Darkest
Banned
Hopefully, this will become a timeline to encompass all of the little ideas I have for the early 20th century! Mainly, these will consist of A) more widespread American intervention in South American in the vein of the Second Mexican-American War, B) a much more widespread socialist revolution in Europe and Russia, leading to the creation of a new world power, the Eurasian Social League.
Also, I am looking for a new kind of superweapon to feature in this XX Century ATL, akin to nuclear weapons in OTL and 'Ritz Force Cannons' in Puttin' on the Ritz. I could go with maybe just some kind of genius introducing rockets much earlier, leading rockets to be a legitimate weapon by WWII era, or some such. Its open to debate.
As to why I am going to call it Grippenberg... Well, its the Point-Of-Departure.
The Russo-Japanese War
The Russians had lost. Again, and again, and again. Who would have thought the Japanese could have put up such a fight? Not Kuropatkin. The cautious general was far too conserved for fighting with such an aggressive, clever-witted enemy. Still, much of the victory Japan had earned had done so through the lack of good choices on part of Russias, and a slightly inordinate amount of good luck.
There was one ardent flame, among others, whose potential had been curbed. The deaf and inexperienced General Oskar-Ferdinand Kazimirovich Grippenberg, who had just newly arrived to command the Russian Second Army. Having heard of the fall of Port Arthur, he felt it was imperative to drive the Japanese back to Korea before General Nogi could join the front.
The Battle of Heikoutai
January 25th - Grasping that the Japanese left wing was in an exposed northern position, Grippenberg planned and executed an attack with the Russian 2nd Manchurian Army near the small village of Heikoutai. The Japanese, settled in their winter's quarters, were completely surprised. The Japanese chain of command lost coherence, some of their forces fell into chaos, although individual units put up fierce resistance. Nevertheless, local blizzards forced the Russians into a disadvantage.
On another world, Kuropatkin, jealous of Grippenberg's success, and far too cautious and hesitant to allow such a risky move, would order the attack to stop on the 29th of January. The advancing Russian soldiers had extremely high morale, knowing that they were winning. It was an illogical move. Grippenberg gave up his post immediately and moved back to Moscow.
January 29th - Kuropatkin never orders Grippenberg to stop. He continues his rampage.
January 31st - Grippenberg makes extremely good headway, advancing far enough that the frantic Oku Yasukata orders a retreat to Liaoyang, the continuing winter hindering their retreat. Grippenberg attempts to forge onward, but is stopped by Kuropatkin. The Battle of Heikoutai is the first land battle the Russians have won, and extremely good on paper. Kuropatkin is nevertheless jealous and feels slighted by the deaf, fresh-from-the-city Grippenberg.
The Battle of Heikoutai would result in the Japanese taking 16,500 casualties; killed, wounded or captured. The Russians would suffer a strangely very similiar number, 16,800 casualties, killed, wounded, or captured. This is very unlike many of the other battles in which the Russians always took much heavier losses.
Now, Grippenberg and Kuropatkin fight for who is allowed a say in the next step of the campaign. Gripperberg advocates that they rush Liaoyang, to retake the city and continue down the peninsula so as to hold the forces of General Nogi from regrouping. Kuropatkin was disdainful and believed that the winter would drain all the energy from the soldiers.
Still, Grippenberg had just proven himself with the first battle won by Russia in the war. Kuropatkin was eventually persuaded to allow Grippenberg the attempt, with more than two weeks of preparation, largely ignoring Grippenberg's desire to attack as soon as possible to catch the Japanese off guard.
With 260,000 men and 450 guns, Grippenberg led the Russian Army towards Liaoyang, sixty miles away.
The Second Battle of Liaoyang
February 14th - Unlike Kuropatkin, Grippenberg was fresh enough to not accept defeat before he was sure. So many other battles in the campaign had been inconclusive because Kuropatkin had not given it that next drop in the battle to finish the deed. Nevertheless, Grippenberg was not allowed to attack as early as he desired, nor did he have as many men as he wished.
However, an important facet of this battle was that General Nogi had been stalled on his way up to join the rest of the Japanese Army. He was only two days away.
The Russians, marching with great morale, met the Japanese outside of Liaoyang when they had only little warning. Liaoyang was a devestated city from earlier battles, and provided little advantage for the Japanese. For the first day it seemed that the Russians would win quickly, however, the Japanese recouped, and for the next two days there was a bloody stalemate, morale falling on both sides (but mostly for the Japanese). However, Grippenberg would not end.
Then came General Nogi's group. The battle had lasted too long. However, General Nogi's men were tired and low on resources, nevermind half-frozen. They came to lines filled with terrified Japanese soldiers. Morale pitfalled. Grippenberg did not yield, despite a similiar pitfall in morale due to more soldiers appearing amongst the Japanese.
February 20th - The order comes from Kuropatkin to retreat after hearing of losses. Grippenberg has no desire to turn back, fearing that one more loss is all it would take to lose the war. He eagerly pushes on, and correctly applies pressure to the right flank, where a majority of Nogi's tired soldiers have been placed. The battle begins to turn. Kuropatkin gets no word back from the General at Liaoyang.
February 22st - General Nogi and the others declare a retreat from Liaoyang to reinforce themselves. Morale was so low that the Japanese soldiers in the trenches were submitting to hari-kari to die in honor. Nogi felt like he had no other choice. They would move to Haicheng. The Russian Army was victorious, taking the city of Liaoyang and sending optimistic letters back to Kuropatkin back in Mukden to move forces to defend the location and continue the advance. The issue of Grippenberg replying late was ignored in the news.
The Second Battle of Liaoyang was an incredibly bloody one considering the duration. The Japanese took 19,000 casualties, with the Russians absorbing 22,400 of their own. Still, the Russians now had two victories under their belts, all thanks to Grippenberg, the only two won in the Russo-Japanese War.
General Oyama Iwao was extremely flustered, seeing this as the turn of the tide. The Japanese were much more drawn out and wringed through than in OTL. He knew that strategically he should fight at all costs to decimate as much of the Russians as he can when the Rozhestvensky's fleet arrives. There is no time. The other generals beg for more time to prepare, their soldiers weary and, despite the distance they are into Manchuria, suffering from low morale. Oyama decides to build up and prepare for a mass attack against the Russians. He wishes to draw them into Mukden, but must first get rid of the sundered city of Liaoyang standing in the way.
The Third Battle of Liaoyang
The rivalry between Kuropatkin and this new successful general is heating up. While there are many casualties, Kuropatkin has seen much worse, and has not made one victory. The government in Moscow has even been questioning whether more authority should be given to this new general, Grippenberg. As such, it is expected when Kuropatkin keeps a significant number of troops in Mukden, coming to critical acclaim with Grippenberg and his army, who argue against the splitting of forces immensely. Furthermore, many artillery pieces were kept in Mukden. Grippenberg continued to urge Kuropatkin into pushing forward into Korea, ignoring the casualties. He greatly desired an assault on Haicheng. Kuropatkin countered in that the Japanese did not have any easily accessible recruits, and that they should wait until their numbers increased with new eastern blood.
Thus, the Japanese armies under General Oyama find weakened defenses. Liaoyang hadn't necessarily been very defensible from the start, being extremely devestated.
March 9th - The Japanese with 175,000 soldiers meet the Russian lines with 245,000 defending. They are bringing a significant amount of artillery pieces. Both sides suffer from a slight streak of bad morale: the Japanese have suffered two important defeats at the hands of the new General Grippenberg, while the Russians were at the hands of a man who was known for pushing men at the enemy for as long as it took to win victory.
The two forces smash into each other. Somewhat encircled and unwilling to give up territory, weapons, or artillery with a retreat, Grippenberg stays for a long ten days of seige, before a large force comes down from Mukden, reinforcing the lines immensely and bringing in new supplies. Kuropatkin assumes control and is able to find a weak section on the left flank, and after a long artillery blast breaks Japanese lines. Oyama stays for four more days, before declaring a general retreat.
March 25th - The battle ends. Kuropatkin orders the Russian army to fall back onto Mukden, largely abandoning the ruined city, which would be consequently taken over by the Chinese. The Japanese would claim it a few days later.
Both sides needed a lot of time to lick their wounds. The Russians had taken 49,200 killed, wounded, or captured. The Japanese suffered 37,400 similiar casualties. However, their objective had been fulfilled. The Russians had put all of their soldiers in Mukden, only one battle could claim the war.
Also, I am looking for a new kind of superweapon to feature in this XX Century ATL, akin to nuclear weapons in OTL and 'Ritz Force Cannons' in Puttin' on the Ritz. I could go with maybe just some kind of genius introducing rockets much earlier, leading rockets to be a legitimate weapon by WWII era, or some such. Its open to debate.
As to why I am going to call it Grippenberg... Well, its the Point-Of-Departure.
The Russo-Japanese War
The Russians had lost. Again, and again, and again. Who would have thought the Japanese could have put up such a fight? Not Kuropatkin. The cautious general was far too conserved for fighting with such an aggressive, clever-witted enemy. Still, much of the victory Japan had earned had done so through the lack of good choices on part of Russias, and a slightly inordinate amount of good luck.
There was one ardent flame, among others, whose potential had been curbed. The deaf and inexperienced General Oskar-Ferdinand Kazimirovich Grippenberg, who had just newly arrived to command the Russian Second Army. Having heard of the fall of Port Arthur, he felt it was imperative to drive the Japanese back to Korea before General Nogi could join the front.
The Battle of Heikoutai
January 25th - Grasping that the Japanese left wing was in an exposed northern position, Grippenberg planned and executed an attack with the Russian 2nd Manchurian Army near the small village of Heikoutai. The Japanese, settled in their winter's quarters, were completely surprised. The Japanese chain of command lost coherence, some of their forces fell into chaos, although individual units put up fierce resistance. Nevertheless, local blizzards forced the Russians into a disadvantage.
On another world, Kuropatkin, jealous of Grippenberg's success, and far too cautious and hesitant to allow such a risky move, would order the attack to stop on the 29th of January. The advancing Russian soldiers had extremely high morale, knowing that they were winning. It was an illogical move. Grippenberg gave up his post immediately and moved back to Moscow.
January 29th - Kuropatkin never orders Grippenberg to stop. He continues his rampage.
January 31st - Grippenberg makes extremely good headway, advancing far enough that the frantic Oku Yasukata orders a retreat to Liaoyang, the continuing winter hindering their retreat. Grippenberg attempts to forge onward, but is stopped by Kuropatkin. The Battle of Heikoutai is the first land battle the Russians have won, and extremely good on paper. Kuropatkin is nevertheless jealous and feels slighted by the deaf, fresh-from-the-city Grippenberg.
The Battle of Heikoutai would result in the Japanese taking 16,500 casualties; killed, wounded or captured. The Russians would suffer a strangely very similiar number, 16,800 casualties, killed, wounded, or captured. This is very unlike many of the other battles in which the Russians always took much heavier losses.
Now, Grippenberg and Kuropatkin fight for who is allowed a say in the next step of the campaign. Gripperberg advocates that they rush Liaoyang, to retake the city and continue down the peninsula so as to hold the forces of General Nogi from regrouping. Kuropatkin was disdainful and believed that the winter would drain all the energy from the soldiers.
Still, Grippenberg had just proven himself with the first battle won by Russia in the war. Kuropatkin was eventually persuaded to allow Grippenberg the attempt, with more than two weeks of preparation, largely ignoring Grippenberg's desire to attack as soon as possible to catch the Japanese off guard.
With 260,000 men and 450 guns, Grippenberg led the Russian Army towards Liaoyang, sixty miles away.
The Second Battle of Liaoyang
February 14th - Unlike Kuropatkin, Grippenberg was fresh enough to not accept defeat before he was sure. So many other battles in the campaign had been inconclusive because Kuropatkin had not given it that next drop in the battle to finish the deed. Nevertheless, Grippenberg was not allowed to attack as early as he desired, nor did he have as many men as he wished.
However, an important facet of this battle was that General Nogi had been stalled on his way up to join the rest of the Japanese Army. He was only two days away.
The Russians, marching with great morale, met the Japanese outside of Liaoyang when they had only little warning. Liaoyang was a devestated city from earlier battles, and provided little advantage for the Japanese. For the first day it seemed that the Russians would win quickly, however, the Japanese recouped, and for the next two days there was a bloody stalemate, morale falling on both sides (but mostly for the Japanese). However, Grippenberg would not end.
Then came General Nogi's group. The battle had lasted too long. However, General Nogi's men were tired and low on resources, nevermind half-frozen. They came to lines filled with terrified Japanese soldiers. Morale pitfalled. Grippenberg did not yield, despite a similiar pitfall in morale due to more soldiers appearing amongst the Japanese.
February 20th - The order comes from Kuropatkin to retreat after hearing of losses. Grippenberg has no desire to turn back, fearing that one more loss is all it would take to lose the war. He eagerly pushes on, and correctly applies pressure to the right flank, where a majority of Nogi's tired soldiers have been placed. The battle begins to turn. Kuropatkin gets no word back from the General at Liaoyang.
February 22st - General Nogi and the others declare a retreat from Liaoyang to reinforce themselves. Morale was so low that the Japanese soldiers in the trenches were submitting to hari-kari to die in honor. Nogi felt like he had no other choice. They would move to Haicheng. The Russian Army was victorious, taking the city of Liaoyang and sending optimistic letters back to Kuropatkin back in Mukden to move forces to defend the location and continue the advance. The issue of Grippenberg replying late was ignored in the news.
The Second Battle of Liaoyang was an incredibly bloody one considering the duration. The Japanese took 19,000 casualties, with the Russians absorbing 22,400 of their own. Still, the Russians now had two victories under their belts, all thanks to Grippenberg, the only two won in the Russo-Japanese War.
General Oyama Iwao was extremely flustered, seeing this as the turn of the tide. The Japanese were much more drawn out and wringed through than in OTL. He knew that strategically he should fight at all costs to decimate as much of the Russians as he can when the Rozhestvensky's fleet arrives. There is no time. The other generals beg for more time to prepare, their soldiers weary and, despite the distance they are into Manchuria, suffering from low morale. Oyama decides to build up and prepare for a mass attack against the Russians. He wishes to draw them into Mukden, but must first get rid of the sundered city of Liaoyang standing in the way.
The Third Battle of Liaoyang
The rivalry between Kuropatkin and this new successful general is heating up. While there are many casualties, Kuropatkin has seen much worse, and has not made one victory. The government in Moscow has even been questioning whether more authority should be given to this new general, Grippenberg. As such, it is expected when Kuropatkin keeps a significant number of troops in Mukden, coming to critical acclaim with Grippenberg and his army, who argue against the splitting of forces immensely. Furthermore, many artillery pieces were kept in Mukden. Grippenberg continued to urge Kuropatkin into pushing forward into Korea, ignoring the casualties. He greatly desired an assault on Haicheng. Kuropatkin countered in that the Japanese did not have any easily accessible recruits, and that they should wait until their numbers increased with new eastern blood.
Thus, the Japanese armies under General Oyama find weakened defenses. Liaoyang hadn't necessarily been very defensible from the start, being extremely devestated.
March 9th - The Japanese with 175,000 soldiers meet the Russian lines with 245,000 defending. They are bringing a significant amount of artillery pieces. Both sides suffer from a slight streak of bad morale: the Japanese have suffered two important defeats at the hands of the new General Grippenberg, while the Russians were at the hands of a man who was known for pushing men at the enemy for as long as it took to win victory.
The two forces smash into each other. Somewhat encircled and unwilling to give up territory, weapons, or artillery with a retreat, Grippenberg stays for a long ten days of seige, before a large force comes down from Mukden, reinforcing the lines immensely and bringing in new supplies. Kuropatkin assumes control and is able to find a weak section on the left flank, and after a long artillery blast breaks Japanese lines. Oyama stays for four more days, before declaring a general retreat.
March 25th - The battle ends. Kuropatkin orders the Russian army to fall back onto Mukden, largely abandoning the ruined city, which would be consequently taken over by the Chinese. The Japanese would claim it a few days later.
Both sides needed a lot of time to lick their wounds. The Russians had taken 49,200 killed, wounded, or captured. The Japanese suffered 37,400 similiar casualties. However, their objective had been fulfilled. The Russians had put all of their soldiers in Mukden, only one battle could claim the war.
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