43 Campaign Flavio vs Bob, Soviet Viewpoint

[Flaviusx]

Bob is starting to take some shots at my mobile forces in the center and I have to pull some of these out of the line to rest and refit. I'm making no headway here and content myself with simply grinding his infantry. I now have APs available to do something besides activating and 3 new rifle corps join Central Front.

I'm actually not unhappy with having him stick around here given the situation down south.

As for that, despite rickety logistics and heavy tank losses, Stalin demands and gets results. I smash his line open again and pocket a half dozen or so divisions on the Sea of Azov. The Crimea is in danger of being cut off. My spearheads are rapidly approaching the Dnepr bend and there is nothing in front them to stop them. He is going to have to strip the center to reinforce this area. My supply situation is becoming truly worrisome and I have to send a second rail repair unit down here to sustain the drive and Soviet transport aircraft get a workout as well.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 8 OB. Soviet tank breakdowns are reaching alarming proportions. The Wehrmacht is now down to 2.8 million, a 400k reduction from his starting forces.

[Sabre21]

How's your production keeping up with your losses?

[Flaviusx]

Manpower is ok. I get 100k from manpower centers each turn, and I've mostly been able to stay under that. Plus whatever comes back from disabled losses and whatnot.

Tank losses have shot through the roof in the last two turns and I'm having to cannibalize tank brigades to keep the corps going. (Via merges.) AFV holdings are dropping fast. This is a real weak spot, yet I can't stop and refit given the situation in the south, it's simply too tasty. I've got a lot of corps out there now with fewer than 100 runners, probably most of them.

Artillery is in good shape.

[Flaviusx]

Here's a turn 8 logistics screen. As you can see, the manpower is pretty plentiful. (Too much so? I leave this for others to decide.)

[Flaviusx]

Here's a turn 8 production screen.

[ComradeP]

Edit: OK, it seems scenario production usage is correct, just confusing: it's showing the percentage out of the already reduced percentage for the Germans.

I'm surprised that the Soviet motorpool is OK: you still have a few trucks to spare.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 9, I'm starting to sort out my command mess and forming more rifle corps. The kitty isn't quite empty, I have some unactivated reserves, but at this point I've got the mass I need to do what I want. Now the efficiency of said mass needs to increase.

In a desperate attempt to get the Red Air Force back into this game I ruthlessly disband scores of regiments to get planes in the pool and bring what's left back up to strength. Maybe this will even convince the AI to form new groups with new production aircraft.

Kalinin, Western and Bryansk front continue to grind forward and 4. Tank Army attempts to flank one of Bob's defense lines.

[Flaviusx]

Air recon reveals Hungarians deploying near Poltava. Voronezh and Steppe Fronts shift south and take advantage of this. His position in the center is starting to crumble finally, due to the need to reinforce other parts of the front no doubt.

[Flaviusx]

AGS finally commits the SS to something big and he temporarily relieves the pocket along the Sea of Azov.

In response, I surround the lot again, and add Totenkopf and Das Reich to the pocket for good measure. It's not amazingly tight, but I think I can lock it down this time. I also took Osipenko to make sure he doesn't get beachead supply.

There are a good half dozen mobile divisions in this pocket now, plus other stuff. That's the better part of a panzer army. This has the makings a first class disaster. Air recon shows pretty slim pickings nearby...but has lost track of some panzer units originally located in the center. These may be on the way.

At any event, my combined arms forces are closing in on the Dnepr bend while the Tank armies try to pull off the big pocket to the south.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 10, Bob stages a dramatic breakout of 1. Panzer Army with fresh forces railed in from the center. I had lost track of these last turn in my air recon and suspected they might be headed this way. My poor tired tank armies just didn't have the oomph to stop them.

I judge this to be a dead spearhead now and begin pulling armor out of the line for resting and refitting. Some of it remains behind to clear a path for the combined arms forces to the Dnepr bend; I'm now in contact with both Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye. Going to need more guns here I think, both to force the Dnepr, and to directly assault Zaporozhye (which is on the wrong side of the Dnepr from Bob's standpoint.)

A stout wall of rifle corps is placed due south of the bend.

He's going to have some trouble redeploying this mass of panzers elsewhere given the rail connections. They will have to take an indirect path to return to the central Ukraine. This presents opportunities.

[Flaviusx]

Central, Voronezh, and Steppe fronts take advantage of the lack of panzer forces in the central Ukraine and surge forward, liberating Poltava and closing in on the Dnepr.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 11, Bob pushes me back around Poltava.

It's time for a showdown with the German armor, once and for all. I clear more territory along the Dnepr northwest of Dnepropetrovsk in preparation for a crossing there. With that accomplished, all 5 tank armies mass west of Poltava. They mostly rest this turn and I spend a couple of dozen AP to fit them out with attachments. More tank brigades are cannibalized to bring them up to strength. A strong line forms next to his panzers, including plenty of units held in reserve. Bring it on, Bob.

If he doesn't counterattack here, I'm just going to keep pushing to the Dnepr in the general direction of Cherkassy. Or alternately, look for possibilities to pocket Dnepropetrovsk. Or, hell, maybe both.

[Flaviusx]

I mass a quarter million men and 6000 guns on Zaporozhye and liberate it, crippling the German division holding it in the process. The Dnepr bend is ready for crossings at multiple points. He's holding it with mech units, but I will attack them anyways next turn. If they stay there, that is. I'm not sure he has any choice now, his infantry is pretty well run down in this area.

South of the bend my wall of rifle corps sweeps aside and routs the Romanians.

[Flaviusx]

OB for turn 11. The German army is 500k men understrength now. His artillery is fading away fast, too. Only the panzers remain in decent shape, and even they are well below their initial strengths. My own armor has paid a heavy price to date, but they aren't quite as threadbare now as in the last two turns.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 12. The panzers in the Ukraine throw out another screen of tattered and battered infantry units in front of them and decline to take on my armor directly. This is becoming rather tiresome, these infantry units are down to cooks and clerks, stubbornly refuse to rout and keep getting thrown right back into the line.

However, they are so weak now that I can launch hasty attacks on the entire length of the line, even with my rifle armies. Several turns worth of rifle corps construction has also substantially beefed up my unit density in this area. As General Vatutin says: "they are burning the bread!" The Red Army advances on a broad front closing in on the Dnepr.

[Flaviusx]

I force three crossings around the Dnepr bend and throw across three strong bridgeheads. All three cross river assaults were made against mechanized units, who were inundated by a hail of fire from massed Soviet artillery.

I love my artillery. It truly is awesome.

Leaving nothing to chance and the vagaries of command, all the corps in the bridgehead are stuffed with attachments. He is going to have a very difficult time evicting all of these, and I've got his big mass of armor in the central Ukraine locked in a vice -- if he sends these south to try to restore the situation, my Tank Armies in the center will wreak havoc. The forces in the Dnepr bend themselves aren't going to be enough to dislodge all the bridgeheads.

Something has to give here.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 13. Central, Voronezh and Steppe Fronts continue to advance towards the Dnepr. I execute a number of close tactical pockets in order to surround and rout on retreat various German units. The tank armies fan out across the 3 Fronts to do this.

The Hungarians are kind enough to rout on their own without special measures.

This I think may the best way to break down the coherence of his line. It's on the edge as is, won't take much more to tip it over.

[Flaviusx]

Bob abandons the Dnepr bend and I liberate an empty Dnepropetrovsk. This was probably the least worst option for him. I could have pocketed and forced subsequent surrender of two infantry divisions left behind here, but elected instead to surround and rout them. Time is running short before the rasputitsa and having these guys sitting there for another turn would complicate my ability to press forward. I now have an imposing bridgehead west of the Dnepr and enough forces to bounce the next river line due west. They will keep pressing on in the general direction of Krivoi Rog. This will not coincidentally tend to dislocate the rest of his defense of the Dnepr north of here and ease the path to Kiev.

[Flaviusx]

OB for turn 13. Wehrmacht is a good 600k in the hole now.

My overall AFV holdings have dropped quite significantly thanks to my ruthless merging and disbanding of tank brigades. There's still plenty left, and I plan on disbanding all of them save the guards tank brigades. I really do not need more than the dozen of those or so. This is no longer a tank brigade kind of war and their usefulness is extremely limited in the offense. I'd rather the tanks go to mobile corps or to regimental subunits that can be directly attached to corps.