Loss of ground at the Izonso riverbanks

Late August saw a suprise attack by the Austrian-Hungarian forces in the southern part of the Izonso battlefield.
The fast moving units managed to penetrate 30-40km into Italian territory before settling down into defencive positions.

This forced the Italian army into a tactical repositioning of its Izonso Army.
This hasty operation was even harder as the Austrian-Hungarians had managed to hit and destroy the Army HQ.



The Italian high command is sorry to inform that once Italian lands has once again been forced into the hands of the Hun vassals.
But be assaured that we will fight and take back our historicaly owned land.

General Cardorna
C-in-C
Italian Armed Forces

Triest production reduced!

Finaly the heroic pilots of the Italian air force manage to bomb the factories in Triest.
The light AA located around the factipories did not manage to harm the attacking bombers and zepeliners more then lightly.

This sucessful bombing mission vill reduce the efficency for the next production cycle.

General Cardorna.
C-in-C
Italian Forces

Entente and CP AUG II 15 West Front

The French was preparing defenses once again against the German offensive.
THe British was calucalting for an attack but not the odds were not good enough so they prepared for exanding the their frontline southwards to help the French.

The CP did make an reaction attack which was a DE success. The hex was right outside Dijon.
Entente tried with success to repair the broken line in the exploitation to atleast a thin line.

CP depleted the Prussian manpower pool and still there are a few units in the replacement pool and a a couple of cadred divisions.

In the German combat phase 2 attacks were made. One few hexes south of Dijon and one NW of the fortress.
Getting an EX and DR was a partial sucess.
The german corps was not considered to be strong enough to make an full incirclement of the 3 corps in and south of Dijon. So one way out in the south of the fortress was left open.
So they French are given an opportunity to leave the pocket but hopefully atleast one French corps will be destroyed and Dijon be take.
Soon the French loss in moralpoints due casualties, lost fortresses and Zeppelin bombings will lead to French general demand to end the war and give CP the rights they have for so long been denied.

In the the reaction Entente withdraw some French corps from the frontline in a start of a general withdrawal and the British mad som preparing for making upgrades to their units.

Soon will the Ententes version follow. And more of the big events that occured in the Italian front.
Hopefully some pictures of the situation from the fronts also.


German High Command

CP AUG I 1915 additions

In addition to the Entente report the Germans reinforced the previously attacked hex so now it has the defense of 113 points while the War's first fort is beeing built on the frontline.

Ent Aug I 1915

The French tried to again to build a line in the far most south of the west front. Some kind line was put up but some stacks were quite weak.
In the north the British made a daring attack on a 93 point entrenched stack.
Getting only 2:1 but a heap of bonus +1 rolls to make.
The 2 recon flights failed likewise the 2 engineer attempts.
But the gas engineers succeeded and likewise the armored cars.
So with the moral bonus they managed to avoid the risk of getting an AX result.
On 6 they would even get a DX and of course it was what they got.
So with the lower British casualties than German the reporters wrote home that a big battle was won and soon the victory will come.
The French were atleast happy that not all of the German replacement would not end up against the French.

The CP did get a reaction roll in the south getting DR (and this time the French machine guns and artillery did let the troops retreat) and an DE result.
In explotation the French fixed the lines somewhat after the reaction attacks.

In Italy everything seemed still however some Italian calculations on odds were made before deciding the odds were hopeless even for Cardorna to try an assault.


The German High Command

Aug I 15 CP turn - Entente report.

The French B34 corps, had a bad day when strong German troops attacked them at overwhelming 5:1 odds.
This attack where made on the anniversary of the opening of the war.

The German forces has been doing a shifting of forces towards the southern front during the first half of the year. This seems now to done as there where an increase of activity of the German forces.
In addition to the attack mentioned abow, two more major attacks where done in the southern sector.

One attack NE of Auxerre against the 33 corps crippled the corps severely. Only a cadre strength unit of the 12th division survived an are now holding position.

As the 15 corps suffered as hard as the other corps attacked during this August offensive. This despite being dug in and having made defensive preparations.

As it now looks, the French southern front are close to a collapse and that might open the road to Paris for the German forces.
The only strong forces on French soil seems to be the ever increasing number of English and Commonwealth troops.
This August saw the first of the elite-classed ANZAC troops arrive at the theatre.

Only the future can show if the Central Powers are stoppable before reaching Paris.

London bombed and the French luck.

London where attacked by German zepperliners for the first time, mid July.

The attack did not cause any major harm to the docks or factories in London.

Once again does the Gods of fortune smile upon France.
The German forces in the south where once again in position to make a breakthrough, but the fast reactions of French troops just behind the lines, did fill the small hole in a hurry.

We are approaching the one year start of the war.
This will offcourse be appropriately celebrated.
Talks of baileys has been heard around the map.

An other WWI wargame

This is the introduction to an other WWI wargame, to witch I found the link at the Consimworld site:

The First World War is a board wargame made by the Dutch game company Phalanx Games and distributed in the United State by Mayfair Games. It is a strategic-level game of the three primary theaters of the war in Europe, covering the western theater of France and Belgium, the southern theater in Italy, and the eastern theater from the Baltic Sea to Greece. Notably absent are Ottoman Turkey and the Middle East; these are not geographically as far removed from the scope of the game as, say, the western African battles of Count Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Also absent are any naval forces. That does not, however limit the dramatic scope of the game, or in any way diminish the magnitude on which the battles rage.

The game is designed by Ted Raicer, one of the game world’s foremost boardgame experts on World War I. Of the seventeen games credited to him on BoardGameGeek.com, well over half cover some aspect of WWI, and another deals with the Russian Revolution, which directly affected the pullout of the Russians from The Great War.

The review is on "The Wargamer" site, head over there and read it.

/NixxoN

Jul II Entente - French

The French tried to rebuild their lines after disastrous effect on it from the German onslaught.
The French gave up a fortress to make the frontline one hex shorter.
The line looks nice however at closer inspection not all Corps are adequate manpowered to resist the German elite Corps.
The Brittish reinforced their lines. Soon half of the Westfront will consist of Brittish corps filled troops from all over the Empire.

The Germans did a successful reaction roll but it was not on the French weakest point this time.
But to keep up the French losses a entrench assault was ordered.
It was successful in giving the French a blow but the German losses was higher than hoped for.
The Result was a BX and not DX as hoped for.
The exploitation move was done in an attempt to strenghten the lines against the German turn.

Falk.

The final steps of Jul I '15

The final phases of Central powers turn Jul I there were some critical moments for the Entente during the reactions phase.
They had 3 HQ in reach for blocking a German exploitation in the 2 holes created during previous combat.
1 HQ could react so that both holes could be filled. the other 2 one each.
Of course the the one who had the most pressure to do something did react.
So the Germans did only move some forces back to be rebuilt or converted in exploitation.

The German Zeps did their work.
Only one squadron flew lost and return to base.
But the rest flew to 2 different hexes of Paris and all hit their targets.
So the already hammered French morale dropped 2 more points.