1st PvP+1st AAR, Shalkai (Axis) vs GamerDad (Soviet), v1.12.0x

[Shalkai]

Turn 9 part H:

Kremenchug is taken with the attack shown above; hex 91,90 is next (defenders hold against infantry trying to cross the river, but their forts are destroyed). Panzers crossing at Kremenchug use hasty attacks to seize 91,90 and 92, 90. Then two Motorized units cross, and take 90,89 and 91,89. That makes a 20 mile deep bridgehead, and now Panzers can cross the Dnepr without using 19 MP.

11th PzD and the Slovakian Mobile Brigade cross the river next, along with 48th PzK HQ, to expand the bridgehead. Panzer attacks continue moving northeast, up the line of the Psel river. This gives me a salient that is 30 miles wide and 50 deep. This may turn into more than just taking a bridgehead. Can I reach Kharkov this turn? Is it garrisoned? I know the T-34 factory is still there, and if I can take it…

Full court massive recon attempts ensue. Answer - yes, there’s a unit there in Kharkov. But I only see one, and if it is an HQ...I have to make the attempt. 13th and 14th PzD just had an HQBU last turn, and have over 100% fuel stocks, so even if I use all their MP they won’t be completely drained. 14th PzD rushes forward, taking control of Poltava along the way.

Bad news - there is a second unit in Kharkov, and it is a combat unit. But 0 CV so probably unready. Good news - I can get 13th Panzer adjacent with 3 MP left for a hasty attack. Attack: Success - and now there’ll be a lot less T-34s for me to deal with for the rest of the war. Very, very satisfying result.

[Shalkai]

Turn 9 Part J:

Poltava is 26 hexes from my railhead, and Kharkov is 35. Luckily both cities have some captured supplies and fuel so my poor panzers should be all right even with the 12.02 beta supply isolation rules.

I use the remaining units around Kremenchug to widen and secure the neck of the breakout, then look to adjacent areas. I check briefly to see if a double-envelopment is possible by having Guderian’s PzG in AGC drive southeast on Sumy. The Desna river is too strongly held, and too far from German railhead to make this feasible. Here are final positions in northern Ukraine.

[Shalkai]

Turn 9 Part L:

The rest of AGS is then moved. There is no combat along the lower Dnepr, just my various armies untangling themselves and moving up to the river. I’m in no particular hurry to assault down by the river mouth. If I can keep the Soviets tied down on the river for a couple of turns, 1st PanzerGruppe can rest and recover after this Kharkov assault, then blitzkrieg south and take Mariupol or another Black Sea target and cut off all these units from retreating to the Don. They’d have to go the long way round through the Crimea and Caucasus which would tie them up for four or five turns, possibly even til mud arrives..

Finishing this turn will have to wait one more night; I don’t have much left to do but I need to consider where to concentrate my AGC mobile forces. I’ve created chaos and havoc in both the north and south this turn; next turn I need to strike the center hard to try and keep the Soviets off balance along the entire front. It could be in the north around Rzhev, or Vyazma on the main road to Moscow, or I can do a Hitler and send panzers off south to Kursk or Sumy and possibly cut off 50 or 60 divisions.

[Shalkai]

Turn 9 Epilogue:

Pondering at work has made me decide that a rush south to Kursk or Sumy would not be very effective. I’d run panzers far out of supply, and this huge hole I made south of Kiev is going to provoke a massive pullback anyway and they’d mostly escape even if I made a pocket in say two turns. I’m better off concentrating my AGC mobile units to punch another 3-5 hexes east next turn rather than chase chimeras. 24PzK moves up SW of Vyazma, while 47PzK prepares a little NW of there. That’ll give me units to push anywhere from Rzhev to Bryansk next turn. We'll see where the weak spots are. West of Rzhev, 57PzK does an HQBU.

11 hexes to Moscow, 6 to Osinovets (or 1 to Sviritsa).

Total losses at end of Axis Turn 9: Axis 124590 men, 1520 gun, 903 afv, 96 spac. Soviet 1810306 men, 26260 gun, 10184 afv, 3129 spac
Net loss of about 1600 vehicles this turn: 2100 lost, 500 captured.
Air losses: Axis 59 (this turn), 570 Total. Soviet 433 (this turn), 8049 Total. Stuka losses were the worst - 18 Ju87B.
Important Soviet type losses: 34 MiG-3, 6 Yak, 23 LaGG, 30 SB-2 Rcn, 27 IL-2. Ratio is very good.

Destroyed units: 18 this turn: 3 RifleDiv, 3 Fort, 2 Cav, 1 Airborne Brigade were the on-map losses. 9 PVO AA SUs lost from city captures.
OOB shows Germany ticks up to 3.41M manpower, Soviet also up a bit at 3.85M

One notable unforced error was mentioned above - If I’d done the AGN panzer exploitation to Sviritsa and the Karelian border first, then the Finn cavalry could have coordinated and sealed the pocket by moving to a different hex. I’m not that upset since I didn’t expect to be able to attack even one fort.region up there this turn. Turn 10 will see the door slammed and locked.

Casualties weren’t high on either side, but that’s going to change for the worse next turn for the Red Army. The big news items are the massive isolations in the north, and the outflanked Dnepr line in Ukraine. I count about 40 div/brigade cut off in Leningrad, another 6 in the Valdai. That’s 15% of the entire Soviet OOB I’ll be able to wipe out in the next 4-5 turns. Meanwhile, 60 divisions north of Kharkov and another 10+ west of Dnepropetrovsk are going to have to run for their lives to the east. Strategically the Axis are in good shape; I just need to keep the pressure on and make hay while the sun shines.

In other welcome news, there will be less of those gawdawful KV-1 and T-34 tanks being produced. Soviets are going to have to evacuate Moscow soon, which is going to crimp their aircraft and light tank production for a couple months as well.

[Telemecus]

Home run on Kharkhov! The Su-2 factory if it was still there closes soon anyway. But if you got the vehicles and other factories there that is a big hit. I would say enough to sacrifice a motorised unit to do it although you are far from that even.

I would certainly go for the Donbass ahead of central Russian cities - you can always pinch out the Russian salient later. Call it something like the Battle for Kursk .....

[Shalkai]

The Blitz of Kharkov was a grand slam, not just a home run. Not a single point of factory had been evacuated, so the Soviets lost it all.

After receiving this turn, GamerDad took a couple days to see how well he could patch things up, and then decided to resign. My getting to Leningrad and Kharkov before factories could be moved took out the majority of both his current KV-1 and his T-34 production, plus other major dents like 15 points of vehicle production.

GamerDad wrote me that he couldn't even make a cohesive line, and preferred to concede. So we have started a new game, switching sides, and I'll start that AAR in a few weeks.

To finish this AAR, any feedback would be appreciated, and if anyone wants to see further reports/maps/whatever, I'll be happy to oblige.

[Telemecus]

I would say it is a bit too early to concede. In the old patches losing a T34 factory was a big thing - the Soviet Union only had two. Now the Soviet Union will have four - and for a long time in the game you will have 1000s of them piled up in the pools. I think the consensus is by 1944-45 with the colosus moving into Berlin you will exhaust the supply. So really this only means a slightly slower advance into Germany rather than anything catastrophic soon. Also the KV-1, although a powerful vehicle, also becomes largely redundant by mid-war. The vehicle factory loss is a big one, but alone not that much. it would depend of course on how many other vehicle factories and arms/heavy factories they lost. Do you know what the totals to that point were.

That said I do understand if you have lost heart and it is not fun, then no point playing an unfun game. And a lot of credit to gamerdad to offer a restart game. I will be following avidly.