High Morale Infantry Divivsions to shelter

[HITMAN202]

I'm planning my first winter "migration" to safety and find that I have 9 infantry division 90 +++. With the Finns available to hold the northern front do I protect these 90 ++ morale infantry divisions in preference for weaker morale PZ units, or do I have them exposed in first turns of blizzard to insure a healthy retreat ??? Obviously the higher morale the unit the better, but is the movement advantage of the 87 +++ morale the real issue of importance ????

[CarnageINC]

I would try and preserve your PZ and mobile units as best you can.  The first winter you usually can rebuild them to 90+ TOE.  I would probably take the route of having your inf take the punch on the nose, using your mobile units..if needed...for fire brigade duties. 

[Klydon]

I would save the infantry. They can form the core of a good offensive effort in the spring. With the higher moral, they provide stronger support than the mobile units against flank attacks and can also take the strain of trying to push Russian units out of the way behind the lines away from the line of advance, saving the motorized units to moving further along as well.

Saving as many elite (86+) moral units is important imo unless they depart during early to mid 1942.

[kenh]

In my experience the best course of action, that first winter, is to gather a nucleus for your Spring Offensives and put them in safe warm billets beyond the Soviet Weather Zones, in Germany even if you have the rail. Then pretend they do not exist until spring. This way they will gain Morale instead of loosing it (blizz effect) and be powerful contenders in what is usually a difficult offensive (3rd week June) to conduct in a decisive manner. This last point is especially true if the offensive is to follow in the heels of a successfull Russian Winter Offensive.

Your highest exp/moral infantry divisions, together with your worst hit Panzer Divisions, should be contenders for this force, which I locate in urban hexes within 5 hexes of OKH back all the way back in Germany. Putting some Ju87's in Reserve till then would be a good idea too, I think.

Skim a little from all of your Pz Corps, so none are more than about half full to make their resupply process easier in the hard months to come. Of course every unit not in a city/urban hex will suffer moral losses and attrition during blizz conditions.

If you get Leningrad then watch the Finn's Moral levels closely too as they drop 1 pt per turn if they are below the stop line. This means that though they don't suffer blizz penalties they do deteriorate rapidly if not rotated 10 hexes back above the line to "heal" on a routine basis. This is a case of intelligently managing a forward line with an eye on the Karelian Stop line as your NE anchor. Figure at least a third to half of your Finn's should rotated out at any one time. Use healing Germans to garison the Urban Hexes around Leningrad, instead of the Finns; you'll need STRONG Finn's later if your June Offensive Fails to be decisive.

That's my two cents worth anyways.