JodelDiplom wrote:I don't mind the slower rate! After all as long as you two still play the updates will keep coming, right?
And I am relieved to see that the wonky game mechanics spared my home town from being shot to pieces in a long siege
havi wrote:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Well okay u can slow down a bit but please dont completly stop writing, it is great to read.
steelwarrior77 wrote:Very nice AAR - I hope you will continue ;-)
JodelDiplom wrote:Hindenburg did not actually do any army-commanding. He was the political "front" of the 8th army and then the OHL, doing mostly representation and political work and providing Ludendorff with a respectable facade of unquestionable seniority. Due to his seniority, paternal charm and gravitas, he was also a much better fit for the public role of a "savior of Germany" than the dour-faced, utterly charmless Ludendorff who had done all the actual command work during the battles in east Prussia.
Ludendorff on the other hand was a brilliant staffer who had taught courses at the prussian war academy, but he had never commanded a regiment, let alone a division or an army prior to the war. He had won a highly publicized victory at Liège in August 1914 serving as interim commander of a regiment, but he needed Hindenburg so he could put his talents to use on a much, much higher level of command. Intimidating and yelling down the top brass of the army, or even the Kaiser himself, that was something Hindenburg could do really well, but from Ludendorff such actions would have been seen as insolence or even insubordination.
Just an example of their relationship: When Ludendorff later showed people around the site of the Tannenberg battle, he would show people through the place where the army staff had been quartered, and told people "This is the bed where Hindenburg had slept before and after the battle of Tannenberg, and also during the battle of Tannenberg." Hindenburg himself did not mind, he would tell people Ludendorff did all the work and, yes, he had slept very well indeed during the battle.
But after the battle was won, it had been Hindenburg's idea to name the battle after the town of Tannenberg (which was close by but not actually the site of the battle itself) and thereby connect it to the medieval battle of Tannenberg which had been one of the worst defeats of German knights by Slavic armies, and still lingered prominently in Imperial Germany's historical consciousness. Hindenburg thereby created the myth of how he (and Ludendorff) had "saved" Germany in her hour of greatest peril from conquest by the savage Russians.
Without Ludendorff, Hindenburg would just be a popular but mediocre commander who has no time for political work - and without Hindenburg, Ludendorff would have had to find another senior general willing to play "boss" for him but trust him completely with regards to the actual command work.
ajarnlance wrote:An excellent analysis of this fascinating relationship... thanks. I just wish I could see Ludendorff's name in the game somewhere. Seems to me he could be an OHL taking over from Falkenhayn in the same way that Falkenhayn takes over from Moltke. Hindenburg could be a mediocre general who gets buffed stats when in Ludendorff's command radius.
ajarnlance wrote:When Ludendorff moved from the eastern to the western front he realised that Germany had to take a more defensive stance and he had incredibly powerful defences built along the western front.. sometimes in the rear of the original front line. This could be reflected in the game by making Ludendorff an OHL with very defensive ratings + abilities. Then, if Russia exits the war, Ludendorff's ratings could be switched over to the offensive. I know these two generals were a very close team but I still think it is a mistake to combine them... even more to make their appearance dependent on the EE player invading Prussia. In my pbem I'm not likely to see either Hindenburg or Ludendorff at all... just feels wrong.
FlumenSV wrote:Love this AAR, is more interesting then TEAW youtube vids. It also help me learn more about game mechanics. Great works guys.
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