"Since the signing of the German-Russian peace treaty is a highly probable event, and the Second Army of the Imperial Expeditionary Expedition is unable to support itself on the Eastern Front, if necessary, it can retreat to the Crimea region and wait for fighters, and do not make unnecessary sacrifices." Li Fushou said.

He picked up the teacup and took a sip, looked around at everyone, and finally landed on Field Marshal Mo Rufeng, and continued; "Marshal Rufeng, this is just my superficial opinion, mainly because I don't want the 2nd Army to bear too much pressure, after all, we are here to help rather than fight the main force, and we don't need to fight the Germans. However, the specific way to act depends on the opinions of your army staff headquarters. ”

"Your Majesty, the Army General Staff Headquarters, taking into account the current situation on the Eastern Front, as well as the operational plan of General Duan Qixiang, commander of the 2nd Army, still aims to hold on to the Kiev region, and does not consider retreating to the Crimean Peninsula for the time being." Marshal Mo Rufeng stood up, clasped his fists and saluted, and said in a firm tone;

"The General Staff Headquarters made such a decision for three reasons;

First, General Duan Qixiang, commander of the 2nd Group Army, was an experienced veteran who had always acted cautiously and had a strong desire to fight on behalf of the 2nd Group Army.

Retreating without a fight would greatly dampen the high morale of the officers and men of the 2nd Group, and it was not the best policy.

Second, Kiev, as the industrial, economic and transportation center of the entire Ukrainian region and western Russia, is well connected by roads and located on the Great Plain of Ukraine, which is very conducive to the rapid assault of the armored corps of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, interspersed with deep division and intersperse, and give full play to its combat effectiveness.

The city of Kyiv has a good foundation of defense, and the fortifications are built strongly, capable of withstanding frontal bombardment from large-caliber artillery. A small number of troops can be dispatched to complete the entrenchment, thus freeing up the hands to organize mobile corps to strike at the invading enemy.

Third, during the period when the 2nd Army was stationed in Kyiv, it contained a large number of Russian troops, and its officers and soldiers were relatively complete, and after supplementing some infantry weapons and artillery, its combat capability could be completely trusted.

The soldiers of the Tsarist army were not soft eggs, and due to the serious shortage of logistics supply forces, the two of them had an old-fashioned rifle and could only eat one black bread a day, and sometimes even such logistics could not be achieved.

After the 2nd Army contained the Russian troops, it strengthened its logistical supply, although it cannot be said that it ate well, but it could still provide two full meals a day, as well as a small amount of cigarettes and chocolates for the officers.

After replenishing the weapons of the Tsarist army, the face has been completely renewed.

After careful judgment

The White Russian troops on the Western Front were relatively elite, although most of them were illiterate, had rough combat skills, and had poor company-platoon coordination capabilities, but this was the reason for the training.

These White Russian soldiers are physically strong and brave in battle, like mules, they can endure harsh treatment and conditions, and when the Russian army's logistics supply is not enough, they can still fight for two or three days in a row, which is unimaginable in other troops.

Admiral Duan Qixiang is confident that he will lead these Tsarist soldiers to repel any Allied troops that enter the western Ukrainian region, and the only condition is to strengthen the logistics supply so that these Tsarist soldiers will no longer go hungry. ”

"How many Tsarist soldiers have been gathered now?"

"According to the latest report of the 2nd Army; The total number is about 57~580,000 people, and some of the disorganized stragglers did not receive it, and sent some food back to China. Now these White Russian troops are all elite, and their combat effectiveness can be trusted. ”

"If the logistics supply is sufficient, how many soldiers can be gathered?"

"If only the elite are selected, there are currently more than 2.6 million Russian troops in the Ukrainian region, and at least a few hundred more can be singled out."

"That's no problem, let the 2nd Army gather more former Tsarist Russian troops, prepare for the complicated situation on the Eastern Front in the future, strengthen the supply of the Eastern Front battlefield in terms of logistics, and the General Staff Headquarters should cooperate with the relevant departments of the Cabinet to make proper arrangements." Li Fushou changed his mind.

Li Fushou's original intention was to preserve his strength, after all, the soldiers were all Chinese children and citizens of the empire, and he was not willing to lose too much on the battlefield on the Eastern Front.

However, the 2nd Army on the Eastern Front was full of fighting spirit and was unwilling to retreat without a fight, which was really unbearable for the soldiers who regarded honor as their life.

Moreover, the three reasons stated by the General Staff Headquarters are indeed very reasonable: the White Russian soldiers gathered by the 2nd Army are excellent cannon fodder, the morale of the army is high, the geographical conditions are conducive to giving full play to combat effectiveness, and there is complete confidence in fighting a tough battle.

Li Fushou turned to support the opinion of the Army General Staff Headquarters.

An industrial power like the Ocean Empire fought a war with great pride, with artillery bombardment on the ground, aircraft bombing in the air, and a torrent of ironclad flooding the enemy army, and the way of fighting was ahead of the times.

The disadvantage is that it consumes a lot of money, has a strong dependence on logistics supply, and does not have a high level of white-knuckle warfare.

When the Imperial Army fought a hand-to-hand trench battle, the standard practice was to flick a grenade first, then rush over and use the Type 03 light machine gun to sweep two shuttle bullets, and finally use the bayonet to finish off the remnants of the enemy.

The fighting methods represented by Russia and Japan are much more shabby, and generally there are no more bullets after dozens of rounds, and there are thousands of large-scale charges.

Therefore, in the Russo-Japanese War, it was common to see the two sides fighting with each other, which was rarely seen in the combat methods of the army of the Great Ocean Empire, and the army did not advocate it.

This cannot be said that the soldiers of the Ocean Empire lacked bravery, but only the difference in the tactical concept of the infantry, the difference in the strength of the industrial and agricultural countries, and the insufficient supply of shells and bullets, which could only be filled with human lives.

Nearly 600,000 White Russian soldiers were gathered, and the total strength of the 2nd Army reached more than 960,000 people, and it was very confident that it would be able to play a glorious role on the Eastern Front and distinguish itself from the Germans.

Now on the Eastern Front

The total number of Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman coalition troops is about 3.1 million, and the German army is between 55~800,000, and the number is not more than one million.

Why did the German numbers fluctuate so much?

This is because Germany is fighting in the inner circle, and can use the developed railway transportation in the country to mobilize troops back and forth, and when an offensive campaign is launched on the Eastern Front, it will mobilize the general reserves of the Western Front to strengthen the offensive force.

After defeating the Russian army, use the railway line to quickly turn back and fight a time difference.

When the battlefield on the Western Front was tight, the German troops on the Eastern Front were mobilized to support, and the fighting method was very flexible.

Since the outbreak of the war in 14 years, the Russian army has mobilized more than 16 million troops in total, and has suffered more than 9,347,000 casualties in the war.

In addition, there is another important reason, that is, the Russian army has a serious shortage of artillery, and the production capacity of the military industry has dragged its feet, which is too far behind the German army, which is armed to the teeth, so it has been pressed and beaten, and the casualties are huge.

The Germans also had the advantage in weapons and equipment, and the German army and the Austro-Hungarian allies on the center line had a total of 14,400 cannons, and the army had thousands of heavy artillery pieces, and the ammunition supply was sufficient.

In comparison, at the beginning of the war, the Russian army had 959 artillery batteries with a total of 7,088 guns, of which only 40 were heavy guns, and the firepower of the two sides was obviously not at the same level.

Here's an example

On the Eastern Front, during the Golice-Tanov Campaign, which began in May 1915, the Germans erected 1,500 artillery pieces behind the battle line, 250 of which were heavy artillery, including the "Big Bertha" siege gun, which had been stormed in Belgium, and prepared as many as 3 million rounds of shells for these cannons.

On the other hand, the Russian army is seriously underequipped with artillery, with an average of only 2 artillery pieces allocated to 1,000 people. This ratio is even less than the proportion of artillery in Napoleon's army a century ago.

The supply of artillery shells in the Russian army is extremely tight, and it is even more insufficient than artillery.

During the assault on the Carpathian Pass, the Russian artillery units were strictly limited to firing only 3 shells per gun per day. If any Russian officer dares to exceed this consumption figure, he will have to be court-martialed, and it will be light to lose his head.

On the first day of the Golice-Tanov campaign, 1,500 German artillery shelled for 8 hours, destroying all the artillery of the Russian 3rd Army on the opposite side, leaving the 3rd Army without artillery.

The next day, the German artillery once again exerted its might, firing 700,000 shells in four hours, covering more than 30 square kilometers of the battlefield with intensive artillery fire.

The soldiers on the forward positions of the Russian 3rd Army had to withstand more than 10 shells each.

Under the superior artillery fire of the German army, many Russian soldiers were turned into cannon fodder, and some regimental-level combat units were eliminated in formation.

The Russian soldiers who survived the heavy artillery fire were also stunned, and when facing the rushing German troops, they basically lost their resistance.

The Russian 3rd, 8th, and 9th armies were defeated one after another in the face of the powerful German army, which had the advantage of firepower, and the queen retreated in a hurry. The 8th Army abandoned the Carpathian Pass, the 9th Army abandoned Warsaw, and even Poland was lost to the Germans, and was defeated for thousands of miles with heavy casualties.

In this battle, the Russian army suffered 1.4 million casualties and 1 million prisoners, while the German army suffered only more than 40,000 casualties.

The German army is well-equipped and well-trained, and its overwhelming artillery superiority is the magic weapon of the German army, which often plays an exchange ratio of 1:10 or even 1:15 on the battlefield of the Eastern Front (especially referring to a few battles, the comprehensive exchange ratio is about 1:7.5), which overwhelms tens of millions of Russian troops.

Looking back at the battlefield on the Western Front, the situation is very different.

The artillery fire of the British and French forces was not inferior to that of the German army, and the number of heavy artillery was larger, the ammunition reserves were more abundant, and the artillery fire in large battles often lasted five or six days.

Therefore, on the Western Front, the casualty ratio between the German army and Britain and France was between 1:1.5 and 1:2, and the gap was not too large.

Under the condition that there is not much difference in heavy firepower, this reflects the characteristics of the German army with stronger combat skills, tighter organization, and higher comprehensive combat effectiveness.

At the end of the Battle of the Somme

The German army had enough of the "air-ground integrated battle" of the Ocean Empire, and even if they hid in trenches more than 30 feet deep, they could not avoid the tragic fate of being bombed indiscriminately, with casualties and a high battle loss ratio of 12:1.

The gap is firepower, the German army is good at it, and the Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force is even better at it, and it can organically combine air firepower with ground firepower, cooperate with armored forces to break through a solid defensive line, and fight the Germans all over the place.

Therefore, there is nothing disgraceful about bullying people with firepower, and this is exactly what the Ocean Empire army is good at.

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