Return to Smolensk and Beyond, IdahoNY vs Scar

[IdahoNYer]

Here is where I, as expected, have major problems. Isolating, then reducing the Orel-Bryansk Pocket took more time than I expected, and its remnants still remain around Bryansk. So here we are in the second full turn of blizzard, and yes, as the German, I have to continue attacking to reduce it! Not pretty.

This of course also means that the infantry I was counting on from 2nd and 4th Armies have not moved up in sufficient strength to relieve 2nd and 1st Pz Armies. Also not good.

So, we'll do with what we have. I have managed to pull off two PzKps, and even entrain 11 Pz back toward the west for refit - it had a low 42 Pz remaining, so it will got to rest in Budapest to see if that can help it build up strength faster.

Of the 6 Soviet attacks, we hold one. Not good. Worse, Tula is very exposed, and although I am very reluctant to lose the city, its loss is inevitable - just a question of when. I will hold here as long as possible, but I will not prevent it's loss. I'll give ground east of Orel, especially has I have no defense established there due to the pocket reduction. Have no choice, but do have ground to give.

I'm still struggling with when and where to pull west - I'm leaning toward holding until forced to withdraw - that assumes the Soviets have been weakened sufficiently. Well, we'll see how accurate that is I guess....

[karonagames]

6 attacks compared to the 60+ reported in other AARs is child's play. More than 45 per turn will stretch the axis.

I think your "all out" strategy, does show that this puts pressure on the Sovs, and they need a few turns to get large scale attacks organised.

I haven't seen the southern front, but you have a good Blizzard buffer from Moscow to Orel, so even if you get pushed back 8-10 hexes you will still be infront of Rzhev and probably holding Orel, which is a good place to start 1942.

[IdahoNYer]

The rest of the front does actually fairly well.

From 6th Army to the See of Azov, we actually HOLD 6 of 8 attacks!!!

Two reasons for this. From Kursk north, the Soviets have been battered pretty well and in full retreat; its going to take a few turns for Scar to bring in fresh troops and begin steamrolling. Second, from Kharkov south, AGS has been on the defensive digging - with Mountain units in the line - with Rumanians backing up the line in the Donets basin.

Which is a good thing, as I've taken alot of risks here too. Only one Pz Div, (10th), and 1 Mot Div (60th) constititue a mobile reserve here. They are in good shape, but if the Soviets decide to push hard, I'm going to be pressed to stop them. I'll give ground on the southern end of the line, but will be very reluctant to lose Kharkov, 3 hexes behind the lines.

Off the screenshot, Scar still holds all of the Crimea - no attacks against the 4 German divisions supporting the entire 4th Rum Army holding the line there.

[karonagames]

I would be really interested to see you Rifle squad, and manpower pool numbers as per the survival guide posted in the war room.

A low number of attacks in the first 3 turns will really help, as the rifle squads damaged on the first turn, start coming back, and you could see front line strength increase.

edit: re Kharkov - you have the mountain divs perfectly positioned to protect the flanks of the city, he will have to work hard to get into a position that will force you to retreat.

[IdahoNYer]

Here ya go BigAnorak, rifle squads at the end of turn 26. It includes 65 fort units, which I disband as they enter the front line. Even so, with Finns in the line as well, my line is stretched! Few Rumanians in the front lines and a dozen or so German infantry units finishing the Orel-Bryansk Pocket extended the front. Managable for the time being, but even though I'm very "healthy" in terms of rifle squads, I'm going to have problems.

Wish I saw your survival guide a few turns ago! .

[karonagames]

The divisional manpower levels look OK so far. Units with 9k+ can absorb the attrition and retreat losses, but as you are not being retreated, you are in good shape - so far. Just stop the cav and tank brigades breaking through. The brigades can be counter attacked even with the penalties, but the cavalry can be a bit tricky - rested panzers are probably needed.

It is beginning to look more and more like the armaments bug really hurt the games that were started with it in effect.

Edit: You have some infantry reinforcements coming in over the next couple of turns - these should allow you to get the Rumanians out of the line.

[IdahoNYer]

Turn 27, December 18, 1941. Screen shot showing Soviet attacks.

Blizzard continues of course. AGN's 18th Army (two Korps around Leningrad) and 16th Army (just to the north) are spared so far. As are the Finns. 9th Army and 4th Pz Armee, as well as AGC's 3rd Pz Armee receive a total of 10 attacks, of which 8 are successful. Both Pz Armee salients, north and south of Moscow begin to collapse slowly to the west - due to attacks and slow withdrawals. I make only one counterattack - in 4th Pz Army's area (the black arrows) where a single Soviet tank Bde holds off repeated attacks from 2 Pz Divs and 2 In Divs! This failure leaves one Pz Div and one In Div exposed and in grave danger of encirclement. South of Moscow, 3rd Pz Armee seems to be in better shape, and I rail the 12th Pz Div back towards a refit in Germany - trying to pull Pz Divs back toward Germany when they go below 50 panzers and about 10,000 men. Not sure if I can sustain that of course....

Overall, we'll grudgingly give ground here near Moscow. So far, I don't see alot of cavalry, just infantry anda few tank brigades. I expected a bigger push north of Moscow. So far, it hasn't developed.

[IdahoNYer]

Near Tula, 2nd Pz Armee and 4th Army receive 7 attacks, and hold one. Soviet Tank Bdes advance, and these advances are counterattacked by panzer divisions which had been pulled out of the line (black arrows). 3 of 4 TK Bdes rout, and the front is re-established, at least for a while. LAH pulls out of Tula, and is replaced by the weakened 78th Sturm Div as I expect Tula to be un-tenable shortly. XXIV Pz Kps holds the line north of Tula, XXXXVII PzKps holds to the south, with infantry moving up from Bryansk-Orel pocket just behind.

Soviet pressure here is heavy, but still not his main effort. I'll gradually fall back toward the the Oka River, hopefully retaining Kaluga, but losing Tula. XL PzKps, still part of 2nd Pz Armee, has been pulled back to Orel as the major reserve force in the area, as that's currently where I think his main effort is heading.

[IdahoNYer]

Here in 1st Pz Armee's area we feel the brunt of the main Soviet attack, with 8 of 8 attacks successful. (This screen shot shows the turn at the end of the German move to better display the new line) I've decided that this is Scar's main effort as this is the only area so far that I've identified both cavalry corps and massed artillery regiments (over 600 guns in some attacks). 16th Pz Div is mauled in one such attack, losing a third of it's tank strength in that one attack. 16th Mot is similarly mauled. III PzKps is combat ineffective, and will be withdrawn to rebuild - with both the 16th Pz and 16th Mot. Fortunately, I can afford to trade some space for time here - I'll want to hold Kursk and Orel. And I have to as no real fortifications were built in this area. Also, 2nd Army is gradually moving forward after finishing the remnants of the Orel-Bryansk Pocket (which some elements are still holding on to in the Bryansk area!).

XL PzKps is the backstop force here. XXXXVI PzKps is weak, with no panzer divisions, and may have to move south where some more trouble is brewing. XXXXVIII Pzkps remains strong, and will be used in the counterattack role as opportunity presents - hopefully variable weather will draw a snow turn in January.

[IdahoNYer]

In the far south, not alot of activity, but enough to cause concern. 3 of 4 attacks are successful, but I am able to regain the lost hexes in my move without combat. The two attacks in the Donets Basin I think are fairly contained, however the one successful attack out of the Crimea may cause severe headaches as the Rumanians are becoming very unstable. One of three German divisions in the 4th Rum Army is now "unready", and 8 of the 10 Rumanians are "unready" as well. Not good. So, I've brought 10th Pz down from Kharkov by rail, and Totenkopf is also enroute, but a week behind. 60th Mot is shifted further south also. The other problem with a potential breakthrough from the Crimea is that the nearest railhead is up near the Dniepr Bend.

If nothing else, the good news is that December is more than halfway over!!

[rolypoly]

Wow. I just realised that I´ve spent my whole afternoon reading your AAR from the page 1... Good stuff [8D]
I´ll be keeping my eye on this one.

[Adnan Meshuggi]

Well, you did great things, i am very interested in your winter... if you can hold a better-than-history-line with better-than-history-manpower/troops, it is an improvement.
 
Hope you do it "right", say you can start in 1942 an stronger campagin as the germans could historically.
with the finns and leningrad fallen, i hope you can do better
 
[&o] to your work. Great gameplay, good aar [&o]

[EntropyAvatar]

You've played an excellent game so far, but I am a bit worried to see so many panzers and motorized units out in the cold. If the blizzard does a number on their morale, I don't think that's something you can fix with R&R later.

[IdahoNYer]

EntropyAvatar - You're not the only one worried!! So am I! But if I want to try and maintain a forward presence instead of wholescale retreat, I need the panzers forward. Generally, I try to keep them in towns, behind the line (as you noticed, not always of course), and then use them to counterattack exploiting tank Bdes. They have been reasonably effective in that counterattack role.

I also want to keep the panzer divs close, hoping for a break in the blizzard with the variable weather to launch a more extensive counterattack.

So far, the re-building of divisions (11th Pz hibernating in Budapest) hasn't shown a big drop off of morale. We'll see. 11th Pz is back at 100% for everything but panzers, but has doubled their number so far (just over 100). I've got two other divisions railing back toward the west, and hope to be able to sned more. If they are out of Russia, I remove the temptation to use them. Once they are lower than 50 panzers, and under 10,000 troops total, they become candidates to "refit" at home.

I'm also resisting bringing the incoming infantry division reinforcements forward - at least I want to pull out a shell division from the front toward the rear before I launch one forward.

I've also lowered my TOE settings across the front - still too high at 70%, but don't want to go lower than that.

[IdahoNYer]

Turn 28, Dec 25th 1941. Merry Christmas on the Russian Front!! The good news is that this is the last turn of Dec. The bad news is the blizzard continues....

Screen shot shows the start of the German turn, highlighting Soviet attacks

With 18th Army's two corps still around Leningrad providing its garrison, 16th Army is the northern most German army on the line. Up to now, a quiet sector of the line, with troops dug in with level 3 forts.

Soviets launch three attacks on the army, two of which succeed - despite the level 3 forts. Not that I'm that surprised at this point of course.

Not really understanding the logic to attacking 16th Army really - other than to attack, attack, attack. Sure, it produces German casualties - an attacking upset girlscout troop would push the Germans back in the blizzzard! But I don't see how this attack supports anything going on around Moscow - an attack just north of Kalinin, maybe. Here, no. In anycase, XXXXI PzKps with 9th Pz and an infantry division will respond and reinforce the line.

With Russian attacks here, I'll try and repay the favor a little farther up north and launch some similar attacks with the Finns to see if I can draw some Soviet troops north.

[IdahoNYer]

Around Moscow, the Soviets focus on 4th Pz Armee, attacking from the east to push back the salient north of the Soviet capital. Surprised 9th Army hasn't been hit harder.

All but one attack is successful, but at least we haven't had a unit isolated yet. We'll gradually fall back to the "stop" lines - 4th Pz Armee can and will disengage some panzers from the lines; as the lines pull west out of the salient, they will get shorter, allowing the panzers to pull out.

Kinda figured Scar would push harder here around Moscow - provide some "defending room" for Summer 42. He'll get some, but so far, we can manage the attacks.

One positive note, the first PzIIIj with the long 50L60 armament was fielded to the 1st Pz Div north of Moscow. Any good news helps right now

[IdahoNYer]

Tula, as expected, falls to the Soviets. Now I'm not as concerned about pulling back a bit. The fall back line is the Oka River, but I want to slowly pull back there. Soviet pressure is heavy, but not overwhelming - yet. Some of 4th Army infantry is still engaged in reducing the remnants of the Orel-Bryansk Pocket, now concentrated around Bryansk itself. Was hoping to be able to pull out 2nd Pz Armee panzers, but right now, that's now do-able. I want to hold Kaluga and Orel which for now, gives us some ground to give. We'll see how hard the Soviets push here.

[IdahoNYer]

1st Pz Armee avoided major loss by pulling back - note the lack of attacks on it. Soviets made up for that by attacking 6th Army heavily, 6 attacks, all successful. This included Sov Cavalry Corps advancing 20 miles in the attack south of Kursk. This also threatens the active rail line from Belgorod to Orel. Goal here is to hold Orel, Kursk and Belograd - and Kharkov to the south. We can give some ground, but not all that much if I want to hold these cities. 2nd Army infantry is beginning to reach the front from Orel-Bryansk, and will allow some of 1st Pz Armee to disengage. I'll likely have to pull some panzer forces from around Moscow to support 6th Army - only one Pz Div is south of Kursk - 10th Pz, near the Dniepr Bend at the moment.

[IdahoNYer]

At the southern end of the line, the Soviets maintain pressure. 6 of 7 attacks succeed against 11th Army and Rum 4th Army. 17th Army is spared for the time being. The Rumanians are pretty much useless, even one of their mountain Bdes with a German Div got pushed back.

I had expected more pressue against 17th Army, but so far it hasn't materialised. I'm still going to push a PzKps south to control 10th Pz and the entrained Totenkopf Div. 60th Mot is going to reinforce the Crimean forces. With the 2nd SS Bde already in the area, and the mountain divisions deployed, this "should" be enough to keep the Soviets from doing major damage.

[IdahoNYer]

Turn 29, Jan 1st 1942....Happy New Year to the Landsers on the Russian Front!

The new year brings continued blizzard and Soviet attacks. German casualties reach the 1 million mark, with Soviet losses at 4.6 million. This means that since the start of the blizzard, the Germans have suffered roughly 440,000 men lost - as apposed to teh 590,000 lost from Jun 22nd through Dec 4th! Wow!

Soviets have lost 330,000 since the start of the blizzard if anyone is counting.....a mere drop in the soviet manpower bucket.

On the northern part of the front, the Soviets continue to pressure 16th Army. 9th Pz is committed to the line to plug the gap, and promptly loses 50% of its panzers and is thrown back - a lesson as to why its NOT a good idea to put panzers in line to defend. I should listen to this....

Of the four attacks, the Germans do hold off two and the situation is not critical. I'll pull 9th Pz out of the line and replace it with infantry, the Spanish Blue Div is also being brought up, just off screen to the west.

Now that December is behind us, I'll start bringing forward some infantry divisions from Germany and city garrisons, swapping the fresh ones out with blown divisions as some in the front are around 5000 men.