Chapter 395: We need a strong assault force

Calypte’s battle report was finally sent to Berlin after crossing the ocean for more than half a month. The report was printed in several copies and sent to the Prussian General Staff, the Kaiser, Ruprecht, and the Bavarian military. Hands. Regarding the report that violently beat the British, the reactions of all parties were different.

The General Staff of the German Army, headed by Schlieffen, admitted that Calypte performed very well in South Africa, combining the mobility of the cavalry with the firepower of the artillery. Moreover, the tactics of passing through the frontal line of defense and directly carrying out deep penetration and mobile operations are also very good. But unfortunately, all this is not suitable for the European battlefield, and its reference value for the German Army is very limited.

"In fact, the success of such tactics has great contingency or particularity. In South Africa, the British have limited strength and cannot form a coherent front at all. Moreover, they lack firepower and cavalry units can be easily interspersed. With a little artillery, you can attack the rear where the British are not tightly defended. But in Europe this is impossible."

"Whether it is the Western or Eastern Front, if we fight the French or the Russians, millions or even millions of troops will be crowded on a not-wide front. The European legions have a large number of heavy artillery and machine guns. Equipped with a fortress and trench system, it is almost impossible for the cavalry to block it through layers."

"So all our previous plans were to use the time difference to defeat the opponent before the opponent reacted after the war started. If the war turns into a stalemate stage, the German Empire with scarce resources will inevitably fall into a disadvantage."

"As for increasing the number of vehicles, this is a very good suggestion, but it is feasible for Bavaria, which has a small force, but may not be possible for Prussia, which has a large force, because our military expenditure is limited, but we will try our best. Improve mechanical capacity."

The prince put aside Earl Schlieffen’s reply. It cannot be said that Earl’s point of view is wrong. Judging from the situation of World War I, any attempt to make a breakthrough, intersperse or leapfrog on the western front will ultimately fail without it. , The force density is too big! And the firepower density is equally terrible!

Take the beginning of 1918 as an example (before the large-scale arrival of the US army) Germany had a total of 194 and a half divisions on the Western Front! The total force is 4 million people, with 15,000 artillery, 3,000 aircraft and ten tanks. And what about the Entente on the opposite side? There are a total of 176 infantry divisions and ten cavalry divisions! A total of nearly 5 million troops, 17,000 artillery pieces, 3800 aircraft and more than 800 tanks! And all these troops are concentrated on a front that is no more than 500 kilometers wide! An average of 10,000 people on a one-kilometer front! Coupled with trenches, mines, and machine guns, let me ask what kind of troops can completely penetrate this line of defense in World War I?

Therefore, the prince half agreed with Earl Schlieffen's idea, that is, it is very difficult for the Western Front to win, even the so-called rapid corps. However, this kind of rapid corps play style is promising if it is used on the Eastern Front. The reason is very simple. First, the Eastern Front is too broad. The second Russian army cannot be compared with the Western Front in terms of number or equipment. It is easier to punch through. Third, the Russian railway network is very sparse. Once a point is breached, it will cause a considerable length of the front to be unable to obtain sufficient supplies. Even if a frontal attack is difficult to achieve, the Russian army lacking supplies must choose to retreat!

What did the Eastern Front look like in history? Let me talk about Russia first. The Russian front-line forces (participants, combat troops) have been maintained at around 3 million people. An army of this size is deployed on a long front of 1625 versts, and its density is completely out of proportion to the strength of the British and French forces on the western front. And if the density of German railways per unit area is 10. If the railway density of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is 6.7, then the railway density of Russia is only 1!

Whether it was World War I or World War II, the Russian army's supplies were completely dependent on railways. The Russians had limited military strength and their equipment was not comparable to that of Britain and France. The terrible front line meant that their defense lines were very easy to break. The rapid breakthrough of the mobile corps is still promising behind the Russians. There is no need to fight a blitzkrieg and a deep encirclement similar to the level of the 2nd battle. As long as the key transportation center behind the front can be knocked out, the huge Russian army will be done by itself, because no matter how strong it is, it is always necessary to eat.

In order to get Russia as quickly as possible at the least cost, the prince believed that the efficiency of pure ground push operations was too low. The Russians knew that they could not beat Germany, so the Russians adopted the strategy of dragging words, just like they did with Napoleon in history. When necessary, seeing that the main German forces were no longer on the eastern front, they launched one or two large-scale attacks to strike Austro-Hungarian well. (For example, Bruschino offensive) However, it is a pity that historical Russia eventually failed to kill its opponents, and died under internal and external troubles.

In the prince’s timetable, Russia must be resolved within 2 years of the war! Only then can we withdraw from Russia to solve a series of problems in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Western Front. At the same time, the compensation from Russia is also the key to supporting Germany's fight~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Various materials are one aspect, and the most important thing is. food!

Frontal advancement and limited mobile interspersed operations are the tactical framework of the Prince's future plans. The former is easy to say, relying on the quality and equipment advantages of the German army, it is impossible to do worse than in history. And the latter is troublesome, because the material conditions of this era are very coffee tables.

This mobile corps doesn't just run fast. Having a large number of vehicles and strong transportation capacity is only the first step in shaping this mobile corps, which only solves part of the logistics problem. The most critical issue-how to continuously break through the opponent's line of defense has not yet been resolved.

Speaking of this issue, the first thing everyone thinks of is the tank. That's right, there must be tanks, armored vehicles are not good, the reason is very simple, the passage of armored vehicles is not good. In history, the German tanks can be called a sad reminder, no matter in terms of quantity or quality, they cannot be compared with Britain and France. And this plane, the prince wants to blitz the Eastern Front, the first thing to solve is the tank problem.

Fortunately, now, the first batch of tanks have been tested in the Bavarian military proving ground. Yes, in order to deal with the war that swept across Europe, the prince was still very prepared, especially in the key technical weapons. There are two alternatives for the first batch of tank tenders.

When the prince thought that Prussia would not be interested in building a new large-scale rapid assault corps in a short time, he decisively left Berlin and went home to work on his own affairs.

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