Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

[caliJP]

Loki, bigbaba, indeed, I have not experimented with the special tank-killing units. Sounds like a good idea..

[caliJP]

Turn 51, June 4th 1942

Had to take a break from this AAR, not enough time!
So after a couple of mud turns since my last post, we now have a full clear turn, and activity is picking up!

North:
As you can see, JC has made it to the gates of Moscow. So I made the decision to try to save it and burn all of my APs to turn as many of my units in the Moscow region into Rifle Corps. This is not what I wanted to do, they cost 20AP/pop in 1942. But I figured if I lost Moscow, that would put a big dent in my ability to build a strong Red Army for 1943, so I rolled the dice.

[caliJP]

Here is a close-up of Moscow area

[caliJP]

T51 Center:
not too many attacks from my opponent, so use the opportunity to beat up on his front line.

[caliJP]

T51 South:
A massive Nazi Pzball makes a right hook towards the coastline and encircles a few units.
I beat back the first layer of units, but I don't have enough MPs and strong units to break the pocket. Still, I beat back several motorized units and you can see a bunch of Huns laying on their back behind the German line

[caliJP]

All this fighting cost each of us about 400 tanks. This is bad news for the German side though, as I can replace 400 tanks in no time, not as much the Germans in early 42

[caliJP]

T52, June 11th, 1942

This turn is mostly mud, except the south. So just some fighting down in that area. My opponent cleaned up the few pocketed units from last turn

[caliJP]

T53, June 18th 1942

All clear weather this turn.
In the North, some back & forth fighting

[caliJP]

T53 Center:
Some fighting southeast of Kaluga, I push back some Panzers
I also continue banging on the German front line with deliberate attacks

[caliJP]

T53 South

My opponents' Pzball pushes eastwards, but I am able to push it back 2 hexes or so. I have to say having a bunch of Tank and Cavalry Corps behind my line ready to pounce is working very well. I am beating up my opponent's Panzers each turn.

[caliJP]

T53 Crimea:

Further south, I attempt something of a experiment. In order to try to coax JC to take some Panzers off the ball he has moving to Rostov, I land some units behind the Romanians and try to create mischief, such as breaking the railroad line. Unfortunately the sea transport capacity of the russians is very low down there, so I can only land a few units. They are likely to be sacrificed...

[caliJP]

Quick look at casualties. I did not kill as many german tanks this time

[bigbaba]

nice dogfight.

imho it's a mistake that the axis player keeps attacking. he should go to full defense, build forts and use his tanks as mobile reserve instead of burning them against you "kursk like" defensive lines.

anyway you do a great job bleeding him white and it was a wise move to create rifle corps around moscow.

[caliJP]

T54, June 25th, 1942

In the North, I try to push the Germans away from Moscow, but the 3-stacks that JC has created and placed in FL 2 or 3 prove to be very hard to pouch even with Rifle Corps. I usually can do it with 9 Corps, but it is sometimes hard to have 9 Corps with enough MPs to enter my enemy's ZOC and still have enough MPs to do a deliberate attack. So it is a very slooooow slog...

[caliJP]

T54 Center

The back & forth continues. At this point, it is a bit like WW1. Two armies dug in. One side comes out of the trenches and may be able to gain 1 hex. But then those units are in the open and get easily beaten up by the other side. So we are getting into a mode where we come out, attack, and go back to our trenches to avoid getting pummeled. The front line won't move much this year!

[caliJP]

T54 South.

In the south, JC's Pzball is looking pretty menacing. My units in this sector have been shredded quite a bit by his attacking and my counterattacking. Looks like we are both taking a pause this turn...

[caliJP]

My little experiment is not working that well. I almost decided to send more troops there to cause more mischief, but it seems that would be a waste...

[caliJP]

Almost a couple of hundred more Panzers sent to the metal recycling plant...

[caliJP]

T55, July 2nd 1942

On the North side, just a few battles, I do have a couple of Guard Rifle Corps around Moscow though....

[caliJP]

T55 Center:
Just south of Kaluga (top of map here), JC has massed quite a few Panzers and bagged a couple of Guard units. I am able to push back and link back with them.
Further south, west of Kharkov, he also pocketed a stack of 3 units, but he had only a thin layer of single Pz/Mot units closing the pocket, and they were in open terrain. So you can see now, they are behind the frontline, and it looks like they need a little R&R