John Lee's 'great war' Entente vs MP9090 as Central Powers

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco

Will you retreat south through Sedan?

I would try to only retreat the forces north of the German offensive, around Mauberge. I'd try to hold the Sedan line. Depends on how long the Germans can maintain their offensive.

[gwgardner]

The Italian 2nd Army is 50% mobilized, with the remainder of its compliment to arrive in 8 weeks. 3rd Army is just starting its mobilization, but the greater part of its forces will be available in a couple of weeks.

These forces will be moved towards the Austrian border, to feel out the enemy capabilities on this new front.

[gwgardner]

On the Eastern Front, the German/Austrian offensive towards Plock continues, with the heaviest fighting at the base of the enemy salient. The Russian 1st Army attempt to drive through the salient has met with fierce resistance, but the Russian 9th and 11th Armies will now join the fray.

[gwgardner]

The theater of operations on the Italian Front is fairly straightforward at first glance: possible offensive targets north into the Tyrol and east into Istria, Slovenia, Croatia. A defensive line must be set up north of Udine.

The Treaty of London gives Italy rights to Austria's Adriatic territories.

[Cfant]

Oh, an offensive by crossing the Isonzo-River? Sounds good. What could probably go wrong? [:D]

[StuccoFresco]

Uhm, there are a couple minor errors in the city names of the map.

"Venitia" -> Veneto.
"Trent" -> Trento, Trient in deutsch.
"Balzano" -> Bolzano, Bozen in deutsch.
"Moribor" -> Maribor, Marburgo in italian, Marburg in deutsch.

Probably the map maker wasn't neither english nor italian.

[gwgardner]

June 13, turn 46

Austria has called upon its German ally to aid in the scramble to set up a defense against Italy. Since Italy declared war only against Austria-Hungary, this seems an unfortunate move by Germany to enter the fray in the south. Good for Austrian diplomacy, but very bad perhaps for both Italy and Germany in the long run.

The Austrians were so ill-prepared for an Italian front, that 2nd and 3rd Italian Armies have made some huge advances beyond both Innsbruck and Trieste. Mobilization has not proceeded far enough to do much more than hope to hold on to those advances.

[sorry, where Marburg is mentioned in the screenshot, should be Klagenfurt]

[gwgardner]

The Italian Expeditionary Force, comprised of 1st Army mustering in southern Italy, has been sent across the Adriatic to break open the Serbian front and secure the Adriatic.

[StuccoFresco]

Bold moves by the Italian Command.

[gwgardner]

On the Eastern Front, the enemy has halted the Plock offensive, at least for the being.

[gwgardner]

In the West, the Germans are making every effort to cut off the French salient around Maubage, and there is little time left for GHQ to order the pullback to a line along the Ardennes.

[gwgardner]

June 20, turn 47

The German offensive in the west has smashed the French line, with enemy forces moving through Maubage all the way to the outskirts of Charleville. GHQs plan to pull back and establish a new defensive position along the Ardenne has already been completely voided.

In short, GHQ waited too long to make the withdrawal from the untenable salient north of Maubage.

[Cfant]

Why is your arty in the front? Doesn't it have range 1?

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: Cfant

Why is your arty in the front? Doesn't it have range 1?

Some have range of 2.

[Cfant]

I mean on the Russian Front. Arty with Range 1 or more always should stay out of the frontline. Like HQs

[gwgardner]

In that case I was attempting to get close enough to target his artillery. In some cases, I need the defensive strength of HQs to hold the line. I try not to do that, but it's unavoidable in all cases, since I'm not getting many rifle squad replacements.

I am hoping that there is a change in the replacement rates, otherwise an offensive re the historical 1916 push by the Russians will be impossible. Forget about the Western Front offensives. Especially with the Italians currently going hog-wild losing squads.

The scenario desperately needs work, to create replacement pools for each of the countries separately.

[gwgardner]

July 16, turn 50

The German summer offensive has relentlessly pushed the French back along the line Maubage to Charleville line. It has shortened the front for both sides, and inflicted 30,000 casualties on the French.

One bright spot - the first units of Kitchener's New Army are arriving at British ports for transport to France. GHQ intends to launch its own offensive when there has been a sufficient buildup.

[gwgardner]

The story is much darker on the Italian front, where early unsupported advances against a gathering Austrian-German defense, have turned into disastrous retreats.

Bringing in German troops to spearhead their counteroffensive, the enemy has driven straight through the Italian 2nd Army and retaken Trieste, while at the same time completely routing the Italian troops.

[gwgardner]

The Italian Expeditionary force (1st Army) continues to have some success in flanking the Austrian position against Serbia. IF the rail lines into the Austrian positions around Belgrade can be cut, the Italian gambit can be considered a success. Otherwise it is nothing but a side-show.

[gwgardner]

All is quiet on the Eastern Front.

The Spring and Summer of fighting has laid a heavy toll upon Entente forces, and the casualty lists tell the full tale. 6000 rifle squads have been lost - roughly 60,000 troops on all fronts.