The Zhukov-less Memoirs - GC41-45 M60 vs smokindave redux

[M60A3TTS]

That is correct, I haven't seen any evidence of fort lines in the making unless they are a considerable distance to the west. Due to the fact so many of his panzer divisions are now committed to the front lines, I doubt there is a huge reserve anywhere.

[M60A3TTS]

6-12 January 1944 (134th week of the war)

Additional Red Army troops of the Leningrad Front cross north of the Neva. Still the Finns seem to have no interest in shifting their forces north.

No change in the situation east of Smolensk beyond the hammering attacks that push the enemy back a little more each week.

Sumy is occupied by troops of Konev's 1st Belorussian Front. Although Stalin is eager to see a hard push to the south-southwest, General Antonov, STAVKA Chief of Operations, explains that the logistical situation makes it far more advisable to press along the rail line west from Vorozhba to Bakhmach. It is the STAVKA's strategic intent that by the end of the winter season, the Red Army will be west the Dnepr in force. Diverting from the most favorable supply route could put that objective in jeopardy.

Elements of Kurdyumov's 4th Ukrainian Front reach the outskirts of the great city of Kharkov.


Leningrad




Smolensk




Sumy-Kharkov




OOB

[loki100]

looks like the Germans are risking two disasters. If the Finns surrender (and you'll be able to take them out with some ease if their army is still south of the Neva) that entire northern front will collapse.

and your offensive at Sumy is looking like it will be decisive, surprised that they are not pulling back from Kharkov-Stalino in order to produce a defense in depth between your spearheads and the Dniepr

[M60A3TTS]

I don't know that without the Finns, the north will collapse. I'm sure Dave will shift some divisions to replace them, although it will logically weaken him somewhere else. I am a little surprised he hasn't shifted more divisions along the direction of my main attack in the south but he must have his reasons.

[loki100]

there was an AAR a while back (forgot who was playing) where the Soviet player pushed too deep into a large bulge in 1943 and ended up losing most of their army in the resulting pocket.

maybe he has a similar plan?

[Mehring]

ORIGINAL: loki100

there was an AAR a while back (forgot who was playing) where the Soviet player pushed too deep into a large bulge in 1943 and ended up losing most of their army in the resulting pocket.

maybe he has a similar plan?

Oh yeah, I vaguely recall that one

[M60A3TTS]

January Operations 135th-137th weeks of the war

Attacks in the Leningrad area continue along without interruption. Pavlovo is captured and the Red Army is now, at last, at the outskirts of Leningrad.

Men of the Western and 1st Baltic Fronts continue to grind ahead in the area of Smolensk. 1st Baltic Front is 50 kilometers from the city.

At Kharkov, troops of the 7th Guards Army supported by 6th Guards and 19th Armies drive the Hungarian garrison from the city. The people of Kharkov rejoice at their liberation.

The main offensive in the south continues towards Kiev and Cherkassy. The vital rail junction at Bakhmach remains under German control. Without that town under our control, the rail lines leading to the southwest cannot be mended. Therefore taking this town in the next 1-2 weeks is the most important task of the Red Army. General Armii Konev is ordered to push his armies towards the area between Kiev and Cherkassy. 4th and 1st Ukrainian Fronts will move up on his left and right flanks respectively as he does so.

The High Command sends out a flurry of promotion orders that reflect the resounding success of our recent operations.

5th Army commander, General-Maior Ivan Fedyuninsky, was promoted to General-Leitenant
42nd Army commander, General-Maior Vasily Glagolev, was promoted to General-Leitenant
53rd Army commander, General-Polkovnik Vasily Chuikov, was promoted to General Armii
58th Army commander, General-Maior Leonid Govorov, was promoted to General-Leitenant
8th Guards Army commander, General-Maior Sergei Biryuzov, was promoted to General-Leitenant
4th Tank Army commander, General-Maior Mikhail Katukov, was promoted to General-Leitenant
5th Shock Army commander, General-Polkovnik Rodion Malinovsky, was promoted to General Armii
1st Air Army commander, General-Leitenant Aviatsii Timofei Khryukin, was promoted to General-Polkovnik Aviatsii


OOB




Leningrad Week 136




Smolensk Week 137 (no weather graphics)




Kiev-Cherkassy Week 137 (no weather graphics)




Kharkov liberated! Week 137 (no weather graphics)

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: Mehring

ORIGINAL: loki100

there was an AAR a while back (forgot who was playing) where the Soviet player pushed too deep into a large bulge in 1943 and ended up losing most of their army in the resulting pocket.

maybe he has a similar plan?

Oh yeah, I vaguely recall that one

Without a doubt the worst moment of my WitE life. Nothing else comes close. And the next turn was mud. [:@]

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: Mehring

ORIGINAL: loki100

there was an AAR a while back (forgot who was playing) where the Soviet player pushed too deep into a large bulge in 1943 and ended up losing most of their army in the resulting pocket.

maybe he has a similar plan?

Oh yeah, I vaguely recall that one

Without a doubt the worst moment of my WitE life. Nothing else comes close. And the next turn was mud. [:@]

was that you? Och I'm sorry for raising it, realise its the sort of memory best left untouched [;)]

[M60A3TTS]

3-9 February 1944 (138th week of the war)

More troops are over the Neva in preparation for an assault against the Finns defending Leningrad.

The advance in the direction of Smolensk continues.

The offensive towards Kiev-Cherkassy continues. The Germans are driven from Bakhmach which will allow the railheads to be pushed southwest as intended. Our mechanized, tank and cavalry forces continue to hurl the enemy back, although this is consuming a large number of our medium tanks. In the last four weeks over 3,000 AFVs have been lost. It is vital that Konev's infantry reach the Dnepr soon in order to relieve the front line tankmen and provide the necessary troops to force a river crossing in strength.

The Red Army currently stands at 9.4 million men. Another 466,000 are available in the reserves.

Quartermaster and Rear Area Services report 393,000 trucks in the fleet which account for 70% of need. Of these, 89,000 are in various repair shops.


Leningrad




Smolensk




Kiev-Cherkassy




Production



Ground losses

[DerGrenadier]

Great AAR. May I know what map mod youre using?

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: DerGrenadier

Great AAR. May I know what map mod youre using?

Thanks. It is Jison's mod. You can find it as a sticky under the scenario design and modding section.

[Mamluke]

hello there, 1st time poster, long time lurker.

I've never played the Soviets seriously before, (only the "Road to..." scenarios as the SOV) so forgive my ignorance but isn't the road to Helsinki practically wide open!?!
I mean. its February and the Isthmus seams wide open to the Red Army.

If I were you, I would bring all possible Tank and Cav corps and Rush for Helsinki as fast as MP's allowed, if lucky, the Fins might be out of the War before summer(If not sooner). and the Fins are Germany's strongest ally (Morale/CV wise).
So I would consider it a Great Victory.
I´m I wrong in saying this?

[loki100]

I'll try and partly answer.

You are right but there is a but.

The bigger prize (in fact near essential) is to get over the Dniepr in the winter of 43/44 before the ice melts (remember there is no combat malus when its frozen). That sets up the potential to clear the Germans from the Ukraine early/mid summer 1944 and brings you to the Vistula in time for that to freeze in winter 44/45.

My feeling is that the drive west, especially in the south is all about when you reach/cross the main rivers.

If you have to force the Dneipr in summer its really hard, partly gathering together the combat values but also the MP cost for crossing probably in enemy zones of control.

To switch arm/cav up to the north of Leningrad now could jepordise that goal.

As it is, M60A3TTS can probably finish off (forgive the pun) the Finns at his leisure in the summer. There's not much they can now do as the bulk of their army is south of Leningrad and German naval transport capacity would make it really hard to move them back into Finland.

[M60A3TTS]

10-16 February 1944 (139th week of the war)

Konstantin Koroteev, commander of the 23rd Army will become the liberator of Leningrad. The defending 18th Finnish Infantry Division is thrown out of the city center and retreats to the northwest part of the city. This area is cut off quickly by follow-on elements and leaves the Finns in the city with no means of supply or escape.

The bulk of the Finnish Army is now cut off from the mother country. What remains of the defending troops north of Leningrad will be dealt with by a new Finland Front to be formed under Marshal Voroshilov. Towards that end, Marshal Voroshilov will soon step down as commander of 1st Baltic Front to be replaced by 5th Shock Army commander, General-Armii Rodion Malinovsky. In order to provide strong leadership for 5th Shock, K.K. Rokossovsky will take command of this formation.

Ivan Bagramyan is given command of 3rd Ukrainian Front, replacing General-Polkovnik Kuztetsov. Also at this time, General-Armii Andrei Eremenko replaces General-Leitenant Vladimir Kurdyumov as commander of 4th Ukrainian Front.

Elsewhere, the advance on Smolensk continues on as planned. The drive to the Dnepr in the south continues to roll forward, and farther east the Red Army reaches the outskirts of Stalino.

Rear Area Services reports over 97,000 trucks are now under repair which is straining the supply system. The Red Army truck fleet has dropped to 67% of its needs.


OOB




Leningrad




Smolensk




Cherkassy-Poltava-Kharkov




Stalino




4th Ukrainian Front change of command

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: loki100

I'll try and partly answer.

You are right but there is a but.

The bigger prize (in fact near essential) is to get over the Dniepr in the winter of 43/44 before the ice melts (remember there is no combat malus when its frozen). That sets up the potential to clear the Germans from the Ukraine early/mid summer 1944 and brings you to the Vistula in time for that to freeze in winter 44/45.

My feeling is that the drive west, especially in the south is all about when you reach/cross the main rivers.

If you have to force the Dneipr in summer its really hard, partly gathering together the combat values but also the MP cost for crossing probably in enemy zones of control.

To switch arm/cav up to the north of Leningrad now could jepordise that goal.

As it is, M60A3TTS can probably finish off (forgive the pun) the Finns at his leisure in the summer. There's not much they can now do as the bulk of their army is south of Leningrad and German naval transport capacity would make it really hard to move them back into Finland.

That sums it up pretty well. In the Smolensk offensive I have 8 cav corps and 2 tank corps. All the other mobile formations are headed for the Dnepr. I recently raised 6 new cav divisions which will make up two cav corps that will head for Finland to try and speed things along. But the Dnepr fight is the #1 priority. It would not be a fun fight with Dave's army the size that it is defending along a major river in spring/summer. The infantry can't move fast enough in this winter weather to fight the battles on the way to the Dnepr, so it falls on the mech, tank and cav corps to get much of the work done.

[chaos45]

Ya, Im surprised he hasnt shifted more forces west to ensure you dont cross the dnepr, it would seem he would be better served with a fall back from the east to shift more units in front of your tanks....esp since thaw is probably 4 turns out still and your almost there.

[Mamluke]

haa, I see, thanks for the reply Loki; M60! I don't have much experience with the "mid/late" game really, my first game was as Axis against normal AI, so obviously I won in summer 42 (260 AV scenario), I mean just looking and the screens of these late games AAR terrifies me XD.
for exemple, those 3 Rifle corps near Leningrad... 40 Offensive CV!? holy crap that scares me, the Red Army in 1941 compared to 1943 is NIght and Day!

[chaos45]

The thing to remember about red army 1943+ is 3 rifle corps = 9 infantry divisions with 9 Support regiments usually so around 100k men. Thus the reason for 40 CV, while a german infantry divisions by now is only 13-15k men most likely.

[M60A3TTS]

17-23 February 1944 (140th week of the war)

Nearly 25,000 soldiers of the Finnish army surrender to Koroteev's forces in Northwest Leningrad. The race up Western Karelia can now begin as little stands between the Red Army and Finland itself.

1st Baltic Front has reached the outskirts of Smolensk. Comrade Stalin is now inquiring on the possibility of crossing the Dnepr at Mogilev before the Spring thaw begins. STAVKA thinks this rather unlikely as it has only a fraction of the mobile troops in the Mogilev-Smolensk region. This consists of eight cavalry and two tank corps of STAVKA 3rd Guards Army and Chernyakhovsky's 5th Shock Army.

The drive for the Dnepr continues as lead tank troops are 50 kilometers from Cherkassy. Two railroad repair corps work feverishly to repair the tracks along the axis of attack to the south of Bakhmach. Konev's 1st Belorussian Front continues to work its way towards Kiev-Cherkassy.

Stalino is liberated by men of the Transcaucasus Front.

Tank losses continue to mount as a number of units with British tanks have few replacements available and the older versions of T-34 tanks must be replaced by T-34/85's now in production at a rate of 250 per week.

Over 105,000 vehicles are now in repair shops. Despite the increase, the Red Army truck fleet has 69.5% of need.


Leningrad



Smolensk



Kiev-Cherkassy



Zaporozhye-Stalino



ground losses



tank corps