NationStates Jolt Archive

On the border of between the new Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, an army of nearly eighty thousand men was massing. With the ceding of certain provinces to Italy, Austria-Hungary needed two things: new ports and new territory, both of which Montenegro offered. With the arrival of fifteen thousand reservists called up as reinforcements and the arrival the 1st fleet, under the personal command of Admiral Anton Haus, just outside of Montenegro waters, the battle was about ready to begin.

When the order was given, the fleet would enter Montenegro’s waters and begin blockading the all-important ports, and if possible, destroy what few ships Montenegro’s navy possessed. Meanwhile the army would begin its invasion, moving as quickly as possible to avoid getting bogged down.

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General Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin looked at the large map in his command post. His troops had made decent strides so far. His men, while not necessarily taking the Montenegrins by surprise, had acted quickly enough to throw them off guard. Austro-Hungarian troops had defeated most of the resistance the Montenegrins had showed with one exception: Mount Lovcen. There Austro-Hungarian troops had met the fiercest resistance, pushing the offence in that area to a standstill, indeed, almost pushing it backwards. With rumors flying that a war with Serbia and Russia might break out, this was troubling indeed.

ooc: more to come soon

General Luigi Cadorna, Chief of the General Staff, started planning for war. The Russians were bound to come knocking on Austria-Hungary's doorstep very soon, and so Italy mobilised 8 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry divisions, and the two Alpini brigades for a total force of roughly 120,000 men. Placed under his direct command as the Italian First Army, he moved to northern Italy in preparation of passing through the Brenner Pass. But before he could enter Austria-Hungary, he had to ask for Austrian permission. So he sent a telegram.

To: The Austro-Hungarian Government
From: General Luigi Cadorna, Chief of the General Staff

Italy, as per our agreement, is preparing troops to defend Austria-Hungary in case of a Russian attack. Our troops will be ready soon, but I am requesting permission to send our troops into Austria-Hungary, with the Italian First Army to be based at Cracow. Our idea is that, if Russia attacks, Austro-Hungarian troops will attempt to hold the Russians back while Italian troops attempt advancing into Poland. If Italian assets are in place before Russia attacks, it could allow us to take Russia by surprise if they attack.

To: General Luigi Cadorna
From: Chief of Staff and Commander in Chief Conrad von Hotzendorf, General Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin Commander of the Montenegro Liberation

We heartily thank you for your support in our time of need. Your troops are welcomed with open arms and transportaion will arrive shortly to help move them to Cracow. I heartily agree with your plan for a counter offensive and I have ordered twenty thousand Austro-Hungarian troops under the command of Count Viktor Dankl von Krasnik to assit you in this matter, with more troops to arrive depending on the the way the battle goes with Russia. I feel to warn you that I see no way that Russia will back down. The Russian Bear has always been foolishly prideful.

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Shortly after the telegram was sent, large trains were sent to assist the Italians in their move to Cracow. Austro-Hungarian High Command also called up and additional forty thousand reservists for fear of invasion by Russia.

To His Imperial and Apostolic Majesty Franz Ferdinand of the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary

While the assassination attempt that has served as pretext for your actions in the Balkans is certainly horrifying, if indeed it occurred at all, nevertheless it must be clear as day to any man with the wit to see that no "Montenegrin nationalist" would ever dream of compassing such an unspeakable act were it not that Vienna's rampant tyranny and blatant expansionism in the Slavic lands of the Balkans and Eastern Europe generally has forced the issue of self-defense for the Slavic people. To invade Bosnia-Herzegovina was an affront to God and the Slavic Nation. But we allowed it, in the interests of European peace. But this invasion of a free principality of Serbs [OoC: more-or-less] is impossible for the Tsar, as protector of his people, to ignore.
In the Name of the Tsar, I therefore call upon you to withdraw your forces from Montenegro at once. If the government was, in truth, colluding with the alleged assassin, then Holy Russia will use her power to help bring those responsible to the Lord's justice. But make no mistake, you will not annex yet another Slavic state while there yet remains breath in any True Russian soldier.

Grand Duke Vladimir, His Majesty's Regent for the Empire of All the Russias

TOP SECRET

To: Count Viktor Dankl von Krasnik
From: General Luigi Cadorna

As my troops have begun transfer to Cracow, Commander in Chief Conrad von Hotzendorf informed me that twenty thousand of your troops have been ordered to assist me in a counter-offensive operation. I ask that you place your troops in Cracow along with mine. If war breaks out, my forces will advance towards Kielce. I ask that your forces, reinforced by the two Alpini brigades, advance towards Częstochowa. These details can be discussed in more detail once I arrive, which will be shortly. Also of interest is what will become of Russian Poland if it is occupied.

TOP SECRET

To: Count Viktor Dankl von Krasnik
From: General Luigi Cadorna

As my troops have begun transfer to Cracow, Commander in Chief Conrad von Hotzendorf informed me that twenty thousand of your troops have been ordered to assist me in a counter-offensive operation. I ask that you place your troops in Cracow along with mine. If war breaks out, my forces will advance towards Kielce. I ask that your forces, reinforced by the two Alpini brigades, advance towards Częstochowa. These details can be discussed in more detail once I arrive, which will be shortly. Also of interest is what will become of Russian Poland if it is occupied.

Top Secret

To: General Luigi Cadorna
From: Count Viktor Dankl von Krasnik

An excellent idea! I am currently arranging for more reservists to be called up in support of this operation. They admittedly will do little to help us on the battlefield besides serving as relatively unskilled replacements; however they will free our troops from occupation duties and other non-combat related tasks. I estimate that I will be able to arrange for five thousand to ten thousand reservists to assist us in this matter. As a matter of good faith, I will put your half of the troops completely under your command. I also ask that your Alpini brigades be put under my command in order to facilitate my ability to lead effectively.

Ooc: about how many troops are in those two brigades?

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Austro-Hungarian HQ – Montenegro

General Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin looked down from his new command center into the valley below. His troops, after deciding to surround, but bypass Mount Lovcen had quickly crushed most of the resistance. However, a good portion of the Montenegrin army had managed to flee to the city of Ivangrad in western Montenegro and had decided to make their stand there. They had dug in and the fighting had degenerated into what his commanders were calling ‘trench warfare’ and his men were taking heavy casualties by machine guns. His only condolence was that the Montenegrins didn’t have many/

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Semi-Secret:

An additional ten thousand reservists were called up and moved to the city of Cracow. Meanwhile the forty thousand reservists that were called up earlier were moved to the Austro-Hungarian provinces of Galicia, Bukovina, and Transylvania and set to work helping improve already existing defensive structures on the border with Russia and Romania. And additional ten thousand troops were moved to Transylvania to help prevent a possible Russian invasion through Romania.

ooc
acting as war moderator here

IC
The Serbs are greatly alarmed when the Austrians annex their neighbor, and secretly approach Russia about what exactly this Pan Slavism means.

The Serbs have a relatively ill equipped army, but its a reasonably sized one and they at least all speak the same language, something the Austrian Army can't say.

ooc: I forgot to add this to my earlier post but assuming we conquer poland, I'm thinking a puppet state that we can use for its resources and such, heck maybe even we can create it into a giant recruiting pool, taking its people for our armies when we need them.

OOC: The Alpini Mountain Brigades, to the best of my knowledge, contain 7,200 men each. That makes 14,400 men. Also, General Cadorna has now arrived in Cracow, so I am assuming he is speaking to the Count personally.

IC:



General Cadorna, flanked by a few Italian gaurds and officers, strolled up to Count Viktor Dankl von Krasnik's HQ. He left the gaurds outside, but ushered his officers inside so that they could meet with the Austrian officers. No doubt they had a large supply of translators, so that communication would be possible not only between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies, but with different sects of the Austro-Hungarian army. He shook hands with the Count and had one of his own translators come in. He hadn't brought many of those, and he'd probably have to telegram home to get more of them.

"I will place the two Alpini Mountain Brigades under your command. I also thank you for placing your troops under my command, though they will only be used as occupiers."

The General unfurled a map of Poland, with a large red circle around Cracow. Cadorna's staff officers set a few wooden markers on the table, denotating armies. Austro-Hungarian flags marked the Austrian units, while two types of flags marked the Italian; there was the standard Italian flag for Cadorna's units, and an Italian flag with a mountain replacing the House of Savoy's coat of arms on the flag, for the Alpinis. Cadorna drew red lines on the map from the soldiers to the cities they were supposed to capture.

"As you see, there are the same cities on this map as in the telegram. They are each roughly 60 miles inside of Russian Poland. So I expect that the Russians will have at least some troops stationed in between the two cities. After taking the cities, our goal would be to move along the Pilica and Vistula rivers to Warsaw. Warsaw, if all goes according to plan, will be assaulted from the West by your army, while the Italian army will attack from the south. If all goes to plan, Russia will be caught off gaurd by the counter-attack.

But there is one very important question that must be answered: what are we to do with Russian Poland if successfully captured? If incorporated into Austria-Hungary, there would be a significant percentage of Poles in your Empire. My suggestion is that, if Poland is occupied, that we later set up an independent government to serve as counter-weight against Russia. What do you think?"

Italian troops, meanwhile, were still assembling in Cracow. In just a few more days, all the troops would be in Cracow and ready for operations. At home, King Vittorio Emanuele III had decided that the Italian army could conscript soldiers to join the army, but that it would be used only in wartime. Therefore, Italy began conscripting another 200,000 men. Italian industry revved up for wartime, and the next batch of Italian troops were going to be issued the new Cei-Riggotti rifles, mainly because they were already producing many of those for Korea.

Count Krasnik looked at the plans. "Very good, and excellent plan. However, your plan calls for Austro-Hungarian forces to take the western approach, which would be in the direct line of attack for any Russian counter-attack on our offensive. Because of this, I’d like more time to gather more forces. As we speak troops are arriving, but it will take time to bring us up to the strength I feel is necessary. This is not meant to delay the operation by any means but if at all possible, I think we should what as long as we can.”

He turned to face the General. “As you know, my army has been drawn from all over Austria-Hungary and many of the men speak many different languages. Luckily most of the officers can speak several, and I’ve tried to bring as many units as I could from or from nearby the territories that were turned over to Italy. This means there is a better chance that they will speak Italian, but is of course no guarantee.”

Krasnik shrugged. “If we had ten more years the educational reforms would have made communication only in German or Hungarian, but unfortunately we will have to make due. I’ve instructed that my men be taught basic phrases in Italian such as ‘halt,’ ‘charge,’ and the like so that might help some.”

Count Krasnik waltzed over to his desk and shuffled around the papers until he found the folder he wanted. “Ah, here we have the details of what my government wants once Poland is captured. What it amounts to is establishment of a sympathetic Polish government. It would act as a counterweight to Russia as you mentioned while providing us with a large ally in case a renewed Russian war.”

"Sounds similar to what we Italians planned with Poland. We could probably set up that sympathetic government immediatly, and promise the Poles Lithuania or something similar. I also appreciate your attempts to bring in troops that may speak Italian. I'll have my translators instruct my troops to know a few simple phrases as well.

Now for those plans. I agree that your troops may need more reinforcements if you take the western approach to Warsaw, but I feel that postponing the operation lets Russia discover our plans. So let's disguise our troops' intentions here in Galicia. Let's have our troops build trenches, so that it looks like we are to defend this territory. It would also provide a line of defense if we fail to conquer Poland."

Chancellor Bulow stepped out of his Buggy. He had ridden the terribly long stretch from the Reichstag offices to the Military Hospital where the Kaiser was "sleeping." As he stepped out, an Army Band began playing Das Lied der Deutschen, the Anthem. A choir also began to sing the highly Nationalistic words:

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
über alles in der Welt,

A tear began to decend the Chancellors wrinkled cheeks.

wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze
brüderlich zusammenhält.

He missed his brother, and boss, the Kaiser. Though he was sometimes strict and bitter, he knew what was best, for all Germans

Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
von der Etsch bis an den Belt,

Even ones that weren't within the border of the Empire. Oh how he wished they were!

The Chancellor wiped the tear and walked into the hospital. He walked up the steps to where the Kaiser was kept, and then saluted the platoon that was stationed at the door. He stepped inside and nearly fainted.

"Chancellor! It is as I have woken from a marvellous dream! A dream of a new world! A Teutonic world, with the Empire's Borders stretching from the Meuse to the Neman, from the Adige to the Belt, and perhaps more!

So! Tell me! Have plans been made to take New York?" The Kaiser had a face that almost of a child at Christmas.

"Well," said Bulow,"your highness, you have been sleeping for nearly 9 months. You went into a comatose state. You were alive but not concious."

"Ahh... God has made me dream of Germany's Destiny while he tests my son! You must tell me all that I have missed!"

German-Austrian-Russian Border

Major Aldrich Klein coughed, then swore silently. He shouldn't have coughed, but after that chase in the water he had caught a mild cold. He pulled out his field glasses and began looking. The Austrians were up to something, but what it was was unknown. Then he gasped. Italians! he thought. He began to edge closer to the group of men and overheard something.

"Ja! We're gonna head into Poland. Something about a new Polish state or some shit."

The Italian laughed and began to make fun of Poles until a group of them overheard. A fight broke out. Major Klein saw his chance and began to back off into the woods.

"I must tell the Colonel so that the High Command can know what these Schweinehundtz are up to. If there's a Free Poland then we are in deep scheiss!" thought Klein as he ran back to the outpost.

One of the Italian soldiers heard some running. The fight was more interesting, but then again it could be a Russian attack. He picked up his rifle, called for his squadmates, and bolted into the woods in search of this mysterious noise. With any luck it would be a stupid animal. But the General had told them to expect a Russian attack at any time, and at least chasing strange sounds gave you something to do.

_________

Meanwhile, back at home, Italy was beginning production on more artillery and machine guns, shipping a good portion of Italy's new production to Cracow, along with retrained soldiers. It was believed the artillery would be needed if Warsaw or any other major city was to be taken, and so many pieces were ordered.

Major Klein stopped and looked behind him. "Schiess, he said, the schweinehundtz are following me. I'm nearly a mile from the border and it's another 3 miles to the outpost. Perhaps Sergant Weiss actually patrolled..."

He began to crouch along the trees, ever moving backwards towards the border. He was a scout and it was his job to be sneaky, but he only had a knife for a weapon, and there were at least three of them.

"Only a little bit more."

The Italian soldier had been gaining on the sound. But then the sound became quieter, sounding like German. He couldn't make out any words, but it was German. It could be an Austrian playing tricks on him, and he had picked up a little German from those Austrians. He called in highly mutated German, "show yourself." He then continued forward, noticing a few things. He saw a few footprints, and he sprinted off in the footprints' direction.

"Schiess," Klein whispered. The Italian was coming closer and was going faster. "Ficken est," the Major said as he looked ahead. There was a farm up ahead, perhaps they would listen to his pleas. Then he stood up and ran as fast as he could.

ooc
acting as war moderator here

IC
The Serbs are greatly alarmed when the Austrians annex their neighbor, and secretly approach Russia about what exactly this Pan Slavism means.

The Serbs have a relatively ill equipped army, but its a reasonably sized one and they at least all speak the same language, something the Austrian Army can't say.
Yay, the Serbs! Pan-Slavism for them means Yugoslavia, basically.
Seriously, though, the worst day yet at work, and I've still got stuff to deal with from it. For the moment, assume that all the Western units of the Empire are being mobilized and sent to the frontiers in Poland and Ukraine, while reserves are being called up. The Imperial Army's Eastern units are also being activated. The Fleets are also on the move. Right now the Tsar and his wife and child are still in Berlin attending the Kaiser, and the Tsar's uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir, doesn't not have the authority to declare war, but it would be pretty cheeky of him to do so.
I hope I'll be able to actually invade tomorrow, but I can commit to starting the shooting by Friday at the latest. My job really sucks.

OOC: Well, the Kaiser woke up, somewhere. I post a lot of stuff everywhere, and I lose track of it. So you can go home now and have your little war. So far, since Major Klein hasn't gotten back yet, the Germans don't have much of a clue what's happening. But...

To His Imperial and Apostolic Majesty Franz Ferdinand of the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary

While the assassination attempt that has served as pretext for your actions in the Balkans is certainly horrifying, if indeed it occurred at all, nevertheless it must be clear as day to any man with the wit to see that no "Montenegrin nationalist" would ever dream of compassing such an unspeakable act were it not that Vienna's rampant tyranny and blatant expansionism in the Slavic lands of the Balkans and Eastern Europe generally has forced the issue of self-defense for the Slavic people. To invade Bosnia-Herzegovina was an affront to God and the Slavic Nation. But we allowed it, in the interests of European peace. But this invasion of a free principality of Serbs [OoC: more-or-less] is impossible for the Tsar, as protector of his people, to ignore.
In the Name of the Tsar, I therefore call upon you to withdraw your forces from Montenegro at once. If the government was, in truth, colluding with the alleged assassin, then Holy Russia will use her power to help bring those responsible to the Lord's justice. But make no mistake, you will not annex yet another Slavic state while there yet remains breath in any True Russian soldier.

Grand Duke Vladimir, His Majesty's Regent for the Empire of All the Russias


To: Grand Duke Vladimir, His Majesty's Regent for the Empire of All the Russias
From: His Imperial and Apostolic Royal Majesty Franz Ferdinand

My dear sir,

As one of Russia's few educated men, I would have expect you to realize the gravity of the situation. As the two largest nations in Europe, a war between our two nations would bring destruction on a massive scale, causing a great, but horrible war. I would have thought that you would have realized that there are other solutions to war. In fact, if I saw an way around using violence to bring my attacker to justice I would use it! But the Montenegro government has denied the evidence and ignored our requests for an investigation. So I had no chose but the one I made.

You accuse me of “rampant tyranny” and yet you’re no doubt ‘peace loving’ nation had to be forced to free the serfs from the fields! It was I who gave more freedom to the Slavic people than what your government offers to its wealthiest citizens! Do not make such condemnations and wrongful accusations my dear sir, because you will live to regret them. My nation will not start this war, for it is not war we want. But we will finish this, I can assure you. And I can assure you that you will not live to see the end. Good day sir.

ooc
war moderator here, see this post.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9426001&postcount=112

Italy, you don't really have to mobilize, you have just barely started conscription so you are as mobilized as you will get without raising more troops.

Italy is raising more troops, with 300,000 more troops being raised.

Statement from the Ottoman Government

The Ottoman Government will not stand by and allow the Austrian and Italian take over the Balkans, if they move into Albania. We will declare war on both of them and defend comades of Albania from Italian or Austrian Rule.

OoC: I just wrote an eloquent Declaration of War and description of troop (and fleet) movements, and when I clicked "Submit," the damn server failed to recognize me and I lost everything.
The gist of it was that Vladimir wasn't impressed favorably by Franz's letter, and commenced hostilities.
Russian land forces are now crossing the border with the intention of seizing all passages through the Carpathians, and overrunning Bohemia and Moravia to the Sudetenland (and using propaganda here, extensively--Czechoslovakia is the birthplace of Pan-Slavism, after all). I'm using everything I've got in the West, not trying to defend myself against Germany, and bringing in units from the East (the Caucasus and the Turkestans, basically) to maintain order in Ukraine, if necessary, and to serve as reserves.
The Black Sea Squadron is headed for Istambul, and the Baltic Squadron for Lisbon.
I'll try to post something more detailed tomorrow. My apologies.

ooc
ok, looks like its a war.....
The Serbs will also attack, with the aim of driving the Austrians out of Montenegro (and hoping the Russians will take enough pressure on them to make this work).

I will email Austria and Russia tomorrow and let you know how things likely would go

OOC:

World War I in 1905, eh? This should be quite interesting!

As Chief of Staff and Commander in Chief Conrad von Hotzendorf approached the royal palace in Vienna, the sinking feeling in his stomach had only grown. He expected the Russians to attack Galicia, but instead they were marching into Bohemia and Moravia. He was wrong and he knew it. But so did the Kaiser, which only made it worse. He paused for a moment outside Franz Ferdinand’s door to catch his breath. Then, be bit the bullet and walked in, to model of a cool commander.

“Ah, hello General, I believe you have some explaining to do. You assured me that they would send most of their forces into Galicia and through Romania. And yet, for some strange reason, I find myself with reports saying they are in neither, but in the territories Bohemia and Moravia. Would you like to explain yourself?”

Conrad gulped. He had expect Franz to be angry, even furious even, but this unnatural calmness was unnerving “We-well sir, I admit they took us by surprise, however I expect that if we are able to convince Germany to join, I believe we can surround the Russian forces and crush them once and for all!”

“Bold words from a man who was proven horrible wrong.” Replied Franz.

“Very true your highness, but remember, we have an estimated thirty thousand troops in Krakow along with 120,000 Italian troops. In addition, I am told that as part of a plan to fool the Russians to our intentions, the commanders had order defensive works to be built. And with so many troops in the city, Russia can’t ignore it or bypass it without leaving their rear largely open to an attack.”

Franz sighed. “Pray that you are right General, for if you are not, not only will your career be over, but Austria-Hungary might be destroyed as well. Mobilize the rest of the reserves and order the fleet to sea. Dismissed!”

Conrad jumped up and saluted. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. “Yes sir!”

As he turned to leave, Franz spoke up again. “And General? Reinforce Montenegro and the rest of Southern border. I don’t trust Serbia or the Ottomans as far as I can throw them.”