20th August 1942: The End of German Strength

20th August 1942: The End of German Strength (Full Version)

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the East Series >> After Action Reports

Message

horza66 -> 20th August 1942: The End of German Strength (4/7/2011 5:40:51 PM)
The situation outside Rostov. Of 7 German attacks, 5 are failures. [image]local://upfiles/37435/8DEA9575F55C442AAA3A53B51175C675.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 27th August 1942 (4/7/2011 5:49:03 PM)
Despite their attentuation of power, the Fascists manage to cross the Don, and in sufficient strength to make a counter-attack unlikely to succeed. Such is the weakness in their flanks we start to consider a larger operation. [image]local://upfiles/37435/2A1C4D11DF324B8C9B8EA5D8A7CB6EAF.jpg[/image]

color -> RE: 27th August 1942 (4/12/2011 1:01:53 PM)
How's the nightmare evolving - did Stalingrad fall yet?

Tarhunnas -> RE: 27th August 1942 (4/12/2011 1:15:37 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: color How's the nightmare evolving - did Stalingrad fall yet? Yes, this is exciting! Please keep it up!

horza66 -> RE: 27th August 1942 (4/13/2011 10:53:38 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas quote: ORIGINAL: color How's the nightmare evolving - did Stalingrad fall yet? Yes, this is exciting! Please keep it up! Thanks for the encouragement all. I'm presently in the Siberian gulag as far as internet access goes, but will be back to posting updates in a few days. Stalingrad Will Not Fall!

horza66 -> 9th September 1942 (4/18/2011 5:52:13 PM)
Despite the enemy strength we push them back across the Don. Emboldened by our success we surround the 18th Panzer Division in the Southern front. Our 1st Guards Tank Corps performs well on the attack, but is hammered back on the defence by a Panzer Division with less than 20 tanks to the 1st GTC's 220. Limited counter-attacks are successful wherever the enemy is weak, but he is still able to break open our pockets. [image]local://upfiles/37435/5CBA9B7645944FE9943AB800E808DE6D.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 16th September 1942 (4/18/2011 6:21:09 PM)
The weakened 1st Guards Tank Corps is ignominously routed back from the front line. It was employed as the exploitation arm of the 4th Shock Army, and clearly is too small a unit to fulfil that role. Come the mud, we will perform a radical reorganisation and exansion of our Tank and Shock Armies, concentrating our assets into offensive arms. Many of our Tank Corps have organised Guards status now, operating as local mobile reserves and gaining much needed experience in the process - employed en masse we may be able to conduct some large scale offensives in the coming Winter. [image]local://upfiles/37435/5388E6090FBA47748A95C56FBBFF31F2.jpg[/image]

molchomor -> RE: 16th September 1942 (4/18/2011 7:06:01 PM)
Interesting battle. Finnish engineer battalions attacking in the far south ?!

horza66 -> RE: 16th September 1942 (4/18/2011 10:40:22 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: molchomor Interesting battle. Finnish engineer battalions attacking in the far south ?! I've seen those Finnish support units in a surprising number of battles. I'm not sure how they can get into AGS's roster really.

horza66 -> 23rd September 1942: The Weak Underbelly (4/19/2011 6:08:14 PM)
For many weaks the Fascists have employed their Romanian allies in futile attempts at fighting toward Sevastopol. The Coastal Army is now stronger than many Shock Armies, with many Guards Rifle Corps, and their superiority to the Romanian formations is astonishing. A fresh Tank Army will be formed and transferred here in time for the Winter offensive. [image]local://upfiles/37435/6B2356CB38554162AE9A2E6884881646.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 1st October 1942: The Balance of Power Shifts (4/23/2011 5:11:31 PM)
As the mud approaches we are conducting more counter-attacks than the Fascists, and they are far more successful. Our attriting of the German units has borne fruit - a Panzer Division now contains barely half of the tanks of a Soviet Tank Brigade. [image]local://upfiles/37435/ED44A32315514B4392ABC1A7B6D87567.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 15th October 1942: Slow Motion War (4/23/2011 5:38:13 PM)
With the attrition of his units in the South the Fascists left an incomplete line in the quiet Northern sector. We have prepared for the last several weeks to conduct an offensive in the mud, and the enemy attempt to block the threatened pockets with security detachments rather than withdraw. [image]local://upfiles/37435/0D91167AED1C42329140C4DA81A315A0.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 29th October 1942 (4/23/2011 5:43:14 PM)
Mile by mile we force columns forward into the mire, threatening to create several pockets, but the Germans stubbornly refuse to withdraw from their fortresses. [image]local://upfiles/37435/5241E0F395114F1CAC6212B54809141D.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 12th November 1942 (4/23/2011 6:17:48 PM)
The snow arrives in the North and we get a mixed bag of results. One successful envelopment, with a Tank Corps holding ground against relief efforts, the prospect of a further pocket developing, and a complete disaster on the final pocket with the leading forces pocketed themselves. We face the prospect of losing our first full formations since 1941 in exchange for a fairly equivalent number of German divisions. [image]local://upfiles/37435/671396AAC5614411B1BF3978D16B068E.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 19th November 1942: Crossed Swords (4/23/2011 6:27:13 PM)
One guard division and two infantry divisions are destroyed. The two German divisions threaten to break free as four more fail to break their own fresh encirclement. [image]local://upfiles/37435/D4ECBE10506E4ABCAE6BB9FDCBAE0FBB.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 26th November 1942 (4/23/2011 6:54:31 PM)
The cut and thrust continues as we begin to withdraw the participiating Tank Corps. The offensive is a failure in any significant terms, but has achieved its main objective - testing the enemy reserves and counter-offensive abilities in the winter of 42-43. Undoubtedly he can still hit back, but not in any overwhelming fashion. Our offensives in the South and the Crimea that will open on the 1st of December will be on a far larger scale, and should be able to absorb the counter-punches with we have seen thrown here. [image]local://upfiles/37435/A74CBB39DDF6486D81E22351EF68BB09.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 3rd December 1942: Thrust and Counter-thrust (4/25/2011 6:42:40 PM)
In the first week of our attempt to break out of the Crimea we drive the Romanians back twenty miles, only for a Hungarian Army to drive us back ten, demonstrating again that our Tank Corps continue to find holding ground difficult. However we have enough reserves to continuously attack, allowing damaged Tank Corps to recover and re-enter the battle without slowing the offensive. [image]local://upfiles/37435/5154F64698E14B31935A18904758C733.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 10th December 1942: Trading Blows (4/25/2011 6:50:03 PM)
There is a great bulge in the line, created by the failed drive on Stalingrad. The enemy staffed a great length of the northern shoulder with an Italian Army which we promptly drove in at the beginning of December. We are thrown back in part, but again the enemy line is weak, and many of his reserve panzer formations are exposed, rather than hitting and retreating. Our tank losses are heavy, but only a fraction of what we produce each week. His are constantly reducing. [image]local://upfiles/37435/D565BF92673C4159A31AC4DDB9EA2519.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 17th December 1942: Collapse in the Crimea (4/25/2011 7:00:47 PM)
With no depth of reserve to draw on, the Fascist resistance in the Crimea collapses after only three weeks. We aim to pocket and destroy any forces in the East of the peninsula, and seek to exploit into the interior if the Fascists fail to get a strategic reserve in place to close the landbridge. [image]local://upfiles/37435/59595BAFBE774F7792D913C44DFEA616.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 24th December 1942 (4/28/2011 9:07:03 PM)
The offensive outside Saratov has been a war of attrition, with the 1st and 3rd Shock Armies backed by the 4th Tank Army trading blows with an array of local Fascist reserves. However those reserves are now also at their limit - all attempts to force our troops back fail. [image]local://upfiles/37435/ED3944FA198F4663B26BA5A44DC8AEC1.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 31st December 1942 (4/28/2011 9:21:12 PM)
The Stalingrad Bulge is too huge to reduce into a single pocket, but we decide to drive a second column into the Southern shoulder using the 4th Shock and 1st Tank Armies. Our leading units are forced back once again by hiis local reserves, but experience suggests they will run out strength within two or three weeks. [image]local://upfiles/37435/5BF66D0B79974E56A11CD6964374517B.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 7th January 1943 (4/28/2011 9:26:38 PM)
The column driven into the Northern shoulder begins to yield genuine possibilities for exploitation. The failed attack conducted against the head of the column is conducted by a panzer division without a single tank. [image]local://upfiles/37435/704F69B95C834562AAA4D741D5FAAEE6.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 14th January 1943 (4/28/2011 9:33:00 PM)
The Southern column beats off three weak attacks as the Fascists make yet another doomed attempt on Stalingrad. [image]local://upfiles/37435/377F8A9E2F074593B201158F7F9B1519.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 21st January 1943 (4/28/2011 9:53:32 PM)
The only response to the threat posed by our northern column are a series of failed attacks at the flank. A mixed bag of infantry divisions are ready to be pocketed. [image]local://upfiles/37435/E98D9FB1F76B46F5880B6271934005E1.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 28th January 1943 (5/5/2011 2:29:46 PM)
The breakout from the Crimea is successful, with 3 armies, 1 Shock Army and 1 Tank Army facing a handful of Rumanian, Hungarian and Security divisions. [image]local://upfiles/37435/4A44C0A742D7420E9FB841CF3A1484A4.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 4th February 1943 (5/5/2011 2:34:31 PM)
Eight enemy divisions are pocketed in front of Stalingrad. Our largest success since the winter of '41, and a measure of the enemy's relative weakness and failure to withdraw from hopeless positions. [image]local://upfiles/37435/781DD87D5B694008971B73C5F9F72ADE.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 25th February 1943 (5/5/2011 2:45:46 PM)
By the end of February we are in the position that the Rifle and Tank Corps in our Shock and Tank Armies can make slow but steady progress wherever they are employed. This is insufficient - the Russian people demand that we bring this war to a conclusion before 1945. If we are to throw the invader back onto his own soil we must be able to open offensives hundreds of miles wide. [image]local://upfiles/37435/B2B7609764B54802971E4B36C5E8E174.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 11th March 1943: Arrival of the 2nd SS Panzer Korps (5/5/2011 2:52:12 PM)
The first serious response to our breakout from the Crimea, and the first sight of full strength German Panzer Divisions since the winter began. The 2nd SS Panzer Korps arrive, but fail to make an immediate attacks. Appearently the mere sight of them is meant to unnerve us. [image]local://upfiles/37435/D8D993A597D746CA8D0BF6DEC7BCCE51.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 18th March 1943: Destruction of the 2nd SS Panzer Korps (5/5/2011 2:57:42 PM)
The strongest divisions in the enemy order of battle are pocketed and destroyed in a matter of only two weeks. To seal the victory the commanding general, Hausser, is killed as he attempts to flee the field. [image]local://upfiles/37435/C03B7512808E41B3BDD467D517E87F28.jpg[/image]

horza66 -> 13th May 1943: The Beginning of the End (5/5/2011 3:06:10 PM)
The frontline in front of Rostov at the beginning of the thaw. The entire line from Rostov to Stalingrad is staffed by Rifle Corps. Shock and Tank Armies are held in reserve to exploit the results of a 200 mile wide rent in the enemy line. We will use the internittent good weather to our advantage. Until now we have steadily attrited the enemy units - in this campaign season we will concentrate on unit destruction. The occasional bouts of mud will merely ensure pockets cerated in the good weather will hold against counter-attacks. [image]local://upfiles/37435/915AA2482CA1449F8DAE10165D8AA0FD.jpg[/image]

Page: << < prev 1 2 3 [4] 5 next > >>

Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

1.578125