Chapter 403 The Allies won a great victory and the Russians were beaten

Beginning on May 12, Germany's strategy officially shifted to the Eastern Front. Some German troops on the Western Front stopped attacking and retreated to the rear to prepare to take trains to the Eastern Front battlefield.

The sudden misfire of the German army was felt especially clearly on the battlefield on the Western Front. But everyone, including Xiafei, knows that the German army has not had any problems, and Germany's logistical supplies are still sufficient. There must be something strange about the current anomaly.

Under the extremely cautious attitude of the top leaders, the Allied forces on the Western Front did not advance rashly. Instead, they acted steadily and launched an attack on the German army according to the original plan.

Soon, they were surprised to find that the German army's combat style was completely different from usual. The German army did not launch a large-scale counterattack, but relied on favorable terrain to defend against the Allied attacks. Even the frequency of artillery bombings was reduced.

Although I don’t know what is going on, the sudden silence of the German army is not a bad thing for the Western Front battlefield.

If the Allies had a slight advantage in the previous Western Front battlefield, then the current Western Front battlefield has become a struggle for the German army to support.

On May 13, the offensive on the Western Front battlefield went very smoothly, and some areas were even close to the original French-German border, and beyond that was German territory.

The Germans' shrinking defensive style caused greater casualties to the Allied Powers, but the Allied Powers' advance did not decrease at all.

On May 14, when most of the front lines had reached the border and even German soil, the Allied forces finally felt the tenacity of the German army.

The entire Western Front battlefield was almost completely blocked from the border. Even though the Allied forces suffered tens of thousands of casualties every day, they still could not move forward a step.

The German army braved huge casualties and finally blocked the Allied forces from the border, and the German land and cities were temporarily safe.

Defensive success on the western front would be a good thing for both Willem II and Falkenhayn. Only Germany knows how empty the German army on the Western Front is currently.

So far in the war, Germany's army has surpassed Russia's and is the largest army among the countries participating in the war.

Of course, this is not a good thing. Germany currently has 118 divisions and nearly 2 million combat troops.

This number has increased several times compared to ten years ago. Such a large army is not a good thing for the German economy.

To put it bluntly, if the front line could not hold up, Germany would not want to maintain such a large number of troops.

Among Germany's 118 divisions, 65 divisions are currently deployed on the Eastern Front, accounting for more than half of Germany's total strength.

There are only 53 divisions on the Western Front battlefield at full capacity, half of which are newly recruited troops, and their combat effectiveness is much weaker than that of elite troops.

These 53 divisions face less than 1 million troops, but France has millions of troops, Britain has 200,000, Australasia has 480,000, Italy has 500,000, and Belgium has 80,000 troops, totaling more than 2.3 million troops.

Even if a considerable part of the Allied forces has limited combat effectiveness, the gap in the number of soldiers is such that the German army can be killed by a pile of people.

Less than 1 million German troops were able to defend the attack of more than 2.3 million Allied troops. This not only proved the combat effectiveness of the German army, but also proved that the combat effectiveness of the Agreement armies was really poor.

This is indeed the case. If it were not for taking care of the face of his new allies, Arthur would really like to complain about the combat effectiveness of the Italian army since the war.

You know, the Italian army is not facing the powerful German army, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose combat effectiveness ranks in the middle and lower reaches of many great powers.

The Italian army fought several exaggerated defeats with several times its strength, which greatly strengthened the Austro-Hungarian Empire's confidence in defending its territory.

If it weren't for the heavy damage to Italy, Arthur even suspected that this was an undercover agent sent by the Allies, specifically responsible for restoring blood to the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an enemy.

The advanced weapons and equipment sent by the Italian army were enough for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to arm more than 100,000 troops to fight Italy.

After the battlefield on the Western Front had stabilized, William II also turned his attention to the battlefield on the Eastern Front.

In order to implement the strategy proposed by Chief of Staff Falkenhayn to quickly defeat Russia and withdraw Russia from the war, the German General Staff planned to organize a large-scale battle on the Eastern Front in an effort to annihilate the entire main force of the Russian army in one fell swoop.

Talking about the Russian army, the Russian army finally felt the crisis of insufficient logistics at this time. Some front-line troops are currently running out of weapons and ammunition, and the ammunition transported from the rear to the front line cannot match the weapons in the hands of the soldiers.

If Vladimir, the Russian Chief of General Staff, had not reformed the Russian army's poor traffic and transportation system, I am afraid that the Russian army would not have to worry about attacks by their weapons, equipment and ammunition, because the food crisis alone would be enough to cause the army to mutiny.

There are nearly 2 million Russian troops on the border. The consumption of food alone is enough to give the Russian logistics department a headache.

What's more, due to the war, Russia's food production has been greatly reduced. Many farmers were conscripted into the army and took up firearms to defend their homes and the country, thus delaying agricultural production.

More than half a year has passed since the outbreak of the war, and Russia's food crisis has become very serious.

If it were not for the previous supply of food from Australasia, I am afraid that a large-scale famine would have broken out in Russia.

Now, the reason why the Russian army is able to collect enough food is because the executive department has deducted a lot from the supply to the civilians. This has also resulted in that in some areas, residents have obviously insufficient food.

The dire situation Russia is currently facing is difficult to describe in one word. It is like a barrel full of explosives and very dry. Any spark will ignite it.

On May 15, 1915, just as Nicholas II was watching the battle report on the Western Front with envy, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nicholas, brought a piece of news that shocked Nicholas II. Germany was in A large-scale battle has been launched on the Eastern Front, and it is currently exchanging fire with the Russian army.

You must know that it was only a few days after the German army failed on the Eastern Front. They should not have cheered up so quickly and had the confidence to launch such a large-scale offensive against Russia, which defeated them.

According to Grand Duke Nicholas, Germany launched a large-scale battle involving millions of troops, and their firepower was very fierce. At present, the Russian army has been retreating steadily.

Nicholas II's first reaction was that it was impossible, because Germany was facing an attack by more than 2 million Allied troops on the Western Front. How could it have millions of troops to attack Russia?

However, it was the Russian Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, who reported the news. He did not have the courage or any reason to make such a joke to Nicholas II.

"Is the news true? Where have the German troops attacked so far?" Nicholas II asked with some disbelief.

"Your Majesty! Our army generally lacks ammunition supply. If there is no subsequent logistical supplement, I'm afraid it won't last long. Even if the soldiers want to fight for the country, they can't use firearms without bullets to fight German soldiers who are armed to the teeth. ! Can you ask for help from Britain, France and Australia first, and get enough ammunition supply first?" Grand Duke Nicholas did not answer Nicholas II's inquiry, but said anxiously.

The poor logistics of the Russian army greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, making the combat gap between the German army and the Russian army wider and wider.

Grand Duke Nicholas spent most of the day rushing to St. Petersburg. He was not sure where the German army was currently attacking and whether the Russian army could hold it.

"Where's the Minister of Foreign Affairs? Get that loser Alexei over here!" After hearing Grand Duke Nicholas' proposal, Nicholas II quickly ordered the guard at the door.

In about ten minutes, Minister Alexey hurried over. The sweat on his forehead proved that Minister Alexey was panicking.

"Your Majesty!" Minister Alexei did not dare to figure out Nicholas II's intention of calling him here, so he could only take the lead in saluting and standing aside respectfully.

"Minister Alexei, the German army has launched a large-scale offensive against us on the border, but our soldiers on the front line lack weapons, equipment and ammunition supplies. Do you understand what I mean?" Nicholas II nodded calmly, He looked at Minister Alexei and asked.

"Yes, I understand, Your Majesty. I will try my best to get more weapons and ammunition for the soldiers and send them to the front line as quickly as possible." Minister Alexei nodded quickly, and he was sure that as long as he said any words of refusal , Let’s not talk about the issue of whether the official position can be saved, I am afraid that even the life can’t be saved.

As the monarch of an autocratic country, it was easy for Nicholas II to find an excuse to kill him.

What's more, he has indeed betrayed the country. Britain and France have not yet fulfilled all of his promises.

Nicholas II then nodded and ordered: "I hope it will be as soon as possible. Our frontline troops will not be able to hold on for long. I will give you half a month. The frontline troops must see the logistics supplies from their allies. Otherwise, the foreign minister should be replaced by someone else.”

How dare Minister Alexei say anything else? He quickly nodded in agreement and exited the room at Nicholas II's signal.

After Minister Alexey left, Nicholas II turned his eyes to Grand Duke Nicholas and ordered: "Nicholas, before the help of our allies arrives, I hope you can order the army to resist the German army. Attack. I know this is difficult to accomplish, but for the sake of the empire, the peace of the royal family and the people, this is something that has to be done."

The current environment in Russia is already relatively chaotic. If there is news that the Russian army is defeated by the German army or even suffers heavy losses, Nicholas II really cannot guarantee what will happen in the country.

The victory in the previous battle barely calmed down the people's dissatisfaction with this war. If there is news that the battle was defeated or even suffered heavy losses, let alone whether the people will be dissatisfied, those reactionaries and revolutionary parties will definitely take this opportunity to wreak havoc. Promote anti-war theories and even directly criticize the government and Tsarist autocracy.

This also means that the results of the front line are not only related to the stability of Russia, they are also related to the stability of the Tsarist government and the power of Nicholas II.

Even if Nicholas II no longer had a good impression of Grand Duke Nicholas, he still had to place his hope in his namesake, Grand Duke Nicholas, hoping that he could organize an army to resist the German attack, at least until help from allies arrived. , the Russian army will have sufficient strength to respond to enemy attacks, including possible domestic crises.

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