But did they start the Russo-Japanese war with a "Suprise Attack", and did they break the (I think) Nutrality Conventions?
A Better Rifle at Halloween
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Ironically, the political figure most likely to have been able to bring about the Three (or even Four) Kingdom alternative by overcoming Hungarian opposition, was one Archduke Franz Ferdinand who, tragically, was assassinated. Oops.
As mentioned by others, Japan does have a habit of attacking enemies where-ever/whenever they're found. As to their penchant for launching surprise attacks against "unsuspecting" enemies, this is a sound and proven military strategy used by practically everyone throughout human history. Furthermore, the Japanese actually tried to co-ordinate their surprise attacks with the delivery of their declaration of war, figuring that it's not their fault if the enemy high command can't get the word to their intended target in time. IOTL WW2, staffing & secrecy issues in Washington D.C. on the part of both the Japanese and the US caused a delay in getting that word to PH. (Seriously, the Pentagon sent their warning via Western Union).
Which brings up the entire attacking an enemy via neutral territory is bad issue. That went out the window when Germany rolled her armies through neutral Belgium & Luxembourg. As long as the Japanese don't cause too much damage/loss of life to the locals and promptly apologize, they should be able to get away with it.
Might be a joke about how they did their own version of Operation Paperclip but, instead of taking anything that looked vaguely scientific to spite the Russians like the USA did, they just took former SS guys to use as strikebreakers.
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The battle of Easter Island.
12th October 1914, IJN Karuma near Easter Island.
The two ships had gone to action stations early, the young sailor had been in his lookout post straddling the main top yard for over an hour, the sky was progressively lightening and now it was nautical twilight. There was a midshipman beside him, he was clutching a pair of heavy night glasses and trying hard to focus on the horizon, a task made more difficult by the swell. The ships were travelling at 18 knots above their most efficient speed but one timed to deliver them to Easter Island as dawn broke over the island.
The ships crews knew they would be in for a fight, the admiral had issued his orders and his ships and men were ready to carry them out. As the light improved, the sailor spotted a whale spouting in the distance to the east, he was barely able to restrain himself from shouting the bearing to it down the voice tube. He elected not to point it out to the midshipman either, that young man was full of his own importance and distracting him with trivialities at a time like this could only be to his detriment.
He continued to scan the ocean to the northeast, the midshipman reported the sighting of land and was greeted with a curt “Hai” by the Captain. Nothing was visible against the loom of the land yet the bulk of an old volcano shading the land against the rising sun, but the ships were moving at a steady pace, the stokers no doubt already sweating as the boilers built increased pressure.
The lookout stiffened, reaching over he flipped the cover off the voice tube and said “deck there, three ships on the starboard bow”, the midshipman glared at him for his breach of protocol. The Midshipman should have spotted them with his heavy glasses first, but the sailor had spent many more days spotting aloft, he knew how to really look. The captain was more interested now, asking him “type, range”, the midshipman pushed him out of the way, “two armoured cruisers one light cruiser, multiple colliers, 15000 yards”, the voice tube could also be heard from the spotting position as well, allowing them to direct their more powerful glasses onto the indicated position.
The well-trained crews were rapidly plotting the position of the ships, they had been identified as the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhurst and Gneisenau and the light cruiser SMS Nurnberg. Once the German ships were spotted Vice Admiral Yamaya issued his final prebattle orders. The squadron signals officer was soon issuing commands to his crews as the admiral’s plan was put into play. Bright signal flags raced aloft, and signal lamps blinked, IJN Tsukuba was to hold station to port of IJN Karuma and she was to target the more distant armoured cruiser tentatively identified as SMS Gneisenau with both her 12” guns and when in range with her 6” guns as well. Whilst SMS Scharnhorst would be the target of Karuma’s 12” guns and the light cruiser the target of the 8 8” guns. The range to the German ships was closing rapidly and the dawn approach from an unexpected direction placed the Japanese ships in a near perfect position. The Germans were trapped at anchor against a rocky shore, likely with only a harbour watch on duty, it would take precious time to call the ships to action stations and soon Japanese shells would be raining down on them.
The radio crew, whose sterling work had given Admiral Yamaya every advantage, heard another radio call, adjusting their receivers they were able to plot its bearing. It was on the assumed course of the German Light Cruiser whose signalling had precipitated the days events. She had suddenly started signalling again, quickly, to the experienced ears of the watch standers, her dots and dashes had a frantic even panicked air. Clearly IJN Asama had either engaged the German ship or at least been spotted, within moments there was a change in the ships off easter island, frenzied activity was visible from the spotting towers powerful telescopes as the German crews responded to the radio signal. The range had closed to 14000 yards now, Admiral Yamaya ordered a turn to port, reducing the rate of closure and allowing the after turrets to bear on the target.
The Japanese ships accelerated to 20 knots, not quite full speed but still fast both ships shuddering, towering columns of black smoke belching from their funnels as they sought to close the range and prevent escape. The big guns swung to starboard, the angle hadn’t closed enough for the aft pair of 12” guns to bear, their turret was swung round but until the range closed a little more it would be masked by the superstructure. Despite this Admiral Yamaya felt that the advantage of surprise would soon be lost if he gave the Germans any further time to come to action stations. His command “you may open fire Captain” was given in as normal tone as one would expect of any officer descended from samurai, little different that the tone with which he requested his tea be refreshed.
The great 12” guns roared, the range short, the enemy unmoving, if this had been an exercise, the inspectorate responsible for training would have ruled it utterly unrealistic. Despite all the advantages held by the Japanese gunners the first rounds fired by Karuma missed, plunging into the sea just beyond her SMS Scharnhorst. To worsen the captain’s shame, IJN Tsukuba fired almost immediately after Karuma, a least one of his shells hit the more distant armoured cruiser, a bright gout of flame signalling success. Soon both ships were firing as quickly as they could, both now hitting with some regularity, the smaller 8” guns on Karuma also joined the fray, in a fine display of gunnery her first salvo managed to straddle the light cruiser with two shells hitting her hard.
The uneven fight continued for a few minutes, eventually several German guns managed to respond, several lucky and or exceptionally brave gunners even managed to hit the Japanese armoured cruisers, but in every case bar one the Japanese Ships shrugged off the hits without issue. The sole victim was the admiral’s barge, she was struck by a 10.5cm shell fired by the light cruiser, striking the barge but failing to penetrate Karuma’s deck it detonated blowing the barge to splinters. But soon even that defiance was silenced, the Japanese ships kept firing, methodically demolishing their adversaries. Both Scharnhorst and Nurnberg were sinking their crews spilling overboard as they sought to avoid drowning, Gneisenau’s captain was apparently unwilling to sacrifice more of his men, instead he ordered her colours lowered signalling her surrender. This caused consternation aboard the Japanese Cruisers they had not expected surrender, but swiftly enough Japanese boats were pulling to the German Cruiser, to accept her surrender. Her Captain and first Lieutenant were dead, the gunnery lieutenant, the sole unwounded officer had ordered his men to lay down their arms and cease fighting. The lieutenant his nerves wrecked by the sudden violence, had failed to order the engineers to open the sea cocks, so the ship remained afloat, listing and down at the bow but afloat. Her diminished crew soon under the guard of surprised Japanese Sailors, the Japanese were surprisingly solicitous of the welfare of the German Sailors, their orders to avoid mistreating their prisoners were strict. With the ship under Japanese control, the Japanese sailors and German crew worked quickly to put out the fires and rig pumps, the crew working with a will, their ships and rafts had been smashed and if the ship foundered most would surely drown. Admiral Yamaya issued orders for a prize crew to be organised and the ship surveyed to see if it was fit to sail. He also ordered more boats to go to the aid of the survivors of the other German ships, sadly few had made it out, but again the Japanese sailors risked their own lives to pluck as many men from the sea as they could.
The colliers shocked by the sudden outburst of violence did little, one braver or more foolish captain attempted to raise steam to flee but judging by the plume of steam thought better of it and doused its boiler when a 6” shell from Tsukuba’s secondary gun was fired across her bows as a warning.
The Japanese signallers continued exchanging messages by light, flag and now that action had been joined radio, with Asuma telling of the stiff fight being put up by her target. Asuma’s fight was more even, she had come up on Dresden in the dark at less than 6000yard range, her target was faster and had on spotting the Japanese ship immediately turned tail and fled north, a thick column of smoke partially obscuring her from pursuit.
But in the end the advantages of the Japanese ship were insurmountable, SMS Dresden was on fire from both 8” and 6” shots and was dead in the water, aboard Asuma the Captain elected to finish her quickly, closing to a mere 1000 yards he fired both his starboard torpedo tubes. The torpedos closed the gap swiftly, striking the setting ship amidships and a mere 10m apart, tearing a giant hole in the doomed ships hull. SMS Dresden began to roll immediately, the weight of water let in by the torpedo strike overwhelming what little buoyancy she had retained, the fires quenched as she plunged down into the deep Pacific Ocean, carrying her crew to their eternal rest in the benthic mud. Asuma again signalled the squadron for further orders, she was to search casrefuly for survivors and then join the squadron off Easter Island
Admiral Yamaya retired to his stateroom to write his reports, he would have to take some care, he had violated the neutrality of the Chilean Republic, but he had won another great victory for the Japanese Empire and even more importantly he had won a victory for the Navy. His report would be before the Emperor within hours of its receipt, he had much to do and little time, he was a gracious officer and would seek to ensure that as much glory from this day stuck to his crews as possible. Including he decided in something of an arbitrary decision, that keen eyed sailor at the main top.
The two ships had gone to action stations early, the young sailor had been in his lookout post straddling the main top yard for over an hour, the sky was progressively lightening and now it was nautical twilight. There was a midshipman beside him, he was clutching a pair of heavy night glasses and trying hard to focus on the horizon, a task made more difficult by the swell. The ships were travelling at 18 knots above their most efficient speed but one timed to deliver them to Easter Island as dawn broke over the island.
The ships crews knew they would be in for a fight, the admiral had issued his orders and his ships and men were ready to carry them out. As the light improved, the sailor spotted a whale spouting in the distance to the east, he was barely able to restrain himself from shouting the bearing to it down the voice tube. He elected not to point it out to the midshipman either, that young man was full of his own importance and distracting him with trivialities at a time like this could only be to his detriment.
He continued to scan the ocean to the northeast, the midshipman reported the sighting of land and was greeted with a curt “Hai” by the Captain. Nothing was visible against the loom of the land yet the bulk of an old volcano shading the land against the rising sun, but the ships were moving at a steady pace, the stokers no doubt already sweating as the boilers built increased pressure.
The lookout stiffened, reaching over he flipped the cover off the voice tube and said “deck there, three ships on the starboard bow”, the midshipman glared at him for his breach of protocol. The Midshipman should have spotted them with his heavy glasses first, but the sailor had spent many more days spotting aloft, he knew how to really look. The captain was more interested now, asking him “type, range”, the midshipman pushed him out of the way, “two armoured cruisers one light cruiser, multiple colliers, 15000 yards”, the voice tube could also be heard from the spotting position as well, allowing them to direct their more powerful glasses onto the indicated position.
The well-trained crews were rapidly plotting the position of the ships, they had been identified as the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhurst and Gneisenau and the light cruiser SMS Nurnberg. Once the German ships were spotted Vice Admiral Yamaya issued his final prebattle orders. The squadron signals officer was soon issuing commands to his crews as the admiral’s plan was put into play. Bright signal flags raced aloft, and signal lamps blinked, IJN Tsukuba was to hold station to port of IJN Karuma and she was to target the more distant armoured cruiser tentatively identified as SMS Gneisenau with both her 12” guns and when in range with her 6” guns as well. Whilst SMS Scharnhorst would be the target of Karuma’s 12” guns and the light cruiser the target of the 8 8” guns. The range to the German ships was closing rapidly and the dawn approach from an unexpected direction placed the Japanese ships in a near perfect position. The Germans were trapped at anchor against a rocky shore, likely with only a harbour watch on duty, it would take precious time to call the ships to action stations and soon Japanese shells would be raining down on them.
The radio crew, whose sterling work had given Admiral Yamaya every advantage, heard another radio call, adjusting their receivers they were able to plot its bearing. It was on the assumed course of the German Light Cruiser whose signalling had precipitated the days events. She had suddenly started signalling again, quickly, to the experienced ears of the watch standers, her dots and dashes had a frantic even panicked air. Clearly IJN Asama had either engaged the German ship or at least been spotted, within moments there was a change in the ships off easter island, frenzied activity was visible from the spotting towers powerful telescopes as the German crews responded to the radio signal. The range had closed to 14000 yards now, Admiral Yamaya ordered a turn to port, reducing the rate of closure and allowing the after turrets to bear on the target.
The Japanese ships accelerated to 20 knots, not quite full speed but still fast both ships shuddering, towering columns of black smoke belching from their funnels as they sought to close the range and prevent escape. The big guns swung to starboard, the angle hadn’t closed enough for the aft pair of 12” guns to bear, their turret was swung round but until the range closed a little more it would be masked by the superstructure. Despite this Admiral Yamaya felt that the advantage of surprise would soon be lost if he gave the Germans any further time to come to action stations. His command “you may open fire Captain” was given in as normal tone as one would expect of any officer descended from samurai, little different that the tone with which he requested his tea be refreshed.
The great 12” guns roared, the range short, the enemy unmoving, if this had been an exercise, the inspectorate responsible for training would have ruled it utterly unrealistic. Despite all the advantages held by the Japanese gunners the first rounds fired by Karuma missed, plunging into the sea just beyond her SMS Scharnhorst. To worsen the captain’s shame, IJN Tsukuba fired almost immediately after Karuma, a least one of his shells hit the more distant armoured cruiser, a bright gout of flame signalling success. Soon both ships were firing as quickly as they could, both now hitting with some regularity, the smaller 8” guns on Karuma also joined the fray, in a fine display of gunnery her first salvo managed to straddle the light cruiser with two shells hitting her hard.
The uneven fight continued for a few minutes, eventually several German guns managed to respond, several lucky and or exceptionally brave gunners even managed to hit the Japanese armoured cruisers, but in every case bar one the Japanese Ships shrugged off the hits without issue. The sole victim was the admiral’s barge, she was struck by a 10.5cm shell fired by the light cruiser, striking the barge but failing to penetrate Karuma’s deck it detonated blowing the barge to splinters. But soon even that defiance was silenced, the Japanese ships kept firing, methodically demolishing their adversaries. Both Scharnhorst and Nurnberg were sinking their crews spilling overboard as they sought to avoid drowning, Gneisenau’s captain was apparently unwilling to sacrifice more of his men, instead he ordered her colours lowered signalling her surrender. This caused consternation aboard the Japanese Cruisers they had not expected surrender, but swiftly enough Japanese boats were pulling to the German Cruiser, to accept her surrender. Her Captain and first Lieutenant were dead, the gunnery lieutenant, the sole unwounded officer had ordered his men to lay down their arms and cease fighting. The lieutenant his nerves wrecked by the sudden violence, had failed to order the engineers to open the sea cocks, so the ship remained afloat, listing and down at the bow but afloat. Her diminished crew soon under the guard of surprised Japanese Sailors, the Japanese were surprisingly solicitous of the welfare of the German Sailors, their orders to avoid mistreating their prisoners were strict. With the ship under Japanese control, the Japanese sailors and German crew worked quickly to put out the fires and rig pumps, the crew working with a will, their ships and rafts had been smashed and if the ship foundered most would surely drown. Admiral Yamaya issued orders for a prize crew to be organised and the ship surveyed to see if it was fit to sail. He also ordered more boats to go to the aid of the survivors of the other German ships, sadly few had made it out, but again the Japanese sailors risked their own lives to pluck as many men from the sea as they could.
The colliers shocked by the sudden outburst of violence did little, one braver or more foolish captain attempted to raise steam to flee but judging by the plume of steam thought better of it and doused its boiler when a 6” shell from Tsukuba’s secondary gun was fired across her bows as a warning.
The Japanese signallers continued exchanging messages by light, flag and now that action had been joined radio, with Asuma telling of the stiff fight being put up by her target. Asuma’s fight was more even, she had come up on Dresden in the dark at less than 6000yard range, her target was faster and had on spotting the Japanese ship immediately turned tail and fled north, a thick column of smoke partially obscuring her from pursuit.
But in the end the advantages of the Japanese ship were insurmountable, SMS Dresden was on fire from both 8” and 6” shots and was dead in the water, aboard Asuma the Captain elected to finish her quickly, closing to a mere 1000 yards he fired both his starboard torpedo tubes. The torpedos closed the gap swiftly, striking the setting ship amidships and a mere 10m apart, tearing a giant hole in the doomed ships hull. SMS Dresden began to roll immediately, the weight of water let in by the torpedo strike overwhelming what little buoyancy she had retained, the fires quenched as she plunged down into the deep Pacific Ocean, carrying her crew to their eternal rest in the benthic mud. Asuma again signalled the squadron for further orders, she was to search casrefuly for survivors and then join the squadron off Easter Island
Admiral Yamaya retired to his stateroom to write his reports, he would have to take some care, he had violated the neutrality of the Chilean Republic, but he had won another great victory for the Japanese Empire and even more importantly he had won a victory for the Navy. His report would be before the Emperor within hours of its receipt, he had much to do and little time, he was a gracious officer and would seek to ensure that as much glory from this day stuck to his crews as possible. Including he decided in something of an arbitrary decision, that keen eyed sailor at the main top.
The Situation in Belgium
13th October 1914, Namur.
Namur was the hinge, the French 5th Army was advancing methodically along the western bank of the river, the Germans were pulling back, slowly retiring along the roads and railway line that connected Namur to Liege. The German Second Army was also attempting to delay the French 6th Army that was pushing them back from the west. The fighting was intense, with heavy casualties on both sides, for the French and Belgians it consisted of numerous small battalion or regimental assaults against smaller and weaker rear guard positions. For the Germans it was a nightmare of retreat as they tried to get behind the line of the Meuse.
The Germans were attempting to withdraw their guns and other vital equipment, but this need meant that more often than not the French had local artillery superiority. Their 75mm gun was well suited to this kind of fighting, mobile and fast firing, the gunners would bring their pieces up almost to the front line. From these positions they could direct accurate and rapid fire onto the defender’s position. Stocks of shells were already beginning to run down, the vast arsenals and stockpile built up before the war were already diminishing and production whilst it had ramped up was not even close to keeping up with demand. The main problem was high explosive shells, shrapnel shells had pride of place in doctrine, but the reality of war had shown high explosive to be more useful.
Particularly the high explosive rounds fired by the heavier pieces, supplies of those rounds were starting to become constrained, it was not yet critical but the commanders of the various 120mm and 155mm gun units were under orders to use their ammunition allotments as efficiently as possible. Long range harassing fire against fixed points such as crossroads and suspected headquarters positions had already been limited as a way of preserving shell numbers.
Marshal Foche had moved his headquarters forward to the town of Charleroi, he would move it forward again soon, to ensure he remained close to the front line and shortened the lengthy communications links between his headquarters and the various Army headquarters in the field. His control of his own forces was complete, but the links to the British and Belgians necessarily more nebulous. He was not in a position to issue orders to either army, the British were allies of France and Russia but the Belgians were co belligerents. The British shared similar objectives to France and Russia but for the Belgians their sole objective was to rid their country of the Germans, they sought no territorial aggrandisement at German expense, they had no desire for the return of long-lost provinces. Their initial aims were freedom for Belgium and removal of all the armies currently fighting on their benighted land. A new aim was joining first one, still embryonic but growing in strength, it was a public thirst for justice for the harm done to people of Belgium.
The Belgian King was often out of communications for a significant portion of each day as he hurried from regimental and battalion headquarters, on more than one occasion he had pushed right up to the front line itself. He seemed to lead a charmed existence, despite the shell fire and machine gun bullets that had killed and wounded aides and other followers he was unharmed, his army delighted in his bravery and were pushing back the hated invader with a determined fury. The King and his ministers had taken great pains to ensure that every German atrocity was well documented, the sinking of the Admiral Ganteaume was merely the latest in a series of horrors, but knowledge of that event had raised the anger of Belgium to a fever pitch.
The British were responsible for the siege of Brussels, a single Belgian division had been attached to the Third Army, this division was partially a political necessity, it would not do for Belgium’s capital to be liberated by others, this way its recapture was a joint effort. In addition to the Belgian division, hundreds of English-speaking Belgian soldiers had been attached as translators and guides to the British forces.
The British were trying to conduct the siege in conformity with the Hague Convention, the British had offered terms to the German commander, but he had rejected them. The British commander, Field Marshal Smith Dorrien was content to carry out a methodical siege, he would preserve his army for the fighting to come. Like the French the BEF was starting to run short of shells, again particularly the high explosive rounds that were needed dig out troops under cover. The Royal Navy was coming to the aid of the BEF, Admiral Scott’s plan to mount 6” guns on extemporised carriages had finally borne fruit and the first four regiments were moving up to join the siege, each regiment consisted of three batteries of six guns for a total of eighteen guns per regiment. Three of the regiments would be allocated to the individual armies whilst the fourth regiment would be retained for command by the BEF headquarters.
As well as these guns there would soon be deliveries of 9.2” guns, these would also come under the command of the BEF headquarters and would be deployed as required to support particular tasks. General Grierson had been instrumental along with Admiral Scott in getting these modified naval guns into service, it was likely that the 9.2” guns would not arrive in time to participate in the fighting for Brussels. But there would be a lot of hard fighting before British troops were marching down the Unter den Linden.
In both Paris and London, the recognition was growing, that irrespective of these early victories the war would likely be a long one. Both sides were tentatively moving towards both some sort of common command structure which would enable better co-ordination of the war as it evolved, the other area in which useful alignment was taking place was in material and logistics. Slow steps were taking place to align logistics and manufacturing, early discussions were being held about sharing designs for artillery equipment and aircraft.
Namur was the hinge, the French 5th Army was advancing methodically along the western bank of the river, the Germans were pulling back, slowly retiring along the roads and railway line that connected Namur to Liege. The German Second Army was also attempting to delay the French 6th Army that was pushing them back from the west. The fighting was intense, with heavy casualties on both sides, for the French and Belgians it consisted of numerous small battalion or regimental assaults against smaller and weaker rear guard positions. For the Germans it was a nightmare of retreat as they tried to get behind the line of the Meuse.
The Germans were attempting to withdraw their guns and other vital equipment, but this need meant that more often than not the French had local artillery superiority. Their 75mm gun was well suited to this kind of fighting, mobile and fast firing, the gunners would bring their pieces up almost to the front line. From these positions they could direct accurate and rapid fire onto the defender’s position. Stocks of shells were already beginning to run down, the vast arsenals and stockpile built up before the war were already diminishing and production whilst it had ramped up was not even close to keeping up with demand. The main problem was high explosive shells, shrapnel shells had pride of place in doctrine, but the reality of war had shown high explosive to be more useful.
Particularly the high explosive rounds fired by the heavier pieces, supplies of those rounds were starting to become constrained, it was not yet critical but the commanders of the various 120mm and 155mm gun units were under orders to use their ammunition allotments as efficiently as possible. Long range harassing fire against fixed points such as crossroads and suspected headquarters positions had already been limited as a way of preserving shell numbers.
Marshal Foche had moved his headquarters forward to the town of Charleroi, he would move it forward again soon, to ensure he remained close to the front line and shortened the lengthy communications links between his headquarters and the various Army headquarters in the field. His control of his own forces was complete, but the links to the British and Belgians necessarily more nebulous. He was not in a position to issue orders to either army, the British were allies of France and Russia but the Belgians were co belligerents. The British shared similar objectives to France and Russia but for the Belgians their sole objective was to rid their country of the Germans, they sought no territorial aggrandisement at German expense, they had no desire for the return of long-lost provinces. Their initial aims were freedom for Belgium and removal of all the armies currently fighting on their benighted land. A new aim was joining first one, still embryonic but growing in strength, it was a public thirst for justice for the harm done to people of Belgium.
The Belgian King was often out of communications for a significant portion of each day as he hurried from regimental and battalion headquarters, on more than one occasion he had pushed right up to the front line itself. He seemed to lead a charmed existence, despite the shell fire and machine gun bullets that had killed and wounded aides and other followers he was unharmed, his army delighted in his bravery and were pushing back the hated invader with a determined fury. The King and his ministers had taken great pains to ensure that every German atrocity was well documented, the sinking of the Admiral Ganteaume was merely the latest in a series of horrors, but knowledge of that event had raised the anger of Belgium to a fever pitch.
The British were responsible for the siege of Brussels, a single Belgian division had been attached to the Third Army, this division was partially a political necessity, it would not do for Belgium’s capital to be liberated by others, this way its recapture was a joint effort. In addition to the Belgian division, hundreds of English-speaking Belgian soldiers had been attached as translators and guides to the British forces.
The British were trying to conduct the siege in conformity with the Hague Convention, the British had offered terms to the German commander, but he had rejected them. The British commander, Field Marshal Smith Dorrien was content to carry out a methodical siege, he would preserve his army for the fighting to come. Like the French the BEF was starting to run short of shells, again particularly the high explosive rounds that were needed dig out troops under cover. The Royal Navy was coming to the aid of the BEF, Admiral Scott’s plan to mount 6” guns on extemporised carriages had finally borne fruit and the first four regiments were moving up to join the siege, each regiment consisted of three batteries of six guns for a total of eighteen guns per regiment. Three of the regiments would be allocated to the individual armies whilst the fourth regiment would be retained for command by the BEF headquarters.
As well as these guns there would soon be deliveries of 9.2” guns, these would also come under the command of the BEF headquarters and would be deployed as required to support particular tasks. General Grierson had been instrumental along with Admiral Scott in getting these modified naval guns into service, it was likely that the 9.2” guns would not arrive in time to participate in the fighting for Brussels. But there would be a lot of hard fighting before British troops were marching down the Unter den Linden.
In both Paris and London, the recognition was growing, that irrespective of these early victories the war would likely be a long one. Both sides were tentatively moving towards both some sort of common command structure which would enable better co-ordination of the war as it evolved, the other area in which useful alignment was taking place was in material and logistics. Slow steps were taking place to align logistics and manufacturing, early discussions were being held about sharing designs for artillery equipment and aircraft.
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I don’t know that it had reached the levels of insanity that were seen later but surely the two enemies of every service are the treasury and the other services. Then depending on the individual corps it would be the other corps then regiment etc until really all you can trust are the lads in your section or platoon.
Need to remember that the IJN and IJA were developed by different and rival clans that grew out of two different view points, and both are beholden to the Emperor in theory.
Though it is usually what ever the Oligarchic council that tells the emperor.
Hello,
It looks like the Chauchat was at best an average performer until it was adopted to American requirements, then it became a disaster...
FN was already involved with Browning. They were the European firm in charge of adapting and marketing his designs. Colt held the American market (North and South I believe) and FN had the rest of the world (though the agreement was overstepped at times, usually by Colt). The Lewis, by contrast, was being produced by BSA in England, they having been supporting Lewis in developing with his design since at least 1913.
The French also did see and test the Lewis. But by the time the Lewis really comes on the scene in British forces, the decision to produce the Chauchat had already been taken. Additionally, the Lewis was a relatively complicated weapon to produce and they wanted something that could be quickly mass produced to get out to the troops as fast as possible. The Chauchat, by contrast could be produced in large numbers from a converted civilian factory.
Additionally, the BAR didn’t really live up to the hopes that were initially put on it. It was originally designed as a walking fire platform (a similar thought was initially behind the British interest in the Farquhar-Hill). But that concept turned out to be a bit overblown. When the BAR entered service it was generally used as a light machine gun. A role to which it was less suited than the Lewis or even, arguably, the Chauchat (though infinitely more reliable than the .30-06 Chauchat). As an Automatic rifle it was also kind of heavy compared to what was possible just a couple years later (and arguably what was possible at the time, looking at the lighter but more complicated Farquhar-Hill). It fit in American doctrine as well as it did due to the continued emphasis on individual rifle fire. It would have been poorly suited to the developing European doctrines of light machine guns being the bulk of section firepower.
Worse, the USA already had access to the Lewis Gun in .30-06. The USMC arrived in France equipped with them, only for the Army to take them away and issue them with Chauchat. Officially this was because of "standardization between US units" but was in reality due to inter-service rivalries, politics and personalities. Othais from C&Rsenal did a great video on the Lewis Gun which covers this in some depth.
History of WWI Primer 034: The Lewis Gun Documentary
The Belgians were making Lewis guns at Liege prior to the war, it was also extremely expensive. But ITTL Farquhar hill are working on a LMG and they have budget and people to make a working design, the Beardmore Farquhar came close to being adopted in the 20's and that will be the initial model for testing. Having just watched Gun Jesus's video the Chauchat doesn't look that bad so I don't think it will be different. However perhaps the French will also adopt a rimless cartridge for it, the rim on the 8mm Lebel looks mad.
I’ll be honest, I don’t think a Farquhar based LMG is likely to beat out the Lewis. The Lewis was only very briefly made in Liege (which would be under occupation now). Right from the start BSA had shown an interest in the design and had been important in working out some of the kinks. Lewis had fairly quickly moved his equipment over to BSA and they had begun offering the Lewis in 1914 prewar. It would be being tested at the moment ITTL and was introduced in 1915 IOTL.
In other words it has a big head start. And once introduced to service I don’t see the Beardmore-Farquhar clone being enough of an improvement to displace it. The Farquhar consortium is outmatched on a industrial scale by BSA and, if complication of manufacturing is the problem, many air service Lewis guns (built for aircraft use, without the shroud) were tested the ground role in WW2 and performed fine. So BSA could just offer those as a simpler option (the shroud being among the most complicated manufacture) if necessary.
So BSA started working on the Lewis around 1911 and had it pretty much ready by 1913, this is when the Belgians get involved and start both purchasing from BSA and starting their own production. In addition the Lewis was combat ready by 1914, most of the kinks and quirks had been worked out by the start of the war, something that couldn't be said for a lot of other designs. The fact that the Lewis was only adopted by Britain in late 1915 is not due to any flaw in the weapon or it not being ready but more because the need for it was not officially recognised until after the 1915 Battles. In 1914 and early 1915 the British were desperately moving to a full war footing then preparing for the 1915 offensives.
If you want to see just how far ahead of the competition the Lewis was then watch Project Lightening from Forgotten Weapons and C&arsenal. It's 8 video's long but is comparing all the LMG's and LMG likes used in WW1 and the Lewis is the clear winner.
It will take a lot for any new, clean sheet design come out on top verses the Lewis in this time period. Designing a new gun, even from a head start position takes time and requires a lot of iteration and fine tuning.
If you want to see just how far ahead of the competition the Lewis was then watch Project Lightening from Forgotten Weapons and C&arsenal. It's 8 video's long but is comparing all the LMG's and LMG likes used in WW1 and the Lewis is the clear winner.
It will take a lot for any new, clean sheet design come out on top verses the Lewis in this time period. Designing a new gun, even from a head start position takes time and requires a lot of iteration and fine tuning.