From Berlin to Uzhhorod, the distance is not far, hundreds of kilometers. At the same time, there is no direct railway connection. Oscar can only go all the way by car.
8th Army Corps Chief of Staff Major General Ludendorff did not act with him, but rushed to the front line with the Staff Department. The only person rushing to the front line with Oscar was Brigadier General Manstein, deputy chief of staff and commander of the Operations Department. The former deputy chief of staff and commander of the Operations Department, Brigadier General Hofmann, has been promoted to major general and served as chief of staff of 9th Army Corps.
Crown Prince of the German Empire arrived at Uzhhorod, and the generals of the Austrian army, as well as Crown Prince Karl and Archduke Friedrich who arrived here first, all went to greet them. Although Crown Prince Karl felt somewhat unhappy, he could not show it after Archduke Friedrich's persuasion. After all, the current occupation is detrimental to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and German Empire Crown Prince is here to help them.
"Your Highness Oskar, welcome to Uzhhorod. His Majesty the Emperor is very grateful to the German Empire for lending a helping hand to support us at this critical moment." Crown Prince Karl's face was full of smiles. However, if you take a closer look, you can tell that this is obviously a fake smile.
Oscar is a little confused and doesn't know why Crown Prince Karl has such an expression. However, he didn't take it to heart. In the seriousness of Oscar, Crown Prince Karl is just a lucky guy. If Franz Joseph I's son hadn't committed suicide for love and Archduke Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated, the good thing of becoming Austro-Hungarian Empire Crown Prince would never have happened to Karl.
In addition, in another time and space, Crown Prince Karl's performance after succeeding to the throne was equally bad. As the emperor of one of the two great empires of the Allied Powers, he only thought about peace and had no determination to continue the war and defeat the enemy. This also led to the Allied Powers losing miserably in this war. Of course, the fate of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was even more miserable. After the defeat, the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly disintegrated, split into multiple countries, and became a second- and third-rate small country, completely removed from the list of great powers. And Karl's own fate is also a tragedy.
In another time and space, Karl was peace-loving. After he succeeded to the throne, he tried several times to withdraw Austria-Hungary from the First World War through secret proposals to the Allies. The most promising one was in 1917 through peace negotiations with France through his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Parma. However, because he refused to cede any piece of Habsburg territory to Italy, the behind-the-scenes activities completely failed. When his efforts to support France's claims to Alsace and Lorraine were exposed, his reputation was greatly damaged both in Germany and at home, leaving Austria in a very embarrassing position. At the end of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell into civil strife and violence. U. S. President Woodrow Wilson proposed the Fourteen-Point Agreement, advocating the independence of all ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On October 14, Karl convened the Royal Parliament, accepted the Fourteen Points Agreement, and agreed to establish a federal state with autonomous governments for various ethnic groups. But the reforms quickly got out of control, and various ethnic autonomous governments declared complete independence and withdrew from the First World War. The republicans in Austria ultimately rejected the monarchy.
On November 11, 1918, Karl announced, "I officially give up participating in any political affairs, but I will not give up the throne." The next day, the German Austrian Republic was established, and Karl was forced to leave Vienna. He went into exile in Switzerland in March 1919. In April, the Austrian Parliament announced that Karl would be deposed from the throne. In 1921, Karl twice tried to resettle there with the help of Hungarian conservatives, but failed because he did not get the support of the Hungarian head of state, Admiral Horthy Miklós. He was exiled to Madeira Island and lived an extremely poor life. In 1922, Carl died of pneumonia at the age of 34.
Therefore, in the eyes of Oscar, Crown Prince Karl is also a completely tragic character. If he hadn't changed history and saved Austro-Hungarian Empire from the danger of defeat, Crown Prince Karl's life would have been a coffee table filled with cups!
After a brief exchange of greetings, Brigadier Generals Oscar and Manstein attended the luncheon prepared by Austrian Army Headquarters. Although the situation on the front line is very critical, the lunch prepared by the Austrian army is very sumptuous. From this, it seems that they are not worried about the current situation at all.
After lunch, Oscar was arranged to rest in the lounge. Although Oscar was a little unhappy about this, he never showed it.
Besides, now Austro-Hungarian Empire is Germany's only ally, and it is also the most important ally. No matter what, German Empire cannot afford to lose this ally again. At least, this ally cannot be lost until Germany wins a decisive victory. Therefore, even if Oscar is dissatisfied, it will not happen.
"Dong dong!" The door was knocked.
"Come in!" Oscar said.
"Your Highness!" Brigadier General Manstein walked in.
"Sit down, what can I do?" Oscar asked in a pleasant tone to his chosen general.
In Oscar's plan, Manstein's talent in staff operations will be brought out bit by bit. In the future, he even hopes that Manstein can serve as the chief of general staff of German military.
"Your Highness, Austro-Hungarian Empire's generals don't seem to be in a hurry! Don't they know that the Russian army Southwestern Front has regrouped four armies? In addition, there is another Russian army group that will arrive soon. By then, they will have to face the attack of more than one million Russian troops." Manstein was a little confused.
After the Russian Northwestern Front Army was completely wiped out, Russian Southwestern Front Army was taken even more seriously. Each group army had a full strength of more than 300,000 people. Once Russian Southwestern Front Army's five armies are all gathered together, it will be a huge army of nearly 1.5 million people. As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on the Eastern Front, there are only three armies, with a maximum strength of one million men. Moreover, they were constantly defeated by Russians in the previous battles, suffering heavy losses and the combat morale of the troops was also very low.
"It seems that the generals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have pinned their hopes on us. The burden on our shoulders is very heavy!" Oscar said somewhat speechlessly.
Manstein's face is also ugly. He also discovered that the ally Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed unreliable! Originally, they were actively cooperating, but now, as long as they don't retreat, they have to thank God for blessing.