Discussion Time!!

Good Question! In the official background it seems as though there has never been a really successful human offensive against the Martians (at least as of 1914). They've halted offensives, even driven them back from recently captured territory, but once the Martians establish a redoubt they are there to stay. No redoubt has ever been captured by the humans.

So it seems to me that this is the key: the Humans have to develop the weapons and tactics to capture redoubts and actually start degrading the Martian's ability to build up their strength.

Ironically, one of the keys to this is going to be air power. Even though IMHO aircraft as of 1914 aren't going to be of much use in tactical attacks, they would be indispensable for recon work. If the Americans can have a regular look at wide swaths of Martian territory to pin point where the tripods are located, then they might be able to set up an attack against a redoubt that is lightly defended. Then, air power in the form of high-altitude heavy bombers can pound the redoubt to eliminate its heat ray towers and perhaps create a breach in its outer ramparts.

Finally, the American need to be able to quickly lay railroad track to get their tanks and guns up to the attack site as quickly as possible. Either that or find a redoubt close to a river. One of the big strategic weaknesses of the humans is that their steam vehicles are going to be very difficult to operate away from the railroads or rivers. Especially in the drier western regions. Historically (and even today) tanks are incredibly unreliable mechanically. Drive them a hundred miles and they are ready to fall apart. In WWI, tanks had a range of five miles or less. The only practical way to transport them long distances is by rail or boat.

So, if the humans can put all these elements together and manage to overrun a few redoubts, this could be the first step in turning the tide.

So effectively speed is of the essence. The US needs to lay tracks down as fast as it retakes land. Air planes and zeppelins would need to play an observation roll unless they could really damage redoubts. Its going to be a long war gents.  

Hey MM, sorry I haven't invested time yet in reading your aircraft development. But no large scale drop would be able to take place, without a lot of aircraft and or gliders. I can think up a scenario using, special forces, however it would have to be a forlorn hope, all the early WWII German success and failures also Normandy, Arnhem and the Rhine included, relied upon a thrust/plane drop and landing establishing a "beachhead". The Martians would spot a build up of forces, so it would need to be troops rather than armour. Or a push, if the Martians are back-pedalling, Martians feel safe in redoubt, whilst under siege, go for a feint, night drop from gliders to take out the turrets. It's sounding more Normandy than eben emael. But luckily I feel more like Ike than Monty, phew.

The aircraft I'm speaking off are dirigibles and zeppelins. I use the term vs airplanes. My bad. In any case, both the 101st and BEF 1st Airborne are ready, with lots of dirigibles, a half dozen zeppelins (some providing mid altitude depthcharge support) the raid will be on as an OOB soon. It was never intended to be a take & hold operation - just a get in, destroy as much as possible, get out morale & 'show of force' operational endeavor. Note that the ground units are to break contact and get to pickup zones after the attack. I agree, a hairy purposal, but the high command wants to give MARs notice that its not all their ballgame. LOL

We don't, however it gives us food for thought and maybe the shot in the arm the human race needs, Gotta be better than my puns.

Perhaps the Martians begin to have infighting to divide up the spoils. That buys a couple year reprieve for the humans while seriously weakening Martian resources.

The Germans have Krupp, Haber, Planck, and Einstein. I'm sure they'd come up with something.