The Great War 2.0 AAR For Kaiser and Fatherland memoirs of Max Hoffmann

[MonkeysBrain2]

Preparation for war
--------------------

[MonkeysBrain2]

There was a rainy night in Berlin, on July 29th 1914.
German Emperor, Wilhelm II was waiting for a special guest that night... Max Hoffmann was able strategist, not by rank but by mind more so, and Emperor wanted to consult him about strategy for waging conflict against British Empire, France, and Russia, and Serbia...

When Max Hoffmann entered brightly lit room with hundreds of maps hanging all over or on the big table upon German Kaiser, Wilhelm II was bent over with his military advisors and aides... "Ah, General Hoffmann, you have arrived... Please make yourself relaxed, and tell me your strategic advice, what we should do in this big drama, fight of big old Empires, it will be a hard and long struggle..."

General Hoffmann (he was promoted some days ago[:'(] ) "Yes, your Majesty, it will be a long and tough struggle. But if you will listen to my advice, we will emerge victorious in the end... We cannot stop Schlieffen Plan in full but we will have to deal with Russians much more vigorously right from the start...."

[MonkeysBrain2]

Hoffmann continued ..."We will also have to bring Bulgarians on our side as soon as possible. And Turks as well. Entering of Italy on the side of our enemy must be delayed as much as possible. Turks must go on the offensive, we will help them with some reinforcements as soon as possible."

[MonkeysBrain2]

Kaiser Wilhelm II listened to Hoffmanns suggestions with great admiration and took some notes from time to time regarding
production of rifles and positions of reserve regiments... And then said "And what about our close strategic objectives even on a tactical level, we need victories, we will not defend on whole perimeter?"

Hoffmann answered "Your Majesty, I have a plan for early attack on Warsaw here in my briefcase... Let me explain it to you..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

Hoffmann continued "Well, your Majesty we will attack Warsaw right from the start from few directions and try to destroy Russian forces by encirclement, we will try to avoid bloody frontal assaults wherever possible. I will notify Your Highness of success of this operation, or failure"

[MonkeysBrain2]

"Here in the area of Lotzen we will defend for now. Some ground can be lost in East Prussia to get better defensive positions and shorter, we will recapture that later..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"Also, Tilsit, Insterburg area will be defended. Memel can be lost, we must shorten front lines a little bit here, so Goldap is also abandoned we will get this back later...In our backhand blow, you see on some part of the front we will defend for now, and on some other we will advance. Operations cannot be prosecuted if they are too risky..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"On a Western Front we will hit Belgians like a thunderhammer from Odin... We must capture Namur, Liege, Louvain, Bruxelles, Givet, Mauberge, Lille and later Antwerp, Ipres, Calais etc..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"This is Luxemburg - Metz area... French, we will teach those bastards how war is to be waged but they are formidable opponents so there must be caution, we will attack only on good opportunity here..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

This is Metz - Verdun area... We will defend here for now, only if really great opportunity we will attack...

[MonkeysBrain2]

"And this is Strasburg-Mulhause area... We will defend here for now... Attack with arty, bleed French if they want to attack etc... Have some reserves here for possible counterattack"

[MonkeysBrain2]

And what about our cousins Austro-Hungarians, what's happening on their part of the front toward Serbia and Russia asked Emperor Wilhelm II, and Max Hoffmann replied:

"Your Majesty, Austro Hungarians will for most part of their front toward Russia -defend, when forces are concentrated and Russian attack sustained, we will be able here also to advance but better to defend for some time..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"And here Krakow Breslau area, we will attack here on good opportunity..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"This is Montenegro area, part of the Austro Hungarian Balkan front..., for now here we will defend..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"This is Sarajevo-Krusevac area, front towards Serbian... We will attack here but only when success is guaranteed... Enemy has withdrawn some units toward interior, but maybe he will counterattack from here..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"And this is Belgrade area... We must concentrate some more forces here and then we will attack here as well... Maybe one German corps would do a difference here?"

[MonkeysBrain2]

August 12th, 1914
Rat Patrol From Fort Metz
--------------------------------------------
German Emperor Wilhelm II was at most forward position in fortress Metz, he was watching with binoculars how heaviest shells explode among French trenches making earth goes up hundred paces in the sky... He also instructed Germans heaviest railroad guns to attack French airfield many miles in the enemy rear.
He was waiting for his special man General Max Hoffmann to deliver him reports of early combat that has errupted on Western Front, Eastern Front and in Serbia...
Max Hoffman arrived and after brief formalities started with his long awaited report to his Majesty... "Your Majesty, I am terrible sorry for being late but I've just came from Liege, that city is ours, we have destroyed fort garrison and one Belgian division. And another cavarly unit south of Liege... We will try here to likewise encircle Namur and destroy fort garrison and another Belgian infantry division. Our security regiment held two attacks by three Belgian infantry divisions, really brave unit, for recommedation! We want to destroy remaining Belgian units and capture Brussel, Louvain, Wavre, Antwerp as soon as possible.
Other attack is developing toward French city, Givet which is defended by French Cavarly division. We will attack that division vigorously and eject it from Givet, because we want to develop this axis toward capturing French Fort Mauberge!

[MonkeysBrain2]

Our next objective on this part of the front, Fort Mauberge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Maubeuge

[MonkeysBrain2]

...Max Hoffmann continued... "Your Majesty on this map you can see our latest positions and enemy positions around Metz and area around Metz... We are diginn in and bombard French concentrations of troops with our arty. Arty is powerful weapon in this. Sadly further south we lost one Morser regiment in one French counterattack on our positions... We will defend for now and try to bleed them out with our arty alone..."

[MonkeysBrain2]

"...Same situation further south around Mulhause and Freiburg, Strasburg... For now we will defend and only use arty to soften enemy up... Later some offensive here is an option but first we must weaken enemy... We will send reinforcements only when truly nececary for now fronts have enough but we will reinforce successful offensives...."