Question about the Bialystok-Minsk pocket, and pockets in general

[Atlas27]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about how to conduct the Bialystok–Minsk pocket, and more generally about how to handle pockets in War in the East 2.

As I understand it, during Turn 1 of the Grand Campaign, the Bialystok–Minsk pocket should be created, and then fully closed on Turn 2.

The image illustrates the operation: the red arrows show the movement paths of the panzer units, while the green line represents the infantry that will eventually move forward to close the pocket.

Minsk Pocket.png (2.71 MiB) Viewed 369 times

My question is: when exactly should the infantry move?

Coming from Hearts of Iron, my instinct is to create the encirclement with the mobile units first and then move the infantry forward to close the pocket. However, I understand that War in the East 2 works differently, with infantry generally being used to create gaps that the panzer formations then exploit.

I'm having trouble understanding how this principle applies when the objective is to create a large pocket. In this particular situation, if I move the infantry along the green line during Turn 1, some Soviet units may retreat outside the area that can be reached by the panzer formations shown by the red arrows. This could result in fewer units being encircled. At the same time, I would be spending infantry strength attacking Soviet units that I expect to be isolated and significantly weaker on the following turn anyway.

So, what is the correct approach here, both for this pocket and in general?

Should the infantry advance during Turn 1?
Should I wait until the pocket is closed before moving the infantry forward?
Should I advance only enough infantry to secure the supply lines to the panzer formations, while leaving the rest in place?
Or is there another approach that experienced players generally use?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Sammy5IsAlive]

I'd say that there are essentially 4 different tasks that you might assign an infantry unit when making a pocket.

1) Maintaining the Western and North/Southwestern sides of the pocket (when playing Axis). These are the troops that are protecting your own rear areas and which will likely play the major role in destroying the pocketed troops on the next turn or two. You are correct to say that you don't want to be making attacks with these units on the first turn.

2) Carrying out the main attacks to make a breach in the enemy front line that you can push your mobile units through.

3) Attacking enemy units that might be sitting behind the main front line to clear the way for the following mobile units

4) Following the mobile troops through the breach in the line and as far forward as possible - assisting with the formation of the North/Southeastern sides of the pocket and making as much progress as possible in the wake of the mobile units to support them in subsequent turns.

Hope that is helpful and answers your main question?

As an aside there are quite a few intricacies of the specific rules on T1 (particularly relating to combat delay) that are important to review and keep in mind in order to make the best progress your goals on T1. In this case you need to be taking Minsk and properly closing the pocket (this does not necessarily mean an unbroken line of troops but any gaps need to be protected by converted hexes and zone of control to ensure that nothing can get in or out of the pocket and remove the isolation penalties for the whole pocket for the next turn)

[thek3mu]

hey Atlas27, check this out:
https://www.loc.gov/item/map51000141/

Der Feldzug gegen Sowjet-Russland : Band I.
Operationen Sommer-Herbst 1941 vom 21. Juni-6. Dezember 1941

have a look at the first few pages and display as slide/animation for your area of interest -
this should give a good idea of the flow of battle in the first two weeks of the invasion.
(remember, one turn = 7 days. )

enjoy!

[TheeWarLord]

1. Create gaps/holes with the infantry, and start pushing through the panzers. I also push as much infantry as well to keep them close to the far flung armor. This will support the flanks of panzers and relief them of containment.
2. I start reducing the pocket on day 1 with any available infantry adjacent to enemy units. The encircled enemy divisions will sustain heavy losses, which will then be exacerbated by weakening at the next logistic phase.
3. Time is of essence, create those pockets, reduce as quickly as you can, you may leave a few stubborn pockets behind, just don’t let block your main line of advance or supply route. .
4. You have complete air superiority, use it! Interdiction, and constant ground attacks on units that are forming lines ahead. Carpet bomb, and pound those units ahead. Don’t let up, change your munitions to bunker busters if they start fortifying ahead, use lighter bomb loads for the infantry in the open. Keep moving!

[Joel Billings]

You should be able to take Minsk on turn 1, while forming the pocket in an unbreakable way, enclosing the largest numbers of units while routing the minimum number of units. This will yield the biggest haul of captured soldiers. You can do similar but smaller pockets in the AGN area. A lot of the infantry should begin advancing through the corridors that are opened, while pinning in the Soviet units with a minimum number of units. You need to identify the rails you want to repair immediately, and make sure you clear a path on the rails that you will be able to repair on the first few turns. It won't take a lot of infantry to destroy the pocked units. By shuffling units toward the breaches, the will be able to advance a long way on the following turns in previously captured hexes (very important to open those corridors so you don't have to move infantry through newly captured territory (going through territory captured during the current turn slows the infantry and causes more fatigue and provides less fatigue and CP recovery at the end of the turn). Getting this right is the key to keeping your army in good shape for the inevitable battles to come later in the summer as the Soviets form a line. Watching players get stuck at Smolensk in the summer of 41 indicates they have not done well on the first few turns. In WitE2, everything snowballs, either for good or bad, based on the early performance. If you haven't mastered this against the AI, you will find fighting a human player very difficult. The AI won't generally break your opening deep pockets, but if you are not careful, a human player might be able to open your big pocket, which could seriously delay your infantry.