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Howdy! This is the other side of the AAR that HLYA is doing, "Screaming for Vengeance". Let's see if we can keep him out of Berlin! 2 1/2 years and something like 120 hexes to go!

At the outset, the Axis is presented with several problems even aside from the pocket around 6th Army. The Soviet set-up is not ideal, but it's amazing compared to the Axis set-up, and I'm not just talking about the brilliant idea of having Axis Allies protect the flanks around 6th Army.

Generally, Axis dispositions are:

--Nearly all Panzer units are 60% strength, and infantry is all 70-80% strength; hardly any units are full strength. The manpower and equipment pools are pretty much empty.
--Nearly all Axis armies are overloaded from a command standpoint, except for 4th Romanian. Alot of this can be cleared up by consolidating Regiments, and the Soviets will help clear that up with 6th Army....
--The Axis is committed to crazy salients up north, with plenty of troops to defend good defensive terrain. Meanwhile in the south, there's no reserves, nothing.....so right away the Germans have to start moving units south, and the best source are armies in Army Groups North and Center.
--1st Panzer and 17th Army are pushed way forward in the Caucausus

Given the total lack of viable units south of Kharkov once 6th army is encircled, it is vital that the Axis get units moving to the area around the Rostov/Donets/Don Bend area and set up a viable defense.

So, the Axis priorities right away are very clear:

1. Withdraw from pointless salients; Demyansk, Rhzev, and the Caucausus.
2. Use the freed-up units to form new armies in the Rostov area.
3. Look for opportunity to counterattack and relieve Stalingrad; if not feasible, at least form a defense of the Donbas
4. Do what we can to help the Kessel hold out as long as possible, tying down Stalingrad Front. This will buy us some time.

Broadly, that's what needs to happen early, so let's get to it!!

T-2 North

In this scenario, there is no Axis Turn 1, so this is the first chance I get to do something.

Up North, the priority is to straighten the line and get units moving south. Need to be careful as you don't want to strip too much to encourage Soviet offensives, but overall the terrain is much better for defense up here, so if we need to find units, this is where they are coming from.

The Demyansk pocket will take a few turns to extract, but there are many good units there.

Pulling back from Rhzev is a no-brainer, IMO. We will form a new line to cover Vyazma for now.

We also have to be careful how many units we put on the rails; don't want to blow-up rail capacity, but need to get them moving south. We put a couple elite units on REFIT to get them filled-up before moving out.

Attacks in this sector were limited to the V-L area; V-L was taken by assault (Russians can easily do this Turn 1, it's a no-brainer move). He also routed a couple LW Field Regts. No attacks near Rhzev, so looks like Mars called-off. He's either delaying it, or moving those troops elsewhere......

T-2 South

...and here is the main event. HYLA made an excellent pocket, totally unbreakable this turn; I tried a couple attacks out toward the south, but didn't rout the Tank Brigades there. At that point, it was clear it wasn't happening, so instead I moved the depleted Romanian units that HYLA routed into the pocket to the perimeter.....they have little combat value and are just useless mouths to feed.

Not counting the Romanians, there are 203,000 men and 279 AFVs in 6th Army, that's what is stuck in the Kessel.....you can see on the graphic, we have 31,400 tons of supplies stored.

Stalingrad Airways begins direct service, with daily flights from Tatinskaya to Pitomnik and Gumrak!

Caucausus Plans

We are pulling out of the whole Caucasus, no reason to keep a Kuban bridgehead or anything like that. We are going to pull out all the way to the Kerch straits in stages.

4th Romanian Army HQ is sent South; eventually, 4th Romanian will hold the Crimea and the Straits with Romanian units, and a couple re-habbing German ones. 17th Army HQ and troops will gradually move to Rostov. The mobile units of First Panzer are already off the line headed elsewhere to possible relief attempt, and the infantry, CAV, and mountain will be left to screen the Soviets of Transcaucus Front. We plan not to fight at all, just trade space for time......

Maybe change the Romanian supply priority to none.

T-3, Kessel

There were very few attacks in this sector, really only against the Kessel; HLYA did manage to destroy 3 Regts West of the Don (those units start very exposed), and all the Romanian units left in the Kessel. Otherwise the perimeter is holding for now.

Stalingrad Airlines flew in 800 tons, but we lost 45 transport planes; HLYA did a very good job with putting aircover over the pocket. I had to pull my Bf-109s in the pocket after this turn, as the airfields are threatened, and I don't want to lose them on the ground.

We still have 29000 tons, so we are halting transport flights after this turn. I don't think we're going to run out of supplies, I think we'll be reduced first.

I have never seen the Kessel hold to the historical date (end of January), so really just hoping to get into January. It's important to hold-out as long as possible, so that Stalingrad Front is tied-up, and the Soviets can't use the rail lines.

T-3 North

Also very few attacks up north, only in the V-L sector. Western Front starts with large reserves of Tanks and Rifle Corps, so there is no doubt in my mind that HLYA is building up for a major assault elsewhere, and it's not here. I expect a major attack against the Italians and Hungarians, as well as a big push toward Orel......it only makes sense.

I have moved some reserves into those sectors, bolstering the Italians and also 2nd Army. There's only so much you can do as Axis at this point, so we'll just have to do the best we can!

Replacements and Refit:

I am making sure to REFIT a few units each turn; I need to be able to REFIT some of the Infantry to keep the line sound, though I am prioritizing REFIT for mobile and high-morale formations.

The Axis are critically short of ARTILLERY in the pool, particularly the Romanians. I am loathe to DISBAND Axis units since you can't build more, but I may be forced to disband some of the Romanian Artillery Bns just to provide some replacements for the divisions. I'll probably post later on how I think about managing Axis Allies; they are tough to use, but you still have to figure out how to get the best out of them.

T-4 North

Kalinin Front (I assume it's that one) continues attacks south of V-L; they really pummelled several LW units. I am pulling most of the LW off the line to use as diggers, it would be a waste of replacements at this point to rebuild those units.

Reinforcements are on the way from a couple sectors, mostly from units pulling out of the Demyansk pocket; that pullback will be complete in a couple turns.

REFIT Plan

I am also making sure to rotate units through REFIT. Priority is given to Panzer and Motorized Infantry formations, though I am also refitting regular Infantry. We do not have enough guns and AFVs to go around, but will have to make-do for now. The AFV situation should improve in the spring, once the Motorized Infantry divisions swap the Panzer Battalion for more plentiful STUGs.

I am keeping a couple full-strength infantry divisions on the rails as "rapid reaction" force. Most mobile units are not on front line, but rather on RESERVE, backing up the infantry. I have a concentration of Panzers in the South at the moment, will probably continue that, though every sector will need a Panzer Corps of some sort

T-4 South

Operation Winter Storm? More like a light dusting.

This turn we started relief attacks toward Stalingrad. After just a handful, it became obvious that HLYA has the whole space between me and Stalingrad covered with small units; every attack triggered RESERVE activations, often from 1/3 of a Tank Corps. I can make progress pretty easily, but after a couple of these could tell that we were going to run out of steam before reaching the pocket. That is the worst result, because it would leave my guys exhausted and exposed to counterattack.

You can't see it on the screenshot because with blizzard conditions I can't run any recon, but I know that's the case. There are strong units arrayed against the Kessel, so even getting close I would have to blast through that last line to get there. Then what? Without a very broad breakthrough, I would not be able to extract the units anyway, as they would be ZOC-locked and unable to move more than a hex a turn (except for 29th Motorized).

So, tough call, but decided to halt relief attempts, and keep my powder dry for the inevitable push on Rostov.

Life in the Kessel:

Soviets are going all-out to reduce the Kessel; this turn more heavy attacks. We have halted supply flights, since I am going to lose the airbases anyway before they run out of supplies.

The pocket is down to 188,000 men and 214 AFVs. I anticipate this will end at the end of December at this rate.

There has been no activity at all between Orel and Stalingrad; the Hungarians and Italians are biding time. I am sure there are forces building-up to attack. We have sent reinforcements, but there isn't enough to go around and call anything "safe". The lack of activity may also be a by-product of HLYA's focus on reducing the Kessel; not a bad idea, as he is going to have alot of troops free the beginning of January, just in time for all the rivers to freeze.....

I look forward to the next steps with the greatest interest ... [:)]

This one is closed, sadly.....I can post a couple extra turns, HLYA did a great job with early liquidation of the Stalingrad pocket, but that was it. I just posted for another game

Thanks for sharing this. One reason it was great was that it wasn't another GC '41. Enjoyed the later start date.