STAVKA - 8 player multiplayer Soviet thread

[M60A3TTS]

Leningrad
6 August 1941


Comrade Stalin,

Upon my arrival at Leningrad under orders of the GKO to review circumstances of the Northwestern Direction, I make this preliminary report.

State of the Northern and Northwest Fronts

Enemy forces

German troops in the area south of Leningrad consist of 16th and 18th Armies supported by 56. Tank Corps (Manstein) 57. Tank Corps (Kuntzen) and 41. Tank Corps (Reinhardt). Part of 18th Army includes I Corps (Model). Air support provided by their 1. Air Corps.

Situation on the ground

An attack by enemy mobile forces have isolated 71.5k men of General Bobkin’s 33rd Army at Veymarn. This group includes three tank, four rifle and one mountain division. Also included in this pocket is one naval infantry brigade, 23rd Army and two NKVD border regiments.

The German motorized units participating in the encirclement appear low on fuel with the exception of their 3rd Motorized Division. This may inhibit their movement abilities for the short term, but the possibility of a crossing of the Volkhov or bridgehead over the Neva cannot be discounted in the next two weeks.

General Vostrukhov reports 22nd Army has two rifle divisions almost certain to be trapped west of the Valdai Hills.

11th Army (Eremenko) defending Leningrad, minus 2nd Tank Division. Orders of the STAVKA to appropriately defend the approach to Leningrad have not been carried out. A newly created fortified zone at coordinate 83,16 has yet to attain Level 1 state. By this point it should have been Level 3. A number of divisions of the 11th Army are People’s Militia divisions and therefore cannot be counted on to conduct a proper defense. General Leitenant Popov commanding Northern Front should be reprimanded for his failure to execute this crucial task.

The port of Osinovets on Lake Ladoga has only a single security regiment covering a Level 1 fortified level. This too should already be close to Level 3. Further, no air defense has been assigned to the port city.

27th Army (Bezarin) has only three rifle divisions. This army as such is unable to perform missions consistent with this level organization.

8th Army (Sobennikov) has one unready tank division and an anti-tank brigade. This army as such is unable to perform missions consistent with this level organization. General Sobennikov also shows few leadership traits and should be replaced at some future date.

23rd Army (Govorov) holds a most tenuous position west of the Volkhov. I am extremely doubtful as to its ability to hold the line. 23rd Tank Division southwest of Divenskaya with 110 T-34 medium tanks will almost certainly be surrounded.

33rd Army (Bobkin) has four rifle divisions in position south of the 23rd. In short order that will at best be what remains of his command. His three 100-series tank divisions will be lost. These divisions only have a handful of medium tanks remaining.

24th Army (Purkaev) Eight rifle divisions south of Lake Ilmen. German forces immediately opposing him are not an immediate danger.

20th Army (Vatutin) deployed along the Volga north of Rzhev. He has been forced to cover that location due to STAVKAs failure to adequately equip Reserve Front. The Northwestern Direction needs these troops released at the earliest opportunity.

7th Independent Army (Meretskov) holding the line against the Finns at Sortvala as ordered by the STAVKA. This army includes some of our best rifle divisions.



Enemy Air Activity
Germans are making extensive use of air recon in this area and they have bombed our airfields needlessly dispositioned too far forward. Our bases have since been withdrawn east of the Volkhov River.

Soviet Air Forces
Our own air forces consist of Northern and Northwestern Air Commands led by Generals Novikov and Ionov. General Novikov is quite capable but Ionov is borderline incompetent. Each of the two air commands muster 520 and 556 aircraft. Why is Ionov allowed to remain at his post with more assigned aircraft than an officer clearly more capable? I suggest Ionov be replaced at the earliest opportunity.
Air organization

Northern Air Command (Novikov) of 7 airbases.
36 regimental air groups assigned, of which:
16 are fighter-fighter bomber
16 are level bomber
2 are tactical bomber
1 is transport
1 is reconnaissance
This command claims 24 enemy aircraft destroyed and 15 ground elements eliminated

7 IAK PVO (Danilov) defending Leningrad under Northern Air Command of 2 airbases.
8 regimental and 1 battalion air groups assigned, all of which are fighter-fighter bomber
This command claims 4 enemy aircraft destroyed
Northern Front of 1 airbase.
1 regiment and 2 bns of fighter fighter bombers. They claim 4 enemy aircraft destroyed.

Northwestern Air Command (Ionov) of 6 airbases.
36 regimental air groups assigned, of which:
18 are fighter-fighter bomber
17 are level bomber
1 is reconnaissance
This command claims 23 enemy aircraft destroyed and 47 ground elements eliminated

This totals 83 air regiments and 3 battalions of two air commands claiming 55 enemy aircraft and 62 ground elements destroyed.

The abysmal performance of our air forces can be attributed primarily to the morale of our pilots.

The morale of the pilots is low to the point that criminal negligence should be considered within the VVS and STAVKA. There are 45 air groups in the air reserve, all of which ready for combat assignment. Why are our front line pilots not being rotated out of the line and replaced by fresh air crews? I strongly recommend that 15 air regiments of the Northwestern Direction be withdrawn to the reserves and fresh crews assigned in their place. If the Western and Southwestern Directions do not need fresh crews, the Northern and Northwest commands will gladly take more. Further, 7th IAK PVO command should be disbanded and the divisions assigned to Northern Air Command. The 61st IAB of Northern Front should also be assigned to Northern Air Command.

There are insufficient number of air reconnaissance aircraft. The two regiments of SB-2R’s can count on only 18 serviceable aircraft out of 40 authorized.


The following organizational and operational changes are urged in the following week.

The 8th and 27th Armies transfer their combat formations to Bobkin’s 33rd. Support units transferred to the Northern Front. 8th and 27th Armies then sent to the rear for refitting at a later date.

STAVKA must replace 20th Army of Northern Front with an army from Reserve Front (Bogdanov). This will allow 20th Army to re-deploy where it is needed in the vicinity of the Volkhov.

7th Army of Northern Front must have freedom of action to withdraw in whole or in part should the Germans threaten to cross the Volkhov.

Boundary for Reserve Front extended north to cover an east-west line up to Torzok/Kalinin

Conduct aircrew replacement as noted above.

I await further instructions.

VOROSHILOV
Marshal

[EwaldvonKleist]

Wow, thats what one calls a sound situational assessment!
If you read some older posts, you will notice my struggle to get immediate control over the air force in the North. I even gave it my personal colour! But the STAVKA likes commanding flying things and doesn't give it away easily.
Good luck with the defence of Lgrad!

[M60A3TTS]

Where is our Chief of Staff? He hasn't posted in almost two weeks.

[charlie0311]

@M60, another report like that, eek, you'll be the one being shot. So speaks charlie from beyond the shade.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: charlie0311

@M60, another report like that, eek, you'll be the one being shot. So speaks charlie from beyond the shade.

At the rate the Soviet side is moving, my mock trial won't even come up before Leonid Brezhnev is General Secretary.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: charlie0311

@M60, another report like that, eek, you'll be the one being shot. So speaks charlie from beyond the shade.

At the rate the Soviet side is moving, my mock trial won't even come up before Leonid Brezhnev is General Secretary.

Trial? What trial?
Comrade Beria has no time for such nonsense. [:)]

[Beria]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: charlie0311

@M60, another report like that, eek, you'll be the one being shot. So speaks charlie from beyond the shade.

At the rate the Soviet side is moving, my mock trial won't even come up before Leonid Brezhnev is General Secretary.

Trial? What trial?
Comrade Beria has no time for such nonsense. [:)]

Do n't I? [:)]

[M60A3TTS]

Voroshilov fears nothing. He has a song written with his name. He has a city named after him. He stood side by side with Comrade Stalin at Tsaritsyn in 1918. The Red Army must recognize its failures and take corrective action without hesitation if we are to drive the Hitlerites from the Motherland.

[charlie0311]

@m60, when you are done with Dave maybe you could stop by charlie-land. Cheap lessons, for the V-dude, on the meaning of fear.

No hidden exploits, multiple hqbu's start t3. hehe, and hehe

[Hortlund]

Hey guys, and welcome aboard M60!
Im sorry about the absence, I have been in a small cabin this past week, with very spotty internet connection. I am back however, and the turn is now in the German dropbox. We will assess the situation when it returns, and STAVKA will resume normal operations at that time.

See this as the two weeks Stalin hid inside his room after the fall of Mogliev I think it was. I can see that you have done defensive preparations in the north and center, and I mostly withdrew units in the south, and added some STAVKA-controlled divisions as speed-bumps in the gap between Northwestern and Western fronts.

[Lictuel]

Hey guys,
Seeing how the former southern commander abandoned his post I will take over that position from now on.

Looking forward to liberating mother Russia.

[Hortlund]

Welcome aboard Lictuel!

When we get the turn next time from the Germans I will give you all a detailed rundown of orders and what is expected of each frontcommander.

[M60A3TTS]

Having re-read the thread and reviewed the save. A few items:

I saw no indication of how admin points are to be managed. PH needs to make clear for us new folks how this will work.

How do we allocate leaders in the reserve? Rokossovsky is waiting on an assignment.

Rail movement. What if any can the field commanders make use of?

There are too many tank divisions trying to refit and not enough tanks being produced to go around. Should we limit refit to X number of divisions? Practically speaking I like 60% as a cap to the 41a tank division TO&E. That's not too far from a Soviet 42b tank corps in CV, just with the 18-20MPs.

Southwestern Front has 36 support units in the HQ. Lictuel needs to take a look at that. If his armies aren't using them, maybe some should be released to STAVKA.

Not sure why some IADs were disbanded when we lose all the SADs in '42. By my count that will leave us with 46 airbases down the road.

[Lictuel]

I will have a look at those support units once I get my hands on the turn. This is the first turn I'm going to play.

I second the questions regarding rail and ap usage that m60 posted.

If IADs have indeed been disbanded I also have to question why, I'm pretty sure we are going to need those at some point

Apart from that: Awaiting instructions

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Having re-read the thread and reviewed the save. A few items:

I saw no indication of how admin points are to be managed. PH needs to make clear for us new folks how this will work.

How do we allocate leaders in the reserve? Rokossovsky is waiting on an assignment.

Rail movement. What if any can the field commanders make use of?

There are too many tank divisions trying to refit and not enough tanks being produced to go around. Should we limit refit to X number of divisions? Practically speaking I like 60% as a cap to the 41a tank division TO&E. That's not too far from a Soviet 42b tank corps in CV, just with the 18-20MPs.

Southwestern Front has 36 support units in the HQ. Lictuel needs to take a look at that. If his armies aren't using them, maybe some should be released to STAVKA.

Not sure why some IADs were disbanded when we lose all the SADs in '42. By my count that will leave us with 46 airbases down the road.

1. Admin points are controlled by STAVKA (me) and I will at times allocate points for front commanders to use. If Front Commanders have wishes for commanding officer-changes, they can ask for them in this thread.

2. Rail is controlled by STAVKA. Priority right now goes to factory relocation and reinforcements railing in from the east. At times, I will assign reinforcements to Front commanders that I will rail to a certain point and let the front commander take over the unit from there. Since a unit already on rail does not consume rail capacity, these units can be railed at will by the front commanders.

3. This is intentional and reflects the state of disorganization in the soviet army in 1941.

4. Airbases are under STAVKA-control and as soon as time and admin-points permit, there will be a massive surge in airbases and airunits.

[Hortlund]

As for orders, they will come when the next turn arrives from the Germans.

[Hortlund]

Turn 8

[Hortlund]

FROM: STAVKA

TO: Front Commanders


ORDERS:

CHANGES IN FRONT AREAS

1. North/Northwestern Fronts are responsible for the areas north of the line VELIKIE LUKI - KALININ. This area shall not include anything east of the river Volga south of LUKOVNIKOVO.

2. Western Front shall defend the area north of the line KURSK - GOMEL and south of Northwestern Front. The Reserve Front is assigned to Western Front commander.

3. All areas south of KURSK falls under the responsibility of the Sout/Southwestern Front.

North/Northwestern Front:
1. Hold Leningrad.
2. Hold the Volkov Line.
3. Hold the Valdai hills.
4. Prevent any German advance east of the Valdai hills.
5. You are assigned 15 Administrative points (APs) for unit transfer between armies and 10 APs for support unit creation.

Western Front:
1. Delay the German forces.
2. Hold the line VYAZMA - RZHEV
3. Prepare several layers of defence between your current position and the STAVKA-defensive line (units in red).
4. You are assigned 24 APs for fort construction, 15 APs for unit transfer between armies, and 20 APs for support unit creation.

South/Southwestern Front:
1. Delay the German forces, especially the axis of advance towards KURSK.
2. Prepare defensive positions on the Don around VORONEZH.
3. In order to delay the German advance towards ROSTOV, prepare a defensive line around STALINO.
4. Hold SEVASTOPOL.
5. Hold the Kerch straits.
6. You are assigned 15 APs for unit transfers and 10 APs for support unit creation.

If there are any leader-reassignment requests, inform STAVKA immideately.

You are given control over any STAVKA-units inside your respective areas, with two exceptions. The units colored RED and BLACK remain under STAVKA control and must not be interfered with.

[Hortlund]

Turn is in the dropbox. Turn order North - West - South.

[Hortlund]

Western commander also controls Bryansk Front, but you knew that already, right?