Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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Q-Ball
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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--Stal to Berlin

Post by Q-Ball »

T-7 Center, Dec 31, 1942

With Orel taken, next stop is Kursk. We liquidate those 3 German Divisions, and advanced to Kursk. I was reminded though to be careful about just moving Rifle units up adjacent to the Germans; this turn Dodo98 made some successful attacks, including this one that shattered a Rifle Division. Ouch!

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--Stal to Berlin

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T-7 South, Dec 31, 1942

Stalingrad Falls: Big news is that the last 3 hexes of Stalingrad Kessel are taken, and the remainder of 6th Army are POWs. This is earlier than expected, the other time I played this game vs. Loki it took until mid-January to clear it.

The battle-hardened armies of Stalingrad Front will now march west. It's going to be 3-4 turns before I can turn them loose again, and not enough rail cap to send them that way.

In the meantime, Germans are in retreat in the South. Rostov falls without a fight, and German 17th Army is pull back toward the Kuban bridgehead. Looks like Germans are forming a line in the Donbas, which is probably where I would form up.

The cheap surrounds of German units are probably over; from here-on, it's going to be harder. We captured 6 German and 4 Romanian Divisions this month in addition to all the units in Stalingrad, so not unhappy with that.

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--Stal to Berlin

Post by CapAndGown »

And now for the backhand blow! [;)]

Over confidence, the bane of both OKH and Stavka.
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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--Stal to Berlin

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ORIGINAL: CapAndGown

And now for the backhand blow! [;)]

Over confidence, the bane of both OKH and Stavka.

Yes, can't get too out of hand or I'll get called back to Moscow for "Consultations".

T-8, January 6 1943

Up north, I am grinding out a hex advance here or there, and took Vyazma; otherwise the line is stabilizing for the Germans

Down south, the Axis retreat continues. The good news is that I think I am ahead timetable in terms of ground taken. The good problem to have is that I am outrunning supplies and aircover, and from all the marching my troops are fatigued. And with Stalingrad Front still moving east, I need more mass.

So, next couple of turns are likely to be Red Army consolidating gains and preparing for the next phase: Pushes on the Donbas , Kharkov, and Kursk

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--Stal to Berlin

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T 10, January 21, 1943

Jumping ahead to Turn 10

OVERALL SITUATION: Dodo98 has done a good job withdrawing to a new more static defense line. There are now stronger German units in the South, including 3 SS Divisions, and up north the line is shortened and taking advantage of woods and other tough terrain.

The offensives by Kalinin, NW, and Western fronts are more or less halted. We have taken V-L, Vyazma, and some terrain around the bulges into our line, and it's now just grinding a hex at a time. German defenses remain strong everywhere north of Bryansk, with some hexes double-stacked with German infantry.

In the SOUTH, we are drawing-up on the Donbas. We are repairing rail and moving stuff forward, not strong enough yet to take on the line....think it's better to simply rest and gain CPP before making another push, and allow the supply and depots to catch-up, which they will in a couple turns

LOSSES

You can see the losses so far through Turn 10; note both sides start with alot of disabled in the pool, and the negative number means the Axis is currently returning more disabled to duty than are disabled in combat!

We have captured over 300,000 Axis troops; most of those are Stalingrad, but we have also captured 9 divisions outside of the pocket, probably another 100,000 or so including 70,000 Germans. Axis AFV losses look fairly high, though alot of those are crap tanks that I may be doing a favor in clearing out of the Axis inventory. Same for mine, roughly half the Red Army losses are small recon tanks, including almost 1,000 of the useless T-60s.

I am not very concerned with losing tanks; Soviet production in AFVs is massive. I do worry about Manpower and Vehicle losses, and a lesser extent guns; those are the limiting factors, particularly the first two



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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-11, Feb 1943, KURSK Area

Here is an example of a not-so-great "Win"; lost of casualties, probably because the odds were not overwhelming. VVS suffers as well.

However, you can also see east of Kursk and further south against the Hungarians we acheived a couple good penetrations. At this point it's very difficult to firmly pocket troops, but what you can do is disrupt the rear and ZOC-lock units in place so that the Germans either have to keep fighting forward to save them, or give up and withdraw. If they stay and fight it out, we can grind them down further with more attacks.

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-11, Jan 28 1943, South

Here we are just bull-rushing Stalino area, including the city itself. Starting to get some mass in the Red Army.

I have nearly all the Guards Rifle Corps I can build, and am starting to build regular ones; to each I am attaching a Rifle Brigade and a Tank Unit (Bde, BN, Guards Heavy, whatever I have). Later I will start to mix in both SU units and Assault Engineers when I have them in order to bust forts.

To CAV CORPS, I am attaching 2 Rifle Brigades and 1 Tank unit; I think one should max-out attachments to CAV CORPS. They offer mobility, but won't cost you trucks.

To MECH and TANK CORPS, I am attaching a Tank Unit, and any motorized infantry I have, which isn't much, and I won't be building more. I will mix-in SUs as those become available. Attaching a Rifle Brigade give a nice boost, but is too expensive right now in trucks; 500-600 per Brigade.

Red Army does not need to build more Tank SUs in this scenario beyond what you get in reinforcements, particularly since you will really get alot of SUs later, particularly Su-76Ms. Eventually, every Soviet Corps should be maxed on attachments.

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-12 Feb 5 1943

More attacks and pressure against the Hungarians and Germans near Kursk. Here we pin some units.



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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-12, Feb 5 1043

Action in the South as well; Stalino falls, and we pin more units in the Donbas.

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-15 Center

Continued attacks and general pushing in the Center; air losses have been very high of course, and ground losses not great either, but this turn we pocket another German Infantry division.

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-15 South

We also pocket a Panzer Division. I am revising plans this Winter, I hope to get a bridgehead over the Dnepr before the river thaws and makes it harder. Red Army continues to grind, grind, grind....

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RE: Liberation of Mother Russia: Q-Ball (Soviet) v Dodo98 (Axis)--StoB

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T-16 Center

Dodo98 is making increased use of RESERVE activations. This is good tactic, it forces Soviets to overload attacks or risk bloody losses.

I will post production at some point, but I am definitely cleaning out the invetory of Recon Tanks. AFV losses can be deceiving, since both of us are losing AFVs, but for both of us it includes AFV types that are becoming obsolete anyway. For the Soviets, that's all the stupid Recon tanks. For the Germans, the Panzer 38t, Panzer IIs, and the lesser Panzer III models.

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