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Via an exchange of ALT Rs, the attached statistics are made available to you. attached file should be zipped version of an excel file.

It includes stats of Mar 42 vs Dec 42 German and Russian production, unit quantity and military investment. Military Investment is simply unit type x unit cost.

To my mind, it supports the German strategic defensive position since Dec 41. ie. extremely rare attacks by German forces.

Comments and clarification of the levels of shatter on West/South fronts are requested.

The text of the message i sent to my opponent follows :

I undertook to create stats for our game...both along the method you used, as well as a method i had used(not sure if provided to you before).

Russian Land Reinforcements in the pool have increased enormously since Mar 42. Likewise, artillery, anti-tank, and flak. I suppose this was to be expected.

My continuing 20% bonus on experience for both armour and infantry helps in specific battles. One would expect quantity to have some impact. Perhaps this is why i feel forced to only defend. The German rapier against the Russian horde.

The production difference is not as bad as i had feared...but it bodes ill for the future. My 22% increase vs your 40% increase. You had started from a higher base...so you increased from 108% of German production to 125% of me now. I shudder to think what the ratio will be in 1944. Allied bombing will begin to tell some time. They recently managed 2 successful raids into Germany...despite having about 5 fighters intercept them via CAP.

On the military investment side, i went down from 61% of you to some 55% of you.

On the basis of the above, i conclude that my strategic defensive posture is the correct orientation for the German forces. With entrenchment effects, there is some hope that i can hold out. I suspect this will be dashed by the increasing requirements for troops in the West and South to maintain those fronts. If the Russians ever get their steam-roller rolling(sequential attacks turn after turn against un-entrenched troops), i do not expect the Germans to be able to halt their advance. A major trade-off of West/South fronts vs Russians is in the offing. I am uncertain how i will react.

I will have to consult the web to investigate the effects of West/South fronts shattering.



Mike B @ Dec 42 decision time.
Comments and clarification of the levels of shatter on West / South fronts are requested.

Mike,

I would strongly recommend trying to meet the minimum strength levels, or close to it, in these fronts until 1943 in the South and 1944 in the West. If nothing else, they are good places for rebuilding units, brigades, Italians, etc. Come 1943, there will be events in the South unless you put the strongest units you have there, which is a waste of good troops. So you may want to cut back on the strength committed for use elsewhere, as the units will shatter anyway eventually.

However, you don't want to strip the front (and the West front is in the same situation in 1944) too low, as the next event will start being checked more quickly the weaker the front is when it shatters. Then when the South front is pushed back to mainland Italy (not Sicily), or the West front is pushed out of Normandy, it becomes very important to build the fronts back up to be above the allied strength or the fronts could collapse again, which will quickly lead to an Allied victory.