"Doubling the size of the army? Your Highness, this is impossible, please don't make such jokes. Schlieffen responded that the expansion of the army by 6 divisions could not be agreed by Caprivey, and the army should be doubled? The crown prince is talking nonsense, isn't he?

Caprivi didn't speak, but his face was obviously not good, and Frederick III was not very happy with his son's nonsense: "Jochen, this is not a place for jokes. ”

"I'm sorry, Father, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff, I was frivolous." Jochen apologized very frankly, and Frederick III's face turned a little pale, but Jochen changed his words: "But I do think that the size of the Imperial Army can be expanded now. ”

When his father's face deteriorated again and he might get angry, Joheng didn't sell it anymore, and immediately said: "Of course, the expansion here does not refer to the expansion of the army's current active service number, so that we can't afford to support our finances, and I have also said before that too many army troops in peacetime will occupy productivity."

By the expansion of the scale I mean the expansion of the size of the armed forces, which can be quickly organized in wartime. ”

"Your Highness is continuing to increase the number of compendium troops? No, no, even this will still increase the strength of the army significantly, do you want to increase the number of key units? Convinced that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was not playing with himself, Schlieffen began to think about it.

"Even if we are the backbone masters, we can't afford to double the size." "Now that the Wehrmacht has nearly 70 divisions, even if we maintain only 10 percent of the base divisions, it is equivalent to expanding the army by seven divisions, which is still a huge burden, and then we will have more than 100 base divisions, which is also very unbalanced for the overall structure of the army," Caprivi objected. ”

Of course, Yochen has a way to deal with these problems: "It's true that increasing the number of key units is not very good, and the formation of a base unit will also greatly increase the number of our troops. It will also wary other countries. So I'm not going to increase the number of troops in the Army, and I'm going to try to keep the increase as much as possible. ”

How to expand the army without increasing the number of troops? The three of them were a little surprised, and Frederick III coughed and urged: "Don't sell it, hurry up." ”

"Yes, father. Actually, the method is very simple. That is, all the principal officers of each unit should be assigned two more deputy posts, so that these officers of the deputy rank can carry out management work and understand the organization, management, and operation of the unit in peacetime, so that on the one hand, they can increase their ability and also help the military commander-in-chief to share the workload of administrative work.

If in wartime, two deputy positions are directly withdrawn and one is held as the main position, so that we directly have an officer structure that is familiar with the overall operation of the unit, and then fill it with soldiers to get a complete unit. This will not increase our number. It won't make the army too large. ”

This trick has been used by the Soviets in history, a hidden expansion of the army, which can quickly pull out a huge army that can level the whole of Europe in terms of numbers in wartime, and it is not easy to be seen in peacetime.

In fact, there are more extreme ways to expand the army, the number of Nazi Germany's standing army under the restrictions of the Versailles system is limited to no more than 100,000, and it cannot exceed 100,000. So Nazi Germany simply had all 100,000 men as officers, and the soldiers would fill it when needed.

However, this is not necessary for the current Second German Reich, after all, it is not bad enough to be virtuous. And all of them are officers, so the ability training of these people will vary depending on the experience of the post. If more officers are assigned to deputy positions, the experience they have will fully meet the needs of the troops, so Maozi's set is obviously more suitable.

However, this mention was not so easy to accept in the Second German Empire, just like now, Schlieffen did not immediately express his position after hearing such a good idea, but pondered it.

Caprivi could see some emotion. But he didn't speak immediately.

In fact, what they hesitated about was that the elements of the German Junkers officer corps would be severely challenged in this way.

Nearly doubling the number of officers without increasing the number of troops is detrimental to the officer corps from any point of view, which means that as long as the number of troops does not expand, it will be difficult for noble officers to be promoted. There will also be more competition from non-aristocratic officers.

But there is no good reason to refuse, and it is indeed beneficial to the overall capability of the army. Seeing them so entangled, Jochen definitely continued to add fuel to their fire.

"If you don't count the National Guard, there are 68 divisions in our country, and more than 1 million combat troops can be mobilized in the shortest possible time during the war, but our country now has a population of more than 50 million, and the total number of troops that can be mobilized in wartime can exceed 3 million.

This means that there are about 2 million troops that take a long time to be recruited, integrated, and trained before they can be sent to the battlefield, which wastes the opportunity to quickly form a force advantage over the enemy.

According to my method, more than 2 million troops can be mobilized in the shortest possible time, and in order to allow the newly recruited soldiers to form combat effectiveness in the shortest possible time. We can also organize ordinary people to conduct military training in peacetime.

For example, students and workers need to receive short-term military training every year, and do not need to receive much military skills training, but only to cultivate their spirit of obedience and solidarity, so that we can shorten the time for the integration of new recruits in the early stage of wartime.

Schools and factories can also be trained to teach some self-help skills, which can not only be used in wartime, but also improve people's self-protection ability in peacetime.

In addition, except for some people who are engaged in postal (Note 1) and forest guarding work, there are few opportunities for ordinary people to come into contact with firearms.

We could have set up extensive folk shooting clubs, where guns were managed, and where ordinary people could play guided shooting for a small fee.

Moreover, this sport can be made into a national sport, and even folk competitions can be held and certificates can be given, and in the shooting club you can participate in the examination of the national standard, which can be divided into different levels of examinations, and you can be given certificates and badges after passing the examinations of different levels.

Those who pass the low-level assessment can skip shooting training and be sent directly to the front line after completing basic training after being called up in wartime. Those who have completed the intermediate level can be trained and arranged as an accurate shooter within the unit. And to pass the guò high-level assessment, it is not only necessary to have good shooting skills. It is also necessary to train some basic military skills to serve as a reserve force for snipers. ”

Jochen's building is a copy of the Soviet Union during World War II, and although the gun culture of the Americans has allowed almost everyone to know how to use guns, the Russians have cultivated the civilian shooting sport entirely as a reserve force in the country's military system.

An ordinary person who has received the title of Voroshilov shooter of the second rank is already no less than a first-class shooter within the army in marksmanship, and a person who has received the title of Voroshilov shooter of the first rank is equivalent to a sniper reserve army.

Although the Germans were much better at training marksmen than other countries during World War I, the eastern border of Germany was covered with vast forests. As a result, there are a large number of forest rangers in the eastern region, and there is also a tradition of hunting, so many people have the ability to hunt and shoot. During the war, the large number of these young hunters from the east added to the army, providing the German Army with a large number of hunters with experience in hunting, who could be used immediately after a short period of training.

In Britain, on the other hand, their so-called hunting was nothing more than hunting grouse and hares, which was a luxury social activity for the upper class, and lacked a broad mass base. In addition, they also prefer double-barreled shotguns in the equipment they use, and even if they use rifles, they rarely shoot at long distances, so these people do not use them in real combat at all.

This gave the Germans a great advantage in the trench confrontation phase during the war. But that's not enough for Jochen, so he doesn't expect to be like the United States where everyone knows how to use guns. At least to the level of the Soviets - those who can use guns are good, and there are quite a few of them.

Not only shooting, but also warfare has never rejected the master of various practical skills, so another skill that can be used in World War I is also asked by Jochen to pay attention to: "Not only shooting, but also some other skills that can be promoted, we can also carry out similar training, such as automobiles, the army is preparing for the future expansion of the application of vehicles in military transportation, etc., so enough people who know how to drive and repair are what we need."

We can form a driving school. This makes the use of automobiles safer in normal times, and this year we have the first case of death or injury in a traffic accident caused by a car (Note 2). This makes us pay more attention to the traffic safety of this new means of transportation.

Well, in addition to the amendments to the traffic law that we are currently working on drafting, more regulated driving skills are also important. So I think we can set up a driving school where you can teach you driving skills, and you can get a driver's license after all the tests.

Anyone who wants to drive on the road must have a driver's license, which will be mandatory in the traffic law amendments, and different drivers will have different licenses. Because if you drive a private car, a truck, or a bus, the social danger caused by an accident will be even greater.

Therefore, the driving skills they have to learn will also be different. And these people who have a driver's license, in wartime, can also arrange the work they can undertake within the army according to the type of driver's license they have.

Ways of doing this. We can store enough reservists with a lot of practical skills. On the other hand, people who want to drive must get a driver's license, and some people will consider buying a car because they have a driver's license, which can also promote the adoption rate of automobiles and promote economic development. ”

The car penetration rate is not just a symbol of a country's industrial capacity. A symbol of the country's economic strength, a symbol of the people's standard of living, and in a certain sense, it is also a symbol of the country's military capabilities.

If it weren't for the world's largest group of car drivers, it is doubtful that the Americans would have been able to sustain their massive motorized forces in World War II. But if it weren't for the fact that there were enough tractor drivers, the Soviet Union would never have been able to find enough tankmen.

Therefore, even if Germany and Japan were given more tanks and more planes in World War II, they would not be able to win, because there were not enough tank crews and pilots.

In World War I, transportation capacity often represents victory, so the number of drivers of this car must be increased. (To be continued......)

PS: Note 1: In the past, postal services in Europe were considered paramilitary units, and even postmen were caught in battles and treated as prisoners of war.

Note 2: The first car accident in history was in the United States in 1899, and now that the development of automobiles in Germany is beyond historical levels, it is not uncommon for a car accident to occur first in Germany.