Chapter 897 The lore of the Polish pocket 2
"This idea is very interesting." Moltke subconsciously felt that it was impossible, but out of politeness and curiosity, he did not directly reject the prince's suggestion.
"In the direction of East Prussia, we will launch a limited attack. This was agreed in advance. I will not change this plan, but I will not compress the Russians' space too much. This battle is mainly about consuming the opponent's vitality. We want to leave the Russians with an illusion that Polish areas can still be defended."
"Then, a part of the Bavarian army will enter the Silesia region, and we will reopen the situation from the Lviv region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire! The troops are slowly but steadily advancing northward, gradually narrowing the width between Russian Poland and Russia's rear. Of course, this is just one of the goals!" said the prince.
"The Russians will not allow it. They will concentrate their efforts to suppress this place. This place will become a tug-of-war. When your army attacks, they will retreat, and when they pause due to supply issues, they will come back. In addition, I am bluntly speaking, the Bavarian army's combat effectiveness is very reliable, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire is average. If you have an average, the advantage is relatively limited." Xiao Moltke said.
"Maybe you are right. This plan to create a prominent part may be more difficult, but even if this goal is not achieved, the problem is not very big." The prince said with a smile.
"Hold the grass!" Little Moltke almost swears. You spent so much effort to mobilize the most elite legion to Silesia, using a large amount of troops, wasting a lot of resources, unable to effectively kill opponents, but instead fell into a certain level of tug-of-war. What are you trying to do? At the beginning, you said you were disdainful of one army to eat the Russian army. Now this kind of battle is not as good as the plan I proposed at the beginning!
"Ruprecht, if you want to help your father-in-law, we can understand that there is no need to be such trouble." William II said with a slight skin tightening.
"No, no, I won't listen to me." The prince made a helpless expression. "Okay, I'll explain my plan more in detail."
"If the attack in Silesia is launched, if the Russians deal with it properly, they will not suffer much loss, but if they want to stabilize the front, they must deploy a considerable number of troops! We are the offensive side and can choose the time and place of battle. In order to defend, the opponent must ensure the density of the troops and leave enough reserves."
"In fact, the Russians are not much more front-line combat troops than us. If they concentrate a considerable portion of their troops in Silesia and must maintain military presence in Russian Poland, then there will be serious loopholes in their front-line combat forces."
"This idea is up to be discussed, because the Russian population base is too large, their population is twice that of the German Empire, and it is OK to mobilize 8 million troops," said Moltke.
"Yes, you're right, I agree with this, but you should note that I'm talking about front-line combat troops, not the total number of troops! Can you understand the gap?" the prince asked back.
"This, are you trying to talk about the difference between front-line combat personnel and rear auxiliary personnel?" Xiao Maoqi said.
"That's right, that's it. Maybe in the German Empire, a rear personnel can support two soldiers in combat, but if in Russia, a soldier needs to be supported by two auxiliary personnel! Russia's vast territory and backward infrastructure determine the fatal weakness of Russia's inefficiency during wartime!" The prince said confidently.
This is definitely not to say, but it is true. Although Russia had millions of troops in World War I, even in the later stages, the front-line troops would be about 3 million. It would no longer exceed this number. As for the fundamental reason for this problem? It is very simple, it is backward.
Someone once made a statistics. If a recruit from Germany, France and Austria wants to go to the battlefield, he will probably have to walk about 200 to 300 Russian miles on average. If a recruit from Russia wants to go to the battlefield, he will probably have to walk about 900 to 1,000 Russian miles on average. There is no way, the place is too big. While the Russians enjoy the huge strategic depth, they also have to pay the corresponding price!
In addition to being about 4 times the distance is as high as that of Western European powers, the poor railway conditions of the Russians have made the difficulty of mobilizing this force and supplies a geometric base! For example, if Germany's railway service coefficient is calculated at 100, then Belgium, like Germany, is 100. This railway service coefficient is determined by the length of the railway per unit area and the population per unit area. The former is a proportional relationship, while the latter is an inverse relationship. To put it in a more vivid example, that is, Belgium, as a country with 30,000 square kilometers, has a total of 4,000 kilometers of railways!
Well, look at the level of other countries. The British followed closely behind, and the railway service coefficient was 98. The French said that Brother had absorbed the experience and lessons of the French-Prussian War, and the railway service coefficient reached an astonishing 103. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was indeed a weak chicken, and this coefficient was only 61. It had lost the face of a powerful Western European country. I am sorry.
Then what about Russia? Even if the desolate Siberia and other areas are removed, the railway service coefficient of Russia is only 4! Yes, you read that right, it is only 4! In terms of area, Germany's railway length is more than ten times that of Russia! The Austro-Hungarian Empire is also 6.7 times that of Russia, which means that this railway line is very weak. It is very common that there are not enough in wartime.
So from this perspective, if the infrastructure is insufficient, it can only be supplemented by manpower. This makes Russia have a huge population base, but the number of front-line troops is not large, and the length of the front line is continuous, which leads to insufficient military density as a whole. Also because of insufficient infrastructure, if there is a problem with the railway line in a certain area, then even if the Russians want to evacuate and even if the encirclement is not blocked, then for the Russians who basically rely on the action, they can't leave the Russians who want to go! The large corps will completely leave the railway and go backwards? This scene is so beautiful that I can't imagine it!
And this time, the prince's entry point was these two points! The war had just begun, and the Russians' potential had not been fully utilized. He did not have 3 million troops. After a while, it would be good to have 2 million troops on the front line. If the Russians wanted to defend Russian Poland, let me tell you, at least you should have 4 to 5 armies, right? This is a 1 million troops. Let me first explain that this troops are fixed on the defense line, with one carrot and one pit, and there will not be many troops that can be mobilized across the war zone.
Chapter completed!