AH Challenge: make Lemberg a Tannenburg!

Ummm...so maybe this isn't the easiest thread/history challenge around, but it is this: make the Austrian army more successful against the Russians. Change of war plans, change of commanders (my wish: kill Conrad!!!:mad:), etc. Make a plausible scenario wherein the Austrians can at the minimum stymie the Russian advance into Galicia (Lemberg); at the most, a second Tannenburg (as the title suggests). Oh, and destroy Serbia completely in 1914 (bonus if Bulgaria and Austria can do it quickly without needing German help).

Comments such as: "this is ASB, blah blah blah!" need not apply here:D
 
Ummm...so maybe this isn't the easiest thread/history challenge around, but it is this: make the Austrian army more successful against the Russians. Change of war plans, change of commanders (my wish: kill Conrad!!!:mad:), etc. Make a plausible scenario wherein the Austrians can at the minimum stymie the Russian advance into Galicia (Lemberg); at the most, a second Tannenburg (as the title suggests). Oh, and destroy Serbia completely in 1914 (bonus if Bulgaria and Austria can do it quickly without needing German help).

Comments such as: "this is ASB, blah blah blah!" need not apply here:D

I had a TL I started several months ago where the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army encircled and destroyed the Russian Fifth Army near Kamorov around 2 Sept (which some historians think was a possibility) and that greatly altered the campaign in the East. I have been to tempted to resurrect it.
 
Ummm...so maybe this isn't the easiest thread/history challenge around, but it is this: make the Austrian army more successful against the Russians. Change of war plans, change of commanders (my wish: kill Conrad!!!:mad:), etc. Make a plausible scenario wherein the Austrians can at the minimum stymie the Russian advance into Galicia (Lemberg); at the most, a second Tannenburg (as the title suggests). Oh, and destroy Serbia completely in 1914 (bonus if Bulgaria and Austria can do it quickly without needing German help).

Comments such as: "this is ASB, blah blah blah!" need not apply here:D


you would need a serious reorientation in the AH army no later than 1910. Part of AH's problem was that they didn't spend enough money on their army. They had some of the best designers and arms factories in the world (in 1914 no gun on earth was as advanced as the mobile 305mm Austrian howitzer) Austria conscripted much less than half of the elidgeable men in her territory prior to the war (creating a much larger ersatz reserve than even Germany) so AH utterly lacked the trained manpower to act in such a way

main pods

Conrad can stay he isn't a super moron unlike a lot of other WW1 generals (he is mixed good battles and bad)

Major budgetary shifts to conscript at least 70 percent of all males for 2 years (maybe cancel some battleship construction to pay for it) (AH BB's are not known for having accomplished much)

Deploy the most elite units like the KaiserJaegers to destroy Serbia immediately and don't be pussys about using gun boats and artillery to smash the Serbs who are blocking your drives
 
Tom B, I remember your excellent TL. A pity you didn't continue.

What is needed is a clear arrangement between Conrad and Moltke. If Conrad is really aware that the bulk of the German Army goes west - and will remain in the west for some months at least, his arrangements may become more careful. (Although he was known as a firehead and still may opt for attack instead of having his troops dig in and putting up a trap for the Russians.)
 

Deleted member 1487

Ummm...so maybe this isn't the easiest thread/history challenge around, but it is this: make the Austrian army more successful against the Russians. Change of war plans, change of commanders (my wish: kill Conrad!!!:mad:), etc. Make a plausible scenario wherein the Austrians can at the minimum stymie the Russian advance into Galicia (Lemberg); at the most, a second Tannenburg (as the title suggests). Oh, and destroy Serbia completely in 1914 (bonus if Bulgaria and Austria can do it quickly without needing German help).

Comments such as: "this is ASB, blah blah blah!" need not apply here:D

I am actually working on an idea that is somewhat similar to this. Conrad dies shortly before FF, which leaves Potiorek in charge. This way he focussed on knocking out the Serbs quickly, but staying on the defensive in Galicia until the Serbian forces are freed up for use there. You won't get exactly what you want, as Lemberg won't be contested, but there will be trenches on the San and Dniester for the Russians to bash themselves against (with interesting results). Also Potiorek won't be able to command the Serbian theater directly, which results in Boehm-Ermolli sticking to the original invasion plan of thrusting the 2nd army down the Morava valley....again with interesting results. I hope to have the next installement up this weekend.

The name is "The death of Conrad and the Victory of the Habsburgs".
 

Deleted member 1487

I had a TL I started several months ago where the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army encircled and destroyed the Russian Fifth Army near Kamorov around 2 Sept (which some historians think was a possibility) and that greatly altered the campaign in the East. I have been to tempted to resurrect it.


What was the name of the TL? I would like to read it.
 

Deleted member 1487

Tom B, I remember your excellent TL. A pity you didn't continue.

What is needed is a clear arrangement between Conrad and Moltke. If Conrad is really aware that the bulk of the German Army goes west - and will remain in the west for some months at least, his arrangements may become more careful. (Although he was known as a firehead and still may opt for attack instead of having his troops dig in and putting up a trap for the Russians.)


My understanding of what Conrad did was ignore the fact that the Germans were going to abandon them and launch an attack anyway, as his ideology was: the best defense is a good offense. The major problem was that he bungled the deployments and wavered on which units would serve in Galicia. Ultimately he deployed on the San and Dniester, only to change his mind and has his troops march to Russia from there. This meant that they were tired and strung out on the march when they hit the superior Russian forces (in numbers and fireppwer). Despite this, they still had a number of success early on before Conard began vassilating once again after the setbacks started.
 
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