The French recover from their collapse and are now back up to 100 morale points. The French start construction of a second line of entrenchments along their entire defensive line. The Italians are forced to pull the cadres from last turn’s attack on their lines back for rebuilding while rushing reserves to hold the line. They are also sending more fortress troops to hold the road through the Alps north of Trent. The British reinforce their offensive.
The British attack at Lens. The bombardment is lack luster (only two cadres disrupted with seven attacks on the 9 column) and the attack ends in a BX result. The British are now down to 208 morale points – only 9 from going down to a National Will of 3 and losing the advantage over the Germans.
None of the Central Powers armies are able to react and all of the Zeppellins become lost. Pretty quiet on the front.
The Entente lost 33 British, 7 Canadian Manpower, and 12 Equipment points. The Central Powers lost 13 German, 6 Wurttemburg, 5 Saxon Manpower, and 19 Equipment points.
Tom: Well, I dodged the bullet on the French collapse. The quick recovery should help. The French will surrender at the end of their 100 morale points, but it should be interesting to see if Carl can keep up the pressure over the rest of this game year. Only 6 months to survive. The British are attacking, but it is not going anywhere fast. I don’t think Carl will swing from attacking the French now, it is the game if he manages to destroy them.
The Austrians continue to extend their drive through the Alps towards Milan. The Germans build up to continue their offensive on the French around the Reims area and towards Paris.
The attack on the French 35th Corps is preceeded by a devastating bombardment which is mostly luck (all but one roll of 4 or higher) and the entire corps is disrupted. The attack goes home and shatters the French corps which retreats with no losses to the Germans. The offensive continues towards Paris with a small bombardment followed by a quick assault and the hex beyond Soissons falls to the Germans – only three hexes to Paris! Another attack on the French 20th Corps near Reims results in the French successfully holding off an overwhelming amount of Germans. The Austrians help the Germans attack the Italians near Trient and forces the Italians back out of the Alps. The Austrian drive towards Milano is stalled until the Austrians can reinforce their army.
The Entente were not successful in reacting to the new Central Powers offensives.
The Central Powers lost 13 Austrian, 10 German Manpower, and 10 Equipment points. The Entente lost 47 French Metropolitan, 11 Italian, 7 French Colonial, 5 French African Manpower, and 43 Equipment points. The French now sit at 84.5 morale points.
Carl: While the French recovering from collapse seems like a lost opportunity to blow out of the trench warfare, at least they are still losing morale and the surrender of the French is now measured strictly by their morale points. The next time they are reduced to 0, they surrender. The longevity of the German offensive towards Paris has surprised me. It is fortunate that the next turn is a production turn because I am about out of manpower and resource points for the Central Powers in the French front. I have been using the Austrians to absorb the losses on the Italian front. The French are in a bad way because I am beginning to increase my offensive to include the capture of Reims. I now have two hexes adjacent to the city and am close to capturing another one. The French cannot allow me to capture the city, the loss of 10 morale points would be extremely deadly to their morale at this point. The good news is that the British are about out of their manpower to keep their offensive against Lens going. I think it will continue for as long as the game lasts since it is about the only thing that the British can hope to do to relieve the pressure on the French.