Defense of the Reich '43+

[Baelfiin]

Turn 129 December 2nd, 1943

The Soviet winter offensive is in full swing!! My armies are melting under the blowtorch of attacks.
A couple of panzer divisions have shown up to help but they are not nearly enough. So far we have not allowed a beakthrough, but how long that will remain true is up in the air.

I am being plagued by lack of fuel deliveries to the panzers, and am resorting to hq buildups to make sure I am fully fueled for the next turns counterrattacks that I will need to do.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 132, December 23,1943.

As 1943 draws to a close I find that the russian steamroller is starting to gain speed. My southern flank in rumania is holding on only becuase the Reds can't chase me fast enough.

The Hungarians are starting to waver, a breakthrough into north Hungary is imminent. Once that happens Hoooper is going to have a lot of fun blitzing me back into the stone age.

In southern poland around Krakow, I am out of dudes to put into the line. I am trying to use a hedgehog and counterattack with panzer strategy, but that wont be able to hold the russians for very long.

Reds pincers cut off most of a panzer corp (again) and just barely fail on another. Counterattacks will restore the line here, but while im doing this the border area of hungary gets no help. To make matters worse it wil be hard to slide troops around in there because of the mountains.

Around warsaw, 4th panzer army is holding strong, but at the expense of using panzer divisions in the line to defend.

On the coast, 16th and 9th armies are fighting tenaciously. Hold at all costs orders have been given out, this is the shortest my line can get up here.

Overall having a blast trying to see how long I can hold out. If I can make it to spring with the Vistula line intact and no major disasters in hungary I may be able to make it into '45. My prediction is that the Hungarian front is going to shatter like a cheap china vase, and that I am going to be on the run.

*** edit *** fixed picture, uploaded t129 instead of 132!!

[Baelfiin]

For anyone that is curious here are the OOB's, losses and Pools. This game was started with 1.04.18 iirc so take the numbers with a grain of salt.

[Joel Billings]

Don't forget to put 3 beat up German divisions in Budapest before the Soviets get the to trigger cities for Hungarian surrender.

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Don't forget to put 3 beat up German divisions in Budapest before the Soviets get the to trigger cities for Hungarian surrender.

Good call.. I have been putting it off but the time has come

In the meantime, III panzer corp is bringing the rain.......

[Baelfiin]

The results:
Russians go flying ... Germans take a lot of losses

[Baelfiin]

Stretching the line....

After extended heavy fighting to the south III panzer corps cannot get back to its defensive positions around warsaw.

Grossdeutschland and Wiking are forced to abandon their positions to cover Warsaw, and the rest of 46 panzer corp has to slide south to fill the hole that was left.

Net result: stiuation somewhat restored south of warsaw, but the north side has to give up ground becuase the panzers have to leave the immediate area to put out the fires to the south.

[Baelfiin]

Russians bring some rain of their own......

Vicious street fighting erupts in warsaw as the Red Army storms across the frozen Vistula

325k dudes and almost 7400 guns, Impressive ! Best division in the german army holds the line however.

[Baelfiin]

Hungarian collapse begins ... Russians have a hole in the mountains and nothing in front of them

[Baelfiin]

The rest of the Hungarian front does not look any better...

[sillyflower]

A noble effort fighting on. Good to see how fighting shapes up in this part of the map, and to see Jerry fighting on.

Not much relevance to our game as I can't see the fighting ever getting so far West[:'(]

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

A noble effort fighting on. Good to see how fighting shapes up in this part of the map, and to see Jerry fighting on.

Not much relevance to our game as I can't see the fighting ever getting so far West[:'(]

Yeah most times in wargames the player will fail a personal morale check and call it done. In this game, we called a winner in '42 but both of us wanted to play it out. Along the way I think we have gotten some good info and fun out of it.

Besides the only reason the fighting won't reach that far west in our game is that your army will be dead by then and my army will just be rolling through East Prussia and poland unopposed ...... [:'(]

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin
Besides the only reason the fighting won't reach that far west in our game is that your army will be dead by then and my army will just be rolling through East Prussia and poland unopposed ...... [:'(]

[:D] Ah Baelfiin, you cocky bastard [:D]

[Baelfiin]

Jan 13 1944.....

German lines continue to crack. A major breakthrough towards Krakow is crushed! 3 soviet tank corps are pocketed. I had to go all in to make successful attacks and get the width and strength of the pocket to hold. Hopefully the russians wont be able to move ALL of my guys and I will kill off some nasty russian tank units.
However, this last gasp operation is not without cost. The SS panzers that were holding the line on the warsaw front have had to shift south, and armored forces from 16th and 9 armies have been withdrawn and deployed to take up the lines around warsaw.
Even troops from Hungary have had to be withdrawn to allow 3rd panzer army the bare minimum force concentration.
The juggling act becomes ever harder, and the coming withdrawals of panzers to France to deal with the invasion are only going to make things more difficult......

[Baelfiin]

Turn 136: Jan 20, 1944

The Russians run wild in Northern Poland and in Hungary. My decision to go after those tank corps for a surrender result has cost me a lot of territory over the rest of the map.
Here is a look at the front minus the Ostwall that is under construction on the West side of the Oder river. My revised date for russian boots in my Fuehrer Bunker is no later than August '44.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 142 March 3rd, 1944.

German army is completely toast, Russians are streaming through Hungary and are over the Vistula in the north now as well.
At some point I am trying to get some russkies over extended, but they seem to be very methodical in beating me down.
I need some more of those X=X stacks of SS panzers .....

[Q-Ball]

Interesting AAR

One thing I noticed that may help slightly: You still have those RHG HQs in play. I would disband those for replacements. In fact, you may consider disbanding some of the Security Units too for replacements.

If you have any FBD units left, you may as well disband those.

You can also consolidate all your airpower, and start disbanding airbases. The Army airbases are a good candidate. You probably don't need tons of recon anymore to tell you the Russians are coming. In force.

Start disbanding any unit you don't absolutely need in order to get more Rifles in line. At this point, I would even look at Corps HQs if you have excess; not sure if you do or not.

All of this will probably put 100K rifles in line max, so not a game changer, but every bit helps

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin

Turn 142 March 3rd, 1944.


I need some more of those X=X stacks of SS panzers .....

You seem to have plenty of 0-0 units though[;)]

Good advice from Qball, though. Scrap anything and everything that does not add combat power.

[Baelfiin]

For Qball and SF

Lots of dudes, no rifles for them. Will disbanding stuff generate me some ARM pts?

[karonagames]

Looks like another game affected by the 47mm AT bug. How many 47mms got built?