FITE v.5.0 Ian Soviets larry Axis

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like north of Leningrad. The Soviets are taking several avenues to approach Helsinki and my stop gap roadblocks aren't going to hold very long. The Finns are almost out of the war.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation near Orsha where there's no river to defend behind. I've got the Panzers ready to plug gaps and we ARE going to get gaps. Ian looks like he's poised to make a big push in this area and I think I'm ready. We'll see.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 93...10th May 1942

During the German turn the Finns launched a desperate counter attack against the landing forces they had surrounded West of Viipurii and managed to destroy them with some significant loss to the largely infantry Divisions involved. The Finns still have formidable artillery support however and it will be no easy task to achieve a full breakthrough to Helsinki quickly. Nevertheless Soviet armour renews its assault on the Finnish lines and has success as it then swings slightly to the North to try and pocket the bulk of the remaining Finnish artilery.

In order to try and speed things up the next stage of the operation is launched with Soviet Paratroops landing close to Kotka (house rules of the scenario designer in the notes mean I can only drop them within 100Km of the front line otherwise I would have been tempted to try a sneaky grab for Helsinki itself). Kotka only has a coastal battery garrison but the paras do not have the ability to attack the port this turn.

There is less success in the centre as repeated attempts by 3rd Shock Army and 14th Tank Corps troops to cross the Bug River West of Vitebsk are fought off by some heroic (if bloody annoying!) OKH armoured pioneers.

Further South the offensive towards the relief of Odessa makes more progress with the Soviet forces now only 30Km apart.

Along the line massed Soviet batteries have not German artillery hard and it is hoped more breakthroughs will be the result soon....

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 94 15th May 1942

German action was confined to some light shelling so Soviet offensives continue.

The Southern Front armour and infantry manage to drive both Romanian and German defenders further back in the western Crimea and the spearheads are now only 10Km from the Odessa perimeter and it is likely that the Axis defenders may give up the siege next turn.

In the extreme North to the West of Murmansk a raiding party from the Soviet successes in the South of Finland with the help of the northern fleet manages to storm Petsamo port allowing more troops to be shipped it and hopefully cutting off several Finnish Divisions in lines facing Murmansk.

Just to the south paratroops from 5th and 211th Air Brigades engage in heAvy fighting for the Finnish town of Kuvola North of Kotka to try and cut off the main remaining Finnish defence line from Helsinki but are repulsed by a desperate defence conducted by headquarters troops from the Finnish 6th Corps.

In the extreme West of the country German recce units have now reached Swedish border posts.......


Heavy fighting continues West of Narva and more progress is also made here though resistance remains very heavy.

Central areas are quiet.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 95.... 17th May 1942

The German turn sees a rushed redeployment by Finnish forces down from their positions in the north of Helsinki to a line between Kotka and Kouvola 70Km east of the capital as the original Finnish positions around Sakkijarvi disintegrate under Soviet assault. The paratroops dropped around Kouvola are surrounded by Finns of 14th infantry Division and are doomed but Soviet attacks continue to gain ground and it seems possible Helsinki could fall by July.

Down to the south there are celebrations and much vodka drunk as the 9th Naval Rifle Division from the 51st Army pushing East from the encircled defences of Odessa pushes aside a German Nebelwerfer regiment and links up with the lead elements relief force in the shape of the 18th 18th Tank Corps driving west and after 10 fraught months the Odessa siege is lifted.
The attacks driving north west continue however and Romanian and Italian expeditionary forces are driven further back though German reinforcements appear to have been sent to bolster AGS in this area.

Larry sent me a diplo message at the start of this turn indicating the German bombing capability was being seriously degraded by the big air superiority advantage the Soviets now hold (around 125 to 21 at start of turn) so hopefully the combat support from the Luftwaffe should be minimal going forward.

In the central areas things remain quiet as rails are repaired following the German retreat and subsequent Soviet advance from the Dnepr and it may be any Soviet advance in this area may need to wait until the next snows come.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Ian at 04:42 local this morning. Ian's forces thrust their way into the Odessa area and lift the siege on Odessa. My defenders are being forced backward and Ian is making good progress.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets are past my last defenses in the north. I expect Helsinki to be in Soviet hands soon.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 97.......24th May 1942

After a turn of German bombardments and more redeploying in Finland I find fresh Infantry units apparently relocated from the north apparently preparing a last stand in Helsinki but for now fighting continues around Kotka which finally falls after more heavy fighting. More isolated Finnish units, including the 18th Division are wiped out in pockets.

The big battles take place in Estonia where the marshy terrain means the Soviet attacks are funnelled into areas that suit the defence until the marshes freeze in the winter. The German 7th FJ Paratroop Division is a tough nut to crack so only slow progress as made whilst closer to the coast multiple artillery and infantry units behind the front lines check the Soviet advance.

It may be I need to try elsewhere on the front lines for a breakthrough now so many German troops have apparently been drawn north.

More heavy fighting just East of Odessa is more successful with Romanian and German defenders being forced back further and Soviet lead elements are now only 30Km from the road and rail junction at Berekovka.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T98 front lines before I have started moving anybody. You can see in the north how the Soviets are breaking through the Finn defenses and will capture Helsinki soon. The front lines haven't moved all that far truth to tell, except in the south where Ian is pushing hard and has made progress indeed. I'm not sure what is supposed to happen with the Sweeds. Maybe the exclusion zone will go away after Helsinki falls. The loss of the Finns will free up several Armies worth of Soviet troops probably. I may have to repositiion the entire front lines if the south gets pushed backwards very much further. That would be unhandy and inconvient. Maybe I should start building another MLR somewhere further west.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looks like around the Orsha area right now. My valient defenders are being forced backward and it looks like I'll have to commit the local reserve, the Panzers sitting in the backfield refiting gathering it's supply levels. Fortunately I've got plenty of reserves.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on around Odessa. The Axis is being forced backward slowly and the length of the front lines is increasing and I'm wondering how much further backward I should allow it to bend before I relocate my defenders to the next river to the west. A decision needs to be made soon.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 98....27th May 1942

Most of my boys need a rest so attacks are short and targeted this turn with a little more progress being made east of Odessa where the arrival of reinforcements should hopefully allow a bigger breakthrough before too long, and in Finland where the Finnish Infantry defensive line protecting the coastal road to Helsinki is broken again.

Elsewhere fierce fighting has continued in Estonia with very heavy casualties on both sides but little progress this turn.

As I am resting a lot of the troops I decide to check out the reinforcement schedule for later in the year. November 1942 is a crucial time as large numbers of the new improved powerful Artillery Divisions start arriving to give a huge boost to Soviet artillery capability which to date has only been HQ integrated heavy guns or regimental strength artillery.In addition the Guards Armoured and Mechanized Divisions also arrive in force. If I can get these units to the critical bits of the front whilst Soviet Winter effects are in place this could make a huge difference.

Another decision will need to be made soon as to whether the forces currently in Finland press on west into Sweden or are used to open a second front on the Baltic coast with the help of the Soviet naval capability coming on stream later in the year....

[larryfulkerson]

Hey you guys: I just now tried to load Ian's moves
and I got an error message. I'm not sure what's
the problem is but I guess we're fresh out of luck
with this game. Maybe we can drop back to the old
fashioned mode of trading files back and forth.

[devoncop]

Despite Larry's best efforts (I don't have any more technical knowledge than a particularly retarded chimp) this game is having to be abandoned due to a tachnical crash so we are going to try again !

Apologies for anyone reading.

Both of us feel we could have done things better so we are sticking to the same sides.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian and I had to restart due to the PBEM++ error. I'm too lazy to start another AAR for the restart. Ian is the Soviet side again and here's an image of my units leaping across the river and attacking with one dots, which most of the time is adequate to move the Soviet units due to the shock difference. I'm moving the aircraft forward as soon as there's a forward airfield to park planes at. Ian hasn't had a chance to move his units yet ( this is turn one and Axis units move first ) and I'm having success getting a surround on the Soviet units and destroying them. That leaves gaps that I can drive my Panzers through. I'm in a hurry to get to Riga and Minsk, my primary goals.

[cpt flam]

Larry, the best way to act is to don't make as you did.
Green to attack and else.
You must push as much as possible, even like this I've been short myself.

[devoncop]

Turn 1 Soviet...22nd June 1941

Well the Germans have excelled themselves this time .

Soviet aircraft are almost all either destroyed or in reorganisation and the few that can still fly flee east. In total 847 Soviet planes are lost to just 47 Axis planes.

AGN has already overrun Lithuania and is about to enter Latvia and Brest-Litovsk has fallen.

German recce units are already pushing through the western Pripet Marshes.

In the South the Romanians and AGS have yet to cross the river any multiple bridges are blown along the whole front to try and slow the German advance.

Having been happy with how the theatre option worked out last time I take it even earlier this time and pressurise Sweden into stopping iron ore supplies to Germany.

[Zort]

Larry, do you think that the partisans are too powerful or just to many of them this early in the game? Seems they brought your advance to a halt last game.

[devoncop]

Hi Zort.

Hope you don't mind me jumping in. I did address this from the Soviet point of view about halfway through the thread but to summarise, apart from the first half dozen turns when I think they may have slipped under Larry's radar a bit, I don't think the few partisans that are spawned ever managed to even drop a bridge. Larry had them pocketed very quickly using security troops with a few meatier units from the minor allies as back up so from my perspective at least they were pretty hopeless 😉

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Zort

Larry, do you think that the partisans are too powerful or just to many of them this early in the game? Seems they brought your advance to a halt last game.

The partisans are just about right. Not too many and hardly ever very strong. I wasn't paying attention to my backfield last game and they got out of hand and were dropping bridges and cut off the supply to my advance because there was only one path for the supply to flow. Ian is right about the security forces jumping on the partisans almost immediately though. I've learned my lesson.