Shivering in Stalingrad

[MikeJ19]

Well done, looking forward to seeing what happens next...

[John B.]

Very bitter fighting in the snows of the Steppe. Here is the situation at the start of the turn. Marc did 52 attack or so and there was one with 100% casualties on both sides. There is no quarter given between Nazis and Commies! Marc pushed back north of Stalingrad but there is nothing of importance there. And the swirling tank battle continues to the south where many of my units decided to reorganize.

[John B.]

But, the big news of the day is that the Soviets actually took Kalach! [X(] There were two rounds of bombardments and then I decided to give it a go and the Germans pulled out. I also made progress unhinging the southern wall of the pocket with another German Regiment disappearing (most of it fled so those squads will come back as replacements). Things are getting a bit dicy near the bottom left of your screen. It looks like a fresh German division is headed my way. Everyone's troops are tired so that could help Marc make major inroads. No Soviet reinforcements are on tap for another week or so.

[MikeJ19]

John,

This is an interesting battle. That fresh division has a long way to go to interfere in the battle around STALINGRAD.

Good luck,

[John B.]

Mike, I think you're right, and, as you can see in the picture taken near the end of my turn, the pocket is starting to shrink. Everyone is exhausted and disorganized but the Germans seem to be the ones who are losing (albeit slowly) in that area. And, as you can see in the south, Marc's armored attack appears to have gone nowhere thus far, but he is wily and keeps pushing his breakthroughs. The mechanized battalions you see in the rear advanced there and then broke apart under attack. let's hope that have to reorganize this turn rather than cause mischief.

[John B.]

But, as always, there is a high butchers bill to pay. Here are the infantry losses to date for the Soviets.

[John B.]

And the tank losses. I have no idea about German losses but I think they're pretty high.

[John B.]

Another turn and I finally got a reinforcement! A reconstituted mech battalion, but better than no reconstituted mech battalion. Marc is pushing hard southwest of the pocket and he clearly has fresh troops there judging by the combat strength of what he has in the front line. He keeps unmaking the pocket and may be putting fresh troops in there as well.

[John B.]

But then I keep shrinking the pocket. Given how beat up my forces are (and the fact that the low supply event happened to me) I don't think I'll be visiting Rostov anytime soon, but I think I have a pretty good shot at retaking Stalingrad. It depends how much Marc gets in the way of reinforcements and when my reinforcements show up.

[John B.]

It's still early December 1942 and we've now got pockets within pockets. This game is like a giant venn diagram. Here is the situation at the start of Marc's turn. As you can see, he has a number of my units in danger of being surrounded.

[John B.]

At the end of my turn the main Stalingrad pocket has been collapsed a little bit more while I was able to open a line to my troops Marc had surrounded. In the south, my attack stalled and was not repeated.

[MikeJ19]

John,

This looks like an interesting battle - I may try it after the Road to Moscow series.

Good luck

[John B.]

It became even better after (a) it dawned on me that my HQ could bombard and (b) all of you pointed out how to avoid RBC.

[MikeJ19]

John,

Good points, I like it when people give me pointers and I learn something new. I often chase the RBC units around - sometimes I like it, other times it causes no end of problems.

All the best,

[John B.]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

John,

Good points, I like it when people give me pointers and I learn something new. I often chase the RBC units around - sometimes I like it, other times it causes no end of problems.

All the best,

There are a few times when it is worth it to try to RBC someone (when it gives you an extra hex to attack from for a different battle) but ever since people on here pointed out you can plan a battle that is almost always what I do. It saves a whole lot of frustration.

[John B.]

Here is the start of the next turn. The Stalingrad pocket is slowly being squeezed out while Marc's counter attack did not reseal his own pocket of me, but his troops are fresher and I'm still suffering from the low supply event. Still, the game is now listed as a draw.

[John B.]

and smaller still. The worrying thing this turn was that although several German battalions in the pocket evaporated I had numerous attacks listed as "excellent" that made no progress with heavy casualties. On the bright side, my artillery caused 10% or so casualties during several bombardments.

Still about 3 days away from any reinforcements.

[John B.]

It still early December with a whole lot of game left. As you can see, Marc is pushing to the north a bit but the pocket is pretty tightly cut off right now. He does still hold the remaining supply head there.

[John B.]

Near the end of my turn and I did not make much progress at all in reducing the pocket. My boys are tired and out of supply. I can't even get good recon on the hexes I"m attacking. He held me twice on attacks against his pocket forces but I did manage to eliminate the German regiment and Romanian battalion that was caught in the middle. I'm trying to rest a few divisions in the face of his push, but resupply is very very slow.

[John B.]

Another turn and more dead pixels litter the steppes. Marc's counter attack has not really penetrated but he still has some strong units. And, his pocket is holding pretty firm. I attacked a number of battalions that were all deep into the red zone and did not inflict any casualties (and took quite a few myself. Marc did lose a hex in the north of the pocket when a German regiment evaporated and retreated from a hex in the south part of the pocket but I was not able to exploit into it.

In today's humorous note, STAVKA gave me a new HQ so I could start my drive on Rostov. Err, I mean, glorious STAVKA sent me huge numbers of reinforcements for which I am eternally grateful. [&o][&o][&o]