Why is Encirclement not working?

[captaincrazy]

So, I'm playing the Teruel Scenario as the Republicans, and very early in, I managed to cut off the city from the north. There are no longer any nationalist-controlled roads, rail pathways, or hexes adjacent to Teruel. By all accounts, the city should be completely cut off, and according to the manual, should be suffering a crap ton of attrition from that. But after almost two weeks and a half dozen attempts to storm it, not only do the defenders not seem to be weakened, but they are actually executing successful shock attacks against completely fresh forces of roughly the same size. What's going on here? How are they not out of ammo and drowning in untreated casualties + broken equipment? I feel like I'm missing something, but I've no idea what that is.

[Piteas]

Historically, the defenders held out in the small city for three weeks; there were about 4,000, many of them volunteers. But I don't know how many were besieged in your game. Of course, their morale is high.
On the other hand, Teruel, being a strategic crossroads, had supplies stored. So the Republicans decided to take it by storm. The siege could be long and there wasn't much time.
Teruel is a hilly city with thick buildings, some of which have been converted into fortresses. They had to be taken one by one. That's (and the cold) why it's called the "Spanish Stalingrad."

It will cost casualties, many casualties.

But the main target in this scenario is: Teruel falls into your hands and the nationalists don't recapture it.

[captaincrazy]

Historically, the defenders held out in the small city for three weeks; there were about 4,000, many of them volunteers. But I don't know how many were besieged in your game. Of course, their morale is high.
On the other hand, Teruel, being a strategic crossroads, had supplies stored. So the Republicans decided to take it by storm. The siege could be long and there wasn't much time.
Teruel is a hilly city with thick buildings, some of which have been converted into fortresses. They had to be taken one by one. That's (and the cold) why it's called the "Spanish Stalingrad."

It will cost casualties, many casualties.

But the main target in this scenario is: Teruel falls into your hands and the nationalists don't recapture it.

Ah. I don't know a lot of SCW history, so I was unaware of the specifics surrounding that battle. What you said makes a lot of sense. Guess I've played too much WITE2, where even a city gives up very quickly if completely cut off. Guess I just need to devote a lot more resources to assaulting Teruel than before.

[Dali101]

Yes, it is true that it works a little differently here than in
AE. It is for a longer period of time. If you want to take the city quickly and on the move, then deploy a division against a battalion.
Otherwise, prepare for many weeks of fighting, heavy artillery is very suitable.

[MoorishBandit]

Depending on the replacement model you have selected, encircled forces within a base can replace any destroyed or missing squads by spending supply.
This can be really annoying when you're trying to take a well-fortified base because the enemy can just replace their losses immediately and it will seem like your constant attacks and bombardments are doing nothing.
It's a double-edged sword though since it drains supply from the city faster and it also causes more squads to be encircled. Eventually they will run out of supply and their AV will drop like a rock.

[RangerJoe]

Depending on the replacement model you have selected, encircled forces within a base can replace any destroyed or missing squads by spending supply.
This can be really annoying when you're trying to take a well-fortified base because the enemy can just replace their losses immediately and it will seem like your constant attacks and bombardments are doing nothing.
It's a double-edged sword though since it drains supply from the city faster and it also causes more squads to be encircled. Eventually they will run out of supply and their AV will drop like a rock.

Unless air transport are dropping supplies, if they can bring in supplies by ship as well that can make the siege longer, plus another unit breaking the siege can allow supplies in and/or the units to flee.