FIFTY SHADES OF WiTE: SILLYFLOWER V BRIANG

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Steelwarrior7

Where are you repairing your rail line with the FBDs?
How do you reorganize army group south - which seems to be a hell of a mess?

! will try to mark FBD positions when I post T7. I think I can remember where they are.........

AGS - i focus on getting the armies sorted out with 24 stacking points or whatever they are called, each and trying to ensure sensible distribution of SUs to the corps. Non Germans are a waste of space in german armies and should go elsewhere. An expensive pain but I have ranted on before about the criminal negligence of OKH.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: smokindave34

ORIGINAL: chaos45


Also...I demand to see screenshots of the Finnish blitzkrieg!

As this is a server game, I fear this would require a restart and I think I used up all Brians tolerance on that issue.............

T7 is back with him and there won't be anything worth looking at on T8

[sillyflower]

The south



Across the Dnepr with 2 pz xx. A 3rd could get across but it doesn't look as if Brian has much counter-attack capability, and I would rather save the fuel for next turn's exploitation. Pushed his relatively weak forces out of the rough on the west bank below the crossing point to ensure exploitation would not be hampered by his ZOCs making it hard to cross the river.

Made an effort and cleared the northern of the 2 pockets. Had to use more forces than I would have liked but it was going to be in the way of my advancing FBD. Lvov pocket essentially left to my gallant allies.

[sillyflower]

The Rumanian front get the full Del Shannon



Brian did do quite well in his T4 isolating 2 pz divs (hence the 3 CV cav xx in a very secure pocket) and in getting some stuff out after bullying my poor rum cav out of the way. This limited what I could do so I decided to secure Odessa and then put the pz corps on refit. Should be well fueled next turn as the units are only about 10 hexes or fewer from the railhead.

[sillyflower]

Thoughts on T5

More running by Brian keeps the combat and opportunities for gobbling up more of his units to a minimum. Turn losses 5.2K to 136K and 17 divs + various sundries destroyed. However, it means that the infantry has been able to catch up a bit and he has given up a lot of ground, and I'm not sure how much longer he can keep doing this for.

I have no idea where the bulk of his army is, but I don't really care. In the first summer, the Germans need to do their thing without worrying too much about Russian plans and hopes.

[chaos45]

I think you pretty much see his army lol....the Soviet army isnt huge in the early game and with your super pocket you snapped up more units than normal---plus his forward defense sacrificed more units.

I doubt he has many veteran formations at all left most of what you see if probably weak conscript units aside from a handful of decent divisions. Your super pocket in the south would have destroyed the majority of good soviet soviet units as only the south gets the better rolls for morale/exp.

[sillyflower]

T6



The communist swine pushed Totenkopf back over the Neva, thanks to Gen Malikovsky(?) giving his troops illicit drugs which bumped up their attack CV by a factor of five so an attack originally at lower than 1:1 succeeded. Everyone knows that drugs are for losers, and are only effective for small time periods, so we storm back with greater numbers and start to move round the west flank. I did think about sending the panzers that way, but they didn't have much fuel. Even if the managed to push the lone russian div in the 0 level fort, they wouldn't get any further.

He still doesn't seem to have much up there but I have demanded that progress improves because progress has slowed unacceptably. After being only 60 miles from L'grad on T4, German forces are only 20 miles closer in 2 weeks.

[sillyflower]

Better progress in the centre.



Advance ing generally about 30 miles on a broad front with virtually no combat as can be seen, though we seem to have reached the place where he means to stand.Still no signs of a backstop line being constructed. 1 inf xx and 1 para x surrounded in Smolensk. 2nd Army starting to fill the gap between AGC and AGN. I always put 2nd army here and attach it to AGN.

[sillyflower]

South was a bit more exciting



After a failed attack on the Dnepr bridgehead ( also at less than 1:1 odds initially), he stayed to fight. Getting the pocket meant going through a thick carpet of Russian units. If the combat filter was on, you would not be able to see a thing. I'm confident that the pocket will be secure. The key factor is the light blue pz div, now in regts, at the top of the pocket. It is the 1 that I decided not to join the other 2 in the bridgehead. I think it had 49 or 50 MPs and was able ho go round the top (thanks to the absence of any bad guys in the way until after it had crossed the Dnepyr) and to do a bit of herding back in the direction of Kiev.

I had started the move hoping that I could swing both north and south, but the mass of Russian units was too great so I had to settle for half. Much better than 2 unsuccessful efforts even though the final bag in the pocket was 'only' 3 tk and 6 inf xx and 1 para x.

Th light blue pz divs 2 hexes SW of the original breakthrough are not ones I forgot to move. They were in the original bridgehead with some 30 MPs each. I had dropped fuel to their corps HQ last turn, then place the HQ adjacent to them on the west bang. I used them to clear the enemy from the adjacent 3 hexes (1 deliberate + 2 hastys with help from an extra pz xx) before recrossing the river where they are well within 20 MPs of the railhead and will be well fueled again next turn. This tactic meant that only 1 unit had to cross the Dnepr into an enemy ZOC which costs many more extra MPs. That in turn meant that I was able to seal the pocket properly.

[Peltonx]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

Last, but not least, for tonight the South



I did try to eliminate the Kovel Lutsk pocket entirely as it took a lot of units to secure and it was in the way of my efforts to turn the lockdown into a secure pocket. 1 unit remains thanks to the new patch: though the change is a good one IMHO. I think I succeeded nn the northern and eastern sides (no 1:1 to 2:1 rule here) but fell short in the south as the pocket looks breakable. Still, the chevauchee by a pz div in the area NE of the pocket got a couple of routs and overran a couple of airfields with damaged aircraft on the, as well as ensuring no attack from that quarter in the Russian turn.His forward defence enabled me to add 2 inf xx and 1 para to the pocket which is nice. Paras can be a real pain in the right place as they can retreat many times without breaking. The raid Lvov pocket looks secure.

No screenie of Romania but a commonplace advance against a screen of ants to secure the route that FBS3 (?) from B-Litovsk can start clearing next turn.

Sadly with 2.0 we will never see this or Manstein getting to Daugavpils in 4 days on June 26th 1941. Only 550 kilometers from Leningrad.

Manstein thought he could get to Leningrad in less then a week from there with logistical support that was avaible to AGN

Hilters Master Strategist

by

Benoit Lemay

Good book.

Yup Red I am reading

Historical data to back up in game data.

[sillyflower]

Yes, but the issue is the validity of his belief. The Germans badly underestimated the russians, the weather, lack of infrastructure, breakdown rates of their vehicles etc. After all, they thought it would all be over in 6 weeks ie 7 turns. Not a good basis for a good game[;)].

I don't know what 2.0 will bring, nor do I know what what you will manage to do with the Germans as you find all the exploits as you have done with this game [8D]. Give me an exciting game in which most games end in 1945 and I will be happy. I'm happy now even though few games get that far because so many quit when things are not going their way.

I've just started reading Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-42 by Robert Forczyk. Really interesting so far. Book has much more focus on operational and tactical issues and their impact rather than being the usual historical narrative. He notes that 8th Pz's success @ Daugavpils that you describe left them without any fuel!

[sillyflower]

Back to T6 and the far south



Given the continued runaway back to another river line, I didn't think that a single pz xxx was going to do much. After thinking, analysing, cogitating and considering everything at length in a manner worthy of Judge Brindlegoose, I decided to try to clear Odessa with them. Succeeded at the 2nd attempt, but unfortunately the 2 defending inf xxs routed out. The hex I left clear for them to retreat into already had 3 occupants. Never mind. I had blocked the other retreat path to the NE ealier in the turn (before I thought of my cunning plan) and it did not have enough MPs to move away. Odessa can be a problem for the Germans, but not this game. 11th Army and the mighty Rumanian 3rd Army are now free to go east.

3 para xs and 1 HQ remain behind to be mopped up by the Rumanians next turn.

[sillyflower]

Unsurprisingly, there was no more bombing of my airfields after T5's fiasco for thr Russian airforce. For the bean counters:

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower



Unsurprisingly, there was no more bombing of my airfields after T5's fiasco for thr Russian airforce. For the bean counters:

Level bomber losses continue to annoy. Fighters still won't provide escorts even when there are unused ones in range. Sometimes I have to fly an escorted mission before fighter decide they will help on the next mission. Makes no sense and it is continuing to be a problem in later turns[:@]. Still, it's a minor problem compared to wha I hope are Brian's. His airforce suffers too when it comes up, and I particularly enjoy causing heavy losses when he tries to intercept my interdiction missions.

[sillyflower]

losses to date

[sillyflower]

and unit losses



A steady haul and Russian losses are higher than I see in most games which is good, and there are still 4 divs in the Lvov pocket to be hoovered up next turn + this turn's surrounds.

[sillyflower]

T6 overview

Russian orbat is down to just under 3.8M (3,799,971!)at the end of my turn. The high level of unit kills is a different but related issue. Without enough units, there will be weak spots as we have seen all along in the north. I was surprised to find so much strength still in the south - he seems to be stronger there than anywhere else despite the early super-pocket.

I have also been surprised by the relative lack of factory evacuations. There are still 7 arms and the BA20s in L'grad and no signs of evacuation of other cities at risk. He must be continuing to focus on railing units. This would fit with what seems to be a policy of putting everything in the front line. I may owe a debt to Pelton in a way. Brian restricted his '41 offensive very well, so I think he's rinsing and repeating with me. However I'm no Pelton (this is intended as a neutral comment[:)]) and does not seem to be working for Brian here. This is probably due to my greater focus on unit kills, especially in the south + north, aided by the rail movement changes. On the other hand, if I were Pelton, Brian would have lost more than 10 each of arms and HI factories by now............... Softly softly catchee monkey for me - I hope to pick them up later because the factory evacuations seem to be behind the curve.

EDIT: I've just checked T6 of Pelton's AAR v Brian and he'd taken 6 more of both arms and HI factories tho' Soviet OOB is 175K higher in his game. In fairness, I haven't had any of Pelton's mud problems (fixed weather here) which makes a big difference, although the numbers may reflect differences in priorities.

Brian is not a chatty opponent so I have no idea what he is thinking. Anyone that interested will have to try to get him to do an AAR.

[timmyab]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower
His airforce suffers too when it comes up, and I particularly enjoy causing heavy losses when he tries to intercept my interdiction missions.

I've started grounding the Soviet air force during my turn for this reason.

[sillyflower]

T7

August arrives, and with it another rant about the total incompetence of OKH.

Thanks to my earlier efforts and kind treatment of prisoners, I already have 77,000 former soviet soldiers signed up as HIWIs. However, OKH in its lack of wisdom says that it will be another 6 months before they can be used, so they will just be useless mouths to feed until February, when the campaign will be pretty much over anyway. This is madness[:@]. These Russians and other nationalities are not animals - no more than we all are anyway - and certainly not in the way that some of our leaders believe; as if any of them are fine looking examples of Aryan purity. These Soviets would be invaluable in various support functions. They are better at digging than us Germans and can help to maintain all the russian trucks and other equipment we have captured.

[sillyflower]

North