June 1879, a short lull
This is going to be a short update as I have all my images organised in 6 month blocks, but in any case it is easier to keep the flow going if I do little and often. Also allows a brief glimpse of the world beyond the bloodstained Dolomites.
The colonial war in E Africa grinds on. Losses fail to register compared to those in Europe but I have more or less regained the coast and am pushing a bit inland. Tanga is the only coastal province I don’t hold and is horrible jungle terrain. Finding the enemy, never mind winning a battle is a challenge.
Till the European war is resolved my intent here is low key. I’ll establish a decent line, build up forts, depots and harbours and wait.
In the Dolomites, there is one sharp battle as the Austrians pull back. The Italians do not try to interfere with their retreat..
While the marines hold off another attack at Split
However, it appears as if the Austrians have had enough for now
My guess is the attacking formation was running out of supply (3rd blue bar) and had to fall back, equally it couldn’t take on replacements while on the offensive in a province I hold. However, despite the losses, I am mostly on top of the replacement costs:
My ability to keep my army at or near full strength can be seen in the OOB:
Equally 5 combat formations are now veterans/experienced (they are at 40% of the scale – new units start between 0-10) and that is yet another bonus in combat. Less important, but note that almost all my artillery formations are now veteran.
The population remains supportive of the war effort
In effect, the only dissent is in the 3 ‘Italian’ provinces I have occupied – Lombardia, SudTirol/Alto Adige and Venezia (where no doubt they are whinging at being expected to pronounce their z properly). The Po provinces also are still rather pro-rebel. Note that the growth rates are mostly up around 3% (3rd col from the right) apart from in SudTirol. Anyone would think the war was putting them off.
And losses for both sides reflect the nature of the war in the last 3 months.
So I am now #2 in the world. Obviously my progress has made everyone note just how important Italy really is (& only 29,000 behind Britain). Losses in the war have been horrendous. I’ve lost 350,000 (some will have been in the colonies but that will be a minor portion), the Austrians close to 1 million (& another 170,000 prisoners). My NM is up to 174 and they are at 78. 65 is the critical point at which they break but that ratio goes a long way to explaining my dominance on the battlefield.
So with nothing decided it is time to formulate my plans for the second half of 1879. I am in a near ideal position. I am on the defence (at a time period when the defence holds all the advantages), with an increasingly veteran army (and good commanders, two of whom are 6-7-7 now), a strong economy and general popular support for the war. My opponent is fielding reserve formations, attacking easily defended positions and with dwindling national enthusiasm. Equally clearly my artillery is queen of the battlefield, they may have more but a combination of experience and equipment makes the ranged fire phases very one sided.
However, I am still outnumbered (2-1 in power, probably 3-1 in numbers), but I think it is time to move out of my defensive shell. I still need to keep formations mutually supporting but I think I can risk a bit more manoeuvre now.
As a wider aside, as people have noted, a human Austrian player would probably give me the Po valley now. They clearly can’t retake it militarily, the world accepts my claims and time is on my side. If it becomes clear that carrying on the war will simply utterly wreck Austria, I’ll step in to enforce a reasonable deal (at the moment all they are offering are cash reparations). I think they are times when you need to save the AI from itself.
More generally, note the Anglo-Prussian war carries on, Prussia is clearly winning but I don’t have a clue where the war is actually being waged.
