Camerone in Russia (STEF78 vs Schascha), Schascha welcome

[STEF78]

Turn 141, 24 February 1944

Heavy fights a along the front, I will post the OOB next turn, the damages are impressive on both sides.

North of Dvina I continue to retreat one hex a turn.



Minsk sector, this picture just to show the CV 50+ of the 3 guards SHC stacks... too strong for me

[STEF78]

Turn 142, 2 march 1944

Another bad turn, my fort belt is melting, losses are increasing dramatically. It's clearly the end of me beautiful line of defense. Heavy fights, I will focus on 4 sectors

1) Dvina

I continue the evacuation of north Dvina and I've sent in this sector several pzd/mot to avoid a breakthough and I counterattack



2) Mnsk

My main concern: it's the direct road to Berlin and Schascha is very strong here. The majority of my recent reinforcement were sent here



3) Kiev

Situation is under control at the but I had to send here a significant part of 1st PzArmy



4) Nikolaiev

3rd Schock Army is attacking here. I've sent 4 pzd/mot here to slow SHC attack

[STEF78]

And my OOB



Not bad but sliding

In fact I'm asking if it's a good idea to fight this way as I don't have level 3 forts. Wouldn't it better to give ground and defend a line such as:



I would have only to defend the sector north of the carpathian mountains and could concentrate my pzd mot in Poland

[STEF78]

Turn 143, 9 march 1944

Schascha is now pushing all along the front. I begin to give ground in several parts. My OOB is decreasing sharply.

1) Dvina

A counterattack failed 1.9/1



2) Minsk

The strongest parts of SHC continues to crush my defences



3) Kiev

80% of 1st pz army is now in this part of the front



4) Nikolaïev (or Odessa?)

I will soon rename this sector

[Disgruntled Veteran]

In one of your battles it shows a MCV of 354,000 from a base of 1700. Is this WAD? That's insane.

[rmonical]

In one of your battles it shows a MCV of 354,000 from a base of 1700. Is this WAD? That's insane.

I think this happened when one is on v.11 and another is on v.10.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: rmonical

In one of your battles it shows a MCV of 354,000 from a base of 1700. Is this WAD? That's insane.

I think this happened when one is on v.11 and another is on v.10.

You're right, I noticed this problem

tm.asp?m=3429252

[STEF78]

Turn 144, 16th march 1944

3 turns before the mud!!!

Schascha continues to attack, he often gains 2 hexes in a row.

He is driving west both in the north



and in the south



and below an overview of the battle report

[STEF78]

Turn 145, 23 march 1944

2 turns before mud, I need mud!!!

1) Minsk and Dvina

I'm clearly unable to hold ground. Some successfull counterattacks are useless



3) Kiev

Whole 1st Pz Army is here now. The front will hold



4) Odessa

In this part of the front, the momentum is on Schascha's side

[STEF78]

Turn 146, 30 march 1944

Last turn before mud, Schascha is now attacking level 1, 0 or even non entrenched units

1) dvina

The river won't be useful during summer as SHC did most of his efforts on the southern bank.



2) Minsk

Heavy pressure. LVIIth PzK is defintively too weak



3) Kiev

I'm too strong in this area. I will take some units.


4) Odessa

My PzD are too weak to counterattack 40+ CV stacks

[STEF78]

Turn 147, 7 april 1944

MUD!!!!!

Time to refit, to build a line, to move units, to prepare the next summer (argh)

But first, the last attacks of Schascha. No need of comment, he is more and more powerful, and pushing me back easily.

1) dvina



2) Minsk

the worst sector of the front...



3) Kiev

Schascha moves to the South



4) Odessa

Feeling like a punching ball...

[STEF78]

Turn 147; 7th april 1944

This winter was by far the worst season of the war. my lines held firmly until end january but at this time, Schascha was able to reach level 2 and lower forts and my losses increased dramatically.

I reach the mud season with less than 4M soldiers and have lost 25% of my AFV during the last 2 months. Impressive



But my lines held and I didin't suffer a breakthrough.

Next summer will be long, very long, very very long....

[STEF78]

Turn 147, 7th april 1944

I forgot to post a general view of the front

[STEF78]

Turn 152, 11th may 1944

Full mud is over, it will now be every other turn. First clear turn. I decide to hold the line from north of pripyat swamps to the baltic sea. I give one hex from kiev to north odessa.

Just to show my offensive spirit, I've read the rules for the romanian surrender.

A point about the OOB. Mud turns were not as successfull as I thought to reinforce my army. Some very good units were sent to France on Holiday...



I'm now waiting for the steamroller.

[STEF78]

Turn 153, 18th may 1944

That's what I call a bad turn:
- a retreat/ held ratio close to 9/1
- my strongest stacks swept easily
- 9 units surrounded and lost due to the mud
- the confimation that 1943 is over and that I will have to trade space against time, but I don't have lot of space to give...

1) dvina

my best performance, I only suffer retreats all along the front. But a 3.6/1 against 3 strong Inf attacked from 2 sides and level 3 forts isn't a good news!



2) Minsk (will be renamed soon)

No comment on the battles. My airfields will go west...



3) Kiev

The breakthrough failed but my losses are high



4) Odessa

Southern Ukraine is lost and a german Inf is routed, that's something new...

[STEF78]

Turn 154, 25 may 1954

Time to retreat and shorten the lines.

In the north, I will fall back behind the Niemen and fight between Vilnius and the pripyat.



In the south, I will try to hold the Dniestr line and will give more ground in north Ukraine.



And finally, Schascha has decided to throw the finns out of the war. I thought he would have done it earlier in order to gain experience for his rifle corps.

Now, he only needs to take Vyborg. The finns will fight but without any replacement, he should reach his objective during the summer.

[Disgruntled Veteran]

One thing I notice is that your rolls are generally poor across the board. Do you know why you are getting such bad dice rolls?

With the Finns...put an SS division in Helsinki to help them not surrender. The surrender rules to Finland are pretty good and they will hold for a while in the thick forest terrain. One division in Helsinki is worth keeping the Finns in the war for another X amount of turns. If the Finns surrender you still get your division back in Germany.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Disgruntled Veteran

One thing I notice is that your rolls are generally poor across the board. Do you know why you are getting such bad dice rolls?

It's a server game so reload should not be possible and I don't think Schascha would use it.

I think the main reason is the "leader's killing campaign" Schascha made during the first 2 years of the game. The best german leaders are KIA.

With the Finns...put an SS division in Helsinki to help them not surrender. The surrender rules to Finland are pretty good and they will hold for a while in the thick forest terrain. One division in Helsinki is worth keeping the Finns in the war for another X amount of turns. If the Finns surrender you still get your division back in Germany.

Thanks. That's a good idea! Shipping will take place soon.

[STEF78]

Turn 155, 1st june 1944

June 1944 will be the month of our victory!! Our soldiers will be back home before the end of the year!

1) Leningrad

The city is about to fall in the hand of our finns allies, the junction with army group north will take place in Novgorod



2) Kaunas

The red waves are breaking on our strong defence. Offensive to the north and the east will resume in a couple of days. We will begin in destroying the exhausted rifle corps in front of us.



3) Kiev

The Dniepr is about to be crossed, we hesitate for the next target: Voronejh or Rostov?



4) Crimea

The mighty romanians doesn't need our help to crush the ridiculous soviets. Caucasus is the next step

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Disgruntled Veteran

One thing I notice is that your rolls are generally poor across the board. Do you know why you are getting such bad dice rolls?

I've thought about this while sleeping and checked some parameters. I notice that Army group center was overload (it receive most of the recent reinforcement).

I decided to transfer the 2nd army to Army Group North Ukraine. It costs me 102 AP!!! that's 25 forts!

We shall see if it has any effect