Steel Inferno: AG A – Part I: Race for the Caucasus (Solo AAR)

[Zovs]

Weather:


More rain!

[Zovs]

Events, partisans and ...

Commando Order:

[Zovs]

AD setup.

North and central direction:


AD details Black Sea:

[Zovs]

Air Execution Summary:


NP Interdiction:


Minimum results:

[Zovs]

End of turn positions.

Kalmykia area (XXXXIV Corps and Felmy Corps):


Grozny direction (III and LVII Pz Corps and V Corps):


Black Sea area:

[Zovs]

Capture of Novorossiysk:


Huzzah!


Smashing 152nd Rifle Brigade and 9th Guards Cavalry:


NOTES:

Army Group A
XXXXIV Corps (97th and 101st Jaeger Div., 297th and 370th Inf. Div.), adjusted line and in refit. Reassigned 454th Sec. Div. back to Army Group A.
Korps zbV Felmy (287th zbV Mot.Rgt.), advanced to Elista and attached Schwerin and Jungshultz Cavalry Cossack Regiments, and 444th Sec.Div. and 4th Bicycle Sec.Rgt.

1st Panzer Army
V Corps (9th and 125th Inf.Div., and 801st N. Caucasus Btln), attached 2nd Rum.Mtn.Div, captured Ordzhonikikidze without a fghtand linked up with LVII Pz Corps.
III Pz Corps (13th and 23rd Panzer. Div., along with 198th Inf. Div. attached 203rd Stug Btln. on turn 12), 13th Pz.Div. routed the 152nd Rifle Brigade and reserve activated 9th Guards Cav.Div. and setting up northern wedge.
LVII Pz Corps (3rd Panzer Div., Wiking SS Mot. Div. and 16th Mot. Div.), pushed through and forced a gap between 119th Rifle Brigade, 20th Mtn.Div. and an Ordzhonikikidze NKVD Rifle Div.

17th Army
XXXXIX Mtn Corps (73rd Inf. Div., 1st Mountain and Bergmann Ost Mtn Rgt.), preparing for the assault on Tuapse.
LII Corps (46th and 111th Inf. Div. and 4th Mountain Div.), assaulted and captured Novorossiysk, now resting and refitting.
XXXX Pz Corps (1st SL Mob. Div. with attached 191st and 210th Stug Btlns., 6th Rum.Cav.Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), assaulted and captured Novorossiysk, now resting and refitting.
Cav RM Corps (5th, 8th and 9th Cav. Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), assaulted and captured Novorossiysk, now resting and refitting.
VII Rum. Corps (10th and 19th Rum. Inf. Div., 3rd Rum. Mtn. Div.), assaulted and captured Novorossiysk, now resting and refitting.

[Zovs]

Loss by Phase:

[Zovs]

Weather:


Heavy rain and heavy mud!

[Zovs]

Events, partisans and ...

Crisis!

[Zovs]

AD setup.

None, bad weather preventing flights.

[Zovs]

End of turn positions.

Kalmykia area (XXXXIV Corps and Felmy Corps):


Grozny direction (III and LVII Pz Corps and V Corps):


Black Sea area:


NOTES:

Army Group A
XXXXIV Corps (97th and 101st Jaeger Div., 297th and 370th Inf. Div.), refitting.
Korps zbV Felmy (444th Sec.Div., 287th zbV Mot.Rgt., Schwerin and Jungshultz Cavalry Cossack Regiments, and 4th Bicycle Sec.Rgt.), consolidating and refitting.

1st Panzer Army
V Corps (9th and 125th Inf.Div., 2nd Rum.Mtn.Div. and 801st N. Caucasus Btln), consolidating and refitting.
III Pz Corps (13th and 23rd Panzer. Div., along with 198th Inf. Div. attached 203rd Stug Btln. on turn 12), refitting.
LVII Pz Corps (3rd Panzer Div., Wiking SS Mot. Div. and 16th Mot. Div.), refitting.

17th Army
XXXXIX Mtn Corps (73rd Inf. Div., 1st Mountain and Bergmann Ost Mtn Rgt.), preparing for the assault on Tuapse.
LII Corps (46th and 111th Inf. Div. and 4th Mountain Div.), consolidating and refitting.
XXXX Pz Corps (1st SL Mob. Div. with attached 191st and 210th Stug Btlns., 6th Rum.Cav.Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), consolidating and refitting.
Cav RM Corps (5th, 8th and 9th Cav. Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), consolidating and refitting.
VII Rum. Corps (10th and 19th Rum. Inf. Div., 3rd Rum. Mtn. Div.), consolidating and refitting.

[Zovs]

Weather:


Heavy rain and heavy mud!

[Zovs]

Events, partisans.

AD setup.

None, bad weather preventing flights.

[Zovs]

End of turn positions.

Kalmykia area (XXXXIV Corps and Felmy Corps):


Grozny direction (III and LVII Pz Corps and V Corps):


Black Sea area:


NOTES:

Army Group A
XXXXIV Corps (97th and 101st Jaeger Div., 297th and 370th Inf. Div. and 4th Bicycle Sec.Rgt.), reshuffling units between XXXXIV and Felmy Corps and refitting.
Korps zbV Felmy (454th Sec.Div., 287th zbV Mot.Rgt., Schwerin and Jungshultz Cavalry Cossack Regiments), reshuffling units between XXXXIV and Felmy Corps and refitting.

1st Panzer Army
V Corps (9th and 125th Inf.Div., 2nd Rum.Mtn.Div. and 801st N. Caucasus Btln), consolidating and refitting.
III Pz Corps (13th and 23rd Panzer. Div., along with 198th Inf. Div. attached 203rd Stug Btln. on turn 12), 13th Pz in Reserve, the rest refitting.
LVII Pz Corps (3rd Panzer Div., Wiking SS Mot. Div. and 16th Mot. Div.), holding positions and refitting.

17th Army
XXXXIX Mtn Corps (73rd Inf. Div., 1st and 4th Mountain Div., 3rd Rum. Mtn. Div., and Bergmann Ost Mtn Rgt.), shuffling from VII Rum. Corps and shifting out to head towards the mountain passes.
LII Corps (46th and 111th Inf. Div.), consolidating and refitting.
XXXX Pz Corps (1st SL Mob. Div. with attached 191st and 210th Stug Btlns., 5th and 6th Rum.Cav.Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), shuffling from Cav. Rum. Corps, consolidating and refitting.
Cav RM Corps (8th and 9th Cav. Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), consolidating and refitting.
VII Rum. Corps (10th and 19th Rum. Inf. Div.), consolidating and refitting.

[Zovs]

Weather:


Snowfall and Light Snow on the ground!

Events, partisans.

AD setup.

None, bad weather preventing flights.

[Zovs]

End of turn positions.

Kalmykia area (XXXXIV Corps and Felmy Corps):


Grozny direction (III and LVII Pz Corps and V Corps):


Black Sea area:


NOTES:

Army Group A
XXXXIV Corps (97th and 101st Jaeger Div., 297th and 370th Inf. Div. and 4th Bicycle Sec.Rgt.), changing course a bit, originally was going to use this corps to take Astrakhan, but I think time is running out, so mainly trying to protect the main flank.
Korps zbV Felmy (454th Sec.Div., 287th zbV Mot.Rgt., Schwerin and Jungshultz Cavalry Cossack Regiments), shifted to support the southern area of the XXXXIV Corps. That stack is the 287th zbV Mot.Rgt. and both the Cossack Rgts., the HQ is stacked with the 454th Sec.Div.

1st Panzer Army (assigned the 444th Sec.Div. and Platow Cossack Rgt. to 1st Panzer Army and they are guarding my exposed center)
V Corps (9th and 125th Inf.Div., 2nd Rum.Mtn.Div. and 801st N. Caucasus Btln), the 801st is guarding the mountian pass, brought the 2nd Rum.Mtn.Div. up in to Ordzhonikidze and shifted both Infantry Divisions to support the LVII Panzer Corps.
III Pz Corps (13th and 23rd Panzer. Div., along with 198th Inf. Div. attached 203rd Stug Btln. on turn 12), drove this Panzer Corps NE around the 6th Guards Rifle Brigade.
LVII Pz Corps (3rd Panzer Div., Wiking SS Mot. Div. and 16th Mot. Div.), driving east towards Grozny, but time is running out. Made a slight adjustment when reviewing for the AAR and moved the HQ to stack with the 3rd Panzer Division.
XXXX Pz Corps (1st SL Mob. Div. with attached 191st and 210th Stug Btlns., 5th and 6th Rum.Cav.Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), assigned to 1st Panzer Army and moved to the Stavropol area to assist the III and LVII Panzer Corps, again a little too late perhaps.

17th Army
XXXXIX Mtn Corps (1st and 4th Mountain Div., 3rd Rum. Mtn. Div., and Bergmann Ost Mtn Rgt.), I probably waited too long to shift this corps to try to sneak down the Dombai ulgen pass to cut off Sukhumi (200 VPs).
LII Corps (46th, 73rd, and 111th Inf. Div.), transferred the 73rd ID to this coprs and refitting the rest of the corps. Idea is to use all three divisions to assault Tuapse if time permits.
Cav RM Corps (8th and 9th Cav. Div., and 6 artillery Btlns), moving this Corps towards 1st Panzer Army, again probably too little too late.
VII Rum. Corps (10th and 19th Rum. Inf. Div.), refitting.

Waiting for the inevitable Soviet counterattack to smash up my lines and retake some hard won VPs.

[Zovs]

Soviet Minor Victory! I hang my head in shame.



Victory Points:


As you can see I fell just short of a draw. Most likely as I was not agressive enough. For my part I did hold on to all the VP I captured. If I had just one more turn.

[Zovs]

During turn 17 the Soviets did launch one vicious counterattack on the Wiking SS Mot.Div., but they steadfastly held on at great cost to themselves.

First attack and area:


Second attack only.


Heroes of turn 17:


Altogether I had 38 ground victories and no defeats!

[Zovs]

Total losses and OOBs:


Closer look:
https://i.imgur.com/Bf0lf9e.png

[Zovs]

What did I have have left to face?

Kalmykia-Stavropol area:


Closer look:
https://i.imgur.com/s3zXpQ1.jpg


Grozny-Central Caucasus area:


Closer look:
https://i.imgur.com/jecZ3H7.jpg


Krasnodar area:


Closer look:
https://i.imgur.com/znjBa8u.jpg