Chapter 397

After entering October, the Russian-Prussian War has entered a new stage. Both sides fought hard again, and the fight was dark and bloody.

In East Prussia, the Prussian army had the upper hand; in the Polish region, the Russian army suppressed the Prussian coalition.

Austria also sent military observers to watch the intelligence collected from the battlefield, which made Franz secretly grateful.

Sure enough, there are no virtuous men under the reputation. The name of the Russian Empire's European hegemony is played. The Russian army's combat effectiveness is definitely at the forefront of the world in this era.

The Russian Empire of the original time and space has been on the streets all the way, and it is still feared by all countries, but it is not just what the jokes say-winter and vast territory.

The strategic advantage brought by geography is only useful when defending. War is mainly based on people, and geographical conditions are only auxiliary.

The Prussian Army has come to the forefront of the world, but on the battlefield, their advantages are not obvious.

When the weapons and equipment were at a disadvantage, the Russian army could block the Prussian army with flesh and blood.

The Prussian army only had the upper hand in terms of training, and when they encountered some elite Russian troops, they would even be at a disadvantage.

The war in the Near East was not fought in vain, and despite the loss of nearly one million troops, the tsarist government still gained a powerful army.

Schönbrunn Palace, at a high-level military meeting.

"You have all read the information. Judging from the information collected so far, who do you think will win this battle?"

Franz was only asking about the battle, not about the victory of the entire war. The strength gap between Prussia and Russia is too great. As long as the tsarist government is willing to explode, the final winner will be obvious.

Not to mention Prussia, in the face of the desperate Russian Empire, no country in the world can guarantee victory.

Even if Austria and Russia were to face each other, Franz had to use off-the-beaten-track tricks to be able to win.

Otherwise, the two sides fought together with strength and paid millions of casualties, where would there be any victory at all?

People of this age can't imagine a war that costs millions of people at one time, but Franz understands it.

The Russian Empire is so big, and the waves can't be pushed evenly at all, and in the end, they can only fight for their lives. When this happens, where is the winner?

Marshal Edmund, Chief of the General Staff, replied: "Your Majesty, from the current situation, I am more optimistic about the Kingdom of Prussia.

They seem to be preparing a big plan. From the perspective of troop deployment, the Prussian army is preparing to fight the Russian army in East Prussia.

Once they complete the plan, at least half of the more than 300,000 Russian troops in East Prussia will be left behind.

The commander of the Russian army was too arrogant, and he was bent on rushing forward without considering the danger at all. In the case of a disadvantage, they still did not shrink the front. "

This is understandable. The strength of the warring Prussian and Russian armies is not very different. Even if they are at a disadvantage, it is nothing more than the fact that the soldiers have suffered a little more casualties, and the Russian commander is not cowardly.

The gray animals were worthless, and they took the initiative to fight the war of attrition with the Prussian army. As long as the war could be won, the tsarist government would not care about casualties.

In the previous 2:1, 3:1 exchange, the Russian army dared to fight, and now the casualty ratio has dropped to 1.3:1, and occasionally it is possible to take advantage of it, why dare not fight?

Army Minister Albrecht analyzed: "Prussia's recent actions are somewhat abnormal, a large number of strategic materials have arrived at the front line ahead of schedule, and these materials have exceeded the needs of the front line.

It is reasonable to reserve more food and ammunition, but the extra tents and daily necessities are definitely problematic.

Preliminary estimates, even if there is a sudden increase of 200,000 troops, their material reserves are sufficient. I guess that the Prussians are about to increase their troops on the East Prussian front. These are only preliminary preparations.

The total number of troops in the Kingdom of Prussia is now 1,200,000.

Among them, the main force is about 400,000, the second-line reserve force is about 150,000, and the rest are recruits recruited temporarily.

The main force was fighting hard against the Russians on the front line, and the second-line troops were also in Poland, joining forces with the Polish insurgents to resist the Russian attack.

The remaining temporarily recruited troops have little combat power. Now they are conducting military training while guarding the coastal areas.

After so long in the war, some of these recruits have completed the initial training and have the strength to fight in the First World War.

In the case of equal strength on both sides, throwing into the battlefield is enough to change the outcome of a war.

This aspect is not comparable to the Russians, limited by logistical supplies, they can only maintain the current strength. "

Historically, when the Kingdom of Prussia completed its counterattack, it was not that their army was much stronger than the enemy. The most important part was to concentrate superior forces to fight the enemy.

The Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War were both won by absolute superiority. If the strength is equal, it will be a hard battle, how can there be a rolling victory?

The Russian-Prussian War has been going on for so long, and they have not come up with this tactic. There are two main reasons: First, there are too many tsarist troops; second, the traffic in Russia is too bad, and active offensive logistics is a big problem .

Now that the Russian army has entered East Prussia, the situation has changed. In homeland operations, the railway advantages of the Kingdom of Prussia can be brought into play.

This means that the Prussians have the ability to increase their troops to a certain area in a short period of time, establish a regional military superiority, and increase the victory in the war.

Calculate.

Franz is no longer a military novice. He has the ability to talk about soldiers on paper, and he is only short of the final combat ability.

There is no way to do this. The emperor can't command the small battle, and Franz dare not command the battle, so the last shortcoming - no solution.

Looking at the simulated battlefield sand table, Franz quickly felt relieved. This game did not collapse. Although they strengthened the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, they did not strengthen the commanding ability of the senior officers of the Russian army.

The Kingdom of Prussia has not yet reached the point where its mountains and rivers are exhausted. After all, it is also a country with a population of 15 million, and there is still potential to be tapped.

As a semi-industrial state, the mobilization capacity of the Kingdom of Prussia has been greatly increased. Now that there is support from the sponsor, completing extreme mobilization is not a dream.

The recruits who were temporarily mobilized, although they did not have much combat power. However, in the decisive battle, these troops suddenly appeared on the battlefield, which can also be the last straw to change the outcome of the war.

As for the Russian army's sneak attack, the big deal is to lose a few coastal cities, and the warships cannot go to the land. Can the navy go deep alone?

Father, like son. As a bystander, knowing is knowing, Franz has no intention of reminding the tsarist government.

The Russian Empire has a great business, and they can afford this loss. The Kingdom of Prussia has limited strength, and at most it can defeat this Russian army, and it is impossible to swallow hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in one go.

...

While Franz was conducting military exercises, the Kingdom of Pru, which had been prepared, also began to act.

Railroads across the country were up and running quickly, with trains transporting soldiers scattered across the country to the front. In just two days, they sent 150,000 troops to the East Prussian front.

The Armageddon officially broke out, and the sudden emergence of a new force instantly blinded the Russian commander.

Under normal circumstances, a troop mobilization of this scale would take ten days and a half months, and they would have enough time to adjust the troop deployment.

However, in just two days, Prussian reinforcements arrived. There is no way for the Russian army to complete the adjustment of the front line of hundreds of kilometers in two days.

In some areas, the Prussian army even formed four or five times the strength of the army and launched an attack on the Russian army.

There was no suspense in the result. Although the Russian army resisted very heroically, it still could not change the fate of failure.

The East Prussia area is the homeland of the Kingdom of Prussia. The Prussian army was very familiar with the local situation. After breaking through the Russian defense line, they immediately interspersed.

At the same time, the Prussians also formed a team of vanguard soldiers in East Prussia and sent this small team to destroy the Russian telegraph lines.

To organize hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, telegraph is the biggest black technology. There is no telegram to transmit orders, and the efficiency of relying on messengers to send letters is too low.

Due to insufficient precautions in advance, the Russian army soon suffered a big loss. Without telegrams to communicate information in a timely manner, the Russian troops on the front line soon fell into the embarrassing situation of fighting each other.

In particular, the troops that suffered defeat turned into headless flies, scurrying around on the battlefield. The efficiency of the messengers is too low to keep up with the changes in the situation on the battlefield.

In many troops, the regiment headquarters could not contact the division headquarters, and the division headquarters could not contact the military headquarters. The Russian army in the entire East Prussia region became a mess.

This situation naturally did not escape Mao Qi's expectations. Now that it has changed from a hard fight to a tailwind, he decisively put the recruits in the rear into the battle.

With the superiority of troops, the Prussian army quickly gained the dominance of the battlefield. The chaotic Russian army was defeated all the way, and it was only when it retreated to the West Dvina River that it was barely able to stand up. (The Daugava River in present-day Latvia)

At this time, the Russian army had dropped sharply from 386,000 before the war to 112,000, and also lost a lot of strategic materials and almost all artillery.

The Prussian army did not dare to go further. The winter in the Baltic Sea region has come, and they must clear the Russian army in the territory as soon as possible to consolidate the results that have been achieved.

The situation on the battlefield can affect the whole body. With the fall of the Lithuanian region, the Belarusian region came out abruptly.

After the flank was threatened, the Russian army, which was still attacking the Pubo coalition, had to shrink its defense line. By this time, however, it was too late to make a decision.

After the end of the East Prussian battle, the Prussian army came in at the fastest speed and bit a piece of meat at the point where the Russian army retreated.