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Will be playing the short scenario Red God of War against Sammy5IsAlive. The scenario covers operation Mars, the Soviet offensive in the Rzhev sector in the winter of 1942. It is 10 turns long and the Soviet player has the first go.

We are playing on a beta test version of the game as we were both testers beforehand so dont be suprised by the game version that you will see in the battle reports. The settings are as follows:

-Full Fow,
-Locked HQ Support,
-No Automated AI Air Assist and no Enhanced Player TB Control.

In addition to that we have the following house rules:

-Super Depots are allowed,
-No unit motorization,
-Max of 3 commander changes (to be announced when they are made).

Situation Report

Conditions: Ground-Snow, Air-Snowfall

The Soviets launched 7 attacks against our positions, almost all of them hitting the western part of the Rzhev salient. All 7 attacks succeed and catch our forces off guard. Troops of the 3rd Shock Army have encircled the important town of Velikie Luki while in the north, the 20th Army has reached the outskirts of Sychevka. The enemy has considerable forces in all sectors and outnumbers us in every category, most noticably almost 4:1 in guns and tanks and 2.5:1 in aircraft.

In addition to that, our C&C is a mess with many commands being very overloaded (eg: 9th Army has a 41 CP overload), many units (especially armor and motorized) have low TOEs (in the 40-60% range) and are facing a complete lack of AFV replacements. Manpower replacements are also low.

Starting OOB:



Overloaded Commands:



Infantry TOEs:



However not all is grim. Our commanders are highly skilled and experienced and most of the units are battle tested and resilient (relatively high morale and exp). The terrain and the weather is favorable to us and so are our prepared fortifications. The supply situation is good as we control vital rail lines that go through the salient while also holding on to a section of the Smolensk-Moscow highway.

Commanders:



Positions (weather graphics turned off for clarity) showing the starting situation, with depots, VPs, AOGs, roads and Soviet attacks showing:



Attack on the Velikie Luki outskirts (black arrow on map):



Notice that the Guards Rifle Corps is reinforced by 3 attached tank regiments bringing its total AFV numbers to 144. In comparison, the best equiped German Panzer division (the 19th PD only has 79 tanks.

Panzer divisions and their AFV numbers:



Attacks on the Syechkaya outskirts (black arrow on map):



The orders are to hold on to ALL the marked objectives come hell or highwater. In order to achieve that goal, we will have to go through a reorganzation that allows for a solid defense.

Reorganization and Axis moves

The first thing to do is tweak the Max TOEs of our units. We dont have the manpower or the equipment to keep all formations at 100% TOE so corners have to be cut. Infantry units whose current TOEs range from 17-65 are set to a MAX TOE of 70%. This will ensure that these formations dont pull too much manpower, just enough to keep them as viable combat formations. Another assortment of infantry units (especially ones with strong TOEs) are set between 80-85%.

Infantry elements of the II Corps (defending Demyansk) and VI Corps (defending the northern approaches to Smolensk) are set to 90% Max TOE as these units are in good conditions and it is important for them to remain so. LW Infantry divisions are set to 90% TOE due to how manpower poor these formations are. Ideally they should only be deployed in division strength but the situation does not allow that for now.

Motorized, Armor, Cavalry, HQs, Artillery and Pioneer elements are all set to 100% TOE. Construction (most of them are at 30% strength) are set to 50% Max TOE (the lowest possible). Flak is set at 75% and security units between 75-85%. Understrength SUs are sent to the OKH for R&R.

For the air, JG 54 transfers near Velikie Luki and under the command of Luftflotte 6. JG 51 is moved to Vyazma to be closer to the front.

Starting positions:



Army Group North

AGN suffers from a lack of HQs both Army and Corps level. It has 2 Corp HQs (X and II) and the 16th Army under its commnad. The lack of HQs is reflected in their CPs, all 3 are overburdened. To alleviate that, the II Corps (defending Demyansk and overburdened at 23:9) is transferred directly under AGN and X Corps is reorganized. 16th Army becomes a direct HQ for German forces. The changes bring both X Corps and 16th Army back to normal CP numbers.

II Corps meanwhile will thin down the defending forces in Demyansk to free up reserves and 2 divisions are freed up this week because of this. An exposed position in the North is abandoned and a fortified zone is build in Demyansk to help with the fort building (it is currently at 1.8) as the town is expected to be on the frontline soon. 3 full strength Construction Bns are attached to it and an infantry regiment is moved to the town to help with the digging as well. Together, they sport a 180 construction value.

The corridor to Demaynsk is expected to hold due to the good units defending it and the high fort level. Transport air groups fly 370 tonnes of supply to the airfield this week at the cost of 12 planes lost due to enemy interception.

Before:



After:



FZ:

AGC

The Velikie Luki sector is not doing that good command wise either. The 3 Corps deployed in the area are not subordinated to an Army but directly to AGC. We begin the week with VL cut off and counterattacks have to be organized in order to reestablish the connection to the city.



We have 3 Panzer divisions (197 AFVs in total), 1 Mtn Division and 1 Infantry division in the vicinity. They are organized in their Corps, assigned artillery and Flak elements and the first attack is launched against the 2nd Mechanized Corps, forcing them to pull back with heavy losses. The same fate befalls the 21st Guard Rifle Division. Our losses are heavy too, we lose 53 AFVs to the enemys 133. The successful counterattacks mean that these 2 units wont be a big problem next week but the waiting 5th Guard Rifle Corps and the rest of the 3rd Shock Army sure will. The rest of the holes in the sector are filled in by security or LW regiments.







Further to the north-east the 1st Mechanized Corps is also counterattacked and pushed back, losing half of its AFVs in the process. We lose 32 out of 104. In the Olenino sector we pull back from an exposed position.



In the Rzhev sector there is a lot of movement as formations are transfered to different positions to ensure that the defense is strong all along the line. A strong counterattack takes place in the outskirts of Sychevka, pushing back the 2nd Guard Cavalry Corps and routing the 5th Tank Corps. The enemy loses 75 AFVs, we lose 19. Because of how many enemy forces are concentrated in the area we expect heavy attacks next week and 2 Panzer and 1 Motorized division have been set on reserve to allow quick reaction to any Soviet attempts. Most of the Corps in the area have been transfered to the 3rd Panzer Army, freeing up CP from the 9th Army.

Before:





Rzhev after:



On the right flank, the 4th Army is reinforced with another Corps and its area of operations now streches from Gzhatsk to the north to Kirov (s). 2 counterattacks are launched on exposed Soviet units in order to shorten the front. The Army is overloaded a bit, but since the sector has been quiet so far, I would rather get bad rolls here than in the other areas.

4th Army counterattacks:



After all movement:



Notice all the units sitting on depots and on refit. Hopefully we can bring these formations back to strength fast as we have no time to waste.

T2 Losses



Notice the A2A kills by our pilots. The fighter groups are showing good performance. OP losses on both sides are substantial due to snowfall.



CP situation looking a lot better. 3rd Panzer Army will be made Assault Army next week to allow the armored forces to recover CPP fast and ease the command load.



VP situation:

T3: December 8th 1942

Situation Report:

The 3rd and 4th Shock Armies diverted their focus further to the south of Velikie Luki and have mauled German Luftwaffe and Security elements after heavy attacks. Velikie Luki remains in German hands and has not been cut off this week. Further to the north, two regiments of the 110th Division have been pushed back with heavy losses and the Soviets have reached the outskirts of Olenino. A Soviet attack south of Belyi fails and the enemy took heavy losses in the process.
No attacks reported in the Sychevka sector as the Soviets seem to be reorganizing for another push next week. 5th and 6th Tank Corps have been pulled off the line and intelligence does not have their current location.

Supply situation is good and units put on refit have regained their strength considerably due to the added Ersatz. Perplexing is the fact that neither Rzhev nor Sychevka (which are very important depots) have not received a single ton of supply. We will need to rotate more units to the rear this week to allow their combat strength to grow. 1st Panzer Division which whithstood the attack south of Belyi is in really bad shape at only 32% ready TOE and has only 28! tanks and is a prime candidate to go to the rear.

1st Panzer Division:



Situation at the start of T3:



German Hold marked in black.

Attacks in the VL sector:





JG 54 wrecks havoc on the 3rd Air Army

Mauled German formations in the VL sector:





German hold south of Belyi:



The Soviets lose almost all of their armor in the battle. The attached Flak Regiments do a really good job as tank hunters.

Soviet push on Olenino:



JG 51 mauls the 3rd Air Army.

German moves

The two main objectives of this week are to reinforce the VL and Olenino sector. It is vital that Olenino stays in German hands.

To secure VL we have committed the arriving 5th Jaeger and 18th Motorized division south of the city. 19th Panzer has also been committed to the area and the II LW Field Corps has been reinforced with the freshly arrived 6th LW Division and the replenished 547th Inf Regiment. The Corps is tasked with defending the approach to Vitebsk. The 1st SS Motorized Brigade is being held in reserve in this sector to be able to respond to any Soviet attacks threatening VL. 8th Jaeger Division is expected to arrive next week as well.

VL before and after:





In the Belyi sector, the 1st Panzer Division and 2 regiments of the elite GD Mot. Division are pulled off the line and sent to a rear depot for refit. The replenished 20th Panzer and 10th Motorized divisions take their place. These two units have recovered their combat strength very well in the last week.

Tip: Putting units on refit, in depots with freight and a HQ on them does wonders for replacements. Always make use of it.

In the Olenino sector we have pulled the 2 regiments of the 110th Division of the line. The towns defense has been taken over by the 2nd Panzer Division and the 255th ID of the XXXXVI Pz Corps. The 36th Motorized Division of the same Corps is awaiting in reserve only 10 miles to the east.

In case someone is wondering why the 36th hasnt been commited to the defense but is in reserve: Olenino is a clear hex with no fortifications in it. Meaning that the defending CV will either be the same as the attacking CV or lower so whether a unit reacts from reserve or is already in the hex makes no big difference CV wise. At the same time, the Soviet attack frontage is just 10 miles (1 hex) so I do not believe they will bring enough CV to the battle. As such, the reserve unit is free to react to other attacks (if it passes the rolls).


In the Rzhev area some reorganization is happening and the 9th Pz. Division has been moved to the north to be able to react to Soviet attacks there. The 5th Panzer Division remains in reserve just south of Rzhev and the FBD has been moved to the city. 14th Motorized division has been pulled back for refit and 3rd Panzer Army has been set to assault mode, easing the CP burden on the HQs.

Rzhev sector before and after:





20th Panzer division:



Replacements:



A few words on which units to put on refit: I have grown to really like the Production screen/Ground Elements Map feature that is in the game. It does a really good job at pointing out which units are missing certain equipment. In my case while going through it, I noticed that the 14th MD sticks out like a sore thumb and is really one of the weakest formations I have in the field. As such I pulled them back and set them to refit. Hopefully they will be able to bounce back in short time so they are available for action.

Long story short: Make use of this feature as it is really very helpful.

14th MD:



Lacking MGs and Motorized Squads:





Weather next week is expected to be blizzard which should hamper air operations and should slow the Soviets down.



Improved CP situation:



Except for AGC, 4th Army and II Corps, most HQs are doing quite well in terms of CP. Will see if we can make some more tweaks to improve the situation further.

T3 Losses:

Heavy AFV losses for the Soviets this week and a lot of aircraft shot down by the LW which is showing its strength:





VP situation:



All objectives still in German hands so far.

T4, 15th of December 1942

Heavy snow on the ground and blizzard conditions in the air. Most rivers have frozen except for the Volga in the North (ice level 3). This provides a lot of help for our defenders but wont last long as ice levels are increasing by +2 per week due to the decreasing temperatures and bad weather conditions.

Supply situation is good and replacements are finding their way to the troops set on refit. The same cannot be said for the supply situation of the enemy as intelligence reports many units are in the red when it comes to supply levels (see map).







The TOE of the motorized/armored formations is improving. The low intensity of Soviet attacks is to thank for that.

All 3 Soviet attacks laucnhed last week are repulsed by our troops. The battle to the north-east of Olenino was the bloodiest of them and it was only the quick reaction of the 9th Panzer Division from the reserve which saved the day. Soviet forces are showing impressive unit density especially in the Rzhev and Olenino sector. In the 4th Army sector, the 7th Guards Rifle Corps has been deployed to the front in what looks like the preparation for an offensive in the area.

T4, German moves.

2/93rd ID was attacked last week by 2 Soviet formations but the unit held on with the help of the 203rd Panzer Regiment. The position has been now reinforced by fresh forces and the 2/93rd has been moved further north to a more quiet sector. A regiment is being sent as reinforcement further to the south.

In the VL sector, the enemy has launched no attacks and the 2nd Mechanized Corps and 21st Guards Rifle Division have disappeared from the Soviet OOB. Recon in the area was unable to pinpoint their location although 2 formations have been detected near Toropets but their type or designations are unknown. 8th Jaeger Division relieves the 19th Panzer Division south of VL. Many units in the area are set to reserve in order to help stem any Soviet attacks. The arriving 707th ID is being moved north of Vitebsk. Its job will be to reinforce the VI Corps.

The Corps operating in the sector have been moved under the command of AGN to relieve the load on AGC. The Dvina river is now the separating line between the two Army Groups.



Demyansk sector after:



Notice the supply situation of the Soviet units.

VL at the start of the turn:



VL after German moves:



Soft factors are set to supply.

The 22nd Army attack north-east of Olenino was stopped with heavy losses but they managed to drop the fort level from 2 to 1. The quick reaction of the 9th Panzer division saves the day. The Soviets take heavy losses especially in AFVs. Intelligence predicts that the 3rd Mechanized Corps is severly understrength by now.

Another attack by the 20th Army south-east of Rzhev was stopped short after the Soviet tank raid failed. Only artillery and tanks were commited to the long distance battle, which explains the light losses on both sides. The 1st Air Army was however mauled by JG 51.

The 1st/GD MD is pulled back for refit while the 9th Panzer Division has been commited to the front line north of Olenino. Multiple units in the sector have been set to reserve like the 36th MD, 14th MD and the 5th Panzer Division. More Soviet attacks are expected next week. The refit of 14th MD has done wonders for the unit as its rifle strength has increased dramatically. However there has been no increase in their heavy equipment inventory, last week only 6 light flak guns were added and the shortages of artillery, flak and AFVs are showing.

In the 4th Army secotor the enemy has commited the 7th Guard Rifle Corps to the front and an attack is expected here next week. As a result , the postion is reinforced by the 1/252nd ID and the 2/GD MD in reserve further back. A panzer Battalion has been attached to the 183rd ID to help hold back the Soviet attack.

Rzhev sector before:



Battle north-east of Olenino:



Battle south-east of Rzhev:



Notice that only artillery and AFVs took part in the battle as it was stopped at a long distance.

Rzhev sector after:



14th MD after refit:



Panzer Battalion attached to the 183rd ID:

T4 Losses:

Heavy Soviet losses in AFVs. Our losses in recon planes and especially transports keep increasing. More indication that the escort system is broken: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5049683

Air transport missions:



No idea why the Soviet fighters dont show as in battle. The losses are clearly there.





Ground and air losses:





All transport losses are due to preventable A2A combat.