Move-wise FitE

[larryfulkerson]

Next I want to move the 28th FR. There is a house rule that says the Finns have to stop when they get to the "stop line"
( the green line on the map ), and they can't cross the line either. So I'm thinking the Soviet player can more usefully employ all those units in this area ( including the 28th FR ) somewhere else. In order to make the Soviets defend Leningrad from the north the Axis player will have to use German units.

[larryfulkerson]

I also feel that the BessArabia area is more easily defended by pulling all the Soviet stuff back to the east to the nearest river and defending from there, so anything Soviet that will move is going to be moved east.

[larryfulkerson]

I'd really like to save the armour units if possible, and here is one sorta pinned by the Axis units adjacent so I'm going to move a throwaway unit into the hex so that the armour unit can leave without a problem.

[larryfulkerson]

I didn't think you guys would want me to go through a unit by unit movement disertation so I just moved the Soviet units like I thought the Soviet player might move them and here's the result.

The Stalin Line is roughly constructed in the Southern part of the front lines. There were a lot of units that were reorganizing and couldn't move but enough were active that I put together a one-hex wide line stretching from the Pripet Marshes all the way to the river on the west side. It'll probably be breached before too long but it's something to delay the Axis for a turn or two so that a better defensive line can be constructed centering on Kiev and THAT river ( whatever it's name is ).

The northern part of the front lines is a different matter. I decided to try to form a line around the Smolensk area since it's worked out in the past. The Soviet units West of there are moving east and the units east of Smolensk are moving west and between them we ought to be able to work something out in the way of a defensive line. I denuded the Finland area and got those units moving south to defend Leningrad and the Riga area was beefed up by the Soviet units able to move north away from the Axis units in Latvia and the other baltic states. Riga isn't going to be able to hold long though and I don't expect it to last much past turn 2, turn 3 perhaps, maybe. We'll soon see.

You guys want a blow by blow, unit by unit move analysis the way I've been doing it or would you rather I do a "regular" AAR from now on? What's the consensus?

[MarcA]

Larry

How about using a snapshot of a reasonable area, such as the Ukraine or Latvia, with notes and annotations on whats going where and why. It may end up looking a little busy but would allow a bigger overview of a units movements on a corp level rather than divisional.

[cantona]

blow by blow larry but only highlight the most important fightds otherwise it will take you ages

[Menschenfresser]

I think a middle ground. I like large cutout pics with lines and descriptions of "operational" movements and choices. The unit by unit movement does give the AAR reader a good grasp of the tactical situation and reason for movement, but unless you know the map really well, you kinda lose the big picture. If you were to do a very detailed operational study of FitE from just one side, it would greatly help new players. They could see how to defend and attack each section of the map (Minsk, Pripyet, Leningrad, moving through the Baltics, Stalin Line, Crimea, Kiev, etc). The hardest thing to grasp with these large scenarios by a player who gives the game a lot of thought is how the specific battles are linked together over the whole map.

That said Larry, if you want to just focus on the German side, I'd be willing to take up the Soviet side (w/ no AAR) so you have a real PBEM from which to take this study.

EDIT: Not to say you shouldn't detail important battles and breakthroughs and whatnot. Just on general troop movement, it would be better to see them from a higher view point. For instance, it is more important to understand why a player would send three Pz Divs toward Orsha and none toward Gomel, keeping these threads along the way so readers understand the results of these far reaching decisions, or mistakes.

[el cid]

I personally like the big pictures (the whole minimap view). One thing I would very much enjoy is seeing the whole minimap view of the begining of the turn and the end of the turn, to see how the prgression is going.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: el cid
I personally like the big pictures (the whole minimap view). One thing I would very much enjoy is seeing the whole minimap view of the begining of the turn and the end of the turn, to see how the prgression is going.

Menschenfresser: thank you very much for your willingness to participate. I shall post the scenario here for you to get when it's again the Soviet turn or if you'd rather I'll email it to you. Keep in mind that I started it as a hotseat session and there's no password or anything like that. I didn't anticipate doing it as PBEM when I started, sorry. But I'd rather keep it as a tutorial kind of conflict instead of a cut-throat game. Thanks.

Here's the minimap view of the start and turn 1:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the view of the front lines just after the Axis stuff moved in turn 2 but before any of the combats are resolved. Most of the Soviet stuff was in reorg and didn't get to move and that stuff that did move usually didn't move very far. Most of the Soviet stuff in Latvia moved to Riga and as you can see the Axis is closing in on the surburbs of Riga even now.

[larryfulkerson]

The original plan ( shown with green arrows ) was to encircle all the soviet units with Panzer formations converging at the far side of the pocket but it was thought that the Soviet roadblocks ( green ovals ) would thwart the plan. So the plan changed and the 1st Kav division charged up north ( red arrow ) to try to cut off the Soviet formations so they couldn't escape to the east.

[larryfulkerson]

In the south, the infantry replaced the Panzer regiments on the "front lines" of the encircled units so that the Panzer divisions could rush ahead to the south and southeast and try to pin as many Soviet units as possible so that they couldn't add their strength to the Stalin Line ( green oval ).

[larryfulkerson]

I've put together some movies of the ground gained during turn 2 by the Axis. This is the north end of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's another view of the ground gained during turn two, just a little bit south of the one above:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the front lines and the ground gained in turn 2 just a little bit north of the south end of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the south end of the front lines and the ground gained during turn 2.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a side-by-side view of the losses so far:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the rundown on turn 2 for the Axis:
28 attacks in round 1 70% of turn remaining
16 attacks in round 2 60% of turn remaining
 6 attacks in round 3 50% of turn remaining
 4 attacks in round 4 40% of turn remaining
17 attacks in round 5 20% of turn remaining
 7 attacks in round 6
The Soviets lost 7015 rifle squads which is enough to constitute
about 39 divisions.

[larryfulkerson]

The 1st Inf Div and the 291st Inf Div had the job of cleaning out the port(s) so that the battleship could help out at Riga and here's the battle results.

[larryfulkerson]

The 11th Inf Div, the 58th Inf Div, and the 258th Sec Div had the task of destroying the Soviet pontoon brigade. Here's the battle results: