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Volume 3 Far East Story Chapter 648 (Part 1) The choice faced by Germany

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    The brilliant victory of the Battle of Tannenberg. The German Eighth Army on the Eastern Front became famous in World War I. At that time, the four armies of the German Eighth Army faced the nine armies of the two main armies of Tsarist Russia. The comparison of the infantry strength of the two sides.  It was 1:1.7, and the cavalry was 1:2.7. The result of the battle was that the Russian 1st Army was severely damaged and the 2nd Army was completely wiped out!

    Therefore, Wang Geng was extremely wary of the movements of the main force of the German and Austrian troops. For this reason, he emphasized again,

    "Everyone, what Deputy Chief of Staff Chiang said just now is absolutely correct. The operational policy of our entire Eastern Front Allied Forces is to complete the tasks assigned to the Eastern Front Allied Forces by the Allied Powers, and to draw Ludendorff's attention back from the Western Front, so that the Germans can  Austria transferred some of its troops back to fight on the Eastern Front without making Ludendorff feel a huge threat, so he sent 100 divisions back to fight with us on the Eastern Front. To put it bluntly, if the decisive battle on the Eastern Front breaks out tomorrow, and the opponent  If more than 50 divisions of the main force join the battle, we have almost no hope of victory!"

    The words of the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces struck heavily in the hearts of several coalition chiefs of staff and deputy chiefs of staff. It was the first time for Jiang Fangzhen and Jiang Hongyu to see Wang Geng act so seriously, while Japan's Tanaka Giichi said slowly  He nodded and said,

    "Sogah, I understand. Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, we must grasp this speed and suck the main German and Austrian forces over little by little, so that they feel the pain, but will not become furious and angry, and turn around to kill them with all their strength.  ! Then we will practice while fighting to hone the combat effectiveness and effectiveness of the Eastern Front Allied Forces. When we become stronger, we will fight the opponent decisively! "

    The Japanese army general was waving his fists with determination on his face, and he didn't look like he was 54 years old at all.

    "Hahahaha, you're right, that's it!" Wang Geng laughed. Obviously, he still quite recognized Tanaka Yiichi's understanding and comprehension ability!

    July 28, 1918, 10:00, Berlin, Germany¡¯s Third Supreme Army Command Operations Conference Room

    "My dear Erich, Wilhelm Greiner has sent urgent telegrams from Ukraine one after another, and Simon Petliura's minister in Berlin has been sending notes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking us to fulfill Germany's original commitment to govern Ukraine.  The cabinet¡¯s commitment is to help them resist the enemy¡¯s imminent invasion. The situation on the Eastern Front has developed a bit beyond our expectations!¡±

    The person speaking was Paul von Hindenburg, the nominal Chief of Staff of the German High Command. He was a German hero and field marshal created at the Battle of Tannenberg on the Eastern Front in the European War in 1914. He had been in charge of the Third Supreme Army Command and Chief of Staff for two years.  Marshal Hindenburg, the 71-year-old nominal supreme leader of Germany, actually relied on his munitions director (deputy chief of staff) Erich Ludendorff.

    As early as 4 years ago, in the early morning of August 23, 1914, the two commanders, who were touted by the German government and the public as a "perfect match", met for the first time at Hannover Station.  In the car, Ludendorff reported the situation of the Eighth Army and some instructions that had been issued to Hindenburg, the new commander of the Eighth Army. Hindenburg listened patiently for 15 minutes and said, "I don't have any better ideas."  I think that¡¯s what I¡¯ll do.¡± Then he went to bed.

    In this way, His Excellency Hindenburg was fully adapted to his role from the beginning.  Years later he stated candidly that one of his main tasks was "to give full play to my chief of staff's intelligence, almost superhuman energy and unfailing drive, and to create conditions for him when necessary."

    In August 1916, Hindenburg was appointed Chief of the General Staff and Ludendorff served as Director of Munitions.  Hindenburg nominally commanded the entire army, but in fact Ludendorff took command on his behalf.  The Third Supreme Command led by Hindenburg and Ludendorff focused heavily on economic and military production from the beginning.

    In 1916, Ludendorff formulated the "Hindenburg Plan" and commanded the entire Communist Party, depriving workers of certain rights they had fought for before the war. It could be said to intensify the suppression and exploitation of the working people in Germany.  They also intensified their intervention in politics and actually became the supreme rulers of Germany's destiny.  In July 1917, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to dismiss Bertmann Hollweg as prime minister under their pressure.

    The European War brought great suffering and sacrifices to the people of all countries, but the monopoly capitalists made a fortune from the production of arms. In Germany, as a loyal agent of the Junkers aristocracy and the monopoly capital group, Hindenburg treated the broad masses of the people and ordinary people  The soldier turns a blind eye and hears nothing about his suffering, saying that war is like a bath for him.  Among the German ruling group, Hindenburg always stood on the side of the main war faction, advocating that the war be carried out to the end, opposing peace talks, and advocating unrestricted submarine warfare.

    After the victory of the Russian October Revolution, he initially opposed an armistice with the newly born Soviet state, and later put forward harsh conditions to force Soviet Russia to accept the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty.  Of course, nominally all this was under the auspices of Hindenburg, but in fact, the person behind it was Erich Luden who was in control of everything.Dolph, the director of munitions.

    Of course, as early as April 1918, Ludendorff took advantage of the favorable opportunity after the Brest-Litovsk negotiations with the Soviet Union broke down and the Soviet Union had actually withdrawn from the war to transfer some of the main forces on the Eastern Front to the west and concentrate its forces.  The 1918 Spring Offensive was launched on the Western Front in an effort to decide the outcome of the war before American troops could play a role on the battlefield.  As a result, all efforts failed and ended in vain. Then in June of the same year, the Allied forces on the Western Front began to counterattack. The Allied Powers' 1918 Western Front Summer Offensive was launched with the British and French forces as the main force and the U.S. military as the supplement.

    During the Battle of the Marne and Amiens on the Western Front throughout June, the Allies, with Britain and France as the main force, launched a large-scale offensive against the two protrusions of the German defense line, Amiens and the Marne.  The French army invested a main force of 42 divisions with 500,000 people, and the French army invested a main force of 56 divisions with 670,000 people. The remaining British and French troops, about 30 divisions each, guarded the Allied defense lines.

    The eight main divisions of the First Army of the American Expeditionary Force serve as reserves, and the remaining 16 new divisions of the US Army guard the third line of defense.

    Ludendorff took advantage of the opportunity of finally signing the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Soviet Russia in May. Through intensified mobilization throughout May, the German army, which had obtained the support of troops from the Eastern Front, deployed 180 troops on the Western Front.  Eight divisions, 6,500 heavy field guns and 9,800 light field guns.

    The Allied Powers, as the attacking party, have 6,800 heavy artillery pieces and 8,300 light artillery pieces. The Allied Powers' air force is nearly twice as powerful as Germany's - in the direction of the Amiens attack, there are 1,500 aircraft against Germany's 1,000 pieces.  Two hundred; in the direction of the Marne, about 1,800 to 1,070.

    The Allied summer offensive in June was a tragedy for both warring parties. The total number of troops on the front line of the attacking Allied Powers was less than that of the German and Austrian troops on the defensive side. However, in the two salients of Amiens and the Marne River, the Allied Powers concentrated  The two British and French assault groups used had more troops than the opposite German and Austrian troops.
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