I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 665 Russia's problems, Russians solve them themselves

As the Baltic Fleet launched its attack on St. Petersburg, George was dealing with "concern" from his allies.

As soon as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, Britain and France sent telegrams to George respectively, asking whether he needed support from the British and French armies.

US President Wilson also sent a telegram promising that the US military could provide George with all necessary assistance if George needed it.

This is strange!

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany after Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and declared war on Germany on April 4 last year.

When the United States declared war on Germany, its total military strength was only 19, and most of them were navy. Not only was the army pitifully small in strength, but the level of its equipment and training was hard to describe. Even the Americans themselves said that the U.S. Army was a pitiful "beggar."

Even so, the United States' participation in the war was warmly welcomed by Britain and France. In June last year, when John Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force, arrived in Britain, the British prepared a king-level welcome ceremony for Pershing.

What happened next was shocking.

The mobilization of the US military was unusually slow. Although the United States has a population of 9000 million, only 4 US troops arrived in Europe in the entire six months from April to October.

The key point is that these 8 US troops not only lack weapons and equipment, but they don’t even have complete uniforms.

Last year, the United States produced three times as much steel as Germany, and during the war, the United States provided weapons and equipment to both the Allies and the Central Powers.

In order to make the US military combat-ready as soon as possible, France provided the US military with artillery and Britain provided the US military with machine guns and helmets. What's funny is that much of the equipment provided by Britain and France to the US military was actually purchased from the United States.

This explains why the United States was kicked out by Britain and France at the Paris Peace Conference.

By the beginning of this year, the US military in Europe finally reached 20. When Haig and Pétain asked the US military to join the war, Pershing always refused on the grounds that the US military was not yet ready.

It now appears that although the US military was not ready to fight the German army, it was ready to interfere in Russia.

Pétain, who replaced Nivelle as commander-in-chief of the French army last May, was also funny.

After the Battle of Verdun, Joffre was relieved of his post and Nivelle became the commander-in-chief of the French army.

Last summer, Nivelle organized a series of offensives, which not only failed to produce results, but also led to a series of mutinies in the French army on the front line, almost causing the collapse of the French army.

At the critical moment, Pétain stepped forward and appeased the French troops on the front line to continue fighting, and the German army missed the opportunity.

Although the French army did not collapse, it completely lost its offensive capability. This is why no large-scale battles have broken out on the Western Front since last year.

George sent telegrams to Britain, France and the United States respectively, refusing any external help. Russia's problems can only be solved by the Russians themselves.

Russia's current problem is not just the Provisional Executive Committee. Under the influence of US President Wilson's 14-point peace proposals, many places in Russia have fallen into chaos and social order has been greatly damaged.

After the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, a "ruling cabinet" suddenly emerged in Kiev and declared Ukraine's independence.

George sent a telegram to Runev, ordering him to send troops to suppress the rebellion in Kiev.

Before Runev arrived in Kiev, the provisional government declared the Balkan Legion led by George a rebel army and called on all Russians to stand up and fight to safeguard Russia's interests.

This slogan did not work very well because Russian peasants now missed the Tsarist era very much.

After Stolypin's reforms, Russian farmers mainly changed from tenant farmers to self-employed farmers, owned their own land, and their lives gradually improved.

After Nicholas abdicated, all regions spontaneously stopped supplying food to St. Petersburg.

Since last summer, St. Petersburg has been in a real food shortage.

In order to resolve the food crisis, the provisional government implemented a surplus grain collection system, confiscating all excess grain from farmers except for food rations and seeds, and paying a certain amount of money as compensation.

At this time, due to the crazy printing of money by the provisional government, the ruble system had collapsed, and the monetary compensation policy of the provisional government was actually no different from free expropriation.

The peasants were unwilling to hand over their grain for free, so the troops sent by the provisional government collected it by force, triggering fierce resistance from the peasants.

Due to lack of data, we don’t know exactly how many peasant riots there were in 1918.

But it is certainly more than the peasant uprisings of the previous 30 years combined.

In addition to food, the Provisional Government also had major problems with industrial production.

The basic base of the provisional government was the workers. In order to stop the attack of the "rebels", the provisional government conscripted a large number of workers into the army, which had a serious impact on industrial production.

To make matters worse, due to the destruction of factory machines by workers in the previous stage, the production capacity of the three major factories in the empire was only about one-fifth of that in 1916, even worse than in 1914.

George made full preparations before taking action. Amur blocked Siberia, the Baltic Fleet blockaded St. Petersburg, and George sat in Constantinople and locked the last outlet to the sea. The enemy had no way to escape.

What George did not expect was that Kerensky actually jumped out again and called on the troops loyal to the First Provisional Government to organize and fight against the Second Provisional Government. This was wishful thinking.

The army loyal to the First Provisional Government has been disbanded by the Second Provisional Government. The officers and soldiers who are unwilling to retire are now with George.

Ruzynski, who personally forced Nicholas to abdicate, was not only not liquidated by George, but was also entrusted with important tasks, becoming the best example.

After the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the generals on the northern front who did not accept this result took the initiative to contact Ruzynski and defect to George.

George sent them a telegram, ordering them to gather their troops as much as possible, hold their positions, and wait for reinforcements.

The 13th Army commanded by Ruzynski and the 3rd Balkan Army commanded by Andrei were advancing rapidly towards Mogilev, the location of the headquarters.

Like the Russian army in the Balkans, the German army quickly advanced northward to compete with George for territory.

Mogilev was in chaos at this time. The troops loyal to the Provisional Government retreated to Moscow, while the troops following George's orders held their positions. Some people took the opportunity to open the arsenal, loaded the stored artillery shells onto trains and transported them away. Others broke into the Tsar's palace and looted all the property in the palace.

During the Kornilov Rebellion, Denikin, who succeeded Alexeev as commander-in-chief of the Western Front, was implicated and arrested in St. Petersburg.

When the Provisional Government moved the capital, it forgot about this infantry lieutenant general who was imprisoned. With the help of the jailer, Denikin escaped, returned to Mogilev, and organized his troops to hold the defense line.

At this time, there were less than 10 troops willing to fight the German army.

Denikin was filled with sorrow when he thought of the Russian army on the northern front, which had nearly 300 million troops at its peak.

"Grand Duke Yuriev's reinforcements are on the way. We must hold our position until the reinforcements arrive!"

Denikin contacted George through Ruzynski.

"Will there be reinforcements?"

"How many reinforcements are there?"

"Can we withstand the German attack?"

The generals were talking about it.

"Grand Duke Yuriev's reinforcements are led by General Ruzysky and Duke Suvorov, with a total of 150 million troops. When the reinforcements arrive, we will not only recover the lost territory, but also counterattack Berlin, capture the German emperor, end the war, and win the final victory!"

Denikin's words rekindled the generals' hope.

Although Ruzynski had both victories and defeats with the Germans, justice is in the hearts of the people. The title of Conqueror of Galicia was not awarded by the Tsar, but was recognized by the generals.

Although Vasily is not as famous as the first Duke Suvorov, in the minds of Russian soldiers, the name "Suvorov" has a magical power that can lead them to victory in any adversity.

Denikin's encouragement came at the right time, as the German army was not actually ready for the attack.

Hindenburg himself did not expect that he could force Russia to withdraw from the war through negotiations.

I never expected to gain such huge benefits from the negotiations.

During the past winter, Hindenburg and Ludendorff had been planning a new offensive. After a winter of accumulating strength, the German army concentrated its main forces on the Western Front and officially launched an attack on the British and French Allied positions on April 4.

The French army, already on the brink of collapse, was completely unable to withstand the German attack.

The British army, which was already exhausted and powerless as it was wavering between fighting and evacuating, Haig and Pétain once again found Pershing and asked the US army to join the war immediately.

Pershing did not refuse this time, because if he did not join the war, the British and French forces would completely collapse and the peach would be gone.

To be honest, although Pershing himself was cunning, the American soldiers at that time were still very simple and honest. Like the officers and soldiers when the World War just broke out, they dreamed of making achievements in the war and had a very positive attitude.

After suffering heavy losses in Verdun and the Somme, the German army was already at the end of its strength. Its elite troops had been lost, and the troops participating in the attack were all new recruits who had just been recruited last winter.

Although the US military is also composed of new recruits, after a year-long "training", although they have not been tested in actual combat, their combat effectiveness is still good.

With the addition of American reinforcements, the British and French forces finally withstood the German attack and the defense line stabilized again.

At this time, Haig, Pétain and Pershing looked at Russia again and saw that the Baltic Fleet had already captured St. Petersburg.

The process of the Baltic Fleet's capture of St. Petersburg was not complicated. After the Provisional Government retreated to Moscow, a considerable number of the city defense forces left in St. Petersburg were left over from the Tsarist era.

These troops still had memories of the Tsar. When the Baltic Fleet attacked St. Petersburg, the defenders of the artillery batteries around St. Petersburg turned their guns and attacked the defense lines deployed in St. Petersburg by troops loyal to the Provisional Government.

As St. Petersburg fell into chaos, sailors from the Baltic Fleet took advantage of the situation and attacked St. Petersburg. At 10 o'clock that evening, with the capture of the Tauride Palace, the last stronghold of the Provisional Government and the former seat of the State Duma, St. Petersburg was recovered.

(End of this chapter)