41-45GC Smokindave (Sov) vs. Zonso (Axis)

[smokindave34]

I've been reluctant to put Soviet units on reserve in '41 because I believe there is a chance that the unit in reserve can also rout when defeated, although when I play as axis I cringe every time I see a Soviet unit enter the battle from reserve (they always seem to tip the scale against me). I'll put a healthy portion of my units on reserve next turn and post the results. Thanks.

[randallw]

German units in reserve are murderous on defense.

[comsolut]

ORIGINAL: smokindave34

Southern Front:

I'm not sure these guys believe a war is actually going on. They spend their time digging foxholes, reading Vasilly Grossman's reports from Smolensk and wondering when their chance will come to crush the facist invader.

Not shown but Odessa if finally under siege. 2 German division have been dispatched from 11th army to take this fortress.

Just saw the reference to VG. Read two of his books and found both very interesting. Nice touch of color to the AAR.

[smokindave34]

Glad you liked that Comsolut. I haven't read any yet - what were the titles? I'd be interested in reading these.

[comsolut]

"A Writer at War" and "Life and Fate" are the two I have read. The first is his experiences as a war correspondent under Communist censorship, the second reminds me of "War and Peace" (fictional but drawn from people he knew) but I enjoyed it very much. Review from a reader on Amazon below on "A Writer at War."



This review is from: A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945 (Hardcover)
I walk mid shamble smear and stench, The dead I mourn." John Finley.

The Soviet journalist and author Vasily Grossman did more than kneel behind the soldier's trench. He lived with the Red Army from the catastrophic summer of 1941, through the defense of Moscow, the apocalyptic carnage of Stalingrad, the hard-won liberation of Soviet territory, the horrible discoveries of Nazi genocide in Madjanek and Treblinka, and the final bloody, triumphant march into Berlin. Anthony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova's "A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945" is a marvelous examination of both "Grossman's war" and the war itself.

Vasily Grossman is something of a forgotten, unsung giant of Soviet literature. Born in Berdichev, Ukraine in 1905, Grossman rose to prominence and received national acclaim as a war reporter for Red Star, the official newspaper of the Red Army. Although never a member of the Communist Party, Grossman was, for most of his life, a strong supporter of the Soviet Union. Grossman's reporting was realistic (despite editing by Party censors) and was enormously popular among both high ranking officers and foot soldiers. After the war, Grossman returned to writing. His magnum opus, Life and Fate was not published in the USSR until 1988. When it was originally submitted for publication the Soviet authorities `arrested' the book and told Grossman that it would not be published for 200 years. Fortunately, a copy of the manuscript survived, was smuggled to Switzerland and published in Europe in 1980, fifteen years after Grossman's death. Life and Fate was based, in good part, on Grossman's wartime experiences. Consequently, Beevor's work provides both an historical, ground-level examination of the war generally and a great deal of insight into the life experiences that formed the moral foundation of Grossman's novels.

Beevor (and his translator and collaborator Vinogradova) have taken Grossman's notebooks, war diaries, personal correspondence and his Red Star articles and set them out as part of their narrative. The transition from Grossman's text to the commentary is well thought out and seamless. Beevor is no stranger to the Eastern Front, (he has written two well received books"Stalingrad" and "The Fall of Berlin") and he does an excellent job of putting Grossman's writings into the context of his times.

Grossman is swept into the war as a reporter for Red Star immediately after the German invasion in June, 1941. Grossman's writing (and Beevor's commentary) takes us through that first disastrous summer of defeat, despair, death, and retreat. The magnificent and bloody defense of Stalingrad follows and the success of Operation Uranus in November, 1942 that resulted in the encirclement and destruction of General Paulus' Sixth Army follows. The next portion of the book has Grossman writing about the Red Army on the offensive, from the Battle of Kursk through the liberation of the Ukraine and then Poland. It is here that Grossman first learns of the horror that was the holocaust.

Grossman's reports from Treblinka were the first, first-hand accounts of the Nazi death camps and what Grossman saw changed his life. Although Jewish, Grossman had always considered himself a secular citizen of the USSR. The death camps and the murder of his mother at the hands of Nazis and Ukrainian collaborators reawakened his sense of a Jewish identity even though he remained totally secular. Grossman's experience of the camps and the evidence he saw there of man's innate inhumanity to man stunned him even after almost 4 years of living with brutality on an unfathomable scale. In ending one of his reports Grossman writes: "It is infinitely hard even to read this. The reader must believe me, it is as hard to write it. Someone might ask: "Why write about all this, why remember all that?" It is the writer's duty to tell this terrible truth, and it is the civilian duty of the reader to learn it."

It is clear from reading A Writer at War and two of Grossman's novels, "Life and Fate" and "Forever Flowing" that Grossman took his duty to tell his terrible truth seriously. Beevor has done Grossman a good service by letting Grossman's voice be heard again. I hope this book creates renewed interest in Grossman's life and writing.

[CheerfullyInsane]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

.....(snip) Put lots of stuff on reserve stance, anything that absolutely doesn't need refitting more or less. Including units on your own front line which are not in enemy ZOCs, btw. That helps prevent deep and narrow penetrations -- it forces the Axis to zoc your front line to prevent reactions from those units in addition to whatever is in the rear.

I'm starting to believe that reserve stance is seriously underused by too many Soviet players and is causing them a lot of problems throughout the entire game. If you have enough stuff on reserve stance you can really make life difficult for the Axis.

+1

I rarely have any units Ready in ´41, they're either Refitting or in Reserve unless they're so inexperienced Reserve is unavailable.
The thing is, when everybody is Ready, the Axis decides who and where to engage. When everybody is on Reserve, he can still control where, but he can't control who resulting in him fighting far more troops than normal.
Yes, you run the risk of the reserve units routing as well, but 1) at least they're fighting and 2) they're usually drawn from the second and third lines making it easier to get them back in shape next turn.

Not to mention it'll make a German commander more cautious when he can no longer be certain of the CVs involved.
To quote Yogi Berra: "90% of this game is half mental"

Then again, when I played Zonso I had to surrender in ´43 after a disastrous 1942.....
So what do I know? [:D]

[vicberg]

I have to +1 that as well. With everything in reserve it causes a German player fits. Never know how much to attack with because those damn reserves step in and screw up the works. So against Cheerfullyinsane, I'm forced to spend much more in attacks than I would like to insure victory. That in turn forces either higher concentration of troops to push and really drops the chance of any significant breakthrough. Without reserves, it's easy to commit the right troops to the right spots to open holes.

I hate reserve, well when I'm attacking.

[smokindave34]

T15 STAVKA report:

Leningrad Front - Fairly quiet here. The Finns attack and Leningrad front gives a little ground. With 4 Panzer group heading south I don't expect much to happen here for a while.

[smokindave34]

Moscow (North)

I take the advice of the many of you who have commented on my defense and use a liberal amount of "reserve" this turn. I also tried to clean up my command and control by focusing the Reserve front north of Moscow and Western Front south of Moscow. I'll report out on how many units committed themserlves as reserves next turn.

[smokindave34]

Moscow (south)

Zonso dipped 3rd panzer group south a bit to take advantage of my weaker defenses in that area. I stacked 2 high in my forts in front of 3rd panzer and put a carpet down behind them. 2nd panzer is coming up from Tula but with only 2 turns left of clear weather he shouldn't be able to cross the Oka river. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all those tank brigades and use them to man the Oka river so there is no easy crossing there.

[smokindave34]

SW front:

I think I said last turn that I wasn't going to retreat here anymore - I changed my mind (or Zonso changed it for me....). I moved the SW front back to the Oskol river. I really mean it this time - Not one step back!

Southern front digs in and the battle for Stalino will soon begin. I'm hoping to hold these through the winter.

[comsolut]

I would appreciate it if you would keep posting the OOB and Production numbers, I zeroed out on armaments on T18 in my PBEM game and want to see other players numbers for comparisons.

[smokindave34]

ORIGINAL: comsolut

I would appreciate it if you would keep posting the OOB and Production numbers, I zeroed out on armaments on T18 in my PBEM game and want to see other players numbers for comparisons.

Comsolut - no problem. I'll post them after my next turn.

[smokindave34]

T16 STAVKA report:

Leningrad Front. 4th Panzer group continues to push north. I think this was an attempt by Zonso to pocket more Soviet units. I've continued to give ground slowly here and I'm happy to see 4th panzer group chase me around in the forest and swamps in this area. A move by 4th panzer group south against Moscow would have really gave me fits...

[smokindave34]

Moscow (North)

Quiet in this area as Zonso has moved 3rd panzer group south of Moscow.

[smokindave34]

Moscow (south):

3rd panzer and 2nd panzer group converge and the 34th army finds itself cutoff. I made an attempt to break them out but was unsuccesfull. I pull back 49th army across the Oka river.

The commitment of reserve units really helped this turn. There were 13 battles in which Red army reserves were committed this turn and I achieved a "held" result in 9 of them. There were two instances were multiple units joined in as reserves. This had a couple of positive effects, first it really frustrated my opponent (he mentioned this in his email) and he over committed units in future attacks to ensure a victory. He knows I'll be using reserves like this now so he will have to continue to over committ attackers (and hence less MP's for exploitation). The second effect was that I achieved 9 "wins" and that will help with getting to guard status.

Although I'm in pretty good shape around Moscow I need to strenghen my flanks. I'm weak along the OKA river (I just added the 55th army there) and also north of Moscow along the Moskva-Volga canal. I'll funnel reinforcements here the next few turns.

[smokindave34]

SW front:

No major action here (although I was able to defeat a motorized division in front of 5th army) and I continue to dig in......Only one turn of clear weather left so I'm not sure how far he wants to push the two panzer corps here. He may try and link up with XXXXVII pz corps which is further south. To react to that I moved a reserve army up from Rostov to support Southern Front

[smokindave34]

Southern Front:

The SS take Stalino. I didn't expect a direct assault on the city but I should be able to take it back during the blizzard. My biggest concern here is XXXXVII heading north to hook up with the rest of 1st panzer group. I've tried to defend in depth to prevent that.

[smokindave34]

Losses through turn 16.....

[smokindave34]

And the current OOB....