Once more into the Breech with D21

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation down south where nobody is close to a rail and the situation is probably the worst on the
front lines. I may have to pull back depending on Soviet attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

The news string said that the ground had frozen and that the supply levels have increased
and I took a look in the north and what do you know, the supply level is good enough to
operate again. So the war is back on.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Crimea right now. I'm still searching for the elements of the 11th Army.

[larryfulkerson]

It took a while but I finally captured Kharkov.

[larryfulkerson]

I cropped this image so I could get Moscow in the frame. To show you
how close the front lines are getting to Moscow. And the severe
resistance we're running into.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

The news string said that the ground had frozen and that the supply levels have increased
and I took a look in the north and what do you know, the supply level is good enough to
operate again. So the war is back on.

If this shot's and the Moscow ones are typical it also helps that you've gotten your rail heads almost up to the front line.

[larryfulkerson]

If this shot's and the Moscow ones are typical it also helps that you've gotten your
rail heads almost up to the front line.

I agree. During the turns 32 through 42 I turned off the Axis attacking and moving so
as to conserve supply because there was no supply to be had from the environment because
the LOC was broken. But I DID keep moving the RR engrs so as to continue repairing the
rails and yes, several of them are almost up to the front lines already and I'm starting
to put them on the separate branches to spread out the supply along the entire front if
possible. Especially in the south. I moved two divisions from the south to the middle
to help beef up the sparce front lines in at least one area that needed more people.

Now that the supply is a lot better I'm going to start up the advance again to see if it's
possible to get Moscoow before the Soviet Winter advantage hits.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Now that the supply is a lot better I'm going to start up the advance again to see if it's
possible to get Moscoow before the Soviet Winter advantage hits.

Well that's one other question answered, I was wondering if you were going to do the historical push for Moscow or continue on against the much weaker seeming defenses in the south and press deeper into the don basin to improve your starting position for the drive on Stalingrad and Baku.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
Now that the supply is a lot better I'm going to start up the advance again to see if it's
possible to get Moscoow before the Soviet Winter advantage hits.

Well that's one other question answered, I was wondering if you were going to do the historical
push for Moscow or continue on against the much weaker seeming defenses in the south and press
deeper into the don basin to improve your starting position for the drive on Stalingrad and Baku.

Yeah, I'm going for the whole enchalada. I want to try it all. I'm so close to Leningrad
that I may as well try for it and Smolensk is receding in the rear view mirror as Moscow gets
closer. I sent another Panzer to the Smolensk area for a little more juice on the front lines.

During the mud season turns ( 32 - 42 ) there was no supply to be had, it was 0 for all the hexes
I was parked on and so there was zero activity except for the Soviet attacks. But now the supply
level is adequate because the rail heads are closer to the front and I'm encouraged to start up
the advance again.

Most of the progress is being made in the south where the Soviets are relatively sparse and there's
a lot of open spaces to grab. In addition to the Soviet reinforcements being spawned during the
game there's a lot of idle units just waiting for somebody to trigger their activity and they
respond to the intrusion like a normal unit would. I've learned to use the recon units to trip
the trigger and then retreat before the ambush can spring into action. Then the follow on forces
can handle the threat.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets managed to evaporate a couple of my units on the front lines and have
driven through the hole and have gotten into my backfield. This was bound to happen
sooner or later. I'm not sure there's enough nearby troops to put some blocking
units in his path. I've got some tired ones but they won't hold long. And the rail
is too far away to rail somebody in real quick. I may have to block him with HQ units.
Although I'd hate to have to do that.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on down south right now. From Kharkov to Stalino the front lines are broken and fluid. There's a
rather large gap in the lines and I can get away with that because I'm playing Elmer and he's too focused to see the
gap and use it. I wouldn't be able to do that against a human player.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on NE of Sevastopol right now. I'm sneaking up on the port and on the east side I'm engaged with
the Soviets trying to back them up into a trap.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines in T45 before I have moved very much.

[Jukipo]

Thanks for the great AAR, I read it every day.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Jukipo
Thanks for the great AAR, I read it every day.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm trying to make it entertaining without being
boring and I post almost every turn now that we're past the mud season for this
year. Although, now that the mud season is over the Soviets have redoubled their
attacks.

Almost without exception every combat phase there's at least one Soviet unit evaporates
due to attacking into the face of my artillery. The mud season's inactivity gave a period
of rest to my units and they needed it. The supply levels are better and I'm still able to
make some progress in certain spots. The Soviets have broken through my lines twice now and
there are undoubtedly going to be more events like that coming up.

There's been four turns of a oool front passing through and the ground is frozen and I'm
pretty sure the rivers are going to freeze over and then I'll not have to fight for the
river crossings any more for a while. And I'll have to defend in more places on the front
lines than before. And as you know I'm having too few units to do that adequately. So I
instituted a policy of breaking down the units into pieces and there's more than a single
engineer unit on the front lines. I've got a couple of spots where the MP's are standing
in the front lines.

The Soviets have been advancing to my units a few at a time and it's not too hard to deal
with them but I dread the day when they come at me a lot at a time. They have the number
of units to do that but they haven't yet so it's working so far.

In the north the Soviets are shoulder to shoulder but down south the Soviets are more sparse
and spread out. More little groups instead of a front line. So far so good.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the area around Novgorod right now looking south. It's an area NW of Moscow and represents an area where I've
been making progress in the recent past. The going is slow because of the resistance but this time the supply level
is better. The rails are almost at the front lines in a couple of places.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the front lines from Kharkov to Stalino. There's hard fighting going on still but the Soviets are
further apart than the north.

[larryfulkerson]

I've zipped up a saved game file and attached it here for those of you that want to review all the reports for the
game for the Axis side. Although you COULD advance it to the Soviet side and see all their reports too I suppose.
It'll give you a good idea what's going on in my game as of right now.

[larryfulkerson]

I flew some paratroopers down to Sevastopol and they managed to capture the port. I don't know if that's enough to
free the Bulgarians or not.

[larryfulkerson]

I've received permission to use the Bulgarians now.