Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber - Round 2

[sealclubber]

February 8, 1942

Axis winter shock penalties end.

In the south, the frontline along the Dneister river remains unchanged. In the center and north, frontline resistance by the Axis is stiffening, although not yet solid. Muds will arrive soon and STAVKA calls an end to the offensive for rest and consolidation, with the exception of rear area mopping up operations.

[sealclubber]

At this point, the Axis army is in dire straights. The loss of Army Group North and numerous combat units from Army Group Center is a death blow. While the front is relatively short (given the Dneister's strong defensive value), the Axis are facing major shortages of equipment. Even more decisive, Allied heavy bombers based in Norway are within range of most of the frontlines in the East.

[sapper32]

OMG February 1942 and the Reds are in east prussia thats not good,From what i can see a lot of Red Army units that normaly get wiped out in the opening year slowing the Axis down are still in play on the map.Im guessing you have a lot of the Early war Mech corps and all your reconstitute forces will appear in Sovit held territory bad news for Mark.

[sealclubber]

Yeah, out of the 25 early war mech corps, I had 24.66 early war mech corps left by the end of the game (in real time, the game just ended). I suffered very few evaporations (of any kind) during Barbaroussa. You can't see it from the screenshots of the last offensive, but I have all of the Opolcheyne and all but one of the Osoaviakhim and they are basically holding the Dneister, so all front-line worthy combat units are participating in the offensives.

Normally all of the militia and reserve units are gone and maybe 1/4 of the early war mech corps would survive Barbaroussa... the triggering of Barbaroussa before the spring mud had a huge impact on the game (and in hindsight, the sporting thing to do would have been to let Mark replay that campaign). During the negative shock phases when the Red Army faces encirclement after encirclement I pretty much just shuffled a few units that could still move, dug them in and went about my business since I had 4-5 hex deep fortified defensive belts right where the main attacks were coming.

I also think the Red Army Mech Corps (early war or late war) are far and away the best units in the entire Russian OOB. The early war mech corps become monsters by late game (if they survive) since they have a ton of early war tank slots and large numbers of slots for late war tanks (whereas the late war guards mech corps are mainly T-34s). Mech corps are also the only realistic way for the Russians to attack fortified Axis units en masse without incurring massively disproportionate losses and thereby become the best Russian unit in v3.4. I think all-in I had something in the range of ~35 Russian mechanized corps(early and late war) before the Axis surrendered.

[sealclubber]

November 29, 1942

The spring, summer and fall of 1942 pass completely uneventfully. The Axis dig in their frontlines and attempt to recover from the prior winter's losses. The Red Army does not launch any offensives waiting on:

- Major US ground and air reinforcements
- The availability of Operation Overlord
- Sufficient T-34s to fill out all active combat units and build up a significant reserve.
- Sufficient build up of Red Army LRS and SMG manpower reserves
- Axis shock bonuses on land and air to come to an end.

There is a massive force strength disparity at play here. The Red Army has almost all of their early war non-reconstituting units and have inflicted heavy manpower and equipment losses on the Axis. The saving grace for the Axis at the moment is that they still hold the Dneister and the Red Army isn't keen to try a super river crossing. In addition, the front is relatively short, but...

Here comes the Red Army steamroller:

[sealclubber]

Situation in the South

[sealclubber]

The next offensive is about to start. The Allies will wait for winter shock bonuses. Once these arrive, the plan is for the Allies to launch an overwhelming offensive to end the war. The Red Army will open hostilities during the winter shock bonuses. After the Red Army has sufficiently occupied Axis reserves the Western Allies will initiate Operation Overlord and invade continental Europe.

The operational campaign objective: cause a catastrophic collapse of Axis resistance across the European Theater of Operations. This will be achieved primarily by extending the front lines forcing the Axis to defend ever increasing lengths of frontage both in the East and the West, which will amplify the force strength disparity.

[sealclubber]

December 6, 1942

Winter shock arrives and the Red Army initiates its grand offensive. 11 Red Army artillery corps are in readiness. In addition, Allied heavy bombers based in the UK and Norway are within range of the frontline in the East. Although there are cooperation penalties reducing combat effectiveness by 17% when Allied Heavy Bombers support Red Army ground units, this is a small price to pay. The Allied Heavy Bombers are extremely potent when it comes to killing soft targets. The Red Army mechanized corps carry the fight to the fortified Axis troops. Flanking bonuses with massed support from artillery corps and Allied Heavy Bombers obliterate the defending infantry where they stand.

Based on the Axis deployment (particularly where the Panzers are deployed and where their stronger positions are located), it seems they are primarily concerned about the salient at Brest-Litovsk and adjacent to the Masurian Lakes being pinched off. This is the obvious attack if the Red Army was interested in a limited offensive.

Tactically, the Red Army is interested in cracking the front somewhere, anywhere, as quickly as possible. Once the battle goes mobile the Red Army's force strength advantage will carry the day. The focus of the attack is in the Pripet Marshes where the weakest Axis forces hold the lines and panzers are nowhere to be seen:

[sealclubber]

December 20, 1942

The Red Army pushes forward in every direction. In the North, the short term objective is to close the Grodno pocket and cut the northern Axis units off. Everywhere, the order of the day is to simply advance.

[sealclubber]

January 10, 1943

The Axis, recognizing the threat in the Grodno salient, reinforces the shoulders heavily. There are insufficient mobile forces at this spot, at this time, to successfully close the pocket. By the time infantry reserves could be brought forward the opportunity would pass.

STAVKA obliges the Axis defensive effort and abandons the attempt to close the pocket. The mobile forces moving this way shift south-west to avoid the panzers and joins the main stream of Red Army attackers tothe south-west, towards Lodz and Krakow - the path of least resistance.

[sealclubber]

January 24, 1943

The Red Army achieves operational freedom. Having crossed the Dneister hairpin, infantry forces are pushed southwards to attack the Hungarian and Romanian homelands. The main thrust of the mobile units is West in a movement that continually extends the length of the front. The Axis are unable to defend the extending line and the piecemeal defenders serve only to slow, but not stop the advance.

[sealclubber]

January 31, 1943

The Western Allies invade Europe! Commonwealth units invade the Cotentin Peninsula. With shock bonuses, the Allied invasion force overruns the Axis defenders and establishes a solid beachhead:

[sealclubber]

February 7, 1943

The Western Allies invade Europe again! The invasion of the Contentin was a feint (albeit, a strong one) intended to draw Axis reserves further west. US Army forces invade Holland, overrunning the weak defenders on the beach. Airborne units drop to secure the beachhead and inland roadways:

[sealclubber]

In France, the Commonwealth forces expand the beachhead but mostly sit back content to occupy Axis forces.

[sealclubber]

February 14, 1943

The Italians join the war, convinced that if Germany falls, the Allies will simply press onward to eradicate every last trace of Fascism in Europe. The Red Army continues to expand the front. Any time resistance is encountered the Red Army continually wheels to the West. The Axis army is running out of men and machines to oppose the onslaught.

[sealclubber]

In the South, the Red Army pushes towards Budapest and Bucharest in an attempt to knock them out of the war. Situation in the South:

[sealclubber]

March 21, 1943

Hitler blows his brains out. Germany surrenders and their Axis allies follow suit. The war in Europe is over!

Cotentin Peninsula:

[sealclubber]

Western Germany:

[sealclubber]

Eastern Front:

[sealclubber]

Southern Front: