I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 593 The Big Bad

All parties involved in the Battle of Tannenberg paid a price, and although Demeter brought back more troops, he was also relieved of his post.

In Germany, he was chased and beaten like a dog by Hindenburg.

After finally escaping back to Russia, Milyutin died again.

Demeter's spirit almost collapsed, and he drank himself unconscious every day.

After Milyutin's funeral, George came to Dmitri's house.

Demeter's wife Sophia hugged her two daughters and looked at George with horror, who was holding a whip in his hand.

"What about people?"

George was murderous.

Sophia pointed upstairs, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.

George trudged up the stairs.

Demeter's eldest daughter, Mary, asked timidly, "What does the Grand Duke want to do?"

Sofia shook her head and hugged Mary and Elena tightly without saying a word.

George went upstairs and kicked the door open.

The room was filled with the pungent smell of alcohol. Demeter was lying on the balcony, unconscious, with three or four wine bottles scattered around him, and there was still vomit at the corners of his mouth that had not been wiped away.

George strode forward and whipped him across the face with the whip.

"Sokka—"

Demeter was halfway through his curse when he saw that it was George, and then he curled up on the floor with his head in his hands, motionless.

George lashed out and cursed.

"What have you been doing in the Guards all these years? Have you forgotten everything you learned? Do you know that your grandfather's last telegram before he died asked me to take care of you? You might as well die. How could Marshal Mi have a grandson like you--"

George's voice was so loud that Mary and Elena burst into tears and wanted to go upstairs to find their father.

Sofia just cried and hugged Mary and Elena tightly without letting go.

Nicholas and Carol looked at each other outside the door. Christie and Kolchak were also at a loss as they had never seen George like this.

All kinds of rumors about George were circulating in Petrograd: he was a spendthrift, barbaric, cruel, selfish, cold-blooded, and so on.

But no one has ever seen George like this.

When George stopped, Demeter was already covered in wounds and his clothes were torn by George.

Demeter lay on the floor, covering his face, crying like a child who can’t find his home on a cold winter night.

"I'll give you 10 minutes. If you can't clean up and show up in front of me, I'll kill you with my own hands!"

George came downstairs with the whip.

Sophia hurried upstairs, holding Mary and Elena's hands.

When Elena passed by George, she actually said to him, "You are a bad guy!"

George is willing to be the bad guy if being the bad guy can save Russia.

It took only 5 minutes for Demeter to appear in front of George. He had only changed his clothes and the whip marks on his face were still oozing blood.

"Take the children to Vladivostok. If I don't come back, you should find someone to marry, not someone like me—"

Demeter gave Sophia instructions before leaving.

"I will wait for you. If you don't come back, I will go find you after I settle the children."

Sophia's voice was calm. As a soldier's wife, she had already realized this.

George did not go to Petrograd but returned directly to Constantinople.

Demeter said nothing the whole way.

George didn't assign any work to Demeter for the time being, as if he had forgotten about him.

Demeter stayed in the staff office every day, sitting there all day long.

George's staff has a complex structure. In addition to the Amur Military District and the Navy Department, there is now a new theater command.

For Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, the General Staff Office formed three groups to connect with the military liaison officers sent by the three countries respectively. In addition, there are support teams for combat, medical care, transportation, logistics support, warehousing and storage, with a total of more than 300 staff members at all levels.

After the war broke out, the General Staff Office was extremely busy. Countless tasks needed to be solved. The lights were on all night long. The staff were like hardworking bees, so busy that they didn't even have time to eat.

Since Brusinov was sent to Bulgaria by George, the post of chief of staff of the theater was actually vacant, and the work of the general staff was temporarily taken over by Colonel Dimitri.

Dimitri had been working in the Amur Military District since graduating from the Nikolai Staff College and was not familiar with Dmitri.

However, Dimitri and Milyutin were not strangers. During the Russo-Japanese War, Milyutin served as George's chief of staff, and Dimitri also worked in the staff office at that time. The staff office has been too busy in recent days. In addition to analyzing the collected intelligence, it also has to provide logistical support for Vasily's troops. Dimitri was busy until 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, and then he remembered that he had not sent today's work report to George, but he really couldn't leave, so he entrusted Dimitri to send the work report to George.

George was also asleep. There were two sand tables in front of him, one showing Galicia and the other showing the Carpathian Pass.

Unlike the quick Battle of Tannenberg, the Battle of Galicia, which broke out earlier, is still ongoing, with 160 million troops fighting on this land.

Overall, the Ivanov Corps had more people than the Austro-Hungarian Empire's A Group and had the advantage in terms of manpower.

However, due to incorrect intelligence before the outbreak of the war, Ivanov misjudged the situation, resulting in the Russian army being at a disadvantage in terms of manpower in Krasnik. As a result, the Russian army fell into a passive position at the beginning of the battle.

During the Battle of Galicia, the contradiction between Nikolai the Younger and Sukhomlinov further intensified. Ivanov was able to take over the Southwestern Front thanks to Sukhomlinov's full support. In order to check and balance Ivanov, Nikolai the Younger arranged for Mikhail Alexeev to serve as Chief of Staff of the Southwestern Front.

During the Battle of Galicia, whenever Ivanov and Alexeev had conflicting opinions, Alexeev would report to Nicholas the Younger and ask Nicholas the Younger to give orders to Ivanov.

Because the higher the rank, the more powerful the person, and Ivanov had no choice but to submit, many of his decisions could not be implemented.

Ivanov himself also had problems. His command was very conservative, and he advanced step by step. He always hoped to concentrate superior forces before launching an attack on the enemy. This caused Ivanov's troops to miss good opportunities again and again.

At the critical moment, Nikolai Ruzynski, who commanded the 3rd Army, performed outstandingly. He first defeated the Austrian 3rd Army that was crossing the river, and then crushed the counterattack of the Austrian 11th Army, captured the important town of Zrochev, and won the Battle of the Gnila Lipa River.

In this battle, the Russian army destroyed 20000 Austrian troops and captured 70 artillery pieces. Although the losses were insignificant compared to the Battle of Tannenberg, it was the first victory of the Russian army after the outbreak of World War II.

But this is just the appetizer. As the participating troops arrive in Galicia one after another, the subsequent battles will become even more brutal.

The Carpathian Pass was Vasily's mission. Only by breaking through the Carpathian Mountain defense line could the 12th Army led by Vasily enter the heartland of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

To guard against attacks from the Romanian Kingdom, Conrad built a solid defense line in the Carpathian Mountains. Although the defenders here were not numerous, the attacking force was limited by the terrain and could not deploy too many troops.

Demeter handed the report to Christie, glanced at George, and prepared to leave.

"Demite, come sit with me for a moment."

George called Demeter over. Demeter had been performing well during this period and had gradually come out of the shadows.

George did not ignore Demeter. Only setbacks can make people grow.

Demeter gave up drinking and had not had a single sip of the stuff since arriving in Constantinople.

He never attended any gatherings among officers and kept to himself. He spent his days reading and running and had no bad habits.

Dmitri sat down opposite George and Kolchak brought Dmitri a cup of coffee.

Demeter thanked him, and George noticed that Christie and Kolchak were also forced to work overtime.

"The report on the Battle of Tannenberg has come out, and it's not your responsibility."

George did not apologize for his behavior. Demeter was not responsible, but he also did not contribute.

Demeter didn't say anything, his breathing became faster and his eyes began to become bloodshot.

The Guards' armored vehicles could not move in the swamps of the Masurian Lakes, and Zhilinsky had been urging the troops to advance lightly until the Second Army ran headlong into the encirclement set by Hindenburg.

The Guards led by Demeter were not defeated by the German army, but were overwhelmed by the fleeing army.

Before the retreat, Demeter ordered the destruction of armored vehicles and heavy artillery that could not be taken away, and he was dismissed from his post for this.

In the Battle of Tannenberg, the Russian army lost 650 artillery pieces and 270 armored vehicles.

It was a shame Demeter would never forget.

"If you want to rejoin the army, I can arrange for you to go to Romania."

George hopes Demeter will pull himself together.

"No, I'm fine here. To be honest, the pressure of commanding troops in combat is too great. I'm still more suitable to be a staff officer."

Demeter knows his own limitations and doesn't want to go to the front line again.

It is good to command troops on the front line to destroy the enemy, but the pressure of having hundreds or thousands of people die with just one order is not something that most people can bear.

George did not force anything. It was important for people to know themselves. The Russian Empire suffered heavy blows one after another because there were too many people who wanted to prove themselves.

The position of staff officer was indeed the most suitable for Demeter. He no longer had to make decisions and only had to provide George with battle plans. As for how many soldiers would die as a result of his plans, it had nothing to do with him.

After removing the moral shackles, Demeter seemed to be reborn, wound up and acted quickly.

Vasily had no better way to break through the Carpathian Mountain Pass of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and could only rely on the tactic of human wave to force his way forward.

George had already prepared for heavy casualties among his troops, but Demeter's words woke him up.

“Why not use airborne troops to drop behind the Carpathian Pass?”

George then remembered that there was still an airborne force in Crimea that had not been put into use.

Sending paratroopers to land behind the enemy's front line, isolated and helpless, will definitely lead to siege by the enemy. If Vasily cannot capture the Carpathian Pass as quickly as possible, the paratroopers will suffer heavy losses.

But this is not a problem, paratroopers are born to be surrounded.

(End of this chapter)