GC41: Jawi (Ger) vs Kamil (Sov)

[KamilS]

Hi

My first multiplayer game in WitE 2.
I haven't played beyond 3rd turn as a Soviet so to some extend this is journey into unknown. Should be fun.



Game Options:

* TBs Control - Off
* Fog of War - On
* Fog of War Movement - On
* Reduced Retreat Casualties - Off
* Combat Delay Effects - Default
* Various Leader Deaths - Reduced
* Amphibious Operations - Restricted
* No Temporary Motorization - On
* No Airborne Operations - On

Morality Modification:

* Germany/Finland/Slovakia - Early: 0 / Late: +5
* Italy/Romania/Hungary - Early: +5 / Late: +10
* Soviet Union - Early: 0 / Late: 0

* No more than 400 bomber sorties per hex in one round, or a maximum of two attacks with up to 200 bombers per hex per round;

* Landings - no landings west of Sevastopol until it is recaptured

* No city fortress in Kerch


Game

Situation at the begning of Turn 1 turned out more positive than expected.



North

Some concerning pressure towards Vitebsk, but overall situation in the north due to open pocket remain positive.

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Center

Central pocket is sizable as expected, no good news here.

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South

Surprise in the south. Presence of mot/pzr in the swamp was definitelly good news as was lack of Rovno encirclement.

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[KamilS]

Turn 1 End (1/2)


North

I have taken advantage of opportunity to cut off supply to enemy units close to Daugvapilis.
Strongest push was expected in Vitebsk area, so I have created weakest defence towards velkie Luki hoping to lure panzers towards this direction.

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Center

I didn't think it would be possible but I broke central pocket.
This kind of luck will create massive problems for my opoonent especially on logistical front and force him to make hard decison next turn - should I priorities speed of advance vs making sure encirclement contains most of Soviet units.

Taking into account all above most of landbridge defence line should hold.

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[KamilS]

Turn 1 End (2/2)

South

Presence of panzer in Pripyat Marshes embolden me.
I have made decision to create defensive line closer to German troops than I would have otherwise.

I should be safe from pockets here this turn, but in future I will need to be remain vigilant and not to get overexcited. In the south terrain favours offensive and once infantry catches up with Panzers situation will become dangerous once again.

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[tm1]

Well that is not good news for the Axis player breaking out of pockets.

Good luck to both of you

[KamilS]

Well that is not good news for the Axis player breaking out of pockets.

Good luck to both of you

Thank you

[Q-Ball]

In the South, with that opening, just retreat enough that he can't use infantry units to attack you. That's the key IMO to being successful down there; make the Mobile Formations do all of the attacking, because they generally cannot do that AND create large encirclements. So your defensive set-up there accomplishes that.

Not a good opening for him in the South; didn't pocket anything, AND activated Southern Front prematurely. That's not good.

And yeah......having the Bialystok pocket broken is bad. He will re-seal, but that costs time, and you can beam out all the SUs, which isn't nothing

[KamilS]

In the South, with that opening, just retreat enough that he can't use infantry units to attack you. That's the key IMO to being successful down there; make the Mobile Formations do all of the attacking, because they generally cannot do that AND create large encirclements. So your defensive set-up there accomplishes that.

Not a good opening for him in the South; didn't pocket anything, AND activated Southern Front prematurely. That's not good.

And yeah......having the Bialystok pocket broken is bad. He will re-seal, but that costs time, and you can beam out all the SUs, which isn't nothing

I haven't moved any SU out ... shows how incomplete my knowlegde about the game is.
Thank you for advise.

[TallBlondJohn]

Looks very interesting so far, looking forward to following this. Keeping the early pockets sealed is much trickier than it used to be.

[jawi]

Here's a message from Berlin... (it's true).

So far, the Germans are quite satisfied.
It's still warm in the summer of 1941

Except for the southern front, because no encirclement has formed there.

(It's known that you can keep the Russian southern forces frozen in the game.
But I prefer to play tactically and strategically freely, without exploiting specific game techniques. Then it's better to lose honorably.)

In any case, things are going to get interesting.

Have fun and good ideas to the Russian comrades.

[KamilS]

Turn 2 Start


North

Minor Axis advance in the north, however pocket doesn't look breakable particularyli due to lack of availabe units both inside and outside of encirclement.

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Center

Lots of ready formations, including cavalry divison so establishing connection with "outer world" is possiblity.

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South

Not much happened in the south and German infantry is far behind, so situation feels undercontroll untill that happends.

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[KamilS]

Turn 2 (1/3)


West

Unfortunatelly i wasn't able to breach any of the pockets.

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[KamilS]

Turn 2 End (2/3)


North

Holding Pskov, Vielkie Luki and hills north from Vitebsk are priorities.
Keeping Germas from crossing river Velikaya would be great, but I fear it might not be possible to acheieve.

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Center


Line in the center is paper thin, but panzers are spead out, infantry is lagging behind, so the worst I expect that can happen is breaching initial defensive line south of Vitebsk.
I hope I am not overly confident and won't pay price for that.

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[KamilS]

Turn 2 End (3/3)


South 1/2

In the north and center main line of defence is shifted east and westen approaches are defended around exiting fortified possitions and hills.
Northern approaches are protected by swamps, so I belive my lines can be broken but any big encirclement is not possible this turn.

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South 2/2

Defence in the far south is almost non existant, but I would have not problem with Jawi shifting his panzers towards Odessa.

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[jawi]

nachricht aus berlin.

es geht voran.
auch die luftwaffe wird nach vorne verlegt.
aber es ist auch ein wettlauf mit der zeit und mit dem nachschub.

die deutschen truppen sind motiviert und sammeln kampferfahrung.
das liegt auch daran, das die kommandeure an vorderster front bei ihren truppen sind und mitkämpfen.

ja, odessa ist ein interessantes ziel.
das okh denkt darüber nach.

beste grüße an alle hier,
besonders an die tapferen sowjets.


(es gibt hier im forum einen perfekten deutschen 1. zug, bei dem die russische seite keine chance hat. was soll das? ein mechanisches abarbeiten ohne eigene ideen.
ich kann nur jedem empfehlen, auch etwas mutig und risikofreudig zu sein.
macht auch viel mehr spaß. )

[KamilS]

Turn 3 Start


North

Slow advance of Germans will give me time to consolidate defence towards both Pskov and Velkie Luki.

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Center

Good situation here. Northern part of central from is expected to be safe for next turn as well.

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South

Loss of Vinnitsa nad crossing of Yuzhny Bug river compromises my whole defensive line and will force me to shift east.
Troop density in the south is low so I feel very vunerable here.

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[KamilS]

Turn 3 End (1/2)


North

I have managed to cut off advancing German troops (at least 4 mobile divisions) what I expect will blunt Jawi's strenght enough to prevent penetration of second defensive lines.
Infantry is still far away so main assault is still 2 turns away.

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Center

Succesfull raid at the wester approaches to landbridge - 3 divisions without supply is big win here.

I don't expect line south of Vitebsk to be breachable next turn.
Dnepr river defence is weak but I don't think Panzers have enough fuel to pierce it.

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[KamilS]

Turn 3 End (2/2)


South


Without existing forts and favourable terrain I can't risk more aggresive defence in the south.

Numbers panzers in Volhynia and cutting off suply to souther group near Vinnitsa give opportunity to survive one more turn without significant encirclement.

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Forces north of Odessa are almost non-existant so running east is only option.

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[KamilS]

Turn 4 Start



North

No actions here. Panzers are massed west of Velkie Luki and now, at the begining of turn 4 it is good thing.
Density of troops is high enough to make German advance costly and no too rapid.

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Center

Landbridge belt was only breached in 1 placed and Dnepr is still secure, so I feel confident I can avoid doom here at least for one more turn.
Presence of mot and pz division in the souther part of that front mean that potential penetration won't have enough depth to create mega pocket.

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South


Due to flat terrain and lack of fortificaton I was really concerned here. Fortunatelly defensive line wasn't compromised in any meaningfull way.

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[KamilS]

Turn 4 End (1/2)


North

In the north German infantry is still too far behind to provide meaningfull support in assulting first line of defences.
I am happy with current strenght of Soviet armies in Pskov and Velikie Luki area.

Additionally, strong forces in Vitebsk and in the hills to the north are creating good separation between GrA North and Center.

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Center


I reatreated east, towards Smolensk to be ouside of German intantry deliberate attacks.
For now, I feel most concern about strenght of my line north of Mogilev.

Further to the south, Soviet units are weak and not too numersous but I am happy to conceed some ground here.

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[KamilS]

Turn 4 End (2/2)


South


Low unit density leads to constant eastward reatreat. Force preservations is priority.

On tactical level I made western approaches to Kiev deliberatly weak to lure Germans into attacking here. I really don't mind them crossing the river in this part of the front..

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