From May 12, Germany's strategy officially shifted to the Eastern Front, and part of the German army on the Western Front stopped attacking and retreated to the rear to prepare to take a train to the Eastern Front.

The sudden mute of the German army was especially felt on the battlefield on the Western Front. But everyone, including Xia Fei, knew that there were no problems with the German army, and Germany's logistical supplies were sufficient, so the current anomaly must be strange.

Under the extreme cautious attitude of the top level, the Allied troops on the Western Front did not advance lightly, but steadily launched an attack on the German army according to the original plan.

Soon, they were surprised to find that the German army's combat style was completely different from usual, the German army did not counterattack on a large scale, but only relied on favorable terrain to defend against the Allied offensive, and even the frequency of artillery bombardment was reduced.

Although it is not known what this is all about, the sudden mute of the German army is not a bad thing for the Western Front.

If the previous Western Front battlefield was a slight advantage for the Entente, then the current Western Front battlefield has become a difficult support for the German army.

On May 13, the offensive on the Western Front was so successful that some areas were close to the original Franco-German border, and beyond that was German territory.

The Germans' retrenched defensive play inflicted greater casualties on the Allies, but the Allies' advance did not decrease in the slightest.

On 14 May, when most of the front had reached the border and even German territory, the Allied forces finally felt the tenacity of the German army.

The entire battlefield on the Western Front was almost completely blocked from the border, and even though the Allied army suffered tens of thousands of casualties every day, it still could not move forward.

At the risk of heavy casualties, the German army finally kept the Allied forces out of its borders, and the German land and cities were temporarily safe.

Defensive success on the Western Front is a good thing for both Willem II and Falkingham. Only Germany knows how empty the German army is on the Western Front at the moment.

So far in the war, Germany has surpassed Russia in the number of land forces, and is currently the largest number of land forces among the countries participating in the war.

Of course, this is not a good thing. Germany currently has 118 divisions and nearly 2 million combat troops.

This figure has increased several times compared to a decade ago, and such a large army size is not a good thing for the German economy.

To put it bluntly, Germany would not have wanted to maintain such a large number of troops if it were not for the fact that the front line could not hold up.

Of Germany's 118 divisions, 65 divisions have been deployed on the Eastern Front, accounting for more than half of Germany's total strength.

On the Western Front, there are only 53 divisions, half of which are newly recruited troops, and their combat effectiveness is much weaker than that of elite armies.

These 53 divisions faced less than 1 million troops, but the French faced millions, the British 200,000, Australasia 480,000, Italy 500,000, and Belgium 80,000, totaling more than 2.3 million troops.

Even if a considerable part of the Allied army had limited combat effectiveness, the gap in the number of soldiers was here, and the heap of personnel could kill the German army.

Less than 1 million German troops were able to hold off an attack of more than 2.3 million Allied troops, which proved not only the combat effectiveness of the German army, but also the combat effectiveness of the armies of the Allies.

It is true, if it were not for the sake of taking care of the face of the new allies, Arthur would really like to complain about the combat effectiveness that the Italian army has shown since the war.

You must know that the Italian army is not facing the powerful German army, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which ranks in the middle and lower reaches of many great powers in terms of combat effectiveness.

The Italian army, with several times the superiority of its strength, fought several exaggerated defeats, which greatly strengthened the confidence of Austria-Hungary in holding its territory.

If it weren't for the heavy damage caused by Italy, Arthur even suspected that it was an undercover agent sent by the Allies to bring back the blood of Austria-Hungary as an enemy.

The advanced weapons and equipment sent out by the Italian army were enough for Austria-Hungary to arm more than 100,000 troops to fight Italy.

After the battlefield on the Western Front had stabilized, Wilhelm II also set his sights on the Eastern Front.

In order to carry out the strategy proposed by Chief of Staff Falkingham, to quickly defeat Russia and withdraw Russia from the war, the German General Staff planned to organize a major campaign on the Eastern Front, striving to annihilate the main force of the entire Russian army in one fell swoop.

Speaking of the Russian army, the Russian army finally felt the crisis of insufficient logistics at this time, and some front-line armies were currently running out of weapons and ammunition, and the ammunition transported to the front line in the rear could not match the weapons in the hands of the soldiers.

If it weren't for the Russian Chief of the General Staff Vladimir to reform the Russian army's poor traffic and transportation system, I am afraid that the Russian army would not have to worry about their weapons and ammunition attacks, because the food crisis alone would be enough for the army to mutiny.

With nearly 2 million Russian troops on the border, the consumption of food alone is enough to give the Russian logistics department a headache.

What's more, because of the war, Russia's grain production has been greatly reduced, and many peasants have been conscripted into the army to take up guns to defend their families and the country, thus delaying agricultural production.

More than half a year has passed since the outbreak of the war, and the food crisis in Russia has become very serious.

If it weren't for the previous supply of food from Australasia, I am afraid that a large-scale famine would have broken out in Russia.

Now, the reason why the Russian army has been able to scrape together enough food is because the executive department has deducted a lot from the supply to the civilian population, which has also led to the fact that in some areas, the food of the population is obviously insufficient.

It is hard to describe the terrible state of affairs that Russia is currently facing, it is like a very dry barrel full of explosives, and any spark will ignite it.

On May 15, 1915, just as Nicholas II was looking at the battle reports on the Western Front with envy, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Grand Duke Nicholas, brought a piece of news that shocked Nicholas II, Germany had launched a large-scale campaign on the Eastern Front and had exchanged fire with the Russian army.

You know, the defeat of the German army on the Eastern Front has only been a few days, and it should not have been able to pull together so quickly and have the confidence to launch such a large-scale offensive against the victorious Russia.

According to Grand Duke Nicholas, the Germans had waged a massive campaign of millions of troops, and their firepower was so fierce that the Russian army was now retreating.

Nicholas II's first reaction was impossible, because Germany was facing an attack on the Western Front by more than 2 million Allied troops, how could it be possible to attack Russia with up to a million troops?

However, it was the Russian commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, who did not have the guts and did not have any reason to make such a joke to Nicholas II.

"Is the news true? Where has the German army been attacking so far? Nicholas II asked with some disbelief.

"Your Majesty! Our army generally lacks ammunition supplies, and if there is no follow-up logistical replenishment, I am afraid it will not last long. Even if the soldiers wanted to fight for their country, they couldn't use guns without bullets to fight the German soldiers who were armed to the teeth! Can we ask Britain, France and Australia for help first, and get enough ammunition supplies first? Grand Duke Nicholas did not answer Nicholas II's inquiry, but spoke anxiously.

The poor logistics of the Russian army greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, and the combat gap between the German and Russian forces widened.

Grand Duke Nikolai hurried to St. Petersburg, which took most of the day, and he was not sure where the German army was attacking at present, and whether the Russian army could hold it.

"What about the Minister of Foreign Affairs? Let Alexey that piece of shit roll over to me! After hearing the proposal of the Grand Duke Nicholas, Nicholas II hurriedly commanded the guards at the door.

For about ten minutes, Minister Alexei hurried over, and the sweat on his forehead proved Minister Alexei's panic.

"Your Majesty!" Minister Alexei did not dare to figure out the intention of Nicholas II to call him to come, so he could only take the lead in saluting and respectfully standing aside.

"Minister Alexey, the Germans have launched a large-scale offensive against us on the border, but our soldiers on the front line lack weapons and ammunition, do you understand what I mean?" Nicholas II nodded flatly, looked at Minister Alexei, and asked.

"Yes, I understand, Your Majesty. I will try my best to get more weapons and ammunition for the fighters, and send them to the front line as quickly as possible. Minister Alexei nodded hurriedly, he was sure that as long as he said anything about resignation, not to mention the question of whether the official position could be kept, I am afraid that he would not even be able to save his life.

As the monarch of an autocratic state, it was easy for Nicholas II to find an excuse to kill him.

What's more, he is indeed a betrayal of the country, and what he promised, Britain and France have not fulfilled all of them until now.

Only then did Nicholas II nod his head and ordered: "I hope it is as soon as possible, our army at the front will not hold out for long." I'll give you half a month, the army at the front must see the logistical supplies from the allies, otherwise, the foreign minister should also be replaced. ”

Where did Minister Alexei dare to say anything else, he quickly nodded yes, and at the signal of Nicholas II, exited the room.

After Minister Alexei left, Nicholas II turned his gaze to Grand Duke Nicholas and instructed: "Nikolai, before the aid of our allies arrives, I hope you will order the army to resist the attack of the German army." I know it's hard to accomplish, but for the sake of the empire, for the peace of the royal family and the people, it's something that has to be done. ”

At present, the environment in Russia is already relatively chaotic, and if there is another news that the Russian army was defeated by the German army or even suffered heavy losses, Nicholas II really did not dare to guarantee what would happen at home.

If the news of the defeat or even heavy losses in the battle comes out, the people will not be dissatisfied, and those reactionaries and revolutionary parties will certainly take advantage of this opportunity to propagate anti-war theories and even directly attack the government and the tsarist autocracy.

This also means that the results of the war at the front are not only related to the stability of Russia at home, but also to the stability of the Tsarist government and the power of Nicholas II.

Even if Nicholas II no longer had a good impression of Grand Duke Nicholas, he had to hope that the Grand Duke of Nicholas with his own name would be able to organize an army to resist the German attack, at least until the assistance of the allies arrived, so that the Russian army would have sufficient strength to deal with the enemy's attack, including the possible outbreak of a crisis at home.

3200 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)