Who is the Big Fool

Late at night, the whole of Germany has fallen asleep.

On the dark railway line, a line of troops rushed eastward.

At this time, 200,000 German soldiers have assembled near Dortmund. Kaiser Wilhelm II and ambassadors of various countries have arrived in Dortmund, preparing to watch the "Pineapple" exercise. Spies from various countries are deployed in an all-round way. They are active in the vicinity of the exercise site, seeking to gather more intelligence on the exercise weapons and tactics.

The German Army Chief of General Staff Xiaomoqi did not participate in the exercise due to gastrointestinal discomfort. The exercise was carried out by the Secretary of the Army Falkenhain and the Deputy Chief of the Army Waldzer.

The day after the start of the exercise, the Kaiser returned to Berlin due to illness.

When the exercise was in full swing, half a million German troops had secretly arrived in the East Prussia area and assembled. Xiao Maoqi was proudly accompanying the Kaiser to review this elite German army.

The 250,000 soldiers of the Chentian East Prussian Army are also ready to go.

The East Prussian farms are rich and vast, and they are not only a meat base for Germany, but also provide a steady stream of excellent breeds of war horses for the German Army. The manor here is owned by the Junker nobles. The place close to Russia towards the east is the hometown of "the water is not thriving and the woods are dense", with lakes, forests, pine and birch trees, swamps and streams. . The most well-known attraction here is the Romington Forest close to the Russian border. It is the forbidden garden of the Hohenzollern royal family. In 1701, the first monarch of the Hohenzollern royal family was Königsberg waiting for the throne of Prussia.

In order to defend the birthplace of the Hohenzollern royal family, Chentian has carefully built fortifications along the Angelap River through the Instburg Gorge. In the eastern marshes, roads are built with dams above the ground, so that the enemy can be restrained on the narrow dams above the flat ground. In addition, the entire East Prussia's railway network is criss-crossed, facilitating movement, and troops can quickly move from one front to another, facing any wing of the enemy.

In this exercise, Xiao Maoqi led 500,000 German troops to play the role of "Oriental Invaders", and Chentian's East Prussian Army was responsible for the defense.

The codename of the exercise was "Who is the Big Fool".

About 60 kilometers from the German-Russian border, the Instberg Gorge is an open area of ​​about 50 kilometers, from the Königsberg Fortress in the north to the Lake Mazury in the south. Little Mochi's offensive troops chose a small town 15 kilometers east of the Instberg Gorge as their starting position. The surrounding residents had been temporarily relocated ten days ago. Otherwise, when they saw soldiers in gray uniforms all over the mountains, I must be scared, and this is also to prevent the Russians from spying on the military. Due to the swift and confidential action, after a few days of exercises, the Russians discovered that there was a large number of German troops in this area. When they sent out scouts and spies, the German troops had already boarded the train and returned to the station.

The troops under the command of Xiao Moqi consist of 2 group armies, 10 corps (corps) and 4 cavalry divisions, of which 5 corps and 3 cavalry divisions belong to the standing army, with a total of 512,000 people and 2,100 artillery pieces. He was going to throw 8 corps and 2 cavalry divisions to attack the Instburg Gorge defense line, and the other 2 corps and 2 cavalry divisions were going to bypass the Mazury Lake area.

The East Prussian Regiment has now reached a wartime organization, with 1 armored corps, 4 infantry corps and 1 cavalry division, with a total of 246,000 people, 1,000 artillery, 160 tanks, 100 armored vehicles, 500 trucks and 4,000 motorcycles. . Chentian put all the armored army and infantry army into the defense of the Instberg Gorge defense line, and the cavalry division was responsible for the defense of the Mazury Lake area.

On the first day of the exercise, light rain. The gray wave of the offensive side did not have much to do with trenches and barbed wire. All the 5 consecutive charges were repelled. The offensive side "loss" 33,000 and the defense side "lost" 2,000.

The second day of the exercise was overcast. The offensive troops attacking the Mazuli Lake area encountered Chentian's cavalry division, and the cavalry division was outnumbered and retreated. Chentian immediately mobilized the 1st Army to take the train to the Mazuli Lake area to block. Due to the complex terrain of the lake area, the offensive team was restrained in the lake area and could not continue to advance. Xiao Moqi's frontal troops stepped up their offensive force and captured the first position of the Instberg Gorge defense line in the evening, but the position was recaptured by a commando organized by Chentian at night. The offense "lost" 41,000 people, and the defender "lost" 12,000 people.

The third day of the exercise was sunny. The First Army of the East Prussian Regiment defending the Lake Mazury was defeated by the offensive, and the offensive troops rushed out of the lake and circled towards the flank of the Instburg Gorge. Chentian dispatched 2 mechanized infantry divisions of the armored army and 2 infantry divisions to stop, and their rapid advance drove the attacker back to the lake area. Xiao Moqi's frontal troops launched a fierce attack again, reoccupying the first defensive position and consolidating it. Ye Chentian did not launch a counterattack, and the two sides faced off between the two defensive positions. The offensive troops that broke through the lake area were retreated. One army and another cavalry division were sentenced to withdraw from the battle, "losing" 75,000 people. Chentian's Second Army was also sentenced to withdraw from the battle, and the defense "losing" 61,000 people.

The fourth day of the exercise was sunny. The sun had dried the muddy ground a lot in the previous day. After several days of gunpowder smoke, the Instberg Gorge in the early morning was very quiet, but before the sun rises, it will become a battleground for countless people and horses. The student Xiao Maoqi in his sleep was drooling happily. Three days later, his troops still had 350,000, which was almost three times that of the defender's 120,000 troops. In his opinion, victory was already within easy reach. He had already given orders to the various troops last night, and today he will attack with all his strength and must break through the last position of the defensive side.

"Your Excellency Chief of the General Staff, it's not good! We have launched an offensive against us!" Xiao Maoqi's dream was interrupted by the officer who rushed in panickingly.

"What?" Xiao Maoqi jumped up from the camp bed.

"The opponent has already launched an attack on us. Without the preparation of artillery fire, their so-called tanks and armored vehicles rushed over, and they are now close to our position!"

When Xiao Maoqi hurried out of the tent, dozens of planes were flying over his head. On the flat ground ahead, hundreds of "iron bumps" were advancing quickly to his side. The attacking team only dug trenches and some machine gun bunkers. They did not expect that the opponent would launch a counterattack.

But Xiao Maoqi quickly calmed down from shock. Although the opponent's attack was sudden, it seemed that there were only tens of thousands of people, and he still had more than 200,000 troops here. He ordered his soldiers to go to the position as soon as possible and prepare to counterattack. It is a pity that the rifles and machine guns in the hands of his soldiers have little effect on these iron guys. More than 100 tanks and armored vehicles quickly tore a big hole in the position of Xiao Moqi. Behind them are the armored personnel carriers and trucks. soldier. The chaotic group of soldiers was driven away by the machine guns on tanks and armored vehicles, and even a decent defense could not be organized.

At this time, Xiao Moqi's troops in the Mazuli Lake area were also chased by the machine gun mounted on the tricycle. After losing a large number of artillery, they withdrew from the lake area.

At noon, the emperor announced the defeat of the disintegrated Xiao Moqi side, Chentian's East Prussian Army won a full victory, and finally Xiao Maoqi withdrew his proposal to mobilize troops from the Western Front to strengthen the Eastern Front. For the powerful impact of the armored forces, William II greatly appreciated and expressed the need to establish more armored forces. Chentian believes that this weapon should be used as a secret weapon. He suggested that an armor academy should be established first, and tractor factories across the country should be built. During the war, these tractor factories will all be converted to tanks and armored vehicles. Germany will be able to form a large number of armored forces in a short time. , And at the same time can catch opponents off guard. The emperor accepted his suggestion. He ordered the destruction of all the records of the exercise. No one was allowed to disclose the course of the exercise. At the same time, he approved Chentian to invest in tractor factories in various places and made him responsible for preparing for the construction of an armored armour. The academy is to reserve armored talents for Germany, the tractor factory does not need to pay taxes to the government, and the armor academy will receive a special fund.

On the other side, ambassadors and observers from various countries who watched the exercise in Dortmund expressed their disappointment that the "Pineapple" exercise was unremarkable and unremarkable.