FITE: '41 Winter Offensive Onwards

[Jdub]

Okay, sorry about not updating this AAR in awhile.  I said in my last post that I had intended to focus on specific campaigns that went on in the period between the soviet winter offensive and case blau.  I've decided that instead of showing the slow boring battles that ate up many troops during that period, I'm going to skip that entirely and start posting some post Case Blau stuff. 

Since the first soviet winter offensive, I have learned some new tactics. In addition, the soviet army has vastly increased in size and has replaced nearly all of its artillery. This has allowed me to stop my opponents Case Blau offensive in its tracks and leave him with a worn out understrength Wehrmacht.

The buildup to the 1942-43 winter offensive will certainly be an interesting time and if all goes well, I am hoping to force a German surrender by late 43/early 44. Screenies are coming soon!

[Panama]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Good AAR. Thanks for posting it. Um...I found an HQ unit on the front lines. Are you sure that's necessary. There's some support squads in HQ unit that are vital for supply maintenance and if they go the supply system can't work efficiently for those units supplied by that HQ unit. At least that's my understanding. What's underneath that HQ unit anyway?

9.1.7
"HQ Bias Effects
The level of resupply possible for a unit increases by 50% if a
cooperative Headquarters unit is located with or adjacent to a
unit. See Cooperative Units (8.6.1).

If a Headquarters unit assigned to a Formation is destroyed, or if
any assigned Support squads have been eliminated, the Formation’s
Supply Distribution Efficiency is reduced. You should protect
your Headquarters units to avoid these serious disruptions
to unit resupply."

All German units are Free Support:

8.6.1
"Formation Support Scope
- Free Support: Units assigned to the Formation may freely cooperate
with any other units."

I'm not sure if the loss of support squads would matter that much since the units could derive supply from any HQ in the German Army. I'd be just as concerned about the loss of artillery but Willie has been playing the Axis side alot so I guess he should know what he's doing. [;)]

If the scenario designer wanted to make German HQ more important he would have put Command Squads in them as well just as he did with the Soviet HQ units. As it is they aren't alot different than artillery units. (IMO)

[Da_Huge_D]

ORIGINAL: Panama

Willie has been playing the Axis side alot so I guess he should know what he's doing. [;)]

I definitely don't agree. My last game with Willie was little bit... Um... Success for me. I played as Soviets. Willie as axis. Willie used that same tactic; using HQ's in frontline and all cities what he got during the whole game was Minsk. YES, only Minsk. My lines didn't broke at any point. If someone wants i could post some screenies, but i don't think that's necessary.

So my point: Tactic using HQ's in frontline DOESN'T just work.

[Panama]

ORIGINAL: Da_Huge_D

ORIGINAL: Panama

Willie has been playing the Axis side alot so I guess he should know what he's doing. [;)]

I definitely don't agree. My last game with Willie was little bit... Um... Success for me. I played as Soviets. Willie as axis. Willie used that same tactic; using HQ's in frontline and all cities what he got during the whole game was Minsk. YES, only Minsk. My lines didn't broke at any point. If someone wants i could post some screenies, but i don't think that's necessary.

So my point: Tactic using HQ's in frontline DOESN'T just work.

Didn't say it does. Only said it was his business how he played the game. I'm not one to tell others their play style is right or wrong. If he's having fun what business is it of mine how he does it? I'm not the TOAW Cops.

[Jdub]

Turn 116:

The overall situation is very good. During case blau Willie launched a major offensive in the south as well as attacking in some other places all over the board. At first, he managed to break my lines in a couple places but these were quickly patched up and in the end, the offensive slowed and then halted.

Right now, most of his units (especially in the south) are at what I'm guessing to be about half strength or lower.

Nowadays, the lutwaffe pretty much ceases to exist except for the occasional interdiction run. Because of this, my aircraft are free to roam the skies wreaking havoc on his rail net.

First lets start with an overview of the front. The black line shows what the front looked like in the south before Case Blau.

[Jdub]

Here's the Stalino Bulge. Willie and I fought desperately for every hex and traded some pretty heavy casualties. I think that I lost about 25,000 rifle squads total during case blau which pretty much ate up all the reserves I had accumulated during winter. I have no idea what German losses were but I'm sure that they were severe.

Fortunately for me, I'm recieving about 1700 rifle squads per turn so I can easily replace my losses. My opponent on the other hand recieves less than 1/3 of that and his rail net is being shattered by my heavy bombers meaning that supply is going to be pretty low especially during winter.

[Jdub]

Here along the Oskol River, My troops are on the offensive again.

My troops in this sector outnumber the enemy by about 2 to 1. However, if they were at full strength, it would be more like 3.5 to 1.

[Jdub]

Here are some losses. I've lost a lot of troops but I'm doing pretty well replacing them. My stock of Rifle Squads just ran dry so now I'm running on the replacement rate only.

[pionier]

You are doing pretty well, awaiting your offensive soon

[Jdub]

The first nicely-sized offensive of the Late Summer to Mid Fall campaigning season has begun! I am envisioning several offensives that can be launched around this time in order to wear the Germans down and to put me in a good position for the coming winter offensive

The first to begin North Oskol offensive operation, begins with an assault against German positions on the northern part of the Oskol River.

[Jdub]

My offensive is progressing pretty nicely. I exploited 2 weak spaces in Willie's line last turn and pocketed a couple regiments. Unfortunately, all of my bombers were put into reorganization this turn meaning that Willie will be able to rush in reinforcements by rail. I'm guessing that by now, most of the German army is committed at the front line so Willie is gonna have to pull some security units out of the rear areas to have any hope of patching this one up.

My losses were extremely heavy: about 4000 rifle squads lost this turn alone. However, I don't really care as they can be easily replaced.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance of the Red Army, at least in this sector. If I can keep the momentum up, I can do some pretty serious damage to the Germans

[Jdub]

Further south, I faced tougher resistance. I was however able to capture a bridge over the Oskol and clear the German bridgehead on the central part of the river. I should be able to begin an assault across the river soon as I have nice reserves waiting in the rear.

I'm guessing that it's going to take me at least 3 or 4 turns to break through German defenses on the west side of the river.

[Jdub]

Turn 120 didn't see as much progress as the previous 2 of the offensive. However, I managed to establish a small bridgehead around Valyuki and my northern pincer is continuing its advance.

I should see some more progress in coming turns as I have brought some reinforcements and my units which were busy mopping up the pocket or in reorganization will be able to my toward the front.

I expect Willie to perform a tactical withdrawl to a straighter line. Already, he has begun to evacuate the northern bridgehead over the Oskol river. Even if he decides not to fully withdraw , I expect my pincers to meet each other in no less than two weeks.

[Jdub]

After a few more turns of heavy fighting in the Oskol sector, Willie manages to pull his weakened troops out of the bulge and all that remains is a little nub in the lines.

I have realized that the only way to achieve success without extremely heavy casualties is to saturate the enemy with artillery and attacks from the air before moving in.

For the moment, I have halted all offensives across the front in order to reorganize and rest my troops.

Now, it is Semptember 2nd. The winter offensive is growing closer and my army is growing bigger every turn. I'm about to launch a new offensive against the Wehrmacht. I can't give away details yet but if this offensive is successful, I am going to be in a good position when winter comes.

Screenshots coming soon

[Jdub]

The offensive has begun!

This time, I have made several adjustments to my attack strategy. Instead of throwing my troops at the enemy regardless of whether there is artillery or air support, I now attack only when I have artillery to fire at the enemy. I spent a couple of rounds pulverizing Willie's lines with heavy artillery and strafing attacks before I threw troops at him.

I also have kept several armies in reserve to feed in when my shock units get tired.

This shot shows the end of the first week of the offensive. Willie has a lot of troops in this area and the Germans have strong prepared defenses behind the frontline. Nonetheless, overwhelming troop numbers, air power and artillery support are beginning to take their toll on the Germans. I can already see breaks in the lines which are going to be hard for the Germans to fix. The Germans have thrown in all reserves in the close vicinity and may have to send in reinforcements by rail or withdraw to the west side of the lower Oskole River.

So far I have taken light casualties. Although mine are at least 2 times what the German casualties are, I can easily replace my losses while the Germans can't.

I might release further reinforcements in coming turns in order to keep the advance up. Right now though, I am ahead of schedule.

Note: although this picture doesn't really show it... Willie's forces are pretty understrength and battle weary. I have been swapping tired troops for fresh reserves so my troops are doing pretty good. The red line shows the lines before the offensive.

[loveman2]

The germans will give the russians a hard time no matter what ![:-]

[Jdub]

A week later and I am almost ready to begin a cross river assault on the lower part of the Oskole river. I managed to encircle and destroy a lot of Germans clinging to fortifications on the Eastern bank.

I would like to pursue a stronger second half to the offensive which would involve breaking across the river and causing carnage to the Germans... However, Willie has been attacking again in the south and I am planning on a retreat to buy time for me to bring more forces south and stabilize the line near Voroshillograd.

[Jdub]

After debating for a little bit about whether to wait for the winter offensive and build my strength up so that I can launch a destroying blow upon the Wehrmacht in early 1943, or continuing with a new offensive, I opted for continuing my offensive strategy:

Name: Upper Dnieper Strategic Offensive

Start Date: 9/18/42

Forces Involved:

Soviet: 4000 tanks, ~100-150 divisions (~3,000,000 men including non-combat personal), ~1,900 aircraft

German: Unknown Elements of AGS, AGC (est: 350,000 - 500,000 men, 200-250 tanks, 50-100 aircraft)

After seeing heavy casualties and little gain in previous offensives in the south, I have decided to begin a cross front offensive against the Germans and hopefully reach the two major obstacles between me and the Reich: the Pripyatt marshes and the Dnieper river.

Here is a shot of the progress so far and what I am hoping to acomplish. In some sectors, the Germans are close to a total collapse while others are being slowly ground down. Willie sent a panzer division to the front last turn but it's not going to be enough to stop the offensive

[loveman2]

A panzer division may not stop the soviets but it will give them a hard time[;)]

[Jdub]

The 42 winter offensive is about to begin. The Wehrmacht has retreated from the Voroshillovgrad salient in southern Russia to the pre case blau lines. Mud ends by the 8th of November and my forces begin racing through the Donbass to the Dnieper. Pics and hopefully movies soon