Fire Warms the Northern Lands -- A Prussian AAR

Kapitan Gerhard Detzler was a man who longed to command a warship. He had been fascinated by the great ships of the line since first seeing a tall-masted Swedish man-o-war when he was a child. His friends, who lived with him along the Danzig shoreline, all talked about becoming sailors and captains. Detzler swore that he would accomplish it.

And now, as captain of the clipper SMS Capella, he was within sight of his dream, yet it was beyond his grasp. Prussia had built only three modern fighting ships, and two were now sunk. Only the SMS Prussia remained, and it already had a captain.

But SMS Prussia was engaged escorting clippers back home to pick up more reinforcements, and had left Capella behind as what was now the only Prussian ship on the scene of a desperate religious war.

The Egyptian Caliph had issued his religious fatwa -- their equivalent to a declaration of war -- just after Christmas, to expand the reach of Islam south and rid the area of Christian influence. Naturally, the German colonial outpost at Yebuti was their prime target, and the defenders there were fighting for their lives.

SMS Prussia, concerted with SMS Capella, had hurriedly left their newly assigned home port of Kiel with a load of infantry and some cavalry to bolster what were presumed to be hard-pressed defenses in Tadjoura, Yebuti.

Fortunately, they had arrived just in time to prevent capitulation, and these two new divisions were welcome relief. It was then that Capella had split off to rush one more native division from Madagascar into combat -- the only remaining Prussian military force in the region. The rest of the fleet had sailed back to Prussia to transport the Kronprinz’s cavalry for an offensive.

It had seemed such a perfect plan when it was explained to him by the Prussia’s captain. Surely, three of the King’s finest divisions could hold off the savage hordes.

But what Detzler saw when they came within sight of Tadjoura awakened the feeling of dread he had in his stomach until they first arrived in March. He saw smoke hovering over the town, but no sign of heavy fighting. Surely the defenders had pushed the Egyptians back. But he could find no sign of welcoming Prussian signals. There were men on horseback throughout the town. But there were no Prussians to be seen. Where might they have retreated to?

A search was initiated, and at length a Prussian refugee was found. He confirmed their absolute worst fears. The line had broken under an onslaught of Egyptian cavalry. There was no hope, as they flooded into the capital. Prussian soldiers and men were slaughtered, or captured and beheaded. The women and children were taken, and presumably sent back to Egypt.

Three Prussian divisions had ceased to exist, practically to a man. It was the worst Prussian military disaster Detzler had known -- since Napoleon’s crimes, when Detzler was but an infant. And the horror visited upon the pride of the Prussian people would not easily be forgotten.

In conference with General Getz, he agreed that there would be no point in landing 7,000 native troops against a force possibly ten times their strength. They would return to Madagascar, send word back home, and wait for reinforcements.

But Detzler also knew for certain that there would be no mere taking back of Prussia’s colony. A shock to the nation like this would not go down easily. This was now a war of revenge, and Egypt would pay for this outrage.

From The Eagle Rising: The Story of Prussia’s Arrival On the World Stage, pub. 1989 by Professor Reinicke Herz

When Egypt declared war on Prussia, in the first week of 1852, it caught everyone by surprise. Such a decision to challenge a major civilized power did not make sense in the calculus of European thinking.

King Wilhelm’s friendship with Russia was cemented when Czar Nicholas immediately declared that Prussia would have Russia’s full support. In fact, Nicholas put the majority of the Russian Army at Wilhelm’s disposal. However, Wilhelm was hardly in a position to make use of these resources, as he was hard pressed to transport even the Prussian Army into position.

At the start of the war, there was a lone division present to defend Yebuti. An expedition to save Yebuti was immediately embarked, troops were landed in March, and these ships left to bring additional reinforcements from Madagascar. The reinforcements arrived six days after the defenders at Yebuti had been annihilated. They returned to Madagascar to reassess the Prussian situation in east Africa.

Quickly, Prussian ships found themselves in combat with ships of the Egyptian navy (which entirely outclassed the Prussian Navy at that time). Nevertheless, the assembly of an invasion force at Madagascar remained a priority. So Prussian shipping began avoiding the trade routes and hugging the African coast. For the most part, this kept them safe. However, in August a small fleet was run down by Egyptian men-of-war, and Prussia’s only remaining warship, SMS Prussia, was sunk. The accompanying clippers escaped and evaded pursuit.



The Russian Black Sea Fleet showed itself of value in the Mediterranean, on more than one occasion engaging the Egyptian fleet. They also mounted an ill-starred invasion of the Levant at Beirut, which was quickly forced back into the sea by the Syrian garrisons.

Draco Rexus said:

CRUSH THE EGYPTIAN SAVAGES!

Okay, outrage aside, how does Prussia get it's revenge with no navy to speak of and no safe land path to Egypt? Can't wait to read the solution!

Click to expand...

Well, the first and most immediate answer is sneakiness!!!

The second, and more resolute, answer is paddlewheels. My navy was obsolete, anyway. Theirs is about to become so.

Rensslaer

From The Eagle Rising: The Story of Prussia’s Arrival On the World Stage, pub. 1989 by Professor Reinicke Herz

While the war in Egypt was at the center of Prussia’s focus, it was still a relatively low-key conflict, and its progress and intensity was limited by the small size of Prussia’s transport fleet. As will be seen below, this limitation was belatedly addressed.

During the war, critical shortages of two resources -- iron and sulphur -- continued to cause problems for Prussia’s economy. Two efforts were mounted to address this situation.

First, constant disputes with the Principality of Nassau over purchase rights to the product of Mainz’ sulphur mines boiled over into war. Prussian troops marched in, and sulfur-rich Nassau was annexed to the Prussian nation.

Secondly, Prussia’s efforts to obtain exclusive rights to the unclaimed interior of Borneo had been too slow. Both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom had staked claims of their own which would complicate any Prussian attempt to make good on her claims. Making lemonade out of lemons, Ambassador Pietr van Rensselaer used his valued connections with the Dutch Crown to trade some of Prussia’s East Indian claims for the iron-rich Principality of Luxembourg, which the Dutch found a headache to defend in any case.

During the autumn of 1852, while Prussia’s counterattack was still building strength, measures were taken to address various other economic and military needs.

Recognizing the need for more lucrative commercial goods to pay off Prussia’s debts, King Wilhelm encouraged the construction of a second machine parts factory, as well as a winery. The Prussian railroad network was expanded south from Praha toward Linz, connection was made with an existing railroad in Kiel, and a more direct route from Berlin to Praha was established through Leipzig. The Prussian government even set up schools to teach farmers to become craftsmen, and craftsmen to be clarks, in order to add to the industrial strength of the nation.

Feldmarschall von Halberstam, now a senior military advisor to the Crown, emphasized the necessity of fast-moving cavalry to the kind of war Prussia would have to fight, now and in the future. Therefore, between mid-1853 and mid-1854, five new cavalry divisions were raised, including two divisions of hussars.

The Prussian Navy was also seen as vital to the maintenance of communication with a growing colonial empire, and therefore four new clippers and two steam-powered warships were ordered, although half of this force arrived too late to be of any use in the war.

These government contracts for industry and troops were necessary. Nevertheless, these various expenditures, coming at a time when maintaining divisions at full combat strength required enormous sums of money, pushed Prussia’s debt to new heights (approx. 450,000 pounds), far beyond what had previously been perceived as a “crisis.” However, owing to a higher population, growing industrial strength, and an improving tax-gathering regime, the higher interest payments did not bankrupt the nation.

By the beginning of 1853, one year after the war began, Prussia was ready to take the offensive against Egypt. However, the world was changing in ways that would have serious impact on the course of Prussia’s war.

From the Memoirs of a Prussian Royal Uhlan, pub. 1856 by Kapitan Franziske Grzybowski

We arrived in Madagascar to the shocking and detestable news that Yebuti had fallen, and that a massacre had ensued. This was certainly not what we had expected to hear on arrival. Everyone was angry, and ready for revenge. The less temperate of our group were even more angry that we weren’t boarding a ship to go have their revenge straightaway.

But we had some time to prepare and reflect. And by some fortune, I chanced to run into a familiar face. It was the Russian Cossack captain (now a regimental colonel) who had saved me in the Austrian War. He seemed very glad, also, to have crossed paths with me.

His name was Vernim Khmelniyy, and his regiment had traveled upon one of our companion ships at the request of the Tsar. Since becoming a colonel, he had also been required to take some lessons in German, which he could now pronounce adequately, if not capably.

I said, “You must be excited to go. Have you never seen desert lands, such as where we go?”

“Yes,” he said, perhaps not quite understanding me. Then he added, “If we go with you, which...” He made an expression with his open palm.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Mine General… He saw courier few days ago. Now…” he shrugged his shoulders, “Now I am no sure we go.” He nodded a very Russian nod. “I am sorry to must tell you so.”

I told him that I was most disappointed that we might not be sharing roles in this mission. He explained that there was a religious dispute with the French over the protection of Christian sites in the Holy Land – one of Russia’s stated reasons for going to war with Egypt in the first place. But he also said that there was a growing dispute with the Ottoman Empire, and that relations with both countries had apparently soured quickly since he had left port with us.

I wished him and his country the very best in whatever happened, but also expressed my hope that we could have his regiment’s valued presence at Yebuti when we went.

As it turned out, Khmelniyy had done us quite a favor. He had apparently considered our personal tie important enough to feel compelled to deliver his warning. No one else – the Kronprinz, the generals, or any of our staff – was yet aware that there was any question of the Russians joining us, though they had been picking up on hints and signs for a couple of weeks. This explained much, which was more fully fleshed out as we received newspapers from home over the next several months.

Another broad-brush update before I go on with the Egyptian War (sorry Draco!)…

Louis-Napoleon was having an interesting time. In December of 1851, he mounted a coup d’etat to consolidate his power within the French government. In December of 1852, he was declared Emperor of the French, a title his uncle had carried, and one which caused a ripple of both fear and anger to sweep across much of Europe. Who, many leaders wondered, would become part of the new French Empire?

In December of 1852, the Two Sicilies was set free after a long war with France (at one time) and Sardinia-Piedmont (the peninsular hegemon). The Two Sicilies that remained was only the island of Sicily and several pockets on the boot of Italy. Sardinia reigned supreme on the continent.



The Austrians had finally fended off the Danish and Swedish attacks in the Adriatic, and were now looking for a means to resolve the war favorably. They asked permission to pass troops through Prussian territory, and, wishing to make a start toward better relations, King Wilhelm allowed this. The Austrians marched north, and had an invasion fleet ready to make the crossing.



Whether this actually happened or not I did not see. But in April of 1853, Austria and Denmark finally signed an armistice, with a return to the status quo as of more than six years prior.

The British and Chinese continue throwing their legions against one another, but now the British seem to be gaining the upper hand (even though the Chinese are now marching around Jiangmen with 420,000 troops!).

The tide turned slightly between Russia and Egypt. The Russian invasion at Bayrut was thrown back, and I happened to notice a freak Egyptian invasion of the Crimea! It did not get far, however… they merely toughened the defenders for a later battle.



And, alas, in July of 1853, tensions between Russia and the French-Ottomans boiled over into war, and the Crimean War began. Interestingly, France had signed a treaty of alliance with Greece on July 14th (Greece was already allied with Russia), and the very next day Greece broke the treaty and joined Russia in its war against France! Naturally, the Ottoman satellites of Serbia, Wallachia and Moldavia joined against Russia also.



Prussia was not a bound ally of Russia, but as you have seen, relations had certainly warmed. Being already at war, there were few ways Prussia could assist their Russian friends, but ways were found. As Russia had provided so many divisions to serve under Prussia’s control, King Wilhelm feared for Russia’s ability to defend itself. Many of these units (owing to Prussia’s lack of transport capacity) were still performing internal security duties in Prussia itself. Most of these units Prussia released back to Russia for use in its defense. Three understrength divisions already deployed by Prussia to East Africa were retained to hold the line against the Egyptians.

But one loaned Russian division, which had been based in the Rhineland, was ordered by “a lesser ranking officer” to march to the French border (undefended at the time), where the Russians were granted their freedom to pursue Russia’s interests in whatever way they saw fit! They died valiantly, but not until they had caused some great deal of consternation and disturbance in Verdun.



The British declared war on Russia (separately, somehow) in August, and soon became the driving force behind the Crimean War. Sardinia-Piedmont, urged on by their French allies, entered the war in September. France allied with Spain in February of 1854, and the Spanish declared war too. In July of that year, Tuscany allied with Sardinia, and joined the war. It was dogpile on Russia time!



Feeling hard pressed against so many powers, Russia made peace with Egypt in August of 1853. King Wilhelm indicated that he completely understood, and, indeed, wished he could assist Tsar Nicholas further.

Meanwhile, the distracted British appeared to be having rebel troubles of their own.



And, owing to the costs of war, with which Prussia had become so familiar since 1847, her debt rose again to oppressive levels.

Draco, Shawn, Strnylan & Lord GQ --

Thank you for keeping up with my AAR, even though I've been slowed by real life lately!

Is my Crimean War more substantial than usual? I think it is larger than historical, but is it beyond most Vicky Crimeas?

I shall try to get another update up today.

Thanks!

Rensslaer

Offensive in Egypt: Phase One

King Wilhelm had, in 1852, made the determination that Prussia would be better off to build up for a major operation against Egypt in the Indian Ocean, rather than chancing paltry invasions that might just as well end up back in the sea.

It was in February of 1853 that two transport task forces arrived in the Red Sea off the coast of Prussia’s occupied colony of Yebuti. They landed Kronprinz Friedrich, General Haber, the Prussian cavalry and the Russian infantry that had been assembled in Madagascar (though not the Russian cavalry, which had for reasons unknown at the time been withheld at the request of the Tsar).

A second landing of troops assembled in Madagascar was made in March at Massaua, north of Yebuti. By the end of April, both provinces had been freed from Egyptian control, and Prussia possessed a beachhead from which to operate throughout Egyptian East Africa.

General Haber advanced inland, deeper into the Sudan, with the intention of finding the Nile River and moving north along its length into Khartoum. Kronprinz Friedrich and his cavalry divisions remained in Massaua, so that Friedrich could maintain operational control of the efforts in the Red Sea, and so he would be ready to move north along the Red Sea when the time seemed right.



In May, Haber found his way to the Nile blocked by Egyptian cavalry. After a short battle, he followed his instructions and retreated to the more defensible positions along the coast of the Red Sea, where several divisions of Prussian and Russian infantry had dug in.

Instead of a bridgehead, Massaua had become a redoubt. The Prussian General Staff made sure that it was properly defended, unlike in the previous encounter the year before. As tens of thousands of Egyptian cavalry gathered, a tense standoff ensued.

Offensive in Egypt: Phase Two

Prussia received a minor setback in Egypt when Russia became engaged in the Crimean War. The Russians made peace with Egypt in August of 1853, but three understrength divisions remained in Massaua.

But in January 1854, Prussian infantry and cavalry under General Tegel opened a second front in the Mediterranean by seizing the island of Crete as a base of operations against the Egyptian coastline. By the end of March Crete was Prussian.

In May, some of Tegel’s reinforced army invaded northeastern Cyprus while another force landed at Tanta, near the Sinai Peninsula.

They had only just landed when the Egyptian Navy showed up and forced the Prussian clippers to leave Tegel ashore, unsupported. Nevertheless, the operations on both the Egyptian and Cypriot shores were proved a success by the end of June, and General Tegel had begun to widen his bridgehead in Egypt.

Soon, as Egyptian defenders in Cyprus moved to attack Prussian positions in Famagusta, the Prussian Navy was shuttling the victorious infantry division to the other end of Cyprus to begin a new conquest there. Before the Egyptians arrived, however, Prussia had also landed a new infantry division in Famagusta to prevent its fall.

Meanwhile, Kronprinz Friedrich made his move in the Red Sea…

Part 1 of 2


Graphic of "The Line In The Sand" after Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm turned back the first Egyptian assault in the Sinai

From the Memoirs of a Prussian Royal Uhlan, pub. 1856 by Kapitan Franziske Grzybowski

In June of 1854, our valorous cutter captains landed the 1st Potsdam Guards and the 1st Sachsen Uhlan (my former unit) in company with Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm on the Sinai Peninsula, near the point at which the Red Sea ends. I have no idea how we managed to avoid the Egyptian frigates – speculation is that they were all either reacting to our Mediterranean ventures, or were occupied searching for our fleets on the high seas, as we know they have been.

As the Kronprinz’ Aide de Camp, I was aware of the purpose for our landing – there had been reported to be a large force of Egyptian cavalry and infantry advancing toward Prussian positions from Palestine and the Levant. We were to act as a blockade, to prevent these armies from interfering with our deployments near the mouth of the Nile.

One day, a regimental colonel approached the Kronprinz in his command tent. I busied myself on the other side of the tent, but Kronprinz Friedrich had made it clear that there was nothing he would discuss which I would not be expected to be a party to. The colonel expressed jealousy of Generals Tegel and Haber, whose cavalry were advancing toward the Egyptian capital at Cairo. The Kronprinz told him to mind his place, and to carry out his orders as they were given. Once he had left, the Kronprinz confided in me a judgment I felt most worthy of the future monarch of our empire. ”Let them have the glory. This is the most important battle in Egypt, and we are right where we need to be to bring us victory.”

We had spent about a week entrenching ourselves and preparing to meet the onslaught of whatever armies the Egyptians had once emplaced to face the Ottomans in the north, which were now bearing south through our location in order to prevent the fall of the Caliph. We had word that about 15,000 cavalry had arrived and were massing to attack our much stronger positions. These were confused devils we fought, but I will never fault their bravery.

As we took to the ridge of the dunes, we watched as the entire horizon filled with the stark images of snorting horses, and men shaking tasseled, ornamented rifles. They stood there, intimidating, taunting. Then they slowly descended the face of their dune, and began to approach us.

But just then another entire rank of Egyptian cavalry appeared along the crest of the far dune. They rimmed the dune, giving off an air of supreme confidence. It was at this point that about a dozen riflemen along our defense lines shouted and took flight. In a moment of uncertainty, another two dozen joined them and began stumbling down the sandy incline away from these dark nightmares. What safety they thought they’d find on foot, I cannot say.

As the Egyptian chargers closed the distance with increasing speed, dozens more soldiers seemed to consider their options. But it was then that Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm conducted the most singularly impactful feat of military courage and discipline that I have had the great fortune to see in my twenty years ahorse.

The Kronprinz climbed to the very top of our dune and turned his back on the charging Egyptians, within clear sight of their riflemen and taking fire. Having placed himself there as a target, he held his sabre high, and at the top of his lungs bellowed to those timid souls to return to the dune and hold the line. They all stopped – to a man – and after only a moment’s hesitation, they each returned to their posts, took up their rifles, and began dropping horses and cavalrymen with their shots.

These fine Arabian horses moved swiftly, like the wind. They entirely reminded me of the gross windstorms – common to these lands – which build ominously, appear to gain speed as they near, and then are upon you and tearing at you. Surely it was a similar comparison which inspired our soldiers to flee. And there was the second wave, behind them, which approached with as much velocity. And the third rank, which by that time had appeared against the pallid desert horizon.

Alas, this was the Egyptians’ first contact with modern firepower. They made a tactical mistake at the beginning which cost them any hope of penetrating our line, as they might have, if better led. The commander of the enemy cavalry rode up front, with the rest of his troops closing in a loose phalanx behind him. Our mass of accurate rifles began to tell on the lead elements, and soon their leader fell. The corpses of horses and men soon filled the intervening gaps, encumbering the horses behind them, and the first elements to arrive at the foot of our dune fell before even reaching us. The second wave descended upon us, but their momentum was lost. They broke, and after a brief and uncoordinated second run, they retreated, fully spent.

About two weeks later, we faced a division of infantry which fared no better than had the cavalry. Finally, they combined with another division of cavalry, but even their combined force could not dislodge our entrenched cavalry, and when they broke we sortied in pursuit, and a huge proportion of their force was given up to the desert. After this, no more did they assault us.

We spent some time rooting out weapons caches and troublesome tribal chiefs, not to mention the Caliph’s Mohammedan imams, who had to be handled with some delicacy. As we did so, the Kronprinz ordered vast numbers of camels to be assembled – caught, bought or confiscated. We conducted training and drills in camel riding, which I must say is quite a bit different from managing a horse.