The Great War (mod 1914)

After the Summer offensive, the Allied armies needed to rest and to recover before another attack on the Western Front was implemented. In addition to this, both French and British hoped that, finally, the American Army would finally join the fight, but General Wood, US C-i-C, resisted the pressure and insisted that he was to commit his forces were they were ready and capable of fighting. Meawnhile, Lloyd George kept insisting Haig that he was to permit the resumption of the offensive only if showed signs of productivity, while the British Generalisimo insisted that the German army was broken after such crushing defeats. However, even him had to admit that his own forces were in a desperate need of a rest.

In the meantime, the new British tank, the Mk IV, was finally available. And, suddenly, Haig decided to wait. He wanted his armoured brigades to be fully equipped with the Mk IV before resuming the offensive. Surprised, Lloyd George agreed. With a crew of 8 and a combat weight of 28 tonnes (27 for the female version, that is, the Mk armed only with machine guns), the Mk IV (male) carried carried four Hotchkiss machine guns as well as two guns (now shorter barrelled QF 6 pdr 6 guns), while the Mk IV (female) had six Hotchkiss machine guns.

This new tank replaced the Lewis gun by the Hotchkiss, as the former had a vulnerable barrel and a tendency to overheat or foul after prolonged firing. As a flexible 50 round strip was fully developed in May 1917 for the Hotchkiss, this machine gun was chosen then as the standard machine gun for tanks. By November 1917, nearly 460 Mark IV tanks were available to be used in the incoming offensive. It was thought that a large concentration of tanks could quickly overcome even the most sophisticated trench system.

Meanwhile, the Germans were also testing their first tanks, without too much room for celebration. Even if an Austrian officer, Günther Burstyn, had suggested the design of a Motorgeschutz (motorized gun) in an article in 1912, the army lacked the resources or interest to pursue the idea. It won't be until 1914, when Frederich Göbel proposed a "wheel-less/rail-less" vehicle as a means of cross-country travel -in fact, a mechanized walker with six sets of mechanized feet- when the German army began to show interest in armored vehicles. It won't be until the first encounters with British tanks that the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL, Supreme Army Command) began to press the Prussian War Ministry for a German tank.

Thus, in August 1917 the so-called "Hindenburg program", a set of ambitious objectives for increased military production, included the "tank" within its directives, creating the "Abteilung A7V", named after the Abteilung 7 Verkehrswesen (7th Transport Department) and, in september, the Prussian War Office formally ordered the construction of a Panzerkampfwagen (armored fighting vehicle), under the codename A7V, and an Überlandwagen (cross-country vehicle) built on the same chassis.

While prepartion the resumption of the offensive, Haig had continued to plan the next phase with his customary diligence. That the War Cabinet would permit a continuance of the offensive provided it was success had little effect on him. The lamentable defeat of of Russia convinced Haig that the British had to persist in pressing the Germans. Partly for this reason, and because the first units of the US Army were joining the fight, Haig opted to expand the scale of operations and sought to make the Flanders campaign more than just a killing zone for the Germans and wanted to give the knock-out blow to the German Army and to achieve that Haig took a heavier hand in planning the second phase than he had the first. When received by Haig, the plans initially outlined a massive pincer movement around Brussels that would encircle 25 enemy divisions.


Haig has stipulated that the operation was to include the Belgians, the French, the Americans and it would include a wider use of tanks. Haig was sanguine about the prospects of success, hoping that persistence could drain German reserves and lead to a decisive victory. With Haig desiring a spectacularly enhanced campaign, Plumer placed demands for more artillery, aircraft and reinforcements and worked with his army commanders to clarify the details of each part of the operation.


Haig and Plumer roamed Army Group Flanders checking preparations, inspecting tanks with General Horne and reviewing the Americans with Lieutenant-General Bullard. As the date for the offensive approached, the Allied artillery in the front salient resumed its devastation of the Namur sector and the Allied infantry prepared to carry out the inevitable assault.




@Nathan Madien: If you run out of ammo, you can throw the helmet to your enemy.

@El Pip: Interesting possibility...

Apparently, the Soviet Ukraine is nothing but a puppet of the Soviet Union, whichi, in due time, it will merge by event with the Motherland, IIRC. .

Oh Romans...

@trekaddict: Old habits die hard.

@Nathan Madien: American rednecks with pointed helmets... fascinating

@talt: Indeed, indeed.

@MastahCheef117: Well, it looked like a good idea to me

@Sir Humphrey: Darn it, another leak in the War Office!!!! Darling, come here!

@Milites: I have no intention of having anything to do with Russian Civil War. In due time, I will deal with the Reds...

The German line surrounding Brussels was the most formidably defence in Belgium in 1918 and Haig had set grandiose objectives for the campaign. Thus, General Plumer was certain that only a gradualist approach would succeed in the campaign. The first stage of Allied offensive began on December 1st, 1917. The Battle of Namur developed with the British Fourth Army on the left, the Second Army on the center and the French First Army on the right, and it included 450 Mark IV and Mark V tanks, and 200,000 men. A key factor in the final plan was secrecy. There was to be no pre-battle bombardment, only artillery fire (by 1,386 guns and howitzers) immediately prior to the advance of the allied forces forces. They advanced 12 kilometres (7 miles) into German-held territory in just five hours, capturing 13,000 prisoners. Erich Ludendorff referred to this day as the "Schwarzer Tag des deutschen Heeres" ("the black day of the German Army"), not because of the ground lost to the advancing Allies, but because the morale of the German troops had sunk to the point where large numbers of troops began to capitulate.


One Samur was taken, the second stage began. The British Fourth and Second Armies and the French First Army, reinforced this time by the British Third and Fifth Armies plus the Belgians attacked on December 6th, without delay or pause to recover. Ruined villages had been turned ino German strongholds and had to be subdued to enable the British to progress. Consequently, they were subjected to the same precision bombardment that had characterised the first phase of the campaign.

By sheer luck, the weather was clear and the British infantry faced few difficulties in advancing. Supported by the Royal Flying Corps, the tanks made excellent progress, despite the frequency of breakdowns and the fact that only 300 tanks were available to the British at this stage of the battle. Even the cavalry made impressive advances, but eventually the Germans were able to bring some order to their shattered front line and successfully inflicted numerous losses on the troopers. It took almost two weeks to free Antwerp, which was to trap the bulk of the Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern (270,000 men) in Brussels.


On the Bulgarian front, Generals Guillaumat's and Murray's troops attacked and captured the strong Bulgarian position of Skra-di-Legen, marking the beginning of their new attempt against Plovdiv, a battle that was to last longer than expected and was to become a source of disappointment to both Paris and London. When the first Battle of Plovdiv ended (December 7th-15st, 1917), the Allies had suffered huge losses and were forced back in some points. Worse still, they were still far away from Sofia





(1) The Via Dolorosa (Latin for Way of Grief or Way of Suffering) is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion.

@El Pip: Indeed. A bit slow, but sturdy in any case. And true again, I'm quite happy for all my American cannon fodder allies to act as a meat shield support for them, as our French enemies friends had learnt the trick and were a bit weary to get slaughtered die for the British Empire the Belle France.

@Winner: I truly hope so. Just in case, let's kick their balls again :rofl:

@trekaddict: El Pip, hurry, give Trek's pills!!!!

@Nathan Madien: One, the grey one, is the date when the pic was taken, the other one the ETA of the troops to their destination.

@MastahCheef117: That could be an explanation. Baldrick's trick to mislead the enemy?

@trekaddict: I told you, El Pip, we need to have Trek's pills at hand...