AAR - Camp 1943

[pyguinard]

Hi everyone,

Most of us have some knowledge of what took place on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1943. In a nutshell, Hitler and his generals tried a big pincer movement around Kursk with the hopes of inflicting a hard blow by eliminating the troops in the salient. The russians had time to build up their defenses and, after the german offensive stalled, they counter attacked to succesfully push the germans back accross a broad front.

My friend and I tried to play the scenario in a first game where I played the Germans. I tried what was historically attempted by the Wermacht and the results were surprisingly accurate in terms of historical accuracy. From the north and from the south of Kursk, I sent my Pz armies to break through the russian defense with mixted results. After three weeks of continuous attacks, the Russians launched a counter attack that lead them to the gates of Kiev, eliminating all the best german units.

In this rematch I, still as the german side, will try something else: Having learned the hard way that there is no point in trying to attack the heavily fortified russian positions, the strategy will consist of luring the Russian into thinking that Kursk is still the primary objective but the true goal will be Moscow. (Note that we will write the after actions reports 4 turns after it took place in an effort to preserve sensitive information. [8D])

The first step will be to soften the russian defense line between Smolensk and Tula by launching strong static attacks every where possible, especially between the Velikye Luki-Orel axe. Then, when I feel that ennemy entrenchment levels dropped, the plan is to swiftly throw the elite SS Pz divisions to the North of Bryansk in order surround the weakened Russian units of the area to make them surrender while the bulk of the Soviet Army will be too far away in the East and South to be of any help. Thus, Vyazma is the first primary german objective.

The problem comes from the fact that the German right flank will be exposed to a strong counter attack, that is why the capture of Vyazma has to be quick enough to allow some time to reorganize and strike back when the Soviets jump out of their fortification.

(edit 12-23-2010: Tried to correct some syntax and orthographic errors. English is not my usual written language[:(])

[pyguinard]

One thing I forgot to mention is related to the northern area where gaps between the German line of the defense (North and South of Velikye Luki). Expecting some Soviet infiltration, OKW sent 3 korps including two fresh Pz korps and a strong Infantry Korp coming from East of Leningrad to Novgorod, in order to take advantage of the situation. This could take the Russians by surprise if such action is attempted.

[ArtDen]

German summer offensive was expected and Soviets were ready for fight.

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The first German attack was not powerfull and didn't impressed us. They lost 10,000 of soldiers and 91 tank only in the 40th Army sector (our losses here were 8000 men and 84 artillery guns only). No powerfull German airstrikes, no powerfull tank pressure... It was strange. Is this new German general summer offensive?

STAVKA decided to start our offensive in the other place near Velikije Luki. Intelligence reported that there were no strong reinforcements, reserves and solid front line.

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We used 4 Armies of two Fronts for encirclement of German troops here. As subsequent events showed, this operation was a great mistake. But in these days we were gung-ho about our prospects here. At the same time we were forming two Tank Armies for support of our offensive.

[SkyElf]

Note: The Russians were informed bye a spy in OKW (agent Lucy) on the Germain attack plans in detail on the Kursk salient called Operation Cidadel

[pyguinard]

ORIGINAL: SkyElf

Note: The Russians were informed bye a spy in OKW (agent Lucy) on the Germain attack plans in detail on the Kursk salient called Operation Cidadel

That's correct! As the German player, I should have written my AARs before the turn was played to reflect that situation. I guess we will have to pretend that Agent Lucy never existed if we want to believe that this "what if" scenario was to be historically accurate. [8|]

[pyguinard]

Both South Front (Mediteranean) and Western Front (France) shattered on the very first turn. This is a major setback! Many divisions that would have been usefull against the Bolshevists will have to be transfered to the West, including some of the best Jagdgeschwaderen to protect from USAAF bombing.[:@]

On the Demyansk-Velikye Luki area, our precautions paid off since the Russians tried to exploit the gaps. Two of the four units were repulsed back into their lines leaving the two other isolated.

Seeing an opportunity to cut the defense of Velikye Luki from full supply and anticipating that the Russians would be off balance in the sector, a strong Pz Korp was sent from Northern Smolensk to sit on the rail lines feeding the city. To avoid being attacked from every sides by strong units, 68th Army was attacked in an attemp to lower it's readiness level but to our surprise, it surrendered!

Between Smolensk and Orel, the defense line is starting to weaken as static attacks forced Soviet units to retreat. We will be ready to send in the Elite SS Divisions to exploit the breaches and capture Vyama, hoping every reinforcements will be sent to Velikye Luki.

[pyguinard]

Here is the casualty report for the 2nd turn