The Moltke Plan

[06 Maestro]

Romanian Front
NoV/Dec 1915

Romania surrenders.

The German 11th Army had Captured Bucharest in October and continued on its way north. As the Romanians continued to fight into November it was thought that the country would need to be completely defeated. However, that was not the case. Romania surrendered. Unfortunately, this occurred after orders were given to the A/H 7th Army to move from the Alps to the Romanian frontier. So, a lot of soldiers received a nice train tour of the country, courtesy of the Emperor.

[06 Maestro]

Western Front Nov/Dec 1915

The French made a serious attack into the Vosges. It was repelled.

[06 Maestro]

German Military Builds Nov/Dec 1915

There are a few more of the Stosstruppen units being assembled which do not show on this report. Several other corps, artillery and Hq's have already been completed and have joined the fighting.

[06 Maestro]

The Big shock came when Italy joined the war. It was desired by the CP, but was not expected until the summer of 16. Italy was still solidly neutral. A single diplomatic mission was initiated to start the presumably long road to drawing them in. It work surprisingly well.

The Italian Army will take a month or two to concentrate against France. In view of the terrain along that frontier, there will be no thought of launching attacks until spring-at the earliest.

[06 Maestro]

And the war drags on...

January and February saw a repeat of a massive battle in Vosges and Metz. Both were easy, if costly, victories for the German Army.

The western front is quite stable on the German side. There are 30 corps present not counting the artillery, which was recently increased. Ammunition for the artillery is now at very high stock levels-much higher than France's ammo stocks. A grand offense id planned for may by the 4th and 5th Armies with the objective of Longwy-the French will run low on ammo before Germany.

The eastern front saw a few small battles. the main goal was to repair unit damage and tidy the front up a bit. The Russian Army is kaput. On top of their apparent disadvantage, mutineers have broken out. Also, a rebellion has broken out.

The German 8th Army, which had already captured Riga, is now advancing with the main body on Dvinsk. Other element of the 8th Army have crossed the Dvina River east of Dvinsk. It appears that the road is open to St Petersburg. The German 10 and 12th Armies are closing on the Berezina River. Some cavalry will be crossing the river soon. There is a Russian Army sitting in Borisov, the German 12th will take care of that. The front to the south is somewhat stabilized. Russian forces in the south are considerably stronger than the battered remnants in the north.

The German 11th Army, which had been shifted to Romania is now on its was back to the Russian front-mostly by rail. Some A/H corps are also in route to the Russian front. These new units will deploy inside Romanian territory (free passage after surrender of Romania) on the southern flank of the Russian front. When the Austro/Hungarian offense resumes, Russia should collapse like a house of cards. If it were not for the supply situation (which I assume will improve after winter) the German 12 Army would be knocking at the gates of Moscow itself.

1917 is not looking to be a good year for France, Belgium too.

[comte]

nice an update [:)] Great AAR

[06 Maestro]

ORIGINAL: Aces8

nice an update [:)] Great AAR

Thanks-I was wondering if anyone still looked at this.

The war has been continuing-slowly, but continuing.

[06 Maestro]

August 1916

The Italian Army had been moving into position along the French border. Many new units have mobilized, but still no artillery divisions.

Although the French attacks on the German section of the front are not very intimidating, it would be nice if Italy could draw off some French forces. With this in mind, the Italian Army had been ordered to attack Nice and St Michael.

The move into St Michale was successful, a small battle and a 3 month siege to capture the fortress. The move on Nice did not go as well. A major attack by the Italian 2nd Army was repulsed with moderate losses in August, and again in October.

This OOB for the 2nd Army gives an idea of the rather weak state of the Italian units. There are a few veteran units, but very few.

[06 Maestro]

September 1916
Italian Front

There are a large number of Italian Units arriving at the front. There is an apparent numerical advantage, but the border forts and mountains are a significant obstacle.

[06 Maestro]

Baltic Front
Summer 1916

The Russian Army has melted away. There are still a few formations, but no real front. The last area of a real front was south of the Pripit, the Austro/Hungarian forces swept them away.

The German 8th Army is nearly completely unopposed as it approaches St Petersburg (Petrograd).

[06 Maestro]

The Ottoman Empire had some luck in calling for a Jihad. Some decent Arab units showed up in Syria. Not that it really seem like they are needed at this point.

The British have launched a few attacks at Gaza-all beaten back by the Turks. In Mesopotamia; the British forces advance up the to the rivers and then promptly withdraw. The Turkish Army is concentrated in Baghdad. The supply situation is bad south of there, so It seems reasonable to let the Brits come to Baghdad for a fight.

[06 Maestro]

Eastern Front
October 1916

There are still a few pockets of Russian forces, but the road looks wide open to Moscow. The German 10th Army will be marching on Moscow alone. It only has field artillery-I hope that is enough.

[06 Maestro]

Nov/Dec 1916

Russia

Russia had been suffering from revolts and mutinies for many months. I was finally able to play the Kerensky coup followed by the Lenin coup the following month.

I have not yet been notified of Russia's surrender, but apparently they are out of the war. In the political dialog Russia is no longer listed as at war. Moscow was captured and Petrograd would have followed this month (it took too long to get artillery there to destroy the fort).

There has been a rash of negative political events for all CP nations driving down NW. Hopefully, the surrender of Russia will repair some of this damage before the spring offensive in the west. This was good timing on the collapse of Russia-I will be able to utilize this anual redeployment phase to good effect. It will still take until April to get into position for a major attack in the west. Its going to be big, but just how diplomatically dangerous, I'm not sure.

There is a possibility that the Netherlands will be invaded so that Antwerp can be captured more quickly. Also, it seems like an expeditionary force from Germany and A/H needs to be sent into Italy. There is no guarantee that this can be worked out-time will tell. Perhaps A/H forced cannot contribute at all in Italy.

[06 Maestro]

Armenian Front
Nov/Dec 1916

The Russian Army has nearly ceased to exist anywhere. There are a few units left, one of which the O.E. Army will have to fight if Russia does not actually surrender. It seems Russia is no longer in the T.E., but is still at war. It also appears that the "Reds" control Russia-or what's left of it.

The Turkis forces have advance along the Black Sea coast nearly to the sea of Azov. Tiblisi has also been taken. If it is necessary to fight the Russians holding out in the south, it is hoped that they will be out of supply before the battle. So far there is no indication that is the case.

[06 Maestro]

The A/H 2nd Army finished off the last significant Russian force in the south in October. Odessa has also fallen. It is now just a matter of moving forward to occupy major cities until Russia quits. Kieve was just captured in Nov/December ad will serve as the base for the KuK. Sevastopol is also on the target list.

[06 Maestro]

Nov/Dec
North Central Russia

The two Russian Armies which were holding out on the edge of the Pripit were finally dealt with. They were isolated so did not out up too much of a fight, but still inflicted losses on the German 3rd Army which dealt the finale blows.

The 8th Army is still besieging Petrograd and the 10th Army is resting in and around Moscow. There is no one left to fight and not anywhere important for it to march to. They will wait for the surrender-sounds familiar.

The German 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Armies have been strategically redeployed towards the western front. The limit of that move was just to the west of Berlin. Rail and administrative moves will get them to the front by springtime.

[06 Maestro]

West Front
Nov/Dec '16

There were two previous attempt to drive the French/British from Briey earlier in the year. This was a planned "grand offense", so another effort had to be made. The gas techs were finally allowed-I ssume that is what caused the British to break so easily. There were very few losses for Germany, and the explotation attack succeded moving into Verdun.

[06 Maestro]

There was a small battle which was required to move into verdun. The siege will take a while to finish. The siege artillery is on its way with the 1st Army. There is also more siege artillery in the build quay, but it will be summer before that arrives. It is possible that the field artillery from the 4th Army will be able to deal with the Verdun forts, but it will be a slow process.

[06 Maestro]

Italian Front
Nov/Dec '16

Italy finally received some field artillery. It was assigned to the 1st Army. The Italian 1st Army had already cleared the mountains and was in a position to drive a wedge to the west of Nice. There was a French Army of unknown strength to the southwest which it attacked. The resulting battle of Manosque was costly, and did not look promising half way through the battle, but success was had. Further, a breakthrough was achieved which nearly took the Italian forces to the coast.

The situation for France will soon be very difficult in the south. The Austro/Hungarian's were able to work the deal to send an expeditionary force into Italy. The 5th Army, from the Serbian front is already near the front and will soon be attacking into Nice.

I just might be able to send a German expeditionary force into Italy also. In this situation, it may not even be necessary to invade Belgium in the spring. I need to make the decision soon. (I'm actually holding a diplomatic event that would cause the TE to declare war on Belgium. If I was playing against a human I would use it, but not against the ai-I do have some pride[:)]).

[06 Maestro]

Italian Front
Spring 1917

The French have reinforced their southern front, but are still short on units to shore up the whole front. The situation is deteriorating as Italian forces, augmented by the A/H 5th Army press the attack.