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

[Cfant]

Oh, Austrias situation is even worse then in RL. And that means something. [:D] Germany will have to send troops to the West to prevent Austria from collaps.

[gwgardner]

Nov 1,turn 14

The Western has stabilized temporarily, perhaps as long as it takes for the Germans to regroup. The 5th and 9th Russian Armies offensive in western Galicia continues slogging into the Austrian lines, with slow success. In Serbia, the effort is now concentrated on reestablishing a defensive line to secure Belgrade.

[Cfant]

Iirc the serbs really tried to cross into Austria once. They were shot down, lost 5.000 men and didn't try again. WW1 really was the war in favor of the defender.Can you show the Austrian-Russian front? I think it's the most important at the moment.

[gwgardner]

Will do, as soon as the next turn shows up. I hope I can withdraw the Serbs and maintain some order, after getting them into some serious supply problems.

[Cfant]

Do the serbs use the same replacement pool like French and/or Russians? If so, I would only defend with them.

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: Cfant

Do the serbs use the same replacement pool like French and/or Russians? If so, I would only defend with them.

Yes, same pool. I can't do much more than defend with them anyway. Great defensive position, with little to gain offensively with such a small force. I undertook the one offensive move to test the Austrian strength and do some disruption. It was costly, however. I did discover that the Austrians have pulled much of their forces to the north.

[gwgardner]

Nov 15, turn 16

The Turks have joined the war against the Entente. At present their scope for action is limited, as the on-map contact with Russia is blocked by neutrals. The Entente can consider a landing somewhere in Turkey, but as yet there are only 2 Indian divisions available for such a move, in Egypt.

The overall picture:

[gwgardner]

In western Galicia, the offensive towards Chenstakov and Gliwice has made incremental progress, with heavy losses. Recon shows that the Austrians are still weak across that front, so Stavka intends to continue pushing forward. 9th Army has rested and refit, and can resume it's efforts. Meanwhile, 5th Army is starting to feel the pinch of supplies and losses.

The Russian 10th Army has formed near Moscow but Stavka intends to hold it in reserve for the time being, near Warsaw, awaiting a clearer picture of what the current offensive can achieve, AND what the German intent is in Silesia.

[gwgardner]

Perhaps the deciding moment is approaching, or is here already, in France. GHQs expectation that the German offensive had stalled has proven to be wrong, as the enemy continues its drive along the coast, and across the Marne. The tardiness by GHQ, in pulling troops from the more stable front in Alsace and Lorraine, could be fatal.

There are NO reserves.

[MikeJ19]

Gary,

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[Cfant]

Absolutly! Thanks and hoping for more!

[gwgardner]

The BEF succeeded in cutting the crucial rail line from St Quentin to the south. Whether the rail junction can be held is a different story, but at the very least the the German High Command has to be concerned about continuing to push across the Marne.

[gwgardner]

Nov 22, turn 17

The Serbian and Eastern Fronts have seen little enemy activity over the last week. The Russian 10th Army has been moved by rail to eastern Silesia and Stavka awaits developments before committing it.

In the West, GHQ is confident that the German drive towards southeast of Rhiems will lose steam, since the BEF continues to have a stranglehold on the enemy supply lines. Near the coast, the German heavy artillery is being used to punch holes in the lines, but GHQ has ordered a slow withdrawal until reinforcements become available.

[r6kunz]

Quite a scenario and the AAR makes good reading. Thanks!

Where did you pick up the unit icons? They go along nicely with the scenario.

[gwgardner]

Thanks. Got the counters in the mods sub-forum.

tm.asp?m=4562063

[gwgardner]

Dec 6, turn 19

[player's note: Apparently there are no weather effects in the scenario. The campaigning season is year-round, I suppose.]

The Germans ousted the BEF from St Quentin, reestablishing their supply lines into the Rhiems salient. Now GHQ has a major decision to make: try to retake that vital rail juncture, or evacuate the entire Entente force from the area. It comes down to that decision because of the enemy pressure south of Abbeville, which is close to shutting off our own supply line from Paris to Amiens.

That rail line is threatened along an 80 mile front, and the Germans have committed their heavy artillery to the effort to take that line.

[gwgardner]

Painful choices:

[gwgardner]

On the Eastern Front, the offensive by 9th and 5th Armies towards Galice has stalled. German probes on the right flank of that offensive threatened the supply lines, so the newly arrived 10th Army has been committed to stabilize the situation.

That is seen as a defeat by Stavka, as it intended to use the 10th as a strategic reserve and/or to stabilize the front west of Lodz.

[gwgardner]

After long debate, GHQ has decided that any withdrawal from the salient north of Compiene is contingent on

1) an imminent collapse along the line, or

2) any enemy threat to the rail juncture immediately southwest of Compiene.

[gwgardner]

Potential Catastrophic Blunder!!

Only after all my strategizing above have I realized that the entire French line EAST of the German Rhiems salient is out of close supply!

Now is the massive withdrawal mandatory?