However, the course of war cannot be determined by the will of one person.

The German army on the front line in East Prussia, having received support from the Western Front, again had enough combat troops to wage a campaign, and was also armed with a large number of artillery, machine guns and enough ammunition, shells, etc., from the Western Front.

This also made Hindenburg and Ludendorff full of confidence again, coupled with the recent interception of clear telegrams from the Russian army by the German army, after learning the news that the Russian army lacked logistics supplies, Hindenburg and Ludendorff immediately decided to launch a large-scale campaign to solve the current Russian army before the arrival of Russian logistics supplies.

At present, the telegraph has become one of the main ways of communication between the armies of various countries, but the communication of telegrams in various countries has its own channels, and there are even various encryption methods, so that their intelligence and communications have become more secretive, even if they are intercepted by the enemy, they will not be deciphered for a while.

The Germans also did not expect that the Russians would communicate by means of a clear-code telegraph. Even if it is clear, it is still above board, and it was directly intercepted by Germany, and the lack of logistics supplies and weapons and ammunition in Russia was immediately known to the Germans.

One of the important reasons why Hindenburg and Ludendorff were able to move the French Chief of Staff agreed to shift their strategy to the Eastern Front was because of the Russian telegraph method.

This is equivalent to the Russians themselves telling the Germans their own information, and under such a premise, if Germany can still lose, then there is really a problem.

Falkingham also smiled and sighed when he learned about it: "We not only know the Russian garrison and logistics, but even know what their front-line troops do every month, every week, and even every day, as if there is an eye of God monitoring everything." ”

Knowing the Russian army's defense and situation well, Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided to immediately take the offensive and take the initiative to eliminate the Russian army currently entrenched on the Eastern Front and remove some of the pressure on Austria-Hungary.

Hindenburg's style of play is still based on frontal containment and roundabouts on both wings. Not only Hindenburg, but the entire German army basically adopted this method of play in the war on the Eastern Front, and the terrain on the Eastern Front was relatively broad, which was conducive to the troops to make a roundabout.

Second, such a strategy can minimize the casualties of the German army, and at the same time encircle and annihilate the Russian army to the greatest extent, and close the numerical gap between the German army and the Russian army.

If a frontal war of attrition is adopted, no matter how strong the combat effectiveness of the German army is, it will be consumed to death by the Russian army, which is several times its size.

The German Tenth Army was responsible for the task of outflanking the Russian Tenth Army, not only to contain the Russian Tenth Army, but also to carry out a great deep detour from the right flank of the Russian North-Western Front as much as possible, and to encircle the entire Russian North-Western Front as much as possible.

Part of the Eighth Army was pinning down the Russian army head-on and distracting the Russian army. The main army detoured to the left flank of the Russian Tenth Army, and together with the Tenth Army, it outflanked the left and right, and fought for the total annihilation of the Russian Tenth Army.

As long as the Russian Tenth Army can be eliminated, this Eastern Front campaign can be regarded as a good start, and at the same time, it can greatly reduce the pressure on the Russian army faced by Austria-Hungary.

After all, the number of a Russian army group is as high as hundreds of thousands, and it is not a trivial matter for an army group to be completely annihilated.

In order to secure the defense of East Prussia, the danger to the Austro-Hungarian hinterland would be less great, if troops were to be transferred from other regions.

When the Germans launched a large-scale campaign on the border, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Tenth Army, Sivers, thoughtlessly believed that the Germans were only feints, and the purpose was only to attract some troops for Austria-Hungary.

The news of a large number of casualties and constant defeats on the front line reached Sivels's headquarters, and Sivers knew that the Germans were not feints, but really came to the door.

Sivels, who was slow to react, immediately ordered the army to begin a counterattack, keeping the German troops out of the line as much as possible.

However, the lack of logistical supplies for the Russian army, coupled with the sluggishness of the commander's orders, led to the fact that many troops were already routed by the German army in a frontal charge before they could counterattack.

The only relatively well-equipped Siberian Third Army, after a little resistance to the German Eighth Army, could only retreat in a hurry.

On May 16, 1915, the German Tenth Army successfully circled the right flank of the Russian Tenth Army, but the offensive of the Eighth Army was blocked by the 3rd and 20th Siberian armies and did not complete the encirclement of the left flank.

Silves, commander-in-chief of the Russian Tenth Army, escaped from the encirclement of the German army at the last opportunity, but at the cost of his 200,000 subordinates remaining in the German encirclement, and the actual strength of the escape was less than half of that of the Tenth Army.

It is a pity to let go of a part of the Russian army, but the commander of the German Tenth Army also knows that the most important task at present is to eliminate all the Russian troops in the encirclement.

On 17 May, the German Eighth and Tenth Armies launched a fierce assault on most of the encircled Russian troops.

After a certain amount of resistance, these encircled armies finally chose to lay down their arms and surrender.

This is not to say that the Russian army is greedy for life and afraid of death, and in the absence of weapons and ammunition, no matter how elite the troops are, it is impossible to win this war that has already been surrounded.

Late on the night of May 17, the first battle in East Prussia finally ended.

Germany dispatched the Eighth and Tenth Armies to encircle most of the Russian Tenth Army, and after paying nearly 40,000 casualties, the Russians suffered 40,000 dead, 50,000 wounded, and 170,000 captured (including wounded).

Of the 360,000 soldiers of the entire Russian Tenth Army, less than 150,000 escaped, which can be described as a heavy loss, and there was a big gap in Russia's defense in East Prussia.

By this time, two days had passed since Nicholas II received the news, and on the orders of Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian Twelfth Army began to attack the flanks of the German army, which had been too far from its predecessor, in an attempt to inflict some casualties on the German army.

But Hindenburg and Ludendorff had already anticipated the Russian counterattack, leaving a small part of the army behind, and the main army escorted more than 100,000 prisoners of war back to East Prussia.

The army of 170,000 was captured at once, and such a battle report reached the ears of Nicholas II, who angrily removed Silves from his post.

If it were not for the fact that Grand Duke Nicholas had not relied on him to resist the attack of the German army, I am afraid that the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army of Grand Duke Nicholas would not have been guaranteed.

As a result of this blow, the number of troops of the Russian North-Western Front was reduced by almost half. To prevent the German army from launching an offensive in the area of East Prussia, the enraged Nicholas II directly ordered the mobilization of two armies to fill the void created by the Tenth Army.

Well, if you beat me in one army, I'll make up two. Even if there are no logistical supplies, you will be exhausted by piling up your life.

Nicholas II had exactly this idea, anyway, Russia has an infinite number of manpower, and without weapons and equipment, human life is the best resource.

While Russia was sending out their soldiers, Hindenburg and Ludendorff also took the next step, which was to capture the important town of Pshasnich, north of Warsaw.

Since it is known that the Russian army on the front line generally lacks ammunition to attack, there is nothing to say, and taking advantage of such an opportunity to capture the important towns and military fortresses of the Russian front line is the best choice.

By the time the new Russian army group arrived, the Germans had already built a strong defensive position in Pshasnich, and the Russians, who lacked ammunition and shells, could not shake such a strong fortress, so they had to stop there.

However, after Russia sent more troops, the situation in the northwest did stabilize.

Although the German army and the Russian army met more often, it was often the Russian army that was more often the case.

Such attrition was acceptable compared to previous campaigns, and for Nicholas II and Grand Duke Nicholas, the stability of the positions in East Prussia was the most important thing.

Of course, this does not mean that the Russian side has no other actions.

Britain, France, Australasia and even Italy became the targets of urgent help from the Russians.

Firearms, artillery, bullets, shells, food, medical supplies and all kinds of strategic resources, the Russians did not refuse to come, as if people who had not eaten for several days were facing a big meal.

Britain and France successively promised to provide Russia with some weapons and equipment, after all, Britain and France could not sit idly by and watch Russia be defeated by Germany, Russia was the big meat shield of the Entente on the Eastern Front, and I don't know how much damage it had done to Britain and France.

Naturally, such a big treasure could not sit idly by and watch it be defeated by the Germans, but the combined aid of Britain and France was only 100,000 rifles, tens of millions of rounds of ammunition and hundreds of thousands of shells.

This support is a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly 2 million fighting troops on the Russian front, which has set its sights on its new allies, Italy and Australasia.

The Italians naturally refused, not because they were unwilling to support Russia. It's just that the Italian army is in a mess on the front line, so that the Italian logistics department has lost hundreds of thousands of rifles and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, as well as a large number of strategic materials.

Almost all of these materials were seized by Austria-Hungary, and most of Italy's family was emptied.

By the time Russia reached Australasia's help, it was already noon on May 20.

This is not to say that Russia does not pay attention to Australasia, which has been Russia's main arms supplier since before the outbreak of the war. A considerable part of the weapons of the Russian army were manufactured in Australasia.

It's just that the last time Australasia said that the domestic weapons stockpile had bottomed out, and now less than a month has passed, and Nicholas II does not think that Australasia can make many weapons.

Arthur had expected the Russian army's crushing defeat on the front line, after all, the Russian army, which was not strong in combat, was able to exert its combat effectiveness under the premise of lack of ammunition and shells.

But what they are facing is the most powerful German army in the world. In such a contrast, it is impossible for the Russian army not to suffer a crushing defeat.

According to the Russian ambassador, Arthur was keenly aware of the possibility that Germany, as it had historically been, would choose to shift its offensive to the east and defend on the western front.

This was good news for Arthur as well as bad news. After the German army on the Western Front entered the full-scale defense, the advance of the Allied armies on the Western Front must have been much slower, and it was not impossible that even the Allied army would enter a stalemate from then on.

This would also achieve Arthur's strategic goal of prolonging the war for as many years as possible and gaining more benefits for Australasia.

But at the same time, the eastward shift of the German offensive was not a good thing for Russia.

Originally, Russia was a little unable to support it in the war, and in the face of the all-out attack of the main German army, I am afraid that the current Russia will not be able to support it for long.

In short, if Australasia had not supported Russia, the war might have been successfully delayed, but at the cost of Russia's collapse or even a revolution earlier than in history.

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Today, this one, take a leave, brothers, and update tomorrow

(End of chapter)