Unified command for the central powers

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1487
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Deleted member 1487

Alright, here is the rest of 1915 and the beginning of '16.

The major operations had wound down for the year and both sides began another period of rebuilding and consolidation. The germans were primarily occupied with deciding the eastern front in 1916, so the majority of troops were tasked with finishing establishing a supply network. Although training for the campaigns ahead, the troops found themselves being used as labor more often than not. The western front found many troops struggling to survive in the hellish landscape that was Alsace. Plans for a pull back to advantagous defensive terrain was planned for november as surveyors plotted artillery position and bunkers. Overall though, the next year looked to be decisive and many in the central powers hoped the war would soon be over.

The AH were also preparing their positions for further campaigning in russia, but at a more relaxed pace. Many ethnic groups though began to complain about the government and the rights they were afforded. Although they were willing to fight, it was obvious many would want to renegotiate their roles in AH at wars end.

The russians were holding on to what remained of their crumbling empire and were desperately trying to train and equip their armies for the coming year. With the losses from the battles in the Baltic and Ukraine, things were looking bleak. The Tzar had dismissed his uncle for his failures and had assumed command, were his inexperience was soon felt. The grumblings of the troops began to increase. The one positive bit of news came from the caucaus region, as the Ottomans had advanced too far pursuing retreating russian troops and had to pull back closer to Baku. It seemed unlikely that this front would be threatened any time soon.

The french were in a bad way after the latest round of defeats. All of their costly victories in the spring had given way to worse reversals in the summer. By the coming of fall, german reserves had pushed the french back beyond their jump off points. The losses in men had been catastrophic. Over the fall many divisions were disbanded and used to flesh out other depleted units. More conscripts were inducted but the amount of trained personel was alarming. But as the french began to produce more guns to back up their troops, it was realized that the larger artillery compliment made up for the lack of manpower. Also, with the armored fighting vehicles likely to debut next year, the losses could be borne.

Even as fall came to a quiet end and things appeared to remain low key until next spring, the french suprised the germans with several small scale attacks to seize key terrain. These attacks were unique to the french in their scale and short duration. Once the limited objectives were achieved, they would dig in and prepare for counter attacks. As the germans were planning to fall back anyway, these attacks were not contested. This signalled to the french that the germans were weak and wouldn't be able to continue in this type of warfare next year. The disasterous seeds of overconfidence were sewn that winter.

The german defensive plan was laid down by the end of the year as the lines were prepared in depth for large scale attacks that were expected next year. The plan was set up to maximize firepower to reduce the number of men needed to hold the line, as they would be needed in Russia. So, with the new production plans set in motion, german troops in the west were supported with the highest compliment of artillery in the world. The watch on the rhine stood ready.
 

Deleted member 1487

The year of decision: 1916

This was the year that movement was restored to the battlefield. Both fronts had seemingly bogged down; the east for its lack of infrastructure and the west for its concentration of men. However, with the completion of new roads and rail lines in the occupied lands in the east, the germans kicked off their offensive with AH as soon as practicle. The initial gains were startling. The lines in estonia broke completely as new artillery and infantry tactics smashed all resistance. Russia was unable to form near enough new armies that were properly equipped to deal with this new offensive. Soon, german troops were besieging st. petersburg. Massive attacks in Belorus and Ukraine swept away all resistance and netted smolensk and the crimea by summer. The lack of will to die for the Tzar led many soldiers to simply go home, which at the height of the Central powers attacks basically gave away any chance of salvaging the war. Soon a provisional government had declared a cease-fire. Unfortunatly for the Russian people, several factions began to struggle for power after the Tzar was arrested by his troops and thrown into prison with his family. The central powers were willing to work with any group that was able to seize power, but with the constant shifting of alliances and betrayals within the new government, things remained fluid. The central powers found themselves in a massive quagemire as the many political faction began killing one another. The nightmare in the east had begun.

Rather than the victory that had been hoped for in early 1916, the central powers found that the east demanded more troops than before as break away republics were founded all over the former russian empire. The ottomans naturally grabbed the caucasian provinces and began integrating them into their empire. The kingdom of poland, ukraine, and finland began to form under central powers auspices and the baltic provinces began to assemble leaders to form republics, but their status was not yet determined by the victors. To prop up these new countries more troops were required to assert authority. However, the new government of russia still needed to be determined and extra army units were required to make sure that it would be a friendly one. For the time being, it would seem that these men would be unavailable in the west.

The situation in the west was looking dire though. As the russians began to fold, the french launched several new and devistating attacks. Their new armored corps debuted in these attacks, which despite their high loss rate, enabled the frenchmen to breach the german lines. Once again the german fortresses found themselves cutoff. However, with the previous year's planning for a defense in depth, the french were halted soon thereafter. The french had learned from their attacks the previous spring and had developed heavy artillery for penetrating these forts. The germans soon found themselves without this protective shield. This success came at a grave price though. The french death toll for the war stood nearly at one million men by the end of spring. Loud complaints from the troops were worrying the high command, just as the civilian population began to lament the war. However, these protests were muted with the seeming success of the latest offensives. It seemed that the germans had neglected the western front to achieve a decision in the east, but had failed to free up men to defeat france. With the shift in lines bringing the french nearly to rhine, the exhausted troops exhalted as they entered strausbourg and liberated Alsace.

The alarm this generated in the german capitol finally forced OHL to concentrate troops against france, which could be ill-afforded in russia. However, this proved to be the right decision as the french were in no condition to advance further and were ripe for a counter attack. By late summer the armies had been assembled and were preparing for assault. The new gas shells had been stockpiled and the men equipped with the latest in weapons. Though the french had been given time to dig in, the germans were confident in their new tactics and had a victorious spirit from their victories in russia. The french were anticipating these attacks and were confident as they stood on the the defensive for the first time, determined to make the germans bleed.

They were unprepared for the use of gas and suffered badly as a result. Though they had commanding positions in the Vosges mountains and were dug in, the french found their front lines shattered in the initial exchange. German troops found the attack became easier as they progressed further as the frenchmen willingly surrendered and many retreated into the reinforcements making the defense that much more difficult. The retreat continued as demoralized frenchmen began pouring back into lorraine and eventually france itself. By this time the germans had run out of steam, but the panic that had gripped french troops enabled them to move into france for the first time in the war. The lines eventually settled down on the banks of the Aisne with the fortresses at Verdun surrounded.

Italy had been watching these developments with great interest. With the neutralizing of russia and the victories in the west, germany and the Central powers looked to be the winning power and the Italian politicians took the plunge. For a "small donation" of course. The army was mobilized in the summer for "maniveurs" and though the reserves had not yet fully formed, the Italians took advantage of the french weakness and began their attacks into nice and savoy with their regular army. Even though the french were weakened considerably, they still had feared Italian intervention and as a result several depleted units had been stationed in these provinces to rebuild and watch the border. The italians began to bog down after initial successes. The generals continued the attacks, but only began racking up a larger body count. It was decided that further attacks would wait on the rest of the reserves to mobilize.

With the entry of italy into the war, many politicians began to realize that the war was unwinable. Discreet peace overtures were made through embassies in switzerland, but when the terms came back, the government realized they would be lynched for agreeing to the loss of Tunisia, nice, savoy, corsica, franche-comte, a massive indemnity and the loss of most colonies. They agreed to continue the war to negotiate a better peace. However, with the catastrophic losses of the year, france was on the road to implosion. Even with the situation in russia, the outlook was not favorable.
 
Very interesting.
The French actually had a fortified line pre-1914 reaching from Verdun to Toul and with a gap until Epinal went on to Belfort. Apparently the French wanted to "channel" a German attack in between Toul and Epinal and then squeeze it. So perhaps some frantic French fortificationing between Toul and Epinal now! The French front in the Alpes will hold, of course. But what about the naval action in the Med between the French and the Italians/Austrians/Ottomans? Did the Brits hold back the Ottoman dreadnoughts being completed in 1914? Perhaps some triggerhappy Alliance naval commander will do the trick and get the Brits in on the French side?
 

Deleted member 1487

The ottoman ships were seized prior to the war, so here they would be too. The entrance of the italians enables the central powers to take the offensive in the mediterranian and basically cut off france from corsica and morrocco. I will get into that more later. France still has access to international markets as the german navy is hampered by british biased neutrality. As most brits are against getting involved in the war at this point, it is unlikely they will join in, but they will help anyway short of war. Though, would it be realistic for the Brits to join in if the conservatives are in office? Any thoughts?
 
But I was thinking of the chance shelling by Italian, Austrian or Ottoman warships of British merchantmen in the Med or some RN ships being too close to a hot spot or the like?? It happened during the Russian movement of the Baltic fleet to the Far East during the war with Japan, and had recognition advanced that much? Such annoying things tend to happen in wartime.
 

Deleted member 1487

End Game:
1916 had been a great year of battles that seemed to decide the war. The french were not yet beaten though. Even as the odds seemed to shift against them, they still had the ability to inflict defeats on the Central powers. The germans had limited resources to devote to beating france with their commitments in Russia, especially following the losses during the bitter struggle in Alsace. However, with the entry of the Italians and the massive french casualties over the course of the war, a french victory was impossible.

As 1917 began, many politicians in Britain campaigned ruthlessly to involve their country in the war. However, without provacation, it was unlikely that they would be joining in. The Italians began the campaigning season by using marines to capture corsica. Many of the inhabitants viewed the take over favorably as they were sick of war. Italian colonial forces managed to push into tunisia with little resistance and began plans to integrate it into Italian holdings. The fighting in the alps did not go as planned. First, the cold weather created large problems for the italians. The reserves were underequipped and many suffered frostbite. Also, the lack of modern artillery hampered many attacks and left many young men dead. The french though overextened fighting on so many fronts, were able to hold the line in the mountains relatively easily as they were experienced and had a several powerful forts assisting them. A breakthrough here was unlikely.

The germans were in a much better position as they had rolling plains ahead of them. Despite several river obstacles, their opponent was demoralized and disorganized. Many of the attritted units from the fall campaign were transfered east to retrain and absorb new recruits while several veteran units came west. By march, as the italian offensives were reaching their peak, the germans unleashed their "peace" offensive. They were aided by a new gas known as 'mustard' gas, which the new french gas masks were unable to protect against. This, combined with the new flamethrower, caused unbelivable terror in the new french troops and colonials, who broke when confronted with these brutal inventions. By april both verdun and Rheims had fallen and the river marne was crossed. The french armies seemed to melt away before the germans as men began to desert in great numbers. On several occasions reenforcements were heckled as strike breakers and told to go home and leave the 'great swindle'. The soldiers had spoken and refused to die in a lost war.

By June the ceasefire had been declared. The french had given in and with that the war was over. Many older frenchmen wept openly as the germans marched through Paris, reminding them of the prussians taking the city in 1871. The germans and italians met at versailles to write up the peace and when the terms were decided on, summoned the french delegates to sign. As it stood, the french were to give up franche-comte to the germans and lost the iron mines at brewy-longwy (sp?) for 15 years. The annexation of Luxembourg was to be recognized. An indemnity would be paid to cover german war costs. The colonies in Indo-china and the pacific colonies would be surrendered to the germans, while tunisia would become french. Nice, Savoy, and Corsica would become italian and the navy would have to give up half of their ships to the central powers. Also, the borders would be demilitarized for 100 miles. The country would be occupied until all of the terms had been met. This humiliating peace would be signed on July 3rd at Versailles and by the 4th the politician who signed it would be murdered by nationalists. Predictably the republic fell yet again in france and civil war seemed to be in the offing. But german troops helped restore order and soon the 4th republic was formed.

In russia, the situation had calmed down significantly as the insurrection had be brutally put down by 1918. The russians had enough of Tzars, so the 1st republic was formed when the surviving members of the Duma reassembled and set about creating a constitution. For the moment, peace prevailed across Europe. But it had come at a steep price. The cost had been high with about 9 million deaths distributed as follows:
France-1.3 million
Germany-1 million
Italy-300,000
AH-700,000
Serbia-150,000
Ottoman empire-400,000
Bulgaria-25,000
Russia-5 million

The russian civil war was the largest cause of deaths and is commonly grouped with the Great European war as an extension of the conflict. By the end Germany had come to dominate Europe economically, much the chagrin of Britain, but had the added burden of watching over their former enemies to prevent a resurgence. Their ally AH, was tetering on the edge of dissolution with the death of the Emperor and the desire of the Hungarians to finally be free of Vienna. Eventually, by 1920 the forces of nationalism had finally won out and the Hapsburg empire imploded. Hungary continued to dominate croatia, slovakia, slovenia and the entire dalmatian coast. Poland happily annexed the polish minority of AH. Austria and Czechia remained together, but during the confusion the emperor, Karl, fled the country as rumors of a revolution ran rampant. In his absence, a junta was formed by former military officers. They promptly asked Germany for admittance into the empire. After much backroom dealing, it was decided to let them in. However, Britain nearly declared war over this Anschluss of Austria and Czechia. But with both Russia and France in no shape to fight, the challenge was dropped after a fee in the shape of money, older naval ships and several islands in the pacific were handed to Britain. Italy also inherited the southern tyrol. Despite complaints about Istria, Hungary held onto the city. As this last upheaval ended, it seemed that Europe had finally achieved a new balance that left the former allies out in the cold. But dark clouds were gathering as several nations waited for a chance to restore their power.
 
Now what about the British Empire? With them not involved, there's no Vimy Ridge, Gallipoli, or Canada's Hundred Days, and other such Nation building battles for all countries of the empire. With the UK not at war they would have the time to properly deside how to deal with the empire. Either centralize the Empire, or carfeully try to take it apart, like it did in OTL. Without British involovement, Canada doesn't sign the Treaty of Varsielle...
Just a question I had.
(I know I spelt one or two things wrong here, and I'm sorry... but at this point I'm too lazy to spell check)
 
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