Iron Cross Fire

On June 7, it was almost a month since Vasa came to the hospital. In a very short time, the Eastern Front achieved unexpected results.

A month ago, in the south, the 400,000 troops led by Kust flattened Tsaritsyn and turned most of southern Russia into a scorched earth.

Just a few days later, they pushed the front line to the southeast bank of the Don River and built a defense with the adjacent Volga River.

But they didn't plan to defend at all. The Russians on the other side had long lost their spirit. After the fall of Tsaritsyn, they had already collapsed and had no organization at all.

No matter which side, no one was willing to resist. Even if a few people came to sneak across, those Russians surrendered. There was no need to implement the conservative method of concentrating regional superior forces.

So on the crisscrossing rivers, Kust's troops launched a full-line attack. There was no main attack direction in this battle, because everyone was the main attacker, and they would attack wherever they could.

The battle line was more than 1,000 kilometers long. The Allied forces in the south attacked everywhere. As long as their flags were not raised in that place, they would kill all the way.

The most fierce attack was on the Western Front. Kemal's army was unstoppable and marched straight into Ukraine.

The people I met along the way were either marching westward with guns raised and proud, or walking eastward with hands raised timidly.

The Russian commander still wanted to fight hard and make a meaningless desperate resistance.

Previously, Austria was responsible for the attack in the Ukrainian area, but it had not been able to get out of the mountains and highlands after nearly three months.

Although Russia still had a relatively large number of elite manpower here, this was not the reason why Austria-Hungary had no progress; Germany in the north encountered a lot of Russian troops, and their commander-in-chief was still Brusilov.

Even with such difficulties, the Germans were able to keep advancing every day despite their inferior strength, controlling most of Livonia and gradually approaching St. Petersburg.

On the other hand, Austria-Hungary had to face fewer and fewer Russian troops, but they just couldn't get out. Even with advanced weapons and equipment, they couldn't break through the high ground.

Until Tsaritsyn was captured, the Russian army on the opposite side was only 70,000 people, and Austria-Hungary, which was nine times their number, still couldn't break through, which made people wonder what was wrong with Austria-Hungary.

The Russian commander thought that there were contradictions within Austria-Hungary and it would no longer launch an attack, so he felt very safe and began to deploy troops:

He withdrew all the eastern troops to the west bank of the Dnieper River, and established a defense line based on the river and the highlands on the west bank to resist the aggressive Kuster in the east.

At the same time, in order to prevent the fierce attack from the west that might come at any time, he withdrew a small part of the Carpathian Army and transferred it to the Volyn-Podol Highlands. They were deployed as reserves at critical moments, and they built fortifications at ordinary times.

With such a posture of being beaten, everyone knew that Russia was at the end of the road. Most generals refused to accept the unified mobilization of the Tsar, defended their own places, and never attacked.

The result is that when one side is in trouble, all sides will watch. Even if the Russian army was not surrounded, the communication between them was no different from being surrounded. The communication between the various troops was completely disconnected, and the communication equipment was almost useless.

So the Russian commander's intention to retreat was probably just to save himself. He almost gave away the entire road from Minsk to Moscow, but no one would punish him, and the Germans might even reward him.

Although Germany had not yet reached Minsk, it was not far away, only less than 50 kilometers.

They were still worried about how to attack Moscow, but the Russian army gave up on its own, and there was nothing. This was really a pleasant surprise, like adding wings to a tiger.

After Ludendorff passed the stolen intelligence to Kuster, the entire German army on the Eastern Front quickly concentrated its main forces on the right wing (Lithuania-Warsaw).

Their offensive direction was already very clear: the central line breakthrough was the main focus, and the two wings protected its flanks. Go straight to Minsk.

Hindenburg proposed such a plan:

Fight all the way to Kiev, and then use the left wing as the axis to move north to Smolensk.

At the same time, a Livonia army group will launch a delayed attack to ensure that the Russian army's energy is absorbed so that they cannot escape. Finally, when the right wing breaks through successfully, the army group will cooperate with the right wing to encircle Novgorod and attack the Russian capital Petersburg.

But there is a problem. Adjusting so many troops will definitely make a lot of noise, and the enemy cannot fail to notice it.

Hindenburg knows the Russians very well and believes that they cannot react and does not care about the possibility of their counterattack.

Things are exactly as he expected. The chaotic Russian internal forces cannot form a force at all, and Brusilov cannot mobilize a large-scale army for a decisive battle.

But the main reason is not this, but that he does not know what the Germans are doing! The so-called latest intelligence is also four days ago. He, the commander-in-chief, has long been in name only after the Tsar succumbed to the bourgeoisie.

The Germans are worthy of being the ancestors of blitzkrieg. After assembling their troops for four hours, they launched an attack without any rest.

They did not encounter even a single Russian along the way, and they spent most of the journey on the march.

Three days later, Germany's plan to control Belarus was almost successful. As for why it was "almost", it was mainly because they encountered a tough opponent -

It was an army group hiding in Belarus, the largest army in the existing Russian military system, and its commander should be very capable.

The Germans wanted to bypass and join the friendly forces in Livonia, but they were blocked by a Russian army, and the roads to Belarus and Novgorod were blocked.

Although the German army, which was attacking from both sides, only needed to advance 150 kilometers each to penetrate this line of defense, the Russian defense was like a turtle shell, impregnable. After bombing with rocket launchers and heavy artillery for ten minutes and letting the most elite troops try to attack, they no longer had any plans to capture Novgorod.

Ludendorff thought that they should not be too anxious. Since Russia had no possibility of launching a counterattack, the initiative had always been theirs. There was no need to worry. After gradually digesting and managing the occupied territory, they would attack Novgorod and break the last line of defense to St. Petersburg.

During the waiting period, if they attacked together with their allies, their strength would increase greatly and the battle would become very easy.

So they turned their spearheads and attacked southward, encircling Kiev with the Austro-Hungarian army, and at the same time divided their troops to attack north of the Dnieper River to open up the connection with Kust.

Hindenburg reported the current war situation and his plans to his superiors. Kaiser Wilhelm was very excited when he learned about it, and directly asked Kuster to strengthen the attack on Ukraine.

Falkenhayn gave them an easy order: from May 12, Russia must surrender through military means within one month, otherwise one army group will be taken back for the Western Front.

It may be unbelievable to destroy Russia in one month, but it is completely possible now. No one believes that Russia can withstand the overwhelming attack of the German army, just as no one believes that East Asia can withstand the three-month attack of the Plaster Empire.

Hindenburg rolled Falkenhayn's telegram into a ball, mixed it with gunpowder, had someone load it into the cannon, and fired a heavy shot towards Moscow.

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