GC 1941 - 821Bobo (Axis) vs PPetar (Sov)

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PPetar
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Serbia

GC 1941 - 821Bobo (Axis) vs PPetar (Sov)

Post by PPetar »

Hello. Me and 821Bobo started a campaign somewhere at the start of the year and played until turn 8, when my opponent resigned due to not having enough time to continue. I was planning on writing some sort of AAR about the game so i kept images and notes of my turns, so i will share those here, even if it is just for the first 7 turns. I played a fair amount of WITE 1, but this was my first game vs. a player in WITE2. There was still a lot to learn and to adjust to from my side, so keep that in mind when reviewing this game. I tried to point out my mistakes and share what i learned. Every discussion is not only welcome, but also encouraged, I would like to hear other peoples thoughts and different approaches (for the opening turns at least, since this game didn't last long).

Game settings:
Fog of War: On
Movement FOW: On
Lock HQ support: On
AI Air assist: Off
Enhanced Player TB control: On

House rules:
No temporary motorization
No Naval invasions
No para drop
User avatar
PPetar
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Serbia

T1

Post by PPetar »

T1
Axis opening:
Screenshot_8.png
Screenshot_8.png (3.59 MiB) Viewed 1314 times
Screenshot_9.png
Screenshot_9.png (4.05 MiB) Viewed 1314 times
Screenshot_10.png
Screenshot_10.png (3.62 MiB) Viewed 1314 times
A well executed T1. No mistakes, no opportunities for me. In the north/center it's standard, in the south it's a deep dive aiming for encirclements in T2. Only one rail line going south available for a lot of divisions.

Air:
My mistake nr.1 - I sent everything to reserve. To be honest I didn't figure the air yet, so I thought let's send all back to reserve - it will be good for supply at least, also might give a bit of morale/exp to some air groups. I think i overestimated an impact that it would make on supply, and underestimated the usefulness of air. Also I didn't take into consideration that now I will only have my air available on T3, because T2 needs to be wasted on groups moving from reserve to map. Later on I started using air more.

North:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (4.15 MiB) Viewed 1314 times
Here I set up a defense aimed at delaying the eventually inevitable fall of Pskov. I looked at this later on in a test game, it can be done much better, but like I said - still adjusting to WITE2. Interestingly - this setup will provoke a move from the Axis that will have long term influence on the path they take towards Leningrad - interesting how many things can be determined already at T1.
Last edited by PPetar on Thu Nov 02, 2023 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Serbia

T1

Post by PPetar »

Center:
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (4.16 MiB) Viewed 1313 times
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (4.06 MiB) Viewed 1313 times
Screenshot_4.png
Screenshot_4.png (3.89 MiB) Viewed 1313 times
Primary goals of this defense are - protect Vitebsk depot on T2, delay the advance to Smolensk and deny the crossing of Dnepr. Similarly to the setup in the north - it can be done much better. But also it's not terrible, and it opens the possibilities for some dynamic gameplay.
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Serbia

T1

Post by PPetar »

South:
Screenshot_5.png
Screenshot_5.png (3.21 MiB) Viewed 1312 times
Screenshot_6.png
Screenshot_6.png (3.38 MiB) Viewed 1312 times
Screenshot_7.png
Screenshot_7.png (3.47 MiB) Viewed 1312 times
Primary goal here is the preservation of the forces that are in the south. Defending the Dnepr is a long term goal of the southern fronts, but the Axis are too far to cross it now - so the goal is to evacuate as much as possible. Defense of Odessa is also an objective, but I handled that badly and suffered a major defeat there as you will see. In the northern section i retreat and create a good line that can't be encircled. In the south i retreat what I can and make a bad line that will unfortunately fall next turn, leaving good amount of units encircled. I am sure i could have done better, and in retrospective, should have sent even forces from the north to strengthen the line here.


Overall strategy:
Firstly, I have disbanded a lot of tanks/motorized in order to save trucks. I don't like mot/arm divs at the start as Soviets, because they use a lot of trucks, and in return you get a division that has high CV - but only at the start of the battle - It is not unusual for those divisions to lose all their tanks in a battle - reducing the CV drastically. So I don't use them that often (at the start at least) and try to disband as many as I can justify on T1. I'm still not happy with the number of them I left alive over the coming turns - but I was kind of low on counters and needed anything to make a front line - so i kept a good amount of them in the south to guard the Dnepr - there they wont see a lot of fighting, and also the supply there is very good, so they don't waste trucks.
Regarding supply - I made a big mistake not setting everything to priority 4 on T1. This way the depots in the back would have some stock when I needed to retreat, and overall i think my supply situation would have been much better. I didn't get any value back for not putting all on 4, so this is a clear mistake caused by my lack of understanding of the game at the time.
I think I could have handled army organization better, I moved units to different HQs a lot in latter turns - this surely negatively affected supply. I had a problem of visualizing where the line will be in the future, and which unit should go where - so i changed HQs a lot.
Also I think there was an improvement to be had in how i handled support units - I could have sent a lot that I have no use for at the start to the reserve to be refitted - this would also increase their morale.
I built many depots on T1, but most of them just got overrun later, because I couldn't predict how the fronts will move, and also i didn't realize you have to wait some time for the depot to become fully operational.

Statistics:

OOB:
Screenshot_11_stat.png
Screenshot_11_stat.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1312 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T1

Post by PPetar »

Losses:
Screenshot_1_stat.png
Screenshot_1_stat.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1308 times
Screenshot_2_stat.png
Screenshot_2_stat.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1308 times
Frontline units:
Screenshot_9_stat.png
Screenshot_9_stat.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1308 times
I have more screenshots of various things, also I usually export commanders report as CSV files, so if someone is interested in some more information, i can provide.
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T2

Post by PPetar »

T2
North:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (4.3 MiB) Viewed 1304 times
I underestimated how far the Axis can advance on T2, and my opponent found and exploited an alternative path and advanced pretty deep. I retreat my armies and set up a defense trying to defend Pskov as long as I can, while staying safe from encirclements. Some good units are railed to the north this turn, and more are coming.

Center:
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (4.13 MiB) Viewed 1304 times
Screenshot_4.png
Screenshot_4.png (4.01 MiB) Viewed 1304 times
Poor defense was set up last turn by me - out of 3 objectives I placed on this defense - Dnepr crossing, delaying the push to Smolensk and not losing Vitebsk - only one is fulfilled. I retreat to Smolensk, hoping to get a moment to recover here. Panzer units had to attack quite a lot to get here, so their CV is suffering - this is offset a bit by my opponent using regiments to attack over Dnepr - and succeeding!
Orel MD sets up a defense behind the rivers to the east of Dnepr - their goal to dig and deny the panzers an easy capture of more ground.
A good amount of units are railed from south to the north/center.
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PPetar
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Location: Serbia

T2

Post by PPetar »

South:
Screenshot_6.png
Screenshot_6.png (2.89 MiB) Viewed 1302 times
Screenshot_8.png
Screenshot_8.png (2.7 MiB) Viewed 1302 times
In the sector of the southwestern front - i retreat to Kiev. I have nothing to defend west of it, I risk encirclement and if I retreat more units are available to be sent north.
Southern front suffers a defeat - a lot of units get encircled here. I managed to open the pocket and push back a Romanian tank division, but all of those units will be lost. I didn't handle the evacuation of those units properly on T1 and have a feeling this could have been avoided. The rest of the units make a line towards Odessa, staying near the encircled units to at least threaten to prolong the encirclement.
If i hadn't retreated all air on T1 I would have been able to set up air units to try to protect Odessa from encirclement - this way i have to do it on T3 - so the air bases will have less time to get supply.

General remarks:
Overall there is a lot of space for improvement here, a lot of things that happened i could have avoided. But i managed to avoid encirclements (except for in the south, but it is a question if it is possible to completely avoid encirclement here), and the Red Army is growing. The overall priority now is to drain out the manpower pool, and reinforce key areas before too much ground is lost.

Statistics:

OOB:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1302 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T2

Post by PPetar »

Losses:
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (1.46 MiB) Viewed 1301 times
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1301 times
Frontline units:
Screenshot_11.png
Screenshot_11.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1301 times
Vehicles:
Screenshot_8.png
Screenshot_8.png (3.17 MiB) Viewed 1301 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T3

Post by PPetar »

Air:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (4.3 MiB) Viewed 1298 times
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (3.97 MiB) Viewed 1298 times
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (2.5 MiB) Viewed 1298 times
This turn I deploy newer fighters (mig, yak and lagg) and long range level bombers (IL4, DB-3B) to north, center and south. The objective of the north and center is to disrupt enemy air operations and potentially bomb ground units when I fell it's safe to do so. South on the other hand has one goal - to prevent Odessa from being encircled. But I can't find enough airports in the area, and I'm still new to WITE2 air system, so it will be tough.
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PPetar
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Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Serbia

T3

Post by PPetar »

North:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (4.21 MiB) Viewed 1297 times
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (4.61 MiB) Viewed 1297 times
My opponent is insisting on the eastern route to Lenningrad. I defended western route more because I thought it is more suitable for Axis advance, but I can't ignore the advances made here. I retreat from Pskov and set up a good line around Luga in the west and Novgorod in the east - both of those have depots and are important to defend.

Center:
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (4.25 MiB) Viewed 1297 times
Screenshot_4.png
Screenshot_4.png (4.07 MiB) Viewed 1297 times
Smolensk is encircled; I didn't think that was possible honestly. The attack to try and relieve the city unfortunately failed. But still it is not so bad. But the constant advancing has taken it's toll - those panzers have lost so much CV. I also have very good terrain to defend and delay the Axis. They wont be able to touch me without infantry - that means I have a turn or two to dig in. The line is looking strong here, and I have more reinforcements on the way.
In the area between Smolensk and Gomel - I dig in behind the river. Not much to defend here realy, but I don't want to give ground if I don't have to - and panzers are kind of busy at the moment around Smolensk.
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
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Location: Serbia

T3

Post by PPetar »

South:
Screenshot_6.png
Screenshot_6.png (2.78 MiB) Viewed 1290 times
Screenshot_7.png
Screenshot_7.png (2.66 MiB) Viewed 1290 times
Screenshot_8.png
Screenshot_8.png (2.71 MiB) Viewed 1290 times
Southern front is the main focus here - it's objectives are to hold Odessa and delay the Axis enough so that we can set up a defense on east bank of lower Dnepr. This defense doesn't have to be perfect at first - the panzers will advance way ahead of infantry here so the defense will just have to be strong enough to deny only them from crossing. Also I send most of my cavalry south - so any overextended panzer can be vulnerable to encirclements.
Southwestern front has the objective to dig on the eastern side of the Dnepr. The goal is to delay the fall of Kiev and to protect the Southern front - if Axis units cross the Dnepr the Southern front can't hold Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk for long.
The pocket is reclosed as expected. The units there will be lost on the following turns.
Screenshot_9.png
Screenshot_9.png (2.98 MiB) Viewed 1290 times
General remarks:
The army is recovering at a good pace, and even tough there were breakthroughs - I don't think this was a bad turn for the Soviets. OOB is looking good.
Vehicle supply is still low - I think partially me not handling the supply properly is to blame - a lot of trucks are used by the depots.
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T3

Post by PPetar »

Statistics:

OOB:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1289 times
Losses:
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (1.46 MiB) Viewed 1289 times
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1289 times
Vehicles:
Screenshot_9.png
Screenshot_9.png (2.58 MiB) Viewed 1289 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T3

Post by PPetar »

Frontline units:
Screenshot_13.png
Screenshot_13.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1288 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
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Location: Serbia

T4

Post by PPetar »

T4

Air:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (4.15 MiB) Viewed 1170 times
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (3.91 MiB) Viewed 1170 times
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (2.75 MiB) Viewed 1170 times
Screenshot_4.png
Screenshot_4.png (2.51 MiB) Viewed 1170 times
Odessa is cut off - I haven't done nearly of a good enough job setting it's defense up and enemy bombers have killed all supply coming to the port. Otherwise I deployed some bombers to the Orel and Southwestern fronts because I saw that the Axis are not flying superiority missions to intercept the bombings. Also I changed air commanders for the Southern and Western Fronts - hopping this would help a bit in the air, especially at Odessa.
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PPetar
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Location: Serbia

T4

Post by PPetar »

North:
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (4.47 MiB) Viewed 1169 times
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (4.01 MiB) Viewed 1169 times
Novgorod falls in a battle with final odds 2:1. Overall not much progress for the Axis here - but every tile is important since I already gave too much ground. I defend primarily the swamps north of the 3=3 and 3=11 regiments because there there is just 2 hexes between Axis and light woods - and I can't defend light woods nearly as good as I can swamps or heavy woods, especially against panzers.
On the Luga approach, I still won't retreat - it's too early; the panzers can easily turn around and go trough here - and the terrain on the western approach to Lenningrad is much more favorable to Axis advance than in the east.
Screenshot_1_1.png
Screenshot_1_1.png (3.07 MiB) Viewed 1169 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
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T4

Post by PPetar »

Center:
Screenshot_4.png
Screenshot_4.png (4.06 MiB) Viewed 1168 times
Screenshot_6.png
Screenshot_6.png (3.8 MiB) Viewed 1168 times
Smolensk falls - too bad, I hoped it could maybe hold. The Axis infantry is here but the Western front will still hold! Combination of diggins, good units railed in, good supply and good commanders - don't forget about good terrain - make holding here a possibility. I am very proud of this defense - it turned out very nicely.
Orel MD is still holding. It is important to hold the northern part so I can keep the Western front's flank secure. The southern part I leave in place too - mostly because i think coming here with panzers would be too much of a detour. Gomel falls, but Axis don't enter into it - so I retake it.

South:
Screenshot_7.png
Screenshot_7.png (2.68 MiB) Viewed 1168 times
Screenshot_9.png
Screenshot_9.png (2.6 MiB) Viewed 1168 times
No encirclements here - only a half-encirclement of a single rifle division at Krivoi Rog. Southern front sets up it's defense on the Dnepr - weak defense for now, but reinforcements are coming. If they deny the panzers a crossing we should be able to reinforce the line. Odessa is as I said isolated - but the depot has a lot of supply, i hope we can lift the isolation next turn.
Sothwestern front is digging and resting - supply here is good, and the units are getting a lot of cpp from not moving - thats why the CV of units here is relatively high.

General remarks:
Overall the things have stabilized somewhat. I am holding north, center and south - and if no major encirclements - things should be good. The OOB is already very good and next turn there will be around 500.000 men coming from the reserves.
I'm still not happy about the vehicle situation, but it is improving at least. When Kiev falls and Axis cross the Dnepr there I will probably disband more tanks that were holding the river - this should help somewhat.
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
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Location: Serbia

T4

Post by PPetar »

Statistics:

OOB:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1167 times
Losses:
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (1.46 MiB) Viewed 1167 times
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1167 times
Frontline units:
Screenshot_15.png
Screenshot_15.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1167 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
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Location: Serbia

T5

Post by PPetar »

T5

Air:
Screenshot_6.png
Screenshot_6.png (1.04 MiB) Viewed 1163 times
Overall a lot of bombings this turn by me.
In the north i used my air to bomb German infantry and interdict their back line so they cant use administrative movement.
In the center I focused on supporting the breakthrough from the pocket (I bombed the two 3=3 regiments because they seemed as the weakest link in the line - this was based on the assessment that i could reopen the pocket from the south - which was wrong)
In the south I bombed the units I was going to attack later.
None of these bombings were intercepted, but the airforce still suffered high losses.

North:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (3.99 MiB) Viewed 1163 times
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (4.55 MiB) Viewed 1163 times
The Axis are insisting on the eastern route to Lenningrad - and I think this is a bit too much. The supply here is worse, I have good terrain all around, they can't move easily due to terrain/narrowness of the line - so all in all this doesn't really scare me. They do manage to cut the only two track rail line going to Lenningrad - so this will hurt supply a bit - but there are still two single rail lines going to Lenningrad and quite a large stockpile in Lenningrad depot (which is set to priority 3 this turn so it can sent supply to depots that are closer to the front).
I had reserves ready to cover the approach to Lenningrad, and the area east of Volkhov is for the moment covered with weak units - but reinforcements are on the way. I will probably retreat from the area around Luga next turn, in order to shorten the line and create more reserves.
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PPetar
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Location: Serbia

T5

Post by PPetar »

Center:
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (4.33 MiB) Viewed 1161 times
Screenshot_5.png
Screenshot_5.png (3.97 MiB) Viewed 1161 times
Orel MD gets encircled this turn (7 inf, 1 arm, 1 airb, 2 corps). I manage to reopen it - the units will not get out, but the infantry will be delayed which is great. Also the panzers will get less fuel. I thought my opponent will not go for this because now half of the panzers wont be available to help push the Western front for at least 3 or so turns. But in hindsight i should have retreated these units last turn. I set up a defense so I can at least threaten to reopen the pocket next turn, but i mostly retreat.
Western front gets pushed a bit, but still manages to defend key hexes stopping Axis advance here. There is a patch of clear terrain behind my units that I'm not too happy about, and the CV of some units drops from the attacks last turn (3=7 in the woods had 8CV last turn), but I decide to hold for at least one more turn - half of the panzers are busy now, so it is a very bad time to retreat. Primary goal of this defense is to not get encircled while defending approaches to Vyazma.

South:
Screenshot_8.png
Screenshot_8.png (2.84 MiB) Viewed 1161 times
Screenshot_10.png
Screenshot_10.png (2.53 MiB) Viewed 1161 times
Odessa falls! I didn't expect that. Thats a lot of units lost for nothing, I did very bad here. Also I forgot to take a screenshot of the battle so here are the battle results from the CSV file exported form commander report:

Hex Near Attk Result Type A Men A Gun A Afv D Men D Gun D Afv A MenL A GunL A AfvL D MenL D GunL D AfvL D MenE D GunE D AfvE
221203 Odessa Axis Retreated Deliberate 160327 1759 0 92081 1247 100 2720 68 0 49241 860 100 5267 56 0
(A Men = attacker men, A MenL = attacker men lost)

On the other parts of the front - my opponent overextends with quite a few regiments - I take this opportunity and make 5 successful attacks in the south - raising my wins for a good amount of units.
Southern front receives reinforcements - it's objective is to dig in and delay the Axis advance on the southernmost part of the front. A lot of cavalry arrived on this part of the front - will see if they will be able to do something special in the next couple of turns.
Southwestern front continues to hold and dig in, only notable thing here is higher concentration of infantry near Cherkassy.

General remarks:
There were setbacks this turn - Odessa and encirclement in the center. But there are still many positives and I think overall the defense is going well. Manpower pool was exhausted - so I set up maxtoe% for units based on their importance.
A small note - axis suffered a setback in N. Africa - which confirms my opponent is making full use of unlocked TB's. The good news are he's getting punished for it, but how much I'm not sure.
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PPetar
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:59 am
Location: Serbia

T5

Post by PPetar »

Statistics:

OOB:
Screenshot_1.png
Screenshot_1.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 1159 times
Losses:
Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (1.46 MiB) Viewed 1159 times
Screenshot_5.png
Screenshot_5.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1159 times
Frontline units:
Screenshot_16.png
Screenshot_16.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 1159 times
Last edited by PPetar on Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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