I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 592 A bad start
George's military reform effectively increased the mobilization speed of the Russian Empire. Falkenhayn promised Conrad that the German army would defeat the French army within 6 weeks and then concentrate its main forces on the Eastern Front. This was based on the premise that the mobilization of the Russian Empire would take 6 weeks to complete.

Six weeks was Schlieffen's judgment on the Russian Empire in his time.

Schlieffen served as Chief of the German General Staff from 1891 to 1906.

After George's military reform, the mobilization of the Russian Empire was shortened from 6 weeks to just 6 days.

When the Russian army invaded East Prussia, the 8th Army and local garrison forces in East Prussia had a total of less than 20 people.

The total strength of the Russian First Army and Second Army is 28.

If Rennenkamp and Samsonov could work closely together, the Russian army would indeed have the possibility of achieving its tactical goal of attacking the German 8th Army from both sides and occupying the entire East Prussia.

Although the commander of the 8th Army, von Prittwitz, was mediocre in ability, he was aware of the danger. Therefore, after the Russian army entered East Prussia, the German army kept retreating and did not engage in a head-on confrontation with the Russian army.

The marching speed of today's armies is extremely slow. During the march, a division's troops may stretch for more than ten kilometers, making it easy for the enemy to seize advantage of their position.

Because of George's military reform, the quality of the Guards has greatly improved and their marching speed is faster.

After the outbreak of the war, the mobilized troops were of poor quality and disorganized. Wherever they arrived, they had to follow the Cossack tradition of fighting to support the war and plundering spoils on a large scale, so the situation became increasingly pessimistic.

Another greater hidden danger for the Russian army was that the French army did not take any further action after entering Alsace, which gave the German army time to adjust its deployment.

Opposite the French army were the German Fifth Army and Sixth Army led by Crown Prince Friedrich.

The French advance into Alsace not only gave Zhilinski the wrong signal, it also panicked Friedrich.

So Moltke the Younger had to transfer two armies from the right wing to Alsace to strengthen the left wing.

At the same time, the progress of the Russian army in East Prussia made William II even more nervous. Moltke the Younger had to withdraw two more armies from the right wing and send them to East Prussia, which further reduced the German army's strength to implement the "Schlieffen Plan".

On August 8, a fierce battle broke out between the Russian and German armies in Gumbin. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The German army retreated on its own initiative and the Russian army did not pursue.

That evening, von Prittwitz called Moltke and suggested abandoning East Prussia.

After Moltke hung up the phone, he ordered the removal of von Prittwitz and appointed Hindenburg as commander-in-chief of the 8th Army.

By this time, little Nicholas had realized that Zhilinsky's reckless advance was inappropriate.

Equipping the elite troops of the Guards to two hastily formed armies will not effectively improve the combat capability of the armies. Instead, it will lead to tactical disconnection and bring greater hidden dangers.

Faced with the complicated situation, Nicholas was a little at a loss.

This is understandable. For two months after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, countries took almost no action, so much so that some people believed that there would be no world war at all.

Suddenly, Austria-Hungary declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, and Germany declared war on Russia and France.

The German army then invaded Luxembourg and launched an attack on the Belgian fortress of Liège.

The French army invaded Germany, the Russian army also invaded Germany, Serbia began to fight back, the Romanian regime changed, and the entire Balkan Peninsula was mobilized.

Everything is in chaos, and something big happens almost every day, making it hard to keep up.

Nicholas was still very confident about the war. After the first batch of Russian troops were mobilized, the strength increased to 350 million, with a total of 114 infantry divisions and 36 cavalry divisions, which was almost the sum of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Before the outbreak of the war, Germany's regular army had only 76.1 people. After the first phase of mobilization, the size of the German army expanded to 200 million people. These troops were organized into 87 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry divisions.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire mobilized 130 million men, organized into 47 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry divisions.

France mobilized 180 million men, including 97 infantry divisions and 10 cavalry divisions.

Data for the United Kingdom are not included above.

Mobilization has begun in Britain, but it is still a long way from the "100 million" claimed by Kitchener. French and Kitchener are discussing whether to recruit the Indian Corps as the main combat force.

Nicholas brought George 12 infantry divisions and 4 cavalry divisions.

What made Nicholas quite embarrassed was that these troops were seriously lacking in weapons and equipment. Not only did they not have artillery, they didn't even have the most basic rifles.

There are war horses for the cavalry.

Apart from anything else, the strength of the Russian Empire can be seen from the number of cavalry alone.

After all, more than half of the world's horses are in the Russian Empire.

George didn't worry, because he would have weapons sooner or later, but this batch of troops was rare.

The first batch of soldiers mobilized by various countries are reservists who have just retired. Their conditions in all aspects are the best, and future mobilizations will be worse and worse.

George also has a trump card in his hand.

Considering Amur's industrial capacity, Amur has not yet been mobilized.

After the Russian Empire began mobilization, Goryeo and Japan also began mobilization. Now there are 50 Goryeo and Japanese troops training in military camps in East Asia.

After receiving this batch of troops, George had more than 120 million troops at his disposal, not including the Serbs. For George, he had almost never fought such a rich war.

Give George another three months. Once the mobilized soldiers of the Balkan League have completed their training and have been replenished with weapons, George will be able to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone without the help of Little Nicholas.

"I look forward to hearing about your victory."

When Nicholas left, he was full of expectations for George.

Ferdinand sent his brother Nicholas to George as liaison officer between the Balkan theater and the Kingdom of Romania.

As Nicholas's adjutant, Carol will accompany Nicholas to Constantinople.

In front of George, Carol behaved very reservedly, honestly, and did not look away.

However, George knew Carol's true identity and was worried about the future of the Kingdom of Romania.

What George was most worried about happened. As soon as he returned to Constantinople, George received news that the Russian army was defeated by the German army in Tannenberg, 13 people were killed, 14 were captured, and Samsonov committed suicide after his defeat.

The First and Second Armies had a total strength of 28 men, with a loss of 27, and were almost completely wiped out.

The process of defeat was extremely simple. Hindenburg secretly arrived at the front line and concentrated superior forces to besiege the Second Army led by Samsonov.

Renningkamp did not send timely reinforcements and watched the First Army being surrounded and annihilated.

After the German army annihilated the Second Army, it continued to attack the First Army.

Rennenkamp ordered his troops to retreat, but the movement was unusually slow, and his troops were subsequently surrounded and annihilated by Hindenburg at the Masurian Lakes.

During the Battle of Tannenberg, George's only comfort was that Demeter led part of his troops to successfully escape before being surrounded by the German army.

Well, Demeter has been with George for so long, and finally he has learned something.

Before George had time to digest the fact of Zhilinsky's defeat, more bad news came from St. Petersburg: Milyutin had died.

This is not bad news. Milyutin, who was born in 1816, is 98 years old this year. In an era when the average life expectancy is less than 40 years old, he can be called an old monster.

George was very sad. He still remembered his first meeting with Milyutin at a banquet in the Winter Palace in the winter of 1881.

From 1881 to now, 33 years have passed unknowingly.

For George, Milyutin was both a teacher and a friend, and the person who had the greatest influence on George.

George returned to Petrograd by plane.

This was George's first time on an airplane.

Milyutin was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Because it was during the war, the funeral ceremony was unusually simple.

Nikolai did not attend Milyutin's funeral as he was cleaning up the mess after the Battle of Tannenberg.

After the Battle of Tannenberg, Zhilinski was relieved of his post and went to France to serve as a liaison officer.

Rönningamp was also dismissed. Both he and Zhilinski paid the price for their mistakes, but the losses suffered by the empire were irreparable.

The consequences of the Battle of Tannenberg are still unfolding.

After the loss of the First and Second Armies, the Russian-German border was in an unprecedentedly empty state. If Hindenburg marched straight in at this time, not only would Warsaw be unable to be defended, but the Ivanov Corps that was fighting in Galicia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be attacked from both the German and Austrian armies.

If Ivanov was also defeated, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet would have to go ashore to assist the Guards in defending Petrograd.

In order to relieve the pressure on Ivanov, George had to order Vasily to launch an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This was a difficult decision, as Vasily would need to cross the Carpathian Mountains and the Alps to pose a threat to Austria-Hungary.

Before the outbreak of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire built strong fortifications in the Carpathian Mountains and the Alps. Due to the rugged and difficult mountain roads, the armored vehicles equipped to Vasily were difficult to use. Vasily did not have enough troops. The only ones he could mobilize were the three divisions of the Gao Ri Corps.

The army of the Kingdom of Romania, by Amur standards, was not even as good as the militia and could not even perform the most basic infantry-artillery coordination.

For these small countries, the difficulty of infantry and artillery coordination is indeed too high. After all, there are less than 200 artillery pieces in the entire Kingdom of Romania.

The Russian Empire had 9500 artillery pieces.

The artillery of the Kingdom of Romania was still seriously backward. Some of the artillery were even manufactured in the last century and were completely antiques.

Even so, Vasily launched an attack on the Austrian defenses.

Because Vasily’s biggest trump card is the Air Force.

It is hard to believe, but although the European theater was also equipped with an air force, the European theater's air force was not deployed at all during the Battle of Tannenberg. It was as if Zhilinsky had forgotten that he even had an air force.

If the Air Force could provide assistance to the ground forces, regardless of whether it could change the outcome, at least more Russian troops would be able to withdraw smoothly.

(End of this chapter)