All back to normal, thanks

Same, all fine yesterday, no longer able to access today

Thanks, I had given up some time ago adding air recon when I started adjacent to the enemy, so will not change my routine.

The end of the previous winter had seen quite a bit of action south of Staraya Russa and this part of the front flared again around the end of 1942 (on turn 76). Q-Ball laconically sent me a message stating that he had liberated a few trees, but the reality was far worse as he had unhinged what ...

Thanks for the computation, which leads to two sets of questions:

- how much does air recon improve the overall predictability if the starting point is adjacent units? In order to preserve my recon planes, I have elected not to use them against stacks that were clearly identified, and otherwise to ...

Onto the winter season now, where my plans were to take the Russians in the open, if possible after they had exhausted themselves in a futile attack or two. I knew this would be a rare occurrence and also that the Russians could stage a lot of attacks from their fortified lines, hence repulses would ...

I would have loved to find a few Guards corps in the front line, in order to surround them. Much as Q-Ball managed to grind me to a halt, I doubt he could field Guards corps both in the front line and in reserve to counterattack, apart from a handful of cavalry with their usual contingent of 3 ...

I did not take any screenshots for quite a while, but here is what happened in a nutshell.

Elated at having secured Kharkov with another large bag of POWs, the high command ordered the immediate preparation and earliest execution of Cannae IV. A few snags did not help this offensive to get off the ...

The Russians decided to reduce the risk of presenting a salient to German Armour, so withdrew in front of 2 Pz group and the Italian expeditionary force. Gaining a few swamp hexes and giving more room is always welcome, insofar of course as I had no intention of striking north or north-east.

For ...

Indeed there was no opportunity for any kind of deep exploitation, which at this stage may anyway prove reckless if there are a few Guards corps lurking deeper in Russian lines.

I indicated previously that part of the striking force had not joined the initial onslaught, so now was their time to ...

Indeed disbanding units was not the smartest of moves and looking at the current German pool, in January 1943, there was strictly no need.

Anyway let's go back to to the mid-July surge towards Kharkov, once the 17th Army had cleared Poltava.

This time, the 2 Army, 17 Army, 11 Army and 1 Pz Army ...

Before moving on to Cannae III, a word about the German strategy in 1942.

Clearly the objectives had to take into account the outcome of winter fighting and the relative balance of strength, which would rapidly tilt in the Russian's favour. So I wanted to cause the maximum level of losses without ...

Wow! I had completely missed this, at a terrible cost both during the winter and even more so subsequently when having to face an outsized Russian army.

So... Back in June 1942. It took 4 more weeks for the Axis to stage the move towards the east, in order to move troops into position, get them at the right CPP level, bring anybody from the line south of the Dnepr to join the fray, and get a clear sky. At best, I could have started a week earlier ...

Before I look at the next sequence of events in June 1942, I have a challenge to suggest to the members of this forum: what would you make of this probe attack on the live game in January 1943?

https://nsm09.casimages.com/img/2025/10/31//25103106453924042618659046.jpg

On the face of it, it makes ...

"well stocked depot" ?

This was definitely not a fashionable concept during the 1941-1942 winter, most of the units south of Bryansk being around 50% on supplies, fuel and ammo. So I did refit a number of divisions on the map, but sent probably 15-20 back in Reserve including a few small allies ...

The line then settled south of Poltava. You can see the prudence with which the Italians moved (or didn't) in the space vacated by the Russians.

Turn 48, end of May

https://nsm09.casimages.com/img/2025/10/20//25102005275524042618654163.jpg

Of course, the next question was about pushing north ...

Now onto the post Raspoutitsa season...

Basically the German army was still very weak, with a handful of fully restored divisions (TOE + CPP), a number of them having come back or been refitted recently that needed to accumulate CPPs, and quite a few still short of vehicles and equipment ...

Before we move to the next phase of the campaign, a word about resource management.

I could not understand why my units were not refitting properly, but of course it would have been at the detriment of supply. Q-Ball then suggested that I look into the production screen and check what was available ...

Understood, thanks