Remove ads

Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest

Reader mode
[X] Plan: Tightening the Noose
-[X] [POLAND] Initiate an offensive toward Lvov (Red).
-[X] [AUSTRIA] Initiate an offensive toward Brno (Gold).
-[X] [ITALY] Ask the Allies to put pressure on the League.
-[X] [BALTIC] Deploy the Allied fleet to contest the eastern Baltic Sea.
-[X] [MED] Ask the Allies to maintain the situation in the Mediterranean.
 
Remove ads
Vote closed
  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by Etranger on Jun 23, 2023 at 8:50 PM, finished with 126 posts and 82 votes.
    Click to expand...
     
  • Voting
    • The June 1898-August 1898 update is now posted on Patreon for all $5 patrons and above. It will remain there for up to 24 hours and then I'll post it in the thread. Thank you to everyone, patron or otherwise, for your continued support and participation.
     
    Remove ads
    The Great Eastern War: June 1898-August 1898
  • Threadmarks
    • The Great Eastern War: June 1898-August 1898​

    The rains of spring subside and give way to a hot but not scorching European summer, as roads and turf firm up and crops sprout across the fields. As the guns mostly go silent in the north, save for the echoing reports across the Baltic, attention shifts entirely to the east and south, as German armies march deeper into the imperial heartlands. So far, the reaction to the Landwehr has mostly been muted wariness, but as more of Bohemia and Poland fall into German hands, the more the locals are energized. Like unjustly condemned convicts receiving a long-overdue reprieve, these residents of the prisons of nations can almost taste the prospect of freedom.

    Baltic Sea
    In the Baltic, the Allied Combined Fleet shifts its main anchorage from Kiel to Stettin, giving it a strong forward base for deployments further east. Though a detachment of the Marinewehr's light vessels remain on duty around the Sound and the Karl-Marx-Canal, alert for any blockade runners, most of the fleet's battle line is now facing east, toward Konigsberg and Klaipeda.

    Efforts to induce the Russians into committing to another battle are largely fruitless, with only a few isolated skirmishes occurring across the whole of the summer. The Russian Baltic Sea Fleet, or what's left of it, has holed up in Klaipeda, one of Russia's two ice-free anchorages in the Baltic and a heavily fortified seaport in its own right. As such, the Combined Fleet is restricted to hit-and-run actions, intercepting the occasional civilian vessel, and harassing Konigsberg with sporadic bursts of shell-fire.

    The Eastern Front
    The command councils of Army Group Poland, Army Group Bohemia, and Army Group Austria come together in Krakow in early summer to reorganize and plan out the season. Their aim is a single synchronized push to the southeast, with forces in Poland moving on Lvov in Galicia and forces in Bohemia moving on Brno in Moravia, forming a vast pincer by which both sides of the League's last viable supply link are seized. This link is vital to maintaining the outsized Austro-Russian defense force stationed in Austria now that Bohemia has fallen, and losing it will be a devastating blow.

    It is determined that General Dillinger of Army Group Bohemia will assume command of Army Group Austria and fold his own group into General Speyer's, bolstering the other man's somewhat-neglected foothold in Linz by shifting additional forces to the south to bolster that end of the line. Meanwhile, the victorious and well-rested IX Army under General Richter will be at the forefront of the coming assault on Brno. General Schmidt of Army Group Poland, feeling the effects of his advancing age and noting the need for youthful energy in the coming offensive, cedes overall command to his second, General Vogel, and shifts into a more advisory role.

    So resolved, so organized, the Landwehr field command disperses back to their individual units, and Operation Hangman is officially on.

    Poland
    Suitably energized by her assumption of command, General Vogel's half of Hangman is the greater, riskier maneuver, covering as it does a pitched battle at Rzeszów, a 300-kilometer sprint to Lvov, taking that city, then another 150 kilometers to complete the dividing maneuver at Stanisławów. To achieve this goal, she intends to recreate one of the great feats of the Civil War: the mass utilization of the engineering corps as a rapid rail-laying force.

    By this point, the Russians have more or less overcome their teething issues with a German-style defense and have laid on a reasonably impressive effort at Rzeszów, with multiple layers of trenches covered by barbed wire, several machine guns with overlapping fields of fire, and a substantial concentration of artillery. It's very nearly enough.

    In response, Vogel orders her forces to envelop the city from the west and the north, then lays on a truly terrifying barrage of mortars and field guns. Army Group Poland thereafter blankets the sky in shells with a nearly continuous bombardment that far exceeds prior efforts in the war. This is due to the brand-new, purpose-built, Alliance-gauge, dual-tracked rail line that leads virtually right up to the battlefield itself, on which train after train filled with shells comes steaming up. Several side lines are set up so that Vogel's super-heavy rail guns can be parked in range of the fortified city, and those monsters roar out continuously as well. The guns go for a week straight, long past the point where the Russians have run out of their own heavy ammunition and the approach to Rzeszów looks like how astronomers describe the surface of the Moon.

    With typical audacity, the advance on Rzeszów begins before the final bombardment has fully tapered off, with hand-picked pioneer units heading out into no-man's land to neutralize the last remaining stretches of barbed wire and the improvised land mines increasingly seen on these industrialized battlefields. Given the riskiness of the operation, Vogel only takes volunteers; given the die-hard reputation of the pioneers, every one of their brigades pushes hard for inclusion.

    The Russians fight hard for Rzeszów, as their officers know that a vast swathe of vital industry and crucial rail junctions are directly behind them and are unwilling to explain to the Emperor why they lost him the war. However, not even the tenacity of the common Russian soldier can endure forever in the face of overwhelming odds, and Vogel's advance is shattering in its force. Avoiding encirclement, several much-depleted Russian armies retreat from Rzeszów in more or less good order, despite their exhaustion, much lightened by having been forced to leave all their heavy guns behind.

    Having broken the defensive line's main strongpoint, Vogel's offensive elements of Army Group Poland enter into a kind of running battle with the Russian defenders, who scramble to stay ahead of the rail-supported German advance. The defense of Lvov is much sketchier than that of Rzeszów, having much less time and far fewer resources dedicated to its protection, and the city leaders are unwilling to support the Russians in their efforts. Indeed, they are suspected of giving shelter and comfort to the swarms of anti-Russian partisans roaming the countryside, to whom the beleaguered Russian armies lose dozens of men and piles of supplies on a weekly basis.

    Lvov and Stanisławów fall after a series of short but conclusive battles that see Russia's Army Group South completely routed and forced to pull back all the way to the sheltering embrace of Rivne and Zhitomir, supported as they are by the main supply hub at Kiev. Galicia has fallen, and with it goes the flow of supplies that helped sustain the Austrian and Russian armies to the south.

    Austria
    As General Vogel is battering down Rzeszów in preparation for her lightning march through the vast Galician countryside, General Dillinger contemplates a much shorter march and a much bloodier fight: the fortified city of Brno, defended by no fewer than seven enemy armies. Fortunately, Brno is a straight shot from recently-captured Prague, and the line of advance is along a lovely well-graded railway, which has only been somewhat torn up by the retreating Austrian forces. Unfortunately, this is the only viable approach to the city from the northwest, the Austrians know that too, and the entire front is covered in static defenses and earthworks.

    What makes this entire attack possible is support from Army Group Poland, in the form of General Walz and his own detached army group. Army Group Noose, as it is referred to by the comics of the Landwehr, advances from Katowice towards the well-defended town of Ostrava in surprising numbers and with remarkable speed, throwing the Austro-Russian defenders thoroughly off-balance in the process. In order to repulse what seems like a full-on invasion, they strengthen their defenses by moving forces away from Brno. This is, of course, a crucial error.

    Army Group Bohemia falls on Brno like a trip hammer, punching through the defensive lines at Rosice and sweeping around south to sever its rail connections to Pressburg and Vienna. These advance forces are soon forced to retreat by reinforcements from both cities, solidifying the front in the west, but the damage is done and time is won to set up a second approach through the rough Bobrava Highlands to the north, thereby enveloping Brno on two sides. A third force under General Baumann attacks Olomouc from Königgrätz, and the Austrian line is now assailed from three different angles.

    After several weeks of back-and-forth fighting, the three-sided siege comes to a close when news of the fall of Lvov reaches Austrian high command. Foreseeing an impending shortage of materiel and manpower, the commanding general elects to cut his losses and improve his defensive situation by giving up on Moravia entirely; without Prague or Katowice, the region offers relatively little by itself, and holding it weakens the defense of Vienna.

    The Austrian forces' fighting retreat is bloody but not disorganized, as the League armies first yield Ostrava to a pleasantly surprised General Walz, then Olomouc, and finally Brno. The professionalism of the maneuver is somewhat marred by a communications breakdown in the Olomouc forces between a veteran professional unit and a green conscript unit, which creates a crucial opening in the backward-moving line and allows General Baumann to swoop in with an assault force. In the ensuing chaos, both armies are broken up, encircled, and forced to surrender, securing a major victory on an otherwise secondary front and instantly catapulting Baumann, the "Moravian Valkyrie," to national fame.

    The buckling Austrian defenses, suitably relocated to a line anchored by the Alps and the Carpathians, are increasingly filled by Russians and brand-new recruits, as sheer attrition has reduced the once-proud imperial army to a fighting shadow. The noose constricts further.

    Italy
    Italo-Spanish forces are hard at work reducing the Austrian defenses along the Alpine Line throughout the summer, using a combination of German-designed mortars and their own ingenuity. The world's first hydraulic-recoil mortar is birthed on the front lines of the Alps, a collaboration between mechanically gifted Italian and Spanish soldiers using a recent French innovation, and the result is a far more efficient and deadly artillery piece.

    Short on supply and reeling from the constant bombardments, the Austro-Russian defenders hunker down and pray for winter, even as their fortifications chip and flake apart around them.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Remove ads
    Situation Report: August 1898
  • Informational
    • Situation Report: August 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)

    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)
    IX 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 (3,910,000/4,000,000)
    Austria (3,200,000/3,200,000)
    I Army (400,000/400,000)
    II Army (400,000/400,000)
    IV 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)

    Russia (710,000/800,000)
    V Army (350,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (360,000/400,000)

    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 (1,930,000/2,000,000)
    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 (730,000/800,000)
    VII Army (370,000/400,000)
    XIX Army (360,000/400,000)

    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: 3,520,000
    Italy: 2,660,000
    Spain: 710,000

    Austria: -2,630,000
    Russia: 4,610,000
     
  • Informational
    • The Austrian troops are exhausted, bled dry, and demoralized. The Russian troops have lost many of their supply lines and are stuck defending a country not their own. I think it's time to go for the Imperial Crown and end the Hapsburgs once and for all.
     
    They're concentrating forces in Vienna, which makes sense, but we've cut off all their routes for reinforcements, so that's just gonna buy them time for the inevitable.
     
    Traveller76 said:
    I meant minus Lithuania. I think we should begin the process of forming a Polish government in some of the areas nearest the Republic.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I think Etran is leaving the political dimension up to a postwar conference a la Gothenburg, with day-to-day administration of the occupied territories being left to the military in the meantime. And this is fine.
     
    The assaults on Brno and Lvov would have probably been less successful or might even have failed if both operations were not occurring simultaneously and if the Army Groups were not in position to mutually support each other's offensives. The Austro-Russian forces are adapting to our tactics and strategy. They expected the direction of this offensive and prepared accordingly as they knew what was at stake here, but it wasn't enough this time and Austria has been cut off from Russia now.
     
    Etranger said:
    Baltic Sea
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Taking Konigsberg & presumably Klaipeda (Memel to Germans) at the same time next turn would allow Allied Baltic naval troops & ships to finally do a proper rest & recover with League Baltic ships locked in St. Petersburg.

    Etranger said:
    Poland
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    People's Labor Army LFG. For all the Gothic caliper BS, very Roman of us to mass-build transport infrastructure as part of an advance. Wonder how Russian generals feel about getting their ass beat by a woman general repeatedly.

    Etranger said:
    Austria
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Another od our woman general in Baumann getting a win for us, with Dillinger stepping back to shore up defenses around Linz. Now to see how the unification of the Austrian & Polish front thru Bohemia-Moravia manifests in the next vote. Fall of Vienna in Fall, eh? Sounds great, let's do it :evil:

    Etranger said:
    Italy
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    We actually have a likelihood of our Allied troops' front being united with German army groups in Austria. Let's organize their brrakout alongside an offensive into Vienna next turn!
     
    Etranger said:
    General Schmidt of Army Group Poland, feeling the effects of his advancing age and noting the need for youthful energy in the coming offensive, cedes overall command to his second, General Vogel
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Schmidt: "I'm stepping down."
    Imperials: "What a relief..."
    Vogel: "Allow me to introduce myself."
    Imperials: "AAAAH!!"

    *Later at Rzeszów...*
    "Do you see those Imperial defenses?"
    "Yes, General."
    "Well, I don't want to."
    "Yes, General!"
     
    Regency said:
    Wonder how Russian generals feel about getting their ass beat by a woman general repeatedly.

    Another od our woman general in Baumann getting a win for us, with Dillinger stepping back to shore up defenses around Linz.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Yeh, the new generation is really giving it their all, girls-can-[VERB]-wise.
     
    Ultrackius said:
    Soon the Russian and Austrian crowns shall lie vacant, destroyed completely
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Dethroning the Habsburgs is possible in this war. But the Romanovs...

    Well, we'll see how the post-war condition could help with that (with both Allied & IRA support, ofc)
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top