Europe 41 v40 PBEM AAR

[jjdenver]

This AAR will cover the user-created Europe 41 scenario for Battles in Italy system. The scenario is 80 turns long, each turn about 2.5 weeks, each hex about 20km, mostly division/corp scale units. It begins in June '41.

This is my first PBEM game using this system so I approach the game w/ some trepidation. I'll be playing the allied side and my opponent, "captain general" from SSG Run5 forums, is axis. I think my opponent has some experience PBEM but I'm not sure how much.

I start by moving 8th Army in Africa. The DAK attacked 7th Armor Div and reduced it to half strength then has retreated to a position south of Tobruk and the Italians have started to reduce the Tobruk strongpoint. 8th army advances to attack Bardia which is garrisoned by a division shipped in from Greece(I was able to see it sail in during the turn replay). Unfortunately the best odds that can be achieved without 7th Armor Div (which has stayed behind to receive armor replacements) is 9-1 and losses would be heavy for the attacker. I don't want to get 8th Army into a bad situation so I delay the attack. Unfortunately this leaves 8th Army rather exposed. I have to burn supply for extended movement to get 2nd Armor back into the main line.

One division begins travel from Britain to Africa. I would like to send more but am not sure how viable Sealion is for Germany using only the forces that start in France - which appear to be quite extensive. So I'm playing it safe by leaving most troops in Britain.

[jjdenver]

Now I take a look at the big one - the Russian Front. The Germans have stormed easily through the border armies. Here is a shot of the Soviet fronts and their (very extensive) losses. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the Soviet divisions available to the main fronts have been lost on turn 1. There are 2 MD's undamaged - the Stavka reserves and the interior MD's - but these are not very large. Things look grim.

[jjdenver]

As I begin to move the Soviets I forget that I can blow bridges. It's not until the Soviet turn is almost completed that I remember this. As a result the German attackers get free passage across almost every bridge. Doh.

The carnage created by the German advance in only 1 turn is astounding. I can see several choices to be made in the north.

1) Defend Riga which is on the west side of the Dvina river or fall back across the bridge? I decide to stack 4 divisions in Riga and hope they can hold for a turn. One Mech corp backs them up on the east side of the river along w/ the Baltic MD supply unit.

I fall back to the east side of the Dvina farther south at Davgavpils

2) Defend Minsk or fall back into the forests east of the city? I decide to defend but string a few units along the road that can't make it any farther - hoping these will prevent the city from being cut off from the north by advancing panzer divisions.

3) In Finland I fall back to the fort line north of Leningrad and attempt to defend against the German army advancing out of northern Finland, south of Petsamo. I move another division from Petsamo to reinforce against this German army which includes the SS Viking division and some tanks (!!). Finland not shown.

Overall I note that the Soviets seem very weak on the Minsk-Moskva axis - it doesn't appear that it will be easy to stop AGC - at all.

[jjdenver]

The German advance isn't as extensive in the south but they still wreak massive carnage on the Kiev and Odessa MD forces. There are a few decisions to be made in the south.

1) 2 infantry divisions, 1 AT brigade, and 1 cav division survive near Lvov. Should these be evacuated east into the woods or stay to defend Lvov since it's a critical choke point for the German advance. I waffle but finally decide to retreat everything that can get out. One division is entrained, the cav div and AT brigade run for the forests east of Lvov, and one lone division unable to escape remains in Lvov. I'm not sure that I made the right choice here but I'd like maximum forces to survive since I hope to defend the Dniepr at Kiev in strength.

2) I also have to decide whether to defend Odessa and the bridge there. The downside to defending Odessa is that the bridge farther north at Uman is not really defendable - thus Odessa can be outflanked from the north. A decision is made to defend Odessa for at least this turn.

Other divisions are sent toward the Dniepr river. Farther south in the Caucaus various ports are garrisoned.

[jjdenver]

Unfortunately the game crashed on turn2.

We restarted and same thing happened.

I think we've figured out why this is happening. I'm placing a British minefield on Tobruk and Tobruk already has a strongpoint in the hex. I've never seen a strongpoint in the same hex as a minefield. My opponent agrees this is probably causing the crash.

So we've restarted a 3rd time.

Unfortunately my opponent has become very very good at the first turn and his first turn in this 3rd game is lightyears better than his initial first turn.

Here's a shot of Soviet north. In particular, panzers seize Kovno and the bridge there on turn 1 and reach the outskirts of Panavezya. Soviet casualties are also more extensive than they were in our first game. The Germans also encircle 3 Soviet units including an artillery at Grodno.

In the inset you can see Tobruk surrounded and the Tobruk strongpoint has been completely destroyed.

[jjdenver]

AGS this time manages to seize Lvov and encircle a couple of Soviet corps east of the city.

Farther south a Tank Destroyer brigade also pushes across the river near Odessa. All available Soviet units are mustered to counterattack this river crossing. The Red Army is able to successfully destroy the penetration and blow the bridge at Odessa.

[jjdenver]

Soviet OOB is shown here - casualties are higher this 3rd time around. In particular Kiev MD has only 12 units remaining while in the first game 17 units survived turn 1. Western MD has only 14 units surviving while in last game 17 units survived.

[jjdenver]

Here is the overall map. You can see the units around Tobruk and along the Russian front.

[jjdenver]

Ah so sad - my allied turn 2 crashed again.

However I have been able to play as Axis for about 3 or 4 turns so no problems as Axis. Because of this I think we'll continue our mirror game where I'm axis but this AAR for my play as allies is concluded. This user-created scenario definitely pushed the limits of DB: Battles in Italy game.

I'm going to post an AAR for my ongoing On to Moscow scenario instead. This game is too much fun.