The rumors that the Germans learned were not unfounded, and that Britain and France did intend to organize a large-scale offensive on the Western Front to relieve the pressure on Russia on the Eastern Front and to find a breakthrough on the Western Front.

The attack suffered by the Russians on the Eastern Front had proved that the Germans had mobilized a considerable part of their forces from the Western Front.

This also means that Germany's defense on the Western Front must have weak points, as long as it can break through the tight positions laid out by Germany on the Western Front, Germany will be busy fighting on two fronts, and will be in chaos without attacking.

The positional warfare on the Western Front continues to this day, and the attrition is actually very huge.

Although the German strategic shift did reduce the pressure on Britain and France, so far, the British and French forces still paid millions of casualties, and the death toll has already exceeded 400,000.

Although it also caused hundreds of thousands of casualties to the German soldiers in the position, these Germans were like Xiaoqiang who could not be killed, and they did not let Britain and France push the battle line further.

Of course, although the front did not go further, the British, French and German depleted a lot in terms of troops, weapons and equipment, and resources.

In addition to a large number of casualties on both sides, millions of weapons, hundreds of millions of bullets, tens of millions of shells, etc., all consumed in this offensive and defensive battle.

After being cut off from most of its overseas supplies, Germany simply could not afford such a high level of consumption, which is why Germany was so desperate to find a way to break the situation.

On October 11, 1915, Hindenburg's attempts failed again and again, and his army faced gnats and diseases, soldiers and horses died of diseases, and the army's combat effectiveness plummeted.

Because of the injuries and illnesses of the war horses, the army could only move a distance of less than five kilometers a day in clear weather.

Faced with a very bad logistical situation, Hindenburg had no choice but to order the attack to be halted and the soldiers and horses to be repaired.

To make matters worse, Hindenburg's recklessness and failure to participate in Falkingham's plan resulted in Atkingham's plan lacking sufficient troops, and the main German army was not successful.

Hindenburg and Ludendorff not only hindered the plan to encircle and annihilate the Russian army in Warsaw, but also did the plan they thought they would succeed.

Although the whole battle was overcome, Germany was undoubtedly the winning side. However, Germany did not destroy the Russian army at the best time, and the Allies faced a three-front battle, and victory was no longer likely.

If Germany could take advantage of the victory, destroy most of the Russian army, and force Russia to withdraw from the war, it might be possible to win the war.

But alas, this is only if. The reality was that the German army was facing a more serious predicament in Russia than the Russian army, and it was not easy to hold the occupied areas in positional warfare.

From mid-October, Germany entered an all-out positional defense on the Eastern Front, and there were no more plans to launch an offensive.

Russia was able to breathe a sigh of relief and gain a brief respite.

The defeat of the whole battle caused a strong shock in Russia. Although the protests in St. Petersburg and Moscow's Red Square were forcibly suppressed, riots were going on all over the country, even in towns and villages, large and small.

Russia on the surface seems to be calm, but Russia in the dark is already boiling.

Especially after Nicholas II sent Cossack cavalry to forcibly suppress the riots, the population changed from demanding the abdication of Nicholas II to demanding the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty and the monarchy, from dissatisfaction with Nicholas II to dissatisfaction with the entire monarchy and the tsarist system, the tsarist family.

Although relatively peaceful protests and demonstrations have been suppressed, there have been more and more actions to subvert the state and overthrow the royal family.

According to Director Barty's report to Arthur, almost overnight there were two times as many reactionary and revolutionary parties in Russia, and three times as many people joined them.

Even if Arthur had taken control of some of the parties in advance, it would have been impossible to suppress the current situation in Russia.

To put it simply, Nicholas II was already guilty of public anger, and the whole of Russia was going to overthrow the imperial family, which no external force could prevent.

More than a year has passed since the outbreak of the war, and for more than a year, Russia's performance has been at the bottom of the list, if not the worst among the great powers.

It stands to reason that although the famous European bulldozers are decaying, they are not as good as the top powers such as Britain, France and Germany in terms of industry and economy.

But the camel is bigger than the horse, and it should not face such tragic casualties.

But if you think of the corruption and incompetence of some of Russia's senior commanders during the war, the muddy roads in Russia, the extreme lack of transport vehicles, and the collusion between logistics officers and contractors to embezzle military funds to enrich their own pockets. If you are perfunctory about the materials urgently needed at the front, and even withhold logistical supplies, even rifles and bullets, you will feel that the Russian fiasco is completely taken for granted.

According to the statistics of Germany and Russia, the Germans consumed more than 100 times more artillery shells in the Battle of Gollitzer than the Russians.

This also means that after Germany fires more than 100 shells, Russia can only shoot back with one shell, and it is no wonder that such a war is not lost.

What's even more terrifying is that such figures are reported by the Russian logistics department. The veracity of this figure is questionable based on the extent of Russia's decay, which means that Russian soldiers may have less fire support than thought.

Of course, the most tragic were those ordinary Russian soldiers. About a third of them had no guns, only wooden sticks tied to bayonets.

With such weapons and a well-equipped German army, Arthur even felt that the Russians' casualties were small.

It is worth mentioning that there were a large number of foreign correspondents on the Eastern Front, including those within the Entente.

These journalists all have an honorable identity, battlefield reporters.

When a British journalist interviewed an unknown soldier on the Russian front, the soldier showed his only wooden stick with a bayonet tied to it, and said to the British reporter: "Sir, this is not war, this is a massacre. We have nothing but our own chests. ”

It was true that the course of the war was also the case, and the Russian soldiers faced all kinds of problems, and they could use their flesh and blood to resist the German attack.

The problem was that flesh and blood could not stop the network of heavy machine guns and artillery, and even though the Russian army paid heavy casualties, the Germans still occupied a large amount of territory and captured many important transportation hubs.

Of course, this does not mean that the entire Russian top brass is not wrong. The Russian High Command lacked a good strategic vision and appeared somewhat indecisive in formulating strategy.

Unlike Germany, which constantly changed its battle plan according to the situation and chose the direction of the main attack and the flank attack, Russia made a common-sense mistake when formulating a strategic plan for the overall situation, that the troops on the north and south were evenly distributed and there was no main point of attack.

In this battle of Gollitzer, it was clear that Germany had already mobilized troops to prepare for a new campaign, but the Russian high command turned a blind eye and even urged the army to march into the Hungarian plain, which led to this fiasco.

After the German army broke through the defensive line, the Russian high command rashly ordered the two flanks to be put into the breakthrough operation, resulting in batch after batch of Russian troops rushing into battle, without the fire cooperation of the rear, and the front-line combat units without unified command and lack of coordination.

Under the bombardment of the artillery of the Germans, the Russian troops who had rushed into battle were quickly wiped out, and the only result was to add a few strokes to the Russian casualty figures.

If the Russian High Command had been more decisive, allowing the flanks to retreat sharply, allowing the Germans to be logistically defeated in the vast Russian hinterland, and finally allowing the well-prepared army to attack, perhaps it would have won the same victory that Kutuzov had won against Napoleon's army hundreds of years earlier.

Even the Germans feared this when they attacked, fearing defeat like Napoleon's.

But unexpectedly, the Russian high command completely avoided what the Germans feared and gave the Germans a chance to defeat Russia.

Although this may seem incredible, if you take a closer look at the resume of Grand Duke Nicholas, it can actually explain something.

Grand Duke Nikolai seems to have been born in a famous Russian military academy and enjoys a good reputation in the military.

But Grand Duke Nicholas had no real combat experience, and it was completely insufficient to have theoretical knowledge.

Add to this the precautions of Nicholas II, and the dire state of affairs in Russia, and it is not surprising that some absurdities have been made.

You must know that although Nicholas II gave up the post of commander-in-chief of Russia, the tsarist government and Nicholas II himself still had some containment and interference in the Grand Duke Nicholas.

You know, the court of Nicholas II was also very chaotic.

The tsars favored Rasputin, a semi-literate man from the countryside, only because he used so-called magic to stop the bleeding of Nicholas II's son, Crown Prince Alexei, when hemophilia was onset.

Under the favor of the Tsar and his wife, Rasputin was in charge of or influenced the appointment of most high-ranking officials and most of the affairs of the state, and his power was in no way weaker than that of Nicholas II.

This also made most officials and officers hate Rasputin, but because of the favor of the tsar couple, they were helpless.

Even after the defeat of the Battle of Gollitzer, under the impetus of Rasputin, Nicholas II announced the removal of Grand Duke Nicholas as supreme commander-in-chief and appointed himself commander-in-chief of the Russian army and supreme commander of Russia.

Although the indecisive Grand Duke Nicholas was removed from office, the Russian army was faced with the even less capable Tsar Nicholas II.

However, Nicholas II had greater power than Grand Duke Nicholas, and after the defeat of the commander-in-chief Grand Duke Nicholas previously recommended by the military, the military had no excuse to recommend other commanders-in-chief.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)