Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: janh
Just as the ability to keep the Panzers fueled here is... I thought you'd be slowed to a crawl after so deep advances, but RR was apparently extremely quick.

quote:

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Great job with these latest pockets. It does look like the Red Army is on the verge of coming apart.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rbrockman2


I found it quite odd that Red Team deployed any forces at all, especially the mobile forces, between Saratov and Astrakhan. There's very little there worth defending -- the infantry could have been holding a line in better terrain much farther north, while the mobile forces could have been involved in a combined arms counterattack far away from the panzers. Now all of those forces are toast.

quote:

ORIGINAL: janh

This game and AAR are really great, I never thought anything like this was doable as German against a human opponent. Especially after a mediocre, quite normal Barbarossa start. The German standing and recovery power is astonishing. Just as the ability to keep the Panzers fueled here is... I thought you'd be slowed to a crawl after so deep advances, but RR was apparently extremely quick.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

quote:

ORIGINAL: janh
Just as the ability to keep the Panzers fueled here is... I thought you'd be slowed to a crawl after so deep advances, but RR was apparently extremely quick.

The very permissive logistics in WITE are IMHO its weakest point.

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ORIGINAL: STEF78

quote:

ORIGINAL: rbrockman2


I found it quite odd that Red Team deployed any forces at all, especially the mobile forces, between Saratov and Astrakhan. There's very little there worth defending -- the infantry could have been holding a line in better terrain much farther north, while the mobile forces could have been involved in a combined arms counterattack far away from the panzers. Now all of those forces are toast.

1) It was a huge mistake to keep such strong rifle corps South west of Astrakhan. They would have been unbeatable on the Volga
2) Once Astrakhan lost, he should have waited with his tank corps around Stalingrad. They were too weak alone .

quote:

ORIGINAL: STEF78


I was also surprised with the ability of the Pzd/Mot to keep MP's but:
- in 1942 almost all my moves were close from my railhead.
- in 1943, I only advanced in the Caucasus with 3 or 4 of my FBD's in this area. It's a great difference with 1941

quote:

ORIGINAL: STEF78

quote:

ORIGINAL: janh

This game and AAR are really great, I never thought anything like this was doable as German against a human opponent. Especially after a mediocre, quite normal Barbarossa start. The German standing and recovery power is astonishing. Just as the ability to keep the Panzers fueled here is... I thought you'd be slowed to a crawl after so deep advances, but RR was apparently extremely quick.

Thanks

I was also surprised with the ability of the Pzd/Mot to keep MP's but:
- in 1942 almost all my moves were close from my railhead.
- in 1943, I only advanced in the Caucasus with 3 or 4 of my FBD's in this area. It's a great difference with 1941

quote:

ORIGINAL: Balou

And what about he "mild blizzard" I thought was one of the objectives to look after ?

quote:

ORIGINAL: loki100
On this basis, a good Soviet strategy has to be to pull the really good units into reserve, and try to trade space for time till the German offensive wears itself down. Easier said than done, but overall we are starting to see a number of gains were, quite rightly, 1942 is the decisive year.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Wuffer

as always, the side with the fewer and less important failures win.

don't get me wrong, it's impossible to play without mistakes, but hopefully they don't become decisive
:-) ... and 'never interrupt your opponent while he is making mistakes', said Big Winston C.
Perhaps you encouraged Stavka?

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good news for the nazis,
bad news for the poor guys at the coming desaster of Ohama beach,
very bad news for the people of nuremberg and berlin on August 6, 1945,
and yeah, you changed history.

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"We survived the Nazis, we beat Communism", as De Gaulles said the day before he was shot in 1947, "but after Free French Forces had liberate the Ukraine, the Hydra just emerges another ugly head..."

quote:

ORIGINAL: Balou

quote:

ORIGINAL: STEF78


I was also surprised with the ability of the Pzd/Mot to keep MP's but:
- in 1942 almost all my moves were close from my railhead.
- in 1943, I only advanced in the Caucasus with 3 or 4 of my FBD's in this area. It's a great difference with 1941

And what about he "mild blizzard" I thought was one of the objectives to look after ?

quote:

ORIGINAL: loki100



I'd suggest that this is the launch pad to what we are seeing. The mild blizzard produces a much more realistic winter giving the Soviets the chance to inflict damage but not really to close the game down. What matters, I now think, is how the Soviet player manages their gains (in particular in units with high experience) and hopefully leaves the Germans strong enough to only make one major effort in 1942.

To me, frogmarc left too much of the good units you can build up in the winter in very vulnerable positions and, as above, lost them in the opening set of pockets that STEF78 generated.

quote:


On this basis, a good Soviet strategy has to be to pull the really good units into reserve, and try to trade space for time till the German offensive wears itself down. Easier said than done, but overall we are starting to see a number of gains were, quite rightly, 1942 is the decisive year.

quote:

ORIGINAL: janh

The key for 42 then seem to be the close railheads, and how the German side enters the mud period. If the winter offensive was not sufficient, i.e. if the Soviet had not had the means to extract a toll, or the German skillfully traded the ground (with his hindsight of what will follow in summer), the German side can inflict huge pockets on the Red Army. The latter must create depth to his lines before mud and withdraw/form reserves in the rear, else... I guess a short "Blue" kind of German rush is inevitable in the wide open terrain of the South, so better be prepared.

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ORIGINAL: Balou

Has a mild blizzard per se (w/o fighting) less impact on morale and on attrition losses ? Resulting in high-morale-case-blue-troops armed to the teeth to an early date ?

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ORIGINAL: STEF78

Game over!

frogmarc has given up.

Thanks to him, he has been a fair and reliable player.

He recognized having done big mistakes during spring and summer 1942 while trying to hold the ground.

I hope you enjoyed this AAR, personnaly I found this first "mild blizzard" very fun. Thank you Morvael.

quote:

ORIGINAL: timmyab

Interesting game.
I agree the mild blizzard is a big improvement. I had more or less the same experience as you. Morale is better because of being able to counterattack in January and February but losses were higher for the same reason.
Where the Germans can double up in good terrain they're difficult to move which restricts the Soviet offensive to about half of the front, which is roughly historical.
December and early January were the only really difficult times where there was a real danger of losing divisions.