Something new in the east. Lictuel(sov) vs Choles1(axis)

[bigbaba]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

ORIGINAL: bigbaba


you have very few units in pockets and he can cut of your panzer spearhead in the south if he likes.

Our esteemed author is the russians[:-]

outch. well...it...was already late.

i take it back and congratulate to you about a good beginning.

[morvael]

ORIGINAL: Choles1

I agree! I am the other NOOB.

Good luck and I hope you will master this great game soon. It's very rewarding experience to be much more effective in using the same set of counters and then looking back at how you did at start to compare.

[Lictuel]

Turn 4

In the north the defense of Leningrad is being prepared while the Germans arrive at the Pskov defense line in force.
In the center the battle for the land bridge has begun in earnest and limited soviet counterattacks are performed. At the same time the infantry formations of the Wehrmacht get within range of the dnepr, thus it won't hold much longer.

[Lictuel]

In the south not much happened apart from a continued slow retreat. I managed to cut off the Leibstandarte near Staraya Sinyava and route it after a couple of attacks.

[Lictuel]

As promised here are some numbers showing how the war is going. I'm more or less okay with the current amount of lost men.
I also added three battle reports from my fights against the L.A.H and the Lehr brigade.

[Lictuel]

Turn 5

Nothing special happend this turn, I continue to walk east and leave the dnepr behind. After two panzer divisions crossed I thought the position to be doomed.

[Lictuel]

In the south I had to leave my positions, seeing how there was an impending encirclement. Notice how weak the southern part of the defense is.

[Lictuel]

Turn 6
His drive for Leningrad, I began forming a solid line on the Luga and set up some screening divisions in front of it. South of lake Ilmen a defensive line is being build as well.

[Lictuel]

In the center he covers the ground I gave up last round and he keeps pushing for Smolensk. I start some local counterattacks but not much was gained.

[Lictuel]

In the south I create a line of defenses in front of Kiev while further south only a weak checker board tries to hold the Germans.

[swkuh]

Enjoying your campaigns and commentary. Thanks.

[Choles1]

At this point in the game I was fairly content. Soviet forces generally withdrew upon contact. An effort for a sweeping panzer attack in the south largely failed due to the swift withdrawl and, unfortunately, by sneding the panzers to the SE slowed the advance. I assumed the Dneiper line in the south would be strongly held, and I knew I had to bring up my infantry and redirect my pansers if I was to cross in force.

[Lictuel]

Thanks for the kind words rrbill.
Turn 7
In the north I manage to once again cut off one of the german panzer divisions. The defensive positions on the luga are ready and south of lake ilmen troops are digging in.

[Lictuel]

In the center the positions near Smolensk were attacked and a penetration 20 miles deep was achieved by the Germans. Heroic soviet troops threw the Germans back though and thus only 20 miles of depth were lost instead of 40.
Just south of the Dnepr my troops fell back behind the next river line to prevent a possible encirclement and to get into better positions for defensive combat.

[Lictuel]

In the south the lines in front of Kiev came under heavy attack by forward German forces and my divisions were forced to retreat. While further south the Germans advanced nearly unhindered and surrounded Odessa.
The southern bank of the Dnepr is not manned just yet, there are still some forces between the Germans and the river so a crossing is not expected.

[Lictuel]

Turn 8
I had to leave my positions near Kiev and fall back across the dnepr because there was a real danger of being outflanked and to many troops were committed at Kiev, leaving me with to little further south. Real shame about those forts.

[Lictuel]

Here is what made me leave the positions. The north is quiet, German infantry was spotted at the Luga and the defenses near Smolensk were pushed back ten more miles.

[Lictuel]

Turn 9
Bad news in the center. I had set up positions on the banks of the river Snov. These positions were breached this round. As a result a major retreat was performed to prevent the front line from being encircled. This did cost a lot of ground though.
The good news is that the red army has more than five million men now though. So not everything is looking bad

The north is quiet, only one attack across the Luga was performed and that one resulted in a held. The south sees the Germans advancing further, they are close to the outskirts of Kiev, Odessa falls and the Ingul is crossed. The southern fronts remain in a withdrawing stance though since nearly all reinforcements are directed north towards the Smolensk - Moscow axis and the Leningrad area.

[Lictuel]

Turn 10
Kiev is given up this turn. I was hoping the Germans would attempt a front assault on the city but instead the flanked it in the south and crossed the dnepr. This put the troops stationed around Kiev in a real bad position, with a looming encirclement. As a result it was decided that the bulge in the front line that the Kiev position represents was to be abandoned and troops fell back towards the Uday.

[Lictuel]

In the north the Luga line was breached and the Germans begin operations to destroy the remaining part of that line. Still I send in more troops towards this sector, I want to have a line of forts running from Leningrad to lake Ilmen that is at least 30 miles deep. I hope to force the Germans into a grind that way. I would thus gain time while the Soviet can take the losses such operations entail, I think the Germans can't.