Drang Nach Osten - Revisited

[IdahoNYer]

AGC attempts to retain the one last hex of Moscow a little longer - 9th Army and 2nd Pz Armee holding firm - using some exisiting forts and mountain regiments to bolster a defense.

Getting about time to pull out and leave Moscow for the Soviets. We got close in 1941....240 VPs. Giving it all back now hurts.
Just more to grab back in 1942, right?

4th and 2nd Armies continue to gradually pull back.

AGC manages to send a panzer div (4th) and an infantry div back to refit.

Space for time, space for time.....

[IdahoNYer]

AGS also continues to pull back - slowly...gradually.

So far so good. A few more turns, just a few more turns.....

[hugh04]

This AAR has been about the most successfull Axis 41 attack that I have seen. Soviet casualties are immense. If the 42 panzerball ever gains steam, seems lights out for Stalin. Potential for knock-out or major victory here.

Vandev

[HITMAN202]

Could you give us the average of your German Infantry morale at the end of February ??? I think it's a crucial stat and no one has posted one. I think Pelton has mentioned the importance of raising infantry morale to 70 or so by the '42 summer O, so it's a number I would like to see.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: vandev

This AAR has been about the most successfull Axis 41 attack that I have seen. Soviet casualties are immense. If the 42 panzerball ever gains steam, seems lights out for Stalin. Potential for knock-out or major victory here.

Vandev

I agree. a very weak soviet army isn't going to get much better quality and you should be relatively unscathed because blizzard offensive has few teeth.

[IdahoNYer]

Could you give us the average of your German Infantry morale at the end of February ??? I think it's a crucial stat and no one has posted one. I think Pelton has mentioned the importance of raising infantry morale to 70 or so by the '42 summer O, so it's a number I would like to see.

Hitman - will see what I can do. Fully agree that morale is key. Think I managed to survive the blizzard without getting too well pounded in losing morale. Still, many units are in the 60s.

[IdahoNYer]

Turn 34; Feb 5, 1942........blizzard....with snow in the Central Soviet Zone!

We catch a break with getting snow in the Cental Soviet Zone - AGS will take advantage to conduct some spoiling attacks.

In AGN's sector, much of the same - pulling back to avoid any major attacks. The bright spot here is that there was a total of 1 Soviet attack against AGN this turn. Just one. Nice....

[IdahoNYer]

AGC situation is similar to AGN - another slight withdrawal and little else. Here, only two Soviet attacks, in the Orel area.

[IdahoNYer]

Things are a little more interesting in AGS area. With the snow weather, there is opportunity......

Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov are all threatened by the Soviet advance - with the snow, three PzKps - the XXXXVI, III and XIV - all launch spoiling attacks to provide some battlespace around these cities. Using nearby infantry to open the attacks, the PzKps do well - but eventually run out of steam after pushing the Soviets back about 30 miles or so.

Never intended to produce decisive results - translated into mass encirclements - I don't see any of the encircled units pocketed - they will pull back to Soviet lines.

The intended results were achieved - gain some battlespace in front of three key cities, and, just as important, gain some needed morale to attacking units - especially the infantry supporting the attack.

On the debit side, 16th Pz lost about 40 of its tanks. To be expected. I just hope I didn't "tip the hand" to the Soviets that the Germans still have some solid offensive capability after the blizzard...

[IdahoNYer]

And, with the first turn of the month, the admin stuff....

Destroyed units - sadly.....NO CHANGE from January. To be expected at the height of the blizzard, but disappointing non the less...

[IdahoNYer]

Losses - more than acceptable. Nothing we really can do about blizzard infliced casualties. The critical factor is limited the drubbing by Soviet attacks - not getting into the decisive fight where one HAS to fight in order to prevent units from encirclement.

By and large, this was successful.

[IdahoNYer]

Forces available.

The good news....Germans get a big boost in manpower. Reinforcements have started to arrive in good numbers, and we haven't committed a single new division into the line since the blizzard - they have all remained comfortably in garrison locations in Germany/Poland. There numbers were augmented with troops FROM the front - with good morale, 80-92, to preserve those numbers before the blizzard could attritt them. All told, we've got a solid OKH reserve built up - about 8 panzer/mot divisions and almost 20 infantry divisions.

The bad news.....Soviets breached the 5 million mark. Can't be helped. Now the primary objective is to bring that number back to 4 million. First objectuve of the forthcoming summer offensive!

One side note is that there has been some leadership changes as the Fuhrer wasn't always thrilled with the withdraws we conducted in the East. Amongst those dismissed was AGC Center's commander, Von Bock. Also dismissed over the winter was Hoth of 3rd Pz Armee, whom I replaced the next turn with Model after the computer appointed a lackluster officer.

[IdahoNYer]

Lastly, the status of the panzerwaffe.

Good news story here, strength increases in manpower and tanks. Most panzer divisions, except those committed in the turn's spoiling attacks (10th, 14th, 16th, 20th) remain in cities regaining strength.

[IdahoNYer]

Turn 36; Feb 19, 1942.......Blizzard with snow in the Central Soviet Zone

Third turn in a row with snow in the Central Soviet has allowed the spoiling attacks started at the beginning of the month to be pursued a bit more agressively.

Elsewhere, AGN and AGC give ground in most places, although the Soviets seemed to have culminated, not pressing forward and launching attacks.

[IdahoNYer]

AGS attempts to turn the spoiling attacks into encirclements, and is somewhat successful.

6th Army's XXXXVI PzKps bites off a bit more than it can chew - especially as it ventures into the North Soviet Zone's blizzard, and has to pull back as Soviets move to encircle the lead elements.

17th Army, reinforced with the III PzKps and 1st Pz's XIV PzKps fare better, staying in the Central Soviet Zone's snow, succeed in establishing a moderate sized pocket east of Kharkov.

In any case, the offensives have pretty much culminated, the panzer divisions involved will need to refit before the summer offensive. Before winter totally gives way to spring mud, will likely continue some more spoiling attacks, but nothing dramatic.....unless the opportunity presents itself of course.

[IdahoNYer]

Turn 38; Mar 5, 1942.........blizzard

As the calendar shifts to March, the blizzard returns across the front. In fact, the end of Feb was more severe than the beginning of the month. This results in both sides pretty much suspending offensive operations for the time being, and a relative quiet blankets the front.

This allows the Germans to begin organizing for the summer offensive, and for the Soviets, it means time to begin to dig...and dig...and dig....defenses.

AGN and AGC start their organizing by shifting 18th Army from the left flank of 16th Army to it's right flank - eventually replacing 4th Pz Armee in line. 4th Pz will move south, probably to AGS. AGC also starts to organize - pulling 2nd Pz Armee of the line entirely to prepare for summer. This extends 9th Army to cover its ground.

[IdahoNYer]

AGS also begins to prepare for summer. After destroying the small pocket east of Kharkov, it conducts a small number of local attacks - to gain morale and push the Soviets back a bit. But with the blizzard, not much is going to be accomplished. With some luck, we'll get some snow before mud hits and really brings things to a grinding halt.

In addition to bringing German armies up to strength, both Rum 3rd and 4th Armies will be brought up to strength and participate in the summer offensive - taking over frontage allowing the German forces to concentrate better. Yes, there is risk here, but it will be necessary - with some German "corset stays" to assist of course.

The Crimea was pretty quiet throughout the winter - the Soviets hold the Kerch isthmus, and tried to break back into the Crimea a few times, but were held back by the German XXX Korps, augmented by 2x Rum Mtn Bdes. Now, the XXX Korps' two German divisions go under Rum control and the Korps HQ with one division moves back to 11th Army control.

[IdahoNYer]

For the monthly admin stuff......

We start our tally of destroyed units in 1942, with those units surrendered in the small pocket east of Kharkov. Not much, but its a start....

[IdahoNYer]

Losses are fairly minimal for both sides - pretty quiet the last few turns.

[IdahoNYer]

Forces available - both sides continue to expand. Not a bad thing, and to be expected at this point. The bright side about the forces available, which isn't shown on any chart is the apparent lack of Soviet Guard units - none showing on the maps.... nice....