-Twilight on the Eastern Front-

"What is the artillery doing?! The artillery fire hasn't been supporting us for a while now!"

　General Peter Wrangel, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the Ussuri Cavalry Division, was also anxious, as his Ussuri Cossacks were the first to enter the fray.

(Using speed to confuse the enemy is what cavalry is good at... but)

　As much as we hate to admit it, dominating the battlefield and destroying enemy forces is a job only infantry and artillery can do. Cavalry just doesn't have the firepower or ability to fight.

(This is bad... Their high breaking ability and mobility are working against them, making them stand out more. They're an easy target.)

　The German army had cleverly placed huge sniper rifles called "anti-tank rifles" and "box formations" surrounded by trenches all around. It was obvious that they were lying in wait, aware that the cavalry would break through.

"What's going on with General Kornilov's tank corps?!"

　With a glimmer of hope, they requested reinforcement from the tank unit that was supposed to be fighting on the neighboring front. Tanks should have more offensive and defensive power than cavalry, so maybe...

Wrangel's optimistic expectations were quickly dashed.

"A telegram from General Kornilov! He says, 'I'm out of energy. I wish you the best of luck!'"

"Tsk... You're no use at a crucial time!"

　Wrangel swore, but he knew all too well that it was to no avail.

(Oh no, this isn't good...)

　If even Kornilov, who has a relatively strong tank unit, is struggling, the other generals must be in a much worse situation. I'm not the only one. We're struggling on all fronts.

　---At the time, Wrangel had no idea, but the limitations of the "tanklights," the main force of Kornilov's "tank corps," were becoming apparent.

　Kornilov's forces, fighting next to Wrangel, were barely able to achieve their initial operational objectives, but in reality they suffered little.

　The biggest problem is the scale of the damage.

　Unlike Britain and France, who considered tanks to be weapons such as "land battleships for breaking through trenches," Russia considered tanks to be "cavalry equipped with machine guns and armor." This is why they mass-produced light tanks, which had the same or greater mobility as cavalry, but also had the firepower and defensive capabilities that cavalry tended to lack. However, these tanks were not powerful enough against well-established defensive positions.

　This was, in a sense, a problem of technological limitations; with the Russian technological capabilities at the time, the best they could do was equip it with a machine gun and armor about 15 mm thick, which would have made it easily destroyed by direct fire from an anti-tank rifle or field gun.

　In addition, tanks had extremely poor visibility, making it easy for German troops to get behind or around the flanks. Therefore, rather than taking advantage of their mobility to penetrate and break through, it was not uncommon for them to penetrate into enemy lines, become isolated, and be destroyed one by one.

Although Kornilov was initially pleased that he had broken through the German defense line as planned, he reportedly turned pale when he saw the damage reports that were subsequently submitted.

　Thus, Russia's vaunted "tank" forces faced a major obstacle.

　The reason why they were so devastating in the Romanian campaign was mainly due to two factors: the enemy had only weak firepower and they launched surprise attacks that did not allow them enough time to set up a defensive line.

　But while Russia was toppling the Eastern European nations, it became clear that the Germans were not sitting idly by: Ludendorff was using the time that the Eastern European nations had bought him to build a strong defensive line across East Prussia.

　There was still a chance that a diplomatic victory could be turned into a military one if Austria-Hungary surrendered, but that changed when a Communist revolt began in France, effectively taking Germany out of the war.

　Russia's grand design, which was based on the idea of ​​"avoiding fighting a powerful Germany as much as possible and pushing the burden onto France, prioritizing the removal of weak Germany's allies, and asserting Russian superiority in Eastern Europe after the war," will have to be fundamentally revised.

　It could be said that greedy Nicholas II, aka Stalin, brought it all upon himself, but who could have predicted that a communist revolution would break out in France at the outbreak of war?

　No matter how much knowledge Stalin had about his previous life, there was nothing he could have done to prepare for the French Communist Revolution, which did not occur in his previous life.

　People at the time had no way of knowing about such circumstances, but later historians pointed out the following:

　--- The limitations of Nicholas II and the Russian army lay in the fact that they were held back by past successes and were unable to adapt to changing circumstances and change course.

　In conclusion, when the strategy at the start of the war collapsed, Nicholas II and the Russian people should have immediately abandoned "the land of Eastern Europe that was won with the blood of tens of thousands of heroes" without fighting. However, patriotic nationalism would not allow this, and the price of their greed is now being paid with the blood of soldiers on the front lines...Wrangel, who is fighting on the front lines, realizes this a little earlier than the court and public opinion.

(The glory of the Brusilov Offensive, once more..... I think it was my and Russia's bad luck to have such a sweet dream.)

　His face twitches in a slightly self-deprecating manner.

　During the Brusilov Offensive, the enemy had not built such a strong defensive line. In fact, they were unaware of our new tactics. This resulted in a great surprise effect, and infantry reinforcements and artillery support were quickly received. This allowed us to advance further without having to worry about being cut off from behind.

　But things have changed.

　The German army learned a lot from the Brusilov Offensive and put effort into reforms. That doesn't mean that the Russians didn't put effort into reforms either, but compared to Germany, they were complacent and lacked the sense of speed.

"…I guess we have no choice but to retreat."

　No matter how long they waited, there was no sign of any follow-up troops. Time passed, and the German army was beginning to recover from the shock of the surprise attack.

　If no follow-up troops arrived, Wrangel's cavalry would be completely isolated among the enemy, a problem that faced not only him, but all of the assault forces.

　**

"--7th Cavalry Brigade, retreating under heavy enemy fire!"

"--3rd Cossack Regiment, halt advance! We appear to have encountered a strong enemy defense line!"

The reports reaching Mannerheim's frontline command post had gradually become all negative: advancing troops were halting one after another, and some were even being forced to retreat.

　As he stared dejectedly at the map and began moving the pieces on it, Mannerheim's eyes suddenly opened wide.

"This is...!"

　Bad. Very bad. A cold sweat ran down Mannerheim's neck.

　Looking at the pieces placed on the map, the opening for a breakthrough has narrowed without anyone realizing it. If left unchecked, the attacking force and the following force will be separated, and the former will be completely surrounded.

(The German army has deployed its reserve forces to block the breakthrough...!)

　Normally, reserve forces are used to destroy enemy units that break through the front line, but this method is not effective in preventing a large number of enemy units from breaking through at once.

　If the military strength is the same, it is clear that the attacking side, being able to concentrate forces at any point at any time, will gain a local advantage.

　The same goes for the reserve forces in the rear. When the front line is long, it takes time to gather all the reserve forces. Then, they will be defeated one by one by the infiltrating enemy forces, and they may even infiltrate further back. While chasing the infiltrating cavalry, the panicked front line will be occupied by the enemy infantry.

　However, the Russian infiltration tactics were not without weaknesses. There was an inevitable difference in speed between artillery, infantry and cavalry, making it easier for the cavalry to break through.

　So the German General Staff decided to ignore the infiltrating cavalry and focus on cutting off their rear. They sent their reserve forces to the breakthrough, rather than to the infiltrating cavalry, to prevent the infantry from following up.

(The effect of infiltration breakthrough is only to confuse the enemy and lower their morale... it does almost no physical damage. Therefore, unless infantry units continue with the goal of suppressing and destroying them, the offensive will eventually reach its limit...)

The only way to prevent this was to make sure the breakthroughs were not blocked. However, if they were to attempt a multiple-point breakthrough, their forces would be dispersed, meaning that there was a risk that they would not be able to break through in the first place.

(During the previous Brusilov Offensive, the enemy was the weak Austrian army, so it was permissible to disperse forces somewhat. But I don't think that would work against the German army...)

　In the end, the next best option was to adopt this single-point breakthrough. On the Western Front, the British and French forces had failed by dispersing their firepower and troops, so the aim was to saturate a specific point with firepower.

　As a result, although they were able to break through, they were faced with the additional weakness of "narrow openings for breakthrough" in addition to the previous weakness of "the difference in speed between infantry and cavalry."

　--That's the point he hit perfectly.　

"If only we had more firepower..."

　If the difference in firepower was the same as during the Brusilov Offensive, or even greater, it would be possible to launch a simultaneous breakthrough at multiple points and recreate that miracle.

(There's no point in asking for things that don't exist... Right now, we must save as many soldiers' lives as possible.)

　Mannerheim ordered his chamberlain to gather the main generals. Since there was no chance of victory, further losses should be limited.