Heading East into the Soviet Union

[carlkay58]

T12 Soviet Union Garrison:

The garrison has hit 116% as the Hungarian Security Brigade has arrived along with 2 RFSS Motorized Brigades. These three units are highlighted in the pink on the display. It is possible that I may gain a few more points if the units in the garrison refit up some. It is good enough for now, I still have the Croatian Reinforcement Regiment I sent last turn to show up next turn.

[carlkay58]

T12 Files:

[Bamilus]

ORIGINAL: carlkay58

This falls under "Logistics is an art not a science" tag. I find that keeping all of the depots at priority 4 means that you don't have a desert of no supplies on the map. If you make the priorities from low to high then the higher priority depots take from the first lower priority depot it can. This empties all of those depots that are doing things like supplying your air force, your support units (such as that Hungarian HQ and its RAR Labor units), etc. This also means that when your units send trucks back to your depots for supplies they don't have to go back to Berlin for them. So this is entirely a personal preference.

I will note, however, that once you get a healthy supply net it is beneficial to prioritize better. For the Soviets it starts at day one, for the Axis you need branching rails not a straight back to pre-war borders. So I probably should be playing around more with the Baltic area where the rail net is pretty well established. This is a topic I will get more into around turn 16 in my AAR.

Thanks, I'm going to try your way for my new game. Appreciate the help.

[carlkay58]

T13 Suply Net North:

It is only getting worse as the 18th Army and 4th PG are advancing so quickly. It is also obvious what the drive by the 2nd and 3rd PG is doing to the supply net. Military success is very anti-logistical success.

[carlkay58]

T13 Supply Net South:

The Crimea operation is definitely on a shoe string logistical budget. The attacks to the north are also stretching out the supply net far beyond what it can handle easily.

[carlkay58]

T13 Leningrad:

It is time to look closely at the Leningrad situation. With the Axis units adjacent to the double rail line from Moscow to Leningrad in two places it is no longer a source of supply for the Soviets in the area. There are only two single rail lines left leading into Leningrad. One goes through the town of Sonkovo and the other through the city of Cherepovets. In addition the Soviet forces in the Valdai Hills are only being supplied through the town of Sonkovo. Sonkovo has become a major target for railway interdiction. Unfortunately it is beyond the range of my fighters to escort them but I should have some level bombers that can make the area okay. The mission I want is either Ground Attack:Interdiction or Ground Attack:Railway. Railyards have a 30 hex range and are for loading and unloading freight - neither of which is probably happening in Sonkovo. So attacking the railways should add to the load going through that hex. I think I want to just hit the one hex REALLY hard and slow rail traffic through the hex as much as I can.

[carlkay58]

T13 Air Phase:

I first adjust my Recon directives along the front. I take the Recon directive for Koluft North and send it to the Sonkovo area and switch the priority to Railways. I also change the NAVAL PATROL directive to cover Sevastopol and Yalta ports hoping that I can isolate that area this turn with my panzers. I set up a Ground Attack directive with priority Railway from Luftflotte 1. It will send 153 He111s during the day on D2, D4, and D6. I expect high losses. I set up another Ground Attack directive with priority Railway from Luftflotte 2 and make it a night attack on the same three days. This will send 180 bombers its way. Losses may be high for both directives but I hope it will do something to hinder supplies to the Valdai and Leningrad areas.

[carlkay58]

T13 Luftflotte 1:

Let's examine the directive results from the Luftflotte 1 directive. It was three days of daylight action each with two 24 bomber missions. As you can see each mission lost at least half of their aircraft (a total of 92 lost of 144 sorties) but the damage effects look good for a total of 15,463.

[carlkay58]

T13 Luftflotte 2:

Now for the results of the Luftflotte 2 directive. It was three nights of two 24 bomber missions each. Here the losses were much lower for the bombers as 15 of 144 sorties were lost. However look at the damage difference as these six missions were only good for a total of 181. The daylight bombings were much higher loss rate BUT were much more effective. Considering what success could mean for the campaign, the higher losses were more than worth it. If nothing else, there is an interdiction value of 2 for the Axis in this single hex!

***SPECIAL NOTE***
I went into the Soviet side at the end of the turn to see what the effects had been. While it pretty much shut down the supply passage on this rail the other single rail had more than enough capacity to supply the Leningrad area. The Valdai Hills seemed to be under more stress however so it was effective in that regard. I probably should have bombed both targets in the daylight and accepted the losses. We shall have to wait and see what the AI responds with.

[carlkay58]

T13 Freight:

The overall throughput of freight is down for the front as the Soviets managed to hit the railyards at Minsk for 40% damage during their turn. But the received is still greater than the need for the ground commands.

[carlkay58]

T13 AGN:

18th Army is moving up to Leningrad. 16th Army advances where it can and helps hold the line. 4th PG has two hexes next to Leningrad under its control now. Unless I can cut Leningrad off it will not fall as it has a full grown city fort.

[carlkay58]

T13 AGC:

9th Army advances as quickly as possible. 2nd Army is concentrating and getting ready to drive for Kursk. 4th Army is driving on Orel. Since both have minimal armor support they probably will not get there but they are moving the front line eastward a few hexes each turn. 3rd PG eliminates the pocket and starts to isolate Kalinin. 2nd PG is helping there and advancing where they can towards Moscow. The longer term plan here is for 9th Army to take over the defense through Rzhev and let the 2nd and 3rd PGs concentrate on Moscow and its surroundings.

[carlkay58]

T13 AGS:

The 6th, 17th, and 11th Armies advance eastwards. The Rumanians are helping spread out through the Crimea. Two of the minor ports are captured and being repaired to help with supplies. Yalta is cut off from Sevastopol so it cannot help there. Sevastopol is now isolated and just waiting for the Rumanians to assault the city. 1 PG forms another pocket with 2nd Army and has spread out in the Crimea. The central panzer corps is holding the line while the 17th Army marches up for relief. The XXXX Mot Corps is now near the front and should be active within the next two turns.

[carlkay58]

T13 Soviet Partisans:

The Soviet Union Garrison is now at 121%. You can see from the map that the Soviet Partisans are under control. While there are still hexes that have partisan activity they are manageable now.

[carlkay58]

T13 Files:

[Repsol]

The supply loss going to the panzergroups is brutal it looks like...usually something like 30 % or more.
I guess its hard to reduce that when being forced to move forward at full speed.

[dudefan]

Can you show us your depots and supply lines?

[Bamilus]

ORIGINAL: dudefan

Can you show us your depots and supply lines?

Carl posts the save filea after each turn. I highly recommend downloading them and exploring. I did so last night snd you can see how he does his logistics.

[carlkay58]

T14 Supply Net North:

Working on improving AGC. AGN is bad but it will have to take Leningrad in order to improve.

[carlkay58]

T14 Supply Net South:

The Crimea is a mess and the NAVAL PATROL lost interdiction of Sevastopol so it is no longer isolated. The rest of the front is improving greatly.