FITE v.5.0 Ian Soviets larry Axis

[devoncop]

Hi Fulcrum

Larry will be able to help you 're this version I think. I haven't played FITE2 so can't tell you the difference but Larry indicated this one was more manageable. It isn't in the stock game folders for TOAW IV. I think it's a converted TOAW 3 scenario Larry has worked on.

Glad you are enjoying the AAR....it's a blast to play !

[devoncop]

Turn 62....21st January 1942

It maybe this is the last turn of my land Shock Advantage for winter so I decide to press on.....

The gradual German pull back is continuing in most though not all areas. Larry concentrates on destroying some partisans and bombarding my front lines with large numbers of artillery units the length of the front. The numbers of these units are a big problem when I try to force the German lines in the North and centre in particular and although a little progress is made losses are quite high.

In the South things are much more positive and the Romanian 3rd and 4th and Reserve Armies are in some difficulty North and East of Perekop. Soviet troops pushing up from the two isthmus chokepoints have pushed towards each other and now linked up to form a coherent front to the south. Simultaneously the units advancing South West from Dnepropetovsk into the western Crimea also continue to advance and the North and South pincers are only about 80 Km apart behind German lines that are pulling back slowly from near Melitopol.

In the North the Kreigsmarine appears to have been eliminated as a threat in the Baltic for now as the Dauntlesses sink the last visible force off Riga of 4 destroyers and 2 Light Cruisers.

In Finland the offensive around Karhumaki is reinforced with Rifle Divisions, artillery and Armour and 3 full Finnish Divisions appear to have been cut off from supply at time of report.

Finally, in the centre a push from Smolensk continues West and armoured spearheads are now about 60Km from Vitebsk.

[devoncop]

PS......Theatre Option.......

I am now seriously considering taking the Naval Theatre option I have available by the way. I lose a small amount of supply, but that is more than compensated for by the fact I am holding some supply cities such as Kiev and Smolensk and Dnepropetovsk that I would expect to have lost by now. In return I get Soviet production of battleships and other naval vessels in 12 months time. Given the fact Sweden is now an Axis power in addition to Finland I am thinking this may prove very useful in the Baltic later......

We shall see. More thought needed maybe.

[larryfulkerson]

I saw a request for the scenario FITE v.5.0 so I zipped it up and posted it here below.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 63

Larry is conducting a VERY professional withdrawal here which leads to losses for Soviet forces as they try to push against the new front lines. Particularly in the north and centre I am finding that retrating units, apparently only lightly dug in have in fact fallen back onto dug in and fresh artillery concentrations that are often not spotted until the attack goes in....nice job ! The move towards Orsha is stalled because of this tactic so subsequent rounds are spent trying to degrade large numbers of heavy howitzers and rail guns.

In Finland where things are less settles Soviet Cavalry has continuesd to drive West and Suvilhati is captured cutting the rail line to the south in the central Finnish belt.

In the south there is further progress against the Romanians though in the same region a concentration of artillery including long range rail artillery is causing problems for the defenders still holding out in Odessa.

As yet the battleship theatre option has not been taken.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 64..... 28th January 1942

I still have a Shock advantage of 115 to 100 so the advance continues as I find Larry has accelerated the pullback and given up the Dnepr river...

As a result a number of small VP cities including Gomel and Gorki are liberated as the Germans appear to be constructing an MLR along the parallel Ingulets river in the western Crimea about 100Km to the west. I am surprised but happy with this as I was having a lot of problems forcing the Dnepr and the Ingulets looks a less formidable obstacle though I am sure I will be running into numerous artillery parks again!

The Soviets appear to have got almost total air supremacy for the moment so multiple bridges are dropped north west of Dnepropetovsk behind the German lines to try and interfere with their supply.

In the far South the breakout from the Sivash isthmus continues to gain momentum and a Romanian Reserve Army Division is forced back and another badly damaged.

Way up north in Finland reinforcements are piling into the area around Suvilhati and multiple Finnish Divisions in the central belt can hopefully be eliminated.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 65

Soviet advances and German retreats continue as the new German MLR is reached.

Soviets have occupied Demidov on the road towards Vitebsk in the centre and further south Krivoy Rag on the Ingolets River line. The re-occupation of several towns abandoned by the Germans has swung VP's back to -425 last turn which is back to a draw. The next milestone of a Soviet minor victory requires me to get to +445 however so a long way to go yet !

Soviet troops arrive at Orsha to find the city very firmly in German hands and this seems to be a key strongpoint for the invaders with dug in infantry, tanks and a lot of artillery present.

The situation in Finland continues to improve as more troops arrive. It seems the Finns are still getting supplies however so the noose needs to be tightened further. Yet more reinforcesments arrive to help with this.

Over the last couple of turns partisan activity has picked up again and a larger insurrection in Eastonia has seen fierce fighting over the last week.

I decide to take the Soviet Battleship option so hopefully this will prove worthwhile in due course.........

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 66.........4th February 1942

A quick turn around as first Larry appears to have suffered serious turn burn trying to take out a substantial Partisan force in Estonia and fails a check and then as the Soviets engage in taking out isolated pockets of Germans left behind in their recent retreat the same happens after a single turn of attacking ! There is however time for further progress in Finland though scouts spot a large column of German SS being rushed from western Finland to assist the embattled Finns. Heavy bombers are sent from the Crimea to the north to assist with the operations in Finland as well as substantial armour.

I get a message confirming that my supply has indeed reduced due to diverting resources to build the Baltic Navy so we shall soon see how much of an issue that proves to be.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's T67's front lines before I have moved anybody.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 67....4th February 1942

I thought it was too good to last........The Soviet Winter shock bonus finally ends and the Soviets are back to 100 Land Shock levels. Ah well, it certainly had an impact !

In the north on the Dvina river, behind which the Germans have retreated and formed an MLR, Velizh,Surazh and Kholm are re-occupied by Soviet troops and several cut off German Divisions are wiped out just to the south.

In Finland the German rescue column has been identified as including SS Mountain troops and the 169th Infantry Division, amongst others and the column is fighting with Soviet pickets in Suvilhati as they try to reach the Finnish 1st, 3rd, 5th, 11th and 14th Infantry Divisions which are now under increasing pressure in their pocket from Soviet attacks. One Divisional HQ is destroyed this turn and the others are concentrated in an area containing over 120 heavy howitzers that would be extremely helpful to remove from the Finnish defence. To help in this Soviet troops now cross from the southern border near Podporoze and attempt to encircle the Finnish border units whilst armour tries to reach the fighting in the pocket from the south.

Almost all remaining units from 3rd and 4th Romanian Armies that had been left behind in the western Crimea have now been eliminated and attempts now need to be made to cross the Ingolets river line....

[MikeJ19]

Ian,

That was a very successful counter attack that you conducted. Well done.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's me chasing down partisans behind my lines. I have to rail my chasers to the area because I can't be everywhere at once. So far I've had no trouble getting into the area, surrounding them and destroying them. It takes a couple of turns.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 68........11th February 1942

Shock levels for both sides are now 100.

Fighting has begun at Mogilev where Soviet troops are trying to take the city on the Dnepr from German Panzer Grenadiers from the 29th Panzer Gren Divn.

There is an effort underway to break out west to expand the Kiev Bulge which is being held up by heavy German artillery present.

Up in Finland however the Soviets are making progress. The Finnish 15th Division on the southern Finnish/Soviet border is now completely surrounded and the larger pocket further north is pounded by Soviet guns and assaulted by tanks as there is a breakthrough to attack the HQ's of the 1st,2nd,11th and 14th Divisions. 133 out of 160 Howitzers are destroyed and the Finns are definitely now in trouble in this area.

Elsewhere it is an excerise in trying to degrade the considerable German artillery concentrations behind their defensive lines and eliminating the last pockets of German troops in the Crimea.......

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 69.......15th February 1942

In the German turn aside from a lot of battery fire from heavy artillery behind German lines and the destruction of some partisans the German activity was restricted to some further minor pullbacks around Kiev and in the deep south and more digging in and reinforcing elsewhere.

In Finland the Soviets continue their offensive and Finnish infantry now get forced back from the northern tip of the large pocket that has been formed and there is air bombardment of the remaining HQ artillery. There is heavy fighting south east of the pocket with elements of the 169th Infantry Division that had arrived from the west to try and help the Finns being forced back by Soviet armour and Guards Infantry.

My air assets are getting a bit tired so many are rested though another couple of airfield attacks get good results in the south.

The Soviet bulge from Kiev extending west and north is expanded further and more reinforcements sent to try and exploit this now the Dnepr has been crossed there.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian is using his tanks to blow holes in my line and here's an example near Kiev where he's slowly pushing my units back and I'm down to using my engineers on the front lines. I'm through repairing the rails so I'm using RR engineers as cannon fodder too. The Hungarians are camped throughout the marshes watching for partisans and I need to get them headed this way for all the good they can do. Ian is bringing his arty with him and I see a lot of them near the lines so no wonder they can blast their way through my lines. I'm giving serious thought to building another MLR to the west somewhere.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 70....18th February 1942

An attritional turn as Larry skilfully managed to place reserves and artillery behind front lines to foil attempted breakthroughs. I have noticed a crafty move he has mastered where a strong line of units is interspersed with the occasional weak unit like a security or recon battalion. This successfully tempts local comanders (ie me !) to hit the unit hard as a weak spot in the line only to find it is supported by huge artillery concentrations and reserve armour...previously obscured by fog of war.... which leave the Soviets with a bloody nose and the recon unit happily chomping their bratwurst wondering what all the fuss was about [:D]

Lesson learned !

The only real progress was in managing to divide off and destroy the HQ of the 1st Finnish Division in the shrinking pocket in the north and a push south west from the Kiev bulge taking out a complete infantry regiment and damaging another badly.

There are now only 12 turns until the Spring ceasefire which is due to run roughly between turns 82 and 89 so the more progress I can make up until then the better.

What I and any readers who are following this scenario need to bear in mind is that regardless of any progress in VP's from inflicting casualties on the German forces or even in holding onto Odessa,Kiev, Smolensk etc ahistorically through the war, the ONLY way for the Soviets to actually win is by taking Berlin.Any other result is basically a German win........ There is a VERY long way to go [:)]

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 71.....22nd February 1942

A fierce battle with Soviet Partisans in Estonia burns up most of the German turn and Larry is able to make less than a dozen attacks (all artillery bombardments).

The Soviets eliminate more Finnish units in the shrinking pocket and the rescue column of the SS Geb Div and 169th Div is itself now almost completely cut off by the increasing Soviet presence in Finland.

There are several attacks launched around Kiev but fierce resistance keeps territorial gains to a minimum and also uses up most of the Soviet turn.

There is a renewed attempt to cut rail lines to German front lines by dropping bridges to their rear.

[larryfulkerson]

I haven't been doing much attacking since the SWO started because of the shock difference but that has gone away and I feel like attacking. So I checked out the losses so far to see if an advance is feasible and I'm up to 40K in HRS's so we're a go for liftoff. Now I just need to find the right spot to start it. I'm thinking somewhere down south might be lucrative. I'm planning on trying to straighten out the front lines for the most part.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 72......25th February 1942

Positions around the Kiev salient have to be reinforced and consolidated rather than expanded as larry is as good as his word and the Germans pile reinforcements into the area. Armour is also present in numbers so the Soviets also divert more troops to what is becoming a key sector of the Front.

In Finland the Finnish infantry Divisions trapped in the shrinking pocket are now cut in half and their falling combat strengths indicate they are struggling through lack of supply. Once the pocket is destroyed the freed up troops will be of great help in moving west.

Further attempts to blow bridges in the south unfortunately fail but there is further degredation of German artillery support and a full unit of Nebelwerfers is wiped out south of Orsha.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 73..March 1st 1942

The German shock advantage has returned with the end of winter and Soviet supply unhelpfully drops by 10. The German air shock is now 110 and land shock 105 to the Soviet 100 for both.

The degredation of the Luftwaffe and its allied elements over the winter is welcome as otherwise this could have caused me more problems.

What this does do however is to reinforce my decision to suspect further land assaults until after the ceasefire in 1942 and try not to give up too much ground. The situation in Finland is different as German and Finnish forces are in trouble in the centre so I will keep pressure up in this area. This turn the HQ of the Finnish 14th Division was wiped out in the pocket and two regiments from 1st Finnish Division were reduced to shells.

Larry indicated in his diplo message that the focus on counter battery fire by Soviet artillery has had some effect with a lot of German artillery short of guns so hopefully this will also restrict the German ability to hit too hard.