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Have no fear the middle eastern campaign is coming soon. The Ottoman AI didn't bother attacking Britain and Britain didn't really bother attacking the Ottomans for now so not a lot happened until i forced their hand. I think it's something to do with the low infra in the Sinai?
 
Good work getting in Italy and Greece, also nice that you managed to halt the Germans, it would have been bad if the Germans had broken through your defences.
Looking forward to an update on the Middle East. As for nothing happening I think the infrastructure in Sinai might indeed be the reason, but from what I remember the British receives an event that fixes the problem and gives them more infrastructure so that one is able to carry out operations in the area :)
 
Patriotes1837 said:
Sweet update.

Cheers :)

Lord E- It was by event :) Greece joined somtime in May-June but I didn't make a note of when so I lumped them in with Italy.
 
Evans said:
Cheers :)

Lord E- It was by event :) Greece joined somtime in May-June but I didn't make a note of when so I lumped them in with Italy.

Alot earlier than usual then. Vive la Francais!
 
Once more, Congratulations on this winning the Weekly AAR Showcase!

Great job, Evans!
 

Chapter VI: The Austrian expedition

britishpropaganda0sb.png


June, July & August 1915

By the 8th of June the French expeditionary force was ready and prepared to cross the lightly defended Austrian border in a bold attempt to take Illyria (the Adriatic coastline), push into the Austro-Hungarian heartlands, link up with the remaining Serbian Army and liberate occupied areas of that country. Meanwhile the greatest armada of ships ever assembled in the history of mankind had departed from the French port of Marseilles and was steaming on it's way to the Adriatic Sea to deliver an expeditionary force of some 60,000 men to Montenegro. Consisting of the entire French navy, the armada literally stretched from horizon to horizon. The initial advances into Austria from Italy went well, Entente's superiority of numbers in the region was well over 6:1 as the attack had taken the Austrians entirely by surprise. Indeed, the Austrians had been making overtures towards Italy joining the war on their side only a few months before- who were they to know that Italy would seek a better deal? The only bad news for the Entente on the Italian-Austrian front was the speed with which re-enforcements were poured into southern region of Tyrol to oppose the Italian advance. The historically Austrian but nonetheless ethnically Italian province was a symbolically important region for both combatants, and there soon erupted bitter fighting in the mountain valleys. The ground was not however suited to warfare of any sort let alone an offensive and, spearheaded by the French, the Italians soon shifted their priorities eastwards, around the mountains.



Meanwhile, the French Armada had entered the Adriatic and was sailing northwards, towards the Expedition's prospective landing sites near Dubrovnik and Podgorica. Hearing alarming reports of a vast force moving towards them, the Austrian Naval scrambled from their home ports and assembled in an attempt to block the French fleet's further passage. Confident in the abilities of their fleet to overcome the Austrians the French Admirals charged straight into one of the largest naval battles ever conducted, comparable but not quite on the same scale of the duels between Royal Navy and Kriegsmarine in 1914. The battle raged for 6 brutal days as the Austrians threw everything they had in order to prevent the French breaking through, the fighting sporadically continuing through the night and raging on again in the day. The results were unprecedented in naval warfare and drew grim comparison with the severe losses experienced in contemporary land warfare- the Austrian navy was all but destroyed and the French reduced to half-strength in the near-apocalyptic battle. To this day the shallow bed of the Adriatic is littered with the hulks of ships sunk that day.



With the Austrian navy removed as a threat, albeit at a bloody and brutal cost, the landings were set to proceed on during the remaining hours of the 16th. 30,000 went to fight side-by-side with their allies in the trenches of Montenegro, whilst the other 30,000 men were disembarked onto undefended beaches near Dubrovnik, charged with securing the city and then pushing on to encircle the Austrians- that encirclement was achieved only three days after the initial landings, with the historic meeting of Serb and French troops on the 19th. With Archduke Friedrich facing the prospect of being surrounded in the mountainous terrain of Montenegro the Austrians ordered a withdrawal with orders to achieve a breakout. It was not to be however, and after withdrawing into Bosnia the KuK Army was forced to settle in for a bloody two-month siege that only ended when French soldiers captured Archduke Friedrich’s Command Headquarters at Mostar.

On the 18th of August the Archduke was forced to sign the surrender of his army, made French prisoner of war and Austria was faced with the very real and further humiliating prospect of defeat. It is somewhat bizarre in this context that Bulgaria would chose to join the war on the side of the Central Powers, but that is precisely what they did. Overconfident that they could come to Austria's aid and with high expectations of creating a 'Greater Bulgaria' at the expense of Serbia the Bulgarians met early success against the poorly defended rear areas of Serbian Macedonia. With trench networks facing north, Serbian defensive positions were usually only hastily erected and easy to overcome. The Bulgarian attack however faltered in Serbia proper, where an effective defence could be mounted and French troops arrived on the scene to stabilise things. Provided with an excellent defensive network built up by the Serbs against Austria the Bulgarian positions were formidable, putting off any serious notions of an immediate counter-attack.

18battleformostararchdukefried.png
Archduke Friedrich after being captured.

The rest of 1915 continued without much great event- only the same punishing attritional trench warfare in the West, the swirling destruction of the Polish campaign in the East and a slow, and painfully slow and grinding progress in the Empire of Austria-Hungary. 1916 however, would see major developments on all four of the major Fronts...
 
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Evans said:

Chapter VI: The Austrian Expedition

britishpropaganda0sb.png


June, July & August 1915

By the 8th of June the French expeditionary force was ready and prepared to cross the lightly defended Austrian border in a bold attempt to take Illyria (the Adriatic coastline), push into the Austro-Hungarian heartlands, link up with the remaining Serbian Army and liberate occupied areas of that country. Meanwhile the greatest armada of ships ever assembled in the history of mankind had departed from the French port of Marseilles and was steaming on it's way to the Adriatic Sea to deliver an expeditionary force of some 60,000 men to Montenegro. Consisting of the entire French navy, the armada literally stretched from horizon to horizon. The initial advances into Austria from Italy went well, Entente's superiority of numbers in the region was well over 6:1 as the attack had taken the Austrians entirely by surprise. Indeed, the Austrians had been making overtures towards Italy joining the war on their side only a few months before- who were they to know that Italy would seek a better deal? The only bad news for the Entente on the Italian-Austrian front was the speed with which re-enforcements were poured into southern region of Tyrol to oppose the Italian advance. The historically Austrian but nonetheless ethnically Italian province was a symbolically important region for both combatants, and there soon erupted bitter fighting in the mountain valleys. The ground was not however suited to warfare of any sort let alone an offensive and, spearheaded by the French, the Italians soon shifted their priorities eastwards, around the mountains.



Meanwhile, the French Armada had entered the Adriatic and was sailing northwards, towards the Expedition's prospective landing sites near Dubrovnik and Podgorica. Hearing alarming reports of a vast force moving towards them, the Austrian Naval scrambled from their home ports and assembled in an attempt to block the French fleet's further passage. Confident in the abilities of their fleet to overcome the Austrians the French Admirals charged straight into one of the largest naval battles ever conducted, comparable but not quite on the same scale of the duels between Royal Navy and Kriegsmarine in 1914. The battle raged for 6 brutal days as the Austrians threw everything they had in order to prevent the French breaking through, the fighting sporadically continuing through the night and raging on again in the day. The results were unprecedented in naval warfare and drew grim comparison with the severe losses experienced in contemporary land warfare- the Austrian navy was all but destroyed and the French reduced to half-strength in the near-apocalyptic battle. To this day the shallow bed of the Adriatic is littered with the hulks of ships sunk that day.



With the Austrian navy removed as a threat, albeit at a bloody and brutal cost, the landings were set to proceed on during the remaining hours of the 16th. 30,000 went to fight side-by-side with their allies in the trenches of Montenegro, whilst the other 30,000 men were disembarked onto undefended beaches near Dubrovnik, charged with securing the city and then pushing on to encircle the Austrians- that encirclement was achieved only three days after the initial landings, with the historic meeting of Serb and French troops on the 19th. With Archduke Friedrich facing the prospect of being surrounded in the mountainous terrain of Montenegro the Austrians ordered a withdrawal with orders to achieve a breakout. It was not to be however, and after withdrawing into Bosnia the KuK Army was forced to settle in for a bloody two-month siege that only ended when French soldiers captured Archduke Friedrich’s Command Headquarters at Mostar.

On the 18th of August the Archduke was forced to sign the surrender of his army, made French prisoner of war and Austria was faced with the very real and further humiliating prospect of defeat. It is somewhat bizarre in this context that Bulgaria would chose to join the war on the side of the Central Powers, but that is precisely what they did. Overconfident that they could come to Austria's aid and with high expectations of creating a 'Greater Bulgaria' at the expense of Serbia the Bulgarians met early success against the poorly defended rear areas of Serbian Macedonia. With trench networks facing north, Serbian defensive positions were usually only hastily erected and easy to overcome. The Bulgarian attack however faltered in Serbia proper, where an effective defence could be mounted and French troops arrived on the scene to stabilise things. Provided with an excellent defensive network built up by the Serbs against Austria the Bulgarian positions were formidable, putting off any serious notions of an immediate counter-attack.

18battleformostararchdukefried.png
Archduke Friedrich after being captured.

The rest of 1915 continued without much great event- only the same punishing attritional trench warfare in the West, the swirling destruction of the Polish campaign in the East and a slow, and painfully slow and grinding progress in the Empire of Austria-Hungary. 1916 however, would see major developments on all four of the major Fronts...

Cool update! i will be watching this
 
Great job stabilising the Balkans front.
How is Ottoman empire doing?
 
rule_brittania said:
And you call yourself a British Patriot! :(

:D

Nice stuff Evans. As always. Watching.

Yes i do. Nice to see another one. just cause im a patriot, doesnt mean i cant like other countries (besides, the french need support :rofl: )

Oranje Verzet said:
Nice quotation

i never said that quote. Brilliant game however
 
He meant that you've quoted my *whole* post and it's therefore a huge quotation :) The Ottomans bash themselves against Russia and vice-versa. Still ignoring Britain AFAIR.
 
First of all congratulations on your showcase Evans, good work.

Then great update, really nice to see France take a very active part in WWI and aiding your allies in the Balkans, I hope to see you in Vienna by 1917 ;)
 
Thanks for all the positive feedback! :) I've already got plans for my next AAR and a big uber-project for when/if I get good enough at story writing to do so... And now, to the next update...
 

Chapter VII: In the balance between disaster and triumph

frenchpropaganda23rc.jpg


January-June 1916

1916 dawned with a feeling of vague hope for the Entente, Serbia was still alive, and the Austrians had suffered a major setback in their war effort. Progress however was slow and hotly contested, and with Bulgaria's entry to the war Entente forces were forced to keep troops in the south. As per usual, people felt that the ever-elusive breakthrough was needed and the pressure for offensive action in the west was about to boil over again, giving birth to one of the oddities of the war- the Holland Plan. Thought up by a civilian, Michael Barret, the Holland Plan aimed to replicate the Schlieffen Plan, allowing French army units to move northwards around and outflanking the main concentration of German military force and push over the Rhine. Under considerable diplomatic pressure and urges to join the war on the side of liberal democracy Holland joined the Entente on the 23rd of March. The Plan was enacted, but was however an utter failure. Heavy rains and the subsequently congested quagmire of roads (including the fabled single highway to Arnhem) stalled the French advance and left them in a nightmare situation with regards to supply. In stark contrast to the excellently executed offensive into Austria and re-enforcement of Belgium earlier in the war, the Holland Plan was a debacle. In response to the French troops trying to push through Dutch territory the Germans organised their own local attack in an attempt to push back the disorganised mass under the title of 'Army'. Later supported by troops called in from the south the German units on the Dutch border made good progress against the Dutch forces in the north of the country. The main bulk of the French engaged the Germans around Arnhem, but was pushed back in around a week of fairly disorganised but fierce fighting. The plan had failed utterly, and all that had been gained was even more dead littered in even more fields. In response the German push for Arnhem was the first major offensive to gain ground in northern Europe for nearly a year, and inflicted a further 6,000 casualties on the French Army.

19germanspushforarnhem233163jk.png

The German push for Arnhem/The situation in Europe, May 1916.

July-December 1916

The next few months passed without much event, as the French-Italian-Serb Army slowly ground it's way through Hungary and in light of the failures on the Western Front, once more newly trained forces were deployed instead eastwards in order to speed up the steady progress being made. Most notably following several failed attempts 12 newly formed French divisions were dispatched in order to prepare for a final assault on Vienna. In response to the very real threat of Franco-Italian occupation von Hindenburg had taken command of the defence of Austrian capital on the 19th of July. He pledged that he would do his best to defend the ancient city, but that the situation looked grim. In 1916 Hindenburg managed to effectively fend off several determined assaults against the city by the Italian Army, and one by the French.

Further north in Poland things were also beginning to change, and the maelstrom of destruction there looked like it would finally end with some real ground gained. The eye of the storm had been drifting back and forth for two years before it finally decided on where to set it's sights- Petrograd. Secure in the knowledge that the French would be loath to attack in the west again, and confident in the abilities of their forces there, Germany had been able to build up for a massive offensive in the east. Their aim was to try and knock an already unstable Russia out of the war, and hopefully provide a spark to the revolution everyone had been expecting for so many years. Officially titled Operation Pfiel (Dart) this offensive is popularly given the nickname of the 'Great Baltic Push'.

The Great Baltic Push began on the 10th of July, and against tired and began with astonishing success. Launching the attack from Memel, the Germans were able to push their way along the Baltic coastline, capturing Riga and reaching the banks of the river Daugava by the 21st. Facing increasingly demoralised Russian troops often herded into battle with little direction by inexperienced Officers the Germans inflicted large amounts of casualties on an already rapidly bleeding Russian Army. The German offensive was finally stopped in Estonia, when the German Army became simply too stretched across too many fronts to risk pushing any further during winter, and the Russian resistance began to stiffen with patriotic vigour. The events to Germany's south were also starting to divert ever more German troops as Austria slowly crumbled in on itself.


Operation Pfiel gathers way.

The 2nd French Offensive against Vienna began on the 26th of October, and comprised of some 150,000 men. The French troops quickly affected several breakthroughs made a number of inroads towards the city. Hindenburg decided to pull all of his forces back into the outskirts of Vienna on the 30th, where they endured over two weeks of sustained and perpetual bombardment. The final push to the capital came on the 15th, meeting great success. By the 19th von Hindenburg was finally forced to evacuate and withdraw, leaving French troops to parade in the ruins of the once mighty capital. The triumphant French Army arrived in the city in a long parade headed by Lt. General Mazillier in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Napoleon's day, for the capture of the city Mazillier was promoted to a full General and his units awarded numerous medals of valour.

1916 was now drawing to a close, but in these closing months there was still time for one final offensive, and a place where such an offensive would not be so severely affected by the winter months. Landing in November, a French Expeditionary Force of 60,000 landed on the beaches of southern Anatolia, near the city of Gazientep. Turkish troops immediately began to close on their position, but by the time they arrived the French had long moved on. Moving quickly up the coast and then fanning out inland the French Corps' spent the rest of November and December securing much of Syria and pushing down through Palestine to link up with the British at Suez. The Ottoman theatre had finally opened it's second Front.

22battleforviennaandhindenburg.png

The Battle for Vienna/French invasion and occupation of Syria

The final surprise of 1916 however technically did not actually occur in 1916 at all, but in 1917, at midnight between New Year's eve/New Years day. The momentous event would irrevocably change the face of Eastern Europe forever...








24austriahungarysignsarmastice.png
 
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Very good work Evans, you actually managed to take out the Austrians, now it is time to hit the Germans hard both in the west and from the south, also a quick campaign against Turkey should take the Ottoman Empire out of the war as well. Looking forward to see it, keep it up :)