Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

@glvaca: I tried, but then it just looks like this:

Been sick the last week, so late reply, dropbox also gives the option as imgur. I.e. not use the http url but an embedded image link.
Anyway, you've got it working [;)]

And, the game is won, excellent play as usual.
Committing those SS divisions there is really a bad idea. But cu do's to Pitaman for playing on.

T102
Clear
Last week of May 43


Vitebsk is liberated





At Vinnitsa, a number of German divisions are trapped.





On to Bessarabia




The war in the air reaches new extremes

T103
Clear
June 43

Hausser Attacks


II SS Panzer Corps strikes towards Zhitomir and re-takes the city. General Chernyakhovsky is killed as his Steppe Front HQ is caught up in the retreat. General Polkovnik Mikhail Kovalev takes command of the Front.

Southwest of Vinnitsa, another panzer group breaks through to their encircled comrades at Vinnitsa. Their lack of fuel is telling. They had enough to get in. But will they have enough to get out?

Nice and intense battle. German frontline is near from collapsing.

T103 continued
Clear
June 43


Well to the south of Vinnitsa the Red Army prepares to drive forward.





Initial progress is good.




With so many Rumanians in the area south of Vinnitsa, Kovalev's 5th Tank Army is able to roll in behind a southern group of Axis forces. The remainder of Steppe Front and cavalry from Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian Front seal off another pocket.





The German II SS Panzer Corps has its issues as well. Additional tank-mechanized troops from two fronts, re-designated as 1st and 3rd Belorussian under Marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky have been brought here to support this critical battle.




The bigger picture now in the south.




Meanwhile Zhukov's offensive against Minsk is well under way. Clearly the Germans have stripped the area of panzers while Soviet cavalry and tank corps remain in the area.




Next week will be mud.

Its not looking good for Pitaman, seems like his entire southern front is collapsing. Any chance he will manage to salvage it and setup a new defense?

T104
Final mud turn of Spring
June 43

II SS Panzer Corps is freed from its loose pocket. It seems poised with what additional armor the panzerwaffe has remaining to make one final attempt at rescuing their trapped comrades.




The Red Army will not wait for the rescuers to arrive. Massed attacks against the weakest units in the pocket take place to thin the ranks of those remaining.




The damage done






And over the Dnestr to set up the armored thrust into Rumania.

This double pocket is the end of any serious resistance

T105
clear
June 43

The Ride of the Valkyries


The panzers led by II SS Corps make their lunge and force their way through to their comrades.





It is all for naught




Zhukov drives through in the north and takes Minsk.

Week 106
clear
June 43


The pocketed Axis units are destroyed. A retreat to the west by a good part of the Ostheer is in progress. Rumania has capitulated.




The Red Army will need a week or two of consolidation before moving on in the south.


This will be the end of my turn-by-turn reporting. Pitaman continues to fight on which is to his credit. Another update will follow when I'm into Germany.

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS
This will be the end of my turn-by-turn reporting. Pitaman continues to fight on which is to his credit. Another update will follow when I'm into Germany.

In other words pretty soon. There isn't a lot of Axis defense left south of the marshes.

After the first early game encirclements of Germans this game was over, Pitaman was way behind in the early game and then suffered some pretty early catastrophic encirclements which the Germans cannot afford in the early game as it then weakened him to the point he couldnt conduct an effective summer 42 operation which = a much quicker end to the war.

13 turns later...

Into the Reich
September, 1943

Logistics were a challenge with only two RR repair corps. The Axis actually had air superiority much of the time, as the VVS bases were kept close to functioning rail lines.

One RR repair worked to the west of Minsk while the second repaired and connected the Rumanian lines, then turned north through Lvov.


In the north, Leningrad is still held by the Germans. The Finns are gradually being pushed up Western Karelia. The liberation of Leningrad will likely come after the rivers are frozen.




The Baltic States were abandoned by the Germans and the last port was taken recently.


East Prussia was largely overrun as a slicing tank attack drove up from the south and captured an empty Koenigsberg. About 10-12 German divisions were isolated and destroyed. A separate pocket bagged another 9 divisions. The one-week haul was about 130k in German manpower.

North of the Vistula, the Germans are mostly cleared out. They have a major river here that normally would be a formidable defensive barrier. However, every available tank, cavalry, and mechanized corps has been thrown into a breakthough assault south of the Vistula that has split the Ostheer in two for the moment. The truck management protocols go out the window now as every available airbase moves forward to support. The Germans will likely now have to fall back to the Oder. The lead tank corps is 140 miles from Berlin.







In Hungary, we are 20 miles from Budapest.

Hungary: is there anything close to a frontline except for the outskirts of Budapest ? Troops AWOL ? Same goes for Slovakia.

October, 1943

A drive by mechanized-tank forces to the north cuts off a portion of the German Army, over 20 divisions. They have no ports in this area from which to draw supplies as Danzig and Gdynia have been taken.







Breslau is being bypassed in order to force the evacuation of its defenders.




To the south, Budapest is gradually being surrounded.

November, 1943

The mud has come and gone. Leningrad is still yet to be liberated.

The east bank of the Oder is secured. Further to the east in the Stolp Pocket, German divisions will sit out the remainder of the war.






To the south, after some previous attacks, Budapest is stormed and Hungary drops from the war.

Why is the Coastal Army fighting Army Group North in Budapest (of all places)?

December, 1943

Leningrad has finally been liberated.




Along the Oder, the Red Army continues to camp along the eastern bank as it is still not fully frozen.




Six months ago, much of the panzerwaffe was destroyed in southern encirclements. They have been re-equipped, reorganized and retrained at an impressive pace. Nearly 8,000 AFVs once again.

ORIGINAL: Dweomer

Why is the Coastal Army fighting Army Group North in Budapest (of all places)?

"Coastal Army" has no more of a function than AGN really. I suppose AGN could now be Army Group Northern Germany.

I left this AAR unfinished, so to put the wraps on it:

In the south on T133, approaching Vienna



And on T139, Prague has fallen and the western map edge not far.



Over the Oder on T133



And just outside Berlin on T139



North of Berlin, resistance to the west is fast disappearing.



And losses to date. Almost 11 million Soviet, 5.5 million Axis.



The Finns were of course gone by this time.

Endgame came on T141. Berlin hex captured week of 2/24/1944. Although Bitter End doesn't end once Berlin falls, Pita agreed to end it here.



He fought on until the end. Much appreciated, Pitaman! [:)]