The Moltke Plan

[06 Maestro]

It is time to give the Russia first plan a try. In this AAR I will explore some of the possibilities of WW1 by avoiding the German decision to violate Belgian neutrality. The plans for this variant of history were drawn up, but shelved for what some thought were good reasons. Perhaps we will find out if those were actually good reasons.

I am playing in 2 player mode, so I will have to conduct all operations for the CP. I will post the options I chose.

[06 Maestro]

The plan that was chosen for the Germans is called the Moltke Plan in the game. I assume this is Moltke the senior. Basically it involves the deployment of the 1, 2nd, and 3rd Armies to the east in lieu of the invasions of Belgium and northern France. There are some “national will” and event penalties for doing this; so its not all just an easy gain. Of course, The Cp now has a chance to keep the UK out of the war for a while.

I chose “good morale” to offset some of the advantage that the French will gain-and the Russians too. The accrued mobilization” seems like a good idea-picking up 5 reserve corps at the start.

[06 Maestro]

For the Austro/Hungarian Empire I chose to keep the so called Conrad Plan. It is very tempting to go with another plan that calls for A/H concentration and early offensive action against Russia, but there are costs in ‘national will” and events. The A/H Army is going to need all the will it can muster, so I went with the higher option. Of course, to concentrate on Serbia sounds like a good idea-especially as the French may have some extra divisions to throw around. I’m hoping that the A/H Navy can keep the Adriatic clear for a long time. Italy should remain somewhat friendly for the duration with a little diplomatic help

[06 Maestro]

The German Empire has a good starting economy, but it is already running a deficit. Some artillery and the initial units for the 14th Army have been ordered up. The artillery will not be available until the summer of '15. I'm sure it will be needed, so there is no time to waste. War loans will be attempted at the first opportunity.

After the economy stabilizes, there will be some aid for the A/H Empire.

[06 Maestro]

The Austro Hungarian Empire is not quite as robust as the German Empire, however it still is a major power. It will be running deficit also for a while and will be needing some war loans.

One artillery unit and one division were ordered up.

[06 Maestro]

The number of events drawn are about the maximum without taking choices that would have a bad affect on national will. I am happy with the options that came up.

[06 Maestro]

The Ottoman Empire joined the war in August-very nice of them Their economy is rather weak. They are also limited on munitions production. If Great Britain ever enters the war, an expeditionary force will have to be mobilized to give them some help.

The O.E. does have a substantial amount of gold on hand-in part because of Germany's gift.

[06 Maestro]

For those that are not familiar with this game I will post two screens of the A/H 1st Army in Galacia and the German 1st Army on the Neiman River. The difference is not really in the number of units. The A/H army has another attachment with additional divisions. The unit strength and the type of unit (regular, elite ect.)

[06 Maestro]

Here is the main body of the A/H 1st Army.

[06 Maestro]

Here is an overview of the East front at the start of hostilities. The dark blue lines indicate the initial attacks by the CP forces. In early August there are only 3 armies which can conduct offensive actions; the German 1, 2nd, and 3rd Armies.

The light blue arrows indicate attacks that will commence in late August-and in the case of the German 2nd Army, a breakthrough attempt in early August.

The goal of the opening offensive is to capture most, or all of Polish territory. This will eliminate any Russian schema of launching attacks into the heart of Germany or the A/H Empire.

The concept is for the German Army to achieve a breakthrough on the Russian right flank and advance south towards Brest Litovsk. The 3rd Army is to advance directly on Warsaw, while the 2nd Army is tasked with maintaining contact with both 1st nd 3rd Armies while it drives the Russian forces away from East Prussia. The German 8th Army will move on Riga, but only to tie down Russian forces and to confuse its command.

The A/H Armies will advance from the south. They will keep maximum pressure on the Russians as they move north until the German and A/H forces link up-hopefully in the area of Brest Litovsk.

It is possible that the Russian Army wil loose large numbers of soildiers due to being surrounded. However, this is a secondary goal to capturing the industrial and population centers of Poland. Such a defeat will severely hurt any further Russian war effort and leave the CP with strategic options of a great variety.

If this can be carried out as planned, the Russian Empire may have to sue for peice within a year. Then the situation with France can be addressed.

[06 Maestro]

Here is a close up of the Neiman River area.

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A close up of the A/H and Russian Front.

[06 Maestro]

The German 2nd Army is already spread out, but will launch an attack along with the 1st and 3rd Armies. This is risky as it will b going forward with only 4 divisions. It will not attack directly into the Russian HQ area as it is assumed that will be the main body of the Russian 2nd Army. A time will come for that soon enough.

[06 Maestro]

The Serbian Front.

The A/H forces will take a defensive stance until Bulgaria can be brought into the war, and/or German can deploy an Army in the area. When the A/H 2nd Army is mobilized, it will move quickly to the eastern front- if possible.

[06 Maestro]

Turkey must launch attacks or suffer from moral problems. With this situation, the O.E. Army will move into attack positions opposite Kars as quickly as possible.

[06 Maestro]

Palestine is quiet for now-hopefully it will stay that way. However, just to be prudent; Turkish forces will move towards the Egyptian frontier.

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All should stay quite on the Italian Front. A few divisions will be sent to the Serbian Front from here, but a border presence will be maintained-never can tell what those Italians are thinking (from an Austrian point of view anyway).

[06 Maestro]

And the Western Front. Massive attacks are expected here. There are good units with fortresses and good defensive ground-all should be well. Germany will be outnumbered by a wide margin. There is some risk in this, but reserve units should arrive before the French can achieve a major success. Seems like a reasonable assumption-we shall see.

[06 Maestro]

The High Seas Fleet was ordered into the Baltic to seek out the Russian Navy. Nothing is really expected from this, but it may cause the Russian ai some concern.

[06 Maestro]

One more view of Poland before the ball goes up. The Russians are in an awkward position to face a major attack, but there is cause to believe it won't be an easy fight to eliminate the Polish bulge. There are forts-major and minor nearly all around the frontier. The cities also have forts around them-some major forts which will take siege artillery to reduce. As of now, there are only 2 units of siege artillery; one German coastal arty unit and the A/H siege guns on loan to the German 1st Army.

To attack these forts without having reduced them first by barrage is a very costly proposition-it can't be afforded.