Chapter 404: Complete Annihilation of the Russian Army

However, the direction of the war cannot be determined by one person's will.

After the German army on the East Prussian front 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 and shells from the Western Front.

This also made Hindenburg and Ludendorff full of confidence again. In addition, the German army recently intercepted a clear-text telegram from the Russian army. After learning that the Russian army lacked logistical supplies, Hindenburg and Ludendorff made a prompt decision and decided to launch a large-scale campaign immediately to solve the current Russian army before the Russian logistical supplies arrived.

The telegraph has now become one of the main ways for the military of various countries to communicate, but the communication of telegrams in various countries has its own channels, and even various encryption methods, making their intelligence and communications more secretive. Even if they are intercepted by the enemy, they will not be deciphered for a while.

The Germans did not expect that the Russians would communicate using clear-text telegrams. Not only was it clear-text, but it was also open and aboveboard. It was directly intercepted by Germany. The fact that Russia lacked logistical supplies and 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 the strategy to the Eastern Front was because of Russia's clear-text telegraph method.

This is equivalent to the Russians telling the Germans their own intelligence. Under such circumstances, if Germany can still lose, then there is really a problem.

After learning about it, Falkenhayn also smiled and sighed: "We not only know the Russian garrison and logistics situation, but also know what their front-line troops do every month, every week, and even every day. It seems that there is an eye of God monitoring everything."

Precisely because they knew the deployment and situation of the Russian army very well, after research, Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided to take the offensive immediately and take the initiative to eliminate the Russian troops currently entrenched on the Eastern Front, eliminating some of the pressure on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Hindenburg's style of play is still based on frontal containment and two-wing detours. Not only Hindenburg, but the entire German army basically adopted this style of play in the Eastern Front War. On the one hand, the terrain on the Eastern Front is relatively wide, which is conducive to the troops to detour.

Secondly, such a strategy can minimize the casualties of the German army, while also maximizing the encirclement and annihilation of the Russian army, narrowing the gap in numbers between the German army and the Russian army.

If a frontal war of attrition is adopted, no matter how strong the German army's combat effectiveness is, it will be consumed to death by the Russian army that is several times larger than itself.

The German Tenth Army is responsible for the task of flanking and encircling. They not only have to contain the Russian Tenth Army, but also try to implement a large-depth flanking from the right wing of the Russian Northwest Front as much as possible, and try to encircle the entire Russian Northwest Front.

The Eighth Army used part of its forces to contain the Russian army on the front and distract the attention of the Russian army. The main force detoured to the left wing of the Russian Tenth Army, and together with the Tenth Army, achieved left and right encirclement, and strived to completely annihilate the Russian Tenth Army.

As long as the Russian Tenth Army can be eliminated, this Eastern Front campaign can be regarded as a good start, and it can also greatly reduce the pressure on the Russian army faced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After all, the number of people in a Russian army is as high as hundreds of thousands, and it is not a trivial matter for an army to be completely annihilated.

In order to consolidate the defense of East Prussia, if troops were to be transferred from other regions, the danger faced by the hinterland of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not be so great.

When the Germans launched a large-scale battle on the border, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Tenth Army, Sievers, carelessly thought that Germany was just a feint, and the purpose was only to attract some troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

When the news of a large number of casualties and continuous defeats on the front line reached Sievers's command, Sievers realized that the Germans were not feinting, but really coming to the door.

Sievers, who was slow to react, immediately ordered the army to start counterattacking and block the German army outside the defense line as much as possible.

However, the Russian army lacked logistical supplies, and the commander's orders were slow, resulting in many troops being defeated by the German army in the frontal charge before they had time to counterattack.

The only well-equipped Siberian Third Army could only retreat hastily after a slight resistance to the German Eighth Army.

On May 16, 1915, the German Tenth Army successfully bypassed the right wing 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 wing was not bypassed.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian Tenth Army, Silves, escaped from the encirclement of the German army with the last opportunity, but the price was that his 200,000 subordinates remained in the German encirclement, and the actual escaped force was less than half of the Tenth Army.

It was a pity to let some of the Russian troops escape, but the commander of the German Tenth Army also knew that the most important task at present was to eliminate all the 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 a certain resistance, these surrounded troops finally chose to lay down their arms and surrender.

This is not to say that the Russian army is greedy for life and afraid of death. In the absence of weapons and ammunition, no matter how elite the troops are, they can't win this surrounded war.

Late at night on May 17, the first battle in East Prussia finally ended.

Germany dispatched the Eighth Army and the Tenth Army to surround most of the Russian Tenth Army. After suffering nearly 40,000 casualties, the Russian army suffered 40,000 deaths, 50,000 injuries, and 170,000 prisoners (including the injured).

The entire Russian Tenth Army had 360,000 soldiers, but only less than 150,000 escaped. It was a heavy loss, which caused a big gap in Russia's defense 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 Twelfth Army began to attack the two wings of the German army that had been ahead of it, trying to cause some casualties to the German army.

But Hindenburg and Ludendorff had already anticipated the Russian counterattack, leaving a small part of the army behind, and the main army escorted more than 100,000 prisoners of war back to East Prussia.

The 170,000 troops captured at once, such a battle report reached Nicholas II's ears, and Nicholas II angrily dismissed Silves.

If it weren't for Grand Duke Nicholas's support to resist the German army's attack, I'm afraid Grand Duke Nicholas's position as the commander-in-chief of the Russian army would also be lost.

After this attack, the number of Russian troops in the northwest was almost halved. To prevent the German army from launching an attack in East Prussia, the angry Nicholas II directly ordered to mobilize two armies to fill the vacancies brought by the Tenth Army.

Well, if you attack one of my armies, I will fill two. Even if there is no logistical supply, I will tire you to death with my life.

Nicholas II had this idea. Anyway, Russia has endless manpower. In the absence of weapons and equipment, human life is the best resource.

While Russia dispatched soldiers, Hindenburg and Ludendorff also took the next step, which was to capture the important town of Psyasnich in the north of Warsaw.

Since it is known that the Russian army on the front line generally lacks ammunition to attack, there is nothing to say. Taking advantage of such an opportunity to capture the important towns and military fortresses on the Russian front is the best choice.

By the time the new Russian army arrived, the Germans had already built a solid defensive position in Psyasnich. The Russians, who lacked ammunition and shells, could not shake such a solid fortress at all, so they had to give up.

However, after Russia sent more troops, the situation in the northwest did stabilize.

Although when the German army and the Russian army met, it was often the Russian army that had more troops.

Such consumption was still acceptable compared to the previous battles. For Nicholas II and Grand Duke Nicholas, the stability of the position in East Prussia was the most important.

Of course, this did not mean that Russia had no other actions.

Britain, France, Australasia and even Italy became the targets of the Russians' urgent requests for assistance.

Guns, artillery, bullets, shells, food, medical supplies and various strategic resources, the Russians accepted them all, as if someone who had not eaten for several days was facing a table of feasts.

Britain and France successively agreed to provide Russia with some weapons and equipment. After all, Britain and France could not sit idly by and watch Russia being defeated by Germany. Russia was the big meat shield of the Allies on the Eastern Front, and I don’t know how much damage it had done to Britain and France.

Such a big treasure naturally cannot be watched by the Germans, but the aid from Britain and France only adds up to 100,000 rifles, tens of millions of bullets and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells.

Such a scale of support is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly 2 million combat troops on the Russian front. Russia turned its attention to its new allies Italy and Australasia.

The Italians naturally refused, not because 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 bullets, as well as a large amount of strategic materials in vain.

Almost all of these materials were seized by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also emptied most of Italy's assets.

It was already noon on May 20 when Russia asked for help from Australasia.

It's not that Russia doesn't value Australasia. Australasia has been Russia's main weapons supplier since before the outbreak of the war. A considerable part of the weapons of the Russian army are manufactured by Australasia.

However, the last time Australasia said that its domestic weapons reserves had reached the bottom, and now less than a month has passed, Nicholas II does not think Australasia can produce many weapons.

Arthur had expected the Russian army to be defeated on the front line. After all, the Russian army, which was originally not strong in combat capability, could not exert its combat effectiveness under the premise of lacking ammunition and artillery shells.

What they are facing is the most powerful German army in the world. In such a comparison, it is impossible for the Russian army not to be defeated.

According to the Russian ambassador, Arthur keenly realized that Germany might choose to shift the main direction of attack to the east and defend on the western front as in history.

This is good news and bad news for Arthur. After the German Western Front Army entered a full defense, the Allied forces' progress on the Western Front would definitely be much slower, and it is not impossible to enter a stalemate from then on.

This will also achieve Arthur's strategic goal, to delay the war for a few more years as much as possible, and to gain more benefits for Australasia.

But at the same time, the eastward shift of the German offensive direction is not a good thing for Russia.

Russia was already struggling to hold out during the war, and now facing an all-out attack from Germany's main forces, it's likely that Russia won't be able to hold out for much longer.

In short, if Australasia does not support Russia, the war may be successfully delayed, but the price is that Russia may never recover, or even have a revolution earlier than in history.

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