Russian army of the Great War Part II

The Russian army of 1914 had relativity good equipment, at least when up against the Austrians.   The weapons were modern, and even in training Russian troops were good.

The Main Field gun was the 76.2mm Quick Fire Field gun, This was a light weight (at least for its size) and fully modern.  It had no recoil and could fire up to 15 shots per minute.  Gun crews could also easily man handle the gun into new positions and it had considerable elevation for bombardments.  Russian gun crews had additional troops for defence against enemy infantry who could also act as carriers for more ammunition.  The horse teams had additional horses  so  on  long  manoeuvres the gun teams could be exchanged to keep up the rate of advance.  Training was good, but only for 1st line troops, reserve troops were not as well trained as the gunnery school had limited capacity.    

Russian Heavy guns such as the 122 and 152mm howitzers were based on light models used in the russo-turkish war.  They were far easier to move on the battlefield and although  recoilless on paper the 122mm gun had a tendency to buck like a mule,  to off set this it was common to sand bag the gun so a quick rate of fire could be maintained.  Firing 8-10 rounds a  minute was faster than the best German Guns of  the same type but poor explosives kept in storage or moved vast  distances on poor roads tended to misfire on occasion, not damaging the gun jamming in the breach which could take quite a while to fix, it was not as bad as British artillery which mostly failed to detonate (1/3 shells were duds) but was enough of a concern for Russian commander to begin massing guns early in the 1914 campaign, Increasing efficiency but making them vulnerable to counter battery fire.

The Standard Machine gun was the Iconic Maxim design which was out dated at the outbreak of war, but would soldier on into the second world war too.  It was heavy, weighing 80lb, with another 4 drums of water needed to keep it cool the weapon was not suited for a fast moving battlefield.  It was belt fed with a cloth belt which jammed almost every time it fired, The low carriage it was mounted on became caked in mud and mould, the wheels jammed constantly and it was too heavy to man handle.  Mostly the Machine guns failed to be positioned in time during assaults and many were captured during  enemy  offensives.  By May 1915 the Central powers had captured more Machine guns than the Russian army retained, these were used in static defence or discarded due to lack of suitable ammunition.  

The Russian army made good use of field telephones as-well as the existing telegram network, especially in the  Ukraine   where  new cables had been laid during 1912-13, however the telegraph across such vast territory was still inadequate for the armies needs.  The field Telephones were superior to the western front, wires were laid of copper wire wrapped in cloth to protect parting.  Despite this there was never enough to go around, During the invasion of Prussia the Russian army ran out of cable.  Although the sets they had were of good quality, equivalent to German sets of the time.   

Cavalry was by far the best arm of the russian army, and was used as other nations to act as the eyes and ears of the army, although bad communication and an inconsistent chain of command often led to this large asset not been used well.  in Austria and Germany the cavalry led the army and the Cossack forces did unfortunately carry out Terror attacks against undefended town in both Austria and especially Germany, these incidents led to a considerable coup for Central-powers propaganda.  Where as on the western front the allies had to make up stories of barbarism,  the Germans had it handed to them.   

The Cossack forces were the best troops in the cavalry, although they never operated as a full part of the army, and were more 'attached' to the corps rather than a part of them on paper.  Often commanders did not know exactly which units were theirs?   

Russian army of the Great War Part I

In 1914 The Russian army was in good shape (at least on paper), and at least equivalent to any western army.  It was a fully modern army, and not a lumbering behemoth like the Austro-Hungarian army of the same time.  

When the War Began the  Central  powers  believed  the Russians  would take months to be ready for action, but in fact the Russian army mobilised in just 2 weeks.   

The subsequent invasion of  Germany and Austria took the Germans by total surprise and says much for its effectiveness in organisation.  The Russian army moved quickly and kept its supply lines well organised.  When Turkey entered the war the Russians were able to move vast forces to assault the Turkish forces, again taking Turkish planners by surprise.

I am not going to go into detail about how both campaigns failed, and the disintegration of the Russian fronts led to the collapse of Russia, that's another story.

One problem with the high command and officers in general was that promotion was based on terms of service, Bribery and nepotism, rather than actual ability.   This is not necessarily much different from the western armies, Great Britain used exactly the same system, which is why the British army was so badly led in both WWI & WWII, where promotion depended on which school you went to and who you were related to, rather than ability.  This meant that Russia, like Great Britain, Italy, Romania and America all tended to murder their own soldiers by Incompetence, rather than get them killed by accident, as other powers did.

With this archaic system of promotion however, leading to stupid officers been in-charge of armies was not as bad in the Tsarist armies at the outbreak of the Great war.  10 years previously The Russian army had fought a terrible campaign in the Russio-japanese war in 1904-05, where at the end of its supply lines the Russian forces had fought to a standstill.  Since then there had been a small civil war and a massive shake-up of the command structure.  Many officers with loyalty to the more rebellious generals were replaced.  Back in the Russo-Turkish war the Tsar's father had re-organised the command structure with more competent men and Tsar Nicolas hoped to do the same and in the run up to war he had gone along way to making the army command as a whole slightly more efficient.

The Reforms were not wide spread but certainly at middle to junior level the younger more energetic officers took up the slack let down from above.   Despite this the creaking communication system and archaic command structure made it hard to control such a vast army, forcing slightly too much responsibility to the lower officer ranks.  Also unlike the German and French armies where officers were expected to use their initiative, many Russian officers did not have that level of training or confidence.   Some officers on the eastern front did show remarkable flare but just like in the British army these officers who if they were French or German would find promotion, (see Rommel or De Gaulle) would find themselves either ignored or  regarded as Quixotic by their superiors.  

The Russian army also suffered from the same problem that effected the French and British armies, that the officers were always apart from the troops.  Many officers were of higher social class than their men and were discouraged from mixing, so when things went wrong the Russian infantry, disgruntled, Hungry and exposed to rebellious ideas of Bolshevism the Russian infantry found it easy to simply shoot their officer, and incidents like this began in mid 1915 in the Russian army.  It should be noted that this  mutinous  attitude which went onto the full scale October revolution in 1916 was present in the  British  and  French  armies,  but  without such dramatic effects, the French infantry practically dismissed all of their officers from the front lines, where as in the British army the most common death was within 10 yards of his own trench, probably from his own side, at least there is anecdotal  evidence on this.   This would have led to a  deterioration  in communications, with officers either afraid of issuing orders to advance, to soldiers simply refusing to, although I should note that in defensive battles, Troops would still fight with vigour.

A Field in Ukraine - circa 1914

Trying out my new 10mm Great war figures, 2 opposing forces of Russian and Austro-Hungarian.  

Russian forces have just taken a village and dug in on the northern flank along the sunken road.

One problem the Russian army has is its terrible command and control.  Russian command control was no better than it was in the Napoleonic war, added to this the loss of half decent commanders due to the way officers had to be promoted in the Tsarist regime.    Hence the lack of initiative and numbers of orders would hamper the Russians.

Russian forces were advancing along the road in the centre of the battlefield, although is was to move them faster into blocking position, lack of order dice caught them in the marching order.

Russian rapid fire guns hit the Austrian infantry but poor dice led to minimal effect.

Russian troops along the road came under fire from the stream bank, with the Russians on the stream unable to take any supporting action.

Russian cavalry made a charge on the Austrian guns but were blocked by infantry.

Russian 76.2mm Field guns Quickly unlimbered and began to fire on the Austrians on the hill.

Austrian cavalry make a charge on the flank of the Russian breastworks. 

On the other side of the battlefield Russian troops attempted crossing the stream under heavy fire from the Austrian guns.

Austro-Hungarian lancers overrun the Russian guns.

The whole Austro-Hungarian flank was on the move now.

Hungarian Ulans hit the Russian Infantry

in the centre the Russian column is destroyed.

Russians try to make a stand.

Final charge of the Austrian cavalry, although exhausted the shattered Russians broke and fled or surrendered.
Despite the ponderous command of the Austro-Hungarians army it proved better on the day than the Russian army.

Goblins Vs. Empire

The battle was fought as part of the ongoing campaign, fought in a fiction land etc etc...  In this battle The Goblin army is making a land and sea attack on the main settlement of the Empire.   The Empire, are the human protagonists based on the British empire in the 18th Century. 

The Goblin fleet chose to attack through the ships and land Goblins to the Empires rear.

The Empire ships led by a submarine 

On the shore troops await a possible land invasion.

The goblin army set out  for battle

The forward troops with light guns take cover behind a fence

The initial attack came from trolls who attacked the gun on the far flank of the Empire forces.  grenadiers tried to  flank them but failed to stop the gun been smashed by the trolls.

Goblin cavalry make a rush for the battle line, the Volley fire has little effect.

The wargs thinned out hit the line

At sea the Goblin ship in the lead gets blasted by broadsides and turned to matchwood.  However it successfully ran over the submarine while still  surfaced. 

Ignoring the lost ship the second goblin ship makes a successful ram against the ship of the line, capsizing it sending it to the bottom, a terrible loss for the defenders.

The Empire line broken is sent reeling back to the farm.

Empire troops escape the chariots but the wargs hunt them down.

The Empire manages to stabilise the line,ignoring the wargs flank breakthrough  and launch a counter attack.

Goblin spear-men make no match for the empire firing line

The guns are destroyed by the rampaging wargs.

A goblin ship lands its troops but they are contained by a reserve regiment.

The second ship is boarded by the second reserve regiment and captured.

In the main battlefield the shattered goblins try to hold

Grenadiers bring down the trolls, finally

The goblin general goes into the attack personally but with only a shaman for support, he is slain without doing any real damage.

the last goblin ship tries to escape but is straddled by gunfire.

The game was a good one, and the first time most of both armies have met, I was playing goblins with phil.   Haley and my youngest played the Empire.  If I made any mistake it was to try and attack all at the same time, the Empire held reserves so could fight fires easily where when ever I broke through I could not follow up.  

Ofcourse Phil's mad Goblin ship attack was out of my control so I cannot accept any of the blame, he was in such a rush to get to shore and land troops he ignored the smaller empire ships, and although sinking the line of battle ship it did not make up for the loss of his Trireme Dromon or the capturing of one of his biremes.
If anything can be learned from the battle its that those pesky Empire guys have good firepower and good moral, and goblins need more points! 

Middle Earth, The Mythology of England

Middle Earth is a vastly complex Mythology, but it is even more than that.  England actually has no actual mythology, all other countries do have folk lore but not England.
Tolkien Himself was an expert on both old English and the history of Anglo-Saxon Britain.  
The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and Lord of the rings and the whole of Middle Earth was his way of Giving England a History of Legends and tales.  England of course has very few legends, Anglo-saxon English were exterminated by the Normans, 1/3 of the population of England were murdered by the Genocidal Norman Campaign, England the country, went from been a rich, powerful nation that was the bread basket of Europe to a 3rd word country suffering starvation and plague.  To be sure, The Normans destroyed England, but worse they destroyed England's Heritage.  Our Legends, stories the very Mythology of the English race was lost.  Tolkien wanted to address that loss.  He created a legend that has in many ways become a legend in itself.

The Goblin race, an Objective Overview

I Just wanted to put a few thoughts out there on the Subject of Goblins.
Goblins and Orcs are of course one in the same thing, The word Goblin is the Dwarvish name for orc.   The Name Orc in fact is an Old English word meaning Foreigner.
In 1066 when the Normans invaded England the English called the Normans Orc's.  
We get our view of Goblins from the other side of the scale, the tellers of the story are the guys who don't like Goblins. The Goblins are an organised race not savages, they have a Monarchy based on Hereditary lines of rule.  A study of the best material, basically the Hobbit and LOTR shows the Goblins of the misty mountains have a complex social system.