Nach Moskau und zurück - Gunnulf (A) AtAtack (S) GC-No early end

[GoodbyeBluesky]

great progress and really interesting to see : )

PS: the last picture is not loading for me

[Gunnulf]

Good spot yes, looks like didn't upload properly. On the subject of Oranienbaum was trying to dig deeper to find out more a while ago but not much online in English at least it seems. Shame as seems an interesting and quite key part of the siege that I certainly wasn't too aware of until quite recently. In game it would actually be 65km by 25km so at least 3 hexes, one either side of the game fortress (so maybe the Stalingrad to Berlin campaign setup is slightly wrong...). Bit on wikipedia and feldgrau this map was most of what I could find really. I'm sure there is more out there of course.

[Gunnulf]

T29 Leningrad sector

18 Armee successfully breaks into the Leningrad suburbs against relatively light opposition and keeps maintaining the momentum and pressure despite the dreadful weather. The prospect of better winter quarters is solid motivation at least.
However in the east the Reds step up the pressure too and make gaps in the front lines of the slightly stretched 16 Armee. Troops will have to be diverted but most importantly the timely arrival of 88 & 211 Infantry fresh from France will shore things up sufficiently to avoid disaster. Probably.

[Gunnulf]

T29 Donetsk Sector

The other end of the line startes to see increased pressure too as 11 Armee starts to struggle to maintain the line and the Romanian reserves move up to add numbers. They won't be trusted to hold alone of course.

Overall aside from some activity east of Kharkov things suspiciously quiet. Seems like the Soviets are picking their battles rather than going all out. Subsequently losses on both sides are quiet light, but also the overall Soviet numbers creep up at an alarming rate to 5.7m so mixed emotions for sure.

[Beethoven1]

Leningrad will fall during blizzard.

[RedJohn]

I've noticed that a lot of the time the Soviets have mass amounts of disruptions, probably combined due to a number of factors and exacerbated by the new firing changes which means more artillery disruption.

[Beethoven1]

Also, in addition to being in blizzard, that battle in Leningrad across the river was in heavy snow as well.

[Gunnulf]

What manner of wizard are thee that can see into the future...!

T30 Leningrad Sector

Yes indeed, Leningrad does fall on 11th Jan 1941. 60k men versus 10k and clearly the Soviets were suffering from being battered on the run and unable to set up an adequate defence, which is what I hoped for in pressing on despite the terrible weather. I am sure there were best part of 20 divisions (though perhaps at least a few were brigades) in the perimeter though so not sure where they are now at this key moment to be honest, perhaps in an unready state in the rear. I think they left it too late to fall back and tried to maintain a large perimeter which was in no way key terrain for either of us to own, even before the city was cut off. I think we both thought the push was going to fall short and it nearly did for sure, Atatack put up a grindingly difficult defence that took a lot of effort including an extra Panzer corps attached to 4 Panzergruppe, and thus denied them being able to be released early to help against Moscow.

However easy to say now of course but in all these months Leningrad could easily have been a level 4 city fort and the other city suburbs too with well rested full CPP divisions I would have no chance to break in. Fingers crossed on the 5% roll each turn to get a corps of Finns now.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Gunnulf

What manner of wizard are thee that can see into the future...!

... Fingers crossed on the 5% roll each turn to get a corps of Finns now.

...

well done on that, just reward for sticking to a good plan.

re the Finns, its a bit of a mixed reward to be honest. They are good etc but they come out of the Finland TB box and may leave you short there, so poss costing VP etc. Do a double count to see if its worth sending at least one back?

This is one of those areas where the event system needs a bit more conditionality. It would be useful to say that if the Germans hold Leningrad the Finland (& Northern) TB requirements can drop

[Gunnulf]

Yes it would make sense to reduce the TB requirements if that event triggers for sure. If they turn up early in blizzard they are definately useful I suspect as I think they cope with harsh winter better, but with only 8 turns I think at 5% each more likely that I miss out on them arriving I think. Its also a bit weird they don't get a Finnish corps HQ as otherswise it's also 9cp that needs to be incorporated into command that's already quite tight.

[Gunnulf]

T30 Kharkov Sector

While things go reasonably well in the north, down south a minor crisis threatens to escalate as both 6 & 17 Armee's come under pressure with gaps appearing in the line. This time 44 & 113 ID get pushed back from a hasty blocking position that was established after a previous breach. Casualties are relatively light and both divisions retire in good order, but with both now around 10k strong its probably not wise to try to counter again and accept that falling slowly back might be the best we can hope for here, trade space and time while trying to at least remain as far east of Kharkov as possible.

[Gunnulf]

T31 Donetsk Sector

Further south 11 Armee's perimeter started to look a little ragged too, but with support from 3 Romanian army in reserve and a decent supply network established we can afford to lose a little ground I think and still maintain a good bridgehead to launch summer operations from. Hopefully...

[Gunnulf]

T31 Kharkov sector

Reminds me of an old joke, fittingly involving a bear:

A jaeger went out bear hunting one day. He saw a bear and shot it. He walked over to retrieve the dead bear but it wasn't there on the ground. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder, looks back and it was the bear who growls "Grab your ankles."
The next day, the hunter went back out with a bigger gun. Spotting the bear, he shoots him twice, then he noticed the bear was again not on the ground when he tried to retrieve it.
He gets another tap on the shoulder, the bear again says "Grab your ankles."
The next day the guy went out again, this time he had an MG42.
He saw the bear and lets rip with everything he has.
When the smoke clears he gets another tap on the shoulder.
"You're not here for the hunting are you?"

And thus 44 & 112 ID are once again vanquished by the Russians as they try to hold an exposed 'barely' fortified position.

[Gunnulf]

T31 Leningrad Sector

18 Armee secures the last quarter of the city, meanwhile counterattacks from north and east are all repelled thankfully.

However the alarm bells still ring that the Soviet roll-call continues to creep up to 5.8million. Numbers of tanks and aircraft are building up too. Losses are mostly quite light as the Red attack are limited to a few sectors, presumably the rest of the line building up and preparing for summer already.

On the supply side most Armies not getting quite what they ask for, especially those fighting and needing replacements, but nothing disastrous at any point on the line. Numbers from the divisional quartermasters are all pretty satisfactory too.

[Gunnulf]

T33 Donetsk Sector

After a quiet week the end of Jan42 see 3 strong assaults all held by 11 Armee and 1 Panzerarmee. No attacks against 6 or 17 Armee for a few weeks and the rest of the line aside from Leningrad has seen zero activity too for even longer. Either its a trap or the Soviets have given up on a major counter-offensive...

[Gunnulf]

T37 Leningrad Sector

All quiet on the eastern front throughout Feb42 aside from a cautious grind north against the displaced Leningrad garrison. 1st March see's the port fall though so while the remnants of a few divisions take their chances to rout across the ice the bulk of the forces will end up in the bag next few weeks and with it likely the winter campaign will fizzle out. Overall seems like aside from a few scares the German defences in the south had enough time to dig in a establish a good enough supply net to withstand any attacks with a little flex. If the Reds had pressed their initial breaks things might have unravelled and he certainly did a good job picking the right spots, but obviously can't know what problems were also occurring on the other side of the wire.
The relative lack of action has some consequences for 1942 now of course. While his casualties have passed 4m now they would have been much higher in an all out offensive and now back over 6m men under arms seems pretty healthy. In terms of the front lines while we never got as close to Moscow as history we are certainly more advanced than the end of winter and holding Kalinin and Tula is good news for us, as is having a firm base in Rostov. These 3 railheads give us solid options for the summer and while winter is not officially over yet we are certainly giving more serious thought to our next moves.

[Gunnulf]

T38 Rostov Sector

11 Armee sends out patrols to establish where the Soviet front line is, and aside from some skirmishes with a loose screen of Rifle brigades they find none so it turns into a reconnaissance in force 40/50miles south.
Subsequently 1 Panzerarmee also starts to send out fighting patrols to find the enemy main line of resistance. Its out there somewhere I'm sure...

[Gunnulf]

T39 Leningrad Sector

18 Armee collapses the last resistance in Leningrad putting circa 80k prisoners in the bag. We will start to consolidate here now and consider what to do with 4 Panzerarmee next now it is effectively released finally.
Still the Soviet orbat looking much more healthy at 6.3m though...

[Gunnulf]

AGS

All of AGS take advantage of the end of blizzard conditions to skirmish forward against fairly light resistance. Mostly a screen of brigades. The Reds are hiding their massed millions somewhere, but playing cards pretty close to his chest I think. No doubt there will be some horrible horde lurking somewhere and no doubt it will hurt... Anyway, forward into the belly of the beast... I expect Stalingrad to be pretty well dug in, and the Voronezh riverline too but thats a way off. If we can start summer closer though with raillines already extended that has to be a good thing. Probably.

[Jango32]

I suspect he's hiding the Red Army in the depths of the USSR because the Soviet player is not worried about sudden victory rules. So he may draw you into combat in areas with few railways.