Late at night on August 10, 1914, the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin was brightly lit, and the top brass of the Reich were making final preparations on the eve of the war.

"Your Majesty, Russia has rejected our ultimatum to ask them to cancel the general mobilization." "And France's answer to our request was 'the decision will be made in France's interests.'" ’”

In order to test the attitude of France after the war between Germany and Russia, Holwig proposed to the French ambassador that if France was neutral, then the two fortresses of Verdun and Taur should be handed over to Germany for temporary occupation, and Germany would guarantee to exchange France after the war.

"Is the decision made in the interests of France?" Jochen said mockingly, "They still want to confuse us at this time, do they really think we are fools?" ”

Jochen considered Holwig's temptation of France to be a futile effort from the outset, and when the French gave the same reply historically, the French Embassy in Russia had already reported to St. Petersburg: "The French Minister of War cordially told his government that war had been decided, and hoped that Russia and France would first concentrate all their energies on defeating Germany, and that Austria-Hungary was insignificant." ”

Now hearing the exact same answer from Holwig's mouth, Jochen said with a look on his face: "It seems that we have to fight on two fronts, but fortunately the Italians are willing to fulfill their duty and not expose us to the enemy on three sides." ”

"Your Majesty, the Italians are not to be trusted." Goltz immediately reminded him of his contempt for his neighbor to the south.

"I know what you're worried about, Colmar." Jochen waved his hand: "It's simply not realistic to use a treaty to get that grass on the wall south of us into this quagmire. Counting on the credibility of the "unchaste **", Jochen's brain has not gone wrong.

"They now claim to be willing to do their duty because they have to give us an account, but you can't expect them to do anything. Russia is too far away from them, do you think they will send an expeditionary force to attack Russia with us? The French, on the other hand, were separated from them by an Alpine, and it was very difficult for both the French and them to fight over. And the Italians now do not have the courage to go to war with the British. So I think they will only declare war on France and Russia, not on Britain. If they had a tacit understanding with Britain and France, they could have just put a few divisions on the border between Italy and France to put on a show, and then do nothing. ”

Historically, the Italians were able to declare war on Austria-Hungary, but not on Germany, Austria-Hungary's ally, and Jochen was able to guess what the Italians would do if they wanted to pretend. At that time, it is also possible that the Franco-Italian border will turn into a World War I version of a sit-down war.

"So what's the point of the Italians declaring war on France?" Holwig asked.

"At least the French will have to put a few divisions in the Alps to pretend, since war has been declared, the French can't be completely at ease with the Italians, this can more or less help us share a little of the pressure, right?" Jochen spread his hands: "And we don't have to deploy troops in the south to watch out for the Italians, do we?" In addition, the French will be stopped in the western part of the Mediterranean in a short time, and if the French fleet wanders around the eastern Mediterranean and the Italian navy does not do something, then the play will be too fake. ”

"And we have time to deal with the British Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria first, and block the Suez Canal." Tirpitz added: "If the Italians see our victory and think they have a chance to fight for the interests of the Mediterranean and North Africa. They're going to really make a difference. ”

"That's right, so if we want the Italians to really join our side, we ourselves must first teach Britain, France and Russia a hard lesson." Jochen nodded, "So, how are we getting ready now?" ”

"Your Majesty, all the troops on the border have moved into defensive positions. In order to confuse the Russians and the French, we have transferred the National Guard of the various states to the Western Front, and we have increased the number of trains to the Western Front, while the troops we have mobilized have secretly assembled on the Eastern Front. Moreover, the 6th and 7th armies in the Alsace-Lorraine region were also cooperating. The French, if not blind, should have seen that the two army groups were moving into the starting positions. Goltz replied.

"In this case, the French will be prepared not to lose these two armies when the time comes." Jochen nodded.

"Your Majesty is reassured. I'm not going to give the French a chance. Goertz is confident about this.

Although it was decided to defend the west and attack the east, this did not mean that the Germans had to squat in the trenches at the beginning on the Western Front. For Jochen knew that the Russians had not thought about what to do if Germany launched an offensive on the Eastern Front.

Historically, the Russians planned that if Germany had begun to attack on the Eastern Front with the main forces, both Russian fronts would retreat along a line running north and south through Brest-Litovsk behind the Pripet marshes, abandoning all of Poland, Warsaw, and all the fortresses of the Vistura and Narev rivers. to avoid being surrounded and annihilated by the Germans in the narrow area of Russian Poland.

If necessary, the strategy of the Battle of Moscow in 1812 will be used again: the Russian front will retreat further, gaining time at all costs, waiting for three to four weeks or more, waiting for the arrival of the armies of the Asian side, that is, 6 Siberian armies and 2 Turkestan armies, and the complete build-up of forces and resources throughout the empire. And then try to make a decisive counterattack.

In this way, Germany will not be able to destroy the living forces of the Russians, and Germany will sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the Eastern Front. Therefore, it is necessary for Germany to deceive the Russians out first, bite them hard, and then the Russians' ability to resist will be greatly weakened.

To achieve such an aim, it is necessary to make the Russians think that Germany has attacked France with all its might, so that at the request of France, the Russians can safely and boldly carry out the attack, so as to give the Germans the opportunity to attack.

Therefore, on the one hand, Germany had to make a gesture of transferring the main forces to the Western Front, and on the other hand, it was necessary to launch an attack on France by two army groups in the Alsace-Lorraine area, so as to convince the French that the main direction of the German attack was the Western Front.

It was not difficult to convince the French that the Germans had attacked, since it was from Alsace-Lorraine that the Prussian army had invaded France during the Franco-Prussian War. Therefore, the French top brass has always been obsessive and pedantic in believing that the Germans will repeat this practice in future wars.

In World War II, the French did not learn their lesson, and after being caught off guard by Germany in World War I through Belgium, France began to think that Germany would do it again in World War II according to the Schlieffen plan, and was beaten by the Germans who inserted it from the Ardennes and surrendered directly. Is it true that the French don't have enough capacity in their brains, so they will only stare at the lessons of the last time?

So Jochen was confident that as soon as Germany attacked from the Alsace-Lorraine region, the French would definitely take the bait.

However, the French offensive theory and the historical Plan 17 emphasized a-for-tat attack when the Germans attacked, so the 6th and 7th armies had to be careful to be routed by the French at any time. However, looking at Goltz's appearance of being a bamboo in his chest, it seems that he has a plan in advance, and Jochen can only believe in Goltz's ability.

"So if the Russians are fooled and launch an offensive on the Eastern Front, how sure are we that we will keep them all?" Jochen continued. How to eat up the Russian army's living forces as much as possible in the early stage of the war and reduce the pressure for the subsequent offensive is also an important part of the west-to-east offensive.

"The 8th Army will defend itself in East Prussia, the 5th Army will go to Hungary, and the rest of our forces will be assembled in Bohemia. Regardless of which direction the Russian army attacks, the defending forces will do their best to fend off the Russians, attract the Russians to throw in more troops, and then put in the troops on standby in the Bohemian region to annihilate them in one fell swoop. Goltz replied.

"It's just that in this case, whether it is East Prussia or Hungary, it may be necessary to properly let the Russian army attack in, and I am afraid that the loss will ......" Goltz changed his words, and whether His Majesty the Emperor could accept such a thing as letting the army of the enemy country set foot on the territory of the empire, and what was the limit of acceptance, Goltz did not know the bottom in his heart.

"I know that the army only needs to be responsible for winning the war, and you don't need to worry about the rest." Jochen glanced over at Holwig.

The Reich Chancellor immediately replied with great discernment: "We are already persuading the citizens of East Prussia to move to West Prussia, and we are also in the process of resettling the transferred citizens. ”

"Arrange jobs for them as soon as possible, and we need every labor force to be put to good use in this war." Jochen nodded, then turned to Tirpitz, "What about the navy?" ”

"The Navy has entered a state of combat readiness, and the fleets have been assembled at their home ports and are ready to carry out their operational plans. The order for the Far Eastern Fleet has been issued, and as soon as war breaks out, the main forces of the Far Eastern Fleet will leave the Philippines immediately. The task of escorting the local garrison and expatriates to Subic Bay was well carried out by the detachment in Qingdao. The Navy is ready! Tirpitz replied with a sigh of relief.

Although it deviates from the original intention of his own risk fleet theory, now is also the time to test the results of his own efforts for so long.

"We've done what we can, and it's not up to us to decide the rest." Jochen sighed and whispered.

On August 11, 1914, Russia declared war on Germany, and on the same day, Germany declared war on Russia.

On August 12, 1914, France rejected Germany's neutrality and demanded that Germany declare war, and on the same day, Germany declared war on France.

A full-scale war breaks out in Europe! Peace, it's over. (To be continued.) )