Field Marshal Fogger vs Marshal Fulkerson (again)

[larryfulkerson]

Out of that long list of stuff I was going to get in T32 this is what I actually received: As you can see a lot of it is worn down and needs
rest and needs to be fattened up with replacements. A turn or two of rest is in order for these units. Problem is I don't have a quiet
area to assign them to. I've been railing all the reinforcements to the area where they might be needed soon and the units that
arrive in pieces...........I've been railing the pieces to Moscow to put them back together again.

[Edwire]

ORIGINAL: fogger

Turn 31 SITREP
The Mud has arrived. However with Ron's Mod combat operations do not stop. But if you attack you can expect heavy losses.

In the centre I have finally broken into Larry's rear area. My recon units now hold all the road crossings in Larry's rear so it would be interesting to see Larry's supply levels in what may be one big pocket. I have 3 panzer divisions in the process of securing the inner and outer rings of the pocket. I am also trying to move my Infantry up to secure a front line before the snow arrives. In the centre I will keep my front line away from Larry's so that he has to advance (costing supply) to make contact.

wow the situation in the center is very interesting. Had a thought maybe the Soviet had a chance to be aggressive and counter attack using troops in their secondary defense line. But then again, the recon theater should be very poor for the soviet and had no idea how many axis unit had broken through, it might be too great risk.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Edwire
wow the situation in the center is very interesting. Had a thought maybe the Soviet had a chance to be aggressive
and counter attack using troops in their secondary defense line. But then again, the recon theater should be very
poor for the soviet and had no idea how many axis unit had broken through, it might be too great risk.

Hey Edwire dude:
That's a very interesting idea and I've been tossing it back and forth weighing the pros and cons and I've decided that
something along those lines would make for a more interesting game and so you can stay tuned and watch me as
I break off some units and try to advance to where my troops are being held hostage so I can try to free them from
the Axis chains. This might be a good time to turn this game around and winter time is the classic time for the Soviets
to fight back.

[MAurelius]

one thing I find strange: why do you keep your planes on airfields one hex behind the front line??? - they can easily be destroyed by enemy artillery.....

just a thought....


also: why do you form a straight line from north to south, disregarding any advantages the terrain might offer? the line is one hex deep - he only has to break through in one area - and the entire line is outmaneuvered.....

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MAurelius
one thing I find strange: why do you keep your planes on airfields one hex behind the front line??? - they can easily be destroyed by enemy artillery.....

just a thought....

I shouldn't keep my planes within range of Axis arty. Good catch. I'll have to watch that in the future.

ORIGINAL: MAurelius
also: why do you form a straight line from north to south, disregarding any advantages the terrain might offer? the line is one hex deep - he only has to break through in one area - and the entire line is outmaneuvered.....

Forming a straight line from north to south prevents having the Axis offenders from getting three attacking hexes on any of my defenders.
And the line is only one hex deep because I'm outnumbered and have only these few units to form the line with. More reinforcements
are coming but haven't reached the front lines yet. Rest assured that I plan on having a proper front line where I defend in depth.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's my losses in ground troops so far:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines as of T34:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war is going in T35. There's been a lessening of Axis interdiction and my rail trips are actually making it all
the way to their destination now. Without fail. No Axis interdiction at all. I'm wondering where all the INT went. My guess is that
John is holding them back waiting for better conditions, since the weather is really bad and resting the planes is a really good
idea. See, John is always thinking. He's crafty.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's my air losses so far. The air war is unrepresentative at the moment because of the weather I'm guessing. My planes
are still on full alert and I'm leaving them active for the pitifully small contribution they might make at the front lines.

I-16's are being pumped out as fast as the factories can produce them and most of them are being thrown into battle w/o
some prep first. Which means their proficiency is in the 20's and 30's when they are brand new and those I leave on one-dot
settings. Two-dot attacks are carried out by those planes who have a proficiency of 50% or more. I don't have any three-dot
units ( planes ) yet because of the low proficiency of most of the units. I'd say only about 20% of the planes are two-dots so
far. Everybody else is on minimize losses.

EDIT: Oh, yeah......I was going to address the British planes I have yellow-boxed below. I've been through the fleet and haven't
found any British planes so I'm guessing these are the planes near Sicily on garrison duty. I can't fly them out of there to Italy, etc.
so they are just eye candy so far. I'm guessing they are to be part of Lend Lease when that kicks in. In some future turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's something I've just gotten into the habit of doing. The unit itself is a mix of plane types and I kinda wanted them to fly
together for mutual protection and so I Googled the shortest range bomber and found it to be 31 so I'm using 31 as the range
of the unit so they can always fly mostly together. Then I can move them up close to the front to be in range for a lot of it. The
bombers can act as bait for the Axis bombers and the fighters of the unit can fly top cover. I didn't really Google the range of
the bombers......I just used the equipment panel for each.

[larryfulkerson]

My moves went out to John as of 17:17 local Tucson time on Monday afternoon so we'll see how soon we get a response.

[fogger]

I have sent turn 36 to Larry about 4 hours ago. This is a picture of Army group North & Far North. Larry has shipped a large number of units up here and is counter attacking. I have started building a defensive line. There are a couple of Larry's units in my rear area. They are Regts that were missed in my advance. Their supply level will be very low

[fogger]

The centre is hotting up. Larry is counter attacking and pushed some of my units back. I have 1 major pocket with approx 9 divisions trapped. To the east I am pushing from east and west. As I have supply in this area I assume most of Larry's units are out of supply. My biggest problem at present is most of my units are in reorg. Part of the 2nd Panzer division has been cut off.

[fogger]

Army group south. Larry has also made a major counter attacked at the very end of the map. I lost a couple of units down here. Most of the front is dug in at 75% or better and all are near 100% in supply.

[fogger]

SITREP of front.
Army Group Far North.
Is in supply and pushing towards Archangelsk. Has almost surrounded a force of 2 divisions. A push in this area will force Larry to redeploy units to defend. If things get bad elsewhere I can always redeploy the German units.(6 Inf divisions)

Army Group North
Have almost formed a MLR. There are a number of units coming up to the front that can be used to from a 2nd MLR if Larry is able to turn the line before it is completed. Not really worried about this area as the front line is closer to Moscow than it is to Leningrad.

Army Group Centre
Larry is counter attacking in force. I think this will be his main area of interest as winter comes on. I have surrounded a number of units which Larry will try to save. If I am not careful I could find myself being surrounded. eg part of the 2nd panzer division.

Army Group South
Larry has counter attacked in a number of places and made 1 hex gains. Nearly all of the MLR is at 75% or better dug in. Have lost a couple of units that were cut off in the counter attack. I am in the process of moving units into reserve to build a 2nd line of defence to give depth to the MLR.

[larryfulkerson]

Okie dokie.......I've received some moves from John and I watched the playback and saw how John is killing the units he
has cut off and is doing feverish mop-up and I'm slowly getting a handle on the situation and counterattacking in lots of
places. Every once in a while I'll be able to surround a German unit and kill it. Not very often though. Here's the front
lines as of T37:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a T37 close-up of the Pocket that John has formed. I'm counterattacking and hope to trap and kill some German
units. John is forming a line however and plans to stay on the inside. Works for me.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war is going right now: Things are starting to look good on the Soviet side. I've got
the fighters right up at the front for the greatest penetration possible and most of the planes are set
on CS so there's lots of opportunities for furballs. Lots of my bombers are using their intrinsic escorts
so that the strike executed occasionally meet Axis fighters intercepting the bombers and the battle
sometimes becomes one-sided and the Axis loses. Sometimes.

[larryfulkerson]

When one of the reinforcements spawns somewhere on the map it's in the same condition as it was when it died last
so it's generally out of supply and one of the three pieces of a larger unit. And I've been railing all those pieces to
Moscow so I'd know where the pieces are and I've been putting them back together and shipping them out to the
front as fast as they rest up and get put back together. I'd estimate that at least 30 divisions have moved through
Moscow since turn 35 or so. A lot of that traffic went north to the northern front lines and a lot of that traffic is going
west and southwest to the pocket to see what can be saved. The reinforcements have largely arrived and the next
bunch will be smaller than T37's reinforcements but I'll take it whatever it is.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the expected reinforcements for T38. I won't receive all of those because some of those spawn-hexes are in German
hands. So I won't get that goodie until I own the hex again.