A New Balance
- Thread starter Jim Smitty
- Start date
The war against the Ottoman gave at the italian some experience on modern warfare...but the top brass decide to ignore it; on the other hand a more rich Italy mean that the soldiers will not lack (or at less lack less) steel helmet, artillery, ammunition, the necessary equipment to the life in the trench, machine gun...etc. etc.
While the overall limitation on the quality of leaderships, of the money and industry available will mean that Italy will not be a military juggernaut, it will be at least much more ready for war than the rushed job of OTL
The problem with the Italian front in WWI was the absolutely atrocious terrain. If the A-H forces pretty much stand on the defensive the Italians will beat themselves to death attacking through the mountains. While Italy getting in the fight will take up some A-H forces it will be a bloodbath for the Italins especially if the A-H limit themselves to local counterattacks. The big benefit for the Entente will be the closing of the Adriatic between the Italian, French, and British navies making the Med pretty safe for Entente traffic.
World War One, Cursing the Pacific
Germany known only to reasons of Berlin had come to believed that they could turn German China into very least a version of French Indochina if not British India. They had indeed put time and money into their small German colony in China and had become one of only two German colonies that were turning a profit in 1915. It was also home to the only overseas deployed squadron of the Kaiserliche Marine. The East Asia Squadron was a small force but impressive when one stopped and through Germany had lost the Island War only 20 years prior. The squadron was built around 2 modern but outdated armored cruisers and two light cruisers an old protected cruiser that had been set to be replaced at the end of 1916 with a modern light cruiser.
As the crisis that would spark the Great War was starting the East Asia Squadron of the Kaiserliche Marine was performing a tour of Pacific Rim nations. Under the command of Konteradmiral Franz von Hipper had just left Manzanillo in Mexico to sure up German owned companies in that war torn nation when he was given word that war had started between Germany and France, Russia, and the British Empire. This put Hipper in a tough spot. He was a long away from Germany and reinforcements. He also knew if the British had entered the war it was only a matter of time before the Japanese entered the war against them. He decided to sell north to San Diego to re-coal his ships. Before taking his next course of action in the war. He selected San Diego over going south as he knew there would be coal there as to going south and trying to break into the Atlantic because he didn’t know for sure where he could find high grade coal in Central or South America. Once he reached San Diego he paid for coal with goal and silver from reserves on his ships. In a fairly impressive feat they were out of San Diego in 24 hours after having taken on all the coal their bunkers could hold.
Once at sea and well away from the normal shipping lines, Hipper decided to head south southeast. He decided he was going to try and break into the South Atlantic before turning north and heading home to Germany. He decided to try and fight the IJN was the same thing as performing seppuku. That was something he didn’t want to take part in. He knew the Aussies had their battlecruisers but they had to deal with keeping the Americans in check at Simon’s Harbor so he decided to try and snake down the coast of the Americas before turning Cape Horn into the Atlantic. Yet he decided to break up his force and send SMS Hansa to the Sandwich Islands to raid British shipping there. The Hansa was four knots slower than the other ships and was less able than his other ships. So he decided to use the Hansa as a decoy and try to draw away British forces from his plan to break out into the Atlantic.
The Battle of Galapagos Islands was a surprise to both Hipper and Rear Admiral John Luce who was in command of a three strong squadron of armored cruisers. However, Hipper’s ships were modern have been commissioned in the past five years whereas Luce’s ships dated from the turn of the century. There had been major changes in naval design, engineering and architecture in the years in between Luce’s ships and Hipper’s ships. Further Luce’s ships were being manned by reservist who had been called up for active duty service in the war. In every edge Hipper’s force held the edge and it showed during the battle. Hipper sunk all three King Alfred armored cruisers for only 11 men wounded in the battle. It also handed the British their first squadron left defeat on the ocean waves since 1810.
Even through Galapagos Islands had been a victory for Hipper it had been costly in terms of ammo. He used just under half of his ammo stores. There was no chance at resupply before he reached Germany. Further it alerted to the British to his general location. Yet he didn’t stop he kept pushing his fleet to Cape Horn so he could break out into the Atlantic. Yet the action around also brought the Royal Imperial Federation Navy (RIFN) into play. With the US looking like it wouldn’t be active in this war the Aussies decided to send their fleet east to the coast of South of America to see if they could find the Germans.
Soon after the Galapagos Islands happened did the SMS Hansa meet her fate. She had a brief run of a merchant raider sinking six British and one Japanese merchant ships for a total of 24,191 tons of merchant shipping sunk before she ran into the IJN Azuma. Both ships were about the same age but the Azuma was a rate above the Hansa as she was an armored cruiser. She had been sent to take part in guarding the Sandwich Islands till the German East Asia squadron was sunk or otherwise removed from the table. The Azuma sunk the Hansa for only light damage to herself.
Hipper’s luck ran out on November 15th 1915 when he ran into the RIFN squadron about 150 miles off the coast of Chile. The Hipper was now outnumbered and outgunned and not in a position to escape. Knowing this Hipper turned his fleet into the RIFN and decided if he was going to die he was going to take somebody with him. Even the RIFN in their after action report gave Hipper praise for his bravely in the battle. Hipper did achieve his goal as he sunk HMANZS Wellington in the course of the battle. He did damage two other light cruisers but they were able to return to port and make repairs to rejoin the fleet at a later date. Yet Hipper’s command was destroyed. Only a total of 438 German sailors would be fished out the waters off Chile to become prisoners of war in the IFANZ.
As the crisis that would spark the Great War was starting the East Asia Squadron of the Kaiserliche Marine was performing a tour of Pacific Rim nations. Under the command of Konteradmiral Franz von Hipper had just left Manzanillo in Mexico to sure up German owned companies in that war torn nation when he was given word that war had started between Germany and France, Russia, and the British Empire. This put Hipper in a tough spot. He was a long away from Germany and reinforcements. He also knew if the British had entered the war it was only a matter of time before the Japanese entered the war against them. He decided to sell north to San Diego to re-coal his ships. Before taking his next course of action in the war. He selected San Diego over going south as he knew there would be coal there as to going south and trying to break into the Atlantic because he didn’t know for sure where he could find high grade coal in Central or South America. Once he reached San Diego he paid for coal with goal and silver from reserves on his ships. In a fairly impressive feat they were out of San Diego in 24 hours after having taken on all the coal their bunkers could hold.
Once at sea and well away from the normal shipping lines, Hipper decided to head south southeast. He decided he was going to try and break into the South Atlantic before turning north and heading home to Germany. He decided to try and fight the IJN was the same thing as performing seppuku. That was something he didn’t want to take part in. He knew the Aussies had their battlecruisers but they had to deal with keeping the Americans in check at Simon’s Harbor so he decided to try and snake down the coast of the Americas before turning Cape Horn into the Atlantic. Yet he decided to break up his force and send SMS Hansa to the Sandwich Islands to raid British shipping there. The Hansa was four knots slower than the other ships and was less able than his other ships. So he decided to use the Hansa as a decoy and try to draw away British forces from his plan to break out into the Atlantic.
The Battle of Galapagos Islands was a surprise to both Hipper and Rear Admiral John Luce who was in command of a three strong squadron of armored cruisers. However, Hipper’s ships were modern have been commissioned in the past five years whereas Luce’s ships dated from the turn of the century. There had been major changes in naval design, engineering and architecture in the years in between Luce’s ships and Hipper’s ships. Further Luce’s ships were being manned by reservist who had been called up for active duty service in the war. In every edge Hipper’s force held the edge and it showed during the battle. Hipper sunk all three King Alfred armored cruisers for only 11 men wounded in the battle. It also handed the British their first squadron left defeat on the ocean waves since 1810.
Even through Galapagos Islands had been a victory for Hipper it had been costly in terms of ammo. He used just under half of his ammo stores. There was no chance at resupply before he reached Germany. Further it alerted to the British to his general location. Yet he didn’t stop he kept pushing his fleet to Cape Horn so he could break out into the Atlantic. Yet the action around also brought the Royal Imperial Federation Navy (RIFN) into play. With the US looking like it wouldn’t be active in this war the Aussies decided to send their fleet east to the coast of South of America to see if they could find the Germans.
Soon after the Galapagos Islands happened did the SMS Hansa meet her fate. She had a brief run of a merchant raider sinking six British and one Japanese merchant ships for a total of 24,191 tons of merchant shipping sunk before she ran into the IJN Azuma. Both ships were about the same age but the Azuma was a rate above the Hansa as she was an armored cruiser. She had been sent to take part in guarding the Sandwich Islands till the German East Asia squadron was sunk or otherwise removed from the table. The Azuma sunk the Hansa for only light damage to herself.
Hipper’s luck ran out on November 15th 1915 when he ran into the RIFN squadron about 150 miles off the coast of Chile. The Hipper was now outnumbered and outgunned and not in a position to escape. Knowing this Hipper turned his fleet into the RIFN and decided if he was going to die he was going to take somebody with him. Even the RIFN in their after action report gave Hipper praise for his bravely in the battle. Hipper did achieve his goal as he sunk HMANZS Wellington in the course of the battle. He did damage two other light cruisers but they were able to return to port and make repairs to rejoin the fleet at a later date. Yet Hipper’s command was destroyed. Only a total of 438 German sailors would be fished out the waters off Chile to become prisoners of war in the IFANZ.
World War One, The Channel
The Battle for control of the English Channel became of paramount importunate to the British in the aftermath of the German offensive that had reach Dunkirk in the race for the coast. With Dunkirk being under German control put the Royal Navy in a bind as it was forced to commit a far larger force to maintaining the security of the channel than had been planned in pre-war planning. The fact that the only White Dominion with a navy worth a damn had to keep its forces close to home and their only pre-war ally had to keep the bulk of its fleet near home as well because of the United States put a large strain on the Royal Navy to maintain the channel along with all the other commitments the Royal Navy had to maintain.
With control of the channel being important the Germans wanted to do their best to shut the channel down. They however couldn’t send the bulk of their fleet to do this. They remembered all too well what happened in the Island War against the United States when they sent the bulk of their new fleet into the Caribbean against a force operating much closer to home. Even through the distances here were nowhere like they had been 20 years prior they weren’t risking their capital ships in an effort to shut the channel down. This caused them to turn to their light forces in an effort to shut the channel down. This included their destroyers and submarines. They had placed a massive order for both in a naval bill they passed after the fall of Dunkirk as they understood that their capital ships would be best saved for use against the Russian Baltic Fleet an as a Fleet in Being against the Royal Navy in the North Sea.
Germany together with their ally the Belgian Forces loyal to King Baudouin who was being held by the British when about turning Ostend into a fully working base for destroyers and submarines. The Germans also help the Belgians reform their navy as this was happening. Pre-war the Belgians had not maintain a navy and with a war on they needed form.[1] They drew the bulk of the reformed Belgian Navy sailors and officers from the Belgian merchant fleet in Belgium. However, many Belgians volunteered to join the forces loyal to King Baudouin and many joined the reformed navy. The Germans handed them the Belgians second hand older but still deadly lighter units.
On November 1st just days after the Galapagos Islands defeat the surface action in the Battle of the Channel happened. The Battle of Southern Bight pitted a German squadron of destroyers against a squadron of armored cruisers on patrol in the area of the Southern Bight. The German squadron was being moved to Ostend to take up positions there. In the following brawl as the best way to put it the Germans sunk one armored cruiser with torpedoes and put another one into dry dock for the next 14 months. For this the Germans lost four of the six destroyers they were trying to get into Ostend. The remaining two were damaged from the battle with one of them being so badly damaged that she was written off as a total loss once she reached Ostend.
Southern Bight was just the start of things in the channel. The next big action is simply known as the Action of 17th November. U-11 was on patrol in the Norfolk Banks when she ran into the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Channel Fleet. The 3rd Battle Squadron was made of pre-Colossus Battleships[2]. For the day they were built they were well designed ships but had bad luck of being build a few years before HMS Colossus was launched. As such they were outdated before they had their first major refit. Yet with all the needs of the Royal Navy they had been assigned to the Channel Fleet in the even the Germans tried to sortie their heavy units into the channel.
The action started as U-11 spotted the 3rd Battle Squadron. She was on the surface at the time but when unspotted by the British. She was able to dive and get within 1,000 yards of HMS King Edward VII. Firing a spread of three torpedoes at the battleship which was travelling at economical cruising speed at the time this happened. Of the three torpedoes fired two of them hit the King Edward. It was enough to sink the mighty battleship. Yet the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron believed that the King Edward had stuck a pair of mines. They radio for minesweepers to be deployed to their location and when about launching rescue operations for the sailors of the stricken King Edward. The U-11 which was basically a torpedo that could dive at this was still in the area.
When the captain saw this he reloaded his torpedo tubes when he was still under water than fired again. This time from a distance of 800 yards at the motionless HMS Swiftsure. This time he was spotted when the rear of his submarine surface briefly when firing his torpedoes. The Swiftsure didn’t stand a chance and all three torpedoes stuck her. She quickly capsized. The commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron decided the treat wasn’t mines like he first believed but instead submarines something that was most unsporting. Yet he ordered his ships to start moving again. He also ordered his secondary guns to open fire at the area the submarine was. The U-11 decided to take this victory and left the area slowly. The crew of the ship was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for this feat.
[1] I shit you not, the Belgians didn’t maintain a navy till 1914 OTL.
[2] Ok I know I said before that Dreadnoughts ITL were known as Hercules. But the more I thought about it the more I didn’t like it. So, I changed it to Colossus.
With control of the channel being important the Germans wanted to do their best to shut the channel down. They however couldn’t send the bulk of their fleet to do this. They remembered all too well what happened in the Island War against the United States when they sent the bulk of their new fleet into the Caribbean against a force operating much closer to home. Even through the distances here were nowhere like they had been 20 years prior they weren’t risking their capital ships in an effort to shut the channel down. This caused them to turn to their light forces in an effort to shut the channel down. This included their destroyers and submarines. They had placed a massive order for both in a naval bill they passed after the fall of Dunkirk as they understood that their capital ships would be best saved for use against the Russian Baltic Fleet an as a Fleet in Being against the Royal Navy in the North Sea.
Germany together with their ally the Belgian Forces loyal to King Baudouin who was being held by the British when about turning Ostend into a fully working base for destroyers and submarines. The Germans also help the Belgians reform their navy as this was happening. Pre-war the Belgians had not maintain a navy and with a war on they needed form.[1] They drew the bulk of the reformed Belgian Navy sailors and officers from the Belgian merchant fleet in Belgium. However, many Belgians volunteered to join the forces loyal to King Baudouin and many joined the reformed navy. The Germans handed them the Belgians second hand older but still deadly lighter units.
On November 1st just days after the Galapagos Islands defeat the surface action in the Battle of the Channel happened. The Battle of Southern Bight pitted a German squadron of destroyers against a squadron of armored cruisers on patrol in the area of the Southern Bight. The German squadron was being moved to Ostend to take up positions there. In the following brawl as the best way to put it the Germans sunk one armored cruiser with torpedoes and put another one into dry dock for the next 14 months. For this the Germans lost four of the six destroyers they were trying to get into Ostend. The remaining two were damaged from the battle with one of them being so badly damaged that she was written off as a total loss once she reached Ostend.
Southern Bight was just the start of things in the channel. The next big action is simply known as the Action of 17th November. U-11 was on patrol in the Norfolk Banks when she ran into the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Channel Fleet. The 3rd Battle Squadron was made of pre-Colossus Battleships[2]. For the day they were built they were well designed ships but had bad luck of being build a few years before HMS Colossus was launched. As such they were outdated before they had their first major refit. Yet with all the needs of the Royal Navy they had been assigned to the Channel Fleet in the even the Germans tried to sortie their heavy units into the channel.
The action started as U-11 spotted the 3rd Battle Squadron. She was on the surface at the time but when unspotted by the British. She was able to dive and get within 1,000 yards of HMS King Edward VII. Firing a spread of three torpedoes at the battleship which was travelling at economical cruising speed at the time this happened. Of the three torpedoes fired two of them hit the King Edward. It was enough to sink the mighty battleship. Yet the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron believed that the King Edward had stuck a pair of mines. They radio for minesweepers to be deployed to their location and when about launching rescue operations for the sailors of the stricken King Edward. The U-11 which was basically a torpedo that could dive at this was still in the area.
When the captain saw this he reloaded his torpedo tubes when he was still under water than fired again. This time from a distance of 800 yards at the motionless HMS Swiftsure. This time he was spotted when the rear of his submarine surface briefly when firing his torpedoes. The Swiftsure didn’t stand a chance and all three torpedoes stuck her. She quickly capsized. The commander of the 3rd Battle Squadron decided the treat wasn’t mines like he first believed but instead submarines something that was most unsporting. Yet he ordered his ships to start moving again. He also ordered his secondary guns to open fire at the area the submarine was. The U-11 decided to take this victory and left the area slowly. The crew of the ship was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for this feat.
[1] I shit you not, the Belgians didn’t maintain a navy till 1914 OTL.
[2] Ok I know I said before that Dreadnoughts ITL were known as Hercules. But the more I thought about it the more I didn’t like it. So, I changed it to Colossus.
I can't draw maps, so if someone can do them for me I will pass on a rough idea where everything is at the moment.
While in general i agree with you, still the OTL italian front occupied 200.000 A-H soldiers in 1915 alone and with a total of 400.000 Austrian death and more than a million of wounded; plus while the austrian army mantained almost all the time a defensive stance...but in the end it was almost 'forced' to launch the Caporetto offensive as the continuos series of attack by Cadorna caused enough damage that was believed the front will have not resisted another assault, here i just say that a better equipped Regio Esercito (from the start) will have a slightly better initial performance and will cause more casualities to the austrians.
And it's better remember that with the 'hate' between the two side added at the general offensive preference of the time, it's very doubtfoul that they will not try to counterattack and knock out the 'traitors' from the war.
So the U-II sank two Battleships single handed and they were only awarded the Iron Cross second class? I know one couldn't receive the Iron Cross first class unless one had already received the second class but I would think for two Battleships they would've received two awards but then I'm not an expert on how awards in the military are dealt out.
I would think the the Kapitan of the U-II would deserve the Blue Max for this feat however.
I would think the the Kapitan of the U-II would deserve the Blue Max for this feat however.
That action is loosely based off the Action of 22 September 1914. It was where the OTL U-9 sunk three armored cruisers in the span of an hour.
For that action the whole crew was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. The Skipper was awarded both the Iron Cross Second and First Class. It wasn't till after he popped a light cruiser a month later that he was awarded the Blue Max. Here ITL, the whole crew was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class and the skipper getting both the Iron Cross Second and First Class, and the Blue Max in a very rare awarding of all three at once.
That's fairly close to what I had in mind.
After an hour of twinkling or so
Not sure about Belgium so I'll probably have to edit it later when Jim elaborate more on the civil war.
Anything need fixing?
One thing that come in mind is Albania; at least in OTL by the end of 1914 was in a state of anarchy with a widespread malaria epidemic and the distruption of the central goverment with the territory controlled by local bandit/warlord. In OTL Italy occupied Vlore and surrounding while Greece occupied north Epirus.
If things are gone more or less like OTL another front involving the italians will be there as it will be used as a launchpad to hit Greece flank, plus Albania can be used as a way to send supply and reinforcement to the Serbians
If things are gone more or less like OTL another front involving the italians will be there as it will be used as a launchpad to hit Greece flank, plus Albania can be used as a way to send supply and reinforcement to the Serbians
World War One, If at first
On the Eastern Front even following the impressive victories in the East Prussian Campaign, the German position on the Eastern Front was far from secure. Even worse was the total failure of the Austro-Hungarian offensive had stripped them of the ability to launch their own offensive till the spring of 1915 with the Austro-Hungarians use Carpathian Mountains to shield themselves. Worse was the loss of two armies from the Austro-Hungarian TO&E. The Polish Salient had to be dealt with to remove the threat to East Prussia and Berlin itself. It led to the newly formed 9th German Army being assigned to the Eastern Front. This was even with the wildly held belief in the general staff that one good push in the west could knock the French out of the war before they could mobilize the massive colonial resources. They had to remove the eastern threat first.
Russia even through, they were wheeling from their defeat in the East Prussian Campaign they were already plan to counter attack. Instead of East Prussia they were planning to strike into Upper Silesia. At this time, Posen was almost totally undefended and with the area being heavily industrized. They started to mass an army of 500,000 men and 2,000 guns south of Warsaw. However, because of their worry about Germany invading the area the rail network in the Polish Salient wasn’t design to handle this amount of traffic or support their forward positions. This made their slower than what it should had been if the rail network had been built up.
The Russian movements where poorly put together as they move their forces into the Polish Salient to launch their planned offensive into Posen. These movements were found out by German aerial reconnaissance. Germany was one of the biggest believers in military aviation after seeing what the Americans did with it in the Second Mexican American War and had the largest air service at the start of the war with a total of 298 aircraft in service, 100 more than the French and 150 more than the British. With the front in Western Europe running from Switzerland to the Channel the bulk of the German Air Service was moved to the Eastern Front. This allowed the Germans to learn of this pending attack by the Russians.
As this information became known the Germans decided to gamble and allow the Russians to move up to forward positions before attacking them. They weren’t impress by the Russian performance to date and believed that they would make a mistake that would allow them to destroy another Russian Army. The Russians started to move up to forward positions on October 5th. The Germans were keeping tabs on the Russians movements. They waited till October 7th to strike when they launched their assault.
With the Russians on the move they had allowed a gap to form between their 4th and 9th Armies which they were moving up to take part in the planned assault into Posen. The Germans took advance of this gap and launched the 9th Army into it which Russian intelligence had total miss. At the same time the German 8th Army launched an assault to keep the Russian 9th Army tied down and to keep from coming to the aid of the Russian 4th Army. The major problem for the German plan wasn’t the Russians, but the poor if not total lack of infrastructure in the area. Their wagons were having issues staying on the road surface. It wasn’t that they were falling off the roads, it was they were sinking into the roads as the roads couldn’t handle the weight. They had to use local Polish carts as they moved forward and their engineers try to do something with the mess of roads and the railnet in the Polish Salient.
Yet the Russians who were slowly learning from their mistakes in the East Prussian Campaign were still committing too many mistakes this time around. Some were repeats from East Prussia, others through were new mistakes altogether. By the 10th of October the Russian Stavka had sacked both commanders of the 4th and 9th Armies and the front commander for their poor performance in this campaign so far. Yet relieving the 4th Army’s commander was a mistake as the replacement who Stavka had named was already dead having died only that morning only hours before he was named to take over the 4th Army. It left the 4th Army leaderless for 32 hours before a new commander was named. Yet this was all the time needed for the German 9th Army to cut off its final withdraw route.
The Russian 9th Army tried to break a hole in the lines to allowed the trapped Russian 4th Army to escape. Only they were surprised when the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army entered the battle. Even the Germans were surprised when the Austro-Hungarians entered the battle. Yet it caused the Russian 9th Army to break off the assault on the German 9th Army. Working on the fly the Germans and Austro-Hungarians when about encircling the Russian 4th Army. It wasn’t till the 17th of October that the Russian 4th Army surrendered to the joint German and Austro Hungarian forces.
For the 9th Russian Army they abandoned the 4th Russian Army to their fate on the 13th. It also partly because they were worried they would suffer the same fate as the 4th if they didn’t withdraw back to the Warsaw area where the other two armies that had been assigned to the planned invasion of Posen were still at. With their crappy infrastructure, the Russians could only move two armies forward at a time. For the Germans and Austro Hungarians they had forced the Russians back and destroyed another army. That was good enough for now.
Russia even through, they were wheeling from their defeat in the East Prussian Campaign they were already plan to counter attack. Instead of East Prussia they were planning to strike into Upper Silesia. At this time, Posen was almost totally undefended and with the area being heavily industrized. They started to mass an army of 500,000 men and 2,000 guns south of Warsaw. However, because of their worry about Germany invading the area the rail network in the Polish Salient wasn’t design to handle this amount of traffic or support their forward positions. This made their slower than what it should had been if the rail network had been built up.
The Russian movements where poorly put together as they move their forces into the Polish Salient to launch their planned offensive into Posen. These movements were found out by German aerial reconnaissance. Germany was one of the biggest believers in military aviation after seeing what the Americans did with it in the Second Mexican American War and had the largest air service at the start of the war with a total of 298 aircraft in service, 100 more than the French and 150 more than the British. With the front in Western Europe running from Switzerland to the Channel the bulk of the German Air Service was moved to the Eastern Front. This allowed the Germans to learn of this pending attack by the Russians.
As this information became known the Germans decided to gamble and allow the Russians to move up to forward positions before attacking them. They weren’t impress by the Russian performance to date and believed that they would make a mistake that would allow them to destroy another Russian Army. The Russians started to move up to forward positions on October 5th. The Germans were keeping tabs on the Russians movements. They waited till October 7th to strike when they launched their assault.
With the Russians on the move they had allowed a gap to form between their 4th and 9th Armies which they were moving up to take part in the planned assault into Posen. The Germans took advance of this gap and launched the 9th Army into it which Russian intelligence had total miss. At the same time the German 8th Army launched an assault to keep the Russian 9th Army tied down and to keep from coming to the aid of the Russian 4th Army. The major problem for the German plan wasn’t the Russians, but the poor if not total lack of infrastructure in the area. Their wagons were having issues staying on the road surface. It wasn’t that they were falling off the roads, it was they were sinking into the roads as the roads couldn’t handle the weight. They had to use local Polish carts as they moved forward and their engineers try to do something with the mess of roads and the railnet in the Polish Salient.
Yet the Russians who were slowly learning from their mistakes in the East Prussian Campaign were still committing too many mistakes this time around. Some were repeats from East Prussia, others through were new mistakes altogether. By the 10th of October the Russian Stavka had sacked both commanders of the 4th and 9th Armies and the front commander for their poor performance in this campaign so far. Yet relieving the 4th Army’s commander was a mistake as the replacement who Stavka had named was already dead having died only that morning only hours before he was named to take over the 4th Army. It left the 4th Army leaderless for 32 hours before a new commander was named. Yet this was all the time needed for the German 9th Army to cut off its final withdraw route.
The Russian 9th Army tried to break a hole in the lines to allowed the trapped Russian 4th Army to escape. Only they were surprised when the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army entered the battle. Even the Germans were surprised when the Austro-Hungarians entered the battle. Yet it caused the Russian 9th Army to break off the assault on the German 9th Army. Working on the fly the Germans and Austro-Hungarians when about encircling the Russian 4th Army. It wasn’t till the 17th of October that the Russian 4th Army surrendered to the joint German and Austro Hungarian forces.
For the 9th Russian Army they abandoned the 4th Russian Army to their fate on the 13th. It also partly because they were worried they would suffer the same fate as the 4th if they didn’t withdraw back to the Warsaw area where the other two armies that had been assigned to the planned invasion of Posen were still at. With their crappy infrastructure, the Russians could only move two armies forward at a time. For the Germans and Austro Hungarians they had forced the Russians back and destroyed another army. That was good enough for now.
Sorry about the delay with the next update. Something has gotten a hold of my muze and its refusing to let go at the moment and ten pages later of notes.