Man of Steel vs. the Bohemian Corporal

[Seminole]

As for the game, you are quite active on the forum to know the german advance is a lot less flashy that the standard ones.

'Less flashy', that's a nice way of putting it.
Consider it candy for the soviet-fanboys tired of seeing Pelton whip inexperienced players around. [8D]
I did send my opponent a link to this AAR, so tips will surely be appreciated. Keep in mind we're at turn 26, and once I get a few more turns posted I intend to keep the AAR at least 10 turns behind the action (so I can keep using the full front shots and not give away too much useful info).

I miss a OOB/total losses combined screen.

I've been tracking all the data (production, losses, replacements, OOB and losses by type in the event log) in this game so I could observe trends. I have the saves from the beginning of each turn (and the end of each turn starting around 20). I'll post this info every 8 weeks to avoid cluttering up the AAR too much.

[Seminole]

Turn 9
8/14/41



8th Rifle Bde, 11th, 113th, and 181st Rifle Div evacuate Baltic with 27th Army HQ via sea.

1st, 6th, 8th Pzr Div with 36th Mot Div. Totenkopf SS, Polizei SS, 217th and 291st Inf Div bridge the Narva and Plyussa trying to find a weakpoint in the Luga river line north of Lake Peipus.

27th Cav Div rides from Peipus swamps to tear up 8 hexes newly converted rail.



Pskov falls and new line formed on Shelon river.

12th, 19th Pzr Div and 14th Mot Div cut off east of Velikie Luki

258th Inf Div cut off east of Smolensk on the west banks of the Dnepr.

900th Lehr Mot Bde is cut off, forced to retreat and then routed west of Smolensk, across the Dnepr. Should make for a fun lesson when they return to the Heer academies!

20th Mot Div is cut off as Western Front continues to withdraw under threat of encirclement.

Zhukov is put in charge of Southwest Front and immediately orders evacuation of all forces west of the Dnepr, reinforcing Kiev and the eastern banks of the river.

Southern Front continues to hold on the Bug, but pulls cavalry and airborne screen from Odessa. Hopefully the Odessa garrison can hold up the rail development for several turns.

[Seminole]

Turn 10
8/21/41

I forgot to take the after screenshot this time, but not a whole lot to see compared to last week.



Five Finn Inf Divisions are bounced north of lake Ladoga.

27th Cav Div's Nathan Bedford Forrest mimicry draws at least 2 German Inf Div and finds itself cut off from supplies.

However, before that occurs a critical piece of intelligence is seized from a hapless Inspector General of the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft who had the misfortune to stumble upon Red Army cavalry busy making Sherman's neckties out of men's most recent efforts.

In his possession was a map detailing the extent of the DRG's efforts in Russia. Of importance to the Kremlin was the observation that to date all five of the railways supporting the Wehrmacht's eastward drive were operating independently. This increases their susceptibility to sabotage, but also provided one general in particular with a daring idea that could save Leningrad, and perhaps Moscow too.



Vatutin, newly appointed to 55th Army but as of yet not assigned any divisions, implored his old friend Stalin for a chance to make a daring raid. Radio communications with the dispersed garrison of Liepāja revealed that aside from local looters, the major naval facility was entirely unmolested. In their haste toward Leningrad the Nazis had completed ignored securing this port.

Vatutin requests the assignment of one division of cavalry and a makeshift flotilla of random commercial vessels to make a hasty, and hopefully unobserved, voyage and disembarkation in Liepāja.

If the cavalry detect no Nazi presence the HQ would follow on with a sister division to conduct the raid. Stalin, disgusted with the almost unending series of reversals to date authorizes the raid, and Vatutin wastes no time in assembling the forces required in Leningrad.

On the Leningrad Front 1st, 6th, 8th, 20th Pzr Div + 36th Mot Div and Totenkopf break the Luga line and Totenkopf holds the bridgehead.
The Germans lose 62 AFVs in the assault.

Leningrad's situation is becoming dangerous, so Stalin authorizes the removal of the KV-1 and last armaments factories to the east.

The Shelon river line is broken, and units must fall back to Polist-Lovar-Pola river lines south of Lake Ilmen and try to hold against a right hook on Leningrad.

German units cut off east of Velikie Luki restore LOC to supply.

More German consolidation of positions west of Bryansk. Gomel is still held, but will probably be evacuated next week.

Kiev pressured on all sides west of the river except northeast.
1st Panzer Armee formations appear to be heading south from Kiev to find an easier crossing point by Cherkassy.

Southern Front falling back in good order to the Ingul river line.

Odessa only supplied by sea. 4 German Inf Div and the Airlanding Div in siege. A German motorized div spotted to the northeast, likely to move on Nikolaev.

[Seminole]

Turn 11
8/28/1941



Rain comes to the North Soviet weather zone and stalls operations in the Smolensk-Velikiye Luki sector. No doubt dismaying 3rd Panzer Armee.

AGN is shoving panzers and motorized SS through a 10 mile bridgehead on the Luga river.

Otherwise slow German progress across the front.

Northwest Front continues to fight a delaying action, falling back on suitable terrain and generally keeping the German advance as slow and expensive as possible.

From Velikie Luki south to Bryansk the German frontline is manned by brigades. It appears that emphasis is being placed on Leningrad and unhinging the Kiev defenses from the north.

Germans try to push south behind Chernigov-Kiev, but the progress is slow.
12 Wehrmacht infantry divisions crash into the 3 Rifle divisions holding Kiev, and succeed in evicting them while receiving 3k losses and inflicting 8k.

Cherkassy is also stormed, but the Germans haven't managed to cross the Dnepr yet.

From Kirovograd to Nikolaev the Ingul river line is being approached. Withdrawal to the Ingulets river, anchored in the middle by Krivoi Rog, is already being prepared.

Odessa falls under an 11 division, 1 bde assault. Heavy German participation is welcomed, but Stavka is disappointed the garrison couldn't hold out for more than a week.

25th Cavalry Div. conducts their landing without detection or interdiction, the Luftwaffe being heavily committed to resupply and ground support operations along the Luga river. Under cover of darkness the unit moved from the naval base into the nearby wood to await further instruction.

[Seminole]

Turn 12
9/4/41



By the slimmest of margins the northern flank of the Lake Ladoga Line is pushed back. Exceptional Finnish generalship and the woeful failure to commit either of the available reserve tank divisions spell defeat:



Elsewhere the news is good. From south to north this time:

Cut off spearhead of AGS
1st SS Mot Div
10th Mot Div
Slovakian Mobile Div
25th Mot Div
10th Pzr Div
14th Pzr Div

German bridgehead at Kiev is forced back, 93rd Inf Div retreats under heavy Russian counterattack.

Armor and motorized forces continue to gather at Cherkassy, likely the thrust toward Kharkov from here. Preparations to remove tank factories next week begin.

Another armored concentration at Chernigov. Will retreat to the Dnepr bend defenses next week to screen Kharkov from this axis.

Armor and motorized concentration at Smolensk. Refueling for push on Moscow?

12th Pzr Div, 14th Mot Div, and 900 Lehr Mot Bde probe toward Torzhov.

1st, 6th, 8th, and 20th Pzr Div, along with 36th and Totenkopf SS Mot Div cut off trying to pierce the Leningrad Front on a 10 mile front.

25th Cavalry Div moves a little closer to the northernmost German rail line, but remains under forest cover as Vatutin's 55th Army HQ disembarks to take command of the raiders.

[Seminole]

Turn 13
9/11/41



Success!



25th Cavalry cut off the northernmost rail line. They hide in the swamps and prepare for a river crossing at the Neman river next week. 55th Army with Vatutin moves out to support.

Germans retrograde from Leningrad to restore LOC for AGN's armored/motorized forces.

Elsewhere progress is slow to non-existent.

The Red Army falls back to layered defense behind rivers in front of D-Z line as the armored/motorized concentration at Cherkassy is dispatched SE to rescue the imperiled formations cut off last week.

25th Mot Div cross the Dnepr near the mouth of the river, with 14th Pzr Div observed in support still on the north bank.

[Seminole]

Turn 14
9/18/41



25th Cavalry Div now cuts the Minsk line. Intention is to loop around the east side of Kaunas raising partisan morale and link up with reinforcements to exfil to Liepāja for extraction. The reinforcements will be provided extra radios and explosives because in reality Stavka expects to not see them again as spies report Tirpitz and Admiral Scheer are being sortied to blockade the Gulf of Finland by the end of the month.

In the far north 52nd army reinforces 7th Ind Army, trying to stem the Finnish assault on the northern flank.

AGN renews the push for the Leningrad, this time with two pincers. Both arms in the attack operate on a broader (30 mile) front, flanked on one side by the Gulf of Finland, and on the other by the Volkhov river. 27th and 30th Army are threatened with encirclement.

With AGN reliant on port supply from Tallinn Stavka orders no further withdrawals on the Leningrad Front.

The armored, motorized push on Moscow continues, but will be starved for supplies with the railhead located at Rogachev (north of Gomel).

In the south reinforcements are rushed to hug the armored/motorized thrust from Chernigov.

The Wehrmacht again pushes across the Dnepr and seizes eastern Kiev. The upper Dnepr will be abandoned soon.

Southern Front pulls back from the Ingulets river to the Bazavluk river, the last line before the D-Z Dnepr line.

At the extreme southern flank more motorized formations are spotted hoping to exploit the paucity of defenders. Three divisions are trapped against Karkanitsky Bay without hope of relief or escape.