Trippin' the Trappen

[wallas]

Infantry would def help I have been obsessed with conserving my army and its still pretty mauled.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 27: July 3rd, 1942. Weather: Dry.....

The Russians counterattack! They drive the GD and 29th mot (who were stacked together) back over the bridge north of Voronezh! Losses where 1200 brave german soldiers to 1400 russian conscripts, with 70 burning russian wrecks to my 25. The worst loss was the loss of 700 of my trucks.

Instead of playing an attack card on the GD, I would have been better off with an entrenchment card, or a defense card, last turn. However, with an entire Panzer Corp sitting in front of the bridge, I will soon make amends Elsewhere, the Russians pull back slightly, and hold in most places adjacent to my forces.

Voronezh Front: My panzer corp strikes, and drives 20 km to the next river, cutting the road from Voronezh to Chiew..(cant read the rest). The entire panzer corp and half the motorized corp is now across the river...no way he will force that back. My airforce strikes the bridges around Voronezh, destroying two that lead directly into Voronezh from behind, but fail to blow the one leading north. My goal is to force his supply to cross the river, to make an assualt on the city easier (like my assualt on Sevastopol).

Millerowo Front: My Panzer corp finally sorts itself out from last turns Gamble by Raus, and a chagrined SS Wiking attacks and takes the Fortifications on the rail line leading to Millerowo. 17th Army is over the River Don in force and heading straight for Millerowo as well, fighting and pushing back the russians 10 km.

Rostov Front: In a bold move, the 73rd Infantry division notices that the town Bagaleveskya is defended by a very beat up rifle regiment and a hurt rifle regiment. After consulting with the Korp commander, he authorizes a direct assault, over the river into the town using rubber rafts. The assault works! And at a low loss of life. The Italians also cross the first river to the east of Rostov in a more bloody affair. The Romanians continue their long trek east along the Don to cover the flank.

In the center, the III panzer continues it's slow push north towards Voronezh, trying to unhinge his river defence.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 28: July 5, 1942. Weather: It's raining again, I know my blitzkrieg is at an end...

The Russians have pulled back big time in the center, and back around Millerowo. He also pulls back over the second river in the far north, leaving behind an engineer to blow the bridge in that town in the far north. In Rostov, I notice the appearance of the 17th, 18th, and 21st Tank Corps, with a single artillery in support. He also has the 17th Cavalry corp in the swamp next to Rostov (but over the river to me). In each hex I have two Hungarian divisions, with the Hungarian tank division in reserve behind the line. As well, I have added a security division to the Italians on the left flank of the Hungarians, and every hex has a stug/marder battalion in support. As I can see the 5th Tank army in the far north fighting to keep Voronezh, I won't panic (yet).

Voronezh Front:



Despite the rain, using every plane that can reach, I manage to blow the last bridge bringing supply into the city of Voronezh. Looking at the map, I notice that the Bryansk front is on the wrong side of the river from the 5th Tank army and one of the Army HQ's for the units in Voronezh. This means that his supply travels from STAVKA, over the river to the Bryansk front....back over the River to the Army HQ.....then back over the river into the city. With the rain, there is a very good chance that most of the units in the city will be out of, or on very low, supply. I have a very special assault planned for next turn.

Meanwhile my panzers advance into the vacated hexes, and a simple assault takes the city (which by coincidence, OKH assigned as a prestige city this turn!)

My prestige (already at 33) will climb to 34.

[LiquidSky]

Millerowo Front:

With the russians falling back to the city, I push forward with 2 infantry corps (of the 17th army) tasked with taking the city over the next few days. As it is only 20 km from my infantry, i feel that my Panzer Korp is no longer needed, so I send it down the rail line to move in a different direction. With the mud, I wouldnt have been able to use it effectively anyways on his units, and I know it will put a scare into him until he knows where it has gone.

[LiquidSky]

Rostov Front: As you can see, my axis minors are blazing a colourful path along the city and River Don. Because I have no german divisions all along this front, I am at some risk to Russian counterattacks. However, I have so many minor divisions ( and a few more in reserve as cards), I will let him attack me, hoping they will bleed him. If he dislodges my line, I can retreat a couple hexes, and let him follow me as I can keep the line continuous. Eventually, I will probably have my entire panzer force down here after the fall of Voronezh and Millerowo.

If he retreats me and follows, he will be out in the open, where he will be vulnerable to counterattacking from multiple sides...with little entrenchment. In the city he is invunerable, but out in the open, I can attrition him....albeit at the cost of Spirit Level.

[Bonners]

Fascinating stuff, really useful seeing the stage you are at now.....this shows how the axis offensive should be done.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 29: July 7th, 1942. Weather: Clear

In the north, the russians retreat over the second river, leaving a screening force besides Voronezh. The bridges remain blown as his engineer inside the city does not have enough AP's to repair the bridge (probably because of lack of supply). His other engineer is only at 20% integrity, so probably lacks the engineer points needed.

In the center, he pulls back 20 km to shorten the bulge forming from my attacking panzer korp.

In the south, another tank corp shows up in Rostov. I think the smell of Minor Axis is making them frenzy.


Voronezh Front:

Operation Chaaaaaarrrrgge! goes into effect. First 5th army plays Lead from the Front! While three corp HQ's each send all their assets to help out one division each...The first attack wave goes in, (using less then 100 stacking points to minimize casualties)....and breaks one of the defenders, and retreats most of the rest. Two russian regiments hold on to the city center.

The reserves are sent in, in a fresh assault and after some pretty bad casualites (stacking is over 200 now), dislodge the Russians from the hex, and take Voronezh. Engineers with bridge parts in hand quickly repair the two bridges leading into the city.

All in all I lost about 2000 infantry, while the enemy lost at least 5000. I would have taken a screenshot, but my ventrilo talk button also closes the combat screen [:(]

My opponent now realizes something I figured out a couple turns ago....and that is mud weather hurts the Russians more then it hurts the Germans. The mud turns allow me to restock ammo in my artillery. It also lowers the russians supply, while mine goes back up on the clear turn. I would say that the Luftwaffe took Voronezh, by blowing the three bridges that where supplying it...and with the bad positioning of the Bryansk Front HQ (with our hardcore supply rules on).

[LiquidSky]

A picture of what the Voronezh front looks like now:

[LiquidSky]

Millerowo Front: The infantry move up to engage the Russians, but fail to dislodge the defenders in front of the city. But the corp is confident they can take Millerowo in time.

[LiquidSky]

Rostov Front:

The 1st Korp widens it's bridgehead over the Don, by sending the another infantry division over..while the Rumanians show up to guard the other side of the river bank. I railed a security division down to bolster the Italians, and move it behind the lines where I suspect his tank army is going to attack. I still think it will be a failed assault, only because he lacks a lot of artillery. I also move the 1st Hungarian Panzer division over, in case he does win, so I can attack from 4 sides and push him back into the city. I will essentially use the same tactics back at him that he uses on me

The XIV Panzer Korp with the two SS divisions arrives behind the lines, but I would much prefer it heads towards Stalingrad then dealing with an annoyance out of Rostov. My other two panzer korps have also disengaged from the front lines, and will show up in this theater over the next few turns. (as railing them is very very expensive)

[LiquidSky]

Lastly, here is the over all Casualties for both sides: Inflicted:

[LiquidSky]

Sustained:

[LiquidSky]

Turn 30: July 9, 1042. Weather: Hot and dry.


The Russians are spooked, and withdraw further in the north....but leave a motorized division in the fortified northern part of the city (Voronezh). Only sporadic retreats along the rest of the front, more a case of him straightening his lines...but he is coming up to the Don in some places...He does retreat from in front of Millerowo, though, giving me a three hex front on the city itself.

In Rostov his tank corps disappear. Poof. OKH suspects that the Hungarians imagined the whole thing, and a secret memo goes out to all German commands to ignore any minor Axis 'scare mongering'. Any reports of tank sightings are not to be trusted. The Russians are on the run, and would never launch an assault on any position!

For those keeping score at home, I am up to 43 prestige It occurs to me that every ambition card was a success...gaining me the 1 prestige for the card, and the 1 or 2 prestige for the objective....I think that so far I have only missed one objective, and that was when I was rather busy holding back the russians at kharkov.

On the road to Stalingrad, my Panzer Korp hits the line. Fun will ensue.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 31: July 11, 1942. The weather is dry, repeat, the weather is dry

The phantom tank army that scared the hungarians so much has appeared at my bridgehead over the Don. As well, my enemy has blown all the bridges in the area, making resupply to my beachhead rather tenuous. So a bold maneuver is formed by Raus who gives freedom to his Panzer Korp to cross the river in force. The SS LAH complies, and are given ample fuel from Korp to fight there way along the Don. The 198th infantry advance farther south away from the Don, and the 73rd help the Italians cross the Don.

Supply will definitly be a problem next turn..especially if it rains.

The rest of the Panzer Korp push along the Northern bank of the Don..although I dont think it will be much use now, looking at the map, as the southern bank seems to be all Marsh. And the goal of this Korp is to cut off Rostov so the Hungarians can march triumphantanly into the new Rostovania.

Oh...did I mention that Millerowo fell? A bit anti-climatic, as he backed further away, and when I attacked it, I had 4 hex sides on it....

The Northern part of Voronezh also fell, due to being surrounded on 4 sides as well. Percentages to combat are a big part of this game..the more the merrier!

[LiquidSky]

Turn 32: July 13th, 1942. Weather: Beach Attire only.

The russians are no longer retreating, except in a few obvious extended spots. His Tank Corps near Rostov push my SS advance back a hex, and kick the Romanians back over the river in my bridgehead over the Don.


Rather then fight to expand my bridgehead (mostly due to lack of supply over the major river), I take the city with the bridge and move my engineers in to start repairs on the wrecked bridge. Along the front, I use my infantry to push the russian forces towards the Don, so I can use it as a defensive barrier to thin my lines, and send the extra divisions I free up towards the Caucaus/Stalingrad. It will probably take until the end of July before I can secure my side of the Don.

The rest of the front is rather boring, and not moving very quickly, so here is a snapshot of my Rostov Front:

[LiquidSky]

Turn 33: July 15th, 1942. Weather: Sunny days, ohhhhh, sunny, sunny, sunny days!


In the center of the map, the russians pull back 10km along 150km wide area. In the Rostov area, the Tank corps pull back from my beachhead. They launch no attacks.

My engineers do not have enough points to repair the bridge over the Don, so my bridghead maneuvers to fill the vaccuum created by the retreating russians. My supply is green along the river, and yellow inland. But next turn the bridge will be repaired so I can afford to start attacking again.


In the Voronezh area, I start thinning the line along the Don, and pull a Korp of infantry off, to replace my motorized Korp in the far north (which includes the Gross Deutschland). His three remaining bridgheads over the Don are reduced further.

The IIIrd Panzer Korp arrives in the salient pointing at Stalingrad and will soon be pushing forward.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 34: July 17, 1942. Weather: Clear



This turn I thought I would try something different, and started a bombing campaign on bridges in the Caucaus. I manage to destroy two between my bridghead, which will prevent the Russians from putting reinforcements in front of my XIV Panzer Korp. With the bridge newly repaired, I advance forward chasing the retreating Russians...

South of Voronezh, I push another 10km north to squeeze the Russian bridgehead over the Don further.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 35: July 19, 1942. Weather: Still clear.

The Russians counterattack! Unknown to me, 5th Tank army, and a large number of artillery pieces, had slipped over the Don just south of Voronezh. Despite being hit by a rare organizational difficulty penalty, they attack, pushing me back 10 km in most attacks, and fail in one. With one of my infantry divisions behind the lines (so is rested) I use it to spearhead a counterattack, driving two of his tank corps back.

With my motorized Korp in the far north free to move off the lines, as an infantry Korp moves in to replace them...I rail the 29th division to the new battlezone, and while the others move towards the rail line.

The number of causalties on both sides was considerable, with at least 5000 to my 3000 from his attacks, and at least 2000 to my 500 from my counter attack.

Although his attack may not go anywhere, it does tie up my airforce which had started a bridge bombing campaign. It will have to be put on hold, which will affect my ability to outflank Rostov.

[LiquidSky]

In the Rostov area, for the first time ever, I have all three Panzer Korps in range of the 1st Panzer Army. The plan is for one Korp to encircle Rostov, while another drives south to Proletarskaya, and the third pushes for Zimovniki. No doubt the bridges I blew earlier have or are about to be repaired, which means I should expect some company in those two towns.

[LiquidSky]

Total infantry both sides:





His fighter numbers are approaching the same number as mine after last months fighting, and despite buying three! divebomber cards, my stukas are still 100 planes shy of full strength. My panzer forces have remained fairly constant, as I am reluctant to commit them to a battle unless I feel I really need them. They are roughly 1500 tanks. The Russians have less, but they have an awful lot of heavy and light tanks as well..to make around 2700 tanks total.