Red Snow : The Days Our Mothers Died

[Neogodhobo]

I had planned on staying put during Pluto with Southern Front but Id be a fool not to take the ground conquered by the Summer Assault Forces. Therefore I moved everyone forward. I was really attached to my river position but.. The Germans cant mount any offensive so why stay put. Here is the revised position on the same turn from above :

Pluto 2.png (1.22 MiB) Viewed 358 times

[Neogodhobo]

Got my hands on some Axis Intel.

This is from the previous turn :

Axis Report Turn 50

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Gruppe Nord:
Soviet Race to the Neman: Successfully deflected. The Soviet advance was halted before reaching critical points along the Neman River, preserving the strategic integrity of the region.
Riga and Railroads: Riga remains in good supply. The railroads in the area are secure, ensuring continued logistical support for frontline operations.
Encirclement at Kaunas: Motorized troops executed a decisive maneuver, encircling the Soviet spearhead near Kaunas. This move has disrupted Soviet momentum and trapped a significant portion of their forces.

Gruppe Center:
Defensive Preparations: Hungarian and Italian units are working collaboratively to establish and strengthen defensive positions. Coordination between these allied forces has been effective in consolidating the front.

Gruppe Süd:
May Counterattack: The counterattack launched in May achieved its objectives, driving back Soviet forces and regaining critical ground.
Soviet Tank Movements: After their withdrawal, Soviet tank units have not been spotted, suggesting either a retreat to regroup or a potential shift in their strategic focus. Intelligence efforts to determine their location and intentions are ongoing.

---

Summary:
This turn demonstrated effective Axis coordination and tactical success across all groups. Gruppe Nord maintained vital supply lines and neutralized a Soviet threat, Gruppe Center bolstered defenses with allied cooperation, and Gruppe Süd executed a successful counterattack, forcing the Soviets into retreat. Continued vigilance and preparation will be crucial for maintaining the momentum and countering potential Soviet responses.
sending


__________

And now for this turn (that I didnt play yet)


Axis Report Turn 51

Gruppe Nord:
Soviet Buildup: Reconnaissance reports indicate a significant buildup of Soviet manpower in this sector. The enemy appears to be concentrating forces, potentially preparing for an offensive push.
Reconnaissance by Force: Localized engagements succeeded in driving Soviet forces back from critical supply lines. This has secured the logistical flow and eased pressure on key infrastructure.
Reinforcements: Additional units have been brought forward to strengthen positions. Command is maintaining a cautious approach, ensuring that forces are not overextended while holding the line.

Leningrad Front.png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 322 times

Gruppe Center:
Terrain Challenges: The terrain in this sector is unfavorable for offensive operations. Command has shifted focus toward defensive measures.
Defense in Depth: Positions around strategic locations are being fortified. Layers of defensive works are under construction to enhance resilience against potential Soviet advances.

Kalinin Front (16).png (2.09 MiB) Viewed 322 times

Gruppe Süd:
Tank Offensive: Armored units launched an attack, successfully pushing a wedge into the Soviet spearhead. The operation achieved its objectives with minimal losses.
Exposed Positions: While the tank units remain effective, their current position leaves them vulnerable. The ability of the Red Army to muster and deploy effective anti-tank forces in response will be closely monitored.

Kalinin Front (17).png (1.84 MiB) Viewed 322 times

---

Summary:
Gruppe Nord successfully secured supply lines and maintained a defensive posture against increasing Soviet manpower. Gruppe Center continues to strengthen defensive capabilities in difficult terrain, while Gruppe South’s armored thrust disrupted the Soviet spearhead but created potential vulnerabilities. Operational stability is maintained, but further developments from the enemy are anticipated in the coming days.

[Neogodhobo]

Air force were sent in mass this week.

North:

Mainly touching the Pskov pocket, seeing as the Germans seems to have stopped re-supplying them via air. Their supplies are dwindling. Recon wise, massive operations brought fruits to the basket, we have got a lot of good intel on German positions.


Before/After of Reconnaissance missions.

Leningrad Front (1).png (1.7 MiB) Viewed 319 times

South :

Southern Area's were also hit with a lot of ground attack mission this week as the troops were trying to get out of the German Held Pocket.

South.png (996.08 KiB) Viewed 319 times

[Neogodhobo]

News from the Frontline :

-Efforts to relieve troops from the pocket have not been successfull. 51st army from Southern Front were transffered to Crimean Front to help push the German panzers.

-Prior to today, orders were to resend every Support Units back to the chain of command. Today this is effectively cancelled. As such, Crimean Front received fresh supplies of Tanks ( Including the Valentine III), Mortars, Artillery and Anti Tank units in order to counter the Panzer Threat. These SUs will now be a definite part of these HQs. Reasons to do this was to allow commanders to better know each other, form camaraderie and as such improve their chances of success on the battlefield.

Troops facing Light Infantry ( specifically, in the Center, against Hungarians) were given heavy Howitzers, Motorcycle squads and mortars.

Troops surrounding the now-famous Pskov pocket, who's been kicking and aided by air supply this entire time, were given 2 SU of Heavy Howitzers, AA units, and Mortars. Hopefully, this will give some reliefs to the units sieging them.

[Neogodhobo]

The Germans are attempting a breaktrough in the North..

Northwestern Front.png (1.82 MiB) Viewed 282 times

Kuznetsov is worried we cannot stop the Germans but I have sent him his old officer back, General Reiter, who's now with 55th army to plug the hole. 48th and 61st army from Leningrad Front also moved in to help. Furthermore, Bogdanov was suggesting to bring all cavalry currently refitting in order to start building some fortifications, which is something we also did. They are currently moving forward to the Frontline and will placed themselves behind the frontline and build magnificient trench work for our retreating armies to have a hole to hold the enemy.

Northwestern Front (1).png (2 MiB) Viewed 282 times

[Neogodhobo]

Central Front is also seeing a light German attack.

Northwestern Front (2).png (1.98 MiB) Viewed 280 times

I had to retreat a lot in order to give some troops back to fill the hole which I thought...why am I doing this ? With all the troops from South-Western front sitting and doing nothing... We are going to bring lots of armies from SW Front to Central Front by doing some reshuffling and re-take that lost ground.

Northwestern Front (3).png (1.95 MiB) Viewed 280 times

Reshuffling done and troops on the move :

Northwestern Front (4).png (1.79 MiB) Viewed 279 times

More attacks from the Germans in the South, we will keep plugging hole, keep pushing for Odessa and continuing to stand still for refitting operations. Air support in the area was extended greatly.

In an effort to help, all TOE were modified with most units being dramatically reduced.

Southern.png (1.39 MiB) Viewed 277 times

[Neogodhobo]

Kalinin Front (18).png (1.89 MiB) Viewed 276 times

[Neogodhobo]

The Airforce was quite busy these last weeks. Massive operations to aid the southern pockets and block the ressuplying of the Pskov pockets. Ultimately, it did not do much, killed about 1k Germans per turn, which is good, but we lost around 200 pilots per turn as well.

Today we lost the pocket in the South we were trying to keep alive and as such all air operations were stopped. Except for the Pskov Air Superiority missions.

Pskov Pocket air war.png (1.17 MiB) Viewed 215 times

Northwestern Front Air War (1).png (1.97 MiB) Viewed 215 times

Southern Front Air War.png (1.58 MiB) Viewed 215 times

[Neogodhobo]

The North Digs

The North digs..png (1.5 MiB) Viewed 213 times

In light of German assaults, the cavalry were called and arrived successfully. Some of them were transferred to NW Command. They already started to dig up trenches and positions.

The Germans, led by Hube, Reinhardt and newly arrived General Herr, are pushing along the railroad lines leading to daugavpills. We simply cannot stop them but our overwhelming numbers mean they cannot advance all that far. Still, it looks like they might break trough the river, which is bothersome.

The North Suffers.png (317.36 KiB) Viewed 213 times

In light of this, we will need better troops on the river. Cavalry were swapped by fighting forces, mainly 4th Reserv army led by Akimov is moving there. The Germans are very well supplied in this area so it is more than reasonable to think they will make Daugavpills and the rail lines their number one objective.

As such, troops in the area were reinforced with Support Units. 55th army, commanded by General Reiter, received the 145th, 152nd and 155th Separate Tank Regiments on top of the 3rd Guard Light Rockets Regiment. This means :

32x T-34 1941,
15x KV-1s
60x T-60s.
with
26x Katyusha's

While 4th Reserv received :

13th tank Brigade, 20th,43rd and 641st separate tank regiments/Battalions which means :

63x T-34s,
25x KV-1s,
79x T-60s


Not only did command HQ received these, but individual divisions also received each a tank brigade. Numbers vary greatly between these brigades but generall its around 10-20 T-34s, 5 KV-1s, 10-20 T-60s.

the problem we are facing is a lot of these troops are infantry brigades, still under equipped. So this turn we are turning every command HQ to Supply level 2 and keeping only the people actively engaged in battles supplied and refitting.

Which looks something like that :

Reinforcement Levels.png (803.91 KiB) Viewed 213 times

Reinforcement and re-assignment of divisions in the Center was completed. Although a change in plan made newly formed North Caucasus Front stay behind Kiev. These changed of plans were that I decided to simply shift HQs from position and bunny hop on the left in order to bolster the lines of Central Front. Which I will do again this turn :

Northwestern Front Air War.png (1.75 MiB) Viewed 213 times

[Neogodhobo]

In other news, rail lines have been repaired near Odessa and we are at the edge of the city itself.

Op. Pluto.png (1.24 MiB) Viewed 212 times

Operation Pluto went overall alright, even tho we did lose a large portion of the Summer Assault Forces.
Large concentration of enemy Panzers are seen on the rails, either they just arrived, or they are re-supplying, waiting for their next targets.

Their threat is big but they cannot breaktrough and follow, therefore I am not overly concerned.

More Panzer divisions were seen in the South. Need to be aware of these but I do not plan any attack in this sector.

South Panzers.png (1.19 MiB) Viewed 212 times

Captured equipments are finally arriving in the pool, I am hoping to see these in units as soon as possible. Here is the current list :

Captured.png (288.12 KiB) Viewed 212 times

[Neogodhobo]

The Pskov pocket is very hard to dislodge. Constantly resupply and despite my best efforts, planes are still going trough to drop their cargo. One thing they cannot resupply is men, and so we are attacking them each turn, even if just a little die, its still that.

2.png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 187 times

[Neogodhobo]

I had a huge thing written up and the GODDAMN website server were down again by the time I wrote it and so I lost everything.

[Neogodhobo]

Northwestern Front.png (1.91 MiB) Viewed 185 times

Northwestern Front (2).png (1.09 MiB) Viewed 185 times

Armor reinforcements on the way with 50-90 tanks each. Some of these are British/American lend lease armor formation. Most will be sent to NW Front

3.png (1.63 MiB) Viewed 185 times

[Neogodhobo]

Kalinin Front.png (1.98 MiB) Viewed 181 times

Kalinin Front (2).png (1.77 MiB) Viewed 181 times

[NightTime977]

I made a Account just to say that I am Impressed by the Editing and stuff and and Quite Frankly I would love some Pointers or Tips on how to play the Soviets

[Neogodhobo]

Hi NightTime ! Thanks for the kind reply.

I think the lack of view is that everyone knows the Soviet player ( me ) will win rather soon as the German player made lots of mistakes in the early game. A lot of people in the Wite MP community do not play past Barbarossa if the German player made some blunders . Which is a shame really because it seem that the focus is on having the German player win, rather than seeing how long the German player can last. But maybe Im wrong. Anyway the view count Im having for this one is : 3,258

Either way, I dont think Im good enough to start giving pointers and tips on how to play but I agree with you that information and tips for Soviet players are rather rare, I find myself, among other things, googling a lot of stuff for this game and the tips are always always for the German players. Which is frustrating as they play differently, even the mechanics are differents.

If you want my advice still, I would say the number 1 thing of player the Soviets is it requires a lot of patience. First, everyone will be dying and retreating and you will need to manage this carefully, it can be frustrating to see everyone die, it can also be tedious to just retreat constantly as its a lot of management.

Speaking of management, well the Soviet army is basically just that. You will need to do a lot of bureaucracy with the vast amount of troops you will have access to either on-map or off map.

I will say, during Barbarossa, try to save as much cavalry division as you can as these will be very important during the counter offensive. They are not slowed down by snow. You will also need to carefully manage your supply level priority and make sure to build your own troops. Armor divisions wont just appear on their own, you will need to manually create them.

In order to do so, you go into "Build" it should be the B shortkey I think. Then you build whatever you want, they will then be placed into "Reinforcement" tab. You can then select these troops and have them transfer to map.

Reinforcement wise, you will need to go into the various reinforcement tabs and manually bring them to the frontline. Almost always just select " Map transfer" as this will bring troops to Moscow and is usually shorter. But you can bring troops North and South as well. North will go near Leningrad, South will be near Baku.

[NightTime977]

Thank you yea I understand seeing your guys geting destroyed can be a driffence between me quiting or geting frustrated and loseing focus and geting the rest of the game runnied have to keep your sprite up after all the germens are doing operation Barbrosa and not the soviets on the offensive

And about the Cav of coruse I always try to save to use against them during the winter offensive I try not to bring wear and tear on the tanks

Also I do notice that you seem to have walls and walls of units defending is that a good thing to stop germen panzer from smashing a hole in your line and ending up getting encircled?
And if im doomed if I lose moscow due to the manpower I generate? [Ps] I understand if your not experienced but after all your tips really do make a difference between me winning and loseing

and thank you for the response It was a great read cheers

[Neogodhobo]

Walls of infantry is good to build fortifications. The Soviets in 1942 will be really good at digging trenches as long as you're close to the frontline. So by having rows of them, I assure my troops some defensive bonuses as the Germans pushes. Currently I would not be able to stop them from advancing, wheter I had 3 stack of infantry or a single one. So it also saves me from having 3 divisions routed everytime they advance one hex.

I am also not fearing the enemy encircling me as it doesnt really have anything left. I destroyed about 100 German divisions during the winter. They can only really encircle me by having make me do mistakes, as it happened with the Summer Assault Forces during the attempt at liberating Odessa.


You are not doomed if you lose Moscow. You must continue fighting until the very end.

[Neogodhobo]

The Germans, probably thinking us very weak since we are not advancing, due to our resupply operations, have decided to push on almost every Front ( that they could muster a force). We are indeed, very weak everywhere in terms of supplies and manpower, but we are not defenseless.

In response to their aggression, we are finding ourselves having to move forward again. This is not a huge problem as our rail lines are now repaired and every sector has at least one rail going for the HQs. So we can move and resupply at the same time.


In the image below, we see the advances we made on the Northern Sector. While the Germans are pushing hard for Daugavpills. They are currently directly on the other side of the Daugava River and about to break trough. Our Armor formations just arrived this week and have already taken defensive positions on the river. They (Germans) probably anticipated to have to fight against poorly supplied, infantry divisions/brigades and will now be facing against fresh, well-supplied tank formations. While this is happening, Volkhov Front, who was ordered to help, decided to push for Tokums, rather than send reinforcement to NW Front.

Leningrad Front.png (2.02 MiB) Viewed 117 times

Leningrad Front (1).png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 117 times

Other German generals were seen in the area but at the moment we have lost their whereabouts ( transparent general cards on images). The Germans, lacking troops, will have to decide to push to Daugavpills or reinforce the Riga Sector. If the Germans decide to reinforce Riga and abandon trying to take Daugavpills, then we can shift our newly formed tank formations towards the encirclement of Riga.


Real world map with army positions, I encourage you to zoom :

Leningrad Front (2).png (2.33 MiB) Viewed 117 times

[Neogodhobo]

Northwestern Front.png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 112 times

Kalinin Front.png (1.97 MiB) Viewed 112 times

Kalinin Front (1).png (2.08 MiB) Viewed 112 times

Nothing happening in the Southern Front. German Panzer presence is felt and seen trough recon. 3rd Tank Army with its 9 Tank Corps is moving trough rails towards ther South in order to counter them.