D21 version 4.5

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T27 front lines before I have moved anybody. I'm making progress in the
south and having multiple troubles in the north....I'm going to rail about 5 divisions
from the south up to the north because they need the infusion of people plus, there's
no reserves anywhere and there needs to be. The south is almost at their limits as it
is because of the supply situation down there so I'll use the troops up here instead.

[larryfulkerson]

I think I just realized, again, that fighting at the end of the supply line means
always fighting at the fringes of the supply chain and that means, usually, low
supply levels. Once the front lines stabilize a little bit more the rails might
have time to catch up with the front. Once there's a railhead at the front at all
the important points I need to build a way to get troops from south to the north
and vice versa without taking the scenic route which takes two turns now.

[larryfulkerson]

There's a section of the front lines where there's a large open area and there's not
much in there so far. I need more people yet to explore it all quickly, but I'm on
a shoestring diet with this operation and it's going slowly.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of Sevastopol right now. I'm moving troops to the south coast to get
into position to attack from the east along the coastal road. I've got a big tank
unit that might be able to dislodge something or other. Still holding at the Kerch
Straits.

[700851McCall]

ORIGINAL: TPOO

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall

I used about 20 arty units on Kiev to soften it up. All the corps level stuff in AGS plus the HQs for the assaulting infantry and the Nebelwerfers. Even the Soviets can't replace that fast. Of course that does mean you don't have that support elsewhere but it does make the clearance pretty painless.

Your offensive has been quite different to mine, it's interesting. You've got much further than I had at this point in the South, but you are behind in the centre and north. I think I had Leningrad and the whole surrounding area pretty much cleared up by end of September.

Don't forget your supply collapses completely with the arrival of the rains. And that's soon!

Larry is playing the latest version which is going to be somewhat more challenging to take Leningrad early without some sacrifice. The PO formations were not performing properly and have been adjusted. This is also the case in Sevastopol as well.

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. And for a great scenario. I'm really enjoying playing it.

[larryfulkerson]

So I'm moving units and I've come to a Rumanian tank unit that has had some rough
handling and needs to refit pretty badly. It's missing a lot of it's equipment. I'm
thinking about using it for recon now. Until it fills back up with it's missing stuff.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
Ah that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. And for a great scenario. I'm really enjoying playing it.

I second that emotion. With the changes to TOAW to make the interface easier I find that I have a
more emmersive feeling about the game. Where you actually care what happens to the units. And my
battlefield awareness is better. Or at least it "feels" better. I love this scenario and it's
easily my favorite. Followed by the new Pacific at War by Thomas Harvey and his crew.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm concerned with the bomber losses because as you can see in this listing the on hand
number for the bombers is very low and that means I'm just keeping up with needs and
there's no cushion for those periods when there's a big push. Or the Soviets put more
fighters in the air. I'm leaving the range for the fighters at their max but I'm
going to cut back on the range to 25 hexes for the bombers and that will mean that they
cover the front lines and not much else so I'm moving them to three-dots so they might
actually hit something when they are on INT missions and see how that works out. You
can see through the transparent background the range arc of this bomber unit now and
how it doesn't cover much more than a section of the front lines.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's an area just east of Smolensk right now. There's a wide open area that I
need to run some troops into just to see what's there and I'm fighting for a supply
point that would come in handy right now. Resistance is heavy but I'm slowly
making headway.

[larryfulkerson]

I finally was able to force all the Soviet units out of the Kiev hex. Now I just need
to walk in there dig in and hold it for a turn. I'm thinking I might be able to do
that.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd drop some paratroops to capture some implortant bridges so they would
be Axis bridges when the main body got there but only one drop went in just fine.
The other one dropped on a hex that had a Soviet unit or two in it and evaporated.
D'oh. And those were good paratroops too. They knew what they were getting into
when they signed up.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

So I'm moving units and I've come to a Rumanian tank unit that has had some rough
handling and needs to refit pretty badly. It's missing a lot of it's equipment. I'm
thinking about using it for recon now. Until it fills back up with it's missing stuff.

That's going to be a long wait. Those're french tanks, and you're only chipping the tri-color off of one 35R a turn. The WW1 Rhomboids are limited to whatever was already looted from museums and battlefield memorials.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a map study I did for me but I thought you guys might like to see it too. I'm
trying to figure out how to get some supply to the areas that really need it. I think
the answer is to put a team of RR engrs on the end of rail down south near the Crimea
and extend that to the east as fast as possible. So I'll take the team that's on the
west side of Kiev moving SE and redeploy them to the Crimea area somehow.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
So I'm moving units and I've come to a Rumanian tank unit that has had some rough
handling and needs to refit pretty badly. It's missing a lot of it's equipment. I'm
thinking about using it for recon now. Until it fills back up with it's missing stuff.

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
That's going to be a long wait. Those're french tanks, and you're only chipping the tri-color off of one 35R a turn. The WW1 Rhomboids are limited to whatever was already looted from museums and battlefield memorials.

You're absolutely right and I looked into the situation and found out that this thing is almost as
big as it's going to ever get. And it appears that I was wrong about the rough handling, it's just
missing some of it's equipment and needs to refit until it gets it. I'll garrison a good supply
city for a while as it refits.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the area that needs the supply pretty badly. I'm moving the RR engrs to work
toward this area and that ought to eventually help out.

[TPOO]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
So I'm moving units and I've come to a Rumanian tank unit that has had some rough
handling and needs to refit pretty badly. It's missing a lot of it's equipment. I'm
thinking about using it for recon now. Until it fills back up with it's missing stuff.

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
That's going to be a long wait. Those're french tanks, and you're only chipping the tri-color off of one 35R a turn. The WW1 Rhomboids are limited to whatever was already looted from museums and battlefield memorials.

You're absolutely right and I looked into the situation and found out that this thing is almost as
big as it's going to ever get. And it appears that I was wrong about the rough handling, it's just
missing some of it's equipment and needs to refit until it gets it. I'll garrison a good supply
city for a while as it refits.

Historically the Rumanian first tank regiment was withdrawn from the battlefield for a refit in Oct 1941 and did not return to action until August 1942. The 2nd regiment was withdrawn in late 1941 to become a training regiment. In this version of Directive 21 the first regiment will withdraw and the 2nd regiment will stay but will just wither away if over used.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T29 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a look at the Vyazma area right now. I'm fighting over the city itself and I'm
in the process of breaking a hole in the Soviet lines so I can get into his backfield
and cut off the LOC and surround them. The mud season is right around the corner and
I need to be ready.

[larryfulkerson]

I finally forced the crossing at Kiev and now the supply from the west side can flow
into the east side. That might help some. The other forces are busy rushing about
converting hexes and hunting for Soviet units to destroy. Things seem to be going well.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the turn after the Kiev crossing was cleared....the supply levels are higher
now. That's a very good thing. Plus, the railhead is close. I'm busy clearing the
Soviet units out from their positions adjacent tot he river.