New WWI IH

[Ferret]

Doing the writeup now, a lot of work :(

All I can say at the moment is: there's gonna be a hell of a battle in Southern Belgium

[Ferret]

The Battle of Bastogne, July 1914

Map:



The BEF, led by Haig, had been in Belgium for some years now due to the pact the British had signed to protect Belgian neutrality. However after the formation of the Lowlands Coalition political relations had changed and the Germans had been allowed to march their army into Belgium unopposed. A Lowlands official had also sent Haig a message asking the British to leave Belgium but he hadn't, he couldn't leave Belgium so defenceless against the newly arrived German horde. Instead he camped his army in the Belgian village of Bastogne and awaited the arrival of the Germans.

However he was not alone. French Generals Joffre and Foche had heard that the Germans had entered Belgium and so, while making sure their borders were still secure, they led an army each, both comprising of 2 and a half million French soldiers. This meant that the Entente forces now numbered some 6 million, 1 million of those being the specialist BEF under Haig. In addition to this Haig had recently constructed some 300 artillery batteries, more than had ever been fielded in an army before. However due to his exposed position Haig was low on supplies and so only 100 of those batteries would be able to fire if any battle commenced.

A few weeks later a Belgian army of 650,000 arrived and asked the British and French to leave or face war. This was a bold move seeing as the Belgians were so outnumbered and so the Entente leaders declined, but made no advance on the Belgians and instead waited for the Germans.

The next morning the German army came into view, numbering around 2 and a half million and fielding 10 batteries of artillery. And so the battle of Bastogne began.

The French commanders moved their forces to the sides of the British, Joffre to face the Belgians and Foche to confront the Germans. Despite being heavily outnumbered the Central Powers were not deterred and both their armies headed straight for the BEF, leaving a few soldiers to guard the German artillery. This artillery had already started it's bombardment and was causing heavy casualties on the unentrenched British, despite the British having more guns they ironically had less effect and struggled to hit the rapidly advancing German forces. As the Germans got nearer these guns also had to stop firing, out of fear of hitting friendlies, whereas the German batteries were able to start a new bombardment on the French, who were still far from the Town. The Germans had clearly put an experienced man in command of the artillery as the ten batteries had managed to cause twice as many casualties as their one hundred British counterparts.

However the Entente still massively outnumbered their enemies and the battle was swiftly an Entente victory, despite huge casualties taken. At the end of the battle there were only 450,000 British soldiers left standing, with only 200 batteries left as well, the others destroyed. The French suffered less badly, Foche only lost 200,000 of his soldiers and Joffre only losing 800,000, leaving 4 million French regulars still standing.

The Belgians had lost all of their untrained troops and 400,000 of their regulars. However the specialised men only took 100 casualties in exchange for the thousands they caused. The Germans had no such luck and lost 1.5 million men trying to assault the village, their batteries, on the other hand, were all able to withdraw safely back to German lands.

At the end of the Battle the British and French commanders were unsure of what to do about the now hostile Belgians. The battle had left the centre of Southern Belgium empty of enemy soldiers but their spies had reported more Germans to the West and fortified Belgian forces to the East, blocking off the French border. In the end they decided that they would stay and wait until the next month before making any decisions.

OOC: and so ends the battle of Bastogne. I wont be doing writeups like this for every battle, as that would take me years, but this one was very important in deciding what would happen in the West and so I decided to pay special attention to it.

The turn is still not over as, despite having already spent 2 hours on it, I am only about half done visually representing people's orders, and so I need to resolve a few more battle before putting up the end of turn writeup. This truly is a lot of work

edit: it seems I forgot to include the British artillery on that map as well

[Ferret]

Here is the map of the begining of August, 1914. Expect you feedback soon, nearly done after over 3 hours now



Austria has been recoloured to avoid confusion between them and England.

[Ferret]

Phew I think I'm done, if anyone hasn't recieved an end of turn and/or spy report please let me know.
Let August begin.

[woad&fangs]

Message from the Prime Minister of France:

Coalition of the Lowlands, you're oppression of the Walloon minority is at an end. Lay down your arms and you may receive mercy.

[shlin28]

So... is the Entente allied with Serbia?

[woad&fangs]

France declares an alliance with Serbia

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

So... is the Entente allied with Serbia?

Will Also Defend Serbia