TheDoctorKing vs Isaac 1941 Campaign

[ICalli]

Positive note is that Odessa held on one last turn. That is one less turn his rail will close on Rostov-by-the-sea.

[thedoctorking]

Turn 10 AAR.
This was another mildly disappointing turn. I guess I’m not as good at this game as I thought, who knew?
In the northern sector, his defenses south of the Luga proved strong enough to stop my two panzer army offensive. We are sneaking closer to a pocket of a large number of Soviet troops up there, but there’s still a one-hex opening through which supplies can move. Maybe next turn I’ll finally cut all those boys off. Meanwhile, no doubt, the furious digging on the real main line of resistance outside Leningrad continues. I hate to think that after making Leningrad my major objective, I’m not going to get it.
Not so much air firepower this turn in the sector. I think that the airbase bombing and then overrunning his air bases had some impact. Only seven more turns to get to the city, though, and shooting our way across the Neva will take at least two.

[thedoctorking]

On the central front, it was a pretty quiet turn. I let 2nd Panzer Group rest and bring up fuel. They are too far from the railhead for HQBU’s, unfortunately. I am bringing all three infantry armies in the vicinity forward for the push to Moscow, though. 16th Army will leave a screen of regiments north of Velikie Luki and concentrate on clearing the Velikie Luki-Rzhev rail line. I’ve got my rail head close and hope to be able to supply my forces for a last-minute push into the city. If we aren’t up to Leningrad by turn 12, I’m pulling 3rd Panzer Group south to join 2nd in the center. 9th Army will drive due east, while 4th will push northeast along the axis Bryansk-Kaluga. Hopefully, five armies will be enough to take the city – I have to gain about two hexes a turn from now on until mud.

[thedoctorking]

On the southern front, we continued to develop our breakthrough across the Dnepr. Some very weak Soviet units opposed us in the Dnepropetrovsk-Zaporozhe sector. Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler cleared them away pretty much by itself (with the assistance of some SU). XIV Panzer Corps looped around Denpropetrovsk to the north, while Wiking SS Motorized somewhat incautiously advanced to the north. I did an HQBU down there for III Panzer Corps, in case I need to either rescue the Wiking or push farther north towards Kharkov.

Meanwhile, 17th Army disengaged from the Dnepr front near Cherkassy and advanced as rapidly as possible to the east. A very weak line of Hungarian and Romanian units defend the Dnepr front, hopefully encouraging incautious Soviet counter-attacks. 2nd and 6th Armies have forced crossings of the Dnepr/Desna both north and south of Kiev, where six Soviet divisions have bravely remained to die in the ruins of the city.

Farther to the south, 11th Army has (finally) taken Odessa, routing three Soviet divisions across the Black Sea with 4000 casualties. At this point, capturing Sevastopol seems unlikely, but we can at least cross the Denpr to the south and pressure the entrances to the Crimean Peninsula. I have sent an FBD south, so now there are two working in this region. I also created an ad hoc repair HQ with one of the RHD police HQ’s and a bunch of construction battalions. Hopefully between them they will do a better job of supplying my troops down there than I did in my SparkelyTits game.
All this said, I have clearly failed in this game. The point of this game is for both of us to learn. I was hoping to teach Isaac, but he is now schooling me. I continue to marvel at how my German opponents in other games manage to achieve the results they do. Obviously, I’m still behind the learning curve!

Casualties this turn were 25,239 for me, 96,622 for Isaac. In the air, it was 140 for me and 540 for him; 29 of my losses were fighters while for him, 81 were first-line fighters and 26 were IL-4’s, above replacement rates. TOE totals were 5.28 million Axis to 3.89 million Soviets.

[xhoel]

Is this AAR still going?

[thedoctorking]

Yes, we are still playing. Our pace is about one turn a week. Right now, we are on turn 13 and there have been some dramatic developments.

[xhoel]

That's good to hear. Am looking forward to the next update!
Cheers!