Eastern Front '41-'45 PbEM - Axis on tour

[Cfant]

Hi guys!

OKH has called General Cfant for a new duty. This time he has to conquer Russia, should be an easy task [:D]

I'm playing against an opponent from the german forum, it's Eastern Front '41-'45 for v. 3.4. Fabio asked me to post a few pictures here to show the interesting developments of this game.

Knowing the outcome in real life, I commanded a few panzertroops vom HGN to HGS. My plan was to get to the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow and set the main blow in the south. I wanted to take the industrial centres early enough to permanently reduce Soviet production. Needless to say, this goal was NOT achieved [:-]

Togehter with my opponent I make a little AAR in the same thread in the german forum, so some pictures are very small for military security reasons. [;)]

The starting operations went according to plan. In heavy fighting, on 20th of July Kiev was taken by troops of HGS. Mr. Supersmart Cfant had thought Kiev to be industrial center, while it is a manpower-center "only". Well, well, 9000 Landsers dead for nothing [:'(]




Odessa had fallen to Rumanians a week earlier. With german support, that is.



The same day the HGC is only 30 kilometers from Smolensk after a quick victory in the battle of Minsk.



It's a fast advance at all.

[Cfant]

The germans achieve some victories, on 10th of August, OKH declares the Djnepr-battle to have ended. Heavy russian casualities.



On August, 24th, the Wehrmacht approaches Moscow. Not alone, as can be seen. Soviet clone-labs have produced masses of Russians [;)]I do not plan to take on the city, so it's a stop here.



Better to look on HGS: Several main cities are taken, the defenders are outflanked and have to surrender.



Lacking troops, the Soviets have abandoned the south and Panzergruppe 2 rolls into Stalino without a fight. Rostov is defended well, it takes some weeks, but again the germans are victorious.

[Cfant]

Most interesting is the battle of Leningrad. Please remember, HGN has been weakened for a stronger push in the south. So she has lower numbers, bad terrain and determined russian defenders to face.



Things heat up on September, 7th. OKH is shocked when looking on the map:



2 Corps, 1 Tankdivision and the Totenkopfdivision are cut off [X(] Yes, gentlement, we face a real soviet counterattack! Is this the end of HGN? [&:]

Victory and defeat are a matter of luck, sometimes. An ETE on this turn, and the fight in the north could haven been over for the axis. But everything goes well, the troops are rescued, the front reestablished, and, even better, Volkhov is in german hands, cutting the supply for Leningrad.



My opponent has risked to much. Leningrad is doomed now, 8 armies, 2 MechCorps and some other units have no longer a chance to escape. On turn 19, when Rasputiza ended, the city was taken, lowering Soviet industrial output for a very welcomed 15%.

[Cfant]

That's been the good news. The bad:

Brace yourselfes, winter is coming!

What does it mean? It means 40% shock bonus for the red army, and this is for 5 turns, if I remember right. [X(] I want my mommy! [;)] We are on turn 22 at the moment, turn 24 is the hour of truth. Am I prepared? Yes. no. maybe.

Problem is, we played according to rules, which allow bridge bombing until the end of october. Therefore, my units have been (nearly) unsupplied for a lot of turns. The winter offensive starts at the beginning of december, so a lot of units will still be low on readiness, when the red storm arrives. On the other hand: I knew that, for I have played the soviets before (against the same opponent) and have crushed his HGC (totally)and his HGS (mostly) in the winteroffensive. So I have stopped operations early on (when my goals were achieved).

Fighting in the HGN has mainly stopped on turn 19 with the fall of Leningrad. Intelligence is guessing, that this front could be a main sector for the upcoming soviet offensive. Therefore I could not yet transfer as many troops from here as I wished - they are depleted and the Fins can't dig in fast enough.



HGC: I still have troops before Moscow, but the more valuable units will retreat to the main line of defense next turn. Only small contingents will cover the retreat and have to face the unleashing soviet storm. Truth told: I do not expect a major soviet blow here, but better be prepared, hm?



The HGS. Same here. I want the russians to have to come to me for their attack, not starting from prepared positions. Some roadblocks shall cost the first soviet wave some drive and then, if surving, hopefully retreat behind the main frontline to rest and recover. Please note, that at Kursk and Vyazama-Smolensk I have some tank units as a mobile reserve to hopefully prevent a major soviet breakthrough.

[Cfant]

Losses so far:

GE Heavy Squads: 12.614
Tanks: over 900 (about 1/3 of the total amount)
Aircraft: about 440 - quite low, I think [:)]

[governato]

Nice work! The Red Army is probably a bit weak..will see how the blizzard goes! I think STAVKA could have saved Leningrad just by moving one army out and East from the city itself...

In the scenario Leningrad has a soviet supply point, but it is removed if the city and port of Volkhov is conquered. This approach brings in the possibility of an historical Leningrad siege.



Just a small correction: your *real* tank losses are a lot higher, my guess around 1200-1400 panzers. 'East Front' models operational losses due to movement
by including an 'attrition unit' on the lower left of the map. That unit cannot be reached and it is in garrison mode, but it has a high priority for replacements, so whenever some tank squads accumulate in your pool..it will absorb a fraction. It is the best way to remove obsolete tanks from the fighting units. The 'attrition unit' is withdrawn in Spring 42, with all its tanks.. The Red Army has one such unit as well.

[Cfant]

Your words are sad - and true. Still, I can't influence the attrition losses (very cool way to simulate attrition, by the way!), so I concentrate on the fighting-losses.

It's funny, how historical the match is so far. Here pictures of the real life front end of november/start of december and the ingame-situation.

[Cfant]

Here the attrition losses. Sad. [:@][;)]

[governato]

Pretty close! But you do not lose sleep with those gaps in the line?

[Cfant]

Should I? [:D]

Of course I do. Still, I have some guesses, where Amman will strike (due to the replay-movements). Rostov is estimated, Leningrad/Volkhov for sure (1st Shockarmy seen there). Moscow aera I expect to stay calm.
And, even more important, I got a lot of russian counters in my campaign. He simply cannot have SO much in the south, if he attacks Leningrad. Even more, there will be no gaps in the center, when the offensive starts. Several movements are planned on turn 23, with HQs standing ready to support fortifications.



Still, I could have had a stronger frontline when retreating before. I decided not to do, taking the risk of a weaker main line of defense. Russian intelligence is weak in '41, so kepping him away will cover my weak points from him. And I don't want him to immediatly attack, he is welcome to walk a few hexes if he wishes to attack me
Please note, that only one or two armoured units have to serve in the main line of defense. The rest is in reserve.
The goal is not preventing the line to break; 40 points of shock - I cannot hope the line will hold. The goal is to have him open for counterattacks after his 5 turns of terror [;)]

[governato]

ORIGINAL: Cfant2

Should I? [:D]

Of course I do. Still, I have some guesses, where Amman will strike (due to the replay-movements). Rostov is estimated, Leningrad/Volkhov for sure (1st Shockarmy seen there). Moscow aera I expect to stay calm.
And, even more important, I got a lot of russian counters in my campaign. He simply cannot have SO much in the south, if he attacks Leningrad. Even more, there will be no gaps in the center, when the offensive starts. Several movements are planned on turn 23, with HQs standing ready to support fortifications.



Still, I could have had a stronger frontline when retreating before. I decided not to do, taking the risk of a weaker main line of defense. Russian intelligence is weak in '41, so kepping him away will cover my weak points from him. And I don't want him to immediatly attack, he is welcome to walk a few hexes if he wishes to attack me
Please note, that only one or two armoured units have to serve in the main line of defense. The rest is in reserve.
The goal is not preventing the line to break; 40 points of shock - I cannot hope the line will hold. The goal is to have him open for counterattacks after his 5 turns of terror [;)]

You are very wise! If you look at my game vs Telumar (alas stopped at turn 30) he had started digging in around turn 20 as you, and the Red Army only made operational gains,
retaking some important rail lines, but nothing too dangerous for the Axis. In other games where the Axis pushed till turn 24...it did not work out so well for them. But it is hard to know when to stop!

[Cfant]

HGC achieved its strategic goals around turn 12. It stopped then already. Bridge bombing left it with a supply level of 4-5 most of the time... Amman even blew bridges, which were guarded by flak and two fighter-counters. (I did the same when I played the SU, so no offense against Amman [;)]). Only when bridge bombing ended (end of october) some units became "green" in readiness again.
I'm absolutly with you - bridge bombing should be forbidden. I had bad luck with my repair-attempts - HGN and HGC were cut off for three weeks once. Bridge blowing by retreating units should stay allowed in my oppinion.

In HGS the main line stopped fighting about Rasputiza and started to dig in. I really fear the winter offensive [:D]

[governato]

ORIGINAL: Cfant2

I'm absolutly with you - bridge bombing should be forbidden. I had bad luck with my repair-attempts - HGN and HGC were cut off for three weeks once. Bridge blowing by retreating units should stay allowed in my opinion.

In HGS the main line stopped fighting about Rasputiza and started to dig in. I really fear the winter offensive [:D]

I will add a short post on the scenario thread to that extent and modify the pdf accordingly: no bridge blowing from air units (currently air units are allowed to blow bridges until turn 13). I think at this scale
it's just too gamey.

[Cfant]

Winteroffensive of the Red Army has hit the Wehrmacht. Here the highwater-mark of the Soviet offensive (January, 4th 1942):

North: The Reds got to the outskirts of Leningrad [X(]



Center:




South:



Most surprising: An outbreak from the Crimean. [&o] Good move, took me by surprise and won some ground for the SU. While the Reds retreated elsewhere, my opponent continued the offensive here and even cut off my railways on 11/01/42:



If it's worth the troops he commited to this task I don't know. It was a suicide command, only to hamper supplys for a few turns, but costed him several troops, including 200-300 tanks. But all in all, a nice move [:)]

[Cfant]

To strike a balance: I was dug in, I had mostly good readiness, I got kicked ass [:D] Before the offensive I had lost 12000 squads, after the offensive: 24000 squads. These 5 weeks costed me so many men like the 6 month before. Active squads are down to 30.000.
My tank losses I refuse to look at [:-] Hey, who could know, that after fall a winter would come? I'm a general, not a meteorologist! [:D]

So, what to do now? Didn't take me long to think about it. My troops are down, but the Soviets are either. And many of them are bad supplied, have weak flank-security, they have less reserves ready and resting won't help me know, until rails are repaired. So: attack and get any Russian you can, then rest, then start a sommer-offensive to force the SU to surrender. Sounds like a plan, hm? [;)]

And here we go (January 25th, 1942):

North: Front stable.

Center:



South:



My opponent fears an all-out attack on Moscow and thinks his position critical at the moment. Well, my troops are to weak to break a front at the moment. They just can capture depleted russian counters. And I think, the sommer activity will aim to the caucasus. But not decided, yet.

By the way, I mentioned to Fabio several times, that the winter-offensive is too strong. I'm not longer so sure, but I think, Fabio is right. Of course, the axis have to be well prepared and to plan on it early, but the russians have to consider well, too. My opponent has suffered quite some casualities in the few turns after his offensive. The winter may hit the germans hard, but leaves the Reds vulnerable everywhere, where they could not kill off the germans.

So: A new year - hopefully successful for the Reich [;)]

[Cfant]

Before:



After:

[governato]

You are back in front of Moscow! So much for complaining about the blizzard .
Be careful though, losses are higher when supply is low and infantry is your Achille's heel, so to speak.

[Josh]

The Caucasus in '42? Nooo not again! [;)]

What German General said; No enemy in front of me, no reserves behind me?

Good luck.

[Cfant]

ORIGINAL: governato

You are back in front of Moscow! So much for complaining about the blizzard .
Be careful though, losses are higher when supply is low and infantry is your Achille's heel, so to speak.

I'm an Austrian, we always complain in advance My infantry is quite low, on the other hand, a lot of russian troops was killed - so it's worth the price, I guess. I hope. I really hope, it's worth the price

ORIGINAL: Josh

The Caucasus in '42? Nooo not again! [;)]

What German General said; No enemy in front of me, no reserves behind me?

Good luck.

But this time, there are reserves, a bunch of them. The Rumanians. They will guard my flanks. So - what could ever happen now? [:'(]

Turn 33 (Feb, 1st, 1942): The german counteroffensive is over. From Lake Ilmen to the black sea, several armies of the Reds are destroyed. Still, my opponent managed to evacuate his more valuable troops, e.g. the shockarmies. Still, it was quite a punch and opens a lot of possibilities.

My army is depletet, low on men, and will rest now. It will take some turns to reunite the split units and send everyone to where I want him - quite a task, as I still don't know where I want anybody.

Only region where I will march on without a break: The caucasus. No enemy before me! [;)]



Maikop will fall next turn, Novorossomething soon, which will be the end of the communist rule of the crimea. [;)]

[Cfant]

@Fabio: I soon get AGN Reserves - are they thought to be disbanded to get men to my troops?