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Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI

 
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Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/4/2022 7:41:24 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		This is an AAR on "The Destruction of Southwestern Front" Scenario. I play as Axis against Soviet AI at difficulty 110, and with Fog of War ON.
(Game ver from 1.02.13 to 1.02.15)

The Overall Plan

I have a rough overall plan, as illustrated in the attached pic -
(a) in the north, the 6th Army will proceed towards Rovno first, then Kiev, and finally Kharkov;
(b) in the centre, the Panzer Group 1 (1PzG) will proceed along the dual track rail from Lvov, towards Vinnitsa, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk, Stalino and finally Rostov. The fast-moving motorized units can branch either north or south to form pockets where opportunities arise; and
(c) in the South, the 11th Army will be responsible for Odessa and then the Sevastopol fortress.

In view of the name of the scenario, I plan to form pockets whenever I see the chance, aiming to destroy as many Soviet units as possible. On the down side, reducing pockets takes time and may possibly slow down the advance towards Rostov.

I will adopt an approach of using panzer/armored units mainly in maneuvering, avoiding direct combat. I think this could preserve the number of tanks, and in turn the strength of these units. If attack by panzer units is really needed, I will try to confine the attack on small and weak enemies (eg. security regiments, airborne brigades). I plan to report at end of each Turn of this AAR how good I can adhere to this approach.






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< Message edited by jlbhung -- 2/4/2022 9:50:09 AM >
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The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/4/2022 7:43:14 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 1 Air Phase

My T1 Air Phase was all about bombing airfields to destroy as many Soviet aircrafts as possible, while minimizing Axis aircraft losses. In this scenario, every 3 Axis/10 Soviet aircraft losses mean 1 victory point (VP) for the other side. For a minor victory (1.1x Soviet VP), the loss of 3 Axis aircraft (1 VP) has to be balanced by 11 Soviet aircraft destroyed; for a major victory (2x Soviet VP), it has to be balanced by at least 2 VP gain (= 20 Soviet aircraft destroyed). To prevent bombers from annihilated by Soviet fighters, I prefer all airfield bombing missions to be fully escorted.

To extend fighters’ escort coverage, Drop Tanks were equipped where available. Some fighter air groups, in particular JG77 and Rumanian planes, were also rebased forward.

More and smaller bombs were selected as the Load Out for bombers, hoping that more enemy aircrafts could be destroyed in one bombing mission. Screenshot below shows examples of aircraft Load Out.





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RE: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/4/2022 7:45:45 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 1 Air Phase (cont.)

A total of 28 airfields were targeted for bombing. An Air Directive was set for each airfield targeted. This allows the selection of different staging air bases for each bombing mission, so that more airfields could be attacked within the limited range of fighter escorts. Screenshot shows a typical Air Directive for the attack on airfield at (188,174). Some parts highlighted –

(a) Schedule: attack on Day 1 (note: special advantage for attack on 22 Jun 41, see Manual Ch 11);
(b) Strike num: I leave it to auto. While the bracketed number suggested that AI plans to attack twice, I think the AI will auto-adjust in the execution. As shown the red square in Part B of the screenshot, only one raid was actually conducted for this mission;
(c) Min AC(Esc): I arbitrarily set a minimum of 10 bombers and 10 escorts (the number in bracket) for each mission. AI will abort the mission if min aircrafts cannot be met. This will prevent unescorted bombing mission;
(d) Req AC(Esc): I leave it to auto. I have no better knowledge than the AI in setting this number. Actual aircrafts flown in this mission were 48 bombers and 44 escorts (see light green circle in Part B of the screenshot);
(e) Partial escort: I set it to NO. Escorts must cover the whole range of the mission.





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RE: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/4/2022 7:46:56 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 1 Air Phase Result

The result of the airfield bombings – 1,723 kills vs 43 Axis losses





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RE: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/4/2022 7:48:39 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 1 Action Phase

Referring to the screenshot -

1. In the north (blue circle), a small pocket containing 7 Soviet units was formed with the assistance of a panzer division, broken down to regiments.

2. In the centre (black arrow), the progress of 1PzG is not very good. Tarnopol was still in Soviet hands. This may be due to the diversion of one panzer div north and other panzer div south to form pockets. I saw in some other AARs 1PzG could reach even Proskurov.

3. The dual track rail leading to Lvov and beyond was cleared (the red line) so that early repair could be carried out. This will facilitate supply to support future advance of 1PzG. Elements of the 17A also isolated 4 Soviet units in the Lvov area.

4. In the south (the green circle), a small pocket containing 4 Soviet units was formed with the help of another panzer division, broken down to regiments.

Units further south were frozen and not shown in the screenshot.

I adhere to my adopted approach of not using Panzer divisions/regiments to make attack this turn.







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RE: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/4/2022 11:19:24 PM   
GFelz

 

Posts: 479
Joined: 8/27/2010
From: Canada
Status: offline 		Thank you for making this AAR. I am looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

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Post #: 6
RE: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs Sov AI - 2/5/2022 9:56:13 AM   
loki100


Posts: 10920
Joined: 10/20/2012
From: Utlima Thule
Status: offline 		agree, really useful and a nice resource for new players

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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 3:43:17 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Thank you GFelz and loki100 for your interest in this AAR. My tentative plan is to update a turn every 2-3 days.

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Post #: 8
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 3:44:27 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 2 - Air Phase

I started air recon missions this turn. Screenshot shows a typical Air Directive setting (see red box). Some highlights –

(a) Schedule: flying 2 days (fewer days – fewer operational losses, lower recon effectiveness);
(b) Altitude: 22000ft (higher – fewer flak losses, lower recon effectiveness);
(c) Min/Req AC(Esc): set aircrafts required for a mission to 4 for German, or 6 for Axis minor with less experience (fewer aircrafts – fewer operational/flak losses, lower recon eff);
(d) Since only recon aircrafts are assigned (see blue box), settings regarding escorts are mostly irrelevant, as long as the min escort number is set to 0 (otherwise no recon mission flown).

This setting is a compromise developed in playing earlier versions where flak and operational losses were high. It gives reasonable recon with acceptable losses.

The recon missions do not have escorts. I think the small number of mission aircrafts helps to avoid enemy air interception.







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< Message edited by jlbhung -- 2/6/2022 9:49:02 AM >

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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 3:45:22 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 2 - Recon Results

A total of 13 Recon Air Directives were conducted with 12 aircrafts lost (8 flak and 4 operational). Not too bad with the introduction of v.1.02.13, for previously versions I would expect some 20-40 losses for similar recon activities.

Screenshot shows enemy units before (top) and after recon (bottom) for some of the Recon missions for easy comparison. The result seems acceptable as many enemy units were detected. Also of interest is what this screenshot reveals – behind the frontline the route from Tarnopol through Proskurov to Vinnitsa is lightly defended only with forts (I guess they are the weak battalion size type).






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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 3:46:18 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 2 - Action Phase (Part 1)

Isolated pockets formed last turn were cleared, destroying 10 Soviet divisions (smaller units not counted). Over 94k Soviet soldiers captured/killed at a minimal cost of just 650 men (see screenshot).




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 3:47:26 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 2 - Action Phase (Part 2)

Referring to the screenshot –

1. The dual track rail from Lvov to Vinnitsa was occupied (blue arrow). Vinnitsa was the first Victory Point city taken.

2. A pocket with the city Stanislav at the centre formed with the assistance of units located in Rumania (black arrow). Elements of the German 11A first broke a hole in the Soviet frontline, and two Rumanian cavalry brigades also took part in the exploration afterwards.

3. Another pocket formed with contributions from units in Rumania (red arrow). Let’s call it the “Podolia pocket”. A hole was torn open mainly by the German 11A, and then explored by mobile Rumanian units (an armored division, later broken into 3 regiments, plus 2 cavalry brigades).

4. Several enemy units not identified in recon were encountered by troops on ground (units circled in green). Maybe the recon setting needs refinement.




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 3:48:54 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 2 - Action Phase (Part 3)

Screenshot shows the overall end of turn position. There was not much progress in the southern part of the Rumanian Border.

In this turn, a German panzer regiment and a Rumanian armored regiment attacked fort battalions in order to close a pocket. Other than these two attacks on very weak units, there were no attack involving armored units.





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Post #: 13
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/6/2022 12:54:54 PM   
Stamb

 

Posts: 1030
Joined: 10/26/2021
Status: offline 		I think that it might be useful to use interdiction at maximum while also setting unit on lvl 2 or 3 in a recon mission. Probably you don't care about railways/railyards and etc. At least I do so.
Other than that - GL and thanks for AAR!

< Message edited by Stamb -- 2/6/2022 12:55:35 PM >

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Post #: 14
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/7/2022 7:43:49 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Thank you Stamb, in particular for your suggestions on unit recon.

As to the part regarding railway/railyards, I'm not too sure if you are referring to recon or my rail depots.

On the former, I think recon on rail/railyard is probably more useful for the Soviet side in 41', to facilitate bombing of Axis rail/railyards to hinder their supply and advance.

On the latter, I will share my rail repair plan and rail depot locations in the AAR for the next turn.



< Message edited by jlbhung -- 2/7/2022 7:49:35 AM >

(in reply to Stamb)
Post #: 15
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/7/2022 8:47:24 AM   
Stamb

 

Posts: 1030
Joined: 10/26/2021
Status: offline 		I am talking about air recon settings, like here:



You use highest priority for INTERDICT, while leaving all other settings at 0.
I think it might be useful to use INTERDICT at maximum, while setting UNIT for 2 or 3.

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Post #: 16
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/7/2022 9:43:04 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Thank you Stamb for the elaboration. I got it now.

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Post #: 17
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 3:49:31 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 - Air Phase

Screenshot shows the 4 recon Air Directives planned this turn. The missions are launched to specifically support the following two ground initiatives -

1. to keep up momentum, 1PzG plans to advance northeast towards Kiev along the dual track rail; and

2. to take Zhitomir this turn. If Zhitomir falls, next turn motorized units could move north quickly along the road path towards the map’s northern edge, isolating any soviets units locating to the west.

No other recon was planned because the remaining ground efforts will be focused in reducing the Stanislav and Podolia pockets.

For a typical recon Air Directive, I increased the required aircrafts to gain better recon (from 4 to 6 for German aircrafts, from 6 to 8 for Axis minors - see an example in the red box at the top-left corner).






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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 3:50:40 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 - Recon Results

Screenshot shows the recon results. A plan was formulated based on the intelligence gathered (see red arrows).

Five aircrafts were lost in the 4 recon missions. I made a mistake in not manually assign air groups for one of the Air Directives. As a result the AI flew escorts and one fighter was lost (see the green boxes in the screenshot). In my view, flying escorts for small recon missions is not cost-effective. In the long run it is possible to lose more escorts than recon planes saved from potential enemy interception.




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 3:52:20 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 - Action Phase (Part 1)

Screenshot shows the northern part of the map –

1. The 6th Army (6A) advanced without meeting any resistance. Rovno was occupied uncontested. Is the Soviet AI retreating from this sector?

2. Execution of the plan formulated based on recon results (see my last post) was perfect. Only four battles fought. No undetected enemy units popped up in the area southwest of Kiev.




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 3:54:08 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 - Action Phase (Part 2)

In the centre, efforts were concentrated in consolidating and reducing the Stanislav and Podolia pockets –

1. Infantry units were brought forward to strengthen the eastern side of the Podolia pocket (re: red line).

2. Disappointment - the northern half of the Podolia pocket had no enemy units (re: blue circle).

A total of 13 Soviet divisions (smaller units not counted) were destroyed in the two pockets this turn.




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 3:55:54 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 - Action Phase (Part 3)

Nearby the Rumanian border south of the city Kishinev, the Rumanian 4th Army (4A) and elements of German 11A advanced without any resistance.



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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 4:15:21 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 - End of the Turn Report

(a) Originally I thought I had not made any attack using panzer/armored units this turn. However, checking the Commander Report revealed that a panzer regiment was unintentionally included in a deliberate attack by a co-locating motorized regiment on a Soviet Rifle Division. Luckily the panzer regiment lost no AFVs in the battle.

(b) The losses of/upto Turn 3 were shown in the screenshot.






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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/8/2022 4:16:23 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 3 – Depots, Rail Repair Plan

Screenshot shows the current depots and illustrates my rail repair plan -

1. The main rail repair job will be the responsibility of the German unit “FBD1” (at centre). The plan is to follow 1PzG and carry out repair along the double track rail leading from Lvov towards Vinnitsa, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk and Stalino. At the end of Turn 3, FBD1 already repaired past the city Tarnopol. I found that FBD1 can repair up to 8 hexes of damaged rail in friendly hexes if terrain and weather are good. With that speed it will have no problem in keeping up with 1PzG.

2. As auxiliary, the 34 Corps HQ (in the north) was spared to command the only two rail repair support units (SUs) – the K12 RAD Labor Detachment and V RAD Labor Group. The short term plan is to repair a rail link to the town Kovel so that I can create a depot there, to improve supply in the Pripyat Marshes area.

3. In the south, the short term target for 1st RUM Rail Command is to repair the rail through Kishinev to the town Tiraspol (black arrow), so that a depot could be created there to support the assault on Odessa. Afterwards, the RUM Rail Command will repair the rail along the blue arrows.





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< Message edited by jlbhung -- 2/18/2022 7:36:43 AM >

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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/10/2022 3:39:03 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 4 - Recon Results and Action Planning

I had a very good Air Phase this turn, losing only 1 aircraft while flying 8 Recon Air Directives.

Screenshot shows the frontline situation after air recon. The air recon areas covered are where I intend to take actions. With the intelligence gathered on ground and from air, plans for Action Phase were drawn up –

1. 1PzG will strike north towards the map edge (blue arrow). The goal is to cut off all Soviet units to the west of 1PzG’s path. There was a cluster of Soviet units to the east of the striking path near the map edge. They will not be included in the pocket because if I shift the striking path to the east, 1PzG will have to face the difficult terrains circled in blue (with swamps, heavy woods and a major river).

2. In the Centre, infantry will advance to seemingly undefended areas. There is no intention to initiate any combat.

3. In the South, east of Kishinev, troops will attempt to cross the major river.

4. Efforts will also be spent in reducing the three pockets circled in red.





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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/10/2022 3:42:26 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 4 - Action Phase (Part 1)

As shown in the screenshot, a pocket was formed in the Volhynia area with elements of 6A in the west and south, elements of 1PzG in the east, and the map edge in the north. Axis troops were just one hex away from completely closing the pocket (the red circle).

The pocket was formed without many combats - only four substantive battles (battle sites circled in blue). The other two surrender flag sites involved removal of just very weak fort battalions.




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/10/2022 3:43:57 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 4 - Action Phase (Part 2)

Reducing the three pockets formed in Turn 2 and Turn 3 destroyed 16 Soviet Divisions (smaller units not counted).




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/10/2022 3:47:50 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Turn 4 - Action Phase (Part 3)

Screenshot shows the end of turn position. Some highlights –

1. In the north, within the area between Kiev and Vinnisa (the red circle), there were 3 panzer divisions and 3 motorized brigades with infantry support. Next turn, they have the potential to launch a breakthrough somewhere, preferably in the direction of the dual track rail leading east. Support can also be expected from mobile units forming the eastern wall of the Volhynia pocket, as I plan to use infantry to replace them (the broken red arrow).

2. In the centre (the blue circle), Rumanian mobile units were assembled (1 armored division and 4 cavalry brigades). With support from infantry of German 11A, these mobile units could either move north or south (the blue arrows) with the potential of forming new pockets.

3. Further south (the black circle), only two German infantry divisions managed to cross the major river to the east of Kishinev this turn. Crossing the major river was more difficult than I envisaged. A lot of movement points were required because the Soviet had the river bank covered by zone of control of its units.

Separately, this turn I adhered to my adopted approach of not using any panzer/armored units to make attack.




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RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/10/2022 9:04:19 PM   
Hardradi


Posts: 571
Joined: 2/9/2011
Status: offline 		Nicely presented AAR Looking forward to see how your map mod stacks up in the light and heavy mud.

(in reply to jlbhung)
Post #: 29
RE: Scenario: The Destruction of Southwestern Front vs ... - 2/11/2022 8:01:17 AM   
jlbhung

 

Posts: 280
Joined: 3/10/2021
Status: offline 		Thank you Hardradi for your compliment. Light mud will appear starting from Turn 9. However, there will be no heavy mud to be seen in this game.

I am now playing WitE2 for scenarios only and playing WitE1 for campaign game (pending a more refined WitE2 before committing the time). I can only find the following image showing both light mud (light brown hexes) and heavy mud (brown hexes in red circle at top right hand corner) from my saves for a Road to Leningrad game playing the Soviet side.




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