B41_lgf_5.6 Barbarossa mini AAR

[gwgardner]

This will be an occasional situation report for the scenario B41_lgf_5.6.

D21 and FITE2 seem the most popular Barbarossa scenarios. As a newbie, I wasn't ready to tackle something of that scope, so chose B41 as it is at reduced scale. Division level, 25km per hex, two turns a week. 48 turns total.

Larryfulkerson has been adjusting the scenario so this is really intended to test how the play balance is at this point, at least with this one runthrough.

I'm playing the AXIS vs the PO.

[gwgardner]

This is actually my second try at the scenario, but the first time around I didn't understand railroad repair. First time through, I played about 7 turns. Riga was taken pretty much on schedule historically, Minsk fell by early July.

This second time through, either the PO acted a bit differently, or I was less aggressive, because it put up very stiff resistence before Minsk. My attempt to encircle the region, sending panzer corps both north and south of the city, was a much tougher fight. AGC did not complete the encirclement and capture of Minsk till July 20, turn 8.

In the screenshot of the turn 9 situation, the orange lines show the current repaired rail line. AGCs armor is going to have to reorganize for a turn or two, prior to launching a second pincer attack, this time aimed at Smolensk. Similarly the infantry corps will have to move up to support the next phase. Recon doesn't show a lot standing in the way before Smolensk, but that remains to be seen.

[gwgardner]

AGN had a tough fight in the immediate approach to Riga, but the PO has put up very little resistance north of Riga. 1st Corps has supported a dash by a detached motorized unit from the 41st Panzer Corps, all the way into Leningrad. Whether that turns out to be a suicide dash, will soon be decided. The PO has done a better job for the southern approach to Leningrad, fiercely contesting Pskov.

[gwgardner]

AGS has faced similar stiff resistence all along the major supply lines towards Kiev. Every attempt made to complete an encirclement has been thwarted, with failures by the Panzer corps to make extensive penetrations of the front. Perhaps the PO is throwing everything it has up against the current front line, at the expense of a defense later on. That remains to be seen.

[gwgardner]

To the far south, 11th Army, and the Romanian 4th Army, are closing in on Odessa, but it hasn't been easy. The Soviet PO is very good about setting up strong points.

[larryfulkerson]

subscribed. Keep going, please.

[gwgardner]

August 15, turn 17

The probe into downtown Leningrad in early July, held out for 10 days against ferocious counterattacks. Primarily due to lack of supply, AGN could not move up support fast enough, and the probe was decimated and finally surrendered. Only on turn 15 was the 1st Korps able to fight its way back into the city outskirts again.

Orange lines show the extent of the RR repair.

[gwgardner]

On turn 10, advanced elements of the 51st Panzer Korp galloped into an open Smolensk, after destroying what was left of the Soviet defense line east of Minsk. However, the next turn, the Soviets brought up a strong defense force and have forced the 51st to fight hard to hold onto the city until infantry support could come forward.

AGC has been unable as yet to flank and encircle that new Soviet line.

[gwgardner]

The battle for Kiev, and AGS's attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Dnepr has been intense. Three times a bridghead has been forced, and only on the last has AGS held its position across the river.

[gwgardner]

Odessa's defense pereminter still holds. The 4th Romanian Army is slowly moving in to the southwest of the city, while 11th Korps continues it's long slog in from the north, and continues to attempt to outflank the defenses.

[MikeJ19]

gwgardner,

Very interesting. This looks like a fun scenario to try. There are certainly a lot of units to keep track of.

Keep up the good work,

Mike

[gwgardner]

Sept 10 1941

Over the latter part of August and into September, the fight for Leningrad has been a see-saw. 1st Korps has advanced into the heart of Leningrad 3 times now, each time in insufficient strength to hold it. The Soviets keep bleeding off forces from the Finnish front to reinforce the city.

That has allowed the Finns to start a serious offensive closing in on the city.

Farther south, commando forces used as recon, from AGN, have advanced to within 20 miles of the strategically important rail line through Tikvin to Leningrad. At that point the Soviets brought in garrison forces along the line and threw the commandos back.

Commander AGS was infuriated by the order to detach a panzer Korps and an infantry corp to exploit thin Soviet defenses on the norther part of AGC's area. Another commando force has approached the outskirts of Moscow itself.

[gwgardner]

AGC has yet to break the first line of fortifications, the Vyazma Line, on the direct approach to Moscow. It is hopeful that the forces detached from AGN, moving southeast towards Kalinin, will force the Soviets to abandon the Vyazma Line.

[gwgardner]

AGS has crossed the Dnepr at Kiev, Cherkassy, and Kremenchug, and is advancing steadily against weak Soviet forces. Karkhov was entered by a couple of brigades of 52 Korps, advancing against no opposition at all. It seems the Soviets had thrown everything into the Dnepr River line, and has had to scramble to stop the rapid advance of AGS.

The Soviets have now reacted and isolated the Kharkov 'salient.' AGS is at risk of losing those lead elements.

Odessa garrison still holds, against timourous bombardments from the entire Romanian 4th Army. The Romanians, up till now, have been unwilling to make an all-out assault on the city.

[gwgardner]

Sept 27, turn 28

The weather remains good, but the Soviets got the initiative this last turn, and hammered my forces all along the line.

The PO in this scenario is GOOD! It consistently takes up excellent defensive positions, utilizing terrain and fortifications to its advantage. In the couple of instances where it seemed to leave openings, and where I attempted to exploit those openings, it quickly regrouped and reacted.

Case in point, at the bend of the Dnepr River. 48th Panzer Korps and 2th Infantry Korps burst across the river at Zaparozhe, and were extending the bridgehead to the south against no opposition. My failure to do proper recon succeeded in getting both corps cut off. The Soviets, with the two-turn initiative, succeeded breaking across the bridgehead south of Zaparozhe.

[gwgardner]

In the north, the same thing occurred in what I thought was a weakly defended area of forests and marshlands to the south of Tikvin.

Commander of AGN along with most of the 51st Infantry stood right in the path of a sustained Soviet offensive out of the forests and swamps. They are now surrounded, and AGN is poorly positioned to rescue them.

Now the wide-open expanse north of Moscow, where I was discounting any possible Soviet defense, doesn't seem so unthreatening.

[gwgardner]

These latest screenshots also show that many of my units are low on supply and/or exhausted.

Just 100 km from Moscow, it appears that I'll be forced to halt the advance for a turn or two, attempt to extract my two cut-off groups, and then hopefully take up the offensive again before the mud season.

[gwgardner]

Oct 29, turn 38

Late fall, and the weather is closing in. Widespread rain is predicted, leading to muddy conditions. It's been raining a lot already, and perhaps 20% of the terrain is already in mud.

[gwgardner]

AGN has lost its last Panzer corps to AGC, with OKW convinced that there is no hope to take Leningrad this year.

Early on AGN had a chance to take Leningrad, and three times had elements of 1st Corps inside the city, but the Soviets threw them out each time and now has a strong perimeter all around the city, and south through the marshes, safeguarding the rail line to Tikvin and the lake system.

AGN has thus gone on the defensive. Rail lines are repaired up to the front; fortifications and entrenchments are in place all along the line.

[gwgardner]

AGC has almost enveloped Moscow and Tula. Commando units had actually temporarily cut all rail lines to the east from the city, but the Soviets have brought in heavy reinforcements, including several shock armies, to stall AGC's advance.

The rail lines are repaired up to the front, and AGC has not given up on its offensive, but it is now a brutal fight all along the lines around Moscow, and even in the northern suburbs. The advance is now slow and costly.

The panzers and infantry corps from AGN made it possible to approach the city from the north.