The Great War (mod 1914)

It seemed as if the Allied effort was doomed to fail. As the offensives in Artois and Champagne were comming to an unglorious end, General Smith-Dorrien began to prepare another thrust against Nasiriyah.


With Basra secured, the next target was still to be Baghdad. After reinforcing and caring back to health the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force (MEF), reinforced by the arrival of a Japanese corps (4th Gundan - three infantry divisions) under Lt. Gen. Kamio, Smith-Dorrien was still worried about some of his units. Indeed, most of the Indian Army was formed by light divisions, which were having a bad times facing the Turk. In that he agreed with Lord Curzon, who felt that better Indian divisions should be raised or that units should be brought from Britain or the Dominions -it goes without saying that French wanted to hear none of this. To make it worse, the MEF was lacking of enough field guns and shells for them.
Meanwhile, Viceroy Hardinge pressed Smith Dorrien to take Nassiriya, as he felt that it was a vital supply base, the capture of which would make the MEF’s position impregnable. With the last failed attempt still fresh on his mind, Smith Dorrien was unwilling to throw his army into a futile enterprise. Then, Italy came to his rescue.


General Monesi had been leading the 12th Italian Division in Italy until a few weeks prior to the start of the war for his country. Then he had been reassigned to lead an adhoc unit of Bersaglieri at Rhodes. There, as if possesed by the spirits of the Hospitallier knights who had raided the Turkish coast in a distant past, he landed by surprise with his Bersagleri at Antalya, to the shock and surprise of the Ottoman commanders. And to add insult to injury, what the British onslaught at Gallipoli had failed to achieve, Monesi managed to cause in a few hours. At soon as he landed, Istambul scrambled at the outrage of the Italian presence in their mainland and troops from Mesopotamia and the victorious army at Batum were send at once to face the Italian "threat".


There remained Monesi until mid August 1915, when the presence of a whole Turkish corps suggested him that it was time to leave. By then he had done his work, to many's surprise -and Churchill's bewilderment (1)- : to create havoc in the Ottoman Emprie and to throw into disarray its military effort. For some time, the Ottoman army did look as if the Italian raid had been nothing important. In fact, with the fall of Tblisi, the Turkish advance into Georgia semeed on the verge of becoming a big success.


However, it was a mirage.



(1) Great. I used three divisions against the Turk at Gallipoli, and he defeated my attempt without rushing reinforcements to the area. And there you have, a bunch of spaghetti-eaters (with all due respect and simpathy for our Italian mates) searching for the relics of Hector and Achilles -too south, I must agree- and the whole Ottoman empire goes into a panicked frenzie!!!!! If this is not a WTF-moment, I don't know what the heck it is. I can only think of a worse fate. Having the Frenchies causing this lovely havoc.




@trekaddict: I knew you were to appreciate that

@quaazi: He might, indeed... Provided that a big shell did not land amidst his big moustache. As for Monty... no, for a time I thought I was being joked, but not, Monty did that. This may explain his future behaviour -"got shot once it's enough, lads".

@Jape: Giving the Great War mod a chance is always a good idea. About the real reasons of Britain to go to war, I think I've said or read that before in this thread, but it's always nicer to say "let's help poor little brave Belgium" than "ey, move quick or the Huns will stole the oil".

@Timmie0307: and a bit late, too

@El Pip: The 1920s... That's a good reason not to argue for that in 1914... About the training. That little perfect machine that was the British army of 1914 is, in many's opinion -me among them-, the best army that Britain ever send to a war -WW2 included. That doesn't mind that they did not do some hundreds of silly mistakes, as I will show in future updates. What to say about the French army still using the red pants instead of something less "visible"? The German machine gunners loved those pants. Or what to say about the Kindermord bei Ypren?

Anyway, had been the Brits the only one making mistakes, the war would have been certainly shorter and more boring, for sure.

@Enewald: By leaving Lenin to go on the prowl?

@Tommy4ever: That's the problem, alàs, because when I begin to put pressure there, the Germans manage to move their reserves there and trash me all right. That's the problem of facing an enemy with shorter inner lines. Anyway, in due time, I'll find a way among the wire.

Gosh, that sounds so Melchiettized...

@Nathan Madien: Thank you.

@FlyingDutchie: Sir Steiner... I forgot to use that well earned title.. Shame on me.

@Razgriz 2K9: The problem is that they did not know for sure. They were firmly believer that, using enough guns and enough men, they could march to Berlin unscathed. The problem is that when comming to practical terms, the firepower of the defenders was too vast and their defences too formidble to rush them all in a single battle. And to learn that it took a bit of time, even if some of the Generals in both sides had a slight idea about that.

@Sir Humphrey: Well, I haven't given up the Baltic scheme. Yet.


Is it me or the answers are longer than the update?