Stock FitE Karri vs Larry

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what the Murmansk area looks like at the start of Soviet turn 60

[larryfulkerson]

Here's an overview of the entire area from Murmansk to the south:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like to the north of the Svir river:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a close-up of the north of Leningrad at the beginning of Soviet turn 60:

[duckenf]

The Finns look pretty close to total collapse in the central and northern fronts. And once you get past those defences the southern forces will have to pull back or risk being cut-off from Helsinki.

What are the Axis chances of rebuilding a defensive line to the south and west of your attacks? Now that the USSR is through the narrow points on the front, I'd expect the Axis to have a hard time plugging the holes.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: medck
The Finns look pretty close to total collapse in the central and northern fronts. And once you get past those defences the southern forces will have to pull back or risk being cut-off from Helsinki.

What are the Axis chances of rebuilding a defensive line to the south and west of your attacks? Now that the USSR is through the narrow points on the front, I'd expect the Axis to have a hard time plugging the holes.

I'm sorta counting on that effect. If I can knock the Finns out of the war my chances of survival until '43 would be almost close to 50/50.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm not certain but I'm thinking Karri wants to capture Orel pretty badly. He's moved up all the artillery the Axis forces have ( almost ) to help out.

[SMK-at-work]

The Finns are vulnerable if the Soviets are able to spare the resources to beat them - historically they pushed up to the old borders and the Svir River, then stopped and did nothing until the Soviet counterattack in 1944.  This drove them almost back to the post-winter-war border on hte Karelian Isthmus, but not quite.
 
It's up to the rest of the Axis to keep enough pressure on the Soviet lines to prevent them diverting troops to crush the Finns!!
 
A good theatre option would be for the Finns to offer an armistice if either they start getting beaten up badly, or the Germans get pushed back (eg the Sov's recapture Tallinin).  The Sov's would then have a choice of accepting or not - if they accept then Finland leaves the war, and the Sov's can divert troops to the Germans - probably except for a couple of armies garrisoning the border.

[larryfulkerson]

Yeah, but I'm the Soviets and I say it's in my best interest to destroy as many Finns as I possibly can since they draw upon the Axis replacement pool, etc. And I could do a lot better against the Germans if I didn't have to contend with the Finns all the time.

Anyway, here's the Soviet turn 60 minimap moves movie from turns 56 thru 60:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of the Soviet losses so far:

[SMK-at-work]

I agree it makes perfect sense to attack them in the game - which is one of the shortcomings of the game system and the scenario about which there probably isn't much we can do...until the next version comes out!

[freeboy]

Larry, did the US air come in? They shold be if the Turks came in, I suggest all the long range assets be set to interdiction, as the Germans in 42 almost all your armor gets taken out and replaced in Berlin, and it is a bitch moving against interdiction... and you will only get stronger as teh limited German replacements take a toll.

[sPzAbt653]

ORIGINAL: Zerberus

The PzAbt (Panzerabteilung) 51 was created in Grafenwöhr on 13.01.1943. It was built from II./PzRgt 33. In January of 1944 it was changed to II./PzRgt 33 again.

PzAbt 52 was created on 15.03.1943 in WEHRKREIS XIII (sorry, don't know the correct english word for this). It was built from I./PzRgt 15. On 21th of August 1943 it was changed to I./PzRgt 15 again and attached to 11th PzDiv (as the whole PzRgt 15 already was).


[/quote]

Thanks for the details. So they both returned to their original parent formations, the 9th and 11th Pz Div's. As I am OCD for historical unit accuracy I think I will have to 'disband' them at the dates that you supplied.

Danke!

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: freeboy
Larry, did the US air come in?

But Yes they did. I used up all the SBD's sinking the Turkish fleet but the rest of them still exist and I should think they will be most useful indeed.

[Karri]

The finns lost quite a bunch of units during Larry's offensive...but I've managed now to build a new line, which actually has some reserves. I need mroe untis in the Isthmus, hopefully I'll be getting them there next turn...

And I do have another surprise coming up...

Btw. in the game I am playing against Buzz my Soviets at turn 38 had about 70k rifle squads. So I am guessing the Soviets are a 'bit' understrenght. One would say that's exactly what Stalin also decided, and which made the German summer offensive of 1942 possible.

[Karri]

And one more thing, turn 61 Soviet winteroffensive wears off...interesting times.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviet Winter '41 Offensive is over with and now I face a determined German Opponent with some tired units. I advanced somewhat in the far north but I don't think I have enough units to build a descent front line up there. I'm thinking that the German will attempt to take Leningrad soon. He's gathered a lot of force in that area and the airborne are within range and there's been a lot of bitter fighting in that area lately. Here's some Soviet losses so far:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what Murmansk looks like in turn 62:

[larryfulkerson]

And the face of the battle south of Murmansk:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the area west of the Stalin Canal in turn 62: