************** very late Saturday evening July 21st 2018, I finally finish synthesizing and sending out the operational plan. I thus indulged in some dramatic flair, since I am delivering a speech to gathered commanders.
Operational Plan: MIGHTY GLACIER
Friends! Marshals of the Oesterreich!
The False Emperor took advantage of his alliance with our Rhineish cousins, and of my wholesale reorganization of our army to more modern principles, to sneak some fresh recruits onto our territory, stealing Munich and Regensburg from us among some other places.
I am sure he also took advantage of my famous and, usually, correct preferences for solid defense, expecting that I would fort up at the Isar and Danube, to repel his eventual crossing attempts someday. Consequently, while he has stiffened his occupation forces with French commanders of renown, he has clearly not expected us to throw out his puppies. Rather, he expects to take his time to settle other matters and then come deal with us, planning that I would prefer to finish reorganizing and training our new armies, and to strike back at him once we have annihilated his coming assault.
I have fostered this impression, for the sake of any spies among our courts, by speaking to each of you alone, as it were, through correspondence, asking you to prepare forces for defending our Reich. I have shown him, so far as he can possibly see us, what he expects to see.
Having gathered you together now, I intend to show him that the True Holy Roman Emperor will tolerate his blasphemous presence on our fair continent no more.
Corps Commanders of this Army of the Eastern Reich!
We have achieved total strategic surprise!We admittedly still move too slowly to achieve full tactical surprise, about which I grit my teeth but must accept the reality -- and so I will assume that he will know what is coming, by the time we arrive. But no sooner than that.
I genuinely feel sorry for our Rhinish cousins. But not too sorry for their commanders. They should have known better. And now they will pay.
Each of you will leave here to ride to your nominally defensive corps preparations, and begin immediately to move into assault positions according to the plan which I will detail below. I have allowed plenty of time for everyone to be in place, and rested, for the operation to begin at dawn on April 16th.
Look, friends, at the beloved mountains around us, home of our hearts! See the frozen sheets on the tallest! Those who live in the valleys and who visit from the plains, may think those sheets simply sit all year, as immovable walls. A fine comparison!
Those who seek the Eidelweiss, as a symbol of our manhood, will know that those sheets do move. And that they destroy, implacably, all that they touch.
Similarly, like a sheet of cold iron, we shall descend unstoppably, scooping up our enemies to sear them over the flame of war, until the smoke of their destruction ascends into the centuries of the centuries.
This operation shall so be named: MAECHTIGER PANZER!
[OOC: if we can’t win with a name as awesome as that, we deserve to have our asses kicked.]
If you will allow me a play on words, a Tiger may not be fast, but it will kill you. We shall strike with the hind claws, with the front claws, and with the fangs.
With the hind claws we shall rake the enemy where he is most vulnerable and with the most damage for the effort.
With the front claws, we shall wrap around the enemy and rend his back.
With the fangs, we shall chew through his throat, and end his resistance to death.
Each shall be a heroic effort, worthy of an opera! Before you even leave this room, your glory has been assured!! I feel _actual_ _jealousy_ for your roles! -- for who am I, who am even I, compared to what you shall do!?
More prosaically, we shall operate on the following principles, which I assume you will recognize from my normally defensive strategies.
1.) Protect our supply line. Usually I do this by creating extensive supply depot points and letting the enemy crash against them like foam until they are tired of losing and rout from the field at our laughing counterstrike. This time I plan to do so by finishing our opponent as quickly as our glacier-like marching can feasibly accomplish, and by aiming our fangs the shortest distance from Passau to the enemy’s throat.
2.) Protect our troops’ morale. We need not rush, if we do this correctly. We only need to win. Let our enemies rush around, tiring themselves out, in panic. Or, if they want to scramble for Passau, we shall cut their own breath off methodically with our fangs before they can sever our artery.
3.) Simple steps. Each thrust needs only two things, generally, at most to go right for a sufficient victory. These steps can themselves be broken down to one or two smaller steps in sets. But while this is not schlaeger fighting, where we stand in defense and parry and strike, neither will we be leaping around for our enemies to intercept, unable to change our vector’s gravity. Our feet stay on or near the ground, not sliding exactly but barely lifted as with short steps we force our foes off the fencing strip.
To these main principles can be added the following:
4.) The operational plan should minimize problems from our slow speed, and maximize problems from the mostly-similar slow speed of our opponents. Any French in the mix will, sadly, be faster, but mixed with the Army of Germany they must either operate faster at much lesser strength, or be similarly hampered in speed. {{{Sabrenote: as it happens this expectation was incorrect, but I don't think our mistaken impression mattered anyway.}}
5.) The operational plan should concentrate power effectively. I must confess that my hopes of creating useful light infantry divisions has not borne fruit, yet. I have saddled most of you with liabilities. I will find something very useful for them to do, indeed heroic, and in return your corps will be stronger, with better reserves.
6.) The operational plan should focus on recovering our geography, with efficiency of effort, destroying the enemy efficiently along the way.
7.) The operational plan should, as soon as possible, disrupt the enemy line of supply -- even though we are not yet certain where it is!
8.) The operational plan should provide some opportunity to move forces west into the enemy’s backfield, as a consequence of securing our geography.
9.) The operational plan should minimize interior lines, or else render a lack of interior lines meaningless.
{OC: 10. the plan should also make use of any special abilities allowed to the Austrian side of the game. And 11, it should give everyone something important and active to do, so that the game will be fun.}
This will require some swapping out of divisions among you, but if the enemy knows of our ostensible defensive organizations already somehow then this will catch them by surprise.
Enough of the principles! -- to the Rendings!
HINTEREKRALLENMACHT
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To the hind-claw force, I assign Marshals Kienmeyer [Lancer/Ecnal] and Lischenstein [Jack Gill]!
Kienmeyer, you shall have Fresnel’s and Rohan’s Grenadier divisions. Lischenstein, you shall have the cavalry divisions between you, including Ulm’s. Your divisions have the highest morale, and the best equipment and experience. The French may be expecting us to use you as rear reserve, sending your brigades forward piecemeal.
I expect you to take back Munich, and secure that quarter from any Napoleonic opportunism. I do not expect you to come to our aid.
Kienmeyer will have initial wing command, since the infantry must lead in taking the city, but I give you free rein to work out what seems best among yourselves; for example if you decide to advance north (once Munich is yours) into the marshes and then perhaps into the ridgeline roads, you may wish to cede command to Lischenstein who will be presumably scouting ahead and so in better position to make informed decisions.
How you take the city I leave to your preferences, since we don’t know for sure what we’ll find there. I presume the ideal situation, if the enemy doesn’t simply flee the area and let you have the city gratis, is to pontoon over the river not far to the north (but away from city defenders) with the cavalry corps, and envelop them while at least one grenadier prevents them from retreating across the Isar toward, if not both such divisions assaulting over the bridges -- either spreading out their defenses or leaving one side fatally weak.
But that is only a guess; you may adjust things as you will. You may stay in Munich and rest as you will, you may set up defenses in or outside Munich as you prefer, or if you wish to adventure north in pursuit or after resting and regrouping -- all this I leave to your recognizance and judgment. I will send no orders.
If you send me news couriers, they have some real chance of being intercepted at any time during the operation. But all we really need to know is how well things are going. Tell me a story of ducks at a wild pond, use any details you like -- amuse yourself with any imagination! But the key detail will be the weather.
Snow shall mean your plans are going well.
A cold rain shall mean your plans aren’t going well. It should be cold either way, of course.
You may vary weather intensity for emphasis; but don’t spend much effort on that description, it should seem incidental to other (fake) emphases. DO NOT TRY TO SEND US INFORMATION WITH OTHER DETAILS! -- I will ignore them.
If you decide to move north toward Regensburg, change the SNOW to SLEET. (Snow is good, so you’re changing to a different good. Rain stays as signal for trouble with your plans.)
If you must fall back toward Passau for some reason, change the RAIN to WIND. (Snow stays as signal for your plans going well.)
If Napoleon shows up at Munich, or on your way north (if you decide to try that after Munich), add a Troll to your story.
{{Sabrenote: everyone promptly ignores or forgets this code plan.
![Roll Eyes ::)](https://www.armchairdragoons.com/forum/Smileys/brant/rolleyes.gif)
I have no idea yet, whether the enemy intercepted our couriers and learned anything useful. But I DID TRY to plan ahead for such problems.}}
{{Splitting the email here for forum post length limits}}