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

[M60A3TTS]

Week 64- 3.9.42

Now into September, and there is finally a lull in the action, or is it the calm before the storm? No major actions, but a few Soviet attacks continue in the south. The Western Front in the north is going to remain in place for another week. If things are still quiet there in another week, it will work their way in a southern direction to secure a more stable defense. The Bryansk Front is already moving in that direction.

Nothing worth showing on the map, so here are some numbers.

OOB


Losses


Destroyed units


Production

[M60A3TTS]

Week 65- 10.9.42

Pelton unleashes another panzersturm in the south with 15 German mobile divisions supported by Hungarian and Italian fast formations. Even though an attack wasn't unexpected in the general area, the amount of forces for a deeper defense simply aren't there. A total of 11 trapped formations have been caught in the snare, and an attempt to free them with a Soviet counterattack on the GrossDeutschland Division fails.

The situation will fast become critical for this sector as the amount of reinforcements available is meager. A withdrawal to the Don is called for, but the Pelton's forces will undoubtedly be able to raise havoc in the area until the weather changes.

And that is not for another five weeks.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 66- 17.9.42

Another panzer pocket, now another 23 division equivalents. [:(]



At this stage, it's looking like the best I can hope for is a draw in the game. Given all the lost divisions of the summer, almost all APs for the next couple months are going to have to go into raising raw rifle divisions and that's going to put the creation of artillery divisions on hold.

Now three more weeks of clear weather.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 67- 24.9.42

The Germans pour over the Don at Martynovskoe. Two SS divisions and at least ten panzer divisions are involved in this latest offensive action.

But at least summer is over, and the period of good weather is coming to an end soon. It will be interesting to see how far south Pelton intends to advance.

[76mm]

Pelton is certainly doing well, but I would not despair of some kind of victory yet. My losses in 1942 were also pretty massive, but not fatal. Of course my game was pre-1.05 and now things are stacked more in favor of the Germans...

I don't think I would do much to discourage Pelton from racing into the Caucauses. As long as you make some kind of effort to defend the mountains and Baku, all he is doing is wasting his time down there as far as I am concerned; if you play your cards right, maybe he'd even be setting himself up for getting these forces cut off.

[Flaviusx]

Just remember: the defense of the Caucuses only truly begins along the foothills and the Terek river. The rest of it up north doesn't matter. And try to keep the rail line to Astrakhan open as long as possible. Once cut, reinforcing the region is difficult.

If he takes the plunge, reinforce this area with a lot of airpower. His logistics will be terrible and he'll have to rely heavily on air transport. Make him pay the price for that.

Build some artillery divisions. Even one a turn adds up after a while. And keep your armor well in the rear and in reserve mode. Don't let yourself get decisively committed with them, use them to hit and and run. They have no business defending up front.

You need to run away from Rostov. That position is untenable and will simply get rolled up. They should hightail it at least to the Yeya and probably straight to Krasnodar. The guys on the lower Don will also likely be rolled up in the direction of Stalingrad. Start putting guys on the marsh terrain behind the Volga river south of Stalingrad. You need to keep him away from that rail line.

[Farfarer61]

Like Patton said "I read your damn book!". Your opponent is vociferous saying territory means nothing, but people try to defend territory against him. Now if he is at the gates of Nizhny Tagil ( OT: I always think of LOTR dwarvish names when I read that one, BTW good picture of modern N-T on the BBC news site) then stand firm. My current axis opponent has taught me brutal lessons in thinking I was ready to go toe to toe, but being pollyanna-ish I am happy that my fuel reserves have gone up so much since I have so many fewer tanks to fuel.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 68- 1.10.42

October.

Voroshilovsk is the latest city to be visited by the Wehrmacht as the drive to the south continues. The Transcaucasus Front rolls back to the vicinity of Krasnodar. Meanwhile, the Red Army reoccupied an abandoned Boguchar.

The latest rifle corps TO&E is released which will provide a bit more strength to the Red Army. Heavy tank regiments and artillery divisions are now available. Meanwhile, nine Soviet mechanized brigades are either in the field or being outfitted.

Production of the IL-2 has ended and IL-2M has begun at Kirov. Our two plants there will turn out 108 of these aircraft each week. Yak-1 production has ended. The Yak-1B and Yak-9 are also now produced and will quickly reach a rate of 51 and 26 per week respectively.

There are still 49 MiG-3 regiments, and the replacement pool has long since dried up. It will be necessary to convert about 2/3 of the MiG-3 regiments to other aircraft types so that the remaining regiments can be brought to full strength.

1st Tank Army is transferred from the Volkhov Front area to Stalingrad.

To the north, one significant improvement in the overall situation. The direct rail line between Ivanovo and Arzamas had been damaged and moving troops into that area from the south was not possible except by a very long diversion to the east. The line is being repaired by 1st NKPS and the line restored to service next week.

Only one week of clear weather remains.

[76mm]

I will be interested to see what he plans to do from Voroshilovsk. I don't think I've seen anyone take it in an AAR, but probably because most people realize it is pointless--if not dangerous--to go down there. I expect that Pelton, who has played so many games, is just looking for a new strategy to try out...

[randallw]

He probably wants to build a pipeline to bring back fuel he doesn't need. [:D]

[M60A3TTS]

Week 69- 8.10.42

All eyes are on the weather gods to save what remains of the USSR in the next week. Now in the last week of clear weather, 1st Tank Army advances along the east bank of the Don to make contact with Hungarian and Slovakian mobile forces. The Transcaucasus Front advances back to the north as it has lost contact with German units closing on Krasnodar. It appears that some sort of pullback took place.

West of Stalingrad, the Red Army crosses back over the Chir to re-establish contact with the enemy.

In the north, another small bit of progress is made as Ivan Konev's 48th Army (STAVKA) with over 120,000 men has been pulled from the Yaroslavl-Ivanovo sector and been put on the rail lines to prepare for possible offensive operations once winter arrives.

At Kuybyshev, the 1st Artillery Division is being organized. 10th Tank Corps of the 2nd Tank Army is renamed 3rd Guards Tank Corps.


Caucasus Area

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

I will be interested to see what he plans to do from Voroshilovsk. I don't think I've seen anyone take it in an AAR, but probably because most people realize it is pointless--if not dangerous--to go down there. I expect that Pelton, who has played so many games, is just looking for a new strategy to try out...

It may not be the last Soviet city you've never seen taken before. I may be setting new records in the amount of territory given up by a Soviet player in an AAR, I'm living hand-to-mouth on APs, the manpower replacement situation is very bad, and every newly raised division is full of soldiers trying to figure out which end of the rifle to point at the enemy.

On the positive side, in the center of the front, both Volkhov and Voronezh Fronts with their guards rifle corps and shock armies are at full strength. The Don Front between them is getting back up to strength, along with the Stalingrad Front. The mobile troops of 1st and 2nd Tank Armies are in decent shape, and once Issa Pliev's 52nd Army gets their tank brigades converted to corps, that will be in effect 3rd Tank Army. The worst is over in terms of the Soviet national morale level, and is at 42 and rising each month until Spring of '44.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS
It may not be the last Soviet city you've never seen taken before. I may be setting new records in the amount of territory given up by a Soviet player in an AAR, I'm living hand-to-mouth on APs, the manpower replacement situation is very bad, and every newly raised division is full of soldiers trying to figure out which end of the rifle to point at the enemy.

I think you're doing fine, against an excellent player under a German-friendly patch. Just hang on until June 1943 and you should be able to start slapping him around.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Just remember: the defense of the Caucuses only truly begins along the foothills and the Terek river. The rest of it up north doesn't matter. And try to keep the rail line to Astrakhan open as long as possible. Once cut, reinforcing the region is difficult.

If he takes the plunge, reinforce this area with a lot of airpower. His logistics will be terrible and he'll have to rely heavily on air transport. Make him pay the price for that.

Build some artillery divisions. Even one a turn adds up after a while. And keep your armor well in the rear and in reserve mode. Don't let yourself get decisively committed with them, use them to hit and and run. They have no business defending up front.

You need to run away from Rostov. That position is untenable and will simply get rolled up. They should hightail it at least to the Yeya and probably straight to Krasnodar. The guys on the lower Don will also likely be rolled up in the direction of Stalingrad. Start putting guys on the marsh terrain behind the Volga river south of Stalingrad. You need to keep him away from that rail line.

Thanks, I'm building one artillery division per tun as you suggest. The arms points can't keep up with building out more than a fraction of one a week anyways.

At this stage, Pelton appears to be pulling back from his southern advance, although it could be a trap to pull me in. The rail line from Stalingrad to Astrakhan seems safe enough for now.

I'm going to have to figure out to handle all the overloaded armies now with the latest patch, and the simple fact is I can't afford to burn a bunch of APs to fix it.

[Flaviusx]

Put Zhukov in STAVKA for the time being. That's the cheap and dirty fix, or at least a way to mitigate overload.

Over time as you flip over to corps your armies consisting of divisions will reduce the command load. (From 6 to 4.) If you've already got armies up to cap with nothing but corps...yeah, you're stuck there and will have to eat the cost of reassignment.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 70- 15.10.42

Mud.

Glorious mud.

The only activity taking place is in the south as some territory is regained and contact with the enemy regained in places.

2nd Artillery Division is organized. 1st Artillery Division is still outfitting. 13th-15th Mechanized Brigades are formed.
16 guards rifle corps have upgraded since the start of the month to the latest (October) version.

North of the Volkhov Front, Pliev's 52nd Army converts three tank brigades to create 3rd Tank Corps. This is the first tank corps assigned to that army, and brings to fifteen the Soviet total. With 10 cavalry corps, the mobile forces are gathering slowly but surely. 3rd Tank Corps receives the first Guards Heavy Tank regiments

[M60A3TTS]

Week 71- 22.10.42

A quiet week, but 185 Admin Points are available as a result of Southwestern Front arriving. It feels like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert.

52nd Army organizes three new tank corps, bringing their total to four. Another six rifle divisions are formed, along with another artillery division and three mechanized brigades. Ten new tank regiments are also being organized. Some 3,500 T-34s are now equipping Red Army units.

The one downside to the increased number of mechanized and tank units along with moving 1st Tank Army beyond the rail network is the strain on the truck inventory. The vehicle pool has fallen from 132k to 112k in the last two weeks. Further mechanization may have to be limited until Lend Lease shipments pick up in January.

[Flaviusx]

Try to steer more tank corps into tank armies, and yeah, I know that's a hefty AP expense. That mech/admin bonus is kind of a big deal. It makes your historical tank leaders competitive with German ones.

Failing that, guards or shock armies give you an admin bonus which is more useful for mobile units than rifle units, imo. I'm actually planning on putting all my cav corps into shock armies until I run out of those. I figure you can squeeze them all in about 4 shock armies and not be overloaded.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Try to steer more tank corps into tank armies, and yeah, I know that's a hefty AP expense. That mech/admin bonus is kind of a big deal. It makes your historical tank leaders competitive with German ones.

Failing that, guards or shock armies give you an admin bonus which is more useful for mobile units than rifle units, imo. I'm actually planning on putting all my cav corps into shock armies until I run out of those. I figure you can squeeze them all in about 4 shock armies and not be overloaded.

I was a fan of tank armies before, but not near so with a command cap of 15 now. Three corps isn't going to have close to the effect that twice as many would have under the old version. And getting Guards Tank Armies with only 3 corps is going to be brutal when the required army victory total didn't drop with the command cap. Same could be said for any army you're trying to get to guards status.

At least 4 tank corps can go in a regular army without an overload.

[Flaviusx]

Thing is...guards status for tank armies doesn't mean a thing now. The bonus remains the same. It's purely an honorific.

I get what you're saying about the command capacity, but it had to happen, and if you look at a tank army as an equivalent of a panzer corps, it makes sense. 3 corps is ok, really, it's the most you can stack in a single hex anyways. I'd rather have 3 corps with +1 to their mech and admin stats than 4 without. Now if the combined arms HQs could squeeze in more corps, then it'd be a tougher choice.