A Clash of Titans, Xhoel (Axis) vs Bitburger (Soviet)

[xhoel]

AGC

Soviet attacks in the Rzhev sector were successful in pushing back our units deployed along the Volga as well as pushing back the 6th ID deployed further to the east. An attack directly north of Rzhev was stopped cold by our Grenadiers. We redeployed our forces and launched 2 counterattacks that managed to push the Soviets back.





The fighting in the Kaluga-Tula sector intensified last week as the Soviets are pushing fanatically with no regards about their losses. All 4 attacks launched last week were successful and Tula has now become a frontline city. We launched a counterattack, dislodging the Soviets from the outskirts of the city and have reinforced our forward positions and are hoping that our troops will hold the line as it is. Tula should remain in our hands!





The enemy pushed hard in the Orel-Kursk sector last week. We managed to hold the Soviets back in two locations. Everywhere else we have been pushed back but the enemy has been unable to secure the gains made. We launched one counterattack east of Orel, recovered the ground lost last week and reinforced the positions east of Kursk.

[xhoel]

AGS

The Kharkov sector was bustling with activity last week. The Soviets launched 5 successful attacks and we also had a Partisan attack that destroyed rail lines in the rear. The 9th Rum. Cav Brigade was dispatched to deal with the partisans and did so successfully. We gave ground in various places and also counterattacked some weak Soviet forces. The mobile reserves are still being held back for now.





The enemy was less successful in the Stalino-Rostov sector. Our forces managed to hold their ground in two instances last week. The Soviets pushed us back from our position north of Rostov but were unable to secure the ground. We retook the position and have deployed the 1st Mtn. Division and the 97th Light Infantry Division here. Both divisions are severly understrength though and we are unsure for how much longer we can hold without reinforcements. Important to note was the Soviet attack on a crucial rail line that is supplying the whole sector here. We were saved by the quick deployment of labor battalions which managed to repair the rail in record time.

[xhoel]

Crimea

The weather in the Crimea has finally softened. Now only light snow is falling and we are sure that the worst is now history. The 239th ID has been pulled from the defensive duties and is preparing to move by rail to the Rostov sector. Rail repair is continuing at full speed.



Casualties
Ground

The Soviets suffered very heavy casualties this week, exceeding 100.000 men lost. Permanent losses (KIA and captured) amounted to a staggering 41.000 men, while the Axis permanent losses were around 8.000 men. The enemy also lost around 1.200 guns as opposed to around 500 Axis guns lost. AFV losses were moderate.



Air

The Axis lost a lot of aircraft this week. 21 Transport planes were lost and production cannot keep up with such attrition losses but frontline units need ammunition to hold the positions so this a gamble we have to undertake. Losses in bombers were also heavy as the VVS was quite defensivly active in the air this week.



The truck deficit remains at 40.000 trucks.

[chaos45]

remember if that's the airlanding division in the crimea I believe it withdraws at some point so don't get caught by surprise if it just disappears and leaves you with no frontline on the east side of the crimea.

[BrianG]

remember if that's the airlanding division in the crimea I believe it withdraws at some point so don't get caught by surprise if it just disappears and leaves you with no frontline on the east side of the crimea.

not until June/ early July 42.


Although, I would be concerned with that Russian troop concentration north of Sevastopol. Spring cleanup?

[xhoel]

@chaos45: The Airlanding division withdraws on turn 55 so I have enough time until then.

@BrianG: I am not really concerned about the Soviets there. They had their chance to attack during the blizzard and they didn't take it. I will probably assault Sevastopol in the Spring. It will get very bloody :/

[xhoel]

T35, 12th of February-19th of February 1942
General Situation

The fighting intensity died down last week. The Soviets conducted 11 attacks, of which 3 were held back by our forces and the rest succeeded. This may be a sign that the Soviets are preparing for the oncoming March and that the offensive may slow down in the coming weeks but we cannot rely on such hopes when planning for the future.



AGN

The Finnish Army continued their attacks this week and routed 2 Rifle Divisions and 1 Rifle Brigade. The Valdai sector has been quiet but both recon and intelligence reports indicate a major Soviet buildup in the area.

[xhoel]

AGC

The Soviets only launched 2 attacks last week on the north-western side of Rzhev and only one of them was successful. Our positions are ok for now, but we will need to reinforce them if we want the Soviet offensive to stop.





The good news is that the Kaluga-Tula sector has been quiet for the first time in more than 2 months. No Soviet attacks were conducted and the Soviets have even pulled back from their forward positions south of Tula. We are remaining vigilant however and keeping our guard up.





In the Orel-Kursk sector the enemy only launched 3 attacks but they took a heavy toll on us. We suffered heavy losses but the enemy failed to secure the new ground gained. We have recovered the positions and reinforced certain key points in the defense however we are still weak in some areas.

[xhoel]

AGS

In the area around Kharkov the Soviets launched 3 attacks. 1 of them was held back by a combination of Italian and Hungarian forces, which showed their strength, much to our surprise. We weren't that lucky in the other two instances and took heavy losses during the retreat. The enemy has shifted strong forces further south and is putting pressure on us there.





The Stalino sector also saw a lot of action this week and the losses were quite high in all battles. We managed to hold back 1 attack out of 4. The enemy has been unable to secure the gains made and we have pulled back a bit to allow for a buffer zone between us and the Soviets.





Due to recon and intelligence information of a massing of enemy forces, we reinforced our defensive line on the frozen Don river, west of Rostov. The fresh 16th Mot. Division was railed in from Belgorod and is being held in reserve for any eventuality. We still need to hold these positions for 3 more weeks.

[xhoel]

Crimea

The situation in the Crimea is stable. The 239th ID has been pulled off the front and is moving towards Rostov as we speak. FBD 2 has begun repairing the rail that will connect Crimea to Stalino. Recon indicates that the Soviets are digging in preparing for the spring.



Casualties
Ground

The lowered fighting intensity is reflected in the casualty count. The Soviets lost 79.000 men this week while the Axis lost 27.000. Permanent losses (KIA+Captured) ratio stands at 4:1 in our favor for the week. The enemy has lost 350 AFVs this week (including SP and AC).



Air

Level bomber losses show a slight spike because of an interception where they were caught without escorts but all other losses are good.



The motor pool is at a 40.000 truck deficit.

[SparkleyTits]

Great stuff as always man

Looking forward to seeing you back on the offensive!

[xhoel]

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

Great stuff as always man

Looking forward to seeing you back on the offensive!

Thanks ST. Am looking forward to that myself. I do quite enjoy defensive play but the dreaded blizzard takes a real toll on the Germans and makes me micromanage a lot of stuff!

[xhoel]

T36, 19th of February- 26th of February 1942
AGN

The Finnish Army launched 2 attacks this week, 1 of them succeed in pushing the Soviets back from their positions but the other one in the far north failed in doing so. The Novogorod sector is quiet and seems that it will remain that way until March.





AGC

The Soviets attacked our weak positions in the Rzhev sector and pushed our troops back but were unable to secure the territory. We retook the lost ground and reinforced our units here with one additional Infantry Division.





No attacks were conducted in the Kaluga-Tula sector. The front remains static here.



The enemy launched 3 attacks in front of Kursk causing heavy losses to our defenders. The 36th Mot. Division especially took very heavy losses. The Soviets gave ground in front of Orel though. In here we launched 1 counterattack that routed a Soviet Rifle Division. Counterattacks were also launched north-east of Prokohovka, and forced the Soviets to abandon their positions.

[xhoel]

AGS

The last three attacks of the week were conducted in the Kharkov sector. We took heavy losses in the south, especially the Romanians but were able to launch a counterattack this week that routed a Soviet Rifle Brigade.





Nothing to report from Rostov and the Crimea. The front remained stable and no attacks were conducted by either side.





The commander of the 17th Army General Stulpnagel was relieved and General Jodl took command of the 17th Army. The dismissal was not that welcome because Jodl is a poor infantry leader although he is a good staff officer.

Also intelligence services reported that the Soviets have as many as 29 Guard Rifle Divisions, which apparently have been all sent to the rear far away from were our recon can identify them and are without a doubt conducting training manoeuvres.

[xhoel]

Casualties

The Axis forces have reached 1 million casualties in the Eastern Theater. The Soviets lost another 320 AFVs this week as well as almost 23.000 KIAs. Axis KIAs remained at 6.300 men.

In the air the transport losses continue to increase, with 9 TPs lost this week. The Soviets have crossed the 18.000 aircraft lost mark.

[xhoel]

T37, 26th of February-5th of March 1942
General Situation:

The last week of February has arrived. The Soviet offensive seems to have died down completely, there were no attacks conducted last week (making it the calmest week since the war begun) and the Soviets have begun giving ground and pulling back. We have decided to not pursue them for the time being and are awaiting for the blizzard to end before we make our moves. The winter has taken a terrible toll on the Wehrmacht. Many Infantry Divisions are at 55 Morale, most of them hover in the 55-65 range and very few are close to 70. We are pulling many units back for R&R but much more needs to be done. A conclusive report about the fighting during the blizzard will be posted in the next update (turn 38). I will try to keep this report short as there is little to show. I have included a lot of information on the pictures and am looking forward to comments from the readers.

AGN

The main thing in the north will be the reorganization of forces there, as the Kannas Finnish Army will be reinforced by a German Infantry Corps in order to decrease the load of command that the 16th Army has to deal with.






AGC

The situation in the Center is not that good even though the CV tells a different story. 2 Corps that are defending north-west of Rzhev need to be pulled back immediately for R&R as their units have been beaten up badly (see pictures below).







The units in the Kaluga-Tula sectors have not fared any better. Here we will also need to pull back 1 full Corps (3 Divisions) and also several other uniits for R&R. The heavy fighting has left deep marks on the formations fighting in the Moscow flanks. The offensive plan for March sees little action in these two sectors. We will need to secure 3 key hexes in order to improve the supply situation in the sector however.





In the Orel-Kursk sector, the enemy started to pull back slowly but our units are under orders to not pursue them, even though forward elements have recovered the territory abandoned by the enemy.



A lot of units from Army Group Center have been pulled back for R&R this week as can be seen below. We will need to do a careful reorganization of the forces and sort the front out because as of now troop dispositions are in chaos with formations from different Armies and even Army Groups standing shoulder to shoulder on the front.



The plan that the OKH has prepared will see Army Group North reinforced by the 9th and probably 3rd Panzer Army, while the 4th Panzer Army will be transferred to AGC where it has been fighting for the whole winter. That would improve the C&C and also the command burden for the 2 Army Groups.

[xhoel]

AGS

The enemy has given up ground in the Kharkov sector as well. This is the sector were the March offensive will probably take place but nothing has been decided yet.





We will need to do a lot of reorganizing in the Stalino-Rostov sector as well. Mountain/Light Infantry and Panzer Divisions need to be pulled off the front in order for them to replenish their TOEs as most of them are operating at 40-50%. Also important will be the pulling back of several earmarked (highest experience and morale) Rumanian units which will be sent for R&R in the rear.



Something worth noticing with the Rumanians is that their 42 Infantry Division TOE forsees that each Infantry Division will have 18 heavy mortars (120mm) and 6 Heavy Anti-Tank Guns (75mm). The problem is that the 120mm Mortar will start production in July 1942 (4 months from now) and the 75mm AT gun will only start production in October 1942 (8 months from now)! To say that the Rumanians have failed at planning ahead would not do justice to this blunder. The lack of heavy mortars also impacts the Rumanian Cavalry Division TOE.

[xhoel]

Casualties


And here are the casualties for the week. No comments needed.





The truck deficit has fallen down to 27.000 trucks. Around 143.000 trucks are in repair shops as we speak and once the weather improves should start joining the supply columns and units.

[xhoel]

A review of the conduct during the 14 weeks of Blizzard:

The enemy begun their offensive operations on the 4th of December 1941 . The German Army was not fully deployed in its defensive posture yet, with many armored formations still out of their winter quarters and with the 18th Army still deployed at Leningrad. Most sections of the front were protected by 1 Infantry division or in worst cases by regiments of very good units (Kursk sector). The fortification levels were either 1 or being build and had not reached level 1 yet due to the Soviet mud offensive, which put us out of our prepared positions. The other effect of the Soviet mud offensive was that many divisions were understrength and their Morale was suffering a lot since they had been cut off from the main force for 4 weeks. We were also lacking 2 Infantry Divisions that were destroyed during this time and were being rebuild back in Germany. The enemy was able to exploit our lack of preparations to their advantage. However as the time passed we were able to reorganize our defenses and bring new units to the fights until the front stabilizied.

2 main pushes:

It was clear that the main enemy objective was to push us back from the flanks of Moscow and did so successfully, while paying little attention to other sectors. In the Rzhev area the enemy recovered 60 miles while in the Tula area they managed to recover 80 miles. At the end of the Blizzards the Soviets were 10 miles away from Rzhev and had reached the outskirts of Tula. It took the commitment of 3 reinforced Armies (2nd, 4th, 16th ) to hold the city of Tula and the commitment of the 9th Army (biggest Army at the moment) as well as elements of the 3rd Panzer Army but in the end we succeeded in holding both cities. A direct push from Mosocow was not successful even though the Soviets did attempt one in December. This means that we still remain 50 miles away from Moscow, even though we have lost the advantage of having the flanks to the city.

The second push that the enemy undertook was in the Rostov sector. Here the Soviets wanted to take the city but were prevented from doing so because of the stiff resistence that we put up. The enemy managed to recover some territory but failed in securing the city of Rostov or even threatening Stalino and the Donbass. Pushes towards Kharkov and Belgorod were weak and showed that the SHC was not interested in aquiring either of the cities.

The losses taken during the blizzards were heavy: Axis forces lost 473.200 men (96.650 KIA and POW) while the Soviets lost 1.130.160 men (402.170 KIA and POW) not to mention the high cost in materials lost. The total casualties are shown below:
In the end the Axis forces managed to hold their ground during the Blizzards but to a heavy cost. Many units are understrength and are suffering from poor morale. A lot of commands have been mixed together during the fighting and need to be reorganized for better C&C. We are not yet in a position to launch a strong offensive during the snow but that may change soon enough.

Soviet Losses:







Axis Losses:






Finnish losses:


Italian losses:


Hungarian losses:


Rumanian losses:


Slovakian losses:


Air Losses:

[John B.]

Thanks for the thorough report! Looks like the Romanians have taken some very heavy losses.