Stalin's in the gulag, I'm in charge! II - vs 2ndACR (Axis)

[TulliusDetritus]

Southwestern Front, southern part.

[TulliusDetritus]

And finally the Southern Front. Advancing.

[TulliusDetritus]

Anyway the south without the battle things. You can better appreciate what are my choices here.

[TulliusDetritus]

And what about Crimea? I haven't shown this map during the blizzard. Well, this place was simply quiet [:)] 2ndCAR did very well his homework AND managed to kick me out this place the turn BEFORE blizzard (T24)! Hadn't he done that...

[Klydon]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

What I said! I am an utter incompetent! No, I haven't attached anything. I forgot I could do that LOL

Anyway (now trying), I only can attach AA Bns and Tricycle Regs (evil kids ride them though). Am I missing something?

Yes, Ketza, that has been my experience. Rather lousy units. I guess the future upgrades will strenghten them.

Still, I don't blame anyone of you (those who convinced me to form them) [:)] On this blizzard offensive I haven't used infiltration that much. I have basically pushed 2ndACR's forces. Suffice to say that I have almost totally ignored the Cavalry divisions as well (I have like 15). The tank brigades are the deal: lots of MPs.

They can only attach what is available at the immediate HQ they are attached to, so I am guessing that means that particular HQ does not have any sapper regiments or tank battalions attached to it. (You can't attach artillery to units). You can form new support units (1 command point each) in a HQ. By next turn, it will be filled and available to be used. You should then be able to move it to the unit in question. You do want to lock the HQ the unit reports to or the support unit may not stick unfortunately.

Hopefully this helps. [;)]

[randallw]

The early cavalry corps is not very large, about 15 or 17k of men.  It sounds like the size of multiple infantry divisions, but it isn't.

Do not depend on the CV showing on a counter to see if a unit is really ready for a fight or not.  Look inside!

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Anyway (now trying), I only can attach AA Bns and Tricycle Regs (evil kids ride them though). Am I missing something?

Tricycle regiments with evil kids! That was good! ROFL

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus
Ah the Cavalry Corps. I am... very disappointed with them. But I am pretty certain this is due to my OWN INCOMPETENCE!

As you may remember I created 11 on the first december turn. Theoric offensive value: around 5 (which seems threatening). Real offensive value: very poor To my surprise I found out such corps (let's say 5=x) cannot defeat a lone German infantry division (let's say a miserable ant 1=1 ). Infiltration duties? Almost zero value as well. A tank brigade is far far better.

I mentioned my own incompetence. Why? Because they were kept attached to Stavka... Had they been attached to Front Armies MAYBE their performance would have been much better.

In other words, I haven't used them correctly, I suspect

I have not gotten to the winter yet in my campaign, but even in normal weather, and in mud, cavalry is extremely good at oozing through gaps in the enemy line or exploiting and making a nuisance of themselves. It is by far the best Soviet units for that kind of missions. They are not very good at fighting though, and very brittle, so I expect them to take a beating, but if they can upset things for the Germans, that's worth it.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

They can only attach what is available at the immediate HQ they are attached to, so I am guessing that means that particular HQ does not have any sapper regiments or tank battalions attached to it.

Ahhhh, that explains it. Thank you [:)]

You're correct, Randall, the numbers don't mean anything here. A 5=x should be supposed to defeat a 1=1 ant. But they don't, unless perhaps they have support units and are attached to a Front Army -in range. And that's what I did not do (my own incompetence).

Tarhunnas, don't make the mistakes I made. Attach support AND attach the Corps to armies. Anyway, you will find out they CANNOT infiltrate enemy lines that much. The tank brigades are much better, believe me (each army has one, sometimes two, and I may concentrate three or four -attached to Stavka- in key places). Unless the lack of support and the fact that they were attached to Stavka (next to Moscow) was the cause of the low MPs.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Klydon
That should give you a good core of units [Guards] to work with, especially when you can start assembly of infantry corps.

As for the Infantry Corps, I am not sure I will form a lot during 1942... As I see it they are an offensive weapon. But I am realistic. I will not push for Berlin on 1942. I will be still too weak. The AARs clearly prove this (especially PDH amazing offensives and massacres). My objectives will be unchanged (because I am well aware of this weakness): protect Moscow and Leningrad and avoid the destruction of the Red Army. As always, in that order.

On this scenario I need lots of units to play with. Especially infantry divisions that will be [of course!] concentrated in depth to stop the main German push (if there is one).

Now that does not mean I will not form infantry corps at all. Some should be formed. They will be part of the Stavka Reserve, ready to be sent to critical places -along with the Guard and Shock Armies. Defensive duties, as it should be.

But that's all I need, I think. 1943 will be the year of the Infantry Corps, no doubt.

[randallw]

A 1941 Soviet unit of CV 5 may simply have a sizable amount of equipment in it, like a tank or motor division, but it's experience level may not be that good; much of that equipment can break in one battle.

If you want to win a battle vs 1941 Germans it takes a large amount of numerical superiority, perhaps 6:1 or more.
Simply throwing a nice CV difference may not be enough.

[TulliusDetritus]

[center]Turn 37[/center]
[center]26 february 1942[/center]

If I well understood, this is the last turn of the blizzard thing. Well, I think I am quite happy after all [:)] And not only because I managed to bag some German units. I think I took back quite many hexes after all. I was not very optimist when I started. After all it was my first blizzard.

Apparently, getting Guards units is a very important goal. If I remember correctly I had started the offensive with only six. Now I have 44, so that makes 38 Guards Rifle divisions harvested during this long offensive.

I will also post a screenshot with the front-line on turn 24 and then now, to better appreciate what was achieved.

[TulliusDetritus]

And the last serie of the various attacks across the whole front. Rather tedious if you ask me. I won't need to do that from now on!

Active Fronts:

Southwestern
Southern

Leningrad attacks.

[TulliusDetritus]

Volkhov and Northwest Fronts attacks. Not advancing.

[TulliusDetritus]

Kalinin Front. As always, 2ndACR was very strong. The good thing is this part of the front was not my priority.

[TulliusDetritus]

Western Front attacks.

[TulliusDetritus]

Bryansk Front attacks.

[TulliusDetritus]

Southwestern Front massacres part one. Many many attacks here. Oh, I think I hadn't mentioned Zhukov was put in charge of this front, and Vatutin and Tolbukhin assigned to two armies of this front. I had done that during the "Mud Offensive" and they were not removed.

[TulliusDetritus]

And Southwestern Front massacres part two.

[Sabre21]

About how many Soviet attacks per blizzard turn were you able to make and how many failed? I was running 35 to 40 per turn with one third of them failing. There was a substantial increase in armament points after I did my testing, so I would expect numbers to be higher, just not sure by how much.
 
As for cavalry, I prefer to leave most of them singly as divisions since they do tend to get easily routed. I use them for infiltration more so than for direct combat. I use the various airborne corps Hq's and then leave the Hq's assigned to either Stavka or the front so as not to overload my assault armies. I'll create a single cav corps with a sapper regiment, a tank and some other support unit, and assign it along with 4 cav divisions to the abn corps Hq. That gives me some flexibility on their use. I will run several of these cav formations with each of my main blizzard counterattcking forces.