How to loose FitE in less than 30 turns

[Cfant]

Hi guys!

I messed up with Operation Barbarossa, and wrote a short AAR about this desaster in an other forum. But I always liked to read the AARs here, and therefore I will post the AAR here, too. TOAW-AARs are rare, and so everyone is needed [:'(]

Let's start!

1941: The German Empire is at the height of its power. But the Grövaz (greatest nerd of all times) will change that - Cfant, the man, the myth, the legend leads the German Legions across the border. The mission: Bring all the wodka to Germany, all the babuschkas, all the samowar, all the borschtsch. Oh, well, and conquer the land, of course. The problem: GeneralFieldmarshall Cfant is a) a bad strategyst b) a 08/15 TOAW player and c) never played a single round of FitE before.
So - should be no problem, true? [:'(]

Turn 1

After about 3564 hours I managed to end the opening turn. Hard stuff, this scenario. The real barbarossa can't have been much more work, I guess. [;)]
The Russian resistance war broken, but only after some hard fighting. OKW didn't expect that. Seems, Cfant has overestimated the shockbonus a lot...
Nearly no RBCs were achieved, but not at the main streets. I got seven combat rounds, but the price was high. Many troops would need a rest already [X(]

Trusting in the superiority of the german supersoldiers there was no combat support in combat round 1. The result: Some attacks were repelled and time fell to 70%. On the other hand 33 airfields were attacked.

About 1.900 enemy planes were destroyed. I hit 5.211 planes, but most returned to the pool. I hate that! [:(]



Here the situation at the end of turn one.





Destroyed enemy troops:

15 NKVD-troops
22 Infantry-Divisions
1 motDiv
1 Tankdivision
1 Cavalrydivision
1 Korps-HQ
and some small stuff

The Iron Cross of the turn goes to the 103. Aufklärungstruppe of the 3. PzGrenDivision, that got 160 kilometers into enemy territory.

[Cfant]

I originally wrote this AAR in german language, therefore the pictures are inscribed in german. But hey, it's the Axis-Side [;)]

At the begin of turn 2 the Red Army is on retreat. To the surprise of the OKW intelligence has reason to believe, that the Stalin-Line will be abandoned or only weakly defended. The first main line seems to be behind the Djnepr.



I’m unsure if this is good or bad for me. Some tanks and all his artillery are out of my reach this way, on the other hand I could come close to some important cities (two of them encircled on the screen). Even a third 5%-city is near the Djnepr (Zaphrowhatever).
Bad luck – I suffer an ETE from 50 to 0 %. Should be no big deal, but some cauldrons remain and some positions are open for counter attack.

Well, the Heeresgruppe Nord (North) is 30 Km before Riga. If the gods of war favour us, we can attack the city next turn. Some Bataillons even reach the Dvina-River. Engeneers prepare for the crossing next turn.



OKW is also confident with Heeresgruppe Mitte (Middle), which made good ground. Some parts of Wilno have been taken without a fight, our spearheads are 70 Km to Minsk. Ok, in RL the city was taken til 28. Juny (would be turn 3), but who cares. At least the city is doomed, I tell you, DOOOOOMED!



Heeresgruppe Süd (South) isn’t that successful, but this had been expected. Infantry hangs back, partly caused by the ETE. Rumanian troops entering on turn 4 will help us to speed up the offensive even there. At least I hope so. At least we’re closing in to Stalin-Line – 70 km still to go.



The Luftwaffe has disappointed FieldMarshall Cfant a little. 1.300 USSR-planes were hit, but only 325 destroyed. I lost 41 planes, mainly on attacks outside fighter-cover-range like Smolensk.

You won’t be too surprised, that the enemy fortifies Odessa and the Crimean.

The Iron Cross of the turn is awarded to the regiment „Großdeutschland“. After taking the fortresses of Brest-Litowsk on turn 1, this brave unit took part in heavy city-fighting on turn 2 again, not only succeeding, but evaporating several enemy troops.

Emeny losses

This turn (total)

3 NVKD-Units (18)
1 Artillery-Unit (1)
6 Infantry-Divisions (28)
4 Tank-Divisions (5)
1 mechKorps (2)
1 Korps-HQ (2)
several small units

[Cfant]

I bombed nearly no bridges. Bridge-bombing missions have low chances of success, and there are lot's of bridges and streets east. Most Luftwaffe-Wings were committed to airfield-attacks anyway. More importent would be to prevent enemy reinforcements to reach the front, I will try that the next turns.
Well, ONE bridge was blown by air-force, what doomed a russion tank-division. What I also did on turn one was to drop a Brandenburger-unit, which blew up another bridge, preventing the troops near Byalistock to escape. Air-drops are limited by houserules: No more then 10 hexes from the front. And they may drop only once every four month. So I like to keep them in reserve for some crucial moments. I will need them. And please keep in mind, that they are very few men - they are very vulnerable to counter attack. A Brandenburger-Counter won't hold back a Russian tank-division. And even if it does - the Red Army has lots of tank-units, and I have but few paradroppers. Result: In the moment I don't see a target being worth to risk this valuable troops. [:)]
By the way: here we have the german losses so far:

[CENTER][/CENTER]

It is clearly, that the fighting on turn 2 was less intense then on turn one. Good for me: I only get 428 HRS a turn, so I lost the reinforcements of two weeks in my inital attack [:'(]

[Cfant]

On with the war. OKW is pleased by a lot of successes along the whole front, although losses are increasing. [:(] But that's the price of glory, heroism and the greed for power [:D]

Heeresgruppe Nord

Here we succeeded with the conquest of Riga. A counter attack of the Red Army might be successful, but only temporary. Rigas fate is sealed.



Like Daugavpils Riga too was taken in the last combat round, so we couldn't fortify. North of Riga a unit of Brandenburgers paradropped and destroyed an enemy artillery-unit. You can see on the picture, that the Dvina has been crossed according to plan. Next turn we'll press the turbo-button again and roll north and east with high-speed. [:)]

Heeresgruppe Mitte

Victory here too. The rail-center Wilno has been taken after a short, but heavy firefight with an NKVD-Infantry-Division. Our spearheads reach the outscirts of Minsk. The city is planed to be besieged. This will take time, but after the resolvment of several couldrons we should have enough units to do the job.



Heeresgruppe Süd

Rumanian and german units prepare to launch the reconquest of Bessarabia next turn.



Luftwaffe

The air-force flew a lot of missions this turn.



In a special operation the Sowjet fleet at Leningrad - beeing outside the safe harbours - was attacked in three waves. Losses were high on our side - 31 JU-87 have been los, resulting in the high air-losses you see on the picture above. On the other hand 11 destroyers and even one battleship were sunk or damaged. If this was worth the price I don't know.
Other Luftwaffe-units took part in resolving several couldrons and attacked a few enemy airfields.

[Cfant]

The backland of our conquered territory is quite save now, only few enemy troops still make their stand. Our infantry now marches to the front lines. Please note, that the enemy seems unwilling to defend the Prepjet-marshes properly. OKW therefore changed its mind and sends about three divisions through the marshes. If we encounter massive resistance, they can evade north and south, if the way is (nearly) free, we may be able to use that to our advantage. Broken bridges (black circles) indicate, that the enemy won't send in too many troops.



The Iron Cross of the turn is awarded to the 1.,2. and 3. Wing of SKG5 (stationed in Finland) for sinking (or damaging) a russian battleship.

[Cfant]

Enemy losses:


0 NVKD-units (18)
6 artillery-units (7)
5 infantry-divisions (33)
9 tank-divisions (14)
3 mechKorps (5)
4 Korps-HQ (6)
plus several other units

more statistics:



We still have 31.865 HRS on the front, in the pool we have 4.892 HRS. The offensive can still go on... [8D]:
Please note that the russian tank-losses in the statistic above are the losses of turn 3 only. Numbers are a bit too low, because only destroyed tank-divison-losses were counted. Other formations of the Red Army suffered tank-losses too, who are not included.

[Cfant]

Not much happened on turn 4, even less on turn 5. We press on, the enemy retreats. Only 3 Inf-Divs were destroyed this turn, but several smaller units were evaporated. Sadly the turn ends after three combat-turns, but that's life. [:)]

Heeresgruppe Nord



Only few fighting, next turn I plan to take Pskov and march on towards Narva River. The rest of Riga is planned to be attacked next turn, for the railroad-units are already near.

Heeresgruppe Mitte



The same in Minsk: Due to rail-repair-affords the couldron shall be attacked next turn. The siege shows effect already, the russian troops (2 tank- and 3 inf-divs plus 2 support-units) are orange already.

The Berezina was crossed this turn, very soon the imporatant Djnepr-battles will begin. [X(]

Will be a fight for sure. Santa Claus brought a lot of toys to the Russians on the Djnepr-front, I fear...



Heeresgruppe Süd

Lacking a plan we just march further east. Odessa beeing only lightly defended, I plan to siege the city and march on with the main part of the army to find out, if there is a way to the crimean paninsula.

[Cfant]

Here the losses:



And here the advance since the start of "Barbarossa". Black line is the former border.

[Cfant]

The OKW announces: The industrial part of Minsk has been taken - the enemy looses 5% of his production. Life is just fine! [:)]

Heeresgruppe Nord



Not much fighting here. Some troops reach the Narva, defense seems only be light. Even less is only our supply, that's really bad and nothing we can change the next time. [X(]

At Pskov the 6. PanzerDivision breaks through the russian defense, next turn we try to exploit our breakthrough.

Heeresgruppe Mitte

The battle of Smolens is about to begin. Railroads will reach the front about turn 10, so our supply is bad. On the other hand the defense is still weak, and even better, no tanks north of Djnepr... we'll try a lucky punch, I guess :devious: Risk is high, but profit even higher...



The Djnepr battles begin, as large parts of our army reach the super river. SS-troops embaress the Reich: They swim through the Djnepr, attack highly fortified positions of Sowjet-elite-troops - and loose! Cowards! [:(] (red cross in the north of the picture)
South of that defeat, 10. PanzerDivision and 10. PanzerGrenadierDivision try to cross the Djenpr too. They succeed, pleasing the OKW. The bridgehead is secured (I hope [:D]) and even widened. Position might not be the best, but it was the only one, where I could attack from three sides (flank bonus) and even attack on open land. Losses here were low.

[Cfant]

South of the Pripjet-marshes (region Kiev) we look for an attack-point next turn, but there simply is non. [:(] We'll have to take the losses and attack just the wall ahead, I fear... The blue circle shows a russian tank division, that should be destroyed this turn, but yelled a "Njet" and killed lots of my people. [:-] Hunger and thirst will fight this battle out then.



Heeresgruppe Süd

The siege of Odessa begins. Rumanian troops succed in destroying several fortress-mg-troops.

Destroyed enemy troops:

2 NVKD-troops (20)
0 Artillery (9)
2 Infantry-Divisions (49)
0 Tank-Divisions (16)
0 mechKorps (6)
0 Korps-HQ (6)
and severeal small units

Luftwaffe

Losses in the air: 31:100. A bridge-bombing-campaign proved to be a failure.

The Iron Cross of the turn is awarded to the 7. PzRegiment of the 10. Panzerdivision for crossing the Djnepr and winning a bridgehead on the other side.

German losses:



428 hrs got, 426 lost - a success, I guess [:'(]

[Cfant]

The last turns we advanced towards Narva and Djnepr, so now we stand on turn 9. Problem is, we have to wait for our rail to reach the front to deliver much needed supply and artillery.

Heeresgruppe Nord

The enemy attacks our bridgehead at Narva River. The Result:



Running like rabbits, our elite-troops (their emblem is not the real one in runes because of the german law :nuts:)

Leading staff officers of the SS are ordered to report regarding the failure:



Heeresgruppe Mitte

After our troops ensured a bridghead over the Djnepr, the enemy withdraws from the river leaving a lot of roadblockes, which are a pain in the... well, you know where. [:(] Well done from my opponent - so he saves a lot of tank division who would have been lost otherwise.



Heeresgruppe Süd

Without a plan we cruise along the superriver. Rail reaches Kiev, artillery will be here in two turns, then the offensive will go on.



Luftwaffe: Dark clouds over Russia. And I don't mean the Wehrmacht, but the weather. Bad weather saves several russian bridges [:@] Losses are sad: 38:92. [:o]

Finland

We attack the weakest link in the russian chain: Their Inf-divisions. Successful, I might ad. Murmansk should fall shortly. [8D]

[Josh]

/puts on his best german accent; vielen dank für diesen AAR werter Cfant!
 
Thx for the AAR Cfant, you're from the Strategycon site right? Yes you are right in that there are fewer AAR's since WitE got released, but that's how it goes. TOAW is still one of the best strategic games around though.
 
Oh one more thing; this doesn't work; Finland  because of the capital B. It has to be a normal "b" " Finland see?

[Cfant]

Vielen Dank, Josh! [:)]

Yes, I'm active in the Strategycon-forum. There I had my first encounter with TOAW and fell in love [;)] It's always sad, when you see a good game getting old and forgotten, but there is always a hope for TOAW 4 [:'(]

Thanks for your advice, I'll use normal "b"s instead [&o]

[Cfant]

Turn 13 already, and the Russians stopped me hard at Djenpr River. Casualties climb sky high, the only success was achieved far north, where Murmansk was conquered.

Heeresgruppe Nord:

A SS-Unit holds a bridgehead, but suffered dearly. Some small successes achieved, but no breakthrough in sight.



Heeresgruppe Mitte:

Heavy fighting at Smolensk, first advance in three or four turns [8|]



North of Kiev an improvised crossing of the rivers gives some hope. But it still will take two turns to bringt some (depleted) armored forces in. Maybe the 12. Paradrop-Divison will come into play...



South of Kiev it's on the edge. First breaktthrough achieved and an Artillery-Unit of the enemy destroyed by RBC, but therefore the rumanian tanks are in a very dangerous situation. Their loss (they will not reconstitute) would hamper operations in this sector...



Heeresgruppe Süd

Small successes here, too. I now know, I sent too less tropps to the south. Well, it's my first FitE. I thought I had plenty of troops here, but the vast lands make them look very few... [X(]



Luftwaffe:

117:218, only in the south the Luftwaffe can stand the vast numbers of the VVS. I am disappointed by the quick recovery of the VVS. Göring had told me, that 1941 belongs to the Luftwaffe. :lier: Doesn't look too good...
On the other hand, the Sowjetfleet suffers, but I'm running out of JU-87s.

[Cfant]

I can’t believe it – a successful turn. The enemy drops from 50 to 0, so our endangered Rumanian tanks can be saved – and some enemy artillery is not digged in. At least I think so, because most of my attacks succeed [;)]

Heeresgruppe Nord

In the north, two russion infantry-divisions (both already torn down) are destroyed. We gain not much ground, but every squaremeter counts. The navy of the Fins sinks three russian destroyers.



Heeresgruppe Mitte

Slowly, very slowly, we fight our way towards Smolensk. The center (red circle) is still far away. Russian tanks give way, maybe they are not so strong as they seemed to be.



Heeresgruppe Süd

Here’s where the music plays. The russian frontline is broken at some points, the enemy evacuates his most valuable troops already. South of Kiev we form a really nice Kessel, where 6 inf-divs, one HQ, one artillery, an air brigade and several other units are caught.
We also gain ground, although the difficult territory slows us down. Maybe a victory in this Battle of the Djnepr is at hand?



South of that the Russians have to give ground also. If OKH had dispatched more troops… but OKH has not, so we have to live with that.



The most southern part of the front has good news, too. OHK believes, that the red army will retreat here, too.



Luftwaffe:

We’re loosing the war in the sky. 63:128 – our causalities are climbing, well, sky high.

[Cfant]

Destroyed:

0 NVKD-Units(24)
0 Artillery (11)
3 Infantry-Divisions (70)
0 Tank-Divisions (19)
0 mechCorps (7)
0 Corps-HQ (8)
0 Air Brigade (1)

and several small units.

Well, and then the OKH presents the own casualities...

[Cfant]

In our soap „Good times, bad times“, we can proud present the „good times“. Victories on all fronts, one could say. At least, if we talk about north and south and ignore the middle part of the front.

In the south the enemy flees and we capture whatever we find. Nearly 30 divisions of the Red Army are destroyed, the Russian north fleet either. Buarhahrahrhar!



Heeresgruppe Nord:

Narva i staken. The Kriegsmarine engages the russian fleet. One heavy cruiser is damaged, but the Russians loose one cruiser, one destroyer and a battleship. Our JU-87 do the rest and sink 5 destroyers. Two Russian fleet-counters are disolved.



Heeresgruppe Mitte:

Nothing new.

Heeresgruppe Süd


Here the hardest fighting is done. Kiev is besieged and cut off from supply.



South of Kiev large numbers of Sowjets are forced to surrender.



Here the most important cauldron. All this troops were destroyed this turn.



We’re going east again…



Luftwaffe: 68:152.

OKH believes, that about 20 or 30 more divisions are trapped. General Cfant is pleased – a seldom moment. The Wehrmacht will be eating goulash out of a copper kettle, one could say…



Destroyed enemy units:

Feindverluste:

2 NVKD-Units (26)
1 Artillery (12)
20 Infantry-Divisions (90)
1 Tankdivisions (20)
3 mechCorps (10)
1 Corps-HQ (9)
2 Air Brigade (3)

and four other divs (Cavalry, etc...)

[Cfant]

Turn 18:

The offensive has stalled everywhere. Leningrad, well, will stay Russian, I guess. Maybe I should play WitP, because sinking ships is the only thing that works according to plan [;)]



The enemy has partly three defensive lines. Should be forbitten! I don’t think, that I can achieve a breakthrough against such masses.





The Russian hordes only have supersoldiers in their ranks. A MG-Regiment holds against 8 (!) attacks of armored forces. So a breakthrough to open ground is denied (again). Kharkov is quite far away, the Führer orders large numbers of Zyankali already.



In the south the OKH should have sent much more troops. A desperate offensive starts, after a lot of artillery is brought in. In best WW I – style thousands of brave men die to get 2 or 3 hexes.
Oh,oh. Doesn’t look bright, the future of the German Empire [;)]

[Cfant]

The apokalypse is on the way. Unstoppable, as I may ad. We have August, 31st, 1941 – and the Wehrmacht is in the state of late 1944… ouch!

The best are dead – dying at the three-tiered defensive lines of my enemy. In desperation I launched a landing operation against Archalgans (would give -5 supply to the Russians and was defended by just one unit), but it worked out badly. My boys take a bath, I fear. An ETE the turn before costed an SS and a PzGrenReg-unit. Sounds bad? Not really. The real bad news are, that an Panzerdivision has evaporated in an attack. And a scout (who will not be reconstituted). But I have positive news either: It’s just a game, thank god for that! [&o]

I’ll try a last offensive towards Stalino and Kharkov. But defeat is at hand.



Although the enemay bleeds (6 Infdivs, 1 Ari, 1 Airbrigade and other units this turn), we no longer can deny:



Just 100 KM from Leningrad



History has spoken it’s verdict. I have *hüstelhüstel*

200 HRS

On hand. And yes, I know, that’s not much! [:D]´



No problem, I guess. The time of revenge will come!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf_i-MrfzaE

[Cfant]

An ETE on turn 23 doesn’t really help the german war effort.

The situation:

Leningrad:



Raum Kiev:

The brave defenders go down. Nothing to eat since weeks brings them down The latest offensive led to some cauldrons. Won’t really hurt the Russians…



Süden:



And so, what do we learn from that war?

"Russia is no land, one can simply conquer, at least not with the forces of European nations. Such a land can only be brought down by own weakness and inner troubles. "

True, Mr. Clausewitz, absolutely true!