Bish Bash Boche - A 41 GC JB (A) & Veterin (S)

[jasonbroomer]

T56 Axis AGCS

With moral thoroughly restored at OKH (perhaps Halder was a defeatist and that's why he was removed the previous turn), we chomp through some more ground in AGCS

T56 AGCS Final position.png (2.43 MiB) Viewed 2052 times

We don't have the strength to hold this ground and slip back to our own lines in comfortable knowledge that the Soviets won't be able to get us while our armour is busy elsewhere.

In the south, we have to stretch hard to reach the Soviet lines but we manage to get some more tasty attacks in

T56 AGS Trying to reach Soviet line, some decent attacks.png (2.06 MiB) Viewed 2052 times

while suffering some unfortunate holds but we succeed in clearing the Soviets and stop them digging in at a river line

T56 AGS some holds.png (2.11 MiB) Viewed 2052 times

leaving the final position

T56 AGS Final position.png (2.19 MiB) Viewed 2052 times

The turn gets sent back to Vet with a big

[Veterin]

What happened to turn 55?

[Veterin]

T55 - Soviet Perspective


Finally, Jul 1942 is here. A very critical change takes effect this turn with Soviet ground national morale increasing from 45 to 50 and Axis ground morale decreasing from 75 to 70. Maybe this is confirmation bias here but based on the attacks suffered last turn, no longer am I seeing 80-90% losses from retreating divisions even if attacked a second time in the same turn. There weren’t as many attacks this turn but losses are closer to 30% now. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on this over the next few turns to see if this is the new normal for Soviet losses at 50 NM!

1

1.png (186.78 KiB) Viewed 1984 times

The other beautiful thing about turns 55 is the Guard % cap increases from 10% to 25%. I have ~60 rifle divisions/brigades on 7 wins or greater so this exposition of guard conversions this turn is just the start. With the extra +10 morale that guard units get, that brings the morale on some Guard soviet units to 60 which makes it a lot stronger than before. I’ve banked a lot of APs so this turn will be busy creating as many guard rifle corps as I can.

2

2.png (754.11 KiB) Viewed 1984 times

Soviets have been a punching bag for the first 55 turns but now I have enough strength to fight back in certain sectors. Axis defences with triple stacked units are very strong however with corp size divisions (especially guard), I can bring enough firepower to push strongpoints if I wanted to. Given JB is triple stacked in some hexes it makes it extremely difficult to attack but if I can cut off retreat paths it’s worth it. Ideally, I would use cavalry divisions for thus but all I had in the area were tank corps.

3

3.png (1.21 MiB) Viewed 1984 times

A convincing 12:1 CV win resulting in 3 routed German infantry divisions (as retreat paths were cut off). When falling back after a counter attack, where possible pull the units that just attacked behind your fresh units as they would have a high amount of damaged elements and will take additional retreat damage if attacked the following turn.

[Veterin]

T55 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

4

4.png (842.18 KiB) Viewed 1982 times

This game is won and lost on VPs in my opinion. Everything that happens on map is to achieve a VP outcome. JB is sitting on a healthy 645 VP at the moment and I need to make sure he doesn’t reach any of the Axis sudden victory thresholds on the left of the screen with the next check at Oct 1942 with 750 points. Based on what I can see JB is advancing forces towards Orel, Voronezh and Rostov all at the same time and it’s feasible that all 3 will fall in the next 10 or so turns. Rostov won’t provide any bonus points but Voronezh historic capture turn is 57 and Orel was never captured so if it does fall, the full bonus +6 will be awarded.

Worst case, if all 3 falls with full eligible bonus that’s +42 points brining Axis total to 687. I need to make sure that no further areas are captured be it a breakout to Tambov/Ryazan, Stalingrad or Caucasus.

5

5.png (1.53 MiB) Viewed 1982 times

Back to the map now. The only attacks made by JB last turn was down south. I haven’t fully reconnected the Stalino/Rostov area but I suspect that he is continuing to operate two separate groups here, one heading towards Rostov and the second group which moved north of the Donets this turn to make the attacks. The northern group contains Das Reich and a number of other Panzer divisions. I just don’t know if their target is Stalingrad or to flank Voronezh from the south (it’s probably the latter). I fall back this turn to rebuild a depleted army (crimson colour). Unfortunately, this means I will lose the double rails to Rostov with the only rails to the Caucus being two single rails further east. I’ve built up some spare capacity over the last few turns but I’m not sure how long I can keep the area well supplied over time.

[Veterin]

T56 - Soviet Perspective

1

1.png (2.03 MiB) Viewed 1979 times

An unexpected turn of events this turn. Based on what I could see from recon last turn I was expecting a push towards Voronezh and Tula but the attack was made towards Vyazma with a breakthrough west of Kaluga. I’ve had 5-6 Army HQs displaced in the turn with a number of Generals killed. It’s annoying I can’t see which ones. The leader’s log is refreshed at the start of my logistics phase so I can’t see the in-turn generals killed.

I have a lot of strong units partially encircled that I will need to try and free this turn. I should be able to get most of them out but I will need to make some attacks to clear ZOC to allow me to escape properly. Some units furthest south in the pocket will likely be trapped though.

I’ll need to rearrange my defence as the frontline is getting awfully close to Moscow and my defensive line is breached. If Moscow falls it’s game over.

2

2.png (357.87 KiB) Viewed 1979 times

These are the list of leaders killed so far this game sorted by Infantry rating. Of the 4 that are rated 6 or higher, at least 2 were killed in the last turn.

3

3.png (149.74 KiB) Viewed 1979 times

Now for some good news. The explosion of conversions to Guard status continues with the upping of the cap at the start of Jul 42. I still have 38 rifle units (divisions, brigades, battalions) that have more than 7 wins so the ongoing conversion over the next few turns will continue.

[Veterin]

T56 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

4

4.png (2.51 MiB) Viewed 1973 times

I’m trying my best to fix this mess. This screenshot is partway through my turn. By making the two attacks on southern tip of the pocket, I remove the ZOC on a number of my units. I should be able pull all but 2 tank corps from the pocket which is a better outcome than I was expecting. Of course, these are still at risk from a further pocket next turn so I need to have a good think about where I want these units to be at the end of the turn.

On the north eastern part of the breakthrough, It consistent of 1 motorised division and 3 motorised regiments. Using other units to block retreat paths before attacking, I was able to rout those units with ~900 Axis vehicle losses.

I don’t think I can do much about the Panzer/Motorised on the north western end of the breakthrough due to the river so a new defensive line will need to be formed behind it.

5

5.png (2.62 MiB) Viewed 1973 times

The turn isn’t finished yet but I’ve put a lot more units between the Axis breakthrough and Moscow. I need to completely redo all my chain of command as it’s all over the place at the moment.

6

6.png (1.34 MiB) Viewed 1973 times

All hell hasn’t broken lose yet in the far south but I’m sure it’s coming in the next turn or two. Based on attacks made against my units last turn, Das Reich and at least 4 panzer divisions are still here along with lots of infantry. I am largely holding the river line for now but will need to reposition when it’s broken. I suspect the advance from this area will be towards Stalingrad or Voronezh rather than the Caucasus.

[jasonbroomer]

What happened to turn 55?

Opps, a SNAFU!

T55 - out of order

Halder gets removed from OKH by eAdolf, his low moral was beginning to affect others at the High Command

T55 Halder gets the chop.png (40.35 KiB) Viewed 1812 times

Frustration for AGC as light mud hits the hexes that we wish to attack from

T55 AGC 2 out 3 hexes that I want to attack from have lgt mud.png (3.08 MiB) Viewed 1812 times

How the hell are we going to get through to Vyazma?

In the south we plough through a Russian river line defence but depressingly cause few (20k in total) casualties

T55 AGS breaking down line but only 20k casualties in total despite lots of routs.png (2.08 MiB) Viewed 1812 times

All in all this was a disappointing turn, but hopefully one that sets a foundation that we can build on. I beginning to get concerned that the Russian defences in places is impenetrable. This is a snapshot of the AGC/AGCS sector

T55 Disspititing turn, hopefully setting up for some good ones.png (3.2 MiB) Viewed 1812 times

[jasonbroomer]

T57 Axis

Note that my turn 55 was published after the Soviet T55/T56 and my T56.

There has clearly been a big rush to defend the capital by the Soviets

T57 SoT Sovs rush to defend Moscow .png (2.54 MiB) Viewed 1807 times

Sadly, Russian counterattacks eased the bottleneck that had resulted west of Smolensk. That attack was never never planned as an encirclement, merely opportunistic. Nevertheless we have the opportunity to pocket a few Soviet formations and to take advantage of the chaos that we have caused to the defences.

The first target are the 3 trapped formations in the woods, caused by our partial encirclement. I am very conscious of the powerful Guard Corps in the vicinity, so I try to herd them westwards to a safer area where I can munch on them next turn. Sadly, I still haven't gotten sufficient expertise to weight attacks on weakened formations effectively and one is routed away. Nevertheless, two units are positioned roughly where I wanted them, marked as pocket 1. I daren't try to push them any further west, lest we rout them.

T57 AGC A lot f work to herd 2 divisions .png (3.55 MiB) Viewed 1807 times

Not content with this, I also recognise an opportunity to the right to herd some divisions in a westerly direction for pocketing. This involves much planning and many battles as can be seen. In the end I manage to guide a mere two divisions into another pocket (marked 2). Many a mickle makes a muckle as the Scots say! Given the starting position (shown in the first screen shot), I'm actually pretty chuffed with myself for engineering this.

We also take advantage of the Soviet disorganisation to do as many attritional attacks as we can before they get chance to dig in at their new defence line, here's a juicy attack on a guard corps led by Herr Model and some big hammers.

T57 AGC attack before they can dig in .png (3.79 MiB) Viewed 1804 times

Dare I think it, has this last attack finally opened the door to Vyazma?

[jasonbroomer]

T57 Axis AGS

In the south Vet has left some pesky 1CV divisions to slow us down and gobble up our CPP. Well, let's send for the Romanians, two full strength(-ish), full CPP Rom divisions should have no trouble clearing the way. Should they?

T57 AGS Massed Roms just work against 1CV showing .png (1.98 MiB) Viewed 1799 times

Well only just, note how the Rom CV dropped like a shell casing ejected to the floor. Actually it's not a bad result as our follow up attack with the Germans will eviscerate that unit. Note the lofty CV of the German units following the left up in advance over the last couple of turns.

We put in some nice attacks in the sector, this one must have been a follow up attack

T57 AGS nice .png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 1799 times

To the north of this sector, we continue to play a cat and mouse game with Vet as we alternate between taking and surrendering ground on the Voronezh front. This has been/will be going on for a few turns. Following the shift to defend Moscow, I suspect that defences here are now weak enough for me to be more aggressive but I don't really have many troops here and many of them are allies.

T57 SoT Finally found a way to bombers .png (3.05 MiB) Viewed 1799 times

[Jango32]

Powerful Romanians on full display.

[Veterin]

T57 - Soviet Perspective

1

1.png (261.87 KiB) Viewed 1677 times

2

2.png (199.89 KiB) Viewed 1677 times

3

3.png (336.69 KiB) Viewed 1677 times

OOB and Loss screens. Axis forces remain strong including significant mobile assets. Soviet forces stabilised around the low 5m mark. Axis losses in AFVs remain light but they’re consistently taking ~500 gun losses per turn (mostly on Soviet attacks). Supply doesn’t seem to be a problem for them though so these are likely being replaced.

LW losses are mostly from op losses or flak as opposed to the VSS. LW will continue to dominate the sky for 1942 and probably most of 1943 until my national morale increases and the LW declines.

[Veterin]

T57 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

4

4.png (773.21 KiB) Viewed 1676 times

5

5.png (749.59 KiB) Viewed 1676 times

6

6.png (753.01 KiB) Viewed 1676 times

7

7.png (744.33 KiB) Viewed 1676 times

Map metrics over time. Soviet manpower continues do decline over time with losses in excess of my ability to replenish them at this stage. I have decent manpower generation for the next 6 month before It halves in 1943 so I need to grow my OOB in the later half of 1942 (if I survive that long).

[Veterin]

Turn 57 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

8

8.png (2.29 MiB) Viewed 1671 times

It’s fair to say that Moscow is now the main objective of 1942 and there’s a very real possibility it could fall. I’m sending all available units to Moscow to harden my defence but I still have many months until winter where defence will become a little easier. In Jan 43, German ground national morale drops from 70 to 65 so that would be a huge help if the game gets there.

My two tank corps that were in the semi pocket last turn routed out but one of my guard cavalry corps was encircled (luckily I removed attached SU’s last turn).

9

9.png (919.36 KiB) Viewed 1671 times

After attacking the two units behind first, I attack a 3 stack of panzer/motorised divisions with overwhelming numbers to cause a route. A nice haul of 1.4k vehicles.

10

10.png (2.46 MiB) Viewed 1671 times

Other than the attacks I made on the panzer stacks, I generally tried rotating damaged units to the back and bring higher TOE units to the front. I’m defending in depth here as I am unable to stop the Axis advance head on. I have relatively strong units on the east side of the Axis advance but we’ll see where JB decides to advance. Ideally if I can hold/delay on the Tula/Moscow and Vyazma/Moscow double rails that should make the Axis supply situation a little more challenging.

I have two armies in Moscow building fort levels/CPP so I’ll bring them to the frontline soon and rotate other units to the backline. Both armies were connected to Assault HQ’s this turn so it will take 2 more turns to achieve full CPP.

[Veterin]

Turn 57 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

11

11.png (1.61 MiB) Viewed 1670 times

In AGC, Axis forces continue advancing north of Rostov. It’s unclear if the goal is Stalingrad or an envelopment further south but there’s not much I can do here other than delay where possible. All this open terrain and lack of counters in the area favour Axis.

12

12.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1670 times

Whilst nothing is safe for Soviets in 1942, the Don river line is about as well protected as it can be which is why JB is probably heading north. I have a number of high CPP Tank/Cavalry corps in the area so I made attacks on the Axis vanguard troops making them all take additional retreat losses across the minor river. Axis losses were still much lower than Soviets of course but a much better ratio than usual. Following that attack I have a number of damaged elements in these units so I will fall back across the Don where I can to repair and recuperate.

13

13.png (1.42 MiB) Viewed 1670 times

Similar to the situation around Moscow, I’m running out of land to retreat to! Supply is proving a little challenging in the far south with only two single rails supplying the area now that the Voronezh to Rostov double rails have been cut a few turns ago

I spend a lot of time on administration at the end of the turn. I went through my equipment shortages and disbanded SU’s where appropriate based on shortages.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Supply is proving a little challenging in the far south with only two single rails supplying the area now that the Voronezh to Rostov double rails have been cut a few turns ago

A key to the South was just revealed to the community for Germany. Soviets should be wary of abandoning the South in 41 against a German with this knowledge.

Will this knowledge fall on "deaf" ears? Time will tell.

[jasonbroomer]

T58 Axis

It's good to get a reminder that I'm playing the bad guys

T58 Not what you expect .png (121.33 KiB) Viewed 1521 times

I'm guessing I'll see a lot more or this as the war goes on. Pity as he wasn't a bad general.


And then Vet gets nasty in the centre

T58 Nasty Vet .png (2.63 MiB) Viewed 1521 times

We will have to respond in kind but first we clear out last turns pockets

[jasonbroomer]

T58 AGC cont

Turning to AGC, we continue to plough on, taking advantage of the dislocation that we have caused to the Soviet line. At last we seize Vyazma which was undefended (Vet wisely deciding that it was no longer tenable) and do a bit of herding

T58 AGC Herding again .png (2.47 MiB) Viewed 1504 times

They we remind the Soviets that guard corps can and will be pushed around

T58 AGC My top guys mauling his top guys.png (2.59 MiB) Viewed 1504 times

and we serve up Vet some of his own medicine as Manstein isolates a couple of cavalry corps

T58 AGC Phew, thanks Manstein .png (2.61 MiB) Viewed 1504 times

sadly, the coup d'grace wasn't as effective as hoped for

T58 AGC That didnt go as well as expected .png (2.56 MiB) Viewed 1504 times

In fact, we suffered quite badly in that battle

For AGS, Vet pulled back a considerable distance so we advance to claim the land, however, we are extremely conscious of the Soviets mobility and potential hitting power (he has several tank corps in the sector) so we advance with the motorised and fall back behind an infantry screen, which have either advanced as far as they can or leave 20-30 miles of no mans lands to temper any counterattacking opportunities. We need to think about how we are going to cross the Don, which is being fortified as we close in on it. At the moment, most of our strong units are to the north of the Donets Basin and our plan is to swing eastwards towards Stalingrad and then swing southwards to envelop Rostov. There is some decent defensive terrain blocking the more direct rout to Rostov and we want to bypass this rather than go through it.

[Veterin]

T59 - Soviet Perspective

1

1.png (432.18 KiB) Viewed 1417 times

More bonus points to Axis forces. So far this game Axis forces have gained 15 VP from excess TB’s, mostly from the Western TB. I’m not sure if its ground, air or air night creating all these VPs but it’s happening very frequently.

2

2.png (1.75 MiB) Viewed 1417 times

This was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve had to thin my defence around Novgorod/Leningrad to reinforce Moscow. Axis forces have broken through my entrenched but thin line. I’ll need to pull back in a number of areas to avoid encirclements. A number of the orange army units are in ZOC so I’ll need to attack my way out. It’s a shame I’ve got to give up this hard-won ground but it needs to be done.

3

3.png (2.35 MiB) Viewed 1417 times

I attacked the infantry division that was blocking my units from leaving the cauldron before falling back. My new line is weak and without fort levels so I expect this to continue being pushed back if Axis forces want it. I will lose Staraya Russa too.

[Veterin]

T59 - Soviet Perspective Cont..

4

4.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1415 times

It looks like the Axis goal for now is the encirclement of Rostov rather than advancing to Stalingrad. An attack was made across the Don River but no axis forces crossed. I plan to reinforce the northern end of this advance at the expense of other sectors along the river as that’s where the Axis forces currently are.

5

5.png (1.39 MiB) Viewed 1415 times

After doing some scouting with my mobile units, I’m fairly confident that Axis forces are concentrating towards Rostov direction. As a result, I shift some forces further south to try and hold the major river. There are some triple stacked Axis units with +80 offensive CV so it’s highly unlikely the river line will hold next turn.

6

6.png (999.13 KiB) Viewed 1415 times

Counter attacks are made on the Axis frontline north of Vyzama. Whilst the losses hurt (in particularly the VSS), I need to make the most of the clear terrain Axis forces have to end their turn on. Where possible I am rotating damaged elements to the second row but in some cases that’s not feasible so I am also taking higher losses from these attacks. The good news is given there are so many Axis units all crammed into a small area, most of the defeated Axis units from these attacks travelled 4-5 hexes. Even in assault format, it takes 3 turns for these units to rebuild CPP (as SMP is zero after retreating).

[Veterin]

T59 - Soviet Perspective Cont..

7

7.png (208.39 KiB) Viewed 1413 times

8

8.png (321.36 KiB) Viewed 1413 times

Soviet ground phase land/air losses. Whilst the ground loss ratio is reasonable, the VSS are getting obliterated in the air. I felt like I still needed to use the VSS this turn either way and I have been using it sparingly over the last 2 turns. I have enough aircraft and pilot pool but not if it’s these sorts of losses every turn.

9

9.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1413 times

From what I can see on my recon, I see some motorised/panzer units south east of Kaluga. I don’t recall seeing them in the area last turn so they may have peeled off the main Moscow offensive to encircle Tula from the east. I don’t have many units to deploy to the map this turn but I’ve added some extra strength which will arrive next turn.