The Sun Also Rises ( D21 )

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T27 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

I dropped some paratroops to try to grab some key bridges and to isolate the
battlefield a little bit and just to use the paratroops somewhere useful. I
can't remember when the FJ Division arrives in theater and they aren't here
yet at any rate, I'll use the ones I got.

[Edwire]

Hi Lary,
An Idea is to focus AGN to completely surround Leningrad as there is no Soviet supply inside the city, no need to bother their outer fortification or attack beyond Staraya Russia. If Leningrad is surrounded before mud, the city should be as good as yours, freeing Finnish and a lot of Axis troops

Really like your AAR, keep it up [:)]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Edwire
Hi Lary,
An Idea is to focus AGN to completely surround Leningrad as there is no Soviet supply
inside the city, no need to bother their outer fortification or attack beyond Staraya
Russia. If Leningrad is surrounded before mud, the city should be as good as yours,
freeing Finnish and a lot of Axis troops

Really like your AAR, keep it up [:)]

Hey There Edwire dude:
Thanks for the great idea. Yeah, I was trying to do a left hook around Leningrad to
isolate it from the rest of Russia but it appears my effort came to a halt due to
resistance. I was thinking of using air to drop the RR bridges over the river to at
least get some kind of action in that area. There's only a few rails to drop after all.
I may have to shift positions of several divisions to get enough manpower to form a
front line all the way around Leningrad but I can see the need for it. I'll see what
I can do about that. It is a good idea after all.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a quick peek at some of the Axis losses right now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a section of the front lines about 30 hexes west of Moscow out in the middle
of nowhere in particular fighting over roads and rails and crossing points. You can
see where I've dropped some paratroops to block the key bridges out of the battlefield
for the Soviets. I've trapped them and now I intend to destroy them.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: Edwire

Hi Lary,
An Idea is to focus AGN to completely surround Leningrad as there is no Soviet supply inside the city, no need to bother their outer fortification or attack beyond Staraya Russia. If Leningrad is surrounded before mud, the city should be as good as yours, freeing Finnish and a lot of Axis troops

Really like your AAR, keep it up [:)]

As long as the Russians are weak enough to annihilate cheaply killing more units and rolling forward isn't a bad choice; especially if you want to keep your flank secure while driving toward Moscow. Lake Il'men, the small lakes to its southeast, the river NE of Kalinin, or somewhat farther forward Lake Ladoga, the Volkhov River, small lakes east of Like Il'men, the River NE of Kalinin are probably your best defensive stop points.

Other than the life road terminus on Lake Ladoga and Kalinin, well to the north and south of the lake though there aren't any strategic objectives for another ~ 450km until you get to Vologda or YaroSlavl well to the east of Moscow; so you're right that there's not much to gain by making a major effort here once the lines stabilize.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
As long as the Russians are weak enough to annihilate cheaply killing more units and
rolling forward isn't a bad choice; especially if you want to keep your flank secure
while driving toward Moscow. Lake Il'men, the small lakes to its southeast, the river
NE of Kalinin, or somewhat farther forward Lake Ladoga, the Volkhov River, small lakes
east of Like Il'men, the River NE of Kalinin are probably your best defensive stop points.

Other than the life road terminus on Lake Ladoga and Kalinin, well to the north and south
of the lake though there aren't any strategic objectives for another ~ 450km until you get
to Vologda or YaroSlavl well to the east of Moscow; so you're right that there's not much
to gain by making a major effort here once the lines stabilize.

Thank you very much for your analysis, I agree with everything you said. I've looked into
the availability of some more troops and came up empty handed. There just aren't enough
troops around to extend the front lines all the way around Leningrad. Good thing I'm playing
Elmer instead of a human because I can get away with leaving gaps in my lines and defend
with low quality troops ( AT guns ) and I've been trying to put together the units that are
split and moving the Panzers into the reserve but it turns out that I need those things the
way they are for the same reason they are in the situation they are in, the needs of the war.

I've started directly targeting some of the Soviet units with my aircraft and I'm getting mixed
results. Sometimes I'll lose a couple of aircraft for no hits on anything Soviet. Other times
I've succeeded in hitting some armor. I'm going to keep it up for a while longer.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on around Kiev right now. I'm mopping up the Soviets by the
riverbank and I've started pushing units east toward Kharkov and the supply levels
are okie dokie since the railhead is so close. I'm optimistic about progress in
this area.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on around Stalino right now. The Rumanians are low on supply and
low on proficiency and I'm having a hard time getting them to hold their ground in
the front lines. Them and the Hungarians. And the Slovaks. And the Italians. Let's
face it the Axis minors are best used as garrison troops.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on above Leningrad. The Finns have surrounded several units and
they are in the process of reducing the pocket. Soon all the Finns will be at the
stop line. The Germans are running into a lot of resistance and it's doubtful
whether or not they will be able to capture the city anytime soon.

[larryfulkerson]

This is Sevastopol and the environs right now. I gained a hex just north of the
port so progress is being made slowly. I've got the Soviets bottled up in the
Kerch ismuth and things seem to be going well. One frustrating thing about this
campaign is the CD guns bombarding my units causing minor losses in each attack.
Those losses are starting to mount up. I figure I've lost the equivalent of an
infantry unit so far. I'm bombing the CD guns from the air but I'm not getting
a lot of hits with each strike. It's a slow process evidently.

[larryfulkerson]

More and more Finns are running up to the stop line. Pretty soon it will all be manned
and standing by. The Finns have done just about all the damage they can do just above
Leningrad. I'm wondering if I'll have any units I can peel off and ship to other parts
because there's priorities going on in other places too. I've got room to back up and
give ground a little bit in this area but in other areas it's more critical. I've got
a unit heading north to Murmansk and the supply levels are worse the closer he gets to
the port.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T28 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

More and more Finns are running up to the stop line. Pretty soon it will all be manned
and standing by. The Finns have done just about all the damage they can do just above
Leningrad. I'm wondering if I'll have any units I can peel off and ship to other parts
because there's priorities going on in other places too. I've got room to back up and
give ground a little bit in this area but in other areas it's more critical. I've got
a unit heading north to Murmansk and the supply levels are worse the closer he gets to
the port.

I hope you don't have a rail repair unit following north towards Murmansk burning dozens of hexes of repair you'll badly be missing in a few months. As is, I'm worried that the 7 railheads you've split into already are a few too many to get anything to the front in time.

[larryfulkerson]

I hope you don't have a rail repair unit following north towards Murmansk burning
dozens of hexes of repair you'll badly be missing in a few months. As is, I'm worried
that the 7 railheads you've split into already are a few too many to get anything to
the front in time.

I've got at least two places where there's only a single RR unit and they don't repair
very often but I'm using groups in the other places and so far they have been repairing
at most a couple of hexes at a time but progress is being made. I feel like I need all
those railheads for proper supply distribution to the front lines. I'd be glad to review
my policy reguarding RR repair locations and routes for you.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm sneaking up on Kharkov with my Italians, specifically an Italian recon unit. I
expect lots of Soviet units there defending so I'm going to have to wait until the
follow on forces reach the city before I try to surround it and take it down.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on around Sevastopol right now. There's a ring of LCU's around
the city that I'll have to defeat and the thing that makes it hard is all the Soviet
arty they have available and they are using it, take my word for it. I'm slowly
losing pieces of units everytime they bombard with those CD guns. The supply level
isn't the best just yet but it's rising and that's a good sign.

The Kerch strait is still bottled up, so far so good. I'm optimistic about this area.

[larryfulkerson]

I have a division headed for Murmansk but I've run into some Soviet resistance and
it looks like I'm going to need some more people for this operation to succeed. I'm
not in a big hurry to get to Murmansk but it would be nice to get there before the
winter mud sets in. I expect to have to pull back into better supply levels before
too long.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T29 front lines before I have moved anybody.