Germany does not seek survival

Faust laughed. "Then please tell me, Marshal, what exactly is your plan for the decisive battle?"

Marshal Conrad waved his hand and pointed toward the sky, like an old man in a dream. "In front of our Tyrol, Italy's First and Fourth Armies are lined up in a row. This constitutes the first line of defense for the Italian army to the north against Tyrol. Then, to the east of this line of defense, Italy's Second and Third Armies are arranged vertically, mainly to defend our troops in Trieste to the east."

Because the border area between Tyrol and Italy, that is, the South Tyrol and Trentino regions that Austria and Italy have been fighting for, is the most mountainous, the Austrian and Italian armies cannot actually fight in this area.

Marshal Conrad was kicked into this position and appointed commander of the 11th Army, the Austrian army with the smallest number of troops. The meaning of his unemployment was very clear.

The Italian First Army and Fourth Army deployed here were more as reserves in the east towards Trieste, rather than to deal with Marshal Conrad's Austrian Eleventh Army.

Marshal Conrad concluded: "The Italians will never imagine that we can launch a bold attack across the Tyrolean Mountains from here. We can go south along the narrow mountain road between the Tyrolean Mountains and Lake Garda, directly into the flank of the Italian First Army, with Verona as our target. From here, we can reach the north bank of the Po River and encircle the one million Italian troops on the front line at once."

Faust now understood why Marshal Conrad was so annoying. His plan was indeed a daydream. The path between the Tyrol Mountains and Lake Garda was extremely narrow and difficult to pass.

Moreover, even if they crossed this place and reached the Po River Plain, the supply line of the German-Austrian coalition would be difficult. On the contrary, the Italians could quickly mobilize reinforcements on the flat Po River Plain.

Marshal Conrad's plan was very grand. If successful, most of Italy's combat-capable troops could be wiped out at one time. However, this required the German army to have an extremely strong army that could complete the incredible task of going straight from Tyrol to the north bank of the Po River. The Italian army also had to cooperate and could not form a second line of defense on the north bank of the Po River.

The German General Staff's plan for the Italian battlefield was mainly focused on the east because the terrain there was flatter. Ludendorff's idea was actually similar to Marshal Conrad's, but the scale was greatly reduced, making it feasible.

The German plan was to break through from Caporetto and reach the Piave River, encircling the two Italian armies on the northeast bank of the Piave River.

This plan is more realistic. If successful, it can at least destroy 200,000 to 300,000 Italian troops.

Chapter 102: Where to start the uprising is a big problem

Conrad was daydreaming again.

He imagined that Germany would give him full support, that Charles I would put aside past grudges and reappoint him as Chief of the General Staff, and that the Croatian and Czech soldiers would stop deserting...

When Conrad was first ousted, his successor, Austro-Hungarian Chief of General Staff Oltz von Straussenburg, went to Ludendorff to discuss the possibility of German military assistance.

Austria's initial plan was to transfer the Austro-Hungarian troops on the Russian front to the vicinity of the Isonzo River, and then have the German army reinforce the Russian front.

But Ludendorff remembered one thing. In 1915, the Austrian army had launched an expedition to Trentino without authorization, trying to "punish" Italy. The result was the same as when Austria wanted to "punish" Serbia in 1914. The punishment failed and the army was defeated.

Ludendorff was completely unsure about the Austro-Hungarian Empire being solely responsible for any battlefield, so he insisted on sending seven German divisions directly to the Isonzo River.

In many ways, the fighting around the Isonzo River resembled that on the Western Front. Here, too, the offensive gradually evolved into a technical warfare: to achieve their objectives, both sides concentrated their artillery and bombarded enemy positions continuously for days.

Italy had the support of France, so its army had much more weapons and ammunition than the Austrian army, which was a great advantage.

Because artillery in the Alps is actually more powerful than on the Western and Eastern Fronts. On the plains, many shells may sink into the soft ground when they fall and fail to explode, while the rocks on the mountains will intensify the fragmentation effect after the shells fall.

A shell hitting a ridge or a cliff can cause debris to burst and splatter everywhere, causing great damage to soldiers hiding in trenches or other bunkers.

Marshal Conrad's fantasy was based on his extreme contempt for the Italian army's combat effectiveness.

Marshal Conrad then outlined a blueprint for easily defeating the Italians in front of Faust: "Based on my twenty years of experience dealing with the Italians, I can tell you, my fellow German allies, that once the first line of Italian soldiers is breached, their defenses will collapse. We only need to bypass the enemy and attack them from behind. The Italians will panic and surrender entire companies and battalions."

Faust believed that the combat effectiveness of the Italian army was indeed not strong, but it was obvious that if Marshal Conrad based his great plan of "annihilating a million Italian troops" on the premise that the Italians could be destroyed in one blow, what would Marshal Conrad do if a few weak countries like Kemal emerged from the Italian army? Marshal Conrad's plan would have no room for error.

Faust smiled and shook his head. "Old Marshal, no matter how great your plan is, no matter how much you convince me, I don't have the authority to do that. You have to convince the German General Staff."

Marshal Conrad said seriously, "No, all we need is your cooperation. With your three regiments of elite chasseurs as the spearhead, my 11th Army can reach the Po River on its own."

Marshal Conrad's big talk almost made Faust laugh out loud on the spot.

The Austrian 11th Army nominally had seven divisions, but in reality each division had only 5,000 men, which was only one-third full, and the total strength was only 30,000 to 40,000 men.

Marshal Conrad wanted to break through the Italian First Army, and estimated that the enemy's strength was about 200,000.

Faust did not mock Marshal Conrad's outrageous fantasies, which already reflects the German virtue of restraint and reserve.

He didn't want to continue discussing this topic with Marshal Conrad, so he asked the Austrians to introduce the palace of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in Innsbruck to the German army.

The palace is located on a cliff and can be reached by cable car. Although it is called a palace, its shape is actually more like a medieval castle. At the entrance of the castle is an ancient spiral staircase.

The barrel-shaped areas on either side of the palace were where the staircases were. The staircases got smaller and smaller, then higher and higher, until everyone was dizzy and finally found a small door. Entering sideways, they discovered a magnificent, bright, and spacious place. Emperor Maximilian lived in seclusion in a paradise-like place.

Faust likes climbing, or rather, all the soldiers coming out of the Great German Regiment are good at climbing.

Even Hitler had developed a pair of strong feet and could climb mountains as if they were walking on flat ground. After the tour of the palace, everyone sneered at Marshal Conrad's fantasy plan, but Hitler showed great interest in this grand plan.

After returning to the German base in Innsbruck, Hitler kept pestering Faust, wanting to know the details of the Po River encirclement plan.

Faust frowned. "Comrade Adolf, even with us included, Marshal Conrad only has 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers. No matter how great a military genius he is, he can't use 40,000 to 50,000 troops to try to encircle and annihilate 200,000 or even 1 million people, even if they are Italians."

Hitler despised the Italian army's fighting capacity, and he felt that Conrad's plan was not entirely a fantasy: "It is not impossible for 40,000 to 50,000 men to force their way through the 200,000-man Italian First Army! As long as we concentrate our forces."

Faust advised the mustache man, "What happens after the breakthrough? The German-Austrian coalition needs to build a defense line from Tyrol all the way to the Po River, blocking the Italian reinforcements to the south and the retreat of the one million Italian troops along the entire front to the north. We have too few troops to achieve this goal."

Faust's words were so powerful that Hitler was very disappointed. Marshal Conrad's grand plan was very consistent with Hitler's ambitious character. He was moved and attracted by the plan.

Faust secretly found it funny. If Field Marshal Conrad, the unfortunate and disgraced Chief of Staff of the Leonto-Hungarian Empire during World War I, had lived to see World War II and successfully become Hitler's subordinate after the German-Austrian merger, Field Marshal Conrad's grand fantasy of fighting might have been particularly in line with Hitler's temperament.

Moreover, even if Marshal Conrad's plan was feasible, why would Faust take the risk for the Austrians?

Faust was not satisfied with the current location of the Greater German Regiment - Tyrol in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Tyrol is far away from any major industrial center in Germany. If the National Socialist Party stays in this hellhole of Tyrol until the end of the war, it will be very inconsistent with Faust's future plan.

Faust's plan was to use his military achievements in World War I to allow the National Socialist Party to control a capable mobile force.

Then, when Germany was defeated and the country fell into great chaos and turmoil, the National Socialist Party would drive this army to occupy an industrial center in Germany as quickly as possible, use it as a base, develop and grow, and then plan to take over the entire country.

Germany's major industrial centers include the Ruhr area in the west, Hamburg in the northern coastal region, Berlin in the north, the Saxony industrial region in the center, and the Silesia industrial region to the east...

None of Germany's industrial centers is close to the south.

The Ruhr area, the Hamburg industrial area, the Berlin capital industrial area, the Dresden industrial area in Saxony, and the Silesia industrial area are the five industrial centers in Germany. According to Faust's idea, when Germany was defeated in 1918, the National Socialist Party must seize one of them as soon as possible, so that it will have the opportunity to compete for national power in the future.

But Tyrol lacks an industrial base, has a backward economy, and has poor transportation... It is far away from any industrial center in Germany.

If the National Socialists really had remained stuck in this mess until 1918, things would have been very bad.

Faust's idea was that the National Socialist Party would be best able to station the several troops under its control in Berlin in 1918. This would be the best situation. At that time, they could cooperate with the German Communist Party to directly seize Berlin, control the capital and call on the whole country.

If the Greater Germany Regiment does not have the opportunity to be stationed near Berlin, it must at least stay in a railway transportation hub. In any case, it cannot stay in Tyrol because the transportation conditions are too poor.

Hitler, who understood Faust's thoughts best, said: "If we want to leave Tyrol, there is only one way. We must find ways to completely defeat the Italians. Only when the war in Italy comes to an end can the General Staff transfer the Great German Regiment to other fronts."

Faust nodded. He also felt that this was the only way to do it, but with the capital in Marshal Conrad's hands, it was impossible to carry out his fantasy of a grand plan.

Faust himself was not an outstanding military strategist, but under his command, he had gathered a large number of military geniuses such as Rommel, Kesselring, Guderian, Model...

Faust himself couldn't figure it out, so he decided to call together his comrades from the National Socialist Party to promote military democracy and let everyone think together. First, consider whether Marshal Conrad's grand plan was reliable, and then check for omissions and see how to advance this plan.

Kesselring first had a flash of inspiration after looking at a topographical map of the Italian-Austrian border:

"Comrades, take a closer look. Our enemy is the Italian First Army, a vast army of about 200,000 men, and the Italians have deployed it primarily at Vicenza, not at Arsero, in front of the mountain pass. What does this mean?"

Hitler raised his hand first and said, "It's a very simple question. Vicenza has a flat terrain and is an important transportation hub. The Italian First Army is deployed here, making it easy to transfer to other battlefields by rail."

Kesselring snapped his fingers. "Arsiero is the first Italian line of defense before the Tyrol Pass, but the Italians haven't focused on defending it. This suggests they're convinced we can't cross the mountains from Tyrol. Their deployment of their main forces in Vicenza, a major transportation hub, further proves they're using the First Italian Army as a reserve. If anything happens elsewhere on the battlefield, this unit will undoubtedly be rushed elsewhere by train."

Kesselring grew more and more excited as he spoke. "This means that as long as the main force of the German-Austrian coalition launches an offensive in the east, the Italian First Army will most likely be transferred to reinforce the Caporetto line. Suddenly, our situation will become clear."

According to Marshal Conrad's fantastical plan, Faust's elite troops needed to cross mountains and rivers from Tyrol, and then descend from the sky to capture the three cities of Arsero, Vicenza and Padua in succession in order to complete the task of encircling all the Italian front-line troops.

Kesselring believed this was not an impossible task: "The Italians have not seriously defended Arsero, and the city can be taken in one fell swoop. A feint attack launched by our main force in the east can lure the Italian First Army away from Vicenza, and then we can attack Padua."

Faust shook his head. "It's not that easy to capture three cities in a row. Besides, even if we do capture the three cities, we will still have to face the Italian counterattack. I don't think we can hold on for more than a few days."

Rommel then backed up Kesselring, saying, "Actually... even if we can't hold on, as long as Vicenza and Padua fall, the Italians' morale will collapse. Even if they manage to break through our defenses, the Italians will suffer heavy losses in the process, and there's a high probability that Italy will lose most of its territory north of the Po River."

Chapter 103 Training Methods

Tito knew the terrain of the border area between Austria and Italy best. His mother's hometown was not far from Trieste, only a few dozen kilometers away. Because Austria lost control of northern Italy, it was only a few decades ago. When Tito was a child, Slovenians and Croats often crossed the border to work in Venice, where the economy was better.

Along the way, we will cross many mountain passes between the Austrian and Italian borders.

Tito was well aware of these narrow paths, shortcuts that were not depicted on many military maps. Tito also knew all of them. Like Hitler, he did not have a high opinion of the Italian army's combat effectiveness.

Tito agreed with Rommel and Kesselring's plan and said: "Comrades, between the Tyrol Mountains and Alsiero, there are many trails on the southern foothills of the Alps that are not recorded on the map. By using the trails, we can completely catch the enemy by surprise."

Ever since Faust recruited Tito into the National Socialist Party in Romania, this little man from the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to rise rapidly within the National Socialist Party.

Tito was energetic and had an excellent memory, comparable to Hitler, and his character was more stable than that of the emotionally unstable and easily carried away mustache.

He also knew German, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and other languages, and had the citizenship of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which made it very convenient for him to get things done.

When in Romania, Faust had asked Lieutenant Colonel Rundstedt to recruit Tito into the Great German Regiment in the name of local conscription and replenishment, giving him the status of a German soldier.

At the end of the war, the German army was short of manpower, and it was common to replenish troops on the spot in Austria.

Later, when Hitler went to the accelerated military academy to take the examination for the rank of second lieutenant, Tito and a group of National Socialists selected by Faust were sent to the military academy as the second batch of key training personnel during the rest period of the Great German Regiment. They completed the examination and obtained the official officer status of the German army.

In the German army, Tito was nominally a second lieutenant squad leader of the Grossdeutschland Regiment. When Faust formed the second and third regiments in the Potsdam Barracks, Tito was summoned to the third regiment. His nominal position was now the captain and company commander of the third regiment.

In fact, as the secretary of the party branch of the Third Regiment of the National Socialist Party, Tito's power, responsibilities and status were at least equivalent to those of Kesselring, the leader of the Third Regiment.

In the border area between Italy and Austria, there is a mixture of ethnic groups, including Germans, Italians, Slovenes, Croats... There are also Venetians, who are the largest group of Italians on the Italy-Austria border. They have a strong sense of regional identity, which is different from the nationalism of Italy.

The ethnic and religious issues in this area are extremely complicated.

Tito told Faust: "We still have a card to play, the Venetian independence movement, which may also produce miraculous results."

Faust listened but shook his head. He just wanted the Greater German Regiment to win the battle as soon as possible and then be transferred away from the Italian battlefield. After that, whether it went to Berlin, the Western Front or the Eastern Front, it would be more conducive to post-war activities than the position in Italy.

"Venice has been part of Italy for decades, so I doubt this card will have much effect."

Faust still didn't think much of Conrad's fantasy plan, but he also thought that as long as the Greater German Group showed a tendency to support Conrad's plan, Faust might be able to gain more benefits from Conrad.

It just so happened that Faust, as the deputy director of the training department, was responsible for helping the Austrian army train assault hunters.

Based on this, Faust went to find Marshal Conrad again the next day. This time, Faust did not give a perfunctory response to Conrad's fantasy plan. Instead, he showed great enthusiasm, which surprised Marshal Conrad.

In exchange, Faust laid out his demands: "Marshal, in order to carry out your grand plan, our army must be able to cross the Tyrolean Mountains and reach the Po River in one fell swoop. I believe the most urgent and most important thing is to retrain the Austrian army. The Austrian army is the absolute main force in this operation. The Großdeutschland Regiment can only serve as the spearhead of the breakthrough. To occupy the breakthrough zone and resist the Italian counterattack, your troops are needed."

Faust smiled and said, "Marshal, we should seize the time and intensify the targeted training of the Austrian troops in accordance with the German method."

Marshal Conrad was considered one of the smartest generals in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With his intelligence, he should have been able to discern the sincerity of Faust's intentions.

But blinded by greed, Marshal Conrad really took the bait.

After all, Conrad was ousted from the position of Chief of the General Staff and humiliated. He was eager to regain his face and avenge himself, so he didn't care what Faust's intentions were.

Marshal Conrad readily agreed. "My army, every division, every officer and soldier, will now be trained using your methods. Lieutenant Colonel Faust, I authorize you to help Austria-Hungary implement this reform. From this day forward, your orders will be considered mine within my army."

Faust easily obtained the highest level of authorization from Marshal Conrad. Now he not only controls the three German chasseur regiments, but also, according to Marshal Conrad's authorization, all the training programs of the seven Austrian divisions in non-wartime must be under Faust's control.

Previously, Italy attacked the Austro-Hungarian territory along the Isonzo River in May and June 1917, and launched another attack in August and September 1917, in accordance with the joint French strategy formulated at the Chantilly Conference.

In the 10th Battle of the Isonzo, the Italian army under the command of Marshal Luigi Cadorna suffered more than 100,000 casualties; in the 11th battle, the number increased by tens of thousands.

The Austrian army actually performed well in so many battles on the Isonzo River, defeating the Italian army with fewer troops many times, but this was far from enough.

On the Austro-Hungarian side, everyone from top to bottom had clearly realized that the Austrian army alone could only withstand the attacks of the Italian army, but could not win the war.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire could only win if it accepted German aid. However, to accept German aid, it had to accept a series of political conditions put forward by Germany.

The conditions that Faust proposed to Marshal Conrad today are like another microcosm of the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the German Empire.

Faust reaped rich rewards from Conrad. After that, he certainly would not miss such a good opportunity. He immediately began to use three German regiments as the backbone and sent German officers as instructors and consultants to enter the seven understaffed divisions under Marshal Conrad to carry out training tasks.

Although it is called training, of course training is secondary. The most important content, not surprisingly, is to continue to expand the influence of the National Socialist Party.

The primary task of the German instructors and advisers who entered the seven Austrian divisions was to fan the flames within the Austrian army, taking advantage of the Austrian soldiers' already extremely serious war-weariness, and continuing to use the methods that the National Socialist Party had previously used successfully in the Second and Third Regiments to develop party members and party organizations.

Chapter 104: All-Tyrolean Commission for Combating Counterrevolutionaries

The internal situation of the Austrian army was many times worse than that of the German army.

As soon as Faust came into contact with the seven divisions under Marshal Conrad, he was shocked. He did not expect that the Austrian army's war-weariness had reached this point.

Conrad had also revealed the secret to Faust before, and Faust knew very well that each of the seven divisions was seriously short of staff, with one division basically having only 5,000 soldiers left. But after actual contact, Faust did not expect the real situation to be worse than this!

Conrad's seven divisions did have 5,000 soldiers in each division. However, at least a quarter of these 5,000 soldiers were not on the front lines, in garrisons, or in military camps most of the time. Instead, due to supply difficulties, even basic meals became a problem, so they could only disperse among the people and work in towns and villages across Tyrol to earn money for food.

This situation is difficult for Germans to understand because Germany has an exceptionally powerful state apparatus.

The German army is fully capable of absorbing all civilian resources, but the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is completely different. The administrative machine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not as iron-fisted and efficient as that of Germany. After several years of war, the administrative machine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is now on the verge of collapse.

The situation at the state level is relatively good, but from the state level down, the situation at each town and village is getting worse. Governments at all levels are largely paralyzed, and residents of towns and villages are resisting taxation and grain collection...

There are also shockingly many examples of desertion and detachment in the army.

Only then did Faust realize that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had really reached the point where it could no longer fight. No wonder Charles I immediately began to seek a separate peace with the Allied Powers after he ascended the throne.

Marshal Conrad's seven divisions were the worst quality troops in the Austrian army, so the situation was the worst of the worst. Of the few soldiers left in the seven divisions, more than two-thirds were ethnic minorities such as Czechs and Croats.

After Faust took over the management of the seven divisions, his first priority was not to conduct hunting training or carry out political propaganda for the National Socialist Party. The first thing he had to do was to find the countless deserters.