Chapter 419 Removal

The rumors that the Germans learned were not groundless. Britain and France did plan to organize a large-scale offensive on the Western Front to relieve the pressure on Russia on the Eastern Front and at the same time find a breakthrough on the Western Front.

As the Russian attacks on the Eastern Front had shown, the Germans mobilized a considerable portion of their forces from the Western Front.

This also means that Germany's defense on the Western Front must have weaknesses. As long as it can break through Germany's tight positions on the Western Front, Germany will be busy fighting on two fronts and will be in chaos if it does not attack.

The positional warfare on the Western Front continues to this day, and the consumption is actually very huge.

Although Germany's strategic shift has indeed reduced the pressure on Britain and France, so far, the British and French coalition forces have still paid millions of casualties, and the death toll has already exceeded 400,000.

Although it also caused hundreds of thousands of casualties to the German soldiers in the position, these Germans were like invincible weaklings and did not allow the British and French to push the front further.

Of course, although the front line has not advanced further, Britain, France and Germany have consumed a lot of troops, weapons, equipment and resources.

In addition to the large number of casualties on both sides, there were also millions of weapons, hundreds of millions of bullets, tens of millions of artillery shells, etc., all consumed in this offensive and defensive battle.

After Germany was cut off from most of its overseas supplies, it simply could not bear such high consumption. This is why Germany is so eager to find a way to break the situation.

On October 11, 1915, Hindenburg's attempts failed again and again. The army he led faced flies and diseases. Soldiers and horses suffered from illness and death in large numbers, and the army's combat effectiveness dropped sharply.

Due to the injuries of the war horses, the army could only move less than five kilometers a day in fine weather.

Faced with a very poor logistics situation, Hindenburg could only order a halt to the attack and let the soldiers and horses repair.

To make matters worse, Hindenburg's reckless behavior did not participate in the plan formulated by Falkenhayn. As a result, Falkenhayn's plan lacked sufficient troops, and the main German army's attack did not succeed.

Hindenburg and Ludendorff not only hindered the plan to encircle and annihilate the Russian army in Warsaw, but the plan they thought would succeed also failed.

Although after the entire battle, Germany was undoubtedly the successful side. However, Germany did not destroy the Russian army at the best time. The Allies faced a three-front battle, and the possibility of victory was no longer high.

If Germany could pursue the victory, wipe out most of the Russian army, and force Russia to withdraw from the war, it might be possible to win the war.

But unfortunately, this is only if. The reality is that the German army faces more serious difficulties in Russia than the Russian army. It is already quite difficult to defend the occupied areas through positional warfare.

Starting from mid-October, Germany entered a full-scale positional warfare defense on the Eastern Front, and there was no longer any plan to launch any offensive.

Russia was able to breathe a sigh of relief and gain a short respite.

The failure of the entire battle caused a strong shock in Russia. Although previous protest marches in St. Petersburg and Moscow's Red Square were forcibly suppressed, riots more serious than demonstrations were taking place everywhere throughout Tsarist Russia, even in towns and villages large and small.

On the surface, Russia seems calm, but secretly, Russia is boiling.

Especially after Nicholas II dispatched Cossack cavalry to forcibly suppress the riots, the people's demand for Nicholas II's abdication turned into demanding the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty and the monarchy. Their dissatisfaction with Nicholas II turned into It became dissatisfaction with the entire monarchy and the tsarist system, and the tsarist family.

Although the relatively peaceful protests and demonstrations have been suppressed, there are more and more actions to subvert the country and overthrow the royal family secretly.

According to Director Batty's report to Arthur, almost overnight, the number of reactionary and revolutionary parties in Russia tripled, and the number of people participating in these revolutionary and reactionary parties tripled.

Even if Arthur controls some political parties in advance, it is simply impossible to suppress the current situation in Russia.

To put it simply, Nicholas II has committed public outrage, and the entire Russia is going to overthrow the royal family. This cannot be stopped by any external force.

It has been more than a year since the war broke out. Over the past year, although Russia's performance is not the worst among the great powers, it is definitely ranked at the bottom.

Logically speaking, although the famous European bulldozers have decayed, their industry and economy are not as good as those of top powers such as Britain, France and Germany.

But after all, the skinny camel was bigger than the horse and should not have faced such tragic casualties.

But if you think about the corruption and incompetence of some of Russia's senior commanders during the war, the muddy roads in Russia, the extreme lack of transportation vehicles, the collusion between logistics officers and contractors, and the embezzlement of military expenditures to enrich their own pockets. If you are perfunctory about the supplies that are urgently needed on the front line, and even withhold logistical supplies, including rifles and bullets, you will feel that Russia's tragic defeat is completely natural.

According to statistics from both Germany and Russia, the number of artillery shells consumed by Germany in the Battle of Gorlitz was more than 100 times that of Russia.

This also means that after Germany fired more than 100 artillery shells, Russia could fire back one artillery shell. It would be strange not to lose in such a war.

What’s even more terrifying is that such figures were reported by the Russian logistics department. Judging from the degree of corruption in Russia, the authenticity of this number is questionable. It also means that the fire support possessed by Russian soldiers may be lower than imagined.

Of course, the most miserable are the ordinary Russian soldiers. About a third of them had no guns, just sticks with bayonets attached to them.

Fighting with such weapons and the well-equipped German army, Arthur even felt that the Russian casualties were small.

It is worth mentioning that there were a large number of foreign reporters on the Eastern Front battlefield, including reporters from within the Allied Powers.

These reporters all have an honorable status as battlefield reporters.

When a British reporter interviewed an unknown soldier on the Russian front line, the soldier showed his only stick with a bayonet attached and said to the British reporter: "Sir, this is not war, this is massacre. We Nothing but my own chest.”

This is indeed how the war went. Russian soldiers faced various problems and were able to resist the German attack with their flesh and blood.

The problem is that flesh and blood cannot stop the firepower network composed of heavy machine guns and artillery. Even though the Russian army paid heavy casualties, the Germans still allowed the Germans to occupy a large amount of territory and capture many important transportation hub cities.

Of course, this does not mean that the entire Russian top leadership is not wrong. The Russian high command lacked good strategic vision and appeared to be somewhat hesitant in formulating strategy.

Unlike Germany, which constantly changes its combat plan according to the situation and chooses the direction of main attack and side attack, Russia made a common-sense mistake when formulating a strategic plan with an overall view. The troops on the northern and southern fronts were evenly distributed and there was no main attack point. .

In the Battle of Gorlitz, it was clear that Germany had mobilized its troops to prepare for a new campaign, but the Russian high command turned a blind eye and even urged the army to march into the Hungarian plains, which led to this tragic defeat.

After the German army broke through the defense line, the Russian high command rashly ordered the troops on both wings to engage in breakthrough operations, resulting in batches of Russian troops rushing into battle without firepower coordination from the rear. The frontline combat troops did not have unified command and lacked coordination. .

Under the bombardment of the waiting German artillery, the hastily launched Russian troops were quickly wiped out. The only result was to add a few pennies to Russia's casualties.

If the Russian high command can be more decisive, let the troops on both wings retreat sharply, let the Germans be defeated by logistics in the vast Russian hinterland, and finally let the well-prepared troops launch an attack, they may achieve the same results as Kutuzov did hundreds of years ago. A victory over Napoleon's army.

Even the Germans were worried about this when they launched their offensive, fearing a Napoleon-like defeat.

But unexpectedly, the Russian high command completely avoided what the Germans were worried about and gave the Germans a chance to defeat Russia.

Although this may seem unbelievable, if you carefully study the resume of Grand Duke Nicholas, it can actually be explained.

Grand Duke Nicholas seems to have been born in a famous Russian military academy and enjoys a good reputation in the military.

But Grand Duke Nicholas had no practical experience, and theoretical knowledge was completely insufficient.

Coupled with Nicholas II's precautions and the terrible current situation in Russia, it is not surprising that some ridiculous actions were made.

You must know that although Nicholas II gave up the position of Commander-in-Chief of Russia, the Tsarist government and Nicholas II himself still had some restrictions and interference on Grand Duke Nicholas.

You know, Nicholas II's court was also in chaos.

The Tsarina and his wife favored Rasputin, a semi-literate man from the countryside, just because he used so-called magic to stop Nicholas II's son, Crown Prince Alexei, from bleeding when he developed hemophilia.

With the favor of the Tsar and his wife, Rasputin was in charge of or influenced the appointment of most senior officials and most national affairs, and his power was no weaker than that of Nicholas II.

This also made most officials and military officers hate Rasputin, but they were helpless because of the favor of the tsar and his wife.

Even after the failure of the Battle of Gorlitz, under the promotion of Rasputin, Nicholas II announced that he would revoke Grand Duke Nicholas from the position of supreme commander and appointed himself commander-in-chief of the Russian army and supreme commander of Russia.

Although the indecisive Grand Duke Nicholas was removed from office, the Russian army faced the even less capable Tsar Nicholas II.

However, Nicholas II had greater power than Grand Duke Nicholas. After the defeat of Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief previously recommended by the military, the military had no excuse to recommend other candidates for commander-in-chief.

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