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Actually, Germany's entire war plan was very simple: launch a surprise attack, then surround enemy strongpoints and annihilate the relief forces.
Yes. Although Germany did not put it that way, the ideas reflected in its war plan were indeed those two principles.
The plan was roughly divided into two parts. First came the surprise attack, swiftly defeating the regular Russian Army deployed in the west. Then came the encirclement of strongpoints and destruction of relief forces, using several important Russian cities to inflict heavy losses on the reserve troops coming to their aid.
Although Russia had a population exceeding one hundred million, if several million Russian troops were wiped out in a short period, even a country as vast in land and population as Russia would be unable to bear it.
It was worth noting that this grandiose war plan, as seen by the German Prime Minister, had been copied only nine times in all of Germany.
Aside from one copy each held by the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the remaining six copies stayed with the German High Command in case they were needed.
Furthermore, to prevent leaks before the war began, only a tiny number of senior German officers knew of the finalized war plan. Some generals did not even qualify to see it.
This not only effectively prevented intelligence leaks; even if information did leak, the source could quickly be narrowed down to only a handful of people.
Besides, the Prime Minister did not believe Anglo-French espionage could be so superb as to train a spy into a senior German official of field marshal rank.
Anyone who wanted to become a senior officer of field marshal rank had to either become an absolute confidant of the German Prime Minister, such as Göring, the British Air