In the Russian Southwest Front Command in Kiev, Ivanov was stunned by the situation where Galicia took a sharp turn.

In contrast to the Russian army's unstoppable advance in the first stage, in just five days, his 3rd Army was completely wiped out by the German-Austrian coalition forces in the Sand River Valley. The base camp claimed this way, in the view of St. Petersburg, it was acceptable to lose to the Germans. If it lost to the Austro-Hungarians, it was unknown how much storm would be caused.

Now Ivanov is somewhat grateful that Markensen's 9th Army stayed in Galicia, although he is well aware that the German army actually had less than 120,000 men, and part of them retreated to East Turus.

The problem is that the actions of the Austro-Hungarian army suddenly became elusive and changed tactics.

They replaced the Chief of Staff?

No, the exact information showed that Baron Hetsendorf issued an order in Vienna.

In fact, before the battle began, he seemed to have heard some unusual places. The only dozen reconnaissance planes in his hand were shot down by his opponents, and the Austro-Hungarians actually installed machine guns on the plane.

What is even more surprising is that the 8th Russian Army in Limburg was besieged by the Austro-Hungarians.

The base camp asked him to rescue the 8th Army as soon as possible.

This made him very angry.

He currently has insufficient troops and is at a disadvantage. The poor traffic conditions of the empire have caused the troops to be seriously lacking in supplies, and transportation and logistics have become the biggest problems that plague the front-line commanders. Ivanov was not worried about Limburg's defense. The fortifications built by the Austrians in that city took several months and heavy prices to get them.

He urgently needs to repair and replenish, and then launch a counterattack after he is fully prepared.

But the problem is that Petersburg does not give him any time to prepare.

Ivanov sighed and looked at the map on the wall.

They had lost their best chance. After winning the major victory in the Battle of Galicia, facing the three armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that had been defeated and had a low morale, the Russian army was completely likely to take advantage of the victory and rush into the Hungarian plains in one breath, and even occupy Buda and Pest.

But Petersburg's debate on the direction of the battle lasted for nearly a month. The demise of the Russian Second Army made the guys in the base camp more willing to turn their troops to Silesia and East Prussia, which was an important heavy industrial area for the Germans. The fighter jets were wasted in vain in such a debate.

Ivanov had no choice but to order the 4th, 5th and 9th armies on the Carpathians to turn to Limburg. Judging from the current situation, it is impossible to invade Hungary.

However, the cautious commander-in-chief of the Russian Southwest Front still demanded that his three armies must be closely linked to avoid being divided by the Austro-Hungarian army.

Although Vienna is celebrating the first major victory of the Imperial Army in the war since the war began, Lee Haydn has no time to run back to Vienna to attend any award ceremony. He is now busy teaching senior commanders of Austro-Hungary a classic military tactic from the East - surrounding the site to attack aid.

The senior commanders of the Imperial Military, whose consciousness was already a little rigid, found it difficult to understand what Li Haydn meant. Instead, the young staff officers listened with relish.

Guerrilla tactics from the East are mobile warfare when applied to large-scale battles. The Germans actually have a deep understanding, but they are too rigid and domineering and pay too much attention to the offense and defense of cities and strategic areas. The military ideas from Mao are not something that these rigid Western professional soldiers can understand thoroughly.

What is mobile warfare?

To sum it up, it is "run", and you will never stick to the ground, and you will be foolishly waiting for the enemy to surround yourself. If it weren't for Li Haydn, Prémil's 140,000 Austro-Hungarian defenders would have been dead. They did not destroy the enemy and played the role that a heavy army group should play. Of course, the Russians took the initiative to die.

Boloevich, Lieutenant General Meyer and Lieutenant General Miller, who participated in the Boer War are very proficient in this regard.

Since Li Haidon was formulating a battle plan, he had time to instill the idea of ​​"run" in his generals and staff every day. If he couldn't beat him, he would run, and if he could beat him, he would run even more.

It is useless to occupy cities. The city is there, it will not run, and it has strong defenses. Eliminating the enemy's living power is the first question to think about when making plans, rather than spending effort to capture those useless cities. If the battle is lost, no matter how many cities you occupy, it will be useless. If you win, it will naturally be yours.

What is victory?

It is to save yourself and then eliminate the enemy's soldiers. Repelling and defeating the enemy cannot be considered victory. The essence of war is the boring battle between two boxers. The army and soldiers are like the physical strength of two people. The competition between the two sides depends on who consumes the opponent's physical strength, and the one who is too physically exhausted will be knocked down.

If you eliminate all the enemies, you will win...

Lee Haydn spoke dryly, so he stopped and turned his eyes to a combat staff member who was confusing and focused on his great military thoughts. "Walter, please pour me a cup of coffee! Okay, now we will start doing the serious business and discuss further combat plans."

The situation is difficult to deal with now. Ivanov's three armies withdrew from the Carpathian line and formed a group. Although he was slow to act, he could not speak out at all. The idea of ​​gnawing on hard bones was never within his consideration.

The Russian army seemed to have signs of sending reinforcements from Warsaw to Limburg, which was Li Haydn's expectation.

"What if the main Russian army retreating from the Carpathian line continues to advance to Limburg like this?" asked Admiral Dankel, commander of the First Army.

"Then let's retreat!" Li Haidun gave his general a blank look. Why don't you understand that I said so much just now?

"But, then we will fail?" Dankel really didn't understand.

"General, have we suffered any losses?" Li Haidon decided to continue to enlighten him. He must have the patience of a teacher for stupid students.

"No." Dankel replied honestly, "but we did not achieve the battle."

"What is the purpose of our battle?" said Lee Hayden. "Have I ever said I would capture Limburg?"

"No, but we are not able to destroy the enemy either."

"Yes, we did not eliminate the enemy, this is our first goal, but removing the threat to the Carpathians is also one of our goals." Lee Hayden said, "All future battle plans must be formulated around how to eliminate the enemy, not what targets to capture."

While talking, the communications officer walked in and handed Lee Hayden a telegram.

"Report to the sir, the 7th Russian Army Group set out from Warsaw and headed south along the Sand River Valley, with the intention of reinforcing Limburg!" According to the rules, he should call Lie Heiden your Excellency, but Lie Heiden asked his officers to call him his commander.
Chapter completed!