Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 139 Battle of Tannenberg

"You can know so much just by looking at a map?"

Ludendorff was astonished by Rein's ability to assess the battlefield situation so quickly: "But how do we deal with the First Army in that case?"

Raine didn't look at him, his gaze still fixed on the map in front of him. He drew an arc pointing to the left on the approximate location of the Imperial Army: "Leave a cavalry division, plus some logistics troops."

"That's far too little!"

Ludendorff's voice was so loud that it almost immediately drew everyone's attention. The other generals and staff officers in episode eight all turned to look at Ryan and Ludendorff, their eyes full of doubt.

What are these two doing, getting so worked up?

Then they heard Ryan's voice: "What we already know is that the left and right flanks of the Imperial First Army are currently at a standstill. I don't think a unit with such excellent morale would do something as foolish as stopping in front of the enemy."

"If I'm not mistaken, the only reason they halted their advance was due to insufficient supplies for their troops. Therefore, their commanders judged that a reckless advance would lead to supply shortages that would quickly destroy the morale of their troops."

As he spoke, Renn drew many circles on the map along the Insterburg line with a pencil—all of them, without exception, the most important high ground in the area.

"My view is that we should leave behind some artillery that is difficult to move, plus a cavalry division."

"We can have our cavalry divisions move around the front lines in a mobile manner, harassing enemy troops and occasionally pausing our attacks to make the enemy mistakenly believe that the Eighth Army is still stationed in Insterburg with large-scale artillery bombardment and machine gun fire."

"Of course, this operation cannot last too long. The cavalry division's firepower is insufficient, and at most it can only suppress a single regimental-level position. Therefore, the main force must defeat the Imperial Second Army Group located due south within two weeks."

Before he finished speaking, gasps of horror filled the entire headquarters.

"Colonel Frieze, this is far too radical."

Hindenburg listened to his words and agreed with Rein's judgment, but he clearly did not dare to issue such an order to the troops.

"The Imperial First Army Group has a total strength of 250,000 men, while our cavalry division has at most 4,700 men. The difference in strength is more than fifty times. No one in history has ever been able to intercept an army group with such a large force!"

Hindenburg's statement was actually quite conservative, because he didn't even mention that the largest unit Reyn had ever commanded was actually only a regiment.

Of course, this is also the main reason why he made such a judgment.

After all, in his view, Raine's combat experience was not rich enough, and in each previous battle, he had a large number of troops supporting and assisting him. Even if he failed, he could still quickly withdraw from the battlefield to reduce losses.

Hindenburg believed that in such a perfect combat environment, the only factor that could determine whether an army could win was whether the commander could mobilize enough morale.

But Raine clearly doesn't think so.

The same goes for Ludendorff.

After pondering for a moment, he calmed down and asked, "What are the specific battle strategies?"

Rein smiled slightly: "Then I'll have to trouble you generals and commanders to cooperate."

"But it doesn't matter."

As the de facto commander of the Eighth Army, if only Ludendorff were present, he would obviously not have dared to ask Rein to explain the battle plan in detail.

Because there were still a lot of people in the army who did not recognize his command position. After all, Ludendorff was just a civilian officer, and no one was willing to listen to him.

But now Ryan is also present.

He was a war hero of the empire, and he even had a sword bestowed upon him by the emperor. Even without his noble title, no one dared to gossip about him behind his back.

However, Renn wisely glanced at Hindenburg again, and only after the other man nodded did he say to the lieutenants beside him, "Please set up the war zone sand table."

Several lieutenants were immediately excited. They quickly took out about twenty sand tables, each as big as a man's chest, from the Holy Dining Room, which had been converted into a storage room. After a flurry of activity, they finally managed to assemble them and place them on the table in the center of the headquarters.

Two other majors immediately brought over chairs equipped with pulleys, allowing people to suspend themselves in mid-air and explain the sand table.

But Renn rejected this offer.

Because he doesn't like the feeling of sitting on top of other people.

The generals and officers around him fell silent and gathered around, waiting for Renn's explanation.

Without wasting words, Ryan immediately grabbed a wooden stick and began to speak.

"This battle is a very complex and large-scale battle. Considering that it is already late October and winter is approaching, the first factors we need to consider are supplies and the morale of the soldiers."

"The Eighth Army has been gradually retreating under the Empire's attacks since last month. Based on past experience, the continuous defeats are not good news for the morale of our soldiers. However, when I went to the grassroots units of various units today, I found that the morale was actually not bad."

"The lads all want to drive those damn imperial pigs out of the empire."

General François of the First Army immediately responded.

This made Renn take another look at him. The two exchanged a brief glance, and Renn continued speaking.

"Therefore, under the current circumstances, I believe we should follow the same strategy the General Staff employs within the Empire: prioritize dealing with the critical fronts as quickly as possible, and then return to reinforce them after the battles are over."

Hindenburg: "Do you think the Second Army poses a greater threat than the First Army?"

Renn nodded: "That's right."

He pointed the wooden stick in his hand to the location of the Imperial Second Army on the southern border of East Prussia: "Currently, the Imperial Second Army is operating on the western side of the Masurian Lakes area. Their forces are extremely large from left to right. Judging from the map, I can tell that they intend to maintain a high speed of advance with a wide area. If there are no surprises, their expected marching speed is at least thirty kilometers per day."

This immediately chilled the entire headquarters several degrees. Ryan could even clearly see the two army commanders of the First Army and the Seventeenth Army frowning as they looked at the sand table.

However, Ryan quickly put their worries to rest.

He said, "But there is a problem with where the Second Army is marching."

He circled the wooden stick around Lake Masurie: "The generals present here are all troops stationed in East Prussia for a long time. I suppose you all know that Lake Masurie is called a lake, but it should actually be described as a swamp-lake complex composed of multiple rivers and depressions."

"Given that the Second Army's objective in advancing from the south is to coordinate with the First Army to form a large network and use a pincer movement to annihilate the Eighth Army, their main force will inevitably be extremely close to Lake Masurie, which will cause their marching speed to drop to an almost unacceptable level."

"And this is the main reason why the Second Army has not engaged in large-scale conflict with our troops even though it has been inside the Empire for a week."

Ryan's words immediately jolted the generals awake: "That's why we've always considered the First Army as our primary enemy!"

"That's right, we attacked in the wrong direction."

Ryan: "There is still a chance to salvage the situation."

"Tell me about it." Hindenburg didn't wait for Renn to remain silent before renewing his bill.

Ryan understood his meaning, and after having Ludendorff hand him a few small flags, he placed them directly in the center of the sand table.

"We need to move a large number of troops, especially the First and Seventeenth Armies, which are the main force, to the Vilenburg direction in the south within two days by rail, and establish a front there to contain the Second Army's operations."

As he spoke, he looked at Generals François and Mackensen.

“No problem,” the two generals said in unison.

But this made General Scholz of the 20th Army uneasy: "What about my troops?"

Rein: "The 20th Corps will be the core of the right flank and the main force of the feint attack. General Scholz, your troops' mission is to drive the main force of the Empire into the defensive line near Lake Masurie, creating suitable conditions for the attack of Generals François and Mackensen."

“Explain in detail,” Scholz said.

Rein paused for a moment, then placed four or five flags representing the Eighth Army on the sand table.

These flags, starting from the area behind Velenburg and Lake Masurie, extended northwards to Allenstein, forming a U-shaped pocket turned sideways. Directly in front of this pocket was the main force of the Imperial Second Army.

"The operation plan is very simple. We will first send the First and Seventeenth Armies onto the trains to Allenstein and Nedenburg as quickly as possible, and then deploy the First Army in the direction of Lake Masurie within two days."

"The 20th Army will be stationed directly in Velenburg, while the 17th Army will serve as the central force, facing the Imperial Second Army head-on."

"In the early stages of the battle, we need to use the 17th Army as bait to retreat continuously into the Empire and lure the Empire's Second Army into the Empire's territory."

"Once their main force has entered Imperial territory, the 20th Army will immediately launch a large-scale feint attack, forcing Imperial troops to attack the First Army Group stationed at Lake Masur. This is the mid-term tactic."

"In order to ensure their successful breakout, the Imperial Army will definitely withdraw its troops to the eastern front on a large scale. This will allow our 17th and 20th Armies to advance and completely tighten the U-shaped pocket."

"And in the final stages of the battle, what we need to do is to continuously compress the area of ​​the pocket, further compress the Imperial forces, and leave them only one road leading to Lake Masur."

"At that time, even if we stop attacking, the Empire's Second Army will be completely incapacitated because it will be driven into Lake Masurie."

"At the same time, we can leave a portion of our troops behind, or mobilize the Ninth Army and reserves to deal with the fleeing Imperial troops, while the remaining troops can immediately take the train back to Insterburg and resume the offensive against the Imperial First Army."

As he spoke, Renn sighed, "However, I feel that if the Second Army has already been defeated, the First Army of the Empire will definitely withdraw from East Prussia at an even faster pace."

"What do you mean?" Ludendorff asked curiously. "Don't they support each other?"

Ryan glanced at Ludendorff and thought to himself that it was only because Hoffman was dead that he would hear that famous joke again.

However, this world is different from Earth. Asia is a super-large inland sea, so the specific situation is different.

However, Raine knew some things, such as that the two of them slapped each other in this world, but the location was Hokkaido.

"The commander of the Imperial First Army, Leninkamp, ​​and the commander of the Second Army, Samsonov, had participated in the Russo-Japanese War. They went to Hokkaido as the Imperial delegation to sign the surrender agreement."

“If Hoffman were still alive, he would definitely tell you that he saw those two slapping each other at a train station in Hokkaido and almost got arrested and detained by the local police.”

"So you came up here asking where Hoffman is?" Ludendorff suddenly realized.

Ryan said helplessly, "Marshal Schlieffen told me this, and Hoffman told him it. And you're telling me he died a week ago."

Ludendorff could only shrug helplessly at this.

After all, he didn't kill the person, and it's wartime now, so it's normal for people to die at any time.

However, he immediately realized something—Raine only talked about how to fight the Empire's Second Army Group, but didn't talk about how to deal with the First Army Group.

And that's exactly what Renne is responsible for in this battle.

Ludendorff immediately pressed, "So how do you plan to stop the First Army?"

The officers around him immediately looked at Rein again.

In the plan just now, Ryan arranged the task allocation for the three main armies of the Eighth Army, but the Eighth Army also has a rear army and a reserve division.

If we include the support troops, there is also a cavalry division and a cavalry brigade, plus six heavy artillery battalions and twelve light howitzers.

Rennes didn't feel any pressure about this.

Because Hoffman had already devised a specific battle plan for him.

he said.

"The solution for dealing with the First Army Group is not difficult."

"We only need to ensure that the Imperial First Army cannot continue its advance before the Second Army is routed."

With that, he waved his hand, ordering the lieutenants to remove the southern sand table, leaving only a section in Insterburg.

"In the early stages of the campaign, the artillery battalion will not depart together with the First, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Armies."

"Because we need to prioritize transporting people to the south, they will set off after the main force has established its battle line."

"During this period, the artillery battalion will continue to be stationed in Insterburg and will carry out intimidating bombardments against the Imperial First Army with the same firepower density as now."

"The First Reserve Army and the Third Reserve Division will also launch attacks on Imperial forces from time to time during this period."

"Given that their main force is currently in a vulnerable state, it's likely that supplies in the rear are so scarce that they can't be sustained. In other words, if the First Army's Leningamp wants to continue its advance, it will inevitably require its troops to prioritize supplying the forces on the flanks..."

"You mean, their main force will temporarily lose its supplies?" Ludendorff was clearly surprised by Rein's assessment.

However, he immediately understood the reason—the objective of the First and Second Army Groups of the Empire was to encircle the Eighth Army Group of the Empire. If their flanks did not advance quickly enough, they would inevitably fail to construct a perfect encirclement.

But clearly, unlike the Empire, they didn't know that it was unnecessary to send troops to Lake Masuria, so they would waste precious time and resources on this matter, just to accomplish something meaningless and absolutely doomed to failure.

Because when their flank forces began their operations, the First Corps of the Eighth Army was already waiting in front of them.

Ryan didn't explain to Ludendorff, firstly because he believed Ludendorff could figure it out himself, and secondly because he had his own things to do.

He said, "That's right, so the 1st Cavalry Division left in Insterburg needs to conduct mobile warfare on the front line, constantly harassing the Imperial troops at night and in the early morning with the help of artillery cover, and trying to cut off their supply lines."

"My troops will advance with them, and if we're lucky, it's not impossible that we can rout some of the Empire's regimental-level units."

His words immediately drew everyone's attention, and General Morgan, the commander of the 3rd Reserve Division, immediately asked, "But, Colonel, doesn't your unit only have one company?"

“Indeed, my unit only has one company,” Ryan looked at him, “but my company has three artillery pieces that can move at speeds of twenty to thirty kilometers per hour on the front lines and can run away after firing.”

"We can rush to the front line along the road at a speed similar to that of the cavalry, and then withdraw from the front line at a speed even faster than that of the cavalry after we have used up all our shells."

"I think those imperial troops will never understand why a cavalry unit can be targeted by artillery fire with one or two hundred shells wherever it goes."

However, Renn's face immediately darkened.

He said in a very serious tone, "But all of this is based on the premise that the main force can completely defeat the Imperial Second Army within a week."

"Furthermore, the artillery units and the First Reserve Corps remaining in Insterburg will leave Insterburg after the Twentieth Corps completes its deployment, which means that Insterburg will have at most less than 20,000 troops to defend it in the last three days of the battle."

"If the main force fails to end the battle within a week, then I think you all understand what the rest is about, right?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole place fell into silence.

The generals looked at each other, clearly taken aback by Renn's statement.

But it was at this moment that François, the commander of the First Army, spoke up.

"The First Army is fine."

Commander Mackensen of the 17th Army continued, "You have the Blue Star Medal, and the 17th Army and I believe in you."

Commander Scholz of the 20th Army also said, "It's just a feint. The 20th Army has been launching feints for so long that we are now the best at launching feints in the Empire."

"So, what should we call this battle?" Hindenburg stood to the side, looking at Renn.

Renn then glanced at the map.

"The new command post will be located in Tannenberg."

"Let's call it the Battle of Tannenberg."

(End of this chapter)