1.04.11 Klydon (Axis) vs Hfarrish (Soviet) No Hfarrish please

[coolts]

Cool AAR. Can you hit the Z or X key (can’t remember which) so we can see your defensive CV numbers in your screenies? Seeing your movement points isnt very illuminating when you aren’t moving

[Klydon]

Turn 29: Happy New Years!

Here are the losses at the start of the turn. I don't know why the Russian losses are so low, but he lost a lot more than that during the turn. 41 attacks this turn (11 deliberate). 7 holds. Just not a lot of activity on the Russian's part as far as a lot of attacks. I really don't understand this that much, but I guess it is a difference in play styles and priorities. As a Russian, I like trying to attack as much as possible in the early blizzard going and while I take a lot of casualties, so do the Germans in general as well. He got a second guards division that I see and the cav corps have absolutely come out to play now.

German units certainly appear to have some more perk to them as most units increased at least 1 in visible combat strength (many divisions are now 2-3 CV). Some panzer units are higher, which is good since I have tried to have them weather out the storms under shelter for the most part. I still face quite a few issues with two good Russian masses going and while they will find 2 and 3 CV Germans tougher than 1-2 CV Germans, it won't stop them, especially with no fortifications. Given the weather, fortifications getting built are not likely.

Will get the other screen shots up later.

[PeeDeeAitch]

January is cause for celebration. Unlike other players, January is where I feel the best in winter 41-42 as I see the first recovery and the first pauses for wind by the Soviets. Sure the forts might be somewhat gone, but I can outrun the Soviets. Having some 3-4 CVs make MY moral better.

[Klydon]

Turn 29 AGN start after most recon. Screen shot is set for combat values rather than movement.

Russians withdraw out of the Finnish zone. Not a huge deal and given where the lines are at, probably not a bad move to a point. I will need to look at sending the rail repair guy back up to at least get service into Cherepovets.

Nothing going on with the 16th army. With January and the situation down south (not to mention the fact the Russians still can't rail in any troops to face the bulk of the 2nd army, I am likely to move some divisions down south to help. One division is already entrained from last turn to move down to help out.

2nd Army still only has the one corps in combat, but they are not being pushed hard.

18th army is dug in pretty well, so any attacking here is going to inflict heavy casualties on the Russians. There is still some depth here on the forts, so I don't know how much of a push he will make here. Most divisions are still in good to very good shape.

I will be looking to send a panzer corps down south to help now that their combat values went up and they are fairly rested. That will still leave two in the area and I may send another down in another turn or two.

[Klydon]

Turn 29 after most recon is done. AGC. Note the screen shot shows combat values.

While the panzers in Kaluga look to be in trouble, they will have no issues pulling back this turn (I had airdropped fuel in). Unfortunately, the Russians broke the fort line NW of Kaluga and there really isn't a lot behind that. The good news is the rest of the fort line up the line is still intact. I will try to get some more troops into those forts and hold there, forcing the Russians to move along a more narrow attack lane. My line will actually get shorter here as I retreat from the Kaluga salient. The panzer infantry has been taking a beating as can be seen by their lower combat values. Will try to rotate the weaker units out for a rest and get some more troops in to help, but I have some other issues. The entrained 9th army infantry division is headed back to Germany most likely for refitting. It is about 40% ToE. (I won't put the division in refit, but rather let it sit and draw normal replacements for now and rest).

The Russians have reached the panzer corps in Bryansk. 3 good forts there and some good defensive values. I hope to hold here a turn before being forced back.

9th Army has some issues, namely a pile of cavalry corps have appeared at the front along with a motorized division (be a shame if that changed to a infantry division). Suspected or known cav corps are circled in red.

One of the things I have been trying to do is attack/rout some of his spearhead mobile units (cav and tank brigades). Part of the issue is that while attacking them and getting them to retreat is good, forcing routs is even better. I am looking at counter attacking the lead 2 cav corps in the center (red arrow to the east), but the real tactic on this attack is to first to flip the yellow hex. This gives the cav corps no place to retreat but the stack behind them, so if I can get them to retreat, one will automatically rout, even if they did not rout from the actual combat itself.

9th Army will continue to retreat and wave the red flag, trying to get the Russian bull to follow them to the west.

[Klydon]

Turn 29 AGS. Start with most recon done. Note screen shot shows combat values.

6th Army is probably reluctantly going to have to withdraw from the fortifications they are in. While there are not a lot of troops facing them, the line has been somewhat compromised and threats loom on both the right and left flanks.

Cav corps (and suspected cav corps) are in abundance in the 17th army area. I think the north part of the Rumanian ditch will go down this next turn simply because I don't think I can get enough German troops into it. D Town is certainly in trouble. Cav units show up on the southern side of 11th army. Considering this is a weak screen (he had mostly infantry brigades in the area), there will be some issues here.

There is some potential good news here in that if I can successfully attack the yellow encircled infantry division, that should spring the Rumanian mountain unit and the German infantry division with it. Also, a infantry division reenforcement was railed into Poltava last turn and the 3 divisions of XIV panzer are in D-town.

11th army will continue to withdraw to the west, but probably remain under a bit more pressure than I would like. This next turn, there is not a lot of forts to fall back on, but they should be able to fall back into the "ditch" next turn with a shorter line hopefully. I need to look at getting some help down towards the southern end of the line by the sea of Azov in order to deal with those cav corps.

[Klydon]

Turn 29 end. AGC and AGS shown with combat values.

Nothing much happen with AGN, so I didn't show it.

I probably did more counter attacks than I should, but was rewarded with a good amount of success as can be seen by some of the routed units down south. I did manage to route a couple of cav corps along with some tank brigades, which is always a good thing imo. Hopefully this will make him a bit more cautions with those units, but we shall see.

6th Army pulls back from Kharkov. Just not worth the chances involved, especially given the weakness of the 17th and 9th army on either side and the fact the Russian cav is at the front enmass. Kaluga is also abandoned as well as both 4th army and the panzer infantry give ground.

11th Army also continues its pull back and hopefully I can get them back fast enough. I think I will be able to, but we shall see. The other two Rumanian mountain units are now in the area along with all of 1st PG. I also have some other help on the way, but rail cap is an obvious issue. There is going to be a lot of pressure put on D-Town, which is unfortunate as I had hoped to hold to the east of there, but it may not be possible.

Note all of the Russian controlled hexes that are getting flipped back to German control to make him spend as many MP's as possible in order to move forward.

[Klydon]

Start of turn 30:

Russian attack tempo continues to drop. 34 total attacks (5 deliberate) with 26 success and 8 holds. 18th army got attacked once, but other than that, AGN was not touched. I have a feeling that may change shortly however.

I know I am pulling back in spots, but I just don't understand this low tempo offense. As can be seen, my losses are low for what a German should be getting during the winter. I don't know why the Russian does not show more losses in this screen either, but he took 34469 for casualties this last turn in his attacks. By contrast, I took 19764 defending in those battles. Perhaps there is a method in the madness, I don't know yet.

[Klydon]

Turn 30 start after most recon. Screen shot taken with combat values AGN.

Only one attack the entire turn and that was against the 18th army.

Looks like plenty of Russians are coming to play with 16th army. I wonder if he thinks I have pulled units out up here and sent them south to help. I did sent the Panzer corps that was in VV and 1 division from 2nd army, but otherwise everything else up here is intact. Several of the level 2 forts are in the upper 80's and 90's, so a bunch are about to go to level 3. Hopefully a few more roll over. The divisions up here are not good in a ToE sense of the word. I should probably consider sending some fresh divisions up here if I can and pull some of those out and send them back for refit. Lower on the priority list however.

[Klydon]

Turn 30 after most recon. AGC with combat values showing.

The heavy pressure continues on AGC. He cracked one of the forts next to Bryansk. I will be looking to counter attack some spearhead units (mostly cav and armor brigades) and then pull back some more. Will have to find some spots for the panzers to continue to stay out of the cold if I can, but there really isn't a lot between Bryansk and the river, which is a good distance back. Hopefully 4th Army can start to make a stand where they are and get some "hard shoulders" on the push in the middle while 9th army continues to wave the red cape and Ivan keeps charging forward like a bull.

[Q-Ball]

It looks like you are doing really well for winter. The Red Army is pretty large; 5.6 mil, but you are in good shape at least in the shots we can see up north. With that attack tempo, you should be fine in the spring.

Trying to understand the difference between your winter and the one I just did with Tarhunnas. Biggest difference seems to be amount of frontage, from what I can tell. Your fort levels weren't that amazing. That, and you have yielded ground consistently, rather than take a beating. I think the Germans also started a little stronger in the Winter, at least in tanks.

It's not size of Red Army; he had as many guys as I did.

[Klydon]

Turn 30 start after most recon, showing unit combat values. AGS.

I have a few issues here as he has a hard pinch on some units, including a panzer division in the 11th army area and also has some 6th army infantry in danger. The cav corps are out in force to push the attack. I might be able to bust the corner stack in the 11th army area, but to make it really effective, I need to first attack the infantry division to the NW of it, then attack the stack. Doing that would cause all three units to rout on retreat. Will see if I can get enough panzer units into position to pull it off or not with some help from the infantry. The panzers in Sumy may also be looking for an opportunity as well before pulling back. There is a fresh OKH infantry division in Poltava to help out as well, but I am trying to leave it there if I can. I also have a panzer division in Chernigov headed down to help as well. There is also another infantry division coming from OKH that is on the rail in Rumania, but it will be another turn yet.

11th and 6th army will continue to pull back. The Rumanian ditch did not get cracked last turn, but I am sure it will this turn. I need to get some good stuff in D Town and see if I can make a stand there yet.