The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 533: Chapter 418: Dismissal from Position

The rumors the Germans heard were not unfounded; Britain and France were indeed planning a large-scale offensive on the Western Front to alleviate the pressure faced by Russia on the Eastern Front and seek a breakthrough in the West.

The attack suffered by the Russians on the Eastern Front had already proved that the Germans had transferred a considerable portion of their forces from the Western Front.

This also meant that there must be weak spots in Germany's defenses on the Western Front. As long as the Allies could break through Germany's tightly arranged positions in the West, Germany would be busy fighting on two fronts and fall into chaos without being attacked.

The trench warfare on the Western Front had continued until now, with massive consumption on both sides.

Although Germany's strategic shift had indeed lessened the pressure on Britain and France, by now, the Allies had suffered millions of casualties, with the death toll already exceeding 400,000.

Although hundreds of thousands of casualties were also inflicted on the German soldiers in the trenches, they stubbornly refused to let the British and French advance a single step, much like unkillable cockroaches.

Of course, although the front lines did not advance, Britain, France, and Germany all suffered heavy losses in terms of manpower, weapons, and resources.

In addition to the massive casualties on both sides, millions of weapons, billions of bullets and tens of millions of shells have been consumed in the battle for the Western Front.

After being cut off from most of its overseas supplies, Germany could not withstand such high consumption, which was also the reason for Germany's urgent search for a solution to break the deadlock.

On October 11, 1915, Hindenburg's attempts failed one after another. The army he led faced swarms of mosquitoes and diseases, with large numbers of soldiers and horses sick and dying. The fighting capacity of the troops plummeted rapidly.

Due to the sickness of the cavalry, the army could only move distances of less than five kilometers a day, even in clear weather.

Faced with a very poor logistical situation, Hindenburg had no choice but to order a halt to the offensive, allowing soldiers and horses to recuperate.

Even worse, due to Hindenburg's recklessness and not participating in the plan formulated by Fakinham, there were not enough troops for Fakinham's plan, and the offensive of the main German forces also failed to succeed.

Hindenburg and Ludendorff not only obstructed the plan to encircle the Russian army in the Warsaw area, but their self-believed plan to succeed also failed.

Although Germany was undoubtedly the successful side in the entire campaign, they failed to eliminate the Russian army at the best possible time. The Central powers faced a three-front war, and the chances of victory were slim.

If Germany could have pursued the victory and eliminated most of the Russian army, forcing Russia to withdraw from the war, perhaps they would still have the chance to win the war.

However, regrettably, this is just a hypothetical situation. In reality, the German army faced a more severe situation than the Russian army, and it was very difficult to hold the occupied areas in trench warfare.

Starting from mid-October, Germany entered into full trench warfare defense on the Eastern Front and no longer had any plans to launch any offensive.

Russia finally got a respite and a short time to catch their breath.

Of course, this does not mean that the entire Russian hierarchy was not at fault. The Russian High Command lacked a good strategic vision and seemed somewhat indecisive when formulating strategy.

While Germany constantly changed its battle plan according to the situation and chose different main attack and side attack directions, Russia made a common-sense mistake in formulating its overall strategic plan: the North and South Army Lines were evenly distributed with no main attack point.

In the Gorelitz Campaign, the Russian High Command turned a blind eye to the Germans' preparations for a new campaign and even urged the army to advance into the Hungarian Plain, leading to the disastrous defeat.

After the German army broke through the defense lines, the Russian High Command rashly ordered the two-winged forces to join the battle, which led to one batch after another of Russian troops being hastily engaged without rear firepower support or a unified command on the front line and a lack of coordination.

Under the intense bombing of the German artillery, the hastily engaged Russian troops were quickly annihilated. The only result was to add a few more figures to Russia's casualty numbers.

If the Russian High Command had been more decisive and allowed the two-winged forces to retreat significantly to allow the Germans to be defeated by logistics in the vast Russian hinterland before launching a prepared counterattack, they might have achieved a victory like Kutuzov did against Napoleon's army over a hundred years ago.

Even the Germans were worried about this possibility and feared suffering the same failure as Napoleon.

But unexpectedly, the Russian High Command completely avoided what the Germans feared and gave them a chance to defeat Russia.

Although this seems somewhat incredible, a closer study of Archduke Nicholas's resume could offer some explanation.

Archduke Nicholas appeared to come from a famous Russian military academy and had good prestige in the military.

However, without actual combat experience, theoretical knowledge alone was not enough for Archduke Nicholas.

Combined with Tsar Nicholas II's guard and the terrible situation within Russia, it was not surprising that some absurd decisions were made.

Keep in mind that although Nicholas II had given up his position as Commander-in-Chief of Russia, the Tsarist government and Nicholas II himself still had some interference and constraints on Archduke Nicholas.

And it should be noted that the court of Nicholas II was also in chaos.

Tsar Nicholas II and his wife favored the semi-illiterate Rasputin from the countryside, only because he had used his so-called magic to stop the bleeding of Crown Prince Aleksei during a bout of hemophilia.

Under the favor of the Tsar and his wife, Rasputin controlled or influenced the appointment of most high-ranking officials and the majority of national events, with power no less than that of Nicholas II.

This made most officials and military officers hate Rasputin, but they were helpless due to the favor of the Tsar and his wife.

Even after the defeat in the Gorelitz Campaign, at Rasputin's instigation, Nicholas II announced the removal of Archduke Nicholas' title of Supreme Commander and appointed himself as the Commander-in-Chief and Supreme Commander of Russia.

Although the indecisive Archduke Nicholas was removed from his post, the Russian army now faced the even more incompetent Tsar Nicholas II.

Nicholas II's power was even greater than Archduke Nicholas's, and after the High Command's previous recommendation of Archduke Nicholas failed, the military had no excuse to recommend other candidates for the position of Commander-in-Chief.