Feeding the March East - carlkay58 vs Soviet AI

[carlkay58]

T09 Trucks:

Unit truck used continues to lower to 41.5K and Soviet trucks captured are now at 21.5K.

[carlkay58]

T09 Air Phase:

I delete the Ground Support directives. It is not working well and the LW could use some rest. I move around the Recon directives and leave the Naval Patrol off Odessa alone. Looking at MPs available to the panzer forces I decide that the panzers need some more rest before forming a pocket between 3rd PG and 1st PG. Thus I am interested in moving up infantry to help break through the Soviet defensive line while resting the panzers more this turn. 44 aircraft are lost again this turn - all in Recon directives and 13 of them in recon around Leningrad.

[carlkay58]

T09 Supply Net North:

You can see why the 18th, 16th, and 2nd Armies are having problems with supplies because of the length of supply lines to get the supplies to them. The PGs have supply priorities of 4 and that seems to help them with their long lines of supplies but uses a lot of trucks that diminish their MPs.

[carlkay58]

T09 Supply Net South:

You can see the same thing for the 11th Army in the south where the railheads are just too far from the Army to give good supplies.

[carlkay58]

T09 Supply Details:

Berlin shipped out 38K, Prague shipped out 87K, and Vienna shipped out 59K for only 184K shipped to the east this turn. One thing to notice is that it seems the three NSS take turns in the amounts shipped out, it seems the logistical engine is rotating rail usage so that it can recover from previous usage better.

Warsaw received 8.6K and now has stored 28K. Lvov received 5.4K and has stored 24K. Minsk (with AGC HQ) received 3.1K and has stored 3.8K. Smolensk Received 2.3K and has nothing stored as it is still the front line. Daugavapils (with AGN HQ) received 3.8K and has stored 7.2K.

[carlkay58]

T09 AGN:

Utilizing Recon data that cost several aircraft and brave pilots, AGN burst through the Soviet defenses and ALMOST made another pocket. I know it will probably result in some of my panzer grenadier regiments being cut off but I am confident I will be able to rescue them next turn. In the meantime this will result in a pocket of some Soviet defenders and hopefully leave Leningrad open to advancing to the outskirts of the city itself. The 4th PG FBD is making its way back to the front to finish the double rail as far as possible towards Leningrad.

[carlkay58]

T09 AGC:

The major action in this front is the spreading out of 4th Army replacing the 3rd PG units from the front line. 2nd PG keeps the pressure on the Soviets to keep them pinned into defending Tula and Moscow while taking Vyazma this turn. The 2nd and 3rd PG FBDs are quickly working to join together a loop of single track lines that supplies the salient. Note the gray area in the Pripyet Marshes area that is 'unsuppliable' due to the MPs it costs to get supplies there.

[carlkay58]

T09 AGS:

Odessa falls to the second Rumanian assault on the city, details below. There is a thrust from the XIV Mot Corps across the mouth of the Dnepr to cut to the Gulf of Odessa and cut off some Soviet defenders. The rest of the 1st PG rests except the motorized infantry corps which crosses the Dnepr towards the north near Cherkassy to prepare for the offensive going north. The Rumanian FBD went north along the double rail towards the northern repaired rail while the 1st PG FBD returns to work on the double rail heading east from Pastov.

[carlkay58]

T09 Assault on Odessa #1:

The Rumanians have concentrated their entire armed forces in the Odessa area. Odessa has been isolated since turn 5 and it is now ready to at least reduce the fort levels. I only used Rumanian forces in the assaults. This is the first assault and results in reducing the defender fort level from 3 to 2. This assault is costly to the Rumanians and results in the loss of 10K men but it has started the process.

[carlkay58]

T09 Assault on Odessa #2:

I pull out all units that lack the MPs for another assault and replace them with fresh troops. I then assault the city a second time in the same turn hoping that I had reduced the defender fort level enough to eliminate it in this attack. This attack successfully carries the city and captures the defenders. As you can see, the 72K Soviet losses are nearly half of the total Soviet losses for the turn. Since the city has fallen I go into the Air Directives screen and cancel the Naval Patrol.

[carlkay58]

T09 Ground Losses:

164K of Soviet losses are not enough but I had no large pockets to eliminate and will not next turn either. I will have to keep the pressure up on the Soviets to keep their losses growing. I am almost half way to the 5M losses I need them to have by the end of Nov 41.

[carlkay58]

T09 Air Losses:

Turning off the Ground Support directives helped reduce the LW losses to only 72 aircraft this turn vs the Soviet VVS losses of 300. The breakthrough by AGN captured several active Soviet airbases and resulted in the 29 aircraft lost on the ground.

[carlkay58]

T09 Files:

[carlkay58]

T10 OOB:

Finally have the Soviets down to 3M men. Even with the low number of Soviet casualties last turn I have gotten the Soviets down to 3M, now it is time to get them below the magical number!

[carlkay58]

T10 Production:

Supplies are looking good and the vehicle pool is over 12K. Eliminating the large pockets and getting the rail repaired into the AGC deep thrust has helped in this regard.

[carlkay58]

T10 Freight:

Only the 2nd and 17th Armies are short on supplies this turn. Once again I credit the elimination of pockets and further improvements on the rail net for supplies to the extended Axis troops.

[carlkay58]

T10 Trucks:

The unit trucks used are still in the 42K neighborhood. Note that the Black Sea cargo ships are now being used along with the Baltic ships.

[carlkay58]

T10 Air Phase:

I adjust the Recon directives along the front. I also create a Ground Attack directive just north of the Dnepr to help soften the line and allow the infantry to blow a hole in the Soviet front line and allow the 1st PG to stream through to the north. The LW lost 110 aircraft this turn with the Ground Attack directive accounting for 51 of them.

[carlkay58]

T10 Supply Net North:

AGN needs a better railnet but the 4th PG FBD is coming back to help out. AGC is actually fairly well supplied by the rail net.

[carlkay58]

T10 Supply Net South:

The supply lines are still too long from the depots but that is improving with the fall of Odessa and the pushing back the Soviets north of the Dnepr River.