Ah I understand now, that makes sense. Well we shall see what we see.
My point was that the telegram being avoided by the butterflies doesn't mean that when pressured to get an way out the Germans may commit an different but, maybe, as stupid blunder. The Spanish "Telegram" would be just an example of this (making France open its own two front war would be very tempting) and Spain being divided would give them hope. Remember that Mexico refused to accept the German offer. I never suggested Spain would accept it. Anyway this is one of my preferred TLs here. And what you plan to do with the German confronting defeat is one I wait to read.
It was Vladikavkaz then.
You can't even write that in Japanese!Mhuc Mhara
It is whale in GaelicYou can't even write that in Japanese!
I have no idea where you got that name from....
OK, with that to go on.....It is whale in Gaelic
Thanks10th October 1914, Mont-Saint-Guibert.
The fighting had intensified, additional reinforcements had been fed into the fight from the Brussels Garrison, Oberst von Bulow had lengthened his lines trying to secure his flank particularly the vital juncture with Second Army, the initial French attack had been savage, with the 124th and 130th infantry regiments of the 15th Brigade scarcely shaking out from column of march into lines before attacking.
The German Reserve brigade had managed to scratch out a hasty line of entrenchment, not much more more than individual foxholes taking advantage of the lie of the ground before the town of Mont-Saint-Guibert. The line took advantage of ditches and other broken ground as well as the scattering of farm buildings, those were loopholed and garrisoned by small formations of German soldiers. The line was discontinuous with breaks occasioned by roads and other obstacles the defenders lacked the time to traverse but it gave vital cover to the reservists and along with the cover and concealment it gave confidence that they would not be merely swept away by the oncoming storm.
The defenders lacked the usual artillery and many of the machine guns that would support their positions, but they were well lead. Oberst von Bulow had gained the confidence of his senior officers since taking command of the brigade, the confidence of the senior officers had flowed down to junior officers and their NCO’s and from them to the individual soldiers, lying wet and cold in the muddy ditch that was much of the line. The French Brigade was splendid, proud, they had already pushed through the Jaegers, casualties had been taken but surprisingly few. A virtual meeting engagement, with slight preparation time afforded to the defenders, the disparity of force had given the Jaegers little to work with. The French 75s had also come into action swiftly, likewise the armoured cars, the defenders had been raked with well-aimed shrapnel and machine gun fire.
French infantry dropped in ones and twos, but they responded to the holdouts with furious rifle fire. Whole companies engaging mere platoons, the blizzard of fire supplementing the machine guns and artillery to extinguish what little resistance remained.
The Jaegers broke then, fleeing back towards the main defensive line, the armoured cars pushed forward raking the running men with further fire carpeting the ground with bodies. The armoured cars continued to advance, their enthusiasm getting the better of them, they pushed well forward of the victorious but slight disorganised French Infantry. They motored down the road heading towards Mont-Saint-Guibert, steadily increasing the gap between them and the rest of the French Army.
Oberst von Bulow had anticipated the possibility of armoured cars being used, assuming, that what had worked for the British and the Belgians would also be picked up by France. His response had been simple he had some of his attached engineers place explosives in a roadside culvert. Equipped with an electrical exploder they had detonated the explosives as the second armoured car had crossed the culvert. The explosion had broken the back of the second car and isolated the first on the wrong side of the resultant broken vehicle and torn culvert. He had also had one of his precious machine guns positioned to command the site of the ambush, the gun with its team of machine gunners was further supported by a section of riflemen.
As soon as the explosives detonated, they had opened fire, not on the leading armoured car but rather on the fourth and final car, they had aimed not at its armour but rather at the tires and wheels, the steady stream of machine gun bullets had rapidly destroyed the rear wheel immobilising the vehicle. The supporting riflemen fired furiously at the other two surviving cars, the hail of rifle bullets insufficient to kill the vehicles but enough to render them ineffective till the machine gun was able to bear on the next in line.
The first car suddenly roared forward, bullets spanging and ricocheting off its armoured hide, the third car had by this time succumbed to the cumulative effect of hundreds of rifle calibre machine gun bullets, one bullet had caused a red hot spall of metal to penetrate the fuel tank igniting the remaining petrol with a dull whomp. Two of the car’s crew had attempted to escape before being cutdown by the riflemen.
The first car which had escaped the initial trap was brought to bay slightly further down the road, a tree had been felled. Normally this would only be a minor inconvenience, but the driver panicked by the death of the rest of his unit had attempted to drive round the obstacle and had instead been hung up on it. With the destruction of this final car, the French lost access to a powerful source of mobile firepower. They would have to carry on the attack in the old way.
The German infantry, machine gunners and engineers retreated from their successful ambush, leaving 4 pyres as a testament to their success.
The French Cavalry attempting to follow the armoured cars arrived on the scene of the disaster too late to intervene, riders were sent back to notify 6th Armies commander of the destruction of his armoured cars, meanwhile the infantry continued their rapid advance. What had been an impassable barrier to wheels was only a slight barrier to the mounted men and the infantry and the French continued to hurry forward. Attached engineers worked franticly to repair the road to allow the artillery to pass over it, the 4 armoured cars being unceremoniously manhandled out of the way. Until the road was repaired the guns would not pass, the gap created in the culvert was simply too great to be easily bridged with extemporised materials.
The delay caused by the ambush was minor a mere hour, but Oberst von Bulow had used that time well. Between the death of Jaegers and the destruction of the armoured cars it was late afternoon before the French attack against defences of Mont-Saint-Guibert could begin. General de Lartigue had been whipsawed by the ease of the victory over the Jaegers and then the shocking destruction of the armoured cars, but he recognized the threat that allowing the Germans to consolidate before Mont-Saint-Guibert would have on the prospect of encircling the Brussels garrison. This knowledge drove his next decision, rather than wait for the division to deploy fully and the guns to come up, he ordered 15th Brigade to go into an immediate attack.
The attack was a disaster, the Germans had allowed the French to advance to within 400m of their lines before firing, the few machine guns attached to the reserve units opened fire first, firing from enfilade they cut down the advancing infantry, the weight of fire checked the French abruptly. The riflemen were the next to shoot, their marksmanship was nothing compared to the professionals of the British Army but quantity has a quality of its own.
The French Brigade was mown down like a field of wheat before a thresher, or perhaps more appropriately ground up like meat being forced into a mincer. Morale and audacity are weak armour against a machine gun bullet and within minutes the 15th Brigade was destroyed, the dead and wounded littering the Belgian countryside. Tragically for General de Lartigue his options were limited, and he ordered his other Brigade, the 16th into the attack as well, the day was drawing to a close, but the guns had come up. They were able to provide some support to the 16th Brigade, but even with their presence this second attack was just as roughly handled as the first, casualties were fewer in number but only because the French Infantry went to ground early, the firing petered out with coming of evening.
General Maunoury witnessed the end of the fiasco as the shattered remnant of the 16th Brigade drifted back to their startline as the night darkened. He was unable to dismiss General de Lartigue, the General had died with his own command staff as he had attempted to rally his men and resume the attack.
He issued his orders, the attack would resume in the morning, in the meanwhile as the guns came up, they were detailed to add their fire to the mounting barrage.
Both sides had used the night to reinforce, the 1st Moroccan Division had sent out numerous small patrols, attempting to find the flank of the German position. The Germans were less successful, with the destruction of the Jaegers they lacked any effective equivalent, not that those reservists called up since the commencement of the war compared to professionals whose small unit tactics had been honed in the colonial campaigns of the French Empire.
The dawn brought a renewed intensity to the fighting, more of 6th Army had come up during the night both artillery and infantry, the guns had gone into immediate action as Maunoury sought to blast the Germans out of their defences. The infantry went into hasty bivouac, seeking what little rest would be available before the morning brought a renewal of the battle.
Maunoury had been conferring overnight with Joffre, the British and Belgians were pushing hard but neither wanted a prolonged battle for Brussels, with all the casualties civilian and military that would ensue. Mont-Saint-Guibert was the key, break the German line there and Sordet’s Cavalry Corps would have a free path into the German rear, with all the opportunities for havoc that would entail.
Maunoury would resume the attack with 7th Division in the lead, the Moroccan Division would spearhead an attack on the southern flank of the German line, striking for the village of Hevillers, the Germans had clearly managed to reinforce their positions but the village was still poorly defended. The 7th would attack at dawn, with both brigades advancing, casualties would be heavy, but their role was to get the German defenders decisively engaged. This would enable the Moroccans to then attack towards the village, General Humbert’s orders would be explicit, he was to lead his division in the attack and capture Hevillers irrespective of the cost.
The attack of the 7th Division began with very intensive fire, the guns of the now shattered 8th Division joined those of the 7th, they were packed almost hub to hub and much closer to the front line than was prudent. Other units had kept up the bombardment of the German front line whilst they moved into position and stockpiled ammunition. As was becoming almost a tradition they opened fire just before dawn, they focused their fire on the German line before Mont-Saint-Guibert, smashing temporary breastworks and destroying the strongpoints held by the German defenders.
The attack of the 7th division was typical of those conducted by the French Army at this early stage of the war, the first wave was made up of one regiment from each of the two brigades. The infantry fixed bayonets and began their advance, the only variation to tradition was that they were less tightly bunched than had been previous practice. The artillery continued to pound the German positions, shrapnel and high explosives raining down on the German line, a small number of de Bange 155mm guns laboriously moved up from their start positions and emplaced just behind the French lines worked over the buildings to the rear, they were firing into the Leffe Brewery, the stoutly constructed site an ideal stronghold for the defence of the town.
The heavy artillery support had managed to supress the German defenders, but tragically the guns lifted before the advancing infantry were able to decisively engage the defenders, instead they were raked by fire. Drums and bugles sounded, rifles cracked, men fell, some thrashing others still and silent, some of the wounded screamed for their mothers, others merely whimpered as their lives faded agony taking their humanity. The French infantry continued the attack, casualties mounting, clumps and clots of dead men where the rifles and scant number of machine guns had caught them out. The clambered over the dead and wounded of the previous day’s carnage, few of the wounded had survived, the artillery and a damp cold night had seen to that. But the dead were so numerous as to pose an obstacle to progress, for some men they were a boon a breastwork behind which they could shelter from the storm. Those men were called forth by their officers and NCOs threatened, cursed and kicked back into the attack until they fell, their bodies to shelter another.
The first wave attack managed to make the German trench line, but the numbers were too few to break the line, the few French soldiers to make it to the first objective died almost to a man.
The second wave of the attack followed close on the heels of the first, this attack benefited from its sacrifice. The German defenders came up out of their trenches to contest the line, bayonets crossed, rifles cracked, officers swords dripped with blood, the line bent back bulging dangerously as the already exhausted Germans tried to stem the advance. The Germans fell back stubbornly, using the various strongpoints as opportunities to slow and bleed the oncoming French.
For Oberst von Bulow the French attacks had an inevitability to them, he lacked the means to effectively hold them back, their numbers and guns giving an advantage that he could not overcome. The butchers bill was lopsided, his forces depleted but the French had already had three brigades smashed he had lost perhaps a regiments worth of men, but they simply had more to spend.
He had received additional reinforcements during the night, an ersatz brigade formed up from various men combed out of the support units, they had been allocated to the defence of Mont Saint Guibert, supporting the Landwehr troops already preparing for the defence. The French having broken the first line were showing signs of weariness and were only advancing slowly as they sought to push his defenders back to the edge of the town, in the distance von Bulow could see another division forming up to attack. The artillery resumed its fire on Mont Saint Guibert, suddenly a spectacular explosion blossomed up, a locomotive its boiler struck by a shell disintegrated. The railway line was cut, unless his troops could push back the attacking French, Brussels would fall starved of supplies.
As well as reinforcements from Brussels, General von Hindenburg had moved heaven and earth to reorient his command, they had carried out a forced march on the previous day and linking up with his formation, the boundary between the Brussels Garrison and 2nd Army at Chastre. It did not look to be sufficient, he needed more men, calling for his signaller he summoned reinforcements from Ottignies, he had another regiment there, but they would not arrive before the crisis. His only source was the regiment of Landwehr holding Hevillers, they could march to his relief while 2nd Army could take over the line and close the gap. It was not an ideal solution, but from von Bulow’s perspective very little that had occurred in the last month had been ideal.
These movements had been observed, French and German pilots were active over the front line, a French Observation plane died, the pilot had been hit by a burst of machine gun fire from a ground position. Another aircraft fell trailing fire and smoke when a fluke rifle shot fired by a German observer struck the engine. Despite the cost a French reconnaissance aircraft was able to signal the movement of troops from Hevillers, this signal did two things, firstly it initiated another very heavy barrage of artillery falling both on Hevillers itself but also on the road connecting it with Mont Saint Guibert, the shellfire was not particularly accurate but it slowed the arrival of the reinforcing regiment.
For the Moroccan division the attack against Hevillers was their second major attack within 2 days, they had suffered moderate casualties in the break through attack the previous day, but their morale remained high. They already considered themselves an elite and they would go into the attack with their dander up. The attack itself was almost an anticlimax, the defending troops were largely out of position, 2nd Army failed to respond to the request for support from von Bulow, von Hindenburg already considered Brussels lost. He was intent to do all he could to prevent the loss of his army as well. So it was that the Moroccan division assaulted into what amounted to open space, they pushed into Hevillers over running the small number of Landwehr that had been retained in the defence. General Humbert, who had considered the possible destruction of his entire command to be an acceptable price to break into the German rear, immediately issued orders for the Division to attack towards Corbais. One battalion was to be detached each brigade to hold the flanks, whilst the rest of the division spilt through the gap.
The French Cavalry at last were able to be unleashed, the diabolical struggle in the woods before the capture of the German First Army had been their last real action, since then they had guarded prisoners and scouted but they had not played a decisive role in the war. Many men were sensing their coming obsolesce, machine guns and armoured cars were portents of a new industrial war, a man on a horse was simply a giant target to anyone with a magazine fed rifle let alone an armoured car that could outpace a galloping horse whilst firing 600 rounds per minute.
The Cavalry Corps moved forward passing through the Moroccans, they would raid to the east, avoiding pitched battles, their job was to ravage the German rear, they would burn supplies, ambush ammunition columns, terrorise the support units.
Oberst von Bulow was staring defeat in the face, he had colonial infantry behind him and the French regulars would likely break through his position even without that, with it his only options were surrender or death.
He had received no reply from Second Army and the reinforcements from Ottignies were being shelled as heavily as those from Hevillers, they would not be enough to let him hold and certainly not enough to drive out the Moroccans and effect a new juncture with Second Army. His men deserved better than to die in a battle that was already lost, to hold a position that was already outflanked, to protect a city that was well on its way to being besieged, in a war that could only end in defeat. He issued the order to cease fire, and allowed those who wished to attempt to flee the closing trap, for himself he simply sat and waited.