GD1938 Game 11

[cpdeyoung]

September 1942 : On the East Front with the Soviet Union the Allies advanced on Leningrad, but did not take it. Minsk did fall, as did Odessa in the far south. In the center we pulled back a bit from Kharkov, as such a broad front is a strain. We hope to take Leningrad next month, and then begin to advance on Moscow. The troops which were in Switzerland and Italy are taking a while to get packed up for the East. Once these French, British and American divisions reach the front we will have a good base to advance from.

In Turkey the Soviet units are trapped, but still potent. We took Ankara, which should result in grave supply problems for the Red Army as the Allied navies have blockaded Sinope. The Soviets still have powerful air and armor forces around the Black Sea, and we hope we have not extended ourselves enough that they will find an opportunity for a counter attack.

East of Turkey our troops have begun to move into the Caucasus. we are on the outskirts of Tiblisi. Further East yet the Middle Asia command is roaring through open territory, heading west towards Astrakhan, to the production behind the Urals, and east toward Ama Alta. This front must be a burden for the Soviets as it is so huge. We have some serious interior lines here.

Alan Brooke

[cpdeyoung]

The United States launched another nighttime raid on a Japanese city. These heavy bombers are accompanied by night fighters, and we have not yet met any Japanese night fighters. We hope to keep far ahead of any production they attempt. We caught 49 engineers on the road between Tokyo and Osaka and killed 27 of them. These are prime targets as they can repair the damage we are inflicting on the cities.

We sighted Japanese carriers in ports along the China coast and think they could well be a problem. They are potent, but not as large as our carrier task forces some of which have 14 carriers. Royal Navy CV task forces currently are no larger that 10 carriers each. The USN is considering even larger groupings.

The USA is not ready yet, but they are getting there.

[Jeffrey H.]

ORIGINAL: ironduke1955

The Churchill tends stand out in that its armor and weight some 48 tons tend to be more than early war tanks can deal with, Tanks in the 50mm and lower categories are going to have problems. The later T34 and KV1 with 76mm guns should be able to cope with the Churchill fairly well. If I had researched the PZIV-G earlier instead of spamming the PZIII-E than a better assessment of how good the Churchill was would have been gained, though Allied air superiority would have made a fair comparison all but impossible.

T34's and KV's were no good against them, neither were ATG IV and even ATG V.

Dive bombers were ineffective. Which is totally silly. I mean it's not like the things were renown for dodging dive bombers out on the open plains of Russia. They should have been sitting ducks out there with no support units of any kind, just great lumbering things out in the open.

[Jeffrey H.]

For example:

[Jeffrey H.]

In this example, 4 ponderous lumbering Churchill IV's were attacked by 27 Divebomber III's and oohhhh ! I got 1. No aircover to protect them, no support elements, no anti aircraft measures whatsoever. Clear terrain. 1 dead. The others "retreated" to where ? I dunno, it's like they have a cloaking device.

[ironduke1955]

Its true that the Churchill did not make it to anyone's top 10 tanks of world war II, but looking at the Soviet tanks of the period there are one or two myths about there effectiveness as well.

JU87g With the G variant, the aging airframe of the Ju 87 found new life as an anti-tank aircraft. This was the final operational version of the Stuka, and was deployed on the Eastern Front. The reverse in German military fortunes after 1943 and the appearance of huge numbers of well-armoured Soviet tanks caused Junkers to adapt the existing design to combat this new threat. The Hs 129B had proved a potent ground attack weapon, but its large fuel tanks made it vulnerable to enemy fire, prompting the RLM to say "that in the shortest possible time a replacement of the Hs 129 type must take place.

JU87G tank buster Was not operational until 1943.


http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/ ... f-war.html

Conclusion

The T-34 is the victim of Soviet and German wartime propaganda. The Russians had every reason to build it up as the best tank of WWII. The Germans also overstated its performance in order to explain their defeats.
If the T-34 was as good as propaganda made it out to be then it should have led to great Soviet victories in 1941-42. Instead what we see in that period is the poor performance of Soviet armored formations. In 1943-45 the T-34 was becoming outdated as the Germans used updated versions of the Pz IV and Stug III equipped with the powerful Kwk 40 75mm gun and of course they introduced the Tiger and Panther.
The ‘best tank of WWII’ suffered horrific losses against those tanks and even the updated version T-34/85 could not bridge the gap.
The T-34 looked good on paper but in the battlefield its ‘soft’ flaws led to huge losses. Meanwhile Western tanks like the M4 Sherman and Pz IV may have lacked sloped armor or wide tracks but they were better combat systems overall

[cpdeyoung]

Jeff, you do know these are one month turns, and very wide hexes, and any other tank would perform as well.

These tanks take the same precautions as any other military that wants to be effective. "clear terrain" on hexes this scale does not mean "no cover". I lost 25% of my unit to air attacks this month. This is something I do not like. As you well know I have plenty of air cover on the front, but there sortie rate and dispersion did not place them on the battle screen. The "ponderous lumbering" tanks are matched by your unescorted dive bombers. At this stage of WW2 unescorted DB were dead meat, but I don't post every time I see this because the abstraction level Vic and Ernie chose is not the same as WITW. Your pilots end the month having destroyed 25% of my tanks and you are calling in the commissars. You run a hard army.

Next time select the FR/GB side and see if you see the "invulnerability" from that side.

[cpdeyoung]

Leningrad and most of the far north is in Allied hands. Our troops are into the Moscow defenses, but it seems the
city itself is well defended. In the center fast moving troops head north, west and east Challenging the Red Army
to be everywhere at the same time. Here is a sketch of the South.

Alan Brooke

[cpdeyoung]

We have gone to war with the Empire of Japan. They have seasoned troops and we do not expect to throw them over,
but we are sure the Americans and our troops will put tremendous pressure on them. Here is an example of an attack
on a Japanese home islands city under attack. This was a daylight campaign run in conjunction with a night bomber
attack.

Alan Brooke

[LJBurstyn]

Japan fights on alone. Not surprised at this but it is what it is.

The allies will easily outproduce me but it will not be easy to conquer me...I will fight on until the allies either kill me or they come to the realization that peace is better than war. But peace without honor is not acceptable over death with honor--the Japanese people stand together on this. The Chinese War Lords have been vanquished and China can stand on it own...they have been offered their freedom within a Co-Prosperity sphere...but they have no government to take over their country so until one is formed they will remain as they are...in the meantime they will be as free as the Indian and African nations are free of British RULE. If they accept and we can figure out a way to form a Chinese government allied with Japan in the Co-Prosperity Sphere they will be as free as the Canadians are free of British RULE. If this is unacceptable to the imperialistic powers of the West than death alone will free me from the troubles of this world.

[cpdeyoung]

There are two Chinese factions more than willing to form a government. They are currently serving with British
forces in India, and will be marching into China with their allies. They have agreed that after China is restored
to the Chinese they will offer peace to Japan, but in your time of conquest and occupation you have left many
bitter memories, and relations between China and Japan are not going to be friendly for a very long time.

Great Britain and France, due to the persuasion of the United States, are both abandoning their Imperial and colonial
ways. Both will go to a commonwealth model, with local rule. Germany, Italy and Russia will be reconstituted
as nations in full. Russia can choose Communism or some variant as her people decide, but the USSR as a state will
pay the price of supporting Hitler all those years. It is expected that India will form a state, as will Korea, but
the nature of their alignment will be decided in peacetime.

The United States realizes that her great strength will unbalance the coming world order and so the States will form
into two smaller nations. This will put them more in the scale of the worlds nations. Soviet peoples will form sensible
nation states from the territory of the old USSR, including Russia. The ideas proposed might prevent dominant
"super-powers" from ruling over their neighbors.

If the USSR and Japanese Empire will not accept this solution it will be imposed on their defeated nations. If they
do accept they should "surrender" and all nations will form a new organization of United Nations to work out the
peace. If both powers take this route there will be no victors at the peace table, only equals. If either continues
to prosecute war then they will be truly defeated, and the onus for all casualties will rest on their shoulders.

The West at War :

[cpdeyoung]

British forces made some gains against Japan, and very considerable gains against the USSR. The Americans are able
to inflict significant damage on the Japanese without taking heavy losses. In Europe the forces of the three powers
have Leningrad and Stalingrad, and Kharkov and Moscow are increasingly isolated from the rest of the country.

[cpdeyoung]

No one has given up their war aims, so we fight on.

Moscow holds out, but the rest of the Soviet union is nearly taken.

Alan Brooke

[cpdeyoung]

On the other side of the world the Americans have gained a foothold on the Japanese home islands.

[cpdeyoung]

Again the airstrikes are far less painful for the attacker.

[cpdeyoung]

In the West Moscow is still resisting, but the noose is tightening. Archangel and Murmansk are both in trouble.
We do not know of any other Soviet concentrations, but there may be some somewhere. Vast streams of men and materiel
are flowing eastward. Already northern China is the site of British advance parties looking for the Japanese main
line of resistance there. The British have formed a large pocket in the south of China.

The American have enlarged their foothold in South Japan, and have made another successful landing at Hiroshima. The
USN and Royal Navy have begun to blockade the seas around Japan. Tokyo was bombed to 1,437 points by strategic bombers.
The largest carrier task force has 20 carriers and 130 planes.

[cpdeyoung]

Moscow still holds, and around the city is a tank graveyard of Churchill IV and M-26 hulks. The city cannot hold another month however. A huge train of men and materiel stretches from Europe to Middle Asia and beyond. Air components are already arriving at the front with the Japanese.

South China is pretty much Allied. South Japan is occupied to the suburbs of Tokyo. The Japanese destroyers have been destroyed or surrounded by masses of submarines. The Japanese carrier and surface forces seem to be in Korea, and may not be able to fight their way out to broader waters. The Americans landed in the north, and occupied a shipyard. One can see the day when the Island Nation will be fully under Allied control. China too, is under grave threat.

The Japanese are not going to surrender, but the Allies already have massive strength.

[cpdeyoung]

Moscow has finally fallen. It was very well defended, but the odds were just too great.

[cpdeyoung]

China is resurgent. Her long period in the shadow of Japan is ending. As the Allies advance she will get more and more territory back.

[cpdeyoung]

The long trek east to more warfare. French, British and American troops move from Europe to Asia.