Defence of the Leningrad Oblast(RtL) – JohnDoe(G) vs Hardradi(S)

[Hardradi]

This is a mirror match, we are playing two games, I am the Soviets in this one and the Germans in the other game and vice versa for my opponent.

[First game as the Soviets. At the start of T3 I thought I should figure out a few things and played through the entire scenario against the AI.]


TURN 1 - The VVS strikes back
Luftwaffe air attacks are not as harsh as I was expecting. As a result air losses on both sides were low (see screenshot 3 below).

The Northwestern Air Command went on the offensive and launched air base bombings in an attempt to obliterate the forward airfields captured by the Hitlerites. The Riga train yards were also targeted. Fighter cover was provided where possible.



TURN 1 - Breaking pockets

In Kurland, we still controlled the two Baltic Sea ports but elements of the 4th Panzer Group took Riga and the north side of the Daugava River all the way to Daugavpils. No Soviet forces are trapped in Kurland.

Significant amounts of the Northwestern Front forces were pocketed by the Hitlerites in central Lithuania but were able to partially breakout to the east and northeast. We also manage to cut off a motorised force north of Vilnius. These were good results.

Northwestern Front formed a defensive line just south of the Estonian border. The Leningrad Front strengthened the Pskov Fortified Region and screened the approaches to Velikie Luki with whatever forces were available.

[Hardradi]

TURN 2 - cutting supply

Information on this period is proving difficult to extract from Soviet state archives.

Fragmentary records indicate that the VVS intensely attacked Riga and its surrounds, targeting rail yards and airfields.

Hitlerite Panzer and Mortorised forces pushed northeast to the Pskov Fortified Region and repelled Soviet forces from the west bank near Lake Pskov. Remnants of the border forces on the Daugava River were again cut off by the Hitlerites but they were again able to open up escape routes to the north and east.

Soviet air recon indicated that little or no Hitlerite forces screened the advance of their Panzers. Flying columns were sent in by both the Northwestern Front and the Leningrad Front to pinch off the enemy forces at Lake Pskov. A small, temporary victory. Hopefully it is worth the sacrifice.

[Hardradi]

TURN 3 - respite

Again, information in the state archives for this period is scarce.

The Hitlerite forces re-opened the lines to their Panzer forces sitting on the Velikaya River and also re-pocketed the border forces trapped on the Daugava River. The brave soldiers of the Motherland again attempted to pinch off the Panzer forces threatening Pskov but this time failed. The isolated forces on the Daugava River were more successful but they were now over 110 miles from the main Soviet lines. The Hitlerites continued mopping up isolated forces in southern Lithuania.

Without any enemy advance towards Estonia, as many troops as could be spared reinforced the Pskov Fortified Region and Velikie Luki. In Leningrad, militia forces were raised and moved to the Luga River line. Along the Latvian-Estonia border the Northwestern Front dug in and awaited the onslaught. The process of fortifying the Estonian Archipelago begins.

[Hardradi]

TURN 4: Velikaya River breached

Our tattered forces along the Daugava River were routed north into the Latvian sack (red arrow). German forces pushed north towards Estonia but no combat occurred in this region (1a and 1b).

Along the Velikaya River, the 4th Panzer Group thrust northeast south of Pskov all the way to the Sorot River where they made a bridgehead (2). The brave forces of our unsuccessful counterattack were either crushed or surrounded (5).

After destroying the remaining defences in the Orsha Fortified Region, enemy forces from the 16th Army also marched east towards Velikie Luki (3).



The weather is not good.



The bridgehead across the Sorot River is contained and defences put in place. Unfortunately, only the battered remnants of 5th Airborne Corps and infantry divisions under its command can be allocated to this sector.

STAVKA debates the usefulness of defending Estonia with so many troops an decides to leave the defences in place. The Estonian Archipelo continues to be fortified. New air bases are also built.

The approaches to Leningrad, north of Pskov can only be lightly defended. Further north, Leningrad Militia Divisions continue digging in along the Luga River. Fortification of the Novgorod region begins.

Supply priorities, light green - very high, dark green – high, yellow – normal:

[Hardradi]

TURN 5: Dangerous times

In fine weather the weakened 5th Airborne Corps was smashed away from the Sorot River line by 4th Panzer Group which then thrust northeast and captured the airfield at Dno. This move turned the left flank of the Pskov Fortified Region.

To the south, unknown enemy forces advanced slowly towards our forces holding Velikie Luki.

To the west, in the Baltic States only light enemy forces pressured our lines.

To the north the Finns, makes advances.



A wave of bombings was unleashed behind the enemy lines in an attempt to reduce the northward progress of the Hitleries. In the Gulf of Riga intense patrols cleared the way for our supply ships and kept the Hitlerites from shipping supplies into Riga.



At Pskov, the line was partially pulled back and a long left flank defence put in place forward of the Leningrad-Pskov rail line. Our forces in and around Pskov still felt secure with the crossings between Lake Pepius and Lake Pskov firmly under our control.

Supplies were prioritised to the forces set to face the teeth of the Hitlerite advance, those in and around Pskov and Staraya Russia. Again the wisdom of holding the line from the Lakes to the Baltic with such extensive forces was questioned. Again it was left in place. Supplies are being shipped from Leningrad to Parnu and the Baltic Archipelago. On the main island of Saaremaa our new airfield is now operational. We could now more easily patrol the Gulf of Riga. On the island of Hiiumaa, difficulties arose with the airfield construction (not sure why but this airfield never became operational).

[Seminole]

A few comments on your defense.
More light pickets (brigades, security units, etc) in Estonia to force him to push a screen. The rifle divisions on that side of the lakes are in a dangerous spot, and frankly not between the panzers and Leningrad as they ought to be.
Once he has forced the rivers at Velikaya and Sorot you need to make him fight for the woods/swamp hexes for progress every inch of the way. His job is to go around you and grab terrain without a fight and strategically leverage you out of the trap in Estonia and Pskov.


Find everywhere in the Russian rear with a rail yard and build a depot. This gives you more places to refit units and will alleviate the burden on your supply network as depots can stack supplies instead living hand to mouth and giving the supplies straight into units.

Lastly, use your HQs to boost depot capacity and overstock. e.g. Put Northwestern Front in Tallinn for two turns and you’ll be able to bank supplies in the city before it is surrounded (don’t let NW Front be trapped there) and can make a decision about the efficacy of a city fort in that instance. Army HQs can impart this effect as well, but aren’t always as available for positioning.

[Hardradi]

Thanks Seminole. The game is finished now but I can apply these concepts in my current games, particularly stacking on depots and banking supplies with a front HQ. Now I also know why I keep overrunning masses of Soviet depots when I am playing the Germans.

I was wanting to build a city fort in Tallinn but my admin points kept disappearing in this game as there are a lot of times where when you are learning you are spending without knowing. For example, I just found at that air re-supply with level bombers spends an AP.

[Hardradi]

Turn 6: Pskov Sack

The sun was shining on the Hitlerites but not on our forces.

Enemy motorised and panzer forces thrust through our weak position all the way to the outskirts Staraya Russa. At the same time they hooked left broke our lines and attempted to cut off our strong Pskov Grouping but failed to seal them off.

Enemy attacks against our fortified line in northern Latvia were mostly unsuccessful.



We were losing a lot of fighters and bombers but continued our intense interdiction bombing campaign. Likewise in the Gulf of Riga we continued to interdict enemy supply ships trying to get to Riga and keeping the lines open to the Baltic Islands for our shipping.



Despite fresh enemy attacks along the line, it was decided to continue to hold Latvian line. Fortification of the Baltic Archipelago continued. The Luga Line stayed in place in case the Hitlerites tried to break north towards Leningrad. The city itself was basically undefended. (At this stage I couldn't figure out how to get units into the Fort City)

Unfortunately at Pskov our forces were not able to completely break out, trapping them in a sack against Lake Pskov. (What a waste! I was kicking myself after this happened. Like Seminole said they should have been north covering Leningrad.)

[Floxolydian]

Ouch! Those are some good divisions (probably) lost at Pskov [X(] and tank/mech too...

Hope that holding such forward positions in Estonia won't come back to bite you
My thinking is that because the line infront of leningrad is so weak it will be broken, and then you'll have to evacuate Estonia anyhow or risk beeing encircled, but that will then take precious weeks and they'll arrive late.

I would've at least taken back all the strongest divisions with CV > 2

that coupled with reducing the line's frontage from currently 12 hexes in Estonia to 4 at the Narva-river (defensive bonus included), further freeing up troops for the main axis of axis advance

[Hardradi]

Yes, it was a a shame for them to get cut off. One bonus was that they were not isolated on T6 so it will take at least another two turns for my opponent to liquidate the sack/pocket.

At that stage I still held three ports in Estonia so I was reasonably confident I could get most of the good units out. These forces were also tying up at least a full German Corps. I wanted to at least hang onto the islands and I thought/hoped the Luga Line would buy me at least one turn. Like you said and in hindsight I should have moved back some of the better divisions on T6. There was a CV7 Rifle Division at Parnu and another strong one near Lake Pskov.

[Floxolydian]

I understand your operational calculation of tying up troops there.

But I ask myself "Who's really tying up whom?" [:D] The Axis player sacrifices an infantry corps (he even reinforced it with cheap security forces) and ties up a fourth of your army in the process (though maybe he doesn't even know that) - and one of the better fourths at that.

Meanwhile, he has rather little operational interest in Estonia, I conjecture. All there is to gain are some ports that take time to be made operational and could either way mostly just supply the units that took them, not the ones at the Schwerpunkt at Stalingrad.

And if he advanced through Estonia he would merely push your troops back to more favourable terrain closer to where he does not want your troops to be.

[Hardradi]

Perhaps I am being a bit optimistic about it. [:D] Although the three Rifle Division in Latvia/Estonia are only in good shape because they were on that front. If they were with the airborne troops to the east they would most likely be close to depleted.

After seeing my opponents lack of interest in Latvia and Estonia, I decided to try and hold Kuressare (on the islands) and Tallinn as long as possible. Kuressare is worth 200 points at the end of the game. With the air base I would also be able to interdict supplies on the Baltic slowing my opponents use of Riga, Parnu and maybe even Tallinn.

I had also managed to temporarily cut off his Schwerpunkt on Turn 2 and thought that this would slowed down his advance on Leningrad by at least 1 turn.

[Hardradi]

TURN 7: Estonian Pull Back
The Wermarcht launched a series of vicious attacks causing serious casualties to our Divisions. The western side of the Latvian Line was effectively routed while the portion east of Lake Vortsjarv held. Enemy advances in this region were minimal.
Further east, at Staraya Russa, 34th Army forces were routed and the town captured. To the north, the town of Luga was also captured and leading Hitlertie forces reached the Luga Line itself.

The unfortunate defenders at Pskov were completely cut off.

Far to the south Velikie Luki still held but the Hitlerites now had a firm bridgehead over the Lovat River.



VVS interdiction attacks along the entire northern front continued along with our naval patrols in the Gulf of Riga (flying out of the base built on the Baltic Archipelago).



At last STAVKA ordered the pull back of the Latvian Line but only on the eastern section. This section was reformed behind the Emajogi River. The weakened western section was ordered back into the line to buy more time for the defenders of the Baltic Islands, Parnu and ultimately Tallinn. The strongest (and well rested) Division was also ordered to travel to Leningrad by train.



The weather had turned favourable for us across the entire battlefield (ie, bad) but the Arctic Cold Front was expected to stay in the north possibly easing over the positions of the Hitlerite forces.



(To this point I had been keeping my manpower losses to a low level (especially compared to our mirror match where playing as the Germans my opponent had lost 478k). Given the results of some of the battles and the Pskov Pocket it looked like this was about to change.)

[Hardradi]

Turn 8: Luga Line

This turn saw an intensive Luftwaffe air campaign just off the port of Kuressare in the Gulf of Riga. Newly deployed LaGG-3 fighters countered and inflicted some nice losses on the unescorted enemy forces on Day 7 (a gentle test of an Air Superiority mission).

On land the advance of Hilterite forces into Estonia continued at a slow pace. Parnu is strongly held but now threatened.

Along the Luga River defences, our forces were now in full contact across the entire front. On our left flank strong Hitlerite forces pushed Leningrad Milita out of Novgord with heavy losses for our side.

Far to the south at Velikie Luki also fell.



With only limited forces holding to Narva River region it was time to order the full pull back of our forces from Estonia with the intention of only holding Tallinn and the Baltic Archipelago. It was hoped that the naval brigade left to defend Parnu would be able to fall back to the islands.
As most of the forces in Estonia were in relatively good condition from lack of combat the withdrawal worked quite well. [A few more movement points would have been handy to get more coverage of the open terrain to Leningrad]. These forces now formed the right flank of the Luga Line. The left flank where Novgorod had fallen was the weak position in this line, it had little to no fortification work and the forces in this area had been in almost constant combat since the beginning of the campaign.

The fortification of Leningrad had begun.

[Here I could have done with Seminoles previous tip about building depots for the refitting and resupplying of depleted units.]

[Hardradi]

Turn 9: Air victory over the Gulf of Riga.

The air base built in the Baltic Archipelago finally paid big rubles. Under Baltic Fleet Command a polk of LaGG-3’s seized the initiative on Day 2 and took down more than half of the Hitlerite Sea Planes in the air including their weak fighter escort. This intense Hitlerite interdiction of our seaport had started two weeks before and it was noted that they had little or no escort planes.

On top of this our air superiority mission was sprung on Day 5 and 7 when the Hitlerite Sea Planes were worn out from their persistent patrolling. The LaGG's again launched and inflicted more than 50% casualties on unescorted Ju 88’s over the two days.
Intelligence believed that the Hitlerite forces were low on fighters with only newly arrived JG 27 to support Army Group North. Would they be sent north to support the drive on Leningrad or diverted to try and gain air superiority over the Gulf of Riga?





In the wake of our withdrawal from Estonia, Hitlerite forces advanced northwards. Some contact was made with sluggish rear guard unit and our naval brigade was pushed out of Parnu. Enemy forces along the Luga Line and at Staraya Russa were relatively static, perhaps building for a strong push next week.

Our forces remained dug in along the Luga Line. Some re-shuffling was done on the western end to try to strengthen the lightly wooded area across the Luga River where I expected an attack. With what forces were available the fortification of Leningrad and the Pulkovo Heights began.
The naval brigade from Parnu successfully made it to the straights across from the Baltic Islands.

At Velikie Luki things were not looking good as our forces were weak and slowly being ground down and pushed east. At least the casualty numbers had backed off. A Mechanized Division was sent to reinforce this sector.

[Hardradi]

Turn 10: When a plan comes together

Hitlerites attack where I expected.


My defences look weak except in Leningrad and Oranienbaum.

[Hardradi]

TURN 11: Knocking on the door

Hitlerite forces make it all the way to Leningrad's outer suburbs


Counterattack north of Velikie Luki to disrupt enemy supply columns

[Hardradi]

TURN 12: Tallinn falls and Velikie Luki counter attack

Attacks all along the Leningrad Front(missed an opening screenshot), a sneaky counter attack in the south


All battles

[Hardradi]

TURN 13: Velikie Luki recaptured/Kholm Offensive

Along the Neva River at Leningrad, Kolpino is taken but the Hitlerite advance east is then blocked. In Estonia, Muhu holds. In the south our (temp) motorised Division deep behind enemy lines is not intercepted, Pskov and the double rail line is within their grasp.


Leningrad Oblast is reinforced. In the south Velikie Luki recaptured by our infiltrators and the Kholm Offensive creates havoc with Hitlerite supply lines.

[Hardradi]

TURN 14: Unbreakable

Hitlerite forces continue their slow advance towards to Volkov River but cannot break through our defences arrayed before Lake Ladoga.


Velikie Luki still held and we successfully defend Muhu.


The defences of Leningrad and the Chudovo breakout. (It does not look like the enemy forces will be strong enough to either take Leningrad or seize the supply ports along Lake Ladoga.)