George vs. Seille - A Russia 1941 AAR over 60 turns

[george1972]

Another forces overview which shows the definitive end is near for the German Army. The interesting fact here is to look at the Russian growth over the last 5 turns. It is practically non-existent except for a few divebombers and artillery pieces. Taking into account the fact that in the last turn the Russians suffered hardly any losses worth mentioning, this means that in turns 51 - 54 the Wehrmacht killed off nearly 5(!!) full turns of Soviet production.

Unfortunately, the Russians by now were able to hit back and despite suffering from a poorer kill ratio, they inflicted enough damage to mortally wound their enemy thereby winning the war in the East.

These last few rounds will determine if they can turn this into a total victory by capturing Bucharest.

For this race they now posses the following major production centers:

Moscow, Baku, Murmansk, Siberia and Siberia '43, together worth 125,000 production points

They also posess the following minor production centers:

Helsinki, Leningrad, Riga, Minsk, Maikop, together worth 25,000 production points for a grand total of 150,000 production points.

Germany has only two major (Warsaw and Bucharest) and 5 minor (Konigsberg, Ploesti, Kiev, Kharkov and Sevastopol) left, a mere 75,000 production points, with Konigsberg and Kharkov ready to fall and Warsaw in mortal danger, there will soon not be much left.

[seille]

Indeed interesting George. Even i feel my forces stronger, the paper don´t lie.
I had bigger losses while my attacks in the north especially while crossing the Bug
and also in front of Stalingrad.
But i had also turns with reduced infantry production (while i had high losses in infantry)
to increase my strength in divebombers, mortars, tanks, trucks and artillery.
 
Overall it is a bloody work to drive the germans out of Russia.

[Joshuatree]

The Red Army Rifle III .... + 1202 compared to the Germans [X(] That really is a red wave.

[george1972]

Germany Turn 56, June 26, 1944

This turn sees the last great production effort of German industry. Losses are pretty heavy but that is to be expected as the Russians reduce the pockets they have created.

[george1972]

The only good thing of the recent defeats is that soon I will be able to fit my overview into a single screenie [:D]

[george1972]

The Ukrainian Front sees some action before Kharkov where 2 German Corps supported by the Luftwaffe throw back 3 Russian Armies that were investing the city.

Still the situation is very dangerous, with Kiev virtually undefended and the Red Air Force bound to show up soon here there is little time for rejoicing.

[seille]

Russian turn 56.

The production boosted my infaantry a lot this time
especially since the losses are smaller than in previous turns.
The recaptured production center started to work at full capacity
so i can produce beside 500+ rifle III also a lot of mortars and trucks
for more mobility and punch.

[seille]

The North:

As expected i captured Königsberg.
German AG North is gone ompletely now.

Beside this i moved closer to Warsaw destroying/weakening
several german units. Used artillery and divebombers to soften up
the defense positions for next turn attacks already.

[seille]

The South.

Nothing serious happened.
My Stalingrad front tries to follow the germans on their way back...
Only the planes did some damage there.

My Kharkov attack group took the city.
Maikop was taken by partisans at the start of the german turn after i softened up
the city defense by several air and ground attacks. These garrison fought very well.

The Baku front is now close to the Kerch straight after a very fast advance.

[george1972]

Germany, Turn 57, July 16, 1944

There is not much too say in these last few turns. Production has dropped to pre-war levels and losses are still high. The good news is that unless they execute some kind of airborne assault, the enemy will never capture Bucharest in time to claim total victory.

[george1972]

Around Warsaw, the Wehrmacht gathers its last strength to execute some attacks. The Russian buildup in this area is of gigantic proportions.

[george1972]

In the Ukraine, AG South has completed its redeployment and starts slamming into the Russian 3rd Front in the Fifth Battle of Kharkov. The relative raw Russian recruits suffer terrible casualties at the hands of experienced German Kampfgruppen supported by a Luftwaffe enjoying complete air supremacy in the area.

The enemy manages to hang onto Kharkov by their fingernails.

[Vic]

"The OKH is demoted to front-line duty"
 
atmospheric move!

[TheArchduke]

I am sure Seille appreciates your determination to fight on to the last man.

Especially your counter-attack at Kharkov is commendable!

[seille]

Yes, i like the fact that George give a good fight whatever happens.
We both had periods in the game where we thought about surrendering (at least me...)
but we continued.
I played several guy´s who surrendered too early in my eyes, but George didn´t.
 
The fight at Kharkov was a surprise. George evacuated AG South very fast and with still a
good strength. Powerful units while i had also a a lot of units, but mostly average (or less...)
quality. Infantry only with some horses and a few tanks. And i had no air power there.
George has a complete Army group with air support in this area i didn´t calculate to fight against [:)]
 
My next turn will come tomorrow.

[seille]

Russian turn 57.

Things are going well.

First the production:

[seille]

The north.

Even the capture of Warsaw was planned for this turn i wasn´t able to take it after George
increased the defense a lot.
So i used my artillery and attack troops to crush this new defense ring. My forces took
6 hexes and crippled/destroyed several german units.
My forces are now close to Warsaw and the city is cutted off from the southern production.
I think there is nothing that can prevent me from taking the city next turn !

[seille]

The south.

Here things are less funny.

Baku Front:
The kerch straight is blocked by a very strong german guard in great defense positions.
Won´t be easy to break, but i now have some artillery and planes there for.

Kharkov:
I´m in trouble here. The regrouped AG South tries to recapture Kharkov. With my limited
strength in this area i can never fight against these german forces. Would be suicide...
However, i gave the order to hold the positions and not moving back whatever happens.
Why ?

Stalingrad front:
After beating the last germans in Rostov area these front has to move west and on their way
drive in the back of german AG south. If the germans try to fight for longer at Kharkov they will
come into a nutcracker.
In addition i moved bigger parts of my air force in range to Kharkov to help with massive
air attacks. And this time even Georges massive flak concentrations won´t help.....
We´ll see what the germans do here.

[seille]

Since i´m still sick i can´t say when i post my next turn, but i hope to do it early next week.

[george1972]

Germany, Turn 58, August 5, 1944

As chimney stacks in the various Berlin ministries belched out black smoke from burning archives, the last manpower reserves of the Wehrmacht arrived in the Inferno called the Eastern Front and were consumed by the flames.

Warsaw was held but those still fighting in the bomb craters once called "houses" have little doubt as to the final outcome of the battle there.

Further to the South-East the Wehrmacht should have been withdrawing behind the Dniepr line and try and stop the Russian from capturing the vital crossings there. The commander of AG South however, had other plans...