SerbiAAR: a veteran Serbia-only AAR

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16 September 1916, Serbian Front - This turn saw the destruction of the KuK Polish detachment. Men who sought only the freedom of Poland died on a battlefield far from their homeland battling their fellow Slavs, and others took the opportunity to defect to join the Polish legions being formed by the Entente! Such is the fate of smaller nations in this global conflict.

There has been a distinct slackening off of the Central Powers offensive against Serbia, as units are diverted to exploit the breakthrough in Russia and cover the Transylvanian front. Let's hope we can exploit this!

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16 September 1916, Thracian Front - The Ottoman fortress of Adrianople has fallen, yet the delay it caused in the Greek advance on Constantinople has given time for two Ottoman infantry corps to build up a front to the west of the city. It seems that the Greeks will have some fighting to do before they can sing their Te Deum at the Hagia Sophia!

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7 October 1916, Serbian Front - This turn was spent consolidating recent gains on this front, the preparation punctuated only by the destruction of the Serbian cavalry division that had advanced too far towards the Hungarian plain.

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7 October 1916, Thracian Front - In this turn one of the corps blocking the advance towards Constantinople has been destroyed, however the Greek army is in a state of exhaustion after their advance across Bulgaria and siege of Adrianople, and so will probably have to rest next turn.

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4 November 1916, Serbian Front - The front holds, though I've had to put one of my best units into a gap where another infantry corps retreated and not had enough time left for it to dig in before the CP turn. I can only hope that bad weather impedes any CP attack, but with an artillery units and multiple infantry corps ready to attack its likely to take a battering. Elsewhere the Russian front continues its collapse with Riga surrounded and Minsk threatened. In Thrace the Greeks remain stuck in front of Constantinople unable to advance - and at this point even a reopening of the Dardanelles seems unlikely to reverse that trend. Italy too has seen a collapse with the Italians now defending a line of defence extending along the Po. Only in France are things picking up a bit, with Amiens, Nancy and other cities retaken and even Verdun close to recapture.

I doubt the war can last much longer than 1917. Either the Ottomans collapse first or the Russians will - and quite probably both! We will then see a repositioning of the forces freed up on those fronts and perhaps the decisive battle. American entry into the war in unlikely to come soon enough to affect the result.

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2 December 1916, Serbian Front - The Serb infantry corps to defending the Danube north-west of Belgrade was destroyed! An entire turn's MPP had to be spent to buy it back. Along with the fall of Verona and Minsk, and the shattering of the Romanians in a number of places, not a great month for the Entente! The Russians are unlikely to hold out for much more than a few months I fear. The good news is that a couple of CP dreadnoughts have been sunk and Baghdad has at last fallen.

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2 December 1916, Thracian Front - Having destroyed the last Ottoman Infantry corps barring their way, the Greeks are finally at the gates of Constantinople. If the lines to their north can hold a few months longer, the straits will fall to the Entente and the Ottoman war will be over!

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30 December 1916, Serbian Front - In the last turn of the year the snows arrive, stopping any further offensive action both on this front and in Thrace, and giving a chance for the troops to recover. Russian morale is at 15%, Ottoman at 22%, French at 27% - how much longer can this war go on?

[OldCrowBalthazor]

Very interesting AAR!
Been following along since you began this back when.
Interesting how easy it is to take out Bulgaria, heh? [:D]

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ORIGINAL: OldCrowBalthazor

Very interesting AAR!
Been following along since you began this back when.
Interesting how easy it is to take out Bulgaria, heh? [:D]

Thanks! I really think this one's probably lost but hope is the last thing to die as they say!

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24 February 1917, Serbian Front - The Bolsheviks have seized power in St. Petersburg, and Russia, with its morale on 14%, really is unlikely to stay in the war much longer. On the Serbian Front not much is happening though the KuK army is staging a break-through in Romania that the Serbs are watching with distinct unease.

(PS - apologies for the poor image quality. I've asked a number of times why the max size image allowed on SC:WW1 is 200kb when SC:WIE allows up to 5000kb on the site feedback forum but received no answer from anyone)

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24 February 1917, Thracian Front - This turn the Greeks stage a major assault on Constantinople, but the defenders held on, aided by the blizzards that hampered Greek aerial reconnaissance.

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4 April 1917, Serbian Front - The Russians have given in! We are now face with the prospect of massive Austro-Hungarian and German forces being brought to bear against Serbia, Italy, and France. America is as far from joining the war as ever. There is only one bright light of hope for the Entente....

In the fighting on this front it is not clear what role the Romanians will play (their MPP is shown as zero and they are still a minor adhering to Russia even though they are still fighting - how does this work?). Hopefully substantial reinforcement will be available for this front.

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4 April 1917, Thracian Front - What was the single hope I referred to above? This was the capture of Constantinople (and in the same turn, Aqaba and Jerusalem). Greek army priests now walk through the Hagia Sofia, censors swinging, with the sound of the Greek Orthodox liturgy heard in that great cathedral for the first time since the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Surely this is the end of the Ottomans? If so all the British and Greek troops currently fighting them will become available for the Balkan front that desperately needs reinforcement.

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5 May 1917, Serbian Front - Turns out that when the Russians surrender Romania is reduced to low supply and surrenders the turn afterwards. Probably for the best
- defending the wide Romanian Front would have been tough with the forces available.

The Ottomans surrendered giving the UK 1200 in MPP, which I decided not to trust the UK to invest, instead directing it to spend the lot on buying back destroyed British infantry corps and anti-submarine destroyers.

France is now on 13% morale, despite now having retaken almost all of its territory (this game began before Bill added morale boosting events for recapturing French territory that was previously lost).

Minor point: the "Bulgaria gains Southern Dobruja" event fired even though Bulgaria has surrendered. Probably should be a check to see if the Bulgarians are still in the war before this fires.

Substantial Austro-German forces are already arriving on my front from the east - it is going to be a hot summer!

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2 June 1917, Serbian Front - Belgrade has fallen! And been recaptured! But the front is only weakly held and the next assault may take it for good. French morale is now at 11%...

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30 June 1917, Serbian Front - Wave after wave of Central Powers troops batter against the corps holding Belgrade, but it held - just! Now a fresh Greek corps enters the line, hopefully the Central Powers offensive there is spent.

Meanwhile Serbian and Greek attacks against Mostar and north-east of Belgrade also fail to make a dent.

French morale reach 10%, just as the Germans are driven from Brussels...

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14 July 1917, Serbian Front - Signs of collapse at the front as the Central Powers take Belgrade decisively this time. The attack against Mostar fails again. Serbian national morale remains high - but for how much longer? And what can high morale do in the face of Austro-German technical superiority?

Elsewhere the Entente retakes Liege and the Germans have Bologna practically encircled. French morale remains at 10%.

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28 July 1917 Serbian Front - Again, the assault fails near Mostar. It does not look like we're going to be able to retake Belgrade - my only hope now is the Americans, but that seems a forlorn hope when their war entry is still only gradually increasing (currently at 47%)

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11 August 1917 - More defeats, more withdrawals - is this war lost? French morale now on 8%.

The sheer weight of artillery that the Central Powers have in the Belgrade area tells the entire story of why this front is now collapsing.