Shivering in Stalingrad

[John B.]

Next turn has come and gone. Here is the situation in the crucial center of the map. Marc has continued his counter attacks down at the southern end of the line with no significant success. But, he is stuffing the line at the various river crossings so I can't really get odds needed to take Kalach.

[John B.]

And here it is at just before my last combat round (I actually got three this turn!). So close, so very close! The German line in the north is certainly in the crumbling stage and the question is can I get into the supply sources and cut him off. Off on the soviet extreme right flank there is a battle going on with an Italian division about to be wiped out and I'm hunting down some ants behind my lines but the main fight is to see if Stalingrad can get cut off and if I can reduce the pocket.

[John B.]

Another turn has come and gone and this one illustrates what I really don't like about this scenario, the super RBC units. I've marked two for your viewing pleasure. The German company was part of a battalion that broke apart under attack from a Soviet division. Two of the companies headed south to German lines but the other one retreated north. I chased it with Soviet divisions and it RBC'd about 6 times. I finally ran out of movement points and it's in a perfect position to cut off my entire front. But, of course, it does not really need to since the two Romanian cav units have been out of supply and cut off for more than a week and been RBCing the entire time. But, that just meant that they were in a good position to take the soviet supply source which I was finally able to liberate. Remember all those stories about die hard Romanian units fending of Soviets for weeks at a time behind the lines and taking key positions? Yeah, me neither. I dislike this because (a) I don't understand it and (b) it does not seem to make sense to me.

There also seems to be a bridge hex (circled and empty) that I can't enter. This matters because (as you can see to the north of that hex) I'm stuck at the other crossings as well. I can only attack from one hex so Marc just piles up the units and a lot of Soviets die. This includes Kalach which I need to take to have any real impact on the German supply near Stalingrad.

[John B.]

By the end of the turn, no real progress was made and the ommph seems to have gone out of the Soviet divisions. I had a number of attacks rated as "excellent" that wound up with 100+ Soviet casualties and 2-3 German. No progress on the bridges just more stacks of Soviet bodies. What Marc is likely to do is to continue to move the RBC units to keep the southern flank cut off (by RBC'ing them I basically gave them free movement points to get deep into my lines for the start of their turn). He can also afford to now pull some troops back to blunt my attack from the north and keep the pocket open since all he has to do is stack units up on the bridges (or find ones I can't enter) and that will pretty much be that.

We shall see.

[MikeJ19]

I understand your pain. I wish that units that were cut off for a long period would more quickly drop down in size. I can understand a division behind enemy lines, but a company no, it would not last long.

[rhinobones]

ORIGINAL: John B.

There also seems to be a bridge hex (circled and empty) that I can't enter.

The bridge in question is a railroad bridge. TOAW does not allow land troops to cross unless there is a road bridge. Have no idea why.

Regards

[cpt flam]

instead of RBC'ing them, you must try to make an assault by double clicking them.
This way, you get a chance to kill them.

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: cpt flam

instead of RBC'ing them, you must try to make an assault by double clicking them.
This way, you get a chance to kill them.

I did not know you could avoid the RBC by double clicking! I'm going to see if I can get that to work. They've always retreated as soon as I've done one click on them. But, I'll see if I can figure this out. Thanks!

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: rhinobones

ORIGINAL: John B.

There also seems to be a bridge hex (circled and empty) that I can't enter.

The bridge in question is a railroad bridge. TOAW does not allow land troops to cross unless there is a road bridge. Have no idea why.

Regards

Ah, thanks! At least I'll stop trying to approach it from different angles.

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

I understand your pain. I wish that units that were cut off for a long period would more quickly drop down in size. I can understand a division behind enemy lines, but a company no, it would not last long.

I agree! And, I wish that they lost movement points. As it stands, basically they've been pushed several hexes behind my lines during my turn and then they get their full movement allotment (or so it seems) during their turn. Or, each time a unit RBCs it has a greatly enhanced change of reorganizing the next turn.

As it stand, you can almost hear the commander during the planning meeting "Take your seats gentlemen! It is imperative that we advance 300 miles tomorrow. As you know, we can only move 150 miles on our own with no opposition. So, my plan is to have the enemy attack us in overwhelming force. We'll flee in panicked retreat for 150 mile and then we can move the extra 150 miles on our own!"

[larryfulkerson]

I use the combat planner to prevent the RBC to do a conventional attack instead.

[John B.]

Larry, thanks for the advice! I need to start doing that. As you can see, the Romanians (cut off and RBCing for numerous turns) were able to cut the entire Soviet southern wing off. There are also, currently no Soviet supply points south of Stalingrad because those brave Romanians overran them. The Romanians also managed to cut off parts of the northern attack by overruning the supply point up there. As for the Immortal German recon company, this time it absorbed the attention of two Soviet divisions and retreated four times before it finally dispersed.

Not much action on my part this turn. My men are out of supply and I can't keep up the frontal assaults on Kalach so I rested.

[John B.]

We've done another turn and this one went better. Marc did not make as much progress and my supply problems in the south were a bit better. I followed the sage advice from everyone and used the attack planner which helped me to eliminate most of the rear enemy ants both in the north and the south and to put some real hurt on weak units Marc had in the front line. I also rested another turn at the Don crossing sites and contented myself with barrages that seem to have damaged his units quite a bit. I figure if I'm barraging and Marc is not my guys recover supplies and cohesion while the barrages have the nice side effect of periodically reducing his fortification level.

[John B.]

This was from the middle of the turn. Thanks to you guys I figured out how to deal with the RBC problem and there are no more hero battalions retreating to my rear to cut me out of supply. It was a low supply turn (as shown by my supply values) but I actually made some progress. I crossed the bridge just north of Kalach and then, in the final combat round after this, I captured the bridge north of that as well. In the south Marc and I are engaged in a swirling tank battle where I think I'm holding my own (amid very bad supply) but I do have a tentacle stretching out.

[Lobster]

ORIGINAL: John B.

ORIGINAL: rhinobones

ORIGINAL: John B.

There also seems to be a bridge hex (circled and empty) that I can't enter.

The bridge in question is a railroad bridge. TOAW does not allow land troops to cross unless there is a road bridge. Have no idea why.

Regards

Ah, thanks! At least I'll stop trying to approach it from different angles.

Sticking a road across the hex side works. Reminds me of the Soviets retreating from the Germans across a rail bridge in the first week of Barbarossa in 1941. A horse team pulling a wagon were got stuck on the bridge because the horses had fallen between ties and broke their legs so all the other horse drawn rigs got stuck behind the horses that broke their legs. The Soviets had to get their tanks across so a KV1 was sent ahead to 'clear' the bridge. Horses and all. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it again.

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: Lobster

ORIGINAL: John B.

ORIGINAL: rhinobones




The bridge in question is a railroad bridge. TOAW does not allow land troops to cross unless there is a road bridge. Have no idea why.

Regards

Ah, thanks! At least I'll stop trying to approach it from different angles.

Sticking a road across the hex side works. Reminds me of the Soviets retreating from the Germans across a rail bridge in the first week of Barbarossa in 1941. A horse team pulling a wagon were got stuck on the bridge because the horses had fallen between ties and broke their legs so all the other horse drawn rigs got stuck behind the horses that broke their legs. The Soviets had to get their tanks across so a KV1 was sent ahead to 'clear' the bridge. Horses and all. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it again.

Oh man, that reminds me of the famous Sherman quote "I confess without shame that I am tired & sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. Even success, the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies […] It is only those who have not heard a shot, nor heard the shrills & groans of the wounded & lacerated (friend or foe) that cry aloud for more blood & more vengeance, more desolation." Ugh!

[John B.]

Happy December 1st! Marc has been constantly attacking me up and down the line. The swirling tank battle continues in the south with one German unit making a break for my rear lines. He also started pushing me back on the northern face of the Stalingrad front but did not seem to make any significant gains. Sadly, it looks as if another German armored division is on its way to the front while supply shortages continue to plague the Russian army.

[John B.]

But, as you can see, there is now an official Stalingrad pocket! Several Romanian and German units evaporated on the southern face of the pocket (which was a very pleasant surprise) and I was able to push one unit north as well as push further across the river just north of Kalach. We'll have to see how Marc responds but Kalach is now in serious danger as I can bombard it down and then assault from several sides.

No Russian reinforcements for several more turns. I need to remember to repair bridges over the Don. Finally, the super rivers are now frozen and can be crossed.

[MonkeysBrain2]

Just press on onward, this is your moment. [:)]

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: MonkeysBrain2

Just press on onward, this is your moment. [:)]

Absolutely! This has been a long time coming!! But, Marc is a great player so we'll have to see how he responds.