STAVKA - 8 player multiplayer Soviet thread

[EwaldvonKleist]

Ok, turn done.
IMPORTANT message to Hortlund: There are two airborne brigades at 83,80. They are yours as you ordered to move the airborne brigades out of the line.
At 183, 86 are three units who are rady for combat but not yet on a rail. Same for two divisions of the Caucasus military district. Not sure what you plan with the suprlus rail cap so I left them in place.
If you don't need the 21 remaining APs please assign Leonid Govorov to the 23rd army! I need a good commander there, its crucial for the defense of Leningrad.

I executed the retreat order at the Dnepr as good as possible, some untis were caught by interdicition.
I tried to set up an army structure for southwestern front as most were attached directly to it.
In addition I moved out a few units in the swamps by rail which were in danger of being cut off. I know, its the kind of initiative which is dangerous in Russia.
Many armies/fronts in the south are completely overloaded with support units.


IMPORTANT message to all:
Could we please introduce a rule that if a front hasn't been done 4 days after being uploaded on the dropbox, any other player can play the front by default. The slow turns really kill this game and are unfair to the German side which is quite quick. It were great if you could express your opinion about that.
Regards

[Hortlund]

Good job, I have sent the turn to the krauts.

[Hortlund]

Turn 7

Orders will follow in a couple of hours.

[EwaldvonKleist]

I wont get orders, but a court martial I fear. Please don't hand
me over to the copyright lawyers!
Honestly, I didnt saw this coming. I really have to go back to T6 and look for mistakes.

Edit: I had a look, and I really screwed up. I see at least 5 units which were at the wrong place and which could have made the pockets not impossible to achieve, but less tight.
Also completely wrong assessment of the situation on my side, I completely ignored the fact that the infantry can open the holes for the panzers. Sorry guys.

[Hortlund]

Turn is in the dropbox. Continue as per previous orders.

STAVKA has performed a paradrop to open a pocket in the north. This will only delay the inevitable however.

[Sardaukar]

T7 Center done.

Western Front commander fears that minor disaster in north is threatening his northern flank. Otherwise situation seems to be under control. All quiet in Western Front.

[Hortlund]

Southern front. Are you still with us? If I dont see a reply in 48 hours, you are out.

[EwaldvonKleist]

A quick analysis on what caused the disaster in the northern and northwestern area and what to learn from this.
The turn went very bad in this area with 200 000 men trapped (100 000 men loss per turn as the pocket has been reopened).
In T6 I somewhat ignored the fact that the infantry is able to break the first line for the Panzers. According to recon, my two fronts had to bear the might of 3 panzer groups completely alone. In addition, I did some small tactical mistakes which added up, a quick analysis below.
The overall amount of forces commited at Leningrad is too few to hold, but too much for a simple delaying action.
At Velikie Luki it would have been better if I simply had outrun the German infantry, given the forcees availaible at T6. I decided to hold here because its good defensible terrain at a first look and its loss opens the northern route to Moscow or even the possibility of a super right hook to Leningrad (with logistics being difficult in this case).
Numbers:
1) The hexagon is overdefended. An attacker going through this has to cross two rivers for a deep penetration
2) The NKVD unit might block a stronger unit to retreat there. It could have been used for more depth in the defense.
3) Units "on train" have very bad CV multipliers when attacked. Unfortunately, I was unable to unload them due to lack of MPs.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Any hints how to make images less monstrous?
Is it possible to upload more than one image per post without external (unreliable) image hosters? IIRC some people get more than two pictures in one post without using external sevices.

A peer review for our defences to avoid such things in the future. So every front is looked over by another front commander after all have done their turn.

I will play my turn now.

[Hortlund]

I use paintshop for my images, there you can merge several screenshots into one picture.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: EwaldvonKleist

Any hints how to make images less monstrous?

I open the image in the "paint" program on windows and resize the image. Normally say 60% resize then repost the image.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Turn done.
I will resize my images next time.

Important message to Hortlund/Sardaukar
Due to the southern one of the big pockets, the NW front cannot cover the northern approach to Moscow and needs assistance of the central front. The front between Chernigov and Bryansk is far from any railheads (bad for panzers), maybe a general north-shift of the Central front can clsoe the gap. There are some quiet spots where units are double or even triple stacked.
If some excess units were there, a checkerboard in Front of the main line at the volga/Rshev would be helpful as well.
This must not be forgotten as there is a major gap in the frontline now!

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: EwaldvonKleist

Turn done.
I will resize my images next time.

Important message to Hortlund/Sardaukar
Due to the southern one of the big pockets, the NW front cannot cover the northern approach to Moscow and needs assistance of the central front. The front between Chernigov and Bryansk is far from any railheads (bad for panzers), maybe a general north-shift of the Central front can clsoe the gap. There are some quiet spots where units are double or even triple stacked.
If some excess units were there, a checkerboard in Front of the main line at the volga/Rshev would be helpful as well.
This must not be forgotten as there is a major gap in the frontline now!

I'll scramble whatever I can to seal the gap. I also think STAVKA might have some reserves, which IMHO should also be used to seal the gap. But I think our main concern now is to defend Moscow...and I might have to do major withdrawal to ensure that.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Thanks sardaukar!
By closing the gap you also defend Moscow as it is on the direct route.

[EwaldvonKleist]

As said in the thread for both sides I have to pause playing WitE for some time, I am fine if you hire a permanent or temporary replacement commander.
What about the commander of the Southern front? As my last action for some time I can do his turn today or tomorrow?

[EwaldvonKleist]

I did the turn for the Southern Front and tried to close the gap between the Northern and the Central Front.
I had to send the turn by E-Mail as I had problems with the dropbox (to ox.....@gmail.com
As already said I have to leave the team for some time, please replace me with another commander for now.
You will need to recruit two new leaders Hortlund!
Regards and good luck with the defence

[M60A3TTS]

If you have the save available and give me access, I'll look it over and decide if it's something I can manage for the time EvK is on the reserve officers list.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Please pm me with you E-Mail so I can send you the save (or Hortlund adds you to the dropbox)
Regards

[M60A3TTS]

I looked over the save and this is something that I can take over for a while.

Is the turn really done except for sending it? There is still 86k in railcap unused.

I'll send a more detailed view of the Northwestern Direction later.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Sometimes Hortlund does factory evac before, sometimes after the front commanders have done their moves.
Managing factories is above my pay grade