Strategic Studies & Gaming: 2014

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Truce of 1914 and the French 75mm

Exactly one hundred years ago three cousins, all grandchildren of Queen Victoria, fought against each other in the "War to end all Wars," the King of Great Britain, the Czar of Russia, and the Kaiser of Germany. Their alliances with France, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire (today' Greece and Turkey,) pulled these cousins into the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen. The armies they raised and fought against each other were so massive that the Western front in Europe had had one flank anchored on the Alps to the South and other flank anchored on the North Sea to the North.

Western Front 1914

Such long battle lines made it impossible for either side to out flank the other. Modern weapons like the machine gun, but more importantly artillery, like the breach loading French 75mm.

Breach loading of the French 75mm

The French 75mm had recoil system between the barrel and the carriage. This meant that the gun did not have to be repositioned after each shot. An American Civil War field gun would recoil the entire gun after each shot, to fire a second shot the gun crews would have roll the cannon back into position, swap the barrel down of an remaining sparks, load the powder, load the shot, ram it all in ant then aim before firing again. A well trained gun crew could get one aimed shot per minute. In addition the French 75mm fired single piece ammunition (which included casing and shell,) Its gun crews could fire 20 rounds a minute on target.

French 75mm

The French 75mm was also rifled, it had groves in the inside of the barrel that caused it's projectiles to spin before leaving the barrel, much like a quarter back puts a spin on a football for distance and accuracy. While a smooth bore American Civil War cannon had a range of less than a mile, The French 75mm had a range of 5 miles.

rifling

Other key technologic advances of the French 75mm was the ammunition it fired. Besides it being all in one ammunition, it fired explosive shells with fuses, it's anti-personal shells could detonate above advancing forces and shower 300 lead balls down upon enemy with each shot. It's solid shot could detonate on impact on fortified positions.

Shrapnel Shell

French 75mm also used smokeless powder. Black power that was used before had two negative side effects: one was the cloud of smoke it would create after each time it fired would give away the cannon's position on the battlefield.

After several shots the black powder would actually create so much smoke it could obscure the gunners abilities to see their targets. With smokeless powder the French 75mm could fire without giving away their positions easily, and they would not blind themselves with smoke after repeatedly firing their gun.

Smoke from Black powder

One could imagine how deadly a World War battle field was with such weapons. It is the main reason the armies on both sides dug deep into the earth hoping to escape the raining death of guns like the French 75mm. World War One saw 16 million dead and 22 million wounded. Artillery, not machine guns, were the cause of most of those deaths and wounded.

In the midst of all this carnage something miraculous happened on Western Front in 1914. On Christmas Eve the entrenched British and Germans began singing Christmas carols to each other.

British and Germans meet in no man's land Christmas 1914

On Christmas the Germans were the first to emerge from their trenches, unarmed, and shouting across no man's land in English "Merry Christmas."

The British at first thought it was a trick, but seeing that the Germans were truly unarmed, they too rose from their trenches and cautiously approached their foes across the no man's land. In between the two enemy lines British and German shoulders greeted each other as brothers in the spirit of Christmas.

They shared gifts with each other, and even played "football" which what the rest of the world calls soccer.

Christmas Truce of 1914

These young men in the trenches created an unofficial truce during the bloodiest conflict the world had yet ever seen. From the men that actually did the fighting and dying, peace was germinating, it was an opportunity in the first five months of the war to end a conflict that would stretch on for another three and half years.

Unfortunately the national leaders and generals on both sides would have none of it. The day after Christmas the slaughter restarted. Never again was there another Christmas Truce during World War One that did not end until 1918.

Please check out General Hindsight's Christmas Special. Hope you enjoy it and learn something interesting. http://youtu.be/fX7Qud9gO38

Sunday, December 14, 2014

An Army Marches on its stomach

Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was famous for saying "An army marches on its stomach." It is also reported that Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, might have made this quote before Napoleon.

Frederick The Great

Neither-the-less both these great commanders understood that an army needs to be supplied. Hungry men do not march quickly, or fight well. Extremely hungry men will lose their resolve to campaign and will begin deserting.

General George Washington experienced this when the Americans wintered at Valley Forge in 1777-1778. The Colonial army had been beaten badly by the British and were very low on supplies. Washington knew how dire their situation was and is reported to have said - "If the army does not get help soon, in all likelihood it will disband."

Valley Forge Winter of 1777-1778

It was a harsh winter, cold, hunger, disease, dozens of men disserted. By March General Nathaniel Green was able to get much needed food to Washington's army and the arrival of Baron von Steuben, who actually fought under Frederick the Great, began training Washington's remaining ragtag army that stuck it out through that winter at Valley Forge.

General Steuben Training Troops at Valley Forge

Steuben could not speak English, and the Americans didn't speak German, but he did know French and Many of Washington's officers knew French. French at the time was the diplomatic language. One of the reasons the French hate us Americans so much. The international language is now English.

General Steuben

Steuben would write his training manuals into French for Washington's officers to then translate them into English. By June of 1778 a new American army emerged from Valley Forge ready to take on the British, because of their willingness to suffer though that bitter cold winter, food finally arriving in time, and the military training a Baron von Steuben.

Napoleon and his Grande Armee

Nicholas Appert - The Father of Canning

Napoleon, knew how important it was to feed his Grande Armée, that he offered an award 12,000 francs for whomever could develop a way to feed his army. Nicholas Appert,

One of Appert's first preserved bottles

a French cook, discovered that heating up food in glass jars sealed with wax and wire kill microbes that cause food to spoil, years later tin cans were used, weighing much less than glass. Soldiers could now carry many days rations with them, and not get ill from their food.

Today we use alumni cans but it all began with Napoleon to feed La Grande Armée and Nicholas Appert.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Battle of Thermopylae and Frank Miller's 300

The Latest General Hindsight Video where he discusses his qualifications as an armchair general and the Battle of Thermopylae versus the Frank Miller version "The 300"

Strategic Studies and Gaming also wants to note the 73rd anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor by six Imperial Japanese carriers that gave a devastating blow to the American Pacific Fleet. On this day we remember the over 2,400 American service men that lost their lives on fateful Sunday morning.

Strategic Studies and Gaming

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Sunday, November 30, 2014

General Hindsight - Strategy vs. Tactics

Hello and welcome to Strategic Studies & Gaming. Presented by Move2attacK Games: Face to face strategic games for humans.

My name is General Hindsight and I am an official armchair general.

I am here to help those you understand military terms and the military history behind strategic gaming.

A common question I get is "What is the difference between strategy and tactics?"

It is simple. Tactics are your combat methods to win battles to achieve your strategic goals. Strategy is the larger picture to choose your battles wisely to win the war.

Tactics change due to landscape, the weather, the condition of your men and the condition of the enemy. The biggest game changer for tactics is technology.

For example, if you are fighting a Napoleonic era battle the common tactic of the time were close knit infantry units, shoulder to shoulder to concentrate their fire power on the enemy.

Cannon was used to attempt to break up those formation, so cavalry could swoop in with sabers and lances to pick off routed enemy forces, winning the day.

Cavalry before muskets were the heavy tanks of the battle field. A man alone on foot was no match to a man on a mighty war stallion.

Even with the introduction of the smooth bore muskets a man on horseback was still the greater threat on the battlefield. Muskets were not very accurate. When a musketeer took his first shot at charging cavalry man, more often than not he would miss.

The musketeer would have to reload, swap down his barrel, pour in his powder, ram in his musket ball and wad, and then prime his weapon. By the time he was ready to fire a second time, the man on horse was already upon him and cutting him down with one slash of his saber.

Generals needed to find a way to protect their musketeers. At first they learned to accompany their musket men with pikes men. The Pikes men created a fence of sharpened spikes to fend off cavalry assaults, protecting the musketeers as they reloaded.

When the bayonet was developed, infantry were able to be their own pikes men. With fixed bayonets, men tightly packed shoulder to shoulder could hold off the impact of a cavalry charge.

Cavalry was no longer the most powerful weapon on the battlefield. Close knit infantry was. Only other infantry or field artillery could break an opponent's infantry formations. Once they were routed, cavalry would then be used to mop up, pick off fleeing men one by one, insuring that they did not rally, regroup, and rejoin the battle.

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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving and the Battle of Gettysburg

After the union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln called for a national holiday to give thanks 242 years after the first pilgrim thanksgiving of 1621. The battle of Gettysburg in three days suffered nearly as many American causalities the United States lost after 12 years of fighting the Vietnam War.

The Thanksgiving of 1621 was the year after the English settlers had suffered a harsh first winter in the New World. After that horrific winter the native Americans taught the new settlers how to farm the native crops that were new to the Europeans: corn, potatoes, pumpkin, and of course turkey. In the fall of 1621 the Plymouth settlers had a bountiful harvest that insured they would survive the second winter in North America. To celebrate and to give thanks they invited the native Americans to a share with them a feast of their bountiful harvest.