Case Blue: Keunert(Soviets) vs Olivier(Axis), no Olivier

[Keunert]

At the end of the turn i play the request fighters card:

[Keunert]

And this is what i get:

[ComradeP]

That's another thing that takes some getting used to after playing WitE: replacement rates are quite a bit lower than in WitE.

[Keunert]

yes they are extremely low, even more so for the germans. your aar showed exactly how to react: fight as few battles as possible, build as many pockets as possible. against the ai this is even more important as the ai gets a combat bonus. if i can avoid too many pockets without falling back too fast (will get me sacked) i should slowly get on par with the fascist scum.

[Keunert]

2nd July 1942, turn 3

German breaktrhoughs have been numerous and deep. Some of my units losing AP penalties are now gone. Casualties went up.
Stavka is nervous and not sure how much longer our lines can sustain such severe losses. Compared to wargames against ai our losses are considerably higher, even though no huge pockets have so far been created by the german attack.

Moscow sent us slightly more reinforcements. So far they are going up each turn. we hope this is not by coincidence. there is a desperate need for more troops in all sectors.

[Keunert]

Once again parts of our army are hit by organizational problems. Among them our beloved 5th TA that would be in position to hurt some german infantry regments.

[Keunert]

To make matters worse our Command & Control rating only climbs a percent, a reduction of AP results in 3 armies.

[Keunert]

Moscow issued a new order today, i have to hold Livny until July 10th to earn 2 prestige points. Stary Oskol is almost lost, it would be a miracle if the germans would not take it before July 6th.

[Keunert]

North:

Even though 5th TA suffers organizational problems, we faced a situation where we could do a three sided attack in open terrain on three german inf regiments with plenty of tanks and full AP. But the penalty was too high and our attack was in vain and hurt our offensive power.

9th Pz from the north and 23rd Pz / 29 mot Inf Div from the south almost closed a huge pocket. A counter attack successfully pushed back a regiment of 9th Panzer, a counterattack on a regiment of the 29th mot Inf failed. all units in the pocket move further east. with all the german armour in place we fully expect a closed pocket within the next two days. around 20-30 regiments would be doomed and the german panzers will have almost nothing facing them anymore. this is the worst part of my front. two newly arrived inf div help forming a weak new line.

[Keunert]

Center:

This front faces almost no armored units. things are a little more quiet here. the main problem is to find the right time to fall back once the pocket in the north is closed. against the ai i managed to trap lots of soviets units here.

[Keunert]

Center South

What we feared just happened: AP penaltized units are now part of a pocket and doomed. LAH together with 16th PZ and 22th PZ face almost nothing and will probably do a big pinzer move nord. Different parts of this front got railed in reinforcements from the Caucasus.

[Keunert]

South

Only one PZ Div in front of Rostow. We tried a counterattack but failed. the trouble here will start once the troops from Manstein start to arrive here. For now Caucasus troops reinforce my frontline.

[Keunert]

Let's have a look at oil usage: Germany reserves are going down slowly, far too slow to have an impact on its' offensive.

until this turn i had my airforce resting in the east. therefore my oil reserves are going up.

[Keunert]

Soviet fighters numbers are now exceeding german ones. Olivier attacks each round with all of his units, causing him some losses. german air replacements are low and i hope to see his numbers go down steadily.

[Keunert]

4th of July 1942, turn 4

Disaster in our centers! The fascists invaders finally managed to join the pincers and create a huge pocket! Thousands of our troops are now trapped in a huge pocket around Stary-Oskol. besides two or three tank bat. none of them are able to move or attack. there is no possibility to open up this pocket or to support it from the air. We are certain that our brave men and women will fight to the last. each and every one of them will be avenged when we reach Ostpreussen in a year or two.

this turn we suffered around 14k losses, reaching a new total of 461k troops compared to our ennemies 748k. of our 105k campaign losses we were able to replace 55k. the situation is still worse if we take a look at our pockets.

[Keunert]

Total troops:

[Keunert]

There are now three pockets, plus a few units left in Sevastopol. the biggest pocket by far is Stary-Oskol. Let's have a closer look.

Stary-Oskol, app. 48 regiments / 12 divisions:

Trucks 1425
Tanks 240
Infantry 34'000
Guns 435

Tim Pocket, 7 regiments

Lisitschansk pocket, 11 units

Sevastopol 5 units.

If we add all up than we have around 50'000 men trapped, a ninth of our troop total. what a mess.

Taking a close look at the maps reveals how bold the axis is playing. in several places he holds the line withing nothing else but an artillery bat. even if i bombard them, followed up with an attack consisting of tanks and infantry i will get devestating results. With the current situation of my army i find it hard to counterattack. all i can do is trying to prevent more encirclements.

This turn we recieved again close to 3'000 men replacements and plenty of reinforcements. (two div., two reg. and one milita). and here an outlook to what's coming up next:

[Keunert]

North:

Our hearts are bleeding lookin at the huge trap. if you take a look at the same map sector of the first turn, you will see that this part of the front was pulling back on the very first turn. the mistake was not about holding on too long. but we have to analyze if we could have stopped his tanks by a better tactical disposition.

Troops around Voronezh turn east, the Don will be the next defensive line. Stavka issued an order to hold to the city in front of the german 299th inf. div. I think this would be doable. but only at the cost of risking encirclement. i need the units behind the Don. this is a dilemma. holding on will gain me prestige but cost me some units.

[Keunert]

Center

a general retreat starts. The german have massed mobile units of the 16th Pz and 22th Pz and LAH. I only manage to build a weak two line deep defense in front of them. again no match to their upcoming attack.

[Keunert]

Center South

Another weak point in front of 14th Pz. i had to rail in additional troops from the Caucasus here. but they are in no fighting condition after the reorganization and rail transport.