Stalin's fired, I'm in charge! III 1/2- Tullius (Soviet) vs Marquo (Axis)

[TulliusDetritus]

[center]Turn 24[/center]
[center]27 November 1941[/center]

Well, unless Marquo is lucky (and in my opinion he deserves to be lucky [:)]) he should start getting some (that, he also deserves it [:D]). He has a 20% possibility of snow weather. Therefore he better prepares a nice testament...

In the end, I have to admit that I am not sophisticated at all (if we talk about this blizzard thing). I am basically a ruthless thug who will attack ANY German (or weak allies hahaha) units on sight. Not against the odds though. And I am pretty certain there will be plenty of victims along the whole front. The accountant has to shut up, step aside and watch.

All I know is... 120.000 men were added to the total pool. 70.000 reached the frontline units this turn. Ergo, if I am not mistaken I can afford to lose up to 70k. Yes, that's harsh, but as I see it, the blizzard offensive IS a great opportunity you must N O T miss. I mean, after all this is not a tennis match! It's war.

I must a) harvest guards and b) SMASH the Germans (the smashed poor souls will NOT, repeat, NOT fight during the snow and summer). Let's imagine I preserve my men... Wouldn't I lose them the same during the snow turns and then summer, when the German machine will be ready again (in other words, achieving er... nothing)? [;)] If I have to lose many men, it's now, at leat they will die KILLING decent quantities of enemies...

The plan is above. I will try to more or less stick to it. But of course a picture is worth a thousand words [:D] Marquo, I'm coming!

[center][/center]

[TulliusDetritus]

This turn is taking many time. I am massively redeploying the Red Army. Almost done. One vital task has been done: Moscow needs to keep the fortified positions (aka forts). I cannot allow the degradation of such forts that is. Moscow is still really important and Marquo's most dangerous units are in this area. Situation may change, right, but these forts are still vital on my book. The Rifle Brigades will do that job; some Fortified Regions too: I created them many turns ago to protect the city. They will stay here until the enemy summer offensive forces me to pull back to these fortified hexes.

Ergo, the diggers' moto is "dig or die!" [8D]

P.S.: forts are toggled off, but the minimum level is 2.

[TulliusDetritus]

I didn't know I had that many hordes [X(] Now almost every frontline hex has (or will have) 2-units stacks (Rifle Divisions). I also have sent the rifle divisions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Shock Armies (the 2 and 3 will arrive on the next turns) to its assigned place: attacks towards Rzhev, Bryansk and west of Stalino (bypass the towns that is).

And still, somehow... I have gathered the "excess" of divisions east of Moscow... 50 Rifle Divisions + 56 Army (5 Rifle Divisions)... These forces will see combat much before the end of the blizzard. They may be an interesting reserve to reinforce the attacks here and there [8D]

[TulliusDetritus]

Oh, and here is the most miserable Red Army unit [8|] It's not like they had to face the mighty panzers during the Blitzkrieg. Nice and quiet holidays up north, east of Lake Ladoga (7th Independent Army), hunting and playing accordions. Well, at least until the evil Finns were activated after the capture of Leningrad. And even after that they were merely pushed here and there. So who's to blame? That's what the NKVD wants to know.

EDITED: I just have rechecked. There are even more miserable units: the 198 Rifle Division. Morale: 24. But at least these guys have a good alibi. Kalinin Front, they have seen some nasty action.

[2ndACR]

Man look at those gaps he has in his lines.[X(] He is just asking for you to ooze right thru them and force him to leave his forts.

Unless you have not done recon to see if anything is actually there or not. That is one big hole north of Stalino. You need some cav units at that huge hole.

[TulliusDetritus]

Hey, 2ndACR, nice to see you again [:)]

No, actually he's got quite many forces. That was a screenshot before recon. But still, I will attack THAT place, as I want to bypass Stalino. This I learned from our game. The 3 cities were a nice barricade for you. On this game, I am simply too close to the NW of these cities. I must try to bypass them. I doubt it is going to work though [:)]

[TulliusDetritus]

Final dispositions in the center (+ Northwest, Kalinin and Bryansk). Despite the arrows, NO, the plan is NOT to bag enemy units. The Red Army cannot do that in 1941 [:D] The arrows indicate axis of advance, targets. Now if Marquo is stubborn AND I manage to advance (as per the plan) I might bag enemy units if he keeps holding ground. This is up to Marquo though. He should see the threat coming and therefore retreat...

Notice the 1st Shock and Northwest Armies (Rzhev axis) only face weak regiments... Same thing between Tula and Orel (advance towards Bryansk)...

[TulliusDetritus]

In fact, I need more rifle divisions in the southern part of the screenshot: Tula, Orel. I will bring minimum 10 rifle divisions from the reserves east of Moscow [;)]

[TulliusDetritus]

And the South, final. 2ndCR, as you can see, he's got forces, but not intimidating at all In fact, again, the place I will be attacking en masse is manned by weak regiments... No match for massive Red Army attacks [;)] His strongest forces are NE of the big 3 cities, a place I am not interested in attacking. But if the attack is a success, they would be the last elements leaving the pocket

[TulliusDetritus]

double post

[2ndACR]

Okay, but they are regiments so just mere speed bumps. Especially if you hit him with 6 div in each of those hexes. The only real concern is that lovely mountain brigade sitting behind the lines, that means reserve.

Regiments are too fragile unless they are the mountain troops. I see one just north of your projected path. Locate those bad boys and try to pin them, they are his only solid rock.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

Okay, but they are regiments so just mere speed bumps. Especially if you hit him with 6 div in each of those hexes. The only real concern is that lovely mountain brigade sitting behind the lines, that means reserve.

Regiments are too fragile unless they are the mountain troops. I see one just north of your projected path. Locate those bad boys and try to pin them, they are his only solid rock.

Yes, that mountain units is possibly his reserve. Anyway, like 10 hexes west of the 3 cities he has at least 2 armored units. I hope he puts them to good use once I attack. This way I would make sure they get some stick too [8D]

[TulliusDetritus]

Oh, and Crimea. Marquo has captured Sevastopol but he didn't kick me out of the Peninsule. I plan to massively attack the poor romanians blocking my advance. No matter the losses, I hope to dislodge them. I will make a deliberate attack with the 3-units stack. If it doen't work, they will retreat to make room for the guys behind them (another 3-units stack)... who will do another deliberate attack (same turn). The Romanians are not supposed to hold these attacks [:D] We will see.

If that works, Crimea should in theory attract enemy units (= he weakens other fronts), and that's exactly what I am looking for [;)]

[TulliusDetritus]

Oh, and the last screenshot. This way I will be able to compare the turn before blizzard and the first turn after blizzard.

I plan to update the AAR at the end of the Blizzard Massacres. I would like to continue the AAR (every turn) to show what happens during the summer '42 German offensive. I will be doing EXACTLY what I did on my other game. I want to see if the monster (ahistorical massive Red Army I had vs 2ndACR) is gone. So I guess I am not the only person interested in knowing the answer. We will see [:)]

[gingerbread]

I'll ask the same question that I asked Bletchley Geek: What are your preparations regarding rail repair?

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: gingerbread

I'll ask the same question that I asked Bletchley Geek: What are your preparations regarding rail repair?

Preparations? Everything is automatic. The RR Brigades will be automatically detached from the closest HQs. And yes, I have a lot of these guys. Each army has 3 RR Brigades... 4 armies per front = 12 RR brigades per front. On next turn I will spend most, if not all the APs creating Cavalry Corps and assigning to them the support units (already bought). On the next turn I plan to buy 2 RR Brigades for each front: so I will have 14 RR Brigades per front [:)]

[TulliusDetritus]

I was not planning to update the AAR until the end of the Blizzard Massacres but I am perplexed. 4 turns into blizzard and I almost hit the 6 million men. And I am pushing really hard, attacking absolutely everything on sight (as long as I have minimum 1:1) [&:] Problem is, if in theory I should finish the offensive with 6 million, at this rate I might have perhaps almost 7 million, that's what I don't get.

[TulliusDetritus]

Here is what I am doing (as you can see I am making many attacks, and quite many retreats).

[randallw]

I am not sure how people decided to use the term 'harvest' in having the awarding of the Guards designation for units.....it's not as if they are sitting in a field, waiting to be picked from a tree. [:'(]

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: randallw
it's not as if they are sitting in a field, waiting to be picked from a tree. [:'(]

Actually they are [:D] And just like your potatoes or tomatoes they need water, fertilizers... which in this concrete case means they need some action and of course the appropriate victim. If you give them that they will grow and become nice Guards units.

The thing is like gardening and horticulture a lot. I have sown potatoes, onions, planted all kind of trees, plants etc. etc.