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Raindem -> RE: Curt vs Larry FITE T43 (12/17/2008 4:31:36 AM)
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Soviet Situation, November 1941 -
The mud season has been upon us the last few turns and I've been busy shoring up the lines. I still don't have enough units to put a division in every hex so I have to section up the line and then guess where Larry is going to cross. So far I have not done too well at anticipating his thrust points, and he has succeeded in leveraging some of my best positions. Since I can't defend everywhere, and I can't seem to beat him to the punch, my strategy for the remainder of this campaign season will be to keep a light forward line with heavy reserves backing it up. Once I see him concentrating on a section of the line I'll smother it with reinforcements. Ever since Larry stopped his air interdiction campaign I have been able to rapidly move forces around the battlefield. So for the time being mobility will have to make up for lack of numbers.
In the north I have a solid ring of defensive troops around Leningrad, with strong reserves in the city proper. With the Finns stuck at their stop line I am very confident of holding this city. Larry will most likely encircle it soon since I have only a light screen of security troops to the east. But I have been working on Leningrad's defenses for quite some time and the city is self-sufficient.
In the center the line is more or less straight from Kalinin to Kaluga. It's an easy to defend configuration, but at the same time it does not reveal an obvious axis of attack on Moscow. So once again I'm forced to hold back large reserves and let Larry commit himself.
At Kaluga the line starts to zig-zag and it presents me with difficult defensive decisions. I probably should have withdrawn from the Desna bulge during the mud break, but something compelled me to hold on to that real estate. Then the line turns east and follows the Donetz down to Rostov. This adds about 40% to the frontage and affords Larry all sorts of encirclement opportunities.
My replacement situation is good. Losses have been severe, to be sure, but the Soviet wartime machinery seems to be keeping pace. As for my own offensive intentions I do have a plan in the works right now, but I'm not going to reveal any details at this time. For now I'm content playing defense, and letting a war of attrition slowly tilt the balance to my favor.
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