The Sky’s the Limit- PBEM GC 41 jubjub (Axis) vs. M60A3TTS (Soviet)

[M60A3TTS]

The presence of no less than five panzer corps in the Kharkov area show the value of the city. Regardless, the rescue attempt succeeds and once again there is a pocket of German units.



Heavy rains again loom in the forecast.

[M60A3TTS]

For the German defenders at Kursk, there will be no rescue. Eight divisions with over 100,000 men surrender.

[tm1]

WOW massive operations with both sides throwing everything into the fire, I just thought your opponent would be just lucky to get some of his troops out of the southern pocket let alone launch a counteroffensive and return the favour on your own troops only to have the battle swing back again.
Great stuff ! o7


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RTTYRGLdFo

[M60A3TTS]

Week 95 11 April 1943

The Axis defenders in the Kursk-Kharkov region withdraw several dozen miles to the west while making the city of Kharkov itself a front line city.



Prior to heavy rains falling and as part of this withdrawal, several punishing German attacks against exposed Red Army positions add to the death toll. Both sides enter the Rasputitsa somewhat battered with over 300,000 total casualties.



Losses in AFVs over the last three weeks are particularly severe. Neither side is spared here.






OOB


Approximately 450,000 Red Army troops are unavailable for duty. It will take some time to recover here. Our best estimate for replacements coming into the manpower pool breaks down as follows:

51,638 from manpower centers
28,210 representing 1% of the disabled pool characterized as lightly wounded and returning to duty
22,227 representing 25% of the transit pool returning to duty.

In all, 102,075 either join or return to the ranks of the Red Army this week.

Air on map and total losses




Vehicles. Every attempt is made to keep the army vehicle shortage at a minimum so as not to degrade the level of mobility.




Front line trace across from the entire front

[M60A3TTS]

It is fast becoming time to start thinking strategically. City historical capture turns in white.

[gingerbread]

Magnificent!

The low Axis casualties shown in the break out combat reports underline how large the pocket elimination capture figures really are. The 4k Axis guns lost will not be replaced by an event either.

28,210 representing 1% of the disabled pool characterized as lightly wounded and returning to duty

At least in WitE1, 1% was deducted from total disabled but only half of that was returned to the available pool with the other half sent to man factories so simply removed.
Does WitE 2 give the full 1%?

There are a lot of white units, are you already at CU assignment limits for the fronts?

[M60A3TTS]

Magnificent!

The low Axis casualties shown in the break out combat reports underline how large the pocket elimination capture figures really are. The 4k Axis guns lost will not be replaced by an event either.

28,210 representing 1% of the disabled pool characterized as lightly wounded and returning to duty

At least in WitE1, 1% was deducted from total disabled but only half of that was returned to the available pool with the other half sent to man factories so simply removed.
Does WitE 2 give the full 1%?

There are a lot of white units, are you already at CU assignment limits for the fronts?

From the living manual 1.28 section 23.10.2

Some losses are treated as disabled and over time one percent of the men listed as disabled are returned to the manpower pool per turn. Equally one half of one percent of the total are converted into KiA to reflect the severity of their wounds. Thus, the disabled column will alter even if no other actions take place.

I am not near front limits as there are 130+ corps of all types that drive down the CU count as you are aware (4v6). I do endeavor to keep the assault fronts at max at all times.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 96 18 April 1943

As the heavy rains continue, Stavka plans for coming operations. Kharkov is to be re-taken for the final time by Zhukov's Central Front. Attention will then turn towards the liberation of the Donbas and finally the drive to the Dnepr.



General Vasilevsky commanding North Caucasus Front receives command of the armies formally belonging to Stalingrad Front. General Rokossovsky and the troops of the Don Front will be on Vasilevsky's right.

Capture of the Azov ports will be important in order to keep the advance units well supplied. In particular the ports of Mariupol, Osipenko and Genichesk all contain level 2 railyards.

[M60A3TTS]

Let's focus on the air component once again. Some of this is already covered elsewhere, but I thought it would be helpful to bring it up here. From Williamson Murray's Strategy for Defeat, this gives an idea of what the Luftwaffe historically lost in the key theaters during 1943, excluding December. (Tally of numbers by theater is my math).



We can see that roughly 4,000 aircraft were lost by the Luftwaffe in each of the three theaters. Consider that in any WiTE2 Theater Box, medium intensity air combat costs the LW about 35 aircraft per week or a little over 1,800 per year. That is what the Western and African TBs are. Low intensity combat costs 1 aircraft per week, more or less. In game, Africa/Italy/Western Europe are medium intensity. High is about 100 LW losses per week, and very high 400 (from what I've been told), but that is all in the future of 1944.

[M60A3TTS]

Now that we have seen something of what were historical losses, let's look at what the game has for LW weekly aircraft builds in the Spring of 1943.




Taken in total, that's quite a lot of aircraft being made available to the Luftwaffe.

[Q-Ball]

I'll be interested to see how this goes into 1944, but it sounds like the game does not adequately simulate the bleeding out of the Luftwaffe at the hands of the Western Allies. While the Red Army definitely did the heavy lifting vs. the Wehrmacht, it was the Western Allies that did the heavy lifting vs. the Luftwaffe.

[Wiedrock]

I'll be interested to see how this goes into 1944, but it sounds like the game does not adequately simulate the bleeding out of the Luftwaffe at the hands of the Western Allies. While the Red Army definitely did the heavy lifting vs. the Wehrmacht, it was the Western Allies that did the heavy lifting vs. the Luftwaffe.

Wehrmacht = Heer(Army) + Luftwaffe(Air Force) + Marine(Navy)

[tm1]

I'll be interested to see how this goes into 1944, but it sounds like the game does not adequately simulate the bleeding out of the Luftwaffe at the hands of the Western Allies. While the Red Army definitely did the heavy lifting vs. the Wehrmacht, it was the Western Allies that did the heavy lifting vs. the Luftwaffe.

Wehrmacht = Heer(Army) + Luftwaffe(Air Force) + Marine(Navy)

Kriegsmarine

[Wiedrock]

I'll be interested to see how this goes into 1944, but it sounds like the game does not adequately simulate the bleeding out of the Luftwaffe at the hands of the Western Allies. While the Red Army definitely did the heavy lifting vs. the Wehrmacht, it was the Western Allies that did the heavy lifting vs. the Luftwaffe.

Wehrmacht = Heer(Army) + Luftwaffe(Air Force) + Marine(Navy)

Kriegsmarine

There you go, I have no idea about Naval stuff at all!

[M60A3TTS]

Now I want to post a side by side comparison of two fighter formations. On the left is a VVS regiment with an experience level of 60. In 1943, it can be a little better than this in some regiments, but worse in far more. On the right we have a LW group that reflects their NM/experience level of 70 in 1943.



This LW group is a fresh out of the box, and doesn't reflect any inflated values of individual pilots who have been feasting on Soviet aircraft for the better part of two years. So you would expect to see some LW groups with a dozen or more pilots with 90+ experience among a number of LW fighter groups.

The point to be made here is that 1943, with the +10NM improvement where guards units are concerned, still will not swing the pendulum in favor of the VVS in any meaningful way. 1943 will still feature plenty of lopsided Soviet losses, which in turn means Soviet air operations cannot simply be some constant all-out assault. Shortages of fighter aircraft which are essential in protecting the bomber attacks will occur and in turn means that operational pauses will certainly need to be baked into the overall air plan.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 98 2 May 1943

After the heavy rains cleared, the Soviet offensive in the Kharkov region resumed. Southwestern Front moved in force to begin the envelopment of Kharkov.



The air battle results were not terribly impressive. The VVS lost nearly 500 aircraft during the air and ground phase. Note the loss ratio of 262-1 during the air phase. 1943 is not starting out any different from the previous two years.




Likely due to ground conditions, the air to ground kills this week were not particularly impressive.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 99 9 May 1943

The city of Kharkov has changed hands for the last time. To the victor, the new rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.



Losses are extremely heavy as the Red Army is on the receiving end of numerous counterattacks. But the Red Army is also now poised to roll westwards.




Air losses are equally terrible, if not worse. The Soviet Air NM still at 50 is not helping matters at all. Clearly the VVS is far from being able to master the skies.

Axis Air and Action Phase
Soviet Air Losses: 338
Axis Air Losses: 129

Soviet Air Phase
Fighter sorties: 3,316
Bomber Sorties: 3,092
Fighter Losses during Ground Bombing: 75
Bomber Losses during Ground Bombing: 120
Fighter Losses due to enemy Air Combat: 142
Bomber Losses due to enemy Air Combat: 322
Additional Air Losses: 53
Total Air Phase Losses: 712 Soviet to 106 Axis
Ground Casualties Inflicted: 4,503

Soviet Action Phase
Soviet Air Losses: 313
Axis Air Losses: 12

Total Air Losses
Soviet: 1,363
Axis: 248