Grand Campaign Der Weltkrieg Centenary Game GT63: 27 30 April 1915 (April 7) General Situation Whoever had expected that in the spring the war of movement would be resumed was close to vindication by the end of April 1915. News was slowly filtering through concerning the breakthrough by the German Sud Army in Poland. The Kaiser was overheard telling the Bulgarian Ambassador in Berlin that the Russians were fleeing for their lives. The Bulgarian diplomat had just, inaccurately, used the same language about the Serbians and the Kaiser could not stand to be outdone. It was not, however, all favourable to the Central Powers. A further adjustment of the Western Front by Falkenhayn had allowed the French to recover Amiens without a fight. To the east of Amiens the Picardy countryside was a delightful picture and the French infantry could see only green fields and lush woodlands ahead. The German Army was somewhere in this terrain but for a brief few days it disappeared and the possibilities of further advances were opened up in the imagination of the French Army. The Western Front Figure 1: The Western Front, the Battle of Arras and French Gains (red) in April 1915
The British attack at Arras had shaken the German Army even if the British had been stopped before they advanced any appreciable distance. The casualties of the Germans in the front line and during the counterattacks had been fearsome. Sir John French had not continued the attack after 26 April, but the German commanders in the West now had a good idea of what might happen if the French Army launched a general assault. That such an attack was in preparation was certain. Most senior German officers were resigned to meeting such an attack in the positions they currently held and planned to oppose it with the same combination of entrenched defences and counterattacks as had been employed against the British. However, such doctrines were not yet universally established. The two German Army detachments in Picardy commanded by Falkenhausen and Stranz were considered the most exposed to a French attack. Falkenhausen in particular was an advocate of a more mobile defence and he had been attempting to persuade Falkenhayn of the benefits of a withdrawal from the most westerly German positions for some time. After Arras, this argument finally swayed the Chief of the General Staff and on 27-28 April the Germans pulled back along the whole front from Naours (5-3.0810) to Breteuil (5-3.0812). In two days the Germans fell back over 20 kilometres and in doing so they shortened their front, which was one of the reasons for which Falkenhausen had proposed this move. Unlike after the previous German withdrawals, the French were no longer slow to follow up. Following the recent example of Mulhouse, the pursuit was now more rapid. The French 5 th and 10 th Armies were quickly mobilised and the main population centre abandoned by the Germans, Amiens, was secured by the afternoon of 29 April. Only around Naoars (5-3.0810) which had been at the centre of the Picardy Offensive in February were the French a little more cautious hardly believing the Germans would voluntarily give up ground which they had so tenaciously defended barely 7 weeks previously. Nevertheless, on 30 April, French scouts operating north of the Somme had reported the Germans had gone and stronger patrols were confirming this information. The Eastern Front The success of the German Sud Army and the Austro-Hungarian 1 st Army in breaching the Russian defences in southern Poland was becoming more apparent. By 28 April, their advance had extended 40 60 kilometres from the positions held before the Battle of Kielce and the Central Powers had everywhere gained the western bank of the Vistula across which the Russians had retired. The Russian 9 th and 4 th Armies had been driven apart by this movement. The 9 th fell back north east and contested the crossings of the river relying particularly on the strength of the fortress at Ivangorod. The 4 th Army fell back due east and south east covering Lublin and attempting to stay in contact with the Russian 5 th Army further south. Despite these withdrawals, the Russians were still fighting south of the Vistula at Mielec (5-5.2508) and Dębica (5-5.2510) as the Austro-Hungarian 1 st and 2 nd Armies tested the defences along the Wisloka River on 27 April. Although these probes were not serious affairs, the Russians were preparing to give up this line. It was compromised by the withdrawal of the Russian 4 th Army further north and was also threatened by activity of the Austro-Hungarian 4 th Army which was exploiting gaps in the Russian 5 th Army defences and striking towards Blinze (5-5.2911) on the eastern side of the San River. The growing evidence that the Russian Army was no longer holding its ground was also confirmed in Prussia where the German 10 th Army advanced in strength along the coast for 15 kilometres in two
days finding their progress slowed mainly by false expectations of resistance and a lack of signposts in a sparsely populated region (4-5.1804) in which few inhabitants had remained during the Russian occupation. Figure 2: Central Powers Gains (red) in April 1915. Near Warsaw, units of the German 77 th Reserve Division found themselves inside the abandoned fortress of Novo Georgievsk on 28 April amazed that such a structure had fallen into their hands without a fight. The end-game in the struggle for the Polish capital was approaching and thankfully the street fighting which all had feared never came to pass. On 29 April, the Grand-Duke ordered the guns in the fortified zones around the city to be disabled in preparation for the evacuation of the city centre which took place on 30 April. In the industrial districts in the eastern suburbs of the city, there
was an effort to salvage such supplies and equipment as could be taken at short notice. Regrettably the discipline of the Russian soldiers loosened as they realised they would soon depart. Any hard spirits which could not be evacuated were drunk in a dangerous hurry. The Balkans Figure 3: The position of the front in the Balkans after the Bulgarian attack on the Vardar, 28-30 April 1915. The Bulgarian 2 nd Army occupied the hills around Skopje on 27 April but they did not enter the city for several days. This was partly because they were concentrating to attack the Serbians further south at Veles (7-6.1309) where there was heavy fighting on 28 April. As part of the Bulgarian operations there was an attempted crossing of the Vardar River which resulted in a massacre of elements of the Bulgarian 11 th Division which suffered terrible losses inflicted by Serbian marksmen holding the high bluffs which had an excellent overview of what the Bulgarians had wrongly thought to be a safe crossing point. This incident occurred on the anniversary of the Bulgarian Day of Tears (commemorating previous Balkan horrors) and has subsequently been regarded as the first true baptism of fire in the Great War for Bulgaria. Equally it has been a treasured memory in the folklore of Macedonian independence. The Near East By the shores of the Dardanelles, the Allies continued to unload men and stores into their narrow bridgeheads which were tightly squeezed by the Turkish 5 th Army. By 29 April, the French and British were ready to attempt to push inland and hopefully unite their separate footholds. They set an objective of the village of Krithia (7-6.3812) which was the reserve position of the Turkish 9 th Division and was subject to a dreadful naval bombardment which shook the hills for miles around. Despite this impressive display of firepower it did little to help the Allied infantry and marines which entered a tangle of rocky terrain within which coordination between units was difficult. The Turkish infantry held bravely against sporadic attacks which typically lost momentum after advancing no more than a
few hundred metres and often much less. After a couple of days the Allied efforts died down as there were too few reserves to keep the fighting going at this intensity for long and the casualties were eating too rapidly into the surviving effective strength which needed to be preserved for defence and future operations. Figure 4: The Allied attempt on the Turkish positions around Krithia, 29-30 April 1915. On the shores of Lake Van, the Turks were also proving to be effective in defence against a Russian attack southwest of Van at Atalan (6-8.3422). The Russians threw three Turkestan Brigades into an attack on 30 April against the Turkish 32 nd Division which defended the narrow plain beside the salty lake. 1 The Russians were no more successful than the British and French at the opposite end of the Turkish domain. After the infantry attacks had been broken up Turkish and Kurdish cavalry swept the battlefield looking for wounded survivors. It is not known how many prisoners they took. Figure 5: The Russian attack at Atalan, 29 April 1915. 1 Lake Van is second only to the Dead Sea in this respect.
April 1915 DM Summary Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Food Deficit Month Total [%SM] Germany 2 - - 1-14 - 15 32 730 * [45.6] Morale Good - *Mulhouse lost (2 nd time) Good Austria- Hungary - - 1-4 1 3-9 347 [63.1] Ottoman - - - 1 - - 2 NA 3 18 Good [5.1] Bulgaria - - 1 - - - 3-4 4 Good Central 2-2 2 4 15 8 48 1089 Powers France - - - - - - *1-1 583 [64.8] Good - *Amiens recovered Good Great Britain - - - - - 9 2 11 83 [6.5] Russia 2-1 6 4 10 7 NA 30 416 Good [69.3] Belgium - - - - - - - NA - (95) NA Serbia -* - (1) - - - (1) NA (2) (22) NA * Nish lost Entente 2-1 6 4 19 10-42 1082 Player Notes CP: East: My series of attacks along the Russian lines had the desired effect and he has commenced a phased withdrawal from German territory. He is being very canny, though. It is no pell-mell retreat but a very coordinated delaying action. I lack the supplies to deliver a knockout blow, so have to follow up with caution and await fresh supplies. I am not idle though, and launch a combined GE-AH attack on the right flank of his 4 th Army now somewhat in the air along the Vistula. My rail network is now quite deep into Poland and through Lodz, so supply and reinforcements will get to the front quite rapidly. Galicia: Apart from the German effort with AH 1 st Army on the Vistula, all CP aggression comes from AH. After some successful attacks using no supply and suffering very few casualties, AH feels emboldened to keep the pressure up. 1 st and 2 nd armies attack in mutual support at the junction of the Russian 4th and 5th armies. A small attack between the Wislok and San rivers will also start the move to retake Przemysl. Serbia: Further slow advances without combat ensue; although Bulgaria seizes opportunity to start wearing down the Serb forces with an attack SE of Skopje. Not wishing to be forced to use precious food resources on the Serbian population, I opt
not to occupy Skopje but leave it open. If the Serbs move in, I can start to isolate them. West: His attack on me at Arras was brutal. I lost the entire 25XX and also the remnants of the Saxon 53R XX. It cost the mostly British force dearly, but not as dearly as me. I had planned to evacuate Amiens (it will save me some food resources); this has just prompted me to do so sooner so I start to straighten my lines by withdrawing slightly. It shortens my frontage by over 20km. Caucasus: Quiet. Mesopotamia: Quiet. Palestine: Quiet. Gallipoli: The invasion is come! I considered attacking him as he unloaded on the beaches, but there seems to be no advantage to it at all. He will receive the benefit of the terrain in his counterattack. So, I sit tight in my trenches and watch the frenzy of activity on the beaches. Italy: I start to ready myself for Italian betrayal. AP: The game is up for the Russian Army. The decisions have been taken which will mean the Germans walk into Warsaw in a few days. I still cannot bring myself to simply head east at top speed. I am trying to control this retreat. For instance, the Russians are holding the eastern suburbs of Warsaw to help evacuate the last of the supply production which will be produced in the Monthly Turn. I have to hand it to Ivor as he has not allowed me to choose the timing of my retreat. It is at least a month earlier than I wanted and the Russian DM is 100 higher than I wanted. I was querying his tactics. I thought I could hold off the Central Powers attack for another month as they are not very supply rich. However, there is so much strength concentrated against the Russians at the moment that I have to be concerned about unsupplied attacks as well as supplied attacks and it looked as if the Germans would have some stocks going into May which would make that a very difficult month if I kept my front. My main comfort is that my British attack last turn at Arras was so effective (11 hits) that I didn t feel the need to repeat it. I suspect this was a reason for the Germans withdrawing from Amiens as this will reduce the number of hexes which can be struck from three neighbours. The French are ready for a fight so I cast aside my normal caution when faced with abandoned hexes and occupied two out of the three offered, including Amiens. I am attacking now in the Near East. The Russian attack at Van was significant in that I have not allowed the losses on the Eastern Front to prevent me from giving the Turks something to think about.