A book review by Glenn Slater
“1901” by Robert Conroy
A book review by Glenn Slater
( Happy to publish this review submitted by a Forums reader, so if you have a favourite book or game to tell us about just send it in!)
Let me begin by asking you all to cast your minds back 9 months to a year, and also to ask you if you read the Mail on Sunday. No I haven’t gone daft, just bare with me. In the paper was one of those historical filling pieces that are used to pad the paper out when the editor can’t find something else to put in? The thing about these pieces is that they are usually quite interesting to read but generally quickly forgotten. The article in question however really grabbed me. It involved the resent release of secret papers which told the story of the German plan to invade America and to create an empire for the Kaiser that he could be proud of.
The story goes like this. In 1899 there was war between America and Spain. It was all a pretty one-sided affair with the Spaniards losing on both land and sea (you would think they would have learned something by then, what with the Armada and Trafalgar). The end result was that in 1900 America found itself in control of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and several smaller former Spanish possessions. You could say it had an empire!
At this point the Kaiser started to take an interest. He felt that the Americans would have no idea how to fully exploit the potential of their new “colonies” and that this could best be done by a European power. After long deliberation, well two minutes at least, he decided that Germany was best suited to the task. No surprise there then!
The German general staff then looked at their maps for the best landing sites in the Philippines, Cuba and every where else and decided that the best place to invade was. Long Island! You see their thinking went like this, If you land in the new American colonies one at a time then it could take years and many thousands of casualties to subdue them, and the supply lines would be miles long for which Germany simply didn’t have the merchant ships. But, land in New England, seize New York, throw out a perimeter to seize territory and supplies, garrison it with 250,000 heavily armed men and then beat the crap out of the tiny U.S. army that was the only thing the Americans had to attack you with, due to their army being over seas, then may be they will negotiate. And guess what! The negotiations are simple. All the Americans have to do to get the invaders off of their continent, and New England back, is to give the Germans the colonies from the former Spanish empire. Easy.
Thankfully the moderates in the German government managed to dissuade Kaiser Wilhelm II from this path and history carried on to the main event, WW1, and nobody was any the wiser.
Well that’s the basic story from the historical side of it. Obviously in the book the Germans invade, but I won’t give too much of the plot away. What I’ll try to do is outline the warming side of it. To begin with I’ll start with the naval campaign of the war.
The Germans have a much bigger fleet but need to hold some of it back to keep the fatherland secure against other European powers as well as to support their army on land. This they do in three ways. Firstly there is direct fire support for the army; this fleet is deployed mainly in New York harbour and Long Island sound. Secondly they try to tie down the large numbers of troops deployed around Americas coast, in the coastal batteries, to stop them re-inforcing the meagre troops available in New England. This is done by the use of fast cruiser squadrons, of both light, protected and armoured types, to shell coastal cities. Thirdly the Germans must protect their all important supply convoys. This becomes more vital as the war progresses.
The smaller American fleet is scattered all over the Pacific and Caribbean and can’t be quickly concentrated. A friendly power however provides a safe haven where the fleet can muster its strength without getting destroyed piecemeal by the Germans. More of this friendly power later. The Americans begin to use their cruisers to attack the convoys as they leave Germany. They attack them in the channel and between Scotland and Norway. They are assisted in this by the friendly power who provides coaling and repair facilities, and intelligence. The Americans also put to use a new weapon during an attack on New York harbour by hastily built torpedo boats. The submarine. They use their first sub, the “Holland” to lead the attack. The inventor is incharge, though still a civilian, but for appearances it is put under the command of an Ensign Ernest King! A nice piece of irony I thought, given Admiral Kings poor showing against the U-boats in 1941.
The friendly power I mentioned earlier is of course the British Empire. The British wish to bring the Germans down a peg or two, without resorting to all out war. Infact, in another nice touch from the author, a reverse version of lend lease starts to take place as the Americans are supplied by the British from war stocks left over from the Boer war, which has just finished. Also a British fleet under Admiral ‘Jackie’ Fisher protects the American fleet in Baltimore by closing the mouth of the St Lawrence seaway to the Germans, under the guise of preserving Canada’s neutrality.
So to put forward a few ideas for naval wargames:
1. The Americans attempt to engage the German cruisers bombarding their coast with their own fleet.
2. The Americans engage the German convoys, and try to sink them without the German escort sinking them.
3. A combined attack on New York Harbour is made against the German shipping there by both torpedo boats and the ‘Holland’.
4. The American and German fleets slug it out in one big battle.
5. The Germans clash with the British Fleet that habitually shadows them through the channel
6. The Germans attempt to attack the American ships in British harbours.
7. The Germans try to force the St Lawrence by force to attack the Americans.
8. The Spanish show up as allies to the Germans in the hope of getting their colonies back.
Ships are readily available from the Skytrex and Navwar ranges as well as suitable period (WW1) rules.
Now for the land war. This offers some great opportunities for some unusual gaming scenarios. Lets start with the Germans. They are easy enough as they are basically WW1 German infantry, cavalry and artillery. Some of the German units are reserve formations so they may still have the older Prussian blue uniforms. That’s that then, now the Americans.
The American regular army at the time was still very small in comparison to other nations. Many of these were deployed in coastal fortifications, and on the Mexican boarder. The frontier had only recently been tamed and large numbers of cavalry had been deployed to capture the last of the Indians, Geronimo being the most famous. With the Spanish-American war the army had expanded, but now had all of its best unit’s abroad. Large numbers of state militia backed this up however. Most of the overseas field army was dressed in new khaki brown uniforms but the units still in the states, and the National Guard, still wore blue uniforms.
The first units to engage the invading Germans were state militia troops. These suffered badly at the hands of the advancing Germans due mainly to their lack of machine guns and artillery. The Germans then advance on New York. This involves street fighting as the motley collection of militia; some coastal artillerymen, police and civilians try to put up a fight. Eventually Manhattan is cut of and the defenders, lacking explosives are forced to try and stop the Germans at the east river bridges, there’s even a unit of grey haired old men in their old civil war uniforms with a smooth bore Napoleon trying to hold a bridge!
Eventually the Germans dig in to hold their gains against the Americans. More U.S. troops are deployed to the area and these include the black troops of the 10th cavalry. More regular troops arrive, as well as militia, and the U.S. army starts to get new recruits through. Most of the troops are now issued new khaki brown uniforms at the insistence of the new U.S. commander in chief. This is a certain 85 year old by the name of James Longstreet. Longstreet is made the commander, as a way of bringing the U.S. together, some of the Southern congressman couldn’t give a damn about the North. Longstreet was both a confederates general in the civil war and a union general after the war.
With the first, disastrous, U.S. counter attack a stalemate sets in, though the lines are still penetrable. The Americans now start to send guerrilla forces behind the German lines. These are mainly made up of local men from the occupied areas who have suffered personal loss at the hands of the Germans. These raiders start to attack isolated German posts, blow up bridges and ambush convoys. The best though is the solution they find to scare the hell out of the Germans and force them to stay in their fortified camps over night. They let loose the former Apache followers of Geronimo, who have been sent to reservations after his capture. They give them instructions to kill the Germans in the most horrible ways possible and then send them on their way to ambush and scalp to their hearts content.
The Americans get modern weapons from the British, over the Canadian boarder, and even use the British idea of fitting naval guns to gun carriages. So now for the wargaming options.
Large battles or small skirmish engagements are available to the gamer. Here are a few ideas:
1. An early engagement between the state militia in their blue uniforms and the Germans.
2. Street fighting and a river crossing as the Germans attempt to seize Manhattan and a mixture of Militia, regular troops, police and civilians (don’t forget the old boys in civil war gear) try to stop the Germans.
3. A mid war engagement with the Americans in a mixture of blue and khaki brown.
4. Skirmish games with the raiding/saboteur parties attacking a convoy or a supply dump, or out post.
5. A similar game to the above with the Apaches hunting down the Germans.
6. A late war engagement with the Americans all in khaki brown.
7. The British can find themselves dragged into the war as the Germans attempt to stop the flow of supplies from Canada.
8. The Spanish allie themselves with the Germans for some more payback.
The supply of figures is well catered for by manufacturers. The Germans and British are available from several manufacturers, whilst suitable Americans are available from Old Glory’s Pershing in Mexico range and from Redoubt enterprises Boxer Rebellion 1900 range. For civilian raiders look at the wild west ranges and also wild west ranges for the mounted cavalry. The Spanish are available from Tiger miniatures.
Rules for this period are also available and I would suggest “Contemptible little armies”. For skirmishes there are several rules sets available, but I would try modifying the “Darkest Africa” rules slightly.
If you buy this book I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. It really was a bloody good read.
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