Grand Campaign Haudrauf (Axis) vs. Miller41 (no Miller41 please)

[Mynok]

Ouch. 3rd Panzer is looking especially vulnerable.

[Q-Ball]

The easternmost 2 stacks, which appear to have 3 Divisions and 2 HQ, look really really vulnerable. That one stack of 3 CV, you couldn't get that retreated to the NE? If you can't push them off, it will take you 2 Blizzard turns to pull everyone out. If Miller is aggressive, and he probably will be, he won't give you 2 turns. I think you're going to lose at least a couple units. Hope I'm wrong.

Good AAR, please send us a map of the rest of your Winter Lines! Interesting to see your strategy. Your last theater map was very worrying looking for 2nd and 4th Armies. I think you may be a bit overextended.

[Skacee]

Leningrad is now difficult, I wonder what will happen when the blizzard hit. I suggest to put more forces in order to reach port Novaya Ladoga next summer and cut off Leningrad which is difficult to get by direct attack. This attack was underestimated. Very good move with Finns to the north port. Dont forget that Leningrad is very important also because you will enjoy help of Finns after. Dig, dig, dig...

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

The easternmost 2 stacks, which appear to have 3 Divisions and 2 HQ, look really really vulnerable. That one stack of 3 CV, you couldn't get that retreated to the NE? If you can't push them off, it will take you 2 Blizzard turns to pull everyone out. If Miller is aggressive, and he probably will be, he won't give you 2 turns. I think you're going to lose at least a couple units. Hope I'm wrong.

Good AAR, please send us a map of the rest of your Winter Lines! Interesting to see your strategy. Your last theater map was very worrying looking for 2nd and 4th Armies. I think you may be a bit overextended.

I don't think that 2nd army will be a big problem because he has not many opposing forces there and I am dig in well. Much more concerned about Leningrad area and the center where 4th army has a hole to be filled after making sure that my Panzers can retreat into safety. regarding the 2 stacks, I am not sure which stacks you are talking about.

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: Skacee

Leningrad is now difficult, I wonder what will happen when the blizzard hit. I suggest to put more forces in order to reach port Novaya Ladoga next summer and cut off Leningrad which is difficult to get by direct attack. This attack was underestimated. Very good move with Finns to the north port. Dont forget that Leningrad is very important also because you will enjoy help of Finns after. Dig, dig, dig...

If I still have an army in the Spring I will definitely put more infantry forces up there. In exchange most mobile units of AGN will go down to the center (not all of them).

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Haudrauf1962

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

The easternmost 2 stacks, which appear to have 3 Divisions and 2 HQ, look really really vulnerable. That one stack of 3 CV, you couldn't get that retreated to the NE? If you can't push them off, it will take you 2 Blizzard turns to pull everyone out. If Miller is aggressive, and he probably will be, he won't give you 2 turns. I think you're going to lose at least a couple units. Hope I'm wrong.

Good AAR, please send us a map of the rest of your Winter Lines! Interesting to see your strategy. Your last theater map was very worrying looking for 2nd and 4th Armies. I think you may be a bit overextended.

I don't think that 2nd army will be a big problem because he has not many opposing forces there and I am dig in well. Much more concerned about Leningrad area and the center where 4th army has a hole to be filled after making sure that my Panzers can retreat into safety. regarding the 2 stacks, I am not sure which stacks you are talking about.

The two easternmost stacks of 3rd Panzer; one has a visible CV of 16 and a Mot Div on top, the other 10 and an HQ on top.

It MIGHT be possible to keep it open to Orel, but I am assuming he makes an all-out push for Orel, and your defenses in front of Orel are weak. All of this assumes he has reserves in that sector and uses them aggressively. Escape to the West is nearly impossible, only 1-hex corridor, which will take 3 turns to transit IF the Soviets make no advances. You won't get 3 turns I predict.

I hope I am wrong, but the 16 CV stack is almost certainly dead; if you are lucky, you can save everyone else, and maybe take out some Soviets in the pocket. Worst outcome, you lose all 3 NE stacks, which looks to be about 1/2 of 3rd Panzer.

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball


The two easternmost stacks of 3rd Panzer; one has a visible CV of 16 and a Mot Div on top, the other 10 and an HQ on top.

It MIGHT be possible to keep it open to Orel, but I am assuming he makes an all-out push for Orel, and your defenses in front of Orel are weak. All of this assumes he has reserves in that sector and uses them aggressively. Escape to the West is nearly impossible, only 1-hex corridor, which will take 3 turns to transit IF the Soviets make no advances. You won't get 3 turns I predict.

I hope I am wrong, but the 16 CV stack is almost certainly dead; if you are lucky, you can save everyone else, and maybe take out some Soviets in the pocket. Worst outcome, you lose all 3 NE stacks, which looks to be about 1/2 of 3rd Panzer.

Yeah, unfortunately we will need a miracle to get these units out of the mess. I am crossing my fingers, though. If the pocket stays sealed I might have a chance....

[Mynok]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

The easternmost 2 stacks, which appear to have 3 Divisions and 2 HQ, look really really vulnerable. That one stack of 3 CV, you couldn't get that retreated to the NE?

3 CV??!?! If you are talking about the stack of Russians marked 3=19, you should realize on defense, that stack has a CV of 19, not 3. 3 is just on attack. That's the difference between the '-' and the '='.

[MrLongleg]

Here is the center situation at the beginning of turn 25, before my fighting retreat. Marshall M. did not push very hard, indeed there were no attacks - something that will definitely change soon...

[MrLongleg]

Now the turn 25 is done and I am shaking in my boots. The extraction of forces in the center is progressing nicely and we even made 3 Russian infantry divs surrender. I can call my self lucky that Marshall M. did not make an armored push into the gapping hole in 4th armies zone. I now can hope that most of my forces will make it back, even if they still might receive a heavy beating.

Now what is next. Depending on how hard he pushes I am seriously thinking about moving the lines 150 to 200 miles back so that he will run into logistical problems. My line is over extended and the Panzer Groups that are supposed to be my reserves are still fighting for survival in the center.

Rzhev is a goner and I am expecting heavy pressure in the northern zone and in the center. Since this is my first Blizzard I can need any advice available from people who already survived their first blizzard season.

[randallw]

That was pretty bold to be still attacking with snow.

[Klydon]

TBH, I don't have as much experience with blizzard as I would like yet (Still working on it), but I think there seems to be a good difference on how well you hold up in a level 3 fort vs level 2. Level 2 is fairly tough, but the Soviets can punt you out of one fairly easy. Level 3 is another matter, but if he has big stacks and you are trying to hold with 1 or 2 understrength units, not so much. Lot of your infantry units are going to drop to the 5-6k range for men. Digging further back is good if you can do it and also trying to stick to towns and cities will help as well I believe.

One wrinkle is the first winter blizzard effects do not affect the entire map. If you are south of the Denepropetrovsk hex row, then while it may be blizzard, you are still not hit with the Axis issues with the first blizzard, so units in that area can move accordingly, especially since it appears no Russians are really around down there.

[Q-Ball]

I am no expert, but.....

First, use those Romanian Mtn. Troops. It looks like they are all in one reserve stack. Move them to front, and relieve someone.

Second, maybe chop-up the two Heer Mountain Divs into Regt. I normally hate making Regts, but in this case, well, you don't need a 70 CV to defend something right now, you may as well cover more ground.

Also, you should have a Hungarian Mtn. Bde somewhere...also very useful.

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: randallw

That was pretty bold to be still attacking with snow.

I think I had no other choice - have to rescue my precious mobile divisions. It worked better than expected,,,

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

I am no expert, but.....

First, use those Romanian Mtn. Troops. It looks like they are all in one reserve stack. Move them to front, and relieve someone.

Second, maybe chop-up the two Heer Mountain Divs into Regt. I normally hate making Regts, but in this case, well, you don't need a 70 CV to defend something right now, you may as well cover more ground.

Also, you should have a Hungarian Mtn. Bde somewhere...also very useful.

The regiment idea is a good one - will look into that next turn...

[Klydon]

Not sure how well a 2 point mountain regiment is going to slow down an attack by 6-9 Soviet divisions although I am not sure I would expose a division to that too unless its well fortified, etc. I think you are better off keeping them as divisions. 

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

Not sure how well a 2 point mountain regiment is going to slow down an attack by 6-9 Soviet divisions although I am not sure I would expose a division to that too unless its well fortified, etc. I think you are better off keeping them as divisions. 

Pretty much nothing is going to stop 9 Soviet Divisions, but by spreading them out, you force the Russians to attack one of the 6 stacks, instead of just choosing another. You can see where he has the Mtn Div on his map: One is 70 CV in defense, the other is an X. Both are probably overkill; 20 CV is probably enough to force the Soviets to look elsewhere.

Oh, and set all Mountain units to REFIT.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

Not sure how well a 2 point mountain regiment is going to slow down an attack by 6-9 Soviet divisions although I am not sure I would expose a division to that too unless its well fortified, etc. I think you are better off keeping them as divisions. 

Your forgetting that there is a modifying factor with Mnt. units. What it is I can't say but when you look at the bottom of the battle display it shows the modified CV values. Mnt. units have a way higher value than the printed one.

[ComradeP]

The only thing that should make mountain divisions different is that they don't suffer from the blizzard penalties, so compared to other Axis units they'll have much higher modified CV's, but they should follow the same modification logic as Soviet units in blizzard. A mountain regiment/division isn't suddenly filled with Aryan supermen in the blizzard.

[MrLongleg]

Turn 27: 12/18/41

The blizzard is a real nightmare and there is crisis pretty much everywhere along the line. In the north around Leningrad the 2 mountain divisions are crucial in cornering my defense. But further south from there the southern flank of 16th army and 2nd army as a while are under severe pressure, so I am moving back to prepared positions. Between 2nd and 9th army there is a giant hole in the line. 9th army and 4th army are still partially busy rescuing the Panzer armies in the aftermath of failed operation Nikolaus. On a positive note I might only loose one motorized infantry division, but those poor guys are pretty much finished anyway. 12% ammunition and only about 5K man in the division. The panzer div west of it is not in much better shape with about 16 AFV left. Further south 6th army could stabilize te line with the help of the Slovak mountain brigades. 11th army soon will be in trouble too. And as if that would not be enough trouble the Russians punched a hole into the Rumanians trying to isolate the Krim peninsula. (1 Panzer corps sent as fire brigade.

The strength comparison shows that I am running into a very severe situation. Now I have to think about the long term strategy. Should I consider building a Maginot line on the Dnepr and let the fresh Russian divisions bleed to death on level 4 or 5 fortresses in the next summer? Any break through would be finished by my Panzers. Like in reality it would probably be difficult to go into offensive again along the whole line.