Re: Project Winspww1 1914-1918 ?
If you want to know the problems of command and control, read some of the British Army histories of WWI. I just finished the first volume of the 1918 operations in France and Belgium which covers the first six days of the great March German offensive in the Somme region. Yes, the British Army was not trained for open warfare, was holding an extend front with inadequate forces and had little hope of meaningful reinforcement from England to the extent of not even being sent men to make of for the normal "wastage" on the front.
Several days into the offensive, code named Michael by the Germans and started on morning of March 21, 1918, C2 started going downhill in the British Fifth Army sector and was headed the same way in the Third Army sector. Morning mist at and fog really helped to conceal the German attack for the first several days which contributed to the lack of information available to command authority.
Units from battalion to divisions were forced to "retire", or attempt to, in daylight instead of at night which is more desirable in defensive operations. When the British established themselves in their new positions (to the best of their ability anyway) at the end of the days fighting, the Germans, who generally followed up the British retreat closely, knew where their enemies were going to be in the morning so they could plan their attacks accordingly.
Ironically, what slowed the German offensive was their own destruction of the area they gave up when the German Army retreated to the Hindenburg Line in 1917. Moving the reinforcement through the area, which need to be close behind the front lines so as to keep the momentum of the offensive going, was tough enough but bringing up the artillery and supplies soon became very difficult. Stories of German units stopping for the day to take advantage of British stores (that hadn't been destroyed )because they hadn't eaten for 48 hours were common. The Germans, by the fifth or sixth day of the offensive, were attacking with no artillery support simply because no guns had been able to advance quickly enough to provide the necessary support. It was here that German command and control started to break down also.
The second volume of the 1918 operations will cover the conclusion of the Michael offensive and begin the account of the Lys offensive in April of 1918.
It is fascinating reading, if tedious at times, of a period of military history that most today don't care much about. However, the "Great War" weighted deeply on the psyche of England, France and the US in the 20's and 30's and it behooves us, or me anyway, to learn more about it.
As for wargames, I have played or am playing several John Tiller games of WWI. The October Ypres battles were particularly bloody and moving the British and French units around in the restricted area east of Ypres is, well, a challenge. Are these games as interesting as games based in WWII? No, not necessarily. I'm playing them to try to get an idea of what the WWI situations were like.
Don Bennett
Evanston, WY
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