Franz Josef’s Armies
Part Two: Kraśnik
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
January 2022

Famous game designer Reiner Knizia once advised me to never, ever let on which of your game designs is your favorite. So, with that in mind, I’ll just note that I really do like designing Infantry Attacks scenarios. The format, with the scenarios organized in chapters with history woven through them and a battle game to tie them together, really appeals to the way I want to create and publish military history games.

Infantry Attacks is our series of World War One tactical games. It’s a sister series to Panzer Grenadier, borrowing many of its mechanisms from that system (which is all about World War Two tactical combat). Infantry Attacks: Franz Josef's Armies is an expansion for Infantry Attacks: Fall of Empires, the second Infantry Attacks game, which is all about the August 1914 battles of Kraśnik and Komarów, bloody Pyrrhic Austro-Hungarian victories that pretty much doomed the Dual Monarchy to eventual defeat and dissolution.

While these were huge battles with just under half a million men involved in each of them (making them both larger battles than the much better-known Battle of Tannenberg that took place at the same time), they’re not well-known to the English-speaking wargame audience (or any other, for that matter). So they appeal to my need to tell stories that others haven’t.

I also like the flow of Infantry Attacks; it’s much more deliberate than Panzer Grenadier, without vehicles or airplanes zipping around the battlefield. Play rewards good planning, since you’re not likely to fix a mistake by rushing some tanks over to the other side of your position. I designed Panzer Grenadier to emphasize infantry operations, and by stripping out the tanks and such the game engine returns to its roots, where it works particularly well.

Franz Josef’s Armies adds the battles of Austria-Hungary’s national armies – the regulars of the Imperial-Royal Austrian Landwehr and Royal Hungarian Honvédseg. They fought at Kraśnik and Komarów alongside the Imperial and Royal Army (the so-called “Common Army) and the story’s not complete without them. So let’s look at how they slot into the two chapters devoted to the Battle of Kraśnik.

Scenario Forty-Four
Concert From Hell
23 August 1914
The 46th Landwehr Division, raised in Krakow from mostly Polish recruits, marched eagerly to its first combat action. Exiting the paths through the Tanew Marsh, they encountered the Russian 18th Infantry Division moving southward from Kraśnik. Falling artillery shells signaled the presence of the enemy, and the Poles moved swiftly to attack them.

Conclusion
Maj. Gen. August Urbanski von Ostrymiecz, commander of the 46th Division’s 91st Landwehr Infantry Brigade, called him introduction to combat a “concert from Hell.” The Poles charged madly into action, but the Russians withdrew in the face of Polish numbers and ferocity. The overstrength 91st Infantry Brigade (with three infantry regiments rather than the usual two) suffered relatively few losses in its first action; that would change on the following day.

Notes
This scenario features a small battlefield with a lot of troops crammed onto it. The Poles have numbers, but they have no artillery support at all, neither off-board heavy artillery or field-gun batteries on the map. While the Russians are outnumbered, they have their guns with them. The Poles are going to have to close with the Russians if they want to win; as in many Fall of Empires scenarios, the Austrian (Polish) player isn’t concerned about his or her own casualties, but has to inflict losses on the Russians.

Scenario Forty-Five
Hill 282
24 August 1914
Having defeated the Russians in their first taste of combat, the Poles of 46th Landwehr Infantry Division marched northward the next day, seeking to repeat the experience. By mid-day they had occupied the village of Lisnik without spotting any enemies other than one dead Russian infantryman. But after lunch, I Corps ordered the Landwehr battalions to eject the Russians from the rise known as Hill 282. The Polish infantry went forward with shouts and songs, eager to close with the enemy.

Conclusion
As with the action on the previous day, the division’s artillery had lagged behind the advance. Even so, the Polish infantry surged forward, chanting Za Imperatora!, to meet a torrent of fire from Russian rifles, machine-guns and field guns. Two battalions swept over the heights in densely-packed storm columns, taking over a hundred Russian prisoners as well but suffering enormous casualties, particularly among the officers. Just like the Common Army, the Landwehr was buying tactical victories at a cost it could not long sustain.

Notes
This is a bigger scenario than the previous day’s fight, and this time the Poles have brought even more men – but still no artillery or field-gun support. The Austrian artillery isn’t very good, but something might be better than nothing. The Polish regiments are going to have to take Hill 282 at bayonet point, in the face of a strong Russian defense.

Scenario Forty-Six
Grenadiers Outflanked
24 August 1914
The two divisions of the Russian Grenadier Corps pressed southward against the Austrian X Corps, despite Fourth Army commander Anton von Salza’s apparent wish that they turn west to strike the exposed right flank of the Austrian I Corps. The Common Army’s 24th Infantry Division held firm, giving the 45th Landwehr Division an opportunity to attack the Russians from their left flank.

Conclusion
The 45th Landwehr Infantry Division’s recruiting district lay just on the other side of the border from the Kraśnik battlefield, and its mostly Polish soldiers acted as though they truly fought to defend their homes. The flank attack crushed 2nd Grenadier Division, which drew back in disarray, leaving behind 19 guns and hundreds of prisoners. For once, the Austro-Hungarian artillery played a useful role, with the nearby 4th Infantry Division (a Common Army assigned to the adjoining Fourth Army) lending some of its batteries to the attack as well.

Notes
This may be the largest scenario in the Infantry Attacks lineup to date, with large portions of two Austrian divisions on the map plus half of a Russian division. This one’s tough on the Russians, who are hit by an unexpected flank attack and have to withdraw as best they can before losing too many men. The Austrians are trying to inflict heavy losses and drive them out of their front lines, and this time they have their own artillery plus some extra batteries from a neighboring K.u.K. division.

Scenario Forty-Seven
Ty Kokso
24 August 1914
In First Army’s center, V Corps did the bulk of the fighting, as the Russian XVI Corps pressed forward alongside the Grenadiers in an effort to turn the Austro-Hungarian right flank. While the two regular divisions of V Corps pivoted right to strike the Russian corps in the flank, they depended on the Slovak regulars of 37th Honvéd Infantry Division to hold their ground and pin the enemy in place.

Conclusion
The Russians brought a large-scale set-piece attack that threatened to unhinge the right flank of the Austro-Hungarian V Corps. The Russian XVI Corps appears to have had no greater plan than to plunge straight ahead, however, and did not probe for the Austrian flank. The Honvéds held their ground, and for once an Austro-Hungarian division restrained itself from incurring excess casualties by way of ill-considered frontal assaults.

Notes
The scenario title’s a Slovak expression roughly equating to “oh, shit!” and that’s about the situation for the Honvéds. It’s a big scenario – since we have many more pieces available than in a single game, I don’t see any reason not to use them. So there’s a huge Russian force bearing down from the north, and it’s up to the Slovak regulars to hang on as best they can.

And that’s Chapters Two and Three (which joins the scenarios from Chapters Two and Three of Fall of Empires). Next time, we’ll have a go at Chapter Four.

You can order Franz Josef's Armies right here.
Please allow an extra four weeks for delivery.

Sign up for our newsletter right here. Your info will never be sold or transferred; we'll just use it to update you on new games and new offers.

Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published an unknowable number of books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his dog, Leopold. Leopold knows the number.

Want to keep Daily Content free of third-party ads? You can send us some love (and cash) through this link right here.