thedoctorking
Posts: 2297
Joined: 4/29/2017 Status: offline
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Connect 4 Soviet AAR, turn 16 I'm not going to include the intel maps in this AAR since the information they contain is pretty much duplicated in the discussion below. Turn 16 was quite exciting across our front, as strong Axis offensives were met by full strength Soviet counterattacks. We are preparing some of our forces for winter operations, especially in the north. Preparation for the winter offensive was an important goal this turn. We have been trying to get high quality units, especially Guards but also high-morale and high-experience non-Guards units, out of the main line. If possible, we have been placing them more than 10 hexes to the rear on rail lines in refit mode so that they can get up to 100% TOE and regain morale. We have been pulling cavalry out of the line and refitting it in the same way in anticipation of being able to form cavalry corps starting turn 25. We only have one Guards cavalry division and one other with 4 victories, so we aren’t going to start out with any Guards Cavalry Corps. Hopefully, we’ll pick up some in the course of the winter. As far as strategic planning for the winter is concerned, we are going to have to react to what the Axis does. If they elect to press the attack during the snow turns, then we will have the opportunity to launch offensives attempting to cut off significant elements in December/January. If they play it safe and withdraw their mobile forces to garrison positions once mud starts, then we will start planning for a series of spoiling attacks that will wind down in February, when we shift over to defensive preparations for the coming June. I have seen both scenarios play out in games I’ve been involved in. If the Axis makes a lot of progress in the Barbarossa year, then tries to hold on when the counter-attack comes, they can get badly punished. If they give ground, they save troops and the Soviets are invited to suffer a bunch of casualties trying to fight at the end of a long supply line. The first winter can be quite quiet if the Axis retreats and the Soviets just take the offered territory. Depending on what tack our opponents take in the coming ten turns, this AAR could be very dull for the next six months or so of real time! However, this turn will at least make up for some of that anticipated tedium. In the north, German 18th Army continued their grinding offensive. Two corps, stacked at maximum density, pushed forward almost to the Estonian border at Narva but were unable to cross the river. Our boys were reminded of the struggle of Peter the Great’s troops against the Swedish invaders in this same area in the Great Northern War. Even though Peter was Tsar and an aristocrat, he was a progressive for his day, and the Swedes were imperialists like our German enemies. Sergei Eisenstein will be making us a movie about Peter. Northeast of Pskov, the so-called German genius Model is not covering himself with glory. This is the second turn that his corps has attacked unsuccessfully. See-saw fighting continued in the Valdai Hills, with 16th Army pushing us back from the ground they took last turn but once again not claiming their captured turf. Obviously they are trying to bleed our forces in this area, but I continue to feel that a 2:1 or even 3:1 loss ratio at this point in the war is a victory for the motherland.
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