“What was Germany like in the five years of the Republic of China?

... As the war dragged on, the liberal and revolutionary atmosphere in Germany became increasingly intense. Slogans such as "non-war", "democracy" and "freedom" have become commonplace. At the beginning of the year, Prime Minister von Bateman

In order to appease the people, they promised to revise the Prussian electoral law after the war... At this time, the war situation was deteriorating. Not only did the German generals' bold words of "see you in Paris in six weeks" when they went on the expedition have been laughed at by the people as arrogance,

Moreover, with the shortage of food and wages and the high prices of goods, the pain of the war endured by the German people has become unbearable...

Everything here is filled with "substitutes": substitute coffee (chicory), substitute grains (saccharin extracted from coal tar), substitute sausages (made from horsemeat), substitute leather shoes (waste from military tanneries)

Materials)... In short, everything is a substitute. If possible, maybe German scientists will invent "substitute soldiers". Of course, if possible..."

Xu Hanlin's Diary of Studying in Germany

Berlin, Berlin in the midsummer of 1916, had long lost the nationalistic fervor that it had when the war just broke out two years ago. In fact, the war only lasted a few months, and Berson fell into "drowsiness about the war."

In such a state, there are no more reports of victory on the front line. The stalemate of the war has made the people here become more and more lethargic in their reaction to the war. Of course, apart from the occasional victory stories from the Eastern Front, there are still

It would excite Berliners and restore some of the enthusiasm for war in the Prussians.

However, the people may be able to do this, but for Germany's top army commanders, they must pay attention to even the smallest changes on the battlefield. After all, any subtle changes may affect the progress of the entire war situation.

Somme!

From that day on July 5, the generals in the Supreme Army Command in Berlin shifted their sights from Verdun, the place that was originally intended to make "France bleed" and "Germany bleed" to

The Somme River was originally considered by them as "just a place where the British and French troops were trying to distract Germany's attention."

The reason why it was able to attract Germany's top army command is very simple. In just a few days, the war situation on the Somme River slipped towards the edge of "collapse". At the beginning, although the war situation there was extremely unfavorable to Germany

, but after a series of adjustments, the Supreme Army Command, the generals at the highest command level of the German Army, believed that they were able to defend the Somme River. However, the subsequent sudden change in the battle situation was far beyond their expectations.

Chinese Expeditionary Force!

Once again, the Chinese Expeditionary Force entered the sight of Germany's top army command. This time it was different from the "light touch" during the first battle in Verdun. This time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force captured an unexpected and even

The Supreme Army Command ignored the loopholes and carried out an unprecedented infiltration operation. It used the defensive gaps to penetrate into its flanks and rear. It not only successfully disrupted the German army's campaign deployment, but also tore apart its first position on the west bank of the Somme.

It was completely destroyed and nearly 60,000 troops were besieged.

This was the worst defeat since the Battle of the Marne!

"Now, for Germany, there are only two choices. Either end the offensive at Verdun, or accept the defeat of the Somme and the future collapse of the entire Southwestern Front!"

In response to this current situation, Germany's highest army command once served as the birthplace of genius battle plans and outstanding military commanders. For many people, this place was the birthplace of Germany even for a long time after the war situation deteriorated.

The ** team is a reliable pillar with firm beliefs.

It was this most reliable pillar that gave full play to its genius battle planning function in a very short period of time and responded in the shortest time - moving the army from the direction of Verdun to the Somme River! In order to save the precarious war situation there

, and the result of this order is that on the one hand it means that the "meat grinder" of Verdun is not the end, but on the other hand it means the beginning of a battle of unprecedented scale...

But at this time, for the German Army's top command, it seemed that no one was concerned about the progress of the war situation. Just in a small court, His Majesty Wilhelm II made a decision to remove Falkenhayn as Chief of Staff from the post of Supreme Army Commander and replace him with

Another "hero of Germany" assumed this position.

According to German law at this time, Kaiser Wilhelm II was the supreme commander of the entire German army. However, after the outbreak of the war, the Supreme Army Commander led the German army, and most of the commanders of the Supreme Army Command acted on their own.

In the early days of the war, the head of the supreme army command was Moltke, the German chief of staff. Later, due to the failure of the German army in the Battle of the Marne, Moltke had no choice but to resign and was replaced by Prussian War Minister Falkenhayn, who

The war of attrition was adopted, but it suffered a setback in the Battle of Verdun - the German army not only failed to exhaust the blood of the French army, but on the contrary, the blood of Germany was about to be exhausted. And now, the Somme River, to be precise, is the Chinese Expedition

The attack of the army directly led to a result-Kaiser Wilhelm II was no longer willing to bear the responsibilities of all walks of life for him, and Falkenhayn was dismissed from his post!

Falkenhayn's successor was a "long-renowned" "German hero"-Marshal Hindenburg.

In the late 1850s and early 1860s, wars continued in various countries around the world. In Europe, when the Kingdom of Sardinia and France fought against Austria, the war once burned near the Prussian border. Hindenburg was like a military school student.

Other students are also gearing up and eager to try, but they have not yet had the opportunity to show off their skills. They can only practice several major battles in northern Italy next to the sand table in class. The lecturers are all experienced teachers. Hindenburg learned a lot.

He had little military knowledge. In 1866, the Austro-Prussian War broke out. This young second lieutenant officer who had just graduated from military school led a platoon to follow the troops to Bohemia and participated in the Battle of Sadova on July 3. Three

A few months later, he returned victorious with the army and passed the Berlin Arc de Triomphe for the first time.

Later, his unit, the 3rd Infantry Guards Regiment, moved to Hanover, and Hindenburg spent three years in Hanover. When he retired from the army more than 40 years later, he chose this city as his permanent residence.

In August 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Hindenburg participated in the war as the adjutant of the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Guards Regiment. Soon, the commander of the regiment was wounded in the battle, and the commander of the 1st Battalion took over the post of acting commander.

Bao was also promoted to one level.

"Iron Chancellor" Bismarck unified Germany through three dynastic wars. On January 18, 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed. Hindenburg, as a representative of the army, participated in the ceremony held in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. This is his

A major event that he was proud of in his life. In June of the same year, Hindenburg once again passed the Berlin Arc de Triomphe. For Hindenburg, his biggest wish was to return victorious for the third time.

In 1872, he was promoted from lieutenant to captain. The next year he went to the Berlin Military Academy to study. After graduation, he worked at the Army Staff Headquarters. His bosses Moltke and Schlieffen appreciated him very much. From then on, he had a prosperous official career and was promoted step by step. In 1903, he became the commander of the Army Staff.

The commander of the Fourth Army, Hindenburg, who was accustomed to observing the international situation with old eyes, did not believe that war would break out. Since he was over sixty years old, there was no hope of further promotion, so he retired from the army at the age of 64.

After retiring from the army, Hindenburg lived a leisurely and monotonous life in Hanover. He occasionally went out to travel or hunt, and rarely read some books. The works that interested him were mainly biographies of emperors and generals and military essays, among which there were also special

Schlieffen's book "The Battle of Cannae" is highly praised and believed that he developed the outstanding military thinking of Hannibal, the commander of Carthage more than 2,000 years ago.

On June 28, 1914, Crown Prince Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, which provided an excuse for the European powers to launch a war. At the end of July and early August, European countries entered a state of war one after another. The European War began. When the war broke out, Hinden

Fort was visiting his son-in-law's farm in Pomerania. He immediately returned to Hanover. When passing through Berlin, he went to the General Staff and asked to appoint him to command the Fifth Army. However, the position of commander of the Fifth Army was already held by the crown prince at that time, so

No immediate decision on his appointment could be made….

In early August, good news came frequently on the German Western Front. The initial military operations were carried out in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan. The German troops avoided the French fortification areas, invaded France through Belgium and Luxembourg, advanced to the coastal areas, and then moved south to outflank Paris.

During those days, Hindenburg was restless in Hanover and wrote to the General Staff on August 12 to request another appointment. Ten days later, the General Staff notified him to go to Hanover Railway Station in the early morning of August 23 to wait for the special car that came to pick him up.

During this period, German newspapers published victory news from the Western Front, but there were very few reports on the Eastern Front because the war was not going very smoothly there. General Pritwitz, who commanded the 8th Army in East Prussia

Its mission is to defend the eastern part of Germany and wait for the main forces to come for reinforcements after the victory over France on the Western Front. On the Russian side, the two armies commanded by General Gilinsky greatly exceed the German army in numbers, but their equipment is poor and their morale is not high. They cooperate very well with each other.

Poor, the marching speed was very slow, and when there was even a slight contact between the two sides, Prittwitz panicked and ordered a retreat, and reported to the Supreme Command Headquarters, claiming that the area west of the Vistula River was also difficult to hold. So the Chief of General Staff

Moltke decided to draw troops from the Western Front and replaced Pritwitz and his chief of staff Waldersee. Due to his outstanding performance in the Battle of Liege, Ludendorff was selected to replace Waldersee as the 8th Army General.

The Chief of General Staff of the Army Group, Ludendorff, was ambitious and sharp. He needed to choose someone who was good at getting along with him as the commander-in-chief so that he could do whatever he wanted. In this way, Hindenburg, who had an easy-going nature and was good at dealing with things, was chosen.

In the early morning of August 23, 1914, what German public opinion called a "perfect pair of commanders" met for the first time at Hanover Station. Ludendorff reported to Hindenburg the situation and progress of the Eighth Army in the car.

Hindenburg listened patiently for 15 minutes and said, "I don't have any better ideas. I'll just do it this way." Then he went to bed. In this way, he was completely comfortable with himself from the beginning.

The role that Hindenburg should play. For Hindenburg, one of his main tasks is to "give full play to the ingenuity, almost superhuman energy and unfailing drive of my chief of staff, and to create for him when necessary

condition".

On the afternoon of August 25, Hindenburg and Ludendorff arrived at Marienburg, where the 8th Army's headquarters was located. Before that, Lieutenant Colonel Hoffman, the staff officer of the 8th Army, had already made plans to encircle and annihilate the Russian army Samsonov.

details of the army's plan and issued corresponding instructions. The battle began on August 23, while Improvised and Ludendorff were still on the road. Three days later, Samsonov was trapped in a tight siege; on August 31, all

The army was annihilated, known in history as the "Battle of Tannenberg".

Two weeks after the Battle of Tannenberg, the German army won the Battle of Masurian Lake on the Eastern Front. The Russian army was expelled from East Prussia and lost its strategic initiative. However, the German army did not go smoothly on the Western Front.

Moltke was defeated in the Battle of the Marne and Moltke was dismissed from office. In order to offset its impact, the newspaper used a full page to promote "The Victor of Tannenberg" on the night of September 14, the day Moltke was dismissed.

Overnight, Hindenburg became a famous "wise commander". "Hindenburg fever" set off across the country. Berlin took the lead in building the Hindenburg Memorial, and many streets and squares were named after Hindenburg. Many universities awarded him honorary doctorates.

Name, various products named after Hindenburg appeared on the market.

The Tannenberg victory earned Hindenburg the rank of field marshal, and he commanded all the armies on the Eastern Front. For this "genius commander" who suddenly changed his mind, those who knew the inside story would certainly not buy his account. Hoffman said

He once wrote angrily in his diary: "Will a truly capable person happen to become a marshal?" After Hindenburg was transferred to the headquarters, Hoffmann once said a sarcastic tone to a man who visited the battlefield.

People say: "This is where the marshal slept before the battle, this is where the marshal slept after the battle, and to be honest, this is where the marshal slept during the battle."….

Finally defeating the Russian army in 1914 brought him many honors, and he was promoted to marshal. His victory later became the basis of his fame and legend; but those who worked with him believed that he was just a puppet, and he was not really a puppet.

The person who planned the strategy was General Erich Ludendorff.

But in any case, for the Germans, Marshal Hindenburg is a "symbol of victory". Perhaps he can save the entire situation and win victory for Germany. After Falkenhayn was dismissed from his post, Hindenburg was dismissed by the Germans.

The Emperor appointed him as Chief of the General Staff and the head of the Supreme Army Command. Hindenburg's first order when he took office was to appoint Ludendorff as Director of Munitions. In name, Hindenburg commanded the entire army. In fact, it was Ludendorff.

Take command on his behalf.

"...Right now, the most urgent thing is not the Somme!"

In the office of the Supreme Army Command, Ludendorff, who had just been appointed as Director of Munitions, did not turn his attention to the Somme like others. For him, as early as the Eastern Front War, he had already begun to fully consider

The problems facing Germany as a whole, but this position now gives him sufficient power to adjust Germany's war layout according to his own vision.

"The most important thing is military production. We must create a new plan and formulate a new military production system while commanding the entire army. If possible, we must deprive those workers of what they fought for before the war.

Certain powers. Only by increasing military production can Germany win the war!"

Ludendorff has always been quite dissatisfied with Germany's military production. Germany's huge industrial production capacity has never met the needs of the front line. As a general who came out of the "secondary battlefield", Ludendorff has fully realized the need for military production.

Insufficient supplies. If they could get more supplies, maybe the war would have been a different situation.

"Of course, adjustments must be made!"

Hindenburg did not oppose Ludendorff's opinion. For the sixty-six-year-old field marshal, in the past two years, he had been full of trust in Ludendorff, and his suggestions had always been

"Unconditional acceptance".

"Then there's politics!"

After saying this, Ludendorff looked at Hindenburg and said.

"In order to ensure victory on the front line, the top army command must reject the government's interference in military affairs. At the same time, the top army command also needs..."
To be continued...