Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

[caliJP]

Casualty and OOB update as of end of T10

Casualties:
Germans: 258K men, 1676 AFVs, 1205 planes
Soviets: 2.07M men, 12389 AFVs (!) , 6260 planes

OOB:
Germans: 3.43M men, 2139 AFVs, 2990 planes
Soviets: 4.3M men, 5131 AFVs, 7009 planes

So the one good thing I can take from this is that the German panzer force has melted by about 1000 tanks in the last 5 turns. The rest is not very positive for my Army!

Comments very welcome.

[Oshawott]

caliJP, don't use your cavalry as front line units. They are very fragile and expensive. You will need them for your blizzard offensive. Also, you need to assign all the units under STAVKA to an army or front. If your armies are full assign them to Moscow MD or Volga MD. All white units will occur a massive combat penalty.

[caliJP]

Oshawott, thank you.
For the most part, all of my units are in Armies. Only units that just arrived and are filling up in the rear may still be under STAVKA.
Now I try to be cautious in 1941 in my assignment of armies into Fronts to not exceed 4 armies per Front as Fronts cannot have more than 4 full Armies or they will be overloaded CP-wise. When I look at details of battles, I don't see anything that points to a penalty if the Army is attached to Stavka as opposed to a Front. What sort of penalty are you referring to?

Good point on Cavalry, although it's hard enough to form a line with so few units at this time in 1941, I'd hate to not use everything I have. I'll have to experiment with that.

[caliJP]

T11 Leningrad: the Germans cross into northern Leningrad, and also across the Volkov. I am not able to push them back, again a 3-stack of Panzers and Motorized Infantry is impossible to push with soviet ants. I abandon the Volkov line to save the ants from sure pocketing next turn, and decide to use them for the only thing they are good for: speed bumps in marshes and mountains…

[caliJP]

T11 North: the Germans slowly take over the Valdai Hills. I don’t have any units to send there to help, so I just leave a few speed bumps.

[caliJP]

T11 Center: the German panzers continue slicing my frontline, but their progress is fairly slow. Still, I prepare a defense line southwest of Moscow and one along the Oka river starting from Kaluga.

[caliJP]

T11 South: since I left the Dnepr only lightly defended after the Germans first established a bridgehead, they cross en-masse. Kiev is surrounded. I also take my lesson that Russian ants cannot resist any sort of German attack, so I retreat from the Psel to the Vorskla River so I can combine the two lines and stack units a little higher. I leave a few speed bumps along the Psel. From Kharkov to Orel, my entire front is wide open. I have no units to defend it, so I gather the few units I have where my opponents is pushing.

[caliJP]

T11 D+Z area: the Germans panzers lurch forward and make two pockets. I am able to break the one around Krivoi Rog. Still, I have to retreat my line to the Dnepr and Bazavluk Rivers.

[caliJP]

T12 Leningrad: the Leningrad pocket is cleared up. So the Germans achieve the first of the three major geographic goals of the 1941 campaign, which I would generally list as Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalino/Rostov. I have no units to throw up in this sector, so my strategy is retreat enough each turn to avoid being pocketed and end each turn with most of my units in marshes or hills hexes. The one thing I am happy about is that my opponent still has his AGN panzers up there in the woods, and not in front of Moscow [:)], and we are 5 turns from mud…

[caliJP]

T12 North: slowly the Germans clean up the Valdai Hills, and are almost in Rzhev.

[caliJP]

T12 Center: the Germans are now carving my front line piece by piece. The positive thing is that they are not moving too fast eastward. But it is costly in units for me! I guess all those units will come back later as replacements, but the returning shells will need manpower to get filled up… East of the front, I prepare a last line of defense in front of Moscow.

[caliJP]

T12 South: Kiev has fallen! The Germans move towards Kharkov. I have a new line forming from Kursk to Orel. It looks impressive from high up, but it is mostly half empty shells. A line of tank brigades (i.e. worthless units in 1941) is formed in front of Kharkov. In 1941 Rifle Divisions are for fighting and Tank brigades for digging [:)]. Krivoi Rog pocket still holding up…

[caliJP]

K.R. pocket area

[Gabriel B.]

ORIGINAL: caliJP
For the most part, all of my units are in Armies. Only units that just arrived and are filling up in the rear may still be under STAVKA.
Now I try to be cautious in 1941 in my assignment of armies into Fronts to not exceed 4 armies per Front as Fronts cannot have more than 4 full Armies or they will be overloaded CP-wise. When I look at details of battles, I don't see anything that points to a penalty if the Army is attached to Stavka as opposed to a Front. What sort of penalty are you referring to?

There is not , only those asigned directly to Stavka incure 20% (?) reduction in Cv .
Albeit ,i would limit the number of STAVKA armies to 4 as well, at any given time.

The number of armies grows fast from 20 to 40 in the first ten turns , you would not have
360 infantry divisions to fill all of them up . Build them around 6-7 rifle/mot divsions
and use the spare capacity for armor (once converted into brigades they only use one cp )
and cavalry .

[caliJP]

Gabriel, thank you

[caliJP]

T13 North: German panzers slog through the woods. Good!

[caliJP]

T13 Center:
Slow German progress this turn. The flow of Russian reinforcements is starting to really pick up. I am throwing a lot of it in front of Moscow. If I lose Moscow after losing Leningrad, I don’t know if I will be able to man every counter with enough bodies in 1942… It won’t be an AP problem, it will be a manpower problem.

[caliJP]

T13 South:
Even with stacks behind the Vorskla river, I can’t stop the panzers. Another pocket… I roll the dice and commit many units to open the pocket, which allows several units to head for the exit.

[caliJP]

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[caliJP]

T13: Further south, the Romanians crawl forward.