Defending Mother Russia Saper vs Harrybanana (No Saper)

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Because engineer sapper brigades are a non combat SU. Construction only.

That's a very good reason.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

If his game with Kamil is an indicator, you can expect him to press hard across the Kerch peninsula into the Kuban. I would not hesitate to keep sending what troops you can spare down there to counter his move.

I have two STAVKA Armies there now, but he continues to make slow progress. Since he is not combining this attack with a major assault towards Rostov I don't really know what he hopes to gain.

[Harrybanana]

Turn 52 was a bit the opposite weather wise from the last two turns; clear in the North Soviet Zone and mud in the Central and South Zones. As a result Saper launches a 3 pronged attack in the area from Orel to Voronezh. No disasters to report as he only managed to punch through the first line or two of my defences. I'm actually a bit surprised at how weak his units are. I was expecting him to have several panzer and even infantry divisions with CVs of 15+, but in fact he only has a few panzer/motorized in the 13 CV range and his best infantry divisions have CVs of 7 to 9 (except for the mountain and airlanding divisions).

He has a total of 33 panzer/motorized divisions in the area from Orel to Voronezh and another 2 in the Kerch Peninsula (well I guess actually they are across the strait from the Kerch Peninsula, but I don't know what that area is called). Does anyone know if that is all of them?

Below is a closeup of the 1st prong of his attack near Orel. The rifle division circled in red is a mistake of mine; I accidentally moved it through 2 enemy controlled hexes so it didn't have enough movement to get back to it's own lines. I was able to counterattack one of his panzer/motorized stacks in this area.

[Harrybanana]

The screenshot below shows the other 2 prongs of his attack. As I have my best units in this area (including all 6 of my rifle corps) I was able to make several successful attacks on the stacks of his lead panzer units, even though these stacks had CVs of 18 to 28.

I have the morale soft factor turned on and the other thing that surprises me is that many of Saper's best units are no longer elite.

[Harrybanana]

The Area across from the Kerch Peninsula.

[Flaviusx]

I think you need a bit more down by Kerch and some garrisons digging in Novorossisk and Krasnodar. You're relying entirely on a one hex choke point that is barely fortified and the moment he busts past that it's going to open up down there. I would consider tasking the area with a whole other army and putting both of these under a Front command. Otherwise things are looking good and I'm favorably impressed by how well the Red Army recovered here despite a not amazing replacement situation. Over 7 million going into summer 42 is quite respectable. Looks like you fought the blizzard on the cheap and didn't burn yourself out, which is exactly right imo.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: Harrybanana
He has a total of 33 panzer/motorized divisions in the area from Orel to Voronezh and another 2 in the Kerch Peninsula (well I guess actually they are across the strait from the Kerch Peninsula, but I don't know what that area is called).

It's the Taman Peninsula.

[Peltonx]

Weather is a huge help and 7 million seems normal for a random weather game.

This game looks allot like my game vs Hugh at this point.

I expect Sapper will get some pockets but burn out quickly, then we will see if he has the stomach and skill to run a good GHC defence.

[randallw]

Where are those panzer stacks heading to? To achieve a serious encirclement they'll have to close it on the other side of the main river, and that will cost them.

[Harrybanana]

T53

The Bad News: The Weather was clear in all 4 Zones. It is only June 18th and (unless I am once again misreading the Random Weather Table) the odds of this happening was less than 0.5%. Maybe Saper will be as lucky with the weather in 1942 as I was in 1941.

The Good News: No disasters to report.

The Bad News: I didn't achieve a single "Held" result against Saper's attacks. Meanwhile of my 11 Counterattacks I only won 7.

The Good News: Despite losing all those battles the casualty loss ratio isn't too bad. Also 2 of my 7 wins were against a couple of Panzer Stacks.

Below is the situation in the North where the Finnish Army has finally made an appearance.

[Harrybanana]

The situation around Rzhev

[Harrybanana]

Orel to Voronezh

[Harrybanana]

Boguchar

[Harrybanana]

NW of Rostov

[Harrybanana]

The Taman Peninsula (Thanks M60)

I contemplated following Flavius's advice, but the problem with moving a Front down here now and joining the STAVKA Army HQs to it is that all of my Fronts are already filled with Army HQs. So I would first have to transfer some of these armies to STAVKA, and that would cost a lot of APs. Alternatively, I could switch the armies (and their attached divisions) I have here with the Armies already attached to the Front, but that would be a lot of reorganization. So I have settled for moving more STAVKA divisions to the Taman Peninsula as reinforcements.

[Harrybanana]

My 2 most successful attacks (despite my own tank losses).

[Harrybanana]

And two attacks that, due to the #$@&! LAH SS Motorized division, were not so successful (though in both cases subsequent attacks did clear the enemy hexes).

[Flaviusx]

So far as Front capacity goes, I'm willing to overload them up to 5 armies apiece. By 1943 things catch up and they can manage that many.

Taman looks ok but...garrisons, man, garrisons. Don't let him cheese his way into Krasnodar or Novorossisk with an airdrop. And cities anywhere near the front ought to be garrisoned on general principles. Stick something in there, even a brigade. They'll dig in quick now, too, since he's close enough to trigger urban labor.

[gingerbread]

Honestly, your army is too good in both size and quality for this to be interesting. You have done well yourself and you've also had help from saper in that he choose not to engage ASAP after the blizzard. The no-attrition period is the source for at least 500k of you OOB as well as some 100's of kARM in you pool and also probably some of the quality increase of the units.

This is in no way intended to take away your achievement - you played the situation as it occurred and played it well. It's more a lesson to be learned for the Axis side. One cannot allow the Bear to hibernate undisturbed.

As to the game, I concur with Flaviusx regarding the back door and would in addition suggest that you scrounge up an Air Army and some Airbases loaded with FB groups. Also, (I usually try hard not to repeat myself, but) you can most certainly afford to take some/all mountain divisions away from the main front and base them in the Caucasus Mountains. If disaster strikes at Novorossisk, you want them there already.

[Flaviusx]

Yeah, attrition is no joke, and can account for 30-40k in losses each turn. So reducing that to zero or near enough is a huge jump in effective replacements. Instead of 65-70k a turn net, you're going up to 100k or about a 50% increase. That's not taking into account improvements in morale and armaments.

I was wondering how on earth you managed to get your numbers up so high going into summer of 42, and this explains it pretty much by itself. So indeed the Axis must contrive to hug the bear and not give him a free pass in the spring rasputitsa.