DNO-Olorin vs Fungwu

[Olorin]

Turn 1:

Heeresgruppe Mitte:

2 & 3 Panzergruppen (Hoth and Guderian):
The opening turn is the most crucial, imho, so I was very carefull not to waste rounds and movement points. I used HQs to limit movement costs for my crucial panzer units. HQs can make a big differemce, saving movement points, readiness and supply. Also, overruning the intitial Soviet units, in front of the two central Panzergroups is essential. So, I secured a clear road, free of enemy ZOCs, for Guderian and Hoth to advance without hinderance. Guderia's recon battalions reached up to 4 hexes ahead of Baranovice. Hoth's recon units surrounded the two Soviet divisions in Lida and the town north of Lida. This gave the chance to destroy those units for good in later combat rounds, clearing the road, which will prove crucial in the next turn for Hoth.

The Bialystok Kessel is formed only by auxillary units (Brandeburgers, recon and engineer units). They cut off the supply of Soviet formation in the pocket. Since these formation will be reorganising for the two opening turns, commiting entire divisions to close the pocket would be un-economical.

4.Armee (von Kluge):
7, 23, 268, 131, 134, 17 and 78 "Sturm" Divisions were withdrawn from the front to follow Guderian's Panzers. Only 8 Divisions attacked the Soviet front and they destroyed most of it. The forces near Brest Litovsk including two Tank Divisions are attacked by XII.ArmeeKorps (Schroth) and some anti-tank, SPAT and AA units.Brest Litovsk itself fell during the first combat round.

9.Armee (Strausse):
It took two combat rounds to destroy all the Soviet formations facing 9.Armee. Already, all of its divisions are marching behind Hoth's Panzer. Only 102.Infantry Division stayed behind, mopping up a small kessel.

[Olorin]

Heeresgrupppe Süd:


1. Panzergruppe (von Kleist):
South of Vladimir Volynsk, there is an lone Soviet division. if this division was destroyed, a three hex gap would allow Kleist to breakthrough. So this division's destruction was a priority. It was surrounded and destroyed, in the first combat round, which unfortunately took 30% of my turn. I had 70% of my movement points to exploit the gap and I did so. There is a Soviet Mech Corps guyarding Brody and 16. Panzer Division, established contact with it and still had one movement point to attack it in the last combat round (on ignore losses, as it was the last round).

17.Armee (von Stülpnagel):
This army is facing the strongest opposition. The Soviets are fortified and have artillery support and many units on tactical and local reserve, which could burn my turn. So, I was very carefull in the first combat round, as this is the round, in which a turn burn is more likely to occur). Only artillery bombardment on fortified units, normal attakcs on limit losses on entrenched units. I bypassed many fortified Soviets, encircling destroying them in later combat rounds. However, much of the Soviet front is remaining after Turn 1.

6.Armee (von Reichenau):
Same as 17.Armee, Reichenau faces fortified Soviet regiments. Only probing attacks and artillery bombardments were launhed in the first round. I assaulted these enemy units after combat round 2. What remains of the 5th Soviet Army are mere remnants.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Nord:

4.Panzergruppe (Höppner):
This Panzergrup has only two Panzerkorps and I will face the same limitations as happened historically to von Leeb. There are two roads, leading to Daugavpils and Jekapbils. Manstein will take the first, Reinhardt the second, before the Soviets can destroy the ridges. To attack Riga with this Panzrgrup would be an inexpedient meassure, the real target is Leningrad here. Riga is left to 18.Armee.

18.Armee (von Küchler):
As stated above, its first target is Riga. There are several entrenched Soviet units blocking the way, many of which were destroyed during the first two combat rounds. All that is left, was to clear the Soviet remnants before Riga.

16.Armee (Busch):
ITs first target is Kaunas. 12. Infantry division avoided a frontal attack and crossed the Niemen river to close in Kaunas from the rear. However, it didn't have enough movement points to take the city. The rest of 16th Army's divisions attacked frontally, and as is the case with the other fronts, this attack was succesfull.


Lufwaffe:
In my air briefing, I can see that 4872 enemy aircraft has been destroyed, though the real number is possibly lower. On map, all Soviet air formations ear Riga and Leningrad are gone, as is the DBA units near Novgorod and Smolensk. The airforces of sevastopol is also gone. However, much of the destroyed aircraft is simply damped into the reinforcement pool. Bridges were destroyed in Korosten and Kiev in the south, Kirov, Ugra and Safonovo in the center.

[Olorin]

Turn 2:

Heeresgruppe Mitte:

Fungwu tried to pull back as many units he could salvage, but many Soviet formations are still inactive. Guderian surrounded Slutsk with XXIV.Panzerkorps and the fortress north of Slutsk with XXXXVII.Panzerkorps and waited for the right time to attack them. It happened in the 3rd combat round, iirc. After that he was free to advance a bit more, even reaching Bobruisk with a recon battalion. The battalion attack the city in the last round but failed to take it. Now the Soviets will probably reinforce Bobruisk and destroy its bridge. 29. Motorized Division was asigned the mission of capturing Minsk, which he executed succesfully, two combat round before the end turn. XXXXVI Panzerkorps took screening positions near Baranovice, because of the presence of one Mechanized and one Rifle Corps there, that will become active in the next turn and will probably try to intercept the advance on the main Brest-Moscow highway.

Now, Hoth advanced up to 3-4 hexes from Lepel. LVII. Panzerkorps was obstracted by a routed SOviet division, but the ZOC penalty was not much, so he ignored it. There is enemy presense near Wilno, amd Lida, making necessary some flank protection. This was provided by the two Infantry Corps of Hoth's Panzergrup, V.Armeekorps protecting the left and VI.Armeekorps the right flank.

3 Security and 2 Infantry divisions became available to Kluge. I used them to replace the ring around the Bialystok pocket. Now only one of the main divisions of 4.Armee, 252.Infantry Division remains near Bialystok. The rest started force marching towords Minsk. 9.Armee spent this turn marching behind Hoth.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Nord:

16.Armee took Kaunas and eliminated all enemy formation in the area. The Kaunas bridge is destroyed though. 18.Armee still has some mopping up to do before closining in around Riga.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Süd:

The Mech Corps defending Brody was surounded and destroyed by 16 Panzer division. 1.Panzergruppe is split in two ad hoc formations:
a.Gruppe Wietersheim, including 13.Panzer Division, 16 & 25 Motorized Divisions and SS Wiking, is advancing along the road Brody-Shepetovka.
b. Gruppe Kempff, including XXXXVIII.Panzerkorps, III.Panzerkorps and Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler" is advancing along the road Rovno-Novograd Volyskiy.
XXIX.Armeekorps (Obstfeller) will try to maintain contact between the two groups.
Meanwhile, 6.Armee took Kovno and eliminated the remnatnts of 5th Soviet Army. 17.Armee continue battling its way against many Soviet division, many of them tank divisions. This army is already worn out, many of its divisions have red status.

[Olorin]

Turn 3:

Heeresgruppe Mitte:

Fungwu seems to be withdrawing everything, to a line much to the east. However he is throwing at me motorcycle, AA and destruction units, placing them at critical points (cities, road junctions etc), trying to slow my advance. He is succeeding so far, but not totally. Perhaps if those units weren't there, I would have advanced a few hexes further. But the biggest setback is the draining of my panzer's supply. They have to battle their way through, thus they alreay are yellow or orrange. This is because I put a lot of weight into these attacks. Motorcycles and AA can burn a large part of the turn, so I put almost everything against them, panzers, arty and air. This is costly sypply wise, but it guarrantees a lot of combat rounds.

So, after having to give a fight for Bobruisk, Guderian's forces reached the outskirts of Moghilev. 10 Motorized Division is dispatched to Zlobin and Rogachev to guard Guderian's right flank from possible Soviet aggression there. Hoth fought two battles near Lepel and won, he entered the city after the second combat round, but didn't have enough MP left to advance further. LVII Panzerkorps changed direction and took Polotsk.
Fungwu gave me one surprise, I thought I was guarding the rear of Guderian well, with XXXXVI. Panzerkorps, but I made the mistake of not making contact with the 17th Mech Corps, leaving it with enough MP's to flank 10th Panzer Division. 17.MechC established itself on the main highway, between Baranovice and Minsk. The move could bog down the advance of my infantry divisions, so I ordered 10.PzD to enircle and destroy it, which it did. Now 4.Armee has again a free road ahead of it. Several other battles were won near Bialystok, Lida, Wilno and Novogrudok. Few units remain in the Kessel.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Nord:

Höppner had to face the same difficulties with his cronies in the center, namely, several motorcycle and AA units. His advance was slowed down more than the other Panzergroups. Despite his minor setbacks, he made contact with the Stalin Line fortresses in Ostrov and Opochka. They will be attacked in the next turn. 18.Armee has still some mopping up to do. I estimate that the attack on Riga will be launhed in two turns.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Süd:

In the South, another surprise awaited me. I was able to not lose time, fighting against minot units and I reached the Stalin Line in full force. However, the battle I was counting to give there won't happen, as Fungwu is withdrawing even further east! I don't know how much ground he is prepared to give up, but between the Stalin Line and Kiev there is no other suitable line to defend. Thus, by giving me the Stalin Line he is giving me me Kiev. I suppose he will defend the city itself fiercely, but up to that point I will only have to give minor battles.

Thank God the Russians cannot devide their units, otherwise I would have to face countless ants trying to slow me down. It is bad as it is already.

[MarcA]

Good AAR. I love the maps. I will be interested to see how and where he will try to stop you. Are you also going to have separate posts for far South and far North?

[Olorin]

ORIGINAL: mantill

Good AAR. I love the maps. I will be interested to see how and where he will try to stop you. Are you also going to have separate posts for far South and far North?

Thanks! I did seperate posts for North, Center and South because I can't post more than one screenshot per post. I don't think I will make seperate post for far North and far South, I will include them in AGN and AGS reports, unless something spectacular happens over there.

[Olorin]

Turn 4:

Heeresgruppe Mitte:

Things are difficult for me. Fungwu throws every expendable units he has (and they are a lot) against my Panzergroups. In this turn has succeeded in slowing me down considerably. Even more supply is spent in minor battles. The first combat round was fought mostly against motorcycles and destruction units again and unfortunately it took 50% of my turn, leaving my mobile formations unable to advance much further.

At least Hoth has reached the outskirts of Vitebsk with both of his Panzrkorps' and Guderian crossed the Dniepr River with XXIV.Panzerkorps. The Soviets around Misnk moved to blocking positions but were repelled by Grossdeutxchland. Now Misnk is defended by an Armeekorps of 4.Armee, XII.AK, which replaced 29.MotD there. Soviet formations around Bialystok are completely destroyed. 3-4 Soviet units remain near Grondo and Wilno.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Nord:

Von Küchler's 18.Armee managed to take two hexes of Riga already, with I.Armeekorps. Höppner's Panzergroup faced the same problems as Guderian and Hoth. Although eliminated the fortresses of the Stalin Line, his advance beyond that was limited. Next targets: Pskov, Velikye Liuki and Dno.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Süd:

In the South, the Stalin Line was too weakly defended, as the Soviets are withdrawing behind the Dniepr. 1.Panzergruppe is the only major Panzer formation advancing better than expected. 17.Armee finished mopping up operations around Lvov and Tarnopol and will resume its march soon. Hungarian and Rumanian armies are facing weakened resistance too and crossed the Prut river with ease.

I don't know where Funguw will stand and fight properly, but a front is already starting to take shape behind the Oka river. In my opinion, this is too close to Moscow and gives up a lot of important cities, which should have been taken with more difficulty. But we'll see how things unfold.

[Olorin]

Turn 5:

Heeresgruppe Mitte:

I kinda regained the momentum lost in the previous turn. Although only 60% of my turn was left after the first combat round, the Soviets are running out of expendable, small units to delay my advance. A Soviet Line is beggining to take shape far to the east, behind the Oka river, to Orel and from there to Kharkov. Until I get there my game will continure to be tedious, fighting small units, trying not to burn turns. It takes a lot of effort to do it properly and I am running out of patience

As I said, my Panzergroups made some progress. Guderian faced no ants this time and advanced at full speed. One small recon units went all the way from Moghilev to Smolensk and attacked the lone Soviet division protecting the city, unsuccesfully. XXIV.Panzerkorps protects the right flank. Hoth, on the other hand, had to contend with a militia brigade and some destruction regiments. he destroyed them, but wasn't able to reach Smolensk. Vitebsk was captured by LVII.Panzerkorps.

East Poland and Belarussia are almost completely devoid of Soviet military presence. All pockets have been wiped out. The first divisions of 2.Armee have taken their positions at the front, near Rogacev, replacing 10.Motorized division there. The three infantry armies of Heeresgruppe Mitte continue to march like crazy, trying to catch the panzers. 9.Armee was obstracted by another annoying ant.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Nord:

Riga is completely in german hands now, thanks to Küchler's 18.Armee. From now on, XXVI.Armeekorps and XXXVIII.Armeekorps will advance through the baltic states, mopping up the many ants that appear to be protecting critical bridges and junctions. I.Armeekorps will advance through Pskov the take its place to the left of 4.Panzergruppe. The Soviets chose to defend a line behind the Luga river to Novgorod. I would have done the same. This line already appears to be strong, especially the fortress of Luga.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Süd:

Kleist took Zhitomir and Berdicev. He had to eliminate many ants. One particular engineer regiment lasted 4 whole rounds against 13.Panzer Division, which was reduced to red status and 1% supply! It seems that Stalin is breeding superhuman clones. Now, Kleist is facing pretty much empty space ahead of him and the question is which way to go. One option is to disperse 1.Panzergoup's efforts to many objectives another option is to go for Kiev and from there to Kharkov, retaining formation coherence. I will decide in the next turn.

P.S. I would appreciate any comments, advice, criticism etc.

[Olorin]

Turn 6:

Heeresgruppe Mitte:

Things are getting interesting again, as my mobile forces face less and less ants to contend with. 17. Panzer Division beat a lone Soviet division to capture Smolensk. The city fell one turn after I was expecting. This delay is the effect of the various ants that Fungwu deployed. 4.Panzer Division took positions to attack Roslavl in the next turn. Hoth has two divisions to eliminate to gain freedom of movement again. The infantry armies are still well back, but some divisions managed to make it to the front.

[Olorin]

Heeregruppe Nord:

Höppner continued to battle his way through destryction regiments, hence his advance was not so fast. The three objectives of Pskov, Velikiye Liuki and Dno are finished succesfully. Now the question is: Schwerpunkt left (Narva-Luga) or Schwerpunkt right (Novgorod-Chudovo)? The Luga road is defended by 4 rifle and one tank division and there isn't any room to maneuver, the attack must be frontal and hexes must be won one by one. Novgorod is defended by a Mech Corps. Narva is defended by 4 rifle divisions, but it's too far away and the redirection of my panzers will cause a reaction from Fungwu. As things are at the moment, I prefer the Novgorod solution, but I will take my final decision next turn.

[Olorin]

Heeresgruppe Süd:

In the south, there is much space for my panzer. Kiev seems to be lightly defended and 6.Armee is near, so I will leave Kiev for the infantry, while Kleist will advance southeast. There are almost 20 Soviet divisions west of the Dniepr river, trying to escape. Kleist will pursuit them and catch whatever he can in his claws. This will have the added effect of positioning him for further oparations in the lower Dniepr area.