In late autumn, when the temperature is getting colder and everything is bleak, Germans who don't want to travel long distances either head south to explore the Bavarian lakes and mountains, or head north to enjoy the sunshine and warm sea breeze. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

While the seaside town of Wittmund in northern Germany has been a busy city of vehicles and familiar faces for vacation, this year's city has become a barracks overnight, with neatly dressed officers and soldiers, antennas erected on some rooftops, telephone poles hung with dense telephone lines, horses, motorcycles, and small military cars, but instead of being as noisy as it seems, it presents a kind of chic, orderly exuberance.

In a detached seaside villa, the 27-year-old Prince Wilhelm watched his men busy in the courtyard with great ambition, and this was the first time he had served as the host of the all-army parade, and in the following period, the participating troops from the German states would show the results of their daily training under his coordination, and through such exercises, they would get acquainted with each other and enhance tacit understanding. You must know that Kaiser Wilhelm II, who has been on the throne for more than 20 years, has never had the opportunity to actually preside over the all-army parade, and Crown Prince Wilhelm is particularly proud to receive such an honor.

"Ahem......

Hearing the sound of prompts coming from behind him, the crown prince turned in a dignified posture, and walked towards him a sturdy, handsome young officer, wearing a cloth military hat with a wide black velvet cap wall, and a brand-new double-breasted military uniform, wearing a pair of gold double-striped collar badges on the uniform, an armed belt with a round gold buckle around his waist, a luger pistol holster on the left, a simple document bag in the shape of a magazine on the right, and a pair of loose gray breeches and shiny black riding boots on the bottom, majestic.

"Hey, Jochen, what a fitting outfit it is! The temperament of the whole person is completely different, or ...... Or are you considering a transfer to the Army? ”

Of course, the crown prince was joking, and the young man in front of him was the head of the technical department of the German Navy's staff and the chief of naval shipbuilding, and the youngest colonel in the history of the German Navy - Prince Joachim of Prussia!

The reason why Natsuki was dressed like this was mainly because he was invited by Crown Prince William to participate in the staff work of the Army's autumn parade. In front of the staff officers of the German army, no matter how Natsuki dresses up, as long as he appears, he will definitely be recognized, rather than being troubled by this, it is better to simply reveal his identity and stay by Crown Prince Wilhelm's side all day under the pretext of studying and asking for advice. Given that a man in a naval uniform was too conspicuous among a large group of army staff officers, and it happened that the Kaiser had recently awarded him the title of honorary officer of the 1st Prussian Guards Lancer Regiment, it was only natural that Natsuki wore this rather handsome army uniform.

"However, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I was born a marine animal, and I am not interested in things on land, and I am afraid that this cannot be changed." Natsuki replied with a grin.

"Sea animals? Ha, interesting! Crown Prince William laughed. Standing with his youngest brother, Joachim, he appeared tall and thin, like a white bamboo pole, but not because he had some bad habits. Frederick the Great, the greatest ruler and military strategist in Prussian history, was the same as he was in his youth, but it did not prevent this hard-working monarch from becoming a prominent figure in the world.

This is also a point that Crown Prince William is quite proud of.

Regarding the topic of "job hopping", Natsuki did not go on. His previous profession was a naval engineer, and his greatest hobby was making models of warships, and joining the Navy was his first choice, but his interests were not limited to the ocean. When he was about to graduate from middle school, by chance, he borrowed a biography of Wu Peifu in the school library. The warlord Tyrant's career as a horse warrior was so unsettling that he was so attracted that he tried to find books on similar subjects. From "The Biography of Napoleon" to "The War of Self-Defense and Counterattack against Vietnam", he eagerly learned everything that had happened in modern military history, marveled at those wonderful strategies, and regretted those battles that were successful and failed. When he had no books to read, when he took a break from his boring and heavy schoolwork, he hand-drew the classic battles in his memory on scratch paper - the rotten drawing skills did not produce a military cartoonist, but gave him his own connotation in terms of strategy and tactics. If he could freely choose a role in this era, he would not mind becoming the commander-in-chief of the German army and navy at the same time, using his mind to help this iron-blooded army avoid historical mistakes one by one, crush every enemy with lightning-fast offensive, and make the whole world revere its banner!

"Here, take a look at our new sandbox." Crown Prince William motioned to Natsuki to look down the terrace, the Army General Staff had prepared the combat sand table for this exercise in advance. It is more than six meters long and wide, and exquisitely depicts the topography of the area where it will be conducted, with soldiers representing the types and sizes of the troops, and the basic information and changes in the situation are clear at a glance.

Standing side by side with Crown Prince William on the balcony railing, Xia Shu suddenly had a heroic feeling of strategizing and directing the country.

"This is the largest all-army exercise in recent years, right?"

"That's right, 18 corps, 680,000 men, more than the 1905 Grand Parade." Crown Prince William replied proudly.

The form of government of the Second German Reich was federal, which consisted of 22 states, 3 free municipalities and 1 jurisdiction, although each state gave the powers of military, diplomatic, customs legislation, banking legislation, indirect taxes, criminal law and other powers to the imperial government, but the formation and maintenance of the army was still the responsibility of the states, that is, the German army at this time was actually composed of the Prussian army, the Bavarian army, the Württemberg army, etc., they used standardized weapons and training codes, but there were still differences in some details. In order to achieve the desired coordination effect in wartime, the General Staff of the Army usually organizes a joint exercise every year, which is the origin of this autumn exercise.

Since the German General Staff entered the Schlieffen era, the content of the annual drill has become a "war against France" that cannot be shaken. In 1905, Schlieffen was the last year of his tenure as Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, and Moltke Jr., who was about to take over the post of Chief of the General Staff, presided over the all-army exercise for the first time as Quartermaster General, and simulated the Western Offensive with seven corps, the core part of the "Schlieffen Plan", and the results were highly praised by Schlieffen. Soon after, this military strategist who left a deep personal mark on the strategic and tactical thinking of the German army ended his 44-year military career, and after retiring from the army, Schlieffen continued to devote himself to the study of tactics on the Western Front, and continued to influence the military thinking of the German army by publishing articles in military journals, instilling the concept of the "Schlieffen Plan" into every general and staff officer in the army's upper echelons.

Most German generals were convinced of the Schlieffen plan, but they forgot that the situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly.

"Your Highness, the more troops participating in the war, the greater the logistical pressure, and we can't take this aspect lightly." Natsuki kindly reminded.

Crown Prince Wilhelm disagreed: "Hey, we don't have to worry about this, the German General Staff is the military agency that is best at troop mobilization and logistical organization. As soon as we determine the line of attack, they will arrange the supply of military supplies in the shortest possible time. ”

"However, it's better not to rely too much on a certain set of ideas......" Natsuki muttered.

Crown Prince William obviously did not hear Natsuki's words to himself, and he said confidently and proudly: "When the time really comes to war, the number of soldiers thrown into the Western Front will be at least twice as much." Once war breaks out, we must defeat France with all our might, which is the only way to victory. ”

Based on his knowledge of history, Natsuki knew that what Crown Prince William said was true. In the Napoleonic era, the total number of troops committed to the battle was usually less than 400,000, but by the time of the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars, the belligerents were able to gather more than 600,000 troops, which was one of the most remarkable changes brought to the world by the Industrial Revolution. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German army had a total of 20 standing corps, with a non-war strength of about 900,000 troops, and this exercise put into operation 16 standing corps, and 2 temporarily assembled reserve corps, and this is only part of Germany's military potential. Based on the mature reserve system, Germany can mobilize a large number of reserve troops in a short period of time, although its combat capability is inferior to its own front-line standing army, compared with the regular troops of second-rate countries - when Germany completed the general mobilization in 1914, there were more than 2 million combat soldiers, most of whom were engaged in the Western Front offensive against France, and had a clear advantage over the French army. In the midst of the frenzy of the whole country, the failure to win in one fell swoop missed the best opportunity for the empire to shine......

"8 corps play the red side, 10 corps play the blue side, according to the established battle plan on the western front, the blue side will undoubtedly win, we only need to adjust the march route and time arrangement of each unit according to the geographical environment of the area of the exercise, if nothing goes wrong in the implementation process, the drill will be successfully completed!" Natsuki asked.

Crown Prince William stared at the delicate sand table: "As long as the blue side successfully encircles and annihilates the main force of the red side, it will be considered qualified." However, since it is our skill, how can we let it only get a 'pass'? ”

"Our Drills", the details of the title reflect the mentality of Crown Prince William. Through the previous military drill at the corps level, he won himself a precious opportunity to preside over this exercise, and this was also an excellent stage for him to prove his military talent to the army generals and officers and soldiers.

Unlike previous military exercises, this time, the resources of the entire Army General Staff were at the disposal of Crown Prince William. After many years of training by Schlieffen, the operation mechanism of the army's general staff has become very mature, even if it is commanded by a less professional person, as long as the plan is determined, the staff officers with outstanding quality can make the whole army accurately realize it.

Therefore, whether the meeting is wonderful or not, the formulation of the plan is the key.

It was precisely in order to stir up a new idea of cold rice, and there was still half a month before the parade was held, the crown prince gathered the personnel involved in the staff operation, selected a place like Wittmund, which was far away from the military and political center, and ordered the staff officers to prepare the drill plan wholeheartedly, and invited Natsuki to give advice.

Natsuki pursed her lips and chuckled.

Seeing that Natsuki's flexible thinking had not yet "hit the road", Crown Prince William further inspired: "My idea is that the blue side will win the victory in less time and with fewer casualties than the original plan, and this result will definitely make His Majesty the Emperor very happy, and at the same time, let those old guys take a good look at what real military wisdom is." Jochen, what do you think? ”

"I couldn't agree more." Natsuki replied, and when Crown Prince William was full of anticipation of his words, Natsuki winked at him: "It's just that I don't have a specific idea yet." ”

There was no disappointment in Crown Prince William's eyes, he raised his eyebrows and smiled: "That's okay, our genius is full of wisdom. The past has never disappointed, and neither does it now and certainly not in the future. ”

"Okay, let me think about it."

Xia Shu closed his eyes and rested for a while, and said slowly: "Our battle plan on the Western Front is like a rotating gate, the left wing of the blue side is the bait to attract the enemy's attention, the middle is the axis that supports the rotation of the gate, and the right wing is the key to encircling and annihilating the enemy...... Focusing on breakthroughs, rapid penetration, and division and encirclement, the blue side will completely break down the red side's defenses in three days, and transport combat troops to the rear of the red side by sea, disrupt its deployment, shake its military morale, and hasten its rout......"

"By sea?" The crown prince temporarily called a stop, he stared at Natsuki's face for a moment, and grinned: "Ha, Yohyun, you guy!" If I'm not mistaken, you added the sea route part to this plan to recommend your plan for the formation of your Marine Corps to His Majesty the Emperor, right? ”

Natsuki smiled, "Uh...... After all, I can't hide my thoughts from you, Brother Huang! Well, the plan I envisaged is selfish, but I can assure you that it will definitely be beneficial to the process and outcome of this exercise. ”

Being complimented by Natsuki like this, Crown Prince William couldn't help but feel a little flustered, and he thought for a while: "Okay, as long as this meeting can achieve the same effect as last time, you can do it as much as you want, I absolutely support it." ”

got cheap, Xia Shu didn't forget to be modest: "After all, I am a layman in the army's staff operations, and I just rely on a little cleverness, and I can deal with military drills." When the war really starts, His Highness should also trust those staff officers who are very capable. ”

"Well, well, I've heard you say that several times." Crown Prince William waved his hand, and it seemed that he did not take this sentence to heart.

"Don't worry, there's no way I'm going to transfer you from the Navy to the Army as a staff officer, and it won't take up too much of your energy, just our geniuses can help me with some ideas once in a while. Don't forget, I said that one of our brothers will be in charge of the army, and the other in the navy, and let the enemies of Germany tremble under our feet. ”

Natsuki no longer shirked, but smiled faintly. What is going to be in the future, no one can pack a ticket now.

(End of chapter)