1.04 The Wolf and the Bear (no Gids)

[Tarhunnas]

A sample of the front in the north. The German line is wafer-thin, and not many reserves. It is imperative to shorten the front to release some reserves.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 87. February 11 1943.

Withdrawals are progressing according to plan. The only question is wether to keep Penza or not...

[Tarhunnas]

At the Crimean front, the Soviets are continuing to stir up trouble. They have made a breakthrough to te east with a (luckily) weak tank corps. The arrival of mud will hopefully dampen their ardor. Map befor Axis moves.

[Tarhunnas]

Overview of the entire front after Axis moves.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 88. Nothing dramatic happening. The withdrawal is complete. 2d Panzer Army is completely withdrawn from the front for rest and refit, and will be the strategic reserve. 4th panzer army couldn't help themselves and have surrounded a couple of Soviet corps south of Penza.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 89. February 25 1943. Blizzard.

The Soviets are pressing hard from the Crimea. XXX corps have been cut off at the eastern isthmus, but happily they are holding the port of Genichesk, so they are not isolated. Elements of II SS Panzer Corps are arriving to redress the situation.

[Tarhunnas]

Production turn 89, filtered to Germany. It is interesting to note that the Germans have somehow captured one Finnish AA gun! I suspect there is some stealing of equipment going on between neighbouring units on the same side...

[Tarhunnas]

Morale of panzer units turn 89.

[Tarhunnas]

Losses turn 98. Closing up on 10 million for the Soviets. Losses this turn are modest, but the ratio is solidly in my favour. It should be noted though that 21.000 men is small fry compared to the 70.000 or so attrition losses that the Soviets seem to take every turn (hard to tell from the loss screen, sometimes the Soviet attrition losses seem to be included, sometimes not).

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 90. March 4 1943.

The OKH has decided to keep Penza as a springboard for a spring offenive. This can be directed either against the soft underbelly of Gorkij, or against Saratov. This has resulted in the interesting box-shaped protrusion formed by army groups A and B.

[Tarhunnas]

Near the Crimea, the strategic reserve in the form of 2d Panzer Army is arriving on scene. We only need some good weather, and the Soviet eruption out of the Crimean gutter will feel the might of the Wehrmacht.

[Peltonx]

Nice job. Hes only got 4.6 million and my guess is moral is low and his unit cv's are very low.

An offensive in 43 looks possible for you at this point for sure.

I say you got this locked up for sure.

You can kinda get a feel for a game if in the summer of 42 you do great you know you have game in hand, if you don't have any kind of an offensive you know your in truoble.

I am still waiting on a game where at the end of 42 the game is still in question.

Seems be to a knifes edge between winning and lossing. Very hard for devs to balance the game out for sure.

Pelton

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 91. March 11 1943.

The Soviets are pressing hard north of Tambov.

[Tarhunnas]

On the Crimean front, IISS Panzer Corps and arriving elements of 2d Panzer Army are turning the tables on the Soviets. Map after Axis moves.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 92. March 18 1943. Blizzard.

The Soviet break the encirclement (due to the 1-1 rule). I am not normally complaining about it, but in these situations it can be annoying.

[Tarhunnas]

OK, so now I do it real failsafe, with two lines of encirclement! [:@]

Just to be extra safe, the rest of II SS Panzer Corps is ready to sort out any unplesantness. Actually, if I can keep the Soviets off balance, it might be possible to stage a rush into the Crimea next turn...

[Tarhunnas]

Losses turn 92. We pass the 10 million mark!

[ComradeP]

Tarhunnas, just wondering: why do you want to take the Crimea? There are no points to be gained there and it's going to take a lot of effort to take it at this point.

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

Tarhunnas, just wondering: why do you want to take the Crimea? There are no points to be gained there and it's going to take a lot of effort to take it at this point.

In the words of Mallory "Because it's there". [;)]

Seriously, the object would not so much be to capture the Crimea but to cut off the Soviet troops north of the isthmuses.

Incidentally, I strongly think it should be worthwhile to take the Crimea in the game. The two sides put considerable effort into that historically, but in WITE it is as you say completely pointless to take the Crimea.

[ComradeP]

In 1941 there's a good reason to take it from a strategic perspective, to avoid ugly surprises during the blizzard, but in 1943 its strategic important is significantly reduced unless your opponent wants to make gamey amphibious landings (but he can land near Odessa from ports in the Caucasus if he'd want to so Sevastopol is mostly important for the port level bonus to naval/amphibious capacity).