Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 98: Rejecting the Schlieffen Plan



The world was changing, and rapidly at that. There was no denying this any longer. The future of the battlefield was uncertain. And with the launch of the HMS dreadnought, the Naval Arms race between the German Reich and the British Empire had entered a new phase.

Meanwhile, Bruno was meeting with the leaders of the German Army. The Schlieffen plan was first proposed during the year Bruno was active in the Russian Civil War. But once the war was over, and the Russian Empire was on friendlier terms with the German Reich than it had ever been before, the plan suddenly seemed nonsensical.

Was war with Russia and France truly certain at this point? I mean, Bruno had thrown a wrench in the plans to gain Russia's allegiance to the Dual Entente currently enacted between France and Britain. In addition to this, the Kaiser had leaked the evidence that France was actually behind the attack on Bruno's life that happened on Russian Soil.

Now that the Bolsheviks had been thoroughly purged from this world, the time to reveal the real culprits who had tried to make an attempt on Bruno's life was now. When the Tsar read this, he was outraged. France had attempted to undermine his sovereignty and attack a foreign general in his employ on Russian soil, no less!

It was simply outrageous to think of! This was naturally something that served only to worsen relations between the two powers. Especially after German Intelligence also revealed France's initial plans to army and supply the Bolshevik Revolution in an attempt to overthrow the Tsar and replace it with a nation that the French Republic found more favorable than an autocratic monarchy.

Diplomatically, Russia was shifting back towards Germany and Austro-Hungary rather than Britain and France. And it was all thanks to Bruno's efforts. Because of this, though he wasn't a Field Marshal of the German Army, his input in the future plans for how to deal with the French were requested at the meeting.

Bruno looked at the map of Europe and the figures on it. He, of course, was deeply familiar with the strategy and was quick to make a remark, changing the perspective of everyone in the room as he did so.

"Assuming war with Russia is unavoidable, I would wager it would be better to build a defensive border of significant stature on the Western Front capable of bleeding the French Army dry while the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies focus on the eastern front.

The sooner we force one side to capitulate, the better. And believe it or not, Russia would be easier to subdue. However, with the current progress of the global stage, it is becoming far more likely that Russia with either side with us or stay out of the conflict altogether.

Either way, the damage that has been done to the relations between the Tsar and the French is irreparable at this point. Nicholas is an incredibly petty and vain man. The attack against his sovereignty by daring to conduct an extrajudicial killing of a man in his service on his soil was enough to permanently soil any attempts the French have made to curry with him.

But further providing evidence of French communications with the Bolsheviks, promising them war aid in order to depose the Tsar and the House of Romanov has almost certainly made an enemy out of Russia. Especially now that the Bolsheviks have been sent to hell where they belong.

From where I stand, it is more likely that Russia will join us, and Italy will betray us, joining the French instead. As for the plan, Generalfeldmarschall von Schlieffen has proposed no offense, but crossing through Beglium in order to take Paris as quickly as possible will only provoke a British response.

If Britain lands troops in France, the war will have the potential to stagnate entirely. It is thus my suggestion that rather than fight an offensive war with the French, and potentially the British and Italians as well. We fight a defensive war.

Say we build a massive fortification across our borders with France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, along with a Costal wall to the North Sea with defenses armed against any potential Naval threat, then we could theoretically hold the line at our borders, causing the enemy to send millions of their men into a slaughter."

The German Field Marshals were in a state of deep contemplation for several moments before von Mackensen finally posed a question.

"Exactly what would these fortifications look like?"

Bruno's lips curled into a wicked sneer as he responded to this question by pulling out sheets of paper which consisted of designs for what he liked to refer to as a "maginot line on steroids." Along with a secondary set of designs for a project similar to the Atlantic wall that Germany had made during the Second World War of his past life. Albeit on a much smaller scale.

The designs were sufficient to counter infantry, cavalry, armored vehicles, and military aviation alike. And Bruno was naturally in the process of designing the weapons that could be used. Considering that the German Army had manufactured thousands of water-cooled machine guns over the course of the last few years, he intended for these to be used as static emplacements within the fortifications.

After all, there was no better machine gun for this purpose that existed. Whereas the more modern MG-34s, or MG-05s as they were known in this life, would be used for mobile units, and not those designed with the intent to be garrisoned at the wall.

The defensive fortifications Bruno designed not only included structures similar to the maginot line, including a subterranean railway for logistical support. But it also included a minefield embedded in the vast no-man's-land required to cross if one even wanted to assault the fortifications.

What land mines had Bruno selected for this purpose? Well, the legendary S-Mine, of course. The S-Mine was a landmine developed by for the Wehrmacht during the interwar era of Bruno's past life. The Americans rather lovingly referred to it as the "bouncing betty." This mine was unique insofar as once triggered, a secondary explosive would propel it into the air before being detonated at waist length, ensuring maximum carnage and lethality. Considering the intent was to hold the border with France and bleed them dry of their men. While concluding other areas of war first, like in Italy. Mining the no-man's-land was an obvious choice to inflict maximum casualties on the enemy.

And once the time came to actually advance into Paris and claim the victory had arrived, the introduction of minesweeping vehicles could easily be used to clear the entire field. A mine flail could easily be attached to the tanks Bruno had designed, clearing the path for infantry to move through without fear of detonating their own landmines.

Still, there were those who were skeptical about Bruno's claims. Would fighting a defensive war with France and Britain to ensure a victory against Italy first in the South really be worth the effort? Also, why was Bruno so certain that Italy would turn against them? They were currently in an alliance after all, while Russia was not?

Ultimately, the time was not right to introduce this strategy. As there were too many unknown factors in how things would proceed in the future. But proper proposals were drafted and stored for later potential use. Assuming Bruno's predictions came true, and Russia sided with their alliance. While Italy turned against them.

As for Bruno, once his contributions were given to the meeting, he was dismissed. He went back to do the rest of his daily work before ultimately returning home for the night. Where he was surprised to see that he had visitors, two to be exact. And it was definitely not within Bruno's expectations, to say the least.