RE: Soviet Reserves (Full Version)

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



Message

ComradeP -> RE: Soviet Reserves (12/3/2011 3:28:14 PM)

A quality unit in level 1-2 forts in a light woods hex will probably be enough to slow him down for a turn in the Moscow area, although it depends on his CV's. I guess he'll move units to the frontline on the last snow turn, so you can determine whether to fall back or not based on how scary his CV's are.

At this point, one of your main worries should be that your defenses from Orel to Belgorod are manned by units that will be more than happy to run all the way to their countries of origin as soon as the Soviets give them 1 angry look in the blizzard. This is, again, just meant as an FYI, not as a complaint about your dispositions. With a frontline like that, it's almost inevitable that the minor Axis will be at the frontline somewhere.

You could, for example, relocate 6th Army there so you at least have some German forces in the area.



heliodorus04 -> Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:26:19 PM)

Hopefully this doesn’t induce seizures in my readership, but I’m going South to North this time, simply because the south is where the action is. Crimea first:


[image]local://upfiles/30405/FDBB5794474541088686A2521539E5FF.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:26:49 PM)

As the eastern demarcation line was basically reached, I brought an FBD back and will be building toward the SW over the winter. Some Romanians are digging. You can see the basic outlay of my semi-isolation at Taganrog Bay, but more on that later. I acquired a lot more ground to give back. His divisions on the Crimea are painfully low on resources, so I’ll keep hitting them if they dare stay close.

It’s still very fragile, and I will have to find some backup here. This is such an exposed position, as well, to the elements. I plan on bringing 2 or 3 more German divisions here, and perhaps the Hungarian Mountain brigade. BTW, I barely caught a unit withdrawing next turn in time, from leaving with a pioneer and a stug SU… I so rarely got this far you forget this stuff matters a lot.



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:27:15 PM)

The rest of the south-south:

[image]local://upfiles/30405/5E7A7FEF9D394081A6B806651749A41E.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:28:47 PM)

The Wehrmacht finds the ribbon-wrapped 1st Guards Division, and prepares a special welcome for them to the Eastern Front... I consider it a good omen that the first Guards unit I find is "1.guards". Reinforces my hope that he has very few guards after my summer campaign.


[image]local://upfiles/30405/5457316B3B814F2F997F924D03A25BB4.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:29:07 PM)

I took no real risk in terms of getting myself caught in a bad supply state in his turn. He has an escape route, it will take him more than his turn to extract all of them, and I intend to crash south and west on him like a tide, and to keep going west to safer positions, leaving tank tracks in the ice. Elsewhere, while I drove to the edge of the cities, taking them seems of little consequence at this point (they will make for a wonderful spring prize).

Further north, once my gains reached the crest, any other units marched to make some winter forts. Next turn more of my infantry can stop to dig. I’m trying to be as efficient as I can in terms of picking a town or a place I already have considerable progress on a level 0 or 1 fort.

6.Army has too much ground to hold, and so I’m trying to get some minimal forts to level 2, while other army elements work on sturdier positions closer to my supply line. The planned offensive to raid his rail line will not occur. I’m swinging 6.Army elements toward Kursk to bolster the defense there. 48.Panzer corps will retire to Kharkov, and I will see what happens there later, I guess. 3.Panzer corps will hold Z-town/D-town, or other locales. Next turn I have to figure out who is leaving for the railroad back to Berlin, where Goebels will feed them wine and cheese from France and call them conquerors…



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:30:01 PM)

Kursk to Orel

[image]local://upfiles/30405/B2AEE24AD7B243A3814883D4BE60DF5D.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:30:20 PM)

Belgorod: Romanian mountain digging in a second line supporting 6.Army. Italians digging (slowly, poor cv) behind 6.Army. Romanian Cavalry Corps digging in west of Kursk supporting 4. & 6.Army.

Note that 18.Army is ‘shaving’ land off of the Soviet bulge, while the original elements keep digging in place. 18.Army (made up of 1.Corps from the original unit, and an ad-hoc “panzer” corps created from elements of 2.&3.Panzer Groups) will reinforce around Kursk. I’m going to lose those positions north and south of Kursk, I expect. This situation is exploitable to the point that my 2 German mountain divisions are probably going to have to float around here. My best hope is he outruns his supply line.



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:30:50 PM)

Ryazan-to-Kalinin

[image]local://upfiles/30405/A2DB32A0FC4B4667B0617FBF9718E8A9.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:31:06 PM)

That’s a scary exit of the Ryazan pocket, but I have armor in the center available for evacuations if necessary. The armor occupied the forts and Tula to speed the digging. They finished the turn with high MPs.

The larger problem is getting infantry into the second line north of Kaluga. I hope that gets better sorted next turn, but it’s a little scary. So is all of this transition from ubermensch to rattenkrieg.



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:31:32 PM)

Valdai region catches a break!


[image]local://upfiles/30405/818D2EEE618F4F14887363F93D5A94CE.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 3:31:51 PM)

I caught a break north of Vyshny, and I am going to cut that rail line, almost certainly, and perhaps isolate a pretty good infantry division. That will buy me a little peace, I hope.
And that’s the turn, more or less.



ComradeP -> RE: Snow Offensive Results (12/4/2011 7:35:23 PM)

I think many of the Soviet units will be able to just walk out of the danger zone in the south, there's not much stopping them from doing so.

What you should also note about the attacks against the Guards Rifle division: it didn't rout after 3 attacks and neither did the cavalry.

I'm not entirely sure what you're hoping to accomplish north of the Msta, but at least every destroyed rail hex will take him a turn to fix.



heliodorus04 -> Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:21:27 PM)

Statistics:


[image]local://upfiles/30405/A42C22B182EF4E3694EE8F6BBFB125A2.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:24:39 PM)

Total Soviet Casualties, Start of T23: 3.371 Million

Total Divisions Destroyed, Start of T23:
Tank: 35
Motorized: 16
Rifle (incl. 6xMountain): 149
Cavalry: 17
Airborne Brigades: 10

“Units” destroyed turns 1-10: 158
Destroyed turns 11-22: 204

I achieved basically my objective of 3.5 million casualties, yet was not able to capture the manpower centers that Germany had. My conclusion is that the game too heavily favors the Soviet’s ability to keep both land and bodies. I should have logically performed better in terms of terrain acquisition if I do better in killing the Red Army. That’s not particularly the case here, and it may be worse for me in 1942, because I have NEITHER the manpower centers nor the armaments. This is not the game I want to play, that makes the Soviet both offensively impotent and defensively unbeatable. I’m surprised others do.

I’m actually a little more covetous of changes that make the 1941 Red Army more offense-capable somehow, because the first 4 or 5 turns of the Soviet game are atrociously unenjoyable, and unforgiving.

In the north, a few spoiling attacks that aim at strong stacks, to reduce their morale and offensive power, and I destroyed some rail lines to keep his supply restricted to the northern area where the Fins can fight. I’m pretty happy with these defenses, and I predict that CF is happy to let this theater go idle (Famous last words?).

I’ve moved the Fins forward for two reasons: A) I want him to fear my left flank, and to think twice about pushing at Germans with Fins there to protect them. B) Because you start to remember that it takes a while to march anywhere in snow. So Fins are mostly an idle threat, as they just need to keep morale up (which might lead to some attacks, you never know).



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:25:06 PM)

Northish

[image]local://upfiles/30405/102D14B8ECCD40D8BA1CC43B2F70472A.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:25:29 PM)

I think I may be worrying too much about the Torzhok-Kalinin axis:


[image]local://upfiles/30405/439992B9918C4F70AF213FDBE3FD4860.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:25:42 PM)

A bit of a gap, but 16.Army elements are flexing back south towards Vysnhy, so it’s not as thin as it might look, I think. I think that this is a real difficult spot for CF to supply an attack, and I have two cities, and a lot of good defensive terrain (that gets less beneficial to me as freeze gets worse), and I’m just not seeing units up here. We shall see… I have to emphasize the breakout from Moscow in my defensive plans over this sector. I do have armor south of Kalinin that can move to the cities, and I might quarter them there. Overall, I haven’t figured out yet what all my units are going to do to escape blizzard effects next turn, particular the armor around Moscow, which is in the line to defend.



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:26:05 PM)

Moscow:


[image]local://upfiles/30405/F393E54871694E43ACB909971532A656.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:26:37 PM)

Not quite done moving, as you can see Tula is ungarrisoned. But the withdrawl from Ryazan had to be done carefully as CF boxed in a division with cav, but it’s all going to work out. I mustered a good attack east of Tula on a strong stack. 2.Panzer Group is basically going to be north of the Oka, with 3.Panzer being south. Two new infantry divisions arrived by rail east of Vyazma and started digging.



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:27:13 PM)

In the very loosely defended center, Manstein shows up in an infantry corps HQ in 18.Army (of AGN!). Basically my 18.Army and 4.Panzer Group elements up in Leningrad are on their own.


[image]local://upfiles/30405/FBD422462F3A4421AC477100316ED59A.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:27:33 PM)

Between the corps from 3.Panzer Group, and the new ‘panzer’ corps Manstein commands, I chased off quite a few good divisions and caused retreat losses on a lot of fresh artillery SUs. He clearly had some strength here, and now it’s been shaved a little bit. As the turn went on, I have become a little more confident that all the units I’ve destroyed are having an impact on his standing army. But who knows if he has 5 armies on rail just ready to come in during Blizzard.

My main line of resistance did not need to move this turn (4.Army, basically) and can continue to dig, as can the minors in the secondary defenses. Some new forts go up, perhaps too far back, but those are higher population towns, and that also serves as a landmark for me. That will be a staging area if necessary (whether it’s for retreat or reinforcement, who knows).



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:27:52 PM)

And the south, where I had a very good turn:


[image]local://upfiles/30405/E1676979ED8741A9BF12BE9152BF3526.jpg[/image]



heliodorus04 -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/9/2011 8:28:39 PM)

By stroke of luck I managed to take the port in the south, which was held by a very strong mountain division in a level 2 fort. It was no match for SS Wiking and a Heer division in deliberate attack. I can’t hold it, which is unfortunate as it will mean the divisions in the pocket route rather than surrender, but I’ll get half of them. And route was the result I was going for when I outlined this last turn, so I have to be satisfied with achieving my objective. I beat the hell out of units he was definitely anticipating to attack with. Proud of myself here. Again, I see a lot of weak units east of the tri-city area, and brigades. East of Kharkov, it’s as if he’s already preparing Spring forts (oh how I would hope).

Next turn, everyone heads west, whipping up on as many Soviet divisions as we can, and I can’t see why that won’t be all of them. I want to force them to route (and surrender, where applicable).

The crimea scares me still, and I’m sending an infantry corps of 11.Army down, but it won’t be there before the second turn of the blizzard, and it’s going to be caught in the open on the first, more than likely… But right now I’m relying on Romanians to hold the eastern reaches, and that’s a recipe for disaster. Three more German divisions and a corps on the way.
That is more or less the turn. All turn long, I have heard the patronly advice of ComradeP warning me that delays to attack Russians mean getting caught in the open, possibly, as Blizzard hits. I’ll probably have some mobile elements that make it, and some that do not, to safer cover. But the Soviets will be punished. And then we’ll continue with preparing winter quarters.

My hope is that he’s as short on units as he looks. Aside from the power stacks around Moscow, particularly from Voronezh south, I’m not seeing large concentrations of units. But who knows how much he can rail. I continue to see the reserves far east of Moscow, and I can’t imagine they are brigades, since I see so many brigades around the Donbas. That is more than likely the super strong Siberian units that trickle in early, and guards.



Hermann -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/12/2011 2:24:30 PM)

you dont need to take the port it should be 100% damaged he cant use it the turn he retakes so he should surrender. if not its a bug



ComradeP -> RE: Turn 23: Snow offensive wraps up (12/12/2011 2:50:55 PM)

Osipenko's only a level 1 port, so I believe it should be busted with any kind of damage (if the Soviets own it: higher damage than 3%).

Besides, there's now a 1 turn delay before ports can be used as supply sources after their capture (and he needs to recapture the place) I believe, so those 10 units should be toast.

I tend to move the Romanians to Romania in the last clear turns, so they don't use valuable space in cities during the blizzard. You'll have to be creative with where you place your mobile units.

Also keep in mind that even though minor Axis mountain unit CV's double during the blizzard, they're still suffering from the lack of replacements that all units suffer from during the winter, so keep an eye on their TOE% if you use them at the frontline.



Page: <<   < prev  13 14 15 16 [17]

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI
1.035156