The Churchill plan

[ulver]

The Churchill plan.

Having just won or lost, depending on who you ask, with my Ottoman Gamble against hjaco I thought I’d try again even though I know is it slightly gamy.

My reasons for an Entente declaration of war against the Ottomans in turn one are as follows.

The Ottoman Empire is the weakest of the Central Powers and, lets face it, I just really enjoy beating up on a guy lying down. I always felt I could kill a man easily enough – it’s the part where they shoot back that gives me problems.

The Anglo-France commitment needed to ensure an Ottoman surrender prior to Bulgarian entry is 3 corps and some HQ activation points. I feel I might well need to deploy a corps defensively anyway and the HQ’s would make no difference to the fate of France. I refuse to believe that 2-3 corps will decide if France lives or dies.

The real opportunity cost incurred is the Russian commitment of HQ activation points and corps precisely at the moment where they are most useful in the entire war. I feel that the options for the Russians against the Ottomans are somewhat analogues to Austrian options against Serbia – all or nothing: Either put enough force against them to ensure a 1914 victory or put nothing there at all. The all-out entente gamble to save France would entail putting absolutely everything into an all-out offensive against Vienna or Berlin forcing the Central powers to abandon their move on Paris.

My thinking goes like this: If France somehow manage a miracle and holds while I knock the Ottomans out that is essentially that: There is no way the Central Powers can survive without Ottoman resources while both Russia and France hold the field.

If France manages to hold out to early 1916 forcing the Central Powers to commit the bulk of their offensive power against them till then then I still feel I am in reasonable god shape with the Ottomans gone when one consider the total weight of war production.

Only if France falls and I fail to knock out the Ottoman Empire will there be a risk of being out produced by the Central powers – something that is virtually impossible unless I’m complete incompetent. Now, I freely admit that an early to mid 1915 fall of France would be very very bad but I believe I learned something from my previous game and will make sure to better preserve my forces trading space for time and forcing the central powers to advance without artillery support.

I don’t wish to provide screenshots just yet as we are still in the process of playing the first game turn but I’ll save some and give you guys an overview with one or two turns delay.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: ulver

The Ottoman Empire is the weakest of the Central Powers and, lets face it, I just really enjoy beating up on a guy lying down.

[:D]

"I could happily kill a man if he was on the job."

[ess1]

ulver , Looking forward to your report/s.

[hjaco]

Well ever seen "Last man standing" with Bruce Willis ? Thats more me. Doesn't matter if the guy has a gun if i have a bigger one [:D]

Regarding your reasoning behind knocking out OE and its relevance to the war i will state that if Russia and France are both in the war by 1916 in a fairly decent shape CP is borscht OE or not OE [;)]

But hey, when could the two of us last agree on anything ?

[ulver]

The Churchill plan, a brainchild of the first sea lord Winston Spencer Churchill, has a single operational goal: Knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war before Christmas.

It was conceived in secret as a way to open up lines of communications to Russia bypassing the menace of the German High Seas Fleet, of protecting the Achilles heel of Britain: Her vast empire, hard to defend, fatal to lose from Central Powers infiltration toward India. For the Russians, with the glittering prize of Constantinople and a heredity hatred of their ancient enemy little persuasion was required. The French, initially reluctant were won over when a French Marshall was put in overall command.

The Bulk of the killing is to be done by the Russians massing 10 to 12 corps and the majorities of their headquarters in the Caucasus. Their mission in is simple: Kill the Ottoman Eastern army and steamroll their way west until the Ottoman Empire collapses. It is generally assumed sizing Yerevan, Erzurum and Trabizum will be sufficient.

The Ango-French contributions are to consist of two landings. In Anatolia at Smyrna the invasion force can credibly threaten both Ankara and Constantinople the loss of either would most certainly doom the Ottoman Empire and in the South at Beirut from where both Jerusalem and Damascus can be quickly sized.

It is hoped that this will be sufficient to accomplish the objective. If not, Anglo-French forces will link up with the Russians at Aleppo in Northern Syria – after that the Anglo-French infantry can be returned to France while Anglo-French Headquarters powers the Russians as they take out the reminder of the Middle East and drive relentlessly West to liberate the ancient legendary heart of the Roman Empire and the Birth of the Orthodox Christian Church.

Once the Ottomans surrender the follow up plan is redeploy the Anglo-French Headquarters committed to Operation Churchill to the eastern front using the Russian rail net. Since Russian rail capacity is limited it might well also make sense to sealift at least part of the Russian forces in Anatolia to France and commit them in the decisive battles for Paris. There will simply not be rail capacity to rail them to the eastern front especially as French-British headquarters might well be given priority. With the possibility of Russian Land forces in France the option of committing the Imperial Russian Air force on the western front opens up and there are even wild plans of Russian artillery used against the massed German stacks assaulting Paris. Essentially the plan is to have French HQ’s in the East supplying plentiful Russian corps in an offensive, Russian bodies helping to hold French trenches against the German offensive in the West and the whole thing facilitated by the Royal navy moving Western organisation to the East and Eastern manpower to the West.

Confidence is high in the supreme allied war council that the plan is foolproof given time. The question is: Can the French Army assisted by a few British corps buy enough time?

[ulver]

The beginning of the third impulse. Marshall Ruffey might be the only Frenchman involved in the invasion plan but he is firmly in charge

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: hjaco

Regarding your reasoning behind knocking out OE and its relevance to the war i will state that if Russia and France are both in the war by 1916 in a fairly decent shape CP is borscht OE or not OE [;)]

But hey, when could the two of us last agree on anything ?

Well now? [:)]There is no question the having both Russia and France in halfway decent shape in 1916 means an entente win. The thing I don’t think I can keep France alive no matter how hard I try while I know I can kick out the Ottomans before Bulgaria enters and I think I can delay the collapse of France to 1916.

- and that, I believe, is enough

[hjaco]

Your defeatism is unique

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[ulver]

Events in 1914 proved that as an operational plan the Churchill operation was indeed foolproof – there was simply no way the Ottoman Empire could be kept alive in the face of a sustained Entente offensive. The question is how badly the Central Powers can punish the Entente elsewhere.

The only minor snag was when an Ottoman corps managed to repulse a French attack on Jerusalem thereby delaying the Allied drive Aleppo for two 2 full impulses while the British Corps redeployed South to Assist the Helpless French Corps in Taking The City.




The view after the First strategic phase – The French needed reinforcements to be restored to full strength.

[ulver]

On the Western front German forces overran Belgium with minimal Allied interference to position themselves for an attack into Northern France. The French did score an important success in luring the Germans to waste time and shells bombarding a thin cavalry screen all along the Franco-German border.



Yes the Germans spend most of the first turn bombing the crap out of every French border fort – to bad they were all abandoned.[:'(]

[ulver]

Overview over West front after first strategic phase. So far the brilliant French plan of running away has resulted in remarkably few casualties to both sides. Much prefer to fight behind rivers and making the Germans stand around in clear hexes where the French artillery can shoot at them.

[ulver]

Eastern front after the first strategic impulse. The Russians employ a strategy of smoke and mirrors to try and convince the Central Powers that there are a lot more of them then there is – the Russian army is trying to knock out the Ottomans.

[ulver]

The Austrians made a sustained attack on Serbia. Given the fact that the Entante is going all-out for the Ottomans thereby weakening both the Western and Eastern fronts I was pretty happy to se them using the HQ activations and artillery there instead of against the weakened French or Russians.

After the first turn I was in pretty high spirits. Subsequent events would show, however that the weakening of the main fronts for the Ottoman offensive would allow the Central Powers to launch simultaneous offensives against Serbia, French and Russia at the same time gaining ground in all theatres.

[ulver]

The Rest of 1914 saw the Central Powers launch a pincer movement attack in the Eastern front with the Austrians getting as far as taking Brest-Litovsk. A Russian counterattack managed to retake the city but I was impressed that the Austrians could smash Serbia and get as far East as that at the same time.





Jan-Feb strategic phase.

[ulver]

West front in Jan-Feb strategic phase. Real pressure is being applied to France.

[ulver]

In Jan-Feb strategic phase the Ottomans surrender exactly on schedule – but the lack of these Russian troops has opened real gabs in the defences on the Eastern front and it will take some time to transfer the troops back into action.

[ulver]

The end of 1914 also sees the Austrian reach the Bulgarian border – but given that the Ottomans surrender I don’t really consider that much of an issue

[ulver]

Vest Front Mar/Apr 1915

Germans attacking in that South all along the front – so much for my static defence behind river.

[ulver]

East Front Mar/Apr 1915

Warsaw - The cauldron burns. He pretty much bagged the entire Russian cavalry force – the HQ’s and most of the infantry got out on the last train. Considering it is happening while he is attacking in the West I’m impressed.

[Joel Rauber]

But it has to help Russian morale to see both Brits and French fighting on the eastern front.

Not to mention that they will be present to help the white vs. reds in 1918[;)]