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Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest

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Mister Phantom said:
Speaking of tech, this is about to be adopted. Maybe with earlier war experience it can get up to Kar98k standard earlier, or even get a 10 round magazine Lee-Enfield style.
Edit: Or if you want a cooler action, the Schmidt-Rubin straight pull from Switzerland. Maybe a few for the snipers to supplement the theoretical super Mauser?
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I suspect things will probably be delayed on our end; if the Gewehr 88 works, I don't think we'd want to interrupt production for a new rifle (likely only making superficial modifications such as, say, simplifying production or reducing overall length). I'd imagine it would make most sense for us to take stock of things once the war's over and try and develop a wholly new rifle based on combat experience.

On the topic of the Schmidt-Rubin, we'll presumably be capturing large numbers of Mannlicher M1888 rifles which are also a straight-pull action. I suspect we'd have a significant amount of experience fighting against them, and knowing how things went IRL, German soldiers will use captured guns as well if they like them.
 
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The Great Eastern War: March 1898-May 1898
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    • The Great Eastern War: March 1898-May 1898​

    As winter turns to spring, snow turns to slush, while frozen dirt turns to mud. By late March, the roads are clear and the stage is set for the greatest movement in the war to date. At this point, the armies of the two power blocs are fully mobilized and in the field, ready to loose a tidal wave of carnage whose magnitude is entirely unprecedented in Europe.

    Denmark and the Baltic Sea
    Despite its losses, the Allied Combined Fleet remains the most powerful naval formation in the Baltic Sea, and the spring thaw gives it plenty of opportunity to flex its muscle. Rather than pursue the Russian Baltic Fleet to its anchorages in the east, the Combined Fleet sets up interdiction patrols around southern Sweden and Norway. These patrols critically weaken Scandinavia's export-based economy and deprive it of much-needed military supplies, though food shipments are allowed to proceed on humanitarian grounds. One naval commander, acting somewhat outside his orders, sails up to the Danish island of Bornholm and informs the locals that they're now under German occupation, at which point the locals shrug and go back to their daily routine.

    With domestic industry having ground to a halt and public unrest growing at the obvious failure that the war represents, the King of Sweden and Norway accepts the Allied diplomatic delegation. He agrees to a provisional ceasefire, ending trade with the Imperial League and instead accepting Allied shipments of American grain to replace the lost Ukrainian produce. More detailed talks are provisionally scheduled for late May.

    Poland
    Generals Schmidt and Vogel schedule their long-awaited offensive, Operation Torrent, for early April, once the turf has firmed up sufficiently. Under Torrent, two armies apiece are dedicated to anchor each flank at Krakow and Danzig, while one is kept in reserve to maintain order in occupied Poland. The other ten armies are directed to take the key prize: Warsaw, site of the failed January Uprising and historic capital of Poland.

    Arrayed against them are seven and a half million men under the aegis of the grotesquely huge Russian Army of Poland, who have spent the winter digging in outside Warsaw. Russia's best front-line forces are present and fully mobilized, ready to oppose Army Group Poland with a nearly 3:2 advantage. Having learned several lessons from their own failed assaults, they've defended their extensive earthworks with strings of rough but functional barbed wire.

    Unfortunately for the Russians, the Landwehr's most frequent projected enemy in war games is not a foreign force but the most competent foe they can imagine: themselves. As such, they are well-prepared to counter their own defensive tactics, whether with pioneer brigades trained in removing barbed wire or a new innovation: wheeled man-portable mortars designed to bombard trenches and clear obstacles accurately and efficiently. Designed in Essen during the end stages of the Civil War for a final push against an enemy trench network that never quite came, they have remained in the Landwehr's arsenal ever since, and recent innovations in recoil technology have made the newest models far more accurate and deadly.

    As such, when Operation Torrent hits the defensive lines outside Warsaw, it does so with the horrific whistling of dozens, even hundreds of mortar shells landing on the Russian trenches, savaging the defenders who had, until that very moment, thought themselves safe. Even the most elite soldier of the Russian Imperial Army is chronically underfed, undersupplied, and undermotivated, and having these cruelly accurate shells dropped in their laps does terrible things to morale. Warsaw's elaborate defensive network, intended to hold out for years, crumbles in a little over a month.

    Despite the collapse of the Army of Poland's static defenses, the Russian commander tries to trade bodies for time, attempting to evacuate critical military industry out of Warsaw before the city falls by the simple expedient of throwing his men at the problem. Unfortunately for the commanding general, whose body is never found after the fall of the city, most of his convoys are intercepted by bands of roving Polish partisans, who are all now quite well-equipped and capable of taking down guard detachments on their own with rifles, machine guns, and even a few pieces of light artillery.

    Army Group Poland takes substantial losses enfolding and then squeezing Russian-occupied Warsaw until it gives in, but the Russian casualty numbers are horrendous, made all the worse by the surrender of at least three armies caught between the Landwehr's hammer and the partisans' anvil. In the end, the citizens of the city rise up against the imperial occupation forces and seize the command headquarters, leading to the aforementioned mysterious disappearance of the commanding general.

    Losing Warsaw is a major blow to Russian operations in Poland, and the Russian front line buckles, then recedes substantially in the wake of the loss. Several spoiling attacks are made in the ensuing chaos by individual enemy commanders, but none do much more than increase the casualty numbers.

    Bohemia
    The German assault on Prague, Operation Placeholder, is noteworthy for being planned without an official name for the better part of two weeks; by the time anyone gets around to actually coming up with one, the operation has already begun and everyone is already used to the provisional name, and so it sticks. Placeholder envisions a broad, sweeping envelopment of the Bohemian capital, which has by this point been extensively and even professionally fortified, with both earthen and concrete defenses along with an enormous amount of artillery. As such, General Dillinger decides to simply go around it.

    Dillinger takes command of the eastern attack on Königgrätz and entrusts the western attack on Pilsen to General Albert Roth, while leaving the central element at Aussig to General Paula Baumann. Bolstered by additional forces from the Salzburg-Linz line in Austria, Army Group Bohemia strikes out in late March, seizing the initiative from the still-fortifying Austrian armies manning the Prague defensive line.

    The two pincers of Placeholder strike within the same week, hitting the much weaker fortifications in the east and west with overwhelming force. An attempt at a counterpunch from Prague is repulsed with bloody effect by Baumann's central element, and she orders a limited advance to further tighten the noose around the city. By the time the Austrian defenders realize what's being done to them, Dillinger and Roth are already in their rear, and the trap has closed. While two Austrian armies manage to escape, two more are stuck in the Prague pocket, along with a Russian force.

    As with Warsaw, Dillinger surrounds, secures, and then squeezes Prague from all sides. The size and relative slowness of the envelopment allows the defenders to expel many of the citizens, some of whom come to the German high command with useful intelligence and maps of the city, but also extending the defenders' food supply.

    Unfortunately for the League defenders, what they do run out of rather quickly is the simple stuff of warfare: bullets, shells, bandages, and replacement parts. Expelling the citizenry also deprives them of the people who could have kept the factories running, and their own efforts to do so are clumsy and slow. For his part, Dillinger keeps the pressure on, steadily racking up casualties and lowering enemy morale over the course of a month and a half until the defenders are down to their bayonets.

    Despite his passionate commitment to Radical ideals, Dillinger is surprisingly friendly when the first League envoy comes to surrender the city in the middle of May, and allows the Austro-Russian soldiers to march into captivity with dignity and a hot meal. Their much-depleted officer corps, meanwhile, is shipped back behind the lines in shackles, without much in the way of either of those things.

    Austria
    The Austrian front suffers from the attention paid to Poland and Bohemia, as the Landwehr simply cannot be everywhere at once with the objective limits on its logistics and force numbers. As such, when Salzburg is attacked by an overwhelming League force, General Speyer elects to withdraw his depleted army group to Linz and bolster the defensive line around the less-threatened salient into Austrian territory. The surrender of Salzburg is the first major loss of the war for Allied forces, but the orderliness of the withdrawal prevents the setback from becoming a calamity, and further efforts to take Linz itself are repelled with brutal efficiency.

    Italy
    The Alpine Line is the site of numerous small skirmishes and probing attacks throughout the spring, as the Italo-Spanish forces commit to several limited offensives designed to wear down their opposing force with superior firepower and numbers. The defensive advantage ensures that these battles are tactical victories for the Austrians and Russians, but the steady erosion of the Alpine defenses and Austrian forces manning them may yet be a strategic victory for the Alliance.
     
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    Situation Report: May 1898
  • Informational
    • Situation Report: May 1898
    ​

    All numbers are abstract, relative, and not precise, and exist solely as an illustration of comparative troop strength rather than as a precise indication of how many soldiers are in which place. The numbers should not be judged on the basis of realism. I tend to round to the nearest 10,000 when possible.

    Armies with asterisks are those made up of fresh conscripts, and may operate at reduced efficacy compared to their reservist counterparts.

    "Reserves" indicate the amount of reserve manpower that's readily available to a given state. More troops may be mobilized beyond that number, but it'll be costly politically and/or economically.

    Ships listed as "under repair" will be back in service by the beginning of the next three-month period.

    Also, the map is very rough; please do not point out issues unless something is dramatically, wildly incorrect.

    Front Status
    France
    Germany (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)

    Denmark
    Germany (400,000/400,000)
    IX Army (400,000/400,000)

    Sweden
    Scandinavia (480,000)
    Swedish Army (260,000)
    Norwegian Army (220,000)

    Poland
    Germany (6,000,000/6,000,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    IV Army (400,000/400,000)
    V Army (400,000/400,000)
    VII Army (400,000/400,000)
    VIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (400,000/400,000)

    Russia (8,400,000/8,400,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    VI Army (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XVII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXVI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXVIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXXI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXXII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXXIII Army (400,000/400,000)

    Austria
    Germany (3,200,000/3,200,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    VI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XX Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XXIV Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army (400,000/400,000)

    League Forces (4,400,000/4,400,000)
    Austria (4,000,000/4,000,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    IV Army (400,000/400,000)
    VIII Army (400,000/400,000)
    X Army (400,000/400,000)
    XI Army (400,000/400,000)
    XII Army* (400,000/400,000)
    XIII Army* (400,000/400,000)
    XIV Army* (400,000/400,000)

    Russia (800,000/800,000)
    V Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (400,000/400,000)

    Italy
    Allied Forces (3,200,000/3,200,000)
    Italy (2,400,000/2,400,000)
    I Legion (400,000/400,000)
    III Legion (400,000/400,000)
    IV Legion (400,000/400,000)
    V Legion (400,000/400,000)
    VII Legion (400,000/400,000)
    VIII Legion (400,000/400,000)

    Spain (800,000/800,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    V Army (400,000/400,000)

    League Forces (2,000,000/2,000,000)
    Austria (1,200,000/1,200,000)
    III Army (400,000/400,000)
    VII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XV Army* (400,000/400,000)

    Russia (800,000/800,000)
    VII Army (400,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (400,000/400,000)

    Baltic Sea
    Germany
    9 Armored Cruisers
    2 Second-Class Cruisers
    3 Coastal Battleships
    2 Corvettes
    29 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats
    9 River Monitors

    Italy
    4 Armored Cruisers

    Spain
    3 Armored Cruisers
    3 Second-Class Cruisers

    Russia
    2 Battleships
    5 Armored Cruisers
    2 Second-Class Cruisers
    8 Coastal Battleships
    3 Corvettes
    19 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Scandinavia
    1 Second-Class Cruisers
    3 Third-Class Cruisers
    11 Coastal Battleships
    4 Corvettes
    29 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Mediterranean Sea
    Italy
    2 Battleships
    3 Armored Cruisers
    6 Second-Class Cruisers
    11 Third-Class Cruisers
    7 Coastal Battleships
    25 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Spain
    4 Armored Cruisers
    4 Second-Class Cruisers
    6 Third-Class Cruisers
    3 Coastal Battleships
    72 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Austria
    3 Second-Class Cruisers
    3 Third-Class Cruisers
    5 Coastal Battleships
    16 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats
    3 River Monitors

    Russia
    1 Armored Cruisers
    8 Coastal Battleships
    2 Corvettes
    17 Gunboats and Torpedo Boats

    Remaining Reserves
    Germany: 3,960,000
    Italy: 2,980,000
    Spain: 350,000

    Austria: -1,660,000
    Russia: 5,510,000
    Scandinavia: 0
     
  • Informational
    • in a bit of irony in the Austrian empire planquest over on SB we just had our own war involving the German states assisting Denmark in kicking Leopold II's belgian ass and in a pretty funny way too as this quote shows(reactionationary as monarchs can be sometimes they get something right.. in a office of a million monkeys composing shakespere kind of way)

    Starting with a mocking reading of the Belgian Declaration of War, William would spent the next twelve hours, personally insulting, threatening and mocking every single member of the Belgian and French Government in between calls of resistance against the "Papist Swines" and reminders to the Dutch Wars of Independence and Resistance before concluding it all with a personal and public threat to King Leopold that he'd personally beat him into a pulp and lock him into a wardrobe - thus giving rise to the last of the names commonly associated with this conflict, the "War of the Wardrobe" - if only he would stop hiding behind his landsmen and face the Dutch King like a man. Receiving standing ovations from everyone present, the Dutch would go on to graciously refuse the terms given to them by Belgium and prepare for the coming conflict.
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    Etranger said:
    One naval commander, acting somewhat outside his orders, sails up to the Danish island of Bornholm and informs the locals that they're now under German occupation, at which point the locals shrug and go back to their daily routine.
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    Wew I'm glad that paid off, after it gave me a little shock when I read "acting somewhat outside orders".

    Anyways, it sucks that we wouldn't get Scandinavia to peace out until the Summer.

    Etranger said:
    Warsaw's elaborate defensive network, intended to hold out for years, crumbles in a little over a month.
    *snip*
    In the end, the citizens of the city rise up against the imperial occupation forces and seize the command headquarters, leading to the aforementioned mysterious disappearance of the commanding general.
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    Goddamn, as horrid their morale and condition were, we still folded a massive defense force - and the now strengthened Polish partisans are of great help with their decapitation strike. All that democratic militarization - in real development as well as in German society's culture - really paid off in this war.

    Etranger said:
    By the time the Austrian defenders realize what's being done to them, Dillinger and Roth are already in their rear, and the trap has closed. While two Austrian armies manage to escape, two more are stuck in the Prague pocket, along with a Russian force.
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    #rateourencirclement

    Etranger said:
    As such, when Salzburg is attacked by an overwhelming League force, General Speyer elects to withdraw his depleted army group to Linz and bolster the defensive line around the less-threatened salient into Austrian territory. The surrender of Salzburg is the first major loss of the war for Allied forces, but the orderliness of the withdrawal prevents the setback from becoming a calamity, and further efforts to take Linz itself are repelled with brutal efficiency.
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    Welp, we took an L there. Worth it for Prague & Warsaw, IMO, but also means that we couldn't do the high risk & high reward attack on Klagenfurt in the Summer. Vienna it is, then.

    Etranger said:
    The defensive advantage ensures that these battles are tactical victories for the Austrians and Russians, but the steady erosion of the Alpine defenses and Austrian forces manning them may yet be a strategic victory for the Alliance.
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    O h ? OTOH sadge we can't take advantage of this with a "connection" attempt between the Landwehr and the Italian-Spanish armies since we lost Salzburg this turn.

    Etranger said:
    Austria: -1,660,000
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    Ya hate to see it :V
     
    Now I would warn everyone we have a POW population and civilian refugee population to care for. Plus the League has been wounded but they can still hit back. As for Norway-Sweden I would make a light peace with restrictions on military size and political neutrality. The monarchy can be kept in a ceremonial role.
     
    You know this would be a great time to maybe In the future make Scandinavia into the happiest place in the world like it did in our timeline where they have a balance socialist and capitalist system also they are no longer in the leagues
     
    Whenyouseeyou said:
    You know this would be a great time to maybe In the future make Scandinavia into the happiest place in the world like it did in our timeline where they have a balance socialist and capitalist system also they are no longer in the leagues
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    We tried a social democratic welfare capitalist state once, and that ended up in a four-way civil war. I can see Scandinavia going that way on its own if left alone and neutral, but I wouldn't count on it.
     
    Etranger said:
    One naval commander, acting somewhat outside his orders, sails up to the Danish island of Bornholm and informs the locals that they're now under German occupation, at which point the locals shrug and go back to their daily routine.
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    "Honey the germans are outside! They are saying we are a part of the world revolution"

    "What? Them again? Tell em we surrender and to stop making such a fuss about it"
     
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    Fission Battery said:
    The people's democratic wehrstaat is unstoppable. Holy shit, we are actually rolling them. All that preparation really paid off.
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    We are kind of a military monster by the standards of the time. I don't think armies of this size were ever mobilized historically until WW I, and the Landwehr actually seems to have both numbers and quality.
    Etranger said:
    They're out of trained reservists and are now calling up untrained or undertrained conscripts.
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    Well, shit.

    Austrian casualties are going to go way up, aren't they? I mean, it's good for us from a military perspective, but the loss of life will be horrendous...
     
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    Driven by Apathy said:
    We are kind of a military monster by the standards of the time. I don't think armies of this size were ever mobilized historically until WW I, and the Landwehr actually seems to have both numbers and quality.

    Well, shit.

    Austrian casualties are going to go way up, aren't they? I mean, it's good for us from a military perspective, but the loss of life will be massive...
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    That's just how war is. Hopefully the Austrian spirit will be broken once we take Vienna. If that doesn't do it, pushing to Budapest will.
     
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    It's kinda unnerving, just how much of a grim spectacle this must be. Like, by the world's perspective, out of seemingly nowhere from a single silly incident, Germany's spent the better part of half a year butchering every enemy army it faced in a brutal series of ultra-aggressive moves where we've consistently just kept on putting on more pressure and kept up a fast operational tempo.
     
    01paradox01 said:
    That's just how war is. Hopefully the Austrian spirit will be broken once we take Vienna.
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    I'd feel better about that if we hadn't started this war, with a casus belli that's probably a lie.

    Though I must also admit that if I hadn't missed the vote due to being offline, I might very well have voted for war too. The Imperial League is and was our enemy, there's no question about that. And the odds seemed in our favor. If our positions had been reversed, I have no doubt the League would have attacked, same as we have.

    Doesn't mean I'm happy about it.
     
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    The Laurent said:
    It's kinda unnerving, just how much of a grim spectacle this must be. Like, by the world's perspective, out of seemingly nowhere from a single silly incident, Germany's spent the better part of half a year butchering every enemy army it faced in a brutal series of ultra-aggressive moves where we've consistently just kept on putting on more pressure and kept up a fast operational tempo.
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    "Domestic Consumption", eh?
     
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