Chapter 585 Cleaning Up
Until the last moment, Nikolay did not really make up his mind. Although this mobilization was no longer limited to the Rivne region, it was still not a nationwide mobilization. Only the age-appropriate reservists received the order. Report to the nearest recruiting office within one week.
The reason for emphasizing the appropriate age is that the reserve force of the Russian Empire is too large. Retired soldiers belong to the reserve force until they are 45 years old. If all reserve forces are required to be converted into active service, then the military strength of the Russian Empire will be Rapidly expanded to 4.5 million people.
If this is really the case, let alone other aspects, the empire does not even have enough weapons to arm them.
So the first phase of mobilization in the Russian Empire only requires reserve personnel before the age of 30 to return to the army.
Even so, after the first phase of mobilization, the size of the army will be expanded to 2.6 million people.
Of course this is not necessarily the case.
After many military reforms by Milyutin and George, the Russian conscription system is now very humane, and the only labor force in the family does not need to perform military service.
Before Milyugin’s reform, soldiers became monks when they joined the army, so many soldiers got married unexpectedly after receiving the draft letter, hoping to leave a heir for themselves.
After Milyugin's restructuring, this situation has been greatly improved. Soldiers can go home after serving for 7 years. They are no longer tenured for life. The number of surprise marriages has decreased.
George's military reform was further optimized, and the family's only labor force did not need to perform military service, so things were back to square one. In order to avoid military service, many Russians got married unexpectedly.
According to statistics from the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the first week of mobilization, the number of people of military service age in Russia who unexpectedly got married reached 500,000. This had a certain impact on mobilization, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to relax the age limit to 35 years old.
This is only the second level of mobilization.
If it is a national mobilization, not only will age restrictions be lifted, but gender restrictions will also be lifted. At that time, all Russians will enter the reserves and obey the imperial distribution, either going to factories, entering the army, or going to development (distribution) ) Siberia.
Not everyone evades military service. The proportion of Cossacks applying for conscription is extremely high. Almost every Cossack who receives a conscription letter takes the initiative to report to the conscription office as soon as possible. Many even carry their own weapons and equipment.
At ten o'clock in the morning on August 2, the Kingdom of Romania responded to the Russian Empire and announced the start of mobilization.
This morning, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Belgrade, Baron Gisay, announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Serbia on the grounds that Serbia had not stopped mobilization within the time specified by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Then, the Baron boarded the train with his packed luggage and left Serbia to return to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This caught the Kingdom of Serbia off guard.
On the previous day, Baron Gisay made ten demands to the Kingdom of Serbia on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Kingdom of Serbia agreed to most of the terms, but was ambiguous on some of the terms.
This was originally just a way of bargaining by the Kingdom of Serbia, but it was regarded as a second humiliation by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
George received an order that the Garibaldi Military District, where Constantinople is located, and the Amur Military District, following the Kazan Military District, Kiev Military District, Moscow Military District, and Odessa Military District, entered a state of alert.
In addition to the above-mentioned military districts, the troops of the Warsaw Military District, the Vilna Military District and the Petersburg Military District have been assembled and can enter combat status at any time.
This situation is very important to Germany because these three military districts can pose a direct threat to Germany.
The Germans clearly noticed this, and Wilhelm II sent a stern telegram to Nicholas demanding that the Russian Empire cease mobilization immediately or Germany would respond.
Mobilization cannot be stopped once it starts.
Especially when the Austro-Hungarian army has begun to move towards the Austrian-Serbian border.
Of Conrad’s 25 plans, only 3 are now left, namely “Plan R” which focuses on attacking the Russian Empire, “Plan B” which focuses on attacking Montenegro and Serbia, and “R+” which starts war with three countries at the same time. Plan B".
After the first mobilization, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a total of 48 divisions. Conrad divided these troops into three echelons, namely the A echelon to deal with the Russian Empire, and the A echelon to attack Serbia and Montenegro. Balkan Cluster, and Echelon B used as general reserve.
There are 9 armies in echelon A, which form the first, third and fourth armies respectively.
The Balkan cluster is small in size, with only 4 armies, forming the fifth and sixth armies.
The Second Army that makes up Echelon B is also composed of 4 corps. This is the only mobile force in Conrad's hands.
After receiving Germany's commitment, Conrad transferred the Second Army to the Balkans. This decision triggered strong opposition from Germany.
After transferring the Second Army to the Balkans, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had only 28 divisions left in Galicia. If the war broke out at this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not be able to provide sufficient help to the German army.
Although Moltke promised to move the main force back to the Eastern Front immediately after defeating France, at the Chiefs of Staff meeting earlier this year, Moltke gave a time limit of about six weeks.
According to the agreement between the Russian Empire and France, if war breaks out, the Russian Empire must launch an attack on the German army within 15 days.
William II did not know that in George's plan, the Russian Empire would watch the fire from across the bank, so even if the Russian Empire fulfilled its agreement and launched an attack on Germany, the scale would be extremely limited.
Based on William II's understanding of Nicholas, once the Russian Empire goes on the offensive, it will go all out.
In order to attack France, Germany concentrated its main forces on the Western Front. East Prussia only had the 8th Army led by General Prittwitz.
The 8th Army now only has a name, and it will not be replenished until Germany begins mobilizing. With the strength of the 8th Army, it would definitely not be able to withstand the Russian attack. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, the German army desperately needed the help of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
At this time, Conrad actually transferred the Second Army to the Balkans. It was obvious that he did not take the Russian Empire to heart at all.
On the one hand, German War Minister Falkenhayn frantically sent a telegram to Conrad, asking Conrad to immediately transfer the Second Army to Galicia. On the other hand, he couldn't wait to announce that Germany had begun general mobilization.
After learning about this situation, Nicholas Jr. immediately proposed to St. Petersburg to launch an attack on Germany before Germany completed its mobilization, so as to strike first.
Sukhomlinov called back to Nicholas Jr. and asked him to follow the pre-made plan and not to take the initiative to attack Germany.
Little Nikolai was very angry and complained to Nikolai, accusing Sukhomlinov of wasting the fighter opportunity.
Sukhomlinov was very aggrieved. Since the battle plan could be modified at will, why should he plan for it?
After George learned about the lawsuit between Little Nicholas and Sukhomlinov, he was really helpless.
Before the war even started, there was a conflict between the commander-in-chief of the theater and the chief of general staff. This was not a good sign.
There was also trouble on George's side. After Conrad transferred the Second Army to the Balkans, a 300,000-strong Austro-Hungarian army was gathered only ten kilometers away from Belgrade. War could break out at any time.
After the Austro-Hungarian Empire severed relations with the Kingdom of Serbia, Peter frantically asked George for help.
But Peter was unwilling to hand over command of the army.
So George ignored Peter's plea for help.
Peter had no choice but to order his troops to prepare for battle and at the same time began to move the capital from Belgrade to the other side far away from the border.
This is basically useless. The Kingdom of Serbia is too small and has no strategic depth at all.
Facing the threat of war, the Kingdom of Bulgaria followed the Kingdom of Romania and began mobilizing.
The Kingdom of Greece responded very slowly. Not only did it not mobilize, it also failed to move its troops to the border to strengthen defense as requested by George.
George sent a telegram to Georgi to ask what was going on.
Georgi called George back and Venizelos was holding a meeting with the military alliance to discuss whether it was necessary for the Kingdom of Greece to withdraw from the Balkan Alliance.
George remembered that during the St. Petersburg Conference, the Kingdom of Greece was very active.
What's the matter? Now I have to take on obligations. Do you want to quit?
Why did you go so early?
George sent a telegram to Rakitsky, ordering the Mediterranean fleet to go to Greece to deter Venizelos and the military alliance.
At the same time, Andre, who had just arrived in Constantinople, was ordered to lead the 13th Army to move to the Greek border, ready to enter Greece at any time.
If he dared to withdraw from the alliance at this time, George said he had to clean up the door first.
The 13th Group Army is affiliated to the Balkan Theater and consists of 4 divisions. The main force is the Khabarovsk Division from the Amur Military District, and the other three divisions are from the Gaori Army.
The 11th Army led by Brusinov consists of 8 divisions and is currently stationed in Bulgaria.
Vasili led the 12th Army to Romania to assist the Romanian army in defending against the Austro-Hungarian Empire's attack.
Thanks to the Kingdom of Bulgaria’s recuperation in the past two years, the Bulgarians are very supportive of the war.
After Polis became king, he allocated land to the Bulgarians, reduced taxes, and worked hard to improve infrastructure at home.
The Bulgarians have only had a few good days, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is about to attack. The Bulgarians will never agree.
On the first day of mobilization, more than 100,000 people in Bulgaria reported to the recruitment office, which surprised August.
George organized all these 100,000 people into the newly formed 14th Army, all equipped with Russian army standard weapons, and began training according to the requirements of mountain infantry.
The Balkans have a mountainous environment and complex terrain. Mountain infantry is the only shortcoming of the Russian army.
Fortunately, the Gao Ri Corps are relatively good at mountain warfare, so this can be considered a mistake.
While the frontline is mobilizing, production work in the rear must also be stepped up.
After receiving the order, Mario mobilized Amur women to work in factories, increasing industrial capacity to the extreme and fully meeting the needs of the front line.
Accidents still happened. On the night of August 4, an accident occurred on the Yenisey River Bridge and the Siberian Railway was interrupted.
This is a familiar recipe and a familiar taste.
(End of this chapter)