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So what (or: how much) do I have to destroy in Turn 1 as a German player to be able to at least survive the first year of war here? Somebody posted a screenshot of his kills in Turn 1 and I don't remember the numbers, but they were higher than what I achieved. And I didn't pocket anything besides some tanks (AG Center) and some artillery (AG South) ...

And what are important objectives, f.e. how fast do I have to get Kiew? Turn 2 wouldn't be a good answer [8D] ... I only got Bialystok and Lvov now.

Here is a pretty good start for the German player. You are not too far off. However, there is more to a good start than just the turn 1 stats. Did you reach or even cross the Dneister bridgeheads? This will isolate most of the southern oob. Also, is your army fully mechanized by the 3rd turn? This will accelerate your drive to the East.

The Romanians crossed the Dniestr only in Turn 2, but I also put a tank division behind the Bug and occupied the crossroads at Uman.

I'm 7 hexes from Kiew, and 2 from both Riga and Minsk. But I captured Dvinsk and the Dvina bridge unharmed. The bridges at Riga are destroyed, however. For Turn 3 I'm planning to move AG North to Riga and part of it via Dvinsk to the eastside of the city. AG Center will close in on Minsk, and AG South should move to Kiew. However, most of the Romanians don't fare well.

Hey Westheim,

I think the most important things for Germany on turn 1 are:
1) Destroy all Soviet aircraft on their airfields by running over them with ground attacks....at least all those within 3 hexes of the border. Also be sure not to leave any of your airfields with planes on them unguarded if the Soviets might be able to overrun that hex with trapped forces.
2) Seize every possible bridgehead. This amounts to 3 for Romanians, 1 for AGC, 2 for AGN.
3) Figure out what you are going to do w/ Finland - either go for broke assaulting the Leningrad forts, or dig in to wait for the Germans arrive and build up before you start attacking. The Finns can get in trouble very quickly if you are not careful.
4) Aim your attacks to penetrate behind Soviet forces rather than just assaulting them head-on or pushing them around a lot - go for max encirclements.
5) Once all your moves are finished for the turn upgrade Infantry and either Light Tanks or Fighters with the huge amounts of supply reserves you start with.

Kills on turn 1 are not the most important thing - surrounding and getting bridgeheads is key.

Have fun
JJ

@Westheim
 
You got very good tips here.
Look at the points from jj. That´s it.
Important is to kill ALL planes if possible. Loosing 4 own fighters in first turn is not so good
especially when the russian player can save some of his own planes.
 
And you need speed. Here we come to twebers tips !
And i can tell you this guy knows how to attack fast and hard. And i don´t talk about fights against AI...
 
Upgrading your units from horses to trucks as fast as possible gives them the speed they need for fast attacks
to Kiev, Minsk, Riga and so on. That´s very important. Horses are way too slow.
Then, the Dniestr. Try to block the bridges (both) in turn one. This is MUCH more important that crushing all the troops there.
The russians won´t be able to move anything back that is on your side of the river and because he cannot supply them
with the bridges in your hand he cannot save them, so you can destroy them in turn 2.

Situation at the start of Turn 4. Riga was abandoned by the Soviets and I managed to move in with the bridges still destroyed. I also got Odessa.

So it's not wise to eliminate pockets quickly? Because that's what I did. So the bridges were left over.

Minsk looks innocent now, but it's stuffed with Russians.

Against the normal AI the tips you got are less important.
It was more for PBEM´s.
 
A human player will never abandon bridges or cities
when he can fight there. Against AI you can make mistakes and will still win.
The (1.02) AI is simply not clever enough....
 
You should try to get Minsk in turn two or three. Fast hard attacks are needed
in these early turns. In turn five the russians get Lend Lease help and not long after that the winter starts.
You don´t have enough time for slow advance cause after the winter 41/42 the russian opponent won´t be the same
as you face actually [;)]

Yeah, remember, I'm playing in Dummy Mode. [:D]

Got Minsk fighting in Turn 4, and Kiew was abandoned like Riga. Now in Turn 5 the Soviets are after Finland. There are small concentrations of units all over the front - I will see what happens in winter. Anyway thanks for your help. [;)]

I think pockets can mostly be eliminated on turn 2 - there shouldn't be many pocketed troops left after turn 2 unless they are off a road, out of supply, can't move, and you are never planning to kill them anyway.

I always kill pocketed troops. I always fear they could move again. Somehow.

It's January 8, 1942 now. I captured neither Leningrad nor Moscow or Stalingrad. The Finns are in bad shape, AG North is split by that Estonian lake and faces a winter offensive of the Red Army as well as AG Center. The closest this AG came to Moscow was the town of Rzhev in November, but I was beaten back from there before winter came already. AG South's tanks pocketed a bunch of Soviet armys after winter already had started, but I can't finish them off. The Romanians are spread out too wide and are too few. And finally the new AG Krim can be glad to hold their ground. I'm out of supply, too.

I think success for the Germans hinges upon maximizing your power to the East.  Eliminating pockets that do not threaten your supply lines wastes time and reduces the effectiveness of your front.

BTW historically generally Russians eliminated pockets, and Germans didn't. It was mostly because Russians dind't have considerable transport avaiations, but German did. German supplyied buy air big pocket near Demiansk in 1942 and later broke corridor to it. Probably the memory of Demiansk caused RKKA eliminate German pockets later in the war, even if it was not strictly necessary.

Well, the AI didn't put up a great fight in the end. It's early summer '42. Leningrad will fall within two turns (it's already isolated), Moscow is just four hexes from the front, and Stalingrad, well ... the winter offensive wasn't that serious. I only lost some hexes southwest of Rzhev and had to retreat the Romanians back from the area around Rostov because AG South did not keep their speed and the flanks of the Romanians were open. But it was nice experiment nevertheless.