8MP Team Game - The Axis team

[Telemecus]

Turn 30 14-January-1942 Centre

Our lines of forts flanking Moscow still have not been reached by our opponents. And it looks like our opponents are giving up and looking south. We see Zhukov and 1st and 2nd shock armies in action south of the Oka. In one battle almost every Soviet combat unit suffers a 30% combat penalty and barely gets a win.

By keeping motorised units on reserve in size 4 towns we have combined the best of two worlds. The motorised units have received protection from the effects of first blizzard by staying in winter quarters during the logistics phase. But have reserve activated to tip the course of many battles. Moscow is surrounded by many size four towns to do this from. This has surely contributed to our opponents giving up in this area.

Soviet cavalry are being largely used in effect as good infantry on the first lines rather than in a mobile follow up role. In our turn counterattacking we even see Soviet cavalry corps routing back East. Crackaces leaps up and fist bumps the wall each time! Whatever the number of arms points the Soviet side has there is a hard limit on how many cavalry squads they can make every turn. Using cavalry as the hammer is taking a toll on the amount of cavalry they can deploy.

We have been using 103RHG as a combat corps packed with independent regiments, German cavalry but yes also some security units. The hope was that 103RHG could add to the command capacity of our HQs and provide units with a high probability of reserve activating behind the first line. Or in the worst case just provide a dummy unit with little CV that could at least bring lots of SUs to the battle. So it was disappointing to see 103RHG security units attacked without one SU committing in support. Until we saw the number of soviet tanks being lost. Some of these results are still a mystery to us, so we can only speculate that the tank brigades they have been using are very brittle indeed.



The only Soviet air activity across the whole map now is in the centre consisting of turn after turn of long range bombing in the same places in the Tula-Oka area.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

no it doesn't

Sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue unless you pay.

[timmyab]

Turn 30 Army group North

Summoned to the Wolf's lair earlier this week. I did think maybe a promotion or possibly my Western front transfer request had come through, but I fear not. In fact I'm not too certain exactly what it was about because the Fuhrer was ranting so wildly that he was literally foaming at the mouth and all but incoherent. I could swear I heard him use the phrase 'swinging from a meat hook' at one point, but couldn't be certain. Anyway the upshot is that I now realize that my army and corps commanders have been way too zealous in their eagerness to retreat in the face of the enemy and I have reprimanded them most severely. There will be no more retreating!

My hope that Roko's cav corps were leaving the Ilmen/Valdai area turns out to be wishful thinking. If anything they are being reinforced, possibly by the now missing cav corps from the Kalinin area. Reinforcements are sent to the most threatened areas East and West of Lake Seliger.

Some figthing around Kalinin still, but the cav corps have disappeared.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

.../..

PS will this graphic win me the coveted Matrix Forums graphic of the year award?

Waouh!!!! What a job!!!

You get my vote!

[thedude357]

Turn 30 Army Group South

Not much to report this turn. The blizzard continues. Not as many Soviet attacks on the line, and long range recon shows large concentrations of Soviet units near Stalingrad and Saratov.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

The Big Message from all of this is

STRATEGIC BOMBING WORKS

and it will still work in v1.11.02

(and I will bore you to tears with spreadsheets if you do not agree)

I would like to see this go head to head with a Soviet player that is prepared to defend industry from Strategic bombing. Should be interesting.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

no it doesn't

Explain.

[Telemecus]

Turn 30 Allocations
For information only - team allocations for turn 30.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

The Big Message from all of this is

STRATEGIC BOMBING WORKS

and it will still work in v1.11.02

(and I will bore you to tears with spreadsheets if you do not agree)

I would like to see this go head to head with a Soviet player that is prepared to defend industry from Strategic bombing. Should be interesting.

I think the 2by3+ team game had some of that. The strategic bombing effort was more sporadic but nevertheless has happened. The end result has not been a general bombing of everything but only a few attacks on the most vulnerable factories - which sometimes succeeded and sometimes did not. This was before the changes of v1.11.02 but if that is anything to go by you would see very little strategic bombing but with a few significant successes on factories that are still small and many more Soviet air groups and airbases along the Volga in 1941. Basically a quiet stalemate. To see many more games like this and in AARs would be great.

[Telemecus]

Turn 31 21-January-1942 Centre

South of our fort line 2 hexes have been going back and forth in control every turn. But apart from this yo-yo battle all the action is now south of the Oka

The Soviet Schwerpunkt is very much between the Oka and Tula with some hexes being attacked by multiple shock armies and over 100,000 men. We expect the kitchen sink to be listed in the battle reports in the things they are throwing at us next. Nevertheless our troops retire in good order and continue to counter attack reducing those restricted cavalry squads the soviets can produce. Yet more are routed back to the east. It is not pretty, but the hard defence we have planned in the centre is working. We are however bleeding our own AFVs which have remained deployed in these weather conditions. In particular large numbers of Jagdpanzers are lost.

[timmyab]

Turn 31 Army group North

The Soviet offensive is now concentrated in the area to the West of Torzhok where they push us back across a fifty mile front. Reinforcements are sent including SS Totenkopf, a corps from 18th army and one fresh OKH division.

Front line cities like Torzhok (circled) in this example are very useful to the Axis during the first blizzard. It acts like an immovable object and at the same time provides winter protection for high morale divisions while still enabling them to contribute to the defense.

[Telemecus]

Many thanks to timmyab for finding me the link to this video on the use of AA guns in the ground support role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48zE-hRAYEA

Until now I have been unconvinced. Not because I doubt it would be effective - I am sure it would be. But because I doubted it would be economical. They were used if needs meant it to had to be - rather like a spade is not a weapon but you would use it if you had to. Only the 88mm was designated as a weapon designed/intended for ground warfare

But in this video they make it clear not only were AA guns of other calibres used in a ground support role, but they were intended to be. They even made anti armour shells for them meaning it was a pre-meditated use.

[thedude357]

Turn 31 Army Group South

The blizzard continues. Plenty of Soviet attacks, but I am not going to be pushed around all winter. The Germans conduct several successful counterattacks which had LVII Panzer Corps and LV Corps shatter the 59th Rifle Brigade and routed the 81st Rifle Division and forced a retreat of the 146th Rifle Division. Who says there isn't a German blizzard offensive capability? 103rd RHG also beats up on some Soviet units near Voronezh and lets the Soviets know that they are still capable of attacks.

[leverkuhn]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

But in this video they make it clear not only were AA guns of other calibres used in a ground support role, but they were intended to be. They even made anti armour shells for them meaning it was a pre-meditated use.

I'm pretty sure I had seen that video. I guess now the question is settled.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: thedude357
Turn 31 Army Group South
103rd RHG also beats up on some Soviet units near Voronezh and lets the Soviets know that they are still capable of attacks.

Again huge numbers of Soviet AFVs being lost to German security regiments?

[Telemecus]

Turn 31 21-January-1942 Intelligence

Do you know the whereabouts of this man?

Last seen in the North on Turn 30 but been missing for more than a week now - his location is urgently required by Axis High commands. He is considered armed and dangerous, if spotted he should not be approached. Instead report to your nearest friendly Gestapo officer who will be very grateful. And if that is not enough we can also be very generous.

[SparkleyTits]

Yes those sec are havoc for our AFV!! I suspect that Rokossovsky and his cavalry have been redeployed to deal with them all! [:D]

[Telemecus]

Turn 31 Allocations
For information only - team allocations for turn 31.

[Telemecus]

Turn 32 28-January-1942 Centre

Our fort lines either side of Moscow still has not been reached. The fort built at Orel for the beginning of a defensive line there is looking very superfluos now! Between our fort lines and the Oka the yo-yo battle of 2 hexes continues. Niether side is strong enough to hold the hexes but are strong enough to take them from the other side while fortification levels remain low.

All the real action is now south of the Oka. Kreysing extracts nearly 2k of casualties from the Soviet side while still retreating in good order. And regiments continue to exact disproportionate casulaties from the enemy in defence. The long range ground bombing of Axis forces between the Oka and Tula continues and is now being met by concentrated batteries of flak waiting for them.

Counterattacks in our go see cavalry corps and guards divisions routing. We even have a case of one of our Panzer divisions reserve activating from its winter quarters in support of our attacks.

A number of battles see the use of 103RHG units where we do not care too much about the CV of the units involved but welcome the several extra support units they bring to the table causing extra disruption to the enemy.



Meanwhile the Soviets centre commander see his nemesis request a command transfer specifically so that he can see him in battle!

[EwaldvonKleist]

eanwhile the Soviets centre commander see his nemesis request a command transfer specifically so that he can see him in battle!

Yes, it was a funny surprise to see him appear right in front of me. Unfortunately for my nemesis, Zhukov was in place. IIRC I did only find out E v K (as opposed to EvK) is there through this battle, so the commitment of Zhukov against him was a coincidence.