UPDATE.

 At last I am able to give a weekly update that includes some progress on the modelling front. This past week I have managed a few hours at the workbench for the first time since late August. I  have made some progress on the final cavalry upgrade by giving the troopers a coat of varnish. Two steps are left to complete this batch, that is to prime and then paint the horses. The last infantry battalion upgrade has also started,  about half of the 300 plus soldiers involved have received their first coat of uniform colour. Apart from all that I have also managed to build a batch of 36 ammunition wagons to completion. These are to equip the new heavy weapons companies in infantry battalions. In addition all the priming has also been done to the wheels and horses.

I hope the latest Imagi-Nations post has been of interest. There certainly seems to have been a lot of interest in the last Battle Photo Shoot. If there are any ideas for further shoots please let me know. 

Readers may be interested to know that during early October my blog received it's 5000th viewing. Thank you very much to all for your support and interest. A blog about using woodscrews as model soldiers has got to be of limited interest at first sight but I am pleased to see that so many people have been prepared to actually take the time to read my writings, thank you.

IMAGI-NATIONS : PART 27

A BLOODY BATTLE WITH THE GERMANS IN THE WAR FOR THE FEDERATION.

By mid September 1875 UNION forces had moved to within 10 miles of the German positions south west of the border between Germany and the Federation. The Germans had moved 50,000 of their reserves to the front and now numbered 150,000. The UNION 4th, 7th and 2nd armies with a combined strength of 180,000 took up attack positions. At dawn on 19th September UNION artillery opened fire immediately answered by German counter fire. The artillery battle continued all day until dark. Both sides maintained intermittent harassing fire until the early hours of the next morning. At dawn next day the artillery battle recommenced in earnest. Both sides sought to silence the others batteries however the UNION heavy artillery began to prevail. During the course of the day German fire gradually but perceptibly began to weaken. 

At dawn on 21st September UNION infantry, under cover of a heavy rolling artillery barrage began to advance on German positions. German artillery fire , although noticeably reduced, caused heavy casualties among UNION troops but by mid morning they had reached the German positions and ferocious fighting took place for the rest of the day. As night fell both sides took stock, reinforced and resupplied their troops and prepared for fighting to continue next day. During the night UNION heavy artillery continued to fire on known and estimated German artillery positions. Again at dawn UNION infantry resumed their assault. The fighting raged all day. By dusk both sides were exhausted. Although UNION troops had penetrated far into the German defenses they kept coming upon fresh German positions.

UNION generals realised that the Germans were far more adept at construction of defensive positions than the Chinese. In that campaign Chinese troops had been satisfied with no more than a scrape in the ground whereas the Germans built deep trenches with dugouts in the sides of the trenches. This gave the Germans far greater protection from UNION artillery. On the 23rd both sides took a break from fighting to replenish supplies. At dusk UNION artillery opened a heavy bombardment which continued all night. At dawn UNION infantry resumed their assault. As the day progressed UNION forces gradually gained ground against a diminishing German defense. UNION attacks halted as darkness fell although the artillery fire continued throughout the night. Soon after dawn UNION forces resumed the attack. Within a few hours it became clear that German resistance was crumbling. By late afternoon German forces were falling back. Early on the morning of 26th UNION troops resumed their advance to find only German rearguards in action. The bulk of their forces were now in full scale retreat.

Next day UNION generals decided to hold their ground and give the exhausted troops some rest and an opportunity to restock supplies and absorb replacements now coming up from railhead. UNION casualties had been huge. Some 15,500 had been killed and wounded. German dead and wounded found on the battlefield numbered about 14,000 with no doubt more removed by German medical services. It was clear that the UNION forces needed additional troops to maintain the advance so the 5th army less one brigade on duty in Mexico was ordered north to reinforce the UNION army group.

On 1st October UNION forces resumed their advance. Over the next few days the march north continued with only occasional German rearguard actions. Early on the morning of 4th the Germans launched a heavy artillery bombardment on UNION forces. This was followed by a strong infantry assault on the UNION advance guards. The attack caught the UNION by surprise and heavy fighting continued for several hours before the Germans withdrew. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties. Next day the UNION advance continued but with far greater  caution. It was clear that although the Germans had been defeated they still had the ability to inflict damage on the UNION army. By late October UNION forces were almost parallel to Cologne. It was clear to the German high command that their forces around Seattle were in danger of being cut off from Germany. It was decided to withdraw immediately and abandon hopes of retaining Seattle and instead concentrate on the defense of the homeland.

As the UNION army group continued to move north German resistance gradually disappeared. Most of the UNION force turned west to approach the German border leaving only 5th army to continue the advance on Seattle. By the end of October UNION forces were entering Seattle and approaching the German border on a wide front. Messages were received from Germany via Britain that they would consider an armistice. The UNION had no desire to invade Germany and as all of the Federation was now under UNION control there was little benefit to continuing the war especially given the high level of casualties already incurred. Within a few days, using the British as intermediaries, a ceasefire was agreed to take effect on 11th November which respected the existing German border. Both sides now took stock and reflected on the events of the past months.

BATTLE PHOTO SHOOT: ADVANCING TO BATTLE.

For those who read my IMAGI-NATIONS posts, this Battle Photo Shoot illustrates the advance of UNION forces in pursuit of the French during late June 1875. (See IMAGI-NATIONS Part 25.) Once again my apologies for the lack of suitable background. This scene is set on a board 4 feet by two feet which may give some perspective for the size of the units shown.

The scene depicted in the photographs shows the UNION 161st Infantry battalion advancing north. Moving in the opposite direction is a QM transport company of the 22nd Quartermaster battalion returning to railhead to reload with supplies preceded by an ambulance company of the 17th Medical battalion taking wounded to the field hospital just around the next bend in the road. Pulled over to clear the road is the 17th Infantry Brigade Command battalion.

In the above the Infantry battalion can be seen moving towards the camera with the Transport and Ambulance companies moving away. The command battalion is drawn up in the area to the centre of the board.

Above can be seen the command group of the Infantry battalion.

The infantry companies alongside the transport company.

The heavy weapons and transport wagons of the Infantry beside the Ambulance company.

A close up of the infantry and GS wagons of the transport company.

Above is a close up of the infantry battalions wagon lines showing the medical platoon and signals platoon.

A view of the heavy weapons company following the infantry with GS supply wagons in the background..

The infantry heavy weapons.

A shot of the ambulance company which precedes the transport company.

The Command battalion. Note the perimeter is guarded by a line of field police.

The house bodied office wagons for the staff. If you expand the photo you will see the tactical sign of a red square on the rear of each Command wagon.

The signals wagons.

The Command battalion support and supply wagons.

The actual command group reviewing the passing infantry battalion. The national and battalion flags can be seen together with the Generals flags. The battalion has a Major General in command with two Brigadier Generals as deputies. Each General has a flag with stars denoting his rank, eg. one or two  stars.

A close up of the Field Police perimeter guard.

Another view of the whole Command battalion.

Another view of the Command group reviewing the passing Infantry battalion.

Finally another view of most of the board showing the Field Police security perimeter.

I hope this shoot is of interest. It took a long time to set up and put away but I had a lot of fun seeing over two battalions set up in a battle field scenario rather than just on shelves. 

Just for information, the total number of soldiers seen on the board is 640. To put this in perspective I have over 50,000 soldiers organised in 213 battalions all together.. The infantry battalion alone, marching n columns of three occupies almost six feet of road. Please do let me have comments especially any ideas for future battle photo shoots.

UPDATE.

I am back !!!!!!! After six weeks of bathroom and kitchen refurbishment and a week of painting and clearing up, the house is now back to some form of normal and life can resume including getting some modelling and blogging under way.

We are very pleased with the work that has been done, my wife is however starting to look at the rest of the house now with the comment that the new rooms put the others in the shade somewhat !!!!! maybe next year !!!!!! 

I hope readers are remaining safe with the virus upsurge, I think we are in for a tough winter but I hope a vaccine will become available in the new year and life generally can resume in the new normal what ever that may be.

Well as mentioned previously, I have done no modelling at all since August so nothing to report. Today is really my first day with time to resume my hobby. I have a couple of draft posts available and I will try to resume posting every other day as before. The first post will be a Battle Photo Shoot that I created around the time of the building work starting. I will polish the draft and post it over the weekend. I will also finalise the next chapter of IMAGI-NATIONS for posting early next week. 

As ever please let me have your comments, good or bad, they all help to inform what I write about in the future.

BOOK REVIEW: THE WAR OFFICE AT WAR.

This book was written by Sir Sam Fay, the General Manager of the Great Central railway prior to  1914. He was seconded to the War Office at the outbreak of war as a transport expert and finished in 1918 as Director of Movements responsible for the movement of all troops and supplies from Britain to all the various theaters of war.

The book gives an extraordinary insight into the day to day activities of the War Office and profiles of many of the senior  military and political figures of the time. Among other things the book illustrates clearly that the crisis in early 1918 during the German assault was largely caused by political interference in the conduct of the military campaigns. 

If you want to understand how the war was managed at Army Council or War Cabinet level and get an illustration of the activities of a senior official this is the book for you. Sir Sam Fay was a incisive and intelligent observer of human nature and is a well known figure to railway enthusiasts. A good read with lots of interesting information.

BOOK REVIEW : FROM PRIVATE TO FIELD MARSHALL.

This book, originally written in 1921, is the autobiography of Field Marshall Sir William Robertson, the only man to rise from the rank of private to Field Marshall in the history of the British Army. He joined up aged just 17 in 1877 becoming Chief of the Imperial General Staff during much of World War 1. Robertson's story is quite remarkable and illustrates wonderfully life in the British army during the Victorian and Edwardian era.

Although a product of the 19th century the book is very well written and does not suffer from the usual flowery language of people of that time. This no doubt reflects Robertson's limited education prior to joining up and the impact of many years of military training. Naturally much of the book deals with the War but there are lots of chapters covering his early service in England, India and South Africa which are fascinating.

He was a very clever man with a gift for foreign languages, speaking six Indian languages as well as French and German. His only weakness appears to have been in debating with politicians who tended to be more gifted in verbal argument. In these situations I get the impression they regarded him as wooden and unimaginative while he saw them as militarily ignorant and unreasonable. His removal as CIGS in early 1918 was the inevitable result of this clash which was a great loss to the nation. However the tendency of politicians to assume they are just as good at military strategy as the generals is an age old problem and no doubt is still with us today.

Overall an excellent book covering the life of an extraordinary man while giving  good insights into both life in the British army prior to 1914 and the activities of the senior commanders during the War.