AAR: Defense of the USSR part 12

[Vic]

Activity all over the front in the larger Moscow Area.
I moved in on the northern german pincer movement and encircled them.

More offensive operations directly north and south of Moscow where conducted with succes.

[Vic]

I almost took Rostov by storm, but around Stalingrad the situation looks dim. Lot of superior forces there and i hope the pressure around Rostov might relieve Stalingrad eventually. Furthermore i believe the german forces will cut off the connection with Moscow, therefore i changed the chain of command and made HQs Front Don and Front Caucasus self depended on local production and supply.

[Vic]

And this was the last turn of my winter advantage. I look forward with dread to the next german turn.

[seille]

How much casualties you inflicted during winter ?
Losses overview would be great [:)]

Imho you did very good attacks and the reorganizing the command
was also a good step.
But as you said the next turns will show how effective you were.
If i remember right Tom will get a offensive bonus in 1942 for his summer campaign.
This will be a VERY hard time for you i think especially since Tom is still in a very good position.
I hope for you that the germans can´t use their Luftwaffe with good effect on key targets.....
But i fear they will with upgraded fighters [X(]

Even i should not do that Vic, but i hope for your russians.
But the hope is very small i must say. Tom is still in a very good position for coming attacks.
And he doesn´t play passive as i did when we played that scenario [:D]

edit:
southeast of Moscow you cutted off some german troops. What is their strength ??

[Arditi]

  Some success for the Russians!  Excellent!  If only there was an extra blizzard turn or two.
      Great stuff.  Arditi

[Westheim]

ORIGINAL: seille
Even i should not do that Vic, but i hope for your russians.

Tweber, fear not! I'm in favor of your side. [8D]

I'm obviously not used to the game mechanics and can't tell how much advantage one has or not, but the numbers in the Soviet counters are overall slightly bigger now - bad sign? [&:]

[Ande]

prehaps is it time to remove Lenins body from moscow? or can't you do that?

[seille]

There is a reason why the numbers on the german counters are so low.
The winter !!

The germans have a penalty on their combat power actually.
Means their strength is cutted to 60%.
What you see on the counters is only 60% of the strength the german troops will have a agin in better weather.

But Vic did some damage and his troops got some "training".....

@Ande
Yes, Moscow is not safe now. The germans will get 100% of their strength soon and restart
offensive actions. Especially when they get the 1942 summer offensive bonus. The question is
how much the germans are willing to pay for Moscow....and how good Vics defense is there

[tormy]

ORIGINAL: seille

There is a reason why the numbers on the german counters are so low.
The winter !!

The germans have a penalty on their combat power actually.
Means their strength is cutted to 60%.
What you see on the counters is only 60% of the strength the german troops will have a agin in better weather.

But Vic did some damage and his troops got some "training".....

@Ande
Yes, Moscow is not safe now. The germans will get 100% of their strength soon and restart
offensive actions. Especially when they get the 1942 summer offensive bonus. The question is
how much the germans are willing to pay for Moscow....and how good Vics defense is there

wow, are you serious? This means that certain troops can be weaker/stronger in specific seasons?
This sounds awesome if true, especially if I think about modding... [:)]

[Ola Berli]

Yes, this game must be a sce. designers heaven. I see that they have it in planning but I hope for alot of
modern battles. It's alot of good one who have not be made for the PC.
 
But back to our game. For me it looks like the russian will get troubles just behind the corner. We are in for a
great german offensive: Case Blue. The first big city who will fall is Stalingrad. Furthermore it will be very
interesting to see the power of the offensive and what it can accomplish. Will it be strong enough to take
Moscow too?

[Hentzau]

The sepia unit photos featured in this AAR tone down the GUI nicely over other screenshots that I've seen.

[tweber]

German turn 13, Feb 1943.

The Soviet offensive grinds to a halt. The German army has adapted to the weather and will now fight at full strength. I launch a broad offensive and inflict some pretty heavy casualties on the Soviets (I also take some heavy loses myself). The Soviets have built a large army, but it is primarily infantry and my tanks (which are inferior but much more numerous than the Soviet models) inflict lots of damage. I am at the point where I am inflicting more casualties than the Soviets can replace (which is good). I am also a bit above my replacement rate, but my army is supply constrained for now.

The picture below shows kills and losses. I have highlighted turns in clusters. After my initial assault, there was a chase, followed by the fall stand by the Soviets near Kharkov, Leningrad, and Moscow. This was followed by the Soviet winter offensive. We are now entering a new phase of the conflict.

[tweber]

In the Caucausas, I sortie out of the Kerch strait. I also build a new army group West of Rostov to protect the flank of Group B near Stalingrad.

[tweber]

Further north, Group B advances to the north of Stalingrad between the Volga and the Don. My cavalry units East of the Don race to cut off Stalingrad from the North. I move my heavy guns up. I move an armored unit to my fortified bridgehead on the Volga. I want to keep Stalingrad isolated while I invest it.

Further North, I wipe out a unit near Voronezh. The road east looks open.

[tweber]

A major battle takes place around Moscow. I attack with both Army Group Center and leading elements of Army Group North coming down from Leningrad. I have a para set up North of Kalinin. Once the weather clears, I will be able to make a deep jump into the Soviet interior (an hopefully cut off the road to the Siberian factories).