Glvaca v Panzerjeager Hortlund (no Hortlund)

[glvaca]

Thanks for all the tips on using the air force.
I did fly interdiction missions in the early turns but stopped when I saw it increased my losses to an unsustainable degree.

Two questions:
1. Luftflotte 2 and FliegerKorps 2 are scheduled to withdraw at some point. What happens to the airbases and planes?
2. I now stack fighter airbases with a FliegerKorpsor Luftflotte HQ packed with AA. However, sometimes the flak does not kick in. Any tips?

[glvaca]

TURN7 NORTH START
On T6 I pushed forward with Von Manstein's PzC supported by infantry. I was actually able to hasty attack a FZ just below Asinovets but was unable to get across and now it's heavily defended by 3 tank divisions.
Reinharts Corps followed up and is now in a good position to consolidate the breakthrough. Leningrad is doomed.

[glvaca]

TURN7 END
Again the excellent infantry does the heavy lifting, clearing the way and I Corps is moved into position to attack across the Neva next turn.
At least 15+ divisions are "cut-off" in Leningrad.

[glvaca]

TURN7 CENTRE START
On turn 6 I unleash the rested panzers in a pincer move to pocket some of his best units to the North of Smolensk. The infantry has caught up and does the opening attacks in bad Panzer terrain.
I leave the turn confident the pocket cannot be broken. To my BIG surprise one hex has flipped back to Russian control and there is no unit?

[glvaca]

This is what happened. It's the first time he uses this para-drop trick to break a pocket and it won't be the last.
It's not against our house rules but I now remember why I always played with a no para drop house rule before. A turn lost.
What makes it even more annoying is that the drop was intercepted an NO unit is actually in the hex. Perhaps that should be looked at.

[glvaca]

TURN7 CENTRE END

I further exploit and focus on making the pocket airtight.
The road to Moscow seems ready for the taking.

[glvaca]

TURN7 SOUTH START
On T6 I had breached the Dnepr in 2 places and exploit with the Wiking to ZOC as many units as I can. Since he had still units on the West bank, these units are Zocced and cannot retreat fast enough.
Almost the entire 6th, 11th, 1St PzG and 17th Army is hugging the Dnepr. Amazingly, he re-opens the small pocket between D & Z-towns and I curse myself for not kicking them out earlier.

[glvaca]

TURN7 SOUTH END

Unfortunately, no pic of ending in the South. I basically make room for the follow-up divisions and turn East to create a moderate size pocket close to D-Town.
Multiple divisions further North are also zoc locked.

[glvaca]

OOB

[glvaca]

AIR

His base bombing offensive is now in full swing. I lose more than 100 fighters in one turn, luckily, most of them are bf109E3's which I had assigned to soon to be leaving air groups.
This gets my attention though and I start to implement counter measures.

[glvaca]

TURN8 NORTH
MUD! [:@]
Although the weather prediction was clear for all zones it's mud in the Central Soviet Zone. The Leningrad offensive grinds to a halt. What makes it even worse is the 1 point morale drop for my best units preparing for the attack over the Neva.
I hate losing morale [:)]

[glvaca]

TURN8 CENTRE

this is a situation I've never been in before(having always played with fixed weather), My Eastern most units are not in Mud, the others are.
I manage to reduce the pocket somewhat and push the line to the East. But in between the para drop and now mud, The window of opportunity for a quick strike on Moscow is closing fast.
PH, does another para drop in the red circled hex saving 2 units from destruction for a turn longer.

[glvaca]

TURN8 SOUTH
Not much movement in the South due to mud. The remnants of the pocket close to D-Town can be seen.
D-Town and Poltava fall with little industry left. I'll give a round-up of the industry captured at the end of the summer.

[glvaca]

For the first time I see a strange message in the event log.
Apparently 50K German population is missing? [&:]

[glvaca]

OOB
I just can't get him below 4 million.
We're almost on air parity despite his airfield bombing campaign.

[glvaca]

AIR
Another bad turn for the fighter arm.

[glvaca]

GROUND

[glvaca]

PROD

Still doing good on ARM's.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: glvaca
What makes it even more annoying is that the drop was intercepted an NO unit is actually in the hex. Perhaps that should be looked at.

In the destroyed units screen at the beginning of the turn was there a lost airborne unit? My guess is with those kind of losses of transport aircraft the whole unit must have been destroyed in mid-air? If so the missing unit is not a bad thing but a good thing. The question remains though should they have been able to flip a hex control doing that?

ORIGINAL: glvaca
For the first time I see a strange message in the event log.
Apparently 50K German population is missing? [&:]

As the event log says Axis could that be from the Hungarian marauders?

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: glvaca

AIR

His base bombing offensive is now in full swing. I lose more than 100 fighters in one turn,

I hope BrianG does not read this AAR. It would do great damage to his self-esteem [;)]