France 14 Offensive Tactics

[ComradeP]

Repeating history on the operational level isn't always possible. That doesn't mean making the Germans run into a wall between Charleroi and Namur is the only option.

As was mentioned earlier, the position of the French Fifth Army is one of the strongest Entente concentrations on the map. A small withdrawal by the French will make it even stronger as the line shortens and forces become more compressed into a narrower space. In such a situation, stacks of 75mm field guns can indeed be quite lethal. But you don't have to fight those stacks. You're the attacker, you have the initiative.

You want to attempt a wide flanking move? You can, plenty of turns. You want to attack through the Ardennes? Plenty of turns to reposition forces. You want to attack west from Alsace-Lorraine? You can. Attacking the French Fifth Army head-on isn't the only option, and it's one of the worst options of all the available choices.

Try to force the Entente into a situation where they have to respond to your moves, instead of trying a frontal attack into an area that's easy to reinforce for the French. The Entente flank from where the BEF starts to the sea is only held by a few territorial formations, as was mentioned earlier. With the recent patch, Entente rail capacity is greatly limited in the opening stages. The French will have to do a lot of marching to get any kind of sizeable force into that area. All the Germans have to do is follow the primary roads south-west from their starting position in Belgium. The territorial formations can't take any kind of sustained beating, being E quality.

As to strong Entente field gun stacks: French field artillery isn't all that numerous, though it might look like that. French infantry divisions only have 36 field guns in 3 units. Corps RAC units have 4x12 guns. They might have great stats, but they're not made for a battle of attrition. Field gun losses won't be replaced in the early campaign. Their capability to resist assaults is also limited. You have a fair number of B quality units/formations in Belgium and A quality Guards. If you want to force a decision, use those to attack after some other units draw fire.

As suggested by others, you could use "suicide battalions" or cavalry/bicycle companies to draw fire. Also note that, though direct fire hurts a lot, you have 12 battalions in each division. Your division is perfectly combat capable if 3 or 4 battalions become fatigued.

French infantry suffers pretty murderous losses when stacked, and even if they're not stacked the lower defence stat is a problem. Yes, you can launch painful assaults as the French, but if there happen to be a few German machinegun units around, you'll pay dearly for it.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in FWWC is playing it like PzC. You have to think less in terms of individual units and more in terms of formations. So no "these battalions have taken a hit" but "is this division combat capable?" Difficult though it might be, accept that some formations will be thoroughly burned out by the end of the campaign or even the first week. Park them somewhere and they'll be back in action after a few days. As is the case in PzC, fatigue tends to be more important to keep an eye on than losses. Losses are replaced quickly in France '14.