The Rise of the Empire

Chapter 480: Grove's trip to Russia



"Dear gentlemen, the first thing we will go to is Riga, where we will receive a batch of heavy artillery from the United States, and complete the hoisting and transportation of the port. At the same time, we will also conduct simulation training in the area near the Baltic Sea, the Far East The battlefield is not just plains, but also hills, swamps and other terrains. Then we will go ahead with Ukraine and try to move the heavy artillery long-range without railroads." On the way to Warsaw, a Russian officer Said this to a technician from Bavaria on the train.

The prince was still very cooperative this time. In just one week, a 15-person technical team consisting of Bavarian military technicians and auto factory technicians was arranged, and three cars were also allocated. Come out, ready to be used as an experiment. And Grove is one of them. His public identity is a technician of the Munich Automobile Factory, but in fact he is a staff officer of the Bavarian First Army. He is mainly responsible for the logistical evaluation. The purpose is to evaluate the logistics potential of German Railways!

"The speed of the Russian trains every day and night can be described as tragedy. Even if we are on a military train and will not be disturbed by any civilian trains, the distance we travel every day and night does not exceed 300 kilometers! They! There are no automatic gates on the train, which makes every brake and start of the train a trouble." Grove took the first one in his mind.

"The Russian railway system is generally backward, and the branches are extremely short and uneven. Most of the railway lines are located along the core city center. The biggest problem with the Russian railway is the lack of railways that run through the north and the south. To transport to areas such as St. Petersburg and Riga, these trucks must first go to Moscow and then turn northwest."

"Russian railways are mainly concentrated in St. Petersburg, Riga, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Moscow, and Finland. The density of railways in these places is 5 times or even 10 times that of other regions, but even so, the Russians are in these regions. The railway situation in Russia is still not comparable to that of Western European countries. According to my estimation, the density of railways in Russia and Europe is only one-tenth of ours. Even if some of the northern borders on the Arctic Ocean are thrown away, our density is still higher than that of the other countries. About 6 times!"

"And what surprised me is that the Russian railway system is divided into two types. The railway line close to Austria-Hungary is controlled by the army, while the domestic railway transportation is controlled by the transportation department, and the trains we ride frequently are in the two transportation systems. Move forward under the control of

"There are still a large number of narrow-gauge railways and even horse-drawn railways in the Russian railway system. This has a great impact on Russia's transportation capacity. I am not sure about the specific proportions. But what is certain is in the vast inland areas. , The transportation efficiency will be very poor."

"But the point that needs to be explained is that the Russians should not have such a poor railway system that will slow their mobilization. In fact, the Russians have been using various methods to compensate for this problem. First, they have built a lot of material warehouses in the border areas. Secondly, the railway operation near Poland is relatively efficient, which means that they can quickly draw a large amount of troops from the Baltic Sea coast and the Moscow area into the Polish area. The supplies needed can be solved by the local warehouse."

"The real problem for the Russians is the lack of railway lines in their rear. I have asked many Russian soldiers today. They are located in very scattered areas. If every soldier wants to come to Poland from their hometown or station. , In theory, it would take 800 to 1,000 versts! The first wave of Russian attacks would definitely be very fierce, because this wave of attacks was prepared by the Russians for a long time. But then their supply speed would be very problematic. It is difficult for Ukrainian food and soldiers to reach the front line directly."

"With the outbreak of the war, military transportation will inevitably squeeze a large amount of civilian transportation capacity, such as coal and grain. The direct consequence of this is that there will be a large amount of grain in Ukraine and a large amount of coal in Spadun, but these things None can be delivered to the Baltic Sea area to the north."

"I personally think that the Russian railway transportation is really vulnerable not in Poland, but inland transportation. The Russians have a lot of resources, but unfortunately, they cannot effectively use these resources. In peacetime, these goods can be Shipped to various regions, but during the war, this is probably impossible, especially coal. The coal supply in Spadun area accounts for more than 85% of Russia's total coal production, but it takes 1,000 to go to Moscow. A kilometer of railway! So in the end, maybe we don’t have to destroy the Russian army and simply lack of supplies is enough!"

During the spy’s three years in Russia, he collected a lot of information through field visits, research and acquisitions, and this information played an important role in future German wars against Russia, and the result of Russia’s collapse. As the spy expected, Russia was not without supplies, but was unable to achieve a balanced allocation, which eventually led to the collapse of the economy and government!

And historically, Russian transportation has indeed suffered from arteriosclerosis during wartime~www.novelhall.com~ Take the Spadun coal mine as an example. In 1913, the coal production of Spadun coal was 22 million tons, and the coal mine that was transported out There are approximately 17.09 million tons. During the war, although the output fluctuated, the lowest was even reduced to 18 million tons in 1917, but overall it was still within an acceptable range.

But the degree of decline in outbound traffic is unacceptable. By 1917, the amount of coal shipped out of the Spadun Coal Mine was only 11.18 million tons! There is a difference of 6 million tons from before the war! The Spadun coal mine accounted for 87.1% of Russian coal production during the war. The shortfall in this 6 million tons coal mine cannot be made up! Without coal, all industries will shrink drastically, and in the cold winter, if there is no coal, people's lives will be in extreme dilemma! It's strange that the Russian government doesn't have any trouble!

In fact, the coal mine gap was already obvious in 1916. The amount of coal shortage in various regions is as follows: St. Petersburg is 20%, Volga is 24%, Rostov is 29%, Ural is 43%, and Odessa The area actually reached 50%!

Imagine, in this case, what ability does Russia have to continue the war? Therefore, the collapse of Russia is a historical necessity. Even if no one returns to the country from Germany, Russia will still collapse. The heavy price paid in the war and the huge pressure of supply and demand have put this country on the brink of destruction. The data collected during Grove's three years in Russia further strengthened the prince's faith!

The third one is here~~~! Please subscribe for a reward~~~!