defending the blizzard in 41.

[bloomstombs2]

Did you put as many of them in towns and cities as you could? Just wondering if they were still attritted when in towns and cities.

[2ndACR]

Some places, you just have to suck it up. Cannot protect everyone. My armor came thru at full strength. Still took attrition losses to my infantry in 1 and 0 population towns though. Not nearly enough really good towns to form a line on.

I will say this, any unit outside in the open will end the blizzard with 50% strength. And it takes a long time to rebuild from it. At least in my game it did. I still have units rebuilding strength.

[PeeDeeAitch]

The only thing I can say is that the more times you face it, the better you can get at it. The first time is "OH CRAP" as your line evaporates, the 4th (for me) is "OH CRAP" as your line doesn't quite evaporate and you are pushed back 150 miles...

[bloomstombs2]

Im trying to destroy as many soviets CU as I can before winter sets in. hopefully that will make all the difference.

[krieger]

Moscow area is nice with several pop4 towns in which to stablish strongpoints, but you need a buffer zone in the Tula area to retreat through till the line Kaluga-Maloyaroslavets-Naro Fominsk- Podolsk-E Moscow. To the north Dimitrov, Klin and Kalinin are mandatory anchor points imo. If any of the mentioned towns fall, I'd seriously consider evacuating the russian capital then. To the west of Moscow there is vast area with virtually no protection in towns during winter due to their pop is 0 or sometimes 1. Other interesting areas: Briansk, in the area between Kiev-Kursk and Kiev-Kharkov, around Stalino. Shelter in the northern front towns is pityfull, so taking Leningrad in 41 gets even more important. If you get to cross the Don in 41 there are some interesting areas for the winter but I dont think an area so fur ahead is viable in front of the russian counteroffensive, also due to rail convertion issues.

[PeeDeeAitch]

The south is good territory to go as far you can in - sure you might be TOO far, but when winter hits a screen of units (and this is where your mountain troops usually are) can pull back slowly. The south is wide open, and land lost can be made up in the spring.
 
I think the key for defense in the south is the Stalino region - there are lots of towns that can be held and the line of cities/urban should be a rock.
 
The central region actually, from Kharkov to Tula seems to be where I get hit the worst each time - admittedly only in vs AI games as I learn how to play.

[catski]

Ive survived the blizzard by buliding loads of forts through out the whole front but now all my units have no strenghth left and its 2nd of july with loads of soviets in front of me.

[PeeDeeAitch]

ORIGINAL: catski

Ive survived the blizzard by buliding loads of forts through out the whole front but now all my units have no strenghth left and its 2nd of july with loads of soviets in front of me.

Are you playing the latest beta? Bugs fixing TOE upgrades and replacements have been fixed, units in Beta 6 (the latest) come out of winter with better CVs now.

Also, falling back in winter, perversly, brings the Soviets out of entrenchments and when the snows come again (oh, blessed snow) one can hit them harder.

[mmarquo]

My thoughts FWIW:
 
1. Absolutely crush the Soviets in the 1941 summer and fall; yes - this does hurt them
2. Force evacuations of as many HI/armament/population centers as possible
3. Do not get emotionally attached to anything in Russia; come the fall = fall back.
4. Fall back, fall back west to jump off positions for the Spring Offensive 1942.
5. Prepare a nice trap for the advancing Soviets come the spring. The real Barbarossa should begin in the Spring of 1942 - the following winters/blizzards are much easier to handle. Unless you can totally win in 1941 (you can't and won't), then it is not productive to destroy the Wehrmacht in 1941 and then try to rebuild it in early 1942.
6. Take Leningrad in 1941 if only disprupt Soviet production; also free up the Finns. Alternatively throw everything at Moscow but this means not doing much in the South or North.
7. Remember: Barbarossa starts in 1942; 1941 is foreplay.
 
Marquo [:)]

[bevans]

I agree with Marquo on 4) and 7); in fact, I agree so strongly that I modded the game to start in Aug '41 so you can have no illusion of great things that can be accomplished before winter. I also have random weather and you will always get a mud turn in the first four or five weeks. Each side starts with an extra 6 weeks of production in their respective pools and some extra APs to reflect the later start. I have upgraded all the Axis TOEs for '42 and beyond and taken 10 infantry divisions out of the reinforcement cycle and replaced them with partially equipped cavalry brigades and two Pz corps (total +/- in everything except tanks is a wash and the motorized/pz divs are at 10% afv strength so will need to be built up out of the pool or new production). The production capacity of both the Axis and SU have been upgraded (10-20%). Twelve turns in and still advancing but slowly due to mud; will soon be falling back and expect won't be far east of the start line come the spring of '42. Then the real Barbarossa will start.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Marquo

My thoughts FWIW:

1. Absolutely crush the Soviets in the 1941 summer and fall; yes - this does hurt them
2. Force evacuations of as many HI/armament/population centers as possible
3. Do not get emotionally attached to anything in Russia; come the fall = fall back.
4. Fall back, fall back west to jump off positions for the Spring Offensive 1942.
5. Prepare a nice trap for the advancing Soviets come the spring. The real Barbarossa should begin in the Spring of 1942 - the following winters/blizzards are much easier to handle. Unless you can totally win in 1941 (you can't and won't), then it is not productive to destroy the Wehrmacht in 1941 and then try to rebuild it in early 1942.
6. Take Leningrad in 1941 if only disprupt Soviet production; also free up the Finns. Alternatively throw everything at Moscow but this means not doing much in the South or North.
7. Remember: Barbarossa starts in 1942; 1941 is foreplay.

Marquo [:)]

Makes a lot of sense

1 Easy to recommend [;)]

2 Priority now should be be to catch a few factories. In my GC my opponent is very Sir Robinovitch so I've destoyed factories in Minsk, Mogilev and Kremenchug and am hoping my reinforced mot div manages to stay next to Dnepropetrovsk in Russian T7. He's vacated almost all Leningrad factories but I think he left some tank or others partly behind which will cut future production but am not sure as it's not my turn and it's a server game.

He's also losing a lot of manpower though no decent pockets sinc T1 has kept losses down but I suspect only temporarily as all my inf now in front line.