Ivanov

The initial 400 MPP’s have been spent on operating, reinforcing and refitting the existing units. Unfortunately we unable to rebuild any of the destroyed armies The good news is that thanks to the so called Lend Lease aid, provided by our imperialist allies, we already start to form and equip some new units in the area of Kazan:

As it becomes apparent that the main effort of the enemy is focused in the south, the reinforcements are rushed in to the theatre. STAVKA is pretty convinced that there won’t be any major Axis offensive elsewhere, so units are sent in by rail from other, quiet sectors, in order to stiffen the defence of the Southern and Voronezh Fronts. The aim is to create deep, defensive zones, anchored around the cities of Rostov, Milerovo and Pavlovsk. The Soviet HQ is well aware, that the current efforts probably won’t be sufficient to halt a determined fascist attack, but we hope at least that we will be able to slow down considerably the drive of the Heeresgruppe Süd. Due to the relative proximity of the Caucasus and the Volga river, we don’t possess the luxury of trading space to for time, as it was the case during the campaign of 1941: In Crimea, the enemy assault against Sevastopol is in a full swing but for the moment the defences of our Costal Army stand firm and the attackers suffered a considerable loses in the process. Note that our brave soldiers can count on the support of the heavy guns of the Maxim Gorky battery! Despite the heroic efforts of the Costal Army, we expect that the defences of Sevastopol will be overrunned at some stage, but in order to draw the enemy reserves our Crimean Front have launched a series of attacks from the Kerch Paninsula: In the centre, the Voronezh and Bryansk Fronts are conducting a planned and orderly retreat. Note that some of the Heeresgruppe Mitte units have already suffered serious loses in the process: At the same time in the area of Rzhev, the armies of the Kalinin Front have been ordered to evacuate their current, precarious positions. Our units there are low on supply and their present, awkward dispositions ( which are the reminder of our earlier, winter offensive ) have become simply unattainable. It is a common knowledge that Comrade Koba ( aka Stalin ) is not really keen on allowing our commanders to withdraw, but for the moment gen. Zhukov managed to persuade him, that such a move is necessary and that Red Army will be back there, as soon as we manage to regain our strenght:

Well it wasn't easy to be honest. I mean to move beyond Meuse. Maybe the last posts of the AAR made an impression that the campaign was a piece of cake for the Germans, but in fact even with the Meuse crossed and Verdun captured the victory was secured in the last possible moment. Few more days of rain could change the outcome. In the mid August I honestly thought, that I wouldn't be able to move any further - hence the gamble in the Vosges. Having said this, we believe that the French frontier fortresses should be a little more formidable obstacles, so in the post 1.01 patches they will provide a defensive fire. The Germans can build few artillery units, so the defensive fire of Toul, Belfort and Verdun will make up for the lack of the Entente artillery units. One of the most important factors why the Germans managed to previal at the end, was their constant numerical superiority achieved thanks to not attacking Belgium and keeping the Brits out of the war for as long as possible. But the Battle of Meuse proved, that it was not possible to overcome the main French defences in a frontal attack, even despite the clear numerical superiority of the invaders. An outfanking manouver was needed and only when the open and wider terrain west of Meuse was reached, the Entente armies were overwhelmed by the superior numbers. As a side note, the move through Vosges was inspierd by the Manstein's plan to send the panzers through the Ardennes in 1940 and the Belgian Deception by the pre Normandy Allied efforts to convince the Germans that the main invasion would take place in the area of Pas de Calias. So the WWII lessons turned to be quite useful in 1914

Oh yes, Ghost is an extremely aggressive player so it will be a bloody opening and I'm going to get it :eek:

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us begin... BTW - Ghost, do you think that there are many Ladies going through the forum??? *** The May of 1942 comes to an end and the situation on the front after our recent debacle near Kharkov is not exactly rosy. It is clear that our offensive potential has been spent and that the armies of the German fascist invaders have regained their momentum. Due to that, Stavka is well aware that we need to be ready to repel a new enemy assault this summer. Initially the highest political echelon was strongly convinced that we should expect a renewed strike against our great capital – Moscow. Accordingly the defences were strengthened there. The recent events in the south however, strongly suggest that the enemy chose to strike in the direction of the river Voronezh and Stalingrad on the banks of river Volga. It is very likely that the oil fields of Caucasus may be endangered. If we lose them it may mean the turning point of the war. The oil is essential to our war effort. Also if the fascist invaders manage reach Volga, it could mean that we would no longer be able to use the river as transport artery for the goods that are delivered by our allies vie Middle East and Persia. Our intelligence has already spotted that the enemy has been deploying a considerable force against our Voronezh and Southern Fronts ( in the vicinity of Rostov ). At least five mobile corps of the First Panzer Army have been spotted – a strong indication where the future schwerpunkt of the fascist attack will be located. Stavka has provided us with the last minute reinforcements and we will be able to strengthen our comrades on the front with the following units: - 5 armies - 2 tank armies - 2 cavalry corps - Semyon Timoshenko HQ We deploy those units mostly in the area of Rostov and Voronezh to face the pending enemy assault. We are well aware, that those units probably won't be able to hold a determined German attack. We hope at least, that those units may be helpful in steaming the initial momentum of the Axis assault in the south: The main fighting is expected to unfold in the south but we certainly cannot ignore other fronts. Most of all we need to protect Moscow and Leningrad at all costs! Despite the apparent numerical parity, the enemy is expected to hold the initiative for some time due to the better organization and higher experience of his armies. From the other hand the time will be on our side, so we shall seek for any opportunities to draw and exhaust the German reserves and if we manage to achieve a 1:1 casualty ratio, it will mean our victory in the long term, thanks to our increasing manpower and material superiority. One of such a “attritional hotspots” will be for example Crimea and Kerch and Stavka intends to hold them for as long as possible: NOTE : The Soviet HQ will mark the destroyed Fascist units with this symbol: You should interpret it as a visualisation of the wrath and vengeance of the Soviet workers and peasants ( not to mention the working intelligentsia ) who exert their bloody revenge on the enemy who dared to enter our great, socialist paradise!

1914 CAMPAIGN SEEN FROM THE GERMAN PERSPECTIVE - ANALYSIS As it has been already said, Bill and myself fought a fascinating campaign. Despite the fact that most of the time the Germans held the initiative, the final outcome of the match was uncertain for a very long time. So I would like to make a few comments on some important aspects of the campaign. In order to follow the good German tradition of the post war memoirs, the analysis will be one sided and subjective, so please take it with a grain of salt... 1. THE INITIAL DEPLOYMENT Probably the single most difficult issue with which the German HQ needed to deal at the beginning of the campaign, was the awkward initial deployment of our forces. As we had seen, the invasion of Belgium was never seriously contemplated, but unfortunately only roughly 21% of the initial German strength was deployed on the central front, to strike fast towards the initial objectives, that is Nancy, Toul and the Meuse. This fact made our overall numerical superiority practically irrelevant and was the single most important factor that would make the attack via Belgium more attractive to the German HQ. Ultimately however the benefits of attacking France directly ( keeping Belgian army out of the conflict and delaying the British entry ), outweighed the eventual benefits of the so called “Belgian Option”. Let’s look where the German divisions were deployed on the first day of the war: -14 divisions on the central front and main Schwerpunkt of the attack -23 divisions as the second echelon that could arrive to the main battle area in 2-4 days after being force marched -21 divisions were deployed against Belgium and were arriving to the main battle area after up to two weeks of continuous marches. Due to their tiredness they were not arriving as coherent, big, offensive formations. Instead they were employed piecemeal to reinforce the existing armies. -6 divisions in Alsace At the same time the French were fielding: -16 divisions on the central front, plus 4 were garrisoning Verdun -8 divisions in Alsace. From the above it is pretty clear, that the German armies were not ready to deal a rapid and decisive blow against the French. Their numbers grew gradually, what in turn gave the enemy time to prepare a solid defensive line. The result was a stalemate at Meuse. THE BATTLE OF MEUSE AND NEUFCHATEAU GAP. BELGIAN DECEPTION : For some time it looked as the German assault at Meuse bogged down and that our advance towards Paris would end there. Von Moltke’s plan to exhaust the defenders in an attritional battle did not succeed. The French took heavy lose but thanks to the mobilization of the new units the actual number of their division grew slightly as the battle progressed. The German numerical superiority was irrelevant at that stage given the fact that is seemed as there was no enough space for any kind of outflanking maneuver. It was then, that Von Moltke noticed one positive aspect of the Meuse fighting – the battle was engaging a vast majority of the French units, so it seemed that a strike somewhere could have good chances of a success. Two options were considered – Southern Belgium and the mountainous area of Vosges. Belgium was tempting from the logistical point of view but the attack against the country would be a diplomatic disaster. Attack through Vosges was a huge gamble due to the logistic. Also if the French reacted swiftly enough, they could easily extend their defensive lines to the south, sealing off any further breakthrough attempts. Good Kaiser once again rejected the invasion of Belgium and the Seventh Army was formed to lead the assault through the inhospitable terrain of Vosges. Secrecy and deception were primordial during the planning. The operation could only succeed if the French had their attention diverted somewhere else and were deprived of the reserves, that could be sent to face the Seventh Army. Accordingly, further attacks at Meuse were ordered while the Second Army moved against Belfort. Also the Belgian Deception was undertaken. Surprisingly enough the French pretty quickly detected our movement through Vosges but failed to address the threat. We believe that it was due to the lack of reserves, thanks to the timing of our efforts on other fronts and coupled wit the Belgian Deception. On 25th of August the French left Nuefchateau and the floodgate was finally open. It was probably the turning point of the whole campaign. COULD B.E.F AND THE ARMY OF FOCH TURN THE TABLES? Was the war already lost by the Entente when the Seventh Army finally crossed the Meuse and appeared on the plains of Chapagne? Certainly it was not. There was still a very long way to Paris and while the Franco-British forces were probably too weak to defeat us decisively, they still had plenty opportunities to slow down our movement or to stop us completely. The main new enemy formations that went into action in September were the B.E.F and the Army of Foch ( AOF ). Their main objective was to counterattack our southern flank along the river Aube. We believe that the plan was over ambitious and in result of it, the best enemy formations were spent while they could be employed more efficiently somewhere else. To begin with, both B.E.F and the AOF had never any significant numerical superiority over our Seventh Army, that they were supposed to defeat. Their efforts forced German HQ to protect our southern flank but also assured that there were no enough units to protect the French capital when the “Operation Weiner Schnitzel” was launched. So all in all B.E.F and AOF could have been employed to a greater effect and possibly prevent our forces from reaching the French capital.

It was a thrilling match alright! More than once I thought I was going to lose

As promised here it goes the timeline of the campaign. I will also post a short analysis of some aspects of the campaign. AUGUST 01-05AUG – frontier battles 02-03AUG – the French enter German Alsace 04 AUG - German counterattack in Alsace 06 AUG - Nancy is captured 07AUG – the French begin to withdraw behind Meuse and establish a defensive line there 08 AUG - fighting on the approaches to Verdun 10 AUG - Commercy at Meuse is captured 12 AUG – Fortress of Toul is captured 14-15 AUG - German attacks at Belfort and near Verdun aimed at depriving the French the reserves before the main attack at Meuse 16AUG - 01SEP - Battle of Meuse 18 AUG – Mirecourt in Vosges is captured. German HQ senses an opportunity and the Seventh Army begins to form. Belgian deception begins. 19-24 AUG - Seventh Army Pushes through Vosges 25 AUG – the French vacate Neufchateau. Seventh Army breaks through from Vosges 29 AUG – Foch takes over a new French army 30 AUG – Britain declares war on Germany. First Army crosses the Meuse SEPTEMBER 06 SEP – first combat of the B.E.F. the British along with the elements of the Foch Army recapture Bar Sur Aube 07 SEP - St Dizier is captured 09 SEP – Second Army moves towards Belfort. Seventh Army captures Arcis sur Aube 10 SEP – French counterattacks against the German spearhead 11 SEP - Belfort is captured. The “Bloodiest Day” of the French army. 13 SEP - Provins is temporarily captured by the German cavalry. Seventh Army attacks Foch Army at Bar Sur Aube 14 SEP – B.E.F counterattacks the German spearhead. Gen Dubail begins the withdrawal from the Belfort area. 15 SEP – Seventh Army captures Troyes 16 SEP – strong Franco-British attacks along the river Aube. The French form Lanrezac Army to operate along with B.E.F 17 SEP - Sixth Army captures Vitry le France. First and Seventh Armies fight at river Aube 18 SEP – Franco-British counterattack at Troyes 19 SEP - Fourth Army moves towards Verdun. 20 SEP - Franco-British attacks against the Seventh Army 21 SEP - Fort Vaux falls. Gen Dubail is captured. 23 SEP – “Operation Wiener Schnitzel” begins. The newly formed Third Army captures Coulommiers, just 60 km of Paris is reached. The First Army launches attacks against the B.E.F and the Lanrezac Army. Fort Douamout is captured. 24-25SEP – heavy rain slows down the German advance. The Second Army arrives from Belfort and endangers the Foch Army. 26 SEP – coordinated Franco-British attacks against the German supply lines in the area of St. Dizier and Bar sur Aube 27 SEP – “Wiener Schnitzel” resumes. The Third Army captures Coulommiers. The Foch Army is cut off from the South by the Second Army. 29 SEP – Third Army captures Meaux. First Army launches attacks against the B.E.F. 30 SEP – Entente launches a series of ultimately unsuccessful attacks against the German supply lines. OCTOBER 01OCT - Paris is reached by the Third Army. The First Army continues to push the B.E.F. Second and Seventh armies start to reduce the Foch Army trapped in the pocket. 03 OCT - Verdun is captured by the Fourth Army 04 OCT – the French order general retreat from the positions around Verdun and Meuse 05 OCT – Fourth Army captures Fort Marre. Gen Foch is taken prisoner. Heavy artillery is brought forward to Paris. 06 OCT – French counterattacks against the flank of the Third Army. De Castelnau reinforces the defence of Paris. 07 OCT – the Third Army launches a final assault against Paris. Gen de Langle De Carry is captured by the Sixth Army. The French call for an armistice.

Case Neptune was my favorite of the Patton Drives East Pack! But to be honest I enjoyed all of them. Every single one was epic! I remember vividly the vast tank battles in the Middle East and the US bombers attacking from Iraq the Caucasus oil fields :eek:

Everyone thank you for reading, Bill thanks for the game. I will be also posting the campaign's timeline and analysis. So stay tuned!

On the morning of 7th of October the assault against eastern outskirts of Paris begins with the heavy artillery firing in the support of the attack. As a result our troops have entered the great city! After the fall of Verdun our Fourth and Sixth Armies are beginning to flood the province of Champagne approaching the city of Rheims with Sedan captured two days earlier. It seems that the north of France is now completely undefended and at mercy of the invaders. Another French general is captured near Revigny – a clear proof that the enemy retreat is turning into a complete rout and that the French defence has lost coherence: Near Fontainebleau the First Army continues pursuit of the BEF remnants destroying one British division in the process: *** Sudden news has reached the German HQ in the evening of 07th of October. It turns out that the French have called for an immediate armistice and the talks are already underway via the Belgian intermediary! The French proposal has been very welcomed by the Imperial Government and the orders have been duly dispatched to all the German field units and commanders to arrange the cease fire starting from the morning of 08th of October. Our only condition is the set up quickly a peace conference on some neutral ground, preferably in Brussels. We also invite the representatives of other, neutral countries, especially from Netherlands and United Stated to mediate between the sides during the future peace conference. The German government is not going to place any territorial demands, merely requires the reconfirmation of the current Franco-German border. At the same time His Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm II insists on establishing some kind of international body which would resolve the future disputes between the states and control the arms race, in order to prevent any new bloody, armed conflict. Germany will also seek to establish a custom union with it’s neighbours, especially with Belgium and Netherlands. More daunting task awaits our diplomacy in the easy. Our conditions for Russia are to re-establish an independent Polish state and to sign a mutual non-aggression pact. We will also insist on including Russia in the future arms control process. Otherwise this country may soon become a serious threat, not only to us but to our partners in Europe and Asia. At later stage our diplomats will try to influence the political reforms in Austro-Hungary and Ottoman Empire because it’s not difficult to foresee, that those multi-ethnic empires won’t be able to function as a healthy members of the modern, international community. The final disposition of the combatant units on the evening of 7th of October:

In one of my test games, I played as the Germans with the "historical" set up and deployment and was able to conquer the Baltics more less on the historical date. Then I didn't stop at Smolensk neither sent panzers to the South in order to encircle Kiev and was able to reach Leningrad and Vyazma in the early September. From my experience most of the players send more panzers to the South, so their advance on that axis is faster than historically while the Army Group North moves considerably slower. But yes, if you want to play "Barbarossa" along the historical lines, the result would be very much historical.

On 5th of October the Fourth Army launches an assault against the Fort Marre – the last fort of Verdun still held by the French. Once again, the position has been overrun quickly, thanks to the support of our heavy, siege artillery. The remaining elements of the Fourth Army begun to move westward following close on the heels of the retreating enemy. At the same time, the Sixth Army has been finally able to act decisively against the French breakthrough near St. Dizier, with two enemy divisions being cut off and destroyed: The ordeal of the Foch Army continues in the area of Bar Sur Aube. The divisions of our Seventh Army began their move south, from the area of Troyes towards Chatillon. Their intention is to sever the potential escape routes of the nearly cut off enemy force. To our surprise the HQ of gen. Foch has been encountered on the way and the enemy commander is already on the way to the prisoner camp where he will soon join gen Dubail. For sure they will have now plenty of time to discuss and analyze the conduct of this great campaign! On the outskirts of Paris the Third Army has been improving it’s positions before the final assault could commence and the heavy artillery has been brought in forward. Will the French have enough stomach for a bloody and destructive fighting in their beautiful capital?

On 3rd of October our troops enter undefended Verdun which had been previously vacated by the enemy: The HQ of the 4th Army couldn’t resist an opportunity to organize a small, celebratory parademarsch in the newly captured city: On the main front, the 3rd army has been improving it’s positions before the assault on Paris could commence. At the same time the army of gen. Foch lost two more divisions and the remains of BEF have been heavily hit and are nearly surrounded in an another kessel: The mud has prevented any serous action against the French units in the area of St. Dizier. A strategic overview on 3rd of October:

Despite the French counter attacks on our flanks von Moltke continues to insists that our westernmost Third and First armies press forward: -“You cannot forget what our final objective is. Paris will be the ultimate prize of this great campaign”! Right now around ten German divisions are massing at the gates of the French capital, providing the attackers with a considerable numerical superiority over the city garrison, which comprises of a hodge-podge melee of French and British units. At the same time the First Army continues to bash the remnants of BEF, capturing the town of Melun in the process: The French efforts to cut off our supply lines are dealt with accordingly and the army of Foch loses two divisions to the counter attacks of our Second and Seventh armies. The remaining division of the French task force is cut off and deprived of the supply. We were expecting that the enemy would try to withdraw his forces from the area of Bar Sur Aube in an attempt to join with the BEF in order to form a coherent and strong formation on our southern flank. If the army of Foch joined the BEF, it could threaten our First Army in it’s efforts to reach the French Capital. Instead the French forces are being spent in a series of futile attacks away from the main axis of our assault: Similar situation occurs in the area of St Dizier, where the French attack is grounded to halt. Right now the overall numerical superiority of our armies over the combined forces of Entente is like 2:1, so our reserves are plenty. Due to that we can prevent any enemy breakthrough with ease: The bloodshed at Verdun continues and two more French divisions are destroyed on 1st of October.

I sincerely hope so

Yeah the hexes seem more logical in terms of the movement but right now I feel that the tiles are the SC trademark which I like and I'm used to. I will miss them

I personally got used to the tiles The hex maps look to me now flat and ugly.

The month of September of 1914 is nearly over, but it doesn’t mean that the fighting in France becomes less fierce. To the contrary, another day of good weather allowed the German armies to continue exerting a relentless pressure on the enemy! Most importantly, our newly formed Third Army attacked and captured the town of Meaux which is located practically on the outskirts of the French capital! The battle was fought between our infantry corps which unleashed hell against one battered French cavalry division, which was trying to establish an ad hoc defensive position in the town. The outcome of the fighting was easy to predict and the defenders had been completely routed, while our troops gained a valuable supply base right at the gates of the French capital. At the same time, the First Army led by the well known general Alexander von Kluck, pushed forwards against the divisions deployed by the BEF and the town of Provins was recaptured ( it has been already occupied for a short time by our cavalry ). The British lost another infantry division and the headquarters of gen French were also subjected to a direct attack. By the way we suspect that gen John French was chosen to lead the BEF purely due to his surname! The British high command probably believed that someone called “French” would be liked by his continental counterparts and get on with them well. Unfortunately we know, that the relations between the allied generals are tense at the best of times… Note the current state of BEF. This once proud, elite formation consists now of four divisions only. None of them is actually full strength and one took 70% loses. The Hun has certainly done his job there… At Verdun two French divisions had been destroyed but no territory was gained this time. The commander of the Fourth Army has always envisaged the battle of Verdun in the form of a materialschlacht. Right now there is not much terrain to be gained there and simply inflicting a crippling loses on the enemy, seems like a satisfactory outcome to us. At the banks of river Aube there is still no sign, that the army led by gen Foch may be trying to improve it’s awkward position. Instead the French general has undertaken a series of local counterattacks and a new division has been spotted by the units of our Second Army! Some savage fighting is probably going to take place there but either way, having a vast enemy force stuck in and around the cauldron, is a great opportunity for us from the force economy point of view. The more enemy troops are diverted from the Verdun and Paris fronts, the bigger are our chances of achieveing a success elsewhere.

On 27th of September the skies have finally cleared and a heavy fighting has resumed in France. Von Moltke has been furious, due to the fact that his armies were practically immobilized during the two, long and rainy days. Luckily the weather has improved and the troops taking part in the operation "Wiener Schnitzel" moved forward towards their objectives. Our First Army captured the town of Coulommiers and one of the B.E.F infantry divisions was annihilated in the process. At the same time, another eight divisions which have been moving along a parallel, southern axis, resumed their push towards Provins. Here too a B.E.F division was destroyed: Even more pronounced success has been achieved by the Fourth Army during the ongoing Battle of Verdun and another enemy fort has been captured! This time it has was Tiaumont which has fallen to our brave infantrymen. This tremendous battle becomes a real meat grinder for the French. Just during this one day, two enemy divisions were destroyed: Lastly it’s worth pointing out the dramatic position of the army led by gen. Foch. The elements of our Second Army, ( which after the capture of Belfort and annihilation of the French army led by Dubail, has been continuing it’s march towards the west ), have been arriving quickly to the area of Chatillon. The rail connection, that could be used to supply or evacuate the French army, is cut off and the divisions of gen. Foch are surrounded in a vast cauldron by a superior enemy force. The German HQ is quite puzzled and surprised by this new development. Was the enemy not able to foreseen this pending threat to one of his best field armies? Or are we witnessing the beginning of the collapse of the French command and control system? We cannot know this for sure but one thing is clear: the troops of Foch will be severely missed in Paris…

On 25th of September our worst fears come to realize because the pouring rain has been seriously interfering with the conduct of the operation "Wiener Schnitzel". Despite the miserable weather, the First and Seventh Armies moved forward but failed to secure any important terrain objectives. No enemy unit has been destroyed either and the British 1st Cavalry Division put up a gallant fight, defending the town of Coulommiers. The front at Verdun has been quiet and the Fourth Army has been regrouping before the next assault. Right now, the fighting has turned into a race against time, which is becoming increasingly dramatic for both sides. Curiously enough, it is mostly the BEF that is offering the resistance at the gates of Paris. At the same time, the French army is heavily engaged at Verdun. It’s worth noting the difficult position of the army led by the gen. Foch, which is literally squeezed between our 2nd and 7th Armies:

It seems that only the rainy weather and muddy terrain are effectively hampering the German advance towards Paris. The roads are no longer dry and the movement of our units is visibly affected. Nonetheless the First Army is ready and an order has been dispateched to commence the final assault towards Paris. The operation "Wiener Schnitzel" has begun! The main body of the First Army has moved rapidly towards the town of Coulommiers, which turned out to be occupied by a Brit cavalry division. So here it is - the full might of the German war machine is finally going to fall upon the English! Further to the south, the Seventh Army launched it's attack towards Provins. Another success has been achieved by our Fourth Army near Verdun and this time the Fort Douaumont has been captured by our ad hoc formed assault groups! Right now everything depends on the weather. Few days of the clear skies will allow us to crush all the resistance on the way to Paris. From the other hand, more rain will further slow us down. At Verdun, our superiority in artillery makes us feel pretty confident. The French may attempt to lure us into a meat grinder there but from the other hand, it would be a tactics that the hard pressed Foch can't really afford at this stage. AOURSUPERIORITY IN THE HEAVY ARTILLERY, ONE MORE TIME ENSURED OUR SUCCESS IN THE BATTLE OF VERDUN:

Despite the heavy rain ( first during this campaign ), the assault against Verdun went ahead as planned. Firstly the heavy artillery fire opened up with a deadly crescendo: Then our brave infantrymen rushed forward. The assault was spectacular: The French fortifications were blasted to pieces and our elite 2nd Guards Division managed to capture Fort Vaux! This is just a beginning and more fighting and bloodshed will follow... Further south, the inconclusive fighting takes place along the river Aube. Our 7th and 1st Armies wrestle with the army led by Foch and the BEF, to gain an upper hand in Champagne. The good news is, that the 2nd Army advancing from Belfort has managed to destroy the remnants of the gen. Dubail army and capture it's commander in the process! This success could only mean, that the French eastern flank in Champagne is now unprotected and wide open. THE CAPTURED FORT VAUX:

An aerial photo of the Fort Douaumont:

The main figthing on the 19th of September has taken place on the southern flank of the 7th Army, along the river Aube. The situation around Bar Sur Aube can be described as a stalemate, where neither side can get the upper hand. Near Troyes, the trigger happy Brits pay the price for their audacity and the first BEF division is mauled and then finished off by our cavalry: In Alsace, the situation of the French army under gen Dubail who is retreating from Belfort, can be described only as a complete rout. The once strong enemy force, is down to one depleted division and a HQ unit, which are practically out of out of supply: *** THE FINAL CHAPTER - I HAD A DREAM ( OF VERDUN ). Some time ago, gen Foch woke up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare. He dreamt that the swarms of soldiers in the Pickelhauben entered an empty, undefended fortress of Verdun. Well, we cannot tell for sure, if the French general possess some supernatural, telephatic abilities but the assault against Verdun has been already planned from the beginning of this campaign and now the time has come to commence it! It's worth noting the big concentration of the heavy artillery, including the Austrian mortars, which become notorious, during the earlier fighting for Belfort. We should also mention here the long term deception campaign, undertaken by the German HQ. The French intelligence reported few times an activity along the German border with Belgium, which could possibly result in the invasion of that neutral country. In reality it was a feint, that was supposed to convince the enemy, that an attack agains Belgium was possible and force the French and UK HQ's to withheld some reserve North of Verdun, while our schwerpunkt was always located in the Vosges ( Neufechateau Gap ). It possibly worked out well, because at some stage the 7th Army moved West practically unopposed, due to the fact that the main body of the French army was tied up at Meuse. There was no reserve available at hand to plug up the gap. The German "Ardennes Army": Right now, when the main fighting takes 100km east of Paris, the timing of the assault against Verdun seems perfect and no doubt, it comes as a nasty surprise to the Entente. This splendid battle will be the last chapter of the campaing. The figting will be bloody but most of all, it will serve as an ultimate way to exert the pressure on the French, who are finally being attacked along most of the existing frontline. Gott mit uns!