OKH Plan 1942 - Alpha AAR

[PyleDriver]

Well what your not seeing is almost every attack I do the Soviets are throwing Corps in reserve into the battle. Its really chewing up my armored units now. They did attacks in the south this turn which has me worried as I may have to move more unit south to thwart these attacks...I looks like they want Rostov back...Wiking helped in counters but they have alot of crap out there...

[Flaviusx]

Alas, those forces in the south ought to be elsewhere. It's a subsidiary theater. It may cause you a few headaches, sure, but losing Moscow in exchange for some useless real esate near Rostov is hardly working in the Soviet favor.

[PyleDriver]

Yea I know, but as you said thats all I see. I have no idea what lurks around Moscow. The Soviets still have over 5000 tanks, but where?...Hum...

[PyleDriver]

Heres a mid turn 11 OOB. They just started the numbers on the right, I think thats historical, not for sure. Someone else could answer that... But as you see the Bear is still huge and growing. I need Moscow to slow them down...

[roman uk]

First time poster...

This is a great post and look foward to hear the updates daily. This is a great advertisement for the game, thank you Pyledriver for your time and effort.

Many advocated this is a viable alternative strategy for 1942; engage the soviets and destroy in detail on German terms, while the wehrmacht still maintained an edge in quality and C&C, rather than dissipating strength in the Caucasus.

Like everyone else, I wait to see what reserves are left, after Izyum, and the 1.8 million soviet losses in this offensive.

Would a human opponent prevent/avoid the smaller encirclements that AIs always seem to be susceptible, that Pyledriver is slowly bleeding the soviets white?

Roman

[Flaviusx]

If the numbers in parentheses are historical...you and the Sov are both surprisingly close to them. And this despite a radically different German strat. Weird.
 
 
 
 

[PyleDriver]

Jim, I just saw you post. No offence I hope. I have a T-shirt that explains me to the T (my wife got it)... "If your not living on the edge, your taking up to much space"...

[PyleDriver]

(DAR) Well I have focused on rail repair before the drive on Moscow (level 5 ss). Whats really cool is if you hit the rail toggle it shows your FEB units. I have those guys running around now doing secondary supply routes. Supply my friends, supply...Oh btw there the ones outlined in yellow...The main thrusts are about ready to start...Stay tuned...lol...

[Joel Billings]

Numbers in parenthesis are ready elements. The difference is those elements that are with units but are damaged.

[PyleDriver]

Now Joel is a guy you dont want to play, I will. He knows all the rules. I scraped with him in WBTS. Great AAR view it, it was intense. We had one late bug, or I think I would have got him...When you can press the boss, your not half bad...Really guys if you want to see a great AAR, go to the WBTS post...It's a beauty...And I'm not a civil war buff, but I learned alot...Hell I spent 17 months testing that game. It's quite a jewel...

[PyleDriver]

One last thing. I'm the youngest of three boys. My brothers were fighters and beat me alot. They said Jonny, after I hurt them back (their were 5 & 6 years older) look for the biggest guy and take him out, and the rest will go running...Now you have the rest of the story....Yes I am aggressive, and love it...But I don't hurt a women, theres enought asses out there already...lol...Really I like the battle of the minds, there is so many unarmed people out there...lol...Hell I get hurt getting out of bed now...lol...Enjoy this AAR, It's nap time for this old dog...Hoth and Model will start up the motors very soon...

[PyleDriver]

(DAR) had to post this. 2nd PzA busted the Oka also, Ryazan was in the coner of my eye. Balck pressed forward and Hube got another bridgehead...Alot will continue...4th army is ready to roll...

[wmcalpine]

Jon,

Impressive work. I wonder what formations are around Moscow.

[PyleDriver]

I'm hoping theres alot of stuff there (Moscow). I really need to trap them...If they keep pulling away this thing could be lost...43 is a hole different ball game, the real problem is the Germans didn't take Leningrad in 41. That was a must take...Btw I'm writing the S&T, damn who could be better, lol, Leningrad in 41, Moscow in 42...Then the house of cards will fall...

[ComradeP]

Well, we agree on the order of importance for the capture of Leningrad and Moscow.

Is there any reason why the Panzers in cyan are currently advancing in the direction of numerous swamps, a terrain type which you intended to avoid earlier?

[PyleDriver]

Well Heinrici's 4th army was a mess. How he cleared the pockets is a mistery. I had to move so many units around (lack of AP's) just to get them uniform. But now, there ready C&C my friends, LVI PzC did press a little north, while reorganization took place...

[ComradeP]

Isn't that precisely what having Kleist running around as a loose canon away from the main axis of attack is designed to avoid? If you throw all your reserves at Hoth, then Kleist runs amok, forcing you to move South to counter. Then Model kicks off and you need reserves there. Rinse and repeat...

To me, thinking as the defender is never about what you will lose or won't achieve, as that's often pretty obvious, it's about what you can afford to lose and trying to figure out what you can achieve.

Even though the game is months from release and I've never touched it, I've been thinking a lot about the Soviet strategy in the past few weeks. Starting a 1941 game and not accepting that, potentially, you'll lose everything West of Moscow will be problematic, as the early disasters which are more or less automatic will ruin your morale and strategy. To me, it would be about working from West to East starting at Moscow and not the other way around in terms of planning a defence.

You're thinking too much in terms of the attacker. As the defender, you should never do what the attacker wants you to do, unless it's what you intended to do in the first place.

If the attacker is breaking through your frontline in more than one sector, determine which sector(s) you can lose and which sector(s) you really need.

There's a lot of open steppes in the South, the Soviets could easily withdraw a bit without giving up any truly important cities. That would also drag the Germans further to the East. Good for you, bad for them.

Let's say the Germans want to encircle Moscow, like PyleDriver is doing now. They will probably try to decrease the pressure on the main axis of advance through attacking other sectors, because that's a standard military strategy and it would almost be foolish not to do so. In this case, the attacker relies on two assumptions: 1) the defender will be strong where the attacker expects him to be strong, which is near Moscow in this case 2)as a result, the defender is fairly weak everywhere else.

Moscow is the logical target, so from the first turn you place some guys in many of the good terrain hexes or the Moscow side of rivers and let them dig in for a couple of months. It would be nice if leaving them alone like that would both boost their morale/experience as described earlier and the fort level of the hex.

Such a defensive position can be held with a minimum of manpower, whilst it will still be strong enough to make sure the Germans need to use a lot of force to get in.

At the same time, you prepare the position you want the Germans to attack at the flanks several months in advance. You create an appearance of strength, but not make it too obvious that it's actually not a crucial part of your defence, and you make sure the appearance is credible through placing plenty of expendable units there that will basically die for the cause.

Let's say that a force like what Kleist is using in this game will attack that part of the front. The front will break up, you'll take losses but so will the Germans. The Germans will designate a few cities in the area crucial objectives. However, just like the deaths of millions is basically a statistic, to you the cities are just a spot on a map somewhere because you're playing the Soviets and you know that the city is probably completely insignificant to the overall outcome of the conflict. You'll get it back in due time in any case.

Kleist has 5 Panzer divisions and 2 motorised divisions, as well as a comparitively small amount of infantry divisions. When Kleist strikes, preferably placing troops on "your" side of a river, you hit him with half a million men that have been training to do just that for several months and thousands of tanks. You'll send a couple of waves of hundreds of obsolete aircraft (you have plenty of those) over to attack the Luftwaffe. Your aircraft will probably be butchered (which you can afford) but will tire the Luftwaffe pilots, and then you mix a wave of obsolete aircraft with the quality air groups that you have been training for months. Due to the fatique, the Luftwaffe should be taking some losses and will be far less prepared to counter what your bombers are scheduled to do to the Panzer divisions.

The Germans get a few hexes closer to Moscow and maybe a city or two elsewhere, and you weaken or pulverise what comes down to two Panzer Corps. That's a trade I'll make any day of the week as the Soviets.

After that, the Germans will have to bring in reinforcements and you will achieve what the Germans are trying to achieve: reduce pressure on the crucial sector.

As the defender, you decide when and where to strike, not the attacker.

[jaw]

ORIGINAL: PyleDriver

One last thing. I'm the youngest of three boys. My brothers were fighters and beat me alot. They said Jonny, after I hurt them back (their were 5 & 6 years older) look for the biggest guy and take him out, and the rest will go running...Now you have the rest of the story....Yes I am aggressive, and love it...But I don't hurt a women, theres enought asses out there already...lol...Really I like the battle of the minds, there is so many unarmed people out there...lol...Hell I get hurt getting out of bed now...lol...Enjoy this AAR, It's nap time for this old dog...Hoth and Model will start up the motors very soon...

Jon,

I apologize for knocking you so far off topic. We shouldn't be consuming space that could be used for more screen shots!

[PyleDriver]

You know Comrade, this reminds me of a story when I was 12. I was at a friends house and I told their dad how I didn't like how he had his guns hung on the wall. He said "young stud, you go buy some guns and a rack and hang them way you want at your house"...I was slamed huh...lol...

[Ron]

You know Pyledriver, perhaps one day,

you will get over yourself,

Until then, angst and fret away,

Oh yeah... lol.