War in the early machine age was unforgiving, a beast hungry for blood and limb. The firepower was there, deadly as no man have seen before. The tactics to cope with it were neither complete nor ubiquitous.
How Germany ended up fighting a two front war is irrelevant for the landsers, jaggers and dragoons I will be commanding. For them there will be death today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Few will see the end of the campaign. Even less will shake off their minds the nightmare of thousands of Russian rifles taking aim at them, just below the bright morning sun.
The initial situation at the Stallupönen scenario of East Prussia '14. The German forces are the grey counters with green and blue details. |