In the following time, Qingying exchanged some matters with William about conducting a general battle.

Although Germany has won far more victories than it has in its history, it is also quite difficult to end the war in a short period of time. The premise for the detonation of the Russian Revolution was to annihilate the Russian army on the Eastern Front in large numbers and cause its people to endure the pain of material exhaustion. Forcing France to withdraw from the war would have to be done with a large amount of their vital forces and industrial materials, which would have taken a considerable amount of time. By contrast, the decisive battle at sea to destroy the pillars of the British Empire could have been a shortcut, but Germany clearly could not pin all its hopes on this.

Therefore, it was absolutely necessary for Germany to prepare for a long war. The parties in Congress need to put aside their prejudices and work together in the war. The royal family and the government need to make speeches and statements to the people to make them aware that they are facing an uphill battle and to inspire them with confidence that they will win in the end. In addition, the empire's industry and economy will also begin to gradually transform in the direction of serving the war, so that it can fully use its great power as the second largest in the world.

The Third Reich in history is undoubtedly the most typical counterexample of lack of mobilization. In 1940, when they occupied almost all of European industry, their aircraft production did not reach even one-third of that of Britain in the same period; Its military output value is outrageously low compared to its majestic and vast industrial total! The Luftwaffe's defeat in the Battle of Britain was almost the most important factor. It's that their inferior aircraft production is far from worth the consumption of the front. And in the Soviet-German war that broke out ensuingly. The German high command also believed that Soviet Russia was vulnerable. It was not until after the defeat of Stalingrad that the real general mobilization for war began; At this time, the Allies had already begun to carry out large-scale strategic bombing of the German mainland, and the effect of Germany's mobilization was undoubtedly greatly reduced. If Germany could begin to greatly tap the war potential of its own country and the occupied areas in 1940, then even if it could not attack the British Isles, tens of thousands of planes and tanks would be enough to bulldoze Soviet Russia!

Before I knew it, the sky outside the window had gradually darkened. The table clock struck seven times, echoing melodiously in the study. The remnant sun was like blood, the clouds flowed, and the entire Charlottenburg Palace was bathed in a golden purple and red sunset light. It looks vast and magnificent. Before leaving, Qingying received a new appointment from William, that is, to return to the Western Front to take charge of the Fifth Army and participate in the upcoming siege of Paris. After a trip to the General Staff, Qingying also learned about the current situation on the Western Front.

Because the Qing Ying surrounded and annihilated the forces of the four French army corps in the border battle, they suffered heavy losses in the early stage, and they were restrained step by step in the subsequent battles: the French not only lost a large area of northeastern land, including Nancy and Belfort, but also lost the upper hand in the battle for the city area with the German army in the operation of "running to the sea" after the Battle of the Marne. A large part of the northern territory of France, adjacent to Belgium, was lost, and not only Dunkirk, Calais, Buren and other coastal ports of the Dover Strait fell to the Germans without suspense. Even Dieppe, 50 kilometers southwest of the Somme River, was captured by the Germans. The entire English Channel faced the coastline of continental Europe, and the Germans had already gained a third of the length to the east.

Current. The vanguard of the German Third Army, which had advanced to the industrial town of Rouen, 120 kilometers northwest of Paris, was engaged in a fierce confrontation with the French defenders stationed on the periphery. In less than ten days, the battle for the sea will come to an end. And when the smoke of the strait cleared, it was when the war broke out in Paris. From the day Moltke Jr. issued the new operational order No. 1 on June 15, the German army had already carried out more than ten days of personnel deployment and material accumulation in order to capture Paris. For this siege battle, the German General Staff can be said to have done its best, determined to win; Not only did they have to shed the last drop of French blood here, but they also had to drag the wavering neutrals into the chariot of the Allies.

Qingying has always been unoptimistic about this kind of frontal attack on the opponent's trench position with complete fortifications. However, due to the political factors, this strong attack is quite necessary. Once the Germans captured Paris, Italy, which had been watching from the wall on both sides, would inevitably be convinced that the defeat of France was imminent, and instantly tore off its hypocritical face of neutrality. During World War II, the Italians also declared war on Britain and France after the German army swept through Paris, intending to take advantage of the last train of German victory.

Therefore, Qingying could only temporarily put aside the comfortable life in the Charlottenburg Palace, and rejoined the tired army of going to bed late and getting up early, wearing stars and moons in the front-line barracks. The only consolation for him was that he was assisted by Sickert, a conscientious and competent chief of staff, who allowed him to do almost nothing himself, like Hindenburg with Ludendorff and Hoffmann in command. After saying goodbye to Sonia and her young children, who were still in their infancy, Qingying boarded the airship that flew to the front line in a piece of moonlight. Listening to the low hum of the engine, Qingying suddenly thought of something; Nearly ten days had passed since the Battle of Lake Masuri, and a large number of Russian prisoners had been transported to the Western Front by a rushing train to work day and night as unpaid coolies for the German army to build fortifications. And Hindenburg, having thrown away these burdens and supported by hundreds of thousands of troops, should now take further action, right?

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The moonlight was like water, and the blue sky was dotted with shining stars.

On the banks of the meandering San River, a magnificent fortress city stands proudly on the plain with its backdrop against the mountains, with dense bunkers and forts. Countless gray figures patrol back and forth between the center of the city and the outskirts of the wilderness, like a long dragon running on the land; However, what they carried on their shoulders was not the standard Mauser 98K of the German army, but the M8-style Steyr-Manlisha rifle with a caliber of 1895 mm.

In the splendid meeting room, a tall and sturdy old man, sitting upright on the guest seat like a deep mountain, with a cold face and expressionless face, was none other than General Hindenburg, who had been promoted to commander-in-chief of the German Eastern Front. Next to him, Ludendorff, with his round and double chin, had a somewhat angry look; From time to time, he turned his head to the door not far away, where the owner was nowhere to be seen, except for two soldiers who were guarding.

This is Przemyśl in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it is one of the strongest fortresses in all of Europe, comparable to Liège. Since the middle of the 19th century, Austria-Hungary has been building fortresses in this area, and by the beginning of the 20th century, they had turned this fortress facing Russia into a military base camp that could accommodate 120,000 troops. Guy therefore the commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian Army, Conrad? Feng? After the outbreak of war, Admiral Hezendorff chose this place as the command post of his former enemy; For nearly two months of the war, he had been calling the shots in the fortified city adjacent to the front line.

However, Hezendorf's life was much more tragic than that of Moltke. The weapon in Moltke's hands was the world's toughest and sharpest Prussian greatsword, which could cut gold and jade, but the troops commanded by Hezendorff were a rabble of more than a dozen major nationalities and hundreds of ethnic minorities, and their combat effectiveness was really a huge gap between the world and the German army. Not to mention that the number of illiterates per 1,000 recruits in the Austro-Hungarian army was as high as 220, which was 220 times that of the German army, and the number of personnel was not in the same order of magnitude at all; The mere command of soldiers from different nationalities was a headache for the Austro-Hungarian officers. If a company commander wants every soldier under his command to understand what he is ordering, then there is only one person in the entire empire who can do it, and that is the old emperor Joseph, who is fluent in eight languages and can communicate with people in more than twenty languages? Franz I!

It is true that the heavy artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Army is the best in the world, and each infantry division is supported by a strong fire of a heavy artillery regiment, while the German division is nothing more than a heavy artillery battalion; But their huge inherent disadvantage in terms of personnel and ethnic composition cannot be compensated for with these weapons. In the previous confrontation with the Russian army, the Austro-Hungarian army, which was even more powerful than Tsarist Russia, was nakedly displayed in front of the world. Herzendorf assembled 4 army groups on the Russian-Austrian battlefield, with a total of more than 1 million troops and 5,500 artillery pieces; The opposing Russian army had only two and a half group armies, and it was only a month later that it was increased to the lineup of three group armies, and the cumulative number of troops participating in the battle was only 800,000.

However, in the face of this group of Slavs, many offensives launched by the Austro-Hungarian army ended dismally; Except for the Austrian and Hungarian regiments of the individual national unity, which are remarkable, the appearance of the rest of the troops in various battles can only be described as stupid. A large number of Austro-Hungarian soldiers who could not understand the orders of the officers broke through the battlefield indiscriminately, becoming the best targets for Russian rifle and artillery fire; And the covert actions of the Austro-Hungarian troops were often exposed because of the abnormal movements of these guys, either failing to let the Russians escape, or being shelled by artillery and guns, suffering heavy casualties, and even the rhythm of the whole team being surrounded as prisoners of war! (To be continued......)

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