Chapter 403: The Allies Win, the Russians Get Beaten

From 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 a train to the Eastern Front battlefield.

The sudden silence of the German army was particularly felt on the Western Front battlefield. But everyone, including Joffre, knew that the German army had no problems and that Germany's logistical supplies were still sufficient. The current abnormality must be strange.

Under the extremely cautious attitude of the top leaders, the Allied forces on the Western Front did not advance rashly, but took steady steps 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 only relied on favorable terrain to defend against the Allied attack, and even the frequency of artillery bombardment was reduced.

Although it is not known what happened, the sudden silence of the German army is not a bad thing for the Western Front battlefield.

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

On May 13, the offensive on the Western Front was very smooth, and some areas were even close to the original Franco-German border, and further ahead was the German territory.

The Germans' defensive tactics brought greater casualties to the Allies, but the Allies' advancement did not decrease at all.

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

The entire Western Front battlefield was almost completely blocked outside the border. Even though the Allied army suffered tens of thousands of casualties every day, it still could not move forward.

The German army risked huge casualties and finally blocked the Allied army outside the border, and the German territory and cities were temporarily safe.

The successful defense of the Western Front was a good thing for both William II and Falkenhayn. Only Germany knew how empty the German army on the Western Front was at present.

So far in the war, the number of German land forces has exceeded that of Russia, and it is the largest number of land forces among the participating countries.

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 size is not a good thing for Germany's 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.

Of the 118 German divisions, 65 divisions have been deployed on the Eastern Front, accounting for more than half of Germany's total force.

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

These 53 divisions with less than 1 million troops are facing more than 2.3 million troops in France, 200,000 in Britain, 480,000 in Australia, 500,000 in Italy, and 80,000 in Belgium.

Even if a considerable part of the Allied forces have limited combat effectiveness, the difference in the number of soldiers is here, and the German army can be killed by stacking people.

Less than 1 million German troops can defend against the attack of more than 2.3 million Allied troops, which not only proves the combat effectiveness of the German army, but also proves that the combat effectiveness of the Allied forces is really poor.

This is indeed the case. If it weren't for the face of the new ally, Arthur really wanted 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 among many powerful countries.

The Italian army, with an advantage of several times the number of troops, fought several exaggerated defeats, which greatly strengthened the confidence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to defend its territory.

If Italy's damage was not very severe, Arthur even suspected that this was an undercover sent by the Allies, who was specifically responsible for recovering the blood of 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 make Russia withdraw from the war, the German General Staff planned to organize a large-scale battle on the Eastern Front to try to annihilate the main force of the entire Russian army in one fell swoop.

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

If it were not for the Russian Chief of General Staff Vladimir to reform the poor transportation and transportation system of the Russian army, I am afraid that the Russian army would not have to worry about their weapons and equipment and ammunition attacks, because the food crisis alone is enough to cause the army to mutiny.

With 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, because of the war, Russia's food production has been greatly reduced, and many farmers have been conscripted into the army to take up guns to defend their homes and the country, thus delaying agricultural production.

It has been more than half a year 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 in Australasia, I am afraid that a large-scale famine would have broken out in Russia.

And now, the Russian army can gather enough food because the executive department has deducted a lot from the supply to the people, which has also led to the fact that in some areas, the food for residents is obviously insufficient.

The current bad situation facing Russia is hard to describe. It is like a barrel of explosives full of explosives and very dry. Any spark will ignite it.

On May 15, 1915, when Nicholas II was looking at the war report on the Western Front with envy, Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, brought a shocking news to Nicholas II. Germany launched a large-scale battle on the Eastern Front and has already exchanged fire with the Russian army.

You know, it has only been a few days since the German army failed on the Eastern Front. It should not have recovered so quickly and had the confidence to launch such a large-scale offensive against Russia that defeated them.

According to Grand Duke Nicholas, Germany launched a large-scale battle with up to one million troops, and their firepower was very fierce. At present, the Russian army has been retreating step by step.

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

However, the one who reported the news was Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian commander-in-chief. He had no courage and no reason to make such a joke to Nicholas II.

"Is the news true? Where has the German army attacked so far?" Nicholas II asked in disbelief.

"Your Majesty! Our army generally lacks ammunition supply. If there is no subsequent logistics replenishment, I am afraid it will not last long. Even if the soldiers want to fight for the country again, they can't use guns without bullets to fight against German soldiers armed to the teeth! Can we ask for help from Britain, France and Australia first to get enough ammunition supply first?" Grand Duke Nicholas did not answer Nicholas II's inquiry, but spoke 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 rushed to St. Petersburg, which took him most of the day. He was not sure where the German army had attacked and whether the Russian army could hold on.

"Where is the Foreign Minister? Let Alexei, that rubbish, come over here!" After hearing Grand Duke Nicholas' proposal, Nicholas II hurriedly ordered the guards at the door.

About ten minutes later, Minister Alexei hurried over, and the sweat on his forehead proved that Minister Alexei was panicking.

"Your Majesty!" Minister Alexei did not dare to guess the intention of Nicholas II calling him over, so he could only salute first and stand aside respectfully.

"Minister Alexei, the German army has launched a large-scale offensive against us at the border, but our soldiers on the front line lack weapons and ammunition supplies. Do you understand what I mean?" Nicholas II nodded calmly, 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 as quickly as possible." Minister Alexei nodded quickly. He was sure that if he said anything to refuse, he would not only lose his position, but also his life.

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

Moreover, he did betray the country. Britain and France have not fulfilled all his promises.

Nicholas II nodded and ordered: "I hope it will be as soon as possible. Our front-line troops will not hold out for long. I will give you half a month. The front-line troops must see logistical supplies from the allies, otherwise, the Minister of Foreign Affairs should be replaced."

Minister Alexei dared not say anything else. He nodded and said yes. At the signal of Nicholas II, he left the room.

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

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

The victory of the previous battle barely calmed the people's dissatisfaction with the war. If there is news of a defeat in the battle or even heavy losses, whether the people will be dissatisfied or not, let's not talk about it for the time being. Those reactionaries and revolutionaries will definitely take this opportunity to promote anti-war theories and even directly criticize the government and the tsarist autocracy.

This also means that the results of the battle on the front line are not only related to the stability of Russia, but also to the stability of the tsarist government and Nicholas II's power.

Even if Nicholas II no longer had a favorable impression of Grand Duke Nicholas, he had to place his hopes on his namesake, hoping that he could organize the army to resist the German attack, at least until the aid of the allies arrived, so that the Russian army would have sufficient strength to deal with the enemy's attack, including the possible crisis in the country.

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