The Unwanted Clairvoyant. A different French strategy in WW1
- Thread starter jeandebueil
- Start date
Following the recruitment policy of 1911-1912 ITTL (see update IV), the French government has already accept to give some concessions and think those are enough: namely the end of the Indigenate Code for those enlisting (including their families), already negociated pensions and pays (since it was a law to recruit volunteers), the guarantee that soldier's children will have the right to benefit from a free education (and to give you an idea: OTL only 5% of the Natives's children in Algeria went to school so that's a plus from OTL). Citizenship won't be granted to soldiers from North Africa (except Morroco) but be granted to the sons of tribes' chieftains in Black Africa (an idea supported and defended by Blaise Diagne, french citizen of senegalese descent).
So 1910's France has accepted and legalized the idea that Native Soldiers should be treated decently compared to OTL but citizenship is actually limited to a couple of thousand people (let's say 5000 people at the very most). That's not much for us, readers of the 2010's but that's a lot for people of the early XXth century. But the idea of largely granting citizenship to non white people isn't really on the French agenda for the moment.
Eh, too bad, at least they did make great advance toward further integration. Maybe the assimilationist will win out this time, at least in some place.
Nice TL by the way, and I'm not just saying that because I'm French
4th-7th November 1914. Eastern Pacific Ocean and Belgium.
Bahia San Quintin, Chilean Coastline, 1000 kilometres south of Coronel. 4th-5th November 1914.
The German East Asia Squadron reaches the Chilean harbour as planned and is authorized by the local authorities to stay for 24 hours in order to get coal and fresh supplies. A few dozen miles west of the harbour, the HMS Glasgow and Canopus are warned by British spies that Von Spee is at Bahia and use this 24 hours respite to sail south and to get as far as possible from the German warships. Meanwhile the HMS Defence, Cornwall and Bristol are at Rivadavia (South Argentina), only a few hundred miles from Port Stanley (Falklands Islands).
Ghent, Belgium. 7th November 1914
A common War Council occurs in the Flemish city currently home of the Belgian government. Once again, are notably present Lord Kitchener and Sir John French for Britain, Generals Michel and Joffre for France, His Majesty King Albert, M. Charles de Broqueville and General Moranville for Belgium. The reason of this meeting is mainly to analyse the recent gains (and mistakes) following the Offensives of October.
Overall, the atmosphere is rather tense and dominated by a bitter feeling of disappointment. In the absence of a decisive breakthrough, the GQG and IGS had nonetheless hoped that the fighting in Belgium would have at least resulted in the destruction of the Wavre Salient and the German Fourth Army defending it. This hope, after four weeks of intense fighting during an already harsh autumn, has been thoroughly trashed. As for Longuyon and Mulhouse, if General Michel can depict these battles as “partial operational successes”, the results remain still modest compared to the cost.
For the French Generalissimo, this proves the necessity of a “gradual approach”, theory defended by his deputy General Dubail and several French commanders, notably Generals Lanrezac, Cary and Foch. The German Army and Nation should be bled by a series of limited, carefully planned offensives where the Entente would concentrate a total war material superiority, notably in terms of artillery. Those offensives should be exclusively executed in areas deemed vital for the Germans and where Coblenz would be forced to sacrifice a rising number of men to maintain the status-quo. This strategy would only involve Waver then Louvain in Belgium and Longwy then Metz in France while the Entente Blockade would begin to “starve Germany into submission”.
This strategy would have several advantages:
-1. To limit the number of casualties while maximising the enemy’s.
-2. To concentrate the forces available to the Entente in locations deemed important on a strategical point of view: Wavre in order to definitively secure Western and Central Belgium, Longwy and Metz in order to deprive Germany of 60% of its iron.
-3. To wage a continuous war of attrition which would prevent Germany to divert too much resources to the Eastern Front, thus helping the Russian Ally currently under great pressure (notably in Central Poland)
-4. To save human and material resources which could be used in a “peripheral strategy” against Germany’s allies. New fronts could thus be opened (against the Ottoman Empire) or at least maintained (against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, notably in Serbia).
The proposal of this strategy results in rather lengthy debate. If Kitchener and more surprisingly King Albert support the initiative, others are opposed, notably Sir John French and General Joffre (who has already expressed his opposition to the plan to General Michel in private). For them, the relative failures of Wavre and Longuyon don’t mean that the prospect of a decisive breakthrough in one single massive offensive has become irrelevant. According to them, Charleroi has proved the solidity of the concept.
At the end, both General Michel and Lord Kitchener impose their views, albeit with some concessions: Wavre and Longwy remain the priorities, the Belgian Army becomes an Army-in-being (at King Albert’s request) whose main role would be fix as much German troops as possible. Finally, Michel accepts the idea of launching "limited tactical offensives" whose locations and objectives are yet to be defined in order to rally Joffre.
Several other decisions are also taken during this meeting.
-1.The French government now formally gives a licence to British and Belgian factories to manufacture Chauchat LMGs chambered in 303 or 7, 65 Mauser. Indeed, several tests have proved that these conversions would not hamper the weapon’s reliability if done properly. Furthermore, the Chauchat, even with the cost of a license, remains considerably cheaper and easier to produce than a Lewis or Hotchkiss 1909 LMG.
-2. The governments of Great-Britain, Belgium and France accept to increase their help to their Serbian counterpart. This collective decision mainly involves to send a common medical mission with 250 doctors and nurses (divided between 5 Field Hospitals) to Serbia. The officially civilian nature of this mission (aimed at assisting the Serbian people rather than its Army) allows the Entente to send these people to Salonika from where they will take trains to reach Serbia. The French government also plans to increase its material support to Serbia, notably in terms of artillery and shells, but the extent of this help hasn’t been defined yet.
-3. The French Army plans to partially reequip its troops. Several initiatives are already implemented. The soldiers finally begin to receive their light blue trousers but are authorized to keep their red ones for the coming winter. In order to counter the lack of warm clothes, the French government officially encourages the civilian population to send socks, scarfs and gloves to the troops. A special supply section is even created in order to speed up the deliveries. The Lebel rifles (around 2 millions in service in November 1914) are currently being phased out and replaced by the Berthiers. However, a five-shot version of the Berthier has already been designed and tested and its introduction should occur in early 1915. The production of Chauchat and Hotchkiss is expected to increase dramatically while the production of the 75mm field gun will be maintained but not expanded in order to speed up to production of the 105mm field gun and the 155mm howitzer.
The German East Asia Squadron reaches the Chilean harbour as planned and is authorized by the local authorities to stay for 24 hours in order to get coal and fresh supplies. A few dozen miles west of the harbour, the HMS Glasgow and Canopus are warned by British spies that Von Spee is at Bahia and use this 24 hours respite to sail south and to get as far as possible from the German warships. Meanwhile the HMS Defence, Cornwall and Bristol are at Rivadavia (South Argentina), only a few hundred miles from Port Stanley (Falklands Islands).
Ghent, Belgium. 7th November 1914
A common War Council occurs in the Flemish city currently home of the Belgian government. Once again, are notably present Lord Kitchener and Sir John French for Britain, Generals Michel and Joffre for France, His Majesty King Albert, M. Charles de Broqueville and General Moranville for Belgium. The reason of this meeting is mainly to analyse the recent gains (and mistakes) following the Offensives of October.
Overall, the atmosphere is rather tense and dominated by a bitter feeling of disappointment. In the absence of a decisive breakthrough, the GQG and IGS had nonetheless hoped that the fighting in Belgium would have at least resulted in the destruction of the Wavre Salient and the German Fourth Army defending it. This hope, after four weeks of intense fighting during an already harsh autumn, has been thoroughly trashed. As for Longuyon and Mulhouse, if General Michel can depict these battles as “partial operational successes”, the results remain still modest compared to the cost.
For the French Generalissimo, this proves the necessity of a “gradual approach”, theory defended by his deputy General Dubail and several French commanders, notably Generals Lanrezac, Cary and Foch. The German Army and Nation should be bled by a series of limited, carefully planned offensives where the Entente would concentrate a total war material superiority, notably in terms of artillery. Those offensives should be exclusively executed in areas deemed vital for the Germans and where Coblenz would be forced to sacrifice a rising number of men to maintain the status-quo. This strategy would only involve Waver then Louvain in Belgium and Longwy then Metz in France while the Entente Blockade would begin to “starve Germany into submission”.
This strategy would have several advantages:
-1. To limit the number of casualties while maximising the enemy’s.
-2. To concentrate the forces available to the Entente in locations deemed important on a strategical point of view: Wavre in order to definitively secure Western and Central Belgium, Longwy and Metz in order to deprive Germany of 60% of its iron.
-3. To wage a continuous war of attrition which would prevent Germany to divert too much resources to the Eastern Front, thus helping the Russian Ally currently under great pressure (notably in Central Poland)
-4. To save human and material resources which could be used in a “peripheral strategy” against Germany’s allies. New fronts could thus be opened (against the Ottoman Empire) or at least maintained (against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, notably in Serbia).
The proposal of this strategy results in rather lengthy debate. If Kitchener and more surprisingly King Albert support the initiative, others are opposed, notably Sir John French and General Joffre (who has already expressed his opposition to the plan to General Michel in private). For them, the relative failures of Wavre and Longuyon don’t mean that the prospect of a decisive breakthrough in one single massive offensive has become irrelevant. According to them, Charleroi has proved the solidity of the concept.
At the end, both General Michel and Lord Kitchener impose their views, albeit with some concessions: Wavre and Longwy remain the priorities, the Belgian Army becomes an Army-in-being (at King Albert’s request) whose main role would be fix as much German troops as possible. Finally, Michel accepts the idea of launching "limited tactical offensives" whose locations and objectives are yet to be defined in order to rally Joffre.
Several other decisions are also taken during this meeting.
-1.The French government now formally gives a licence to British and Belgian factories to manufacture Chauchat LMGs chambered in 303 or 7, 65 Mauser. Indeed, several tests have proved that these conversions would not hamper the weapon’s reliability if done properly. Furthermore, the Chauchat, even with the cost of a license, remains considerably cheaper and easier to produce than a Lewis or Hotchkiss 1909 LMG.
-2. The governments of Great-Britain, Belgium and France accept to increase their help to their Serbian counterpart. This collective decision mainly involves to send a common medical mission with 250 doctors and nurses (divided between 5 Field Hospitals) to Serbia. The officially civilian nature of this mission (aimed at assisting the Serbian people rather than its Army) allows the Entente to send these people to Salonika from where they will take trains to reach Serbia. The French government also plans to increase its material support to Serbia, notably in terms of artillery and shells, but the extent of this help hasn’t been defined yet.
-3. The French Army plans to partially reequip its troops. Several initiatives are already implemented. The soldiers finally begin to receive their light blue trousers but are authorized to keep their red ones for the coming winter. In order to counter the lack of warm clothes, the French government officially encourages the civilian population to send socks, scarfs and gloves to the troops. A special supply section is even created in order to speed up the deliveries. The Lebel rifles (around 2 millions in service in November 1914) are currently being phased out and replaced by the Berthiers. However, a five-shot version of the Berthier has already been designed and tested and its introduction should occur in early 1915. The production of Chauchat and Hotchkiss is expected to increase dramatically while the production of the 75mm field gun will be maintained but not expanded in order to speed up to production of the 105mm field gun and the 155mm howitzer.
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Sounds like they did, for the most part, but with some concessions to the others in regards to the targets of their limited offenses.
According to the German staff itself OTL, without Metz-Thionville and its iron, Germany would be able to maintain its war effort for 8 months and then forced to negociate.
Archibald
Banned
Whew. I don't understand: I thought Germany had all the iron and coal it needed inside its pre-1870 frontiers ? How could Thionville be such a large part of German war industry ? interesting.
Regarding the Lebel rifle, there is are two modifications you may wish to consider before switching production. Remove the Magazine cutoff. It isn't needed on the modern battlefield. Secondly, and more importantly, modify the rifles receiver so that it loads via loading gate on the side (such as on Winchester lever action rifles) instead of through the top. Getting rid of the magazine cutoff simplifies production. Adding a side loading gate (which should be possible) allows the soldier to keep his magazine topped off at all times. These features could be retrofitted to rifles already in service. I've looked at the Lebel manual (https://www.forgottenweapons.com/lebel-and-berthier-manuals/) amongst other places and I think this is something that can be accomplished without too much difficulty. If you know any firearms historians in France you may wish to ask them why it wasn't done or considered.
From what I understand, Germany "produced" in 1913 35,5 millions tons of iron ore. Out of these, 7 were produced in Germany proper, 21 were produced in Metz-Thionville and 7 were produced in Luxembourg (Germany considered Luxembourg iron ore as "German" on a economical pov due to customs union between Germany and Luxemboug and the fact that Germany bought the near entire production every year). Plus Germany until 1914 imported roughly 7 millions tons of French iron ore each year and sometimes more (economy and diplomacy are often two different things). For the location/distibution/consumption/production of iron ore in Europe during the early 20th century, I highly recommend the "Iron-ore resources of Europe" by Max Roesler, an official report published by the US government in 1921 and now downloadable on internet for free: you will 158 pages of pure fun right here (I'm using it for my TL).
The idea is really interesting so thanks. However there were 2 problems OTL which didn't disappear ITTL: the French factories and workers in 1914 were unable to make or modify Lebel rifles because the knowledge was lost: they were able to repair them sure but barely more. Since the Berthiers are cheaper to build and since their barrels can be used for the Chauchats, the French prefer to concentrate their efforts on the new rifle (like OTL but sooner) and to gradually phase out the Lebel. But fear not, this rifle's career is far from finished...
Interesting. just watch it for Geographic mistakes. I just check Czechoslovakia and deposits in Slovakia are actually described as "Ruthenian"
Yeah Ruthenian used to be a term at some time (mostly polish and ukrainians should have lived there I assume?!):
I think the text refers to Czechoslovakian territories with ruthenian people (meaning eastern Czechoslovakia): are you talking about pages 105-106 here?
From what I understand, Germany "produced" in 1913 35,5 millions tons of iron ore. Out of these, 7 were produced in Germany proper, 21 were produced in Metz-Thionville and 7 were produced in Luxembourg (Germany considered Luxembourg iron ore as "German" on a economical pov due to customs union between Germany and Luxemboug and the fact that Germany bought the near entire production every year). Plus Germany until 1914 imported roughly 7 millions tons of French iron ore each year and sometimes more (economy and diplomacy are often two different things). For the location/distibution/consumption/production of iron ore in Europe during the early 20th century, I highly recommend the "Iron-ore resources of Europe" by Max Roesler, an official report published by the US government in 1921 and now downloadable on internet for free: you will 158 pages of pure fun right here (I'm using it for my TL).
The idea is really interesting so thanks. However there were 2 problems OTL which didn't disappear ITTL: the French factories and workers in 1914 were unable to make or modify Lebel rifles because the knowledge was lost: they were able to repair them sure but barely more. Since the Berthiers are cheaper to build and since their barrels can be used for the Chauchats, the French prefer to concentrate their efforts on the new rifle (like OTL but sooner) and to gradually phase out the Lebel. But fear not, this rifle's career is far from finished...
Holy shit.... That alone speaks volumes to how dire the situation was. I am stunned.
I think I see which map you're talking about: well, perhaps it's a typo, a mistake or perhaps this region was called ruthenia in 1913 by some people. Here I dunno. Nevertheless, this book is quite valuable.
Archibald
Banned
Same for me. So much for the Colossus of Europe. "Des pieds d'argiles" (iron feet, like the Dwarf in Tolkien legendarium).