A Better Rifle at Halloween

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diesal

Non of the forts have fallen yet, in the actual siege the supporting infantry were sent away early, here I had leman knocked out earlier and as a result he does not send the infantry away, this stops the early capture of the town and prevents the Germans from being able to attack the forts from all sides. It also allows for the total destruction of the infrastructure. The Belgian losses will include the full infantry division and the 15th infantry brigade.
 

Geordie

The forts hold longer (and the infrastructure is wrecked), with serious effects on the German timetable, but that is a heavy price the Belgians are paying.
 

diesal

Geordie said:
The forts hold longer (and the infrastructure is wrecked), with serious effects on the German timetable, but that is a heavy price the Belgians are paying.
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True, there is no wonder weapon which will make it any less bloody, if anything it will be worse in the beginning.
 

kelgar04

Damn the Belgians are fighting like lions again and shedding rivers of blood just to do to to say nothing of all the damage they are doing.
 

diesal

What is really interesting is how the lessons that were not learnt from the First World War in Belgium were not learnt again in the second, one being that fortresses un protected by infantry are actually just a death trap. Both fortresses from the first and second war fell to clever technical solutions but also to failure to anticipate that the ways of knocking the forts out would advance and so what was a good solution in 1890 was not so good in 1914 when high explosive shells delivered by heavy howitzers came along or what worked in the 20s and 30s wouldn't work in the 1940's when the Monroe effect was invented. But both would have resisted longer if the infantry hadn't been able to approach close to vulnerable points in both cases, the rear of the fortresses in 1914 and the roof in 1940.
 

CB13

diesal said:
Non of the forts have fallen yet, in the actual siege the supporting infantry were sent away early, here I had leman knocked out earlier and as a result he does not send the infantry away, this stops the early capture of the town and prevents the Germans from being able to attack the forts from all sides. It also allows for the total destruction of the infrastructure. The Belgian losses will include the full infantry division and the 15th infantry brigade.
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And the French? Are they getting close enough that they will be able to support the forts? Or are the Germans between them and the forts too strong?
 

diesal

They hadn’t stuck their arm in the mincer yet. They had pushed to Mulhouse and then retired, the general commanding whose name I can’t recall was limoged before the attack resumed
 
Limoges
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    • diesal

    13th August 1914, Limoges.

    General Louis Bonneau, was travelling to Limoges, he had been dismissed from his command of VII Corps, his troops had managed to capture Mulhouse, the battles had been bloody but Audace toujours l’audace, had carried his men forward. But it had proved to be impossible to hold the city. The German counter-attack had pushed his men back to Belfort, he had lost 2500 men in this retreat and 8 guns.
    The interview with Joffre had been humiliating, had he been shouted at it may have been better. Instead Joffre had simply said, “You failed, to Limoges with you” and hung up, with that a 46 year career simply ended.
     
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    • Cryhavoc101

    diesal said:
    13th August 1914, Limoges.

    General Louis Bonneau, was travelling to Limoges, he had been dismissed from his command of VII Corps, his troops had managed to capture Mulhouse, the battles had been bloody but Audace toujours l’audace, had carried his men forward. But it had proved to be impossible to hold the city. The German counter-attack had pushed his men back to Belfort, he had lost 2500 men in this retreat and 8 guns.
    The interview with Joffre had been humiliating, had he been shouted at it may have been better. Instead Joffre had simply said, “You failed, to Limoges with you” and hung up, with that a 46 year career simply ended.
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    Is being sent to Limoges the same as being sent to Coventry?
     

    diesal

    I am looking for my French ww1 history but it's not on the shelf, unless my 17 month old daughter has developed an interest in military history even quicker than I did I suspect she has hidden it somewhere. Nope she was innocent, as I see it has been sitting on my desk all along.
     

    kelgar04

    diesal said:
    I am looking for my French ww1 history but it's not on the shelf, unless my 17 month old daughter has developed an interest in military history even quicker than I did I suspect she has hidden it somewhere. Nope she was innocent, as I see it has been sitting on my desk all along.
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    I found The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alister Horne to be a good insight into the French Army in 1916 also The French Army and the First World War by Elizabeth Greenhalgh she also did one about the French Commanders of WW1.
     

    Rickshaw

    Cryhavoc101 said:
    Is being sent to Limoges the same as being sent to Coventry?
    Click to expand...
    In the British Army of the day, the comment would have been that he had been "Stellenbosched" (ie sent to Stellenbosch are town in South Africa where the British high command during the 2nd Boer War resided).
     
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