S-T vs Mamluke To the blizzard and beyond!

[SparkleyTits]

Here with a new AAR starting from from the blizzard onwards to 42 and beyond

I am Axis
Mamluke is Soviet

Options are Random weather, full blizzard, no bonus, better CV

Quick run down of 41 I got Leningrad, Moscow but no Voronezh or Rostov

Manpower- 3.5 mil kills for 470k Axis losses
Fighters/fighter bombers- 8800 kills for 475 Axis losses
Bombers- 4700 kills for 1350 Axis losses

[Telemecus]

+1 subscribed

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits
Fighters/fighter bombers- 8800 kills for 475 Axis losses

Do you have a figure for single seater Axis fighters?

[SparkleyTits]

Second turn of blizzard we see Mamlukes first offensive actions

Voronezh theatre is in dire need of help Hitler promises that all needed reinforcements are certainly on there way already and the situation should soon be stabilised [:D]

In the north there seems to be a fairly considerable offensive and my line there is fairly long there so some stress is taken from the get go however we still hold back a corp in the area and see how the situation develops

Moscow is a fortress and it seems Maluke is not willing to bash his head through it at the moment but we feel it is prudent to wait another week

[SparkleyTits]

Here are the air losses

I focused almost entirely on Soviet fighters especially moderns & treated Axis fighters with as great a care as could be had

[SparkleyTits]

Week 27

1: In desperate need to free up troops northward along the line we have been forced to pull back
2: The Voronezh sector is still builing pressure so we enact a temporary solution to use our mountain forces to be used as an elastic band until reinforcements arrive
It is a shame about the fatigue this will cause but it is our only real option to slow Mamluke down for now
3: We decide to try a fighting retreat around the Tula area and use the recently arriving sec units as speed bumps yet again until proper reinforcements arrive

I am not happy with the escalating situation occuring from Tula southward and I have of course fired many of the generals who are at fault (Everybody but me) in lew of more zealous commanders

[TheLysander]

Very nice AAR, like the format. It would be nice though to see some of the action reports in order to see some of the losses taken in some assaults to get a sense of the brutality [:)]. Another thing but is it me or do the soviets have a lot of artillery pieces?

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: TheLysander
Another thing but is it me or do the soviets have a lot of artillery pieces?

It is not you - they do.

I guess the basic Soviet army will always be lots of rifles and lots of artillery - that is their bread and butter. With that the Soviet armed forces can advance through sheer numbers. Anything else is a nice to have add-on for them

[Mamluke]

Hello everyone!

this will be my 1st AAR, so I hope to tell an interesting Story.
Inspired by the "tyronec (Axis) vs Grognard1812. Grognard welcome" AAR. I wanted to do an "joint" AAR and heaving discussed this with ST, he agreed, so here we are.

So I want to give you guys a very brief summary of the war in summer.

During the summer, I believed that the good division (+40 exp and +40 morale) under great leaders was the key to a successful defensive strategy, not only because of higher CV but especially because of higher construction value!
So I marked all good divisions, be it tank or Infantry with a strong red color.
Religiously, I counted all Panzer and motorize divisions and tracked then in my spreed sheet. this would proved very helpful in determining where I should stand and fight, where I needed to stage a fighting retreat and where I need to withdraw ASAP, as seen below.



another cool thing, I can keep copy+pasting the turns below, thus giving me past material to help me guess the location of explicit divisions, if on transfer to another front or just staying in the rear.

I would learn that failure to take all of this in to account can result in disaster!
My biggest example was in the battle for Moscow, while I noted that 2nd and 5th panzer division would show up by turn 13 and be ready for offensive operations turn 15, I ... forgot about that during the chaos that was the battle for Moscow at the Northern pincer, (recon did not show any units in the Vyazma area.) and as result, a pocket was created just one hex west of Moscow, with 8 good divisions of Rokossovsky 20th army with some more rifle divisions



Fun fact. This pocket, while a terrible loss, still served a purpose, as it made a transfer of units from the over-committed north pincer to the South pincer impractical, if not impossible as this pocket can boast defensive values of 40-50 CV!
so in a way, it kind of mirrored the historical Vyazma pocket , however, unlike the historical Vyazma pocket, it did NOT prevent the fall of Moscow .

In the end, Field Marshall ST would decided to liquidate the pocket by overwhelming force in the final turns of summer(using actual panzer divisions), does giving Moscow time until mud.
turn 17 after moves.


My failure to see that those 3 hexes North east of Moscow would be the city's Doom, because I believed that path could not be exploited properly due to ZoC issues.

Also, I had about 300K to 400K encircled in the far North + Leningrad by turn 14/15, the ONLY positive is that I only lost North Leningrad by turn 25, the last turn before the Blizzard...
So yeah, that was my Kiev disaster.

If you have any question or are looking for specific information, do NOT hesitate to ask!!

ORIGINAL: TheLysander

Very nice AAR, like the format. It would be nice though to see some of the action reports in order to see some of the losses taken in some assaults to get a sense of the brutality [:)]. Another thing but is it me or do the soviets have a lot of artillery pieces?

I did build some arty regiments, about 15 to 20 arty regiment RVGK, my favorite arty SU, nice mix of 122mm and 152mm, also quite some Mortar battalions as well and a few AT regiments.

OK, I will take care to show off some worthy battles from no own, most after turn 30 I'm afraid.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

OMG, it was great until the spreadsheet ;-P

[Mamluke]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

OMG, it was great until the spreadsheet ;-P

HAHA, cruel burn there

don't know why, really wanted to share the Tank tracker "app"
and you need to get with the times HLYA, embrace the spreadsheet culture!

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Mamluke

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

OMG, it was great until the spreadsheet ;-P

HAHA, cruel burn there

don't know why, really wanted to share the Tank tracker "app"
and you need to get with the times HLYA, embrace the spreadsheet culture!

You know it is all good . I'm just fooling around as always :-}. I'm looking forward to more post and lots more smiley faces for those that hate them :}

[Mamluke]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: Mamluke

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

OMG, it was great until the spreadsheet ;-P

HAHA, cruel burn there

don't know why, really wanted to share the Tank tracker "app"
and you need to get with the times HLYA, embrace the spreadsheet culture!

You know it is all good . I'm just fooling around as always :-}. I'm looking forward to more post and lots more smiley faces for those that hate them :}

yeah man, its all good, I made that jab because I know you are not a "spreadsheet guy" [:D]

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Mamluke

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: Mamluke




HAHA, cruel burn there

don't know why, really wanted to share the Tank tracker "app"
and you need to get with the times HLYA, embrace the spreadsheet culture!

You know it is all good . I'm just fooling around as always :-}. I'm looking forward to more post and lots more smiley faces for those that hate them :}

yeah man, its all good, I made that jab because I know you are not a "spreadsheet guy" [:D]

You never know, I could go down that "Rabbit Hole" that begins at the top in RED ;-P

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Anyway all kidding aside. How is Moscow doing. I know this was the BIG debate in the chat channel on Discord

[SparkleyTits]

Deleted

[SparkleyTits]

Deleted

[SparkleyTits]

Moscow is currently in the AAR still holding strong since it's liberation on week 23 and has experienced nothing more than a couple of probing attacks and I think 1 hex lost between Moscow and the Oka

[Mamluke]

All right, time to get on to the Blizzard offensive!, we are playing on full Blizzard and it's my 1st time with out the +1, I must say, it was a dreadful summer, felling that the red army had no TEETH what so ever, despite 1 or 2 successful attacks that actually made a difference... in the entire summer!

But those days are over! its reinvigorating to be on the offensive.

Let me show you my starting positions on 4-12-1941, the 1st turn of December(turn 25), I don't have detailed pictures on the South front, which is ironic since it would be my main blow.


North Moscow front - Turn 25



Interesting story, those impressive looking red rifle divisions are the 27th army under Zhukov himself, with 6 great rifle divisions, 2 of my best tank brigades, 1 (at the time) great tank division and 1 naval brigade.
During the summer I reason that if I fortified Moscow well, a wide encirclement would be the only option, thus, I plan to force the enemy to cross the MC canal river north of Moscow, effectively marked as my "NOT A STEP BACK" line.
I would make resistance in a way to avoid a small encirclement as much as possible, making it unfeasible to encircle the city before mud.
To my dismay, those 3 simple hexes North of the city would decide everything...

So, I was not sure if the 27th army should stay there, the area South-west was/is heavily fortified, the fact that my best offensive army would get to do little during December was insane![:-]
In the end, I decided that pressure was needed further North, where enemy fortification efforts came too little too late. If I can tie German divisions and attention in this area, making the job much easier for the cavalry and armies of the South,
it was already a victory I reason, besides, if I was going to mount an effective attack in this area. I would need a commander like Zhukov...

Last reason why I wanted to attack here, is because I wanted to keep the dam Germans away from my sweet Volga!! for I am a jealous GO# hrr. I mean, Volga marks an important border, yea, that's it.

Far North - Turn 25



With such a thin line, no way I could ignore this area [;)], took some time, but the offensive hit hard by 2nd turn of Blizzard. The Fins would remain aggressive well in to the winter, astonish that GHC / FHC would think this is a good idea,
I'm fine with this attitude, with defensive battles, I have the best shot at causing causalities while receiving few in return (Soviet Standards). Need to keep a attentive guard in this theater...

Of the 18 Cavalry corps, the entire far North would receive just 2. all the others would be in the South of the Oka river.

I will talk about my set up of the cavalry corp for the winter, using a often overlook support unit, the sky battalion.
Its actually a very interesting and super efficient unit, with just under 700 men, it packs quite the CV for its size! thanks to the fact that its CV triples during the blizzard.
I will put 2 sky battalions and 1 sapper regiment per Cavalry Corps. I think this set up helps to give the Corps a needed punch in hasty attacks.
to summarize:
1 - Light on Manpower, light on armaments with only a few mortars.
2 - A battalion, so light on AP.
3 - Alternatives are few, Low light tank production means creating tank battalion is a bad idea, better to focus on tank brigades.
4 - When created in bulk, those that didn't went to the Cav corps can be distributed to Armies that lack Artillery.
I created about 60 of these units.

Let me show you a live performance!



the ski battalion(14 CV) has more then 1/3 the CV of a rifle brigade! imagine that, awesome for a 600ish men unit and this guy was in the 30sih experience.

To my mind, the only downside is that recruitment of said SU can only begin in November, thus only 3 or 4 effective turns of training, however the Urals M.D will help in that regard



Only those that reach 24 / 25 experience will move on to STAVKA.

In my opinion, it also has an interesting 2nd ToE, so it shouldn't be forgotten for the second winter.
KEEP IN MIND, these examples are for turn 33, NOT in December.




Time for the High lights of the Southern offensive, all of which happen about turn 28 - 25-12-1941.
Every hex South of Tula was occupied by a single infantry regiment, so my cavalry supported by tank brigades stormed ahead with hasty attacks non stop.

the Germans use Mountain specialist spread along west of the Orel-Kharkov axis, much to my frustration! much harder to pull off hasty attacks against those bastards.
But, German stubbornness will cost then dearly! their souls are MINEEEEE!




the road to Orel looks open!

[SparkleyTits]

Week 29
We missed week 28 as our war archivists was shot on the field and his recordings seemingly taken to STAVKA so unfortunately we have no records of the war for then
(I most definitely did not forget to take pictures)

Right on to the war!!

1: North of Moscow Soviet troops seem to be trickling in increasing numbers ever further NW.
Axis boffins assure me the strength is being redirected to the area from the Moscow theatre.
So far it seems Mamluke tends to shy away from hardpoints and looks for the more squishy areas to sink his teeth into for quick and easy gains
This starts to paint a picture that his objectives are not set in stone and that he is aiming to take advantage of my own mistakes wherever I give them to him.
I believe this can be used to my advantage as if I appear weak in a place of my choosing I can dictate how and why Mamluke reacts

We begin to plan of ways we can use this now reoccuring pattern to Axis advantage.

2: The past two weeks have seen a death struggle east of Belgorod for a regiment of of the 1st mountain.
We arrive on the battlefield to asses the situation today and we are told that another regiment of the 1st has decided to run northwards after a skirmish to help relieve their brothers in arms.....
This was against direct order and now they are also going to die for their very silly mistake

The current situation in the theatre has spooked the men enough that they start to crack and give ground this will be archived and the men punished either indirectly or otherwise as they were explicitly told
to wait until reinforcements....

Speaking of which our first drabs of forces start to trickle into the front come the beginning of Janurary ready to fight for the fatherland and throw back these rather rude communists trying to take back
their now happily liberated land
We have had to assure the men on multiple occasions that all the delays in reinforcements were merely logistical & other unfortunate mishaps as some whispers were heard that this was intentional
We most definitely have the mens best interests at heart first and foremost and anyone who says otherwise will be swiftly reminded of their folly by myself personally......

3: At the Stalino front the news has a more positive note albeit still tinged with danger
Our forces under Reich hero Rendulic have successfully conducted a series of attacks while enacting a fighting retreat this is a considerable boon to the situation as our forces are heavily outnumbered in
This sector so I am having to use the corp both offensively and defensively to make up the disadvantages currently experienced in the area
(Let's just hope I do not break them with such constant unyielding orders)
He is freeing up a considerable amount of strain from our allies and forces along this sector as I fear without his corp in the vincinity our valiant Rums would be hard pressed to hold in any real means

End of report for week 29

[SparkleyTits]

Week 30

1: As started last week I have started to try and think of ways to use Mamlukes opportunist attacks to my advantage so I decide to pull my line back to prepared forts and stiffen everywhere but the northern end
My hopes are that Mamluke will try to hammer where I am weak which seems to be his profile as of yet and most of all I want to keep those cav at the northern tip of the front where they are more easily controlled and have less opportunity to become a hassle

Closer to Moscow I reorganise my defence to match Mamluke now I feel safe enough to do so saving me a total of 5 divisions to send elsewhere

2: I try the same again with the sec units by leaving him a nice load of easy wins and the bait of piercing my lines as if he attacks here where my planned reinforcements from Moscow will arrive I should be able to control attacks there within a couple of weeks as he continues to stretch his forces thinner.
Hopefully that should buy my units time to hold around the Kursk/Belegrod/Kharkov area as against any kind of dedicated attack from the forces he has in that area at the moment I see little to no chance of being able to hold or control the flow for at least another month here

I try to hold fast near Kursk in hopes of holding it and hopefully also giving a little added persuasion to Mamluke to move his priority forces to the SEC regis

Near Belgorod I decide to pull back as I cannot stand up to those cav there yet without risking a line that is not yet ready to fight back
I am hoping to change this within the next few weeks as I decide to send a couple of my lower garrisons here to stiffen ready to turn around the defensive actions come Febuary

All in all this sector depends a lot of my reading Mamluke correctly so I am very anxious to click end turn here as if I get this wrong then this could likely become quite a chaotic area throughout Febuary which would have some pretty crappy effects for my plans

3: I accidentally miscalculate my MP so means the yellow star unit is stuck where I did not want it hopefully I do not lose it!

Apart from that some new reinforcements trickle into the sector from the Crimea and my hopes there are that I can create a northern hinge able to hold ASAP and on the eastern sector I will continue to retreat to Stalino to buy time until I can force a few more bodies into the mix

End of week 30