Iron Cross Fire

There was a house in the quiet night. Although it was a little damaged, it was the best in the city. The three of them just rested here.

Seeing that the other two were ready, Hindenburg took out a piece of paper and said very directly:

"The Russians are going to negotiate with us. Even if the Tsar disagrees, the Tsarist Russia is no longer a monarchy, and he has no right to interfere in internal affairs.

Since the war began, Russia's sea transportation lines have been blocked. Many Russian capitalists have quit. Among them, the powerful ones are the ones who want to negotiate with us. Of course! There are also many soldiers among them."

When mentioning Russian soldiers, Hindenburg's face showed a strong disdain, but a trace of awe can still be seen from it. The threat of the Russian army was great at the beginning of the war, but it collapsed into its current state within a few months. Even if it can't be considered a bad hand, at least they have to blame their lack of successors.

If Russia's sharp attack could continue to this day, perhaps the whole of Hungary would fall. After that, without the obstruction of Austria-Hungary, the eastern part of Germany would bear huge pressure.

Russia's tactics were not excellent. It was only slightly stronger than Japan in the Russo-Japanese War, and even inferior to Japan in terms of strategy. All European powers knew this well, so they looked down on this backward Eastern European country.

It was a great shame for the Eastern European giant bear to be defeated by the emerging Japan. Even if other European powers stood aside during the war and constantly intervened in Russia diplomatically, it added rationality to Russia's failure. But Western Europeans don't care so much. Losing is losing. It is shameful for European powers to be unable to beat the tiny East Asian countries. The Russians began to reform their military in such a humiliating state.

Military reforms continued until 1914, when the war just broke out, and the Russian standing army had nearly 1.4 million people! The Germans next door saw that they were getting stronger and stronger, and military expenditures and standing armies were also increasing. It was obvious that they were going to launch a new war. So they started the war when they were most prepared and most conducive to attack. The still developing Russian army was forced to suspend reform.

After the outbreak of the war, the effect of Russia's military reform was immediate, and the advanced strategy beat Austria-Hungary, who looked down on them, to death. Famous battles like Galicia were examples of the Austro-Hungarian army launching the attack first, the Russians turning defense into offense, and constantly pursuing the defeated army after victory.

Only the German army, whose strategy and tactics were better than theirs, could win back a game at Tannenberg in the north, but then the Germans would be horrified to find that no matter how many divisions were defeated, another division would immediately come to supplement.

The scale of the Eastern Front of World War I was no less than that of the Western Front, and the degree of tragedy was also comparable.

Russia alone supported the huge battle line of the Allies in the east, which was enough to show that Russia was the real main force in World War I. Even if they collapsed later, it was due to the long-term blockade. If the supply lines were still connected, if World War I was completely fought by Germany alone, Russia would be fully capable of pushing the front to Berlin. Russia deserves the title of "European steamroller".

Unfortunately, they were slightly lacking in tactics, and only emphasized courage over tactics, which was completely killing the enemy during the period when rapid-fire hot weapons were shining in World War I.

But in terms of strategy, after the Russians reflected on their mistakes, they immediately adopted a war style that was far stronger than squatting on the Western Front, strengthened the entire Russian army, and then taught Conrad a lesson.

Russia's war preparations were deformed. They had extremely advanced strategic ideas that played a leading role in the local battle tactics, but the poor tactics could not lay the premise for the overall strategy, and the extremely rotten infrastructure also caused a lot of trouble for Russia's war mobilization and resource transportation.

It was also because of this that they could fight as bravely as the Brusilov Offensive, breaking through the Allied countries' indestructible defense line from several directions in one day and one night.

Unfortunately, the lack of tactics caused Russia to lose a lot of manpower in the process. The disordered railway traffic could not effectively supply the supplies consumed by the front line, and the Brusilov Offensive was forced to end.

By the time the Russians recruited another batch of new soldiers, it was too late. The brutal rule of the Tsar and the lack of consumer goods and daily necessities caused a lot of people to rebel. In addition, Germany secretly fueled the flames, which eventually led to the February Revolution and the October Revolution. Russia, which had experienced many vicissitudes, had to withdraw from the war.

Although these things happened in the original world, Russia now does not need to go through the fancy procedures. The Allies are about to destroy Russia with military actions alone. The Galicia Campaign launched by Russia before was just a flash in the pan in the eyes of others. In their view, being beaten by both Germany and Austria is the essence of Russia.

Kuster was a little emotional, but soon shifted his attention back to reality.

What attracted him was that Hindenburg was holding a piece of paper and waving it in front of him.

Seeing Kuster's pupils gather together, Hindenburg retracted his hand, with a smile on his face:

"It seems that General Kuster has been busy with work recently and doesn't care about such a big happy event."

"That can't be considered work," Kuster waved his hand and denied:

"I'm just thinking about why the Russians were defeated so badly, and whether they are really as fragile and vulnerable as we think, and what good tactics they have that are worth learning from."

"Haha! Reflecting on the war, isn't this what a soldier should do? Russia, they are indeed vulnerable! But for the Habsburg people, it is not so easy to deal with. If it weren't for you, the German compatriots in the south would have been oppressed a lot."

Hindenburg laughed loudly, and his words were full of contempt for Austria-Hungary. He glanced at Kuster, and seeing that he was not angry, he offered some compliments.

"Let's not talk so much, I wish us a smooth operation tomorrow, let's have a toast!"

Hindenburg raised the beer that had just been handed over, stood up and drank it, and then let them look at the empty glass.

The two also followed suit, stood up according to their military ranks, saluted each other, raised their glasses and drank them all.

After chatting for a while after drinking, the three of them each chose a good place in the city to rest, waiting for the attack when the sun rises tomorrow.

Kuster found several guards who came with him, and after personally calling their names to make sure that no one was missing, he led them to set up tents in several ruins in the city, and then lay down together.

Soon, there was a snoring in the tent, which made Kuster almost unable to fall asleep.

But he didn't plan to sleep, after all, he had stayed up for four consecutive days and nights without sleep to command the battle. Although the war is calm now, the skill of staying up late is still preserved.

He picked up pages of paper, spent half an hour binding them into a book, walked out of the tent with a candle, sat next to the ruins, lit the candle, and started writing by himself.

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