The Eastern European Theatre of 1919
As the new Tsar quickly took control of the Russian Empire, he focused his attention on the Ukraine, and on Rostov-on-Don. He made sure that this would be the city that would not fall, this city would remain solidly within the Russian Empire, and it would be used to push the German invaders away. Two Russian Armies were formed around this city. The first Army was sent to the outskirts of Rostov-on-Don, to try and trap the Germans as they moved into the city. The next was an Army inside the city, which would serve to give the Germans hell at every street corner that they could. However, planning soon fell apart as the First Army was camped a bit too close to the city, and the Commanding General said that it was far enough away from the front that they would be fine. It wasn't until late at night that the fallacy of this command was discovered. The Romanian 2nd Army was moving in to being operations against the city, and suddenly found itself in a position of superior ground against the enemy, who, incidentally, were sleeping at the time with only a few sentries on watch. It didn't take long for the Romanians to move their Guns into position. Around five hours past midnight, a terrible roar broke out. The Romanian Army used all of the guns it had at it's disposal for a massive artillery barrage, all raining down on the sleeping encampment of Russian Soldiers. The devastation was terrifying. Some of these artillery shells were filled with poison gas, which soon spread across the entire camp. The Russians, after the first gun was fired, immediately set into action, forcing a march to retreat to the City, and try and fortify it to the best of their ability, and to try and salvage their already damaged operation. The Romanian Army quickly rushed into the area to try and mop up as many soldiers as they could. The retreating Russians, however, were able to put up a fight, and managed to inflict some casualties on their enemy.
[-1,273 Regulars from Romania. -7,867 Conscripts from Romania. -64,897 Regulars from Russia. -165,024 Conscripts from Russia.]
Romanian Artillery the morning of the massive Barrage on the Russian Camp.
With news of such an effective usage of artillery, the Romanian Army and the German Army, now in position to shell Rostov-on-Don, the German High Command decided to precede their invasion with a 7-day barrage of Artillery. German storehouses were opened up and trains whizzed down the tracks to the German lines. Each train was loaded down with tons of artillery shells, all the while the Germans moved their impressive artillery and their Railway Batteries into position. hour after hour, day after day, the German Empire pounded away, with their strategy to raise the range on their guns every 4 hours, so that the entire city would be covered in artillery fire, and that the entire city would be destroyed. By the fifth day, the Russians could not handle this much anymore. They sent a regiment of soldiers out to offer a surrender of the city, but fighting broke out between the two nation's forces, until finally the Russians waved the white flag. They would surrender to the German Army, and give up the city. Even while this was happening, the remaining Russian Army used this a distraction to escape, with the Tsar himself, who was to command the front lines. This was seen as a huge German Victory, as the marched into the city of Rostov-on-Don on August 21st, 1919.
[-33,634 Conscripts from Germany. -77,306 Regulars from Russia. -59,781 Conscripts from Russia.]
One of the German Railway Batteries that was used against Rostov-on-Don.
In Crimea, the last remaining Russian forces had been evacuated by the Russian Army to help with the defense of Rostov-on-Don. In its place, however, was soldiers of the British Commonwealth. Widely heralded to come help save the Russian Empire from the German invaders, soldiers from South Africa and India, many of whom spoke English, converged in Crimea, ready to defend against the Hun. The Commonwealth forces did not know the area very well, and they paid the price of this on the field of battle. The Romanian Army, a different detachment than the one that was currently fighting in Rostov-on-Don, forced their way into Crimea, easy overrunning the initial defenses, and then surging into the South Africa and Indian camps, taking them by surprise, once again with a small artillery barrage. While they had planned to march out and into the Ukraine, the Isthmus of Perekop was where the majority of the fighting took place during this invasion. The Commonwealth forces were able to hold their ground, but for only so long. They were pushed back and back, until the point where they reached the thinnest part of the Isthmus, where they attempted to put up a defense. Romanian Artillery told them otherwise, and the Commonwealth retreated back to Sevastopol, where they set up their defensive positions against the Romanians, and desperately called for reinforcements from the Russian Empire. The amount of Commonwealth forces in this area was able to deter the Romanian Army, which retreated back and waited for reinforcements to take them on. The casualties to the Commonwealth forces, however, were staggeringly disproportionate to those of the Romanians.
[-435 Regulars from Romania. -2,654 Conscripts from Romania. -31,663 Regulars from India. -7,915 Regulars from South Africa.]
In the Baltics, the Russian Empire begins a massive, full-scale invasion of these countries, and all along the front line they forced themselves into the Baltics, sweeping through Estonia first. The Russians were able to get a good amount of ground before their invasion force ran out of steam, and the Minsk War Machine was able to rear their armies and set up a defense. Trenches were erected, and the Russians, which had wanted to sweep into the Baltics, capture them, and put the pressure on Byelorussia. However, with Estonia half occupied, and some ground gained in the other two Baltic states, they stood as a bulwark against the Russian invasion. The trenches were dug, and the front once again stabilised. Fighting would continue for the rest of 1919 along these lines, while the Russians, forced by their Commanding Generals to push further into the Baltics, ordered attack after attack after attack on the Baltic-German Trenches. The Central Powers, on the other hand, did not retreat. The commanding General, Paul von Hindenburg, secretly and quietly constructed a fall-back line. By Novemeber of 1919, the ruthless onslaught of the Russian attacks forced the Central Powers to retreat, but they did so to the Hindenburg Line, a well-fortified and highly complex system of Trenches and barbed wire. It stretched across the new front-line, that the Russians soon took up, and were forced to dig in, lest they be slaughtered by Machine Guns. Most of Estonia had been occupied by the Russian Empire, and the land area of Lithuania and Latvia had been cut in half. While this position was stretched out, the Central Powers felt confident they could hold this line.
[-1,436 Regulars from Estonia. -12,270 Conscripts from Estonia. -1,436 Regulars from Latvia. -10,865 Conscripts from Latvia. -1,436 Regulars from Lithuania. -5,885 Conscripts from Lithuania. -28,228 Conscripts from Germany. -120,517 Regulars from the Russian Empire. -149,604 Conscripts from the Russian Empire.]
With the Russian offensive stunted in the Baltics, a Russian offensive, designed to swing through Kiev, and then into Byelorussia. German scouting planes were able to find this force of the Russian Army, and their scouting reports seemed to denote that the Russian Force was smaller than theirs. The German High Command, interested in what this would bring, waited, and fortified their positions. The results were nothing like the German High Command thought it would be like. The Russians attacked with a glorious Fury. They heard of the minor success of the Russians in the North, and failure of the Russians in the South. They were determined to make sure that they would win in the Centre. Massive amounts of firepower was brought out for these Russian forces, and they were the sharpest, most veteran forces of the Russian Empire. The fighting, outside nothing more than a small Russian village, would mark the face of this war, and determine the momentum going forward.
The Russian Forces moved first, with elements of Cavalry harassing the German regiments in the front, and were able to pick off a good number of Germans before having to retreat. The bulk of the Russian Army was put into action against the German forces, who were still preparing for an assault themselves, and had no fortifications to hide behind. It was an open field, and the Russians had the momentum, bringing up more soldiers from the rear, and massive artillery barrages against the Germans. They were unable, however, to break the Germans, who had quickly called in Byelorussians to help to shore up their defenses. The Germans, desperate for a breakout, sent a Spearhead decision through the very centre of the Russian attack. Assault wave me assault wave, and for the first time in this Great War, hand to hand combat was the main method of fighting. The Germans took yet another risky move, drawing up their artillery and firing into their owner Spearhead. While they did kill many of their own, they were able to kill far more Russians. The German Army was then able to funnel through this gap created by the Artillery, and soon began to envelop the Russian forces. The Russians, however, would not surrender. They were able to cut off the head of the Spear, and force the surrender of the main head of the German Army, which they promptly sent to Moscow.
German Prisoners of War being sent East to Moscow.
Even this courageous move by the Russians did not win them the day. The Byelorussians, which had finally been moved into place, moved against the Russian forces, pushing them back, and the Russian Generals were forced to call off the assault. They began to give a fighting retreat, while the Germans gained steam. The Russians started to trade land for time, much of the land that they had just gotten back through the assault. The Russian High Command, knowing something needed to be done, began to develop plans for a calculated retreat back further, to regroup as much as possible, and take as few casualties as possible, while giving them time to defend against the Germans advancements. The Germans, however, at this time, were already on the March. After claiming a bloody Victory, it was a Victory none the less, and they continued their charge onwards, with one word on the tongue of every German. Moscow.
[-13,424 Regulars from Germany. -200,680 Conscripts from Germany. -27,665 Regulars from Byelorussia. -140,923 Conscripts from Byelorussia. -45,179 Regulars from Russia. -65,092 Conscripts from Russia.]
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