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Text Chapter 874 The Russian Autumn Offensive

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    "Even if France is defeated, the Royal Navy of the British Empire will not let a German BF cross the English Channel!" Sir John Fisher, the British Minister of Admiralty, said firmly!

    "Uh! Sir Fisher, I don't mean to underestimate the Royal Navy. It's just that if France fails, millions of German troops can not only attack us, but also attack Russia eastward. Once Russia is also defeated, the entire Europe  The mainland belongs to the Germans, which is definitely not a good thing for the British Empire!" Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray said quickly.

    John = Sir Fisher nodded and stopped dwelling on this issue!

    "Your Excellency Methuen, how many more troops do we have that we can devote to the war?" Prime Minister Asquith asked.  Britain has a powerful navy and its own security has been guaranteed. If Germany wants to attack the British mainland, it must first defeat the British navy.  Although the strength of the German Navy can already challenge the British Navy, the British Navy still has an absolute advantage.

    "Your Excellency Prime Minister, so far we have mobilized half a million troops, of which 100,000 have been sent to France. They have participated in this French border battle and lost more than 20,000 people. The mobilization is still continuing, and eventually  Our army can mobilize about one million people. In addition, the troops from various colonies are still being assembled. However, the Indian and Australian troops cannot be transferred to the mainland, and we must beware of the Chinese!" Secretary of War Paul Stafford=  Methuen said.

    "Let's do this, form an expeditionary force of 200,000 people to support the French. No matter what, we must help the French survive this crisis!" Prime Minister Asquith said.  If France is defeated, it will be useless no matter how much land the British retain. The British army cannot compare with the German army anyway. It is even more delusional to rely on the British army to defeat the Germans.  Therefore, to defeat Germany, we must rely on French talents as much as possible and let more French people fight the Germans.  What the British have to do is to keep the confidence of the French from being affected as much as possible so that they can continue to fight!

    "Yes, Your Excellency, Prime Minister!" Secretary of War Paul Stafford Methuen nodded.

    "Sir Fisher, the navy will strengthen the blockade of Germany during this period. Any ships flying the flag of Germany or the Allied Powers will be captured. The Germans cannot be allowed to get any supplies and directly drag them to death!" Asquith  The Prime Minister said through gritted teeth.

    Germany¡¯s offensive in the early stages of the war was very fierce, which was not unexpected by the British.  However, the British believe that as long as it drags on, as the Germans pay more and more casualties and consume more materials, the German offensive will slowly weaken. By then, it will be time for Britain and France to fight back!

    "Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister! However, if it is a Chinese ship, do we also want to capture it?" Sir John Fisher, Minister of the Navy, asked.  Now, China has not yet been involved in the war. Although China and Germany have close relations, China has not participated in the war after all.  If the British navy takes action against Chinese ships, it will definitely attract crazy revenge from the Chinese.  Nothing else to say

    As long as the Chinese navy blocks the Strait of Hormuz, if the UK wants to contact India and Australia, it will have to go around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa!

    Prime Minister Asquith hesitated for a moment before shaking his head: "Ignore the Chinese for the time being. The Germans consume astronomical amounts of supplies every day on the battlefield. It is impossible for the Chinese to make up for the German losses.  . Wait until China joins the war, and then we will attack the Chinese ships!"

    "Yes, I know!" Sir John Fisher said.  He can also understand this

    China is too powerful. Although everyone knows that China will definitely join the Allies in fighting, the United Kingdom is not willing to take the initiative to provoke China before China joins the war.  Otherwise, the Chinese's retaliation will cause greater losses to the UK!

    "In addition, contact Russia and the United States. Since they have declared war on the Allies, they cannot sit idly by. Especially Russia, now is the time when they need to launch attacks on the Eastern Front. As for the Americans, if possible, let them  Send troops to fight in Europe!" Prime Minister Asquith said.  Of course, he also knew that this was somewhat unlikely. Americans regarded China as a life-and-death enemy. Before defeating China, Americans would definitely not invest troops in other wars!

    "Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I will ask the ambassador to Russia and the ambassador to the United States to convey our requests to the two governments!" said Sir Edward Gray, the Foreign Secretary.

    On the morning of August 11, St. Petersburg, French Ambassador to Russia Leologe asked to see Tsar Nicholas II.  The Tsar received him at the Winter Palace.

    "I request your Majesty to order your troops to take an offensive immediately, otherwise the French army is in danger of being annihilated. Our army and the British army have already suffered losses in the border battle."Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and a large amount of equipment was also lost.  Now the main force of the German army is marching towards Paris, and our country is mobilizing troops to prepare to resist the German attack.  The government hopes that Russia can launch an attack on East Prussia to contain the Germans and reduce the pressure on France!  "Leolog begged.

    The current situation in France is very critical. If Paris is captured by the German army, France will be finished.

    "Ambassador, please rest assured that Russia will not sit back and watch France be invaded. The Russian army has completed part of the mobilization, and I will let the frontline troops launch various attacks on East Prussia as soon as possible!" said Tsar Nicholas II.  He understands the truth of the cold-blooded situation very well. Once France is defeated by Germany, Russia will be the next unlucky one!

    "Thank you very much, His Majesty the Tsar. The French government and people will never forget Russia's help to France!" Ambassador Leologg burst into tears with gratitude!

    After Ambassador Leolog left, Tsar Nicholas II immediately summoned Russian ministers to discuss sending troops to attack East Prussia.

    "Your Majesty, France is an ally of Russia. The current situation in France is very unfavorable. We should immediately launch an attack on East Prussia to reduce the pressure on France!" Prime Minister Peter A. Stolypin said.

    "Your Majesty, we should indeed attack East Prussia, but we cannot relax our vigilance against the enemies in the east. Compared with the Germans, China in the east is our biggest enemy. Therefore, while attacking East Prussia, we must  Retain enough troops in the east to resist the Chinese attack!" Foreign Minister Nilatov said.

    Tsar Nicholas II nodded, and then asked: "His Excellency Archduke Karl, is our mobilization completed now?"

    "Your Majesty, so far, our mobilization has been mostly completed. There are 30 armies in the western region, with a total of 96 infantry divisions and 37 cavalry divisions, with a total of about 2.7 million people, plus 900,000 special reserve forces and  Fortress troops. In addition, we have one million people stationed in Siberia and along the Ural River to defend against the Chinese!" said Archduke Karl, Minister of War!

    "Then, order the troops in the western region to start attacking East Prussia. At the same time, continue mobilization. Although the Chinese have not participated in the war yet, we must retain at least two million troops on the eastern front!" Tsar Nicholas II  Shi said.  Russia suffered a lot at the hands of China more than ten years ago, which made him still tremble when he thought about it!

    "Yes, Your Majesty!" Archduke Karl nodded.  Russia's current population is still 130 million people, and it can easily mobilize more than 5 million troops. Russian peasants, as soon as the Tsar calls, they will put down their hoes, walk into the barracks, and then go to die with their rifles.  .  What Russia lacks most is probably the supply of soldiers. Almost every adult Russian man is a qualified soldier.  However, Russia lacks sufficient weapons and equipment, so that many Russian soldiers who go to the battlefield are not equipped with rifles, either waiting to capture the enemy's rifles, or waiting to inherit the weapons of their comrades who died in battle.

    On August 11, Tsar Nicholas II issued an order to attack Germany.  As for the other country, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was completely ignored by Russia.  In the eyes of the Russians, as long as Germany is defeated first, the Austro-Hungarian Empire can be easily destroyed.

    After receiving the order from Tsar Nicholas II, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nicholas, immediately began to organize the troops and launched a combat operation code-named ¡®Autumn Offensive!

    The German army on the Eastern Front adopted a defensive attitude.  Compared with the defensive attitude of the German army's plan, the Russian army's plan was aggressive.  Before the war, the Russians formulated two alternative combat plans against Germany and Austria-Hungary: Plan G, the "German" plan, which envisaged the German army concentrating its forces to fight Russia.  Plan A, the "Austrian Plan", expected Germany to be on the defensive on the Eastern Front.  In both cases, the field army would be divided into the North-Western Front, consisting of the 1st and 2nd Armies, and the South-Western Front, consisting of the 3rd, 5th and 8th Armies.  The 4th Group Army joined the Northwest Front when implementing Plan G, and joined the Southwest Front when implementing Plan A.  The 6th and 7th Armies protected the flanks and the front stretching from the Baltic Sea and Finland to Romania and the Black Sea.  Of the two options, Russian Poland west of the Vistula River was prepared to evacuate the population in the event of war to ensure a leisurely build-up of troops.  The North-Western Front assembled along the border with East Prussia, and the South-Western Front along the Austrian-Galicia border.

    On August 15, the Russian army¡¯s ¡®Autumn Offensive¡¯ began.  The Russian army formed the Northwestern Front, commanded by General Zhilinsky, with its headquarters in Bilostock.  It has two armies under its command. The 1st Army, commanded by General Lennenkampf, will advance north of Lake Mazury and detour back to the enemy's left; the 2nd Army, commanded by General Samsonov, will advance north of Lake Masuria and move back to the enemy's left; the 2nd Army, commanded by General Samsonov, will advance in  Push forward south of Lake Masuria to cut off and eliminate the German forces between Lake Masuria and the Vistula River.
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