[b]Final excerpt from war diary of Konstantin Rokossov[/b]
It has been a rough few months for my troops, but the tide has finally
been turned. We have been pressuring the Germans all along the front,
inflicting heavy casualties on the German invaders.
A month ago, Stavka had authorized a strategic operation to throw back
the Germans and end the threat to Stalingrad. Codenamed Operation Uranus,
the operation has progressed well so far, throwing the Germans back 30
miles all along the front.
Though the Germans desperately pulled back to shorten their lines, not
all of their troops managed to fall back in good order. During the course
of the operation, 7 German divisions and 1 panzer division were isolated
and forced to surrender.
4th Tank Army, under my command, has played an instrumental role in the
destruction of these German divisions, and it is rumoured that we will be
award Guard status in recognition of our performance during the operation.
With strong defenses and large reserves behind our frontlines, I feel
confident that the threat to Stalingrad has finally ended.
At the moment of writing, we are still in the mud season. Soon however,
we will enter the winter season. Though I'm still not priviliged enough
to know the full plan of the coming winter offensive, I have no doubt
that some big things are planned.
My men are rested and and well trained. No matter what will be asked of us,
we will perform our duty well. We are all eager for revenge, and soon,
we will throw back the Germans from our Motherland and take the fight to
their cities........
[Signed]
General-Leytenant Rokossovsky
Dated 11/13/1942
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final thoughts:
It has been a fun game with a good and reliable opponent. Except for the final
mud turns, there has never been a dull moment, and my opponent kept making me
guessing where he would attack.
I still prefer playing Germans, mainly because it allows me to make good looking
encirclements, but steam rolling an opponent with endless numbers has it's own
merits [:D].
Hope you all enjoyed reading this AAR. I will take a small break from playing WITE,
but will start updating my 42 GC AAR soon. Also, I have been invited to take over
a spot in the German team of the Za Rodinu PBEM team game, so I will try to keep the
AAR for the axis side of that game updated too.
Have a good weekend all,
fiva55
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: EntropyAvatar
Wow, you seem to be a real monster at this game, particularly on the offensive. I'm also impressed by who quickly the two of you can crank out the turns. I'd be interested to see how this scenario plays out with the roles reversed, now that you've both learned a bit.
I don't think I'm particularly good at this game, but thanks for the compliments.
Winning this scenario as the Soviets is mainly a matter of surviving the first few
turns. After that, the weight of numbers on the Soviet side, combined with the fact
that several of Germany's panzer divisions will be withdrawn from turn 7 onwards,
makes the game a lot easier for the Soviets.
As for us cranking out the turns so fast, it's just that me and Jajusha are some well
matched opponents. We are in the same timezone, and with me working at odd hours and
Jajusha having enough free times recently, it is easy to do several turns each days.
Completing a turn usually took less then half an hour, once I had every sorted out on
my side.
I'm pretty sure that we will try another smaller scenario in the future, perhaps even
this scenario again but with the sides reversed. If so, I will try to write a short
AAR of it, provided there is enough interest.