Session Five: Collapse and Retreat
In Russia: Our leadership has collapsed.
In 1910 Russia was an expansive country with the largest Army in the world. At the start of the war, Russia had barely expanded the Army and was soon to be out researched. Russia is as of mid-1915 a more or less beaten country. The industrial capacity is not enough to maintain a large army in the field with the latest equipment and field new troops. The country has plenty of resources but it has failed to out-build its enemies. Germany has been augmenting the Austrian line all war and even the Ottomans are being buffed by Germany while Germany conducts substantial offensives into Russia.
Russia should have never bothered with keeping pace with the Central Powers. Russia's greatest strength was its numbers but those were never put into the field. Quality over Quantity was favored, but the Central Powers were able to field more men of better quality. More troops were needed and with better organization and depth.
Russia will be the first country to exit the war most likely and all because it did not build correctly. Yes there have been some tactical failures, but the war was lost primarily on the home front. The opposing armies are simply, better and more numerous now that the truth of the Russian Army has come to light; we simply are not a giant.
Russia will hold out as long as possible, but if Minsk should be threatened while the rest of the front falls back, Russia will exit the war and surrender the army to the Central Powers.
The Imperial Russian Navy:
At the end of 1914 the Admiralty drew up a plan to catch the Ottomans sleeping, unfortunately our plans were stopped cold by dozens of German divisions.
The plan was to land the Mountain Army that had been organized along the Carpathians for a push against the Austrians. These three corps were all sent to Odessa for reforming. We were successful in landing these troops just east of the Ottoman Capital. The speed with which this took place hampered our advance and our situation became untenable. The German mass from the capital arrived and took the mountains before we could do much of anything.
Still, the Entente was grateful as it appeared to draw off significant reserves from the Syrian and Greek fronts. The French and British forces were very aggressive and successful to the south and Russia was just hoping to be able to throw a wrench at the Ottoman player. While this invasion was short, Stavka considers it a success.
The Black Sea Fleet sunk the Ottoman pride of the fleet along with its escorts.
The Imperial Russian Army:
We have collapsed on two fronts while we launch pointless attacks in the Polish sector.
Throughout all of 1914 the Army garrisoned the ports along the Baltic coast and reserves were stationed nearby to provide for a reaction to any German landings. It was believed that the Germans who had total control of the Baltic would try a landing in 1914 to break open the war. This landing never came and due to the loss of Poland, the majority of these troops were sent to the front to bolster reserves. This left several Baltic ports open to attack.
On the eve of the attack, Stavka had successfully reorganized virtually the entire Polish and Baltic Fronts with reserves in depth and had dispatched an entire Army to the Carpathian Front to relieve French Armored Cars.
The Baltic had been left open as it no longer appeared that Germany would land troops there or did not even have the ability to do so. French Armored Cars were sent to guard in the south in what would become the Romanian Front.
The Fronts:
Poland and the Baltic:
Trench lines had been completed but once German troops landed in the north, they launched a simultaneous assault on Memel and the army broke. The trench lines soon became a thing of the past as virtually the entire Baltic Front broke open. Poland remained static and Russian armies threw themselves against the now thinned out German defenders. Russian troops did take a number of provinces including Tilsit yet again, but gains were soon lost as the whole Army fell back.
Reserves were quickly dispatched to try and outnumber the Germans, quickly removing our defense in depth but stopping the Germans from collapsing what has become a massive pocket with its furthest point being Brest-Litovsk. Stavka actually called a full retreat two times, but the retreats were called off both times.
The immediate threat to Petrograd was obvious. The Germans were trying to knock Russia out of the war in 1915. Only a corps was available to defend the city.
This corps was withdrawn immediately to within the city itself while an infantry division and cavalry division from Finland raced east. The Germans launched naval assaults all along the coast with several corps landing north and west of the city while the Russian armies on the Polish Front fell back to create a new line. Just as German troops nearly cut off the city, an infantry corps came available. Green troops were dispatched to prevent the encirclement.
I must admit that I more or less lost any hope of being able to turn back the Germans as I saw the number of troops pouring in. France immediately sent troops to Archangelsk and they were the first to arrive. Britain also sent an entire army to Murmansk but the snow in Finland stalled them greatly.
Pertrograd held out through several attacks but eventually fell despite the encirclement being broken. The troops were destroyed only a few days before the encirclement ended.
This was the last victory the troops in the city saw although they did hold out for quite some time.
The front more or less fell static once Petrograd fell. The Mountain Army I had sent to invade Turkey was rushed all the way from the Caucasus to plug the massive hole in the line. The Germans also sent a single division towards Moskow and that city fell as well for a time.
While the most impressive losses may have been in the Baltic, the worst are in the south.
The Carpathian/Ukrainian Front:
This front hadn't been reorganized. French Armored Cars held very key parts of the line and it became apparent all too quickly that we were in greater trouble against the Austrians. The Germans stole an opportunity. The Austrians were simply beating us. Everywhere we went it seemed that the armored cars were the units being attacked, they couldn't even be used to plug holes even briefly anymore. It became so bad that a large stack of these units was just sent as far away as possible because they kept finding themselves in the wrong place, offering nothing but penalties and poor combat abilities.
Essentially what ended up happening was that the Austrians launched the offensive first. Russia did not take this seriously as it seemed that it was simply aimed at the two Austrian province that Russia controlled near Lwow. Then two battles became four and then five and six and seven and eight. The entire front erupted as the Germans landed on the Baltic coast. The troops in this sector were the worst prepared because they were supposed to be rotated out as the line was to be reorganized with the French AC units as strategic reserves for a planned offensive. These units found themselves on the defensive without adequate infantry support and small holes in the line became big ones. There is opportunity for the Austrian player to encircle Kiev and conquer the Ukraine. To be honest, there really isn't much that can be done here without taking away from another front. Again, the most impressive defeat was in the north, but the war has been lost in the south.
I'm sorry I didn't take many screenshots, that was the last thing on my mind. There was at one point maybe 30 battles going on at once and the southern front was more or less neglected because there was just no stopping the Austrians.
The Caucasus:
Russia actually went on the offensive here. I do not have photos but I did take back some ground. There was a point when the Ottomans went down to single divisions and the Entente players urged Russia to attack. Russia did so and took back most of its ground and now the Russian and British lines are joined on the Persian border. However this front was completely neglected and several thousand Russian troops were lost in encirclements once the Ottoman player could consolidate. Russian troops are now retreating back to a better line of defense.
Overall Picture:
As stated earlier, the real problem is that Russia cannot compete with anyone in tech. It isn't the leadership, Russia can research all it wants, but the problem is that Russia cannot successfully arm pre-war troops with newer equipment while building new formations. Building a navy is quite frankly laughable and Russia should either focus on masses of men or perhaps using the terrain to its advantage. Maybe using smaller formations of higher quality troops would work.
It should be noted that this collapse isn't even unhistorical. Russia didn't quit the war until 1917 but it was very much in bad shape in 1915. This may be right on time, the thing is that France hasn't even begun to fight in the west and the Ottomans are on the ropes. Knocking Russia out of the war will do nothing for the Ottomans since I've done little if anything on that front.
I blame myself for putting too many men and the wrong ones at that in Poland. I made the decision to neglect the ports in the Baltic. I was the one that moved the entire infantry reserve from the Romanian front and moved it north to help in Poland, leaving only the French AC Army there. Granted I have fought the majority the Central Powers on a long front, but Russia could have been more successful had I made different decisions. The first of which would have been to build far more men and just live with the tech problem and focus on doctrines.
Russia does not have the luxury of researching everything while maintaining officers, but Russia could stay up in doctrine. I am not on par with the CP at all. For the next session I will attempt to bleed out the Austrians. I am not done yet. The troops have mostly been upgraded to Level VI infantry (FINALLY) and new formations are coming out soon. There may be several new divisions to throw into the fight very early on.
Best case scenario is that Russia can stabilize with these new troops, hold Kiev and Minsk and possibly retake Petrograd. Worst case Scenario would be Russia having to leave the war by Spring of 1916. I cannot endure another offensive of that scale, but I have no idea how bad this offensive has cost the Austrians.
The Austrian player was complaining about MP but the Austrians are being buffed substantially by the Germans, which would be correct. Perhaps Austria can be bled white around Kiev. I have plenty of MP.
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I will be taking over the USA possibly midway through the next game depending on when Russia quits the war. All players seem intent on finishing out the war. Remember France and Britain have barely been tapped and the Entente may be losing in Russia, but they have done wonders against the Greeks and Ottomans.
