Pour le coeur

[Geordie]

If i may be so forward:

Bump


EDIT: Magic - i bump, and updates appear before the bumpage!

[MrP]

Originally Posted by Imperator

Fascinating. Prittwitz seems to handling the situation much better than IOTL. It will be interesting to see where this will go. The biggest problem for the Russians, I think, is communication: armies unwilling to talk to each other or Stavka, little to no cavalry reconnaissance, etc. If you can fix that they'll perform much better.

Aye, I can't decide with Rennenkampf. Obviously, the strategic move is bold, but that isn't his to decide. His cavalry handling is appalling, as far as I'm aware, but I don't yet know whether to blame him for his snail-like advance. On the one hand, speed is of the essence, but on t'other, his army, like Samsonov's Second, did set off without all its logistics, so he might have been dawdling so they could catch up. Not much to give him the benefit of, of course, but IOTL he did manage to get his army out. Well, less than half of it, after a long series of errors.

[MrP]

Originally Posted by Geordie87

If i may be so forward:

Bump

Woo! Coincidence! Update is now the last post of the previous page.

[Geordie]

Originally Posted by MrP

Woo! Coincidence!

Indeed, hence my edit

[MrP]

I promise an update this night! And not a short one, either.

[MrP]

The Cat and the Canary

The Psychology of Fear: What happens when a cat is allowed to come close to a canary in a cage? The bird, seeing the terrible eyes of its enemy so close, is often frightened to death.

Originally Posted by Dr J. Padfield, The Battle of Allenstein, Sabre Press

…with his chief of staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Max Hoffman, von Prittwitz was able to convince von Moltke that the defeat was not a disaster but an opportunity. He planned to regain the initiative by destroying First Army and then turning south to defeat Second Army. Learning from his previous error, he put in place a precise timetable and system of deployment, planning for an attack on 4th August. The ponderous state of the Russian command system had been as badly exposed as the deficiencies of the Germans’ own system, and Prittwitz and Hoffman drew from their post-battle analysis two major lessons. First, that attacks must be certain of going in on time. Second, that Russian artillery was exceptionally dangerous, but slow to learn its target.

The existing German Staff system was as capable of responding to Prittwitz’s needs as the Russian system was incapable of responding to the challenges of war. The seeds of defeat had been laid before the war. Russia’s tactical doctrine was far less flexible than that of Germany, while the commanders of First and Second Armies were on the worst of terms. At the Battle of Mukden at the end of the Russo-Japanese War Samsonov had felt that von Rennenkampf had failed adequately to support him, and after resorting to fisticuffs, the two had become fast foes. Communication between Rennenkampf’s First and Samsonov’s Second Armies was, therefore, poor. Furthermore, Second Army’s communications were in a terrible state internally. Advancing on a front of 135 miles had defeated the army as efficiently as any German offensive. Samsonov was out of touch with his own command, as well as that of Rennenkampf.

The Russian strategic plan of operations in East Prussia was to attack as soon as possible after the declaration of war. Talks with the French Army had tended in this direction for several years, but the two armies of the North West Army Group (or Front in Russian parlance) behaved as if the scenario was a shocking new development. Second Army, led by the energetic but over-confident Samsonov, advanced across a frontage so broad that it rendered it liable to defeat in detail, and First Army moved so cautiously that it seemed almost as though Rennenkampf was ignorant of the necessity of a speedy advance. First Army was advancing north of the Masurian Lakes, and Second Army to the south, and so the longer the advance took, the greater the opportunity Prittwitz’s 8th Army* had to defeat them separately. It was an opportunity he would seize with determination.

Prittwitz’s defeat at Stalluponen had served as a shock to him, but he had rebounded well, and days later he was determined to attack again and this time to defeat and perhaps even destroy Rennenkampf’s First Army.** Having determined this, he resolved on a bold series of moves. It is testimony to the ineptitude of Rennenkampf that he failed to make good use of his overwhelming cavalry superiority. With five divisions of cavalry and an independent brigade at his disposal, Rennenkampf ought to have been fully informed of Prittwitz’s actions, and fully protected against flanking manoeuvres.

Prittwitz’s initial orders had been strictly defensive, since none had believed the Russians capable of mounting an offensive so soon. When they did, all was confusion. After an initial hiccup, Prittwitz’s response was to become a textbook example of daring brilliance. 4th August was the day of the attack, and he and his Chief of Staff, Hoffman, had planned precisely. A nocturnal bombardment starting the previous night had distracted the Russians, throwing Rennenkampf off balance. During the night Prittwitz’s entire cavalry force managed to pass to the south of the Russian army. Against a halfway competent commander this would be an impossibility. Against Rennenkampf there were few problems, and dawn saw 1st Cavalry Division secure in Allenstein. The bombardment ceased at 3am, and the tense Russian soldiery stood to, ready for a night attack. None came.

Mackensen’s XVII Corps led the assault of 8th Army, striking First Army’s right flank (III Corps) hard and driving it back five miles. An hour after the advance of Mackensen’s men, the aggressive Hermann von Francois was unleashed, and his I Corps stove in the left flank of First Army (IV Corps). Rennenkampf panicked, much like McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign, and ordered a retreat. However, on the line of retreat was Allenstein, and here the Russian line of retreat was severed. Inexcusably, Rennenkampf assumed a second German army was to his south. In truth it was merely a division of cavalry and some battalions of bicycle mounted infantry. In the confusion of the retreat Rennenkampf was killed. There are several accounts, including some suggesting he was in the process of fleeing when he died, but it is generally accepted that a shell took his life, though whether this was German or Russian is still hotly disputed. The end result was that a badly led army was now leaderless. Isolated units of First Army continued fighting until they ran out of ammunition or their officers ran out of courage or stupidity. By the end of the day there was no longer an army. Around General Basil Gourko,*** commander of 1st Cavalry Division, a number of units gathered, eventually punching their way to freedom and back to Poland. Other scattered units of infantry were still making their way back to Russian lines three months later.

The damage done by Prittwitz to the Russian strategic plan was considerable, and once Grand Duke Nicholas learned of the disaster he immediately ordered the retreat of Second Army. This probably did Russia a great service, as Samsonov was subsequently free to reform and improve the whole army’s communication methods away from the enemy. It is almost certain that Second Army would have been savagely mauled, had 8th Army engaged her at all, and then Samsonov could hardly have gone on to the …

* 8th Army comprised nine divisions of infantry, one of cavalry, and several brigades of Landwehr, some 158 battalions of infantry, 78 squadrons of cavalry and 140 batteries with a total of 774 guns. The Fortress of Thorn held another division, the 35th Reserve, while a further 26 battalions of infantry were divided unequally between Königsberg, Posen and Graudenz

** First Army comprised six divisions of infantry, five of cavalry, an independent brigade of cavalry, and one rifle brigade. Note that a Russian division comprised 16 battalions of 1,000 men, and a German division only 12. This made them somewhat more resilient, but also harder to control.

*** http://www.alexanderpalace.org/letters/august16.html “General Basil Gourko, a very able, and at times a very brilliant commander. He was fifty-three. As a young soldier he had seen active service in the Pamirs. In 1899-1900 he was military attaché to the Boers, and was captured by the English. He served with distinction in the Japanese War, and became military adviser to the Octobrist party. At the beginning of the war he commanded the 1st Cavalry Division, and he succeeded in retiring with small losses after the disaster of Allenstein.”

[Thande]

Ooh! The end of the world is indeed nigh if you're going to write excellent stuff like that on a regular basis

Love the idea of getting stuff from the Tsar's letters as a source.

Was Rennenkampf really that incompetent in OTL?

[MrP]

Originally Posted by Thande

Ooh! The end of the world is indeed nigh if you're going to write excellent stuff like that on a regular basis

Love the idea of getting stuff from the Tsar's letters as a source.

Was Rennenkampf really that incompetent in OTL?

Ah, thankee!

I shall have to write stuff drunk more often.

Yeah, Rennenkampf seems to have been pretty useless. IOTL he failed to use his cavalry (I am still at a loss as to how one can not have perfect intel when one has five times as much cavalry as the enemy - it takes a special kind of idiot ), and he advanced at a snail's pace (though in fairness I'm still half willing to entertain the idea that he was in part waiting for his logistics to catch up), allowing the Germans to destroy Samsonov's Second Army. Rennenkampf also trundled off in a motorcar when things went to pot IOTL. Combined with Samsonov's dislike of him in the R-J War, I'm inclined to label him a useless bugger.

I think Samsonov has potential. He never got it IOTL, because he wandered off and shot himself when the Germans destroyed his army. Here he's been recalled and has the opportunity to look at his mistakes and have a proper "Gah!" at himself. Rather like von Prittwitz earlier. Incidentally, significant butterflies are likely for post-war Europe (as well as mid-war Europe, obviously), since von Hindenburg and Ludendorff haven't rescued East Prussia ITTL. Gourko's probably going to end up being made a national hero for managing to survive, and so will end up i/c of First Army whenever it gets reformed.

[Thande]

Thankee for the background info.

It strikes me that WW1-general-ology, as I believe the technical term is*, is a strange mixture of the Great Man and butterfly theories, usually inimical to each other. Great Men may win offensives or save regions from disaster, yet which Great Men do it - and thus go on to be politically important in the interwar and WW2 eras - is subject to the butterfly effect.

*I would say that this is a course available for study at the Tony Blair Memorial University of Lunn, formerly Lunn Poly, but for the obvious factor that it involves actual history...

Originally Posted by MrP

Ah, thankee!

I shall have to write stuff drunk more often.

Yeah, Rennenkampf seems to have been pretty useless. IOTL he failed to use his cavalry (I am still at a loss as to how one can not have perfect intel when one has five times as much cavalry as the enemy - it takes a special kind of idiot ), and he advanced at a snail's pace (though in fairness I'm still half willing to entertain the idea that he was in part waiting for his logistics to catch up), allowing the Germans to destroy Samsonov's Second Army. Rennenkampf also trundled off in a motorcar when things went to pot IOTL. Combined with Samsonov's dislike of him in the R-J War, I'm inclined to label him a useless bugger.

I think Samsonov has potential. He never got it IOTL, because he wandered off and shot himself when the Germans destroyed his army. Here he's been recalled and has the opportunity to look at his mistakes and have a proper "Gah!" at himself. Rather like von Prittwitz earlier. Incidentally, significant butterflies are likely for post-war Europe (as well as mid-war Europe, obviously), since von Hindenburg and Ludendorff haven't rescued East Prussia ITTL. Gourko's probably going to end up being made a national hero for managing to survive, and so will end up i/c of First Army whenever it gets reformed.

[MrP]

Originally Posted by Thande

Thankee for the background info.

It strikes me that WW1-general-ology, as I believe the technical term is*, is a strange mixture of the Great Man and butterfly theories, usually inimical to each other. Great Men may win offensives or save regions from disaster, yet which Great Men do it - and thus go on to be politically important in the interwar and WW2 eras - is subject to the butterfly effect.

*I would say that this is a course available for study at the Tony Blair Memorial University of Lunn, formerly Lunn Poly, but for the obvious factor that it involves actual history...

Indeed. This Hoffman bloke is generally agreed by modern historians to have been largely responsible for the OTL success, but he didn't get the credit at the time because Prittwitz had been falling back. Ludendorff and Hindenburg then turned up and bam! ITTL I've tagged him to a successful Prittwitz, so his star should rise a bit more and he'll be less narked than IOTL.

[MrP]

There'll probably be another update today. I want to cover the South Western Front. As a brief primer here's a summary. Russia had agreed to attack Germany in consort with France with a view to overwhelming her. However, her main thrust went against Austria-Hungary. Russia covered Romania (whose loyalty was uncertain) with a small independent army of four infantry divisions, and initially placed 4 armies in the South Western Front (Army Group), some 37 divisions of infantry, 15 divisions of cavalry and additional supporting formations.

The Army of Austria-Hungary was divided into two sections. The Balkan Front comprised three armies. I'll deal with the Serbian campaign in a future section, so we shall pass them by for now. The Northern Front is our subject for the moment. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Armies, Army Group Kummer von Falkenfehd and some fortress troops comprised in total 41 divisions of infantry (including two German Landwehr divisions), and 11 divisions of cavalry, supported by and 23 brigades and 24 battalions of Landsturm, Landwehr and the Polish Legion (3 battalions).

As the above is a bit confusing, I'll take it down to battalions and squadrons. A-H had in theatre (including fortress troops), 819.5 battalions, 384 squadrons of cavalry, 380 batteries (2,082 guns), and 1,234 machine guns. ITTL they also have eight squadrons of armoured cars (two attached to each main army), as a result of butterflies.

The Russians had at least 592 battalions of infantry and 360 squadrons of cavalry. My WWI Databook is probably letting me down because the Russian Army's records weren't great what with the subsequent civil war. So I've derived these numbers by multiplying the numbers of infantry divisions by 16 and the cavalry divisions by 24. They too had armoured cars. IOTL 1st Automobile Machine Gun Company (see attached pic) was the first of its kind in the world. ITTL the Austrians have acquired that laurel wreath, and the Russians are playing catch-up.

For those staring at the above with something of a headache, I promise to use fewer numbers in the proper write-up I do later! The Russian plan was to attack at once and drive back their enemy. The Austrian plan was completely different: to attack at once and drive back their enemy. So prepare for a headbutting contest!

Here's a pic from Nick Cornish, The Russian Army and the First World War:

[MrP]

Now a German postcard and a British recruitment poster (both OTL), because I know people like pictures. Well, just because I was looking through my pic files as a result of the Armoured Car above.

[Alikchi]

I just caught up - excellent work, sir. Good writing on the battle up there! It's nice to hear that Hoffman won't completely fade into obscurity.

In re: that last picture - why don't I see more Union Jack waistcoats in period photographs?

[Grey Wolf]

So there WAS a John Bull poster in OTL ?!

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

[Geordie]

Great update.

Are we going to see armoured cars, or 'automobile machine gun companies' clashing in Galicia?

[MrP]

Apologies, chaps, there'll be no update tonight. Not up to it. Should be one tomorrow unless I eat something then that causes me to spend several hours burping. Gah!

Originally Posted by Alikchi

I just caught up - excellent work, sir. Good writing on the battle up there! It's nice to hear that Hoffman won't completely fade into obscurity.

In re: that last picture - why don't I see more Union Jack waistcoats in period photographs?

I agree - we need more!

Originally Posted by Grey Wolf

So there WAS a John Bull poster in OTL ?!

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

I got it off a GCSE revision site, I believe.

Originally Posted by Geordie87

Great update.

Are we going to see armoured cars, or 'automobile machine gun companies' clashing in Galicia?

Everyone loves AMGCs!

[Nekromans]

I finally caught up with this all - wonderful stuff, old chap!

[Thande]

I love the Russian armoured car.

[Alikchi]

Originally Posted by Thande

I love the Russian armoured car.

It looks almost adorable, doesn't it?

[MrP]

Cheers, Nek. Glad you chaps like the car.

I've got a map - which I shan't post now, as it'd be the last update on this page! - but which will turn up with my write-up of SW Front later on today.