"Germany's army is the first in the world, and its navy is second only to China and the United States, and it should be higher than the United States in terms of combat power, but what about the air force? Our air force is not as large as the British, and the US Air Force is even larger, even taking into account the fact that the United States is fighting across the sea, its air force still has a huge advantage, I think the V1500 heavy bombers of the British in World War 1 left a deep enough impression on everyone, right? As for the Austro-Hungarian Air Force? They all need us with their aero engines. The ability is not even as good as that of Italy, in the case that we do not have an advantage in the army and an air force, it is really not a wise choice to storm the opponent's strong defensive line, and more importantly, now the French army is beginning to emphasize the size and number of mobile operations and reserves, even if we cause a breakthrough, the other side still has a chance to close the gap! The risk of launching an offensive without permission is too great. Moltke Jr. explained.

So if Britain and the United States do their best to aid France, then according to deduction, Germany has little chance of winning on the Western Front, of course, if Britain and the United States do not fully assist, it will be easy to push France away, but who dares to make this bet? What should I do if I lose my bet? The Germans still have a clear understanding of the comparison of the national strength of the Central Powers and the Entente Powers, and the combined strength of Germany and Austria is far inferior to that of Anglo-American and French. If everyone stands against each other, it will be a war of attrition. And if you attack on your own, it will definitely be a disadvantage. Western Europe is too small, there are not so many places for people to outflank, and the other side completely relies on enough manpower and equipment to build the entire border line tightly. And the air force can threaten the German mainland, no matter how fast the tanks run, they can't run as fast as the planes!

Not to mention this time. If the war resumes, Huaxia will probably not help Germany like the last time, for a simple reason. In World War I, Xia Xia helped Germany in order to completely weaken Britain and France, so that they could not find trouble for themselves in the Far East, and at the same time let Germany contain the United States, but now Britain and France are no longer good, and the attention of the United States is also in Europe, but Germany has extended its hand to Asia, in this case, the relationship between China and Germany will definitely not be the same as before. Therefore, the Germans' assessment of the Western Front is that the defense is more than enough and the attack is insufficient. The First World War made the French also apprehensive about the war, and it was unlikely that they would take the initiative to launch a large-scale attack, and it was clear from the long line of defense that they wanted defense rather than attack. Now that Germany already has Alsace and Lorraine. Then there is no need to take a huge risk and force an attack on France, right?

As a result, the German army top brass wanted to repeat the victory of the 1st World War, to the west, to block France and the allies. At the same time, a breakthrough is being sought in the east. 1. The environment was so harsh during World War II. Germany can block the Entente in the west and kill Russia in the east, so now, the strength of the British army in the South Asian subcontinent must not be compared with Russia, although South Asia is farther away from Germany, but it is farther away from Britain, Germany controls the Mediterranean, and it is completely possible to start from the Mediterranean Sea and cross the Red Sea and then enter the Indian Ocean, or take the Eastern Railway to the Persian Gulf. And Britain had to cross the Atlantic and then enter the Indian Ocean. It's a lot farther than Germany in terms of distance, and the same goes for it. The same is true for the United States, which in order to support British operations in India must cross the entire Pacific Ocean and then half of the Indian Ocean to the South Asian subcontinent. Therefore, if India is used as a breakthrough, it is equivalent to dispersing the power that the Entente can act on Europe. The probability of success will be higher.

And there is also an expectation at the top of the German leadership that when Germany is fighting with Britain and the United States in India, France may not be involved, at least not to do its best, after all, France has no direct interests in South Asia, and after the end of this war, France's ambition is no longer the whole world, he is more interested in how much interests he can keep. And before the armistice, France was also the country that wanted the truce the most. What's more, they have enough excuses to stay out of the way. Of course, even if France was involved in the war in India, Germany would not be afraid. After all, France is also too far away from India.

"Can we understand, then, that in future wars, our goal is no longer to completely destroy a great power, but to achieve a limited victory by force?" Although Ludendorff still felt that the complete destruction of France would make Germany safer, it was clear that Germany, which had just swallowed a large chunk of land and was trying to digest it, would not be able to start a large-scale war in a short time, and the Poles, Ukrainians and Russians in Eastern Europe made the Germans very uncomfortable. The difference between Germany and China was that the areas occupied by the Germans were densely populated, while the areas occupied by the Huaxia were extremely low-density, which brought great obstacles to assimilation and domination. So much so that Germany had to transfer a considerable part of its forces to Eastern Europe.

"Don't think that Russia is our friend now. If I were them, I would have to choose an enemy in the future, and I would choose Germany over China. Mackensen continued. There is no threat to China now, neither the Allies nor the Entente countries want to go to war with this industrial country with a population of 400 million, if Russia dares to do it, then the result will be certain death, but we are different, our enemies are still strong, and there are fewer allies than before the start of World War 1. We must concentrate our efforts on what can be gained, not on an endless war of attrition. ”

"Earnings? Is Persian oil also an important reason for our eastward expansion? According to the estimates of some experts, in the future Persia will be no less important oil producing area than the Caucasus. Hindenburg asked.

"That's right, this is also a sharp sword for us to balance the Entente and China, look at the distribution of oil now, the oil in Europe is mainly Romania and Transcaucasia, the Middle East is mainly the Two Rivers Valley and Persia, and then the United States. Although China has a large land and abundant resources, but the main oil fields are only the oil fields of the former Dutch East Indies, there are almost no large oil fields in the mainland, at least they have not been exploited, and a large amount of fuel oil needs to be imported every year, if we can control the oil fields of the entire Middle East, it is tantamount to controlling the pulse of China's economy, even if they want to take action against us, they must consider the consequences of doing so! The corners of Moltke's mouth couldn't help but show a smug smile.

The German top brass now knows that Huaxia is very dissatisfied with the expansion of Germany and Austria in the direction of the South Asian subcontinent, but in addition to Germany's self-confidence in its own strength and Huaxia's lack of absolute hostility, another very important reason is that Huaxia cannot be self-sufficient in fuel! The main fuel imports are obtained from the current overseas oil fields of China in the Lianghe River Basin, and some of them come from the United States. After a high-level study by Germany, they believe that if China does not have the oil fields in the two river valleys, then even if the United States gives full support to China, it will still not be able to meet China's normal needs, and China is too big to be understood by ordinary people. Britain and France had to get oil from the United States and Persia, so naturally they could not supply China. Therefore, the German top brass thinks that relying solely on oil weapons is enough to make China a bogey!

And if we deploy forces in the Middle East, we can get the support of Turkey, they also have ideas about South Asia, we can get a lot of cheap cannon fodder, and in the future the position of the German and Austrian troops in South Asia will be the backbone and core, they will cut through the opponent's defense line like a sharp blade, and the Turkish army will be responsible for carrying out some tasks such as encircling and annihilating the divided enemy. The first battle proved that although the combat effectiveness of the Turkish troops was lower than that of the European armies, it was still possible to successfully complete some battles of low intensity with a certain amount of technical equipment and instructors. (Historically, in the battle for the Dardanelles, the Turks fought quite well with the assistance of the Germans.) ）

"Therefore, the Empire's choice of tactics to advance eastward is deliberate and unchangeable, and after we have digested the fruits of our victory in the last war, we will prepare for operations in South Asia, which of course will be a long process, and it will not only be the military forces such as the army and navy that will participate in the operation, but also the intelligence and diplomatic organs of the Empire will also play an important role. We may not see the day when South Asia will be brought into the Empire's sphere of influence, but our juniors will make this plan come true! Finally Moltke concluded.

In the future, Germany will need to build two different forces, one to defend Europe and tasked with protecting the security of its homeland and its allies, and the other to be able to quickly deploy to the Middle East, thousands of miles away, and to move quickly in areas with poor road conditions.

Not only the German army and navy are fully preparing for the future Indian Ocean raids, Germany's industry and construction are also doing related work, Germany and Austria began to vigorously develop the newly acquired territory, they began to move some new heavy industries to the east, the purpose is twofold, one is to avoid the air attack of the Entente, although the current bombers can not even threaten Berlin, but after more than ten years, who can say clearly? The Germans realized their double inferiority in the size and technology of the aviation industry, and the best way to avoid such a blow was to build important facilities out of the reach of the other side. And the second purpose is to absorb the surplus labor force in the new territory, for the rebellion, just suppress it, if the local people's income level is high, they will be in peace, who will not be able to live with the superior life? The Russians can rule the Poles and Ukrainians, why can't Germany?

Since the Germans have developed such a strategy, then the development of Germany's military power in the future must also serve this strategy, and as an important part of the German army strength, the subsequent development of armored forces is also on the agenda. And now the technical department of the German army needs to design weapons for the army in both situations! One for Europe and the other for the Middle East!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~, and the book friend athlon 9527 for the monthly pass support ~~~~. (To be continued......)