On May 15, just as the German and French armies were fighting in the Ardennes jungle, a Russian cavalry division also pulled out the stake border on the East Prussian border, kicking off the war on the Eastern Front. Their first result was the small town of Magrapova, 10 kilometers from German territory, where the German troops had already withdrawn ahead of schedule. As the Russian cavalry leaped and fired their guns and celebrated their victory in the town square, no one could have imagined that the war on the Eastern Front, which had started so smoothly, would end up burying the entire Russian Empire in a grave.

Although Russia suffered huge losses in the Russo-Japanese War far beyond history, and the outbreak of the war in Europe more than a year earlier, the overall strength of the Russian army was much worse than that of the same period in August 1914. However, due to the urgent pleas of the French, the Russian command nevertheless transferred sufficient troops from the Southwestern Army Group attacking Austria-Hungary, and strengthened the Northwest Army Group for the war against Germany to a considerable extent. At present, the Russian Northwest Army Group has 2 armies, commanded by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Front in the Russo-Japanese War, General Gilinsky; His central strategic objective was to capture East Prussia and annihilate the German forces stationed in the area in one fell swoop.

East Prussia was garrisoned by the Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Prittwitz. The division has four corps, one cavalry division and a number of local garrisons, and its total strength is comparable to that of any army group in the Russian Northwest Army Group. Thanks to the Russian Minister of War Sukhhomlinov, the number of artillery and machine guns of the Russian army is far inferior to that of the German army, so in terms of firepower, the German army has the advantage. Moltke Jr. gave the Eighth Army the task of holding the rich land of East Prussia as much as possible before the end of the war on the Western Front; Wait until the army of the Western Front has cleaned up the French. It was then transferred to the eastern route through the country's well-developed railway network to expel all the Russian invaders from the city.

Looking at the map of Europe, which has been established since 1871, the German territory of East Prussia is like a giant beast protruding from its tentacles, stretching along the Baltic Sea all the way to Lithuania, so the German General Staff's plans for Russian operations can be guessed inextricably. In the event of war, the Russians would inevitably use their Polish salient to attack north from Warsaw, cutting off East Prussia's connection with Berlin from the roots. East Prussia, however, could not have been abandoned at the outset of the war. Faced with this situation, Moltke Jr., who was cautious by nature and prepared for defeat before he could win, gave an order to Prittwitz, the commander of the Eighth Army, that if he found himself threatened by a "very strong enemy." It is a time of great urgency. "Withdraw to the west of the Vistula and give up East Prussia to the enemy. Moltke Jr.'s original intention in issuing this order was to enable the Eighth Army to preserve its strength and avoid a major blow to the army, the core pillar of Germany's war, since the vitality of the army was far more important than the part of the country. However, he did not expect that this order would be counterproductive. It almost caused an irreparable defeat for Germany on the Eastern Front.

May 16th. The main forces of the Russian First Army, commanded by Leinenkamp, attacked from Lithuania to the east. Began to fully swing into East Prussia. Two days later, the Russian Second Army, commanded by Samsorov, launched an offensive from Vostrowinka in the southeast to the northwest, reaching the German hinterland of Alenstein. The Eighth Army was in danger of being outflanked by a Russian army twice its size. Reconnaissance through high-altitude airships. The Germans found that the two Russian armies were not moving at the same pace: the Russian First Army from the east moved quickly, while the Russian Second Army, which penetrated directly into the German rear from the southeast, moved relatively slowly, leaving room for the Germans to break through. After some consideration, the Germans decided to first attack the Russian First Army, which had already invaded East Prussia, and was ready to defeat it before turning around to deal with the Russian Second Army inserting into their rear.

However, the actual situation is not as good as imagined. Due to the location of the troops, the Germans were unable to transfer all the main forces of the Eighth Army, which was deployed throughout East Prussia, to the easternmost part to meet the Russian First Army; In addition, there was not much time left for the Germans to deal with the Russian First Army alone, so the German army, lacking time to prepare, did not organize an unstoppable and fierce offensive like on the battlefield on the Western Front. Although the Germans had achieved good victories in some places with their superior firepower, the Russian First Army under the command of Leenenkamp still resisted the German offensive and forced the Germans to retreat from the Compinan area on the 20th. At this time, the Russian Second Army was already like a sharp sword, directly pushing into the throat of the German army.

The defeat at the Battle of Compinan suddenly turned the situation of the German Eighth Army sharply: in the east, there were more than 200,000 Cossacks who were sharpening their knives and would rush to kill at any time; To the southwest, the same number of grey cattle were advancing rapidly, preparing to cut off the German retreat. Although Colonel Hoffmann, deputy chief of operations, and Grünert, the chief of the quartermaster's office, insisted that the Germans should continue to fight, the commander of the Eighth Army, Prytwitz, had been frightened by the Russian giants: Moltke allowed him to abandon East Prussia when it was "absolutely necessary", and now he thought that nothing could be more "absolutely necessary". He rudely sent the two men away, and reported to the German high command in Koblenz am Rine his intention to withdraw to the banks of the Vistula River to preserve his strength, if not across the Vistula. He also said that the water level of the Vistula River in the hot summer was not high, and he even doubted whether he could hold the river without reinforcements.

The news of the defeat of East Prussia reached Koblenz, much to the outrage of Moltke the Young. As for Prittwitz, Moltke Jr. has always thought that he is unworthy of the post of commander of the Eighth Army, and has long wanted to get rid of this idiot guy who "can only sneak in front of the emperor", but a series of personnel relations that Plitwitz has in the German top level have made Moltke Jr. unable to penetrate and splash water for many years. And now, the disastrous results of letting this idiot fat man command the Eighth Army are unmistakable. It was only five days before the war began, and Prittwitz was about to abandon East Prussia, and the last order he gave to this fat man in order to preserve his strength became the basis for him to retreat backwards! It is important to know that the abandonment of East Prussia will not only seriously damage morale, lose valuable sources of dairy, grain and horses, but also cause the loss of assets of a large number of Junker nobles and royals!

In order to learn first-hand information about the battlefield on the Eastern Front, Moltke Jr. personally talked to the commanders of the Eighth Army on the phone. After talking with Mackensen and François, I learned that the situation on the Eastern Front was indeed not optimistic, but retreating to the west of the Vistula River was undoubtedly too rash. At this time, Prittwitz called Moltke again to ask for reinforcements, which immediately ignited Moltke's pent-up anger. Now that every battalion of the German army has been put into the battlefield on the Western Front, the withdrawal of troops is tantamount to declaring the bankruptcy of Schlieffen's plan, where can there be troops to reinforce on the Eastern Front?

In a fit of rage, Moltke Jr. decided to dismiss Prittwitz. In the present circumstances, no one dares to say anything about his edict. The Eastern Front was in danger of collapsing, and it was in dire need of a brave, resilient, and determined man to take over the command. After some consideration, Moltke chose Ludendorff, who had become famous in the Battle of Liège. According to the German command system, the chief of staff and the commander were equally important, and sometimes even more important in terms of their ability and temperament; Ludendorff, who was brilliant and talented, and whom even Schlieffen admired, was fully qualified for the post of chief of staff of the Eighth Army.

According to Moltke's original idea, Ludendorff was to be in charge of the Eastern Front. However, since Ludendorff was not yet in his fifties, and because he was a non-Junker nobleman with no Feng in front of his surname, it was obviously not appropriate for him to directly command an army group. Therefore, the German General Staff had to find a veritable "von" commander for the Eighth Army. The names of many retired generals have been carefully considered. Moltke's deputy, Stein, suddenly remembered a letter from an old colleague at the outbreak of war, which said: "If the situation needs a commander, do not forget me, wherever it is." The letter also assured that the person who wrote the letter was still in good health. A thick and steady figure suddenly appeared in front of Stein's eyes.

Paul? Feng? Hindenburg, who fought in the Franco-Prussian War as a lieutenant in 1870, rose through the ranks of two military giants, Moltke the Elder and Schlieffen. However, in 1908, Hindenburg defeated Kaiser Wilhelm's troops during a major exercise in 1908, and he retired in 1911 with the rank of general. Today, although Hindenburg will turn 67 years old in half a year, he is no older than the commanders of the three armies on the right flank of the German army. The commander needed on the Eastern Front was not the panicked and neurotic character of Prittwitz, but Hindenburg had always been calm and resilient, and his composure and composure qualities could be trusted. Moltke the Younger agreed, and the Kaiser, who had been abused during the exercises, gave his approval, and a telegram was sent to the general's residence in Hanover.

Late at night on 21 May, at the sound of a long whistle, Hindenburg and Ludendorff met at the train station in Hanover. In the rumbling train, the solemn and majestic general and the sharp and flamboyant major general sat opposite each other, and the two of them, who were nearly twenty years apart, had a slight exchange, and they both had a feeling of relief that they had seen their partner late. This pair of pearls, which will become famous in the future and terrify the enemy army, has been the most perfect fit at this moment. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward of the book on February 30th~~~ Anyway, today's subscription volume has fallen below the average again, so let's give the author a little bit of code word motivation