was unwilling to give up command of the army.

So George ignored Peter's call for help.

Peter had no choice but to order his troops to prepare for battle and began to move the capital from Belgrade to the other side far away from the border.

This was basically useless, as the Kingdom of Serbia was too small and had no strategic depth.

Faced with the threat of war, the Kingdom of Bulgaria began to mobilize following the Kingdom of Romania.

The Greek Kingdom's response was very slow. Not only did it not mobilize, it also did not move troops to the border to strengthen defense as George requested.

George telegraphed Georgi to ask what was going on.

Georgi called George back and said Venizelos was holding a meeting with the military alliance to discuss whether it was necessary for the Kingdom of Greece to withdraw from the Balkan Alliance.

George remembered that the Kingdom of Greece was very active during the St. Petersburg Conference.

What? Now that you have to take on the responsibility, you want to quit?
What did you do early?
George telegraphed Rakitsky, ordering the Mediterranean Fleet to go to Greece to deter Venizelos and the military alliance.

At the same time, he ordered Andrei, who had just arrived in Constantinople, to lead the 13th Army to move to the Greek border and be ready to enter Greece at any time.

If they dare to withdraw from the league at this time, George will have to clean up the mess first.

The 13th Army belongs to the Balkan Theater and consists of four divisions. The main force is the Khabarovsk Division from the Amur Military District, and the other three divisions are from the Gaori Corps.

The 11th Army led by Brusinov consists of 8 divisions and is currently stationed in Bulgaria.

Vasily led the 12th Army to Romania to assist the Romanian army in defending against the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Thanks to the Bulgarian Kingdom's two years of recuperation, the Bulgarians are very supportive of the war.

After Polis became king, he distributed land to the Bulgarians, reduced taxes, and worked hard to improve the level of infrastructure in the country.

The Bulgarians had only been enjoying good life for a few days when the Austro-Hungarian Empire attacked them, and the Bulgarians would never agree.

On the first day of mobilization, more than 10 Bulgarians reported to the conscription offices, which made August overjoyed.

George incorporated all 10 troops into the newly formed 14th Army, equipped them all with standard Russian weapons, and began training according to the requirements of mountain infantry.

The Balkan region is mountainous and has complex terrain, and mountain infantry is the only shortcoming of the Russian army.

Fortunately, the Gao Ri Corps are quite adept at mountain warfare, so this can be considered a blessing in disguise.

While mobilization is being carried out on the front line, production work in the rear must also be accelerated.

After receiving the order, Mario mobilized Amur women to work in factories, increasing industrial capacity to the extreme and fully meeting the needs of the front line.

The accident still happened. On the night of August 8, an accident occurred on the Yenisei River Bridge and the Trans-Siberian Railway was interrupted.

This is a familiar recipe and a familiar taste.

(End of this chapter)