Shannon versus Z

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 7 - Allies to move.

The Ski unit ran through the swamp and has converted a line of rail hexes to Axis control. The Panzerjadg is holding Pskov - in case that Russian Cav decides to return. Kalinin is in danger.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 8 - Axis to move.

No change in the Russian position. Better weather for the Finnish HQ.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 8 - Axis to move its Ski unit.

Moving an HQ will put the Ski unit in supply, so it is free to go where ever it likes.

That 2-4 Cav has been railed back to hold Kalinin. The 5-4 Inf cam in from Manchuria during the first impulse of this turn.

Should the Ski unit move NE or SE? The only threats to it well being are the 7-2 Militia next to Smolensk and a 1-3 Eng in Smolensk.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 9 - Allies to move.

The Finnish 5-4 Inf moved next to Leningrad - to prevent a breakout by the Mech unit there to Pskov. The HQ is in supply from the rail line south.

The Finns now have 3 units on the north side of Leningrad.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Impulse 9 - Allies to move.

I decided to move the Ski unit NE. That gives me two targets within range. If the USSR wants to come after the ski unit, he will have to move unit away from the center of his position.

If I had moved SE, then the inevitable Russian reinforcements would had eliminated the ski unit on their way to the front line.

[I'll show the Minsk area next - but I have to stop for the night.]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here is the Minsk area at the start of the May/June 1940 turn.

The forces are almost equal, except that the Axis has those long range bombers in the south that can reach Minsk.

The USSR has to decide whether to keep his forces concentrated in Minsk and Vitebsk or make a gradual retreat east to Smolensk and the upper Dnieper.

The real problem for the USSR is that he has no reserves farther east while the Germans can rail in a lot of reinforcements this turn.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940, Impulse 2, Axis to move.

Z brought his 2-4 Cav unit back from Pskov to help hold Vitebsk. That hex now has 10 combat factors and Minsk has 15. It looks like they are going to be 'Hero' cities.

The Eng has a 7-2 militia keeping it company on its walk to Smolensk.

The 5-4 Inf has arrived from Vladivostok. Because there are no in-supply Axis units in Russia, Z cannot rail out any factories yet. Hence he has 3 rail moves available to bring the Inf in from the cold (Siberia). Occupying Moscow is always important.

What would you do as the Axis here? To see the units in the stacks, go back 1 post. Note that Latvia is still neutral.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 3, Allies to move.

Aww, the weather turned bad. But the Axis units still have full movement.

The forces from around Warsaw are within striking range of Minsk now. Even worse (for the USSR) is that two more 7 factor German corps have been railed in a reorganized by von Leeb. The 4-3 militia is a hit taker, plus the 2 SS divisional units. Snow give the defender -4 on the land combat die rolls though.

[I think I would have pulled back 3 hexes from Minsk. That would have increased the distance from the Axis air units. The upper Dnieper river line is very strong and can be held by just 5 corps. But the outcome would depend on die rolls.]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 5 Axis to move.

Z went for the forward defense and Hero cities. The air units have gotten out of harm's way. The only real problem with this defense is the Finnish ski unit wandering around in the Russian rear - as described in the posts about Novgorod previously.

As the Germans the question is "What to do, what to do?". There are 2 SS divisions under the good Stuka bomber and a 2-6 PanzerJadg just off the picture to the north.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 7, Allies to move.

The weather has returned to normal for May/June.

The option to pull back has passed (unless you want to run into the swamp and get disorganized and OOS).

Kalinin is in trouble.

At least no more German corps have been railed in here [they railed in to Rumania which will be shown later].

There are two Italian motorized corps now sitting in Brest-Litovsk, but they are unlikely to get reorganized this turn.

The 5-4 Inf has a 1-3 SS Inf under it. The 7-3 Inf has a 6 tactical factor Stuka under it. So what you see are all the serious land combat factors available to the Axis for attacking.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 8, Axis to move.

So the Russians mostly held tight. The 2-4 Cav was railed to Kalinin to hold that city.

The 7-2 is holding the all-important hex adjacent to Smolensk with its lovely 4 hexsides of river protection. The Russian engineer is drinking vodka in Smolensk, screwing up his courage for what is to come.

Gomel is save for the moment because the swamp prevents the Germans from cutting around to the south of the 7-2 militia unit.

Vitebsk has 8 combat factors and Minsk has 15.

It looks like it is time to attack Minsk. There are more Axis bombers available in the south.

Note that the Do 17Z already tried a ground strike last Axis impulse (in the snow) and missed all 3 units in Minsk - 20% chance of disorganizing each unit. The Russian fighter won't be able to intercept bombers over Minsk.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 9 Allies to move.

So the attack on Minsk was marginally successful.

The bombers (6 factor and 5 factor) only disorganized 2 of the 3 units.

The attack was 1 loss for the defenders (the division) and 2 for the attackers (I don't remember the odds or the die roll).

The Axis chose to kill off both the SS units since the 6-3 SS corps is arriving as a reinforcement and can then be broken down into the two divisions again.

The rest of the Axis Stukas have arrived on scene. Only 1 of the Russian corps in Minsk is organized.

What is not obvious here is that 2 more militia units have been railed in (there is a 6-2 under the Stuka in Vilna). von Leeb was reorganized using an Offensive chit and then reorganized the militia units in preparation for another attack on Minsk. von Bock is suppose to move south and reorganize 3 more corps so the attack (2 Axis impulses hence) would be pretty good.

Mercifully for the USSR the turn ended.

[I need to go play golf now (at my age the choice is exercise or die). I'll do Lvov next time I sit down at the computer.]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 1 Allies to Move

Lvov

There isn't much for the Allies to do here.

However, they ran a 3-5 Cav up to the forest hex 4 hexes above Cernauti.

That forest hex, plus Lvov, plus Cernauti provides a line of ZOC, preventing the Axis from charging too far to the east.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 2 Axis to move.

Lvov

See the previous post for all the Axis units.

Taking out Lvov without casualties is crucial.
This is early in a summer turn so I don't want any units to become disorganized.
Everyone needs to march east as fast and as far as they can go.
Disorganized units would be a real pain because they would be OOS at the end of the turn, and the start of the next turn, once the HQs leave them in the dust.

I sent in the weakest of the bombers for ground strikes: the 3 factor Italian and 3 factor German (He 111).
They managed to disorganize the 4-1 garrison, making the attack automatic.

I want to get the 2-4 Hungarian into Poland to act as a garrison once all the other units head east into Ukraine.
Rundstedt has appeared in Rumania, which is why the Cav is now in supply. The Hungarians are worthless on the attack because they do not cooperate with the Italians or the Rumanians.

That 4-4 Inf has been stuck west of Krakow for a couple of turns now. He is one of the few hit takers available for the Axis in this theater.

All the 3 movers in the north of this screen shot are header towards Minsk.
The division of forces is for slow movers to go north and fast movers to the Ukraine.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June Impulse 3 Allies to move

Lvov

The weather has turned to snow, but that doesn't do the Russians much good here.
The 3-5 would be OOS regardless and i is clearly time for him to run away run away.

The Axis units will all be in supply and free to move as far as their legs (and vehicles) can carry them.

This is the last in the Lvov series. The action now turns to Rumania.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 1 Allies to move

Rumania

The Russians look pretty good here.
Odessa plus the Bessarabian cities make a strong defensive line.
This is especially true against the 2 German units with their Rumanian allies.
There are even 4 other corps available.

But that is a lot of clear terrain.

The Cav gets sent to the forest hex, as shown in the posts above about Lvov.
What should the other 3 corps do?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 2 Axis to move.

Rumania

My plan here was to rail in more German units - Armor and Mech.
I thought the Rumanian HQ would set up last turn with its other fellows when Rumania was aligned, but it arrived as a reinforcement at the start of this turn.

Last turn the German HQ railed in and the 9-4 Inf railed in on top of him.
There were 2 Rumanian reinforcements and they both had to be placed in Bucharest.
That reduced the number of rail stations to 1: the port Constanta.

So, I had to defer railing in multiple units until the next Axis impulse.
In preparation, I split the HQs and made sure each of them was alone in a rail hex.
I also made sure Bucharest was empty.
In the meantime, I railed in an 8-6 Mech to Constanta. It has enough movement points to reach the Bessarabian cities.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 3 Allies to move

Rumania

The Axis units in Rumania aren't very imposing, but they are capable of oozing through the Russian line.
Meanwhile their friends that are flush with victory in Lvov are coming in from the NW.

Retreating the USSR units looks like a bad idea.
They are much better off in supply in cities where all attacks will be on the Assault table.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 5 Axis to move.

Rumania

Cernauti is better attacked from the south using Rumanians.
But the German units around Lvov can help out.
The Italians and Rumanians do not cooperate, so the Italians will just head east.

I foolishly tried a ground strike on Cernauti with one of the Ju 88A1s. A pitiful 10% chance.
It would have been better to air rebase one of the Stukas still sitting in western Poland to help out with Minsk.

My idea - such as it was - was that if the 5-3 Inf was disorganized, I would be able to make two guaranteed attacks on the Bessarabian cities, once the 3 other good German units were railed in and reorganized.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

May June 1940 Impulse 7 Allies to move.

Rumania

Things have taken a marked turn for the worse for the Russians.

The Cav is holding it own NW of Kiev (supply from Gomel) and there is a corps to hold Kiev itself.
But other than that?

Note that the factories in Odessa and Kiev have both been evacuated.
This turn the Russians decided to evacuate the factory in Vitebsk (up north).
Both Leningrad factories are stuck though.

What is really needed here is to rail in a reinforcement from Manchuria, but none is readily available.
Besides, doing that would mean the Vitebsk factory would not be able to move (2 rail moves).

This was actually part of my planning for this offensive (way back in the first axis impulse of Mar/Apr 1940).
I knew that the USSR would have to choose between railing out its factories (2 rail moves) or railing in reinforcements from Manchuria (2 or 3 rail moves).
The USSR only gets 3 rail moves - and that requires them to take a Land action. The Japanese convoys are safe from the USSR subs in Vladivostok for the foreseeable future.