Part 2 of FitE 5.0

[larryfulkerson]

Maybe we should address the supply situation for the Axis.  I've split the supply areas into five parts, Riga, Smolensk, Bryansk, Kiev, and Odessa.  Here's the Riga situation:
 

 
I should probably start repairing railroads going northward on the West side of the Lake now so that those guys will have more beans, bullets, and bandaids.
 
Here's the Smolensk area:
 

 
I should continue repairing to the East here I think.
 
Here's the Bryansk area:
 

 
Here one rail goes SouthEast and is short, and another goes NorthEast and is the main line for the attack.
 
Here's the Kiev area:
 

 
In the Kiev area we've already got quite a bit done and only need to keep repairing to the SouthEast until the major battle starts for Kiev.
 
Here's the Odessa area:
 

 
This is most of the reason the Odessa attack is on hold, no supplies for it.  As soon as more rail repair dudes can be flooded into this area the quicker the rails will deliver the goods for the soldiers to have what they need to do what they do best.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets keep flying interception missions and the Axis keeps shooting them down:
 

[Captain Cruft]

I don't fancy the Romanians chances at Odessa. Not that their proficiency is that bad, but they are lacking in heavy weapons.

--
One thing I really like about this game is that it models river barriers very well. You can see it on some of these maps.

[kfmiller41]

Well thanks to you larry I have jumped into a PBEM game as the russians[8D], I can only hope my opponent isnt as good as you are as the germans or I will be fighting in December from Siberia[:D]

Any advice for the Russian side would eb welcome

[larryfulkerson]

The Axis got an early turn ending again, so there was only the one combat round.  Here's the moves for turns 8, 9, and 10:
 

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: miller41
Any advice for the Russian side would eb welcome

So um......at the beginning of the scenario the Russian Air Force is not worth the paper it's kept track of on so I always fly them back to safety to recuperate ( gain in supply and readiness ) and believe it or not you can sacrifice a unit or two or several here and there to garrison a town or road junction to slow the Axis down in their advance just long enough for you to have enough time and units to build a better defensive line. I like to build defensive lines behind rivers or in good terrain ( badlands, hills, forests, etc. ) and lots of arty on the defense is a godsend. Other than that just survival until '42 is the secret. After that the tide turns slowly and the Russians will dictate the terms of battle ( more or less ). All this stuff is my own humble opinion and is subject to change upon the receipt of new data.

Edit: And just take heart in the fact that the Russian supply situation is always going to be better than the German supply situation.

[kfmiller41]

Will definetely keep that in mind[:)] Great AAR, I am amazed you can play both sides. I would be overwhelmed I think
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of the Soviet losses so far:

[larryfulkerson]

NOTE:
 
Hey all you FitE players out there playing the Soviet side:  I discovered a really really long stretch of railroad that's been broken from the start of the scenario, near Turkey.  I don't know if there's a routine that decides which rail hexes are broken from the start and this is one of them or what but I thought you'd like to know.  Maybe a search of the map for broken railroads might be in order if you want to fix them before you might possibly need them someday and not have them fixed:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some Axis losses so far and number of Axis units in play:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Shush....hear that sound?  That's the sound of supply points getting sucked out of the high supply point hexes by hungry Axis units nearest Leningrad:
 

[larryfulkerson]

The Axis got another early turn ending so there was only the one combat round.  Here's the Axis moves for turns 9, 10, and 11:
 

[Neilster]

Isn't OKH insisting on a single-minded push on Moscow? Won't the panzers and troops involved in this vast Kiev encirclement require rest and refiting after returning to their jump off points for the attack on the capital, giving STAVKA just enough time to assemble forces that will slow the German advance until the Autumn rains? Hey...where have I heard this before? [:D] I can hear those Siberian troop trains pulling out of Vladivostok station now. [:'(]

On a more serious note. It looks like there's a big Russian build up on the east bank of the Dniepr but that the territory to the west of this river has been virtually abandoned. If I'm not wrong about this, wouldn't it have been better to perform a fighting withdrawl through the Western Ukraine? Is the risk of encirclement too great?

Cheers, Neilster

Edited to correct the river and part of the Ukraine I was describing

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the front lines as seen by the Soviets:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some Soviet losses and the number of units in play:
 

[duckenf]

I'm not too familiar with the scenario, but the USSR seems well supplied -- its available and on-hand troops exceed the demands of units in the field and replacements have comfortably exceeded losses.  Maybe the German can deal with a slow Soviet build-up, but I would think in the 1st 11 turns the Germans should be killing more Soviet trrops than get mobilised.  Later the situation will only get worse for the Germans; as it is the USSR has 20,000 rifle squads on hand, gets 1106 per turn and has only lost 13873 (50,684 are assigned).  Of course, German troops will soon be crashing into the defensive lines around Leningrad and in the Ukraine, so Russian losses will presumably increase.  But as I see it, the only major losses suffered by the USSR so far have been in engineer squads and maybe ferry bridging teams.  SInce the USSR is on defence, these can't be all that important in 1941.  What's the current date for Turn 11 (weekly turns, right?) -- must be late August or even early September?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: medck
What's the current date for Turn 11 (weekly turns, right?) ---

Actually FitE uses 1/2 week turns so....

[Captain Cruft]

One thing I've found when playing against myself (in other games) is that you tend to avoid catastrophic battles due to unconsciously knowing what the "other" guy is up to. That might explain why the loss rate is not higher.

Just a thought. On the other hand it might be that Soviet re-inforcements will chew up that pool in quick time as they arrive. This scenario has been extensively play-tested according to its designers.

FitE website is at http://www.ac-smolf.dk/fite/index.htm[size="-1"][/size]

[Captain Cruft]

BTW that broken rail out in the wilds near Astrakhan. Is it possible that this was a line that was only built during the war? So, if you want to build it (repair it) you can

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what the Soviet high command is reporting for aircraft losses due to interdiction missions: