Matrix Games Forums

1944.06.03.
Rain

The soviet forces in the remaining kessel surrendered (1 tank and 1 rifle army). Panzer units rescued the heroic infantry korps which held out more the 2 weeks behind soviet lines. This rescue operation was supported by all avaiable bombers. We await clear weather to destroy even more soviet forces and to liberate Moscow from the tyranny of Stalin.

Losses this week:

Axis/Soviet

Squad 88/1781
Afv 35/559
Gun 28/886
Air 60/0

O.K.H.

Originally posted by Tom1939:
Hi!

Well the germans have supriority in everything (if you count in quality) but infantry. Rick plays better then me I think and he already destroyed 3 full strength panzer korpses in my one year long offense, but I still attack with 7 full strength panzer korpses and have 2000+ panthers in the pool. So I would say germans have the upper hand clearly, but I'm running out of time. Of course this game favors the germans heavily with no allies (wirhack) and equipment coming a year earlier. The germans only have to survive the first rounds (which I did with luck: rain).

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I believe that even in infantry the Germans have the advantage by now, as the Soviet replacement pool is empty and has been. I definitely have not outplayed you, as you have done a great job of keeping your forces under control. There will always be these setbacks in this game, that is part of what makes it fun. I doubt Moscow will be able to hold on, as the Panzers, when in supply, can break any line I try to form. I have taken to trying to hold the line, when in contact, with slightly weaker forces as they will be cutoff and destroyed no matter what, and conserving strength for counterattacks, but the counterattacks then get crushed. A real delimma, as it should be.

I have wanted to post a screen shot or two (I have all the old turns from the start, I think, saved in email) but I believe it requires a link to a site and I don't have a place to post it right now. However, there is a huge bulge in the north-central area where the Soviets are holding along the Soviet-Polish frontier area, because there have been no attacks. I really should abandon it and defend more strongly near Moscow, but it does keep flanks open for attack. That is my only real chance here, I think. I believe that I will call it a German victory if Moscow falls, even if the total 5 VPs are not captured, as it will have been a great comeback.

Originally posted by RickyB:

I believe that even in infantry the Germans have the advantage by now, as the Soviet replacement pool is empty and has been. I definitely have not outplayed you, as you have done a great job of keeping your forces under control. There will always be these setbacks in this game, that is part of what makes it fun. I doubt Moscow will be able to hold on, as the Panzers, when in supply, can break any line I try to form. I have taken to trying to hold the line, when in contact, with slightly weaker forces as they will be cutoff and destroyed no matter what, and conserving strength for counterattacks, but the counterattacks then get crushed. A real delimma, as it should be.

I have wanted to post a screen shot or two (I have all the old turns from the start, I think, saved in email) but I believe it requires a link to a site and I don't have a place to post it right now. However, there is a huge bulge in the north-central area where the Soviets are holding along the Soviet-Polish frontier area, because there have been no attacks. I really should abandon it and defend more strongly near Moscow, but it does keep flanks open for attack. That is my only real chance here, I think. I believe that I will call it a German victory if Moscow falls, even if the total 5 VPs are not captured, as it will have been a great comeback.

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Ricky

Please send the screen shot to me at
nemesis@northnet.com.au
And i'll UL to the Yahoo site used for the tounament scenerios.
I'll then post with the URL on this thread so everyone can look at it.

Nick

PS. Take a whole bunch of them to cover the entire front and i'll patch them together in PSPro5
as a single image.

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the offer. I will see what I can put together and get it to you.

Regards

Meanwhile, back to the front, the retreating infantry were punished but were not destroyed by a heavy attack. Otherwise it was quiet in the rain, with new forces being called up to fight in Moscow, but their morale is terrible. Youngsters of 17 are being pulled in. The rain continues, into mid June now.

Axis/Soviet

220/104 Squads
24/49 AFVs
403/86 Guns
23/0 Planes

1944.06.10.
Singing in the...

No real action on the front, just some bombing of the enemy troops. Our inteligence reports that a strong conspiracy is going on in the red army. They plan to sack Stalin in the confusion if Moscow falls, an sue for peace! Intresting...

Losses this week:

Axis/Soviet

Squad 0/179
Afv 0/146
Gun 0/206
Air 33/0

O.K.H.

Minor skirmishes occurred, but otherwise it was quiet. Forces were pulled back toward Moscow to build a new defensive line, or to counterattack breakthroughs, while the restless population of Moscow carries out protests against the terrible war.

Axis/Soviet

108/0 Squads
0/0 AFVs
133/96 Guns
37/63 Planes

1944.06.17.
clear

Major air and land operations continued this week. Tula was encircled, but the defending army held against combined attack of several panzer korpses (1400+ panzers). Well they will get some hero of the sovietunion medals for sure. Soviet airfields were attacked heavily, as result more then 1700 soviet aircraft were destroyed. The soviets downed more then 500 of our aircraft, so the fight was real though. A spitfire unit did the most damage, as it massacred our bombers even when largely outnumbered, and even won fair amount of air fights against me262's. Hopefully the rest of the summer will bring clear weather. Moscow is now only 5 hexes away!

Losses this week:

Axis/Soviet

Squad 294/1525
Afv 189/280
Gun 39/870
Air 591/1763

O.K.H.

Stalin ordered the commander of the airfield defenses to "swim the Volga" after the disasters of the past week. Unfortunately this will not replace the experienced crews that were lost on the ground from these attacks. The wonderful Spitfire unit, after escorting one final attack, were withdrawn to the rear to rest and train replacements, as their strength dropped below 100 planes, over half damaged. Their experience did reach 90 though!

On the ground, a heavy attack was thrown at the invaders from the area of Voronezh, striking the weak infantry flank protection of the panzer spearheads 200 kilometers to the north. 2 corps were thrown back and a third destroyed with heavy losses, although other smaller attacks from the west failed to achieve any results for now, except to weaken the defenders. Meanwhile the Moscow defenses are being added to daily, with one million civilians digging fortifications. Will it be enough?

Axis/Soviets
1166/750 Squads
102/338 AFVs
1185/415 Guns
110/112 Planes

44.06.24.
Clear


The red army is succesfully buying time with blood. 3 panzer korpses turned back to destroy the soviet attack near voronezh. The panzers completely annihilated this attack surrendering the attacking soviet tank army, and they shattered 2 more soviet armies in the region. The remaining panzers took the evacuated Tula and forced a soviet army to surrender and several soviet armies to retreat. Our panzer and air losses are high, as this battle will surely deceide this war and the soviets are throwing in everything.

Losses this week:

Axis/Soviet

Squads 406/4095
Afv 265/660
Gun 36/1946
Air 426/379

O.K.H.

Comrade Stalin ordered more desperate counterattacks against the flanks of the German bulge. These succeeded in throwing back 3 infantry korps, but then the forces withdrew to safety. The situation in Moscow is grim as manpower is running low. The secret police are rounding up young lads of 16 and 17 and sending them to the front to join Communist Youth units fighting to stop the invaders.

Axis/Soviet

585/423 Squads
153/254 AFVs
784/165 Guns
156/189 Planes

1944.07.01.
Clear

The red army now sends children into war... We had some problems as some infantrymen simply refused to shoot these boys in masses... So there was some withdrawals, but these boys are not even able to continue an attack... The Stavka was bombed this week for the first time, just to remind the soviet generals that their gamble of 42 does not go to well... Attrition war was fought this week on the front. We attacked the tank armies from the air and land to weaken them.
We went one step closer to Moscow. Next week we have to cross the last river on the way to Moscow.
We further strengthened the panzer forces attacking in the direction Moscow this week to be able to cross that river <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Losses this week:

Axis/Soviet

Squad 233/905
Afv 207/514
Gun 14/695
Air 256/446

O.K.H.

Tom 1939

You should give that giant spearhead aimed at Moscow a suitably teutonic name.
Like the 'Lance of Destiny'

or maybe the "Wurst of Deutchland' (hehe)

Nick

In heavy fighting, with the Red Air Force throwing everything into battle, the knockwurst of Deutschland was cutoff again, with 5 panzer corps isolated in the leading edge around Tula. A Rumanian unit was destroyed with a number of Panthers being captured. However, the Soviet units are in a thin line and sure to be swamped by German reserves. However, it bought another week or two for the new tanks, named after comrade Iosef Stalin, to be deployed in large numbers. The first unit was equipped with the IS 1 this week, but our factories will be turning out 60 IS 2s per week soon.

Axis/Soviet

1177/521 Squads
338/148 AFVs
930/457 Guns
723/1132 Planes

44.07.08.
Clear

The red air force will not be present for long time likely, as more then 1000 soviet aircraft were destroyed this week in airfield attacks. We have awaited soviet armor attacks with great reserves. Both attacking tank armies were destroyed (one shatter, one surrender). We did not withdrawn from the river under Moscow. Next week we gonna cross that river, or destroy some more soviet units attacking our flank. Both option is perfectly fine with the O.K.H. (some stupid logistic officers beg for one more week to resupply the cut panzers, but they have to do it until next week). The spearhead of destiny will be the end of the Red Army!

Losses this week:

Axis/Soviet

Squad 270/2012
Afv 184/715
Gun 31/1357
Air 264/1035

O.K.H.

Originally posted by Lokioftheaesir:
Tom 1939

You should give that giant spearhead aimed at Moscow a suitably teutonic name.
Like the 'Lance of Destiny'

or maybe the "Wurst of Deutchland' (hehe)

Nick

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Hi!

Quite unusual strategy I know... But it's fun! And the soviets are now drawn into open warfare, which is very damaging to their health <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> The last steps to moscow look mighty though... I guess I will have to destroy all the offense capability of the red army before I can take Moscow. But I have advantage in everything now, and my reserve pools are fully loaded <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

What´s the total losses for both sides?

Comrade Stalin, developing a nervous twitch and highly reliant on tranquilizers to make it through each day, has announced he will not abandon Moscow no matter what happens. He is spending all his time in an underground bunker where he issues orders, sleeps, eats, orders people to swim the Volga, etc. Meanwhile, further orders to attack the flanks of the German penetration were refused, except for minor probes, as deep penetrations are known to be the leading cause of Missing Person Syndrome at this stage of the war. Units charge in, never to be seen again. There were some air battles again, as the air force patches together parts of planes to create a flyable crate.

Axis/Soviet

543/307 Squads
66/275 AFVs
410/319 Guns
185/183 Planes

Totals:

55583/131957 Squads
14842/31342 AFVs
38117/79610 Guns
28249/40362 Planes

Originally posted by RickyB:
Comrade Stalin, developing a nervous twitch and highly reliant on tranquilizers to make it through each day, has announced he will not abandon Moscow no matter what happens. He is spending all his time in an underground bunker where he issues orders, sleeps, eats, orders people to swim the Volga, etc. Meanwhile, further orders to attack the flanks of the German penetration were refused, except for minor probes, as deep penetrations are known to be the leading cause of Missing Person Syndrome at this stage of the war. Units charge in, never to be seen again. There were some air battles again, as the air force patches together parts of planes to create a flyable crate.

Axis/Soviet

543/307 Squads
66/275 AFVs
410/319 Guns
185/183 Planes

Totals:

55583/131957 Squads
14842/31342 AFVs
38117/79610 Guns
28249/40362 Planes

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Losses of Red Army for whole Great Patriotic War period:

Men: 6.000.000 killed and 24.000.000 wounded
AFVs: 96.500
Guns: 218.000
Planes:88.300

Men losses are horrible, but something wrong with tanks. You should have at least 30.000 more tanks on frontline and in pool. Something is wrong with tanks. The same with planes. There should be plenty of them <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
May be Soviet production is specialy decreased in your scenario?

Originally posted by RickyB:
Meanwhile, further orders to attack the flanks of the German penetration were refused, except for minor probes, as deep penetrations are known to be the leading cause of Missing Person Syndrome at this stage of the war. Units charge in, never to be seen again.

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lol!

<img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by Mist:
Losses of Red Army for whole Great Patriotic War period:

Men: 6.000.000 killed and 24.000.000 wounded
AFVs: 96.500
Guns: 218.000
Planes:88.300

Men losses are horrible, but something wrong with tanks. You should have at least 30.000 more tanks on frontline and in pool. Something is wrong with tanks. The same with planes. There should be plenty of them <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
May be Soviet production is specialy decreased in your scenario?

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Yes, to give the Germans an opportunity to strike back, and based on what I feel would have been more historical behavior, the manpower and factory output of the Soviets are reduced in this scenario. I feel that, if not under the pressure of the actual German assault, along with its barbarity against the population in so many cases, the Soviets would have had a lower level of production, and replacements would have been harder to come by overall due to a reluctance to fight in an aggressive war started by the Soviet Union. After all, survival instinct brings out the best in people, or at least the willingness to put up with more. Also, for planes the Soviets due not have the massive losses early on, as I have reduced most of the initial pools, which may not be realistic as the Soviet military almost never retired anything at this point.

The Germans also get more production than in the regular game, and more manpower, although maybe a little too much as I have gone back to an earlier turn and the Germans are flush with almost everything, except planes.