Chapter 407: The Battle of the Turning Points
Chapter 397 The Battle of the Turning Point
After entering the month of October, the Russo-Prussian War entered a new phase. Both sides are again engaged in fighting hard, and the fight is dark and bloody.
In East Prussia, the Prussian army had the upper hand; in Poland, the Russian army again pressed the Prussian-Polish allied army.
Austria also sent military observers, looking at the intelligence gathered from the battlefield, making Franz secretly glad.
It is true that the reputation is not false, the name of the Russian Empire’s European hegemony is played out, the Russian army combat power in this era is definitely the world’s forefront.
The original time and space Russian Empire all the way to the street, still by the countries are afraid of, can not just paragraph said – winter and vast territory.
The strategic advantage brought about by geography is only useful when it comes to defense. War mainly relies on people, geography is only a supporting role.
The Prussian Army had come to the forefront of the world, yet when it came to the battlefield, the advantages they achieved were not obvious.
In the case of weaponry at a disadvantage, the Russian army can use flesh and blood to hold back the Prussian army, after the change of clothes after the two sides of the battle loss ratio is gradually drawn closer.
The Prussian army also only rely on the training advantage of a slight advantage, when encountering certain elite Russian troops, they will even be at a disadvantage.
Near East war is not for nothing, paid nearly a million troops loss, the tsarist government still harvested a strong army.
Meiquan Palace, high-level military meeting.
“You’ve all read the information, from the intelligence gathered so far, who do you think will win this battle?”
Franz was only asking about this battle, not the victory of the entire war. The difference in strength between the Prussian and Russian sides was too great, and as long as the Tsarist government was willing to explode its liver, the ultimate victor was obvious.
Not to mention Prussia, no country in the world would dare to guarantee victory against the desperate Russian Empire.
Even if it was Austria and Russia against each other, Franz would have had to use a ploy outside of the dish to get the victory.
Otherwise, if both sides fought a bloody battle on the basis of strength and paid millions of casualties, where would there be any victory to speak of?
People in this era, do not dare to imagine a one-time loss of several million people in the war, but Franz is understood.
The Russian Empire is so big, a wave of flow simply can not be pushed, and in the end can only fight for human life. Once this situation occurs, where is there any victor?
Chief of General Staff Marshal Edmund replied, ”Your Majesty, from the current situation, I am more optimistic about the Kingdom of Prussia.
They seem to be preparing a big plan, and judging from the deployment of troops, the Prussian army is preparing for a showdown with the Russian army in the East Prussia region.
Once they are allowed to complete their plan, at least half of these 300,000+ Russian troops in the East Prussia region will be left behind.
The Russian commanders were too arrogant and were so intent on breaking through that they didn’t even consider the dangers. Despite being at a disadvantage, they still haven’t contracted their battle lines.”
This is understandable, the difference in strength between the two armies of the warring Prussians and Russians was not great, even if they were at a disadvantage, it was only a little more casualties among the soldiers, and the Russian commanders were not abashed.
Gray livestock and worthless, take the initiative and the Prussian army to fight a war of attrition, as long as they can win the war, the tsarist government does not care about casualties.
Front 2:1, 3:1 exchange ratio of the Russian army have dared to fight, and now the casualty ratio has dropped to 1.3:1, and occasionally may take advantage, why do not you dare to fight?
Minister of War Albrecht analyzed: “Prussia’s recent actions are somewhat unusual, a large number of strategic materials have arrived at the front in advance, these materials have exceeded the needs of the front.
It is still reasonable to stockpile more food and ammunition, but the extra tents and living supplies are definitely problematic.
Initial estimation is that even with a sudden increase of 200,000 troops, they are well stocked with supplies. I guess the Prussians are about to reinforce the East Prussian front, and these are just the preliminary preparations.
Currently the Prussian Kingdom’s disorganized armies add up to as much as a million and two hundred thousand.
Of these, the main force is about 400,000 or so, the second line reserve force is about 150,000 men, and the rest are recruits recruited on an ad hoc basis.
The main forces were all on the front line fighting the Russians hard, and the second-line forces were also in the Polish region, joining forces with the Polish insurgents to resist the Russian attack.
The rest of the temporarily recruited troops, without much combat power, were now conducting military training while guarding the coastal areas.
After being at war for so long, some of these recruit troops had completed their initial training and were battle-ready.
In a situation where both sides were equal in strength, committing to the battlefield was also enough to change the outcome of a war.
This aspect is not something the Russians can compare to, limited by logistical supplies, they can only maintain their current troop strength.”
Historically, when the Kingdom of Prussia accomplished a comeback, it wasn’t that their army was just that much stronger than the enemy, the main piece of the puzzle was to focus on superior forces to engage the enemy.
The Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, were all won by absolute superiority of force. If the forces were really equal, it would be a bitter battle, how could there be a roll-over victory?
The Prussian-Russian War went on for so long that they didn’t take this tactic out for two main reasons: one, there were too many Tsarist armies; and two, the transportation within Russia was so bad that the logistics of an active attack was a big problem.
Now that the Russian army had entered the region of East Prussia, the situation changed. In a home front battle, the Kingdom of Prussia’s railroad advantage could be utilized.
This meant that the Prussians had the ability to surge into a region in the short term, establishing a regional strength advantage and increasing their chances of winning the war.
Franz was now no longer a military buff; the ability to fight on paper was already in place, it was just a matter of the final ability to fight in the field.
There is no way, small wars can not take the emperor’s turn to personally command, big wars Franz and dare not go to command, so this last short board – no solution.
Looked at the simulation of the battlefield sand table, Franz quickly reassured. This game did not play collapsed, despite strengthening the combat power of the Russian army, but they did not strengthen the command ability of the senior officers of the Russian army.
The Kingdom of Prussia had not reached the point of exhaustion, at least it was a country of fifteen million people, there was still potential to be tapped.
As a semi-industrial country, the mobilization capacity of the Kingdom of Prussia had been greatly increased. Now with the support of its gold master, it is not a dream to accomplish extreme mobilization.
The recruits mobilized on a temporary basis did not have much combat power. However, in the time of a decisive battle, these troops suddenly appeared on the battlefield, and could likewise be the last straw that changed the outcome of the war.
As for the sneak attack of the Russian army, the big deal is to lose a few coastal cities, and warships can’t sail to the land, the navy can still be alone?
The authorities are confused by the bystanders. As a bystander, know to know, but Franz did not have the slightest intention to remind the tsarist government.
The Russian Empire is a big country, they can afford this loss. The Kingdom of Prussia, with its limited strength, could at best defeat the Russian army, but could not possibly swallow hundreds of thousands of Russian troops at a single bite.
……
While Franz was making his military deductions, the Kingdom of Prussia, which was already prepared, began to move.
The railroads all over the country were running quickly, and trains upon trains transported the soldiers scattered all over the country to the front line. In just two days, they sent 150,000 troops to the East Prussian front.
Armageddon officially broke out, and the sudden appearance of raw power instantly blinded the Russian commanders.
Under normal circumstances, this scale of troop mobilization, even faster will take ten days and half a month, they have enough time to adjust the deployment of troops.
However in just two days, Prussian reinforcements arrived. The Russian army could not afford to complete the adjustment of several hundred kilometers of front in two days.
In some areas, the Prussian army even formed a four or five times strength advantage and launched an attack on the Russian army.
Naturally, the result was not in doubt. Although the Russian army resisted valiantly, it still could not change the fate of defeat.
The region of East Prussia was the home of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Prussian army was very familiar with the local situation. After breaking through the Russian defense line, they immediately made penetration.
At the same time, the Prussians also formed a small unit of sharpshooters originating from the East Prussia region, and sent this small unit to destroy the Russian telegraph lines.
To organize hundreds of thousands of troops for battle, the telegraph was the greatest black art. Without telegraphs to transmit orders, relying on messengers to deliver letters was just too inefficient.
Due to insufficient prior defense, the Russian army soon suffered a big loss. Without the telegraph to communicate information in time, the Russian army at the front soon fell into the embarrassing situation of fighting on their own.
Especially the troops that suffered defeat directly became headless flies, scurrying around the battlefield. The efficiency of the messengers was so low that they could not keep up with the changing situation on the battlefield at all.
Many troops have appeared regimental headquarters can not contact the division headquarters, division headquarters can not contact the army headquarters, the entire East Prussia region of the Russian army into a pot of porridge.
This situation, naturally, did not escape Mauch’s expectations. Now that it had turned from a bitter battle to a windy battle, he decisively threw his rear recruits into the fray.
With the advantage in strength, the Prussian army quickly gained the dominance of the battlefield. Into the chaos of the Russian army routed all the way, all the way back to the West Dvina River is barely able to establish the main foot. (present-day Latvia within the Daugava River)
At this time, the Russian army has been sharply reduced from 386,000 before the war to 112,000, and also lost a large number of strategic materials, and nearly all of the artillery.
The Prussian army did not dare to continue to go deeper, the Baltic region of the winter has already come, they must as soon as possible to clean up the territory of the Russian army, consolidate the results already achieved.
The situation on the battlefield is a matter of one hair affecting the whole body. With the fall of the Lithuanian region, the Belarusian region came to the fore.
After the flanks were threatened, the Russians, who were still attacking the Polish-Polish coalition, had to shrink their defenses. However, it was too late to make a decision.
After the end of the Battle of East Prussia, the Prussian army was reinforced as quickly as possible, and bit off a piece of meat at the juncture of the Russian army’s retreat.
PS: “Fu Shu” is reborn as Guan Ping, guarding Jingzhou and restoring the Han Dynasty.
(End of chapter)