Defense of the Reich '43+

[Baelfiin]

Going to post some screenshots of Hoooper overrunning Hungary, Poland and Eastern Germany for everyone's entertainment. The game is a forgone conclusion, but we are both having fun with it and learning things about end game in a "live" setting. Comments and catcalls welcome !!!

In the north it has been a slugfest and grind through a lot of forts that were built before the new fort rules went into effect.
The german infantry is really starting to melt away now. The few panzers in the area are in not much better shape.

[Baelfiin]

In the Warsaw area, furious fighting through the summer saw the Soviets finally push across the Bug.

Level 4 forts behind a river with 3 decent divisions are tough nuts to crack, but when the damn finally breaks......

So far I have had success defending by attacking soviet spearheads that penetrate the line, I cant kill anything off permanently, but I am usually able to rout the point troops of the attack after chopping up a hex or two behind them.
As my troops dwindle away it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the russians somewhat in check.
The Current Disaster here is the remnants (both around 30% TOE)of 6th and 17th panzer divisions cut off in Lublin.
I am pretty sure I will be able to free them, however. The rest of the front looks fairly normal, some Misc tanks to scrub out coming across the Bug, and infiltrators to hunt down north of Lublin.

[Baelfiin]

North Carpathians

The mountains on the eastern border of Hungary are great places to defend in. Single hungarian divisions manage to hold on just fine as long as they get dug in. Its hard for the russians to get supply up to the front lines in the middle of the mountains, consequently when they attack they are in isolated status because they are over 100 mps to supply source. The passes through the mountains (rail lines) are vital in this area. The mountain units help out a little more now that they use foot supply in mountain hexes, but it is still a struggle for the russians to get supply up there. Note that there are not many russians trying to bash their way through, the battles over the summer were very bloody for the russians and they seem to be rolling around to the north.

[Baelfiin]

South Carpathians

One of the best things about getting driven out of Rumania is it allows me to shorten my line. I was able to transfer 8 odd divisions to the Warsaw area as I fell back. As you can see once the Russians are into the clear and rough on the western slopes the situation goes "downhill" quickly. I will be able to keep their advance fairly slow, but time will tell if I have the troops to do it with. The depleted formations are adding up, and there are just not enough replacements to bring them back up to strength. I am going to be forced to start merging units, which I hate to do because it takes away counters. A zero strength counter doesnt do me any good either though, maybe i can promote them to fort maintenance units ? =p

[CarnageINC]

I wish I could of seen your situation in Romania just before it fell.  You must of planned ahead of time so your forces weren't isolated.  What are the surrender conditions for Bulgaria?  Yeah, I'm to lazy to look them up right now... [:'(].  I look forward to getting our game this advanced in time as yours with Hooper is.

[Baelfiin]

Hooper handed me my head all the way through '41 and into '42. I was digging in at the start of the spring in 42 in the mountains while he was chasing me back from the Dnepr. Rumania was out pretty early, I think I have a screen shot of it in the tech support under Rumanian surrender bug. I had lots of security units broken down behind the lines to keep the areas under control when the Rumanians surrendered. What I didnt realize is that the Rumanian _fort_ units were going to flip to russian control as well as some of their regular forces. There was a fort adjacent to bulgaria and yugoslavia which then triggered the surrender for both of those contries. I was also dumb enough to have stacked first panzer army HQ on top of a rumanian fort, and the HQ was wiped out when the forts changed hands.

[Baelfiin]

Here is a step by step of a typical week for the germans in this game:

Festung Lublin Surrounded by russian hordes.. Fuehrer orders a counterattack!
Of course its up to the general staff to make things work...

[Baelfiin]

Step 3 and 4 of the Lublin counterattack.

[Strv103C]

What date is it?

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: Strv103C

What date is it?

Unless the picture is manipulated, I would guess at Sep 30 1943. [;)]

[Baelfiin]

Yeah I guess I should have made that a little bit more clear 8)

[Baelfiin]

Turn 122
Mud has arrived ... I need a breather for sure.
The red army has taken koenigsberg, torching all of the factories there. Too bad the germans can't move factories !!
In this picture every single attack that I was able to hold was at 1.2:1 odds or thereabouts. While I think the change to the 1:1 rule was good for '43 and beyond, I am not so sure about '42.
If my army holds up I have drawn in where I want to be at when the spring of '44 arrives.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 122 Warsaw

I was forced to redeploy the last of my mobile forces from southern Hungary to Poland to and East Prussia to help deal with Red Army progress.
In the Lublin area the operation to free the trapped Panzer divisions was successful, however there was not enough strength left to then reestablish the line.
Rather than risk more encirclements on turn 121, I chose to consolidate my defenses a little in order to avoid pockets last turn that I would not be able to break in the mud this turn. Looking forward to 3 weeks of rest before the winter storm of doom.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 122 Czechoslovakia

Holding on by fingernails, forced to put panzers in the line to hold. Hungarians holding strong still in the mountains, they need to make it through till the winter. If the russians get loose the river defenses will crumble quickly as there is nothing left that can make a stand in the open ground that can be spared.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 122 South

Nothing fancy here, I have to hold the corner on the south edgeand then delay my way back to the mountains on the line. Hopefully I will be able to slow the russians long enough in the the spring I will have lots of mountains left to defend in.
Nothing left to fight with down here except for a couple ss brigades and a couple INF divisions that havent been gutted. My outlook for success down here is bleak.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin

While I think the change to the 1:1 rule was good for '43 and beyond, I am not so sure about '42.

Gotcha
We lawyers know a conflict of interest when we see one[:-]

[Baelfiin]

Check the Fall Blau pic I posted

besides I have been begging for help for my russians forever =p

I am sure you are going to have some fun for the next 12 turns [;)]

[AZKGungHo]

Thanks for posting this. It's great to finally see this part of the war and how things work when the German is forced back into the Reich.

Keeping fighting!! And keep posting!

[Baelfiin]

Thanks for the support AZ !!! [:)]

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin

Check the Fall Blau pic I posted

besides I have been begging for help for my russians forever =p

I am sure you are going to have some fun for the next 12 turns [;)]

Fall Blau v impressive. Tx for the template for me to follow