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EdinHouston -> RE: My list (8/13/2008 5:46:10 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: FrankHunter
We know that a "withdrawal in the face of the enemy" is one of the most difficult of operations as the advancing troops are well supplied and coming on fast.
So allowing forces to simply walk backwards in good order faster than advancing forces would turn that on its head. There would be no point in invading Russia if Germany has to pay for offensives but the Russians can retreat at no cost.
I agree that the game design would not work well if units could retreat and avoid combat while attackers had to burn HQ points chasing them. That mainly applies to the eastern front because there just isnt that much room to retreat on the western front.
But in terms of military history in WWI, it would be very difficult for attacking troops to actually 'catch' defenders doing a strategic retreat (or just plain running away). The main reason is simply that an attacker is advancing away from their supply while the defenders are retreating back towards theirs. Beaten defenders were consistently able to retreat and avoid total destruction, simply because the attackers could not maintain their rate of advance. Battles happened when defenders chose to stand their ground and fight, not because attackers ran them down and forced a battle. This happened many times in the war, especially in 1918 when Ludendorff's offensives would succeed in smashing the line, but simply couldnt advance fast enough to totally destroy the enemy (and of course the defender could always reinforce a new line of defense to the rear by bringing in troops via railroad far more quickly than the attacking army could advance).
In terms of Russia, one of the reasons for the German Schlieffen (France-first) plan was their concern that the Russian army could simply retreat deep into the Russian hinterlands and avoid a quick, decisive engagement near the frontier. While railroads could bring troops up to the front lines very rapidly, advancing beyond that front line was basically at the speed of marching infantry, ie, the same speed as Napoleon's troops marched into Russia. And we know how that worked out for him, trying to chase down the Russian army and force a decisive battle ;)
Of course, in WWII mechanized forces and airpower totally changed all this, and made it possible to pursue an enemy faster than many of them could retreat, and indeed, to break deep into the enemy's rear before they even began to retreat.
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