Could I get Baku in 1942?

[luciffer_MatrixForum]

In my 42-45 Campaign as Axis. PBEM. version 1.04.36
This is the beginning of Turn9, I get the Stalingrad, and cut out railroads which connect Baku around Stalingrad. So I think caucasia Front and Crimea Front are doomed, right?

[luciffer_MatrixForum]

then my question is, to seize Baku, which way is more practical or quicker?

[Klydon]

You could technically get there, but it is going to be a mess logistically and you won't get there nearly as fast as you think you may. The Russians can also continue to send troops to Baku by sea movement, so its not like you have him cut off to the point that he can't get troops there. Fact is, he can.

Unanswered in your screen shot above is where are your railheads at?

[luciffer_MatrixForum]

So you mean he could send troops from somewhere like Chaklov to Guriev port?

[lastdingo]

There is no railroad along the Eastern route, and the distance is way too long for distance to a railhead. You can go the Eastern route in order to cut his coastal railroad off and possibly hit some air base, but it's not going to capture Baku.

[Aussiematto]

I have taken Baku in a game that got very weird. My Soviet opponent (who is now hammering west in mid 1943) didn't defend the Caucasus almost at all and, as a result, I eventually managed to get Rumanian and German Mtn inf units down along the eastern black sea coast, along with an FBD and slowly ground across the terrain. In the meantime I was running mad near Stalingrad and capturing the Caspian coast, but missed Guriev (didnt know it was important). I got Baku, only to discover the bloody Russians were still in supply due to a bug (now fixed). I have a pretty strong suspicion that it will be hard to take Baku against a Russian who wants to hold it. On the upside, getting all those black sea ports put his army in the crimea out of supply and so was able to brutalise it with a few rumanians, and about 6 poor strength German divisions.

[Scook_99]

To answer your original question, Baku is considered a supply source, so everyone is still is in supply even if you cut the rails to the area.

[molchomor]

The southern route is the only realistic route, the north one has alot of swamp hexes.

It takes forever to rail repair swamp hexes as your FBDs will move very slowly.

[luciffer_MatrixForum]

Thank you all
I think I'll let Romanian and Italian do the hard jobs

[gradenko2k]

The journey is more important than the destination. That is, it's not so much getting to Baku as it is destroying a pile of Soviet units as you outflank them on the way. Tarhunnas' game against Gids is a good example of this.

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

Has anyone taken and held Baku in a serious PBEM game?  (By serious I mean not a total mismatch, veteran versus first time player etc.  )
 
I'm in a 1942 PBEM game, just entering the October '42 mud phase. I took Rostov and Voronezeh but then backed off the idea of trying to take Stalingrad and Baku.  Just a bridge, or steppe, too far...

[squatter]

I dont see how Baku is takeable. In my PBEM I reached Baku in the winter of 42/43, but because it's a supply source, the Soviets can dig in on the city and have equivalent defensive CV of 100s. I didnt bother trying to besiege and take it, because by the time you get there, the rest of the front is raging. And presumably new units can be created next to Baku as the Axis approach to further reinforce it. Personally, I dont think Baku should be a fully functioning permanent supply source. Maybe a supply source, but not somewhere where in effect, even if the rest of the Caucuses is in Axis hands the Soviet player can build and refill corps and divisions as if they were parked right next to Moscow. There's no way the replacement men and equipment could have been shipped over the Caspian in those kinds of numbers, especially if the Luftwaffe is around.

[Fishbed]

Well, the Transcaucasian front wasn't exactly light-manned when the invasion of Iran was launched in August 1941 - I guess we can consider that a reasonable amount of unit building in Baku can be included in some kind of off map SU reinforcement from the Iranian garrison (even though I guess most of the units which took part to the operation and later went back to the Russo-German front are already included in the reinforcement schedule)

[davetheroad]

This Baku issue ties in nicely with the need to give the germans incentives to go on the offensive in summer 42.

something like

Capture Moscow - one off hit on morale? large, say 20 or 30%
Occupy west Caspian rail line with unit on hex - all factories suffer a %age damage
Capture Baku - all factories suffer a larger %age damage

Suffering a immediate 40%? drop in output because of the loss of Baku should make both sides think!

The factories can then self repair as normal to simulate the development of other resources/imports.