Stalin's in the gulag, I'm in charge! II - vs 2ndACR (Axis)

[TulliusDetritus]

The northen part of the Southwest Front. My estimated e-enemy has done a weird advance towards Orel [&:] I guess he might want to turn west and trap (keep dreaming, mate) the 5th and 38th Armies. Or he is heading towards Moscow itself [:D] I have created another army: the 40th, attached to STAVKA. As I said above, I have sent the strategic reserves received these last two turns to both the Southwest (like 6 divisions) and Leningrad Fronts (like 5). Oh, and 2 for the Southern Front.

[TulliusDetritus]

And the other part of the SW Front.

[TulliusDetritus]

And finally the Southern Front.

[TulliusDetritus]

And Look what I'll be getting next turn Lots of new hordes! [&o]

[TulliusDetritus]

And then... [&o]

[randallw]

A lot of those are shells [:(]

[alfonso]

ORIGINAL: randallw

A lot of those are shells [:(]

But what wonderful shells they are!

[TulliusDetritus]

Shells or not, I am going to put them to good use [:)] I see the glass half full

[pompack]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Nice job T-D, but you seem to have a knack for selecting opponents who are not worried about flank security...

Have to agree here. He is aggressive and hits hard but each time he leaves himself vulnerable to TD's counterstrokes. While these counterstrokes do little damage, each time they effectively give TD a free turn to shore up his defense.

Fantastic AAR. TD makes it clear that I must get more aggressive in my Russian defense. When I command the Russians I keep seeing where I am vulnerable, but TD sees where the Germans are vulnerable. Good lesson. [&o]

OTOH, I would love to see a PDH/TD AAR (and isn't that a lot of alphabet soup [:D])

[TulliusDetritus]

[center]Turn 11[/center]
[center]28 august 1941[/center]

The German armored spearhead hordes have reached the Luga River. I have new orders. More troops will be sent (among them, like 8 divisions diverted from the Western and Bryansk Fronts). I want a carpet of defenders from the Luga River to Leningrad itself.

Zhukov (boss of the Western Front) has been appointed Boss-in-Chief of the Northern Front. Three armies of this front will try to stop the Germans: 28, 48 and 55. New bosses (Top Aces that is) have been appointed. Now Rokossovski, Vatutin and Tolbukhin are in chage of these three armies.

As for the Air Force... I plan to attack en masse the German armored units. And if that does not work, at least I'll be harassing them. Therefore I will be bringing many modern planes. I guess the boss of the Air Command will be a top ace as well.

The "right hook" (again, if that is its mission) hasn't advanced this turn either. Well, a few hexes here and there. So maybe only the AGN hordes (possibly reinforced: infantry) will try to assault Leningrad.

In other words, the Capital of the Revolution must be saved at all cost [8D]

[center][/center]

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: pompack

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Nice job T-D, but you seem to have a knack for selecting opponents who are not worried about flank security...

Have to agree here. He is aggressive and hits hard but each time he leaves himself vulnerable to TD's counterstrokes. While these counterstrokes do little damage, each time they effectively give TD a free turn to shore up his defense.

Fantastic AAR. TD makes it clear that I must get more aggressive in my Russian defense. When I command the Russians I keep seeing where I am vulnerable, but TD sees where the Germans are vulnerable. Good lesson. [&o]

OTOH, I would love to see a PDH/TD AAR (and isn't that a lot of alphabet soup [:D])

Well, I always try to find a weak spot, of course. To me the essential thing is concentrating my forces to meet the most dangerous threat. Once I realize where the main threat is (and that's the easy part in fact) I concentrate my forces around them and obviously try to find a weak link and attack there [8D] So it's all about driving my poor pixel truppen crazy: reserves from A to B then to C. A lot of tchouk tchouk.

Yes, you MUST be agressive (NOT a kamikaze though). Always. That or let the Germans have a free ride (until blizzard, of course) [:)]

[PeeDeeAitch]

To be honest, TD, I love it when the Soviets concentrate around my main threat (and I am usually far more concentrated than you are seeing), because that means more for me to slice up and surround.  But then, I suspect you would react differently to me than others, you tailor your defense to the opponent as well.

[TulliusDetritus]

You are possibly right, PeeDeeAitch [:)] Maybe the answer is what Sabre said: one line then another one, then another. I think he said up to 6 (to protect Moscow). But it's still the same principle: it's about concentrating your forces to meet the main threat.

I mean, if the most dangerous enemy units attack in the center and you want to stop them, you MUST concentrate your forces in the center. You have no other choice. I mean, the Soviets are not going to send their forces to minor, less vital fronts. How you concentrate them is another story though [8D]

That's what both the Germans and Soviets did on 1941 by the way: concentrating their forces in the center.

[PeeDeeAitch]

[:)]  My problem is that sometimes I concentrate in the center then I go and attack Stalino. I think right now you are playing the best Soviet defense in an AAR, so I would have to run amok just to make any headway!

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: PeeDeeAitch

[:)]  My problem is that sometimes I concentrate in the center then I go and attack Stalino. I think right now you are playing the best Soviet defense in an AAR, so I would have to run amok just to make any headway!

But is that a problem if you attack Stalino? The Panzers are hard to hide [:)] And even if you manage to do that, the Soviet player will know they are hiding... and that automatically means your opponent has new [and perhaps] scary plans. Believe me, redeploying Red Army divisions IS incredibly easy. Many Soviet reserves are waiting for your armored forces on your next stop. Name the place you want, there will be hordes awaiting [8D] No magic tricks, simply concentrate the forces.

[Klydon]

The first assignment for a lot of those troops coming in should be 2 turns digging someplace so they can come up to strength before being committed to battle IMO. Only the 26th rifle division looks ready for battle someplace.

Sort of surprised you pull back so hard up by Leningrad. you gave up some level 3 forts and the Luga line is not really that well fortified yet. In essence, he will get half the distance to Leningrad in 1 turn. Will see how it works out in the long run, but I think you had him pretty well slowed/stopped until you pulled back.

[TulliusDetritus]

Klydon, I thought more or less exactly the same thing when I opened my turn [:)] Perhaps I retreated too much. Maybe halfway was enough [:)] I saw the Panzers fuel soft factor was green and then thought they had many MPs and would end up surrounding me. My opponent had been very quiet so I was waiting for some agressive reaction (he is agressive). That would have been catastrophic. So I decided to be prudent. I hope I will manage to save Leningrad. If I don't, this could be the reason. If my opponent doesn't capture it, his adventure in the bottleneck should haunt him (4 lost turns) [:D]

A mistake? More than possible. The fact is I still don't know 100% when and where I am safe. And that's vital as the Soviets if you want to slow the enemy down (aka you are close to Panzers, like gazelles to the lion) AND still avoid encirclements.

[randallw]

Sometimes the new rifle divisions fill out with sappers fairly quickly, but it still takes about 5 turns to get close to full rifle squads.

[76mm]

Wow, low losses. 2ACR is going to have major problems with you in a few months.

And what's with the drive on Orel? You know you want to take them out!

[TulliusDetritus]

OK, so this is more or less what I'm planning for Leningrad. Perhaps only 70% done: more, I want more, I want much more!

As you can see there's a huge carpet of defenders. The idea is that the 3 armies I mentioned would be fighting. The hordes behind them will be assigned to 2 or 3 STAVKA armies. I don't want to overload the Northern Front, already overloaded, but not that much. These armies will get lots of RR Brigades. So yes, I want them to dig --along with the local population [8D]

The units in the marshes southwest of Novgorod might be very useful. His infantry should be working there, he can't let them behind. And even maybe his panzers turn towards Novgorod to form a pocket and eliminate these units. Either way, that should buy me 1 vital turn minimum, I think.

More in the south, part of his AGN infantry seems to be clearing the area south of Lake Ilmen, to link [?] with the other panzers near the Valdai Hills (right hook?). So there's some more bait there as well (aka buy one turn minimum). I mean, as long as they are not fighting along the Luga River and forward I am happy.

I am starting to think that I might save Leningrad. But I am not good at guessing things [:)]

P.S.: if you think I forgot to cover some hex of the carpet, please let me know