Pass the Kryptonite - Oleg's Supermen are coming! 1943 AAR.

[erstad]

Mynok: I honestly dont see why you're happy to be Oleg's punchbag in these circumstances!

Oh, Mynok is in a great position. Where he does well, it's his brilliance; and where he does poorly, he was clearly handed an impossible situation!

[Mynok]

[:D] I've done nothing much yet but run away. And that's about to happen even more, especially down south. 6th army is literally at the point of collapse and I have absolutely nothing to put in the line instead of it. Probably going to lose another ID down there and maybe a panzer div. I'm sending every infantry I get now to the far south.

17th army is not in much better shape.

[Mynok]

I'm planning to re-deploy 4th panzer army down there next turn and pull 6th out of the line to dig in the rear and refresh a bit. It means I must shorten my line again though, which means leaving more forts and abandoning more of the Dnepr.

Also not sure what to do about the marshes. Can't leave them undefended really but I hate to use a whole army for it. Suggestions? I certainly don't want anything like the historical 44 GC situation. I intend to abandon ground in the north even without pressure if the south is having to fall back fast.

[Mynok]

Ok. New strategic plan is being initiated beginning next turn. I am pulling back ferociously in the hopes of having a defense line established for the summer 44 juggernaut that is coming. My infantry need rest and refitting across the board (except maybe the north), and my panzers are wearing themselves out bashing incursions.

This is necessitated by his massive numerical advantage which is causing me severe casualties (as Bob said) and by the fact that I do not have the troops to cover my current front line. So here's my new defense line:

[Mynok]

Infantry will be railed back as fast as possible within my capacity limits, while panzers will move back, executing rearguard actions as needed. Most rail capacity will be used in the south as there I'm in the worst shape and need the most time to recover. I'm counting on his inability to get rail repaired fast enough to launch any major attacks on that line until at least summer 44. I don't believe he can do it any more than the Germans can in 41, but those with more experience please correct any delusions I might have.

I fully expect to lose some IDs in this just due to capacity limits. I'm going to try to make sure they are primarily the pitiful LW divs and other garbage rather than my good Germans, but I'm sure that won't be totally doable. My goal is to get my number back up in the 3.5 million range (from the 2.7 now) so that he doesn't have the almost 4-1 advantage he has now.

Have no clue whether that is possible but it's really the only option I have right now. There will be a major bust in the south somewhere this turn, and my panzers will be hard pressed to contain it. But they will, I'm confident. The cost is what concerns me.

Bottom line is I must shorten my front fast. It's the only way I can have reserves as my numbers are so limited.

[Mynok]

My current rifle squad leve is 27k. This is pretty good it's just concentrated in areas he's not pushing. This is what I want to change. I'd like 35k rifle squads by summer 44 and level 3-4 forts along all my intended defensive line. We will see if that is doable by this inexperienced German.

[Aditia]

your strategy foresees in giving up the best defensive terrain you have (north of the pripyat marshes). From the turns I have played in this scenario thus far, terrain is a huge factor when having to withdraw. Clear terrain means that having to withdraw is a disaster, woody/swamped terrain, means that mother nature almost hands u a defence in depth

[Mynok]

There's still good terrain up there. That was one of my major concerns. The Daugavina and the marshes and rough south of it are perfect for defense.

[Tarhunnas]

In my opinion (and with experience of fighting the Soviet bear with 1/5 of the rifle squads you have), I would say you do not really need to rail units back. A 3-4 hexes withdrawal every turn will make it very hard for him to launch anything else than hasty attacks. A slower withdrawal will

1. Hold your line together.
2. Delay him more, a withdrawal to the line you are envisaging will then delay him for at least 5 turns.
3. Not risk leaving any units behind.

Also remember that around half of his army will be static, the RKKA doesn't have the trucks at this point to have more than half the front activated, at least there won't be many tank or mech units on the inactive front, and it is they that are most dangerous during a retreat.

[cpt flam]

if you go as noted
will you trigger a romanian surrender
and after that they become pro-soviet[&:]

[Mynok]

I believe he has to actually be in Rumania to trigger that, but that's a worthwhile rules research project. [8D]

[Q-Ball]

Romanians will have a chance of surrender if the Soviets occupy any town in Romanian equal to or south of Y105.

On the map, Kishinev is Y104; so one hex south of Kishinev, inclusive, is the "Line of Doom" for your Romanian units

Obviously, that makes the Danube plain a pretty attractive strategic target for the Soviets.....

If Romania flips, keep in mind you'll probably lose all the RR connections (since every hex flips except ones you occupy). Once Romania falls, there isn't much of a reason to hang out down there, time to get out, but you need to be able to get out.

[Klydon]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

In my opinion (and with experience of fighting the Soviet bear with 1/5 of the rifle squads you have), I would say you do not really need to rail units back. A 3-4 hexes withdrawal every turn will make it very hard for him to launch anything else than hasty attacks. A slower withdrawal will

1. Hold your line together.
2. Delay him more, a withdrawal to the line you are envisaging will then delay him for at least 5 turns.
3. Not risk leaving any units behind.

Also remember that around half of his army will be static, the RKKA doesn't have the trucks at this point to have more than half the front activated, at least there won't be many tank or mech units on the inactive front, and it is they that are most dangerous during a retreat.

He hasn't said one way or another, but I highly doubt half his army is static and certainly not his infantry. Now, it may be a case half his mech is static, but the Russians still have the option to mass up the guns and pound with the infantry. They just won't be advancing very fast.

The concept that half his army needs to be static because of the truck situation may be "historical" but I would suggest none of us regular players have much experience with it based on the AAR's, etc. The other thing is Oleg has been able to remain relatively close to his rail heads during the opening phases of his offensive. Mynok taking the long step back should change that and in theory, should cause Oleg logistical issues trying to support his armies away from the rail heads.

[Mynok]

That's certainly my hope, and really the only one I have right now. [:D]

We'll find out very quickly whether his northern stuff is static or not when I start withdrawing fast to my intended 44 defensive line. If indeed they are, it will be an additional time benefit for me, and that is really what I'm desperately trying to buy.

[Mynok]

Not too many attacks this turn. I'll have a full update tonight. The far south has begun its deep retreat. Next turn, the rest of the line will withdraw. In my noobness at this scenario, I didn't realize my rail capacity was so limited. So this retreat will be primarily on foot it appears.

Since we have upgraded, I'm seriously contemplating putting some FR's back on my line to start digging, because I'll be lucky to reach my new defense line by mud, let alone get dug in appropriately before summer. Const bns are supposed to help dig now with them, correct? If assigned to them?

[hfarrish]

I don't think it could hurt, depending on your AP situation...the FRs even under the old rules should get you to level 2 forts relatively quickly, and once you have troops there these should move to 3s and 4s pretty fast.

[Mynok]

Sorry my updates have been few recently. We've done several turns without an update from me. I'm retreating as fast a possible to my designated defense line.

In the north, things are going fine. Next turn will see most of 18th and 16th army behind the Daugavina. My hope is that 16th can cover that full front and allow me to relocate 18th army to the problem areas in the south or central. 3rd Panzer is on the ropes. Lots of unready infantry that desparately need a lot of refit.

4th army (dark blue?) is in decent shape and should be able to resist ok in the southern center. 9th army just south of the marshes and 6th army in the far south are in deep trouble. This is where I think 18th will have to go.

1st and 4th panzer are doing rearguard actions in the south along with the LW contingent. I'm railing out the good infantry here as fast as I can with limited capacity. There's no real good defensive terrain down there, so I have to and am digging as fast as possible.

17th is entrenching fast along the Dnestr (?) now. I believe I've bought them a good month of digging and refit. Hopefully.

8th army is in the marshes and can't retreat fast enough. Of course, his advance is slowed but I fear I won't be able to dig much there. The rails are constantly broken by partisans so I can't get units back to start digging.

Building and SS corps in Germany from reinforcements. This will head to the center to support 3rd panzer.

Next turn will see some FRs building in the marshes and in the south. I have lots of manpower and armaments right now and need to use them for digging for a few turns.

[Mynok]

Ok, time to bring this up to date. My proposed defensive line didn't hold at all as the Rumanians in the south were breached quickly.

Here's the AGS problem:



And the breach of my line in the Rumanian sector.

[Mynok]

Shifting to turn 41....problems continue. Rumanian sector:



AGS



AGC

[Mynok]

And now the current turn (44).

Rumania has converted as has Bulgaria. I'm going to lose a full SS panzer corps in Rumania. Ouch.



AGS...strength is not bad but need to get back to the border still.



North looks strong and I'm shifting 18th army south to help depleted 3rd panzer.