[Store your brains here!] [Parallel world, alternate history, original characters, no negative associations, has nothing to do with real history.] November 9, 1918, the Western Front of World War I.
An urgent telegram from the German Army High Command on the Western Front was delivered to the hands of Crown Prince Wilhelm, commander of Army Group B.
The content of the telegram was very brief: Wilhelm II of the German Empire had announced his abdication today at the German Army headquarters on the front lines in Belgium.
The German Empire had thus perished!
After reading the telegram, Crown Prince Wilhelm sighed.
What was meant to come, had ultimately arrived.
With the surrender and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as the intensifying worker riots and soldier uprisings at home, the defeat of the German Empire was a foregone conclusion.
But when this moment arrived, it still made one feel emotional.
The German Empire had once been so powerful, holding its own against Britain, France, and Russia single-handedly.
If not for the lack of resources, incompetent allies, and the entry of the Americans, the outcome of World War I would have been truly unpredictable.
But there was no point in saying this now; the German Empire had become a thing of the past.
It was time to build an even stronger Third Reich upon its ruins!
As the first heir to the throne, Crown Prince Wilhelm should have followed in the footsteps of the Kaiser and fled to the Netherlands with other members of the royal family to seek refuge.
However, history played a small joke here; the soul of a transmigrator, crossing over more than 100 years of time and space, had replaced the original Crown Prince Wilhelm.
“Your Highness, should we follow the instructions of the High Command, withdraw our troops to the rear, and give up our positions?” After reading the telegram, General Hermann Kuhl, Chief of Staff of Army Group B, asked the Crown Prince with some hesitation.
Listening to the constant roar of artillery on the battlefield and the urgent requests for reinforcements that arrived like snowflakes from the front-line troops.
Crown Prince Wilhelm took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: “Behind us is the German Empire.
If we retreat, the enemy’s iron hooves will trample on the land of the Empire.
Do you really want to hand over the sacred land of the German Empire to the enemy just like that?!” The command post fell into silence, and the expressions on everyone’s faces were quite conflicted.
Seeing this, Crown Prince Wilhelm’s attitude was firm as he said decisively: “Broadcast to the whole country: I will defend the territory of the Empire to the death.
Before I fall, I will absolutely not let the invaders step one inch further!” “Soldiers, are you willing to follow me in defending our motherland?” Seemingly infected by Crown Prince Wilhelm’s speech and his resolute attitude in resisting the invaders, the previously somewhat confused staff officers and officers felt a flush of excitement on their faces, as if they had found their backbone again, and shouted in unison: “We are willing to follow Your Highness the Crown Prince to the death!” Crown Prince Wilhelm nodded with satisfaction.
It seemed that he, as the Crown Prince, was quite popular in his daily life!
The Kaiser had run away, and his status as Crown Prince would not be worth much in the future.
If he wanted to have a foundation to stand on in the post-war German Empire, he had to start accumulating prestige for himself from now on!
The German Empire valued military merit above all else; there was nothing more valuable than military merit on the battlefield!
When the empire was defeated, the Kaiser had fled, and the country was engulfed in flames of war and panic; When the morale of the front-line troops was low, and they were only thinking of retreating or even surrendering.
Someone like him, who went against the tide, would most easily become a national hero and a savior in the hearts of the people.
If he could win a few more battles on the front line, he would gain tremendous prestige!
This was the foundation for him to establish himself and even rise again in the chaotic post-war situation!
Of course, the reason he dared to make such a bold decision was mainly because the enemy opposite him was neither the British Army nor the French Army, but the weak US Army.
He didn’t have the guts to fight tough nuts like the British Army and the French Army, but fighting the US Army?
He not only had the guts, but he had a lot of them!
…
Just as Crown Prince Wilhelm was sharpening his knives, preparing to entertain the Americans, the Americans were also urging the US troops on the front line to launch a fierce attack on the German Army positions.
After the Allied Powers learned the news that the Kaiser had issued an abdication edict, that the German Army was about to surrender to them, and that World War I was about to end, the British Army and French Army soldiers on the Western Front were celebrating.
After experiencing many bloody battles that could be called meat grinders, such as Verdun, the Somme, and the Kaiser Battle, the British Army and French Army, having suffered huge casualties, generally developed war-weariness and wished for the war to end as soon as possible.
Only the Americans, who had just joined the war and had not suffered any major losses, felt very unhappy.
Since declaring war in 1917, the wealthy and powerful Americans had spent less than a year.
Expanding their army, which originally only had 130,000 people, into a massive force of 70 divisions and over 4 million people.
As a result, they had just completed their expansion, and before they could even deploy their troops to the battlefield, the enemy was about to surrender?
Then what about the millions of troops they had expanded?
What about the millions of young adults mobilized for the expansion, and the factories running at full speed all over the country?
The Americans wanted to enter the field to pick the peaches, but they had just reached out, and before they could pick any peaches, the peach tree was chopped down!
For the Americans who had not gained enough benefits, a ceasefire now did not entirely serve their interests.
Therefore, in September, General Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, personally took command, committing dozens of divisions, a massive force of about 1.2 million people, to take the initiative and launch an attack on the German Army positions.
And the main direction of their attack was the Meuse-Argonne position where Crown Prince Wilhelm and his Army Group B were stationed, so this battle was also known as the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
The Americans were ambitious, thinking they could easily crush the German Army by relying on their massive troop strength and powerful firepower.
However, after the battle began, the situation on the front line was far from what they had imagined.
The US Army, with its bloated organizational scale, over-reliance on heavy firepower, and disregard for mobility, performed very poorly in actual combat.
They were often outmatched in combat loss ratios by German Army units that were smaller in number but more flexible, mobile, and experienced in combat.
The artillery and other heavy firepower that the US Army relied on could not exert their intended power due to poor communication.
On the contrary, their own rigid offensive tactics and poor mobility made the infantry’s offensive rhythm very slow, often making them live targets for the German artillery and heavy machine gunners.
Before they could even touch the enemy’s positions, they suffered heavy casualties under the long-range fire of the German Army.
The battle had only lasted for a month and a half, and the US Army’s casualties had already reached as many as 150,000.
But for the huge cost of casualties they paid, the result they achieved was only to push the front line forward by nine kilometers!
This speed was even slower than the Russia-Ukraine war 100 years later!
Such huge casualties and such small results left Britain and France, who had high hopes for this US offensive, extremely disappointed.
It also caused the Americans to lose face, and the Americans, unable to save face, decided to commit more troops to salvage their reputation!