Post by volkssturm on Feb 5, 2015 14:23:46 GMT -5
Been watching tat Youtube series on WWI and doing some reading. I'm going to propose here, for you brilliant strategic thinkers, the Schlieffen got it backwards.
The Schlieffen Plan - Germany can't fight a two front war. The French and Russian armies combined out number the Germans about 2 - 1. So, Schlieffen comes up with is plan to use the excellent German railways to mass on the West and defeat France, then rush troops East to take on the Russians. The German-French frontier is, give or take, about 150 miles long. Frontal attacks are wasteful, if not suicidal. So Schlieffen decides on an encirclement of the French. The German left wing in Alsace-Lorraine will conduct a fighting retreat, sucking in French troops and preventing them from being used elsewhere (because the French are obsessed with taking back A-L). Meanwhile a strong German right wing hooks around the French left wing, all the way around Paris, and takes the French in the flank and rear. The only problem is they have to violate Belgian neutrality to get the maneuver room to do it, which bring the British into the war.
Looks good on paper, flops in reality. The Germans didn't really have enough troops to pull it off. Kaiser Bill, worried about the Russians advancing into East Prussia, pulls several corps from the West and sends them East. German commander Moltke the Younger (nephew of von Moltke of the Franco-Prussian War who inherited the name but not the talent) seems not to have fully understood the plan. He allows the Crown Prince to counterattack the French in Alsace-Lorraine, driving them back to the French border. The French go on the defense and are able to use the excellent French railways to shift troops from their right to their left. Von Moltke also has tenuous control over his army commanders. On the far right wing, von Kluck (namesake of a popular British marching song of the time, "We don't give a f*** for old von Kluck and his whole damned f****** army...") turns his army south and east too soon, passing to the North of Paris and exposing the German flank to a counterattack, leading to the First Battle of the Marne.
Meanwhile, in the East the Russians are proving even more incompetent than anyone thought and get the borscht kicked out of them at Tannenberg.
SO, here's my alternate plan (with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight):
The Germans invest in a series of prepared defensive lines between the German frontier and the Rhine. They buy a sh**load of heavy machineguns to man the line, and prepare artillery positions and preregistered targets. A similar line of defenses is prepared along the Belgian frontier, in case the French try to flank through Belgium. Wen the war comes, the Germans use the minimal number of troops necessary to defend the line, probably using reserves for most of it, while keeping regular units for counterattacks. They let the French throw bodies into the killing zones. As with the Schlieffen Plan, they let the French fight their way into Alsace-Lorraine and become bogged down there. A-L is a strategic dead end. The terrain doesn't favor exploitation. Even if the French manage to force their way through the German defenses with tremendous losses, they come up against the Rhine. The odds of forcing a crossing are minimal.
Meanwhile, in the East the Germans use their greater numbers and superiority in weapons to annihilate Russian armies in a series of envelopments as fast as the Russians can get there.
The war likely still goes for several years, but without the German invasion of Belgium Britain stays out. If the French invade Belgium to try to flank the Germans (as likely would happen) the French get the bad PR, and that also pretty much guarantees the Brits stay out. With no Royal Navy, there's no effective blockade of Germany. The Germans get much more favorable press in the US. Germany is in a much better position to keep up the war for the long term. The French and Russians either have to bleed themselves white keeping up the offensive or accept a stalemate and eventually a negotiated peace.
Comments?
The Schlieffen Plan - Germany can't fight a two front war. The French and Russian armies combined out number the Germans about 2 - 1. So, Schlieffen comes up with is plan to use the excellent German railways to mass on the West and defeat France, then rush troops East to take on the Russians. The German-French frontier is, give or take, about 150 miles long. Frontal attacks are wasteful, if not suicidal. So Schlieffen decides on an encirclement of the French. The German left wing in Alsace-Lorraine will conduct a fighting retreat, sucking in French troops and preventing them from being used elsewhere (because the French are obsessed with taking back A-L). Meanwhile a strong German right wing hooks around the French left wing, all the way around Paris, and takes the French in the flank and rear. The only problem is they have to violate Belgian neutrality to get the maneuver room to do it, which bring the British into the war.
Looks good on paper, flops in reality. The Germans didn't really have enough troops to pull it off. Kaiser Bill, worried about the Russians advancing into East Prussia, pulls several corps from the West and sends them East. German commander Moltke the Younger (nephew of von Moltke of the Franco-Prussian War who inherited the name but not the talent) seems not to have fully understood the plan. He allows the Crown Prince to counterattack the French in Alsace-Lorraine, driving them back to the French border. The French go on the defense and are able to use the excellent French railways to shift troops from their right to their left. Von Moltke also has tenuous control over his army commanders. On the far right wing, von Kluck (namesake of a popular British marching song of the time, "We don't give a f*** for old von Kluck and his whole damned f****** army...") turns his army south and east too soon, passing to the North of Paris and exposing the German flank to a counterattack, leading to the First Battle of the Marne.
Meanwhile, in the East the Russians are proving even more incompetent than anyone thought and get the borscht kicked out of them at Tannenberg.
SO, here's my alternate plan (with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight):
The Germans invest in a series of prepared defensive lines between the German frontier and the Rhine. They buy a sh**load of heavy machineguns to man the line, and prepare artillery positions and preregistered targets. A similar line of defenses is prepared along the Belgian frontier, in case the French try to flank through Belgium. Wen the war comes, the Germans use the minimal number of troops necessary to defend the line, probably using reserves for most of it, while keeping regular units for counterattacks. They let the French throw bodies into the killing zones. As with the Schlieffen Plan, they let the French fight their way into Alsace-Lorraine and become bogged down there. A-L is a strategic dead end. The terrain doesn't favor exploitation. Even if the French manage to force their way through the German defenses with tremendous losses, they come up against the Rhine. The odds of forcing a crossing are minimal.
Meanwhile, in the East the Germans use their greater numbers and superiority in weapons to annihilate Russian armies in a series of envelopments as fast as the Russians can get there.
The war likely still goes for several years, but without the German invasion of Belgium Britain stays out. If the French invade Belgium to try to flank the Germans (as likely would happen) the French get the bad PR, and that also pretty much guarantees the Brits stay out. With no Royal Navy, there's no effective blockade of Germany. The Germans get much more favorable press in the US. Germany is in a much better position to keep up the war for the long term. The French and Russians either have to bleed themselves white keeping up the offensive or accept a stalemate and eventually a negotiated peace.
Comments?