"From Worse to Bad" - A Story of the Great War and Beyond.

[OAM47]

1/9/17
Schloss Pless

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg waited anxiously for all the military leaders to arrive. The Kaiser was meeting with some of the top officials today, in this castle. He was, infact, only a short distance away in the map room, looking at the progress on various fronts. The Chancellor had something important he needed to discuss with the admirals before they got the chance to see the Kaiser, however. He had gotten hold of a memo by Admiral von Holtzendorff pushing for a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. Such a bold move might convince the United States to join the war, against Germany! Von Bethmann-Hollweg had been hoping President Wilson might be able to eventually act as a neutral third party at the war's eventual end, but the other officals had been doing their best to dash such hopes.

Not today, however! Von Bethmann-Hollweg had finally had enough! Enough concessions had been made to the military already. This latest step could well be their last. The Chancellor could hear the Kaiser's current conversation from down the hall, the topic being how Germany was already outnumbered, roughly five divisions faced every four Germany fielded. Provoking the United States into entering the war would only cause even more problems!

At that moment, Field Marshall von Hindenburg arrived. The Chancellor knew that he was going to be the leader in pushing for the plan.

"Ah. There you are Field Marshall. I have something very important to discuss with you," the chancellor said.

"Can't this wait, I have some very important business for the Kaiser," von Hindenburg replied.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," von Bethmann-Hollweg said, catching the Field Marshall off guard. "I know you, and several others, want to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. Are you aware how much this will provoke the Americans!"

"Bah. I've heard doubters before, and with your record, was expecting resistance," von Hindenburg said gruffly. "Not one American shall set foot in Europe before Britian surrenders."

"How can you say that! Our navy is trapped in Kiel, and the precious subs are not effective against warships! If the Americans enter the war, we'll simply be more outnumbered then we are already," the Chancellor said, saying the last more quiet, as there were signs that the Kaiser heard the commotion and was preparing to check what was going on. "Please, don't present this to the Kaiser. It will doom us all."

The two stood and locked gazes for a good five seconds. The Kaiser opened the door to the map room and walked down the hall towards them. "Gentlemen, I assume nothing is wrong?"

"No, nothing. Just a recount of an exciting tale from the front. If you're ready, I have a few ideas on how to break the Russians I can show you on the map, but I'm afraid that's all I have for you today," von Hindenburg said slowly, once again glancing at the Chancellor after he said it.

"Very well, let us proceed into the map room, then," the Kaiser said, as he turned to walk back down the hall.

---------------

I planned on presenting this without commentary, but I have just two things to say.

1) Despite the tone of this, this is NOT a statement about the American contribution to the war. Von Bethmann-Hollweg was paranoid about provoking America OTL

2) Don't expect the war to go how it ususaly does with this POD.

 

[rast]

The date confuses me. September 1st, 1914? Something like January 9th, 1917 would fit to the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. - And with the scenario you provide.

 

[Larrikin]

I hope it's 1916 or 17, not 14, because at that time Hindenburg was both retired, and not a FeldMarschall.

 

[The Vulture]

Looks promising. Will watch with interest.

 

[OAM47]

Yes, its 17, a mere typo.

 

[OAM47]

11/8/17
Italian HQ

The mood at the supreme command of the Italian front was quite grim. The army was in full retreat from the recent Battle of Caporetto.[1] Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna stood in silent rage while looking at satus reports layed out in front of him. This was exactly the reason he was always demanding reinforcements from the Western Front. Now the entire line had colapsed! Even his requests for a conference on the matter were ignored. By this point, Cadorna was willing to just settle for that much. But no, the his "allies" wouldn't even speak to him half the time! [2]

All was not yet lost, however. The current plan was to set up a line on the Piave River. While unfortuantely the Austrians had managed to establish several beacheads, enough units were reforming to contain them.[3] It was still in doubt if they could be dislodged before the fighting season was over. Only an aggressive strategy would get it done, and everyone was hesistant to stick with that.

Just then, a sergeant came into the room with a thick packet of orders. "Sir, I have some bad news for you," was all he said as he handed them over.

A sad look overtook Cardona's face as he realized his time was up. He was being replaced. It was no surprise, Cardona had never been very successful in this war, and this must be the last straw.

For the most part, Cardona was actually more relieved then upset about this turn of events. He glanced down to see Diaz would replace him. A good general, though the two had never gotten along. Cardona was confident Italy would be in good hands.

"Sergeant, when will my replacement arrive?" Cardona inquired.

"Within the hour, sir," was the reply.

"Very well then," Cardona said as he turned to face the various clerks. "It has been an honor to serve with all of you. Soon you will have a new leader, who can hopefully lead us to victory better then I can. I hope you can excuse me for bowing out now, I have much to think about."

With that Cardona left the command building, to take a nice quiet stroll before going to clean out his office.

---------------

[1] - The war has gone pretty close to OTL so far, however the Entente has not only taken slightly more casualties then OTL, its only distributed over the UK, France, and Italy, and therefore everyone is hurting more then they would have.

[2] - Because everyone is more hard pressed for troops, the British and French are not very willing to help out Italy. As a result, the meeting on 11/5/17 to establish a supreme command over all forces was not held.

[3] - In OTL the Germans and Austrians almost managed to establish a beachead, and might have actually attempted one (depending on the source). Here, the effect of more Italian causalties coupled with little to no reinforcements from other countries means the Central Powers actually manage a to establish and hold a few beachheads.

 

[Douglas]

I'm very skeptical about the Italians being "ignored", as they were considered hopelessly awful but at the same time vital by the other Allies, but I'll wait until I see some more concrete effects of the POD, which hasn't even shown itself yet.

 

[OAM47]

I'm very skeptical about the Italians being "ignored", as they were considered hopelessly awful but at the same time vital by the other Allies, but I'll wait until I see some more concrete effects of the POD, which hasn't even shown itself yet.

Yeah, I'm having trouble deciding when to jump in. If I go right into the main effects, there will be a pretty big time skip, but it will take forever if I focus on every little detail that changes.

Spoilers in white, if you care to read.

As for the issue at hand, the Italians aren't being entirely ignored. The French and British are just tired of Cadorna. Historically, the Italians contained the Central powers here on their own, though that was more because Austria and Germany got too far ahead of their supply lines then anything on the Italians part. However, at the next battle, there was a significant UK/French/US presence. The Austrian's battle plan was also very poor. Both of these things will be changed when the time comes ITTL. There will be French and British backup, but less then OTL, and of course no US troops at all. Also, the Austrians have already secured a better jumping off point for the attack.

 

[Douglas]

Commentary on spoilers:

The Allies may be "done" with Cadorna...which is why he's being replaced by Armando Diaz. The Austrians battle plan at Piave in OTL was of the "Michael" variety, and the only kind that could inflict a devastating enough victory on Italy to cause it to sue for peace. The other strategies discussed were pinpoint attacks on strategic points. Maybe resulting in worrying victories, but IMO not war-winners. Then the Allies win as in OTL because the Germans lose in the West.

 

[OAM47]

I should have mentioned this the first time.

This is NOT a CP victory TL. However, Italy is going to be screwed over pretty bad.

 

[Mikestone8]

[1] - The war has gone pretty close to OTL so far, however the Entente has not only taken slightly more casualties then OTL, its only distributed over the UK, France, and Italy, and therefore everyone is hurting more then they would have.

[2] - Because everyone is more hard pressed for troops, the British and French are not very willing to help out Italy. As a result, the meeting on 11/5/17 to establish a supreme command over all forces was not held.

They probably can't.

US neutrality means there have been no US loans to the Allies for about a year. From what I've read around on the subject, Britain can probably find ways to "make do" as far as her own war effort is concerned, but will not be able to continue subsidising France, Italy and the other Allies. So by the end of the year things are getting difficult. Certainly, France will be in no position to assist anyone, but rather too busy struggling to keep her own head above water, perhaps by pulling troops from Macedonia and trying to get Britain to take over a longer stretch of the western front. Britain may find something, but less than OTL and probably also taken from a subsidiary front - Palestine maybe, so that Allenby doesn't take Jerusalem at Christmas.

The CPs, for their part, are a mite stronger than OTL. US intervention led to a major tightening of the blockade, which won't be possible if she's still neutral. It's still a problem for Germany, but a less severe one.

 

[OAM47]

Expect an update in around five days or so. I'm pretty busy these past weeks preparing for finals. Once finals start, I'll have some free time (irony).

 

[OAM47]

3/17/18
Western Front, German Rear Trenches

Colonel Maurer could hear the initial salvos of artillery hitting the French and British lines, even this far away at the supply depot. Being in charge of logistics, Maurer knew that this was one of the largest, if not the largest artillery bombardment to date. Over one and a half MILLION shells were to be fired, within the next six or so hours. Maurer knew the statistics behind such an attack, but the sound and feeling was still something to behold! If he wasn't such a seasoned veteren, it was quite possible he'd be wishing for a front row seat, just to see the destruction.

However, right now, Maurer was looking through equipment manifests, looking for some misplaced specialty gear for the stormtroopers. While it was never stated, for operation security was paramount, this was a diversion. Maurer might have said it was obvious, but then again, not everyone had access to the logs he did. Reinforcements wern't all that large in this sector, despite the Russian surrender. However, the units that did arrive were top notch, elite units. It seemed command wanted to do the most possible damage with the least possible troop count.

Just then, a shell burst in the trench outside the dugout. The enemy counterfire was starting. While fearing for your life is serious bussiness, Maurer couldn't help but laugh at the fact at how bad the aim was of whoever had just launched that shell. True, they hit targets, but the guns they wanted to knock out were about a kilometer away. The Entente forces were already showing signs of disorganization.

As luck would have it, the shell knocked loose a clipboard from the top shelf, the one with the info that Maurer was looking for. The special forces would have their equipment well before the bombardment was to end, and the French and British were in for a real nightmare.