For All We Have and Are: Britain in the Great War - (1901 Series)

[Director]

You know, I was going to make a joke ("The situation is indeed Temse") but I just can't do it. I don't want to laugh, I want to cry... over fictional characters in a story inspired by a computer game.

Dammit.

But.

Every day that Germany does not win, the odds against them lengthen. Every day that France continues to exist is a great day for the West and a bad day for Germany.

I keep saying that... and mostly I'm trying to convince myself.


Still, if Germany is pursuing offensives in the East and West, the manpower drain must be unsupportable. I understand the AI is running their show, but even 'our' German Army knew better than to mount major offensives on both fronts at the same time.

So... anyone have gas technology yet, and if so, who?

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I fear the Germans are being overly optimistic. Withthe British and American soldiers distracted in Spain, and everyone distracted in Italy, the fact they still can't get anywhere on the western front indicates they are damned. Plus, this talk of bleeding the French dry will work as well as in otl (I.e. It wasn't their intention, they just made it up after the assaults failed). The French are on their own soil fighting the Germans. They aren't going to back down, and have a huge colonial empire to bolster manpower, plus two even larger empires sending their own troops into France.

Trying to win the First World War by attrition is a horrible idea for anyone, but it definitely won't work for the central powers, especially as all their western allies have already bascially fallen to the entente.

 

[Le Jones]

So two updates to catch up with.

The Italian Civil War update was wonderful, I too was moved by the sacrifice of the 40th Division - I suspect, my dear @DensleyBlair, that you or someone at your school will live on Turin Road or that in your home town there will be a Turin Centre, right next to The Empire cinema/theatre. "The Lions of Turin" is also a cracking name for a pub...

And then on to the Western Front...

You know, I was going to make a joke ("The situation is indeed Temse") but I just can't do it. I don't want to laugh, I want to cry... over fictional characters in a story inspired by a computer game.

I entirely agree with this - and I suspect that our dear author's clever use of photos of the human face of this war (the Tommy with the cat, the weapon-damaged tin helmet) amplified the words wonderfully.

So where to go now?

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I'm fascinated by the helmet blown up but the man ok except for bandaged head.

Presumably what happened was a shell burst, and hit a few things before rebounding at an angle through the helmet. Enough to crack a skull or concus someone badly but not enough to kill.

The Tommy helmets were based off medieval designs for archers, spearman etc. Very good at deflecting arrows fired from above in a volley, or random crap flying around a battle field or siege. Not so good in actual fighting (and would not stop a direct bullet etc).

Reasonably good idea in principle, and pretty good for the war they were fighting (cheap and easy to produce as well). However, fairly obvious why pretty much everyone now uses a similar design to the skull helemets of the germans. More expensive and complicated yes, but also useful outside of a trench.

 

[J_Master]

Another victorious battle at Kortrijk against a foreign invader is some strong symbolism, probably a place for post war gatherings like the IJzertoren became.

I'm fascinated by the helmet blown up but the man ok except for bandaged head.

Presumably what happened was a shell burst, and hit a few things before rebounding at an angle through the helmet. Enough to crack a skull or concus someone badly but not enough to kill.

The Tommy helmets were based off medieval designs for archers, spearman etc. Very good at deflecting arrows fired from above in a volley, or random crap flying around a battle field or siege. Not so good in actual fighting (and would not stop a direct bullet etc).

Reasonably good idea in principle, and pretty good for the war they were fighting (cheap and easy to produce as well). However, fairly obvious why pretty much everyone now uses a similar design to the skull helemets of the germans. More expensive and complicated yes, but also useful outside of a trench.

I doubt the German design has that much more stopping power to stop a bullet coming for your head, that will mostly have to do with new material science as a steel helmet thick enough to do that would also be a massive weight on your neck. It does offer a greater degree of protection against shrapnel and such around the lower head and neck and is certainly usefull for thqt

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I doubt the German design has that much more stopping power to stop a bullet coming for your head, that will mostly have to do with new material science as a steel helmet thick enough to do that would also be a massive weight on your neck. It does offer a greater degree of protection against shrapnel and such around the lower head and neck and is certainly usefull for thqt

They had a special steel and leather double helm that apparently did the job very well, but not many troops wore it because of the weight and lack of availability anyway...

Yes, the british helm was good against shells and shrapnel from above. The german one was good for stuff exploding in the trench or around you and then hitting you.

 

[DensleyBlair]

I suspect that Butterlfy is correct: if the Germans aren’t getting anywhere now, when the Entente are apparently stretched thin on the Western Front, then what hope in hell do they have after a withdrawal from the southern theatres? The fact that everything in the text is hinting towards extreme bloodiness is… well, it’s not promising for anyone really.

 

[Wraith11B]

Not to be macabre, but what's the running totals for losses by nation, and what were the starting populations for each nation prior to the war breaking out?

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I suspect that Butterlfy is correct: if the Germans aren’t getting anywhere now, when the Entente are apparently stretched thin on the Western Front, then what hope in hell do they have after a withdrawal from the southern theatres? The fact that everything in the text is hinting towards extreme bloodiness is… well, it’s not promising for anyone really.

Sure, the fact that Germany can't possibly win has always been true. It's just that now we and probably the german high command also now know it for certain.

Problem is, they're running their country and literally can't do anything but keep the war going. They're looking for separate peace now. First Russia, then maybe a ceasefire in the west (though that is becoming increasingly unlikely). To do that, they're going to have to go all out against Russia and bloody up both their alliance and Russia.

Many millions yet to die, just to close up the east, just so Germany can lose to the west instead.

Not to be macabre, but what's the running totals for losses by nation, and what were the starting populations for each nation prior to the war breaking out?

Pretty sure Serbia won this otl, with 11% of their whole population dying. And that's the confirmed numbers. It could be as high as 16 to 27%.

I think France had the worst of it out of the Great powers percentage wise, unless we count the ottoman empire as a whole (which lost around 10 to 15%). France only lost 4%, in comparison to Romania, ottomans and Serbia...but then again, that's several million people dead in their case.

That's OTL however. TTL, imperial federation is going to mess with numbers, as will no doubt French unionism being even more extreme than OTL...and the US are going to lose a lot more of course, given they are fighting from near the begining all the way through.

Big losers TTL will probably be Spain (civil war and great war loses), Italy (ditto) and the ottoman empire which is probably going to see even more pressure put on it as the last resource rich German ally standing. A naval landing in the Holy land, gallipoli or somewhere else is on the cards, the invasion through suez and mesopotamia will probably have US troops there too (potential new developing economies and loads of natural resources untapped? Yes please!).

 

[slothinator]

Well, the Western Front is terribly bleak. If all these investments in lives on either side do not move the front, I agree with Butterfly and Densley that Germany is going to have a hell of a time once the troops from Spain and Italy are moved North.
Peace is a distant mirage and I fear that it will make everyone unhappy.

 

[BigBadBob]

That's some serious bloodletting in Flanders fields.

And things are only going to get worse before they get better.

You know, I was going to make a joke ("The situation is indeed Temse") but I just can't do it. I don't want to laugh, I want to cry... over fictional characters in a story inspired by a computer game.

Dammit.

But.

Every day that Germany does not win, the odds against them lengthen. Every day that France continues to exist is a great day for the West and a bad day for Germany.

I keep saying that... and mostly I'm trying to convince myself.


Still, if Germany is pursuing offensives in the East and West, the manpower drain must be unsupportable. I understand the AI is running their show, but even 'our' German Army knew better than to mount major offensives on both fronts at the same time.

So... anyone have gas technology yet, and if so, who?

I'm glad the writing is having an effect.

German High Command has indeed, through 1913-14, come to understand that they are the ones who really need wins fast. The major bid of 1914 is soon to come...

Funnily enough, addressed in this chapter.

I fear the Germans are being overly optimistic. Withthe British and American soldiers distracted in Spain, and everyone distracted in Italy, the fact they still can't get anywhere on the western front indicates they are damned. Plus, this talk of bleeding the French dry will work as well as in otl (I.e. It wasn't their intention, they just made it up after the assaults failed). The French are on their own soil fighting the Germans. They aren't going to back down, and have a huge colonial empire to bolster manpower, plus two even larger empires sending their own troops into France.

Trying to win the First World War by attrition is a horrible idea for anyone, but it definitely won't work for the central powers, especially as all their western allies have already bascially fallen to the entente.

It is a matter of time if the Germans do not somehow manage to change the complexion of the war as a whole. As can be seen in the conclusion to today's chapter, the Germans are running things close before the Entente has even brought its full strength to bear.

So two updates to catch up with.

The Italian Civil War update was wonderful, I too was moved by the sacrifice of the 40th Division - I suspect, my dear @DensleyBlair, that you or someone at your school will live on Turin Road or that in your home town there will be a Turin Centre, right next to The Empire cinema/theatre. "The Lions of Turin" is also a cracking name for a pub...

And then on to the Western Front...



I entirely agree with this - and I suspect that our dear author's clever use of photos of the human face of this war (the Tommy with the cat, the weapon-damaged tin helmet) amplified the words wonderfully.

So where to go now?

Thank you! I'm sure some enterprising Italian (or English expat) has set just that pub up by the memorial itself.

Yes, I realised that the limited nature of the offensives meant there was not quite such the need for maps to take up picture slots, and the IWM has a truly wonderful collection of photos with all manner of daily life and little moments.

As noted in the previous update, the only way to go is further down the path of escalation...

I'm fascinated by the helmet blown up but the man ok except for bandaged head.

Presumably what happened was a shell burst, and hit a few things before rebounding at an angle through the helmet. Enough to crack a skull or concus someone badly but not enough to kill.

The Tommy helmets were based off medieval designs for archers, spearman etc. Very good at deflecting arrows fired from above in a volley, or random crap flying around a battle field or siege. Not so good in actual fighting (and would not stop a direct bullet etc).

Reasonably good idea in principle, and pretty good for the war they were fighting (cheap and easy to produce as well). However, fairly obvious why pretty much everyone now uses a similar design to the skull helemets of the germans. More expensive and complicated yes, but also useful outside of a trench.

My favourite statistics story remains the one about British command being puzzled by the increase in head injuries following the introduction of the Tommy helmet, until someone realised these were men who, before the helmet, would have ended up in the statistics as 'dead'.

Another victorious battle at Kortrijk against a foreign invader is some strong symbolism, probably a place for post war gatherings like the IJzertoren became.

I doubt the German design has that much more stopping power to stop a bullet coming for your head, that will mostly have to do with new material science as a steel helmet thick enough to do that would also be a massive weight on your neck. It does offer a greater degree of protection against shrapnel and such around the lower head and neck and is certainly usefull for thqt

Courtrai/Kortrijk is very much the Ypres of TTL.

They had a special steel and leather double helm that apparently did the job very well, but not many troops wore it because of the weight and lack of availability anyway...

Yes, the british helm was good against shells and shrapnel from above. The german one was good for stuff exploding in the trench or around you and then hitting you.

Considering 90% of casualties were caused by artillery in WWI, either priority is a fair one to concentrate on compared to a direct bullet hit.

I suspect that Butterlfy is correct: if the Germans aren’t getting anywhere now, when the Entente are apparently stretched thin on the Western Front, then what hope in hell do they have after a withdrawal from the southern theatres? The fact that everything in the text is hinting towards extreme bloodiness is… well, it’s not promising for anyone really.

Today's chapter shows just how close that logic came to coming good. Unfortunately, luck, that enabled victory at the Forties, now allows the Germans to stay in the field.

Not to be macabre, but what's the running totals for losses by nation, and what were the starting populations for each nation prior to the war breaking out?

I haven't worked these numbers out for all the combatants, but the population of GB and Ireland stood at 51 million in 1911, and some 300,000 or so of them have been killed in war by August 1914.

Sure, the fact that Germany can't possibly win has always been true. It's just that now we and probably the german high command also now know it for certain.

Problem is, they're running their country and literally can't do anything but keep the war going. They're looking for separate peace now. First Russia, then maybe a ceasefire in the west (though that is becoming increasingly unlikely). To do that, they're going to have to go all out against Russia and bloody up both their alliance and Russia.

Many millions yet to die, just to close up the east, just so Germany can lose to the west instead.

Pretty sure Serbia won this otl, with 11% of their whole population dying. And that's the confirmed numbers. It could be as high as 16 to 27%.

I think France had the worst of it out of the Great powers percentage wise, unless we count the ottoman empire as a whole (which lost around 10 to 15%). France only lost 4%, in comparison to Romania, ottomans and Serbia...but then again, that's several million people dead in their case.

That's OTL however. TTL, imperial federation is going to mess with numbers, as will no doubt French unionism being even more extreme than OTL...and the US are going to lose a lot more of course, given they are fighting from near the begining all the way through.

Big losers TTL will probably be Spain (civil war and great war loses), Italy (ditto) and the ottoman empire which is probably going to see even more pressure put on it as the last resource rich German ally standing. A naval landing in the Holy land, gallipoli or somewhere else is on the cards, the invasion through suez and mesopotamia will probably have US troops there too (potential new developing economies and loads of natural resources untapped? Yes please!).

We haven't even got to the thrid act yet, where the bloodbath really begins, so yes, it's going to be brutal.

Well, the Western Front is terribly bleak. If all these investments in lives on either side do not move the front, I agree with Butterfly and Densley that Germany is going to have a hell of a time once the troops from Spain and Italy are moved North.
Peace is a distant mirage and I fear that it will make everyone unhappy.

Unhappy or dead.

 

[BigBadBob]

29
The Scheldt

​

I feel great sympathy for your plight, lieutenant. For you see, where you have lost a platoon’s worth of England’s Finest, I must live with losing divisions of them.

Henry Wavell-Pierce to an officer of the Glosters, August 12th, 1914​

The Battle of the Scheldt holds a particular place in the cultural memory of the war in Britain. The combination of utterly horrific bloodshed for little gain was bad enough, but all those gains would be undone within months. It is also the battle most associated with the brutal consequence of volunteers serving with other local recruits. In limited offensives like those of 1913, the core of attacking units could still be formed of veteran units. In summer 1914, the offensive was too large, and those veterans too depleted, to allow for such a strategy. The great volunteer army of the early war was thus bloodied in full for the first time. Once this experience had been combined with the further bruising of Operation Michael, volunteerism was dead.

The narrative of futility was only strengthened when memoirs and official documents began to piece together the reasons for the battle’s being joined in the first place. The strategic and political considerations involved were emblematic of a mindset that seemed to see the men being sent to their deaths as mere numbers. The most damning was, without a doubt, the reason for the timing of the offensive.

Having expected to knock out Spain and Italy by Summer 1914, some sort of offensive had been pencilled in since the first iterations of the post-Salients strategy. That the date did not change, despite Spain having not fallen and Italy yet to be invaded as summer came closer, was not a result of strategic considerations. Especially following the Aisne Offensive, the French expected the British to start pulling their weight in France. The bigger the offensive, the better. It was this that determined which of the possible offensives the War Cabinet chose.

The Salients and the Scheldt had always been the two most promising places. Right next to each other, progress in one would contribute to laying the groundwork for a successful offensive in the other. However, an offensive to close the salient north of Lille would be more limited, and would require the French to participate on the Lille-facing side of things. A wide drive to the Scheldt would make the salient indefensible, require more units for both attackers and defenders, and, crucially, be an entirely British operation.

The first day was set for 15 June 1914. It was sheer luck that Spain surrendered less than a month before the slaughter began, allowing the offensive the thin veneer of being a follow-up to the success in Spain, even though preparations had begun long before the March to Madrid. With preliminary thinking beginning on an Italian offensive of some sort once Spain fell, the government’s narrative suddenly shifted to the idea of that summer as a show of force; Britain would prove that it could wage all-out war on multiple fronts, thereby convincing Germany and its allies of the futility of their cause.

To further emphasise this, the offensive was planned to coincide with a French effort to reverse the German gains at the Aisne, and a Russian push in Poland and Galicia. The combination of pressure throughout the summer was bound to stretch Germany to its limit, perhaps even break it. At the least, success on all fronts, smashing multiple Pact units in the process, would make victory a mere matter of time.

The front as of 14 June 1914, and British objectives for the Scheldt Offensive (dotted)​

The relative silence over the winter months belied the continuance of escalation. Whereas two corps had been involved in the push for Courtrai the previous year, now two whole armies would be involved in the push for the Scheldt. On the first day, there would be 15 divisions advancing across No Man’s Land, numbering 300,000 men, with another 15 earmarked for being thrown into the fray soon after. In the end, well over a million men would find themselves involved on the British side of the battle before the offensive was halted on 22 September.

Another sign of escalation was the preparatory artillery bombardment. In the week preceding the first day, the British put more shells in the air than they had in the entirety of 1913. The problem was that the majority of these shells were still shrapnel. Their purpose in preparing the ground for a major offensive was in cutting wire, but the Germans had seen just as clearly the Salient or Scheldt were where the hammer would fall. Wire was, by mid-June the least of the attackers’ worries.

Having been prepared over the winter and spring, the German trenches were formidable, stretching three, sometimes four, lines deep. All were connected not just by the immediate surface traverses, but a warren of underground connections, which would bedevil the attackers throughout the battle. Whereas the HE rounds did bite when used on the ground-level trench and rendered many a traverse unusable for the defenders on the first day, it was the world underground that meant the defenders had, in many cases, never been forced to retreat behind those traverses.

That is not to say the bombardment was not as impressive in its psychological effects as its intensity would imply. George Smith, who had missed the great battles of 1913 due to a head injury from a stray shell-burst, was thus able to compare it with his memory of the bombardment preceding the Second Battle of the Salients:

Whereas the twelve hours preceding the Salients had been a steady drumbeat of thunderous booms in the distance, this was a week where it seemed there was no such thing as silence. From the first boom behind us of artillery firing, until the last shell-burst before the whistle sounded, the guns roared, and the shells exploded. The sky seemed to be engaged in a great, roaring wail, as if some Ancient Deity were lamenting what was to come. ​

​

Some of the newer men dared express a sense of sympathy for the poor souls across No Man’s Land. Trotter, the platoon sergeant who had remained in the field through my recuperation, assured them that soon they would wish it had been worse for the Germans. To me, he assured as an aside, however, that he was yet to see anything worse than that first day at the Salients.​

As Trotter and Smith were about to find out, the Scheldt was an entirely different beast. The horror of the Salients was limited by equipment and ammunition being far more thinly spread, and that of 1913’s offensives by their intentionally limited nature. This was assault on a wide front, with all the twisted fruits of escalation brought to bear.

British troops advance on the Scheldt, from ‘The Battle of the Scheldt’ [1]​

The first day proved to be the deadliest of the war so far. Though it was not as devastating per unit as the first day at the Salients, the sheer number of men involved meant that 16,244 of them were dead by the end of it. The horror of the day was exacerbated by the aforementioned clustering of recruits from the same area in the same units. These ‘Pals Battalions’ led to the situation where a particularly unlucky break for a group of attackers would not just wipe out a platoon, but the young men of an entire village.

The most famous example is probably that of 1st Platoon, D Company, 2nd Battalion (East Cheshire), 43rd Brigade, 22nd Division, commanded by Lieutenant David Gerrard. The son of a landowner near the village of Wheelock Heath, his platoon had largely been composed of men from the village and surrounding areas. By the time Gerrard trudged back to his empty quarters at the end of the day, having spent it gathering random stragglers from other units to capture the forward trench and use the time before the counterattack to evacuate as many wounded from No Man’s Land as possible, he had become the area’s last able-bodied man of fighting age.

Gerrard’s personal heroism and resulting DSO were not the only tales of courage from the day, nor even the only instance of a man being left as the sole survivor of the local area’s volunteers. What was unusual was Gerrard’s insistence that he personally deliver the news to the families. Many officers were equally conscientious in writing their letters of condolence or otherwise delivering the news personally, but it was the combination of conscientiousness and sole survivor status that made the reporting of his ‘misery lap’ strike so deep into the national consciousness. That Gerrard then returned to the front captured something of the nation’s mood of mourning mixed with a dogged refusal to back down from the escalating cost of the conflict.

And it was escalating. Despite the losses of the first day, which had been for little gain, the assault continued unabated. The sheer pressure the British were exerting began to take its toll on the defenders by the third week, with XXV Corps having pushed from its positions at Sint-Baafs-Vijve, crossed the Lys, captured Waregem, and was now aiming to strike for Oudenaarde on the eastern end of the offensive. In the west, a sustained push south from Courtrai towards Tourcoing was starting to make progress. Unwilling to show their hand when they had their own plans for the autumn, German High Command had resisted calls for major reinforcements and permission to use new innovations. With the British seemingly capable of reaching the Scheldt though, High Command authorised the deployment of an additional two corps and of the first major use of poison gas.

‘Gassed’, John Singer Sargent (1918), depicting the aftermath of mustard gas​

On 7 July, the Germany Army released chlorine gas on XXV Corps near Waregem. The result was a horrific sight, with men choking and blinded by the cloud. The immediate shock and horror were followed by condemnation from Entente governments, and grumbling discomfort from the few neutral nations left in Europe. The precedent had, however, been set, and gas soon became a common tool in the arsenal of both sides, with variants such as phosgene and mustard gas being developed to overcome the defensive tools of detection and masking [2].

In the three weeks between the first day and the ‘Terror of Waregem’, the Entente had come close to causing the exact kind of crisis in German High Command that they hoped to cause. Though the French and Russian efforts had been even more disastrous in terms of men lost to ground gained, the pressure they exerted made the British progress at the Scheldt seem a harbinger of things to come. If it resulted in a genuine breakthrough for the BEF, the demand for reinforcements to contain it would leave units at the Aisne without reserves, unless High Command wanted to bring in the units that were earmarked for their own hammer blow of 1914, and thus scupper it.

However, the need to halt the offensive for a week to re-evaluate and find adaptions for gas, as well as to rotate out battered attacking units, allowed the meagre reinforcements given to the German defenders to consolidate their lines. When the offensive resumed in mid-July, it hit a wall. The totality of the German defensive position was used to ensure that, over the next month-and-a-half of combat, the total ground gained by the BEF was less than in those first three weeks.

Underground warrens were no longer just nightmarish for the possibility of finding the enemy around the corner in the dark, but for the possibility that a traverse might be booby trapped with gas. German counter-battery fire was now sighted on the captured ground and their own front trenches, rather than desperately trying to adjust for the flow of battle. The relative failure to advance in the centre early in the offensive now led to a situation where an offensive partially intended to make the Ypres-Tourcoing Salient untenable had created two new salients.

The front near Lille and Courtrai, 31 August 1914​

Before the resumption of the offensive, Field Marshal Wavell-Pierce had argued that this would be the result. Overruled by a War Cabinet convinced that a week was not long enough for the Germans to reorganise, wanting to keep the pressure on for the sake of the French and Russian efforts, and convinced by Churchill that Germany would have to see the light if the pressure were still on when the Italian operation caused another ally to collapse, Wavell-Pierce was forced to continue a battle that had now become an exercise in attrition. It was not until the death toll crossed 78,000 in late August (with no Italian collapse in sight), that Wavell-Pierce was allowed to call a halt to proceedings.

The Scheldt is conventionally seen as a costly failure at best, and an outright disaster at worst. The latter interpretation is certainly helped by the fact that it helped make the BEF so vulnerable to the German counteroffensive in October. The former conclusion is also easy to come to, when one looks at the distance from the original objectives, most importantly the River Scheldt, compared to the lives paid for those gains. That many places in Britain had paid so disproportionately for them only adds to this mismatch between goals and outcome.

It is hard to argue anything other than that the Scheldt Offensive failed. This does not, however, translate to the common conclusion that it was always destined to fail. German High Command’s panic in early July alone testifies to the fact that it had genuine potential. If the introduction of gas had not forced the halt after Waregem, the pressure might have succeeded in breaking the defenders, already begging for reinforcements when it happened. With a BEF breakthrough, Operation Michael could well have been put on indefinite hold, potentially even its Russian counterpart too.

In such a world, the Entente may have spent late 1914 collapsing Italy and preparing for a knockout blow on a slowly starving Germany. The war may have ended by the same time in 1915 as the Scheldt Offensive – almost assuredly the decisive battle of that version of the war – had been launched in 1914. Instead, the failure at the Scheldt became the first blow in a long series that would make June 1915 not a moment of Entente triumph, but the arguable zenith of the German bid for world power.


[1] – Though this still from the iconic film is now considered almost certainly a re-enactment, it has become one of the enduring images of the battle, and of the war.

[2] – The distinctive odour and visible colouring of the air made chlorine gas easy to detect, and its water-solubility allowed for a mere damp rag to work as a mask against the worst of tis effects. Phosgene overcame these, and caused more deaths than any other gas used in the war. Mustard gas was not as deadly, and the thick nature of the cloud made it very detectable. What it did that phosgene did not, was almost guarantee long hospitalisation (and thus absence from the battlefield) via blistering chemical burns.

 

[eoncommander]

I feel great sympathy for your plight, lieutenant. For you see, where you have lost a platoon’s worth of England’s Finest, I must live with losing divisions of them.

Henry Wavell-Pierce to an officer of the Glosters, August 12th, 1914​

As nice as the sentiment is, I feel like there's a vast gulf between these two experiences. Kudos for trying, though.

Where are the Americans in all this? I know that in the early years, with limited forces available, they were concentrated on the Mediterranean fronts. But I would have expected, now three years into the war, for the AEF to be making its presence felt in the north.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

The Last Great German Offensive is fast approaching, it seems. And, presumably, it will also be the final nail in the coffin of the German war effort. They have little food or resource left, the weather is only going to get worse, the allies only going to get stronger...

I suspect that the Germans will cause a great deal of death and chaos before they go down though. Better make damn sure there's no stab in the back myth. Invade Germany or make the armies themselves put their weapons down.

 

[Director]

I was wondering who had the capability to use gas. Now I'm wondering who has the capability to protect themselves from it.

As awful as the casualties were, both in number and from cause, the offensive seems to have succeeded better than in OTL version.

The creation of new salients isn't necessarily a bad thing; it complicates matters for both sides, requires the defending army to increase its fortifications and so forth. The obvious point for a counter-stroke is from Turcoing to Courtrai... one hopes the Entente generals can see that too and actually make some preparations to receive it.

I would guess that Germany will go down akin to the 'wonderful one-hoss shay', with every part supporting the others until it all crumbles.

So... what's happening in Asia Minor and Russia?

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I was wondering who had the capability to use gas. Now I'm wondering who has the capability to protect themselves from it.

Well, gas was not all that effective at killing people in the war because every front quickly got gas masks that worked pretty well against it. It was also hard to deploy and use properly. Very deadly in the first few months of usage, and forever after a massive morale effect on all sides.

That being said, this is several years into the war. The Germans cannot be able to mass produce loads of gas, and all the shells to fire it, alongside everything else they have to do. We're far enough in that they're running out of everything by now, so producing and perfecting new stuff and taking material away from normal shell production is not going to go down well...

The creation of new salients isn't necessarily a bad thing; it complicates matters for both sides, requires the defending army to increase its fortifications and so forth. The obvious point for a counter-stroke is from Turcoing to Courtrai... one hopes the Entente generals can see that too and actually make some preparations to receive it.

I would guess that Germany will go down akin to the 'wonderful one-hoss shay', with every part supporting the others until it all crumbles.

Well, the Germans have not done the most effective thing they did OTL yet, which is build some proper solid concrete and underground defensive lines, with layered defences, and then abandon their current frontline to populate it. This was a huge, secret and very successful operation. The Entente did not know they were doing it, and did not attack them even though they could have utterly bull rushed them during the strategic retreat.

Here, I doubt the German war machine has the stuff left to build the fortifications, let alone the control necessary to then retreat to them.

Once again, I am left to conclude this war is now not so much about who wins but how badly Germany loses, and how much they make everyone hurt in the process?

 

[J66185]

I also wonder what the food situation among the warring powers bears among them. I know that the Central Powers had it badly, though they made some creative substitutes: The Iron Ration.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I also wonder what the food situation among the warring powers bears among them. I know that the Central Powers had it badly, though they made some creative substitutes: The Iron Ration.

Well it won't be great for the Entente powers, so I imagine the situation in Germany is similar to 1917 or 18 OTL. I e. They are at breakpoint domestically and starting to have food shortages on the front lines as well. No Romanian harvest to bail them out for a few more months either. Its just been 3 years of constant blockades.

Then again, the Federation can't lean too hard on its various bread basket constituents either (at least compared to otl) if it wants to keep everyone happy and in the project going forward...

 

[J_Master]

Courtrai/Kortrijk is very much the Ypres of TTL.

We haven't even got to the thrid act yet, where the bloodbath really begins, so yes, it's going to be brutal.

In such a world, the Entente may have spent late 1914 collapsing Italy and preparing for a knockout blow on a slowly starving Germany. The war may have ended by the same time in 1915 as the Scheldt Offensive – almost assuredly the decisive battle of that version of the war – had been launched in 1914. Instead, the failure at the Scheldt became the first blow in a long series that would make June 1915 not a moment of Entente triumph, but the arguable zenith of the German bid for world power.

Every chapter on the front in Belgium makes me a bit more depressed, especially because of how bad it has gotten but also knowing how bad it will get, especially because the war isn't at her greatest extent yet. Belgium is interesting compared to IRL, because the occupation isn't as complete, Ghent and Brugge are still unoccupied. As I'm currently reading his war diary, Joris van Severen would at least be able to visit his family whilst at the front instead of when Brugge was liberated.

Anyways, this whole situation has gotten me anticipating the end of the war, a vengeful final offensive and enforced peace, for which the final stanza of The Flemish Lion comes to mind:

Revenge hath come, tired of their bait;
Amidst his rage, he pounceth the foe in spite
Which he teareth, crusheth, killeth, covereth in blood and mud,
And in victory sneereth o’er his foe’s fallen corpse.

Spoiler: music

the stanza quoted is almost never played, but this is one of the strongest versions of the anthem I know of

 

[Director]

Well, gas was not all that effective at killing people in the war because every front quickly got gas masks that worked pretty well against it. It was also hard to deploy and use properly. Very deadly in the first few months of usage, and forever after a massive morale effect on all sides.

I suppose that depends on your definition of 'all that effective'. I suspect the soldiers of WW1 would not have agreed with you.

In game, gas can be very effective, especially if the other side hasn't discovered gas countermeasures.