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Since my PBEM opponent is out of town and I am bored, I figured I would make an AAR of our 43-45 PBEM.

- v1.03
- Full FoW
- Random weather

AAR will be lagging behind our game since we are still playing and I don't want to give away all of my relevant thoughts

We restarted the game after 3 turns as I insisted on trying out a Kursk offensive that I tested against the AI. Against the AI the offensive is barely doable. Against a solid human opponent it turned out to be suicidal and with a random mud turn on turn 3, which sealed my mobile formations behind enemy lines I conceded and we restarted.

I have most end of turn saves, so feel free to ask for more screenshots or what have you.

Edit: this is my first WitE pvp, so suggestions etc. ae very welcome

Start:

Overall considerations:
The plan is simple. Delay the Soviets for as much as possible for as little loss as possible
- Try to bleed the soviets with fighting in good terrain/fortifications
- Don’t give ground easily where the terrain is good and urban hexes are present
- Shorten the lines where possible, especially if the ground is bad to hold a line
- Major consolidation in the north to free up AGN divisions
- Disband non-essential units to generate manpower. I am leaving most non-infantry TOE alone since I have plenty of armament points and rifle kits available.
- Use as few regiments as possible
- In the first few turns I will try to hold the initial line, as it has good fortifications, after that I need to be careful to have enough ZOC’s behind the line to prevent major flooding by Red Army tsunami.
- Concentrate the Luftwaffe where the pressure is the highest, and use my turns to strike artillery units or HQ’s in the open. Focus on interdiction to both inflict damage and keep track of his movements.

Turn 2: North

In the north I prepare to shorten the lines of Army Group North to put around 11 combat ready divisions in strategic reserve.

Turn 2 : Orel area

With Zitadelle cancelled I needed to decide what to do with the Orel salient.

I did not evacuate the Orel salient. I like the terrain there and want the soviets to bleed for it. Not too worried about getting cut off before I do evacuate the salient, since the line is strong and reserves are present. Note the regiments and divisions digging a fall back line. I want my opponent to attack here, since I feel I can control the situation well, so I feel leaving this sausage of a bunch of pocketable divisions dangling is better than straightening the line

Turn 2: Vitebsk - Smolensk - Orel sector

The situation of 4th Army worries me the most, as its position is weak and at the same time it is providing security for the Orel/Kursk/Kharkov line. Also, the weakest section of the wehrmacht line is around vitebsk, which is supposed to be the anchor for both AGN and AGC. Since my opponent declined to attack in the opening turn, I used the given time to strengthen the line a bit and move 2 reserve divisions and a PzG division from the Orel salient into the line.

Turn 2: Kharkov area

I am taking a risk at Belgorod, leaving strong divisions exposed mostly because interdiction and recon shows he is concentrating near Orel. I do have 3 Panzer divisions in reserve mode behind the line, hopefully it is enough. I need to get some more units digging behind the line before he breaks through tho.

But as stated, I feel I am strong here, and I don't want to give up good forts/terrain without a fight if I can avoid it and slow down the soviet juggernaut.

Turn 2: Stalino area

Around Stalino I am digging a line to fall back on in Turn 3 and shorten the line. Hopefully this will free up a few units to dig between the Kharkov-Stalino line and the Dnepr. I spent half of my AP’s around here in the first 2 turns to activate some infantry divisions to put them into refit mode. After Stalino the terrain is horrible for me, so I hope I manage to delay long enough to do some digging.

Turn 2: Crimea

So, the Crimea is the only place my opponent decided to do some air recon on turn 1. Not a good sign. I spent some AP to prepare to extract the Armies here out of this death trap and hope I get one more turn without an amphibious assault to take care of business here. Air recon shows that I am likely to get that turn. This concludes turn 2

To give a basic overview of the starting situation of the campaign:

The early summer of 1943 represents the last time that the Wehrmacht was somewhat in a position to mount an offensive in the east. Unfortunately for them they only had the forces available to do it in one sector and they concentrated forces where the Red Army was strong and the Kursk operation was doomed from the start.

Historical play here is suicide for the Germans, you just lack the weight of force to sustain the offensive. Well, until someone proves otherwise

Both players start out with a lot of units in static mode. For the Germans you start out with most of AGN and a good chunk of AGS in static mode. Both players will have to decide how to spend their AP in the opening turns.

For the Luftwaffe the situation is mixed. The Luftwaffe has very experienced fighter squadrons at this point but there simply are just not enough fighters to counter being outnumbered 6:1. On the other hand most of the bomberwaffe is comprised of obsolete stukas and limited range He 111's. To make matters worse, the best fighter the Luftwaffe has, the FW 190 is produced at pitiful numbers.

The Wehrmacht suffers from bugs in this scenario. A good chunk of the wehrmacht's best equipment is tied up in support units (e.g. most of the Panthers and Tigers) and is near useless on the defence. With the Wehrmacht having to switch to a full defensive posture mid-1943 this is obviously bad for the German player. With v1.04 defensive SU get fixed so this should make life harder for the Soviet player attacking reinforced hexes.

Turn 3

My opponent is not attacking a whole lot. He tells me his priority lies with organizing his army for an offensive and this takes a couple turns of AP. I am not complaining and use the given time to straighten out some lines and dig fall back lines.

Two interesting battles occur this turn.

1. I decide to try a little preemptive attack and strike a stack of guards corps with the full might of my panzer forces. The results are frankly sobering, and later my opponent tells me that I actually activated one of his corps and that most units that I rout get rallied to the front on the next turn. So, in the future, any unnecessary counter attacks should be made with overwhelming force or not at all

2. A unit in reserve decides to join a fight in the Orel area. Obviously reserve commitments in clear hexes are not very useful at all. In my opinion reserve units should be able to utilize at least some of the fortifications in the battle hex. Especially mobile divisions, that should be able to reach the fight in a matter of hours. This is the PzC player in me talking. In those series I always use mobile reserves to help out trouble spots in the line if the line is still holding. If the line is compromised the front line will fall back to positions that might even be prepared by mobile reserve units. No need to send armored units into a losing fight most of the time.

This concludes turn 3

Turn 4:

Turn 4 sees another turn without a lot of attacks. One probe near Kharkov gets the door slammed in its face. I try to use the data from interdiction attacks to predict his movement of forces as a forewarning as to where to deploy my strongest formations.

Turn 4, Stalino area.

As you can see I have now completely straightened my lines around Stalino, in keeping with my strategy to focus force on the best defensive terrain around, to delay a full scale retreat in a sector for as long as possible. Have to make use of those initial fort levels in my opinion, and luckily my opponent’s strategy gives me ample time to organize that as best as possible.
Another costly preemptive strike here, to give a soft spot in the line some more time to dig in. Not sure if worthwhile.

In this scenario AP are a major restricting factor for both sides in the beginning, but my opponent is giving me time to organize things as I want. Very different from what Oleg did to Bob I think. Altho from what I can recolloct Bob also facilitated Oleg's attacks by weakening his frontline and making second lines behind the front.

My local strategy for every sector is to basically make the front as strong as possible where I think he is likely to attack. If I feel he does not have the strength to make 2-3 hex breakthroughs I am not too worried about making the area behind the front strong and trust the ability of armored divisions to fix crises in the line. When I do feel he is very strong, or I am not strong enough to fortify an entire section of front (say 4 to 10 hexes worth of front), I try to have enough stuff behind the front to make disastrous breakthroughs unlikely. When affordable I keep trying to make fall back lines, but already I am lacking enough strength to do this everywhere.

Turn 4, northern sector.

I use AP when I can to activate divisions that I want to extract to the South, but for now AP are swallowed up by AGS and the Crimean army. I decide that before I move in the north I will eliminate the Oranienbaum enclave. I hope to be ready to move divisions south by turn 7 or 8.

A view of what 3 turns of partisan attacks have done to my rail network, I need to get this under control or I won’t be able to do any strategic movement. Most cities that are far from the Rumanian border are blue by now, so I hope my diligent movement with the butchers of the SS cavalry and security divisions to kill partisans and civilians pays off.

I do enjoy watching all those frozen Rumanian units while there are city centres to plunder, errrr garisson.
This concludes turn 4

Since I just managed to get myself bubbled in a MTT it's time for a an update.

Turn 5 saw a push from the Soviets between Smolensk and Orel. He is obviously trying to cut off the Orel salient, but I have been preparing for this and will fall back to my prepared lines. I am very strong in this sector so I am not worried. In the screenshot you see the devastating effect a Panzer Division showing up in a fight can have when the Soviets are not overwhelmingly present with artillery.

I count myself fortunate to have preserved the Orel salient for this long, attracting the attention of the Soviet high command, and diverting attention from much weaker sectors.


screenshot of premove

The Soviet push around Smolensk is much more worrisome. This is where I am weak and I have limited reinforcements available before I clear out of the Orel salient. 2 regiments have been cut off but I think I have enough strength to get them out.

Turn 5 end, Orel sector. Most of the Orel salient withdraws in good order towards prepared positions, while routing a handful of mobile Soviet units. One division has its columns strafed by Sturmoviks for 2 consecutive days and is unable to join the lines. I will not attempt to save them, I need to withdraw without complications and free up mobile forces for duty elsewhere. I have transferred the better part of a Pz corps from the Kharkov area to here, including the Groß Deutschland division, to assist at Smolensk or relieve any issues near Orel.

I learned my lesson to move reinforcements by rail whenever possible; I lost 35% of the GD fighting strength by moving over roads.

turn 5, end of turn. In the Smolensk area I made a mess of things. I relieved the 2 cut off regiments but at the expense of creating a very weak line. This was the most important reason for me to transfer 48th Pz Corps up here from Kharkov. I hope I don’t see a random mud turn next turn, because that would seriously hamper my ability to shore up the line with reserves.

Turn 5, Leningrad area. I have activated almost everything I needed here and have started reducing the Oranienbaum enclave. I decided to extract 8 full strength infantry divisions as strategic reserve for the centre/south, use the Luftwaffe units to dig where needed (preferably up here unless I have spare AP to move them around), and leave the rest here to hold the line and prepare fall back lines towards the Narva and the Peipus. The 8 divisions (conveniently already attached to a corp HQ at the start of the scenario, whose leader is fairly decent) should be on the rail network in either turn 6, 7 or 8, depending on if Del forces me to use AP elsewhere first.

Losses at the beginning of turn 5. The Soviet has decided to execute a few more attacks this turn, but still a lot of losses have been from front line attrition thus far, and not from operations. For now, my replacements are mostly keeping up with losses, especially AFV and fighter planes, although my manpower pool is empty. I will start disbanding some airbases and HQ to keep the manpower flowing in this crucial summer. My main issue at the moment is with Stukas and their pilots, the stukas are not all piloted by Rudel and are falling from the sky like flies. I will have to address somehow sooner or later