Westfront 1914

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Source of the journals: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/accueil-fr

4 September 1914

Fort de Troyon is the second fort of the Meuse to fall to the Bavarians. The rest of the frontline is moving slowly on the Meuse and much faster towards the Oise river.

St. Quentin area:


Little actual combat but a lot of maneuvering, the BEF setting up on the Oise river to support the retreat of 5. Armée, those divisions choke the road between Avesnes and Hirson.

Oise-Meuse line:


A German division tries to storm the citadel of Charlemont but the heroic defenders still stand by days end. They are cited at the Citation à l'ordre de l'armée of the day for their bravery.

The retreat of 5. Armée continues towards the Oise river, the fort d'Hirson and the small citadel of Rocroi. This effectively concludes the Bataille de la Sambre-Meuse that lasted from 16. August to 4. September; the second most deadly battle of this War so far after the battle of the Woëvre.



The German attacks around Montherme and Tannay make 3. and 4. Armée more and more nervous. Especially the push from Montherme threatens to enter the Sermonne valley and to cut off Charleville-Mezières. 14. Division d'infanterie having just disembarked from trains yesterday is thrown into the line to try to hold but it looks like a retreat behind the Sermonne is inevitable.

St. Mihiel area:


Again it is 1. Bavarian Reserve Division that leads the charge and captures Fort de Troyon. This advance on the other hand means the Bavarian right flank is now under fire fro mthe mobile artillery reserve of Verdun that assembled at Ancemont to support 7. and 40. Division d'infanterie holding the Meuse from Fort des Paroches to Ancemont.

Two Hessian and four Bavarian Landwehr regiments try to cross the Meuse north of Comercy but are repulsed bloodily by 1. Brigade marocaine and 113. Brigade d'infanterie de réserve (113. BIR). General Pétain, newly named commander of XX. Corps d'armée visists the 113. BIR praising the reservists' grit.

The threat of a Meuse bridgehead nonetheless has Pétain order the fall back of the infantry covering Fort de Gironville, expecting it to fall in the coming days and wanting to have his infantry in good shape to defend Comercy and the Fort Raoult.

One more brigade arrive here from Lorraine as well as the chasseurs alpins of Grenoble and Draguignan to bolster the Meuse defenses. The remainder of two North-African brigades that fought for over a week around Liouville are sent the other way to a quiet part of the Vosges front. De Castelnau would prefer at least one new division as reserve but Joffre is reluctant to give up the last three divisions he has in general reserve.

In other news:
- Etienne de Villaret is now commander of the 9. Armée overseeing the Leie and Schelde frontline.
- Brice Bizot is replaced by Louis de Grandmaison at the helm of 65. Division de réserve.

Conclusion:

The battle of the Sambre-Meuse is over, now the battle of the Oise is beginning. However the Oise position can only be held if the Charleville-Mezières front doesn't collapse.

Dev comment:

I also redid the entire French reserve and territoriale unit headquarter assignments because it just costs too much political points if attached to Joffre (which is intended), this is why I'm doing so few general replacements. In the scenario file I introduced the Armée des alpes, Armée d'Afrique and the Minisètre de la guerre as rear guard HQs so most of the reinforcements being unlocked in August/September don't cost prohibitive PPs to switch over to active frontline HQs.

I definitely need to rework the British artillery. I made the brigades attached to divisions individual units making them on purpose weaker gameplay wise. This made them way too weak and hard to keep moral high on all of them. I'm not sure if it's a bug or something I can't find a reason for but they just started to capitulate en masse in the last round an artillery attack I was trying to do. First time that happened so not sure sure why that is. I'll most likely redo them in a divisional artillery grouping similar to the Germans, this should give them more punch and staying power.

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Source of the journals: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/accueil-fr

5 September 1914

Maubeuge is now cut-off from the French line while the Meuse line is crumbling as several forts fall and Mezières is conquered by the Germans.

Oise front:


The retreat of 5. Armée continues while the Boches are putting a lot of pressure on the BEF to stop any line of forming on the Oise. Joffre and GQG are now planning to fall back on the Aisne especially since 4. Armée is now also falling back. Manoury and his sixteen divisions are waiting in the west covering Arras, Albert and Amiens hoping to be able to attack into the German flank at some point.

At Maubeuge German X. Corps continues it's pressure on fort de Leveau and launches it's first attack with one brigade that is stopped easily.

The citadel of Charlemont finally falls to German VIII. Corps ending the battle of Givet that lasted for fifteen days and caused 21000 French casualties for 9000 German ones.

Charleville-Mezières:


33. and 34. Divisions d'infanterie break after several weeks of combat and several thousands Frenchmen are taken prisoners by the advancing Germans. At the same time German XVIII. Reserve Corps supported by heavy artillery manages to enter Mezières. This dual threat forces 4. Armée to call for a full on retreat towards the Sermonne and potentially all the way to the Aisne. Foch meanwhile is shifting troops from his right to his left flank trying to support 4. Armée.

St. Mihiel:


Forts du camps des romains and de Gironville fall to the Bavarians assaults today. This only leaves fort Raoult on the right bank but its proximity to Toul makes it unlikely the Bavarians will try to take it. The next step is most likely an attempt to cross the Meuse around Comercy and/or Chauvoncourt and de Castelnau is moving his freshest regiments around to hold the river line.

In other news:
25. and 32. Division d'infanterie are moved to Amiens to protect the Paris-Arras railroad.

Conclusion:

The retreat will not stop on the Oise, will it stop on the Aisne? Can 6. Armée actually defeat the advancing Germans once it launches its counter attack?

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Source of the journals: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/accueil-fr

6 September 1914

The allied retreat continues towards the Aisne after the Meuse line broke. Chauvoncourt falls to the Bavarians confirming the threat of a German push between Toul and Verdun.

News from Antwerpen:
Belgian pilots flying Farman HF-20 notice a concentration of German units east of Antwerpen, the Boches might be trying to threaten the city from both sides.

St. Quentin area:


The BEF falls back under heavy pressure. Maubeuge under siege resists and General Fournier commanding the defenses sends two regiments of territorials to defend fort de Leveau that looks like the main target of the German assault.

Central front:


5. and 4. Armée pull back using some railroad transports to reorganize their line. This leaves fort d'Hirson isolated and soon to be facing the Boches alone to slow them down like Charlemont before it.

St. Mihiel area:


1. Bavarian Division crosses the Meuse thanks to heavy artillery support and takes Chauvoncourt. Several French regiments are very weak after weeks of fighting and de Castelnau is worried that one or two battles going poorly could cause a break in his line.

In other news:
- César Besset is relieved of his command of 58. Division de réserve and replaced by Ernest Blondelat.
- Louis penaud is sent to Limoges and 89. Division territoriale is taken over by Paul Grosetti, who is visited by the Généralissime Joffre the same day.

Conclusion:

The Antwerpen frontline might heat up again soon, meanwhile in a rapid retreat sees the BEF and the French trying to avoid casualties until 6. Armée attacks the overextended Germans.

Dev comment:

I definitely feel like the French won't have the power to launch a full counter attack in this build, I plan to realease the heavy artillery of the fortified cities before the original date to see how it goes but I think the new build where I reworked some stats, OOBs and added A LOT of artillery for the French should give them more options to create a local artillery superiority to smash into weak German units. We'll see how the AAR continues to unfold and if 6. Armée will be able to do something.

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Source of the journals: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/accueil-fr

7 September 1914

The retreat continues while GQG plans for two counter attacks. The ministry of war finally agrees to unlock some heavy artillery from Langres, Belfort and Epinal for use in the field armies, equipping 2. and 6. Armée in the coming days.

News from Maubeuge:

Fort de Leveau survives another day but the super heavy artillery has reduced the forts defenses to a minimum and the fort is expected to fall soon.

Aisne area:


French and British troops fall back behind the Serre river towards the Aisne. II. British Corps is transferred by rail to La Fère to occupy some of the old deactivated forts of the area. Sir John French expect his 6. Division to arrive tomorrow to reinforce the BEF.

Fort d'Hirson resists a first assault but probably won't survive another.

St. Mihiel area:


The Bavarians push across the Meuse and cut the Bar-le-duc/Toul and Bar-le-duc/Verdun railway lines. De Castelnau thus pulls back his weakened troops to avoid bleeding out for little gain. At the same time he plans a new counter attack from Verdun into the rear of the Bavarians, where only weak Ersatz and Landwehr units guard the front.

Heavy artillery from Verdun and Belfort will support VI. Corps d'armée reinforced by 42. Division d'infanterie and assisted by 56. Division de réserve on the northern flank in this effort. The attack should start in a day or two to get readiness back up to 100 after the railroad transfers.

In other news:
François Caneval is replaced by Paul Maistre as commander of 62. Division de réserve.

Conclusion:

The fate of the French army will most likely decided by the the ability of 2. and 6. Armée to counter attack in the coming weeks.

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Source of the journals: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/accueil-fr

8 September 1914

Renewed fighting around Antwerpen punctuates a rather bloodless day for once. Both sides moving into position to attack or counter attack.

Antwerpen:


Three German divisions (the Guard Ersatz, a new Marine division and one division from Lorraine) move up and start bombarding fort de Lier and fort de Kessel with the support of eight 30.5cm mortars. At the same time a German division is putting pressure on fort de Liezele. The Belgians have little reserves left and keep asking for more British and French troops. It is doubtful that any more will come. Joffre seems happy to just keep the line open to Gent to evacuate the Belgians west if need be.

Maubeuge


The first fort, fort de Leveau, falls today the last 250 men of the garrison surrendering after their last gun, a canon de 12 Mle 1884 defending the inner moat, is taken out of action. Most of the Maubeuge garrisons infantry is concentrated in the citadel of the city itself now and fort des Sartes is looking to be the next victim of German X. Corps besieging the city.

Aisne area:


The retreat continues. The BEF arrives in force around La Fère and forms up behind the Somme and Serre rivers with French support arriving from 5. Armée thanks to the shortening frontline between La Fère and Rethel.

British reinforcements also arrive with two territorial units arriving for rear guard duties as well and the headquarters of 2. Cavalry Division commanded by Hubert Gough that is being given command of 3. and 5. Cavalry Brigades. But the main news is the arrival of John Keir's 6. Division.

St. Mihiel area:


The Bavarians seem to be pushing west towards Bar-le-Duc now and de Castelnau is pulling back to goad them into crossing the Meuse fully. His plan is to attack into the rear towards Harville and Thiaucourt and cut off the Bavarian supplies. The mobile artillery of Verdun and Toul is putting pressure on the German flanks while the two pronged assault is being set up.

Near Toul it is Wirbel's 10. Division d'infanterie and Chatelain's73. Division de réserve (mainly composed of depleted cavalry regiments) that will try to push or at least pin the Bavarians with the support of artillery from Toul, two chasseurs à pied battalions from the Vosges and two newly arrived mixed colonial regiments and their tirailleurs sénégalais. At the very least Joffre expects this move to stall any Bavarian advance and force some reinforcements to come from elsewhere to stop the French attack.

In other news:
A new Corps d'armée (CA) headquarter is formed, XXXI. CA, and assigned to 6. Armée. The Groupes de divisions de réserves and the Groupe d'Amade are renamed in parallel from XXX. CA to XXXVIII. CA.

Conclusion:

Mobile warfare ongoing not unlike what the generals imagined before the war. Nothing could possibly change about this kind of war?