Thriumph or Tragedy? (D21)

[Jukipo]

ORIGINAL: piotre

I had been missing your AAR.
Thanks for sharing [:)]

It's great you have enjoyed my AAR!

[Jukipo]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: Nicholas Bell

That's one huge pocket you're forming Jukipo! You're making this look too easy. Can't see how the Soviet Union can survive the year. Thanks for your updates.

Elmer never gives up. Assuming he doesn't declare the war not worth prosecuting farther first, even assuming Case Blue is a complete success I'd expect it'd take the entire 43 campaign season at a minimum to overrun the steppes beyond the Voronezh-Don river line, and to attack northeast out of Moscow to Vologda cutting the rail linkages to the armies to the east leaving them largely unsupplied and ready to be destroyed in the largest pocket of the game.

The biggest largely unknown value is what remaining soviet production will look like at that point. Baseline Soviet production is high enough to keep feeding huge numbers of cannon fodder into an axis mincing machine.

I agree. I can't wint the war this year. Even if I could somehow destroy all Soviet units, I could not build rail fast enough to reach Ural Mountains. I don't think it's possible to capture Baku in 1942. It's too far. Maybe I can reach Caspian Sea before rasputitsa...

[Jukipo]

Turn 99, 5/31/42, AGC

Moscow

The enemy is attacking hard east of Moscow. We have to withdraw, then our panzers counterattack. Then the fronlineline is lost again… We are taking losses here. Tank losses are light, but I’m worried about infantry losses.

Meanwhile near Dubna we are straightening the frontline.

[Jukipo]

Turn 99, 5/31/42, AGC

The enemy line is shattered near Plavsk. 2nd Panzer Armee is advancing South.

Voronezh is captured.

[Jukipo]

Turn 99, 5/31/42, AGS

We have reached Don River near Boguchar. We have sealed the Oskol Riverline. The enemy is making some uncoordinated breakout attempts.

6th Armee is attacking from West. It’s only a matter of time before the pocket is destroyed.

[Jukipo]

Turn 99, 5/31/42, AGS

48th Panzer Korps captured Novaya Pokrovka.

6th Armee is advancing towards Oskol River.

[Jukipo]

Turn 100, 6/3/42, AGS

The enemy Pocket is almost destroyed. Phase 1 of our offensive is completed. Now we are going to move our divisions near Voroshilovgrad and Millerovo. We have a railhead there, so the supply is good. Once they arrive, divisions are going to resupply before the offensive continues towards Stalingrad and Rostov.

16th Motorized Division is entrenching near Novaya Pokrovka.

8th Panzer Division is guarding Oskol River at Valuyki.

We have got reinforcements, 24th Panzer Division arrived.

[Jukipo]

Turn 100, 6/3/42, AGC

We have managed to surround 9 Soviet divisions and 2 tank brigades near Mitsensk.

[Jukipo]

Situation on 6/3/42 after 100 turns.

Case Blue phase 1 completed. Now we are going to prepare for phase 2. Advance to Don bend and capture of Rostov.

Losses in the first 100 turns: (last 5 turns in parenthesis) [replacements in 5 turns]

59105 (+2545) Heavy Rifle Squads [repl 2155]
6669 (+32) Rifle Squad – Rum [repl 280]
2186 (+55) Rifle Squad – Hun [repl 155]
5060 (+6) Rifle Squad – Fin [repl 125]
938 (+4) Rifle Squad – Ita [repl 90]
8466 (+246) Engineer Squads [repl 225]
1882 (+235) Panzers (all types) [repl 350]
2499 (+148) Fighters (all types) [repl 295]
442 (+86) Stukas & Hs-129 [repl 75]
2557 (+39) Bombers (all types) [repl 105]

Railroads are on the map in cyan.

[Jukipo]

Turn 101, 6/7/42, AGC

Verkhovye was captured. Surrounded enemy units near Mitsensk are soon destroyed. Advance continues towards Yelets.

[Jukipo]

Turn 101, 6/7/42, AGS

All surrounded enemy units are now destroyed. Our armies are marching towards Millerovo. We have got Case Blue bonuses for the next 10 turns. Our shock is 120 and supply +10. Supply level is 40 on rails.

[Jukipo]

Turn 102, 6/10/42, AGC

Our offensive continues towards Yelets. The enemy is taking heavy losses.

[Jukipo]

Turn 102, 6/10/42, AGS

The second phase of Case Blue is beginning. Our infantry is moving south. We have captured Krasnodon and Kemensk.

Panzer divisions are resupplying near Millerovo.

[Jukipo]

Turn 103, 6/14/42, AGC

The enemy front shatters between Livny and Yefremov. There is nothing to stop us capturing Yelets. We are going to surround the enemy units north of Kastornoye.

[Jukipo]

Turn 103, 6/14/42, AGS

We have captured Shakhty, Belaya Kilitva and Morozovsk. There are very few enemy units in the area. We can move forward almost unopposed. Most of our panzer troops are still resupplying near Millerovo. 6th Armee is marching SE. They are going to arrive Millerovo next week.

We got reinforcements, Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division arrived near Stalino.

[Jukipo]

Turn 105, 6/21/42 AGC

Yelets was captured and we managed to surround and destroy all enemy units between Kastornoye and Yelets.

[Jukipo]

Turn 105, 6/21/42 AGS

We have reached Don River near Rostov. Our infantry is on the gates of Rostov. We have surrounded enemy troops defending Mius River Line. Our panzer divisions are going to cross Don near Konstantinovsk. Most of the 1st Panzer Armee is resupplying near Kemensk.

Meanwhile 4th Panzer Armee is moving slowly towards Stalingrad.

[Jukipo]

Situation Case Blue 6/21/1942

We have divided Armygroup South in two parts.

Armygroup A (1st PzA, 11th A, 17th A) is going to attack south towards Caucasus mountains.

Armygroup B (4th PzA, 6th A) is going to capture Stalingrad. Next objectives are Don bridges near Kalach.

[Jukipo]

Situation AGC 6/21/1942

We have now straightened the frontline between Tula and Voronezh. The enemy suffered massive losses near Yelets. Most of the troops between Tula and Voronezh have been destroyed. Our new objective is Moscow-Ryazan-Chaplygin-Voronezh line.

[Jukipo]

Situation on 6/21/42 after 105 turns.

Losses in the first 105 turns: (last 5 turns in parenthesis) [replacements in 5 turns]

61074 (+1969) Heavy Rifle Squads [repl 2155]
6816 (+147) Rifle Squad – Rum [repl 280]
2376 (+190) Rifle Squad – Hun [repl 155]
5090 (+30) Rifle Squad – Fin [repl 125]
938 (+0) Rifle Squad – Ita [repl 90]
8684 (+218) Engineer Squads [repl 225]
1964 (+82) Panzers (all types) [repl 410]
2681 (+182) Fighters (all types) [repl 295]
488 (+46) Stukas & Hs-129 [repl 75]
2652 (+95) Bombers (all types) [repl 105]