"Even if France is defeated, the Royal Navy of the British Empire will not let a German BF cross the English Channel!" British Admiralty Minister Sir John Fisher said firmly!
"Uh! Sir Fisher, I don't mean to underestimate the Royal Navy. It's just that if France fails, millions of German troops can not only attack us, but also attack Russia eastward. Once Russia is also defeated, the entire Europe
The mainland belongs to the Germans, which is definitely not a good thing for the British Empire!" Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray said quickly.
Sir John Fisher nodded and stopped dwelling on this issue!
"Your Excellency Methuen, how much land power do we have that we can devote to the war?" Prime Minister Asquith asked. Britain has a powerful navy and its own security has been guaranteed. If Germany wants to attack the British mainland, it must first attack the British mainland.
It has to defeat the British Navy. Although the strength of the German Navy can already challenge the British Navy, the British Navy still has an absolute advantage.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, so far we have mobilized 500,000 troops, of which 100,000 have been sent to France. They have participated in this French border battle and lost more than 20,000 people. The mobilization is still continuing, and finally
Our army can mobilize about one million people. In addition, the troops from various colonies are still being assembled. However, the troops from India and Australia cannot be transferred to the mainland, and we must beware of the Chinese!" Secretary of War Paul Stafford=
Methuen said.
"Let's do this. We will form an expeditionary force of 200,000 people to support the French. No matter what, we must help the French survive this crisis!" Prime Minister Asquith said. If France is defeated, Britain will reserve the right to continue fighting.
It is useless to have more armies. The British army cannot compare with the German army anyway.
Yes, it is even more delusional to want to rely on the British Army to defeat the Germans. Therefore, to defeat Germany, we must rely on the French as much as possible and let more French people fight the Germans. What the British have to do is to try their best to defeat the Germans.
It is possible to keep the confidence of the French from being affected so that they can continue to fight!
"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister!" Secretary of War Paul Stafford Methuen nodded.
"Sir Fisher, the navy will strengthen the blockade of Germany during this period. Any ships flying the flag of Germany or the Allies will be captured. The Germans cannot be allowed to get any supplies and they will be dragged to death!" Asquith
The Prime Minister said through gritted teeth.
Germany's offensive in the early stages of the war was very violent, which was not unexpected by the British. However, the British believed that as long as it dragged on, as the Germans suffered more casualties and consumed more materials, Germany's offensive would slow down.
Slowly weaken, when the time comes, it will be time for Britain and France to fight back!
"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister! But if it is a Chinese ship, do we also want to capture it?" Sir John Fisher, the Lord Admiralty asked. Now, China has not been involved in the war. Although China and Germany have close relations,
But China did not participate in the war after all. If the British navy takes action against Chinese ships, it will definitely attract crazy revenge from the Chinese. If nothing else,
As long as the Chinese navy blocks the Strait of Hormuz, if Britain wants to contact India and Australia, it will have to go around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa!
Prime Minister Asquith hesitated for a moment and then shook his head: "Ignore the Chinese for the time being. The supplies consumed by the Germans on the battlefield every day are completely astronomical. It is impossible for the Chinese to make up for the losses of the Germans.
.Wait until China joins the war before we attack Chinese ships!"
"Yes, I understand!" Sir John Fisher said. He can also understand this.
China is too powerful. Although everyone knows that China will definitely join the Allies in fighting, the UK is not willing to take the initiative to provoke China before China joins the war. Otherwise, the Chinese retaliation will cause greater losses to the UK.
!
"In addition, contact Russia and the United States. Since they have declared war on the Allies, they cannot sit idly by. Especially Russia, now is the time when they need to launch attacks on the Eastern Front. As for the Americans, if possible, let them
Send troops to fight in Europe!" Prime Minister Asquith said. Of course, he also knew that this was somewhat unlikely. Americans regard China as a life-and-death enemy. Before defeating China, Americans will definitely not go to other wars.
Investing in troops!
"Yes, Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I will ask the ambassador to Russia and the ambassador to the United States to convey our requests to the two governments!" Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray said.
On the morning of August 11, in St. Petersburg, French Ambassador to Russia Leologe asked to see Tsar Nicholas II. The Tsar received him at the Winter Palace.
"I request your Majesty to order your troops to take the offensive immediately, otherwise the French army is in danger of being annihilated. During the border battle, our army and the British army have lost hundreds of thousands of people, and also lost a large amount of equipment. Now the main force of the German army is heading toward Paris.
March, our country is mobilizing troops to prepare to resist the German attack. The government hopes that Russia can launch an attack on East Prussia to contain the Germans and reduce the pressure on France!" Leologg pleaded.
The current situation in France is very critical. If Paris is captured by the German army, France will be doomed.
"Ambassador, please rest assured that Russia will not sit back and watch France be invaded. The Russian army has completed part of the mobilization, and I will let the frontline troops launch various attacks on East Prussia as soon as possible!" Tsar Nicholas II said. His lips were filled with tears.
He understood the truth very well. Once France was defeated by Germany, Russia would be the next unlucky one!
"Thank you very much, His Majesty the Tsar. The French government and people will never forget Russia's help to France!" Ambassador Leologg burst into tears with gratitude!
After Ambassador Leolog left, Tsar Nicholas II immediately summoned Russian ministers to discuss sending troops to attack East Prussia.
"Your Majesty, France is an ally of Russia. The current situation in France is very unfavorable. We should immediately launch an attack on East Prussia to reduce the pressure on France!" Prime Minister Peter A. Stolypin said.
"Your Majesty, we should indeed attack East Prussia, but we cannot relax our vigilance against the enemies in the east. Compared with the Germans, China in the east is our biggest enemy. Therefore, while attacking East Prussia, we must
Reserve enough troops in the east to resist the Chinese attack!" Foreign Minister Nilatov said.
Tsar Nicholas II nodded, and then asked: "His Excellency Archduke Karl, is our mobilization completed now?"
"Your Majesty, so far, our mobilization has been mostly completed. There are 30 armies in the western region, with a total of 96 infantry divisions and 37 cavalry divisions, with a total of about 2.7 million people, plus 900,000 special reserve forces and
Fortress troops. In addition, we have one million people stationed in Siberia and along the Ural River to defend against the Chinese!" said Archduke Karl, Minister of War!
"Then, order the troops in the western region to start attacking East Prussia. At the same time, continue mobilization. Although the Chinese have not participated in the war yet, we must retain at least two million troops on the eastern front!" Tsar Nicholas II
Shi said. Russia suffered a lot at the hands of China more than ten years ago, which makes him still tremble when he thinks about it!
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Archduke Karl nodded. Russia's current population is still 130 million people, and it can easily mobilize an army of more than five million. Russian peasants, as long as the Tsar calls, they will put down
Hoe, walk into the barracks, and then go to die with a rifle. Russia has the most
Yes, it is probably the source of soldiers. Almost every adult Russian man is a qualified soldier. However, Russia lacks sufficient weapons and equipment, so that many Russian soldiers who go to the battlefield are not equipped with rifles, or are waiting to capture the enemy's rifles.
Or wait to inherit the weapons of your comrades who died in battle.
On August 11, Tsar Nicholas II issued an order to attack Germany. As for another country, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia did not pay attention to it at all. In the eyes of the Russians, as long as they defeated it first
Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire can be easily destroyed.
After receiving the order from Tsar Nicholas II, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nicholas, immediately began to organize his troops and launched a combat operation code-named 'Autumn Offensive!'
The German army adopted a defensive attitude on the Eastern Front. Compared with the defensive attitude of the German army's plan, the Russian army's plan was aggressive. Before the war, the Russians formulated two alternative operations against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Plan: Plan G, that is, "Germany"
Plan, which envisaged the German army concentrating its forces to fight against Russia. Plan A, the "Austria Plan", expected Germany to take a defensive position on the Eastern Front. In both cases, the field army would be divided into the Northwest Front consisting of the 1st and 2nd Army Groups.
and by 3rd 5th and 8th
The South-Western Front composed of army groups. The 4th Army joined the North-Western Front when implementing Plan G, and the South-Western Front when implementing Plan A. The 6th and 7th Armies protected the flanks and the line extending from the Baltic Sea and Finland to Romania and the Black Sea.
Front. Of these two options, the area west of the Vistula River in Russian Poland was prepared to evacuate the population in the event of war to ensure a leisurely concentration of troops. The Northwestern Front assembled along the East Prussian border, and the Southwestern Front assembled along the Austrian Galician border.
On August 15, the Russian army's autumn offensive began. The Russian army formed the Northwest Front Army, commanded by General Zhilinsky, with its headquarters located in Bilostock. It has two group armies, the 1st Group Army is led by Lunnan
The 2nd Army, commanded by General Kampf, will advance north of Lake Masurian and detour back to the enemy's left; the 2nd Army, commanded by General Samsonov, will advance south of Lake Masurian to cut off and destroy Matsu.
German troops between Lake Li and the Vistula River.