GC 41 2ndAcr (G) vs Kelblau (S) No Kelblau

[Klydon]

Be interesting to see how this approach works out. Several games have seen the Russians lose 1 million over the winter months with all the attacking they typically do.

[2ndACR]

I have no clue at all, but suspect that I will have to batter my thru multiple level 4 forts all over the place when  summer gets here. Not a fun proposition.

Watching my units experience plummet is the most disheartening thing though. Luckily, I have not even reached a million casualties yet. But still losing 40,000+ per turn without a shot being fired. I am seriously thinking about railing some div back to Germany to rebuild and starting the rebuilding of my army really early. I have a few div already down to 8,000 men.

[Klydon]

If he is not even moving up to even close to your line, I would say the heck with going with a linear line and stick every unit I had in towns/cities to hide from the winter as much as possible. I would think in most cases, you would at least get a turns warning to redeploy to your entrenchments if he comes out to play. 

How does the manpower look like for both sides?

[2ndACR]

Turn 32  22 Jan 1941

Still nothing. I might just do what you are say and pull back to towns and cities. Started Infantry Div back to Germany for rebuilding. Level 4 forts almost the entire line. Can't believe he has not even launched a probing attack anywhere or even moved to my defense line. Just weird. He knows I was going to track the winter turns and all, but heck.

Will screen shot manpower in about 2 hours or so.

[2ndACR]

Turn 33

My esteemed opponent says he is trying something new, okay, that it is. But let slip that Feb will tell if it works. So we will very soon see. So I am delaying moving any unit from defense lines until I see what is up.

Manpower pic as requested.

[2ndACR]

Overall, I will say that it looks like my army will be vastly superior to the historical German army with only attrition losses to date in the winter.

Except for the horrendous experience loss across the board that I am witnessing. That alone is very scary.

[Klydon]

Tank situation in particular looks good for the Germans.

I can see why he is testing this out. The Russian army is going to be well over 7+ million, so he is not going to be exhausted by attacks during the winter and he is really going to be dug in as well. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for him and it will certainly be different with a well rested German army vs a well rested and dug in Russian army in the spring. Sort of a immovable object hit by the unstoppable force thing. [;)]

[Flaviusx]

I can't agree with this Soviet strategy. The lack of experience, guards conversions, and leadership improvements is going to hurt him. The blizzard is one of the major turning points of the game in terms of improving the effectiveness of the Red Army. Mere mass alone isn't good enough, you need the combat experience.

He risks going into the summer 42 offensive with a Red Army that is effectively at the same experience and morale level as the 41 army.

[2ndACR]

Yep, that is what I am expecting. Going to be a slug fest to even get moving again. I am going to have to break thru countless level 4 forts everywhere. Man it is going to hurt bad. First snow, I am going to send some units into my buffer zone which I still control and see what I can see. Then I will repair rail in the buffer zone. Then move a recon air base in and really see what I am facing.

 If he would have pushed forward, he would have forced me to attack across the danged Dnepr again facing high fort levels, but since he did not, I can just cross over into my buffer and that is a good thing for me. I think 11th Army and the Romanians will just have to wait for a bit though, I am not going to attack across the Dnepr but move from my Kiev buffer towards the south with armor and clear as I go.

[2ndACR]

We shall see Flaviusx.......hope your right, for my byte guys sake. I care about my little guys.

[karonagames]

The Level 4s could be an issue, but if he really isn't going to attack, you have the opportunity to redeploy your strongest divisions and pioneers to focus on a section of front, to knock him out of his forts, then keep attacking during the mud to prevent him building his fortified lines. You will be able to afford the virtual troops.

Level 4s may only slow you down for a couple of turns. A combination of rotating deliberate attacks plus units in reserve can knock them over, particularly as Flavio notes they will have 1941 CVs

[2ndACR]

I am going to look that option over. Just want to get a look at his front line, so then I can look for a weakness to exploit.

[2ndACR]

Turn 34

Same as all the others. Recon flights show a fairly consistent row of 3 stack units across my front line buffer zone.

But, those flights still show a linear defense line with little back up or depth. Opponent states he is trying a new strategy to try and halt the Germans. We shall see.

Already my auto repair guys are advancing into the buffer zone. So that is less repair I will have to do myself.

Review of troops show all my Panzer Div are at 100% strength with only 2 that need armor upgrades. They were forward of my rail repair and it was just repaired. So they will upgrade those PZIII's to the new tanks.

Only other news, is I just lost my only FW190 air unit left. That just sucks big time. All Romanians are now attached to AG Ant. 11th Army now at 4 Corps strength with each Corp at 4 Div.

Should I shift all my armor to the Kiev front to maximize any break thru?

[Klydon]

Part of where the armor goes is going to depend on your goals for 1942. I think Big A has good advice on dealing with the fortifications. You need a hole to drive the panzers through and he is really going to regret that heavy linear defensive line with no depth at all. I would plan out to crack 4 spots (or 3 spots with a center spot having forces going north and south) and look to encircle a pile of Soviets. Even if they are in level 4 forts, if they are out of supply and isolated, they are not going to be very good. Once you crack the crust, he doesn't have anything to fall back on in those sectors. While you can't do this across the entire front, I do think you look to make it as reasonably large as possible to put the pressure on him. If you are able to bag a pile of units, he doesn't get them back for free anymore and will have to replace them. This will also slow him from just turning a pile of stuff into corps when he can.

One other thing since you have some notice on all this and perhaps have some command points to work with, I would look to get my units making the initial assault squared away in terms of the correct support as much as you can.

[2ndACR]

I have 480 AP's to use. I need to start cleaning up my army groups. They are getting kind of heavy. AGS is at 145 IIRC.

I am going to start stripping pioneer's and such from area's that will not see heavy advances and shift them to where I might make my break thru at. A lot of this will depend on what I find once I move into my buffer zone and once I shift a recon airbase up there for in depth recon. Then I will make a determination of what and where to send it.

[Flaviusx]

You are going to go through that like shit through a goose.

[2ndACR]

I will grab recon screen shot next turn. Will not be accurate because I have them some distance in the rear for winter. Not sure how the blizzard impacts recon.

[Flaviusx]

What I do in 42 is deploy two divisions up front, and one immediately behind. So I've always got two fort lines at work.

Additionally, at the end of blizzard I pull out the 4 shock armies to the rear, 40 guards rifle divisions, and 20 regulars. In June, these flip over to guards rifle corps, 5 each per shock army. They also get 1 mobile corps, either cav or tank. These rifle corps have very good morale thanks to the combined benefits of guards and shock bonuses.

This is my main STAVKA reserve, and once the German commits his panzer armies, will deploy in depth wherever they appear. From July on I start forming tank armies and use those for counterattacks.

[2ndACR]

Turn 35

Ran recon of Kiev front. Here is what I see. I see 3 weak points in his defense line right now. I numbered them for ease.

If I shifted all armor and mech to Gomel, and Kiev area, that would give me a serious isolation forces. The weak spots even look like I should be able to blow a 3 hex frontage to slide thru.

What does everyone think?

[karonagames]

What does everyone think?

Speechless. His best opportunity to increase morale, experience and gain guards status and he ignores it. You will be surprised how well your troops will recover combat ability when the snow arrives, and so will he!