Nirosi vs Boldairade(Nirosi welcome)

[boldairade]

The T-34's wider tracks made it better in foul weather than its Axis counterparts. There is, however, a limit. Poor weather puts a final nail in the coffin of SLEDGHAMMER. Many Soviet AFVs must be abandoned to the mud during the retreat.

[boldairade]

Allied bombers have devastated Dresden and other German cities. But the military value of the attacks seems negligible.

[boldairade]

October 22, 1943

BOA-Extremely poor results here. 3 wolf packs land on a convoy lane with 11 escorts and heavy capital ship support. They sink 12 MM while taking only 2 step hits. Overall the Germans sink 13 MM, with their surface fleet involved. We do not bother to pursue their fleet, as we never seem to intercept, and keep our fleet to try and protect vs subs, though even that seems beyond them.

Norway-No action here. VIII Armor is in port and may be withdrawn.

US Strategic Bomber Command-Heavy bombing of Germany's mainland. 11 raids hit the German heartland. Jagdkorps only attempt 2 interceptions, and they get the worst of the exchanges. Overall, Hamburg, Hanover, Prague, Dresden, and Cologne all lie in ruin. We reduce German production by 51 this turn, and there will be lingering effects. Were Germany under any real pressure on land, it might have an effect. Of course, that is not the case. In the Med, Taranto and Naples are 'topped off', keeping their production down.

Africa-We are end the end of our supply rope here, and at the same time, many formations are not getting full supply so are not recovering. We will make one more large effort here, but we have completely lost momentum.

Greece-Bad weather over Athens may have forestalled an attack by the Axis-or perhaps we are still tilting at windmills? Both Axis alpine corps are now in position to attack Athens. It is very frustrating to feel there is nothing we can do. We do hit both German formations with tac bomber strikes. Allied planners briefly considered launching ZEUS as a spoiling attack, but the risks would be very very high, and without specialized formations arriving in spring, the op would not have the teeth we would like it too. In any case, the Canadian II Corps is vital to the plan. As part of the reorg of forces on the Greece front, it was caught in transports in Kalmata Harbor, and summarily decimated. The formation survives, but will not be combat ready for quite some time. It shows 0 combat power, and is evacced. There was no reason for this-it was a sloppy error that should have been avoided. Without this formation, option are extremely restricted.

[boldairade]

October 22, 1943

EAST FRONT

K-12 sub group is caught by 4 consecutive air strikes in the Baltic despite being in raider mode and it is sunk. This is a loss quite a bit more telling than the PP loss of a sub group. Probably we should have had a sub under construction, but I felt the odds of losing it to air strike were fairly remote. I was wrong(again). The Red Surface fleet is moved into the Baltic in raider mode under foul weather.

Poor weather(rain) over this front. With the end and failure of SLEDGEHAMMER, Stavka is already planning a new offensive. The hope is that the winter will make the difference and give the Russian Army an edge. The new offensive is code named "зимняя буря"-WINTER STORM.

This offensive will attempt to take advantage of the Russian army being winterized, as well as the large number of Russian tank formations that retain the winter fighter specialty. Additionally, Stavka hopes to take advantage of new intel. Extremely cold weather should freeze the rivers to the point where armor can cross without bridging. This could be the advantage we have been looking for, as the German line along the Dnieper, along with the superiority of German formations has precluded any broad front attack.

A crude plan for WINTER STORM is shown here. It hopes to take advantage of frozen rivers to assault Smolensk. At the same time, winter specialists will reopen the offensive on the corridor that marked the doom of SLEDGHAMMER. Ultimately, a breakout and retaking of Vitebsk is envisioned.

This offensive may represent the last chance to break the German stranglehold in a timely fashion that would keep the outcome of this conflict in doubt. As such, its importance is considered paramount.

[John B.]

The BoA is just insane! I hope I'm right in the way I read the manual about the rivers in blizzard. I'd hate to be invited for "personal" interview with Uncle Joe.

[boldairade]

ORIGINAL: John B.

The BoA is just insane! I hope I'm right in the way I read the manual about the rivers in blizzard. I'd hate to be invited for "personal" interview with Uncle Joe.

if this doesn't work, we will both be on the same train to Siberia!

[boldairade]

Paladin-Failure
Swordfish-initial promise, now hopelessly bogged down
Broler-failure
Africa-bogged down
SLEDGEHAMMER-failure
Olympus-about to be destroyed
BOA-non stop catastrophic losses

WINTER STORM-Either we achieve success of some sort here, or I believe victory will be out of our reach

[stjeand]

Once your armor gets faster...things will be more of an issue for the Germans.
When they move 5 you basically can't really do much. When they move to normal you can take out an armor on the front lines every turn...IF you know how.

Hopefully Al is addressing that since it completely decimated me in one game. Trying to work on a defense for it.

[boldairade]

My armor is pretty mobile at this point.

My problem is that nirosi is superior both tactically and strategically to me which is unlikely to change.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: boldairade

My armor is pretty mobile at this point.

My problem is that nirosi is superior both tactically and strategically to me which is unlikely to change.

You will learn by practice, don't worry.

[stjeand]

All you can do is keep learning...

I don't want to try to influence the games outcome.

[michaelCLARADY]

ORIGINAL: boldairade

Paladin-Failure
Swordfish-initial promise, now hopelessly bogged down
Broler-failure
Africa-bogged down
SLEDGEHAMMER-failure
Olympus-about to be destroyed
BOA-non stop catastrophic losses

WINTER STORM-Either we achieve success of some sort here, or I believe victory will be out of our reach

Aside from that, how was the Play Mrs. Lincoln?

[boldairade]

ORIGINAL: michaelCLARADY

ORIGINAL: boldairade

Paladin-Failure
Swordfish-initial promise, now hopelessly bogged down
Broler-failure
Africa-bogged down
SLEDGEHAMMER-failure
Olympus-about to be destroyed
BOA-non stop catastrophic losses

WINTER STORM-Either we achieve success of some sort here, or I believe victory will be out of our reach

Aside from that, how was the Play Mrs. Lincoln?

LOL

this gave me a good chuckle!

[John B.]

Did this game come to an end?

[boldairade]

sorry for the delay, I haven't been feeling up to it for a number of reasons. i will see what i can do.

[boldairade]

November 5, 1943

BOA-One Convoy attack in the N Atlantic sinks 3 MM, 2 hits are inflicted on the subs. Germany pulls many subs back to Stettin, they are in range to contribute to the Baltic conflict. The Allied fleet heads to Scapa Flow to refuel.

US Strategic Bomber Command-Snow over England/Germany. US readiness on squadrons falls to 50-65%. Attempts to fly in these conditions/readiness levels last winter were largely cost ineffective. The bombers should stay on the ground. It is decided to try a probing raid vs German oil to see if we can draw the Jagdkorps up, however. In the ensuing air combats, extraordinarily heavy air steps are inflicted on both sides, with our forces getting slightly the better of it(we lose 13 steps to fighers/AA, the German interceptors lose 21 steps). German oil is crushed(which really has no effect at this point) but Dusseldorf is again smashed. In the Med, heavy rain leads to the decision to keep the crews on the ground.

Norway-No Activity. With the withdrawal of VIII Armor, we are pretty dangerously exposed, but we are relying on weather/terrain to stay the German hand.

[boldairade]

November 5, 1943

Africa-Supply problems remain here. Despite thinning out our forces as much as possible(and perhaps more than is wise) we cannot supply our armored forces. Readiness remains very low. I am unsure how to proceed, as even at 100% readiness the Axis forces are very superior, entrenched, and in excellent defensive terrain. With our units at 50-55%, we have no ability to attack, and could likely be pushed back quite easily if Nirosi chose to attack.

Greece-Foul weather. German alpine units are in position north and north west of Athens. They could likely take the city any turn that has good weather. We constructed a coastal fortification, which we hoped would give us some security, but they cannot be placed on urban hexes. This front is a disaster waiting to happen-and I have no idea what to do about that.

[boldairade]

EAST FRONT

November 5, 1943

North-The Germans vector in air and surface assets vs the Red Banner Fleet in the Baltic. The foul weather protects the fleet from air strikes, with 4 sorties by the Luftwaffe scoring no hits and resulting in 3 hits vs German bombers. The German surface fleet catches us though, and inflicts 2 hits on the Kirov cruiser group, suffering none themselves. We limp back into port. We do sink two MM before we are chased off.

The arrival of Russian forces in port at Kronstadt forces the Germans to garrison their Baltic ports.

Center-Rain across this front. Not ideal. We continue to pump reinforcements into the the formations bled dry during SLEDGEHAMMER.

South-Snow-no activity of note.

[boldairade]

The air war over Europe continues to bleed both the Luftwaffe and the USAAF.

[BrianG]

I have no idea what to do about that.

Try a nice cafe in Athens. Drink some red wine and then send out your best 300 and guard the pass.

It's worked before.

Great AAR