AG Center
In front of Berlin the going is slower and the fighting a lot tougher. We manage to pull off 2 impressive holds using the strong point tactic. Further to the south 3 Soviet attacks have been successful. Bunzlau has fallen in enemy hands but was retaken this week by our forces. Recon has picked up a strong Soviet build up just south of Poznan but we cannot do much about it except hope that our units will be able to handle whatever the Soviets throw at them.
Berlin sector start of the week:
Holds marked in yellow, hold followed by a retreat after a second attack marked in blue.
Middle yellow hold:
Blue battle:
After German moves:
The most worrying development of the week is happening in front of Prague however. The enemy has struck against the weakest link of the German line and obliterated multiple regiments and divisions in their way, creating a penetration that is 60 miles wide and 80 miles long. Recon indicates a Mechanized Corps a mere 20 miles from Prague. Koenigraetz with the very important factory that produces Pz38(t) chassis that we need for the Hetzers is now on the front line. In front of Olomouc the enemy has seen further successes. Some mobile reserves have been moved from the 11th SS Panzer Army to this area and OKH has released the freshly rebuild 4th Panzer and Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Divisions to help the situation.
Prague sector start of the week:
Chassis production:
The Anatomy of a Counterattack
Here I just wanted to show the steps I took to stabilize the situation in the sector. First of all I used two relatively weak panzer regiments to cut off the leading Soviet units, each pushing on one side and meeting in the middle. So worst case scenario at least the leading element are cut off. The move gave me intelligence on the southern unit (11th Guards Tank Corps) and gave me some more intel on the northern one (can see CV on pop up shown at 2.6).
Moved the 12th SS Panzer Division and the 1/9th Panzer Division from the north to get ready for the attack. They had a combined CV of 18 vs the 2.6 of the unit shown. The attack went well and the very weak 11th Tank Corps (only 48 AFVs) was routed as expected.
To get ready for the second attack I moved units around the 11th Guards Tank Corps to guarantee that they would rout due to not having any hexes left to retreat on. I used armored units from the south which had build up CPP and were in good shape together with some regiments coming from the north. They received additional SU and the attack was launched with the assistance of the LW. It succeeded even though we lost almost half of our AFVs in the process. The 11th Gds Tank Corps was routed losing almost all of its tanks.
After that I brought in regiments to create a buffer zone for the Soviets to go through, before committing my strongest forces around the last trapped unit, the 8th Gds Mechanized Corps which had a staggering CV of 31! No doubt the Soviets will be able to save the unit but at least this delays them in their push for Prague. The rest of the units south of Prague were ordered to pull back 20-50 miles and reform their line in the light woods. Koenniggraetz and Paradubitz were reinforced with the hope of holding them at least one more turn. Brunn had to be abandoned.
Reinforcements are on the way from the reserve.
Prague sector after:
The circled HQs are empty ones waiting for formations to arrive from the reserve before they can be moved to the front to stabilize the Prague sector.
I want to grow up to be just like him. Excellent job in the AAR and in the game.
