How to lose the war - PDH vs Cpt Flam

[PeeDeeAitch]

No way. Play the game while swimming three miles, running a marathon, and biking 100 miles? You gotta be kidding!

[PeeDeeAitch]

The North

Army Group North lost all its tanks and had the unenviable task of defending out in the boonies, initially pretty far from supply (though just in supply). The 16th and 9th Armies were roughed up by the weather and attacks, but due to my desire to hold Moscow they were issued "PDH Order number 52.37" - the famous Hold Fast order.

They did pretty well, all in all, but they ended up hurting by the end (quite a few unready still). The higher CVs in the picture reflect either late arriving reinforcements that I was loathe to take out of the cities, or units from those armies that wintered the first two months in level 4 towns or the cities.

In the end, the line was mostly held, maybe 40 miles lost total. But these poor bastards are hurting.

[PeeDeeAitch]

When the mud hits I will post my end lines for the winter of 1941-42. I really can't be arsed to do a comparison of the front lines, so I won't. However, I will pretend that it all went to plan.

[PeeDeeAitch]

One last bit here. This is the shot of the unit that made it out of the blizzard the best. It was on the front lines the entire time. However, it did spend all of December in a lvl 4 town. Don't let anyone fool you, those dots can be a godsend.

[jjdenver]

What is really interesting in this AAR is how low SU manpower is in the turn 37 OOB screenshot - 4.3MM SU vs 3.2MM GE manpower. I wonder if SU manpower is so low because the Germans were able to take and hold a lot of major manpower centres: Moscow, Leningrad, Stalino, Kharkov, etc.

[Altaris]

ORIGINAL: jjdenver

What is really interesting in this AAR is how low SU manpower is in the turn 37 OOB screenshot - 4.3MM SU vs 3.2MM GE manpower. I wonder if SU manpower is so low because the Germans were able to take and hold a lot of major manpower centres: Moscow, Leningrad, Stalino, Kharkov, etc.

I think you're right on the money here. Keeping those big MP centers out of Soviet hands as much as possible in 1941/1942 is going to really hamper the Soviets manpower. They will have just lost all those really good multipliers in teh first two years of war. This has the potential of being the final game decider, IMO.

PDA, since you've already got the two biggest prizes in Leningrad and Moscow, I'd say spend 1942 pushing your lines forward and overrunning as much manpower as you can!

[PeeDeeAitch]

I think a larger factor is that I managed to savage some armaments industries. Even with Cpt Flam lowering his usage, there are just large manpower pools for him.

[PeeDeeAitch]

Snow attacks.

Turn 2 of the spring snow allows me (under the house rules) to attack with two army groups. Forgoing the weak and puny lads in AGN, AGC joins in south to play.

While there are also two Panzer groups here (3,4) the presense off all those nasty Soviets who tried to take Moscow makes it harder. Add in the fact that they managed to entrench in the blizzard and I am feeling a bit puny. Still, it was time to take out the "panzer bludgeon" here.

[PeeDeeAitch]

In the south it is a bit easier going, but the movement penalties and the quirks of the game - the Soviets are allowed to defend! (I shall bring this up on the main forum with a strongly worded post complete with all caps and bold type).

Fatigue and not fully recovered in terms of TOE panzers show that they will be lucky to advance all 4 turns. Still, the pocket in the south yielded about 80,000 prisoners.

[PeeDeeAitch]

The 17th Panzer, with its 1 T-26 (currently damaged due to the fact that basic design sucks by 1942), is in the front lines. The commander has asked for some of my T-34s tanks that have been captured, but I think that my plan to convert them into all-terrain winnebagos is more practical. He gets nothing!

[Mynok]

T-26s were trash when they were designed....1877 I believe. [:D]

[randallw]

At least that crew is only 26% fatigued.

[Klydon]

Guess a broken T-26 is not that hard for the crew to drag along. 

[krupp_88mm]

T-26s were trash when they were designed

but a t-26 is 1/2 a t-52!

[Josh]

ORIGINAL: randallw

At least that crew is only 26% fatigued.

That's what I've noticed too, must be a comfy ride. [:)]

[Encircled]

Every army has its banners

Why not a relic from Borodino?

[Q-Ball]

Was a T-26 any worse than a Panzer II? The 45mm gun was a better AT gun than anything the Germans mounted on a tank until the Panzer IIIj. Not that they're great, just sayin...

[PeeDeeAitch]

I think the T-26 was quite good in its day (it had a good reputation in Spain), and in the end it had sloped turret armor and its gun was good for a lighter tank. It was just long in the tooth in 1941, being basically just an updated Vickers tank, and there wasn't much that could be done. Add in either an atrocious radio or (more likely) no working radio and you get problems...

[PeeDeeAitch]

Snow continues

With the snow comes the German rebound, and often a good rebound can lead to an outlet pass and maybe a quick layup. Unfortunately for my basketball metaphor, I get the rebound but then I turn it over because I can't dribble.

In any case, my two panzer thrusts continue, and though I pocket no troops this turn I do manage to get closer to my goal, though there is only one turn left.

Here is the Moscow region. Along with the crossing of the Oka I begin to clear out the hexes around the city.

[PeeDeeAitch]

In the south, the pocket has been reduced, and the tanks of 1st and 2nd Panzer Groups roll on. Admittedly, slowed by the snow and the basic fact that some of the tank divisions wish they had some T-26s, it is not as good as hoped. Still, progress is made.