War Reports from the Eastern Front: Carnage vs Redmarkus

[Klydon]

Nice 15 division pocket west of Smolensk. I got to believe he will pull off the river towards the south now or he is going to lose quite a bit more. 

I don't think it looks promising for the panzers up by Leningrad. Way too easy to choke off advances in that mess. I also think Novgorod is a key city up in that region for the Germans to snag because it can be used to anchor a defensive line either NE along the river or to the NW along the other river.

Interesting he is getting a line together south of Lake Ilmen and along that nasty terrain a bit further south. I have noticed in most of the AAR's that this section is one where things are stretched pretty thin.

You are going to have to decide what to do with Leningrad fairly quick. I think by sending Second Army to the south that you pretty much took care of any idea of making a strong effort to take Leningrad, so the next decision is where does your defensive line go to screen it off while you do other stuff?

[randallw]

In my current campaign ( vs computer ) I blocked it from taking Kiev ( barely ) while it got within 6-8 hexes of Moscow.  Should Western Front get a few divisions of T-34s and KVs?

[Klydon]

ORIGINAL: randallw

In my current campaign ( vs computer ) I blocked it from taking Kiev ( barely ) while it got within 6-8 hexes of Moscow.  Should Western Front get a few divisions of T-34s and KVs?

Not sure what you mean here, but Western does start with two divisions that have significant numbers of T-34 and KV tanks. Unfortunately they pretty much get canned right off the bat by the initial Axis attack. There are 3 other divisions between Western and Baltic that have a good number of T-34 and KV tanks, but again they generally get smoked as well. There are far more units in the south and unlike north of the swamps, these generally live to fight another day.

[TulliusDetritus]

You're doing very well, Carnage [X(] I don't know about Moscow, but maybe Leningrad will fall (but of course we don't know what are his reserves there, if he has any).

[CarnageINC]

Not a whole lot to report for the overall scheme of things. My new operations will be starting up soon, forces need to get in start positions. I'll have the new Operational plans out soon.

[CarnageINC]

I knew it would happen, I just didn't expect a barrel of monkeys to exploded in my face. He did a great number on my panzer forces in this front. Totally stopped any tempo I had going and it was probably the worst moment for me to. I'm gathering up my head of steam again to try and batter him down and see if I can swing east. If the attack bogs down severely I'm pulling the panzer's back and repositioning them to help in either the advance toward Moscow or in the south.

[CarnageINC]

Thing in this front are going well I'm going to try and break through the northern sectors and pinch some more of his units off. In the southern area I'm consolidating my forces to have more power. I'll leave a big sector open with only 2nd Panzer Group's infantry Corps to hold the area. If he counter attacks there I let him come and then chop him off with some panzer's

I think with the 3rd Pz Grp along with elements of the 9th Armee, I'll be able to drive toward Rzhev if he doesn't shift his forces northward. I expect him to do it but its nice to wish [;)].

[CarnageINC]

OH BOY! I cracked his line good here.

I got a major breakthrough and a good bridgehead over the Dnepr river. I think this is a good wake up call for Red to change his hard front line tactics and add more depth to his defense. I also think that Red will probably move every thing he can to cut off those two divisions across the river. That's fine with me, it just will weaken his other areas to allow my forces to move forward. I tried my best to make it difficult to cut those two off I hope it worked. His lack of tank forces should start to hurt in this region. Hopefully those routed units will stay routed just a little more so they will not impede my progress.

[CarnageINC]

He's over compensating down here, sure he's stalled out my defense but look what happened around Kiev. I'm going to swing my panzer's northward to loosen up Kiev then bring them back here to help out the 11th and 2nd Armees. If ground around Leningrad starts to grind down my panzer's there I'm going to send the 4th Pz Grp here to help break through his wall of Russians.

[Klydon]

Who is Second Army reporting to out of curiosity? If they are reporting to AGS, then they must really overloaded unless you have taken other measures. Sort of interested what you have done with your command structure to try to take the pressure off.

Great AAR so far.

[kfmiller41]

How does he not have an entire reserve army digging in Smolensk...?

Sheesh. You don't just put everything on the landbridge and call it a day.

I'm noticing a tendency among many Soviet players to overcommit on Southwestern Front. Yet there comes a point where piling stuff up behind the Dnepr down there stops making sense, since these forces cannot do anything of an offensive nature behind the river, and packing the bulge around Kiev offers hostages to fortune.

I like piling it on in the center by Smolensk and fighting hard there. The terrain is just good enough to slow the German down without becoming impossible for the Soviet to counte

Don't know about other Soviet player but i decided early on that I had room down south and I pushed as much force as i could to the North and center figuring it was easier to defend there than farther south and had less to lose.

Also your doing an excellent job of keeping him guessing. If you have not been on the receiving end of this assault believe me it is much harder than it seems to defend when you see breakthroughs like the ones your making.

Carnage if i were you i would try and bypass those swamps near Leningrad if your going to try and take it. If your opponent is smart he should already be digging in troops in that nasty area and I have buried both German players in that place, one made a major effort to get thru and couldn't. Seems like a tough nut unless you get there early and with alot of force.

[randallw]

The computer can be hard headed and attack units defending in swamps.

[notenome]

You have two panzergruppe's in AGC, so in my opinion use them in cooperation. Long hook encirclements are ineficient and dificult o pull off. I'd suggest something more like this.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: notenome

You have two panzergruppe's in AGC, so in my opinion use them in cooperation. Long hook encirclements are ineficient and dificult o pull off. I'd suggest something more like this.

Yes your quite right, sometimes I don't really think things thru as often as I should when I do these maps. Heck half the time I change my mind on what I'm going to do when I start moving stuff around. That's why I'm glad for any input in the AAR, it gets me thinking about what I'm trying to do and how to get it done. Thanks for the comment.

I know that my main idea was to try and advance the 4th Armee instead of making a salient into his forces. I think that salients stretches my inf div out and forces me to rely more on panzer's to grind the enemy down. I like to hold off of that as much as I can.

[CarnageINC]

Is there any information that I should be putting out there more often?  I plan on once a month to do casualties do date reports.  I need to change my weekly maps, i probably should put more info like what miller41 is putting out but I don't want to over cook the turkey either nor do I want to be a copy of miller's AAR.  Any thoughts on what you guys would like me to put out there for you to help me out or would enjoy seeing?

[CarnageINC]

Turn 9 is here, half way through the offensive period [:@] So much to do so little time to do with!!! I decided to do away with any proper operational maps for any new offensives, the battlefield is to fluid to predict where I need to go. I have 1 operation to begin a little ahead of schedule but I need to act now.

[CarnageINC]

Here is where Operation Poseidon starts. I've listed my objectives in the OKH report. I don't have all my units in place to make very effective attacks yet but you see where he left a hex open across the river is were I'm going to go if he hasn't filled the gap for some reason.

I expect this to be a very hard battle but one were I'm not prepared to win if it means becoming a meat grinder, especially for my panzer's. They can be grist for another time somewhere else...south perhaps.

[CarnageINC]

These attacks are a prepositional attacks to bring 4th Armee up where I want it to participate in the next phase of this front. Red doesn't have a good defensive line unless he falls all the way back to the Desna River which is where I want him to be. I'm resting and trying to get some fuel into the 3rd Panzer I hope not to use them for this assault but will if a good pocket happens. [;)]

[CarnageINC]

This area is quieting down a bit since my panzers are moving south. I had to move a 6th Armee division to help take Zhitomir from Red. I can't rely on my allies, they just don't have the fighting spirt yet [8|] I hope Red keeps a bulk of his force across the Dnepr instead of moving them south.

[CarnageINC]

AGHHH! Major mistake in this one! AGHHH! [:@]

I failed to move a fully moveable panzer division into a sealing gap to the east. CRAP. Now it will take one more turn to round them up to take them down. I may attack back north to see if I can bag anymore but we'll see what happens with Reds movement.