Chapter 394: The Turning Point
Chapter 384 The Turning Point
The turning point of the Russo-Prussian War came on May 1, 1865, when the Russian Navy stole a raid on the East Prussian region and the Baltic region fell.
Berlin, the Prussian government within a wail, William I hastened to convene a military conference.
The Minister of Army and Navy, Ron, analyzed: “With the fall of the Baltic region, our strategy of keeping the enemy out of the country is bankrupt. In order to avoid being caught in the back, we had to retreat our army to West Prussia.
Before the outbreak of the war, we did not bring back the fleet in the Far East for the sake of the stability of the colonies. The home fleet now has no strength against the Russian Navy, and the coastal defenses must be strengthened.”
This was just a pretext, even if the entire Prussian Navy was centralized, it would be practically useless.
The Danish navy could compete with them, let alone the more powerful Russian navy.
Just because the Russian Navy made a joke, you can’t ignore their strength.
From the beginning Ron never counted on the navy, and his position on the strength of the Prussian navy proved to be very accurate.
After the war had broken out, the home fleet had been engaged by the Danish navy a few times before being blocked in the harbor, and its greatest contribution to the war had been to hold the main Danish naval force in check.
Even if the Far East fleet is transferred back, at most it can only suppress the Danish navy, if it is really a duel, whether it can win or not is an unknown.
The development of the Prussian navy was too short, whether it was shipbuilding technology, naval training, officer command ability are behind the major naval powers.
Now can also use the strength of the excuse, let the local fleet nest in the harbor, if the Far East fleet back, was forced to fight with the Danish navy will be miserable.
Even if you win the Danish Navy, you will never be able to defeat the Russians, and the Tsar’s Baltic fleet was 2.7 times larger in tonnage than theirs.
The navy is not the army, in such an obvious strength gap, but also want to reverse, unless it is to take the iron armor ships to beat the sail battleships, or no chance at all.
The loss of the Baltic region was a mistake on the part of the General Staff. They underestimated the offensive ability of the Russians and overestimated the fighting strength of the defenders.
The navy and the army were not the same, and the two sides were not on the same level in terms of artillery alone.
After the outbreak of the war, the Prussians attached great importance to the defense of the Baltic region and deployed three regiments here.
According to the staff’s estimation, even if they encountered an attack by the Russian army, relying on the fortification defense built beforehand, they could hold it for at least a week.
However, the empiricism of the army staff brought fatal losses to the defenders. The fact that the fortresses were able to withstand an army artillery attack was not the same as being able to resist a naval artillery attack.
If it had been the Prussian regulars, even if the fortresses had been damaged, three regiments would have been able to hold the Russians for two or three days.
Unfortunately, these were temporary recruits, and after being hit by the artillery fire, the army was already in disarray.
After fighting the Russians, they soon realized that the enemy was much stronger than the propaganda, and as casualties mounted, the recruits in charge of the defense soon collapsed.
William I said in no uncertain terms, “In any case, you all must turn around the unfavorable battle situation at hand as soon as possible.
You have already experienced the consequences of abandoning the East Prussia region, and a revolution will break out in the country if it continues like this.”
Accountability? Now William I still needed the military to fight! The fact that they were able to gain the upper hand in fighting the Russian army and drive the Russians out of the Warsaw region was proof enough of their ability.
If we replace them after one mistake, who can guarantee that the ones who come after them will be more capable?
Anyway, in the end, if you win the war, everything is fine, all the problems can be written off; if you lose the war, then the military hierarchy is the scapegoat.
If the people in advance to get down, the last pot, not to fall on the body of William I himself.
Chief of General Staff Mauch said with some hesitation: “Things have come to this, our original strategic plan can not be implemented.
If we continue to delay, the Russians will utilize their naval superiority and keep attacking our coastal areas.
The last thing the Czarist government needs is soldiers, these gray animals are worthless, all they need is a rifle and a few months of simple training, and they’ll be ready to go to war.
Once a large number of Russian troops landed in Prussia, our mainland will certainly be severely damaged, and then in this war, the first to fail will be us.
Even if we strengthen the sea defense is useless, now we simply can not get so many troops to defend. We all know what the combat effectiveness of these new units is, and we can’t count on them at all.
At this point, the options left to us no longer exist, we can only risk a decisive battle with the Russians.”
“A duel”, this is what the Berlin government has been trying to avoid from the beginning. A duel that concerned their life and death was only a localized war for the Russians.
The Tsarist government could lose once, twice, three times …… Just one of those wins would knock Prussia into the dust.
In that case, why bother with a duel? Couldn’t one expect to win the war in the end by killing and maiming the Russians’ viable forces?
War is not a child’s play, there are more than half a million Russian troops on the front line, to defeat them, maybe it can be done, but to wipe them out, it is a fool’s errand.
The most ideal result would be nothing more than the victor damaging 40,000 to 50,000 troops, crushing the enemy’s main force, and then annihilating 100,000 to 80,000 of the enemy’s troops.
After all, the Prussian Kingdom and the Poles joined forces, the total strength of both sides is basically equal, even if it is no longer confident, but also no one thinks: the Polish insurgent army and the Prussian army has the same fighting strength.
In the case of the teammates do not give strength, the strength of the two warring sides, has been pulled to the same level. Now to fight with the Russians, the test is not only the strength, but also depends on the command ability and luck of the officers of both sides.
“How much chance of victory?” William I asked with concern
Mou Qi thought for a moment and then answered, “Seven layers!”
This was just this one duel, and did not mean that the Russo-Prussian War was over. The Tsarist government still had the ability to keep the war going, the only problem was how much money the Tsarist government had.
……
The sudden turn of the tide of the war drew the attention of all of Europe directly to it. Many people were pessimistic: it was only a matter of time before the Prussians were defeated.
In St. Petersburg, the Tsarist government had already set up a celebration banquet, as if they had won the war.
The situation on the battlefield, however, was indeed tilting in the Tsarist government’s favor.
The Russian Navy had done well this time, and had proved to the outside world that they were no waste by capturing the Baltic region in the first place.
(End of chapter)