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

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Flaviusx
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RE: Week 39 and 40

Post by Flaviusx »

I'm rather astonished you didn't keep a fort line by Moscow, tbh. Look at what Tullius is doing. That's how it is done.

The good news, I guess, is that Moscow is one of only two places on the whole map where you can extemporize a fort belt, thanks to the urban labor. (The other one is Leningrad.) You can actually do a bona fide fort carpet around Moscow.

Thin out the north. I'm betting Kalinin and Northwest Front have more bodies than they need for holding on to an essentially static front. Peel off the excess and get them behind the Oka and Moskva, as per Q-ball's suggestion. Also, the Volga canal.
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RE: Week 39 and 40

Post by Callistrid »

Concetrate your armor corps in to a nother front, and when the summer will come, attack, encircre the germans.
Force Pelton to share his mobile troops to protect his infantries.

Don't forget, on 42 summer your tank corps has 30-40 movement point.
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RE: Week 39 and 40

Post by M60A3TTS »

ORIGINAL: Callistrid

Concetrate your armor corps in to a nother front, and when the summer will come, attack, encircre the germans.
Force Pelton to share his mobile troops to protect his infantries.

Don't forget, on 42 summer your tank corps has 30-40 movement point.

I am going to start out with about half a dozen tank corps and give each of them a couple independent tank battalions and a motorcycle regiment as attachments. Then let them train up for a while as they lose a lot of experience when first formed. This turn I'm ramping up the formation of rifle corps attachments that will be put to use in June. A combination of ATG and sapper regiments is what they will be getting.
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RE: Week 39 and 40

Post by M60A3TTS »

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

I think you can turn this into a good thing, if you take some steps. You can hold Moscow, and ideally if he wants to fight heavily in light woods terrain this summer, so much the better for you.

I would pull back from Vyazma, and start digging a line ASAP along the Moskva, and several hexes deep behind it. Contest every hex, but don't stack-up or plan on holding it. Just make him push you out of the woods. A single rifle unit in light woods with lvl 2 fort will cause him losses.

To the north, you are not immediately threatened, but it would be wise to be digging along the Moskva-Volga canal, and the Lama river in front of it.

Moscow never falls to direct assault, always to double envelopment, so it's the flanks you have to protect, not the immediate front of the city

I think I may delay the inevitable, as stopping Pelton from taking Moscow at this moment seems wishful thinking. If I had another month of preparation then yes it might be quite possible, because the guards rifle corps of Zhukov's Volkhov Front would be stacked up three high in the Moscow area. But there are going to be two clear weather turns in May, and I predict he'll be in a position to drive into both my flanks at that time. He seems determined to take Moscow no matter what it costs. The good news is there are 5 mud turns in a row after this next turn, so my troop strength will get a decent boost before the main event.

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RE: Week 39 and 40

Post by M60A3TTS »

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

I'm rather astonished you didn't keep a fort line by Moscow, tbh. Look at what Tullius is doing. That's how it is done.

The good news, I guess, is that Moscow is one of only two places on the whole map where you can extemporize a fort belt, thanks to the urban labor. (The other one is Leningrad.) You can actually do a bona fide fort carpet around Moscow.

Thin out the north. I'm betting Kalinin and Northwest Front have more bodies than they need for holding on to an essentially static front. Peel off the excess and get them behind the Oka and Moskva, as per Q-ball's suggestion. Also, the Volga canal.

It may be too soon to turn this into an early Stalingrad, but we're going to give it the old college try. Hopefully this will tie down his panzer and motorized divisions for a time. If Pelton wants to fight it out in the woods and rivers around Moscow instead of tearing holes in my lines along the steppes and bagging fronts, that may work out.
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RE: Week 39 and 40

Post by Q-Ball »

You have time to dig; a few mud turns, with clear in there, and Moscow diggers get help from workers and peasants.

I think you are being overly pessimistic. You need to get digging and get reinforcements there, but you can hold it.

Don't worry about trying to stop him at the first hex. It's not what's on the first hex that counts; the Germans can take that anytime. It's the 2nd and 3rd hexes that count.

He can't afford to deliberate attack through 15 hexes of light woods; he'll burn his army out doing that.
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Week 41

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 41- 26.3.42

The last week of snow sees the Wehrmacht sweep forward to a distance of 20 miles from Moscow. None of the defending units defending forward in their path were able to hold off the fascists, and either retreated or routed. The battle lines now have 20th and 38th Armies of the Volkhov Front flanking the capital in a direct east-west line. The Bryansk Front redeploys and assumes responsibility of defending the area east and southeast of Moscow while the Western Front remains deployed southwest, supported by STAVKA 48th and 1st Shock Armies. One counterattack is made, pushing 5th Panzer Division off its perch.

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Meanwhile south of Kursk, Soviet troops advance 20 miles west to make contact with Axis troops. Three Rumanian divisions and a Hungarian mountain brigade are driven off their positions in the Kharkov sector.

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Now it is time for the rasputitsa to keep the enemy away from Moscow while the civil population digs to keep the invaders from a second stay in the capital which if successful will be much longer than the first.

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RE: Week 41

Post by Flaviusx »

That's a very nice patchup job by Moscow. You did the right thing rushing all those guards there. My only concern is the lack of good retreat paths; unit density is so high you risk routs on any kind of retreat. This is to some extent unavoidable, but it can be mitigated to some extent by placing only a single unit on the second line so that a 3 unit stack retreating will suffer fewer routs. Even a two unit second line will help this somewhat.

Use reserve option liberally. It will force him to make deliberate attacks rather than hasty ones.

I still think you have too many units in the Kalinin and Northwestern Fronts. I'd consider pulling some of those back into deep reserve and training those up and await developments. (There's really no room for them near Moscow.) Alternately, they could be placed by the volga canal from Moscow up to Kalinin.

There's an undefended hex on the Oka just east of Ryazan. I'd cover that. He could swing south.

Does he have any mobile units down south at all?

I don't see diggers by the Don.
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RE: Week 41

Post by M60A3TTS »

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

That's a very nice patchup job by Moscow. You did the right thing rushing all those guards there. My only concern is the lack of good retreat paths; unit density is so high you risk routs on any kind of retreat. This is to some extent unavoidable, but it can be mitigated to some extent by placing only a single unit on the second line so that a 3 unit stack retreating will suffer fewer routs. Even a two unit second line will help this somewhat.

Use reserve option liberally. It will force him to make deliberate attacks rather than hasty ones.

I still think you have too many units in the Kalinin and Northwestern Fronts. I'd consider pulling some of those back into deep reserve and training those up and await developments. (There's really no room for them near Moscow.) Alternately, they could be placed by the volga canal from Moscow up to Kalinin.

There's an undefended hex on the Oka just east of Ryazan. I'd cover that. He could swing south.

Does he have any mobile units down south at all?

I don't see diggers by the Don.

I stacked three high because it is now 5 weeks of mud and it's very unlikely he will attack at all and therefore not rout anything.

I'll see what can be coaxed from the K and NW fronts, but I don't want to get pushed back there.

I saw zero mobile units anywhere outside the Moscow push. He has since swapped out the mobile forces with leg infantry on the front near Moscow to minimize wear and tear on the mobile forces. Whether this indicates he now intends to pull the mobile troops south and work that area over in the summer will have to be watched for.

Not sure what part of the Don you are asking about. Here is the big picture. What forts there are exist near Rostov.

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RE: Week 41

Post by Flaviusx »

I don't like that carpet you have down south, tbh. I'd pull a good chunk of that into deep reserve.

If he changes axis of advance on you, you'll be in awkward position. The position down south is too strong for static defense in the absence of mobile forces, too weak to attack, and too inflexible to respond to a change in Axis plans. Generally speaking, Soviet players need to get away from this carpet mentality and strive to create true reserves. Always have a reserve. As long you have them, no situation is irretrievable. It's the same problem I see up north, tbh. Too much stuff up front.

If he stalls by Moscow, he will switch direction and can do so easily. Then you must have something in the kitty to deal with it. He could, for example, go due south in the direction of Tambov and attempt to dislocate your position by Voronezh. If that happens, reserves can reestablish a blocking position.
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Week 43

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 43- 9.4.42

The Panzers Pull Out

Muscovites breathe a sigh of relief as the Germans don't appear to have the stomach for a second Verdun. There are quality German infantry formations in the Moscow area, but they are not in sufficient quantity to indicate that the enemy units present will do nothing more than hold the line. The panzer and motorized divisions are on the move south, and now the question is where to expect the hammer to fall in 4 weeks.

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6 Soviet tank corps have been formed, but they will remain in training mode until they are truely combat ready. Each is receiving the same support units as cavalry corps- 2 tank battalions and a motorcycle regiment.

Currently 38 anti-tank regiments of 76mm and 85mm are awaiting deployment to the field once the rifle corps are formed.
51st Guards Rifle Division was formed in week 42, but nothing this week.

OOB
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The arms pool is now over 640,000. A look at equipment pools shows decent stockpiles.
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Week 44

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 44- 16.4.42

The panzers continue to rest south of the Oka. No hints yet that they are moving soon. The cavalry corps are out of the front lines now.

6 tank corps are now safely in the rear undergoing training. Guards rifle divisions are for the most part refitting. I am also building more rifle brigades since at 5AP a pop, then merging them in pairs, it's much more economical than 20AP divisions.

The Stalino sector will see a further thinning of troops next week if the enemy situation remains unchanged.

The enemy concentration
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Week 45

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 45- 23.4.42

Little goings on as the rains continue to fall and soldiers make the best of it in the gooey trenches.

The men of the 8 Soviet tank corps have it a little better as they are for the most part well behind the lines in city areas. Their morale is around 50 but their experience is about 4 months from catching up to the morale level. They all have their attached units of a motorcycle and two tank battalions. I don't anticipate building more than one or at most two a month for a while as there will be plenty of other priorities for precious APs.

In the far south, the naval rifle brigades of the Coastal Army are replacing divisions of the Crimea Front at the most advanced fortified positions. The German armor has not moved from the Tula area, so I am considering that an attack along the Stalino-Stalingrad axis to be unlikely. That would also discount any deep operation into the Caucasus. Next week will be the last in a string of five mud turns, so if there is still no panzer movement at that time, additional deployments will shift north.

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Week 46

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 46- 30.4.42

The last of five weeks of April mud and the panzers continue to sit in their same spot. STAVKA orders considerable forces in the Stalino-Stalingrad sector to entrain and head north. Apparently the decisive battles of the Summer '42 campaign will be in the Saratov region. This will be quite different from what was expected, namely a drive by the Axis forces in the south.

Three possibilities are being considered in terms of enemy actions, keeping in mind that all four PanzerGruppen are massed for this mighty offensive.. A broad sweeping move to the northeast and attempt some sort of isolation of Moscow. A move east and head for the vital armaments plants short of the Urals, or a drive southeast to roll up the flank of the Red Army.

A move north would put him in difficult terrain and the Red Army would find terrain quite defensible.

A move to the center to seize the arms factories would seem almost impossible, given the distances involved. Keeping open the flanks would be a Herculean task. And the Urals is a long, long ways away.

A hook to the south would seem most likely, but the terrain although not perfect for defense by any means is still quite good. There are a number of river positions, behind which Soviet armies can lurk and threaten the flank of any southern advance.

The first week of clear weather may well provide some insight as to the plans being laid by Pelton.

AXIS OPTIONS?
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Red Army losses in 1942 - Groundhog Day on the Eastern Front?

Post by governato »


I have been following this AAR with interest and I wanted to offer a few historical data on Red Army losses for 1942 to put things in perspective for this and other GC campaigns that have reached 1942 playing version 1.05.. David Glantz's "When Titans Clashed" posted a few useful figures (Table A, page 292)

Red Army Losses
---------------- Killed+Wounded KIA+Missing
1st Quarter 1942 1,800,000 620,000
2nd Quarter 1942 1,500,000 780,000
3rd Quarter 1942 2,400,000 1,140,000
4th Quarter 1942 1,390,000 456,000
1st Quarter 1943 2,077,000 656,000

RA Tanks losses for the whole 1942: 15,000
RA Aircraft losses for 1942: 12,000

May 1942 Red Army frontlines strength: ~ 6,000,000 (includes wounded)
Wehrmacht+German Allies: 3,600,000


I have read some other AAR complaining that Red Army losses are too high in 1942, but historically they were just staggering. I think it is a bit hard to judge if the game is balanced (I personally think it is) when one of the best Axis players (hey Pelton!) has been through the blizzard at least a dozen times. Von Mainstein and his colleagues surely did not have the benefit of replaying Groundhog Day so many times..they surely would have improved on a thing or two themselves.

Bottom line: I am not surprised if the Red Army has a hard time in 1942 in WitE GCs. Its time has not come yet!

M60: thanks for the exciting AAR and I hope this helps!
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Week 47

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 47- 7.5.42

The Germans are on the move. Again.

With the weather clear for the first week in months, Pelton orders his panzers to the northeast, breaking through the first Soviet defensive line on the Para River while using the southern bank of the Oka to secure his left flank. 20 miles east of Spasok, 14th and 16th Panzer along with 16th Motorized gain the northern bank. There is no doubt that this is the main Axis effort of 1942. 19 panzer and 13 motorized divisions have been identified, and the early indications are that they are not going to try and roll up the flank of the Soviet fronts to the south. One Soviet rifle division is surrounded in this area.

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If this effort continues, the Axis is now down to two possible objectives, isolating Moscow or going after the arms factories of the Urals. Initially, east of the Oka, four Soviet armies are opposing this effort, but others will be brought into the campaign as summer proper begins. Of course either effort may also involve plans to envelop Soviet forces where they are found with this vast array of mobile troops.

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Two things to note as the campaign begins to unfold. First, the panzers have recovered and they are massed as one force of 4 panzer armies, but by no means are they at pre-war strength. Only five divisions seen have a CV of 10 or more. His motorized divisions are solid, but outside of the SS, they are not invulnerable to counteractions by the Red Army. Second, his fuel situation is starting in the red. So any mad dash anywhere appears unlikely, at least in this early phase.

At Moscow, German troops rout four Soviet divisions and fight their way back to the gates of the city.

Northeast and southeast of Kharkov, units of the Red Army traded blows with their opponents, losing several battles as brigades put up an individual defense, then later counterattacking as divisions and driving some Axis units back where they came from.

In the Crimea, the Axis possibly did the most damage , isolating 4-5 divisions of 51st Army with a combination of German and German allied units. What remains of the Soviet forces falls back to the land bridge at Kerch.

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Partisans were very active in the Bryansk region this week, destroying 6 rail targets within a 40 mile radius of the city. Another 6 rail targets were disrupted elsewhere. Air resupply to our brave partisans continue to be successful in many places.

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RE: Week 47

Post by M60A3TTS »

Ah, a question from a fellow commie...
ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Humm, I just learned how to create Tank Armies. In july they will be available... But if I want to commit the tank corps to any battle (before july) AND want to avoid the C&C hell, I should assign them to a nearby army... but when the Tank Armies are created I should be reassigning the corps to these armies. EXPENSIVE! [X(] So I really don't know what's the best strategy here. I really need your help. What should I be doing with the tank corps until july?

Thanks [:)]


I can't give away all my secrets, you know who is surely reading your thread.

All my tank corps are assigned to the STAVKA. If you have tank brigades assigned directly to armies or fronts, assign two of them to STAVKA, then bring another tank brigade together with them in the same hex and form the tank corps. The third brigade will get merged in and it becomes a STAVKA Corps. I was going to keep mine back for training, but now I think I will try and sneak one or two into an attack stack and beat up on a low CV Axis unit where possible to gain some experience and equally important, WINS. After all, I don't want tank corps, I want GUARDS tank corps for my GUARDS TANK ARMIES. [:D]

Now I just need to figure out when Pavel Rotmistrov shows up. [;)]

Callistrid
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RE: Week 47

Post by Callistrid »

Build a deep defense line (8-10 hex). Use the swamp hexes, and any difficult terrarian. Put two unit in one hex, and use the chess board defense strategy. That will minimalize your looses.
Concentrate all your troops in 3 deep hexes againt the full german motorized troops won't help you. He will break your lines, the german always break the soviet lines.

Create an attacking force, with mobile troops against the german. When the german summer attack will occour, counterattack in a nother front, for example on south, but far from the german mobile troops.
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RE: Week 47

Post by TulliusDetritus »

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Ah, a question from a fellow commie...
ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Humm, I just learned how to create Tank Armies. In july they will be available... But if I want to commit the tank corps to any battle (before july) AND want to avoid the C&C hell, I should assign them to a nearby army... but when the Tank Armies are created I should be reassigning the corps to these armies. EXPENSIVE! [X(] So I really don't know what's the best strategy here. I really need your help. What should I be doing with the tank corps until july?

Thanks [:)]


I can't give away all my secrets, you know who is surely reading your thread.

All my tank corps are assigned to the STAVKA. If you have tank brigades assigned directly to armies or fronts, assign two of them to STAVKA, then bring another tank brigade together with them in the same hex and form the tank corps. The third brigade will get merged in and it becomes a STAVKA Corps. I was going to keep mine back for training, but now I think I will try and sneak one or two into an attack stack and beat up on a low CV Axis unit where possible to gain some experience and equally important, WINS. After all, I don't want tank corps, I want GUARDS tank corps for my GUARDS TANK ARMIES. [:D]

Now I just need to figure out when Pavel Rotmistrov shows up. [;)]

I see, you want to avoid Pelton's spies [:)]

On my other game the Tank Corps were attached directly to Stavka. The results were not that bad. They managed to trash the panzer spearheads (along with the cavalry and rifle [guards] corps). I guess the correct question is: can I afford tank corps attached -NOW- to nearby armies and then reassign the lot of them to the Tank Armies I plan to have? I suspect there is only one answer: NO [8D]

Therefore I suspect I will be doing what I did on my other game and what you are doing yourself: attached to Stavka and then to the Tank Armies (july).

Thanks [:)]
"Hitler is a horrible sexual degenerate, a dangerous fool" - Mussolini, circa 1934
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Week 48

Post by M60A3TTS »

Week 48- 14.5.42

The mud returns as both sides again generate little movement across the battlefield. Soviet troops have redeployed across the front in the Saransk region and will oppose any enemy action north or northeast. As a precaution, OT-34 factories were evacuated from Gorki.
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Meanwhile, the factories of the Urals continue to work at a steady pace. Armament reserves now top 900,000. In terms of manpower, the Red Army can always use more men. The Party apparatus in Moscow reports the city military recruitment levels now at 69% of pre-war capacity.

Image

10th Cavalry Corps, having won successive victories against a Hungarian brigade the previous week becomes 4th Guards Cavalry Corps.
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