"At the moment the line of defense of the 8th Army is deployed along the railway along the line of Gloudenz-Gherdownne-Tilsit. On the opposite side were the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd armies of the Russians, with a total strength of about 700,000 men. ”

West Prussia, Glaudenz, within the command of the 8th Army of the Imperial German Army, the commander of the 8th Army, Maximilian? Feng? Admiral Prittwitz was standing in front of the sand table and briefing the commander of the 1st Army, who had just arrived, on the battle situation.

"The commanders of the three armies of the Russians were Pavel? Years of Kampf, Alexander? Samsonov and Ni? Ruzsky. ”

"With a ratio of strength close to 1:4, the 8th Army is still able to hold the Russians south of the Glodenz-Geldownen-Tilsit, and Your Majesty and His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff have a high opinion of you." Commander of the 1st Army, August? Feng? Mackensen said.

The 8th Army alone was worthy of praise for holding back the Russians by 3 armies, but no one knew that His Majesty the Emperor's praise of Prittwitz actually contained boasting.

Historically, Prittwitz retreated in the face of the two Russian armies that had invaded East Prussia, and was later dismissed. The victories of the successors, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, at the battles of Tannenberg and Lake Masuria, have made Prittwitz even less highly regarded in history.

As an academic general with a complete military education, excellent academic and technical achievements, and grassroots experience, Prittwitz's military qualities are absolutely unquestionable. Historically, the choice to retreat in the face of the Russian offensive cannot be simply attributed to incompetence.

Due to the heavy investment of troops on the Western Front in the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan, Prittwitz's 8th Army chose to retreat in the face of the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Russian army. And the retreat of the 8th Army was very orderly, and the combat effectiveness of the troops was not affected, which also reflected the ability of Prittwitz. However, not taking advantage of the advantages of fighting on home soil to let the 8th Army play the role of delaying and delaying the Russian offensive is indeed a manifestation of his lack of adaptability, and then it is even more hopeless to turn over after completely becoming a background board for Hindenburg and Ludendorff.

The Americans said of Prittwitz: "There is enough wisdom, but there is a lack of real combat experience." ”

And now, in order to cooperate with the strategy of the General Staff, it was necessary for the 8th Army to steadily retreat and let the Russians into East Prussia, so as to ensure that the planned and orderly fighting and retreat, delay, delay and depletion of the Russian army were enough. In addition, Jochen did not intend to give Hindenburg and Ludendorff a chance, so after carefully studying Prittwitz's resume and asking the Chief of the General Staff Goltz, Jochen decided to give him a chance.

Now, Prittwitz has done a very good job, and as long as the strategy of the General Staff can be successful, it will be impossible to miss the results of the 8th Army in blocking the three Russian armies in the history of war, and Prittwitz may not be called a master of defense in the future.

Although he can't show off to others, Jochen's heart is still good at using his own knowledge, and he is a little proud, so praising Prittwitz is actually boasting.

Naturally, Prittwitz did not know this, but in the face of the praise of His Majesty the Emperor and His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff, he could not be happy at this time.

"Thank you, Your Majesty and Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff for your compliment." Prittwitz smiled bitterly, except for insiders, in the eyes of others, the 8th Army was defeated by the Russians. Even if His Majesty the Emperor, His Excellency the Prime Minister, and His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff supported him, no one would dare to publicly accuse him, but it is believed that the attitude of the people at home and government officials who do not know the inside story will be in private towards the abandonment of nearly half of the territory of East Prussia.

However, as an academic general, Prittwitz cared more about how to complete the task better than his reputation, and after a short pause, he continued: "The Russians have a very poor sense of secrecy, they often use clear code telegrams to communicate, and even if they communicate in code, the level of encryption is very low, so the movements of the Russians are basically transparent to us." And there were also problems with the coordination between the three armies, and the First Army had been attacking northward, with the goal of reaching the sea and capturing Königsberg. The 2nd and 3rd armies, on the other hand, continued to attack in the direction of Danzig, trying to cut off the two Prussians and advance the front to the level of the southern border line.

All the National Guards and reservists in Pomerania, Prussia and Prussia were all replenished to the 8th Army, and the gap in strength was actually close to 1:2, and the quality of the replenished soldiers was not high, but the Russians on the opposite side were not very good, plus the railway line was still under our control, so it was able to carry out mobile defense, and even so, the 8th Army was almost to the limit. ”

Prittwitz looked tired and full of sadness, although it was the strategic plan of the General Staff to let the Russians into East Prussia, although the use of the railway line to constantly adjust the deployment of the internal line of mobile deployment, and relying on the defensive advantage of trench warfare to block the Russian army with absolute superiority in numbers and play a fairly good battle loss ratio, but the south of East Prussia basically fell, and the exhaustion of the troops made Prittwitz feel pressure.

"yes, so we can't afford to delay." Mackenson nodded, also a little helpless. The Russians did not have overconfidence and blindly attacked on all fronts, but instead caused problems for the plans of the General Staff.

Because Galicia was ceded to Tsarist Russia during the partition of Austria-Hungary that year, the Russians, who were difficult to attack across the Carpathians, deployed three army groups on the southern front of Silesia and Poland, but the German Army only deployed the 5th Army between Silesia and Hungary, and the Russians still did not attack Posen from the center or Silesia and Hungary from the south.

In this way, the strategy of the heavy forces gathered in Bohemia to crush the frontal Russian army on the inner front, and then attack Poland from the middle to outflank the rear of the Russian army in East Prussia was completely bankrupt.

On the contrary, in addition to the 1st Army, which was bent on rushing to the sea, the other two Russian armies that attacked East Prussia were trying to level the front, and if the Russians succeeded, it would not only mean the defeat of the 8th Army, but also mean that even if the Germans launched a counteroffensive, they could only defeat and not encircle the Russians.

"If the 1st Army attacks south along the Ostrode-Neidenburg line, will the 8th Army be able to protect my rear?" Mackenson asked, looking at the sand.

"If you can break through the Russians' defenses, then no problem." Prittwitz gestured on the sand table with his whip: "The Russian 1st Army is now in the vicinity of Combinen, and the Gradenden-Geldoorn-Tilsit railway line is in our hands, and they cannot quickly move southwest to support the Russian 2nd and 3rd armies.

As long as the 1st Army breaks through the frontal line of the Russian army, the 8th Army can attack from both flanks by drawing forces by rail, so that the longitudinal railway of Elo-Soldao will return to our control, and as long as the railway is in our hands, the rear of the 1st Army will have a passage. After the counteroffensive begins, the 4th Army, which is now in Posen, will attack along the southern front of East Prussia, which will cut off the rear route of the Russian 2nd and 3rd armies back to Poland, so you don't have to worry about the rear being cut off. Prittwitz assured.

Although the 8th Army was already sleepy at this time, as long as the Russian frontal defense line was broken, then the ability to mobilize through the railway line and concentrate part of the troops to attack dozens of kilometers still exists, and after the two armies of the Russians were annihilated, the pressure to deal with the Russian 1st Army in the northeast direction would be much less. Otherwise, if it drags on any longer, the 8th Army will really have to exhaust its last strength in a defensive battle.

"But even so, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the 1st Army to get the support of the 8th Army after entering the territory of Poland." After thinking about it, Prittwitz still reminded him.

Even with the cooperation of the 4th Army, it would not be easy for the current 8th Army to try to eat the Russians by the 2 armies, and it was unrealistic to expect the 8th Army to have the spare strength to enter Polish territory and continue to protect the rear of the 1st Army.

"No, that's enough." Mackensen raised his head and responded with a smile: "In addition to the 4th Army, the 2nd Army and the 3rd Army have also entered the territory of Posen and Silesia from the Bohemian region, respectively. The only force that the Russians could use in Poland was the 9th Army, which was used as a reserve near Warsaw. I'm not going to fight Warsaw, and wait for the 5th Army and the 1st Army, which broke through from Krakow, to close their pockets at Lodz, then the Russians can't even think of piercing through our pockets with just one army. ”

Mackenson said it lightly, but both of them knew how the three armies in the pocket would react when they found out that the back road was cut off. If the advance of the 2nd and 3rd armies is not fast enough, then it will be the bottom of this pocket that will be attacked from both sides.

However, this risk had to be taken again, and if it only launched a counteroffensive in East Prussia, it would at most be able to annihilate the Russian 2nd and 3rd armies, and the 1st Army might not have time to stop it if it wanted to withdraw the German army. And East Prussia, as a salient that threatens the flank of the Russian army on the southern front, is very likely to retreat the three armies on the southern front, so it will be difficult for the Germans to have another chance to encircle and annihilate them.

But if it succeeds, then the Imperial Army will achieve brilliant results in defeating at least 2 army groups and encircling and annihilating 3 army groups on the Eastern Front. This would be a great victory for the Imperial army after the start of the war, and even the victory that the Imperial Navy had just achieved in the Mediterranean would be overshadowed.

"Looks like you and I can't wait." Prittwitz said with a smile.

"The whole of Germany can't wait, I'm afraid that His Majesty the Emperor and His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff can still calm down." Mackenson laughed too.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Prittwitz shouted.

The herald pushed the door and stood straight, shouting in an excited voice: "Report! Call from the General Staff! Codename 'Empire above all!' 'Repeat! 'Empire above all else! ’”

Mackensen and Prittwitz looked at each other and smiled: "It seems that His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff can't wait." ”