Germany does not seek survival

Because the Russian army had invaded the Galicia region, it carried out inhumane destruction in this area before retreating. Countless locomotives and freight cars were stolen, and a large number of railways were demolished. The military train that the Grossdeutschland Battalion was riding on had to wait for the engineers dispatched by the German army to repair the railway line every once in a while.

As half Croat and half Slovenian, Tito has the most say on the current situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Faust asked Tito: "How long do you think Vienna can hold out?"

Tito shook his head repeatedly: "Without Germany, Vienna would not be able to hold out for even a single day. Let's put it this way, Hungary is unwilling to provide Austria with food. Even the food rations in Vienna, the capital of the empire, now need to be provided by Germany."

The core of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a dual empire, is Austria and Hungary. However, Hungary, as the other core, has never given face to Austria and has tried its best to hold back the empire.

Tito also smiled bitterly: "In the eyes of the Hungarians, if Vienna wins the war, it will most likely strengthen centralization. If Vienna loses the war, it will definitely make further concessions to Hungary after the war. So the Hungarians actually hope to lose the war."

The idea of ​​the Hungarian authorities is really ridiculous. Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire is defeated, Austria will certainly not escape the punishment of the Allied Powers. However, Hungary has been bullying the ethnic minorities within the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the past two hundred years. If the empire is defeated, will Hungary be able to escape punishment?

The Hungarian authorities did not see things as clearly as Tito.

Tito hit the nail on the head: "In Transleithania, which the Hungarians call the Crown of St. Stephen, Budapest is implementing a particularly forced Hungarianization policy. All non-Hungarian ethnic groups, Slovenes, Croats, Bosniaks, Romanians... are systematically discriminated against in all aspects."

Tito said: "The ethnic minority communities under Budapest's oppression are already economically backward. Add to that the ethnic oppression, and society is so unfair that everyone hates Hungarians. Did you know? Because we are directly under the jurisdiction of Budapest, the hatred for Hungarians is even stronger than the hatred for the Vienna government."

Faust also understood that in later history, the reason why the Soviet Revolution broke out in Hungary after its defeat in World War I and the Hungarian Soviet Republic was established for a time was because Hungary was surrounded by mortal enemies formed over the past two hundred years. Apart from joining the Communist Party, the Hungarians had no other choice.

This can be considered as self-sufficiency.

The Hungarians' pursuit of national independence in the 1848 Revolution was brutally suppressed by Austria and Tsarist Russia, which is indeed sympathetic. However, after that, with the Austro-Hungarian compromise and the establishment of the dual imperial system, the Hungarians themselves suffered from the cold but did not bring warmth to other ethnic minorities. Instead, once they came to power, they immediately turned into oppressors.

The spring of 1917 came early. Soon after the train entered the Galicia region, Faust saw the ice and snow slowly melting from the window. When the train arrived in Krakow, the largest Polish city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the weather was already very warm and the soldiers could take off their heavy military coats.

The cities where Poles live look relatively clean among the major cities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Rommel believed that Polish cities at least look much better than Hungarian cities.

The mustache disagreed: "The Poles are a destabilizing factor lurking between Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the future, if possible, we should also learn from the Russian Empire's practice and implement a policy of forced assimilation on the Poles to completely eliminate this destabilizing factor. Otherwise, in the long future, who knows whether Poland will regain its independence?"

Rommel shook his head. "How could Poland possibly be independent? This pathetic country has been destroyed for over a hundred years. Moreover, don't forget that Poland was divided up by three great empires: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Unless all three empires collapse simultaneously, there is no possibility for Poland to regain its independence."

The man with the mustache wiped his moustache and said, "That's right. The three great empires that divided Poland collapsed at the same time? This is a ridiculous dream."

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Faust's heart began to beat wildly again. If Poland wanted to be independent, it really needed the right time, place and people. It needed a major historical opportunity, and it also needed a political strongman who could lead the crowd and seize the fleeting historical moment. It was extremely difficult to think about it, but there were actually people who could do it. It could be said that it was a matter of fate, and it could also be said that it was all in the hands of man.

Faust shook his head. "Comrades, remember our job, our mission. After the Grossdeutschland Battalion is expanded into the Grossdeutschland Regiment, our job is to fight alongside the Polish Legion."

At the train station in Krakow, another entire battalion of Bavarian Mountain Hunters was waiting. This regiment was composed entirely of guards transferred from Crown Prince Rupprecht's command. They had strong combat capabilities, but unlike the Great German Battalion, they had not received unique targeted training.

This battalion will next be incorporated into the newly expanded Great German Jäger Assault Regiment. In addition, Lieutenant General Gallwitz and Major Rundstedt also agreed to separate a Württemberg Jäger Battalion from the 22nd Army and hand it over to the Great German Regiment.

There was a huge crowd of people inside and outside the train station. The officer who came to greet Faust was wearing a gray Austro-Hungarian officer's uniform, but on his head he wore a high, four-cornered cavalry hat of Czapka, which was full of Polish style.

This man looked to be about thirty years old, holding the rank of colonel in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had drooping eyebrows and the most popular Wilhelm mustache in Germany. He took the initiative to extend his hand to the generals of the Grossdeutschland Regiment and spoke fluent German:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Władysław Sikorski, commander of the 1st Division of the Polish Legion. I have come to Krakow to greet you on orders from the Legion Commander. Our Legion is located in Warsaw. From now on, in accordance with the instructions of the Operations Department of the Eastern Front General Staff, your army and mine will fight and act together."

The "corps commander" mentioned by Władysław Sikorski was probably the commander-in-chief of the Polish Corps, Piłsudski.

Because all officers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were required to swear allegiance to the Habsburg royal family, Piłsudski was the only one among the Polish Legion who always refused to take the oath, so Vienna was unable to grant Piłsudski an official military rank.

It just so happened that Piłsudski had the highest prestige among the Poles in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. All the generals and officers of the Polish Legion were his disciples. Apart from him, no other Polish officer in the Austro-Hungarian army was qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the Polish Legion.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had no choice but to reluctantly let Piłsudski, who had no Austrian military rank, serve as commander. The Polish independence movement called him the "leader". On the surface, generals like Colonel Sikorski, who belonged to both the Austrian Army and the Polish Legion, called Piłsudski the "Leader of the Legion".

Rommel shook hands with Colonel Sikorski on behalf of the entire Grossdeutschland Regiment and asked, "How many troops and weapons and equipment does your regiment have in Warsaw now?"

Chapter 58: Nationalists

The Polish Legion was nominally affiliated with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but in reality it still had a strong degree of independence. Colonel Sikorski introduced it to everyone:

"In the first year of the war, the Polish Legion had only 5,000 men, but we fought well. In the Carpathian Mountains, Commander Piłsudski personally led a charge, capturing the village of Laski under fierce Russian artillery fire. Later, we were ordered to rescue the Austrian army surrounded by the Russians at Lovkovic in Lesser Poland. At the village of Rokina, we launched a bayonet charge under cover of fog, breaking through three enemy lines of defense in 15 minutes..."

Colonel Sikorski was obviously very proud of the combat effectiveness of the Polish Legion, because the Austro-Hungarian Empire promised the Poles that after the war, they would be allowed to establish a highly independent country. The political price the Poles had to pay was to let a member of the Habsburg royal family serve as the constitutional monarch of the new Poland.

As a result, the morale of the Polish Army was high, and they performed well in many subsequent battles. At the Austrian defense line in Kosti-Oshnovka, Piłsudski personally commanded the battlefield. The Polish Army held the main position for two days and successfully resisted the offensive of the Russian army that was three times its size at the cost of more than 50% casualties.

Since then, the Polish Army was allowed to expand to two divisions. Later, Piłsudski led the Polish Army to cooperate with the German army to capture Warsaw. The German army once again opened the door and allowed the Polish Army to expand to three divisions.

Colonel Sikorski said, "Our total force strength now consists of three divisions. Our infantry is equipped with Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher M1895 bolt-action rifles, but we are short on heavy equipment. Each infantry regiment is equipped with only six Schwarzschild M1912 heavy machine guns, and each division is equipped with only twenty-four Škoda 80mm field guns."

Colonel Sikorski was very envious of the weapons and equipment of the Grossdeutschland Regiment. The number of machine guns equipped in a battalion of the Grossdeutschland Regiment was more than that of an infantry regiment of the Polish Legion, and the number of artillery equipped in a regiment of the Grossdeutschland Regiment was comparable to that of a division of the Polish Legion.

Obviously, the German army did not fully trust the Poles.

Faust was not very interested in Colonel Sikorski or the Polish Legion. He was most concerned about Piłsudski himself:

"Where is your regimental commander, Herr Piłsudski? Is he in Warsaw? Why doesn't he wait for us in Krakow?"

Colonel Sikorski's eyebrows were very low, almost touching his eyes. He stared at Faust with a look that looked very cruel:

"Captain, the war on the Eastern Front involves millions of troops. You and I, two small armies, are insignificant on the Eastern Front. Commander Piłsudski is still at the Warsaw front because the fighting there is still raging. During the campaign, Commander Piłsudski has no time to spare."

Colonel Sikorski also looked down on the armies of other ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire: "No other ethnic group in the Austro-Hungarian Empire has ever performed as well as we have on the battlefield. Officers, you can see that the Austrian army has suffered a series of defeats in Galicia, and only the Polish army has suffered losses at the hands of the Russians."

The Austro-Hungarian army suffered repeated defeats in Galicia and retreated hastily almost to the Carpathian Mountains, which really stunned the German army. The Austrian army was not annihilated by Russia between the Vistula River and the Carpathian Mountains because of good luck. The Austrian commander Conrad was frightened and retreated far and fast enough in his hasty retreat, beyond the supply range of the Russian army, making it impossible for the Russians to catch up.

The Austrian army performed so poorly that it was often defeated by the Russian army with fewer troops. When the Russian army encountered the German army, it was often defeated by the German army with fewer troops.

Rommel is now a major. As the acting commander of the Grossdeutschland Regiment, he will soon be promoted to lieutenant colonel, and his rank is no lower than that of Colonel Sikorski. What's more, Rommel is a German soldier, while Sikorski is just a not-so-genuine Polish soldier.

Rommel said: "The ethnic situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is too chaotic. If their army were composed entirely of Austrian Germans, they would perform much better than they do now."

Colonel Sikorski smiled with a forced smile: "Haha, Major, you're right. I hope the Austrian army can really cheer up."

The Polish generals felt uncomfortable with their tough attitude. The man with the mustache even cursed in a low voice: "Polack!"

Ludendorff had agreed to the expansion of the Polish Legion. In Krakow, Colonel Sikorski's task, in addition to contacting and cooperating with the Großdeutschland Regiment, also included recruiting soldiers in Krakow and forming a new infantry battalion of the Polish Legion.

Outside the train station, Polish soldiers were wearing Austro-Hungarian army uniforms, carrying Mannlicher rifles, and lined up in columns, following behind the Grossdeutschland Regiment.

The soldiers of this new unit led by Colonel Sikorski were not new recruits. Before Ludendorff allowed the Polish Legion to expand, in addition to the small number of Polish troops under Piłsudski, a large number of Poles were recruited into the Austrian army.

Colonel Sikorski brought these Polish soldiers directly from the Austrian army to the Polish Legion.

At first glance, the Polish Legion's actions seemed to be of no benefit to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and could not add any new forces to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The main difference is that when Polish soldiers served in the Austrian army, they were generally demoralized, just like the Czechs and Croats. But after they joined the Polish Legion, they became full of fighting spirit.

But Faust could also see the drawbacks of this policy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Poles had already trained a team of officers. In the future, as long as the Austro-Hungarian army disintegrated, the Polish Corps could immediately absorb all Polish soldiers in the Austrian army. In a short period of time, the army could be expanded from 30,000 to 40,000 people to hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people.

No wonder the Eastern Front High Command came up with this idea and let the Great German Regiment monitor the Polish Legion.

"Mr. Piłsudski was the leader of the Polish Socialist Party before the war, wasn't he?" Faust asked. "I remember that Rosa Luxemburg was also a member of the Polish Socialist Party."

Colonel Silkorsky's face immediately revealed an expression of undisguised disgust when he mentioned Rosa Luxemburg, a current political prisoner in Germany:

"Yes, Luxemburg. She was once Polish, but everyone in Poland knew that Ms. Luxemburg was more attached to her Jewish ancestry. This Jewish woman loved to flatter Tsarist Russia, saying that class struggle should be prioritized over national struggle. This was nothing more than an excuse to stop the Polish uprising."

On the question of Rosa Luxemburg, Colonel Sikorski finally showed some respect for Germany:

"You did a good thing by putting that vicious Jewish woman, Luxemburg, in jail. Otherwise, if you let her talk nonsense, she would have been nothing more than a spy for Tsarist Russia. Her talk of Polish independence is nothing more than a shift from being a slave of foreign capitalists to being a slave of her own capitalists. She is also defending Russia by equating Polish national capitalists with Russian overseers."

As a Polish-born Jew, Luxemburg's self-national identity lies between that of a Pole and a Jew. However, Luxemburg was indeed different from the vast majority of Poles. She opposed Polish independence and believed that Poland's economy was dependent on Russia, so she should not have a revolution. Instead, she should promote the success of the Russian Revolution and then allow Poland to be integrated into the big family of Red Russia.

This statement naturally caused Luxemburg to be attacked by a large number of Polish nationalists. It was for this reason that Rosa Luxemburg withdrew from the Polish Socialist Party headed by Piłsudski and re-established the Polish-Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, which opposed nationalism.

Later, because Luxemburg was wanted in Russia, she left Russian Poland and went to work in Germany, which she believed was the center of the European revolution.

Luxemburg positioned herself as a "revolutionary without borders" and refused to be bound by regional or national identity. She was quite alienated from the national independence movement in Poland and insisted that the revolutionary victory of the European powers would naturally lead to the victory of the Polish revolution.

This practice of disregarding the demands of Polish nationalism naturally made Luxemburg a thorn in the side of nationalists such as Piłsudski.

Chapter 59: Dragon Slayer

The National Socialists in the Greater German Group were fed up with the Polish people's unwarranted arrogance.

Take Faust for example, he thought the attitude towards the Poles was very friendly, but what was the current situation? The Polish Legion was still under the control of Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the final analysis, this army was still a vassal army of the Central Powers.

The Polish legions, represented by Colonel Sikorski, did not respect German officers very much.

Moreover, the Poles' attitude towards the German army was relatively friendly, but their attitude towards the Austrians was sarcastic and harsh.

Colonel Sikorski may have felt that there were no Austrian officers in the Grossdeutschland Regiment, so all the way to Krakow, Colonel Sikorski criticized the Austro-Hungarian Empire in front of Faust.

The Poles criticized the poor state of the Austrian army's armaments, then criticized the Austro-Hungarian authorities for not giving Polish the same high status as Czech, and finally discussed that the Poles did not welcome a member of the Habsburg royal family to come to Warsaw to be king.

Faust could still tolerate the Pole's noise, but the mustache man couldn't help it: "Very good, Colonel, you are right. We also believe that a member of the Habsburg royal family is not qualified to be the King of Poland. After all, the entire Russian Poland was clearly conquered by the German army. Of course, a German should be the King of Poland."

This made Colonel Sikorski stop talking nonsense that annoyed the German soldiers.

Colonel Sikorski wore black leather gloves and leaned on a saber, looking like an old-fashioned aristocrat from the last century. The man with a mustache hated the aristocratic behavior. Besides, Poland had been destroyed for hundreds of years, so where did the aristocracy come from?

Colonel Sikorski quickly turned the subject back to business. "Well... Commander Pilsudski has a lot of things to attend to in Warsaw. He can't accompany you to Lithuania right away. But I can. I will lead the newly formed 3rd Polish Division and the Großdeutschland Regiment to the Baltic Sea."

Rommel reminded him: "It's not Lithuania. We Germans call that area Courland."

Poland and Lithuania had a special relationship in ancient times. The two countries formed a federation for many years. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth once became the overlord of Eastern Europe. Until now, Lithuanian and Polish are still very similar, and there are a large number of Poles living in Lithuania. No wonder the Poles regard Lithuania as part of their cultural circle.

According to the Central Powers' plan for Polish independence, after Poland's independence, the eastern border of the new Polish territory could be extended eastward to Vitebsk in the western Belarus region in accordance with the 1772 territory before Poland was first partitioned.

However, the southern, western and northern boundaries of the new Polish territory could not exceed the scope of today's Russian Poland.

In other words, the Polish settlements on the western border of the new Poland, which are currently German territory, such as Posen and Danzig, would definitely not be handed over to Poland.

The southern border of the new Polish territory was Galicia, a Polish-populated area owned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It could only be incorporated into Poland in the form of a united monarchy after the Austro-Hungarian royal family became the king of Poland.

As for the northern border of the new Polish territory, there is no need to say much about Germany's Danzig. The Lithuanian region, which the Poles coveted very much, should have been ceded to the new Duchy of Courland according to Ludendorff's plan.

The General Staff wanted to find a new home for Germany's growing population, and this new home was a Germanized Courland state.

Germany wanted to expel all Slavs from Courland, and then distribute the land obtained after driving out the Slavs to German immigrants. This would prevent Germany's birth rate from declining, prevent its people from leaving their homes, and alleviate the housing shortage problem.

Therefore, it is impossible for Germany to hand over Lithuania to the Poles.

This means that in the General Staff's plan for the establishment of Poland, the new Poland is a landlocked country with no access to the sea.

Colonel Sikorski fell silent for a while, and Faust also felt that it was not easy to establish a sincere friendship between German and Polish soldiers at this stage. Both sides were wary of each other, and now they could only fight side by side because they had a common enemy, Tsarist Russia. Once Tsarist Russia fell, this alliance would quickly collapse.

At this time, when Faust observed the Polish Corps commanded by Colonel Sikorski again, he felt that the impression was completely different. This army might become the enemy in a few months.

Faust was more or less eager to meet Piłsudski. He was very interested in Piłsudski, the Polish nationalist leader with a socialist background. However, Piłsudski himself was probably very reluctant to have any contact with the Greater German Group.

Piłsudski may have learned from some channels that the Polish Legion would be monitored by the Grossdeutschland.

So before the National Socialists had rested for a few days in Krakow, Colonel Sikorski told Faust that because the Russian army had launched a new counterattack against Poland, Piłsudski had led the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Polish Legion to fight on the front line. In the recent period, Piłsudski certainly had no time to return to Warsaw and Krakow.

"It seems that the Poles don't have a good impression of us."

Faust returned to the temporary headquarters of the Greater German Regiment in Krakow's Old Town. The leading members of the National Socialist Party were also there. The man with the mustache also said indignantly:

"That Pole, Sikorski, has a really arrogant attitude. Don't forget that it was Germany that allowed the Poles to form an army. Otherwise, he wouldn't be worthy of the rank of colonel."

Rommel calmly analyzed, "I think our alliance with the Polish Legion won't last long. It's obvious to the naked eye that the Poles are unwilling to surrender to Germany. Their spirit is high. Whether Russia or the Allies are defeated in the future, the Poles are likely to rise from the ruins of the defeated. There is a high possibility of conflict between us and them."

Faust smiled calmly. "If a revolution breaks out in Germany, and we can eliminate all the oppressive classes in Germany during the revolution, the new Germany may have a chance to calmly discuss unity and a federation with the Poles. However, the decision lies not only with Germany, but also with Poland."

Sorge shared the same sentiment: "Yes, it is not the German people who oppress the Poles, but a small group of German nobles and capitalists. Once we launch a revolution to eliminate the feudal lords and the bourgeoisie, the contradictions between Germany and Poland will be eliminated."

Tito shook his head: "Comrade Sorge, are you so naive? Poland was divided between Germany, Austria and Russia and was destroyed for more than a hundred years. How can such national hatred and family feuds be eliminated just like that? Will the German Revolution completely eliminate historical hatreds? Do you want the Poles to put aside their grudges and unite with Germany? Although I am not Polish, I also feel that if you insist on asking the Poles to do so, it will be really unfair to Poland."

"Is such that."

Faust said, "We have no right to demand that the Poles give up their historical hatred, but it's hard to say how the future will develop. During Marx's lifetime, the country European socialists sympathized with the most was Poland. But what about the future? If the Poles, in pursuit of national revenge, choose a path that will bring pain to their loved ones and joy to their enemies, transforming themselves from the oppressed into the new oppressors, then the socialists' sympathy for Poland could also turn into hostility."

Tito was not optimistic about this: "It is too difficult to expect people who have suffered hundreds of years of national oppression to rise up and not vent their anger and seek revenge!"

"The story of the dragon slayer becoming the new evil dragon is not uncommon in history."

Faust regrets this: "At least we, the National Socialists, cannot become that dragon."

Next, there was extra good news in Krakow. Lieutenant General Galwitz, who had a good relationship with the Great German Regiment, was said to be promoted to commander-in-chief of a new army group for his contribution in occupying the Romanian capital Bucharest. Major Rundstedt would also become the chief combat staff officer of this new army group.

Among the members of the Grossdeutschland Regiment, Rommel finally received an official appointment from the General Staff and became the commander of the Grossdeutschland Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

After serving as captain for only a few days, Faust was promoted to major as quickly as possible. He will replace Rommel as the commander of the 1st Battalion of the Grossdeutschland Regiment with the rank of major.

The other officers of the Grossdeutschland Regiment were also promoted, and everyone's rank was raised by almost one level. Even the man with a mustache passed the reserve officer examination after struggling on the ultra-low air pressure line and was awarded the rank of second lieutenant.

Chapter 60 Manstein

Lieutenant Hitler.

This was a title that made Little Mustache feel very proud. He increasingly felt that joining the National Socialist Party was the best choice in his life. Otherwise, how could he have the opportunity to become an officer?

After changing into a beautiful officer's uniform, the man with the mustache excitedly said to Faust, "When are we going to Courland? Let's continue the war."

By 1917, even among the German troops that had won victory after victory on the Eastern Front, it was difficult to find a few soldiers as passionate about fighting as Little Mustache. He was indeed different from ordinary people in his bones. It might be too simple to say that he was persistent. Faust felt that if a person was as obsessed as Little Mustache, he would be able to achieve great success in anything he did.

And in the end, you will definitely suffer a big enough failure.