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I am converging on a plan, mainly I have to just well change mental gears a lot.  I have an unfortunate tendency to not like to give up land.  It is positively painful for me to do the whole space for time thing.  I have to remind myself that I am only this advanced for the sake of trading space for time not because this particular area of russia has any intrinsic value.  So giving up 10 miles or something isn't a catastrophe.  I don't suffer from the run for Stalingrad syndrome that has the Axis players whining.

As for 3 units per hex...unfortunately what is limiting my front line combat strength is Front Command limitations.  An army stacked 3 high can only cover 40 miles (3x4=12 divisionsx2=24 cp out of 27).  I can extend that 60 miles with 2 stacks, and more if I replace the 2nd unit with a Bde.  That is the real issue I'm pretty stretched on some areas of the front to just cover it all, but the Front can't afford more armies yet.  If the Kharkov MD was a front I would be better off, and when the Vor..whatever front shows up in a few months that will also help.

I wanted to give the Corps at least 6 weeks to work up...but at least for those in the area of the breakthru they are about to get a baptism of fire.  I look at some of the experience (17 for the attached artillery) levels in the Corps and just shudder.

The overload of the Fronts won't recede until sometime in 1943; you may just have to bite the bullet on that and churn out new units as you need them.

21/5/1942 STAVKA

Well the last few weeks have been hectic, in response to the Hitlerites attack in the first week of the month, our forces rallied from their surprise and struck back. The 16th Army executed the first concentrated Tank Corps attack of the war sweeping over the enemies brazenly advanced motorized infantry divisons. Unfortunately this cost them a lot of tanks, mostly the light one admittedly. Still the enemy was not able to hold the ground and retired.

On the southern side of the salient the 51st Army gathered the 1st and 3rd Cavalry Corps, the 16th Tank Corps and the 4th Guards Tank Bde into a strike force and drove into an exposed panzer division. Our troops took a beating getting through the enemies defensive fire, and our light tanks probeing for weaknesses in his lines were often disable due to track hits, although over all at a lower rate then the T-26 by a significant margin. The presence of a mobile flak battalion also complicated matters for our light tanks as their long range 20 mm fire proved capable of damaging them seriously. Eventually the enemy was boxed in and our T-34s and KV-1s moved in to engage. There they got a second shock, the enemy has upgunned his close support tank and it now has a gun capable of destroying our tanks at range. We are examining in detail several the charred remains of several of them. It is still somewhat disconcerting for us here in operations to accept the fact that even in a situation where hundreds of tanks on our side participate in a battle the bulk of the tank kills are by sapper squads using flame throwers. Still a number of the enemy tanks sucummed to 76.2 mm shell fire...

Further in the south the 16th and 17th Guards Rifle divisions, the 11th Cavalry Corps, the 150th Rifle division and the 137th Rifle Brigade assaulted the enemy's 2 advanced Infantrie divisions. Our initial artillery bombardment by all accounts was massive, tearing gaps in their lead companies and allowing our troops to advance quickly. Unfortunately despite the shock this must have caused them, their battalions stood their ground. Our men were boxed in by long range machine gun fire and then mortars repeately swept over them. Each day of the assault we were loosing thousands of men, several battalions were destroyed when they were so boxed in. But our forces pressed on, over running each enemy company in turn following our leading edge of the artillery fire as close as they could. After three days and nearly 5000 men lost we forced them back. Their losses were considerably less but this represents one of the first times the enemy's infantry has been shoved back this hard.

We then got some good luck in the form of a storm front moving in and the spring rains turned the fields the enemy hoped to advance through into complete muck. Air Recon pictures of their rear area supply lines (from our few still operational SB-2(recon) groups has been making the rounds of high command.

In the north General-Armii G. Zukhov continues to press STAVKA for permission to launch an attack to clear some room for the engineers to repair damaged rail lines but for the most part our reply is the same. Wait a few weeks for your forces to build up and train more. We see no pressing urgency on this matter as the enemy does not appear to be interested in pushing on towards Leningrad and the Finn's have been blocked solidly from what we can see. The only activity the enemy is launching in that region are annoying but largely ineffective attempts to bomb our air bases.

The enemy has also been content to stand his ground before Moscow and we are using the time to re-organize our forces there. There is an unfortunate amount of command confusion that still remains from the chaos of our winter assault. Plus there is a significant number of new Tank Corps in the region that need a chance to train. Our production of motorized bde continue but they will require several months training before they can be released into the field. The Air Armies...apparently the VVS though this would be a good time to change names...are also suffering somewhat as the old SAD's are phased out but not being replaced that well. We need some more BADs and less ShADs when all is said and done.

Also STAVKA itself needs to formalize its reserve policy somewhat more. At the moment a large number of divisions are training in the rear area cities but these should be culled out for a strategic reserve near Moscow. This is especially important in light of what is going on down south on the Besed River line.

Bryansk Front

Mostly the time has been spent shifting forces to accomadate the departure of the 4th Shock Army to the Southwestern Front. But this week the enemy launched the attack we had all been expecting. The massed might of the 7th, 17th, and 18th Panzer divisions, the 36th Infantrie(M), the 15th, 73rd, and 246th Infantrie divisons, and somewhat at odds to its name the 339th Static divison. In total 96,000 men, 1090 gun and 170 tanks were thrown against the 27th and 107th Rifle divisions defences in the loop of the Besed. The 33rd Rifle was committed from the local reserve and so we had 28,000 men, and 421 guns to oppose this attempt to cross the river. The Luftwaffe threw in 114 fighters and 209 bombers to support the crossing attempts while the VVS responded with 58 fighter and 28 bombers. Our men rushed from place to place on the banks of the river to ensure the enemy could never hold a bridge head. Fragments of rubber assault boats and bodies were added to the usual mix of things in the river after the spring fall. The water were also ice cold as there had been ice on the river up to a week before. Machineguns and mortars dueled on both sides. Still any landing was crushed and all told they lost 3142 men, 48 guns and 11 tanks to our 1500 men and 26 guns. The Besed River line holds.

Southwestern Front

Further south near Kiev the enemy continues to break the lines of the 6th Army. The 14th, 20th and 29th Infantrie (M) divisions attacked the 80th and 81st Rifle divisions supporting the 48th Fortified Region (with the 305 AT-Rifle Bn, 158 Sapper Bn, and 303 MG-Art Bn attached). Even though the F.R. was still working up to shape and its troops were very green the enemy suffered baddly. The plotting officers had time to pre-register their guns, lay down bore-sights and generaly survey the ground. The dedicated land lines and artillery coordination office set up help a lot as well. The enemy was hit by artillery barrage after barrage, the officer even able to add the Rifle divisions 122 mm's in. By the time the enemy was too close for use of the guns he had suffered over 1800 men in losses to our 85. Unfortunately since he had started with around 53,000 men plus 761 guns he still hurt our troops baddly. We suffered 1893 men and 50 gun losses from our starting 20,000 and 418 guns to his final total of 2858 men and 64 guns. The Luftwaffe and VVS dueled above the battle field with 70 fighters and 46 bombers committed against our 52 fighters and 8 bombers.

The enemy perhaps got an un-intended effect when he assaulted the 13th Cavalry Corps. The 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th Panzer divisions supported by the 35th and 56th Infantrie plus the 2nd LW Jäger Rgt bounced the first time loosing 1498 men, 26 guns and 24 tanks. They tried again and this time they managed a night attack that caught our troops by surprise and broke the cavalry corps lines and they withdrew, the enemy loosing another 689 men, 16 guns and 9 tanks. Our losses in total were 4661 men, 98 guns and 4 tanks. But that earned the 14th Cavalry divisions the guards pin making it the 6th Guards Cavalry division, so the 13th Cavalry has been renamed the 2nd Guards Cavalry corps, and its attached sapper Rgt is now the 1st Guards Sapper Rgt. There was also an air duel going on in over this time and weekly total of 116 fighters and 108 bombers of the enemy contested the air with 155 fighters and 37 bombers from the VVS.

There had been some debate over what to do in the mud with the 109th and 152nd Rifle divisions and the 87th Tank Bde. I was decided to leave them in the stronger fortifications even though their losses would be higher if forced out as they would have to withdraw over bridges. Unfortunately the enemy commited a strong force: the 9th and 19th Panzer divsions, the 57th, 111th, and 218th Infantrie and the 1st Geburgs division to the attack. 69,000 men, 833 guns and 166 tanks overwelmed our troops who had only 21,000 men, 305 guns and 46 tanks. The 57 fighters the Southwestern Air command committed were not able to stop the enemies 21 fighters and 32 bombers from making runs on our troops. Due to some infernal tactical trickery the Hitlerites were able to disrupt our forces defenses and somehow or another they managed to get their men where they should not have and our men suffered 3971 men, 115 guns and 2 tanks lost in their retreat. The 109th and 152nd withdrew to a position held by the 62nd Tank bde which was then assaulted by the 2nd and 13th Panzer divisions. Air support from the Southwestern Air command consisted of 29 fighters and a paltry 3 bombers and the Red Army's ground troops were shoved out again. Losses were pretty similiar all things considered, the Hitlerites lost 935 men, 8 guns and an astounding 20 tanks to our 2002 men, 25 guns and 20 light tanks. I think we should not advertise these light tank losses else we may find it hard to recruit people to fill the positions.

Southern Front

Apparently afraid to go Tank to Panzer the enemy gathered the 106th, 112th, 113th and 132nd Infantrie divisons into a massive infantry assault on the 16th Tank Corps. The 16th was shoved back and it also lost the 108th Mtcl Rgt that had been supporting it. Our losses were severe: 2746 men, 42 guns and 44 tanks from the starting value of 7614 men, 110 guns and 144 tanks. The enemy lost a paltry 537 men and 17 guns for this insult.

The enemy continued to try to break the 100th and 136th Rifle Brigades positions. It had done this in the mud to no good result and though to try again. The 2nd Hungarian Armoured division supported by the 6th and 13th Hungarian Light divisons and then the 6th Hungarian Light divison alone challenged the two brigades. The enemy lost in total 905 men, 21 guns and 5 tanks to our 323 men, and 2 guns. If this keeps up it is likely they will gain Guards status soon.

The enemy made an extra special effort to break the stubborn resistance of the 150th Rifle Divison. The 94th, 183rd, and 208th Infantrie divisions, supporting this was the 10th and 12th Hungarian Light divisions plus the 1st Hungarian Mnt brigade. A total of 70,000 men, and 763 guns plus 97 fighters and 137 bombers. Against a lone division of 8810 men and 151 guns. The 150th was forced to withdraw in the face of overwelming odds lossing 1766 men and 43 guns to the enemies 658 men and 12 guns. The the 23rd Panzer and 4th Gerburgs divisions caught it on the march and even the scrambling of 39 fighter and 22 bombers making attack runs would not stop the advancing enemy tanks. The division withdrew once more loosing a further 768 men and 15 guns for the minor cost of 333 men, 1 gun and 6 tanks to the enemy. Still the 150th has done an incredible job and it is recongized by making it the 21st Guards Rifle division.

The enemy apparently was outraged we forced back his advancing infantrie divsions and threw everything he could scrape up at the 16th Guards Rifle, 274th Rifle divisons and the 137th Rifle Brigade. The 25 Infantrie (M), the 183rd, 205th, and 208th Infantrie, the 9th Pasubio Italian Infantry division, the 1st Rumanian Security division, the 1st Hungarian Armoured division, the 20th Hungarian Light division and the 121 HU Security division plus 135 fighters and 182 bombers. A total of 90,000 men, 935 guns and 116 tanks. Southern Air command sent in 37 fighter and 8 bombers to support our 26,000 men and 325 guns. The fight was hard and the losses on both sides were not low. 2208 men and 35 guns for the enemy to our 3552 men and 42 guns. Nearly even. Still our men were forced back and the enemy attempted to repeat what it did with the 150th but the 94th Infantrie and 52 Torino Italian Infantry divisions were insufficient and they lost 1208 men and 13 guns to our 794 men and 15 guns in the failed attack. Even 131 fighters and 88 bombers from the Luftwaffe against our 39 fighters and 18 bombers was not enough to force our men back further. Additionally for its efforts the 274th is now known as the 22nd Guards Rifle division.

In another case of some sort of tactical wizardry the enemy was somehow able to force out the 314th Rifle division and its supporting 73rd Naval Rifle Bde. Here in STAVKA were are wondering if it is due to his possesing so damned many functional radios. Finding people who can work those infernal machines is a serious issue not to speak of keeping them running, this appears to be an issue the enemy does not face. First he threw the 98th Infantrie and the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th Rumanian Cavalry divisions at our men to be soundly rebuffed, though he also managed to breach several minefields and damage a lot of the defensive works we had assembled. He then threw the 25 Infantrie (M), 250th 'blue' divisions plus the 9th Rumanian Cavalry division and this time he managed to push our men out. Overall he lost 1503 men, 30 guns and 1 tank to our 2757 men, and 58 guns. Oddly enough his first attack that failed was much better supported by the luftwaffe with 114 fighters and 187 bombers compared to the second that got only 20 fighters. Southern air command was overwhelmed and could commit only 7 fighters to the first attack and none to the second.

The 98th Infantrie then headed south to join up with the 7th 19th and 20th Rumanian infantry to fail in an attack on the 116th Rifle division and the 142 Naval rifle brigade. Even the addition of 97 fighter and 183 bombers, which were opposed by only 51 fighters and 15 bombers were unable to shift the odds in their favor. Unfortunately the losses were about equal with 1237 men and 14 guns lost by the invader to our 946 men and 16 guns.

This week operations that are planned are indicated on the attached map. In general we have authorised strong local counter attacks against the enemies weakened flanks. As the core of his force is strongly concentrated we should be able to gain some time and ground back. Unfortuantely we lack any forces to exploit this weakness. The defensive line of the 6th Army is strong but it is always possible to break a defense should the attacker be willing to suffer for it. The best defense is a strong counter attack on a weakened enemy but our tools for that are limited at the moment. Still the 51st Army will strike back again at an exposed enemy panzer divison. The 9th and 18th Armies are actually mainly fighting for time and attrition the enemy's strength as their true fighting positions are on the Bug and it's tributaries. The 12th Army is making use of the time to settle into its defensive positions. The 193rd Rifle division will re-occupy the ruins of the town of Dymer as the enemy has chosen not to actually claim the ground it fought over.

The position in the loop of the Besed will be reinforced with a brigade and further changes will likely occur as the 4th Shock's last troops clear the area.
The following officers were recognized for promotion:
9th Airborne Corps commander Vasily Novikov is promoted to General-Leytenant, apparently the good job his men have done is deseving of further reward for him. Also 3rd Army commander Vasily Kuznetsov is promoted to General-Polkovnik likely based on the results of the last battle.

VVS

The transitioning from Front Air Commands to Air Army's continues. As does the disbanding of SAD's. The lack of new BAD's, as all we seem to get is ShAD's and IAD's is a bit disconcerting. The last week also saw a number of plane groups switching over to modern fighters. Oddly enough this is starting to happen with our Mig-3 groups as well. Still the decisions has been made to retire the I-16 Type 18 from active service. All groups equipped with this plane will be re-equipped with either Yak-7A, La5, or Hurricane IIB planes. We have over 800 Hurricane's so there is no reason to not make better use of this plane then having it sit in Murmansk.

Losses of planes has also been fairly high so our fighter bomber strength is looking a bit ragged. We are hopping to keep the training IAPs in the national reserve till mid June to allow natural attrition to swap out the I-16 Type 24. The I-153 still represents 43 IAP Rgts and we aren't in a position to swap out that many air craft.

Player Notes:
It has been a bit hectic for me so this took a while and I forgot to take notes on what happened in the first two weeks of may. The second week was mud and I suspect the next week may be that as well.

Using the Tank Corps this early is...painful. They are barely combat capable and so avoid this if you can. I'm not doing it because I think it is a good idea.

There is a lot of question of the worth of fortified regions. Let me say that having seen one in operation the losses the enemy suffers when attacking one are extreme. I've never seen that much damage just from artillery alone, plus my losses were very light while inflicting it. Add to that it seems to give the same bonuses to any unit stacked in the hex with it. I saw multiple fires of the 122 mm hwz's and the 76 mm field guns. Many more than normal. So they make a very major difference and should not be discounted in value only due to a low CV. The 42a TOE also is a big net boost as it adds in a bunch of mortars which also get these same benefits.

The A.I. one has to give her points for mass. She is well able to mass for attacks. I'm suffereing from the need to defend, so I have to be weak "somewhere" and the AI tends to go for that. As randallw suggests I'm going to have to overload my fronts (the southwestern and bryansk ones in particular to get enough front line strength to start putting in serious roadblocks). It is annoying bacause I spent a fair bit of time and AP getting the situation better organized.

Hopefully there is an official patch soon and a number of annoying things will go away. Though why the Finnish Engineering battalions are fighting well south of the finish no fly line is a minor mystery. The Vanishing Rifle Squad Effect I hope gets cured...it seems to be fixing itself if slowly. My stock of Rifle Squad (-) is at least going down. Though none of my Brigades have had any Rifle Squad(+) show up in them.

Building units for the future size of the Red Army is a quandry.  How many rifle corps do you want? Tank corps? Mech corps?  Artillery brigades?

The units defending on the east side of the Dnepr in the southwest can probably be moved to the west side to create more depth of that line being hit by the panzers.  Keep it strong enough and eventually the computer will call off it's attacks and go into defensive mode.

Actually I can only say "I'm not sure." to most of those questions.  I am pretty much done making tank Corps with only 3 more to go.  I want to make 2 Guards Tank Corps and the Crimean front is assembling a Tank Corps.

I will build several more Art Bde, but I am looking forward to the artillery divisions later.  I am building PVO AA bde at the moment since I have a huge surplus in 76 mm AA and they are a good place for them, plus they are generally useful units, that I think you need to protect your artillery divisions from getting creamed from the air.  I want some rocket Bde and later rocket divisions.

As for Rifle Corps, I need some, but I also need divisions so I think I will go for a mix.  My Guards units will get turned into Guards Corps and after that we will see.

As for bringing the 26th into the battle...that will return the SW Front to the command over load I removed it to prevent.  Also I would rather keep things interesting by not forcing the GAIA into defensive mode too early.  Hopefully things stay interesting without descending into "interesting" as in the Chinese curse.  I may not need to once GAIA gets through looking at what the 4th Shock just finished doing to the orderly line to the south of the Panzers, the mass may shift south.

I like to get new units fighting the Romanians; get 3 stacks of doom and then you have almost guaranteed victories on deliberate attacks, and now you have a steady stream of units being upgraded to Guards. [:)]

If you plan on going all the way in the campaign there will be lots of mountain areas in Hungary and Romania to invade; you can start raising ski brigades in 1942, which are good and agile in that type of fighting.  Another thing to use up APs. [:D]

I must admit that the Rumanian's are my favorite punching bags as well.  The 26th Army has a lot of divisions with 7 victories so if they were to come over then I would likely see several more guards divisions show up.  I tend to be very leery of hitting German units that aren't obviously suffering since they have a crap load of firepower and getting my divisions front line infantry cut down by 2/3 is never good.  You should see the experience level of the rifle squads of the 12th Army's mountain divisions.  They are back up to nearly full strength but their infantry is pretty much all fresh from basic.

What is your view on the whole +1 question?  I can't say I've seen it bring me much in the way of benefit is your experience different since you are playing in the time frame where it apparently may be more significant? 

Ski bde look interesting.  At the moment all my ski bn are up north (or in the Urals/Crimea/Caucuses).  I am sticking them in my F.R. till next winter.  Some are fairly close to guards status.

The +1 odds assist for retreat calc hasn't made much difference in my game; I generally attacked the Axis in 1942/1943 with overwhelming numbers, like 80+ K men vs one division so I already had at least 2:1 odds.

The combat process of the game really wears down infantry, as I suppose it should.  I have plenty of units with rifle unit experience way below unit experience.  Perhaps partly a swapout bug, partly replacements, and upgrades/downgrades in rifle squad types.

What does tend to survive, in good numbers, are some artillery types.  My 99 morale units often have heavy artillery up to 90's experience.  I still have the combat detail set to 2 or 3 so I don't know how often they shoot.
I do notice if I hit a drained German unit in the open with a firestorm of men/equipment the casualty ratio can be huge in my favor, like about a 100 men vs 1500 or 2000.  For the whole campaign i'm only about 200k more casualties suffered than the computer.

The way combat seems to work heavy artillery gets in the first shots, which suggests that's where a player should collect strength.  Up to about mid 1994 I checked my pools and there were only about 500 of the 122's, even without ordering a build of any arty units ( the computer creates a bunch on it's own ).  The 152s ( you may have mentioned this ) seem to be phased out of production.

I may have goofed on evacuation cities because I ended up with some cities with resource needs higher than production, and 30+ heavy industry facilities would lack resources turn after turn.

Yes the front line infantry takes it on the nose.  Heavy artillery indeed gets the first shots, all battles open with an artillery duel.  Anyway next turn ready to go, I just need to hit advance.  A cold has slowed my play down considerably as I am doing the bed rest thing.

I'm not sure you goofed anything.  The soviet resources are not able to support the growth of the soviet heavy industry.  You have more demand then resources even at the start of the game.  I'm not sure about the automatic routines for resource/supply distribution...they may also need a tweek or two.

Overwhelming fire power is very Russian.  Their doctrine pretty much ended up at hit the enemy with 5:1+ at the point you want to break through at.  If you do that the damage to the enemy is such that your losses are actually lower since your artillery disrupts the enemies fire on your advancing troops.  I have to admit that for all the minor things I could say about the combat engine overall it is extremely detailed, well done and replicates to a solid degree a battle done at a higher resolution.

South of Kiev, 21/5/1942

Dawn is shattered as a massive artillery volley explodes in the defenses the 93rd Infantrie divisions regiments have been erecting.  Heavy artillery starts walking through the outworks, while smoke rounds fall before the forward companies and the omious sound of tank engines can be made out.  Flak opens up and frantic calls to the Luftwaffe result in planes scrambling as SW air command's ShAD sends in its fighter bombers.  Me 109's are met by LaGG's and Yak's and wild furball erupts, but though they manage to shoot down a number of soviet fighters it seems for every Me109 there are 6 Soviet fighters and every attempt to break through towards the fighters screaming in to make their rocket runs at tree top level are blocked.  The advancing infantry of the 4th Guards Corps clears the lead companies out of their half finished trenches with submachine gun fire before the shocked German defenders can react.  The first counter attacks run into more ShAD fighers and the Luftwaffe's bombers are driven off by stooping MiGs, Yaks and LaGGs.  SW Air Command has achieved total air superiority and the SB-2 bombers begin hitting the rear area troops and command centre of the division.  The counter attack hits a wall of heavy artillery and mortar fire that stops it cold then the light and medium tanks of two Tank Corps pour over a weaken battalion and wreck havok as they execute an armoured over run of the rear areas.  One regiment rallies and then their world explodes around them as more and more mortar fire smashes into their position driving them to ground to be over run by advancing Soviet infantry.  Fighter bombers hit any resistance with bombs and rockets and the forward regiments lines collapse.  The German defenders reel backwards under the pressure and then the division pulls back leaving behind the bulk of its artillery.

93rd Infantrie Division (12K men, 121 artillery) vrs 6th and 15th Tank Corps, 139th and 146th Rifle Divisions, 1st Guards Mnt Division, 10th, 11th and 12th Guards Rifle divisions. (87K men, 1200 artillery, 270 tanks). 
Luftwaffe: 33 Ftr/24 Bmr (bombers were turned back after 11 shot down in air to air combat)
SW Air Command: 185 Ftr/7 Bmr

Axis Losses: 2705 men, 59 guns
Soviet Losses: 511 men, 6 guns, 11 tanks

Same time period near the Bug River

Flak tracers light up dawn as their crew frantically try to stem the on coming tide of the Southern Air Commands massed strike power.  The 22nd Panzer's calls for air cover are unanswered as the leading tank and panzer grenadier companies are hit with Su 2 tactical and level bomber strikes on a daily basis, even the poor performance of the flight crews doesn't prevent the occasional bomb from landing close enough to destroy men and guns.  Their recon reports the Soviet forces are advancing along three axis and the division's commander is forced to split his tanks to prevent his force from being overwhelmed by the flanking Guard's Tank Bde's and their tank-borne infantry.  The motorised infantry is able to deploy with the divisions panzerjäger battalion against the mixed cavalry tank force of the main threat axis.  Long range PAK fire starts breaking up the Russian advance, the newer 50 mm guns are even able to disable the T34 and in conjunction with the new Pz IVf2's it looks like the Soviet attack will fail even if the Guards units had knocked out some tanks to the south with their KV1's a first.  The Panzers rush around the battlefield their fire power crushing the cavalry attempting to by pass the German infantry line.  Then in a sudden moment it all goes wrong.  Dirt, men and guns are flung into the sky as a Rocket attack disintegrates a company, the soviet tanks then hit that part of the line and the 76 mm guns and machine guns cut down the infantry trying to close the opening.  A tank assault is met by sappers who incinerate several tanks including 3 of the up-gunned Pz IVs.  To the north and south the Guards units are making progress, their more skilled troops laying down a withering fire out of proportion to their size.  Their forward line in shambles due to increasing mortar fire and the effect of the rocket barrage the panzer division pulls back to prevent envelopment.

22nd Panzer Division (14K men, 132 guns and 131 tanks) vrs 16th Tank Corps, 3rd Cavalry Corps, 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Bde, and 2nd and 3rd Guards Rifle Bde.  (32K men, 491 guns and 225 tanks).
Luftwaffe: 0
Southern Air Command: 127 Ftr/59 Bmr

Axis Losses: 1864 men, 38 guns and 38 tanks
Soviet Losses: 3021 men, 39 guns and 37 tanks

Player Notes:

The above tank attack marks the first confirmed Tank on Tank kills by a soviet tank.  Three Pz IIIh's were killed by some KV1 fire.  I even saw some fire form the T60's 20 mm gun.  They may have bagged a few armoured cars or something.  The bulk of the tank kills though was due to flamethrowers as usual, also this is the first time I saw soviet tank fire mid battle (at range).  I can now confirm that tanks will fire twice.  Once at the middle range band and once during final fire.  The Panzers caused a lot of those losses.  Also there was clear CV modifications in the second battle with the German CV going from 84 at start to a final value of 87, while the soviet one went from 160 to 207.

What are the experience levels of your tank units like?  I mean individual groups of tanks in the larger units ( corps and brigades ).

Depends wildly on the Corps.  The Corps got theirs clobbered during formation...they are running currently between 35-50 on average.  The light tank formations are lower in the corps fighting as they take a lot of losses, the T34 and KV's are almost all in the range 40-50.  Some of the tank Corps not in combat are now breaking 50...around 55 for the best.  I had 60-70's in a goodly number of my front line Tank Bde's after the winter offensive, those units are what I made the Corps out of.

The Guards Bde's mentioned above have morale's in the 70's and their tanks have to getting up close to that in terms of experience.  I'll look tonight. 

Most of the still independent Tank Bde's are running over 55 experience for all tank in the Bde.

Those numbers are not toooo bad.

One of the reasons I stopped offensive operations on Feb 12 was to allow my units to transfer their built up morale into their experience.  As plans go it has succeeded very well for some things but the swapping out of Rifle Squad devices really hurt.  I have the 13th Guards with a morale of 80, which has been for weeks training so its artillery is now getting very good (ATGs experience 80, a lot of the other guns and mortars are 70-79) but the Rifle Squads are still down in the 50's.

The swapping out of Rifle Squads at high experience for Rifle Squad(-) at 35 experience was not good but the replacement system is dealing with it.  The experience loss from unit TOE change isn't just an axis only problem at the end of the day.  A fairly large number of Rifle divisions lost their high experience Rifle Squads to get low experience Rifle Squad(-) then got rid of those after they had trained for a while for new low experience Rifle Squads.   Thankfully my pool of Rifle Squad(-) has come down a lot so maybe this will stop happening, and the fix from Pavel will mitigate it when the official patch is released I hope soon.  

Experience of the units after the battle:
1st Guards Tank Bde: 68 for the T60, 60 for the T34, 53 for the KV1 (lots of damaged tanks in this unit)
2nd Guards Tank Bde: 74 for the T60, T34, KV1
16th Tank Corps: 42 for the T60, 44 for the T26-1 damaged T26 unit survived the battle!, 41 for the T34, 43 for the T28, 41 for the KV1

Other tank Corps in the game vary a fair amount but most of them are around 45, highest is 51 lowest is 30, and that may be due to swapping out of tank types.

Ind tank Bde vary depends on how much action they saw in the winter offensive. The worst ones I found doing a quick scan had experiences of 51-53, and morales on the order of 57-59 but most are in the hight 50's to low 60's for both experience and morale.

It makes a person tempted to keep tank brigades separate for awhile before forming them as corps. [:'(]

ORIGINAL: randallw

It makes a person tempted to keep tank brigades separate for awhile before forming them as corps. [:'(]

Something you should consider.

There are devices in a tank corps TOE which are not found in a tank brigade TOE.

The quicker the corps are made,battle trained and experience becomes close to morale level the better.

These corps as the tip of the spear will need a high CV value to hold ground on the offensive.

11/6/1942 STAVKA

Well it seems the weather forcasters may have been correct after all, they just weren't right at the start. The last few weeks have been filled with spring rain storms, flooding rivers and muddy roads. Combat operations have perforce on both sides halted, outside of annoying air raids and the odd attempt to force a position by the Hitlerites.

The "Gestapo" has attempted to replicate the Finnish Intellegence success of early in the war. Unfortunately their method was not as effective as an over-endowed Blonde and a so called Hot Tub Party. Their man..."Oberfeldwebel" was discovered by the NKVD doing routine security checks on the command staff of the Voronehz Front, in particular on the Front Commander. And unlike the Blonde, "Oberfeldwebel" was not able to escape. The NKVD have lots of experience in this sort of thing, while investigation isn't their best skill. It left us here in STAVKA with the difficult task to propose a replacement, after considerable debate General-Polkovnik Vladimir Kurdyumov who was in command of the 1st Shock Army takes command of the Voronehz Front. Command of the 1st Shock passes to Gerneral-Leytenant Filipp Gorelenko. On the whole the best that can be said about that is that he isn't worse then the man he replaced.

The enemy has concentrated his efforts against the Southern, Southwestern and Bryansk Fronts. Which I'll cover in a moment.

Looking at some over all indicators first. Production wise, there is nothing to complain about. Thousands of tanks remain in the marshalling yards to replace losses. The T70 tank production has mostly sat unused so there are currently over 2000 of them ready to replace the T60 and T26. The stockpile of replacement T60 stands at over 1000, a good thing given their loss rate. 3600 plus T34's are available, as well as 1300 Western Tanks, and a further 300 Stuart light tanks. Nearly 1400 KV1's are available as well. In terms of our Tank Corps and Bde's the situation is looking good.

The airforces main fighters the LaGG-1 and Yak-1 each have slightly over 1200 planes in reserve. The La5 has 200 and Yak-7B has over 400, so these two models are starting to reach levels where they should start showing up front line. The MiG-3 in front line service is slowly being transitioned out as losses can't be replaced. This seems to be happening faster than to the I-16 Type 24. The I-16 Type 18 was withdrawn from service and some 282 airframes remain. Nearly 4000 IL2 strike planes remain in reserve, and the IL2 ShAP's are begining to leave the reserve and enter the front line ShADs. Only recon planes and level bomber remain a serious issue. A number of RAE Bn have been equipped with a mix of R-10 and Pe-2R planes as only 3 formation remain flying the SB-2R. The R-5, and R-10 is currently providing a significant part of our deep recon capacity.

In the last week two rather interesting air related events have occured. In the first the Yak-2 Tactical Bombers were called out when a recon plane spotted a lone Panzer division on the march. The Yak-2 Rgt hit the moving colums of trucks and tanks hard. In recognition for this single strike they gained Guards status and are now the 1st Guards ShAP. A routine night harrasment strike also went surprisingly well when the target turned out to be the II Panzer Corps HQ. The U2 VS were able to wreck havok in the rear areas. Nebelwerfer launchers, heavy artillery, rear area troops, supplies, and engineers were killed in the hours long raid. For this, as yet to be replicated suceess the Rgt was renamed to the 1st Guards NBAP.

Things have gone as is usual, good and bad over the last weeks. The dryer weather of this week prompted a renewed attack by the invaders.

Bryansk Front

The enemy continues to launch probing attacks on the Besed River line. The 53rd Rifle Division was subject to two attacks. In the first the enemy used the 18th Panzer division, the 6th Infantrie division and the 3rd Prin. Am. Italian Celere Division in an attempt to force a crossing. Massively supported by 103 fighters and 224 Bomber air craft the 28,000 men, 322 guns and 78 tanks clashed with our 12,000 men and 177 guns of the division and Army level reinforcements, plus 10 LaGG fighters. Fierce resistance on our part caused the enemy 1487 men, 22 guns and the 4 tanks that he managed to ferry accross the river for only 522 men and 13 guns on our part. He then launched another attack this one stronger with the 7th and 18th Panzer Divisions, the 36th Infantrie (M) and again the Italian Celere Division. The Luftwaffe supported with 94 fighters and 221 bombers to our 7 LaGG's. This time the land lines were down and no reinforcements arrived for the 53rd and the 8.6K men and 130 guns of the division fought to stem the tide of rubber boats and rafts. Of the enemies 36,000 men, 459 guns and 151 tanks he lost a patry 294 men, 3 guns and 4 tanks to our 1428 men and 42 guns. By all reports some sort of tactical trick was used to get all our men to the wrong crossing areas and thus he was able to gain a foot hold on the Dnepr's east bank. But the 32nd Army commander Gen-Polk M. Parsegov rushed two divisions from the south, where they had been engaged in training excersizes to the north blocking the attempt of the enemy to expand his bridge head and the bank remains under our control.

Further north along the Besed proper the 4th and 20th Panzer divisions, supported by the Totenkopf and Wiking SS Infantrie(M) divisions attacked the positions held by the 161st Rifle division and the 20th and 22nd Airborne Bdes. Again the Luftwaffe supported heavily with 12 Fighters and 112 Bombers committed to ou 6 LaGG observers. This was serious attempt with 40,000 men, 695 guns and 338 tanks committed to the all out assault. Our forces were significantly outnumbered as they could only muster 16,000 men and 267 guns but both the river and their prepared defences enabled them to stop the attackers cold with each side suffering about equal losses. The Hitlerites lost 1602 men, 24 guns and 22 tanks to our 1425 men and 20 guns.

The 3rd Guards Corps moved closer to the second battle zone and some other minor changes in local reserves but otherwise the Bryansk Front command sees no need for significant modifications.

Southwestern Front

The value of Dymer to the enemy is strange to understand but after re-occupying the now essentially unrecongnizable ruins of the town the 193rd Rifle Division was again subject to a major enemy assault. The 8th Air Army mustered up 60 Fighters and 17 bombers to support the 11,000 men and 188 guns aof the divison. But that proved insufficient in the face of the 14th, 20th, and 29th Infantrie(M), the 35th and 56th Infantrie and the 13th Rumanian Infantry divisions combined mass of 60,000 men, 934 guns and 56 tanks. For 1381 men and 27 guns the invader has reclaimed Dymer...but not occupied it. We lost 2889 men and 87 guns mainly due to the retreat accross the Dnepr under artillery fire.

For that sucess though the enemy paid as the 9th, 16th and 19th Panzer divsions supported by the 2nd Fort RM Bde assaulted the possitions of the 146th Rifle divsion and the 13th and 15th Tank Corps. This marks one of the first times a substanial enemy armoured force was rebuffed. Their 44,000 men, 601 guns and 201 tanks availed them not. Our force was 24,000 men and 342 guns and 235 tanks and with defensive works to shelter our infantry plus our mortars the battle raged for days. Tank thrust and counter thrust cost each side and through it all the rain of artillery wore down formations on both sides. In the end, for losses of 1978 men, 29 guns and 17 tanks to our 1076 men, 14 guns and 44 tanks the battle ended in a draw.

He then tried again to the south of that position thinking perhaps that the 4th Shock Army might falter. The 11th and 14th Panzer divisions with the 108th Hun Security division tucked in behind attacked the 10th Airborne Corps 1st and 2nd Guards and 25th Bdes. According to reports this formations radio and land line connections to the 4th Shock Army HQ were functional and the 19th Tank Corps was ordered to counter attack. This changed the situation significantly and the forces on both sides now equalized. The attacker had 25,000 men, 285 guns and 138 tanks while the Airborne and Tank Corps had 17,000 men, 255 guns and 124 tanks. The Airborne bde's used their mortar fire to seperate the enemies motorized infantry from his Panzer battalions, driving it to seek cover and pinning it down for the Tank Corps field guns. All attempts by the enemy infantry to break out were met by more mortar fire. His infantry momentum was checked. Then his southern flank was hit by the advancing Tank Corps tanks. The first confirmed T60 tank on tank kill came of that with a Pz IIc being blown up by an accurate 20 mm round. The Panzers attempted to charge the infantry but 45 mm ATG and ATRs blocked a lot of the attacks, disabling a number of enemy tanks. Still by all reports the enemies tanks caused more then 75% of the casualties with machine gun and cannon fire into the airborne's positions. Their losses were very heavy with 2447 men, 32 guns and 22 tanks lost to our 825 men, 4 guns and 15 tanks. Up until that last attempt by the panzers to make an advance our losses were only 220 men or so.

The 4th Shock's Rifle Corps was their next target. The 376th, 378th and 380th Rifle divisions with 27,000 men, 362 guns and 5 tanks faced off against the Polizei SS Infantrie, and the 46th, 93rd, 106th, 112th and 113th Infantrie divisions, supported by the Hungarian 19th light and 124th Security divisions. A total of 82,000 men and 986 guns. The fight was brutal. Artillery from both sides swept over attacker and defender. Mortars and machine guns reaped assaulting infantry lines while the enemies accurate MG34 fire tore at our defending formations. It came down to submachine guns in the forward trench lines and still the advance wasn't checked. The enemy lost 2585 men and 39 guns to our 2137 men and 21 guns plus severly damaging our defences due to breaching minefields and capturing defensive works. Our men did us proud to say the least as when the first accounts of the battle showed up here in Moscow we assumed they would be forced out.

Southern Front

The main enemy attacks, in terms of places attacked have concentrated on the positions of held by the 9th, 18th and 51st Armies. The 4th Air Army has been active this week in supporting our troops.

For the 51st Army they suffered the humilation of having the 1st Guard Tank Bde and 3rd Guard Rifle Bde forced out by the 211 Infantrie and Hungarian 13th Light divisions. But they returned the favor by counter attacking the Rumanian 2nd Mountain Division with the 3rd Cavalry and 16th Tank Corps. That proved to be little more than an excersize. The losses suffered to both sides were about the same summing both battles up. As the enemy did not advance the Guards Bde's have re-occupied the ground and 18th Army's 30th Mountain division has joined them.

The 18th Army also had a victory and defeat. The 94th and 183rd Infantrie divisions supported by the Italian 52 Torino Infantry division renewed the attack on the 100th and 136th Rifle Bde. This was a close fought battle but our men hung on even though they were outnumbered by the 34,000 men, and 361 guns to their 8,000 men and 93 guns. The losses were 1176 men and 16 guns to the invader to our 972 men and 9 guns. These two bde's are doing a very good job holding the enemy back. The 30th Mountain Rifle division and 67th Naval Rifle Bde were unfortunately subjected to a major enemy attack as he mustered the 25th Infantrie(M), the 205th and 208th Infantrie divisions, the Hungarian 6th, 12th, and 23rd Light divisions and the Italian 9th Pasubio Infantry division. A total of 85,000 men and 940 guns to our 20,000 men and 247 guns. This was another bitter fight, with losses on both sides mounting as the enemy pushed through our artillery and mortar fire to close. In the end they forced our defending troops out but suffered 2026 men and 40 guns losses to our 3136 men and 67 guns.

The 9th Army felt the brunt of the enemy's force this week.

Near Odessa the 383rd Rifle division was attacked by the Rumanin 7th Infantry. The 9000 men and 156 guns of the Rumanians supported by 15 fighters and 15 bombers, with 4th Air Army responded to with 4 observer aircraft clashed with our 8000 men and 115 guns. It was a slaughter. The Rumanians lost 1004 men and 19 guns to our 81 men.

Next the enemy targeted the 23rd Guards Rifle Division and 142 Naval Rifle Bde with a major attack. The 98th and 389th Infantrie divisions plus the Rumanian 14th and 18th Infantry and the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th Cavalry divisions were used. We have to wonder if any one told the Rumanians in this battle they were just cannon fodder to screen the 389th Infantrie divisions attack? They committed 26 fighters and 27 bombers to which 4th Air Army responded with 28 fighters and 15 bombers. In total they had 67,000 men, 916 guns and 3 tanks against our force of 15,000 men and 232 guns. It was another case of a bitter fight were again and again the enemies charging lines were cut down by mortar and machine gun fire. Our losses were surprisingly light at 883 men and 17 guns to the enemies 2796 men and 46 guns. It is likely this is one of the most expensive failures the Hitlerites and their lackey has ever suffered. Strangely enough he attacked again this time with 98th Infantrie and Rumanian 18th Infantry divisions. Though the losses on our side were inconsiquential he nearly forced our people out apparently. 19,000 men and 258 guns works better against 12,000 and 170 then the previous mass? His losses were heavy at 1429 men and 23 guns to our 230 men and 3 guns though.

That was the good news for the 9th. The 314th Rifle division and the 73rd Naval Rifle Bde (11,000 men and 152 guns) supported by 23 fighters and 17 bombers to the enemies 11 Fighters and 3 bombers were hit by the 25th Motorized, the 250th 'Blue' Division and the 9th Rumanian Cavalry division (27,000 men, 405 guns and 3 tanks). Our men proved unable to stop the oncoming enemy, as they had been subject to multiple weeks of combat before this and they were forced back at the cost of 1737 men and 35 guns to the enemies 998 men and 22 guns. The the 73rd Naval Rifle Bde was hit by the exploiting 23rd Panzer division and driven back further for the additional loss of 276 men and 2 guns. 4th Air Army had mobilized to the aid of the stricken brigade and mustered 151 fighters and 76 bombers to its defense. The 23rd Panzer suffered a serious mauling from this loosing in total 689 men, 13 guns and 2 tanks to air attack. Including the first cannon kill by an IL2, as one of our pilots marched his 20 mm cannon through a flak halftrack.

General-armii I. Khorun mobilized his Guard forces and launched an immediate counter attack on the 23rd Panzer division. It was hit with the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, the 16th, 17th, 22nd and 23rd Guards Rifle divisions and the 142 Naval Rifle Bde. The Panzer divisions 14,000 men, 106 guns and 140 tanks faced our 56,000 men, 749 guns and 4 tanks supported by 131 fighters and 69 bombers. Lacking tanks outside the attached Mtcl. Rgt's 4 T60's the ground commander improvised. Using his artillery to box in the enemy he started his advance. Enemy counter attacks by Panzer forces were met with ATR and ATG fire disabling many tanks then using smoke to cover their advance sappers closed with flame throwers, and over a dozen tanks were incinerated. His armour isolated from his infantry and even his Panzer Grendiers in half tracks starting to suffer from the ATR fire the 23rd was forced to retire lossing a large number of his disabled tanks in the process. One enterprizing ATR team even managed to work their way behind he enemy and a Pz IIc was killed by an AT Rifle shot! The losses were high to the Guards formations due to the fire from the Panzers but in the end we lost 2232 men, and 26 guns to his 2608 men, 50 guns and 59 tanks. The battle saw the observation of several new tank types by th enemy and we are examining their charred remains of them to see what they are capable of it. It does appear the dastardly enemy is again using our weapons against us as first reports indicate they are armed with captured 76 mm field guns.

The trouble for the 9th is that 2 Panzer divisons are known to be in the area and there is hole in his forward defence line. It may be time to retire across the bug as the forward fighting positions have bought far more time then expected even with the early may catastrophe.

Players Notes:

The fighting this week has been brutal. And the Germans are getting postive CV shifts in nearly every battle, in a few I got a corresponding reduction and then you get wierd results...assuming that the battle doesn't end prematurely. That happened when the 23rd over ran the 73rd Nav. Rifle Bde, and is why the losses to the brigade are so low.

ATR's are a lot more effective then I would expect at damaging tanks. Still most of the destroyed tanks come from flamethrower attacks by sappers. Also a few lucky attacks with air...wow the IL2 works wonders. They do a lot of damage in those battles for the southern front as I am slowly adding them into the front line. The fluky NBAP attack still leaves me wondering what happened. Air interdiction is bad for either side.

I noticed some new formation the 42 AA Rgt and the 42 Heavy AT Rgt. Will start transitioning over to the AA Rgt. I also spotted that PVO AA bde can be attached to Air Commands, so I've done that rather than leave them under STAVKA.

Next turn is 53 so the losses and such for the developers will be posted in the usual offical losses format with the OOB added in.

The most recent patch was supposed to cut down on silly attacks by the computer, but i've also seen they are still happening.  In my new campaign the good ol' Romanian Armored Division flung itself against one of my rifle divisions defending the river multiple times.

German general Erich Schneider felt that the Sov AT rifles were troublesome.