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Post by Jean Lannes on Dec 25, 2015 19:34:23 GMT
Do the battle of Sakarya or the battle of Gallipoli, both feature Turkish General extraordinaire Mustaka Kemal  Why does everyone want Turkey? I'll do something about Turkish history, maybe something in general like the system for religions, or the Janissaries, or Sarkıkamış. |
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Post by General William T. Sherman on Dec 25, 2015 20:41:11 GMT
Sarikamis sounds good
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Post by Moreau on Dec 25, 2015 20:43:16 GMT
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Post by Napoleon Bonaparte on Dec 26, 2015 14:20:42 GMT
Janissaries for me
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Post by Vatutin on Dec 27, 2015 0:18:08 GMT
Can I do Austerlitz, Kursk, Moscow and Stalingrad? Meh want to do Kursk and Moscow |
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Post by Jean Lannes on Dec 27, 2015 6:00:41 GMT
Can I do Austerlitz, Kursk, Moscow and Stalingrad? You already did Austerlitz so I'd say something else. Maybe the Raid on the Medway |
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Post by General William T. Sherman on Jul 9, 2016 14:49:31 GMT
I just rediscovered this thread and I am absolutely appalled by all the spelling mistakes in my battle lectures.
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Post by Jean Lannes on Jul 9, 2016 17:48:38 GMT
I just rediscovered this thread and I am absolutely appalled by all the spelling mistakes in my battle lectures. I should bring all my battle essays from iFunny over to here. You don't need to do anything Napoleonic, I got them |
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Post by Laurent de Gouvion on Jul 28, 2016 11:31:41 GMT
I'm going to revive this thread. Doing a pres on the Battle of The Somme. First, the reasons of the battle. Allied High Command had planned a Franco-British offensive during the summer of 1916 in the 1st Chantilly Conference. For that purpose supplies of ammunition and huge numbers of Kitchener's New Model Army soldiers (untrained volunteers) were moved to the front. Bear in mind that most of the Regular Army and Territorial Force veterans were killed in 1914 and 1915, thus the New Model Army was in training at that time with a weak veteran core. Due to this, Sir Douglas Haig (the British commander) wanted to postpone the offensive as long as possible. However, some events made this impossible. The Battle of Verdun had put immense pressure on France, and should Verdun be lost French morale would crumble. Austria-Hungary had launched the Asiago Offensive in Italy too, further pressuring the Entente. While the Brusilov Offensive's success had caused German troop movement to the Eastern Front, Haig wanted to stop such movemnt and relieve Verdun. Of course, the Allies also wanted to seize the U-boat ports in the Belgian coast. To quote from Haig's Somme Despatch, "The object of that offensive was threefold: (i.) To relieve the pressure on Verdun, (ii.) To assist our Allies in the other theatres of war by stopping any further transfer of German troops from the Western front. (iii.) To wear down the strength of the forces opposed to us." Due to these, the offensive could not be postponed beyond the end of June. July 1 was to be the date of the offensive.    Top left: Sir Douglas Haig. Top right: Progress of the Brusilov offensive. Bottom: French soldiers at the Battle of Verdun. |
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Post by Laurent de Gouvion on Jul 29, 2016 10:30:32 GMT
Now on the artillery bombardment and mines at the Somme. The bombardment was to smash German defences and suppress their troops. The biggest British artillery bombardment before the Somme was at Loos, where 108 heavy guns were used (there were 39 light guns as well). The bombardment at the Somme was to consist of 427 heavy guns (about four times the number at Loos). There was a gun for every 58.5 yards (Loos had a gun for every 103.7 yards). There would be one and a half million shells fired in the course of a week (two shells a second for 168 hours). The bombardment was planned for five days, U-Day, V-Day, W-Day, X-Day, and Y-Day. Z-Day was the day of the infantry attack. The first two days would be to destroy barbed wire, while the last third focused on enemy artillery, trenches, and emplacements. Each individual unit did 2-hour periods of bombardment, with rest in between (usually in this rest period machine guns would fire to do the artillery's job). An 80-minute intensive bombardment happpened daily, and at night the artillery bombarded the rear to stop supplies and reinforcements from coming. Due to bad weather and concerns about the effectiveness of the bombardment, the infantry attack was delayed for 48 hours (thus adding Y-1 Day and Y-2 Day). Even after a whole week of bombardment, the bombardment failed to smash German defences. There was simply not enough guns, not enough firepower to destroy them. Added to the fact that the British used shrapnel shells instead of HE (High Explosive) shells most of the time, the bombardment failed in its purpose of smashing German defences. Due to the Falkenhayn's unyielding defence strategy, dugouts were made deeper and trenches stronger. The German troops simply hid inside the dugouts. It wasn't until the USA's Time on Target system that artillery bombardments became effective.
Now on the mines. The French had started mines on the Somme sector. When the British took over, they started aggresive and offensive mining policy. At the Somme, 19 mines were detonated. Tunneling companies of the Royal Engineers made the mines, considering a lot of the volunteers were coal miners. The plan had called for more mines, but lack of manpower prevented this. The mines were detonated all at once in 1 July, being the largest mine explosion at that time (the Messines mine explosion in 1917 would be larger than the Somme). The two largest mines, Hawthorn Ridge and Lochnagar had 18,400 kilograms and 27,000 kilograms of explosive each.   Top: A mine exploding on 1 July. Bottom: Stockplie of ammunition for the Somme artillery bombardment. |
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Post by Laurent de Gouvion on Jul 30, 2016 10:56:27 GMT
Now on the planning of the Battle of the Somme. The Allies had planned an attack by Sir Henry Rawlinson's Fourth Army along the 25 km German front. Diversionary attacks by Edmund Allenby's Third Army and Émile Fayolle's Sixth Army were planned. Joseph Micheler's Tenth Army was nearby. After that, the Fourth Army would take the German second positions. Sir Hubert Gough's Reserve Army would then use the success to advance to Arras. The Reserve Army would later grow into the Fifth Army. Facing them was Fritz von Below's Second Army. It was later broken up into First Army under Below and Second Army under Max von Gallwitz. The German armies would grow into Army Group Rupprecht during the battle, consisting of the First, Second, German Sixth, and Seventh Armies. It was commanded by Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, the most competent Imperial general of the war.    Top left: Sir Henry Rawlinson. Top right: Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. Bottom: Map of the Battle of the Somme. Next, the bloody first day of the Somme. |
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Post by Laurent de Gouvion on Jul 30, 2016 13:34:25 GMT
Now on the first day of the Somme. In July 1, 1916, 7.30 AM the Battle of the Somme began with after a whole week of bombardment. The attacks of the French Sixth Army were succesful. The Fourth Army had taken Montauban, Mametz, and Fricourt despite heavy losses. However, the bloodiest part of the day happened at La Boisselle as the Germans had been notified of the offensive. As such, the huge mines were ineffective. 34th Division suffered 6,380 casualties at La Boisselle, the worst on the day. The Fourth Army also had failed to take Ovillers due to lack of infantry-artillery coordination. German redoubts near Thiepval also inflicted heavy casualties. The attack on Gommecourt by parts of the Third Army failed, often blamed to 46th Division as they had the lowest divisonal casualties at that day. General Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley, the divisional commanding officer was sacked soon after. The British suffered 57,000 casualties at that day, the bloodiest day at that time. Part of the reason was due to the heavy equipment, weighing about 30 kgs.   Top: British infantry charging over the top at the Somme. Bottom: Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. |
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Post by Laurent de Gouvion on Jul 31, 2016 23:41:18 GMT
Now on the effects and aftermath of the Battle of the Somme! First, the usage of tanks.  At the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 49 Mark IV tanks were used. It was the first time such weapons were used, and proved effective against trenches. However, it failed against mine craters. Second, the usage of air power.  The RFC had been created in 1912. It was used effectively at the Somme, securing Allied air superiority. The Somme had cost 1,300,000 lives, all for a gain of 25 kms. The British had not even reached Baupaume, the next town on the Albert-Baupaume Road. Do remember the British started from Albert. One notable casualty was American poet Alan Seeger, who had joined the French Foreign Legion. He died cheering his men on, and to quote his own words: "But I've a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year, And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous." (P.S. When Ivan Kolev said I repeated everything, I didn't think he meant that literally. He did) Next, the Battle of Lissa or the Battle of Tsushima! |
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Post by Ivan Kolev on Aug 1, 2016 2:26:28 GMT
Now on the effects and aftermath of the Battle of the Somme! First, the usage of tanks. At the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 49 Mark IV tanks were used. It was the first time such weapons were used, and proved effective against trenches. However, it failed against mine craters. Second, the usage of air power. The RFC had been created in 1912. It was used effectively at the Somme, securing Allied air superiority. The Somme had cost 1,300,000 lives, all for a gain of 25 kms. The British had not even reached Baupaume, the next town on the Albert-Baupaume Road. Do remember the British started from Albert. One notable casualty was American poet Alan Seeger, who had joined the French Foreign Legion. He died cheering his men on, and to quote his own words: "But I've a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year, And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous." (P.S. I have bad internet rn, will add pictures and more) Next, the Battle of Lissa or the Battle of Tsushima!Now on the effects and aftermath of the Battle of the Somme! Good presentation, but you repeated everything! lol. |
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Post by Laurent de Gouvion on Aug 1, 2016 2:56:54 GMT
I simply reaffirmed my point. Thanks!
Battle of Lissa or Tsushima?
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