BrianG v TDV (tdv ok for now)

[BrianG]

Closer to 4 million than 5 for me. Not good.

[chaos45]

His army appears very beat up and all those German units already wiped out....those units wont be good combat units again until spring of 1942 as it takes forever to train up experience back to decent levels on rebuilt german units.

You lost alot but with blizzard you should be able to beat him up even more. Depending on your industrial losses you arent out of the game yet...but losing both moscow and leningrad will make for a long slow recovery.

[BrianG]

Blizzard is no reason to stop attacking... TDV attacks. again and again.

[BrianG]

For some reason I noted surprise at Germans losing this battle. Can't remember why now.

Maybe the tank reserve commitment did it.

Also note, Tdv keeps hold of his bridgeheads east of rivers.

[BrianG]

My ski battalions are really not in good shape. had issues getting toe up and then experience is still way below where it should be in January 42.

Actually, I think fully equip ski battalions should come automatically in late 41 and one should not have to build using AP.

imo.

[BrianG]

I forgot that Crimea is snow in Feb 42.

TDV launches Crimea offensive (code name unknown) with good effect.

This battle at the Kerch strait was just a horrible result.

[BrianG]

German kia report before Russian last blizzard moves.

[BrianG]

not sure if plane casualties are high/low?

[BrianG]

Here is the situation prior to last Blizzard moves.

I'm attacking the Fins who retreat slowly

[BrianG]

Germans hold east bank of river east of Moscow.

Very annoying and cannot be fully dislodged.

[BrianG]

Not sure why I am so far west.

[BrianG]

Again Germans hold east bank of river.

[BrianG]

Wished the title still said Crimea.

There has been alot of fighting down here with Feb 42 being snow.

[chaos45]

Whats total OOB look like for both sides at the end of blizzard?

He took 1.5M losses thats the highest German losses I have seen so far at the end of the first winter.

Also with Moscow/Leningrad gone do you have the industry/manpower to stay in the game?

[BrianG]

I'll have an OOB update for last Mar 42 turn.

And I have not yet disclosed to TDV my P and A levels.

I guess its my one 'classified' data point.

I will reveal soon though as it's a general point of interest.

[BrianG]

btw this is a good point if anyone would like to discuss what they would do in my situation?

[chaos45]

Not going to say your situation is hopeless as you did inflict some very heavy losses on the Germans. Alot will depend on how combat capable his Army is this summer. You should get .5-1 Million more men in your Army by the time summer starts as all the mud turns will limit offensive action.

However with Moscow and Leningrad both gone Im guessing you are sucking wind on both manpower and armaments. As I held both until something like April and was still short on manpower.

The only option I can see that you have is to keep drawing him east and try not to get encircled plus make sure every single point of industry you have left that is in danger gets east. Especially with his assault in the South. I doubt you can stop his attack with the lack of Depth I see across most of your lines so your only hope is to prevent losing lots of men you cant afford to lose to encirclements this summer. Now the problem is to do that you will most likely have to give up manpower centers. You held Tula though which should help, but im doubtful you can hold Tula all summer with him flanking to both the north and south.

You will have to judge for yourself based on your incoming manpower and your losses per turn if you can stay in the game. I think you have probably lost, but alot will depend on if he can keep up offensive tempo during the summer of 1942. You should have a good idea if your still in the game or not by how good or bad his 1942 summer offensive is. If he gets all the south and keeps marching east in the north/center your probably done due to lack of manpower to rebuild your army. Even with industry if you have no men it wont matter.

I know in my game with Pelton I lose a ton of men every turn just to attrition, not saying its not realistic but almost seems Soviet replacements might be a tad to low overall against good German players that can get historical results or slightly better than historical results. So when you look at your attrition losses see if your bringing in more than that for sure lol.

You can also look at pelton/smokindave but dave didnt lose Moscow and it only slowed Soviet recover alittle bit. Probably my guess is Dave is a couple months behind historical at the moment in the game. Then again Pelton isnt resisting that hard in some areas and just lettings the Soviets advance so the real situation wont be known until probably the frontline hits Poland/Romania where the Germans decide to make a hard stand.

[timmyab]

ORIGINAL: BrianG

btw this is a good point if anyone would like to discuss what they would do in my situation?

I'd be praying really hard right now [:D]

Obviously you need to trade space for time and he will probably need one of the Volga major cities for the 260 win which gives you a chance.

I think I would concentrate solely on the defense of Cherepovets in the North which will release troops for the critical defense of Yaraslavl and Ivanovo. I would make the area between Kallinin and Kolomna the proverbial wall of steel with a big 'no entry' sign above it. South of that I would be looking to preserve the army for a final showdown at one of the Volga major cities while making him fight for every river line and city. I would start work immediately on fortifying some of the rivers in the South.

The panzer army in the deep South is a major aggravation. I know it's easy to say with hindsight but I think the Taman peninsula should have been turned into a formidable, possibly even unassailable fortress. Now he has 4 or 5 VPs for the taking and is threatening to undermine the defense of Rostov which would otherwise be a tough and time consuming proposition. I'd still be tempted to try and stop this pz army dead but I fear it's too late now that it's crossed the Kuban river and cleared the swamps.

[BrianG]

I think I would concentrate solely on the defense of Cherepovets in the North which will release troops for the critical defense of Yaraslavl and Ivanovo.
I would make the area between Kallinin and Kolomna the proverbial wall of steel with a big 'no entry' sign above it

This would have been the correct strategy.

[BrianG]

This one felt nice