Chapter 417 Disagreements in the German Military

The German Chief of General Staff Falkenhayn and his former Chief of Staff Moltke had completely opposite ways of doing things.

Xiao Maoqi upheld the attitude of not intervening in the decision-making of the frontline commanders, and was only responsible for formulating macro strategies, while micro-level operations were left to the commanders-in-chief of the frontline armies for execution.

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

Regarding the current possible opportunity to encircle all Russian armies and capture them all, Falkenhayn put forward his own point of view: divide the troops to conduct a two-pronged attack. The main attack is still carried out by Mackensen's 11th Army, which has just won a large-scale victory. The direction of attack is The area between the Vivas and Bug rivers.

The second line of troops is the 12th Army in the direction of East Prussia. The attack direction is the northern root of Poland's protrusion, striving to cut off all the protruding areas of Poland.

But Hindenburg, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, had completely different ideas. Hindenburg believed that launching an attack from the Nieman River, directly inserting into Minsk through Kovno, and directly cutting off the retreat route of the Russian army from the Russian rear would not only be able to occupy a large area of ​​Russian territory including Poland, but also eliminate 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, a 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 also more likely to achieve more results.

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

More troops also meant more logistical supplies, which was a problem for Germany's logistics department.

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

Compared with Germany's developed railway network and highway network, Russia's transportation environment will be more primitive. Not only will it be more difficult to mobilize troops, but undiligent transportation will be an unbearable burden.

What's more, it's almost September, and the Russian winter is not far away. If the fighting cannot be ended quickly before winter arrives, the Russian winter will be a hell of ice and snow for German soldiers.

In addition to regular food and supplies, the German logistics department will also have to transport a large amount of cotton-padded clothes and winter items to ensure that the German army does not suffer from frostbite.

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

As the two people with the most say in the German military at present, Falkenhayn and Hindenburg were unable to convince each other, resulting in the German army's delay in deciding on the final combat 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.

Compared with Hindenburg, who was already headstrong, Wilhelm II was easier to persuade.

Falkenhayn stated bluntly that Hindenburg was a man who enjoyed great achievements and was headstrong.

Hindenburg's plan simply didn't work. Russia's territory is very vast and has a lot of room for maneuver.

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

Even if the German army would not be defeated by the countless swamps, lakes, forests and terrible roads in Russia, it was destined to be defeated by the winter that would arrive in a few months.

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

Falkenhayn's words are indeed valid. Napoleon is well-known in Europe, and his achievements far exceed those of William II.

But the once unstoppable Napoleon 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 supported Falkenhayn's plan unreservedly and ordered all troops on the front to implement Falkenhayn's plan.

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

The bad news is that Hindenburg was the only one who was disobeying the plan. He was deploying in accordance with Falkenhayn's plan on the surface, but secretly still ordered his subordinates to prepare according to his own plan.

Hindenburg's obedience to William II's orders actually represented a sad fact. The German imperial power had gradually been eclipsed by military power.

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

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

At the same time, Nicholas II repeatedly questioned the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Grand Duke Nicholas. If it weren't for the fact that changing commanders on the spot would lead to a faster collapse of military morale, I am afraid that Grand Duke Nicholas would have been dismissed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army by Nicholas II.

The Russian high command believed that after the failure of the Battle of Gorlitz, the Russian army suffered a heavy blow.

Not only did they face serious casualties and losses of soldiers, they also lost a large amount of supplies, causing the frontline troops to be scarce in supplies and ammunition.

Coupled with the damage to military morale, the combat effectiveness of the frontline troops has been weakened and is not suitable for confronting the German-Austrian coalition forces.

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

When necessary, the army can evacuate Warsaw and move to Brest behind Warsaw.

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

Although such a decision will cause Russia to lose a lot 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 regain its combat effectiveness, the new commander-in-chief of the Southwest Front Alexeyev asked the armies of the Northwest Front to hold on for at least a month to cover the retreat of the Southwest Front Army in the Warsaw area and reorganize forces in the Brest area. .

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

On September 3, 1915, the German 11th Army, the Bug River Army and the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army launched a large-scale campaign and launched a fierce attack on Tomaszów 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 away from the nearest point.

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

Of course, as the hit rate increases, the lethality of this close-range artillery will be astonishing.

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

The tragic scenes of armies from various countries were so moving that even the German officers could not help but pity these Russian soldiers who died tragically.

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

The Russian army held on in these two areas for four days and suffered nearly 100,000 casualties. In the end, the front lines collapsed and they were completely defeated.

In mid-September, when the German army forcibly crossed the Bug River, Russia finally dispatched the aircraft purchased from Australasia for the first time, launched a fierce bombing on the German-Austrian forces crossing the river, and continuously fired 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 air-ground coordinated operations have been carried out. It is a note worth writing in the history of Russian wars.

Russia dispatched a total of more than ten aircraft and dropped 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 and was able to dispatch aircraft for the first time.

Fortunately, the plane achieved great results on its first dispatch, and Nicholas II was thankful that his money on the plane was not in vain.

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

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 some Russian troops in the East Prussian region not having strong combat capabilities.

Under the fierce artillery attack of the 12th Army, the Russian army could only retreat to the city and rely on the chaotic streets and lanes of the city to engage in street fighting with the German army.

Suddenly, the German army, which was not well prepared, suffered a large number of casualties in street fighting.

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

Reinforcements arriving from other places pushed back the German troops, causing the failure of the 12th Army Commander Galvez's attempt to forcibly cross the Narew River.

However, Galvez came up with another good idea, which was to take a detour and cross the river in other areas.

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

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