Road to Leningrad vs AI normal

[AlessandroT]

TURN 11
"Blue" Division has arrived
Air assist turned on (in some fights of the 4th Panzer Group)

16th Army
Velikie Luki has been abandoned, II Corps occupies the city, then sends back to AGN its three artillery SU (no more need, they'll be reattached to other Corps the next turn. The planned Velikie Luki-Chudovo line is almost achieved.

t11 16a.png (2.3 MiB) Viewed 1495 times

18th Army
Advancing and shattering some units, more units reach the left flank of the main thrust.

t11 shattering.png (1.09 MiB) Viewed 1495 times

4th PzGroup
Heavy fighting, XXXIX Corps arrived to the frontline, XXXXI Corps is very near Tikhvin.

t11 4pz18a.png (2.29 MiB) Viewed 1495 times

New depots at Velikie Luki, Dno

t11losses.png (239.55 KiB) Viewed 1495 times

[AlessandroT]

TURN 12
AIR SUPPORT OFF

Some small gains from 18th and 16th Army, the main effort is carried by the 4th PzGroup. Tikhvin is captured! Now the main soviet rail line to Leningrad is cut. Big battle at Shlisselburg: soviet forces were driven off the town, now it's no man's land.
Three soviet divisions are trapped on the banks of Ladoga, one of them is a tank division.

t12 battles.png (1.63 MiB) Viewed 1434 times

t12 losses.png (199.19 KiB) Viewed 1434 times

[AlessandroT]

Turn 13
4th Panzer Group starts leaving the map..

T13.png (1.81 MiB) Viewed 1370 times

Lots of battles on the Ladoga.
Units of the 4th PzGrp are leaving, no more units available to hold Tikhvin. The encircled soviet units are destroyed (see battle report below), then I and L Corps move in the direction of Osinovets (their final objective), while all other mobile units race for the bank of Ladoga lake. Shlisselburg depot is immediatly supplied by air.

t13c battle.png (287.41 KiB) Viewed 1370 times

Losses are still on the 9:1 ratio, more or less.

T13 losses.png (212.86 KiB) Viewed 1370 times

[AlessandroT]

Turn 14
4th Panzer Group leaves the map, remaining units are reassigned to 18th Army (already set to assault).
Some small units far from the fight are detached and assigned to AGN, other regiments form up to division size (18th Army is at its command limit).

T14 VL.png (2.3 MiB) Viewed 1348 times

All calm on the Velikie Luki - Ilmen line. Almost all SU's left (only one AA unit left per corps, to bring air defense and some '88 support).

In the Leningrad region, battles are raging. The Soviets hold the ground south of Osinovets, but the spearhead lands a successful blow on N. Ladoga fortress.

T14 NLadoga.png (1011.73 KiB) Viewed 1348 times

250th "blue" division joins the 16th Army and defends the right flank north of Chudovo.
Air supplies are brought to Shlisselburg.

T14 North.png (1.99 MiB) Viewed 1348 times

[AlessandroT]

T15
Air support ON

16th Army stops, no unit moves, to save supplies (supply priority set to 2).

18th Army is supplied (no serious shortage, sometimes ammo drops to 80%) and final attacks are launched.

T15 kobona.png (1.03 MiB) Viewed 1344 times

Kobona falls after a bloody battle.

T15 Osinovets luck.png (1.04 MiB) Viewed 1344 times

South of Osinovets Soviets are forced to leave the banks of the river, but we lack the momentum to cross it (even the motorized division cannot pass it), maybe next turn.

Other units of the 18th Army reached Oranienbaum (cannot even think to attack it, defense values over 120CV) and managed to encircle a soviet tank division.

T15 end.png (1.66 MiB) Viewed 1344 times

Losses are quite high, due to those final assaults to entrenched positions.

t15 losses.png (247.29 KiB) Viewed 1344 times

[AlessandroT]

TURN 16, final turn

58th Division quickly dispatched the encircled soviet tank division

t16 tank division.png (1.59 MiB) Viewed 1330 times

Not very much to say, Osinovets is too far and the river+swamp gap is a nightmare. Troops just clogged down there and the port itself was too well defended.
Now I think that one corps should have gone to Tikhvin, to hold this easier victory location. Osinovets was too far and too well defended. I guess that this mistake will cost very much.
The final situation before the end.

t16 end.png (1.71 MiB) Viewed 1330 times

[AlessandroT]

END1.png (1.59 MiB) Viewed 1328 times

END2.png (886.43 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

END LOSSES.png (303.91 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

END AIRL.png (497.65 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

And that's it!
A fair game vs the AI

Some thoughts:

1) The AI air staff was competent and very conservative: this run of mine was one with the less air losses. I think that when I'm in manual mode, I tend to overuse the Luftwaffe, losing a lot more planes. My plan in the next games is to place the airgroups better than the AI (sometimes german forces lacked fighter air cover).

2) Tikhvin was an objective at hand, I did a terrible mistake forfaiting it and committing all I had to a harder objective like Osinovets. Maybe I could have a minor victory with Tikhvin. Maybe also the 16th Army stopped too soon, Valdai and Andreapol were not so far. More pressure on the enemy was needed.

3)Losses: I think that losses were in a good ratio for the German player (almost a 9:1 manpower loss, 8:1 tank losses, 5:1 air losses).

It was an enjoyable game and quite deep in the admin/management/supply. Terrain is really very important to consider (looking at damaged vehicles after a deep wood crossing was remarkable).

To you, thanks for reading and I apologize for my poor language!

[Stamb]

in the end, you got a little bit more points than the AI

[AlessandroT]

Yes, that's a point!
I'm in a sweet spot where I can play enjoyable games against a Normal AI.
This is great, my next try will be with full manual air control.

[Stamb]

remember that panzers performance were fixed in recent patches, and there were many more changes
think about game update before a next game

[AlessandroT]

yes, I'll do! Thank you!