In 1909, Manstein was 22 years old and served as a low-level officer in the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the German Guards as the rank of lieutenant; Guderian was 21 years old and served in the 10th Hannover Light Infantry Battalion in Germany as the rank of lieutenant; Rommel was 18 years old and a middle school student in the city of Allen, Wurttemberg... This year, Xia Shu had contacted German army affairs for the first time as Prince Joachim. The cool generals of the Third Reich were just unknown calves. Exploring their potential in advance could lead to rich returns and could play a negative role in promoting growth. In Xia Shu's view, instead of pinning his hopes on these "future stars", it is better to find existing resources to create talents, and some talents will inevitably be buried.

Since the Crown Prince William promised to help with Charlotte's affairs, Xia Shu had no reason not to give advice on his troubles. However, the situation was not as simple as imagined, because William did not want outsiders to know that he had asked Xia Shu for help. Xia Shu could not show up in the General Staff of the Army, nor could he coordinate and communicate with the staff involved in the exercise plan. He could only solve the problem in a strange way that "outsiders" work behind closed doors.

In terms of his arrogant and conceited personality, William and his father were equal, but he was not so stupid that he was arrogant. In order to let Natsuki formulate a clever and practical exercise plan, apart from the above two restrictions, he tried every means to create conditions, including providing Natsuki with a large amount of absolutely confidential military information and sending his own private military adviser to Natsuki as an assistant. This is particularly risky for a crown prince. After all, Natsuki ranks sixth in the throne, and in theory there is still a chance to sit on the supreme throne, which makes potential competitors know their trump card.

Whether it is the desire for victory is stronger or the feeling that he can control his relationship with Natsuki, William did give him full trust this time. Through the mouths of several military advisers, Natsuki quickly understood the whole story of the incident: After participating in many military exercises and exercises, the confident Crown Prince William hopes to serve as the commander of the autumn conference exercises. This is the largest military exercise in the German Army every year, and it is also an important action to fully master the "Schliffen Plan" and concentrate the most elite troops of the German Army. The biggest difference between exercises and exercises is that it is basically based on the department.

The implementation of an action plan in time was carried out, and the participants did not have much freedom to play. The German army studied the "Schliffen Plan" year after year. Staff commanders at all levels had memorized the route and schedule. Even if an ordinary officer was the commander of the charity, there would be no big mistake. However, the generals of the General Staff of the Army refused several times on the grounds that the Crown Prince William was not experienced enough, which caused the young Crown Prince to speak ill of each other at a meeting of the staff. As a result, the generals gave him the current test question. If they could pass it successfully, they would be the commander-in-chief of the charity in autumn.

At first glance, the old men in the General Staff of the Army were simply a group of unintelligent knots. In this monarchy with imperial power, the crown prince is the future ruler. How could he have a good end to fighting with him? But when thinking about it on the other hand, Xia Shu felt that this was the same as William II's "lead-cast warship". Tirpitz did not want the emperor to interfere in specific naval affairs, and senior army generals also hoped to maintain traditional power in their respective fields.

The legion handed over to the Crown Prince William was the exercise of the legion. The proposition was to break through the Russian army's 20-kilometer-wide defense line with the strength of a legion. It seemed simple, but the actual situation was very complicated. The "Schliffen Plan" highly praised by the German staff made extremely detailed arrangements on how the German army used rotation tactics to encircle and annihilate the main force of the French army in one fell swoop, and the annual meeting was just appropriately adjusted according to changes in troops and equipment. Although this plan was based on the premise that the German army fought against France and Russia at the same time, the arrangement of the Eastern Front was much simpler in the early stage. In the early stage, a small amount of troops were used to detain the defensive defense. When the German main force defeated France, he could use the developed railway network to advance eastward. As for the next step of the advance eastward, Schliffen considered it when formulating this plan, but it was obviously unable to keep up with the changes in the situation.

After France and Russia formed an alliance, in order to strengthen Russia's strategic deterrence against Germany, the French government provided Russia with huge loans to help it improve the railway system from Moscow to Warsaw. At the same time, Tsarist Russia was also constantly enhancing the fortress system in western Russia. After Schliffen stepped down, the old Marshal Moltke's nephew, Moltke, became the chief of staff of the German Army General Staff. He was a firm follower of Schliffen's plan and spent a lot of energy to repair the combat part of the Western Front every year, while the content of the Eastern Front was put aside. Perhaps in the eyes of this general who was far more famous than his ability, it would be effortless to defeat the Russians as long as he defeated the French team.

As far as the strength of the German and Russian troops are concerned, the staff of this legion attack is not difficult. The key is that William did not have long been in the General Staff. Before that, he was just a regiment-level commander, and he suddenly rose to the legion command level, and there was no ready-made plan to learn from. No wonder he had to worry that his plan would be picked up by experienced generals during the exercise.

After a few days of exchange, Xia Shu had a new question in his heart: William's private military advisers are retired senior officers. His decades of military career have made them more familiar with the operation of the German team than many active officers. Chief adviser Colonel Mullas was also a good assistant to Schlieffen. With the ability of this group of people, he should be able to complete infantry, cavalry, artillery and logistics staff operations in terms of infantry, cavalry, artillery and logistics. How can Crown William cross the boundaries of the military and find himself to help?

The situation seemed full of contradictions. At first, Xia Shu even worried about whether there was a trap here. It was not until Musla came up with his perseverance and unimperfectional plan that Xia Shu gradually saw the meaning behind this contradiction... In the era of Old Moltke, whether it was the Prussian Army or the German Imperial Army, the staff organization always emphasized the full preparation before the war and the random adaptation during the war. After Old Moltke retired, the German Army entered the era of the famous military staff officer Schliffen. The advantages of "full preparation" were preserved, but "responsiveness" gradually stood aside. Schliffen's works were the "Schliffen Plan" formulated for France. It was regarded as a classic by many people because of its clever design. However, Schliffen had always been to his colleagues during his tenure as Chief of Staff.

They instilled the concept of precise execution, and the military committee operation must be strictly implemented in accordance with the plan every year. Over time, staff departments at all levels have become too dependent on the plan. Every military plan they formulated is exhausted to the point of being shocking, but they forgot that the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and a small change may have the consequences of "a slight mistake, a thousand miles of mistakes". Not only that, the annihilation war advocated by Schliffen actually evolved into dogma of thinking. The criterion for judging whether a military plan is successful is no longer to win the maximum victory at the minimum cost, but whether it can surround and eliminate the opponent. Under the influence of this ridiculous dogma, how creative can Colonel Muras' plan be? Under this rigid and rigid combat thinking decision, how could the German army not fall into the dilemma of trench warfare?

Natsuki felt regretful in the shortcomings of the army's command system, and at the same time, she had to be grateful for the decision of Crown Prince William. The situation in Europe is still stable now, and there should be some time left before the inevitable war. She still has the opportunity to awaken the army generals who were trapped in the Schlieffen defence, even in an alternative and indirect way...

A few weeks later, the German Army held a large-scale military exercise in Silesia. The 1st Legion, with 200,000 troops, was divided into two parts, 120,000 people played the attacking party, and 80,000 people relied on Austrian fortifications to defend. The landform of the combat area was highly similar to the defense line in western Russia. According to the exercise plan formulated by the German General Staff, the attacking party used a few forces to restrain the two wings, concentrated artillery and main forces to carry out a fierce attack in the middle of the defense line, and tore it apart with an absolute advantage in part.

The breakthrough point was then consolidated and expanded with half of the troops, and the rapid troops marched in vehicles advanced to the military centers in the depths of the defenders. In a short period of time, they forcibly conquered and firmly occupied these tactical fulcrums, thus cutting off the supply line of the defenders and forcing the defenders to retreat completely from the fortification area and retreat backwards. According to the judgment of the military observation team, it took five days for the attacking side to seize the defense line, with about 15,000 casualties, about 25,000 soldiers killed and wounded, 10,000 prisoners, and a large amount of supplies were seized.

According to the traditional combat model, the attack was carried out with only 1.5 times the advantage of troops and equipment. The time spent and casualties far exceeded the judgment results of this exercise. From this perspective, the "combat plan" of the German General Staff achieved great success, but some senior generals of the General Staff questioned and criticized the results of the exercise. They believed that the attacking side failed to take effective measures to cut off the retreat after breaking through the defense line, and missed the opportunity to wipe out the opponent. In this way, the remaining defenders had the opportunity to retreat to the rear and rest and supplement. In addition, the attacking side used dozens of aircraft and a large number of civilian vehicles that were not in the combat sequence of the 1st Legion, and thus they were able to win quickly. Therefore, the exercise plan was not successful, and it could even be said to be a failure.

Faced with the denial of senior generals, Crown William, who was responsible for the staff of this exercise plan, refuted one by one with unexpected calm: after breaking through the enemy's fortification, the defenders not only lost their defense benefits, but also suffered heavy blows in the morale of the army. It is much easier to find annihilation opportunities in the next combat operations, and the attacking troops do not need to force the pursuit war after a difficult attack; the exercise rules do not restrict the army from temporarily requisitioning civilian supplies during the operation. This move verified the reconnaissance and shooting effects of aircraft on the battlefield, as well as the feasibility of infantry marching on vehicles quickly. It is not a failure, but should actively introduce German combat practices.
Chapter completed!