Prussia in Peril - East Prussia '14 Central Powers AAR - major victory turn 114

[ComradeP]

Turn 105 06:00 2nd of September 1914



At the northernmost tip of the front, the first Russian cavalry units appear at Elchwerder.

Landwehr battalions retreat through the woods without being pressured, the Russians can't block the retreat or intervene.



The bulk of Hauptreserve Koenigsberg is in the Taplacken position. The Landwehr brigade will move north, the Ersatz brigade will hold the banks of the Pregel.

Perhaps fearing a backhand blow, the Russians have not moved across the Alle south of Wehlau yet.



1. Reserve Division retreats from the Omert to the Alle in the face of overwhelming odds.



Russian forces approach Rastenburg. The Feste Boyen garrison moves to the bunkers facing north-west.



Disrupted units highlighted.

The brigade of the 36. ID moves towards the pocket, as a relief attempt from the south-east didn't materialize.

The western part of the pocket is rapidly collapsing.

1. ID disengaged and is resting aside from the MG and field gun units at the frontline. The division will rejoin the offensive when it has shaken off its Fatigue.

1. Kavallerie Division moves south-west to counter any flanking attacks by 4th Cavalry Division.

[ComradeP]

Turn 108 12:00 2nd of September 1914




The Landwehr continue to retreat in good order.



Russian reservists and three cavalry divisions steadily increase the pressure on the Landwehr east of Damerau.

The rivers turn the approach to Wehlau into a funnel of sorts and the compressed 3. Reserve Division is quite capable of trading blows with the Russians in these conditions.

Festung Koenigsberg artillery on the north bank of the Pregel starts to fire over open sights on the Russian 28th Infantry Division units south of the river. Cavalry and engineer companies move hex, the artillery fires, and the companies move back in to keep the artillery out of Russian LOS.



1. Reserve Division continues to move towards the Alle crossing at Friedland. A thin Pionier screen keeps an eye on the Russians that are now crossing the Alle south of Wehlau.



The line of 36. Reserve Division grows ever thinner. I'm trading space for time as the reinforcements from the Western Front are slowly moving into position.



Disrupted units highlighted.

The 2nd Army pocket continues to be rolled up from the west and north. The Russian forces holding the southern tip have not been heavily engaged yet.

[ComradeP]

Turn 113 06:00 3rd of September 1914



Landwehr Division Goltz crosses the Deime to the prepared positions along the bank. These are pre-placed and were not created during the scenario.



The Taplacken position continues to hold out. The Russian reserve formation across the Pregel has established a bridge, but it hasn't crossed the river yet.

3. Reserve Division is slowly pulling back through Wehlau, with MG's and field guns along the banks of Alle and Pregel covering the withdrawal.



The bulk of 1. Reserve Division moves to Friedland, with the second brigade south of Schippenbell.



An overview screenshot of the area west of Feste Boyen.

You can see 3. Garde Division at Bischofstein on the left.



The pocket is disintegrating all along its perimeter now and it has become so narrow that most assaults lead to thousands of Russian losses from stacks that can't retreat.

Assaulting in FWWC, as in PzC, is a very inefficient way of inflicting casualties. The actual assault losses are usually something like 40 men for me and about 100 Russians. I generally assault with two battalions, preferably one that starts directly next to the enemy and one that moves in. That way the battalion that started next to the enemy can move back 1 hex after assaulting if it didn't become Disrupted from the assault. This limits additional direct fire losses from overstacking during the Russian turn.

With the short 8 turn FWWC days, it can take several days to shake off even modest Fatigue. A few additional tweaks to Fatigue to represent the capability of forces to keep going after serious losses would be welcome.

[ComradeP]

Turn 114. 08:00 3rd of September 1914.

Early termination kicked in. Central Powers major victory.

End state with FOW automatically turned off.









2nd Army is a shambles but has some 52.000 Men left.



The Russian 4th Cavalry Division wasn't flanking my cavalry screen at all, as it's at the map edge.

[ComradeP]

The strategic dilemma with 2nd Army is that you can pick a converging path for meeting up with 1st Army at some point or a diverging path to try and draw in as many German units as possible to make 1st Army's task easier.

What went wrong for my opponent was the 2nd Army itself ended up converging towards the same location, leaving the flanks vulnerable to encirclement.

After a few rough opening turns drawing fire from units in the pocket, the pocket collapsed more quickly than expected.

The Russian concentration in more or less the same area made the perimeter stronger, but it also greatly reduced the number of hexes I needed to capture. After XX Armeekorps got its own attack going from the north, the pocket was compressed into a small area.

Aside from not blocking some of the bridges with the cavalry units in the area as the pocket was being formed, I don't think any big tactical errors were made. Strategically, the decision to concentrate 2nd Army was the first step on the road to the creation of the pocket, but the pocket itself was still preventable. The Electronic Warfare spotting of Russian corps was very helpful and heavily influenced my decision to send XVII Armeekorps on its own flanking manoeuvre along the Omulew.

The operational decision to hold on to the gains at Neidenburg and to move the corps between Neidenburg and Soldau south-west instead of south was the main Russian operational misjudgement made during the game, as it left no forces in the path of the units moving around the flanks of 2nd Army.

Given the enormous variability the Fix/Release schedule for 1st Army results in, I think 1st Army performed well. It would've faced a serious threat during the counterattack by the units from the Western Front, but I doubt I could've pocketed more than a division or so without moving units involved in cleaning up the pocket north.

I planned on moving the two least beaten up corps back north, alternating rest and movement for the formations moving north so one division could use the rail capacity as the other units rested either in the north or the south.

[Elxaime]

Greetings -

As the Russian side here, congratulations to Comrade P for his well-earned victory! This was the second FWWC game we had played, and as in Serbia 14' I seem to have a penchant for being encircled. That said, it was a lot of fun and an entertaining game. Things became grimly predictable when Russian Second Army was completely encircled, but I kept on in hopes First Army could conquer enough VP to balance the losses. That proved optimistic.

As far as opening strategy:

Second Army: Having not played this scenario (or this title) before, I leaned heavily on the guidance notes, which suggested Second Army needed to be very aggressive if Russia was to earn an early termination victory. How to use that army? After considering the likelihood of German fortifications in central Prussia and the denser railway network there, I decided to do two things: a) aim the 2d Army in a northwesterly direction; b) concentrate 2d Army so it could remain under army command. The terrain towards the NW was more open, but it was thought that this would be thus more suitable for offensive operations. What I failed to properly account for was: a) the way the river lines fragment the Russian advance, as well as the irritating prewar obstacles; b) maintaining proper flank security, particularly towards the wide-open west. I was also somewhat at a loss on how best to deploy the numerous but poor morale Russian cavalry and took in retrospect a wrong approach in splitting them into smaller units and dismounting them, which made them easy prey for German cavalry charges.

First Army: Since First Army is bedeviled by the mandatory halts (until September 1) it was hard to plan ahead. I also wasn't sure the campaign wouldn't start with a Gumbinnen battle. The Russians start in poor position and could take a beating if the Germans decide to press them. I decided to see what would happen and move forward as much as I could when the army wasn't frozen, and see what chances developed.

Overall, strategically, as you can see, for the first part of the campaign the flow of battle is really dictated by the choices made for Second Army, as First Army is at the whim of fate on whether it can move. Generally, I adopted as I mentioned the same approach suggested by the notes - aggressive with Second Army, keeping them concentrated and moving so that, when they came under attack (as I knew they would) they could at least give a good account of themselves and make it easier for 1st Army after September 1.

As the game began, I felt somewhat confident as the Germans fell back everywhere. My first major error was not to realize the consequences of the Germans choosing not to refight the Battle of Gumbinnen, and instead withdraw outside of sight and let 1st Army sit. This meant troops arriving sooner in front of Second Army. My second error was the one that set into motion doom for the Tsarist cause: on 2d Army front I misused Russian cavalry and left both flanks poorly screened. This left the German flanking forces able to advance and complete a double-encirclement. The third error, and nail in the coffin, was waiting too long to withdraw the leading 2d Army Corps to the South/Southwest to avoid the developing cauldron - they were sitting atop valuable VP hexes which I was loathe to give up. More importantly, when I became aware the Germans had launched themselves to the south on a wide encirclement, due to lack of cavalry I could not block the southern river crossings. The loss of a Russian cavalry division on the left was of course a big problem, but I had also spread out the right wing Russian cavalry too far east to cover the gap with First Army. In retrospect I should have kept them closer to hand.

Once the pocket formed, I sensed it was just a matter of time. The only potential relief force was a single Russian cavalry division and four unattached infantry battalions (separated from their parent in the cauldron). The Russians in the cauldron managed to bloody some German attacks, even while disrupted and out of ammo, which was bittersweet since it only reminded of what they could have accomplished with proper supplies. First Army was able to chug along, but it was clear they would not be able to gather enough VP from their advance to compensate for 2d Army losses.

The Germans are to be saluted for executing a solid game plan.

In retrospect, I am not sure the overall strategy of the Russian Second Army was bad. A decent chunk of the German army was tied down dealing with them pretty far from the railheads, so it would have made it harder to switch the Germans later against First Army. In retrospect what I would have changed was: a) to take note of No Gumbinnen and prepare for an early appearance of the German I Korps and 1st Cavalry; b) realign the Russian cavalry as strong flank guards; c) take a more modest approach to advancing with Second Army.

This raises a general question about the scenario design. All things considered, the best approach, and I assume one most likely to be taken by the Germans, is not to attack at Gumbinnen. The best Russian approach, at that point, appears to be to take a much more conservative posture with Second Army. However, this gives up the only Russian chance of early termination victory, since they can't advance fast enough in the south if the Germans even send moderate reinforcements there early. If there is No Gumbinnen, the Russians at that point will be banking on trying to come out ahead over a full game through attrition. And if there is No Gumbinnen, and 2d Army advances deeper into East Prussia, they are basically: a) ensuring encirclement; b) the encirclement will be more convenient for the Germans as it will occur deeper into their railway system. I am not sure a more conservative approach will work, since the Germans later scenario West Front reinforcements are decent enough to enable a counterattack against First Army even without help from the German forces finishing off Second Army.

The challenge for the Russian player is that, while they have numerous forces, the poor command and supply means they have to keep them concentrated to be effective. The means to protect their flanks are the numerous but dubious Russian cavalry. Can it be done? That is where the fun is.

What might I change in the scenario design? I would add value to Russian VP hexes, especially in front of the First Army at the start, to exact a price for the Germans retreating and not choosing to fight Gumbinnen. I would also bulk up the VP values in East Prussia generally, since right now I don't think there are enough points to make the First and Second Army advances truly threatening. But then again, maybe things are OK as is - I can certainly point to the errors I made as sufficient reason for the Russian collapse. But I was sort of hoping the battle would continue even without the Second Army, but termination kicked in.

Ultimately, that is why I heartily recommend EP 14 campaign. It is a real puzzle for both sides. Your command decisions can make a real impact, although obviously you are observing some history constraints. Thanks again to Pieter/Comrade P for a well-deserved victory!