Detailed combat reporting

[Hard Sarge]

Thanks Stuart

no hassle, it wasn't suppost to be a AAR persay, more trying to answer questions or show things that I am not sure have been shown or explained yet

and doing it as sort of a simi AAR, I can show it in order, a lot of times, just a screenshot, doesn't really show what is going on in the long run

and yea, those Divs with out troops are in trouble, I am away from the main supply source, so is HARDer to get what I need, even worse, that is what the AI was going for, it cut my rail lines deep

so, that area, is drawing supply. but not getting everything they need

as the SU, my supply stat is worse then lousy

and I would say, 1/3 of the German army may be in worse shape then I am

[Hard Sarge]

MUD

hate mud, I think the AI hates mud, everybody hates mud

got a new Front, so trying to slip it inbetween two of my over large fronts, and steal some of there Armies

(GE) Corps, Armies, Army Groups, Fronts have Command limits, so I am trying to get my commands with in there limits

ahh, week 17, and Mud hits

this is a shot of the main map, the AI is pulling back and trying to form a line, his deep troops may be in trouble, but it has cut a lot of rail lines, and put me into a world of hurt also

[Hard Sarge]

I have broken out in the south, but with mud, I am at the end of my supply line, and can't do anything with the huge hole I was able to get, his new line is weak, but my troops are not too strong

having to start my Stalingrad off early, if he keeps his Armor there, I won't do much

I got the Transcuasca Front with 2 Armies in the south, the 44th and the 46th, with support from the Stalingrad Front (got trapped away from there main HQ) with the 56th

(everything that got trapped, got shifted, I don't have the Admin points to move the 56th to the closest Front)

which would help a little with the supply issues

[Hard Sarge]

and what the north looks like, the GE line is much better up here, he can't really go onto the off vs my line and I can't really go on a General Off vs his line

so, pick off what I can, where I can, as I slowly push in the far north

[Hard Sarge]

yellow, means supply issues, too far from the supply base (mud) the red is isolated, a very bad thing to happen, means they are either trapped or totally beyound there supply lines

[Hard Sarge]

oh my

in the North, I catch OKH trapped into the front lines

Franz gets killed, Kliest takes over

[Hard Sarge]

and this is one of the biggest battles I have ever seen, I have seen more tanks, but this is a monster

[Plainian]

Doesn't seem credible that almost a quarter of a million men can come to grips with 10,000 and only a 1,000 men are lost on each side. Germans must be using Spartan tactics to slow Soviets advance or not all the Russians took part or they bungled the attack or possibly the Germans pulled back before the assault I guess?

It won't be fun playing the German after 1944 when any 'corner' hex can be assaulted from 3+ hexes.

[Hard Sarge]

well, to be honest, I would say that was more a case of, it is time to get out of town, while you still can

which, it was also, a very strong hex, so, to win the battle, it needed massive numbers to be though at it, if it would of been a weaker attack, and if it had better support, it could of still of won

so taken out of content, it may look worse then it does

really, if I had thought i could take that hex, with 100,000 men or 50,000, I would of, I could of used the rest of the troops for the follow up attacks

[Hard Sarge]

if you look at the shot above it, that hex has a Defence of 37, I had already made a large attack on it the week before, trying to wear it down

37 is a heck of a defence

[Plainian]

I can't see the 37 value but I do now see the 3 Fort value.

Does leadership value play much of a part in attacks? Coordinating 200k plus troops from 5 hexes (50 miles) must be pretty difficult and Soviet leaders had a lot to contend with. Plus yes add in the German leadership skill and the result can be explained I guess.

[SGHunt]

Nevertheless, you would normally expect that that amount of artillery (assuming it's in supply) would pulverise a lot more troops than that, even in decent prepared positions. That's 4.5K tubes firing into a ten by ten mile area, over the course of several days, where the enemy is in fixed (known?) positions...

And there's the armour too - against a Mountain Division! Although well dug into a hedgehog here, and very dangerous to the human wave of infantry coming at them in ths battle, the mountain divisions, by their very nature, tended to be 'light' in terms of support weapons, incluidng AT assets (I notice the Russians took no AFV casualties). So I am surprised that this wasn't an overwhelming and succesful assault, albeit with heavy infantry casualties on both sides.

Or does your last post suggest that the Germans legged it in the face of such an overwhelming assault force - Gröfaz will not be amused by such unauthorised 'straightenings of the front' or 'advances to the rear'!

Alternatively, if the Russians were short on the heavy logisitics and fuel, it may be not so surprising either.

Any further thoughts on this?

[Hard Sarge]

look at the screen shot when I hit  OKH, to the side of it a few hexes is where the other battle was fought

so, we looking at attack across a river, in the swaps, in bad weather, so yea, all in all, out in the open, you would expect a slaughter, but not everything is equal

if the Germans had gotten some support, I think they could of won, and I do think, the "AI" cut and ran, while the running was good

(in real, life, the Ge at low level, were very good at recon, intell, and were pretty good at guessing when the attack was coming, which the Ge tended to build there lines, two or three deep, if they guessed right, they pulled out of the front line, and got into the 2nd line, about the time the arty started to fire and flatten the first line, and slaughtered the troops that came into the 2nd line, they guessed wrong, they tended to die in place and be completely overran, now, that is getting more into late 43, early 44, but...)

and really, in a toe to toe fight, the Ge are going to win most fights, at least early on, so, numbers and men, don't always win, just because they have more

[Hard Sarge]

ahhhh, and yea, I am very short of supply, and ammo, I got decent supply lines, I don't have many trucks, I really have been running a full, General Off, I should be only running a couple of fronts (but I had to take the pressure off of the south)

[Hard Sarge]

deep south, Mud ruined my advantage, and gave the Axis time to react

not much strength, but nothing i can do now, I am at the end of my supply line

[Hard Sarge]

the Axis are starting to pull back with the mud, so, time to release the dogs

Opp. Vaction Time is broadcasted over the radio waves and the troops at Stalingrad start crossing the river

[Hard Sarge]

in the North, miss the pocket by one hex !!!!!

ahh, still a path though the swamps, but.... so close

but, no rail line out, no rail line in, if the next week is mud, they are in major trouble, snow, will give them a chance to fall back, blizzard would let the dogs free

(early for the Blizzard to hit, but Mud is still a good chance)

[Hard Sarge]

oh my, 4 PZ Divs show up in the North

not sure that was a good idea, but that is a lot of firepower, if he wants to use it, if he don't, they going to be 4 dead Divs

[Hard Sarge]

in the south, Opp Vaction Time is off to a good start and again, I miss the pocket by one hex

ahhhhh

[Hard Sarge]

oh boy, first week of Dec and the blizzard hits, and I don't get much done

my supply levels are just too low

but slow and steady