A Better Rifle at Halloween
- Thread starter diesal
- Start date
-
- Tags
- britwank rifles ww1 different
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
Trying to find the source again. At the moment only note that Invincible was in the Humber area prior to leaving for the Falklands: -
https://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishShips-Dittmar3WarshipsA.htm
Thought New Zealand was the second ship.
Edit - she was: -
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_HMS_New_Zealand.html
Deploying the battlecruisers that far south is an interesting take, at the time the Germans were not sending raiding forces that far south so the big threat is mines, I guess you could also use them to shoot at targets ashore although its largely going to be for morale purposes as the complicated methods needed for ship gunfire support (spotting, target recognition, shell fall updates etc) simply don't exist as what planes there are can't carry a radio to update the gunners.
The reason for deploying them south is that the sea lanes extend up to the dutch border. Thus any German ship has less distance to sail before it can put them at risk, the North Sea is 80 nm from Harwich to Zeebrugge, but 500 nm from Scapa Flow. By having a couple of battlecruiser nearby and visibly patrolling it puts the risk up for the Germans, they would then have to commit even more powerful forces which increases the chance that they can be intercepted a long way south of Wilhemshaven. Zeebrugge is 60nm closer to Wilhelmshaven than Calais which is 3 hours of steaming at full speed for a Dreadnaught.
Map taken from: http://members.kos.net/sdgagnon/milb.html
With Leige falling, the next major railway junction is Brussels, which will allow you to get into northern France. The Allies need to smash the railway lines and equipment there.
With the British holding Ghent, they have a secure lines of communication to Ostend.
If Brussels and Namur hold then France can continue to supply and feed troops to the front in Belgium.
With Leige falling, the next major railway junction is Brussels, which will allow you to get into northern France. The Allies need to smash the railway lines and equipment there.
With the British holding Ghent, they have a secure lines of communication to Ostend.
If Brussels and Namur hold then France can continue to supply and feed troops to the front in Belgium.
The Humber was considered pre-war as the main East Coast base for the RN. IMO it would have been better than Rosyth, as it was well connected to the rail network, closer to the action and had plenty of room for basing and training. However, it was rejected because of the geography. Specifically, it was close enough to Germany that torpedo boats could make it there and most of the way back in a night, opening up the possibility of base raids. In hindsight, though this is a valid issue, it turned out to be less than thought, and longer ranged and more useful submarines brought some of the same danger to the more northern bases anyway.
A plane can signal to a ship other ways if a system of signals is in place. The problem is that the RNAS had not worked out a dedicated gunnery spotting doctrine by the time the war began. It had to be independently invented on the spot at Gallipoli and in East Africa, and refined from there.
Its amazing when you look at it with Liege holding and the railway lines are smashed, how stuck Germany is when it comes to Logistics, how are they going to supply shells for the heavy artillery for the siege of Namur and how are they going to move the Siege Artillery from Liege as well, they are to heavy for road moves. The only was is all the way round via Cologne to Metz and then up through Luxemburg, a hell of delay and if the railway line from Luxenburg to Namur is broken, then can Namur fall?
From Wikipedia on the siege of Namur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Namur_(1914)
"The Germans reversed the tactics used at Liège and waited for the siege train from Liège to bombard the forts, before attacking with infantry. Bombardment made the rear ditches of the forts untenable and the attackers were able to get between the forts and attack them from the rear"
What will they do if they cant send the siege train from Liege to Namur.
If Namur holds, the French 5th Army will be fighting in Belgium and holding the Sambre and Meuse river
"The German Official Historians wrote in Der Weltkrieg, that the swift capture of Namur had made the French position in the angle of the Sambre and Meuse rivers untenable."
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Namur_(1914)
"The Germans reversed the tactics used at Liège and waited for the siege train from Liège to bombard the forts, before attacking with infantry. Bombardment made the rear ditches of the forts untenable and the attackers were able to get between the forts and attack them from the rear"
What will they do if they cant send the siege train from Liege to Namur.
If Namur holds, the French 5th Army will be fighting in Belgium and holding the Sambre and Meuse river
"The German Official Historians wrote in Der Weltkrieg, that the swift capture of Namur had made the French position in the angle of the Sambre and Meuse rivers untenable."
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Namur_(1914)
I think that when they say siege train the don't mean railroad train but rather siege guns and equipment. So whilst the destruction of Liege will delay the logistics the Germans should still be able to move the heavy guns forward.
From Britanica
The gun and its carriage, when fully assembled, weighed about 47 tons (42,600 kg). The Big Berthas generally operated in pairs, and each was crewed and serviced by about 240 men. For transport to the battlefield, the howitzer was disassembled into components and loaded onto five special wagons pulled by gasoline-powered motor tractors. For long-distance travel, the road wagons and other equipment were moved by railway cars. I am not sure if Liege to Namur is long distance?
Does beg the question of whether or not the Entente can use the delay/disruption to better prepare themselves
Hello,
The question here is if the convergence of the Farquhar Hill Rifle, the Germans, and the current British units in Belgium will result in a decisive turning point at Namur in October.
I don't think it will be Namur, that is going to be a French responsibility. But don't worry the Farquhar Hill rifle will featuring in the fulness of time.
Cossacks
27th August 1914,
The Cossacks had arrived this morning, their units setting up a sort of screen around the defences of Konigsberg. No attempt was made to challenge the German trench line, the Germans who had superior numbers of machine guns and artillery fired on any groups or clusters of Russian troops which seemed to be worth the shot. Neither side was being overly aggressive, the Russians seemed content to bottle up the Germans, the Germans seemed content to defend perhaps hoping to draw the Russians into a fight such as their compatriots had encountered in Liege.
General Samsonov, who had seen first had the challenges of attacking strongly fortified positions was not interested the kind of bloodletting that would be needed to break into the city.
The German general, though he had been goaded by his staff officer Max Hoffman was not interested in offensive action. His army was already at the back of the cue for reinforcements and supplies and with the war in the west demanding even more men and supplies than the worst-case planning had estimated. Von Prittwitz didn’t think that any significant reinforcements would be coming his way, at least not until the capture of Paris.
The Cossacks had arrived this morning, their units setting up a sort of screen around the defences of Konigsberg. No attempt was made to challenge the German trench line, the Germans who had superior numbers of machine guns and artillery fired on any groups or clusters of Russian troops which seemed to be worth the shot. Neither side was being overly aggressive, the Russians seemed content to bottle up the Germans, the Germans seemed content to defend perhaps hoping to draw the Russians into a fight such as their compatriots had encountered in Liege.
General Samsonov, who had seen first had the challenges of attacking strongly fortified positions was not interested the kind of bloodletting that would be needed to break into the city.
The German general, though he had been goaded by his staff officer Max Hoffman was not interested in offensive action. His army was already at the back of the cue for reinforcements and supplies and with the war in the west demanding even more men and supplies than the worst-case planning had estimated. Von Prittwitz didn’t think that any significant reinforcements would be coming his way, at least not until the capture of Paris.
How much of the German 8th Army is defending Konigsberg at the moment the Cossacks arrival? If the Russians invest Konigsberg, will that give them more space to exploit in East Prussia?