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BletchleyGeek -> RE: Clash of Steel: 1941-1945: Q-Ball vs Bletchley_Geek (1/10/2012 8:57:07 AM)
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Turn 57 - 16th July 1942
Q-Ball has done something unexpected: he's stopped the offensive. Several reasons might be possible, but certainly it wasn't because of my counterattacks. My best guess is that he's regrouping and preparing the assault on Moscow, from the looks of the massive concentration of German infantry just west of Rzhev.
Operational Situation Report
Q-Ball has a lot of infantry east of Rzhev, nearly the equivalent of two field armies
[image]http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/6033/t57rzhevsitrep.png[/image]
or in words, six infantry ArmeeKorps. Air recon hasn't revealed any German motorized units in the area, although they could well move into position to strike in one or two turns. It's likely that all this infantry is meant to pin – and even breakthrough they still pack some serious punch – significant forces in this sector, while his motorized formations grind to dust the defense lines I've laid along the Tula – Moscow axis. If his infantry turns out to be very successful, I don't think he'll have much of a problem directing a PanzerArmee to exploit any breakthroughs.
The massive bulge that Q-Ball forces have forced into my frontlines remains more or less the same
[image]http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/9320/t57tulabulgesitrep.png[/image]
though I'm seeing signs that he wants to disengage his motorized units from the Voronezh – Lipetsk – Ryazan axis, to use them to the north. I see my hand being forced here: I need to keep here the pressure to startle him enough to leave some motorized reserves watching this sector.
Q-Ball is clearly trying to disengage from the Caucasus, he's left here just one PanzerKorps
[image]http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2670/t57caucasus.png[/image]
last turn attacks here turned out to be a quite a mixed bag, with more failure than success. Perhaps this has made him to feel too comfortable south of the Don. I'll try to make clear that he's not welcomed to stay here.
Logistics & Organization
It's remarkable, but the strength levels of the Red Army remain stable even in the face of dwindling manpower and massive casualties. The number of Rifle Divisions in the Red Army OOB has gone down by a net amount of 14. If I include the brigades and corps lost, this number raises to 23 divisions. The first phase of Q-Ball offensive has been a huge victory by any measure.
Operations
Not much worth commenting on detail. I've kept the pressure on the Caucasus – though I just managed to launch a couple attacks there due to high fatigue levels and low MP's – and concentrated Transcaucasus Front for the offensive. I'm trying to lure Q-Ball into thinking that I'm actually pretending to charge frontally at his positions there
[image]http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2208/t57caucasusops.png[/image]
but my real intention is to slide Northern Caucasus Front to the west, and insert more Transcaucasus forces in the line. I sort of expect that Q-Ball retires behind the Don rather than holding and welcoming the opportunity to do battle. If he holds, I attack and I'll cause some damage he may or may not afford.
I escalate in the Valyuki-Starobelsk sector and I decide to initiate a long-term offensive operation with the two cities as the objective
[image]http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9682/t57valyukistarobelskop.png[/image]
6th Army – which I brought here last turn – has established contact with the Axis troops and will attack next turn. I've also kept pressing towards Starobelsk and brought Southern Front motorized reserve – this Front isn't going to need those for the time being – in order to keep banging at these Axis allies. Depending on what Q-Ball does next turn, I will bring 4th Shock Army here as well, which I took to the Tambov region when Voronezh Front collapsed.
The 1942 Battle for Moscow is joined for as much as I concerned. I'm covering the river lines and making sure Q-Ball can't get too far behind my front
[image]http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/7397/t57moscowops.png[/image]
I'm so concentrated here that my deployment is starting to degenerate into a meat carpet, something which is bad. As I accumulate more AP's I'll eventually sort out my command & control situation and adopt a more flexible deployment supported on Reserve mechanics.
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