Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI)

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Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 3/29/2021 5:26:39 AM

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Since the release of WitE 2 has re-ignited my interest in Eastern Front war gaming after a long time away from these type of games in general, this AAR will detail my (re)learning process (including screw-ups and struggles), personal impressions and operational thoughts. So comments, discussion and advice are always welcome.

Even though I have barely read the manual and only played Road to Minsk and Velikie Luki I'm jumping straight into the 1941 Campaign playing the Axis. Just not enough fulfillment with those less-than-whole map scenarios, even though they are well-designed.

Settings
- Soviet AI on Normal (100) settings - in WitE it was fairly simple to beat up the Soviet AI on 100, but considering the comments by beta testers, the differences in the system between WitE and WitE 2, I think 100 should give plenty of challenge for now.

- Full FoW, including movement FoW

- Lock HQ Support

Opening Thoughts
Setting a frame for the overarching strategic considerations, the VP system has been significantly altered compared to WitE's almost binary system. In my opinion this makes for a more interesting and fluid game. As the Axis player, the key numbers early on are 525 (Sudden Loss high watermark check in January 1942), 575 (Sudden Loss high watermark check in October 1942), 700 (Sudden Victory check in October 1941) and 750 (Sudden Victory checks throughout 1942).

What this means on the map is, the Axis has to at least get to a line roughly equal to Narva - Lake Ilmen - Rzhev - Orel - Kharkov - Stalino (excluding Sevastopol), show in the dashed line below, in 1941. For a Sudden Victory at any point in 1941 or 1942, it's necessary to reach a line approximated by the dotted line below.

This means that as the Axis side one probably needs to (depending on how smooth the initial advance up until August 1941 goes) intentionally overreach in some sectors in 1941 and also needs to conduct a summer offensive in 1942. Sudden Victory does not appear to be impossible, but going for it would be a risky balancing act.

For this play through, I do not intend to attempt an auto victory. However, I will try to push the front as far East as possible to put the AI behind historical schedule (and a long way from Berlin) in a bid for a Major Victory in December 1944.

Considering this and looking at the map, the strategic goals for 1941 will be to isolate Leningrad as soon as possible (and free up 4th Panzer Group for deployment in the centre or south), secure a defensible position east of Vyazma in the centre, and capture Kharkov, the Donets Basin and the Crimea in the south.

Planning the Border Battles
For the initial phase of Barbarossa to be successful, it is essential to encircle and destroy the Soviet forces at the border as soon as possible and secure crossings over Dvina and Dnepr.

In the Baltics, Hoepner's 4th Panzer Group should quickly push through Lithuania and establish foothold on the northern bank of the Dvina at Riga, Jekabpils and Daugavpils. Subsequently, the panzers will immediately head north along the Daugavpils - Pskov dual-track rail line to prevent the Soviets from fortifying the Velikaya and capture Pskov.

In Belarus, 3rd Panzer Group is to capture Vilnius and Minsk and seal the Bialystok - Minsk pocket from the north. Once this is done, Hoth's forces will head east towards Polotsk and Vitebsk, opening up the land bridge. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group needs to capture Brest-Litovsk on turn 1 and drive on Minsk from the south to link up with 3rd Panzer Group. After Minsk, 2nd Panzer Group will charge east towards the Dnepr at Orsha and Mogilev to secure crossings before the Red Army can re-establish a solid defensive front behind the river.

South of the Pripyats, Army Group South is tasked with capturing Lvov on turn 1, while the mass of von Kleist's 1st Panzer Group (at least what's available to be moved on the first turn) should break the Soviet armoured forces around Brody and open up the path to Tarnopol. The goal is to slice Southwestern Front in two and unlock the path into the plains of the Ukraine. Once Tarnopol has been secured, 1st Panzer Group will race east towards Vinnitsa and depending on whether the bulk of the Soviet forces in Galicia remain in their positions, link up with the Romanians coming out of Bessarabia at Mogilev-Podolsky.

The Luftwaffe will launch a concentrated effort on Day 1 to destroy the Soviet air force on the ground, thus establishing German air superiority for at least the first few weeks of the war. Subsequently, the Luftwaffe will be mainly used to directly support operations of the Heer

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 3/29/2021 7:04:22 AM

melnibonian

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Looking forward to see how this evolves.

Very nice start. Good Luck

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 3/29/2021 8:11:16 AM

loki100

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good luck with this.

Just a comment about the Soviet AI and set morale levels.

At 100 it basically plays by your rules, so if you outplan it and outmanouver it, then it will have to try to recover by normal movement. For all its improvements, it remains an AI with relatively limited spatial planning, or in other words you will achieve a situation where its off balance and it may well struggle to recover.

This may not matter, as long as you are learning the basics of movement, managing the logistics system etc.

At 110 it gets one important bonus. It gets the 'line-forming' routine where it can (in its own territory - see the player's notes for a discussion as to what this exactly means) move without regard to MP, so if you pull off a really neat trick it has some chance to recover itself.

At 120, you are pretty much doomed unless your grasp of all the game mechanics is near perfect (on the other hand 120 is good for the Axis side once you have some experience).

2 other quirks. It will tend to set most of its front line to reserve status so expect quite a few reactions. One common tactic is to break your mot divisions into regiments and use these to lock down the relevant sector of the front. For the first 3 turns it will play mostly passively, by T4 it will start to do a lot of (well-judged) counter-attacks. These will make your life a misery

not least as a pushed back Pzr regiment has just shed its CPP and most of its MP.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 3/29/2021 10:32:02 AM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: loki100

good luck with this.

Just a comment about the Soviet AI and set morale levels.

At 100 it basically plays by your rules, so if you outplan it and outmanouver it, then it will have to try to recover by normal movement. For all its improvements, it remains an AI with relatively limited spatial planning, or in other words you will achieve a situation where its off balance and it may well struggle to recover.

This may not matter, as long as you are learning the basics of movement, managing the logistics system etc.

At 110 it gets one important bonus. It gets the 'line-forming' routine where it can (in its own territory - see the player's notes for a discussion as to what this exactly means) move without regard to MP, so if you pull off a really neat trick it has some chance to recover itself.

At 120, you are pretty much doomed unless your grasp of all the game mechanics is near perfect (on the other hand 120 is good for the Axis side once you have some experience).

2 other quirks. It will tend to set most of its front line to reserve status so expect quite a few reactions. One common tactic is to break your mot divisions into regiments and use these to lock down the relevant sector of the front. For the first 3 turns it will play mostly passively, by T4 it will start to do a lot of (well-judged) counter-attacks. These will make your life a misery not least as a pushed back Pzr regiment has just shed its CPP and most of its MP.

Thanks. Well noted about the AI. Was planning anyway to up the difficulty once it approaches the time for the initiative change since traditionally AI is doing better on defense than on offense, but depending on how long it takes me to figure out the rules etc. it may happen earlier.

Also, great job with the manual. Will give it a thorough read once I receive the physical version.

quote:

ORIGINAL: melnibonian

Looking forward to see how this evolves.

Very nice start. Good Luck

Thanks. Likewise good luck on your game. Enjoying all those historical pictures embedded in the AAR.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 3/29/2021 1:13:24 PM

Erik Rutins

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I find that with the AI improvements, the "Normal" AI is now about equivalent to the "Challenging" AI in WITE1, but for experienced players the 110 level or the new "Challenging" is probably where they will end up.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 3/29/2021 9:44:57 PM

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Turn 1: The fate and future of the Reich is in your hands (Adolf Hitler, 22nd June 1941)

The Eastern Front has been opened. German forces all across the front line have pushed deep into Soviet territory, while the Luftwaffe has crushed Soviet air forces while still on the ground. So far everything has gone according to plan.

The Air War
German planes launched 68 raids against Soviet airfields in the Baltic, Belarus and the Ukraine. Bombings were mostly restricted to the range of German fighter cover and wherever German fighters encountered Soviet resistance, they quickly and easily dispatched them.

Also attempted some limited raids deeper in Soviet territory, but quickly came to regret it. KG 77 of I. Fliegerkorps was intercepted by massed Soviet fighters in Riga and got mauled pretty badly. While the other long range air raids did not incur losses at this scale, it's nevertheless safe to say that it's probably not worth it.

Other than the airfield bombings, the Luftwaffe activity was restricted to interception of Soviet ground support as the bombers rested. In a few cases the Red air force supporting ground operations ran into massed Bf 109 squadrons and got shredded.

Ground Operations
The attack on the ground proceeded smoothly on all fronts encountering only very few holds. In the north Reinhardt's XXXXI.m captured Riga while von Manstein's LVI.m successfully crossed the Dvina at Daugavpils. 18th Army and 16th Army advanced along the entire front routing Northwestern Front in the process (all screenshots are from turn 2 following Soviet moves and before recon, hence many Soviet units are hidden in the FoW).

Generally, my impression is that in the early turns the Red Army is quite brittle and prone to suffering significant casualties when routed, if not outright shattered, meaning that compared to WitE there is less need to carefully "shepherd" Soviet divisions into pockets first before destroying them.

In the centre, 2nd and 3rd Panzer Group's formed a solid encirclement ring around Western Front while setting up subsequent moves east. The infantry of 4th and 9th Army behind advanced as far as they could into Soviet territory. Considering the damage that can be inflicted on Soviet units even without surrounding them first, I consider the occasional unit routing outside the pocket (which only happened once or twice anyway) worth the benefit of faster elimination of the pocket.

South of the Pripyats 17th Army cleared the way for 11th Panzer Division to capture Lvov. Von Mackensen's III.m. routed Soviet armoured and motorized divisions at Brody, which should open up the road to Tarnopol, even though the AI moved new divisions in to block 1st Panzer Group's advance. Sending all available fast formations south-east meant though that unfortunately Soviet units west of Kovel managed to extricate themselves and retreat eastward in order.

Losses
German casualties both on the ground and in the air were manageable, although Bf 109 (plus their air crews) losses were concerning at 56 planes lost, which represents almost 9% of all ready Bf 109s deployed on the Eastern Front on 22nd June.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 4/2/2021 7:09:58 AM

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Turn 2: Into the Depths

Turn 2 saw German units push deep into the vast spaces of the Soviet Union following the victories of the first week.

In the north, 4th Panzer Group secured a bridgehead over the Velikaya, but was not quite able to reach Pskov. Interestingly the AI seems to be defending stronger west of the river rather than east/north of it. While flank protection of the panzer is an issue, I rather have them in the more favourable territory there rather than in the swamps north of Pskov.

Further south, 3rd Panzer Group's LVII.m. captured Polotsk while XXXIX.m. reached Lepel while maintaining contact with Lemelsen's XXXXVII.m. XXIV.m. meanwhile secured a Dnepr crossing at Rogachev. It's further south than I intended, but Soviet forces were massed around the Drut river west of the line Orsha - Bykhov, making the original plan of searching for a crossing around Shklov - Mogilev impractical.

4th and 9th Army worked in concert to compress and reduce the Bialystok pocket. By the end of the second week, only a handful of divisions around Slonim remained, meaning that the mass of the infantry were in position to march east, following the path left by the panzers.

In the Ukraine, Southwestern Front deployed a forward defence in Galicia. Heavy fighting raged near Tarnopol, but once the Soviet forces there were broken, the panzers of von Mackensen's III.m. were free to race east, capturing both Tarnopol and Proskurov before making contact with the Romanian armoured division northwest of Mogilev-Podolsky. This means that an estimated amount of 20 divisions of Southwestern Front's 12th and 26th Army are now trapped in Galicia.

In the air war, the Luftwaffe was primarily engaged in ground support operations. Of quite concern are the heavy Bf 109 losses, especially of JG 54 supporting Army Group North's advance. In the battles around Ostrov the JG lost 27 of their fighters, most of which in air combat. The Luftwaffe can't afford regular losses at this scale or otherwise the fighter arm will be exhausted by the time autumn arrives.

German ground losses are still moderate while on the Soviet side the effects of the reduction of the Bialystok pocket are showing.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 4/5/2021 9:42:04 PM

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Turn 3: Breaching the Dnepr

The start of July saw Guderian's panzer group break the Dnepr line in the centre before the Red Army could properly secure it. Aside from the bridgehead near at Zhlobin established the previous week which was expanded slightly, Lemelsen's XXXXVII.m. captured Orsha and secured a solid foothold over the Dnepr, causing a general withdrawal of the Soviet forces in that area towards the Pronya river.

To the north of Orsha, Hoth's Panzer Group 3 encircled a small detachment of Soviet forces near Lepel while capturing the key rail junction at Vitebsk.

4th and 9th Army fully eliminated the Bialystok pocket and began racing eastward to catch up to the panzer spearheads, as Barbarossa moves into its second phase.

In the south, 17th Army began clearing the massive Galician pocket supported by the Hungarians and Romanians, although progress is slow in the face of fierce Soviet resistance. Von Kleist's mobile forces were consolidated for the next push east towards Vinnitsa and Fastov.

Von Leeb's Army Group North secured Pskov the same turn, although the lack of flank cover with the infantry of Busch's 16th Army still south of Rezekne meant that a Soviet push to cut off Panzer Group 4 was nearly successful, coming within 10 miles of it.

The fighting around Pskov while being a German victory came at a tremendous cost for JG 54, which lost 22 Bf-109s in a single battle. Following turn 3, JG 54 is down to 68 fighters, which is a very alarming figure. Luftflotte 1 probably needs to be reinforced with squadrons from Kesselring's Luftflotte 2 to avoid the Soviet air superiority during the approach towards Leningrad.

Overall, Luftwaffe losses this turn amounted to 77 planes compared to 635 for the VVS.

Ground losses were dominated by the battles in the Galician pocket, which contributed to almost 230k Soviet POW along with over 25k dead.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 4/17/2021 9:58:52 AM

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Turn 4: Infantry moves forward

In turn 4 the advance of army groups North and Centre largely slowed down as the were operating far ahead of the infantry divisions and required some rest following 3 weeks of unabated advance.

Around the border region between Latvia and Estonia in the Baltics, L.AK of 18th Army made contact with the numerous Soviet elements holding the Valga - Petseri line, while Wodrig's XXVI.AK outflanked the line to the west pushing towards Tallinn. The preference would be not to spend more than one corps on capturing Estonia, but with the sizeable Soviet forces there it seems that at least two corps will be needed to secure the country for the Axis.

While Guderian's Panzer Group 2 remained largely static in the two Dnepr bridgeheads (which led to a Soviet withdrawal towards the Pronya river), Friedrich Kirchner's LVII.m supported by Ruoff's V.AK broke through Soviet positions between Dretun and Gorodok to the north of Vitebsk and forward elements of 19th Panzer Division captured Velikie Luki. This meant that Soviet armies between the Drissa and Sorot rivers entirely depended on the single track north-south Dno - Nevel rail line. Consequently, the AI pulled the front line back towards the Lovat.

In the Ukraine, 17th Army eliminated most of the Soviet presence around the Dnestr in the Galician pocket. Soviet resistance, however, is still strong. At least 6 divisions are still at large, although these will be left to the Hungarians, Slovakians and Romanians to clear. All in all, while the Galician pocket was a operational success, clearing the pocket is a big hassle considering the initial strength of Southwestern Front's units.

Further east meanwhile, von Kleist's Panzer Group 1 resumed the offensive. After opening a 30-mile wide gap in the Soviet lines in Podolia, the three motorized corps swarmed out and pushed into the rear of the armies of Southwestern Front, capturing Vinnitsa and Zhitomir in the process. However, somehow most of Kirponos' forces managed to extricate themselves without any problems.

At the Romanian front the German-Romanian forces operating under Army Group Antonescu liberated Bessarabia from Soviet occupation as the Soviet Southern Front withdrew east.

German and allied losses are still acceptable on the ground with an additional 20'636 killed, captured or wounded this turn. Soviet losses meanwhile exceeded 1 million as the Galician pocket was slowly being crushed. Soviet AFV losses were especially high at 1'876.

In the air the Luftwaffe still enjoys aerial superiority, although fighter losses in the north is a concern. Luftflotte 1 only has 75 Bf-109s to cover the advance towards Leningrad. Therefore, it's highly likely that one of Kesselring's three JG supporting Army Group Centre will be sent north with some grounds of JG 54 sent back to Germany for rest and refit.

Logistics meanwhile are still holding up. German rail repair is around Daugavpils, Polotsk, Borisov and Tarnopol.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 4/18/2021 6:13:28 PM

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Turn 5: Summer showers

In late July the weather showed itself from the ugly side as the in turn 5 the entirety of the front was covered by rain. It's not exactly the rasputitsa but nevertheless it does not help the German advance east. Especially since the rain is here to stay in the north and south which threatens to throw a wrench into the schedules of army groups North and Centre.

Despite the inclement weather, progress was still made in all parts of the front. In the north, Reinhardt's XXXXI.m. attacked to the west of Pskov and cut off the Soviet forces defending the eastern approaches into Estonia. Von Manstein's LVI.m. meanwhile rested up for the upcoming push north towards the Luga.

Guderian's divisions broke out of their Dnepr bridgeheads, outflanking the Soviet defenders along the Pronya, forcing them to rebuild the line along the Sozh river.

In the Ukraine, Panzer Group 1 captured the key railway junction at Fastov before advancing east along the Dnepr. The eastern bank was undefended, but since a crossing there would serve no operational purpose, no bridgehead was established. With the forces around Uman being outflanked to the north, the AI initiated a general withdrawal. Further south, 11th Army's LIV.AK reached the outskirts of Odessa, but the city contained a sizeable garrison of at least 6 divisions going by the defensive CV displayed, which will necessitate a siege of the city.

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 4/18/2021 6:37:16 PM

loki100

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re the weather.

I've come to the view that light rain/light mud should be the baseline for your planning, regard clear/dry as a bonus

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RE: Return to the East (1941 Campaign vs SOV AI) - 4/22/2021 8:43:09 PM

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Turn 6: Cat and mouse

As the war approaches the end of its second month, the German and Soviet forces were engaged in a cat and mouse game all over the front. In the north, von Manstein's LVI.m. (with the help of 16th and 18th Army's infantry) resumed the offensive after a turn of rest, breaking through Soviet lines between Shelon and Plyussa, leading to a Soviet withdrawal from Pskov.

In the Smolensk area, the big news was Guderian's Panzer Group 2 completing an encirclement of a sizeable Soviet force around the Pronya. While the big bulk of the Red Army's divisions already withdrew from that line the previous turn, around a dozen units were still caught between the German pincers. Hoth's Panzer Group 3 beat its way through well-fortified Soviet units in front of Smolensk and started to siege the city.

Further south, the cat-and-mouse game between the Soviet Southern Front and von Kleist's Panzer Group 1 continued. The German units continued marching east parallel to the Dnepr river, yet again outflanking the Soviet units which were defending the Bug river line. In the face of this threat with German motorized formations rolling into Kirovograd without a fight, the Red Army withdrew behind the Ingul.

At the Black Sea coast, the combined German-Romanian forces cut-off the last land link to Odessa and began preparing for the siege with pioneer and Stug battalions being re-allocated to LIV.AK. Additionally, air assets of Fliegerf�hrer Ostsee were sent south to start interdicting the sea lanes into Odessa.

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