S-T vs Mamluke To the blizzard and beyond!

[SparkleyTits]

Here's the OOB so far

[SparkleyTits]

And losses

Mamluke has done very well throughout winter to get decent ratios on losses which I think will be a massive pain come 42 [:-]

[beender]

Really a nice reading. The pics are so well arranged and above all, it is a fresh experience to start a aar with Soviet offensive!

[Mamluke]

Speaking of Turn 30

The offensive is still on going, but mostly in the South, where ever there is a concentration of 2 German infantry divisions per hex, attacks just falter, or at best I move 1 hex per turn.
by this time, several panzer regiments are showing up all along the Southern front line, they make hasty attacks problematic [:(] but the offensive doesn't stop until it reaches the cities of Orel and Kursk.

its a good time to explain why there was NO offensive towards Moscow:

1 - to take the City, it would require an encirclement, much ground would need to be taken, however the entire area was fortified and station with the best German infantry and even panzers, by December those hexes where all level 2 forts, and no doubt the hexes in the rear where all fortified as well, we are talking about defensive CV levels of 50 to 60 minimum, because of bad mobility in blizzard its almost impossible to cycle divisions for a 2nd attack, in others words, a single defeat could mean dozens of good quality rifle divisions would do nothing for a turn, I can't afford to have high quality armies doing nothing in December and January.


notice my initial CV! I was very lucky to win this battle, I did 3 more battles a few hexes South of Moscow, all in similar circumstances that a got a victory and some others similar battles I lost, with heavy casualties, I don't have the enormous manpower or even armaments reserves to waste digital lives like this.


2 - From previous Blizzard experiences, I learn that there comes a point where amassing more rifle divisions just does NOT add to the overall fire power because of bad mobility.
its much more productive to attack where ST was not prepared, to force him the spreed out his forces so he doesn't simply concentrate all of is best divisions in one specific part and stop the advance.

3 - with reason 2, it made far more sense to send those armies South or North.

4 - there will be time to reclaim Moscow, no reason to focus on it this year.


Far North

want to give a shout out to the U-2s, these little bastards can be quite useful, Soviet modern bomber production is actually lackluster until mid 1942, but U-2s are plentiful, with a top production of 64 per turn
the nigh bombers are ideal to stay close to static fronts or dangerous fronts with enemy air superiority, since then I won't care for there casualties.
they also appear to get more kills per raid, they are mostly used to bomb the Fins to oblivion!

not to mention, I might get me some night witches .






Battles

As requested to show off some battles, I will give 2 notable examples:



was surprised that I could pull this off, ST tells me that he keep the Romanians away from the fighting to avoid stuff like this, beating on the Romanians as Soviets is quite fun



a regular battle near Tula, what to take away from this is how my rifle divisions could stand up to a German attack, even in clear! the Initiative was truly mine, at least until the snow...

[SparkleyTits]

Week 32 report

1: It seems my stiffening of the line last turn had it's intended effect and persuaded Mamluke to bring all those cavalry to bear on the northern end of the theatre.
I put some regiments along the likely hot spots under the same command of the garrisoned infantry at VV, put that on reserve and hoped I hadn't made a stupid decision but to be honest after looking at this turn I am unsure if trying to get his power in one place I can not easily hold is wise now I see all of that CV [:D]
Worst comes to worth though I imagine there will just be a bulge that is reduced back once Feb, March hits which is more favourable to me than losing my fort line at this point which would mean more troops would be needed to hold the line come March onwards, something I most definitely do not want!!

Also you can see the Finns for the first time which has been pushing along slowly as much as they can. The Finns have been incessently grinding how and where they can which is a point me and Mamluke seemingly disagree on the usefulness after our chats

2: My bait didn't work quite as well as I hoped here and instead seemingly a compromise of force was sent by Mamluke to exploit the intended hole I gave so I have had to pull from Kursk to be safe this week as much as it pains me.....
With reinforcements arriving in this sector soon this area should not be as easy prey in the near future.
I hope that soon this area will stabilise properly as once Mamluke holds off on applying pressure here I should be able to hold the line and turn things around

3: At the top of the picture things are slowly coming to a halt by february things should be well under control there
The middle section of the picture I am a bit worried there is still a lot of strength here and with a dedicated lunge I could have to give some considerable ground but I am hoping my placement will give the illusion of strength
Near Stalino my slow retreat continues as I just don't have the bodies available to stop Mamluke everywhere yet

All in all everywhere is slowing down now and stabilisation along most of the front is happening just in time for February where I intend to grind morale with the infantry where I do not want to pull back my troops

The Reich will soon strike back!!!!

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits
Also you can see the Finns for the first time which has been pushing along slowly as much as they can. The Finns have been incessently grinding how and where they can which is a point me and Mamluke seemingly disagree on the usefulness after our chats

I have to say I am with SparkleyT on the point about using the Finns more. The Finnish army should not surrender in 1944 (??) as a big army but as small as possible. Use them up as fast as much as possible beforehand. Any substitution you can make of a dead German for a dead Finn is an Axis gain. I know that is a minority view though.