The Legacy of Liege: A Great War TL

[Karl the Writer]

The Shots Heard Round the World​

Opening narration from Apocalypse: The Great War, voiced by David Attenborough​

When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrelo Princep in Sarajevo in the year 1914, his death sparked one of the greatest bloodletting's in human history. The interlocking alliance structures combined with the rapid growth of nationalist movements across Europe created a powder keg just waiting to be lit. As the July Crisis dragged on, series of miscalculations, overconfidence, and poorly timed deaths allowed for a spark to light the keg. The resulting explosion would destroy the old world of the 19th century and usher in the 20th century. [1]

Exert from: Invasion of Belgium, an Animated VidHub [2] Documentary​

In the decades before the Great War, the Belgian Army had constructed a series of fortifications along its borders with France and Germany. Although the Belgians acknowledged that they would probably not be able to hold off any invasion for long, they also acknowledged the need to prevent the Germans and French from just walking into Belgium in order to outflank the enemy. Countries then, like now, prefer to have their territorial integrity respected.

Although the independence of Belgium had been guaranteed by both nations, the track record of both for respecting treaties when it was not in their interest was not exactly spotless. Both very clearly wanted to kill the other but the fortifications erected on both countries’ borders prevented them from doing that on their own without significant casualties. Switzerland was too mountainous for the timely transportation of troops and that left Belgium as the convenient speed bump between these two speedcars. Building fortifications would also give time for allied forces (chiefly the British) to move into and reinforce Belgium.

On the German-Belgian border, the Belgians constructed a series of modern fortifications. The one directly on the German border, at Liege, had 12 forts on both sides of the river Meuse in a 30 mile radius, along with a citadel constructed around the city itself. These forts were constructed to be impenetrable by all modern artillery, and were manned by 32,000 Belgian troops at the time of war. Leading them was General Leman [3], who was appointed to his post earlier in the year. This led to Liege being considered one of the most heavily fortified spots in all of Europe, and would lead to the Germans and Austrians to develop specialized artillery pieces for the sole purpose of taking Liege. The Austrian Skoda gun had a barrel measuring 12-inches, while the German Krupp (a.k.a. Big Bertha) gun had an even larger barrel of 16.5 inches. The modern fortifications of the day were primarily strengthened by steel-reinforced concrete with earth filled cavities. This required high explosive and high angled artillery shots to destroy. The Krupp and Skoda guns served this exact purpose and allowed for holes to be blown into even the most modern fortifications.

………………​

Field Marshall Bulow Second Army would be assigned to take the city of Liege, who promptly handed the task to General Otto von Emmich and 6 brigades numbering 50,000 men to lead the assault on the city. Supporting them was 80 pieces of artillery and a 30,000 man strong cavalry detachment. This so-called “Army of the Meuse” was made of the best units the Germans could muster for the task of taking Liege.

The Germans would need the best troops at their disposal. The Liege was a natural chokepoint for the Germans. To the north was the Dutch border, an obvious no-go unless Germany wanted to go to war with what was intended to be the economy’s lifeline during the British Blockade. To the south was Ardennes Forest, which would limit the ability of the Germans to sustain operations in Belgium and France logistically. Liege was also a railway and transportation hub that would be needed to move and supply the 750 '000 soldiers moving into Belgium. Liege had to be taken.

The Deputy Chief of Staff for the Third Army, one Erich Ludendorff, was attached to the 14th Brigade as an observer. Ludendorff had previously investigated the defenses at Liege, and it was hoped that he would inform the 14th Brigade as it attempted to secure the bridges inside the city before they were destroyed. On the Fifth of August, the commander of the 14th would be killed outside fort, leading to Ludendorff taking command [4]. Ludendorff wouldn’t fare much better, as he would also be shot and killed on the Fifth. With two commanders killed in a single night, the 14th Brigade retreated back to their positions, having made no gains that night.

From Left: Photo of General Erich Ludendorff, killed on August 5th, General Otto von Emmich, commander of the Army of the Meuse, and the Big Bertha Artillery Gun
​

All across the defense perimeter of Liege, German attacks were repulsed by the Belgians. The initial battle was a total victory for team Belgium, and General Emmich was left with nothing for his efforts. Over the next four days, the Germans would attempt to exploit the gaps between the fortress system in Liege. All failed with significant casualties on the part of the Germans as the Belgians were able to target their attempts with their artillery, again forcing the Germans to halt their attacks. By the 10th of August the Germans brought in the Krupp and Skoda guns and began the process of bombarding the western fortifications of Liege in order to widen the gaps between the fortresses and allow for German soldiers to flood in between them. Fort Embourg would be destroyed after a Big Bertha round hit the ammunition dump in the fort. It would collapse with all its garrison inside, killing them.

The guns worked as advertised, cracking open several forts and forcing the garrisons to surrender. This was long and hard work for the Germans however, and they were rightfully fearful that the timetable set forward by the Schlieffen Plan was in danger of being torn to shreds. If Liege itself could not be taken, then the next best course of action would be to cut off the city from reinforcements. On the 12th a 5’000 strong German cavalry force was sent through the Ardennes Forest to encircle Liege. A series of artillery barrages and attacks on the east-facing forts were arranged in hope of drawing Belgian attention away from the south. The plan failed however when civilians spotted the cavalry force and reported it to nearby Fort Boncenes. The news was brought straight to General Leman, who immediately understood the intent of the German flanking maneuver: encirclement. With the eastern fort's perimeter already beginning to break under the full force of the German bombardment, Leman ordered for the forts on the eastern banks of Meuse destroyed and the destruction of all bridges across the Meuse as well as the destruction of all railways running through Liege. It was difficult however for the garrisons to retreat from their forts due to the constant German attack. Surrounded by the German cavalry force, Fort Boncenes would be unable to retreat and would surrender to the Germans on the 15th. An attempt by the three eastern forts not taken or destroyed by the Germans to retreat under cover of darkness on the 13th resulted in a firefight with a German scouting regiment. The skirmish was inconclusive but had the effect of alerting the Germans to the retreat. On the 14th the Germans moved into the interior of the Liege defense perimeter, hot on the heels of the retreating Belgians.

To cover the retreat of forces from Liege proper, civilians were enlisted to create barricades around entrances to the city. This had the effect of either slowing down the German advance or forcing them into kill zones where the Belgians would ambush them from shop corners. Squads armed with nothing more than rifles, machine guns, and grenades were able to hold off regiments of German soldiers for over two days. This marked one of the first instances of modern urban combat during the Great War. The intent was not to repel the German assault, but to delay, a task which the Belgians would excel at here. Entire families would flee with the Belgian army as well, for stories of war crimes inflicted against civilians in the Liege area were spreading. On the 16th, again under cover of darkness, the final Belgian squads left Liege and for good measure blew the bridges across the Meuse. On the 17th the Germans would move into Liege only to find no way across the Meuse, all the rails blown up, and no Belgian soldiers to kill or capture. The Belgian position on the western side of the Meuse would be untenable however as the full weight of German artillery bore down on the Lemans’ forces. Under pressure from King Albert I, Leman finally retreated from the Fortified Position of Liege on the 20th of August, marking the end of the Battle of Liege. Although the Battle of Liege technically ended with a German victory, the German goal of quickly capturing the city failed. The railways and bridges running through Liege were also destroyed, delaying the Germans from moving and supplying large numbers of troops moving in through Belgium. It would be the first of a number of events that would see the failure of the Schlieffen Plan.

Exert from: AP 10th Grade History Book from the United States of America
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With the city of Liege taken, the German army flooded into Belgium. The siege of the city had taken longer than expected by the Germans, giving time for the Belgians to retreat to the National Redoubt. The National Redoubt was a series of fortifications constructed around the port city of Antwerp, where the Belgian government was to relocate. The capital of Brussels was believed to be too exposed.

German forward units committed numerous atrocities against the Belgian populace, believing that terrorizing the Belgian people would cow them into submission. This only served to galvanize the Belgian people in defense of their homes. It also served to hurt Germany’s reputation internationally, as page after page detailing German atrocities were published in the newspapers. Nations lined up to condemn German atrocities, and much of the world's sympathy for Germany dried up. A famous German atrocity was in Louvain, where German soldiers shot and murdered hundreds of Belgian civilians and set fire to the 14th Century University, along with hundreds of medieval manuscripts. The collective war crimes committed against Belgians became known as the Rape of Belgium, and featured heavily in Entente wartime propaganda.

On the battlefront, the German army suffered a series of delays that slowed the advance into France. At Mons the British Army successfully fended off a German attempt to take their positions by blowing up the bridges across the Sambre. Although unsuccessful at completely stopping the German advance, delays such as these gave the Entente time to reinforce themselves and the defenses around Paris. At the Battle of the Marne, the largest land battle on earth up to that point, the German army attempted to take Paris in the culmination of the Schlieffen Plan. A successful French and British counterattack repulsed the German attack and threatened to encircle the German forces. Fearing this, the Germans retreated to positions in Northern France and Belgium and dug in. Upon charging these positions and suffering appalling casualties, the French and British did the same. This began what was known as Trench Warfare.

Trench warfare is characterized by dug in positions fortified by barbed wire. The depth and style of the trenches differed from army to army and place to place. Some German trenches were dug over 9 feet deep and contained many amenities. Other trenches were essentially foxholes connected by shell craters. These trenches were made in a zig zag pattern so you couldn’t shoot across the trench line. These trenches would grow ever more complex as the war dragged on, and would prevent any large movements on the front without a massive cost being placed on the defenders.

In an attempt to outflank the other, the Entente and Central Powers would extend the trench line all the way up north into Belgium. Between the Germans and the English Channel stood the Belgian Army and Antwerp, the provisional capital. The Race to the Sea had begun.

Exert from: The Great War, A History​

On September 7th, 1914, Ludendorff’s funeral would be held in the very capital of Germany: Berlin. Ludendorff was not a famous officer by any measure, with his most well known action being that he died in Liege. Regardless, appearances had to be kept up as he was the highest ranking German officer to have been killed in combat up to that point. Many prominent political and military figures in Germany arrived at the funeral service, including Kaiser Wilhelm II, leader of the Social Democratic Party Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, former Chief of Staff von Moltke the Younger, then-Chief of Staff Falkenhyen, future media mogul Alfred Hugenburg, Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg of Tannenberg fame, and others. One person who was missing was General Otto von Emmich. For his failure to take Liege, Emmich was forced into retirement by the OHL, which held him responsible for prolonging the battle. As a new addition to the nobility as well as being a mid level officer in the military he was the perfect candidate for a scapegoat. His superior Field Marshall Bulow was too well connected to be of any use for that purpose. And so General Otto von Emmich, former commander of the Army of the Meuse was quietly relieved of his duty and sent home. Shortly after, Emmich would die of arteriosclerosis in his native Hanover.

At this time the political unity that had swept over Germany near the start of the war was still very much in force, despite the failure of the Schlieffen Plan and Austrian attacks into Serbia. The demonstration of this political unity was regarded with the utmost importance by most politicians in the Reichstag and a funeral for a high ranking officer was just the occasion for that kind of gesture in support of the war. Attendance was not purely political in nature though as it was a genuine expression of solidarity in the political scene. When SPD Deputy Karl Liebknecht publicly questioned Ebert’s attendance in the funeral and why he was “granting his blessings to an enemy of the proletariat such as Ludendorff,” he was expelled from the party and forced into military service on the eastern front, where he would be wounded on the right shoulder from Russian shrapnel. [5]

It was a closed casket ceremony with a procession through Brandenburg Gate before being marched over to a nearby graveyard. Kaiser Wilhelm II gave a speech praising Ludendorff’s military career and ended with a message on the “necessity of sacrifice for the fatherland”. The public was made aware of the event well in advance, and plenty of journalists and newspapers were present for the event to record the events and write down quotes. Recently appointed chief of staff Falkenhyn was present, although he did not give a speech to the funeral procession and contented himself by being one of the pallbearers.

It would be in the funeral that then-Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm Groener first met Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg and his Chief of Staff Hoffman [6]. Groener was the head of the OHL Railway section, an ever more important sector as the war consumed more and more resources. It was not the most prestigious of posts but was well respected by most officers in the German Army. Hindenburg had been called out of retirement to deal with the Russian invasion of Prussia after the commander of the Eighth Army, von Prittwitz panicked and called for a retreat and it was understood that a from East Prussia. Prior to arriving in East Prussia, he had been assigned the chief of staff of the Eighth Army Max Hoffman, who masterminded a counterattack against the advancing Russians. A great victory was won against the invading Russians at the famous Battle of Tannenberg, something that would propel Hindenburg to being a nationally loved figure. The battle had actually been fought near the town of Allenstein, but Hoffman had seen the benefit of casting the battle as revenge for the medieval Battle of Tannenberg and renamed it such.

From Left: Leuitenant Colonel Wilhelm Groener, Chief of the Railway Section of the General Staff, General Max Hoffman, Chief of Staff of the German Eighth Army, and General Paul von Hindenburg, Commander of the Eighth Army
​

Compared to both figures, Groener was unknown, being barely noted if at all in contemporary news reports. In his 1926 memoirs, Groener recounted that he met Hindenburg and Hoffman after taking the seat right next to Hoffman. The two then engaged in a spirited discussion (the topic of which was never specified) while seated next to each other. After the funeral was done and over, the three reportedly got a drink at a local officers club. They were an odd group. Groener was a relatively young officer in an oft ignored position in the General Staff with relatively liberal views for a German officer of the day. Hoffman, while young, was a nationalistically minded staff officer who was known for being energetic and willing to visit the front even at immense personal risk. Hindenburg was old, being born in 1847, a nationally beloved hero, and a conservative Prussian general. The three would be integral to German policy in Eastern Europe and the war at large.
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Authors Note: This is my second attempt at a TL. I kind of rushed into my first TL without a plan for what I was doing and made a bunch of mistakes that I do not intend on making now. I've done some research into what I'm trying to do and I have built up a plan on what I intend on doing this TL. If you have a question, comment, or concern for TTL, feel free to post it. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for your time. I might be slow for a follow up chapter, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next month.

[1] I’m not going to insult your intelligence. We all know how WW1 starts and I feel that it wouldn’t tread on too many toes for me to just speak in generalities here. And yes, that is Sir David Attenborough. I thought it would be fun to have him narrate a WW1 documentary.
[2] TTLs version of Youtube
[3] According to his Wikipedia article, when he was told by a minister that the building up of fortifications along the German border could be construed as an act of aggression against Germany, he reportedly said that it was his job to prevent that, and if the Germans didn’t they could “take away his general stars”
[4] This was an actual event that happened during the OTL Battle of Liege. IOTL he managed to squeeze the 14th Brigade into a gap in the Fortified Position of Liege. This was one of the events that would lead to Ludendorff’s rapid ascent to his position as Hindenburg’s Chief of Staff and later Quartermaster General. It doesn’t turn out too well here though.
[5] During his recovery from his wounding, he would develop an addiction to morphine, kneecapping any potential future political career. Leibknecht did actually serve on the Eastern Front IOTL as a gravedigger. The event which caused this was his voting against the extension of war credits in December 1914. Given that he was willing to pull a stunt like that in December that year, I wouldn’t put it past him to say something like this in September. I do feel kind of bad getting him out of the picture like this.
[6] Do check out his Wikipedia article here, it's pretty interesting. As it turns out it was him that masterminded the victory at Tannenberg, not Ludendorff. Ludendorff and Hindenburg just took all the credit. He was also the guy who gave Tannenberg its name as it turns out.

 

[Tannenberg]

This timeline has lots of potential and I hope to see more.

Do check out his Wikipedia article here, it's pretty interesting. As it turns out it was him that masterminded the victory at Tannenberg, not Ludendorff. Ludendorff and Hindenburg just took all the credit. He was also the guy who gave Tannenberg its name as it turns out.

Of course. The guy was always a piece of shit. He blamed Hindenburg for enabling Hitler when he planned the 1923 coup with him in the first place.

 

[TheBalkanizer]

Is this a Central Powers victory TL? If so let me just say that you’ve come up with a very unique POD. Most CP victory TLs have a late war divergence or just rip off Kaiserreich. Very exited!

 

[Karl the Writer]

Is this a Central Powers victory TL? If so let me just say that you’ve come up with a very unique POD. Most CP victory TLs have a late war divergence or just rip off Kaiserreich. Very exited!

Thanks for the complement! I was looking through Erich Ludendorff’s Wikipedia article and found out about his involvement in the battle of Liege. Did a little bit more research into the battle and I got the idea for this TL.

As for this being a Central Powers victory TL, it is …of a sort. It’s more of a Germany/Bulgaria win than anything else. And in the east at that. The most that the Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire are going to get out of a postwar agreement is to not be completely dismantled on the peace table. Emphasis on completely and at the peace table. The situation will not be pleasant on the ground in any country to say the least.

The post-war politics of most belligerent nations will be dominated by the debate over whether or not the end of the Great War could possibly be counted as a win.

 

[panpiotr]

Great 1st chapter, its always good to see TL focused on the Great War!

 

[Karl the Writer]

Losses​

Exert from: Two Crowns, Four Fronts: Austria-Hungary during the Great War​

At the onset of the Great War, the Austro-Hungarian Army was in an unenviable state. Although the multiethnic empire had large quantities of manpower to draw upon, there was insufficient industry and money to supply and train those men up to European standards. This was made worse by an army bureaucracy that was inefficient and underfunded, a disastrous combo if there ever was one. While conscription had been enacted, these bureaucratic issues prevented the government from enforcing it, resulting in an abysmal 80% of eligible conscripts avoiding the draft. For instance, famous architect Adolf Hitler (1) was able to dodge the draft twice before enlisting in the Austrian Army at the war's beginning.

If that wasn’t enough to make any war planner curl up into a ball crying, there were three separate armies in Austria-Hungary: the German-speaking Austrian Imperial Austrian Landwehr, the Hungarian speaking Royal Hungarian Honved, and the multiethnic Common Army. German was the language of the officers in the Landwehr and the Common Army, and finding an officer who could speak German, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Polish, Hungarian, Ruthenian, Croatian, Serbian, and Italian was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Compounding all these organizational issues in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the fact that the initial mobilization was concentrated in the south, at Serbia. When it became apparent that the Russians would in fact be entering the war on the side of their fellow Slavic ally’s forces had to be redirected mid mobilization to the north.

All this to make the Austrian victory at Komarow all the more impressive. An offensive through Galicia and into Russian-Poland had long been the desire of Austrian Chief of Staff Conrad Hotzendorff. Indeed, it is unclear if ‘defense’ had entered the man’s vocabulary by this point. Scarcely a week after the outbreak of war the order came to attack the Russians through Galicia. It was to be a massive attack, with the goal being nothing less than the seizing of Russian Poland. Not a week after the beginning of hostilities on August 16th, the Austrians invaded on the 23rd. With 950,000 men in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Armies were facing off against the Russian Southwestern Front, which numbered 1,200,000.

The first battle of the campaign at Krasnik went well for the Austrians, with Dankl’s First Army pushing back the Russians from their positions and capturing 7,000 prisoners. The coup de grace of the campaign would be yet to come though, for the Austrian 4th Army would soon find itself facing off against the Russian 5th.

From Left: General Moritz von Auffenberg 'von Komarow', the commander of the Austrian Third Army, Conrad von Hotzendorff, Austria's Chief of the General Staff, and General Pavel Plevhe of the Russian Fifth Army​

Prior to the Battle of Komarow, General Moritz von Auffenburg received an intelligence report from Max Hoffman (2), quartermaster of the German 8th Army, that indicated that the Russian 5th and 3rd Armies had a large gap between them. Understanding the potential for an encirclement of over 200,000 Russian soldiers, Auffenburg proposed an encirclement plan whereby the Austrians would conduct a frontal attack on the Russians to distract their main force while swiftly moving a cavalry force to their east to surround the Russians.

The plan was quickly approved by Hotzendorff, who approved of the plan's aggressiveness and “it’s potential to put those Russian dogs in their place”. On August 23rd, the Austrians made contact with the Russian Fifth Army, and were able to distract Russian attention from their eastern flank. Although brief compared to the long, attritional fights that would characterize the Great War, the frontal attacks the Austrians used to distract Russian attention resulted in horrendous casualties on the units in the fight. Entire lines of men were cut down charging Russian positions, an experience that would be a first for many, and their last for others. It was the Austrians first experience in charging machine gun nests and a well prepared enemy.

The Russian advantage on the defense was not to last however. Only too late did Pavel Plevhe, the commander of the Fifth Army, learn of the encirclement attempt and tried in vain to stage a breakout. It didn’t amount to much, since most Russian soldiers had been exhausted by the days of fighting and simply surrendered en masse to the Austrians once encirclement became inevitable. By the 1st of September, over 200,000 Russian soldiers had surrendered to the Austrians, and the Russian Fifth Army was destroyed. General Plevhe, captured with the rest of his forces, was paraded through Komarow with other Russian POWs, a moment that Hotzendorff made sure to have journalists from all over the Central Powers capture and publish on the front page of every newspaper they could invite. He was then marched to Auffenburg and Hotzendorff, where he was given a handshake with both before being escorted to an officer’s prison.

Russian POWs of the Battle of Komarow​

Auffenburg would find himself an overnight celebrity in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, celebrated with as much enthusiasm as Hindenburg was in Germany. After all, he had defeated a numerically superior force with a smaller one through his own ingenuity. Invited to Vienna just after the battle, he was granted the title ‘von Komarow’ (3) by Emperor Franz Joseph for his role in the decisive battle. He would become the face of Austria’s war in the east, his head appearing in engravings, newspapers, and artwork alongside that of Conrad Von Hotzendorff, Emperor Franz Joseph, and later Emperor Karl. The Auffenburg ’brand’, much the same as the Hindenburg ‘brand’, had been created.

Indeed, the Battle of Komarow would come to be known as ‘Austria's Tannenberg’. Hotzendorff was of course incensed that he didn’t get nearly as much credit for the battle as he believed he deserved, but the great victory still stoked his admittedly huge ego and oversized confidence in his military’s abilities. Even though the Austrians had won at Komarow, their troops were exhausted and their supply lines were stretched to the breaking point. Therefore, the Fourth Army was unable to properly exploit the gaps in the Russian lines before their troops were fully rested and resupplied.

Auffenburg was able to gain Hotzendorff’s acquiescence to this through promising a grand offensive into Congress Poland that would hopefully reach Warsaw and encircle hundreds of thousands of Russians. Hotzendorff’s dream of conquering Poland seemed in sight.

Exert from: Dirge of an Empire: Russia 1914-1917​

Tannenberg, Komarow, and the Battle of the Masurian lakes had been a horrible showing for Russia’s entry into the Great War. One far worse than even the most ardent supporters of the Central Powers could have imagined. Although Russia certainly had the manpower to replace the men lost in these opening battles, the fact of the matter was that the industrial capacity of the Russians to replace the gear that had been lost was lacking.

This was a considerable setback to the Russian war effort, and the Tsar was determined to ensure that those in charge would not go unpunished. Scapegoats would be found, and it wasn’t going to be the ‘lack of courage of the men’. The commanders of the Southwest Military district, based in Kiev, and the Northwest Military District, based in Warsaw were replaced in succession to each other. On September 3rd, Yakov Zhilinsky, the commander of the Northwestern Front, was replaced by Nikolai Ruzsky.

From Left: Yakov Zhilinsky, former Commander of the Russian Northwestern Front, his replacement Nikolai Ruzsky​

General Ruzsky had served in the Southwestern Front, and had been a major player in the capture of Lemberg (modern day Lviv)(4). For this he earned the title “Conqueror of Galicia”. He had served with distinction during the Russo-Japanese War in command of the 2nd Manchurian Army during the battles of Sandepu and Mukden. Ruzsky was widely regarded as one of the best generals in the Russian Army, and it was hoped that he would deliver something other than a crushing defeat. The Battle of Masurian Lakes proved these hopes wrong, but Ruzsky was able to deflect criticism of him onto his subordinates, specifically von Rennenkampf and Schiedemen. Due to this debacle, he would adopt a cautious approach to the war, something which would end up being the correct response.

From Left: General Alexei Brusilov, Commander of the Southwestern Military District, his predecessor General Nikolai Ivanov​

On the Southwestern Front, General Ivanov was replaced by General Alexei Brusilov on September 6th under the direct order of the Tsar. He was a decorated veteran of the Russo-Turkish War of 1874, earning the Cross of Saint George, 3rd Class for an. He had been the commander of the 8th Army, serving alongside Ruzsky during the shattering of the Austrian Third Army at Lemberg. Though a cavalry officer, Brusilov quickly learned that cavalry tactics were obsolete on the modern battlefield. This demonstrates Brusilov’s ability to learn from mistakes and adapt to changing conditions, a trait that would serve him well in his career.

Finally and most consequently for Russian internal politics, Grand Duke Nicholas, the Tsar’s uncle and commander in chief of Russian forces was replaced by none other than the Tsar himself. This was done under the urging of Tsar’s wife Alexandra and Rasputin, who both believed that Nicholas would boost the morale of soldiers at the front. What this would end up doing was tying the reputation of the Tsar to the success or victory of the armies on the front. If he didn’t become commander in chief, he would have been far away from the blame game. Now he was right in its path. He was also notoriously rigid when dealing with actual Russian soldiers, partly out of intimidation on his part. This shyness was commonly interpreted as haughtiness, something that would seriously damage the troops loyalty to the crowd. (5) This was in direct contrast to the Grand Duke, who was regarded as a father figure to troops at the front. The Tsar’s German wife would be given control over matters on the home front, which wasn’t the best idea given her place of birth and her association with Rasputin.

All in all, the Tsar wouldn’t exercise much control over military matters, much like the Grand Duke. He would leave that up to his generals. Neither Brusilov or Ruzsky would complain.

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Authors Notes:

(1) I know this happens before the POD but since I don’t have plans for Hitler ITTL, I thought I’d add this. ITTL he ends up finishing High School, which allows for him to enter architect school.

(2 ) Max Hoffman was able to intercept radio transmissions IOTL that allowed for the Battle of Tannenberg to happen. Since there’s less of a shake up in the Sixth Army he receives this intelligence. Honestly the OTL Battle of Komarow is such alt-hist bait that I’m surprised I’ve never heard about it on this forum. I’ll have to thank the History of the Great War podcast for that

(3) An actual title he was given IOTL, just in 1915 rather than 1914

(4) Which happened IOTL. Komarow doesn’t affect it

(5) This was an actual problem for both Nicholas and his wife Alexandra, as both were perceived as being distant from their subjects, making it difficult for them to court public attention in the way that British monarchs have over the last century.

 

[Karl the Writer]

Sorry about the long wait. The past month has been pretty busy for me and I haven't had the time to write. I'll try to make more regular updates in the future but with school starting up in a couple months I don't know whether or not I'll have the time to do it.

 

[redfire]

Great update! I hope you continue.

 

[Karl the Writer]

We Beseech Thee​

“For a general war for the liberation of peoples”
“We beseech thee, Lord”
“For a happy death on the field of battle”
“We beseech thee, Lord”

-Prayer for the Polish Nation, Adam Mickiewicz


Exert from: Two Crowns, Four Fronts: Austria-Hungary during the Great War​

By mid September 1914, the Austrian Eighth Army was the best performing units in the Austrian-Hungarian Army. In Galicia the Austrian Third Army had been smashed by the Russians, who had took Lemberg in the process. Extensive losses had been endured among experienced officers and Non-Commissioned Officers in the fighting left the already subpar Austrians in an even worse position. To the west the Austrians weren’t performing well either, facing increasing losses after their advance failed to take momentum. In Serbia, repeated attempts to destroy the Serbians had only ended in failure, as the Serbs fought valiantly to defend their homeland from invasion. Initial hopes of a swift victory against the Russians and/or the Serbians were dashed, not that Commander of the General Staff Hotzendorf had recognized that by this point. His thoughts were on regaining the momentum and turning failure on most fronts into success. This would begin with Auffenberg.

As the Eighth Army was in a privileged position of not being under direct pressure from any particular Russian forces, it was ordered to attack the Russians to their east by Hotzendorff. With light defenses being set up around Komarow to watch for any potential Russian reinforcements and to hold them for as long as possible, Auffenburg slammed his forces into the Russian Third Army in Galicia.

Bulgarian-born General Radko Dimitriev, photographed in 1914 while serving in the Russian Army​

The Third Army was led by the recently installed General Radko Dimitriev, a Bulgaria-born general. This may seem surprising, given the alignment with the Central Powers During the 1880s, Dimitriev had participated in several pro-Russian coup attempts against the Bulgarian monarchy. When these failed, he had fled to Russia, where he served in the Russian Army. Returning to Bulgaria in 1898, he rapidly rose through the ranks of the officers, gaining a position in the Bulgarian General Staff and then being promoted to Lieutenant General and then Major General in rapid succession. He served with distinction in the First Balkan War, but saw his reputation ruined by the disaster of the Second Balkan War in 1913. Dimitriev was stripped of his position of Assistant Commander-in-Chief and sent as a military attache to Russia. This was effectively an exile for Dimitriev, a fact he knew very well. Despite this, he continued to argue that Bulgaria should enter the Great War on the side of the Entente, largely as a result of the urging of the Russian Foreign Minister Sazanov. When this failed, Dimitriev entered military service on the side of the Russians.

He had reportedly just arrived to his command post when he received news of the attack from a staff officer. Taken by surprise by the sudden and powerful Austrian attack and without any chance of the Eighth Army being attacked on their northern flank, Dimitriev would swiftly lost his nerves, ordering a general retreat of the Third Army to the Russian border on the 6th of September. As the military situation in Galicia worsened, Dimitriev’s mental state would follow accordingly, with the general locking himself in his room for a day after this order had been given. His staff, unwilling to take initiative without input from their incapacitated general essentially kept to the course of retreating to the pre war border, while attempting to be coordinate the retreat as best they could. However, disruptions among the communications of the Russians meant that keeping the retreat organized was difficult to impossible. In some units, the order to retreat never reached them.

The end result of this mass miscommunication was total chaos. Russian units on the former front found themselves unexpectedly attacked by the Austrians from directions they believed to have been covered by other Russian units. Units which had not received the order to retreat were welcomed by the Austrians with a rain of bullets and shells from pre planned positions. In one notorious incident near the Galician town of Sambir, an entire Russian battalion was wiped out by a hastily organized Austrian ambush/artillery strike. The Austrians had discovered that the Russian battalion was to be advancing from a Russian encampment that still had tents pitched from the night before. Not even the command post, which contained the valuable telegram documents, had been taken down or an attempt made to destroy the documents. In all, almost 900 Russian were casualties with only 3 Austrians on the opposing side. This was due to shrapnel from Austrian artillery fire.

Virtually no artillery nor the ammunition made its way back to Russian lines, depriving them of a resource that would only become more and more valuable as the war dragged on. This can mainly be blamed on the staff officers of the 3rd Army. Like medieval officers of old they had been appointed not on the basis of merit, as was the case with the majority of military staff officers in that time, but on the basis of connections and family lineage. Truly the most Tsarist of armies. Instead of attempting to work around their superior officers' fit of broken nerves as Hoffman had in East Prussia before the arrival of Hindenburg, they simply followed Dimitriev's orders exactly to the letter. This would have been more tolerable had they been able to evacuate the majority of the 3rd Army's equipment, which it can not be stressed enough, was absolutely critical to the war effort. Instead, as befitting their nepotistic backgrounds, the staff of the 3rd Army horribly mismanaged the logistics of the operation. The requisite horses were not made available to the artillerymen, as either messages could not make it through the chaos of the lines or the horses were simply stolen by soldiers and units trying to make it to Russian lines before the Austrians reached them. This is rather ironic, given the harsh punishments doled out in Russian peasant communities to horse thieves. Trains were also not available, as they had been commandiered by soldiers and infantry officers trying to return to the Russian border.

In essence, the Russian Third Army had effectively surrendered its entire artillery and ammunition park to the Kamorow.

Brusilov was not blind to these developments. When he discovered that Dimitriev had unilaterally given the order to retreat on the 8th, he was thrown into a blind rage. His aid de camp would describe the scene as follows:

“The General (Brusilov) had received the news during a meeting with the Artillery Department in the presence of his Majesty the Tsar on the need to divert shells from fortresses far from the front. Brusilov believed that it was an important matter that the commander-in-chief of Russian forces understand the issues regarding his Army in the field. The Tsar, after all, was an amatuer on military matters, and the General sought to ensure that he would not make any rash decisions that would harm his empire.

“Not even ten minutes into the meeting and a young officer from the communications department entered the room. He did so in a quiet manner. All eyes were directed at the young officer who had disrupted the meeting. ‘What is the meaning of this disruption?’ said Brusilov coolly, ‘Any matter you may have to bring before me can wait until the meeting I am attending at the moment is done.’

‘Your Excellency,’ said the young officer, clearly not used to interacting with the upper echelons of the Stavka and his voice shaking slightly, ‘I assure you that this is something of upmost importance to you.’ With a huff and wave of his hand, the officer told Brusilov of the retreat of the Third Army under Dimitriev, of the disorganization among the Russian forces, how the Austrian Eighth Army under Auffenburg was in pursuit, and how Dimitriev had locked himself in his room and was not answering to anyone. This was done in full view of the Tsar.

“When the young officer was done, and all questions Brusilov might have had were exhausted, the room sat in silence for a moment or two while everyone processed the information. All of our plans for an offensive into Galicia, to avenge the great loss at Komarow by shattering the Austrian Army with a push into Hungary were over. All because one Bulgarian general had not the stomach for the command post he had.

“Brusilov stared forward with his steely gaze across the table, for a moment, before slamming his fist on the table and cursed Dimitriev. He expressed what we all felt. The young communications officer looked afraid, as if he thought that the general would pour his frustrations onto him like a wealthy patron at a restaurant would onto a waiter who served him food of low quality. Instead Brusilov paid him no mind. There was no point in ‘shooting the messenger’ as the British say.

Brusilov’s orders were as follows;

1.) Send the Siberian reserve divisions that were still arriving from the east to a line on the pre war Galician border in the section of the front the 3rd Army was assigned, with the exception of the Bug River, where they were to set up on the northern bank of the river. They were to ensure that if the Austrians were to make it to the border they would not breach into Russian territory. If possible they would counterattack, but that was even then considered unlikely.

2.) Attempt to make contact with Dimitriev as soon as possible. Not through the 3rd Army staff but directly. He even said, ‘If it is deemed necessary, send a cossack to smack sense into that damn fool.’

3.) Slow the advancing Austrians through the sabotage in railways and bridges. In particular loop centers such as Lvov were to see large elements deployed to ensure this task was finished to complete. He explicitly ordered that three companies, one cossack and two infantry, augmented by a crew of engineers, be sent to Lvov. He had seen how the urban resistance in Liege had tremendously slowed down the German advance through its logistics. We believed that we could replicate something like that here.

Indeed, these orders would be mainly followed through. The Siberian divisions would accomplish their goal of absorbing the remaining men of the 3rd Army and securing a line on the Bug River on the 14th of September. At that point, it increasingly became clear just how complete the losses of the 3rd Army was. When Brusilov discovered the sheer scale of the loss of the Third Army's artillery park, he reportedly smashed a wooden chair out of sheer rage. His request to have Dimitriev and his staff immediately court marshalled and in the case of the former deported to Bulgaria was refused by Tsar Nicholas II, who believed that they should simply be reassigned to somewhere insignificant, such as the Baltic. Not the staff officers of the Third Army, who as good Russian nobles were clearly up to the task to plan Russians battles and certainly not Dimitriev, who the Tsar believed would prevent the Bulgarians from entering the war. Brusilov was understandably unhappy with this, but there was nothing he could do to stop the Tsar when it came to decisions outside of his command.

It would not be this which would be on the minds of the Stavka though, but instead the events in Lvov

Exert from: Not Yet Lost: Poland during the Great War: A PBS Documentary

(camera shows a Polish man in a military uniform. His name reads “Let. General Tomasz Piotrowski, retired”)​

General Piotrowski: In 1914, us Poles had been under the heel of foreign powers for well over 100 years. There were many revolts against our oppression, such as the one in 1867, but none of them succeeded. Suppressing an independent Poland was in everyone’s interest at that time. We realized that Poland could only be formed by taking advantage of an existing conflict between the partitioning powers. In the meantime it was up to us to organize ourselves in the shadows and lie in wait for our opportunity.

We took advantage of Austria’s friendliness to our cause by forming shooting clubs led by Jozef Pilsudski. These were collectively organized under the Union of Active Struggle, which was financed by money stolen from a Russian mail train intercepted by a group led by Pilsudski himself. We took the fight to the Russians. Over a six year period between 1908 and 1914, they killed over 200 Tsarist officials in the Russian occupied Polish lands. They exclusively targeted Russian officials. Neither Austrian nor German officials were targeted. Why?

Austria was friendly to Poles. There were political parties who represented Polish interests and could put a good word in for Pilsudski and the Polish national cause. Many of officers in the Union of Active Struggle had been trained in Hapsburg military schools and had connections to the right people. However much we may have detested German attempts to settle Polish lands in Prussia, attacking the Germans would only invite the wrath of our Austrian benefactors. But the Russians? The Union of Active Struggle could freely attack the Russians and would know that we could do so with the support of the Austrians.

The prevailing thought in the Union of Active Struggle was that Austria and Germany would defeat the Russians and that they would then be beat by Britain and France, giving us the opportunity to form an independent Polish state. That process would hastened by throwing support behind the Central Powers, which would hopefully weaken the Russian hold over Poland.

From Left: Map of Eastern Europe prior to the Great War focusing on Poland, Jozef Pilsudski (bottom; second from left) photographed with officers in the Polish Legions

(camera shifts from General Piotrowski to a map of Eastern Europe. Russian Congress Poland is central, with East Prussia above it and Austrian Galicia below it. Several military units labeled as Polish are seen crossing into Congress Poland from Galicia)​

Narrator: In August 1914; the start of the Great War, Jozef Pilsudski and other Polish soldiers cross the border into the Kielce province of Congress Poland. There, they try to start a revolt against the Russians. Mass support, which would be vital for the operations’ success, fails to materialize. Caught up in the wave of patriotism for their ruling government that swept Europe, local elites and the common people put their support behind the Tsar. Disappointed, Pilsudski and his men return to Galicia to plot their next move.

This is not Jozef Pilsudski’s first disappointment, nor is it his first time stirring up trouble in the Russian Empire. Jozef Pilsudski was born to a Polish noble family in the Russian Empire in 1867. He quickly gained a hatred of the Russian Empire, growing up listening to stories of the repression Poles endured in the aftermath of the 1862 revolt. Arrested multiple times and even being sent to Siberia, Pilsudski never lost his resolve for an independent Poland. During the Russo-Japanese War, he would even offer his support to the Japanese. Though they would refuse, he would play a key role in events in Poland during the 1905 Russian Revolution. His attempts at bringing Congress Poland to a general revolt against Russia fail, however, along with other attempts to change the structure of the Russian Empire. Like most attempts for change in Russia in 1905 however, these efforts would be in vain.

Fleeing to Galicia after the failure of 1905, he led the Union of Active Struggle through the pre war years, organizing and preparing for the coming conflict.

With the failure of his Kielce operation, PIlsudski turns to the Austro-Hungarian government. He requests permission to form Polish military units to fight against the Russians with the Hapburg military. These units would be composed of men who had served in the Union of Active Struggle, men who were devoted to the idea of an independent Poland. Always willing to bring more men to their side, the Austrians agree, allowing for two Polish Legions to be formed on the 29th of August. The Western legion, led by Pilsudski and based in Krakow, and an Eastern Legion in Lvov.

Unfortunately for the Eastern Legion, Lvov would soon fall to the Russians. The Eastern Legion, still unorganized and not in a shape to fight against the Russians, is left stranded in Russian territory.

The Russians are fortunately in a talking mood. With dreams of pan Slavic unity, the Eastern Legion would be allowed to keep its arms if it worked with the Russians. The Poles, unsure whether or not they should disband or join, bide for time. They would choose the latter. This would be the correct choice.

—-----------------------------------------------
—-----------------------------------------------​

Narrator: September 10th, 1914. The Russian Army is in retreat. Austrian General Moritz von Auffenburg and his Austrian Third Army are advancing on Lvov, a city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire captured by the Russians 10 days earlier.

(camera shifts to a man dressed like an Oxford professor sitting in a stereotypical British library. He is sitting in a plush chair with a cup of whiskey next to him. His name reads John Granger)​

Granger: Now, Lvov was an important cultural centre for both the Polish and the Ukrainian population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austrians were rather liberal in their approach to ethnic minorities, they would, you know, allow for Polish and Ukrainians to speak their language and use it in official documents, they could form political parties and organizations, that sort of stuff. This of course contrasts with the Russian and Prussian approach to both. Polish political groups were viewed as somewhat seditious in Russia and Germany, and even talking about a Ukrainian identity that was separated from Russia was considered a crime in the Tsar’s realm.

So Lvov is really important for the people who want to promote the Ukrainian and Polish nations legally and within their own homelands.

(Granger fades, replaced by footage of a turn of the century train arriving at a station and soldiers scrambling to unload its cargo)

Narrator: Lvov is also an important logistical center, the control of which would be vital in any military operations in the area. If the Austrians are able to gain control over Lvov without damage to the rail yard or its bridges, they with be able to use it to pursue the Russians further and faster than they otherwise would. The significance of Lvov is well known by both Austrian and Russian high command. The Austrians want to take Lvov as soon as possible, and the Russians want to destroy the military utility of the city.

(camera shifts to a group of Russian soldiers patrolling down a dark street)

To do so, three Russian companies are sent to Lemberg to ensure the destruction of the railway yard and all bridges across the Poltava River, which runs through the city. The Russians set up defensive positions around all entrances to Lemberg up to and including the way out. They are inspired by the Battle of Liege, where the Belgian defenders destroyed the railways and bridges in an out of the city, significantly harming the speed of the German advance into Belgium and France.

The commander of the advancing Austrian Eighth Army, Auffenburg knows what the Russians are planning. However, he lacks key details about the location of Russian defensive works. Without that key information, any attempt to infiltrate Lemberg and prevent its infrastructure from being destroyed would end in failure.

However, before the Austrians attack Lvov, aid arrives from the most unexpected of sources; the Poles.

The Eastern Legion had stayed in Lvov for the previous 10 days, its leadership playing for time with the Russians. With their focus elsewhere in Galicia, the Russians largely ignore them aside from mandating that they stay in Lvov. When the vast majority of Russian forces left Lvov, the East Legion were told to stay and help the Russian engineers destroy logistical targets. However, improper handling of explosives by the Russian engineers meant that the dynamite they had brought had gotten wet on the 10th and needed to dry.

And so, with nothing better to do, the Poles and the Russians turn to the Slavs favorite place; the bar.

(camera shifts to a Polish bar in Lemberg. A Polish soldier carrying vodka to his friends bumps into a bearded Russian Cavalry officer who has been downing an entire bottle of vodka. Some alcohol spills on the officer’s uniform. He is thrown into a blind rage and yells at the Polish Legionnaire, who desperately tries to apologize to the drunken officer as he aggressively approaches the Pole. One of the Poles’ friends approaches the officer to ask if anything is wrong. The Russian punches him in the face, starting a bar fight between the Russians in the bar and the Poles in the bar)

From Left: Captain Roman von Ungern-Sternburg a.k.a. the Mad Captain, Lvov 1914​

Granger’s voice: A captain in the Russian cavalry company by the name of Roman Von Ungern-Sternburg, who would of course become quite famous in the future, starts a bar fight with some Polish Legionnaires.

A Polish Legionnaire is actually killed, several more get injured. For assaulting Sturnberg, every Polish soldier in the bar gets sent to a military jail. The Eastern Legion took exception to this.

(Scene changes to Polish Legionnaires speaking in hushed tones to each other in a dark meeting room)​

Narrator: The rank and file of the Eastern Legion are enraged by the incident. Working with the Russians had been unpopular from the start and this had only exacerbated that hatred. They demand that their superiors return to the Austrian fold. The best way to do this, they say, is to take the city from the Russians and give it to the advancing Austrians.

Among the leadership of the Eastern Legion the hatred was mutual. Many had been involved in assassinations of Russian officials in Congress Poland and the 1905 Revolution and had no real love for the Tsar.

Over the past ten days, plans had been made on what to do if the Russians attempted to liquidate the Eastern Legion. With slight alterations, they would be able to take Lemberg from the greatly weakened Russians in the city. It also helped that the chaotic Russian retreat had left thousands of rifles and ammunition. Each Pole had his own rifle.

With so many advantages in their favor, the Poles made their decision. They would fight.

(Scene changes to the Poles moving in squads across Lvov to various positions along the streets)​

Narrator: The next morning, the Poles take positions around Lvov to attack the Russians. All exits from the city are covered by a squad of Polish soldiers, with the main road being blocked with barbed wire and machine gun.

The Russians at the Galician state assembly fort are taken by surprise and surrender without a fight. Famously, the Eastern Legion would raise the Polish flag over the building alongside the flag of the dual monarchy. The jail holding the Polish Legionaries is more difficult, with a 20 minute fire fight erupting between the jailers and the Poles. Five Russians are killed defending, with nine Poles dying on the other side. Unfortunately, all Polish prisoners from the night before were executed by the Russians before they could be rescued. As retaliation, the Russians inside the building would be lynched by a crowd of Polish Legionairies and civilians.

Firefights erupted in the western half of the city, where Russian troops manning defensive positions were ambushed from behind. With almost all of their urban fortifications facing outwards, the Russians were quick work.

The Lvov rail station proved a source of fierce resistance to the Poles. A platoon of Russian soldiers and the engineers assigned to destroy the railway held out for two hours against repeated Polish assaults. The siege would end when the Poles began to use grenades from the armory to clear the railyard. Put in a panic, the engineers detonated the dynamite they had installed around the building, bringing down tons of rock onto them and the railway.

One of the most amazing incidents of the Second Battle of Lvov was the breakout operation led by Captain Ungern-Sternburg. He had been sleeping off the hangover from the previous night when he was awoken by the sound of shots near the barracks. Thinking quickly, he woke as many of his fellow cavalry men as possible before mounting his horse and staging a daring attempt to save as many Russian soldiers and even trying to throw out the ‘traitorous’ Poles.

After seeing the disorganization in Russian forces, he quickly came to the conclusion that the city was lost. Scattering squads of Poles and adding the saved Russians to his rapidly expanding group, he made a dash to the nearest bridge. Manned by a machine gun crew, it seemed as if Sternburg had met his end.

Never one to care about personal safety, the ‘Mad Captain’ as he became known, personally charged the machine gun crew while shooting at them with his pistol. Amazingly, the machine gun jammed when the Poles tried firing it. The crew was quickly scattered by Sternburg with the main gunner being crushed by his horse. Amazed at their captain's bravery and luck, the 200 Russian cavalry in his entourage charged with him after the 4 remaining Poles. The 300 infantry behind them only watch in amazement as the 4 four Poles are chased down and trampled by the charging cavalry. The Russians could escape.

Captain Sternburg makes his way back to Russian lines on the 13th. He would earn an Order of St. George for his bravery.

In Lvov, the Poles have secured the city. Their losses have been low, only 70 casualties in total. The Russians were far less lucky. An entire Russian infantry company had been lost, either dead or captured. The other infantry company had been severely mauled. Only the cavalry company, under the command of Sternburg had survived relatively unscathed.

For the first time in over a century, Poles had fought back against their oppressors, and won.

(camera shifts to cheering crowds of Poles in the streets, with Polish flags flying from windows while the soldiers of the Polish Legion march through the streets)​

Granger: On the 11th of September, Poles poured onto the streets of Lvov. Everywhere Polish white and red flew from windows alongside the flag of the dual monarchy. It was really an inspirational scene. There are stories of men crying tears of joy in the streets knowing that Poles had liberated Poles for the first time in a century

When the Austrian Eighth Army entered Lvov the next day, they found a much less joyous reception. The Austrians were still regarded as ‘on their side’, so to speak, but the credit for liberating Lvov was ultimately placed at the feet of the Polish Legion.

Exert from: Liberation Day, Polish Holiday, from Encyclopedia Britannica

National Liberation Day, alternatively known as 9/11 Day or Jedenaste Wrzesnia among Polish communities abroad, particularly in the United States, is a Polish holiday. It commemorates the victory of the Polish Legion over the Russian Imperial Army during the Second Battle of Lvov in the Great War. Although separate from the Polish Independence Day, it is commonly regarded by Poles as marking the beginning of an independent Poland in the 20th century.

The holiday was first signed into law in 1918 by the Kingdom of Poland and continued to be celebrated through the Warsaw Uprising, the Generalgouvernement occupation period, and the current Second Polish Republic. It is typically celebrated through parades, drinking, and in some cases re-enactments, though these can often be difficult to organize due to the urban nature of the Second Battle of Lemberg. That being said, some elements of the battle are typically re-enacted more than others, such as the storming of the jail and the siege at the railway station.

The first celebration of National Liberation Day took place in 1915 in Chicago and Milwaukee, both American cities with large Polish immigrant populations. In Chicago, a procession of a few hundred Polish-Americans marched around the “Polish Downtown” waving the Polish flag and the American flag.

National Liberation Day was first signed into law by the newly formed Kingdom of Poland in 1919. The new Austrian-German monarchy sought to gain popular support, and believed that celebrating the Second Battle of Lvov would help bring this. The supposed loyalty of the Polish Legion to the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and its anti-Russian nationalism was emphasized in public statements and school textbooks. It’s republicanism and anti-partition nature was suppressed.

During the Warsaw Uprising, many contemporary Polish revolutionaries compared themselves to the Eastern Legion in their revolt against an oppressive foreign power. The Generalgouvernment occupation authorities thus suppressed most references of National Liberation Day in education, and celebrations were kept small and quiet. When Poland finally gained its independence, the holiday became a symbol of Polish resilience and rebellion against the partitioning powers, its image enhanced by the Warsaw Uprising, which started on September 11th, the same day as the Second Battle of Lvov.
​

Authors Note: To anyone wondering why a random Polish general gave an interview for a series on Polish history, I was inspired by the documentaries that were shown to me in school where they would bring in random authors, celebrities, politicians, actors, and even Colin Powell and Donald Trump (this particular one was made in 2011). It usually wouldn’t even be in areas that they specialized in, just giving their opinion on what America meant to them.

Also, Sternburg was actually present in Galicia during WW1, though exactly where he was when evades me.

 

[Karl the Writer]

I apologize for the long wait. This project has been on the back burner for a long time due to a combination of school and lack of proper focus on it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the recent update and if you are a new reader I hope you enjoy this TL. Next chapter will probably focus on the Western Front and how the prolonging of the Battle of Liege effects the battlefield development there. I apologize for mainly concentrating on the Eastern Front for the past two chapters: in my opinion TLs with a focus on WW1, particularly the East, tend to concentrate on the latter half of the First World War. This ignores just how dynamic the situation in the East was in these early months and years, and that is something I would like to explore in Legacy. The situation in Poland in particular is one that interests me, and I hope that the interest I have in it is able to be translated into good storytelling and worldbuilding.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to write them down below. I wish you all a good day and a happy week.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Glad seeing this back!

 

[TheBalkanizer]

So Germany invades post war Poland at some point. Or is it the Russians?

 

[Karl the Writer]

So Germany invades post war Poland at some point. Or is it the Russians?

“Invasion is such a dirty word. I prefer the term friendly intervention to prevent our dear Polish puppet allies from going down a path where we aren’t in charge that they may potentially regret. Poland and Germany are brotherly nations, linked by years of heritage and shared struggle. Like an older brother beating the younger one senseless for not doing what they say helping his younger, immature brother get his act together, we must help the Poles.”

- Kaiser Wilhelm II in a personal interview with an American reporter

Less invasion of Poland 1939 and more Budapest 1956, if the comparison makes sense.

 

[LordCalner]

Its back! What a welcome surprise!