The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire

Off/topic: Today the first snow has fallen in my city, hoorah

The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire​

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Chapter Two: 1915
Part XII: Broken dreams​

Nas s nim v adu voina svela
Ona druzei ne spishet
Ya byl geroi, rval udila
On byl namnogo tishe

My byli razney vo vsem
Tsitata - led da plamen'
Shmelem kipel ya pod ognem
A on chernel kak kamen'

I razve tolko inogda
Kogda ya naezhayu
On otvechal mne: Erunda
Gospod' nas uvazhaet


We met during the war
Not a good moment to make friends
I was a "hero", willing to fight
He was very silent

We were so different
Naturally - like ice and fire
I was crazy under fire
He was like a stone

And sometimes
When I wasn't happy
He laughed and said: Nonsense, buddy
The Lord respects us


On 25 of April the Germans made a successful counter-assault and captured Siedlce - a Polish town liberated by the Russians a couple of weeks before.


That step of German commanders was a desperate attempt to save the Eastern front - with French invasion in Colmar and British operations in the Dalmatian coast Kaiser didn't have enough forces to fight well against Russian divisions. Next day, general Zabelin attacked Siedlce.


On 27 of April the battle for Austrian Bessarabia stopped - the Russians were defeated and Chust wasn't captured. Anyway, for the Germans that victory was Pyrrhic, because their casualties were extremely high.


By 29 of April German "pocket in Tilsit" was crushed, the enemies didn't manage to blockade Koenigsberg and stop the Russian offensive.


After deblockade of Koenigsberg, Stavka started new strategic operation in the North - attack on Elbing. That city was like the gates of Berlin. Guard Corps and 20th Army Corps attacked from Tilsit, while the main strike group - 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 18th Army Corps - marched from Koenigsberg.


The German HQ realized, that losing Elbing (and whole Eastern Prussia with it) will be critical for their military. They transferred 11 divisions (vs. Russian 21), and long desperate battle began...


On 6 of May Austrian resistance at Tarnow was finally broken, and the Russians marched forward.


On the same day, Zabelin managed to win the battle of Siedlce.


In the Black sea on 7 of May admiral Ebergard defeated enemy squadron and sunk Ottoman light cruiser Mecidiye.


Famous Russian scientist and medic, Ivan Pavlov, started researching new hospital system for the Russian army. Nobel prize winner said: "At the moment my country is at war, and I must be a soldier."


On 7 of May the Tsar appointed new navy commander - admiral Ivan Grigorovich. Previous commander, admiral Rusin, became naval advisor in Stavka.


Two days later, Russian army in Bessarabia attacked Cernauti, but the battle wasn't in their favor....

@DoomBunny: I can agree with you - CP can't fight effectively on 3 (or even 4 if we mention Turkey) fronts.
@Dachspmg: Yes, Grigorovich will focus on the Baltic fleet.
@Storm501:

IC is nearly the same. It's good, I agree

Yeah, the Ottomans are doing well...I suppose they were overpowered a bit, because on DH-development forum there was a topic, in which Turkish weakness was described. The devs decided to fix early-surrendering Turkey and made them quite strong. I won the battles against them many times, but their fresh reinforcements are terrific.

Yeah, if the British could secure their positions in the Balkans, they would:
a) help Sebia and Montenegro
b) force Germans to move a lot of troops to save Austria
c) help me to beat Austrians and bring Romania to the Entente

@Deus Eversor: I'll try to make an alliance with Romania as soon as possible. That's my primary objective

The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire​

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Chapter Two: 1915
Part XIII: The war is far from the end​

A zhena poplachet
Vyidet za drugogo
Za mogo tovarischa
Zabudet pro menya

Zhalko tolko voiska
Da shiroko polyushko
Zhalko mat'-starushku
Da bulanogo konya


And the wife will cry
And marry another man
Marry my best friend
And will forget about me

I'm sorry only about the army
The wide field
I'm sorry about my old mother
And my dead horse


On 9 of May Russian naval engineer bureaus got orders from admiral Grigorovich to develop new type of battleship to create a new strong fleet. The researches started.


British operation in the Balkans continued - together with Italians they captured a lot of Austrian territories, and Italian army had a chance to invade Austria itself through Tirol.


On 12 of May of May the Russians took Tarnow. It was a good step to discourage Central Powers, because with Tarnow all Galizia was finally lost.


The situation in Europe changed since 1914. Central Powers had difficult time - blockaded and encircled, they started losing their will to fight. There were many reasons for that - Russian reconquest of Poland & successful offensives in Prussia and Galizia, French/Belgian stative front, brave Serbia and Italo-British joint operation in the Balkans.


On 20 of May Russian submarine squadron under command of rear admiral Klochkovsky attacked Turkish convoy fleet. Transport flotilla was sunk.


Four days earlier the Russians attacked Suwalki, the city defended by only one German division. They didn't have many chances to prevent the Russian offensive. The Polish front was falling westwards every day...


Meanwhile, on 25 of May the Germans defeated Russian army in Tarnow and forced them to retreat. The Tsar was really disappointed with general Berkhman's performance - he took Tarnow 4 times and lost it 4 times...


Defeat at Tarnow showed, that the war was far from the end. German army continued being very, very dangerous opponent for the Russians. By 29 of May Central Powers re-occupied that Galizian city once again.


But together with successful operation in Galizia the Central Powers got a disaster - Italian vanguard divisions captured Austrian city of Klagenfurt. It was a miraculous sensation - Austria was invaded first time since Napoleonic wars! Austro-Hungary was in great danger...


On 30 of May the fortress of Elbing fell - German retreat in Eastern Prussia became a catastrophe. The Germans didn't know how to step that crushing offensive, general Paul von Hindenburg said:

"In 1914 Russians had their Poland. In 1915 we have our Eastern Prussia."


After that, the next stage of the operation began - German troops in Suwalki and Allenstein were under joint attack of the Russian forces.

The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire​

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Chapter Two: 1915
Part XIV: More battles, more deaths​

Russkoe pole,
Russkoe pole,
Skol'ko dorog
Proshagat' mne prishlos'.
Ty moya yunost,
Ty moya volya,
To, chto sbylos',
To, chto v zhizni sbylos'.

Ne sravnyatsya s toboi
Ni lesa, ni morya
Ty so mnoy, moe pole
Studit veter visok.
Zdes' Otchizna moya
I skazhu, ne taya,
Zdravstvui, russkoe pole,
Ya tvoi tonkiy kolosok.


Russian field,
Russian field,
How many roads
I had to pass.
You are my youth,
You are my freedom,
My dreams,
Dreams of all my life.

Forests and seas
Cannot compete with you
You're together with me, my field
The wind chills my temple.
Here is my Fatherland
And I have to say:
Hello, my Russian field,
I'm your thin spikelet.


Naval operations of the Black Sea fleet continued. Admiral Ebergard managed to absolutely destroy all supply lines between Turkey and Continental Europe. Every day Turkish and Bulgarian convoys were attacked by the Russian raiders. On 5 of June Ottoman navy tried to engage the Russians, but the battle finished tragically - Russian seamen destroyed battleship Turgut Reis and two light cruisers - Midilli (former German SMS Breslau) and Hamidiye. For poor and outdated Ottoman navy these losses were absolutely terrible.


On 7 of June most of Poland was still German-occupied. Russian society wasn't too much happy about this.


To solve this problem, Stavka decided to attack Warsaw, the key point. Polish capital was well-defended (the Germans used fortifications, built earlier by Tsar's government), but Russian commanders were sure that they had enough forces to defeat the enemy. Warsaw operation began on 19 of June.


Two army corps attacked Warsaw - 8th and 15th. General Zabelin was a skilled fighter and Stavka ordered him to lead the assault. Zabelin decided to storm the city from two sides - 8th Army Corps from the north and his own 15th AC from the south.


Together with Warsaw operation one more battle was planned - on 24 of June troops of Moscow Military District, Grenadier Corps, 11th AC and 14th AC attacked Radom, another important city in Poland.


But the Germans understood the importance of Warsaw and decided to transfer their corps to the capital, not to Radom - and Zabelin lost the battle. His corps had to retreat.


But in Radom everything went well - the Germans moved to Warsaw and left Radom without any defense. 20 Russian divisions launched a massive rush, and the Germans had simply nothing to do. General Berkhman, commander of the operation, reported that everything went perfect.


On 19 of July 29 Russian divisions smashed the enemy at Plock. That city was earlier captured by Japanese exp. forces, but they lost it soon. The Russian army didn't want to do the same.


On 23 of July German U-boars sunk British liner RMS Lusitania with a lot of American citizens onboard. It was a terrible precedent of unrestricted submarine warfare...Everyone expected, that the USA will join the war - but they didn't


Meanwhile, in the Balkans things went very well - British corps entered Austrian city of Graz, Italians captured Innsbruck. Now Vienna was so close...


But when Britain was victorious, Serbia wasn't. On 23 of July the Austrians captured Belgrade after bloody 6-hour street fight. The king left the city together with his army. Defeat of Serbia and Montenegro seemed to be almost certain.


Two days later, Russian army took Radom. Polish reconquest went on.

@DoomBunny: Yeah, Berlin is close, but it will be dangerous to rush through Eastern Prussia without safe front in Poland, right?
@MastahCheeff117: Maybe, but I think that Vienna won't fall. At the moment Austrians are rapidly redeploying armies from Galizia, and the Germans can strike from the southern Balkans. Austria shouldn't fall so easy

You forgot Poland Istanbul BTW, I don't think it's real to end WW1 in 1915 on Hard - Central Powers look weak, but I believe it's an illusion.

The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire​

​

Chapter Two: 1915
Part XV: Entente push​

Sam Tsar' venchal dragun nagradoy
Dragunskiy kiver otmechal
Nagradoy, Tsarskoyu otradoy
Naveki polk zapechatlen

I pamiatnik tomu est' vechnyi
Shtandart Georgievskiy v stroyu
Pod nim umret dragun bespechnyi
Slozhivshiy golovu v boyu


The Tsar himself awarded the dragoons
Put signs on their shakos
It was a symbol of his pleasure
That our regiment got forever

And here's the ageless sign of that
Standard of St. George
Young careless dragoon
Would die under it


On 29 of July, when Radom was in Russian hands, another target for the offensive was chosen. It was Tarnow, maybe the most unstable town in the war - Russians and Austrians captured it five times for only one year! Tarnow was really important - it was a basic point, from which the Russians could start an offensive push towards both Germany and Austria.


During the battle General Staff created new organization plans for Russian cavalry warfare - on the most mobile Eastern front cavalry divisions were still important, and the Russians often used them for the breakthroughs.


After that, Russian war industry started researches in other sphere - new light cruiser type became the next project.


While the Russians were storming through trenches of Tarnow, their allies continued fighting for the Balkans. By 10 of August some Austrian divisions were encircled in Salzburg, while the British armies reached Bjelovar (nothern Serbia) and had a real chance to save the Serbs from disaster.


And then the great event happened - Italian corps crossed undefended German borders and took small borderline-towns of Landshut, Augsburg and even Munich!. It was a fantastic, unbelievable result - Entente forces entered the German lands!!!


Italian operation in Alps ("Operation Edelweiss") together with British offensive in the Balkans ("Operation Rose") broke Central Powers supply lines. Suddenly, Europe believed that the war would finish very soon...

On 16 of August Russia won Tarnow battle, while Italians took Nurnberg...


After 2 weeks English soldiers, facing no resistance, entered Slovakia and won the battle of Bratislava. Austrian empire was so close to agony and inglorious end...


On 11 of September Austrians tried to save Tarnow, but failed, their reinforcements were defeated too, Russians were rapidly heading for this Galizian city.


Far, far away from the frontlines, in distant Mexico, general Huerta won the civil war. It was long and bloody fight for him.


On 16 of September Greece refused to join the Entente (even with British successes in the Balkans against Austria). Diplomacy didn't help the French to involve Greeks into the conflict.


On 17 of September Tarnow was finally captured. It could be optimistic news, but the Russians had already captured it five times, so Stavka wasn't enthusiastic about that victory.


By 18 of September Russian army had enough troops to retake Warsaw. 16 Army Corps consisting of 65 divisions - this power was thrown against German garrison.