Clash of steel continued Smokindave (Sov) vs. Qball (Axis)

[smokindave34]

I've picked up this match from Bletchley Geek and will continue the defense of Mother Russia against Q-ball's axis invaders. Let me first say that Bletchley Geek's AAR on this game was one of the best (if not THE best) AAR I have read and my AAR will not do it justice. BG understands the details of this game better than I probably ever will. Hopefully this doesn't end up looking like Zhukov stepping down and Pavlov stepping in at STAVKA.....

It's turn 59 and I see the overal Soviet situation as this:

1) North of Rzhev the front is quiet and I'm in prepared positions with recon showing no significant axis buildup
2) Moscow is where the action is. Qball has 3 infantry corps south of Rzhev attempting to punch a hole in my defensive line. Recon didn't pick up any panzers but I suspect this area might be a potential jump off for a northern pincer to encircle Moscow. South of Moscow I believe there are two full panzer armies pushing hard for the Oka river line. This is clearly the main focus of the axis summer offensive and the potential southern part of the pincer to sweep around Moscow.
3) Two panzer corps are spotted near Vornezh and are probing eastwards
4) Army group South has pulled back across the Don river after extending into the Caucasus. It looks like Q ball has transferred his armor from this area north to support the drive on Moscow.

So the first thing I did was upgrade to the new patch and have all my HQ command capacities drop down to 18. I'm not going to spend AP's trying to micromanage the whole front but did re-organize the armies in front of Moscow so that none of them are above the command capacity. BG left me with about 100 AP's. My plan for these will be to build some more tank corps but try and horde AP's unitl '43 when I can start building rifle corps en masse. If others think this is a poor decision please let me know as none of my other Soviet games have made it to 1943 so these are uncharted waters for me.....

Here is the situation around Moscow.....

[smokindave34]

Situation at Voronezh....

[smokindave34]

And finall the army strengths at the start of turn 59...

[smokindave34]

T60:

I picked the six tank brigades with the highest morale and build two tank corps. My plan is to leave them on refit for at least a month or two to gain experience. Also I pulled all the motorized brigades I have off the line and put them on refit so I can start building a few Mech corps in September. I'm not going to go crazy with tank corps though. I think the key to breaking down the Wehrmacht is the rifle corps and I plan to build a lot in early '43.

South of Rzhev recon shows the 18 and 19 panzer divisions of the LVII corps. This supports my theory that this may be the northern pincer for a Moscow encirclement. I have the Kalinin fronts 54 and 30 armies defending this area with STAVKA units building a second defesive line. There are a lot of forts in this area so I should be able to prevent any "blitzkriegs" in this sector

[smokindave34]

Moscow:

Q ball surrounds almost a full army south of Ryzan (elements of 40 and 13 armies). From the battle reports I count seven panzer corps in this area. I'm not sure how accurate the battle reports are with the fog of war but I'm certainly looking at two full panzer armies here and maybe more.

I assign the Bryansk front to dig in behind the Oka river and transfer the 56th army up from the Transcaucasus front to start digging in on the Para river. The rest of the front seems fairly quiet so all of my reserves are getting shipped to this area.

The panzers from the III and XIV corps have shifted north from Voronezh and may be refitting/building up to support the attack on Moscow - I'll have to watch them carefully.

[AKCLIMBER]

This should be great fun to follow. Thanks for continuing the game and AAR!

Good luck & cheers!

[BletchleyGeek]

You're too kind Dave

It's interesting to see that Q-Ball was worried enough about his flank as to turn 90º towards the east. My guess is that he'll try to force the crossing at or east of Kolomna - that's where the Red Army CV looks most impressing.

In any case, good luck with the game

[Klydon]

Glad to see this one continue.

Especially with the new Russian command limits, I agree that the rifle corps enmass are going to have to wait until 1943.

[smokindave34]

Thanks. This should be a fun game. I've read a lot of Q ball's AAR's and he will be a tough opponent for sure.

I'm weak east of Kolomna but placed 3 units per hex in this area to quicken the rate I build forts. I also transferred some construction units from other armies to this area to help with the digging. He also has the option to string me out even farther east. I have reinforcements coming up from the south to hopefully address this and have the 56th army blocking here to buy me some time.

[smokindave34]

T61:

I'm now suspecting that Q-balls strategy for '42 is to use his strong concentration of armor/motorized units to chew up the Red army a few divisions at a time. He continues to move east against my weak Voronezh front and he's in position to pocket 6+ divisions again next turn. I just don't think he has the strength to go for any grand encirclement move near Moscow.

It's clear that the vast majority of axis armor units are in the Tamboy area and recon didn't show any other areas along the front where he may be gearing up for an attack. Based on that I've decided to move the 50th army from near Moscow and the 29th army from the Transcaucasus front to support the defenses around Tamboy. I'm hoping to be strong enough in this area to grind him down and use my tank corps/cavalry corps to make localized counter attacks (I was able to launch one succesfull attack on a motorized unit this turn). My other goal here is to ensure that I don't get any of my guards units or tank corps caught in a pocket.

I didn't spend any AP's this turn as I was very low after doing some re-organizing with the new patch. I need to start stock piling AP's to get in a position to build rifle corps in '43. BG didn't build any rifle corps yet and I personally thing this was a good move - its move cost effective to wait. I have 12 tank corps and pulled 4 back from the line to put them on refit to gain experience and morale.

Here is the screenshot of the action.......

[smokindave34]

Here is the current OOB....

[smokindave34]

T62:

Q-balls mass of panzers continue to chew up the center of my front. I believe that Q-ball is essentially taking what I will give him at this point - he is sending his panzers to the point of least resistance. 2 panzers corps head north towards the Para river while at least 4 panzer corps head south in an attempt to encircle elements of the Stalingrad front near Boguchar. I've pulled the 5th and 26th armies back to the Bityug river to try and keep out of the trap.

I suspect I'll have to keep giving ground in this way until the mud hits in October (7 more turns). I can grind him down a bit by continuing to build forts on river lines but I can't totally stop his momentum. I tried 3 attacks on his exposed units with only one of them being succesfull. As his offensive continues on he will weaken a bit and I may be more succesfull in my counterattacks (I hope!). I continue to keep my guards units and cavalry/tank corps out of the front lines to prevent encirclement - I'll need them in '43 for sure.

I decided to build 2 tank corps this turn and assign them to the Moscow M.D since there is no AP charge for attaching/removing from a M.D. My plan is to leave them on refit for a few months to gain experience/morale. I looked at the '43 scenario and the Red army had 24 tanks corps in July '43 - that will be my target for tank corps. I currently have 14 so if I build one a month from here on out I'll be on target. Any thoughts/suggestions on that plan would be appreciated.....

Here is the battle area north of Tamboy ....

[smokindave34]

And south of Tamboy where I face the bulk of his armor....

[smokindave34]

And some production statistics.....

[smokindave34]

T63:

More of the same, a few divisions surrounded while I pull back my best units out of the trap. This turn I was able to pull off 3 victories including one attack in which I pushed back two stacked panzer divisions. That should make Q-ball pause a bit before he gets his armor out too far in front - a psychological victory!

Here are the screen shots. First north of Tamboy....

[smokindave34]

And south of Tamboy....

[Peltonx]

Good job on AAR.

Hold Moscow as it is the War now with the new lowered manpower *. It would appear it is the tiping point now as it would have been historicaly speaking.

Very good tactics on your part.

Pelton

[smokindave34]

Thanks Pelton. I'll take a very small portion of the credit but Bletchley Geek set the Red army up for me...

[smokindave34]

T64:

Q-ball's panzer assault seems to be slowly winding down - only a handful of attacks this turn and recon indicates he pulled back at least two panzer corps possibly to refit? I managed a few more victories this turn including defeating SS Totenkopf across a river. I defeated a stack of 2 panzer divisions last turn and an SS motorized unit this turn - it feels good to be able to defeat the best of the axis units in clear weather (although the Red army still needs to carefully pick its spots to attack...)

I've built my first two mechanized corps this turn, I don't plan on building a lot since they are hogs on truck consumption but the sooner I build them the quicker they will be combat worthy.

[smokindave34]

Q-ball has a 30 mile wide hole in his front line here....I've recon'd it for the last 5 turns and don't see anything in the rough hex. It's tempting for me to send some tank corps in there to exploit it, with the goal of forcing Q-ball to send some troops up there. Without any rifle corps to hold open the gap it would have to be a hit and run. I'll keep reconing until after the mud turns.