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RE: Turn 12: the air war - 10/13/2020 5:01:35 PM   
eskuche

 

Posts: 1094
Joined: 3/27/2018
From: OH, USA
Status: offline 		Agree with above. Also might be worth merging brigades or worn down tank divisions into your strongest ones. I’ve noticed they less tend to “upgrade” to brigades when they have high TOE. Also note that unready units (Morale + TOE% < 90 I think) have a huge CV hit, and this happens most often with tank divisions because of their abnormally high TOE.

As for air, this is my personal opinion but the VVS cares naught for losses. You should on the map harassing the LW as much as the rules allow to kick up their fatigue and have the Bf’s drop out of the sky.

(in reply to chaos45)
Post #: 61
Turn 12: Velikaya Krasnaya Armiya! - 10/14/2020 4:13:03 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Sept. 4, 1941
Pravda is pleased to report that our glorious Red Army has defeated a fascist armor division, throwing it back across the Samara river from its overly bold bridge head!

Our brave and dashing troops also encircled 6 enemy mobile divisions north of the Azov Sea. Enemy propaganda that our commanders were merely reacting to the enemy surrounding them first are LIES!!!





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Post #: 62
RE: Turn 12: Velikaya Krasnaya Armiya! - 10/14/2020 4:16:57 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		In further news this day, our valiant army continues to withdraw (despite heavy enemy interdiction) from the Dnepr, leading the enemy in a huge trap where they will be completely destroyed!






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< Message edited by cap and gown -- 10/14/2020 4:21:29 AM >

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Post #: 63
RE: Turn 12: Velikaya Krasnaya Armiya! - 10/14/2020 4:25:39 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Finally, our handsome and dashing comrades continue to launch attacks against the enemy in front of Moscow while withdrawing from a potential pocket forming around Vyazma. Just remember, if you hear enemy propaganda in the next week that a number of our troops have been surrounded and cut off in this sector, those reports will be LIES!!!

Za Stalina, Za Pobedu!






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Post #: 64
Turn 13: damn Finns - 10/22/2020 6:53:20 AM   
CapAndGown


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Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		I did not realize the Finns could attack beyond the NO ATTACK LINE!!! once Leningrad fell. Oops. At least a large number of Finnish units will be withdrawing in a few turns.





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Post #: 65
Turn 13: encirclements - 10/22/2020 6:59:04 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Around Moscow a significant number of our units around Vyazma became encircled as we had feared. A few counter attacks, however, allowed us to not only open the pocket, but also encircle 3 German mobile divisions. I am hoping this will eat up enemy time trying to digest the pocket. We also were able to launch a couple of counter attack against some SS brigades, resulting in the route of an SS motorized brigade. I am hoping that will lower its morale.





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Post #: 66
Turn 13: the great retreat, part 3 - 10/22/2020 7:11:05 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		In the center our pull back from the Dnepr continues.





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Post #: 67
Turn 13: more encirclements - 10/22/2020 7:23:09 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Things are falling apart in front of Stalino. Fortunately, all of the factories in the Stalino-Makeevka-Gorlovka complex are gone. We also took out 45 T-34 factories from Kharkov, leaving them 65% damaged in their new home. They will be able to start producing again in 5 turns. Voroshilovgrad and Rostov still have their original complement of factories, while Kharkov still has 15 armament factories. (I am leaving the Su-2 factories in Kharkov since they will cease production in a few months and do not upgrade to anything.) I am prioritizing heavy industry factories for evacuation.





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Post #: 68
Turn 14: the populous rises up! - 10/28/2020 2:24:49 AM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		In a massive display of resistance to the fascist invaders, citizens in the occupied territories rose up en masse and attacked the German lines of communication. Two strikes against the main line from Germany to Smolensk were reported. This may slow down the fascist advance towards Moscow a little, though we are not hoping for much since an alternative line is being converted stretching from Pskov down to Velikiye Luki. Still, the Smolensk line had been hit twice now, meaning rail conversion along this line is 80 miles short of were it might have been.

Another attack, this time along the Kiev line, was reported as well. Since there is little enemy activity in this sector, this attack will have little effect beyond slowing down rail conversion in the direction of Sumy/Kursk.

Residents in the Pripyat marshes also launched attacks on rail lines in their region. While we appreciate their enthusiasm, such efforts seem more likely to get the local populace killed than inconvenience the Germans.





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Post #: 69
Turn 14: forcing a detour - 10/28/2020 2:48:26 AM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		An interesting development near Dnepropetrovsk is the diversion of German rail conversion to the south instead of straight east. This was no doubt necessitated by our continuing to hold positions along the Dnepr for so long, making further rail conversion toward Dnepropetrovsk not feasible.





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Post #: 70
Turn 14: Lake Ilmen - 10/28/2020 10:05:11 AM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Are the Germans about to launch an assault south of Lake Ilmen? It sure looks that way. In preparation, I moved up some divisions to strengthen the front line, giving me 2 up, 1 back for the 3 hexes south of the lake.





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Post #: 71
Turn 14: Moscow - 10/28/2020 10:52:38 AM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Around Moscow the Germans pocketed 6 more divisions southeast of Rzhev. Unfortunately, there was no possibility of reopening the pocket.

I had hoped to open the pocket southeast of Vyazma, but the motorized division we attacked fell back into some light woods, raising its defense value too high for us to hope for success in any further attacks. As a result, our first guards division will die next turn.

There was a major evacuation of factories from the Moscow complex this turn. The remaining factories are all in the Moscow hex and include:
1 - vehicle
9 - heavy industry
2x36 - Mig-3
16 - U-2VS

At least some of the Mig-3 factories need to be evac'ed since they convert to IL-2's in January. The U-2VS stays. It will not be missed.

My reserved rail percentage is down to 4% so that I can evac more factories. On the down side, it means fewer newly arriving troops from the east can be transported to the front. Last turn I did prioritize moving the Siberians to the Moscow front. Two of those divisions have a morale of 60 and elements with experience in the 40s.






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< Message edited by CapAndGown -- 10/28/2020 11:36:10 AM >

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Post #: 72
Turn 14: no more retreating - 10/28/2020 12:17:01 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		In the center, our retreat from the Dnepr has come to an end (at least for now). The enemy is concentrated around Moscow and Stalino, with very light forces between Poltava and Bryansk.

Kursk still has 2 armament factories, while Kharkov still has 15 armament factories, plus the 12 Su-2 factories that I am not going to evacuate.





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Post #: 73
Turn 14: Stalino - 10/28/2020 3:07:05 PM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The Germans reached the gates of Stalino and even a little beyond, but we threw back the two lead divisions including routing the SS division. I would have liked to attack one of the two SS divisions west of Stalino to open the pocket there, but I did not have forces with the proper combination of movement points and combat value to pull that off.

The Dnepr is completely abandoned now with one division staying behind to garrison Dnepropetrovsk. I am going to hold at Poltava for now because of the defensible terrain, because it has a rail yard I need, and because I want to defend Kharkov until I can get those armaments factories out.





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< Message edited by CapAndGown -- 10/28/2020 8:44:27 PM >

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Post #: 74
Turn 14: the tank army - 10/28/2020 5:54:26 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		With limited rail capacity, I can't really be wasting it on transporting tank brigade shells to the front where they will be useless. So all my new tank brigades arriving on the east edge of the map have been marshaled under one army (which feeds them supply) and will slowly make their way to the western front. (War in the East my foot! Its a war in the west you Eurocentric snobs! ) I have left their TOE at 20% so that tanks will flow to the units nearer the front, but have set them all to "refit" so that they can increase their morale and experience.





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Post #: 75
RE: Turn 14: the tank army - 10/28/2020 7:28:53 PM   
redrum68

 

Posts: 1202
Joined: 11/26/2017
Status: offline 		Just a heads up, often when units first arrive on the map they'll have very low TOE which means very low rail capacity usage. It can actually be more effective if you have enough rail cap to rail them 10-15 hexes from the front then sit there and wait to gain morale and fill their TOE.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 76
RE: Turn 14: the tank army - 10/28/2020 8:36:41 PM   
CapAndGown


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quote:

ORIGINAL: redrum68

Just a heads up, often when units first arrive on the map they'll have very low TOE which means very low rail capacity usage. It can actually be more effective if you have enough rail cap to rail them 10-15 hexes from the front then sit there and wait to gain morale and fill their TOE.


I am aware of this. I railed a few tank brigades around to get them into range of the 54th Army. It is also what I have sorta done with rifle divisions. I say sorta, because this turn the rifle divisions I railed west I made sure to detrain at the limit of their strategic movement allowance. I didn't want that rail capacity eaten up by having them stay on the train into the next turn particularly considering how they grow in size (assuming the TOE is reset to 100) in between the turn they arrive and the next turn. I am prioritizing rail capacity for new arrivals from the Far East.





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Post #: 77
RE: Turn 14: the tank army - 10/31/2020 2:38:03 AM   
randallw

 

Posts: 2057
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Status: offline 		The smallest and longest tank parade the world has ever seen.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 78
RE: Turn 14: the tank army - 10/31/2020 3:55:49 AM   
CapAndGown


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quote:

ORIGINAL: randallw

The smallest and longest tank parade the world has ever seen.



So, I decided to actually count up the number of tanks in this "parade." Excluding armored cars, there are 149 tanks stretched along 100 miles of track. That's an average of 6.2 tanks per brigade. Or 1.5 tanks per mile. If the "parade" is traveling at 20 mph (and my calculations are correct) this would mean that the spectators would get to see a tank passing by once every two minutes.

< Message edited by CapAndGown -- 10/31/2020 4:01:14 AM >

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Post #: 79
Turn 15: it's quiet, tooo quite - 11/3/2020 9:52:13 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The Wehrmacht paused their forward advance this turn. Instead, they focused on cleaning up the pockets they had created in the previous turn. In this regard it is was one of their most productive weeks since the beginning of the war: 15 rifle, 2 armor, 1 mountain infantry, and 1 cavalry divsions for a total of 19 divisions.

Another reason for the pause, at least in the center, may have been because the Smolensk rail line has not been fully repaired yet from the partisan attack on turn 13, making supply difficult for the furthest advanced forces.

We got our second guards division this turn, the same turn our first guards division was destroyed in the pocket southeast of Vyazma.

I took out all the armament factories from Tula this turn, which was the heaviest lift we needed to make still remaining. With that out of the way I decided to bump the reserved rail percentage back up to 5%. I may take it higher as the Siberians arrive in greater numbers and as the winter offensive is prepared. The 9 heavy industry factories in Moscow is still another heavy lift, requiring 72k rail points, but nowhere near as big as the Tula armament factories. Still lots more to evac.

Indeed, I am worried about Kalinin. The Rzhev salient seems very vulnerable, but the enemy's focus seems to be towards Moscow, and Moscow only. Plus, similar to the situation on the Dnepr, a pull back now would leave us in worse defensive positions than we currently hold. Of course, I did pull back from the Dnepr, and that may happen here as well (hopefully not too late), but the Wehrmacht is running out of time and the Soviets have more and more troops arriving all the time.

Based on our successes with partisans, we are ramping up our partisan airlift operations even more. All the bombers in the long range command are transferring to VVS and OSNAZ bases and the air bases themselves are being transferred to other commands.

Not only did the Heeres take a break this turn, the Luftwaffe did as well. There were no interdictions. I did move fewer units than usual, but I suspect that after the beating the Luftwaffe has been taking, they decided to stand down a turn to reduce fatigue. It was getting to the point where I was considering moving units just so they would be interdicted and our fighters could shoot down more Nazi planes.

As far as AP is concerned, I spent most of them last turn changing unit attachments to better balance the load on various armies. This turn saw some of that as well, but was mostly focused on right-sizing the support units in the armies: 3 artillery regiments, 3-4 sapper battalions, 0-1 BM artillery, 0-1 motorcycle regiments, 3 AA battalions or 1 AA regiment and 1 AA battalion, and 0 heavy mortar regiments. Any excess in the armies was sent to Stavka where it will be reallocated next turn, or sit in reserve until new armies show up. I also converted a few air regiments here and there. I have not spent any AP in a while on leadership changes, even though I have some pretty crappy commanders.





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< Message edited by CapAndGown -- 11/3/2020 9:53:57 PM >

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Post #: 80
Turn 15: the trap is sprung - 11/3/2020 10:08:45 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		As Pravda reported in post #63 of this thread, our pull back from the Dnepr was actually a ruse meant to draw the Germans deeper into Russia and that we were setting up a huge trap that would result in the destruction of the Wehrmacht. This week that trap was sprung! OK, so maybe it didn't result in the destruction of the entire Wehrmacht. It might not even be noticed at OKH. But we did launch a large number of counter attacks. These counter attacks, though costing us more men than it is the Germans, are doing a great deal to raise the morale of our men. Indeed, it has already contributed to the creation of 2 guards divisions and 2 guards artillery regiments.





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< Message edited by CapAndGown -- 11/3/2020 10:09:09 PM >

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Post #: 81
Turn 15: the south - 11/3/2020 10:14:29 PM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		Finally, a picture of the situation in the south. (Nothing is happening in the Crimea. Both sides are building forts at the choke points.)





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Post #: 82
Turn 16: a nasty pocket - 11/11/2020 6:21:04 PM   
CapAndGown


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From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The Germans pocketed my units holding the Stalino-Gorlovka complex. How much further will they go? How long can my troops hold out? Yikes!





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Post #: 83
Turn 16: life on the steppe - 11/11/2020 6:23:19 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		In the center, we continued taking pot-shots at German and Axis allied troops.





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Post #: 84
Turn 16: Moscow - 11/11/2020 6:28:24 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline 		The Germans made some progress in front of Moscow, encircling 2 divisions in the process. I continue to be concerned about the northern flank of the Rzhev salient. It is too lightly held and has a few seams that might be exploited.

On a more positive note, the factories and Kalinin and Voroshilovgrad have been evacuated.






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Post #: 85
RE: Turn 16: Moscow - 11/11/2020 6:55:40 PM   
eskuche

 

Posts: 1094
Joined: 3/27/2018
From: OH, USA
Status: offline 		Please show defensive values on screenshots :)

Farming the center seems good. Can send some more cavalry there too for that.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 86
RE: Turn 16: Moscow - 11/11/2020 7:53:32 PM   
CapAndGown


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quote:

ORIGINAL: eskuche

Please show defensive values on screenshots :)

Farming the center seems good. Can send some more cavalry there too for that.


Right now my cavalry is too busy digging trenches around Moscow and Voroshilovgrad to get involved in an out-of-the-way sector. I would love to farm some guard cavalry before December, but right now their shovels are more important than their guns.

Here is a look at Moscow defensive values.





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Post #: 87
RE: Turn 16: Moscow - 11/11/2020 7:59:30 PM   
eskuche

 

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Status: offline 		Pretty solid for pre-mud. I would maybe get some fort zones. They allow surrounding hexes to fort up to 3.10.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 88
RE: Turn 16: Moscow - 11/11/2020 8:16:07 PM   
CapAndGown


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quote:

ORIGINAL: eskuche

Pretty solid for pre-mud. I would maybe get some fort zones. They allow surrounding hexes to fort up to 3.10.


Yeah, I want some forts, but so far I have been using AP for the last few turns to "right size" my support units in my armies. This means having 3 artillery regiments, 0-1 BM artillery regiment, 2-3 AA battalions or 1 AA regiment and 1 AA battalion, and 3-4 sapper battalions, and 0-1 Motorcycle regiments per army. Excess support units are being reassigned to Stavka, which costs 1 AP per unit. That "right sizing" is just about done.

Another use has been reassigning divisions from one army to another to better align unit boundaries and to ensure armies are not overloaded. (I don't care if fronts are overloaded, since that is practically a given.)

Finally, I did make a leadership change last turn for an Army that is about to get caught up in the fighting. That cost something like 14 AP points.

Most of that is behind us now and I can start looking at creating forts. In particular, Moscow needs forts for each urban hex. Another use, however, is to create some ShaP regiments. I have a good number of IL-2's in the pool, enough to carry my over for a while, even if I move the factories soon. Would you recommend disbanding PE-2/SB-2 regiments? They are not as effective, take up space on airbases, and I am sure they eat up supply.


< Message edited by CapAndGown -- 11/11/2020 8:17:19 PM >

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Post #: 89
Turn 16: the looming crisis - 11/12/2020 8:04:50 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
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Status: offline 		So, my opponent basically stopped the production of LaGG-3 fighters to save on supply in our mirror match. He noted that he was facing shortages of supply and armaments. This caused me to examine my own situation. While supply seems adequate to both meet the needs for production, fort building, and supplying front line troops, the armament situation seems dire. Here are some numbers:

Supply:
produced last turn: 91,380
production: 30,562
forts (all): 17,300
required by units: 27,006

In total, 16,512 tons more supplies were produced than needed. That excess will go down as more units arrive and after having moved 10 heavy industry factories last turn. It will go down even further once the 9 Moscow heavy industry factories are moved. On the other hand, once the IL-2 factories at Voronezh and the Mig-3 factories at Moscow are moved, this will lessen the draw on supply. Overall, supply seems manageable.

Where the crisis looms is with armaments.
Pool: 94,469
Produced: 57,345
Consumed: 119,010
This is before I have even moved the 15 armaments factories at Kharkov and the 15 at Rostov.

So next turn it looks like our pool of armaments will begin to out run our production needs. So what to do?

Well, one thing seems to be putting off moving the Kharkov and Rostov factories until the last 2 turns of mud. Another option I am considering is disbanding newly arriving rifle brigades during the month of October. This will put those ground elements into the pool of existing elements, lessening the number needed to be produced.

Any thoughts on this subject?

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 90
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