Connect Four Team Game

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The small armor/motorized group in this area could conceivably try for a breakthrough. As we have anticipated for several turns, the motorized troops under Manstein could drive north towards Lake Ilmen, while the armor under Reinhardt has reached the Volga. Armor doesn’t do well attacking across rivers, and there is no infantry support in this sector, but they could still do some mischief with luck pushing towards Torzhok. They seem to have abandoned the Torzhok route, with the FBD pulling out, but it could always come back if they get lucky here.

Farther to the west, our brave boys went out and reoccupied last turn’s battlefields, encouraging another slugfest next turn. As the American General Grant said during their capitalist revolution, “I will fight it out on these lines if it takes all summer.” Grant was a progressive, fighting on the side of history like us Marxist-Leninists, and he knew that the forces of reaction are fundamentally weak and can be ground down to nothing through attrition.

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In the central sector, 2nd Panzer Group attacked to the south of 3rd in the same sector, between Rzhev and Vyazma. They gained about one hex across the front, again without making much effort to penetrate our lines. A 3rd Panzer Group assault across the Volga at Rzhev was unsuccessful. A 9th Army assault against Vyazma was also unsuccessful, though they did gain the two hexes on the flanks of the city, setting up a 3-hex assault next turn.

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In this theater, we stiffened the defenses of Vyazma and awaited the next move of the panzerball. I anticipate a continued drive straight east by 3rd Panzer Group and a drive to the southeast by 2nd Panzer Group. The infantry will probably clear Vyazma this turn. I may find myself with a partial pocket of Western Front next turn if 2nd PzG has a lot of fuel stockpiled. I can’t be strong everywhere – but I would hate to lose those fine Zhukov units. I did my best to buttress my defenses with enough blockers to limit the damage, and in any case our opponents have not shown a lot of interest in dramatic pocketing moves. Tenth Army to the south of the Oka River now faces a significant infantry threat as German 4th Army concentrates to the north. We evacuated most of the factories from the Bryansk region, so I can give ground here if I need to. I hope they don’t have enough movement to get to Kaluga.

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In the south, light Axis mobile forces pushed at our screen along the Azov coast, while the heavy German armor of 1st Panzer Group and LIV Corps of 11th Army re-closed the Zaporozhye pocket, very firmly this time. At least one corps of 17th Army is moving southeastward, presumably to provide more infantry support to the offensive in this area.

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We responded to the presence of weak Hungarian forces on the extreme south of the line with a quick counter-attack. The results justified our daring – one brigade was shattered and two others retreated with little loss to us. We detected two armored headquarters just south of Zaporozhye protected by a mere couple of Italian divisions and decided to go after them with less stunning results – the HQ’s were not displaced and three of our cavalry divisions ended up hanging out in the middle of the Axis position with no support. The rest of our forces in this district began a move towards what we expect to be our turn 17 stop line, the Kalmius river to the Donbass cities, then around to the Samara River. A sweep around our blocking forces by 1st Panzer Group would once again have the armor in this area going north to south instead of west to east. We left the factories in the Donbass cities to encourage German forces to overextend themselves.

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We continued to put pressure on the Axis air forces this turn with aggressive bombing campaigns. Total air losses were 259 Axis (including 40 German fighters) to 737 Soviet. They have been making adjustments, massing airfields, putting in AAA, evacuating tired squadrons to the rear, trying to reduce their air losses, but are still suffering losses above replacement in most categories. On the ground, they lost 31,362 to our 85,347. This is just about replacement level for them and well below for us. Total deployed manpower was 4,429,603 for us (up about 60K from last time) to 5,016,172 Axis (3,430,458 German, down about 15K from last turn). In the air, we have 5695 (down about 350) and they have 2270 (down about 150).

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Connect 4 AAR, Soviet turn 15

Here again are the intelligence maps I distributed to my teammates at the beginning of the turn. For the northern front, the only striking change is the disappearance of the remaining units of 4th Panzer Group from the sector.

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They are to be found in the central sector supporting their armor in a push on the upper Volga north of Rzhev.

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And to the south, armor masses southeast of Dnepropetrovsk:

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German turn 15 saw a continuation of their line of action over the last several turns. A grinding offensive continued in the north. This turn, several of the German attacks were successful, though at significant cost. X Corps of 16th Army pushed forward a hex north of Pskov, while two corps of 18th Army gained a single hex south of Narva. The German attackers in the Narva sector now benefit from better supply since the Germans have repaired the port at Talinn in Estonia. Model’s I Corps of 18th Army unsuccessfully took on a powerful stack from Vatutin’s 23rd army at the eastern end of Leningrad Front’s sector. Farther to the south, 18th and 16th Army troops were unable to move Northwest Front. Army Group North’s mobile force, 4th Panzer Group, has moved to the Volga and now faces our Central Region.

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Here, we launched a few counterattacks against 16th Army’s positions in the Lovat River basin. The Germans had made the mistake of staffing their front line with infantry regiments – fine when a mere screen of Soviet units confronts you, but not so smart when the Soviets are two or three divisions per hex. We’ve picked up a lot of victories, so many that when we opened the event log for this turn we were shocked to discover that we had gotten no new Guards infantry divisions. Turns out you have a cap of 5% of each unit type to convert to Guards in 1941, and we now have 15 Guards Rifle divisions out of 314 infantry units. We have another 13 infantry units with more than 6 victories who will presumably be eligible to convert in January 1942, when the limit goes up to 10% (and six victories will be needed to make you eligible for Guards conversion instead of 1941’s 5). Unfortunately, no Guards Armies on the horizon; the most victories for one of our armies is for Zhukov’s 13th, which has 29. You need 67 at this point to be eligible for Guards conversion.

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In the Central Region, the Germans made the same sort of broad-front attack, but this time with three Panzer Groups abreast. Fourth Panzer Group was unsuccessful in a broad offensive across the Volga River from Rzhev northwards. Third Panzer Group pushed another hex forward south of Rzhev, while Second Panzer Group and supporting infantry from 9th Army took on Zhukov’s 13th Army and Kuznetsov’s 3rd around Vitebsk, with mixed results. German 4th Army, spread out across a wide front to the south of the Ugra River, made a few attacks and gained a hex.

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Here, we strengthened our defenses and awaited developments. It looks right now like the Germans are pushing three tank armies abreast straight eastwards. Fourth Panzer Group is sure to be able to cross the Volga at some point – now they have infantry support – but probably won’t have too much gas to advance afterwards. We did bring in some reserves from the north to slow a breakthrough north of Rzhev if it occurs. I think it would have been better for them to concentrate their forces. Second and Third PzGp can be expected to continue to drive due east towards Moscow. We withdrew our Guards formations one or two hexes to prevent them from being forced to retreat – instead, they will dig fall-back positions for the front line guys and prevent armored breakthroughs.

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The region from Orel to the Dnepr near Cherkassy saw light forces on both sides fencing for position. The German FBD in that area moved north instead of east, apparently aiming to build a connection with the northern rail net. Another FBD is driving south from Smolensk towards Bryansk; the two could hook up by December. German 6th Army tried a three-pronged attack south of the Desna but was unable to pocket any of our forces.

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In this region, we were able to disengage and continue our slow retreat. There’s a lot of German infantry in that area that could probably have been better employed nearer the main effort either near Moscow or down by Stalino.

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The southern front saw a push by 1st Panzer Group’s XIV Panzer Corps towards the Donbass cities, while the other two corps did a more restrained sweep to cut off about five divisions along the Dnepr south of Denpropetrovsk. Light mobile forces once again appeared along the Azov shore, loosely pocketing our own screening forces in that region. Divisions of 17th Army surrounded Zaporozhye, but no effort was made to rout out or destroy our isolated forces at any point, leaving our units to ZOC-block supply deliveries to forward units next turn.

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We responded to XIV Panzer Corps’ daring advance with a similarly daring counteroffensive. Our 54th Army got a new commander, Vasiliy Gordov, and stepped out of the trenches around Stalino to surround and attack 24th Panzer Division. Unfortunately, most of these divisions were unskilled replacements and the veterans of 24th Panzer defended their positions successfully. At any rate, we were able to cut off supplies to the whole corps, meaning that they will find it difficult to pocket us in their turn. Northwards, we stiffened our defenses along the Volchya and Samara River lines, bringing down 26th Army, one of our best armies from Southwestern Front.

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We began to withdraw our best units to the rear in Northern Region, and to withdraw cavalry from Southern Region. We are putting them on refit status on rail hexes at least 11 hexes behind the line. That way they will have the best chance of filling up to 100 TOE and will also gain at least three morale a turn until they reach their maximum morale (55 in the case of Guards Rifle units). The cavalry will be ready for conversion to corps as soon as possible after winter begins. We would have done this in the Central Region as well, except for those three pesky Panzer Groups driving towards Moscow.

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Total losses this turn were 103,634 for us and 39.257 for the Axis. Aircraft losses were 562 to 209 (including 42 German fighters). Deployed forces were 4,508,956 for us (up about 80k) to 5,019,744 Axis (3,422,290 German, up about 3k). From an attrition standpoint, we are doing pretty well, I think. Everything depends on how successful the Axis attacks are over the next two turns.

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Connect 4 Soviet AAR, turn 16

I'm not going to include the intel maps in this AAR since the information they contain is pretty much duplicated in the discussion below.

Turn 16 was quite exciting across our front, as strong Axis offensives were met by full strength Soviet counterattacks. We are preparing some of our forces for winter operations, especially in the north.

Preparation for the winter offensive was an important goal this turn. We have been trying to get high quality units, especially Guards but also high-morale and high-experience non-Guards units, out of the main line. If possible, we have been placing them more than 10 hexes to the rear on rail lines in refit mode so that they can get up to 100% TOE and regain morale. We have been pulling cavalry out of the line and refitting it in the same way in anticipation of being able to form cavalry corps starting turn 25. We only have one Guards cavalry division and one other with 4 victories, so we aren’t going to start out with any Guards Cavalry Corps. Hopefully, we’ll pick up some in the course of the winter.

As far as strategic planning for the winter is concerned, we are going to have to react to what the Axis does. If they elect to press the attack during the snow turns, then we will have the opportunity to launch offensives attempting to cut off significant elements in December/January. If they play it safe and withdraw their mobile forces to garrison positions once mud starts, then we will start planning for a series of spoiling attacks that will wind down in February, when we shift over to defensive preparations for the coming June. I have seen both scenarios play out in games I’ve been involved in. If the Axis makes a lot of progress in the Barbarossa year, then tries to hold on when the counter-attack comes, they can get badly punished. If they give ground, they save troops and the Soviets are invited to suffer a bunch of casualties trying to fight at the end of a long supply line. The first winter can be quite quiet if the Axis retreats and the Soviets just take the offered territory. Depending on what tack our opponents take in the coming ten turns, this AAR could be very dull for the next six months or so of real time!

However, this turn will at least make up for some of that anticipated tedium. In the north, German 18th Army continued their grinding offensive. Two corps, stacked at maximum density, pushed forward almost to the Estonian border at Narva but were unable to cross the river. Our boys were reminded of the struggle of Peter the Great’s troops against the Swedish invaders in this same area in the Great Northern War. Even though Peter was Tsar and an aristocrat, he was a progressive for his day, and the Swedes were imperialists like our German enemies. Sergei Eisenstein will be making us a movie about Peter.

Northeast of Pskov, the so-called German genius Model is not covering himself with glory. This is the second turn that his corps has attacked unsuccessfully. See-saw fighting continued in the Valdai Hills, with 16th Army pushing us back from the ground they took last turn but once again not claiming their captured turf. Obviously they are trying to bleed our forces in this area, but I continue to feel that a 2:1 or even 3:1 loss ratio at this point in the war is a victory for the motherland.