Chapter 675: Mao Qi
Chapter 660 – Mao Qi
Under the roar of artillery fire, the sky gradually darkened, the sound of tearing cries in the distance was endless, perhaps tomorrow morning there will be a few thousand more corpses.
Marshal Mouche, who had just arrived at the front line, picked up his binoculars and stared dead ahead. Due to the distance, only the smoke of exploding shells could be seen.
After a few moments of effort, Mauch sighed. The situation was much worse than he expected, and from the artillery fire, it was clear that the Russians were not what they used to be.
As night fell, both sides silently stopped fighting. The wind began to howl angrily, as if to awaken the dead souls.
Inside the Prussian command, Marshal Mauch, who had come to supervise the battle, began to fume.
“It’s been a week since the war broke out, and a tiny Brest hasn’t even been taken down, what a bunch of losers.
Speak up! In normal times, aren’t you all very capable? One by one, you’re so unimpressive, bragging about defeating Russia in three months and parading to St. Petersburg within six months.
Now you can’t even take down Brest. Let’s not talk about a military parade in St. Petersburg… If this continues, our strategy of cutting off the Dnieper River is going to go bankrupt.”
The crowd bowed their heads as if they were listening to the instruction, there was no way this battle was really badly fought.
According to the General Staff’s plan, the Prussian army should have captured Brest within three days, and then moved south along the Dnieper River to seize Kiev and cut off the Russian army’s water supply channel.
The core of this strategy was to be quick. The Russians lacked everything but soldiers. Once the Tsarist government reacted and a large number of reinforcements arrived, the war would not be well fought.
This is a historical lesson, the first Near East war in the British and French allied forces with blood facts, told the world heavily armed, logistically sound Russian army is hardcore.
As long as the Dnieper River is in the hands of the Russian army, Austrian supplies can be shipped over in a steady stream, and the war will evolve into a war of attrition.
The commander of the Southwest Front, Hohenlohe Ingelfingen, replied stiffly, “Your Excellency Marshal, the enemy is much more stubborn than we thought. In these seven days, we have fought head-on dozens of times.
Although most of the time, we have the upper hand, the overall picture is still not optimistic. The Russians are replenishing their forces very quickly, and the troops we’ve engaged have been replaced in three waves.
You may not believe it, but not only do they hold their ground, they also launch counter-attacks from time to time.
According to the information detected, there are 80,000 Russians guarding the Brest line, and another 100,000 Russians in the area of the Volyn region, not to mention a steady stream of reinforcements from the rear.
The Russian commanders on the other side are a bunch of lunatics, they don’t take the lives of their soldiers seriously, and many times they intentionally play us against each other.
In just one week, our Southwest Front lost two divisions. In a short time, it’s almost impossible to make a breakthrough here.”
It couldn’t be helped, this strategy thing couldn’t be kept secret at all. The Prussian Army wanted to cut off the Dnieper River, and the Russian Army naturally refused.
As enemies, it was natural to be dead set against each other. Especially after the birth of the airship unit, there are Russian airships crossing the border every day to scout, and it is difficult to keep a large troop movement secret.
Mao Qi frowned, he also knows that the main responsibility for not being able to take the Brest Fortress is not in these officers. The battlefield should rely on strength to speak, the Prussian army does not have an overwhelming advantage, it is normal to fall into a stalemate.
The strategic plan formulated by the General Staff: feint attack on Estonia, make a move into St. Petersburg to attract the main force of the Russian army, to create an opportunity to seize Kiev.
However, the plan did not change as quickly as it should have. The goal of attracting the Russian main force was realized, and the first step to capture Kiev was stuck.
Even the best strategy could not hold against the large number of soldiers of the Tsarist government. Things got awkward when the Russians had more defenders than the number of Prussian troops launching the attack.
Not only here, but the whole front was dominated by Russian troops. After exerting all its strength, the Prussian Confederation only managed to gather seven hundred and fifty thousand troops to go to the battlefield, while the number of Russian troops on the opposite side had long exceeded one million.
Mauch shook his head: ”We don’t have that much time, if we can’t capture Kiev and cut off the Dnipro River’s transportation line before winter comes, we’ll be in big trouble in the coming year.
No matter how difficult it is, we must accomplish this strategy. Otherwise the enemy, relying on their strength advantage, will simply drag us to death.
To tell you the truth, it’s not only the attack on the Brest front that’s being blocked, it’s the whole battlefield.
Over the past ten years, the enemy has built a huge number of fortifications. With so many defenses, how can they be torn down in a short period of time?”
Saying this, Mauch sneered and sneered, “What, is this fear?”
“Not afraid!”
“Not afraid!”
……
As a bunch of war mongers, how could they be so easily afraid? The war had only just begun, and it was normal to encounter difficulties. Even the most optimistic person would not think that the Russian army could be defeated in just one week.
Compared to the last war, the situation now was already too much better. At that time, as soon as the war broke out the Russian army pressed the Prussian army and in the end, they were still turned over.
“Since you’re not afraid, don’t make excuses. Sink your teeth into it and find a way to tear apart the enemy’s defenses.
The enemy has deployed heavy troops in the Brest area, so find a way to go around. If a large army can’t get through, can’t a small force do it?
If not, you can also arrange for people to blow up the Dnieper River, as long as the strategic purpose is realized, I don’t care if you use any methods.”
In order to win the war, Mauch had already disregarded everything. Don’t look at how easy he said it, but if a small unit really went in alone, it would basically be a no-go.
Hohenlohe Ingelfingen: “Your Excellency Marshal, the enemy has deployed heavy troops in the Brest area, it is not suitable as a breakthrough, it is best to change direction.
Unlike the last war, this time the Russians are well prepared, and the Russian army will not be short of supplies in a short time.
Even if they cut off the Dnieper River, they can still be transported through the railroads in the Eastern Ukraine region, unless we are able to occupy the entire Ukraine.
Strategically, it’s very chicken feed. The Ukrainian region is not Russia’s core, and even if we lost it, the Russians would not surrender.
They already have the understanding of the Nordic Confederation that the Russians can get supplies from the Nordic Confederation in addition to Austria.
It would be very difficult for us to bring them down on supplies until the Tsarist government had spent the last gold coin in their pockets.
To bring down the Russian Empire, Moscow and St. Petersburg must be captured. Compared to these two strategic locations, all other places should be merely auxiliary.”
Mouche tapped the table, “I will consider your proposal carefully. What is needed now is to carry out the orders, do you understand General!”
It wasn’t that the proposal was bad, nor was it that Mao Qi couldn’t tolerate dissenting opinions. The truth was quite the opposite; the Berlin government would not have insisted on Smolensk in the last war if it had not been prepared to fight Moscow.
How could Mauch ignore the strategic importance of attacking Moscow, when it was all in his hands?
The problem was that the Russians saw it too, and just after the war broke out, the Russians mobilized their heavy forces to besiege Smolensk.
Against this background, Mauch naturally did not choose to fight hard with the Russians, which led to the Brest Offensive and Defense.
As for Smolensk, it was better to use it to deplete the enemy’s strength. The Berlin government had already established perfect fortifications there, which were just right to attract Russian firepower.
……
At the end of the meeting, Mauch left Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen to discuss the matter confidentially.
“Field Marshal, why don’t we talk about it at the meeting?”
Mauch: “Yes, it is what you think. Of course, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with the people who attended the meeting; the Russians haven’t yet been able to buy off high-ranking officers.
I can’t say the same for those below, we’ve caught a lot of spies in recent years, and many of them have leaked information to the enemy without realizing it themselves. We must be cautious at such a critical time.”
Hohenlohe Ingelfingen pondered thoughtfully, catching spies was never a harmonious thing, and although the Berlin government did not engage in strains, there were still a number of officers who were implicated.
Where there are people, there is strife, and the military is not ironclad, because of the power struggle, as long as they are involved, no matter if they are innocent or not, in the end, they can only be discharged in disgrace.
“Well, in principle I don’t oppose this battle plan. The Southwest Front will try to attract the enemy’s attention as much as possible, but I’m still a little worried about breaking through from the Warren area.”
If you want to capture Kiev, there is not only one way to go downstream along the Dnieper River, a direct flat push through the Volyn region is also possible, it’s just not as convenient.
Mauch smiled slightly, “It’s right to be worried, if you don’t think it’s possible, it’s even harder for the enemy to think of it.
Besides, it’s not like anyone is stipulating that we have to hit Kiev directly.
After making a breakthrough in the Volyn area, we can completely turn our guns around and outflank the Russians in Brest.
The war has already begun, and a strategic plan formulated in advance is only a plan. Whether it should be implemented or not, and how it should be implemented, will have to be done according to the actual situation.
No matter how it is fought, as long as the war is won. What we need to do now is to annihilate the Russian main force as much as possible, as long as we take out this group of troops, the later battles will be better.”
A general’s work is the greatest, everyone is only concerned about winning the war, no one even pays attention to the dedication behind it. Unsung heroes are the greatest and the saddest.
Mao Qi preferred to put pressure on the officers and force everyone to launch an attack, but also had this aspect in mind when he didn’t tell everyone the truth about the feint.
If everyone knew the truth, would they fight so hard? If they didn’t fight hard enough, how would they be able to create enough pressure on the enemy to force the Russian troops in the neighborhood to reinforce them?
Even for political reasons, this feint would have been artificially erased. If there is no breakthrough on the battlefield, the unit responsible for the feint will not only get no credit, but will also be penalized.
A good commander has to consider not only military and political, but also human nature.
(End of chapter)