The Rise Of Australasia

From the moment Russia joined the counterattack, almost everyone reached a consensus that the Germans were destined for failure.

In fact, practically every nation besides Germany felt this way, and even many German civilians believed their country was nearing its downfall.

However, the only ones not agreeing with this sentiment were the German government or, more precisely, the Junker nobility and Hindenburg, who controlled the German government.

Under Hindenburg's planning, a massive last-ditch counteroffensive was about to be launched, deciding whether Germany would win or lose. At least that was what Hindenburg believed.

In order to win this war, the Germans went to extreme lengths. Almost all civilian factories gave way to military factories, and the government called on the people to work in the defense industry to produce supplies for the frontline army.

As a result, the production speed of German military factories expanded several times over, with monthly bullet production skyrocketing from tens of millions to nearly two hundred million.

Although this approach met the consumption needs of the frontlines, it also caused a problem for Germany: the domestic economy had been destroyed by the war, and Germany's development had been disrupted by the conflict.

Even if they reached an unconditional peace now, it would take Germany at least ten years to return to their pre-war situation and economy.

This predicament pushed the German military government to become even more desperate. They became more convinced that Germany couldn't afford to lose and pinned their hopes on a decisive battle, hoping to salvage Germany with a miraculous victory.

The worst news for Germany was that on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, the Allies maintained an absolute numerical advantage over the Germans.

The German army had fully experienced the power of human wave tactics. Despite casualty ratios as high as 1:3 or even 1:6 in some areas, the Allies were still content.

After all, the Germans were currently consuming the colonial populations of Britain and France, as well as the virtually inexhaustible population of Russia.

However, the Germans were consuming their own native population, and every German death weakened the country further.

In the first month of the full-scale counteroffensive, August 1917, the casualties of both Germany and the Allies reached a new record: over 2 million people were killed or wounded in a single month, with more than 80,000 casualties per day (the actual duration of the fighting was only 25 days, beginning on August 6).

Although German casualties made up only over 500,000 of those 2 million, the German government was undoubtedly beginning to fear such massive losses.

In just one month, Germany had lost a tenth of its troops. How long could the remaining four million-plus soldiers hold out?

Another bad piece of news for the German government was that more than 500,000 combat troops from over thirty divisions had been sent to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire and were now trapped in dangerous conditions following the Austro-Hungarian Empire's surrender.

Fortunately, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had not directly joined the Allies; otherwise, the fate of these 500,000 troops would have been even more uncertain.

Bear in mind that these German troops were located within the Italian-controlled territory, with Austrian territory controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire lying further to the north.

Getting these German troops back to Germany by crossing through both Italian and Austro-Hungarian territory was no simple task.

The Allies were clearly aware of the existence of these German forces too. The Italian army frequently harassed them, with limited support from a small number of Balkan and American troops. These German forces were stuck within Italian territory and were unable to return to Germany.

If the German government couldn't provide any reinforcements to help this army, it was highly likely that these German troops would be encircled and annihilated.

But the German government had no other choice: nearly all German forces were deployed on the Eastern and Western Fronts, and Hindenburg and the German General Staff had less than 300,000 reserve forces under their command.

300,000 troops to save 500,000 was an almost ludicrous idea.

If 300,000 soldiers were enough to rescue the German Army Group, they would have returned to Germany long ago.

Not only was their army facing trouble, but the German navy was also bunkered down in harbors, afraid to venture out due to the large Allied fleets patrolling the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

The submarine tactics that Germany used to rely on had essentially been abandoned since the United States joined the war and the Allies gained enough warships to protect merchant ships.

Though there were still occasional attacks on one or two merchant ships by German submarines, these attacks barely scratched the surface for the Allies, only serving to intensify their hatred towards Germany and indirectly increase the compensation funds that Germany would have to pay after they lost the war.

Moreover, every now and then, several Allied bombers would bomb German cities or drop leaflets encouraging soldiers to surrender.

German frontlines, cities, and factories were all targeted by these bombers and aircraft.

Random bombings not only disrupted the order of these cities, but the leaflets distributed from airplanes also disturbed the thoughts of the German people.

Even those who had supported the war unconditionally before were now questioning it and began to doubt the decisions of the government and military during the conflict.