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T48 - Soviet Perspective


Another challenging turn for the soviets with OOB back down to 5.6m. A lot of these were the surrender of encircled units from the previous turn. I have a further ~130k units isolated this turn but at least 40k should be able to escape this turn although they’ll probably be ZOC. A lot of these isolated units are from the pocket I opened last turn so their fate was sealed 2 turns ago.

T48 - Soviet Perspective Cont..


Starting up north, JB makes an attack on a relative weak spot on my line pushing me out of my defensive position removing my lvl 3 fort. I do plan on taking that hex back at some point but it’s only light woods and without any fort level, I don’t think i can leave a unit there.


A push north of Smolensk knocks back my defences and encircles a guard rifle division. The 3rd Panzer and Wiking division close the pocket. I will try and rescue my guard rifle division but not if it means having more units encircled the following turn.


Wiking is a very strong unit so I played it safe and overcommitted on this attack. I included 2 tank corps with +3 brigade attachments in each. Despite the heavy losses to ground and air, at least I’ve freed my guard rifle division and wiped the CPP from Wiking.

T48 - Soviet Perspective Cont...


I have little choice but to fall back to the Bryansk/Orel line. Looks like a constant line of triple stacked axis units heading east between Orel and Kursk. There’s little I can do to stop JB advancing here but if I can hold Bryansk/Kursk for a while that would delay his rails so it will slow down his advance. I feel like I can hold Bryansk for a while but less so Kursk as it can easily be encircled from the north.


Belgorod was isolated last turn but I’ll be able to get those units out for 1 turn until they’re encircled again. It looks like a lot of JBs mobile forces have moved away from Belgorod and crossed the river further south, no doubt looking for an encirclement of my units along the river next turn. I need to fall back to prevent this happening unfortunately.


This is my dispositions after most of my moves. I go with more depth in my defence as it doesn’t matter if I triple stack units or not, Axis forces can break them easily with crimpling losses to me for now.

T49 Axis - The plan ahead

With the first part of the spring offensive completed (the destruction of the Russian forces in my AGCS zone, i.e. NE of Gomel region), I now have some better clarity of the battlefield so we take some time out for strategic thinking.

Thanks to my manoeuvring, most of my panzers have yet to be committed into battle and remain fresh from their winter in France. As a result, my panzer replacement battalions are becoming trained and are being attached directly to motorised infantry and infantry divisions. These provide a nice little extra 'punch'. Note that replacement panzer battalions will not be auto assigned to a battle by an HQ like a normal SU might be, so they must be manually assigned to a division. This is something that I worked out in my previous game against MSAG.

This review produces the following short term plan (my longer term aims remain under wraps for OpSec reasons)


Starting in the south, 11th Army (purple) will attempt to force an enclave to the south of Stalino. At the moment, this single army (plus some ragtag allies who aren't worthy of mention) is advancing across the entire width of the Donets Basin. Thanks to our earlier subterfuge operation (once the rains had lifted, I had split down panzer and Hungarian divisions to represent a show of force to Soviet air recon), I seem to be getting away with a cautious advance despite facing a materially larger Soviet force. I shall need to concentrate 11th Army southwards, near the coast of the Black Sea to make such a salient. My allies can occupy the central zone west of Stalino, they are better than thin air but not by much.

1st Panzer will crunch eastwards from Karkiv along the Donets River valley, slaying Russian formations where it can contact them. It will then thrust south, threatening to join up with 11th Army and encircling Stalino. Vet seems to hate losing formations, so I expect to capture the city without a fight.

17th Army (olive green) will support 1st Panzer with its infantry and protect its flanks to the north.

2nd Panzer (light blue) will thrust northwards, bypassing Kursk and join up with elements of 4th Panzer (pink) heading eastwards between Kursk and Orel. Again this should ensure the fall of Kursk without a fight.

From there, 2 Panzer will join forces with 4th Panzer to charge northwards, bypassing Orel to the left. 4th Army will display in front of the woods around Bryansk. An assault will hopefully not be required through this filthy terrain, as once again the panzer armies' flanking manoeuvrings should force the Soviets to abandon their positions.

Voronezh is a target of opportunity, but it is fairly easily defended and it is awkward to attack from the SE. Most likely we will not try to take this city at this juncture.

3rd Panzer (not shown on the map) will continue its operations around Smolensk and threaten Vyazma. The Soviets are entrenched and have some of their best troops in this region. It is tasked with keeping the Soviet formations committed and give them a bloody nose when we can. We are not expecting it to advance for this phase of the campaign.

For this phase, we are focusing our efforts on the central regions of the map. This should make our supply easier and operate with interior lines of communication. In contrast, the Soviets will be forced to defend exterior lines, which will make it harder for their armies to act in concert and oblige them to defend a longer frontline than our own.

But before we can get underway, there is some irritating admin to be seen to


That tedious little man in his bunker has put this clown in charge of one of our key armies. Normally, I'm not too bother about army generals but a 3 for mech is not acceptable for a panzer army. He will have to be replaced, which will mean switching 4th Pz to Army Group Antones. Antones is pretty useless but has an excellent 9 political rating which makes it very useful for switching army commanders. Changing a panzer commander will not impact its assault bonuses as long as you meet the usual criteria.

T49 AGC

Unfortunately, our pocket around that guard division did not hold

Fortunately, it was a very expensive operation for the Soviets. Naturally, we rough up the guards division.

General Model, takes up his new orders with acts with expediency and gusto and delivers a crushing attack on those who dare attack Germans.


To which, General Hube squeezes in a follow up attack despite the light mud

T49 Axis AGCS & S

We tidy up a pocket with a cheeky little hasty to avoid a combat delay on a railway hex with the FBD heading westwards from Sumy. We massively over commit to benefit from the new CPP rules, the expended CPP is easily replenished through the modest SMP cost of a hasty. However, we mostly use the Roms to tidy up these pockets. Note that Vet typically assigns lost units to STAVKA. I presume that this saves command points for other divisions and ensures that the army generals don't suffer unnecessary losses on their records which might lead to their dismissal. Zhukov, at STAVKA will get the loss on his record regardless.

Sadly, the Soviets have withdrawn following their recent drubbing, so we content ourselves with an advance, repocketing and a chance for some troops to rebuild CPP.

jasonbroomer wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 12:50 pm
Vet seems to hate losing formations, so I expect to capture the city without a fight.

There's nothing worse than an encirclement :p

Turn 49 - Soviet Perspective


A lot of attacks through tough terrain north of Smolensk. My forces in the area are weakened from a few turns of fighting so I have redeployed an army from another sector to help with defence in the area.

The best form of defence is a good offence. Without spoiling attacks of opportunities, Axis forces will continue to grind down Soviet manpower over time without much attrition themselves. Lowering Axis TOE and clearing CPP are all valuable ways to buy time and preserve your own forces. I’ve been a punching bag since the 1942 offensive begun so its time to throw a few punches of my own when i can.


Isolated counter attacks on some Axis forces. I could have probably done more but I want to avoid taking heavy losses where I can especially as Axis still have a lot of high CPP infantry behind the frontline.


No attacks made by Axis forces in the Bryansk/Orel area however a lot of ground was captured as I fell back over the last 2 turns. I have strong defensive terrain around Bryansk including my 2 guard rifle corps so I am going to do some offensives in this area. JB’s main attack is bypassing Orel/Kursk so I need to make sure his flanks aren’t secure as I cannot attack the spearhead head on.

Turn 49 - Soviet Perspective Cont...


Much better. 5 attacks made some with very favourable odds. I am getting completely obliterated in the air with the soviet action phase losses being 397 to 36 but that’s ok. The VSS is there to be used and abused.

Attacks near the Bryansk/Orel front.

Turn 49 - Soviet Perspective Cont...


Attacks near the Bryansk/Orel front.


With over 5,000 AFVs on the map, Axis forces are extremely mobile. Panzer elements are doing a double encirclement of Kursk which I am unable to fend off so I will need to abandon.


I ended up pulling way back. Concentration of Axis forces is still too high so I need to widen the front to try and create some opportunities.

Turn 49 - Soviet Perspective Cont...


Well isn’t this interesting. A low-def CV Axis ally nearby. In 1941 this unit would be safe with all the ZOC but not now that I have tank Corps. I load up my tank corps with 2 rifle brigades and a tank brigade, do a deliberate attack and then retreat back behind my line.


Happy with the results for this turn. This screenshot is showing the Soviet ground phase losses. I’ve given up a lot of ground but I am really just delaying as best I can to cause attrition on the Axis army as well as buy time until I can form Rifle Corps.

Veterin wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 1:51 pm Turn 49 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

Well isn’t this interesting. A low-def CV Axis ally nearby. In 1941 this unit would be safe with all the ZOC but not now that I have tank Corps. I load up my tank corps with 2 rifle brigades and a tank brigade, do a deliberate attack and then retreat back behind my line.


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Opps, I got a bit cocky there! Anyway, those Huns did a marvellous job over the last few turns in masquerading as something that they are clearly not, that is a fighting unit as Vet has just brutally demonstrated

T50 Axis

Idiot! Having told myself last turn that I don't need to be aggressive around the Bryansk forest, I sucker myself in to capture some decent terrain and advance a hex too far only to get horribly punished by Vet


The 4th Army took some horrible losses that were completely unnecessary. I must be more careful against an aggressive opponent such as Vet and force him come out to me.


Anyway, apart from that boo-boo the plan seems to be working so far, as Kursk is abandoned. Soviets seem to be setting up a deep defence of Orel. I wonder what my fresh panzers will think of that.


In the south, 1st Pz continue to press ahead and two panzer divisions form up for a crushing follow up attack. Schoerner is classed as an excellent general, which I'm not so sure that he was. That said, while his infantry rating is 8, his armour rating is only 5, perhaps he shouldn't be commanding the panzers .

T50 - Soviet Perspective


I started my turn from the south as if I need to bring reinforcements from other areas I can do so. Axis forces have crossed the river both north and south of Stalino and there are panzer/motorised elements in the northern bridgehead so I need to be careful not to be encircled.


Unfortunately, I have to continually fall back in this area. I made one attack down south but there are multiple stacks of axis forces behind that unit so I fall back where I can. North of Stalino, I’m expecting the Axis bridgehead will continue moving east to encircle Stalino so I will likely have to fall back to Rostov next turn.


It’s fairly important I hold Bryansk and Orel as these are both hubs for double rails that JB will need as he advances further into the steppes. I have a lot of firepower around Bryansk and I need to continue to make use of it.

T50 - Soviet Perspective Cont...


I wanted to use my guard rifle corps 1 last time before many more are created next turn! This attack was won by a healthy margin freeing up the heavy wood hex right next to Bryansk.


Axis forces have made a few spoiling attacks but it doesn’t look like they’re planning to advance any further at this stage. It’s likely JB doesn’t have the motorised numbers he wants to advance given how many units he has in the centre & south. That being said, I don’t want to lose Rzhev as I can’t afford the lost VPs.

Quick update on the game. JB is on holidays which is why there have been no updates lately. The AAR will recommence in another week or so.

T51 Axis

Having had a spot of leave, your reporter returns to the front.

Sadly a weather front has moved in from the north, although the forecast predicts that it won't linger. So far, the weather has been behaving itself following a godawful winter.
Little is happening in that sector anyway, we make a single spoiling attack


which turns out to be fairly expensive. But the main action starts further south and we turn to the Smolensk front where we begin to address the Soviet fortifications


and neatly punch a nice hole through it. We decide to be aggressive a leave a triple stack in the light woods, I doubt this would hold in the open but it may in the woods. Will a 55 Defensive CV be enough at this stage of the war?

T51 Axis AGCS


Having neatly flanked Kursk last turn, we start to do same against Orel. We spot some Russian armour formations and immediately engage. A enormous tank conflagration takes place


Hmm, we only just win that and lose quite a few tanks. Despite the buffs to axis armour, they are still a bit fragile compared to motorised infantry. In fact, motorised infantry plus Panzer replacement battalions seems to be much more effective than Panzer battalions. I shall avoid head on tank battles in future.

This attack will teach the Soviets that fail to rout on the first attack a lesson


Follow up attacks into tired and disrupted troops is just deadly, especially when the attacker is motorised.

T51 Axis AGS

We have a monster unit in the South -55CV and its only on 77% CPP. Now what to do with it? Hmm, can we herd those 3 Soviet divisions on the Black Sea?

Our big boots boy need only do a hasty to clear the way with any combat delays


plus some nicely weighted attacks


plus the occasional one that was too light


Vet has some many wins on his troops, I am past caring about guard creations. Anyway, these units are about to be destroyed, so we hit it again.

T51 Axis AGS cont

Bagging ourselves a nice 3 division haul,all equipped with juicy SUs



Which we tie up nice by the end of the turn.



That should be strong enough and at the same time we are poised to encircle Stalino next turn. We even manage to pull the SS division back to rebuild CPP. This is looking promising.


I close with a losses update as we enter the first week of June.

This has been a very bloody game so far, but those large pockets that we created at the start of the Spring campaign make up for the pockets that we failed to generate in '41 from turn 6 onwards. The Axis need to keep chipping away at the Red Army.

Do you know how to eat an elephant?



Answer



...one slice at a time


The Red Army may cause indigestion, but it can be beaten in '42