My First AAR - Russia 41

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OB End of Russian turn 8

Well after the AI had its turn there Order of battle troop number went back over the 3 mill mark as expected.

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OB After German turn

With the Destruction and capture of many troops which pleased me the Russians are back to 2.7 mill.

The bad news is I still have a lot of damaged AFV which are not getting repaired fast enough.

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Losses Turn 8
Just on 250,000 Soviets were killed or captured along with a good number of AFV and guns.

Need to keep this kind losses going for as long as I can.

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Supply Turn 8

The supply issue at the opening of turn 8 is really encouraging but its still a long way to go but I got lot of Armee's in the green including two of the Pz Armee's.

Need to get my rails up running and connected the grid ASAP.

I am just about about to give the AI its turn 8 go and see if my supply base goes up or down for the start of turn 9.

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Supply Turn 9

Well the supply situation dramatically turned for the worst, I know moving troops consumes more but I thought I was on the right track to fixing the issues seems not.

I just don't understand what is going wrong here but my supply needs have ballooned.

This is Disastrous I don't know whether I can recover before winter sets in.

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OB Turn 9 start

Starting from This turn the Red Army is under the 2.9 million mark despite the big supply set back.

Had to have a good think about what i was going to do since I have been stuck at Smolensk and the AI is now attacking and had pushed back two Pz Regiments around the city.

The AI is now starting to push back.

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AGN Turn 9

The AI attacked and opened the pocket I had formed with 4Pz in fact they cut off one of my Pz Divs threatening 4th Pz HQ at Pskov.

Still a stalemate at Novgorod with no sign of taking it, even so 18th Armee destroys the pocket in Estonia and reaches Narva while creating a new one also.

16th Armee steadily moves forward, I'm hoping this push pulls troops away from the 4th Pz so I can make some ground there.

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AGC Turn 9

Decision time here, the front has stalled and I have very little supplies.

Firstly I'm transferring one Inf Korp from 4th Armee to 3rd Pz as the Armee has no Inf units at all to defend Smolensk.

Its always been my understanding the best defence is a good Offence.

9th Armee attacks on a wide front with 3Pz punching through the line driving towards Rzhev.

The 2 Armee's trap 4 units in the process.

South of 3rd Pz 2nd smashes through and encircles a large grouping of Mech and tank units with one Pz regt reaching Bryanks.

4th, 2nd and parts of 2nd Pz start another wide front assault and gomel is taken.

This is a dangerous move which could back fire but I'm out options and need to force the Russians back to get into better position and hopefully get some better supply going.

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AGS Turn 9

Its make or break time here as well, I start to reduce the current pocket as well as launch another encirclement attack with all units possible.

1st Pz once again leads the charge linking up with 11th Armee and trapping another huge pocket from Cherkassy to Nikolaev.
6th Armee ties down the Soviet troops and shields the Northern arm of 1st Pz.

This is a huge gamble 1st Pz is stretched thin and there is still a large pocket already inside the area.
11th Armee also pushes on to Kherson and takes it with the help of the Hungarians.

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Losses Turn 9

Despite not being able to destroy the entire pocket in the south the losses all up across the board are good nearly 240,000 red Army troops in the bag.

Must keep inflicting this kind of losses for as long as I can.

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OB Turn 9 After actions

The Russian Army after my turn dropped to around 2.5 million but even better news was the fact the our AFV numbers are very close also.

I have now trapped all across the entire front 67 Russian units with a average of 10,000 men give or take there could be anywhere from 500,000 to 600,00 men trapped, if the pockets hold of course, then there is the issue of destroying them which will take time.

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AGN Turn 10

Forgot to get screen shots of my turn however got them from the end of the AI's turn, so its final positions of both Armies.

Well the gamble paid off and the pockets held across the front.

18th Armee crosses the Narva river after destroying the pocket there, could not completely clear the pocket in 4th Pz's rear but they are not going anywhere.

The Panzers push forward towards Leningrad.

South of them 16th Armee continues forward towards the Valdai Hills and moves to support 9th Armee.

This drive has worked as the AI has its turn and the Russians fall back, Novgorod can now be taken and there is a slim chance the I could take Leningrad, a very slim chance.

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AGC Turn 10

Big gains in the centre however only able to destroy half the troops trapped but as a offset captured more Red Army units.

3rd Pz is at Rzhev and has encircled Vyazma, 9th Armee is not far behind just need to clear the pocket.

2nd Pz rushes towards Bryansk and traps more troops, both Inf Armees are moving steadily and Cherngov will be taken.

I don't want to be optimistic as I have been here before but I may be able to take Orel for the first time.

Maybe even Kursk too.

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AGS Turn 10

On the Southern front it was mainly clearing the pockets and reorganising 1st Pz for the drive to the river cities.

6th Armee formed a small pocket and got over the rivers well most of the Armee did.

17th Armee did not completely clear the big pocket, this turn hopefully.

11th Armee needs to move faster and get into position for the Crimea attack, the Axis allies will help with that.
I have decided to put The Rom 3rd Army into the rear and on reserve for the winter defence and to ease the supply issues.

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Losses Turn 10
All in all I destroyed just over half of all troops trapped and I am happy.

I don't want to be over confident but I think I can take the three cities with bonuses needed to get over the sudden death mark then dig in for winter.

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Supply Turn 10

Not much improvement here another disaster supply wise, that about sums it up, need to get rail lines up and running.

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OB Turn 10

Very encouraging after my turn, I had the Red Army down to 2.4 million but as you can see since the AI had its turn it is now back to over 2.7.

But the better news is I now have more AFV than them with a chance to destroy more.

This could be key to the winter defence.

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Supply Start Turn 11
Well all I can say is its dropping but still bad.

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AGN Turn 11

We are at the Gates of Leningrad, Gorelovo was taken and the Oranienbaum Fortress destroyed.
4th Pz finally takes Novgorod while further South 16th Armee moves closer to the Hills.

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You should have another 5-6 turns for good pushing before winter, so I think you should be able to cut off Leningrad from resupply in that time if you focus on it in the north. The Soviet troops are looking pretty thin in the north, so you should be able to do that fairly easily. And with no resupply then it should be just a matter of time until you get Leningrad. And then on to Moscow!