Defending The Reich

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Feb 17th 1945 Turn 6
Army Group A


Lower Silesia

Despite the rapid advance in the central sector of the front by the enemy Josef Harpe ( Army Group A ) had been trying to maintain a controlled withdrawal without leaving any gaps in the line for enemy exploitation, but the Soviet attacks proved to strong with the southern wing of 9th Armee collapsing and routing leaving 4th Pz Armee's flank vulnerable, 1st Ukrainian Front struck Fritz Graeser's Army along its 90 mile front with devastating force some units held but the vast majority crumbled, in panic units fled towards the city Fortress of Breslau with enemy Mech and Tank formations in pursuit.

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Upper Silesia

On Graeser's left flank Friedrich Shulz 17th Armee had more or less managed a steady withdrawal his units remaining in cohesion along the line, but an attack by four Red armies towards Ostrava smashed through XI SS Pz Korps encircling the 320th Volks Grenadier Div and capturing the Yablunkov Pass and Moravian Gap the enemy then turning south to capture Zilina and threatening to link up with Soviet troops from the southern front and cut off 1st Hun Army, 1st Pz Armee and 8th Armee still struggling to retreat from The Carpathian Mountains.
The three armies under constant attack on three fronts and there escape route now in danger of being closed, there only chance of survival is a precariously held 30 mile opening for the pocketed armies to escape, the trapped troops must withdraw through The Sturec Pass with shattered units holding both flanks open the situation looks bleak as the weather worsens in Slovakia.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Feb 17th 1945 Turn 6
Army Group South


In Slovakia 2nd Ukrainian Front's northern armies continue to drive back 8th Armee from its mountain positions and reducing there room to manoeuvre back towards to Moravia and lower Austria due to the fact that both 1st Hun Army and 1st Pz Armee are retreating in the same direction causing chaos as the three armies begin to be pocketed while trying to slip through the Mountain passes towards the town of Trencin, Soviet forces captured Zvolen and panic is spreading through the retreating units.

Five Soviet Armies ( 6th Guards Tank, 7th Guards, 40th, 52nd, and 53rd ) advancing northwest aiming to link up with 4th Ukrainian Front and trap our forces before they can escape out of the Carpathian region.

Further south 6th Armee lines were attacked, Intel indicates at least seven armies from the southern wing of 2nd Ukrainian Front assaulted along a 60 mile front and broke through in several places despite General Balcks Panzer's counterattacking, Red Army units were simply to strong to hold back and are now only 10 miles from Nitra. Austria and Slovakia could be overrun in less than two weeks unless High Command sends more reinforcements.

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In the Transdanube region the 3rd Hun Army and 2nd Pz Armee sector remains quiet as the bulk of the Red Army moved north and was committed to the battle in Slovakia, in fact the enemy virtually stripped the front line most 3rd Ukrainian Front units moved to support the drive towards Bratislava, 5th Shock and 26th Armies leaving three units to cover the entire sector.

III Pz Korps sector from 6th Armee on the northern flank of the Hungarians was also quiet with the unit only 60 miles from Budapest.

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The slow retreat through the mountains

[SchDerGrosse]

First of all, a gem of an AAR.

Apart from being well written, it covers a much neglected scenario of the game.

Quick question. How are you finding the normal difficulty, and thus the AI's lacking ability to freely shift around units and reorganize the battlefield as needed?

I am also interested in playing this campaign but cant really decide on what settings to use.

Option 1:

- 110 for the Soviets except morale to avoid "teleportation".

Option 2:

- 100 for the Soviets but bump morale to 110 to make up for the AI's inability to effectively redeploy units and respond to the changing battlefield.

[tm1]

First of all, a gem of an AAR.

Apart from being well written, it covers a much neglected scenario of the game.

Quick question. How are you finding the normal difficulty, and thus the AI's lacking ability to freely shift around units and reorganize the battlefield as needed?

I am also interested in playing this campaign but cant really decide on what settings to use.

Option 1:

- 110 for the Soviets except morale to avoid "teleportation".

Option 2:

- 100 for the Soviets but bump morale to 110 to make up for the AI's inability to effectively redeploy units and respond to the changing battlefield.

Hi @ SchDerGrosse

Thank you for the kinds words, playing against the AI and trying to make this campaign enjoyable has been interesting as The Axis its only early days into the scenario and posting an AAR I just was certain it will go.

As an Axis only player I looked at this campaign way back when I got the game and thought then do I really want to try defend Berlin give the state of the German Army or would I rather be marching through Russia in 1941, but years later i decided to take on the challenge.

In answer to your first question

I had an idea based on the scenario description that the " Kurland Pocket " might remain stagnant I wondered whether that would be a good thing for me or not, the fact that Memel is still in Axis hands is a surprise as the AI move troops there does not attack then moves them to Kurland then back to Memel and then still does nothing, don't get me wrong I'm not going to complain as it ties down troops that would other wise be moving into Germany.

The extreme south is another area where the AI does move troops away then back but not fight though moving troops do attack the Axis central forces which makes up for the inactivity in the Lake Balaton region.

The central sector is the biggest area of this game while it may seem that the AI is doing very little in the way of action and troop movement to me this sector more than makes up for the short comings of the flanks, from West Prussia to Slovakia they seem unstoppable and they have plenty of units, I cant stop them and I cant see the forts in The Seelow Heights doing it either.

As I write this I am not ahead in turns and so my thinking is they will break through easily based on current form, the Red Army is not slowing I had a previous turn of mud and it barely slowed them down, now that might completely change over the next few turns and I am considering the option of changing the AI settings.

To answer the second part of the question

I also pondered on the settings before starting the campaign thinking that the AI may just sit around and do nothing after about 5 turns but I chose to leave them as normal ( for now ) due to the fact that I was using a new patch which I had not played before and wanted to get use to it and also didn't want to get wiped out inside 10 turns.
So far I think I made the right choice but time will tell, I had thoughts of upping the AI settings and evacuating Army Group North but visions of all those freed up Soviets heading into Germany to boost the already massive force there gave me second thoughts.
But I digress back to the options

I'm certain I will come back to this campaign sometime in the future after trying it out at this current time, I'm not all that worried about the AI teleportation get enough of that in the 41 campaign and I'm getting use to it.
So I may just up the AI settings to 110 but I would certainly be keeping the Axis settings at the normal level, lowering the Axis setting in my view would be a bigger disaster.

More or less I'm taking this turn by turn on the settings situation, good luck to you when you try the campaign out.

Regards

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Feb 24th 1945 Turn 7
Army Group North

Kurland

The quiet in Kurland is shattered with 2nd Baltic Front opening a massive offensive against Schoerner's ( AG North ) northern front line sector, 16th Armee's entire line is assaulted by nine Soviet armies ( 1st shock Army, 3rd Shock Army, 8th Guards Army,10th Guards Army, 19th Army, 28th Army, 42nd Army, 49th Army and 50th Army ), along the coast in the Gulf of Riga Red Army tank formations struck XVI ArmeeKorps defending the town of Tukums, smashing through the heavily defended line forcing back two Divisions to the town itself, a direct assault on the town was held but the situation looks grim for ArmeeKorps Commander Generalleutnant Von Krosigk and his defending troops.
South of Tukums XVI ArmeeKorps manage to hold there ground with support from General Krueger's VI Lat SS ArmeeKorps but VI SS were not so lucky with a third blow from about 150 thousand enemy troops smashing there defence lines 20 miles west of Jelgava forcing back three divisions in disarray.

On 16th Armee's southern end of the line L ArmeeKorps and XXXVIII Pz Korps came under heavy attack as the Red Army launched repeated attacks against there fortified defence positions which finally crumbled with the enemy breaking through in two sectors and forcing a full scale retreat to the second defence line. After a week of heavy fighting 16th Armee lines finally stabilised along the Liepaja rail line.

On 18th Armee's front the enemy struck in two sectors 1st shock Army and 22nd Army hit General Busse I ArmeeKorps hoping to force an opening between the two German Armies but the attack was held a second attack was launched but here Axis defences were to strong.
At the extreme south of 18th Armee's line III SS Pz Korps resisted an assault by the Soviet 22nd Army aiming to capture the town of Priekule but with SS troops entrenched in heavily fortified positions the Soviet attack failed and the enemy suffered heavy losses.

Soviet forces have now reached The Kurland Fortified Zone.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Feb 24th 1945 Turn 7
Army Group Centre / Army Group Vistula

East Prussia / West Prussia

On the front line at Koenigsberg the Soviets have once again redeployed the bulk of the troops south to face the shattered 2nd Armee, 4th Armee and 11th SS Pz Armee defending in front of the Vistula river line.This gives Erhard Raus ( 3rd Pz Armee ) time to continue to bolster the city's defence.

With the enemy's attention now focused away from Koenigsberg 1st Baltic Front's troops now launch major attacks towards the Gulf of Danzig in East Prussia and towards The Vistula river, six Soviet Armies assault along a 100 hundred mile front completely shattering the Axis line VI ArmeeKorps , XX ArmeeKorps and XXIII ArmeeKorps are pushed back towards the city of Elbing while VII Pz Korps and LV ArmeeKorps retreat towards Grudziadz where 23rd SS Pz Gren Div manages to hold the city while elements of all three armies begin to cross the river or march towards the Danzig fortifications on the coast.
With Soviet forces now reaching the Vistula river in West Prussia it seems that Koenigsberg may but cut off by land.

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West Prussia / Wartheland

While the enemy assaults in East Prussia have forced a breakthrough allowing Red Army spearheads to advance towards the Vistula river and the Baltic Coast, and while this enemy push towards the Sea could split Army Group Centre in two creating a crisis for our defence of the Fatherland the assaults by four Soviet fronts in the central sector this week have been catastrophic, 3rd Belorussian Front struck towards Bydgoszcz attacking 1st SS Pz Korps which had been ordered to hold the city however the unit was overrun quickly unable to hold back the on coming enemy force consisting of units from the Soviet 4th Tank Army, 31st Army, 50th Army and Pol 1st Army.

In Wartheland the main Soviet blow fell on 6th SS Pz Armee and 9th Armee along a wide front, four armies of the 3rd Belorussian Front attacked north of Poznan while 2nd Belorussian and 1st Belorussian Fronts attacked from the south attempting encircle the city, Axis troops defending both flanks were smashed and driven back the enemy almost trapping six Axis Divisions in the city's area only a thin narrow corridor remains open for escape. Our defensive line collapsed with our forces retreating towards the Seelow Heights, we are unable to hold back the enemy.

While the disaster was unfolding around Poznzn Soviet armies from 3rd Ukrainian Front began to strike towards the cities of Liegnitz, Steinau and Neusalz, enemy Tank and Mech Corps breaking through 9th Armee defences, Red Army spearheads have now reached the Oder river.

The Seelow Heights is now the last defensive before Berlin.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Feb 24th 1945 Turn 7
Army Group A

Lower and Upper Silesia / Slovakia

For the German High Command the situation continued to worsen as the Soviets Baltic and Wartheland offensives were only part of a much larger strategic operation aimed against the entire front, 1st Ukrainian and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts struck 4th Pz Armee in Silesia, the Soviet 3rd Guards Tank Army supported by 21st Army, 49th Army and 70th Army smashed through our defence lines along the Oder river, 4th Pz Armee positions collapsed quickly the defenders having no hope of holding against the enemy advance our forces began to retreat towards Goerlitz, Koeniggraetz and Waldenburg. With the defence line virtually gone the city of Breslau with a garrison of almost 40,000 men is almost encircled and in danger of being destroyed.

17th Armee was spared the brunt of the enemy attacks but was eventually forced to fall back from the western bank of the Oder with the remnants of 4th Pz Armee's XXXXVIII Pz Korps, the enemy captured the town of Brieg with reports of Soviet units crossing the river en masse.

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In Slovakia the situation is dire 17th Armee's southern units which were to cover the northern flank of the Axis retreat from the Tartra Mountains were overrun easily with Ostrava and Nessalsdorf falling opening the way for 2nd Ukrainian Front to cutoff the withdrawing troops, with attacks from enemy forces in the south forcing 8th Army to be pushed back into the path of the retreating 1st Hun Army and 1st Pz Armee making the already congested roads and paths a slow crawl and creating bigger bottlenecks for the escaping troops.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Feb 24th 1945 Turn 7
Army Group South

Lake Balaton Offensive

With the crisis in Slovakia worsening for Army Group South's northern armies General Ottp Woehler makes a desperate decision, 2nd Pz Armee in the extreme south of the line finds the front thinly guarded as 3rd Ukrainian Front has moved the bulk of its troops north, Woehler orders General Maximilian De Angelis ( 2nd Pz Armee ) to push out from his defensive positions and capture both Kaposvar and Pecs then turn north to link up with Hermann Brieth's III Pz Korps from 6th Armee which will push south to capture the town of Siofok trapping as many Red Army units in the process. The hope is this feint in south by Axis forces will force the enemy to stop there drive in Slovakia and pull troops away to deal with the new threat south allowing the three pocketed armies in the north a chance to escape the Soviet trap.
The initial advance goes well with the SS mountain troops cutting off the Soviet 236 rifle Div while PzGren troops push further east capturing Pecs then turning north backed by Infantry taking Kaposvar against little opposition, meanwhile III Pz Korps advances 20 miles south taking its objectives but both advances fail to trap the Guards 22nd Corps and 44th rifle Corps.
While this operation is taking place 4th Ukrainian Front launches a massive assault against 8th Armee and 6th Armee defending the main defence line in front of Bratislava, both armies lines collapse pushing them back further, Woehler's hope to stall the Soviet drive fails and he orders the advance to halt and all forces pull back.

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Slovakia

As Woehler's own offensive is taking place in the south two Ukrainian Fronts ( 3rd and 4th ) open up 150 mile offensive on the battered Axis line 3rd Guards Army, 4th Guards Army along with the 38th and 51st hit German 8th Armee positions south of the Sturec pass, Zvolen is captured with troops falling back in disarray towards the town of Trencin.

On 6th Armee's front eleven Soviet armies ( 1st Rum, 4th Rum, 3rd Guards, 4th Guards, 6th Guards Tank, 26th, 38th, 46th, 51st, 52nd and 53rd ) attack smashing into the defences and brushing aside our troops to advance 30 miles, the advance spearheads of Soviet 51st Army capturing Nitra and moving within 20 miles of Bratislava, only at Almasfuzito did Axis forces hold up the enemy drive.

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With the success of the Soviet push in the north forcing the southern Axis forces to withdraw from there newly captured territory back to there defensive positions the Soviet 5th Shock Army, 42nd Army and the Oslikovsky Tank Army begin to retake the capture areas, only the territory south of Gyekenyes where the Soviet 236th Inf is trapped remains under Axis control.

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