Prussia in Peril - East Prussia '14 Central Powers AAR - major victory turn 114

[ComradeP]

Turn 97 06:00 1st of September 1914.

1st Army is permanently released.



The first Russian reservist formations show up in front of Landwehr Division Goltz to support the Russian cavalry in the area. Time to pull the Landwehr back.

The loss ratio worsened considerably due to the initial attacks on the 2nd Army pocket, but it was a necessary bloodletting.



Hauptreserve Koenigsberg slowly pulls back to the Taplacken position.

The first Russian attacks against the Wehlau position are launched.

The Russians to the south continue to advance against 1. Reserve Division.



The Russians quickly bridged the Omert south-east of Gerdauen. There's another river there as well as two 1 hex lakes, so leaving the area open was a calculated risk. 36. Reserve Division will have to continue pulling back, however, as its left flank is hanging in the breeze.



Disrupted units highlighted.

During the night, I moved MG and field gun units forwards so they could soften the Russian line. This process will be repeated each night from now on.

Amusingly, my weakest units will soon create the first breakthrough as Hauptreserve Graudenz and Hauptreserve Thorn roll up the western tip of the pocket.

It's worth noting that retreating after being assaulted is only possible if the entire stack can retreat as a stack into another hex. The game won't divide the units in the stack between possible retreat hexes if it's too big to retreat as a stack. The units in the stack would normally suffer "can't retreat" losses of 50% of their strength, with the second assault usually bumping the stack back a hex...but Russians units face the Fragile Morale penalty and will surrender immediately if they can't retreat.

Combine that with my opponent usually placing two battalions in each hex, which quickly leads to big stacks when they are forced to retreat, and you can understand why Russian losses will rapidly mount in the right conditions.



Strength overview.

I Armeekorps is at about 50% strength, with both divisions losing about 3000 men since the start of the game. It's still combat capable, as Fatigue was carefully managed.

The other divisions are in good shape. 36. ID is actually stronger than it was at the start of the game, as it's close to full strength after numerous turns of rest.