41-45GC:1.05.28 M60A3TTS (Sov) v Pelton (Axis)

[M60A3TTS]

Here is the data requested on the lead units and other mobile formations in the area.
I'm interested on what you see here. Pelton made airdrops to both enemy-held hexes north of the Oka.

[M60A3TTS]

Here is another shot after Air Recon showing Axis Rail (AR) and Axis Rail Damage (ARD) along with a pair of his FBD units.

[gingerbread]

Hm, Peltons rail head is closer than I thought. The units north of OKA will start isolated (every hex +4 MP in mud) so they should become yours without to much trouble, but the two hexes in Y=50 will be in range unless ZOC:ed. They will not get more than 10-15% supply as is. You need one of 114,51 or 114,52. At least occupy 115,52 since/while it is still yours.

Afraid I don't see anything obvious that will be know as The Miracle of Moscow in the annals.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Here is the data requested on the lead units and other mobile formations in the area.
I'm interested on what you see here.

I see enemy units that should hold any attack (right now) [:(] But if this is non-random weather, he will not be closing the pocket until the end of mud (turn 21 or 22?). I mean, to do that he should attack the units that you will certainly put in his path: offensive CV: 1/8. But after that? He has snow turns before the blizzard. That's when he really should strike. And he will. He has certainly smelled the blood in the water. So you still have some turns to find a solution. Harsh choices.

Good luck [:)]

[M60A3TTS]

Week 18
 
Brief update:  The Axis forces around Moscow made no real attempt to advance in mud this week, so the evacuation of the pocket is underway.  One more panzer division crossed over the Oka in the south.  I was surprised to see in fact, a RR brigade east of Moscow did come out and work on a hex within 5 of the nearest enemy unit.  That's not to say the entire line to Moscow will be repaired before snow, but it is a step in the right direction.  For now it is a matter of reorganizing what comes out of the pocket and work to reform Kalinin, Western and Bryansk fronts further east.
 
One admin note, two rifle divisions earned guards status this week, bringing the total to three.  One small step towards the Red Army:  The Next Generation.

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

I would be among the first to echo TD's opinion that Pelton deserves great respect as a player. As I said, he knows his stuff. Others are free to voice opinions on the other things (and plenty of opportunities to do so in his other threads).

I didn't want to sound as accusing anyone and crapping on your thread, M60. My apologies if I sounded like that.

But that works so well just because it is an artifact of game mechanics. Helio says it's about garrisoning the railroads... yes, but what units does have the Red Army to stop that? Even if M60 had a checkerboard with units supporting each other mutually through Reserve, that probably wouldn't have stopped Pelton, from turning over hex ownership and retreating to a safer position. All he needs is to rely on Hasty attacks: though the mutually supporting Reserve deployment can make that quite dangerous for him, this requires reserving your best units rather than holding the line and investing significant amounts of AP's in leaders and C&C optimization.

If the Red Army had motorized units with the morale of early war German motorized units, this could be used by both sides. I wonder how people would feel when this is done to them, just like that, with a snap of your opponent fingers.

My advice would be to strengthen your flanks and capitalize the fact that Reserve commitment to Heavy Urban hexes is almost automatic. I doubt Pelton will carry on a major operation if he appraises the option as anti-economic. So just deploy things to make it look like that (i.e. he's forced to make a frontal assault on Moscow if he wants it).

[M60A3TTS]

Naturally I want to put up a fight for Moscow, but at the same time, I don't want to risk getting trapped in a huge pocket in the act of doing so.  It's probably fair to say a quarter of the entire army is in the immediate area of a potential pocket.  I don't know if this will be the seed of a Moscow Miracle, but the latest patch apparently decimated Pelton's Level2 forts on his winter line.  I know he's got a thread going looking for some explanation but I question whether he'll get far on that.  He's already expressing concerns of continuing in Kamil's game. 
 
Bottom line is, he just got more vulnerable to the coming blizzard offensive and it will be interesting to see if that has any impact on his plans to launch an all out attack to take Moscow. 

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS
Bottom line is, he just got more vulnerable to the coming blizzard offensive and it will be interesting to see if that has any impact on his plans to launch an all out attack to take Moscow. 

It might sound weird, but perhaps it would be best for your interests to lure him into giving the Go! order to his units.

[M60A3TTS]

While we wait for the next patch, this is from the end of week 17 and shows the dispositions of Axis forces south of the Moscow area. You can see that at the same time Pelton is going for Moscow, he is also committing his armor in the south to isolate and take Rostov.

[Baelfiin]

Hang in there M60.... If you can get a lot of that army out of the bulge I think you will be OK. I think the last several turns before the blizzard starts are the most stressful.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 21 completed.

We're through the mud phase, but are now slowed down by something different- namely Pelton's question on whether there is a bug related to partisan activity. Personally, I think it's simply reflecting the number of large partisan bands that I've generated. I can't tell what steps he's taken to reduce the partisan buildup, although I have seen a few attacks against them.

The evacuation of the Moscow Bulge was less of an issue than expected. The hard part is reorganising units from STAVKA and four fronts. Piles of units within the bulge made it virtually impossible to create a series of organized fronts again, so what I tried to do at a minimum was keep units of the same army stacked and in supply.

Moscow will likely fall I'm afraid. The main frontline is about 4 hexes east of Moscow and I have no doubt next turn, he'll flood the area with infantry to isolate the city. In a case like this, I really think Moscow should be able to resupply by air. The city has an airport, yes? Anybody recall the Berlin Airlift? If this was real life, I'd pack Moscow with 4-6 weeks of supplies, barricade the city and put top notch defenders there. Then come blizzard, relief forces would bust in. Stalingrad in reverse. But the game requires an airfield in clear terrain for resupply by air, and that won't hold against a determined German attack.

At least the Axis troops won't be heavily fortified in the Moscow area come blizzard. Pelton knows this, so he may or may not stick around. We'll see if a re-take Moscow operation is in the cards.

FWIW, 5th Guards Rifle Division is now in the Red Army OOB. [:)]

[Baelfiin]

M60 i think you have a very good point in that major cities are too easy to take after they have been isolated for just one week. It should be that units are immune to isolation effects while in major cities, and that they can draw supply from the stockpiles that are allready existing there. Less of a chance to retreat when in a city(isolated or not) should be implemented as well.

Hang in there, almost payback time !!

[M60A3TTS]

Week 22- 13.11.41

With the arrival of snow, the situation turns grim as German forces north and south of Moscow close the ring. To the south, Rostov is similarly encircled.
One advantage of snow for the Soviets is that it allows the front commands to reestablish themselves.

In the far north, the Finns are maintaining a minimal presence. Opposite them, the Leningrad Front is receiving a steady influx of fresh troops.

Active manpower of Soviets vs. Germans now exceeds 2 million.

Administrative Notes:
Yury Novoselsky replaced as commander of 52nd Army by Issa Pliev.
60th and 61st Armies are activated under STAVKA. Aleksei Maslov of 60th Army replaced by Aleksandr Vasilevsky.

Moscow


Rostov


Leningrad


Production this week

[M60A3TTS]

Week 23- 20.11.41

Moscow and Rostov succumb to German attacks, with the defenders putting up very little resistance. Still, the front lines are close enough that the citizens know they can expect an attempt to liberate them as the weather is close to changing for the worse.

At Moscow


At Rostov


Despite these setbacks, the Red Army is forging ahead with plans for the winter offensive. The railroad bridge over the Donets southeast of Voroshilovgrad has been instrumental in allowing three new STAVKA armies to cross over to reinforce the units of Southern Front.

The fighting by Red Army units over the last several months continues to yield results. 109th , 297th and 303rd Rifle Divisions become 6th, 7th and 8th Guards Rifle Divisions.

Volkhov Front is formed and General Zhukov is put in command

[Baelfiin]

Nice work on triage in limiting the damage!

[M60A3TTS]

Week 24- 27.11.41

In the Moscow area, the Germans don't appear ready for a long stay just like Napoleon. The battle lines move west and the Reserve Front finds itself back at the eastern outskirts of the city.


The Volkhov Front


To the south, Rostov is liberated without a shot fired.


Axis forces launch a dozen or so attacks across the front in an effort to beat some Red Army units down.

Seven Soviet rifle divisions attain guards status, bringing the total to fifteen. The hardening of the Red Army with the numerous attacks against single Axis divisions is now paying off without having to wait for blizzard. STAVKA has also organized a number of tank battalions that will be assigned to the cavalry corps about to be formed. Each corps will receive two tank battalions and a motorcycle regiment. Operation Winter Wrath begins next week.

[kevini1000]

He most likely got what he wanted Army group A & B.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 25- 4.12.41

Operation Winter Wrath has begun. Konstantin Rokossovsky's 24th Army enters Moscow which has been abandoned by the retreating Germans. The enemy which occupied the city for two weeks is withdrawing quickly in the area, so there is no real opportunity for combat.


Farther south near Stalino where the Axis winter line is considerably closer, Soviet forces advance to the west. Well to the east of Kharkov, Axis troops have no fortifications. so these units are attacked where possible.


Advances also take place on the Leningrad Front to exert maximum pressure on the Axis forces.


Four new guards rifle divisions are formed, bringing the total to 19. Second Shock Army is formed and rifle divisions assigned. They will not be committed to battle right away, but will occupy positions in the immediate area of Voronezh.

[Flaviusx]

I'm surprised he abandoned Moscow. But I suppose he wasn't properly fortified on its flanks. Still, he could put some good units in there and shelter them from the blizzard and counterattack any penetrations north and south of them.

You might actually recover most of the manpower in there and get it repaired. With new multipliers, losing both Leningrad and Moscow drops you below 100k replacements/turn, so you want those bodies back.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 26- 11.12.41

The offensive continues to roll westward. There is not any action in the northern half of the map as Pelton continues to pull back to the west and avoid combat. In the area around Kharkov and to the south, there are more battles as it is closer to his winter line.

4 more rifle divisions became guards, for a total of 23. One cavalry division also became guards.

Moscow area


East of Kharkov


Southern area