cain012
Posts: 17
Joined: 12/27/2021 Status: offline
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Turn 2: A Mixed Bag First, I moved several fighter groups from the Luftflottes to forward airbases that could be supplied, in addition to as many of the shorter-range recon aircraft in the army Koluft formations. I set air directives to scour the whole immediate front, with Luftflotte 1 handling the area near Pskov, Luftflotte 2 looking just ahead of Army Group Center (to see if any avenues have been left open, especially to see if there is a gap near Gomel), and Luftflotte 4 examining the space between 1st Panzer Group's spearhead and the Romanians. For my trouble, I lost 353 aircraft, with over 2/3rds of those losses coming from flak. At this rate my recon force will be shredded within a turn or two. I almost don't even want to escort the recon planes next turn, as there were zero air combat losses, so I'm just losing fighters for nothing. I'm not sure how to handle subsequent recon flights--it appears flak is getting the better of quite a lot of folks, so any tips are appreciated. In any case, here is the situation facing Army Group North: Army Group Center: and Army Group South. It also looks like, as suspected, a lot of divisions are currently stashed in the Pripyat Marshes. However, this leads me to the first problem with my strategy of bagging a giant Kiev pocket...there appear to be several divisions sitting astride many of the crossing points along the Berezina and the Dniepr in front of 2nd Panzer Group. Even if one or two of my divisions are able to get down the apparent gap at Rogachev, they wouldn't have enough points to get all the way to Gomel until turn 3, at which point the intention would be obvious and the units would be moved. The terrain there is very swampy, and the triple river crossings on that road sap every division of their points even once the road is clear. If a division is hiding on that road, the whole rush to Gomel (and to Chernigov) will be scuppered and Panzer Group 2 will be stuck down there. But first thing's first before attacking: Romanian Admin I do something a little different than is the norm, from what I can tell: 4th Romanian Army has a lot of units all over the front, and some of them (like the fortress units) are useless for anything but pocket clearing (if that). The fortress brigades don't even have enough movement points to get over the border this turn. Whereas, 3rd Romanian Army has quite a few nice Mountain Brigades that can hold their own in combat, while 11th Army is totally overloaded command-point wise with other Romanian infantry formations. So, what I do is leave southern Romania totally undefended for a turn, and move 3rd Romanian Army from the northern border to the eastern border. IV Romanian Corps, a part of 4th Romanian Army and with zero divisions attached at turn start, gets put into 3rd Romanian Army and I fill it up with the Romanian divisions from 11th Army till there's no more room in either this or the Mountain Corps. The other formations of 4th Romanian Army get moved north, while the spare 11th Army Romanian formations close to the southern edge of the pocket I'm about to form split into regiments and line up along that edge, after being attached to whatever 4th Rom. Army corps is handy. Meanwhile, 11th Army gets a small "infantry motorization regime" to help it pocket some of the South-Western Front forces facing it, and close a pocket with panzers from 1st Panzer Group's spearhead. The other formations begin moving south to position the whole army for the assault on Odessa. 11th Army will thus take the southern flank of Barbarossa, while 3rd Romanian Army is intended to hold the middle below 6th Army until 17th Army can catch up. Once 4th Romanian Army is done helping clear the big Polish/Ukrainian pocket in the south, it rejoins 3rd where hopefully I can start stacking Romanians so they don't rout and are useful in combat. 1st Panzer Group seals the pocket Now that 11th Army has scooted around the openings scored by the hasty Romanian attacks on the weak security regiments and rifle divisions to the east, 1st Panzer Group (now five corps strong with one panzer corps from 2nd PzG and an infantry corps) makes its moves. XIV Panzer Corps might have gotten a bit misused, clearing divisions directly to the east of the spearhead rather than venturing north or south. However, I wanted the spearhead units to have maximum freedom and be able to concentrate for a drive on Kiev. In the end, I think it ended up fine: I linked up with the Romanians and approached the gates of Kiev while capturing Vinnitsa and Zhitomir. There is therefore a chance that I can get around Kiev to the south on turn 3 and drive north for Chernigov instead of mucking about to the west of Kiev trying to take the swampy roads and river crossings through the marshlands. It is unlikely that the corps I sent north will be cut off as they flipped a lot of hexes. 2nd Panzer Group's plans botched However, I ran into definite trouble with the comparable approach for 2nd Panzer Group. I sent elements of XXIV Panzerkorps forward down the road to Rogachev looking to see if the Russians left the Dniepr crossing unguarded. They did not. Three divisions, including a mechanized division, are sitting there. There's no chance of a clean drive to Gomel with those divisions there and the six unknown formations directly to the north. 2nd Panzer Group will have to try to punch through near the airborne brigade near Mogilev and see if it can cross the Dniepr further north, and take advantage of the more open terrain and north-south road network there. Here is the result: a pocket around Mogilev, and at least a few divisions across the Dniepr, with a panzer division holding steady to exploit any shift away from the Rogachev road. To seal the pocket to the east, I had to detach a panzer division from 3rd Panzer Group. Good thing I didn't try to punch through at Rogachev, as a rifle division is sitting right on the road behind the Dniepr. The pocket is weak, and may be broken, but at least it'll cause some shifts hopefully. Things were more successful in the north. 4th and 3rd Panzer Group are going to work together to isolate Smolensk while 2nd Panzer Group tries to find a way to Chernigov. New pockets were formed, Vitebsk surrounded, and Velikie Luki is close by. However, there is a risk that by totally ignoring the Soviets masses around Pskov, that 4th Panzer Group will get hit in the flank before 16th Army or X Corps can catch up. Let's hope the Russians don't get aggressive too early. The pockets here are fairly weak as well... Ground losses for turn 2: Once again, I've kept AFV losses low, which is good. However, a lot of my Romanians are in contact with the Soviets, so I expect some attrition next turn... Thanks for reading! Once again, any and all pointers or comments are appreciated! I'm really trying to set myself up for a successful winter and 1942.
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