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Thanks Ramblin. Good to have fresh voices on the forum. I did have 2 FBDs in the south as per your reference. I think there are some posts/screenshots in the AAR on this suject

T38

We are down to 1 turn per week it seems - I suspect Brian is finding it tough but he's carrying on.



We celebrate the end of the blizzard by smashing the Bolshevik defences at the entrance to the Crimea at the first attempt of the turn, but at a price of 1900 casualties. Exploiting infantry and mobile units trapped another bunch of units whilst others mopped up the pocket N of the Crimea 8 inf xx, 1 cav xx, 1 mtn xx (which doesn't come back [:)]) 3 naval inf and 2 tank x and 1 arty regt were destroyed. An unexpected bonus is that the Red Army inf xx in Genichesk surrendered instead of using the port to rout out. No idea why unless it wasn't repaired sufficiently after he had retaken it.

Apart from 2 cav xxx, there doesn't seem to be a lot left in the Crimea, so here's hoping that I can clear it totally in the next 3 turns.

The snow O out of Rostov starts slowly due to lack of resources, but the opening has been created. Again, not much Soviet strength in the area.

Thoughts on T38

An excellent loss ratio of 7.6K to 76K. Air 45 each side. Destroyed units: 8 inf divs, 1 cav xx, 1 mountain xx, 2 tank and 3 naval inf brigades and 1 arty regt, with 7 divs and 2 brigades more in a pocket. I hope the pocket will hold, but if he tries to break it, the only result will be a bigger pocket next turn. On past form, I expect Brian to try and he may get a lucky die roll. That won't bother me as it will just encourage him to continue with this tactic which has netted me so many of his units in the past. Killing the mountain divs is and will be particularly welcome as they don't come back and they would be far more of a problem for me in the Caucasus mountains.

Apart from a couple of cavalry corps, there don't seem to be any troops in the area capable of putting up a fight. OOBs are 3.6 G to 5.17 R, so in the last 5 turns G strength has increased by 300K as opposed to only 200K Russians, and I expect that my glorious allies are also getting stronger. It is always tempting for a Russian player to try to get a little win of this sort, but it has a habit of being of benefit to the Wehrmacht as others like MT also keep saying.

His decision to stay fighting in the Crimea will cost Brian dear as another 7 divs and 2 brigades are pocketed. These forces would have been better off moving to hold me up at Rostov. Such is the difficulty I have in railing troops, I wouldn't have been able to switch 1 Pz Army back to Rostov before the mud hits. My snow O out of Rostov is now the most important aspect of the game before the clear weather.

T39 was quite fun: for me anyway



This picture isn't much fun, but it does show where we are

as does this one



More swatting of commies who advance where I can hit them from 4 sides without moving a unit. Good for morale in every sense. Also trynig to clear the river line N of Moscow and to fix Brian in place.

this is the fun bit if you aren't supporting Brian



German forces sweep through the Crimea, capturing the port of Yevpatoriya to ensure that the russians trapped in NW Crimea remain isolated, just like we did in the heady days of last July. Further east, we break out of the Rostov bridgehead against week opposition, capturing the important rail junction at Kuschevskaya.

How effective do you feel the addition of air ground attack and ground support are in attacks against strongly held Soviet positions ? I have felt it was minimal even with Ju-87's. Against corrected defensive CV's of 100-200, I feel it helps 10-15 %.

No idea. You need to ask MT as he spends ages on that sort of analysis. I just shuffle counters round - hence the mess in the south vs MT which I was expecting but miscalculated as I didn't think he could. He must have posted his T2 as someone emailed me about my disaster. Possibly a touch of schadenfreude - but fair enough from this person if it was.

However, in a close fight, 10-15% can often make all the difference.

Thoughts on T39

losses 9k to 18.1K air 29 to 25.1 rifle x and 5 arty regts eliminated - latter no doubt due to 2 HQ displacements. Neither figure is good, but Brian's successful effort to break the Crimea pocket last turn just increased the bag to 6 inf xx, 2 mtn xx, 1 cav xx and 2 inf and 5 tank x.

Having reached Sevastopol, I'm not sure why I should try to take it. If it stays strong, I can just bottle it up with some allies. Taking it doesn't give me any VPs, and if I take the Caucasus ports in my summer O, the defenders. become isolated and die. I won't succeed in taking Kerch either before the good weather, but the Crimea offensive netted far more units and HIWIs than I was expecting when it started.

Had a busy week last week, but we've now sppeded up a bit and I've just done my T46 and am looking forward to clear weather next turn.

Going back to T40:

The other half of the big picture someone asked for

Tidying up the battlefield and in particular securing the river line N of Moscow.



And, much more fun, securing 2 over-bold cav xx at the bottom of the shot. Shame the shell unit comes back for little cost. Brian really should just lie back and accept his fate.

south



Crimea almost all polished off despite reluctance of surrounded enemy units to surrender instead of retreating. S'pool and Kerch will have to wait until Spring for their liberation from the Soviet oppressor.

In the Kuban, despite our brave troops being heavily outnumbered,the southern objective of Tikhoretsk is taken but still 40 miles from Salsk, and next turn is the last turn of snow.

Thoughts on T40

Losses 6.9K to 57K air 38 (17 Ju52s) to 107. 4inf xx, 1 cav xx, 1 mtn xx, 5 tank x and 2 inf x destroyed along with 2 regts of artillery.

I will not meet my objective of taking Salsk next turn without sending all the armour back there. This doesn't look tempting on either the strategic or operational level. I'm tempted to go all out to cross the R. Kuban at Kropotkin. Just taking K will cut off all rail inks to Krasnodar and the west, and crossing the river will give a superb jumping off point for when the weather clears. Depends on how hard Brian tries to stop me.

Elsewhere we are largely trading not very strong blows in the manner of WW1.

T41 - I lunge south



And clear out most of the rest of the Crimea as well.

end of snow OOB



Russians still just under 1.5M more men than Germans, and outnumbered by Axis.Reckon Brian still has arms and possibly also manpower crunch as filling units with basic inf doesn't cost many arms points. By now, Russian arty numbers are still low compared to army size. I would expect 60K or so for an army of that size.

Thoughts on T41

Very happy with the snow O. Railhead can be seen by position of the 18th Army div on their train. I have 2 FBDs in the Kuban at the moment, and the other 2 will join them after Crimea. Mud will give a chance to rail all I can into the Kuban. I don't see any point in leaving troops to try to capture S'pool come clear weather - the Romanians can make themselves useful by investing it.

Not much Brian can do without much of an army, though Stef's successful defence of the Caucasus will no doubt encourage him a bit. However, I will start a lot further forward than Bobo did and that is a huge advantage. Stef also had a much larger army than Brian.

T42 was a little more exciting than I would have liked



Brian had cut off my spearhead with a lucky attack, but I was able to return the favour. I did have enough MPs for a 2nd attempt but it wasn't needed. The pocket would have survived the mud turns, especially as it did have an airfield in it, but it would have slowed me down. His other successful attack had enabled him to recapture 2 rail hexes which will impede my rail conversion.

I will endeavour to rescue the trapped inf div, and to give myself more wriggle room in the mud if his bear-hug units remain as weak as they look.

for some reason I took a shot of the OOB, so here it is

and the losses screen