Chapter 739 - 341: Bismarck Resigns_2

This also means that in this war, the total number of German troops will soon exceed one million. Germany’s goal is not only to defeat Russia, but also to occupy the region of Occupied Poland.

From the map, it can be seen that the region of Occupied Poland is a protrusion, situated exactly between the territories of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Germany’s war plan is also simple: to split forces with Austria-Hungary, directly surround the region of Poland, annihilate the Russian garrisons there, and occupy the entire area.

If the entire region of Poland can be occupied, then Austria-Hungary’s Galicia and Lodomeria regions will also be secured, making it much more difficult for Russian troops to attack Germany or Austria-Hungary from this salient.

This battle plan by Germany destined the region of Poland to be the main location for German and Russian offensives and defenses, and the chief battlefield of this war.

As for the war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, even though this conflict is what sparked the great war, the scale is bound to be small, as Russians cannot support Serbia.

For Serbia, apart from acquiring Russian weapons and equipment, they are nearly isolated and defenseless.

Due to consecutive statements from the British and Spain, many European countries abandoned the thought of intervening in this war.

Romania, located between Serbia and Russia, also declared neutrality and non-interference with the war. This prevented Russian forces from using Romanian territory, thus isolating Serbia.

About half a month after the outbreak of war, Spain’s military observation group officially arrived in Austria-Hungary, planning to visit Galicia and Lodomeria to observe the situation between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

Compared to the small-scale conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, Spain’s military observers were clearly more interested in the battles among the three major powers.

And the battles among these three powers did not disappoint Spain’s military observation group. On the day the military guidance team arrived in Galicia and Lodomeria, a massive battle broke out among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

Due to Russia’s slower mobilization pace, they were in a defensive stance at the border, with Austria-Hungary and Germany as the aggressors.

Germany and Austria-Hungary prepared over 300,000 troops in the southern Poland area, tasked with heading north from southern Poland to cut off the retreat path of Russian troops stationed in Poland.

Another army, numbering fewer than 200,000, would move south from northern Poland to encircle the area alongside the southern troops.

The offensive and defensive battles in the region of Poland clearly showcased the different characteristics of troops from the three countries.

In terms of combat effectiveness, German troops were the strongest and best-equipped. The actual battle damage ratios showed that German soldiers were better trained, displaying little panic in warfare.

Compared to German troops, Austria-Hungary’s troops were on par with Russian troops. Although Russian troops’ overall combat effectiveness was poor, their border troops were commendable.

Especially the troops at the German-Russian border, these were the main Russian forces, performing commendably in battle.

The more elite parts of Austria-Hungary’s troops were composed of Austrians, and the remaining troops comprised Hungarians, Czechs, or soldiers of other ethnicities, whose combat effectiveness was varied; the level was uneven.

Such troops could play a certain role in defensive battles but were almost ineffective in offensive battles.

If not for the valiant performance of German troops, the German-Austrian Alliance likely could not advance the front very far.

Being on the front lines, the military observation group was fairly informed about the situation.

Across the entire region of Poland, Germany and Austria-Hungary mobilized over 500,000 troops in total, while Russia had fewer than 400,000 troops.

Though Russia had a large number of troops on the way to the front, Germany and Austria-Hungary were also continually mobilizing.

This aspect also shows the outcome of the battle for Poland; the scale of victory is increasingly tilting toward Germany and Austria-Hungary.

This is Russia’s biggest flaw: the mobilization speed for war is exceptionally slow. Not only is the mobilization speed slow, but Russia’s transportation environment is also the worst among the European Powers.

Coupled with the vastness of the territory, the troops mobilized from various places take several times longer than Germany and Austria-Hungary to reach the front lines.

This dooms Russia to be at a disadvantage in the early stages of any war unless Russia has made sufficient preparations and mobilization beforehand, which may change the preconceived disadvantages of war.

Clearly, this war was a sudden outbreak for Russia, leading to inadequacies in pre-war preparations; not only was troop mobilization slow, but even various strategic materials took a long time to transport to the front.

Carlo was still quite attentive to this war.

Spain’s military observation group comprised two parts of officers, some being relatively young field-level officers, and others were young officers who graduated from military school not long ago or were still studying there.

These individuals are the future of the Spanish Army, with many likely to become future military leaders. Carlo hopes they can learn more knowledge and gain more experience from this war.

It’s worth mentioning that, despite Carlo blocking information related to machine guns, various European countries were still exploring machine guns.

German troops were equipped with some automatic firearms similar to machine guns, which played a certain role in the war.

The world’s first truly automatic machine gun was designed by Maxim, but before that, American Gatling had already designed a hand-cranked semi-automatic machine gun.

Various European countries had clearly shown interest in these hand-cranked semi-automatic machine guns, exploring the design of automatic machine guns based on their principles.

As an ally of Germany, Austria-Hungary’s troops also saw the appearance of such machine guns. However, it was evident that there were certain differences between German machine guns and Austria-Hungary’s ones, representing the two countries’ distinct progress in developing machine guns.

Unlike Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russian troops completely lacked any trace of machine guns.

Russian troops were still equipped with the same old, standard rifles and artillery. Due to the proximity of the region of Poland to Germany and Austria-Hungary, the two countries could comfortably fight close to home, with relative ease in logistical supply.

But for Russia, though Occupied Poland was their territory, this land was too far from Russia’s core.

The region of Poland and Russia’s capital, St. Petersburg, are separated by nearly a thousand kilometers, with even greater distances to other cities.

This results in Russia facing greater logistical pressure than Germany and Austria-Hungary despite fighting on their soil.

The saying goes, "As soon as cannons are fired, gold worth ten thousand is spent." Apart from logistical supply issues, the Russian military also faced substantial issues regarding military expenses.

Although Russia’s population is larger, their economic environment is much worse compared to Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The longer the war drags on, the greater Russia’s logistical and economic pressure becomes. To a certain extent, this is a war Russia cannot afford to drag on.

In the week following Spain’s military observation group’s arrival at the front lines, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia engaged in fierce attacks within the region of Poland.

In just one week, the combined casualties of the three countries exceeded 100,000. This fully illustrates the harshness of war, as any conflict represents a great loss to the citizens of each country.

Russia bore the brunt of the casualties, with over ten thousand Russian soldiers killed alone.

Under continuous attacks from Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russia’s defense line in the region of Poland continued retreating. As victory telegrams poured into Berlin and Vienna, Germany and Austria-Hungary became increasingly optimistic about this war.

Being part of the Triple Alliance, Italy could only lament this war. If Italy had joined earlier, they could take the role of a victor now.

Moreover, by joining the war, Italy could demand more benefits and project power onto the Balkan Peninsula instead of remaining stuck on the Apennine Peninsula.