-Waiting for the Storm-

　That is why the German army has been able to avoid frontal battles with enemy bases and forces as much as possible through infiltration tactics, while making the most of their mobility to accurately attack the enemy's weak points. Their rapid advance up to now can be called the culmination of that.

　At first, the conservative Hindenburg was skeptical of the effectiveness of the infiltration tactics promoted by Fuchel, but Fuchel steadily built up a track record, and now he and his tactics have an indisputable presence within the German army. It is unlikely that Ludendorff would not understand this.

　However, Huchel and Ludendorff came up with a plan that seemed to ignore that. Or rather, what was meant by "having no choice but to ignore it" was clear.

"There's no way... our army already has..."

"That is true, your Excellency. We had hoped at all costs to reach Petrograd before winter came... but we have not been able to do so, and now all the circumstances are against us."

　It's a very simple logic, but heavy snowfall significantly reduces the mobility of infantry. The situation is even more serious for artillery, which is supposed to support the infantry, as they are bogged down in the snow and mud, making it impossible for them to move.

"What about the air force? Even if the ground artillery is no good, we could use dive bombing instead of artillery..."

　Hindenburg turned to look at Baron Richthofen, who was seated at the back of the line, but he only shook his head in response. His face, thinner and more severe than before, indicated the seriousness of the situation.

"Petrograd is no good. I've never seen so much anti-aircraft fire."

　The Russian military gave up on securing air superiority and switched to a policy of focusing on air defense rather than interception.

　On the Western Front, the main air defense tactic was to fight aircraft with aircraft, but the Russian Empire's technological level made it difficult to mass-produce aircraft. Therefore, the Russian military switched to a tactic of disrupting enemy movements with overwhelming firepower from a barrage of bullets, even if they could not shoot down the aircraft.

"In order for a plane to go on a bombing or strafing run, it needs to stay flying in a straight line for a certain amount of time, but they were just trying to disrupt that course."

　As Richthofen speaks with bitterness, the barrage of bombs at Petrograd is still vividly in his mind.

　Ludendorff, who advocated the theory of total war, felt that everything was summed up there.

"The Russian Empire certainly boasts a larger population than us, but due to its backward governing system, the number of troops it mobilized was not that different from that of the German Empire. Taking into account the difference in industrial power, it was also inferior to us in firepower."

　A large population does not directly translate into military strength. The Republic of China in the East is a good example. In the end, even if you have a large population, you cannot equate to military strength without the industrial capacity to produce weapons to give to them, the development of a national organization to conscript them, and the logistics and command and control system to operate them as a military.

It may be surprising, but although the Russian Empire had a population of 170 million, more than double that of Germany (Germany's was 70 million), the mobilized military strength of both countries was almost the same, at around 12 million.

　This was a clear reflection of the difference in industrial power. Of course, considering that parts of the Western Front, such as Italy and Belgium, were still remaining, the Russian army had a slight advantage, but in reality the difference in military strength was only about 5:6 between Germany and Russia.　

"Why don't they surrender?! It would not be strange if a revolution had already started, just like in France..."

"Tsar Nicholas II created a system to suppress it. It's too late now, but... we should have created a system much earlier, much larger, with a secret police and gendarmerie, that would have allowed us to mobilize all our people and resources for war."