ErsteKavallerieDivision
Posts: 20
Joined: 4/21/2011 Status: offline
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I have played this scenario only against the AI, but I think you can strengthen the terrible positions in the north and center and start a bold Operation Blau in the south. Please find some notes below which I took a couple of months ago. ================= The first thing to do is taking Sevastopol on Turn 1 (which is very easy and doesn't require the committment of all available forces). Then you can transport 11th Army to the Donbas and let it help in the attack on Rostov. Defend the Kerch peninsula with Rumanians only; place some units as backup and for digging. 18th Army: a) objective: hold the existing line except for three hexes b) Turn 1: - start the extraction of 11th, 21st and 269th Infantry (step by step, don't activate any unit) - reinforce the Leningrad perimeter (Puskhin, Mga etc.) - redistribute the excess artillery units of I Corps to other Corps of 18th Army. - take additional artillery from 11th Army and its LIV Corps - merge regiments with weak divisions (18th Army is extremely overloaded). Warning: Do not merge low morale regiments with high moral divisions, since the combined CV is lower than the sum of both units. - place Corps accordingly c) Ignore the Oranienbaum pocket (its removal requires too many units, but frees only 5 regiments). Create a two/three hex defense line and assign Engineers to the rear diggers. 16th Army: a) Objective: dissolve the Tscherkassy cauldron and form a solid defensive line b) Turn 1: - start extracting all units from the cauldron - you may activate some of the most eastward regiments; take good care of hex 86/30 - important: add three artillery units to each of 16th Army's Corps c) After some weeks you should try to free 8th Panzer Division and bring this weak unit back to full strength. 9th Army & 3rd Panzer Army: (most desparate positions, very weak armies considering the long MLR) a) Objective: built new MLR between Smolensk and Vyazma b) Turn 1: - start activating units (from north to south); one could try to activate every second unit. - use rivers and swamps to slow down the Red Army. - 9th Army's Corps also requires additional artillery from the Army HQ, Army Group Center, and IX Corps. 4th Army: a) Objective: hold the line b) Turn 1: - move 19th Panzer two hexes to the east and set in reserve mode 2nd Panzer Army: a) Objective: hold the line b) Turn 1: - extract the regiments from hex 100-69 - move 707th Infantry to hex 106-66! 2nd Army & 4th Panzer Army: a) Objective: start Operation Blau and reach Voronezh b) Turn 1: - start forming a pocket, northern pincer via Kastornoe, Gorshechnoe, and Stary Oskol 6th Army: a) Objective: start Operation Blau b) Turn 1: - start the pincer movement and reach Novy Oskol, use Pioneers wisely - start creating a second pocket to the south by reaching Valuyki, in cooperation with LI Corps - thin out the western MLR 17th Army: a) Objective: start Operation Blau b) Turn 1: - crack the Red Army front line by Infantry and gain space for the Panzer and Mot Divisions of III and XIV Panzer Corps, use also the Italian Cavalry and Celere Div - thin out the western MLR, bring Rumanians to the front At the end of Turn 1, check for remaining AP and use them for putting Rendulic or Hube into charge of the most threatened sectors. ================= It is very important to form these two large pockets, irrespective of potential thrusts in the center and north. It will start the AP crunch and bring your beaten units back to sufficient morale. Take Rostov and activate the splitting of Army Group South; then you can reassign the German armies to AG A/B and the Allies to their respective High Command. Joe
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"Widely terra incognita", Henning von Tresckow on German army's knowledge about Russian reserves (June 21, 1941; at that time chief operations officer of AGC.)
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