Frozen frogs! Stef78 (axis) Stelteck (Russia) - Stelteck welcome

[STEF78]

Now the major fight's areas

Center

Lipetsk has Fallen, 2 minor breakthrough in front of Tula and pressure west of Boguchar



Heavy counterattacks are successfull but I'm worried as my entrenchement levels are now very low between Tula and Lipetsk....



Heavy pressure on the lower Don, russian rifle corps are able to launch deliberate attacks



View of the South after my moves. Some counterattacks but also some ground given. I want to be away from that nasty rifle corps. We will fight for Rostov.
And .... russian AFV are below 24000!!!



The losses. Almost 1500 russian AFV destroyed. more than 50k men lost on the axis side [:(]

[STEF78]

Turn 137, 27th january 1944

Russian steamroll isn't yet on. I do my best to delay russian advance.

Moscow
It's the key area with "Not One Step Beyond" order. I counterattack every advanced russian stack.



Tula
Typical area where front isn't stabilized. I won't be able to stop russian stacks before mud.
Picture of OOB is at the end of the turn and despite the losses, russian AFV are above 24000k



South

It begins to look like the Tula's area. Russians were able to crush the hungarians and deeply penetrate in my lines. Heavy counterattacks and slow retreat are required.
I don't like all these tank corps east of Vorochilovgrad...



Crimea
Some good defensive fights. Reinforcements are currently decisive.



Losses

Another week vith 1000+ russian AFV losses. Not enough to make russian OOB decline...

[BrianG]

Russians have lost over 10 million soldiers.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: BrianG

Russians have lost over 10 million soldiers.

I'm sure there are a great many women in those ranks too ;-P. But having said that I thought I read somewhere that the Soviets were having manpower issues in 44. Maybe one of the history buffs could fill us in on that.

[ericv]

Trading manpower for tanks

[chaos45]

Both sides OOBs in the game are inflated due to much lower losses in combat than historical. The game does not simulate WW2 combat losses well at all is the heart of the issue....when a division/corps sized attack is launched losses are much higher historically than you see in this game....is numerous cases of 500+ men lost in one night of combat let alone over a week of combat actions as this game portrays. I could go on for a long time, as its been talked about in great depth in many of the older AARs.

Another thing to remember is when ppl die/are wounded in real life combat the majority of those losses are from your teeth elements of the divisions....Infantry, combat engineers, tank crew, and closer range gun team crew members....So a division taking even 1,000 combat losses has its offensive combat ability severely degraded as most of these losses will be from among their best actual combat trained troops. Not to mention losses among trained NCOs and Officers....is several books out there on the history of the fighting on the eastern front...and one of the biggest issues the Germans had in 1941....was the heavy losses the teeth elements of the divisions suffered in the first 6 months of the invasion....they basically never replaced the "skill" they lost with all these casualties---also the germans rated divisions based on combat capability such as fully/partially suitable for offensive operations, suitable for defensive operations, limited defensive operations or some such....and you can see very quickly how German divisions degraded from fully capable to only defensively capable.....some board games use a dual combat factor to represent this in older games.....such only 5 CV on offensive operations but 7 CV on defensive operations...not sure how to implement that in WiTE but would be more realistic of German infantry as the fighting on eastern front drags on.

[ericv]

i completely agree. All the patches made it into a completely different game

[Mamluke]

I wonder how much manpower are the Soviets gaining now in 1944? considering Moscow/Leningrad/Stalingrad among many cities were lost up to 1943. how much was gain in 1943?

I also ask for the Germans and the Axis overall for comparison. thank you.

keep up the Amazing ARR!!!

[Dweomer]

I understand why you keep hitting those Tank and Cavalry Corps: the loss ratios are good and the Russian tank reserves have got to run out some time.

But why are you also hitting those Rifle and Guard Corps: even when you win your casualties are higher than the Russians, and it seems that you have room to spare.

[chaos45]

both sides are currently losing more men than they are replacing per week from standard manpower replacements. In 1944 the soviet manpower ratio from manpower centers drops alot..

[Stelteck]

ORIGINAL: Mamluke

I wonder how much manpower are the Soviets gaining now in 1944? considering Moscow/Leningrad/Stalingrad among many cities were lost up to 1943. how much was gain in 1943?

Beginning Mars 1944 i'am getting 62850 new men each turn, not counting returning from casualties and repaired damage.
It was around 75K in 1943.

I'am also getting around 6774 trucks, 804 airplanes, 400 medium tanks, 60 heavy tanks and 200 assault guns/TD each turn.

I'am now having only 600 medium tanks in the reserve pool. Looks like i depleted the 8000 that i had at the start of 1943 [:'(]

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: Stelteck
I'am now having only 600 medium tanks in the reserve pool. Looks like i depleted the 8000 that i had at the start of 1943 [:'(]

With what you know now is it worth evacuating the Kharkov and other T34 factories fully? If you can use up your pools of medium tanks would you now evacuate them to use them. Or have you just found a way to use up tanks that you would have preferred not to create originally?

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Mamluke
.../.. I also ask for the Germans and the Axis overall for comparison. thank you.../...

I will reply once I get the turn back.

keep up the Amazing ARR!!!

Thanks!

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Dweomer

I understand why you keep hitting those Tank and Cavalry Corps: the loss ratios are good and the Russian tank reserves have got to run out some time.

But why are you also hitting those Rifle and Guard Corps: even when you win your casualties are higher than the Russians, and it seems that you have room to spare.

German national morale is now 64 and I desesperatly need wins to keep my Pzd with high morale and some inf divs with morale in the 70/80 range.

Counterattacking also creates uncertainty for the russian player and make him (I hope) thinking twice before advancing a lot.

And last but not least reason, counterattacking is fun!!! I not an accountant, I'm a wargamer!

[STEF78]

Turn 138, 3rd february 1944

1944 can be a boring period for the german player. If you get an opportunity to have fun, you must seize it.

In front of Moscow, Stelteck has let some part of the frontline only with an inf div. Hum...



And now, enjoy the retreat in 1944 for the 3 rifle corps stack! I know it's useless but I liked it!



It's not the same story in front of Tula... I really don't like these tank corps refiting!



It's the same story in the south... I really don't like these tank corps refiting! (bis)



I decide to give ground



In Crimea, situation looks fine at the moment

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Mamluke

I wonder how much manpower are the Soviets gaining now in 1944? considering Moscow/Leningrad/Stalingrad among many cities were lost up to 1943. how much was gain in 1943?

I also ask for the Germans and the Axis overall for comparison. thank you.

keep up the Amazing ARR!!!

I'm receiving 60% of ground german production and 45% of air production
It means 18841 men received for week 144.
My OOB is short of 116k men for Germany, 38k men for Finland, 58k men for Romania and 53k men for Hungary

Concerning material, I've more than enough planes but I'm short of air groups. I'm slowly swapping my JU87 against F190F
In tanks, I'm short of Stugs, still have some units equiped with PzIIIn and have a "huge" pool of Tigers

[Stelteck]

For my side, the soviet army have a theorical TOE of 10 millions so i lack 2 millions men to fill my ranks. (These men are mostly missing support squads).

[STEF78]

Turn 139, 10th February 1944

Bilzzard weather and some retreat soften russian attacks. Near Moscow they also react to my raid. I have begun some weeks ago the building of a defensive line line South of Kaluga. It's the best use I found for my APs



Same story in the South. Very surprised with the result of a Pzd attacking an art div... They are flying while retreating?. I also built a rear line of defence



In Crimea nothing new



I don't post pictures from the fights in the far north or around Kalinin as it's only some grinding at the moment

The losses. A low intensity week, only 800 AFV destroyed.



And the OOB, russian AFV over 26k [:(]

[STEF78]

Turn 140, 17th february 1944

Cautious retreat (10 miles this week) is on from Ryazan to Rostov. Some counterattacks are launched. Usual AFV russian losses (1200) ... and 26500 AFV in the OOB!



In Crimea the line holds. In the far north, finns are Under pressure

[M60A3TTS]

Looking grim for Stelteck. There's too much ground to make up, 26k AFVs or not. He's like 10-12 months behind schedule. He also appears to also have an artillery shortage, with 115k tubes at this stage. Looks like a German victory at the end.