Against the Grain – An Axis 1941 GC

[jasonbroomer]

My opponent is MSAG as soviets, and we are playing with locked TBs and unlocked HQs. No paradrops and amphibious landings. The game started some months ago, so I will catch you up on the action so far. Sadly, I have trouble providing screen shots (this seems to be an issue using Steam or perhaps just reflects my own IT incompetence).

This is my first GC versus a human having played to the end of winter ’42 against the AI at 110 moral. I fancy myself as a useful wargamer, though I had and still have much to learn about this excellent and complex game. Thus TBs are locked while I improve my knowledge, something I regret now. It is very frustrating to see a panzer division being shipped off to France for refitting in 41/42, when it has a very high TOE.

My initial strategy was to faint an attack in the North and focus on a push towards Moscow in the centre. Activity in the south would be opportunistic but with poor defensive terrain it looks an attractive avenue. In the event MSAG conducted the defense passively, withdrawing his troops to prepared lines (only to withdraw them further when their flanks became threatened or perceived to be threatened). Counter attacks were rare.

My reaction to this was only to force battle where favourable to the Axis, avoid frontal attacks and to be carefully not to out run supply chains. This policy meant that I did not press as fully as I could, but left me in a very comfortable winter situation. I have always wondered what would have happened to the Axis if they had prepared properly for winter. This game may provide an idea.

As a result, casualties were very light for both sides over 1941. The current thinking is that leaves the Axis is a very difficult spot for 1942 and thereafter. I wish to test this thesis to see how far a powerful Axis army, well supplied and enjoying a massive NM advantage can get over ’42.

[jasonbroomer]

Situation Report to 30 November

In the North
In my prior game against the AI, I successfully took Leningrad. Reading the counsel on the forum, I decided against a push against an experienced opponent such as MSAG, and I just focused on picked up the VP time bonuses for Riga, Pskov and Tallinn. I consider Riga’s port an important first turn objective. Easy time bonuses are also available for Pskov and Tallinn. If Leningrad is not to be taken, I saw little point in grinding through the woods NE of Pskov (at least during 1941).

The Axis lines at 30 Nov fell short of the Nara in the very north, but secured the marshes west of the river to ensure a good defensive position so that the soviets can’t push to threaten Tallinn, nor expand the front line across Estonia.
I didn’t press the Luga line NE of Pskov and I was happy enough to establish a defensive position far enough north to ensure that Pskov was not endangered during the winter.
To the east of Pskov, defensive regimental lines were drawn up in the woods and marshes of Kalinin. I may be wrong, but troops sitting in marshes do seem to suffer greater logistical losses. Thus heavy woods were preferred, but the main defensive line was based 3 hexes east of the single line railway that heads up due north towards Lake Ilman. Velikie Luki had been opportunistically seized by AGC, and helped the supply of my winter line.

Lines In the Centre
A strong line had been established just short of Rzhev, NE of Vyazma and Kaluga. Roughly 100 miles short of Moscow.
Tula, Orel and Kursk taken and the front line extends just short of Ryazan in the very NE, and Voronezh in the east.

Lines in the South
Kiev fell early. In general MSAG fell back quickly across this front and the land surrendered cheaply. I would have dearly loved to have taken Kharkov though this was a heavily defended city fort. Belgorod was also heavily defended which deterred me from surrounding Kharkov. In the autumn, these regions are at the extremities of the Axis supply capabilities and MSAG’s stance here was well judged.
D & Z towns fell though D’town’s city fort took a lot of resources to overcome. The entry into the Crimea, not originally an Axis objective, was not defended and a Romanian army was delighted to make progress here. A strong soviet position was taken in the mountain and rough hexes outside of Sevastapol and Yalta. A German corps was dispatched to force the Kerch crossing and establish a position on the Taman peninsula.

[jasonbroomer]

Review of Action

Sept/Oct
Supply lines began to splutter. Virtually all the German armour is concentrated on the Moscow front. Soviet resistance began to stiffen east of Smolensk. Outside of the first turn, I made my my first decent sized pocket in the triangle of woods north of Bryansk, linking with a well planned armoured thrust due east from the Smolensk region (starting in the open ground north of the Desna river).

This bagged around 15-20 divisions, though it took time to dig them out of the heavy woods.

Tula was taken towards the end of this operation, and the panzer armies pressed on towards Ryazan. This push was abandoned as a weak spot in the soviet line was discovered near Vyazma. A further 12-15 divisions were pocketed in the subsequent drive to Rzhev. Unfortunately, the rains came down just I my leading divisions reached the outskirts of Rzhev. Splitting my strength also meant that I failed to take Ryazan. In a game that may be decided by VPs, I am not sure that this was worth the 100k of prisoners -this could be a costly error.
I decided not to push further east than D’town. This was as far as I got in my game against the AI and I suffered a torrid winter in the region given its poor defensive terrain. An advanced panzer division had also gotten mauled by a rare soviet counterattack, reminding me that I was facing an opponent whose position was gradually strengthening while mine was becoming increasingly extended. I really didn’t want to commit half heartedly to an offensive here only to compound my supply deficit.

Oct/Nov
A period of consolidation and getting the logistics sorted out. I was feeling very vulnerable in the yawning gap between AGC and AGS – I had virtually nothing between D’town and Kursk. Thankfully the soviets seemed disinclined to probe west of Kharkov, though I had concerns about what might happen during the blizzards that were come.
In an attempt largely show strength in this very weak area, I redeployed the 1st Panzer Group for an operation north of Kharkov. The 1st Pz Group hit in a south easterly direction in the open ground, outflanking the strong defenses of Belograd and hugging the Donets river. The 17th Army was to push north from D’town and threaten a grand encirclement of Kharkov. I didn’t have high expectations of achieving this but at least I could faint strength in the region and perhaps cut the two double rail lines feeding south of Voronezh. Encouragingly, 1st PG encountered lighter opposition than expected as the offensive got underway.

Sadly, an errant weather forecast left 1st PG’s offensive mired in mud on the second turn of the operation. This allowed the soviets time to shore up their defenses and the small pocket that the offense had made was broken. However, the original 2 division pocket was enlarged to 6 divisions the following turn as the Axis reassessed their objectives. I had made some critical thoughts about MSAG passive approach so far in the game, though this underlies how readily soviet attempts at rescuing trapped troops can sour.
With the early appearance of the mud in the region, I decided to call off the offensive on logistical grounds, and once the pocketed troops were dispatched, my forced retired to their established supply lines.

[jasonbroomer]

The Air War

Following the usual 1st turn massacre, little happened. My LBs remained in their starting position – I regret not shifting them to reserve. The LfW appears to be very supply hungry in the first 7-8 turns, even if you don’t do much with it. Fighters and recon planes were moved up with the front lines but did very little. The Soviet airforce started to make targeted interdiction attacks on my leading motorized units starting in September. Frustratingly, I couldn’t get my fighters to fly as they had no fuel. Instead I quickly learnt to load up my advanced units with AA. The interdiction was an annoyance more than anything. The targeted interdiction bombing cost a few units many MP’s, so obliging them to rest for a turn (no great hardship given their lack of CPP at this stage).

[jasonbroomer]

Logistics

i) On the t1-6, ‘domestic’ easterly depots were all put on 4 priority to stockpile supply. This is essential particularly around Constanta and its environs (it is an easy oversight to make on the first turn). These stockpiles can later be gradually leaked to the front as it drives deeper east. In this game I spent many APs assigning construction units to depots – I know that the AI does this automatically but my testing found that a single CU did improve repair times. In hindsight, I don’t think this improved supply to the front (much, if at all). Instead in my future games I will experiment spending the T1 APs building depots on good rail lines close to the border. These can augment the stockpiling process.
ii) I tried ‘pulsing’ supply through intermediate depots to the front (see Loki100’s posts on the matter). I’m not sure how effective this is but it’s a fun thing to experiment with (I've just reread this and realised what a total nerd I am .
iii) In August through October, units are scouring far and wide for supplies, this is costly for trucks, wastage and unit MPs. Unit supply priority needs to be carefully managed. If the soviets are retreating widely, do you really need to push all your troops far from the back established depots? Does the entire Romanian force need to be pushed forward? August rains allow sensible moment for a pause to allow depots get established closer to the front. Would a subsequent pause/or extend the August pause by a week or two allow the campaign to be run longer and deeper into soviet territory?
iv) This Axis seems to have limited ability to determine how much supply gets to the front. You can control how much is lost however. During bad weather, get your units close to depots – i.e. keep units within 3 hexes of a depot. I aim to get the supply lost part of the logistics report down to 10-15% of the total delivered (by Feb/March this was down to 5%)
v) Getting supplies to Tula and beyond is difficult in ‘41. During mud turns, I experimented with super depots in Minsk and Orel, set on priority 3. These sucked an additional 10-12k tons of supply which would be deployed to forward depots the following turn. (Later in March, a super depot established in Kiev would suck up 30-35k tons when set on priority 4. This would be sent forward the following turn by reducing it to a priority 3 depot, when it would then still attract 10-12k tons of fresh supply).

[jasonbroomer]

Casualties/Manpower/VPs
Losses to 30th Nov
SU 2.4m men, 36k AFVs, 36k guns and 2.4k pilots
Axis 300k men, 1k AFVs and 600 pilots (250 fighters/FBs)
Manpower:
Axis 7.5m of which 3m are in TBs (these are all green)
Soviet 6.2m of which 1.4m are in TBs
VPs 567 (60 time bonuses and a net 7 from TB events)

Time bonuses seemed so good so I felt no real compunction to take Kalin/Rzhev and Kharkov/Stalino/Rostov to match history

[jasonbroomer]

Thoughts for the forthcoming winter

I know the soviets are massing a huge army. Winter is coming and it can be horrid for the Axis [spoiler alert – this view was heavily tainted by my experience of facing the AI at 110]. Soviet wins have modest in number so far, so I doubt I will see any Guard units in the near future.

I expect to lose Tula if necessary (no loss of bonus VPs though as this was never historically taken – I didn’t explore taking Voronezh for this reason since it would oblige me to hold it through winter). Kursk and even Orel look vulnerable based on my current dispositions. The lack of defensive terrain is a worry.

I hope the soviets will push for Pskov. I have left plenty of regiments in the area which may tempt him. It holds no strategic importance for my near term plans. Supply is also easy in this area.

D’town south to the Sea of Azov is fortified (fz) and strongly defended – I hope. Romanian divisions are all supported by a German regiment and often under German command.

The weakly defended open terrain stretching from Ryzan in the north NE to D’town is a major worry for me, added to which I have huge gaps in my line. I will rely heavily on mobile forces here and flood in mt replacements. Model is in charge of the VI corps with no divisions currently attached. I will use him as was historically the case as my fireman. Manstein similarly is also uncommitted though he has a few infantry division with him. The armour is on standby, ready to be used in an emergency.

[loki100]

you've done well, which gives a good safety net for the winter, but broadly I'd pull back before the pressure mounts. That way you avoid too many weakened formations that need to find a chance to refit. In my current game I spend a while paying the price of trying to hang on around Rostov.

also seems like the pattern of blizzard/snow is hard to predict - so best to be a pessimist?

[jasonbroomer]

End of March 42 update

Winter went surprisingly well. Early preparation (counter delayed by not fully understanding how to use fortified zones) seems to be the key. German infantry TOEs were rotated at anything below 80, and divisional strength seemed sufficient to resist whatever the Soviets could throw at it.

By not pushing towards Leningrad (I scarcely reached the Luga line), it freed up a rail repair capacity which helped get my network robust. Virtually my entire force was within three hexes of a depot by the time my troops had reached their designated winter quarters.

As soon as blizzards hit in the second half of December, my advanced columns outside of Ryazan made tactical retreats back towards prepared lines around Tula and southwards, hugging the main rail line.

The front directly south of Moscow running approximately just north of Vyazama, Kaluga and Tula (Tula being the most easterly corner) held fairly static in reasonable defensive terrain. A few hexes were surrendered to secure the line, particularly just south of Rzhev, as I could not readily supply them. There seems little point in the Germans clinging onto clear terrain hexes as these can be readily recaptured once the weather improves.

As disclosed previously, between Orel and D'town I had precious few forces here. In the event this mattered little as the Soviets made little effort here, perhaps dissuaded by my 'show of force' operation north of Kharkov by the 1st Pz Army - practically my only force defending this 400 mile stretch of front - a Swiss cheese defence comes to mind. It just goes to show that the best defence is sometimes offence.

[jasonbroomer]

Winter battles

The Soviets were remarkably quiet in December and early January. I am guessing that they had planned their major offensive outside of Ryazan but my forces vanished before the main blows could be landed. My screening forces came into contact with Vatutin here, no doubt part of an Assault army.

I assume that my pull back successfully stymied his main offence. In late January, he attacked across the eastern most front but these assaults were largely ineffective, with only the occasional win. This offensive quickly petered out as the butchers bill mounted. On a head count basis he was losing just under 10 men for each German lost. The Germans did suffer a significant loss however in Heinrici, one of Germany's ablest generals. He fell despite his HQ being well to the rear of the front, as a consequence of one of his regiments suffering a mild retreat in the Lovat marshes just south of Lake Ilmen.

German Counterattacks

I made limited counter attacks during winter, largely to preserve supply. In December I launched 2 or 3 panzer attacks just to remind the Russians who is boss. Purposely, these operations were made by divisions with largely obsolete tanks. Yes, breakdowns were high.

Once the Soviet assault had petered out and the main winter malus had dissipated in January, I launched targeted counter attacks, made with extreme prejudice These were led by only my best generals (Model & Manstein), finest troops coupled with strong SUs (afv SUs had been sent back to OKH for the winter), and in open terrain. Principally these attacks were launched around Tula and the environs, as Soviet supplies were likely to be weakest here following my retreat from outside of Ryazan.

These assaults were designed to hit hard. Most resulted in routs. Vatutin's divisions were targeted in particular, I'm not sure how it affects guard creation if you suffer losses but some of these units had secured some wins versus my rearguard falling back to Tula. I am keen to limit any guard creations. Following some very satisfying wins, eventually Vatutin was no longer to be seen, perhaps I got lucky and killed him

[jasonbroomer]

Leadership

Leaders seem to be pretty important. During much of '41 Germans are just going hell for leather, trying to get the right leaders in the right situation is difficult. Things settle down from winter and leader allocation becomes both possible and important. Supply seems to be a limiting constraint for the Germans during the winter so it seems sensible for any voluntary expenditure of ammunition to be made by its most effective units, these are the SS units and Model/Manstein. By the end of March, these leaders had knocked up around 40 wins each for only 4 losses.

Leadership also seems to be important for the Russians too. I favour targeting their best leaders if possible. A successful attack will take away any CCP plus leaves the chance of a KIA.

In my game, there was a troublesome 'k' class soviet general (Kuznets?) whose units resisted routs despite 10+:1 combat odds. I kept at his units and eventually uncovered his HQ. Displacing this HQ fortuitously killed him off

Thankfully the little 'e' corporal made some interesting changes within my commands. Von Stuelpnagel was cashiered from the 17th Army. AGC was awarded to Schoerner, one of the best German generals. This means that Model/Manstein were under Guderian who was in turn under Schoerner. That is an impressive leader chain and probably just overkill !

[jasonbroomer]

Supply

Having prepared for winter, my supply situation went fairly smoothly. The north received ample amounts as did eventually the very south. FBD units quickly released from the north, opened rail lines to Tula fairly quickly. Likewise I opened 2 of the 3 mainlines running from Prussia towards Daugavapils and Smolensk. The southern region got sorted once the minor rail lines through the Transylvanian mountains were repaired. Virtually my entire forces ended within 3 hexes of a depot. I know that horse transport is supposed to consume additional supply but I couldn't identify it making a significant difference, especially if the unit is only a hex or two away.

Armies/corps not operationally active alternated between supply priority 1 or 2. German rail is badly affected by blizzards, so during forecasted blizzard turns, priorities were dialled down across the front.

I did occasionally use super depots, but principally only during blizzards when little rail repair would take place anyway. These were useful to suck up supply to Tula and Vyazma. Later in the winter I experimented with one at Kiev, alternating it between priority 3 and 4. Filling Kiev also left a nice strategic stockpile for the spring offensive.

Note that replacements take rail capacity. As I wasn't under pressure, I could be fairly leisurely and lessened my refits during blizzard turns. Armour and Romanians were not refitted till after the rail malus fell away at the end of March. Only one panzer division was mauled enough to justify returning it to the reserves. In the event it may have been more efficient from a supply standpoint to return 2 or 3 pz divisions plus some Roms as many of these just sat in the second line not doing much but eat.

As there was little pressure on the front, new divisions from Germany could be leisurely paced to the front. This allowed them to build CCP before shipping and again, not to rail them through blizzard hexes.

By the end of March, the depots in the north were full, as were many in the south. My pool of trucks seems very healthy at 30,000

One mistake I made was with my panzer replacement battalions. These were filling up in an orderly fashion from the large stockpile of tanks produced over the winter (tank losses in 41 were only 1,000). I then had a brainwave and transferred the lot to map, with OKH sitting on Berlin This meant that they all filled up to 60-70% TOE and my stockpiles were immediately exhausted. This left me with a subsequent delay to refit the pz divisions at the front, plus limiting the steady stream of attaching of pz replacement battalions to infantry divisions in April. Heyho, what a complete foul up!

[jasonbroomer]

Looking forward from March

Losses to end of March have been

men/guns/AFV

Axis 510k, 5k, 1.4k
Soviet 3.2m. 47k, 15.2k

Of the permanent losses 170k v 2.5m. A head count ratio of over 10 to 1.

I suffered no loss of VPs through city loss over the winter

I face a vast Soviet army of 6m on map but my army is in good supply, and has a high TOE/CCP. I believe that this guard creation will be very limited (we agreed to around 10 guard divisions from his airborne troops, as this apparently is what historically happened). I am within 100 miles of Moscow or I have the option to pound through Stalino and Rostov towards Stalingrad. I think the game is interestingly poised

[Stamb]

cant you use print screen and then open paint or smth and paste that image there?
would be really nice to have images

[Stamb]

other than that looks like a very good gains
especially if you are playing as an Axis for the first time vs human

[jasonbroomer]

cant you use print screen and then open paint or smth and paste that image there?
would be really nice to have images

Sadly, either through IT ineptitude or because of Steam (and probably a combination of the two) I can't manage to get screen shots unless I revert to taking pictures with my iphone!

[Stamb]

its simple

1. in a game press prtSc or how that button is named on your keyboard, typically near scroll lock/home/insert buttons
2. open paint, it should be in each version of windows, and press ctrl + v to paste image
3. save it as some image
4. drag and drop that image into text editor on this forum (where you are typing messages) and it will appear as an attachment

like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abheQj3GlN4

[jasonbroomer]

Ah, now got it. Thanks.

BTW, The next update will be in a while

[jasonbroomer]

April 42

This was a quiet month plagued by heavy mud. Axis could do little other than prepare for the coming offensive. Suspecting that Moscow will be well defended, strategically my aim for 42 is to take Saratov, ideally by a lightening strike and then turn south to take Stalingrad. Well what could go wrong?

42 strategic plan. png.png (3.85 MiB) Viewed 1300 times

The first task would be to isolate Kharkov, which was largely complete by the end of April as the Soviets could hardly hope to defend it and had abandoned the garrison at Kharkov city and Belgorod (a smaller city 60 miles to the north of Kharkov) to its fate. The 17th army would advance and take Stalino and Rostov, and be joined by the 11th once Sevastopol was captured. 3rd Pz would take Rzhev and Kalinin and threaten Moscow to keep the Soviets honest. Our best troops would be with 2nd Panzer which was tasked to take Saratov.

The campaign got off to a terrfic start. 2nd Panzer (with Model and Manstein) had been bashing its way towards Ryazan through the early months of the year, largely to cause the Russian attrition. Towards the end of April, with intermittent heavy mud, 2nd Panzer made a change to its axis of attack and turned east. Its short term objectives were to open up the railways eastwards.

Tambov taken.png (3.78 MiB) Viewed 1300 times

Russian divisons bled heavily in front of the veterans of the 6th Corps (Model) and gaps appeared in the Russian lines. A motorised infantry was tasked with exploration and to the surprise of all at high command it found Tambov was ungarrisoned. This was very much on the shopping list for the campaign objectives. Even better, it just had enough MPs to seize the city, though the unit would be precariously exposed. Already the offensive found itself well ahead of schedule.

Then all hell broke loose...

[EwaldvonKleist]

Interesting frontline. Any chance to get screenshots of the current situation with units on the map with some turns day?