Germany does not seek survival

Putalek took a quick look and saw that his cavalry had suffered more than 60% combat casualties. If the Russian train rushed out and fired two more rounds of shots, they would be completely wiped out.

Am I going to die here?

A kaleidoscope of events flashed before Lieutenant Putacek's eyes. His father was a Czech nobleman and had participated in the Hungarian independence movement in his early years. After the Austro-Hungarian compromise, the Hungarian nobles turned around and oppressed other small ethnic groups, which made Lieutenant Putacek's father very disappointed. Putacek remembered that when he was a child, his father told him that revolutionary stories often ended with the revolutionaries becoming the new tyrants.

After the death of his father, Putacek's family fell into poverty. He was reduced to working odd jobs in Vienna with Tito, experiencing the ups and downs of life. After the war broke out, all the people in Vienna signed up for the army with great enthusiasm. The Germans wanted to serve their country, and the Czechs and Croats wanted to gain independence through the war. However, Putacek was not interested in either, because no one could promise him an ideal country, and no one could promise that the revolutionaries would not become new tyrants after the revolution.

Now, Lieutenant Ptacek felt that the National Socialist Party had given him something new. He was not sure whether the National Socialist Party could definitely create a new ideal world, but it was certain that the National Socialist Party’s propositions brought him new hope in the chaos.

"We all have to survive... Let's see what Mr. Faust's ideal country is like..."

The Russian armored train rushed out along the rails, the locomotive spewed out large clouds of smoke, the huge red crankshaft and wheels began to work, a monster train spewed out mist, and came like a tidal wave.

Lieutenant Putacek picked up a G98 rifle. He calmly loaded the last row of bullets into the rifle, pulled the bolt, and fired a shot at the armored train. The bullet hit the armor plate, splashing a little spark, but had no effect.

"damn it……"

With a loud bang, the roof of the armored train suddenly exploded. Amidst the intense flames and smoke, Lieutenant Ptacek was stunned. A bicycle fell from the sky, and Mr. Faust, wearing a long trench coat, landed on the armored train carriage with the bicycle at a flying speed.

The machine guns on the armored train can only fire towards the sides and cannot shoot to the top. The protection on the top of the train is also much weaker than the sides.

Faust lifted his bicycle and threw two grenades, which blew a big hole above the Russian armored train. The Russian soldiers in the carriage quickly raised their rifles and pistols and aimed them at Faust.

Faust leaped down, his trench coat fluttering in the wind like a pair of gray wings. He jumped into the carriage, crossed his hands, grabbed the rifles of the Russian soldiers on both sides of his body, pulled hard, changed the direction of the muzzle, and aimed at other Russian soldiers. With two bangs, the bullets hit the Russian soldiers themselves.

In a flash, Faust lowered his body to avoid the Russian army's hasty and indiscriminate bullets, slid across the floor of the carriage, and flew to the end of the carriage.

In the narrow carriage, the Russian soldiers fired in astonishment, most of the shots hitting their own people. Faust stood up at the end of the carriage. He took out two Luger P17 assault pistols loaded with bullets from his back, and poured out 32 rounds from the drum magazine in one breath. Every bullet hit the forehead of a Russian soldier accurately, without a millimeter's error, and all hit the same position.

After Faust had used up all the bullets in his hand, he gently threw the two Luger P17s on the floor. After he cleared the carriage, he walked to the window, grabbed a Maxim M1910 heavy machine gun mounted on the firing port with both hands, and pulled it hard, pulling the Maxim heavy machine gun off the fixing bracket.

The fifty-pound Maxim machine gun was like a piece of paper in Faust's hand. He raised the machine gun with his left hand, clenched his right fist, and smashed open the passage door at the end of the carriage with a bang.

In another carriage behind the door, before the Russian soldiers could react, the Maxim heavy machine gun in Faust's hand began to spew out flames, and the fierce strafing filled the carriage with smoke and blood mist.

After Faust had used up a whole belt of ammunition, he raised the Maxim and used the machine gun as a hammer, smashing anyone he saw. Bang, bang, bang, he knocked down several surviving Russian soldiers, and then he killed his way through the carriages, one after another, until he reached the locomotive.

Only the Russian driver and fireman were left in the locomotive. When they saw Faust with bloodstains on his trench coat, they were so frightened that they raised their hands in surrender on the spot.

Faust threw two grenades into the boiler of the locomotive, then kicked open the door and jumped in with the driver and the fireman.

The grenade exploded in the steam boiler, igniting all the coal. The locomotive of the Russian armored train turned into a fireball in an instant. The violent explosion then caused the shells in the carriage to detonate. After the explosion, the welded turret on the roof of the armored train flew into the sky like a bamboo dragonfly.

Rommel rode on a black warhorse, holding a telescope and looking towards the town of Christie. He only saw the welded turret of the armored train flying up, but did not see Faust killing everyone in the carriage. But one could guess that this was another "Miracle of Saint-Quentin"!

Hundreds of soldiers from the Grossdeutschland Regiment's reserve company had already arrived in the town of Ristyi. Rommel nodded vigorously and said, "All National Socialist members, stand up and follow me to drive all the Russians out!"

The Great German Regiment was undoubtedly the elite of the army, and Faust's feat of single-handedly dismantling an armored train really boosted morale. On the contrary, the Russian soldiers in the town of Ristyi were horrified just by seeing their own armored train inexplicably blown away.

This battle cannot be fought.

Captain Zemlyansky let out a heart-wrenching roar. He has given so much to Russia, and Russia has sacrificed so much. Can't it be exchanged for victory?

Zemlyansky did not yet know that not all sacrifices always lead to victory.

The Russian army had used up all its brute force, and now it was the turn of the German army to counterattack. Reinforcements from the Grossdeutschland Regiment poured into the town. Rommel made no mistakes in the chaos and even brought in several mortars on horseback, bombarding the Russian army that was beginning to retreat from the town. This completely stunned the Russian army.

A reserve company of the Grossdeutschland Regiment was not enough to annihilate an entire Russian regiment, but it was more than enough to defend the town of Ristyi. With every passing hour, more and more Allied landing troops were arriving. It would not be long before the three divisions of the Polish Corps would be able to land and provide support to the Grossdeutschland Regiment.

Zemlyansky was extremely dejected. He knew that after missing this rare opportunity for counterattack, the German army would gain a foothold in Estonia. Later on, the German landing force would increase in number, and it would not be possible for his small regiment to push them into the sea.

Finally, the 226th Regiment of the Russian Army completely withdrew from the town of Ristyi, and Zemlyansky gave up the counterattack. The big counterattack, the big counterattack, the counterattack became a dream, what can people say!

Chapter 77 From Tallinn to St. Petersburg

It was finally dark, and a curtain of darkness covered the Estonian coast. The German army suspended the landing operation at night, but the troops that had already landed were numerous. The entire Grossdeutschland Regiment had completed the landing, and the two brigades of the 1st Division of the Polish Corps had also landed on land.

The road was crowded with horses and vehicles, and the convoy was divided into two streams, one heading north towards Tallinn, and the other heading south towards Parnu. The main stream was heading south because Parnu was closer and was an important port. After occupying Parnu, the German Navy could directly enter the port.

While the Greater German Army and the Polish Army fully deployed their troops in Estonia, the Eastern General Planning Group headed by Manstein also sent a number of people, including Sorge. They took a car brought ashore by the navy and quickly contacted some important pro-German leaders in Estonia.

Sorge's contact was Prince Anatole von Leven, one of the leaders of the Baltic German nobility. He had moved to Russia since the time of Empress Catherine. His family had been a Baltic noble for generations and had also been awarded the title of prince. He had once become a powerful dignitary in Russia. It was not until the rapid deterioration of German-Russian relations in modern times that Prince Leven retired to his hometown in Courland amid the wave of Pan-Slavic nationalism.

Manstein had put a lot of effort into the German nobles in Courland. Prince Li Wen had already organized a large number of militias to assist the German army. When he saw Sorge, he was very happy:

"For three years since the war began, the Russian army, with its poor military discipline, has treated the 100,000 German citizens of Riga like fish to be slaughtered at will! Finally, you, the Baltic Germans, have been liberated!"

Sorge handed the German military commission he had brought to Prince Li Wen. "The German Imperial Eastern Front General Headquarters now officially authorizes you, Your Highness, to organize a volunteer army of ethnic Germans. We will provide you and your troops with a large amount of weapons and equipment."

The Baltic Germans had a military tradition and had been the backbone of the Russian army for many years. They were only expelled from the Russian army because of the war between Germany and Russia.

Prince Li Wen brought with him more than 60 officers, all of whom were of German descent and had served in the Russian army before the war. The lowest-ranking officer was a lieutenant colonel.

"As long as we provide enough weapons and ammunition, we can equip another 5,000 soldiers within three days."

Sorge now represents the Eastern Front General Headquarters and serves as Prince Lewen's military adviser. This is another good opportunity for the National Socialist Party to infiltrate its influence into the Baltic German ethnic group.

In addition to Prince Li Wen, there are more than ten other powerful families in the Baltic German ethnic group who are watching the direction of the wind. As long as the German army achieves some major victories, they will definitely respond in unison, and then Tsarist Russia will lose the Baltic coastal area forever.

The Polish Army also began to participate in the attack. Piłsudski took a truck full of Polish soldiers and quickly crossed the canal railway bridge. On the opposite side of the railway bridge, Faust also rushed back to the south after winning the victory in the town of Ristyi.

The two men met briefly, and Faust issued an order without hesitation: "The First Division of the Polish Legion must immediately attack Pärnu. Only after occupying this port city will it be easier for us to transport more heavy weapons ashore."

"What's the situation in Tallinn?" Piłsudski asked.

Faust waved his hand and said, "The Russian army's counterattack in Tallinn has been contained by our army. You can proceed south without worry."

Piłsudski nodded. He beckoned his adjutant to bring the map case, flipped it out, and looked at it while holding the light. "Time is urgent. I will lead the attack on Pärnu immediately. Major Faust, I hope everything goes well for you as well."

Faust smiled and said, "Russian resistance is collapsing. Believe me, the Russian situation in the south is even worse."

After a whole day, Major General Chasne, the commander of the Riga garrison, finally learned about the large-scale landing of the German army in Estonia, no matter how slow he was. He lost blood in his head, his eyes turned black, his legs went weak, and he almost collapsed in the headquarters.

The Russian army was attacked on three sides. At sea, the fierce bombardment of the Gulf of Riga by the High Seas Fleet had caused heavy losses to the Russian Baltic Fleet anchored in the Gulf of Riga.

In the south, the German Eighth Army completely broke through the Dvina River defense line. Hutier and Muller's armies were attacking Riga, while the Russian Twelfth Army was retreating and was bombarded by German artillery fire, suffering heavy losses.

In the north, the German army landed tens of thousands of people in Estonia. Major General Chasner also understood that the Russian army's rear was now threatened and there were only two options left. One was to concentrate all the troops in Riga and rely on the city to hold on and wait for reinforcements. The second option was to abandon Riga immediately and quickly evacuate the Baltic coast before the Greater Germany Group completely closed the encirclement.

Major General Chasner lay on the oak table in front of the sand table. The decision he made now would affect the future and fate of more than 200,000 Russian troops in the Gulf of Riga. He had to be cautious!

But time was limited. All the telephones in the headquarters kept ringing. Major General Chasnet was extremely annoyed and finally slammed the table and said, "Retreat! We retreat! Inform all troops to start moving on the spot. All troops will use Pskov as the assembly point and retreat!"

The Russian army built a powerful fortress in Riga, spent huge sums of money to update the cannons, and replenished sufficient ammunition and various military supplies. The conditions were much better than other battlefields, and many warships were anchored in the port.

But Major General Chasner also clearly remembered that the same thing happened in Warsaw more than a year ago. Grand Duke Nicholas rejected the Russian army's suggestion to break out and retreat from Warsaw, which resulted in a huge military disaster.

The speed at which the German army advanced towards Riga from all directions was now getting faster and faster. The focus was not on infantry attacks, but on large-scale artillery bombardments. Tens of thousands of artillery shells were fired every day, dealing a devastating blow to Russia.

Riga was in crisis. In four years, the city would have been occupied by the Russians for two hundred years. Now there was no choice but to retreat.

The roads were blocked by a large number of carriages and horses. Cows were roaring, dogs were barking, the poor people were fleeing, the old horses could not pull the heavy objects, and a large number of carriages were stuck in the muddy land in spring. Once they encountered rivers and bridges, the Russian army's retreat would be severely blocked, causing great chaos.

The Russian resistance was broken, and for the German army, what remained depended on how fast the Germans themselves could run.

Two days later, Hutier's army won without a fight and entered Riga. Major General Chasner fled in a panic with more than 200,000 Russian troops. Most of the heavy weapons were left behind in Riga. Tens of thousands of people fell behind on the way and were annihilated by the German army.

During this period, Piłsudski commanded the Polish 1st Division to capture Pärnu. The High Seas Fleet then transported the other two divisions of the Polish Army ashore. The Polish army blocked the retreating Russian army in Pärnu.

Logically speaking, the Polish Legion had only more than 20,000 people. Although the Russian army suffered huge losses during its withdrawal from Riga, it still had more than 100,000 troops. As a result, when these more than 100,000 troops encountered the Polish Legion's blockade, they quickly melted like ice and snow in the sun, and surrendered voluntarily in large numbers. In just two or three days, Pilsudski received Russian prisoners of war with a number equal to that of the Polish Legion.

Faust also took the Great German Regiment to occupy Tartu, which blocked the Russian army's escape route eastward to Lake Peipus and Lake Pskov.

In Tartu, the number of Russian troops fleeing eastward was too large, more than 100,000 people. The Great German Regiment had only one regiment and was almost unable to withstand this huge crowd.

In response, Kesselring came up with an idea. He suggested that the Großdeutschland Regiment should clear the main road to allow the Russian army to pass, and then use cross-fire blockades on both sides of the road to put pressure on the Russian army.

This method played a big role. One hundred thousand Russian troops rushed for their lives on the road from Tartu to Pskov. No one thought about fighting with the Grossdeutschland Regiment. Under the coverage of crossfire, the casualties of the Russian troops crossing this road were exaggerated.

The gunners and machine gunners of the Grossdeutschland Regiment soon developed psychological problems because every shot they fired was 100% certain to kill dozens of people. The scene almost brought back memories of the British army's bloody defeat on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

In the end, only 50,000 of the more than 200,000 Russian troops in Riga arrived in Pskov, and they also lost all their heavy weapons. The German army only paid a loss of less than 10,000 people throughout the entire battle. The exchange ratio was ridiculously large.

After learning about the tragic situation of the Russian army in Riga, the Russian troops stationed in Tallinn quickly chose to abandon Tallinn before the German army moved north. So just a few days later, Faust took over Tallinn, which had been abandoned by the Russian army, without any casualties, with the Great German Regiment.

The soldiers of the Great German Regiment marched into Tallinn, and Faust, along with the National Socialists and Major Manstein of the Eastern Group, rode on horseback to the coastal heights outside Tallinn.

Manstein said excitedly: "From Tallinn to St. Petersburg, there are only 300 kilometers left. We have won a glorious victory."

Faust chuckled faintly. "It's not easy for the German army to cover these three hundred kilometers, but Russia has lost Riga and revolution is imminent. The rest of the decision will be made by the special agents, not the soldiers."

Everything was just as Faust said. After the German army's great victory in Operation Albion, a particularly severe famine was about to break out in the Russian capital, which was renamed Petrograd from St. Petersburg after the war.

During the famine, people of all kinds appeared on the stage, and Tsar Nicholas II lost his throne because of his reckless choice. The February Revolution would open the first chapter of the collapse of the Russian Empire.

After the prologue, Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky will form the Russian Provisional Government with the support of the Allied Powers. This weak provisional government still wants to continue fighting the German army. As a result, it suffers a series of defeats, paving the way for the birth of the Soviet Union.

Chapter 78 The February Revolution

"February Revolution! The Romanov dynasty has fallen!"

The German army's Operation Albion was a great victory. After the Battle of the Gulf of Riga, Faust led the Grossdeutschland and the Polish Corps to Tallinn. The German army then launched an offensive along the Baltic coast, all the way to Lake Peipus, and approached the cities of Narva and Pskov. It was only because the logistical supplies did not keep up, otherwise the German army would have been fully capable of capturing Pskov in January 1917.

The fall of Riga dealt a fatal blow to the dying Tsarist Russia. The winter of 1917 was also extremely difficult. The snow in Petrograd was extremely deep and the temperature was very low. More than 1000 steam locomotives of Russian trains exploded due to freezing.

Russia's railway system was already known for its inefficiency. After losing the Riga transportation hub, several sections of the railway line had to take detours, further exacerbating the collapse of the transportation system. Food and fuel were difficult to transport into large cities, and the speed was as slow as a drop of water.

Petrograd is not only the capital of Russia, but also the most important industrial center. It is far away from the inland, and the problems encountered by this big city are particularly serious. Due to the lack of energy, factories began to shut down in large numbers. Workers had nothing to do and wandered the streets, cold, hungry, frightened and angry.

The bakery had dough to rise, but there was no way to heat the oven, so it couldn't bake bread; women waited in line for hours but couldn't get their food rations.

The capital of Tsarist Russia was struggling. All the elite troops stationed in Petrograd were transferred to defend Pskov. The only ones left to defend the capital were some temporarily recruited soldiers. These recruits had no loyalty to the Romanov dynasty at all. In the famine in the capital, they were easily instigated by the revolutionaries.

As February approached, riots broke out frequently in the streets of Petrograd over food scrambles, and Tsar Nicholas II made a particularly foolish decision.

The Tsar did not trust the new recruits, so he made a temporary decision to transfer a Cossack unit from other places to maintain order on the streets of Petrograd.

The citizens of Petrograd had a very bad impression of the Cossacks. In the eyes of the capital's people, the Cossacks represented sabers and whips. In 1905, it was the Cossacks who committed a massacre in the capital. The result of Nicholas II recruiting the Cossacks to maintain order was to directly ignite the anger of the citizens of the capital. Workers began to organize a general strike, and right-wing nobles and liberals also participated.

Soon, even the Allied delegations and British and French diplomats in Russia felt that the situation was out of control, and everyone was persuading Nicholas II to leave Petrograd.

In February of the Russian calendar, Nicholas II ordered the Cossacks to open fire on the crowd, and he himself fled the capital in the chaos. As a result, the Tsar's authority fell. Don't forget that in the three years of war, the Cossack cavalry suffered heavy casualties in front of German machine guns. They did not remain loyal to the Tsar as they did in 1905. Instead, after Nicholas II fled the capital, they chose to lay down their arms to the citizens.

So the February Revolution broke out, and the left-wing workers' revolutionary party and the right-wing aristocratic liberals in the Russian capital actually joined hands. The Tsarist government collapsed in an instant, and a new dual regime was born. One was the right-wing aristocratic liberals nominating Kerensky to organize a provisional government, and the other was the Soviet government composed of workers and soldiers' representatives from the bottom up.

Both sides agreed to demand the Tsar's abdication, and the Russian monarchy came to an end, but the new provisional government still announced that it would fight the war to the end.

Faust was holding a newspaper in his hand. After the Greater German Regiment entered Tallinn for rest, the National Socialist Party convened its members every week to hold a regular meeting on current affairs to study the situation in various countries.

"Over the past month, changes in all aspects have pushed the situation of the war to the final critical point."

Faust picked up the newspaper and spoke at the regular meeting, "After Ludendorff came to power, he announced the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. It seems that this policy will inevitably lead to the entry of the United States into the war. If the world's largest industrial country joins the war, Germany will lose more than it gains. The entry of the United States is more than enough to make up for the losses the Allies suffered in the Tsarist Russian Revolution."

"The Tsar abdicated, but the Kerensky Provisional Government persisted in the war. However, Russia was already in great turmoil and chaos, and the Russian army's combat effectiveness was on the verge of collapse. If the Kerensky regime remained stubborn, the next revolution would be imminent."

"Ludendorff formally announced the establishment of the Kingdom of Poland. However, this kingdom was not established until after the war. The king was not Polish, but a member of the Hohenzollern or Habsburg royal family. Furthermore, the kingdom's territory was only part of Poland formerly under Russian rule; the other part had been annexed by Germany. The kingdom's army was under German command, and the kingdom could only sign treaties with other countries with Germany's consent."

"Such an arrangement for the establishment of a Polish state, as one can imagine, will not win the loyalty of the Poles."

Faust's eloquent speech revealed the fact that Germany's successive victories on the battlefield could not change Germany's fundamentally unfavorable war situation. Instead, it made the noose that the Allies had put around Germany's neck tighten continuously.

Among the National Socialists, most of them, influenced by Faust, were now basically convinced that Germany could not win the war.

Only Hitler was left, still holding on to a glimmer of unrealistic hope for Germany's victory.

Hitler, hearing Faust's words, could not help but lament, "Germany's outstanding performance on the battlefield has proven that we Germans are a more warlike people than the British, French, and Russians. If such an excellent nation cannot escape the fate of defeat, the world system is truly unfair."

Faust bluntly said, "Germany's strength stems from the high efficiency of its industrial organization. It's also because Germany, unfortunately, unified relatively late, allowing our nation to achieve unity amidst the Second Industrial Revolution. Therefore, our national character is perfectly integrated with the modernity of the Second Industrial Revolution. The only people we have in common are Americans. Americans possess the same modernity as the Germans, yet the United States is countless times larger than Germany, and its population is no less. If the United States had entered the war, Germany would undoubtedly have been defeated."

Sorge had just returned from Manstein's Eastern General Plan team, and he also reported to Faust on the implementation of the Eastern General Plan:

"After General Ludendorff announced the plan for the creation of a Polish state, it caused little ripple in Russian Poland. Most Poles showed little interest in the plan. Only Piłsudski's Polish Legion managed to recruit several thousand more soldiers."

Faust asked, "What about Courland?"

The Germans' activities in Poland had little effect, but their nation-building plan in Courland achieved considerable results.

Sorge told the crowd, "Austria-Hungary has fully agreed to the Kingdom of Courland's plan to establish a new nation. A member of the Hohenzollern royal family will serve as King of Courland. His Majesty the Emperor prefers Princess Victoria Louise. The General Staff believes that this violates traditional German succession law. In addition, to emphasize the importance of the Kingdom of Courland, Germany should follow the British approach to Wales and have the Crown Prince serve as King of Courland. This would also facilitate the post-war merger of Germany and Courland."

Faust said coldly: "After the war, there will be no monarch in post-war Germany, but Courland may retain its monarchy after the war."

Sorge said, "Prince Lieven of Courland has called on the German barons along the Baltic Sea to form an army. In the past month, the newly formed Courland Defense Army has recruited tens of thousands of highly qualified German soldiers."

Since the outbreak of the war, the Germans in the Baltic coastal areas have been under surveillance and persecution by Tsarist Russia. Therefore, when the German army arrived, these Germans responded very enthusiastically. Various wealthy families helped the German army recruit soldiers. They already had strong financial resources in the local area, and now that they were mobilized, they demonstrated their powerful local power.

"The General Staff and the General Planning Group for the East are now most concerned with the revolutionary situation in Russia."

Sorge also became excited when he mentioned the Russian Revolution: "The General Staff hopes to send all the exiled Russian revolutionaries back to Russia. They have agreed to allow the Bolshevik revolutionary group centered on Lenin to pass through Germany. The General Staff hopes that after these people arrive in Russia, they can further confuse the situation in Russia or change the political situation in Russia, giving Germany the opportunity to make a separate peace with Russia."

At present, the Kerensky Provisional Government, which came to power in Russia through the February Revolution, has no intention of making a separate peace with Germany. After overthrowing the Tsar, the Provisional Government continued to fight. What Germany has to do is to further use Lenin and the Bolshevik Revolutionary Party to promote greater unrest in Russia.

But who exploited whom in the spring of 1917?

Did the German government use the Russian revolutionaries to achieve its own war goals on the Eastern Front, or did Lenin and his followers use the Germans' help to return to Russia to launch a revolution, hoping that the flames of this revolution would eventually spread to Germany as well?