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Oh no, it was easier than that. You have unit modes on, so I can see the units set to refit highlighted in blue and the reserve ones highlighted in pink. I have tested the fort building and whether you have units on refit or reserve plays no role in the speed of fortifying the hex, it is the same as when the unit is set to ready mode,so you are not losing anything from that. It is different and less realistic than in WitE 1 unfortunately.

Thanks for the answer!

Air interdiction comes in northwest of Orel. For the second straight week, Khryukin sends in his boys for a series of 200 aircraft sorties. A series of eight targets draw fourteen sorties over non-clear terrain.

Losses for LRAC are 73 DB-3Bs, 42 IL-4s and 5 TB-3s.

304th Rifle Division is able to escape by sea from the port of Kuressare and returns to friendly territory.

The emphasis northwest of Orel after interdiction is to flip hexes, hug some units and counterattack.

Now that air regiments are down to size 20, there is some reorganization to do.

1st SAD and the 38th IAD exchange fighter regiments. Gradually I want the IADs flying all updated aircraft while the SADs consist of I-Types.




With the 38th now equipped with Yaks, it is able to bring down some Luftwaffe bombers that fly missions unescorted.

Week 13 - 14 September 1941

Starting this week by reviewing the situation in the Crimea.

At last the Axis naval interdiction arrives. Most missions avoid the 4th SAD based in Sevastopol but one in particular is not. This will account for 30 enemy aircraft destroyed.




Sevastopol is then assaulted and the fort with their units fail rather easily. Bye Level 5 fort. Take what you will from this. In any case, none of these units are isolated and so the great majority of men and equipment will escape to the eastern portion of the Crimea. 4th SAD draws their last blood for now with the destruction of an additional 61 aircraft bringing the weeks total to 91.

I'm still struggling to understand why the Mig's fly against some attacks yet leave others to bomb freely.
To be honest its doing my nut in...........

ORIGINAL: Stephan61

I'm still struggling to understand why the Mig's fly against some attacks yet leave others to bomb freely.
To be honest its doing my nut in...........

often its down to low leadership values, they fail a lot of the die rolls around being committed to interception. You'll find that auto-intercept is more reliable with the LW formations and commanders.

beyond that, they are very short range so its possible that one mission will seriously eat into their available mileage.

Week 13 continued

In the north, the same pattern of attacks continue with no significant results.




Northwest of Smolensk, my defending forces are caught napping and several infantry divisions are surrounded. These belong to Lukin's 16th Army of Reserve Front and Vatutin's 21st Army of Northwestern Front. A pair of interdiction missions are sent in to slow any movement in those hexes.




These German units of XXXVI Motorized Corps are also counterattacked.




Northeast of Bryansk the defending units here are managing to keep the penetration contained with the added help of the Long Range Air Command. Units of Konev's 34th Army sends 10th Motorized Division scurrying westwards. This army has the largest contingent of AFVs, about 1,200. Vilcum's counter mod highlighted here.




Further south, multiple battles continues as falling back is the order of the day. Kharkov is almost a front line city and the Germans are over the Donets.




Heavy air losses on both sides this week.




Checking in with the 38th Fighter Division, we see them credited with over 100 kills this week. The Luftwaffe bombers are being caught flying unescorted in places.

Week 14 - 21 September 1941

The weeks are continuing to roll by. It is now raining across the front. Can the Rasputitsa be far behind?

In the north, the usual activities. It doesn't seem likely there will be anything of significance taking place at this late date. Still, I thought the same thing about the Smolensk area.




North of Smolensk, the price tag for earlier complacency is still going up. More Soviet divisions are surrounded while SS Totenkopf is close to cutting off Velikiye Luki.




In the area of Bryansk-Orel, the German panzer spearhead appears to have completely lost momentum as they are facing resistance and potential counterattacks on three sides.




To the south, the news is nowhere near as good. There simply aren't the defensive forces needed to make a stand. Kharkov and Stalino are given up.

did I see a surrender result for air combat.

So, just how does that work?

If you are referring to Sevastopol, that was just the details pulled up with the air combat tab shown. It was still the fortress and units inside that surrendered.

At the end of week 14 there is nothing worth reporting in the north.

In the Smolensk-Vyazma area, I've brought in a series of units to strongly reinforce 13th Army and transferred GM A. Vasilevsky over from 8th Army of the Leningrad Front. There is some falling back, but it would be best if the city of Vyazma does not end up being a front line city.




At Bryansk-Orel, a series of bombing missions, counterattacks and hugging are having an effect. Hopefully this is putting an end to any further advance by the northernmost panzers in this area.




In the south, there are a couple spots where there is little more than a weak screen of units to oppose the Axis. Here is one cavalry corps of 10th Army of Western Front that has been thrown in just because there is nothing else available.




Ground losses




38th Fighter Division will claim another 58 aircraft downed this week.




Long Range Air Command is taking their share of losses, but so far the existing inventory of bombers is holding up.




Some of the boys of the 96th celebrate their 50th mission flown.

Week 15 - 28 September 1941

Rain and mud everywhere.

There are only a couple German attacks up north, one of those a failed attempt.




In the center, a fair number of German attacks.



The response follows the familiar pattern of air strikes and counterattacks. Not so much hugging this week, instead some space is created.




In the south, supply issues seem to be slowing things down and attacks here are limited as they are up north.




A few Soviet counterattacks take place here as a way to get in some rare victories.




The rain did not dampen the ability of the Axis to inflict casualties this week.




OOB

As week 15 is closed out, here is the inventory of AFVs within the Red Army.




It should not come as any great surprise that the older pre-war models still dominate the inventory. This picture should remain the same until the tank brigade replaces the division as the primary unit. Refitting of these divisions will soon be toned down so as to divert the T-34s being delivered to equip brigade formations.


Here are the on-map tank divisions. All are in reasonable shape with roughly two-thirds of the divisions having at least 120 AFVs present. That is pretty fair evidence that tank divisions do not have to be one-shot wonders. If properly managed, they can become a force to be reckoned with as the experience levels climb to the standard NM level. It may be helpful to understand that most tank divisions are equipped with the T-26 light tank model as opposed to mechanized divisions that use the BT-series of tanks.




Here are the on-map mechanized divisions. They are not quite as healthy AFV-wise as the pool of BT tanks is smaller.




It is no coincidence that Konev's 34th Army has a good number of these divisions along with accompanying tank divisions. These have been active in the Bryansk-Orel battles,with nearly 1,400 AFVs still assigned to this army.

Here is a summary of the tube artillery in the Soviet inventory.




The standard artillery piece I use for the assault front armies is the ML-20 152mm Gun-Howitzer. The 1941 Army Artillery Regiment has 36 guns each and there is no upgrade path for the TO&E so it is always the same. With up to 6 regiments assigned to an army, it can be an effective weapon. Like just about all artillery, it has the most success against unfortified hexes. In June 1943 these support unit regiments will start to be disbanded and replaced with on-map Cannon Divisions of 108 ML-20s each. Any ML-20s that the AI maps to units under 36 guns will typically be disbanded so as to keep the inventory healthy. This will include a number of different type of support artillery units.

The second choice for tube artillery is the M-30 122mm Medium Howitzer. Starting in January 1942, you can build up to 20 brigades of 84 guns each. Production of these guns is good and although the standard rifle division uses the same field piece, there are almost always enough to go around.

Non-assault fronts will normally get a share of corps artillery regiments and howitzer regiments. The 152mm M-10 howitzer for these regiments is not in production, so their numbers will eventually dwindle. Still with 24 guns per regiment it is an adequate unit.

The lighter 76mm types I stay away from. Let the divisions have those guns.

Generally there will be no builds of Katyusha light rocket regiments. The truck commitment is too high. Later in the war, the guards heavy rocket brigades or 1943 Rocket Divisions with the M-30-4 are built because they require very few trucks, with the rockets fired from their crates on the ground.

Mortar units also see few builds unless there is a significant excess of 120mm tubes. Otherwise they are needed by the many rifle divisions and corps.

Great stuff so far man

It all sinks much more easily and quickly, when someone else explains the nuance of OOB management and production [&o]

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

Great stuff so far man

It all sinks much more easily and quickly, when someone else explains the nuance of OOB management and production [&o]

Thanks S-T

Here are the disbands for the last couple turns.

No point being conservative. I need to make room for the Army Artillery Regiments and I am near the artillery SU cap. Away go a lot of Corps Artillery Regiments that rely on older equipment to make room. I have only a handful of AT guns, so a lot of regiments are swept away. Same goes for AA battalions that would not have a full complement of medium AA guns for a long time. And when the 500k manpower arrived, these units would just needlessly suck in some of that manpower.

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

Great stuff so far man

It all sinks much more easily and quickly, when someone else explains the nuance of OOB management and production [&o]

Pure gold indeed, this kind of info helps inmensely to build a credible red war machine[&o]