--Next year's Christmas Eve will be with my family back home.
With this as their motto, the Imperial Russian Army launched a major counterattack known as Operation Suvorov.
They formed a 400 km long front in front of the German forces deployed in Estonia and Latvia. Two million troops were mobilized, with 1.2 million deployed to the operational front.
This operation, which would later be named the "Deep Attack," required an immense amount of firepower and troops, but the Russian Empire took advantage of its internal borders and used everything it could to gather forces from within the country, from canals, railways, and roads to sleds, carriages, and ships.
Perhaps as a result of this, even though the population of Russia was 170 million, about 2.5 times that of Germany (Germany's was 70 million), and the mobilized military forces of both countries, taking into account industrial power, were about the same at around 12 million, the Imperial Russian Army was able to deploy about 2 million troops, or 30% of its total forces, for Operation Suvorov.
In contrast, although the German army's mobilized and total forces were not significantly different, it was only able to deploy around one million troops in the Baltic region.
The background to this was that the defeat of Petrograd had forced Russia to go on the defensive, which meant that it lost control of the war; and furthermore, due to the Russian army's thorough deception tactics, such as night marches, communication blockades, and the construction of camouflage positions, it was impossible to narrow down whether the main front was towards the Baltic (northern), Belarus (central), or Ukraine (southern), so it was forced to disperse its forces.
Thus, after a fierce artillery bombardment, the Russian Imperial Army began its march to retake the Baltic region.
In response, the German Imperial Army and the Baltic Front also expected the Russian offensive to be imminent, and predicted that the Russians would likely move clockwise from the front line near Belarus in the south, cutting off their own troops' rear and aiming to encircle and annihilate them in one go. Therefore, in preparation for an attack from Belarus, which would be their "soft underbelly," they also built strong positions.
However, Brusilov and his men took advantage of the situation and launched an all-out attack on the Baltic region.
The Germans attempted to counter the Russian all-out attack with a mobile defense, but the overwhelming firepower of the Russians thwarted their efforts.
With heavy artillery fire from nearly 10,000 pieces of artillery, six times the German number, the Germans were unable to move as the Russians launched an all-out attack from all directions, and they were cut off and surrounded in various places by the rapidly advancing Russian forces, who were concentrating their cavalry, mechanized units, and air forces in breakout zones.
The reversal in firepower was particularly decisive, as the combination of dive bombers, heavy artillery, and rockets thoroughly destroyed German artillery positions that served as a barrier to infantry assaults, allowing the Russian forces to move more smoothly.
In the air war, the Russian Empire also generously deployed the large numbers of aircraft and volunteer pilots that it had previously saved from the United States and Britain, and by engaging in a war of attrition, it gradually lost air superiority.
The final blow was the sudden landing of a joint British and Russian force on Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
This amphibious operation, named Operation Bulkley (known as Operation Wellington by the British), was proposed to Russia by the British.
Supported by the powerful British Royal Navy, the Baltic Fleet, one Russian naval infantry division, and one Royal Marine division would each land in their assigned areas.
The plan was to land in the German hinterland, cut off their supply lines, and pincer the German forces deployed on the Estonian-Russian border from the east and west. Then, they would advance along the coast to Lithuania, cutting off their retreat to Germany itself, and then turn counterclockwise, contrary to the Germans' expectations, aiming to encircle and annihilate them.
Although the German garrison at Tallinn, the landing site, was small and deemed not to be much of a problem, the biggest obstacle was the German navy, which was still retained in the homeland.
It was thought that the Royal Navy would act as a diversion to prevent the ships from being diverted to the Baltic Sea.
"We will avenge Gallipoli at all costs!"
This operation was pushed through somewhat forcefully by British Minister of Munitions Churchill, under the pretext of supporting the Russian army's Operation Suvorov.
Following the disastrous Gallipoli landings, Churchill was seeking a way to restore his damaged reputation and overrode opposition in a desperate attempt to salvage his political career.
Moreover, they went to the trouble of sending Marines around Norway to Murmansk just to make a political appeal of having conducted a joint operation.
(I don't like letting the fat guy Churchill take the credit... but it might be a good idea to show him my gratitude in anticipation of Maria's arranged marriage and post-war negotiations.)
Tsar Nicholas II, aka Stalin, disliked Churchill due to past connections, but he decided that the effectiveness and political importance of the operation itself was important.
The Baltic Fleet alone would not have been able to compete head-on with the German Ocean Fleet, and Britain's world-famous Grand FleetIt would be even better if it could attract the enemy. It would even provide the Marines for an amphibious assault.
(Unlike the Great Patriotic War, when the Soviets were trying to take advantage of the situation, the conditions are much more favorable to our country. It is more a matter of Churchill'sHonorHomareBut that's not a bad thing.)
Thus, the operation proceeded smoothly. First, a large British fleet appeared off the coast of Jutland. Then, taking advantage of the opportunity when the main force of the German Navy was lured away, the Baltic Fleet set out with all its might. Under the careful command of Admiral Kolchak, Operation Balkrai proceeded smoothly.
The landing was successful, but German resistance was light.
In the end, the operation was successful.
However, Kolchak and British naval commanders, such as Field Marshal Beatty, did not consider this to be a particularly difficult operation.
In the first place, the difficulty level is lower if the number is less than half that amount, unlike a Gallipoli landing involving a large force of over 100,000.
Unlike Gallipoli, where the landing was forced into the worst possible location - a narrow, fortified strait - the flat, recently occupied, unfortified Estonian coast - not far from the Russian capital, Petrograd - made the landing entirely feasible if all the conditions were met one by one.
However, the political and psychological impact of the Russian-British allied forces successfully landing in the German hinterland was huge, and the morale of Russian and British soldiers improved significantly while that of the German forces fell sharply.
At this point, even the German forces had collapsed, and all that remained was to annihilate the enemy who were isolated in various places.
With command in disarray and no organized withdrawal, the German army quickly fell apart. Counterattacks ceased and the stragglers began to surrender one after another.
A Bavarian corporal who was captured by the Russian army said, "We had been told that the Austrian army would come to help, and that was all we relied on when we fought. But no matter how long we waited, they never came," with his head hanging in shame.
**
"This is terrible."
Kornilov, who was in charge of the Estonian side, looked around at the rows of prisoners.
In the surrounding area, German tanks, artillery and other equipment were left abandoned here and there, and countless German soldiers' corpses were scattered. Mountains of cow, horse, pig and chicken bones formed, which would have been eaten by the starving Germans. When the identities of the captured German soldiers were confirmed, it was found that about 20% of them were young people who had been conscripted locally.
(The German army is no longer an organized unit...it's just scattered units fighting for their own survival.)
Interrogation of the prisoners also revealed that by the end of the Petrograd offensive, supplies were already reaching their limits.
The German soldiers' food supply had been reduced to half the normal amount for about a month, and their physical strength was reaching its limit. They had no shortage of rifle bullets, but supplies of artillery shells were constantly running out. The battle was going badly, their physical strength was depleted by hunger, and their morale was collapsing due to daily bombings and artillery fire.
(The German army will soon lose its military potential. We have won.)
Kornilov immediately called Petrograd.
--We will now continue our offensive, using all our reserve forces and continuing our continuous offensive until we pass under the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
Indeed, true to Kornilov's words, within six months the Russian army had finally restored the old border. Tsar Nicholas II personally inspected the front line and praised the soldiers, expressing his gratitude.
Emperor Nicholas II also established a reputation as the "Liberator of Europe," in analogy with Alexander I, who defeated Napoleon, who had attempted to control all of Europe.
From this point on, the German forces never regained the initiative, and continued to suffer repeated defeats at the hands of the Russian offensive.
--If Emperor Nicholas II had been too eager to achieve success and made a poor gamble that had failed, the German army might still have had a chance of turning the tables.
In particular, public discontent due to the prolonged war was a major concern for every country, and there was a possibility that Russia would also be pressured by domestic public opinion calling for a quick end to the war.
However, to prevent this from happening, Tsar Nicholas II cleverly constructed a strong authoritarian system disguised as a democracy through the establishment of a universally elected Imperial Assistance Council and a wartime national unity cabinet. Furthermore, the victory in Petrograd and the success of Operation Suvorov completely silenced any voices of dissatisfaction with the war leadership of the Russian Empire's leadership.
In addition, with the generous support of Lend-Lease and direct investment from the United States, the Russian Empire was able to slowly but surely strangle the Central Powers.
＊＊＊
Six months later, the flag of the Russian Empire finally flew over the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
Although the German Empire moved its temporary capital to Hamburg, anti-war demonstrations and Communist uprisings broke out in southern Germany and Hungary.
The Central Powers, faced with internal and external troubles, caved in to pressure from the Allies and offered peace in exchange for help in putting down the socialist rebellion.
Thus, the peace treaty was finally signed in Brest-Litovsk on June 28, 1919. On the night of the signing ceremony, artillery and gunfire were reported over the radio on all fronts.
Five years had passed since the Schlieffen Plan was launched.