After Action Report of an Deep Battle 1938 scenario MP

[MC456]

TURN 2 - RED ARMY

The Germans fired off with their counter-attack. The Red Soldiers managed to hold them off in some areas, but got run down in others. One German plane managed to get intercepted and shot down, but the rest of them managed to sneak away after their runs.

In the north I continued with my previous strategy of keeping most of my men entrenched while softening up the Germans with my own artillery. As a result of the bombardments, a couple of the fortifications were left very vulnerable. I managed to break through and assault another airfield, destroying several more German planes, and just a bit further south my men managed to catch German artillery left undefended after routing the former defending units.



Around the center I managed to break through a couple more hexes and assault vulnerable artillery units, just like in the north. Picking apart my opponent's support units (airforce and artillery) is my primary strategy at the moment, considering the Red Army is comprised mostly of Infantry which are quite vulnerable to mass artillery fire. There are plenty of great defensive positions on this map which will give my Infantry a lot more value, as long as I can bait my opponent into hitting me at my strongest points.



Along the South I continue with the standard artillery bombardments. I notice on one of the hexes that his units have been crippled, with some of the defenders left at 0 Readiness. Despite the fact that I would be attacking over the river line and suffer some penalties, I knew that I would still win the engagement and mop up the rest of his units. Any chance I can get free kills on high value targets such as artillery or armour, I will gladly take it. After winning that battle I keep my men behind the river rather than order a pursuit. I want to avoid giving my opponent any chance to surround me. Before ending the combat portion of my turn I launch a coordinated airstrike to further weaken a key position in the battle for the south.

On the open sea I used one Submarine unit to scout an enemy port, and in the process I discover enemy submarines getting close to my own ports! I immediately scramble the Red Fleet, dispatching submarines, cruisers, and destroyers to teach them a lesson! They are, however, resilient bastards. After continued engagements while having them surrounded on all sides, I only managed to down two of them, while the other two escaped my grasp...For now. Also starting to think I wasted way too much oil only to destroy 2 submarines.



Focusing on the Production now, I notice that I am using more supply than I thought I was. So, I look at my Hqs and notice I have excess of certain kinds of units. So I stop production of those units and switch the lines to Supplies instead. Now my reports are telling me I should have a surplus of supply generation. Other than that, I think I'm going to keep churning out my standard units in order to fill out reinforcement requests.

[YorStein]

Report for Turn 2

[YorStein]

The North

[YorStein]

The Center

[YorStein]

The South

[YorStein]

Operational outlook : An Operation called Eichenbaum (Oak Tree) is being Planed and Troops are moved as you can see here

[YorStein]

The Ocean battle was has begun

[YorStein]

My Unit rally areas

[YorStein]

Plan Eichenbaum:
The Basic Plan is simple , encirle all Red Divisions around the Riverline and capture the Coastal Town , which will be the jump off point for an the next Operation into the Russian Industrial Heart .
In clear Terms this means that i have to destroy at least parts of 4&5th Red Army.

[MC456]

TURN 3 - RED ARMY

The Germans retaliated with a fierce counter-attack in the center and managed to take an airfield, decommissioning many Soviet planes in the process, before backing his forces out into his defensive lines again. A well played tactical strike. Most of their offensives seem to be coordinated around the center region.



The battle in the north is not a pretty site...
The men are constantly battered by artillery fire, readiness and morale always bruised, and yet they still fight on.

It seems my opponent is little craftier than I thought. He had tried launching an amphibious assault on one of my cities, but unfortunately it seems he ran out of AP before he could land. On my turn I managed to mobilize an artillery unit to the city which proceeded to bombarb his landing craft, destroying 3 of the 4 (though the recon. still reports 2). I don't imagine many soldiers are left aboard. Nice try!



In the south is a situation similar to the previous rounds; soldiers entrenched along the river line while exchanging artillery fire, hoping to batter the enemy positions bad enough to finally create a hole to punch through. But, unfortunately, the enemy forces are still to dense in the south and I am not risking attacking them over the river. I have grouped 3 Armored Divisions in the south and following next turn's artillery bombardment, I will be forcing a breach into enemy lines and dive deep enough to capture his roads, cutting off his southern units from supply. After I breach the river I will have to remember to create a bridge over it, otherwise my own units will face supply issues...

In the sea I managed to surround one of his submarine squadrons and sunk 4 in one go, without any casualties on my end. And so ends the combat phase.

For production I have ramped up Supply creation as I noticed my surpluses were no longer existent and the situation was starting to get desparate. Also began to accumulate some Political Points so I can begin constructing Tank Factories due to an overwhelming surplus of Raw materials. Had to scale back on a lot of combat units as a result.

My opponent did a lot more damage this round than I thought he would. My kill:death ratio has significantly dropped in comparson to the first two rounds. I've been relying too heavily on defensive tactics while his Panzers seem to punch through my divisions like they're made of paper. Next turn he will start feeling the heat.

[Bombur]

Hint to Red player
Don´t forget to build the 37mm AA gun to protect your artillery. As soon the Bf-109E appears, the Germans will have massive air superiority.
Consider the DB-3 Night Bomber to hit enemy factories when you lose air superiority.


Hint to Blue player
Build PzIV´s, lots of them. While this tank has poor AT capabilities, its armour is much better than that of Soviet Tanks.

[YorStein]

Turn 3 Blue Army

[YorStein]

Army Group North 31. May

[YorStein]

After the Attack

[YorStein]

Army Group Center 31. May
Notice the 3 New Panzer Units on the far left / West ^^

[YorStein]

Operation Oak Tree in full swing

[YorStein]

Nothing new in the south , though the gathering of Russian Units makes me a bit nervous ... though i belive the Panzerwaffe will do its job so he has to abort any attack

[MC456]

TURN 4 - RED ARMY

Germans opened up with some vicious breakthroughs in the north, and managed to intercept one of my naval formations, sinking all 4 ships. It appears his fleet completely dwarfs mine in size as well. I've spotted some landing craft in that formation...I suspect something tricky up his sleeve.

The "Gunboats" in this scenario have 0/0 combat stats against everything, despite having the description of weapons. I think the creator overlooked this small detail. As a result, in the middle lake section of the map, the German and Soviet gunboats have been spotted yelling obsenities at each other in an attempt to damage each other's morale. His gunboats seem to be sitting at 58 morale while mine are at 50...Well fought.

For my opening moves I've relocated more of my airforce from the rear to the front in order to focus on the front line battle. Then I proceeded with my push up north, having some luck here and there, but also starting to notice the weakness of the Soviet tanks.

In the center the Germans managed to break through and capture one of my roads. I did manage to contain it, though it took a lot of focus and action points. Unfortunately, the units left over will still pose a threat next turn. I've left an Engineering unit out in the open in hopes that he will attack that instead of trying to capture more roads, but either way I should be alright. He is making a lot more progress in the center than I am.



I seem to be really good at killing everything but his tanks. Their penchant for immortality is starting to annoy me.

In the south is where the real action happens. All those Armored Divisions that I had grouped along the river line from last turn? Well, the offensive began today. Artillery barrages cleared the way for Motorized and Armored Divisions piercing the river line – the artillery softened them up really well. Hardly any resistance at all. The armored divisions, now fueled by their adrenaline, continued breaking through the enemy line, killing most and routing what was left. My plan is now coming into effect, and soon enough I should be able to capture the second road connecting his southern cities and shipyards. This will be a HUGE production loss for him once the operation is successful.



Regardless of how many I've killed so far, his army strength seems rejuvenated still. I suspect he's been relocating rear garrisons to the frontlines.

[YorStein]

Turn 4 Blue Army


Operation Oak Tree is in full swing and can make heavy Progress , many Russian Units where destroyed or encircled , the 4&5th Army of the Reds are no more and the Road to the Capital seems to be in reach , Operation Arctic Wind is in the Planing Stage

[YorStein]

The Final Attacks of the Panzer for the 4th Turn