For the TsAAR! - A veteran Russia-only AAR

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14 August, 1915, Caucasian Front - Little movement elsewhere but the town of Van in the Caucasus has finally fallen thus securing the southern flank of my forces and allowing a link up with the British in Mesopotamia. An Ottoman HQ is also in my sights.

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28 August, 1915, Galician Front - Russian forces on this front continue to expand their foothold on the western side of the Carpathian mountains. The Austro-Hungarian-held city of Sambor is now ready for the taking. The forces of Kaiser Josef are in turn battering the Russian line at Gorlice, but they show no sign of breaking through any time soon.

The lines in Eastern Prussia remain static with little to report.

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28 August, 1915, Caucasus Front - The Ottoman HQ unit was destroyed and Bitlis captured, completing the link-up with British forces in Mesopotamia. Poor supplies makes an assault on Mus unlikely but a Russian concentration against Erzurum now appears possible as major Ottoman forces have been drawn away to the Palestine front.

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11 September 1915, Galician Front - The Austrians launched an abortive counter-attack on my forces in the Jablonitsa pass that the Russians parried easily. Meanwhile the Russians tighten their grip on Sambor, nearly destroying one of the defending corps.

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25 September 1915, East Prussian Front - Memel finally falls (due to me finally remembering to take it) but otherwise the line remains static. The much-feared German artillery is blunted to an extent by my upgraded entrenchments, but I fear attrition may be costly in this sector. Fortunately having researched industrial technology my income has risen by ~100mpp which means I can finally afford to reform lost corps.

Out in the Baltic sea my forces destroy two German destroyers. A line of submarines and mines awaits the expected German counter-attack, but this never comes.

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25 September 1915, Galician Front - The Germans in Krakow launched a counter-attack that was easily beaten back by the Russians, who then exploited the weakening of the Krakow garrison by launching an attack of their own which, whilst costly, heavily damages the defences of Krakow. Meanwhile the noose around Sambor tightens even further.

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23 October 1915, Galician Front - Krakow and Sambor both fall! The Central Powers defenders head off to the Russian POW camps west of the Urals, the Slavic Austro-Hungarians rather more happily than their Teutonic brethren.

Whilst the Carpathians are still a logistical headache for the Russians, they are becoming less and less of an absolute barrier to a general Russian advance into Hungary with each pass that falls.

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23 October 1915, Caucasian Front - The redeployment of the Russian mountain corps from the northern and southern ends of the front to the centre having been successfully carried out, the attack against Erzurum could begin! Whilst the attacking Russians suffered heavy loses, the loses of the Ottoman defenders was proportionately greater. The fall of this important city can be expected next turn.

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20 November 1915, Carpathian Front - The Rumanians have joined the war creating a joint Russo-Rumanian front extending from the Baltic to the Danube. The Rumanians advance quickly taking the Transylvanian town of Kronstadt. The Central Powers will at this point surely become over-stretched?

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20 November, 1915, Caucasus Front - Erzurum has fallen, however the heavy loses incurred by the Russians in taking the city means that it will be some months before the Russian corps in this sector are sufficiently rested, reinforced, and upgraded to take the offensive towards Trabzon.

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18 December 1915, Carpathian Front - Rumanians cut the Austro-Hungarian supply lines to their garrison at Hermanstadt to the north and the west of the city meaning it will soon be surrounded. In the centre the Russians defeat another abortive counterattack at the Jablonitsa pass, and in the north the Russians hold their foothold opposite Katowitz. The Teutonic powers certainly seem to be on the ropes!

Ottoman morale is at 52%, Austro-Hungarian at 59%, German morale at 93%. Meanwhile French morale is 68%, Serbian 91%, British 93%, and Russian 118% (I maintain that having more than 100% morale should not be possible)

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29 January 1916, East Prussian Front - A German withdrawal in order to provide forces for other fronts from south of Marienberg prompts a cautious Russian advance in this sector back to the banks of the Vistula. The Teutonic powers seem to be flagging.

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29 January 1916 - Hermannstadt is now surrounded, though sufficient forces have been deployed elsewhere to at least delay the Russo-Rumanian juggernaut.

This is all getting a little bit easy and I am considering declaring war on a number of different countries (Bulgaria, Sweden, and Persia at least) to make it hard again.

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Interlude 1: The Baltic - bridge of the Swedish Coastal defence ship Sverige



The ship had originally meant to have been finished in 1917, but fears of a Russian resurgence and sinkings of Swedish merchantmen in the Baltic had prompted the Swedish government to rush completion of the vessel, and here it was, more than a year before it was originally meant to be commissioned, sailing the Baltic sea on its first shaking-down cruise. Neither Captain nor any of the look-outs saw the periscope, nor were the Russian torpedoes launched at the ship seen either until it was too late.

"Torpedo in the water!" the look out cried, a moment before the first Russian torpedo struck the the side of the Sverige just forward of the 8-inch-thick steel plate of the armoured belt. The second torpedo did not explode, but the damage was done - the bow of the ship was blown off and the inexperienced crew had neglected to properly close the water-tight doors. The cold waters of the Baltic poured through the gaping hole. The crew fought to save their ship for the best part of a day before their tired captain ordered the ship abandoned. More than 100 men of its 330-strong crew had died, but they would not be the last Swedes to die as a result of this.

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Interlude 2: Stockholm Palace, March 1916



Otto Järte and Adrian Molin, respectively representatives of the Swedish social-democrats and conservatives, bowed respectfully to Gustaf V, but their intent in calling the meeting with the King was perhaps less than entirely respectful.

"Your Majesty", Molin began, "when we met late last year you said that you favoured a war with Russia but could make no commitments to joining the side of the Germans as a constitutional monarch - but now we have seen the true character of the Russians in their dastardly sinking of the Sverige, is this really a sustainable position?"

King Gustaf sighed, "The Russians have offered an apology - they say it was an accident".

"An apology, but no compensation!" Järte interjected. "Without that, an apology is only so many empty words! It is high time we showed the Russians the consequences of their arrogance".

King Gustaf sighed once again "Perhaps it is time I leaned on the government to accept the German offer of an alliance... I'll see what I can do".

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Interlude 3: Sanssouci palace, Potsdam, Germany



The Kaiser leaned over the map. Every where it looked like the forces of the Central Powers were in retreat - Krakow had fallen, Marienberg was threatened, Belgrade had been lost, Trento was in Italian hands, even their gains of the past two years in France (Chalons, Nancy, Verdun, Reims and Loos) looked to be threatened. Perhaps the war could not be won?

"Your majesty", an adjutant whispered urgently into his ear, breaking his reverie, "the Swedish prime minister has sent us a message accepting our offer of an alliance and informing us that they intend to declare war on Russia within days!".

Kaiser Wilhelm's eyes sparkled. "Send a message to the Bulgarian king - now is the time to see if they will join the war again. Together we can collapse the Serbs and they crush the Russians together with the Swedes! Also let's step up the efforts of our agents in Persia in order to bring them on to our side! This war can still be won!".

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March-November 1916, Eastern Front - The advent of the Bulgarians, Swedes, and Persians into the Central Powers slowed, but has not stopped the gradual collapse of German fortunes. Over the summer the Russians have taken Thorn and Graudenz in the North and have driven forward a hex or two most of the way along the line. In Serbia and Romania the Bulgarians have distracted forces away from the Austro-Hungarians whilst failing to capture anything of strategic importance.

(apologies for not giving a turn-by-turn AAR for this period but not much has really happened on this front)

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March-November, 1916, Caucasian Front - With the fall of Erzurum and Mus, Russian forces have achieved a break-through that has entirely wreaked the Ottoman front. The surrender of the Ottomans cannot be long delayed.

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March-November 1916, Finnish Front - The Swedish entry into the war brought an invasion of Russian-ruled Finland that first captured the port of Kemi on the Baltic and then marched to the gates of Oulu, which it was stopped by a hastily-deployed Russian brigade.

A Russian infantry corps was then deployed to Oulu that swept around the flank of the Swedish brigade leading the Swedish invasion and surrounded and destroyed it. A further brigade was added to this force advancing south from Rovaniemi, and which was put under the command of General Kornilov with his newly-deployed HQ. The Russians on this front are now tasked with recapturing Kemi and pursuing the Swedes back over the border.

Out in the Baltic the combined German and Swedish navy has been repeatedly mauled by Russian submarines working in combination with the single Russian dreadnought in the Baltic fleet, Gangut. Losses have include a German pre-dreadnought, a Swedish pre-dreadnought, and a couple of destroyers.

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Interlude 4: the Palacio Real, Madrid

King Alfonso XIII of Spain was unusual amongst European constitutional monarchs in meeting with ambassadors to essentially conduct Spanish foreign policy by himself. He had also followed an essentially neutral policy towards both sides of the war - whilst being happy for Spanish business to profit from it.

It was therefore not very unusual for Alfonso to meet the German ambassador, who was shown into his office by his personal secretary. "Ah! Prince Ratibor! How good to see you! What can I do for the Kaiser's representative today?".

Prince Ratibor simply opened his briefcase and pulled out an annotated map - on it Gibraltar, Morrocco, and a belt of territory in Southern france were marked as "Spanish" whilst Portugal was marked as a Spanish protectorate. The Prince gave the king a moment to review tha map and then began: "Here is what we propose ...."