On May 15, just as the German and French armies fought in the Ardennes jungle, a Russian cavalry division also pulled out the wooden stakes border on the East Prussian border and kicked off the Eastern Front War. The first result they achieved was the small town of Magrapova, 10 kilometers in Germany, where the German troops stationed there had already withdrawn in advance. When the Russian cavalry leaped on their horses and fired their guns and celebrated their victory in the square in the center of the town, no one would have thought that this Eastern Front War, which had such a smooth start, would eventually bury the entire Russian Empire in the tomb.

Although Russia in this plane suffered huge losses far beyond history in the Russo-Japanese War, and the European War broke out more than a year ahead of schedule, the overall strength of the Russian army was much worse than that in the same period in August 1914 in history. However, due to the eager pleas of the French, the Russian Command still transferred troops from the Southwest Army Group that attacked Austro-Hungary, and strengthened the Northwest Army Group used to fight against Germany to a considerable level. At present, the Russian Northwest Army Group has two armies, commanded by General Jilinsky, the chief of the Russian front-line general staff in the Russo-Japanese War. His core strategic purpose was to lead the army to capture East Prussia and annihilate the German troops stationed in this area in one fell swoop.

The Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Pritwitz, was stationed in East Prussia. The unit had four armies, one cavalry division and some local garrison troops, and its total strength was equivalent to any army of the Russian Northwest Army Group. Thanks to the Russian Minister of Army Sukhomlinov, the number of artillery machine guns of the Russian army was far inferior to that of the German army, so the German army had the advantage in firepower. The task assigned by Moltke to the Eighth Army was to defend the rich land of East Prussia as much as possible before the end of the Western Front War; after the Western Front army had curbed the French, they would then transfer to the East through the developed domestic railway network and expel all the Russian invaders.

Opening the map of Europe established since 1871, Germany's East Prussia territory was like the tentacles of a giant beast, extending along the Baltic Sea to Lithuania. Therefore, the German General Staff's combat plan against Russia can be guessed. Once a war breaks out, the Russians will definitely use their Polish protruding parts to attack north from Warsaw. From the roots, the connection between East Prussia and Berlin was cut off. However, East Prussia could not have been dispatched to give up at the beginning of the war. Faced with this situation, the little Moltke, who was worried and cautious by nature, had to be determined to lose before winning.

Pritwitz, commander of the Eighth Army, issued an order, saying that if he found out that he was "threatening to a very powerful enemy, he was in a very urgent moment," he retreated to the west of the Vistula River and gave East Prussia to the enemy. The original intention of Xiao Moltke's order was to allow the Eighth Army to preserve its strength and avoid a major blow to the army, the core pillar of Germany's war. After all, living forces are far more important than some of the country. However, he did not expect that this order would have a counterproductive effect, which almost led to an irreversible failure of Germany on the Eastern Front battlefield.

On May 16, the main force of the Russian First Army, commanded by Leninkamp, ​​launched an attack from Lithuania to the east and began to fully enter East Prussia. Two days later, the Russian Second Army, commanded by Samsorov, launched an offensive from Vostrovinka in the southeast to the northwest, and the troops headed straight to Aronstein, the hinterland of the German army. The Eighth Army faced the danger of being surrounded by Russian troops twice its strength. Through the investigation of high-altitude airships, the German army found that the two Russian troops were inconsistent in the pace of the operation: the Russian First Army coming from the east acted quickly, while the Russian Second Army entering the rear of the German army from the southeast acted relatively slowly, leaving room for the German army to defeat each. After some consideration, the German army decided to first attack the Russian First Army that had invaded East Prussia, preparing to knock it down before turning around to deal with the Russian Second Army that was inserted into its rear.

However, the actual situation was not as beautiful as planned. Due to the position of the troops, the German army could not transfer all the main forces of the Eighth Army deployed throughout East Prussia to the east to face the Russian First Army; and in addition, there was not much time left for the German army to deal with the Russian First Army alone. Therefore, the German army, which lacked preparation time, did not organize an unstoppable and fierce attack like on the Western Front battlefield. Although the German army achieved outstanding victories in some places with its advantage in firepower, the Russian First Army commanded by Leninkamp still resisted the German offensive and forced the German army to retreat from the Compinian area from the 20th. At this time, the Russian Second Army had been directly pushed to the German throat like a sharp sword.

The failure of the Battle of Compinne caused the situation of the German Eighth Army to take a sharp turn: the east was sharpening the knife, and more than 200,000 Cossacks would be rushed to the southwest; the southwest was to advance quickly, preparing to cut off the same number of gray animals that were retreating from the German army. Although Colonel Hoffmann, deputy director of the Operations Department, and Grunath, the Minister of Military Control Commission, both firmly advocated that the German army should continue to fight again. However, the commander of the Eighth Army, Pritwitz, was already scared by the Russian giants.

: Moltke allowed him to give up East Prussia when it was "absolutely necessary". Now he thought nothing could be "absolutely necessary" than now. He rudely sent the two away and reported his plan to the German commander in Kobrents-sur-Rhine: even if he did not retreat across the Vistula River, he would retreat to the riverside to preserve his strength. He also said that the water level of the Vistula River in the hot summer was not high, and without reinforcements, he even doubted whether he could defend the river.

The defeat of East Prussia reached Koblenz, which made Xiao Moltke extremely shocked and angry. Regarding Pritwitz, Xiao Moltke always believed that he could not stand the position of commander of the Eighth Army. He had long wanted to get rid of this idiot who "only flattered in front of the emperor". However, the series of personnel relationships that Pritwitz had in the German top leaders made Xiao Moltke unable to insert needles and water for many years. Now, let this idiot fat man command

The disastrous results of the Eighth Army were undoubtedly revealed. Just five days after the war started, Pritwitz was about to give up East Prussia. The last order he gave to this fat man in order to preserve his strength became the basis for him to retreat backwards! You must know that giving up East Prussia will not only seriously damage morale, lose precious dairy products, food and horse sources, but also lose the assets of a large number of Junker nobles and royal members!

In order to learn the first-hand information on the Eastern Front battlefield, Moltke personally spoke with the commanders of the Eighth Army. After talking to Markensen and François, he learned that the situation on the Eastern Front battlefield was indeed not optimistic, but retreating to the west of the Vistula was undoubtedly an overly frivolous approach. At this moment, Pritwitz called again to ask for reinforcements from Moltke, which immediately ignited the aggravation that had been accumulated by Moltke for many years. Now every battalion of the German army has been put into the Western Front battlefield. Withdrawing troops is equivalent to declaring the bankruptcy of Schliffen's plan. Where can there be troops on the Eastern Front reinforcements?

In a rage, Moltke decided to remove Pritwitz from his post. Under the current circumstances, no one dared to say anything about his order. The Eastern Front was in danger of collapse, and he urgently needed a brave, tough and decisive person to take over the command mission. After some consideration, Moltke chose Ludendolf, who became famous in the Battle of Liege. According to the command system jointly responsible by the German army, the chief of staff and the commander were equally important, and sometimes it was even more important with his ability and temperament. Ludendolf, who was wise and wise and talented, was highly praised by Schliffen, was fully qualified to serve as the chief of staff of the Eighth Army.

According to Xiao Moltke's original idea, it was to let Ludendolf be fully responsible for the battlefield on the Eastern Front. However, since Ludendolf was under fifty years old and was a nobleman from the non-Junger who did not have the name Feng before his surname, it was obviously not appropriate to let him directly command an army. Therefore, the German General Staff had to find a veritable commander "Feng" for the Eighth Army. The names of many retired generals were considered in detail. Xiao Moltke's deputy Stein suddenly remembered a letter from an old colleague when the war broke out, and the letter said, "If the situation needs a commander, no matter where, please don't forget me." The letter also guaranteed that the person who wrote the letter was still strong. A thick and steady figure suddenly appeared in front of Stein.

Paul von Hindenburg participated in the French-Prussian War as a lieutenant in 1870, and then he was highly appreciated by two military masters, Moltke and Schlieffen. However, in the large exercise held in 1908, Hindenburg led his army to defeat the troops commanded by German Emperor William. Afterwards, he felt hopeless of promotion and retired in 1911 as an army general. Today, although Hindenburg is still half a year away.

At the age of 67, he was not older than the three commanders of the German right wing. The commander needed on the Eastern Front was not the kind of person who was panicked and nervous when encountering problems. Hindenburg was always calm and tough, as stable as a rock, and his calm and calm quality was completely trustworthy. Moltke expressed his approval, and the German Emperor, who was abused during the exercise, also approved it. Then a telegram was sent to the Hanover residence where the general was unemployed.

Late at night on May 21, with the long whistle of the whistle, Hindenburg and Rudendolf met at the train station in Hannover. In the rumbling train, the thick and majestic general and Ling Rui's gaze-like Major General were sitting opposite each other. The two, who were nearly 20 years apart, had a brief exchange, and immediately felt relieved to their partners that they met too late. The pair of Zhubi, who became famous on the battlefield in the future and made the enemy scared, got the most perfect fit at this moment.

PS: Thank you book friends for giving me the reward for the book book on February 30th~~~ Today, the subscription volume fell below the average level again. Please give the author some motivation to write...
Chapter completed!