Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Beiyang 1917

Volume 2 Beijing Story Chapter 235 Ludendorff and Hindenburg

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    During the period from January to March 1918, compared to the idle Allied Powers, Germany always maintained an enterprising spirit and sent Ulyanov and his comrades back to Switzerland via Switzerland the previous year.  Since the revolution began in Russia, Germany has always been in control of the future direction of the situation.

    When the European War lasted from August 1914 to August 1916, the Allies finally suppressed the crazy momentum of the German army in the Battle of Verdun. This battle was a typical positional war and war of attrition. Both sides participated in the battle with large numbers of troops and heavy casualties.  The fighting lasted from February to December 1916. In the end, the French army lost 543,000 people and the German army lost 433,000 people.

    Therefore, this battle is known as the "Meat Grinder". In Wang Geng's previous life, historians believed that this battle was the turning point of the European War. The German Empire gradually moved towards its final defeat. After the battle, Kaiser Wilhelm II revoked Falkenhayn's War.  Hindenburg was appointed Chief of General Staff, with Ludendorff as his deputy.

    But in Wang Geng¡¯s view, the outcome of the Battle of Verdun was not simply due to the failure of the German army, but the fact that the German Army ushered in the most brilliant combination in German military history: Hindenburg and Ludendorff.  To the golden partner.

    To use an inappropriate analogy, Hindenburg was just like Cao Kun, the leader of the Zhili lineage in the previous Zhili-Fengtian war, and Ludendorff was Wu Peifu. Of course, for the Chinese Communist Party who were still groping forward in their infancy, Cao Wu  It is still far behind its German predecessors in all aspects.

    During the middle and post-war periods in Europe, although Kaiser Wilhelm II was nominally the commander-in-chief of the German army, he was actually ignored. The German army was commanded by the Supreme Army Command, and the German Navy was commanded by the Naval War Command.

    At the beginning of the war, the head of the supreme army command was Helmut Johannes Ludwig von Moltke (Little Moltke), the German Chief of Staff.  Later, due to the German defeat in the Battle of the Marne, Moltke resigned and was replaced by Prussian War Minister Erich von Falkenhayn.  Falkenhayn adopted a "war of attrition" (abnutzungsschlacht), but the strategy reflected its limitations in the Battle of Verdun - the Germans failed to completely defeat the French.

    After the Battle of Verdun in August 1916, the third highest army command formed by the partnership of Hindenburg and Ludendorff appeared. At that time, Ludendorff became the commander-in-chief (general quartiermeister), with the same position as deputy chief of staff and the second highest position.  Hindenburg, Chief of Staff.

    The two had worked closely together in East Prussia, winning the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of Lake Masur.  They actually led a military and industrial dictatorship, excluding Emperor Wilhelm II from the ruling class. Moreover, Ludendorff was the de facto supreme leader of the German army at the time, and even Hindenburg only followed his advice.  act.

    Ludendorff went against all the odds and sent Ulyanov and his comrades back to Russia to make revolution, and received huge rewards. Although the Russian army was bloated, ignorant and backward, it was brave and tenacious and disappeared with the collapse of the Tsar and the Provisional Government.  exist.

    Although the peace negotiations between the Soviet Russian government and Germany broke down, Ludendorff and his Germany achieved greater gains on the Eastern Front than the success of the negotiations. The Russian army on the Eastern Front actually became an organic unit and was disbanded and demobilized by the so-called Soldiers' Committee.  , swarming to the rear to defend and evacuate the front line.

    If the Brest-Litovsk Treaty negotiations are successful, Germany will stop at a new border after acquiring the huge territory and resources ceded by Russia. Now, Russian resistance will no longer exist, and the border will entirely depend on whether the German army wants to advance.  How far, how deep.

    By early March 1918, when the Chinese were expanding aggressively in the Far East and Siberia and occupying the Russian back garden, Germany had occupied almost all ports and cities on the Baltic Sea coast, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and southern Ukraine.  , Georgia, and Azerbaijan were all successively occupied by German and Austrian troops.

    Of course, Finland has declared independence in November 1917, followed closely by the above-mentioned regions, which also declared independence or autonomy with the support of the German and Austrian occupying forces.

    Of course, Petrograd is still in the hands of the Soviet Red Army. For this former Russian capital and political center, which is isolated at the northern end of the Baltic Sea, the strategy adopted by Germany and Austria is to encircle but not capture it, and to use Petrograd to hold back and consume Soviet Russia.  Government energy and reserve resources.

    Ludendorff was very smart. Germany only occupied those lands and cities that it did not plan to return after the war. Petrograd's status in the hearts of the Russians meant that this place would never be ceded anyway. Germany knew it.  , Germany has never thought about erasing Russia, a poor relative and old friend, from the world's political map.

    Of course, Germany is also very angry. Russia¡¯s land is already so vast, but it still follows Britain and France in Europe to fight against Germany and Austria. Teaching and dismembering Russia is an option. No individual would fanatically believe that he can do it to eliminate Russia.

    ??Except for the fact that the Mongols have accomplished such a defiant act before, but after hundreds of years the world has its own repair functions and channels, who else remembers what the Mongols look like????

    From the beginning of 1918 until March, although the Spanish Flu was raging, with the incredible shield of penicillin invented by the Chinese Wang Geng, the mortality rate of complications and pneumonia was greatly reduced. In these three months, penicillin had an important impact on the world.  The contribution of population and health is worth the birth of millions of newborns.

    Moreover, the mysterious Chinese War Supervisor Wang Geng and his GV Science Charity Foundation have been advocating the implementation of a fever patient isolation system, a port patient monitoring system, centralized treatment of influenza patients after isolation, and a bunch of new health measures around the world since the beginning of the year.  system.

    With the joint defense of penicillin and the above new health campaigns, the Spanish Flu, the most terrifying demon in history, greatly reduced its outbreak momentum and lethality. This also gave all parties in the European War the confidence to continue fighting.

    From January to early March 1918, trains after trains were transported back from the German-Austrian occupied areas in Russia day and night. At the same time, the main force of the German army was also secretly moving westward. Since the Russian threat was already in Soviet Russia,  The central government's strange "no war, no peace" strategy ceased to exist with the massive disbandment and demobilization of the Russian army.

    Then, Ludendorff and Hindenburg turned their attention back to the Western Front, and let Soviet Russia and Comrade Ulyanov worry about the wildfires set by the Allies in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, the back garden of Soviet Russia.  No matter how big its appetite is, Germany has never thought of crossing the Ural Mountains to occupy Siberia and the Far East. Germany's core interests at the moment are in Europe!

    Of course, Ludendorff does not think that the Chinese and Japanese can win in Siberia. No matter how poor the polar bear Lao Maozi is, the poor neighbor to the north, it is not something that China and the small island nation of Japan, which are still quite poor, backward and ignorant at the moment, can shake it!

    "Erich, are you sure that the reckless actions of the Chinese and Japanese in Siberia will not affect the future territory and pattern of the world?" German Army Chief of Staff Hindenburg asked his partner who was 18 years younger than him.

    "My dear Chief of Staff, it is undeniable that the performance of the Chinese participating armies in the past two weeks in early March was indeed surprising. Four divisions were dispatched and in two weeks they controlled the area from the east of the Yenisei River to Haba.  There are 4,700 kilometers of railways between Rovsk and Vladivostok, which can be regarded as a small miracle in military history! Come and drink to the young war supervisor!" Ludendorff smiled at his boss and his boss.  He raised the champagne glass in his hand.

    "Erich, are you so confident? What if the Chinese and Japanese really join hands to defeat the Ural Mountains? It will be equivalent to the Allied Powers opening up another battlefield on the Eastern Front. Can this be ignored?  ? I heard that the Chinese soldiers participated in the war and supervised the training. Although the soldiers lacked experience and training, their firepower was quite amazing. They were completely equipped with American equipment. One Chinese division was less powerful than two of our divisions! "

    The seventy-one-year-old Hindenburg is obviously not as optimistic and energetic as his young deputy. In fact, Ludendorff is currently 53 years old, the most suitable age to be a commander.

    Of course, Premier Duan, who is actually in charge of the Chinese government, is the same age as Ludendorff, and both are ambitious and high-spirited leaders.

    "Your Excellency, please rest assured. If we were not afraid that Russia's lack of food would lead to a humanitarian tragedy, we could send 1.7 million Russian prisoners back to Russia at any time to deal with Kolchak's White Guards and the 50,000 Czechs.  Legion, it¡¯s just that the situation in Soviet Russia is not stable now, so the return of the tiger will have to wait for the time being. "

    Ludendorff was obviously very confident. Which battle on the Eastern and Western Fronts of the European War did not involve millions of troops from both sides fighting?

    China is still almost a completely agricultural country, with such a weak industrial base and uncivilized people. Although it took that young man a year to arm nearly 600,000 troops, don't forget that the provinces in southern China are still semi-separated and*  In a state of *, how can a country that has not even realized true reunification have the strength to truly engage in a large-scale war on the Eastern Front?
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report