Chapter 404: Total Annihilation of the Russian Army Group
However, the direction of the war cannot be determined by one person's will.
After the German army on the front line in East Prussia received support from the Western Front, it once again had enough combat troops to launch a campaign, and was also equipped with a large number of artillery, machine guns and sufficient ammunition, artillery shells, etc. from the Western Front.
This also made Hindenburg and Ludendorff full of confidence again. In addition, the German army recently intercepted a clear telegram from the Russian army. After learning that the Russian army lacked logistical supplies, Hindenburg and Ludendorff made a prompt decision. It was decided to launch a large-scale campaign immediately to deal with the current Russian army before the Russian logistics supplies arrived.
Telegrams have now become one of the main ways for armies of various countries to communicate. However, telegram exchanges in various countries have their own channels, and there are even various encryption methods to make their intelligence and communications more secretive, even if they are intercepted by the enemy. Intercepted, it will not be deciphered for a while.
The Germans also did not expect that the Russians communicated using clear telegrams. Even if it was clear, it was still open and honest, and it was directly intercepted by Germany. Russia's lack of logistical supplies, weapons and ammunition was immediately known to the Germans.
One of the important reasons why Hindenburg and Ludendorff were able to persuade Chief of Staff Falkenhayn to agree to shift strategy to the Eastern Front was because of Russia's clear code telegraphy method.
This is equivalent to the Russians telling the Germans their own intelligence. Under such a premise, if Germany can still lose, then there is really a problem.
Falkenhayn also smiled and sighed after learning: "We not only know the Russian garrison and logistics situation, but we even know what their frontline troops do every month, every week, and even every day. It is as if there is an eye of God. We are monitoring everything."
Because they knew the deployment and situation of the Russian army very well, after research, Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided to immediately take the offensive and take the initiative to eliminate the Russian army currently entrenched on the Eastern Front and eliminate part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. pressure.
Hindenburg's style of play was still based on frontal containment and detours on both wings. Not only Hindenburg, but the entire German army basically adopted this style of play in the Eastern Front War. First, the terrain on the Eastern Front was relatively wide, which was conducive to the troops' detours.
Secondly, such a strategy can minimize the casualties of the German army, while at the same time encircling and annihilating the Russian army to the maximum extent, narrowing the numerical gap between the German army and the Russian army.
If a frontal war of attrition is adopted, no matter how powerful the German army's combat effectiveness is, it will still be consumed by the Russian army that is several times larger than itself.
The German 10th Army was responsible for outflanking the mission. They not only had to contain the Russian 10th Army, but they also had to carry out a deep outflank from the right wing of the Russian Northwest Front as much as possible to encircle the entire Russian Northwest Front.
The Eighth Army used part of its forces to contain the Russian army from the front and distract the Russian army's attention. The main force then circled around to the left flank of the Russian Tenth Army, and together with the Tenth Army, achieved outflanking on the left and right, striving to completely annihilate the Russian Tenth Army.
As long as the Russian Tenth Army can be eliminated, this Eastern Front campaign can be considered a good start, and it can also greatly reduce the pressure on the Russian army faced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After all, a Russian army has hundreds of thousands of people, and it is not a trivial matter for an army to be wiped out.
In order to stabilize the defense of East Prussia, if troops will definitely be transferred from other areas, the danger faced by the hinterland of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will not be that great.
When the Germans launched a large-scale battle on the border, Sivers, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Tenth Army, carelessly believed that Germany was just a feint attack, and the purpose was just to attract some troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
When news of massive casualties and constant defeats on the front reached Sivers' command, Sivers realized that the Germans were not feigning an attack, but were really coming.
Sivers, who was slow to react, immediately ordered the army to start a counterattack, trying to block the German troops from the defense lines as much as possible.
However, the Russian army originally lacked logistical supplies, and the commanders were slow to give orders. As a result, many troops were defeated by the German army in frontal charges before they had time to counterattack.
The only well-equipped Siberian Third Army, after putting up a slight resistance against the German Eighth Army, could only retreat in a hurry.
On May 16, 1915, the German Tenth Army successfully circled the right flank of the Russian Tenth Army, but the Eighth Army's offensive was blocked by the Siberian 3rd Army and the 20th Army, and the left flank was not completed.
Silvius, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Tenth Army, used his last opportunity to escape from the German encirclement. The price was that up to 200,000 of his subordinates stayed in the German encirclement. Only the tenth army actually escaped. Less than half of the army group.
It is a pity to let some Russian troops escape, but the commander of the German Tenth Army also knows that the most important task at present is to eliminate all Russian troops in the encirclement.
On May 17, the German Eighth Army and the Tenth Army launched a fierce attack on most of the surrounded Russian troops.
After some resistance, these surrounded troops finally chose to lay down their weapons and surrender.
This is not to say that the Russian army is greedy for life and fear death. In the absence of weapons and ammunition, no matter how elite the army is, it is impossible to win this war that has been surrounded.
Late at night on May 17, the first battle in East Prussia finally ended.
Germany dispatched the Eighth Army and the Tenth Army and surrounded most of the Russian Tenth Army. After paying nearly 40,000 casualties, the Russian army suffered 40,000 deaths, 50,000 injuries, and 170,000 prisoners (the injuries were also counted as within).
The entire Russian Tenth Army had as many as 360,000 soldiers, but less than 150,000 escaped. It can be said that the losses were heavy, leaving a large gap in Russia's defenses in East Prussia.
At this time, two days had passed since Nicholas II received the news. Under the order of Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian 12th Army began to attack the two wings of the German army that was ahead of its predecessor, trying to cause some casualties to the German army.
However, Hindenburg and Ludendorff had already anticipated the Russian counterattack, leaving only a small part of the army behind. The main army escorted more than 100,000 prisoners of war back to East Prussia. An army of 170,000 people was captured at once. Such battle reports reached the ears of Nicholas II, who angrily dismissed Silvis from his post.
If Grand Duke Nicholas had not been relied upon to withstand the German army's attack, I am afraid that Grand Duke Nicholas' position as commander-in-chief of the Russian army would not be preserved.
After this attack, the number of Russian troops on the northwest front was reduced by almost half. To prevent the German army from launching an offensive in the East Prussia region, the angry Nicholas II directly ordered two armies to be mobilized to fill the vacancy caused by the Tenth Army.
Well, if you attack one of my army groups, I will make up for two more. Even if you don't have any logistical supplies, you will be exhausted if you pile up your life.
Nicholas II had this idea. Anyway, Russia has endless manpower. Without weapons and equipment, human life is the best resource.
While Russia was dispatching soldiers, Hindenburg and Ludendorff also took the next step, which was to capture Pushasnich, an important town north of Warsaw.
Now that we know that the Russian army on the front line generally lacks ammunition for attack, there is nothing to say. Taking advantage of this opportunity to capture the important towns and military fortresses on the Russian front line is the best choice.
By the time the new Russian army group arrived, the Germans had already built a solid defensive position in Pushasnich. The Russians, who lacked supplies of ammunition and artillery shells, could not possibly shake such a solid fortress and could only give up.
However, after Russia sent more troops, the situation in the northwest did stabilize.
Although when the German army and the Russian army meet, it is often the Russian army that is more powerful.
This kind of consumption is still acceptable compared to previous battles. For Nicholas II and Archduke Nicholas, the stability of the positions in East Prussia is the most important.
Of course, this does not mean that Russia will not take other actions.
Britain, France, Australasia and even Italy have all become targets of the Russians' urgent requests for help.
Firearms, artillery, bullets, artillery shells, food, medical supplies and various strategic resources, the Russians accepted everything they came, as if someone who had not eaten for several days was facing a feast.
Britain and France have successively agreed to assist Russia with some weapons and equipment. After all, Britain and France cannot just sit back and watch Russia be defeated by Germany. Russia is a big human shield for the Allied Powers on the Eastern Front, and it is unknown how much damage it has done to Britain and France.
Naturally, such a big baby cannot just sit back and watch it be defeated by the Germans, but the combined assistance from Britain and France only has 100,000 rifles, tens of millions of bullets and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells.
This scale of support is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket compared to Russia's nearly 2 million combat troops on the front line. Russia has turned its attention to its new allies Italy and Australasia.
The Italians naturally refused, not that they were unwilling to support Russia. It's just that the Italian army was in a mess on the front line, causing the Italian logistics department to lose hundreds of thousands of rifles and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, as well as a large amount of strategic materials.
Almost all of these supplies were seized by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also emptied most of Italy's wealth.
By the time Russia asked for help from Australasia, it was already noon on May 20.
This is not to say that Russia does not attach importance to Australasia. Australasia has been Russia's main arms supplier since before the war broke out. A considerable part of the weapons of the Russian army are produced in Australasia.
However, the last time Australasia stated that its domestic weapons reserves had bottomed out, less than a month had passed and Nicholas II did not think Australasia could produce many weapons.
Arthur had already expected the Russian army's disastrous defeat on the front line. After all, the Russian army's combat capability, which was originally weak, was questionable in terms of its combat effectiveness due to the lack of ammunition and artillery shells.
But what they faced was the most powerful German army in the world. In such a comparison, it is impossible for the Russian army not to suffer a disastrous defeat.
According to the Russian ambassador, Arthur was keenly aware that Germany was likely to choose to shift the main direction of its attack to the east and defend on the western front, as it had done historically.
This was both good news and bad news for Arthur. After the German army on the Western Front enters a comprehensive defense, the progress of the Allied forces on the Western Front will definitely be much slower, and it is not impossible to even enter a stalemate from now on.
This will also achieve Arthur's strategic purpose of delaying the war for a few more years and win more benefits for Australasia.
But at the same time, the eastward shift of Germany's offensive direction is not a good thing for Russia.
Originally, Russia was somewhat unable to sustain itself during the war. Facing a full-scale attack by the main German army, Russia may not be able to sustain it for long at all.
In short, if Australasia does not support Russia, the war may be successfully postponed, but the price is that Russia may be unable to recover, and a revolution may even break out earlier than in history.
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That’s it for today, please take a day off, brothers, and update carefully tomorrow
(end of this chapter)