End of AAR 76mm welcome

[Ketza]

South north part of front:

[Ketza]

And the far south. The area along the front where the empty hexes are is where I did some rather large attacks. You can see where there are several lines of forts being built for falling back in the future.

2 Panzer armies have been active in the sector attacking him and falling back behind the fort line. This is actually a tactic I used in games such as Fir ein the East back in my boardgame days. The Panzers are so much more effective in the attack yet keeping them off the line is imperative.

I am working on an OKH infantry reserve and currently have around 10 broken down divisions in it attached to corps loaded with engineers building my fort lines.

[Ketza]

And lastly the Crimea where we are trading hexes each turn. One Panzer Corp is in the area.

[Ketza]

I know the posts are rather dull but at this juncture of the game it comes down to numbers for me. Numbers of casualties and the number of hexes between the Soviets and Berlin. I think I am in pretty good shape for the long term. Quality infantry in level 3 and 4 forts backed by a sizable Panzer force and a experienced and potent Luftwaffe. Guess we will see how it goes!

[achillesdave]

Im surprised too see so many Pz 38t tanks in 7th Panzer this late in the game. Theres no anti-tank guns capable of destroying the T-34s beside the 88s. Well there is some Marders but I would attatch a LW flak battalion for more firepower.

[Ketza]

ORIGINAL: achillesdave


Im surprised too see so many Pz 38t tanks in 7th Panzer this late in the game. Theres no anti-tank guns capable of destroying the T-34s beside the 88s. Well there is some Marders but I would attatch a LW flak battalion for more firepower.

I never really looked at the tanks types but you are correct. Thats a lot of weak tanks!

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: Ketza

Turn 64 Axis offensive losses. Each turn I am mounting attacks where it looks like I will get victories. I have switched it up a little bit and I am hitting his higher CV areas as I have noticed my losses are pretty consistent no matter what I attack. This turn I once again hit the 3-1 casualty rate in my favor.

I have noted that too. It is often unproductive to attack weak Soviet units at high odds. The casualty ratio will be better for the Germans the stronger the Soviet stack is, provided you win the combat.

[Ketza]

Before I get started some numbers.
Turn 66 OOB

[Ketza]

After running the turn I went back and compared the OOB from turn 66 to an earlier turn in June to get an idea of what happened over the summer. These numbers are after this turns attacks:

Axis June/Sep

Men 3,458852/3,270093 -188,759 -5.0%
Art 37,372/35,291 -2081 -5.5%
Tanks 3,273/3,223 -50 -1.0%
Planes 3,386 -12 -.3%

Soviet

Men 6,746804/7,036153 +289,349 +4.2%
Art 78,322/81,878 +3556 +4.5%
Tanks 4,511/5,243 +732 +16.2%
Planes 10,505/11,483 +978 +9.3%

Summer Soviet units destroyed - 59
Summer Axis units destroyed - 5

A few takeaways from this:

1) I need to utilize armor more frequently as the armor losses are not on par with manpower losses. This is probably caused by the attrition being caused at the front as I did not have Panzers in the line for July/August. I still need to attack with them more. I also need to use Panzer divisions with old tanks to cull them out and make room for new ones.

2) As well as I am doing with the Luftwaffe the Soviet airforce has still grown by 9%. Luftwaffe strength over the summer is flat which is very good. I think his squadron quality is poor which continues to drain his strength.

3) His 4.2% manpower growth is a bit lower then I thought it would be.

[Ketza]

Air losses. Another rough day for the Soviet air force. I did lose quite a few transports this turn but its the first time I have used them in months so its all good.

His IL2s are taking a pounding.

[Ketza]

In the 16th army sector he has commited a Shock army and there are a lot of Corps around. 48th Panzer launched a counter attack and then the lines were tightened up.

[Ketza]

In the 9th army sector he launched a few attacks. Nothing major he one some I won some.

[Ketza]

18th army attack shows what happens when the Luftwaffe flies:

[Ketza]

AGS - All summer I have had the Panzers sitting on the rails waiting for a chance to strike. As he committed many corps in the 16th and 9th army area I decided it was time to try and cause some trouble somewhere else.. 3rd, 4th and 1st Panzer armies along with 3 reserve infantry corps attack in the south and form a medium size pocket.

Unlike the July pocket this one is much stronger as the Panzers have been rested. Also the bulk of his reserve forces seem to be way up north. He has some local strong forces but no Corps that I have seen.

[Ketza]

Losses this turn. Upon opening the turn I noticed he had taken 50k more losses then me during his part of the turn. This coupled with a close to 3-1 loss rate in my favor my part of turn 66 is promising.

[Tarhunnas]

Nice little counterstroke!

[Ketza]

Need to keep him guessing as to what I will do [:)]

[Encircled]

Did he have any reserves behind the line?

Checker board of divisions, solid line of a reserve army, that kind of thing?

[Ketza]

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Did he have any reserves behind the line?

Checker board of divisions, solid line of a reserve army, that kind of thing?

I have been attacking this sector of the front where he advances into hexes without forts every turn but never exploiting anything. I have noticed his line has not been as deep but has been stronger. I did overrun a lot of level 3 empty forts. Actually along most of the line his carpets are now gone so he must be building corps and consolidating his strength. This may give me opportunities in the future as long as I keep my strength consistent.

He has a large commitment up north of many Tank,Calvary and Infantry corps and recon showed nothing in range of the south of any large strength so it seemed an opportune time to strike. The battles up there had shown a shock army involved and now its mired down in the woods and wore down a bit from attacking. If he pulls it out it will take him a few turns to get realigned.

Well unless he has other shock armies and it was just a big trap [:D]

[Q-Ball]

Good use of Railroads to surprise/confuse the Reds. A good pocket there.

That is a good guess that maybe he was transitioning to Corps, so got caught flat-footed there without local reserves.

A couple half-decent Rifle divsions dug-in back there would have been enough to stop you; unfortunately, sounds like they were at the front.