"Russia, Moscow ......"

In the armored command vehicle, Chen Tian muttered alone.

"Your Royal Highness, what's wrong with you?" Hoffmann found that Chentian had fallen into a strange state since he met with Archduke Friedrich.

"Oh! It's nothing! Chen Tian raised his head, and the others were busy gathering the latest information on their various troops, including the loss of equipment, the combat effectiveness of personnel, and the current position of the march, only Hoffman sat quietly in front of him.

"Colonel Hoffman, get busy! Leave me alone, report something to me! ”

Hoffman didn't intend to walk away, but lowered his voice, "Your Royal Highness, we just had a big victory, and you look sullen, this really disturbs me, what happened?" Could it be the same person last time......"

"That's not it, well, Colonel Hoffman, sit here!" Chentian motioned for him to sit next to him, and Hoffman hesitated, but finally sat down.

"Our original plan was to destroy the Russian Army Group Northwest first, which we had already done in August; Next, we had to cooperate with the Austro-Hungarian army to defeat the Russian Army Group Southwest, and although we had some trouble in Bialystok in the process, we still achieved this goal! After Chen Tian finished speaking, he picked up an atlas from the table next to him, turned to the page with the world map, and scribbled on it with a red brush.

Soon, a large red area appeared on the map.

"Russia, with its vast territory and great strategic depth; Winters are cold! Chen Tian whispered.

"Indeed, the Russian giant!" Hoffman nodded, but he didn't quite understand what Tatsuten was trying to say.

"We hope to be able to keep the Eastern Front in a relatively stable state, so that the main forces on the Western Front can attack France with all their might! But from yesterday's conversation, I found out that the Austrian commander-in-chief, Archduke Friedrich, not only wanted to drive the Russians out of Poland, but even had the intention of continuing to advance into the Russian hinterland! "Chentian connected Warsaw and Moscow on the map in a straight line, which was not very long compared to the vast territory of Russia, but it was actually more than 1,000 kilometers away.

"Yes, Your Highness! When we first planned, we took into account that neither the Russian nor the Austrian army had the ability to continue the large-scale offensive, and then calmly waited for changes in Russia! Hoffmann gradually followed Chentian's train of thought, "Now, the Russians' forces in Poland are already very weak, and even with the addition of Aglini's part in Minsk, it will be difficult for them to confront the Austro-Hungarian army of Archduke Friedrich in terms of numbers and equipment!" ”

"Yesterday when Grand Duke Friedrich told me about the march to Moscow, I realized that he meant it! His forces are indeed formidable, but the march into Moscow will not only require maintaining long supply lines, but will also have to face the coming Russian winter! Chen Tian looked helpless, "If the Grand Duke is going to Moscow, the emperor is likely to let our legions go with him!" However, I don't want to be the second Napoleon! ”

"Napoleon? But Your Royal Highness, our weapons and soldiers are much better than the Russians, and besides, we have internal support, don't we? Hoffman paused, as the other staff officers cast curious glances.

"Anyway, Russia is the last place I want to go!" Chen Tian understood what a great honor it was to lead an army into Moscow, but the lessons of Xiao Na and Xiao Xi were simply two insurmountable mountains for him. Although the failure of those two men can be attributed to some accidents and mistakes, the geography and weather of Russia are simply an irresistible invisible trap. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of these Austrian troops was not reliable, and although the penetration of Allied troops into the heart of Russia would be more beneficial to the Russian Revolutionary, once they were in trouble, the situation on the Eastern Front would become difficult to control. At that time, Germany may have to draw troops from the Western Front, and every German division drawn from the periphery of Paris will be very unfavorable to the situation on the Western Front. "I'd rather wait until the war is over in calm on the Eastern Front than venture into the Russian hinterland!"

"Are you going to persuade Archduke Friedrich to stabilize the front between Poland and Belarus?" Hoffman waved his hand to the staff officers to go about their business, and he lowered his voice.

"Yes, at least until next spring!" The carriage was shaking slightly, and Chen Tian's expression had eased a lot, "It's better to let the Russians subvert the tsarist regime by themselves!" ”

"Well, Warsaw!" Hoffman thought for a moment, "We want to successfully take the attack on Warsaw, drive the Russian Army Group Southwestern out of Poland, and then confront the Russian army between East Prussia and Russia and Poland and Russia!" ”

"That's right!" Chen Tian's expression softened slightly, "The problem is Archduke Friedrich, once this person makes up his mind, ten horses can't pull it back!" Desperate rush to Moscow, this is what he is going to do! If you want to convince him, you have to be ruthless! ”

"How about giving him a little trouble in Warsaw?" Hoffman reluctantly squeezed out a smile, it was not a pleasant thing to play conspiracy with his allies after all, "After all, there are still about 400,000 Russian troops in Warsaw, and the fortifications there are still a little bit of appearance!" If the Grand Duke's army had suffered heavy losses there, then he might have given up on the march! ”

"If I were the Russian commander in Warsaw, I would abandon Warsaw and immediately retreat to Belarus or Ukraine, of course, given the current situation, it would be wisest to retreat to Minsk, Belarus. After joining forces with Aglini and waiting for work with 700,000 or more troops, they had every hope of resisting the attack of the Austro-Hungarian army of one million! After yesterday's battle, Chen Tian felt that Ivanov and his soldiers had been frightened, maybe the group was now packing up and preparing to run away, "The Russian artillery is now in the hands of Archduke Friedrich, if they continue to stay in Warsaw, I guarantee that they will not only not be able to stop us, but will die an ugly death!" ”

Hoffman raised his head and looked thoughtful, "Will the Russians really give up Warsaw and Poland so easily?" I thought so too, but I couldn't believe it was such an easy victory! ”

"Unless the Russian commander is a fool! By the time we encircle Warsaw, he won't be able to run away even half of his soldiers! If Agrini came to their rescue, I would be even happier! Chen Tian wanted to say something, and the staff officer handed a telegram to Hoffman.

"At 9 a.m. on September 29, according to the situation detected by the 3rd and 5th reconnaissance aircraft squads of the Legion Air Corps, the Russian army is withdrawing from Warsaw!" Hoffman read it softly, but he didn't know whether to be happy or worried, and the other staff officers in the carriage cheered anyway.

Chen Tian already had an idea in his heart at this time, he stood up abruptly and ordered, "Stop!" Colonel Hoffmann, Archduke Friedrich for the talks, and Colonel Olg for the talks! ”

On the German position northeast of Warsaw, General Mackensen stood on a high place and looked out into the city, which was filled with chaos and roaring, as if bandits or robbers had entered the village. He also received a report from a reconnaissance plane that the Russian army was retreating in panic along the Warsaw-Minsk railway, which was crowded with Russian soldiers and more were evacuated on foot along the railway line. In fact, since the retreat of the remnants of the 3rd and 4th armies under the command of Ivanov to Warsaw in the middle of the night, the city has never been quiet. At first, Mackensen thought that the Russian army was ready to use superior forces to attack him, and he also specially ordered the soldiers to prepare for retreat, after all, before the main force returned here, there was no suspense in fighting several Russian army groups with the strength of one army, but not a single Russian soldier went out of the city from this direction, and he did not suddenly realize until the reconnaissance plane sent back a report.

"General, a telegram has been sent from the corps command asking us to act at the right time and occupy Warsaw at the smallest possible cost!" The communications officer trotted all the way to hand him the telegram, which he glanced at and set aside. General Mackenson was of average stature, but his appearance was unforgettable: a pair of eagle-sharp eyes, gray and neat hair, a slightly hooked nose with two beards of the same color as the hair, neither thick nor western, a bare chin, and a neat military uniform. He and his Second Army did not stand out since the outbreak of the war, following the rules in the East Prussian Campaign, he stayed in East Prussia when the corps broke through into Russian Poland, and only came to the front with his troops after Matthew's 4th Army returned to East Prussia to recuperate, and the assault capabilities of the Panzer Corps at the Battle of the Leif River made it easy to forget his contribution and that of the Second Army.

Mackensen did not complain about anything, on the contrary, he firmly believed that gold always shines, and he originally wanted to have a beautiful maneuver with the Russian army in Warsaw, but the Russians ran away without saying a word, which was really not good news for Mackensen and the Second Army.

After a while, the communications officer ran over again, "General, the artillery commander asked us if we needed to shell the Russian troops on the outskirts of Warsaw, and he said that the Russian troops were withdrawing from the forward positions!" ”

"Why not? Even if you send the Russian army away! Mackenson replied with a serious face, and sometimes he even doubted his own worth, but Chen Tian always said to him, "General, you are a man who can stand alone, and I think that one day you will win a grand cross for yourself!" ”

"Grand Cross!" Mackenson muttered a little self-deprecatingly, "I can't even get a Blue Max Medal for my current exploits!" ”

Chen Tian will not be mistaken, in history, there are only five people who have received the Grand Cross in the Iron Cross, the highest military honor in the Second German Reich, and Mackensen is one of them. The Eastern Front was his own, and he was supposed to participate in all the battles on the Eastern Front, and command the German-Austrian forces to sweep through Serbia and occupy Poland and Romania.

But now, the legend is still standing outside Warsaw in a daze.

Rumbling artillery rang out, and the flames and smoke of the explosion covered the Russian positions outside the city, and several lone batteries were also attacked. Figures running towards the city swayed faintly in the smoke, and soon the Russian soldiers there were nowhere to be seen.

Mackensen put down his binoculars and summoned the communications officer to order, "Let the colonel stop the shelling!" Order the 1st Division to prepare for the city! ”

Under the watchful eye of the general, more than 10,000 German infantry began to advance towards Warsaw in a skirmish formation. The smoke of gunfire on the positions outside the city had gradually cleared, and the huge city was in front of them, with no end in sight to the houses and streets inside. After the cannonade stopped.

The pointed helmets slowly moved forward, and the Russian positions in the northeast of Warsaw were in shambles, the ground was full of smoking craters and equipment discarded by the Russian army, a few cannons, some flags with countless footprints, damaged carriages, military hats, and a few corpses of Russian troops were barely visible on the wide position, which was enough to prove that the Russians here had long been ready to escape.

The gray skirmish line gradually crossed the fields to the edge of the city, and houses stood silently on both sides of the street. There is no mud on the stone-paved streets, but it gives people a feeling of dirt and mess, which comes from scattered Russian discards, useless cooking utensils, broken boxes with open mouths, brown fur and dung of war horses, bloodstained bandages, all the things that the Russian army does not want to take are thrown on the streets at will.

The city had long since lost its former hustle and bustle, and after the German shelling stopped, all the streets seemed even more silent, dead quiet, as if the city had been abandoned.

The soldiers put their steps very lightly, those who want to cough hold back, those who want to talk, and those who want convenience...... Finding a secluded place to solve it alone, everyone can't bear to spoil the peace here. The soldiers cautiously marched down the street toward the city centre, pointing their guns at the windows of the houses on either side, as if the enemy would poke their heads out of there in the next second; Near the corner, the soldiers slowly moved over the corner, for fear that the street on the other side of the corner would be full of Russian soldiers; The machine gunners crept up to the heights to set up their machine guns, and when they pulled the bolts, everyone seemed to cover their ears, fearing that they would wake up the enemy who was sleeping soundly in a corner; However, nothing happened, and the city remained calm.

When the buzzing sound came, all the German soldiers were almost startled.

"It turned out to be our plane! I thought it was a Russian car! The soldiers comforted each other, then waved their fists at the plane painted with a white iron cross in the sky, "People are scared to death!" ”

"General, the reconnaissance plane has sent a report that all the Russian rearguard units have withdrawn from Warsaw, and our soldiers can occupy that city with confidence!" When the communications officer brought the telegram, Mackensen was still calm.

"Got it, send a report to the legion headquarters! In addition, the 2nd Division was ordered to enter the city, to take control of the city as soon as possible, that no one was allowed to enter the houses of the Poles without an order, that no one should shoot, and that any abnormalities should be reported immediately! ”

At 5 p.m. on September 29, 1914, the Germans officially declared the occupation of Warsaw, and General Mackensen and his 2nd Army were commended for their bloodless capture of the city.