Janissaries Forward! PBEM 109 DAR

[06 Maestro]

Battle of Karlsburg and Nuesatz was a stunning success for Ottoman forces. The two Austrian Armies attack south into Kronstadt at the same time the 1st Turkish Army was sent to Nuesatz. I did not expect the Austrians to attack like this. The results were very fortunate for Ottoman forces. The battle of Nuesatz ended very quickly and elements of the 1st Army were able to march back into Kronstadt to assist in the battle there. The results were quite favorable. What was even better was that the Austrians were forced to withdraw into Transylvania-further away from their base and requiring an autumn march to get back to where they needed to be.

It was very tempting to attack them in their weakened condition, but there is a fear of facing the Austrians on defensive ground. A rational position to take at this time. Hopefully, unit training will narrow the gap of abilities in the future.

[06 Maestro]

The results of the battle on moral were also welcomed.
Austria apparently took a severe moral loss due to the battle.

Note the "feudal reforms" moral loss. In October of 1795 the Sultan ordered reforms to be initiated. This action was desired for a long time, but conditions just never seemed right. Finally, throwing caution to the wind, the program was initiated. Through massive efforts on luxury production, moral problems were minumized. Moral never dropped more than .1%. (999)

[06 Maestro]

After a long break with this AAR, I am going to resume. All the files were safely stored for this time. I stopped this AAR very shortly after the beginning of the great war which began in the summer of 1796 at approximately turn 49. We are now on turn 120-June 1782. It is not practical to go into details going back that far, but major events and economic matters will be mention-some events are burned into my memory.

The very bitter and long lasting fights are now at a (temporary) end. Peace is bliss, now there is time to tell of the history.

[06 Maestro]

Sept 1796
Carpathian Front

At this early stage of the war not all divisions had reached their respective higher HQ's yet. There had only been the small, and quick siege and battle of Karlsburg. The results of this first battle was a very welcome relief as there is a large disparity in training doctrines between Austria and Turkey. Most notable of which is the lack of formation drilling for the O.E. Army.


This map shows the province already under Ottoman control.

[06 Maestro]

Here is the Glory standings of the various powers in September '96.

[06 Maestro]

Sept '96

Wastage report

In 1792 the Ottoman Empire was suffering from significant wastage-the Empire was too large for its legal infrastructure. The rate in June of 1792 was 18%-this was a very difficult burden. It is the primary reason why war was avoided as long as it was. To build all the courts to eliminate this problem was on the highest priority. Even now, after over 4 years, there is still a bit left, but nearly gone.

[06 Maestro]

Even though court building was on the highest priority barracks were not altogether ignored. The O.E. begins with a rather dismal 7 experience per quarter. To put this into perspective; it would take nearly 10 years to gain the experience required for formation drilling (which France, Austria and Prussia already have). The work to correct this glaring deficiency has just begun, but there is progress already.

[06 Maestro]

Due to the great cost of building improvements, it is slow going. The O.E. must pay about 25 times more for the various improvements in money. The raw material cost is the same as for the other powers. In the end, this may be an advantage as the O.E. has some significant wealth in its textile production.

[06 Maestro]

10/'96

This is the after action map of the Austrian attack into Karlsburg.

After this battle I had an opportunity to destroy the Austrian base and possibly keep Emperor Matto's armies out of supply. Ottoman forces would have had to split and advance north. Due to the heavy losses on several divisions, I just did not feel it prudent to make that decision. I regretted that decision many times in the following years. There was good reason to respect Austrian power, but that was a real chance to punish them severely-a chance missed.

The decision was made to stay put in the mountains and recover from the battle.

[06 Maestro]

October 1796

You can see that all the major powers have mobilized and concentrated their forces.

This war began by a surprise attack by Russia on Prussia. The opening blows were crippling for Prussia-it could not recover. This had a negative side affect of causing England to DoW Russia. I had planned to fight Austria with the help of France and Russia-not alone. Turkey was caught off guard by the start of the war-there was no advance notice given of Russia's intentions.

An odd result of all this is that my erstwhile Ally and major trading partner was now at war with my unofficial ally-and wasnow giving material support to my primary foe-Austria. I still do not know how much England provided Austria during our war, but it must amount to many thousands of pieces of gold.

[06 Maestro]

November 1796

Karlsburg

The second Army is now the primary force of the O.E. Army. It had been repaired from the previous battle and the decision was made to hit Austria.

[06 Maestro]

Battle of Grosswardein
November 1796


The results of the battle were not too surprising. The decision to go ahead with the attack was some faulty intelligence regarding the ability of Austria to recover its previous losses. A lesson learned.

[06 Maestro]

October 1796

Something was brewing in Italy. Spain was my official Ally, although it did not look as it would DoW Austria. What was to occur was a complete surprise-a Spanish DoW on France. This happened at the worst possible time for France-one whole army was destroyed over a period of months due to its supply being cut off. That was another beginning of a great war which outlasted the Austria/Turkish war by only a few months.






On the left is the full view of the Sultans repaired 1st Army.

[06 Maestro]

Battle reports

Up through September, the war seemed to be going fine for Turkey. The losses were quite low and there was no need to spend on replacement units. This lead to a crazy idea that it would be acceptable to reduce the O.E. feudal level while at war. The Sultan was enjoying the Royal Bong during that moment in time.

[06 Maestro]

Economy
October 1796

The economic picture of the O.E. has improved dramatically over the last 4 years. Moral is now easily maintained at a high level by the consumption of goods. This allows taxes to be increased to a sufficient degree.

Notice the available manpower. It looks as if there is an unending river of men for the military. Trade was also going strong-primarily with England purchasing cotton.

The two figure that should have caused concern to the Sultan was the inflation-already at 21%, and the change in feudal level. It was reasoned that any moral upheaval could be handled by the excess goods-and it could have if not for the side effects of war.

[06 Maestro]

After a few months of little activity during the winter, the decision was made to invade Austria. The province of Krajina was chosen under the mistaken idea that is could serve as a base of operation for Austria-it could not.

The 1st Army moved into Krajina and laid siege. It was not long before the Austrian Army showed up. The result was a costly failure for the O.E.

[06 Maestro]

Carpathian Front
April 1797

By this time it had become evident that I would need to wear down Austria by maneuver. Man power was the one real advantage that I have. It may have been as much as 50%.

While I had a very good defensive position at my main base (Belgrade), Austria main base was (is) several provinces from the border. This allowed me some freedom of initiative. I chose to draw Austria back into the mountains where they would suffer from march attrition and possibly be drawn into attacking against a good position.

[06 Maestro]

June 1797

The new approach started off well enough. O.E. forces advanced into Krajina during April, and withdrew by June. The Austrians were approaching. Better still-an advance was made into Grosswardein and captured the city.

[06 Maestro]

Battles Report
April 1797

The most recent battle was of Krajin-an Austrian victory. Those kinds of battles were getting a little worrisome. Even if the O.E. had a 50% advantage in manpower that would not be enough at a 3 to 1 loss ratio.

[06 Maestro]

Economic Report
June 1797

After less than a year at war, much of the preceding 4 years work has been undone. The national moral has fallen from 1000 to a little over 200. Manpower has fallen and the inflation rate (unit cost increase) is still at 20%.

The loss of national moral affects the entire economy-all production and income from taxes. It became necessary to lower taxes even though I needed more money.