FITE v.5.0 Ian Soviets larry Axis

[larryfulkerson]

Every once in a while Ian will post something pithy in this AAR, always without a picture I've noticed, and he writes prose, but it sounds to me a lot like poetry, not the rythum or rhyming but the word choice and timing. I appreciate when he does that and we've not seen much of Ian lately. I hope he's okay.

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Every once in a while Ian will post something pithy in this AAR, always without a picture I've noticed, and he writes prose, but it sounds to me a lot like poetry, not the rythum or rhyming but the word choice and timing. I appreciate when he does that and we've not seen much of Ian lately. I hope he's okay.

All noted Larry [;)]

As soon as I get to see how many more of the brave defenders of the Motherland have succumbed this turn I will compose a suitably poetic account [:D]

[devoncop]

Turn 4...July 2nd 1941

The serious resistance to the German invaders is finally possible as the extreme disparity in air shock finally ends though air shock remains at 75% compared to the German 150%.

For the first time German air losses exceed those of the Soviet Union.

I will cover events in four sections starting in the far North.

The Winter War...

On the Finnish border the 23rd, 7th and 55th Armies continue to hold against the Finnish offensive with the aid of several Miltary Police regiments that have had to be thrown into the line. The Finns are however trying to infiltrate through the forests towards Suvilahti.

On the outskirts of Murmansk the German 2nd Gerbigs Mountain Division is attempting to push through the defences of the Soviet 14th Army defending the city.

[devoncop]

Baltic Front

Desperate fighting continues in Riga where the Dvina is bridged to the South East by German engineers allowing the city to be attacked on three sides by Soviet Garrison troops and the 22nd NKVD Motorised Rifle Division which "encourages" their compatriots not to run. The artillery of the North West Artillery Command is providing vital support.

The German attackers comprise no less than three regular Divisions from Army Group North plus elements of 1st Reichsfuhrer SS Division.
Heroic resistance inflicts losses of over 240 Infantry and engineering squads on the invaders and for now the city holds.

As an aside Riga fell on the 10th July 1941 historically so Larry is well on track. I hope the city can hold another turn.

[devoncop]

Central Front

This remains the most disorganised area with remnants of the Soviet defenders at the front still being mopped up and German troops probing through the marshes and heading towards Minsk but as yet the defenders have not come under attack.

Historically the city fell at the end of June 1941 so I am happy with things in the centre not withstanding the disorder and the defences around Moscow and Smolensk are getting into at least a rudimentary state.

[devoncop]

Southern Front

It is evident that at least one full Panzer Army including the SS Das Reich Division is driving towards Zhitomir on the road to Kiev but for now is held at the Dnestr at Shepatovka.

Even further south the 4th Rumanian Army has also been checked on the Dnestr at Tiraspol by the Soviet 9th Sep.Army and the time gained is used to strengthen defences at Odessa.

[larryfulkerson]

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Here's the front lines in T5 and I've established a pontoon bridge across the river in the Riga surburbs and units are streaming across. Other crossings will be set up this turn further south. Most of the German units arriving at the river are out of supply and tired from the forced marching. I'll have to start them north AFTER they have rested while the supply levels are higher than at the front.

In the marshes I've run into a hard spot and it's taking several turns now to reduce it. Maybe I can get units around it all the way, to surround it, bombard it with arty for a round or two to disentrench it, soften it up, and THEN attack. Sounds like it'll take at least a turn and a half to pull it off.

In the south, I've cleared the mountains to the west and now we're moving the security forces further south and across the river if I can find a good spot to cross. The Soviets have abandoned their positions in BessArabia and are not enscounced behind a river. Great.

I've deployed the planes to spots further east and set the INT missions and I haven't started assigning direct attack missions yet. I'll wait until I hit that spot in the OOB when I'm moving units. They appear way late in the OOB, you see.

T5 is one of those turns where it's easy to figure out how many losses you have per turn. Four full turns have elapsed so you divide the value shown in the losses listing by 5 and then divide the result from that by 5 again. That's the same thing as dividing by 25 but I think it's easier. And for another example in T11 before anything has moved, 10 full turns have elapsed and you can take the value in the losses table and shift the decimal point one spot to the left and that's the average losses of that item per turn.

[larryfulkerson]

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I've deployed the aircraft and then I started moving units and first was the engineers so I moved all them...and then was

the AT guns and then the airborne troops, and then the artillery and THEN the infantry and so I've been moving units for

about an hour now and the only thing I have to show for all that work is the branching out, spreading out, moving over the

roads and rails in the north as the recon units make their mark on the map(s). I'm not finding much in the way of Soviet

units etc. I've still got the fighters on INT missions except for the Me-110's which have AS missions. Which reminds me

that I need to check on their losses now that they have seen a full turn on INT missions. I need to check how many are

yellow / red and were there any losses and how many do I have on hand now, that kind of thing.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the aircraft losses. So far so good. I was slightly alarmed to find out that I'm going through Me-109's as fast as I'm building them. That can't be a good thing. But so far I still have some on hand and that's what counts.

[larryfulkerson]

T5 06Jul41
Here's what it looks like around Minsk right now. I'm getting around a lot of the Soviet units and I'm guessing it's going to be a while reducing these targets judging from the size of the units. I'll leave a follow-on force to contain them and zoom off with the rest of the troops. I really wanted to take Minsk down early too.

I dropped some paratroopers up against the river to prevent anybody from getting away. I think I've caught just about everybody I could in the net. It's not looking likely that any of the rest of the Soviet units will get very far before some Axis unit overtakes it.

Also, I've noticed that when I move the yellow recon units I have to give them a long range destination because once they get there they are red and can't move further. If I move it a short range and it turns red I have to stop moving right there, hence the long range move.

I've been moving the planes further to the east as the airfields become available. Most of the fighters are right up on the front lines with the bombers sharing their airfields. I like it when I have some fighters at a bomber's base. Insurance against airfield strikes.

[larryfulkerson]

T5 06Jul41
As you can see from this image the south is having supply problems. It can't be helped very much however, because the priority is in the north to Leningrad and the line going to Moscow.
The rest of the areas will have to make do for now.

[larryfulkerson]

T5 06Jul41
Here's what is happening at Daugavpils right now. I'm fighting for the crossings still and the advance has stalled until I can get my units across the river. I've got several places where the engineers are building pontoon bridges which is better than nothing at all and lots of the German units are getting across. It won't be too much longer when I'll have all the crossings and the advance will continue. I'm trying to establish a front line somewhere around Pskov straight south from there. I'll have to draw you a picture.

[devoncop]

Turn 5 ..6th July 1941

Apparently Larry only got one round of combat in before failing a proficiency check though it was long enought for both Riga and Daugavapils to fall.

The defenders of Riga are now trapped against the sea but are still tying up significant German troops. During the assault of the city they inflicted 280 Rifle and Engineering Squad casualties and suffered 120 but the significant artillery in the city will now be lost.

In the German turn repeated Stuka attacks destroys the entire Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea with only a few Stukas lost.

The situation is much better in the far north where Finnish attacks are largely repelled with heavy loss. As an example the 115th Rifle Division withstood attacks from the 18th and 12th Divisions infliction 85 Rifle and Engineering Squad losses for the loss of only 13 Soviet squads.

The situation in the far north is stable outside Murmansk with only a light German screen and dug in fortified defenders.

The battle for teh bridges over the Dnestr in the far south goes on and for now the Rumanians make little progress and suffer significant artillery losses.

Battle is joined at Minsk. I really would like the city to hold for a while longer yet to gain time for the defenders of Moscow and Smolensk and during my turn the guns of Minsk inflict heavy casualties on the besieging German infantry of 258th Division.

Near Berazina Brandenburg commandos are roughly handled by a local doomed counter attack by the Soviet 7th mechanised Corps and forced out of Osipovich.

In a welcome development partisans have begun to appear and blow a supply line in the marshes.......

[larryfulkerson]

T6 09Jul41

This is the T6 front lines before I have moved anybody which means that it's possible that the perimeter will expand some

more yet. There's still lots of places where the recon units can run scott free. It's 15:08 local time in case you were

wondering.

[larryfulkerson]

So I've started moving units and the 504th Engineer unit captured a bridge over the river. It just needs to be fixed to be brand new. Now I might be able to get the advance going again.

[larryfulkerson]

T6 09Jul41

The partisans are starting to show their ugy heads. One of them busted my main supply line bridge and now I gotta

chase him down and kill him and repair the damage. This is going to affect the advance I'm afraid. The supply levels

have dropped off the cliff at the fringes.


I can tell that I need to station somebody permanently here to watch for partisans. I think I'll use the Slovaks,

one of the Axis Minor Allies. It's got an HQ and one INF unit and some fighters. I'd rather not use the Hungarians

because there's more of them than would be needed for chaseing down partisans and besides I want to use them near Odessa

to get across the rivers to the east.

[larryfulkerson]

T6 09Jul41

The Germans are starting to bump up against the Berezina river and I wasn't expecting to be there yet. The

crossings are all manned by the Soviets so I got here too late to capture them intact but I have enough engineers that I

can probably leap the river and get on the east side of the crossing(s). I do however, probably, need to rest the boys

before I go leaping rivers. The supply levels aren't outstanding but mearly adequate and they are sure to plunge on the

east side of the river before I have some intact crossings captured away from the Soviets. It seems that I'm always

fighting over the crossings. It's 17:37 local time.

[devoncop]

Turn 6.

General Situation:

There is now heavy fighting going on from North to South and the Finns start to push hard and though Soviet border forces are inflicting heavy casualties some elements of 7th Army are being pushed back.

Air losses for the Germans are starting to rise and by the end of my turn air losses are at 25 for the Soviets and 170 for the Germans.

The Germans are driving on Pskov and are only 25Km from the city with little in their path as the defences of Leningrad are still insufficient to send further troops south.

There is a big fight going on for Minsk which is cut off but resisting fiercely whilst in eastern Latvia some garrisons on the Dvina continue to hold out.

Down south the Germans and Rumanians are making the slowest progress and they are still attempting to force a crossing of the Dnestr in any numbers.

The defensive lines around Moscow are being firmed up in anticiptation of the push by AGC through Smolensk when Minsk funally succumbs.

[devoncop]

The NORTH

Heydrichs's SS Division has now turned up to assist the Finns and is shelled across the Finnish border by Soviet artillery but it seems the Germans are increasing the push from Finland. The 99th NKVD Division and 8th Rifle Brigade come under heavy attack from the Finns and the NKVD disintegrates.

Further south however the 71st Rifle Division holds off assaults by the 163rd and 19th Divisions with the Germans losing 135 Inf/Engineer squads to 38 for the Soviets who remain heavily outnumbered.

The Baltic

Latvia is almost completely in German hands though some Dvina crossings remain in Soviet hands. Particular mention must go to the surrounded 181st Rifle Division from the 27th Army which fought off attacks from the 253rd and 122nd Divisions inflicting over 100 Rifle/Engineering squad casualties for the loss of just 12 for the Soviets despite their position being hopeless.

The Centre

Minsk continues to resist strongly and its artillery is particularly effective as it targets a forward German airfield and totally destroys KG Totenkopf comprising 40 JU88's and 30 HE 111's.

A heroic attempt by the Soviet 10th Mechanised Division to relieve the siege of Minsk battles it was through for 20 KM before eventually falling 5km short....

Defensive lines around Smolensk and more strongly to the west of Moscow are now well underway.

The South

Heavy fighting continues across the Dnestr river crossing with a particularly heavy clash between the 9th Set Army's 95th Rifle Division supported by the 2nd Mechanised Corps which managed to repeal the German 60th Panzer Grenadiers and units from 70th Infantry Division and 4th Rumanian Army. German and Rumanian losses were 157 Rifle/Eng squads to the loss of 91 Soviet squads and the crossing was held.

[philturco]

A question to Larry but all TOAW players opinions are welcome. Do you have a preference for playing the total east front war using the older FITE ( divisions broken down as 3 regiments of line infantry or armor plus an artilary regiment)or the newer more detailed FITE 2 with a larger map and more units ?