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DarthShizNit

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In the summer of 1914, a royal couple of an aging royal family was gunned down in the backwaters of Europe. This tragic event was noted with passing interest in the cafes of Paris - "Such a tragedy, those Balkans always were a terrible place," they would say, as they shook their head and flipped the paper to the next page - before being forgotten in the casual way all unseemly things are when the summer is warm and the wine is good. But as the summer rolled on, in a country in which revanchism was gospel, there was no mistake that the lazy days would not last. For war was coming, with all it's glory...and all it's horror.

VIVE LA FRANCE! VIVE LA REPUBLIQ!!! It's time again for the AARland to find itself in the gritty trenches of the Great War. This time, I shall be leading the glorious forces of the 3rd Republic in their campaign of revenge against the vile Hun. Once again, this shall be taking place within the latest of our long series of epic MP WW1 games, which gives us a much better fight than the rather silly AI. Here's hoping we put on a good game for you all.


Looking forward to moving away from the open deserts and soaring mountain passes of the Middle East into the grueling trench combat of the western front. Having already played several months into the war, I can assure that there will plenty of hard fighting ahead (assuming the Russians don't die on me).

Game is played Saturdays mornings, updates will follow shortly, expect the first installment shortly.

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VIVE LA FRANCE! VIVE LA REPUBLIQE! Aslace-Lorraine! Le Kaiser à Sainte-Hélène !

Index
Chapter One: Of War Plans and Reality
 
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Oh noes, he's being the frog this time. Hope this will be an equally interesting AAR, guns blazing and all that.
 
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On les aura!

And remember: le feu tue! :p
 
Of War Plans and Reality

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Though it is often cited that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo on the 30th of June, 1914, was the spark that set off the Great War, that spark may not have ignited had it not been for an extremely tense military situation that had been developed that spring. Though tensions had been steadily increasing over the last few tumultuous years - Morocco, Libya, the Balkans - and militaries across the continent had stepped up their preparations for war, in April of 1914 the Kaiser called for a series of war games.

This in and off itself was nothing unusual, but as several Alsatian spies reported to French military intelligence, the Germans had secretly called up several dozen reserve divisions for the event, and integrated them fully into their standing armies. The French high command, Grand Quartier Général (GQG), had long dismissed the Germans using reserve divisions to augment frontline troops as preposterous, the very concept going against the military gospel of elan vital - the offensive spirit in all things. But when German plans documenting a massive strike through Belgium - which the French had long known about - using the masses of reserve troops to create a massive attack force while leaving the fortified border relatively sparese - which the French had also know of, but were still shocked by the massiveness of the "right wing," - were delivered by a Aslatian reservist, even the hard headed GQG, headed by the aloof General Joseph Joffre, was forced to take note.

Nobody quite knows what compelled the Kaiser to play his hand so publicly - for it was impossible for a force of a million men "practicing" and invasion of a neutral country could go unnoticed for long - but it should be regarded as one of those miracles of the Germans shooting themselves in the foot that undoubtedly allowed other nations to stand a fighting chance. After news of the war games reached the French government, in a rare display of authority, they demanded a full scale report on just what exactly the French Army intended to do in the case of a war against such an attack. For decades the French military had kept it's plan if not exactly secret, then certainly not readily available to the government. It's entirely plausible that, had Joffre at this moment been held to the flames, the French army would have gone streaming into the center of the German border as Plan XVII - an all out attack on the German front in the spirit of elan - and the war would have ended within a month.

As it were, GQG was forced to react, and to react fast. Fortunately, though Plan XVII and plans like it had been the liaison amoureuse of all French Army staffers, alternatives did exist. It had always been assumed that the Germans would invade Belgium. Anyone looking at a map could see it was logical. Though it was generally figured that the Germans would only invade through the Ardennes forest, a few had even imagined a full scale invasion through all of Belgium! One such plan, Plan XIX, called for a preemptive French counter invasion of Belgium and Luxembourg in order to beat the Germans to the punch. Still inclined to the glorious offensive despite new reports showing the French just maybe were behind in such things as artillery and machine guns, this preemptive offensive - with the preemptive part taken away, Germany had to invade Belgium first and bring the British into the war - was combined with Plan XVII to create Plan XXIII.

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The indomitable commander of the French army, Joseph Joffre, was stubborn, self obsessed, and above all, more confident than anyone that he would lead France to victory. This combination would server France both well and ill in the coming war.

The new plan was still offensive in everyway. It still called for a massive attack into German occupied Alsace, utilizing the French 5th Army under the energetic Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, a man perhaps more committed to decisive and violent attacks than anyone in the French army. This army would swarm into the cities of Kolmar and Mulhouse in the opening days of the war, with the objective of crossing the Rhine and driving deep into the German heartland. This would force the Germans to pull massive amounts of troops to face them. These German troops would of course be defeated by French honor and vigor.

In the north, as soon as word was received that the Germans had violated Belgian neutrality, the French 3rd Army under command of the mastermind of French doctrine and spirit, Ferdinand Foch, would rush forward, colors unfurled, and smash into the advancing Germans, catching them unawares and shattering their offensive before it even began! Only in the center would the French resist the glorious offensive, where the French 4th army would dig in utilizing their line of forts and the Meuse river to defeat any German probes in that area. This smaller and ill-equipped army was commanded by the dredges of the French officers...aka those with an eye towards defense. The aged Joseph Gallieni, a hero of the colonial wars and a vocal critic of Joffre, was dragged forth from an early retirement and placed in command of this army.

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Gallieni, Foch, and d'Esperey, the commanders of the French armies arrayed against the Germans at the start of the war.

Thus, in the face of such massive military developments being carried out only partially concealed - even Russia had cautiously called up early reservists for the summer, and began constructing depots near the German border...just in case - it's no surprise that the assassination of the archduke lead to so violent a reaction. Before the body was even cold, the Hapsburgs were demanding retribution from Serbia. Fearing an Entente attempt to destabilize Germany's major ally, the Kaiser publicly derided the Russian Empire for destabilizing the Balkans. Fearing a loss of hegemony in the Balkans and the harsh words from Germany, Russia reacted by claiming that Germany had instigated the whole event. France told the Germans to stuff it, and the British attempted to bury their heads in their tea cups.

On July 2nd, the Hapsburg Army mobilized after the Serbians quickly rejected an ultimatum that would have turned them into little more than a puppet state of the Hapsburgs. The Serbs mobilized in response and called for Russia to come to their rescue. In too far to back down, the Russian's mobilized to cheering crowds in front of the Tsar's palace in St. Petersburg. Unwilling and unable to leave his ally unsupported, the Kaiser mobilized the German Army. France, ever vigilant, had men posting mobilization orders on courtyard walls throughout France before the government had even adjourned for the night. Europe was committed to war, even if people had wanted to stop it.

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In the days after mobilization, a state of undeclared war hung over Europe. Even the reluctant Belgians, their King Albert committed until the last moment to peace, was not blind to the danger, and the Belgian Army occupied their fortresses at Liege and Namur. Even as parliament squabbled, the British army began preparations to load onto transports while the Royal Navy assumed blockading positions throughout the North Sea. In France, a country flush with anarchists, socialists, clergy, atheists, even a sprinkling of monarchists, news of mobilization erased all of these separations and the people of France rushed into the streets to cry with one voice, "Vive la France!" Throughout Europe, similar scenes played out as men flocked to the colors.

In one final breath of sanity, Europe held off from plunging into war for a few more days. The Kaiser, getting cold feet at the last moment, held off between urging for peace, and shifting troops east to face the Russian giant (much to the dismay of his generals). The Hapsburgs issued another ultimatum to Serbia, even as their artillery sighted in on Belgrade. The Tsar called the Kaiser personally, urging for reason, and repeatedly belayed the order for full mobilization. Yet even if peace was desired, the massive military systems each nation had developed over half a century were in full force. To delay even a moment meant defeat in the minds of the generals, and so they plunged ahead with mobilization. In an amazingly short space of time, millions of men were under arms and in deployment zones within a week. At last, after news of Serbia's final rejection of the last Hapsburg ultimatum, the guns opened up along that border. Two hours later, Belgian border guards fired shots at an advancing column of German Ulhans, lances leveled. The war had begun...

Seulement pas en avant.

The morning peace of the small city of Mulhouse in German occupied Alsace was shattered on July 9th by the thunderous sound of artillery. German officers, lodging in the hotels of the city, cursed and rushed to done their uniforms and get to the front line. The citizens of the city, Alsatian and German, turned a nervous eye towards the western horizon, as the sounds of the guns grew louder, and eventually the crackling of riffles and sound of clothes ripping that were machine guns became audible. As the day grew longer, the sounds grew louder, the crescendo increasing every minute. Signs of battle appeared, German artillery outside city limits opening up, bloodied and desperate messengers racing through the city on startled looking horses smeared with blood. Suddenly, with a terrible whistle, shells fell in the city itself. One by one the German artillery positions were knocked out by an unseen enemy. The German soldiers, young men who only last night had looked resplendent and confident in their smart grey uniforms and spike helmets, began streaming through the streets, haunted and frantic looks on their blood spattered face. Officers ran about trying to establish order, panic reigned. And then suddenly, emerging from the woods on the cities outskirts, a wall of red-panted Frenchmen, emerged, bayonets fixed, colors unfurled and trumpets blazing emerged, lead by officers wearing the white gloves of St. Cyr (the French military academy). With a cry of "Alsace!" they rushed forward. Suddenly, from a window, a machine gun barked, and waves of men stumbled and fell. But then a battery of 75's pulled forward and silenced the gun with a stream of shells, and the French kept coming.

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Elan vital at work.

Thus the 1st Battle of Mulhouse, the first major battle on the Western Front, ended in a stunning French victory. Since the mobilization order had been given, d'Esperey threw all of his offensive energy into planning his offensive into Alsace. Every morning, he and his driver would speed along the border, the general personal mapping out the area, sighting artillery pieces, and observing the terrain. The men were briefed on their objectives, and moral soared, whereas on the German side no evidence of preparations for a defense seem to have been taken seriously. The end result was when the five divisions of the 7th corps formed up along the border at 06:00, the two German divisions stationed in the are, who in all likelihood were still unaware of the declaration of war the Kaiser had made on Belgium and France not an hour earlier, were slaughtered in their forward positions. By nightfall the city was firmly in French hands, though the Germans wouldn't be driven over the Rhine until the next day. It has a stunning example of elan, of French offensive prowess and spirit. And it was also a swan song.

Not 20 miles to the north, at the fortress town of Kolmar, an entire German corps had taken the prudent measure of actually preparing a defense, so that when 15 French divisions assaulted the town, the Germans met them with withering fire from shallow trenches. The Frenchg 75's, though extremely mobile and devastating in the open, failed to make an impression on the German forts in the area, which the Germans quickly filled with machine guns. Attacking in splendid looking waves, the French were mowed down in the hundreds, and after a week of brutal fighting, thousands of French and Germans lay dead, while only Mulhouse flew the tricolor. Even in elan's finest moment, the tools of modern war taught the French a bloody lesson.

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The aesthetically pleasing French assault of Mulhouse was a glorious triumph of French planning and offensive spirit.

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It was a victory however, that proved difficult to replicate. All the planning in the world seemed to come to naught against dug in German machine guns at the town of Kolmar. This bloody battle is the result of a single assault on a German trench line.

d'Esperey called off the fruitless attacks, and ordered his men to dig in, an order almost unthinkable to the French officers! But this decision proved wise, when on July 29, the Germans launched a massive assault of 11 divisions against the French. The Germans had far more heavy artillery that hammered the French lines day in and day out, but the French had control of the air, and this allowed the French artillery to redeploy and meet German attacks before the Germans even exited their trenches. The battle ground on for days, the Germans refusing to give up, but d'Esperey calmly cycled in new troops from their staging zone in Belfort. Once a unit had taken 15% casualties, it was pulled back and replaced, while the Germans continued the hammer forward with their troops. For a week strait this continued, one German officer writing of his units attack: "Nothing more terrible could be imagined. We advanced much to fast-a civilian fired at us-he was immediately shot-we were ordered to attack the enemy flank in a forest of beeches-we lost our direction-the men were done for-the enemy opened fire-shells came down on us like hail(!)" Finally, the Germans were forced to call it quits, losing 9,000 men killed within a week compared to 4,500 French. Thousands more were wounded.

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Massive 420mm howitzers that dwarfed anything the French could field couldn't help the Germans overcome fierce resistance and machine guns at the 2nd Battle of Mulhouse. Though they did level a good part of the one picturesque city.

As the French and Germans battled for control over Alsace in the south, in the north the great clash of giants was taking place. No sooner had reports of German troops entering Belgium been received, than Foch launched the 3rd Army into Belgium. The Belgians, suddenly finding themselves prey of the massive German army, welcomed the French with open arms, and the Belgians rushed trains to the border to facilitate the French movement. Into the dark woods of the Ardennes the two armies marched. Upon reaching the border of Luxembourg, the illustrious Corps Colonial, with it's African Tirailleurs and Zouaves, wheeled right and entered the small country. But the Germans found them first, and caught the hardened colonial veterans in their bright red pants in the open. The corps commander, the hard fighting Charles Mangin, personally lead the corps in a doomed bayonet charge, that in two days of brutal fighting left the corps almost whipped out in brutal fighting. The 3rd Colonial Division in particular found itself surrounded by an entire corps of the Crown Price's army, and fought for 6 hours almost to the last man, their divisional and brigade generals dying with the privates and corporals.

All throughout the Ardennes similar scenes were repeated, as over confident French units blundered into German units. The Germans, more often than not, came out on top, as their superior numbers and equipment put the French at an immense disadvantage. Nevertheless, the Joffre kept his calm, and ordered Foch to stop where he was and dig in. Stubborn though they were, the French were quick to adapt something when it worked. Within three days the French had thrown aside their notion of preemptive assault, and every crossroads and every field was quickly turned into a killing ground. The Germans, confident after the wrecking of the unfortunate colonials, soon found themselves under a murderous fire. The dark woods turned into a nightmare, as confused and fragmented fighting spread throughout the area.

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German grenadiers of the 6th Army assaulting a French position in Bastogne. The crucial road junction saw intense fighting, taking the Germans the better part of a month to finally force the French out.

The slaughter was immense. One French officer wrote home about the slaughter a German division was subject to when a French Corps was able to place their 75's on their flank: "The battlefield afterwards was an unbelievable spectacle. Thousands of dead were still standing, supported as if by a flying buttress made of bodies lying in rows on top of each other in an ascending arc from the horizontal to an angle of 60 degrees."

A French sergeant in another part of the line wrote of his units terrible ordeal on the front lines in the brutal battle of Bastonge in late July: "Night is falling and (the artillery) look like old men sticking out their tongues and spitting fire. Heaps of corpses, French and German, are lying every which way, rifles in hand. Rain is falling, shells are screaming and bursting - shells all the time. Artillery fire is the worst. I lay all night listening to the wounded groaning-some were German. The cannonading goes on. Whenever it stops we hear the wounded crying from all over the woods. Two or three men go mad every day." Though the brutal trench combat of the coming months is remembered for it's brutality, in those chaotic days of "open warfare," the casualty rate was the highest it would get in the war. One almost wonders why Generals sought to replicate it for the rest of the war.

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The results of a failed French counter attack on Bastogne, early August.

By August, the French inferiority in numbers finally showed, and the Germans succeeded in clearing the Ardennes forest of the French Army, which was sent reeling back into France and Belgium. However, though the German spearhead remained unbroken, the fierce French resistance has effectively collapsed the entire Schiefflen plan. Forced to deal with a large French Army, the Germans never even got the time to attack the Belgians in Liege, who quickly fortified their position to be one of the most formidable in the world. In mid July the British Army, dragged into war by the German invasion of neutral Belgium, was on the continent in force, taking up positions in Namur and allowing the French to throw every available soldier into the fight. Meanwhile, the Germans, exhausted and bloodied from the fight, made the crucial mistake of pausing their advance, this allowed the French to quickly dig in at crucial spots along their front. The French 4th Army was pulled up from central France and thrown into the fray, finally putting the French on numerical parity with the Germans. The once derided Gallieni was now given free range of dictating the defensive measures, while Joffre kept his cool after every defeat and every morning casualty report, giving calm and level headed orders that kept the French Army in the fight.

When the Germans finally did attack at the start of September - after a few weeks spent slaughtering Belgians civilians in order to "crush rebel cells,", the infamous city of Sedan stood in their way. The French had a score to settle. The Germans, still enjoying a massive artillery advantage, unleashed a massive barrage on the French, that broke several divisions. But the French had established a deep reserve pool, and learning from Mulhouse in the south, the troops were effectively cycled in and out of combat. For days the Germans attacked, before finally their own assault waves could go no further, the way was blocked by the bodies of their comrades! The French were ecstatic, the great defeat of 1870 was avenged! Never mind that a few weeks latter an even larger German assault would take the city in even bloodier fighting, the French by that time had firmly established their defensive positions, resting comfortably on the massive fortresses of Verdun.

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French troops defending a roadside ditch during the 1st Battle of Sedan. Though the Germans would win the 2nd battle a few weeks later, the battle proved a massive moral boost for the French people, and bought them more time to dig in all along the front.

Nevertheless, there still presented to the Germans an avenue into France, at the tip of their western flank through the Belgian town of Philippeville. After a failed British and French attack on the German controlled town of Dinant - the British found themselves equally unprepared for the brutal cost of offensives - the German 6th Army under the Crown Prince launched a massive attack on the town on September 27. Again, the German guns smashed French positions, and for a moment, it looked as if the Germans would push the French out, seizing the town amid bloody fighting. But from behind the lines, came once again the proud Corps Colonial, tattered colors waving, and bands playing. Once again, with Mangin leading the frontal attack personally, the battered veterans threw themselves at the Germans, smashing into their assault, driving the Germans out of town and into their forward starting zones, taking a divisional commander prisoner in the process. Though their brilliant attack cost the colonials dearly yet again, this time they had undoubtedly saved the entire French defense. Soon, Foch himself appeared on the field to direct the troops and French and British reinforcements poured in. Again, the Germans committed themselves, and for the rest of October, and into November, the armies clashed in a never ending battle.

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African troops over running a German artillery position at the Battle of Philippeville. Out of 1,100 men who attacked the German guns, three would be unwounded by the time they had returned to French lines. Thus was the common bravery of the men.

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German, French, British, all were thrown ruthlessly into the meatgrinder at Philippeville, the first true trench battle of the war. As of November 7, 1914, the battle was still ongoing.

The trench war had begun.


And so, as winter descended on the continent, Europe found itself locked in a war beyond anyone's *cough*Kitchener*cough* imagination. Decades of planning and theory had meet it's bloody end at the tip of bayonets and underneath the sights of machine guns. As the western front descends into brutal attrition, military disaster looms in Russia, Serbia is occupied, and Italy weighs it's options, while bloodshed occurs in colonies all over the world and the Ottomans do battle with British and Russians in the Sinai. And the first of many graves are dug.

"We are about to engage in a battle on which the fate of our country depends...the moment has passed for looking at the rear...Troops that can advance no farther must, at any price, hold the ground they have conquered and die on the spot rather than give way."- Joseph Joffre, Order of the Day, September 7th, the 1st Battle of Sedan.
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WOOOOOOO!

Remove WW2 you are of worst WW, WW1 clearly superior.

Can't wait for the next update!
 
This is going to turn into quite the lovely meat grinder. Is it more stressful than the Ottomans so far? You have more to do, but also more options available to you.
 
I wouldn't say it's more stressful (the Bulgarian front and the Battle of the Bulge were certainly stressful campaigns to wage), but due to troop density, the battles are bigger, bloodier, and longer. Philippeville has been going on for a month and a half now and shows no signs of stopping, though the Germans almost won it before the colonials did a banzai charge.

That said, sorry for general lack of ingame pics, it was intense enough where I was too focused on shifting a million men around lol.

But of course anyone who's fought on the eastern front will feel like everything else is for pansies :D
 
Well, you've got a much narrower front in France when compared to... everywhere else ;)

I do wonder which side Italy will pick this time. Might be a nasty surprise if they chose CP.

Any news from the naval fronts? There certainly are some clashes between the different navies, aren't there?
 
Nothing on the seas save for a shit ton of convoy's being sunk by u boats. It is only early November 1914.
 
Damn Germans spoil everything >->. Well I'll just have to spoil his dinner plans in Paris!
 
If Italy is CP, does that mean Japan can go through the Suez? I know in regular HOI3 multi, some groups have rules against Japan doing that. However, this is a different situation, and I don't know if it's possible to win with Italy in CP if Japan does squat...
 
If Italy is CP, does that mean Japan can go through the Suez? I know in regular HOI3 multi, some groups have rules against Japan doing that. However, this is a different situation, and I don't know if it's possible to win with Italy in CP if Japan does squat...

4.4 Japan may not send troops to Europe before they have taken the German colonies' ports in Asia and the Pacific if Japan is Entente; or Singapore, Bombay, Calcutta and Rangoon and the Suez canal when CP.

So if they're entente and the glorious ottomans wont take the Suez they can go through it.
 
Bienvenue à la lutte ! Je espère que vous apprécierez votre séjour . It shall be a glorious and bloody war for all!