German side of a mirror match

[CapAndGown]

Forum member Bitburger and I are playing a mirror match: we play one game as German, one game as Soviet. Version 12.05. Rather than an After Action Report, however, I decided to record an During Action Report, at least for the German side. The idea was to demonstrate the steps I was taking during my turn, and not just the end result. Hopefully, I can generate some comments from more experienced players to help me improve my game play. The playlist can be found at : War in the East, German gameplay

Unfortunately, in some of the videos the audio quality is poor. I am working to fix that for upcoming videos.

[CapAndGown]

Turn 2 of the German side of my mirror match was highlighted by the reduction of the pockets formed on turn 1 and the advance of my three panzer groups (panzer groups 2 & 3 are operating as one coordinated army group) deep into soviet territory.

The North: Spear #1

All the units encircled in the Baltic states were eliminated, freeing all my infantry to march as far east as fast as possible. Meanwhile, 4 PzA established a bridgehead over the Velikaya river. My opponent used all his rail capacity to defend Pskov. The will probably slow us down here a bit, but meant that the western front was less well defended, allowing AGC to capture a substantial bridgehead over the Dnepr.

[CapAndGown]

The Center: Spear #2

It would seem that some folk have a philosophy of simply screening pockets with light forces while they try to advance most of their infantry to the east. My own philosophy is to reduce pockets as fast as possible so that ALL my infantry can advance east. Thus, unlike in my Soviet game, the Bialystok/Minsk pockets have been almost completely eliminated. One infantry division should be sufficient to clean up what's left.

My opponent left a security regiment in Minsk to slow me down. After some consideration, however, I decided that rather than go around, I would hasty attack with a panzer division to clear a path for follow on units. If there had been a division instead I would have gone around.

After extensive recon, it was clear that the weakest portion of the Soviet defenses were located north of Mogilev, which also happened to be the clearest terrain. So both panzer armies operated in tandem to achieve a bridgehead over the Dnepr whilst securing our flanks sufficiently to avoid having our troops get cut off. Of course, they will be out of gas next turn anyway, but having that bridgehead is an extremely important objective.

[CapAndGown]

The South: Spear #3

I should note that my opponent bombed all my front line units during his turn. I thought this was a good idea, so I did the same during my Soviet turn 2.

As can be seen below, the Lvov/Stanislav pocket is rapidly being reduced. Next turn almost all of of 6 Army will be able to turn its attention to the east, while 17 Army and the Romanians finish up what's left.

Just north of the picture the units pocketed around Kovel managed to cut off three divisions, two panzer and one cavalry. This being turn 2, however, this had little effect since they still had their gas tanks topped up from turn 1. The Russians units in that pocket have now been isolated and hopefully we can finish them off next turn.

I went ahead and spent 20 admin points to attach 46 PzCorps to 1 PzA. This reduces the load on 2 PzA and makes 1 PzA the most powerful formation in the Wehrmacht.

That power was used to smash as far east as possible while still securing our flanks to avoid being cut off. Since recon revealed the Russians were the weakest in the South, that's where we went. Prokhurov was captured while we reached the outskirts of Vinnitsa.

[Beria]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown
It would seem that some folk have a philosophy of simply screening pockets with light forces while they try to advance most of their infantry to the east. My own philosophy is to reduce pockets as fast as possible so that ALL my infantry can advance east.

Without supporting infantry close behind your armored columns though they will slow down. I think you would be better off at least prioritizing some infantry to keep up with the panzers so that they can make more progress while the going is easier.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: Beria

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown
It would seem that some folk have a philosophy of simply screening pockets with light forces while they try to advance most of their infantry to the east. My own philosophy is to reduce pockets as fast as possible so that ALL my infantry can advance east.

Without supporting infantry close behind your armored columns though they will slow down. I think you would be better off at least prioritizing some infantry to keep up with the panzers so that they can make more progress while the going is easier.

Also the sooner the enemy pockets are cleared the sooner the units will be respawned back to the Soviet side.

[redrum68]

Pretty good start. Nice bridgeheads in the North and Center. Any insight into your rail plan and overall objectives?

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: redrum68

Pretty good start. Nice bridgeheads in the North and Center. Any insight into your rail plan and overall objectives?

I am hesitant to comment on my strategic concept, this being an open thread. [:D]

As far as rail repair, I have one FBD racing across Lithuania towards the Dvina which will then turn north to Pskov (pretty standard, I am sure). One FBD is past Kaunas and now Vilnius head towards Minsk. From there it will head to Orsha. Another FBD is coming up from Brest-Litovsk and now heading straight east north of the marshes. Once past the Berezina it will head south to Mogiliev. The fourth German FBD is working its way through central Ukraine (Lvov->Tarnopol->Proskurov). The FBD is meant to support troops operating near Kiev/Cherkassky. The Rumanian FBD is plodding towards Odessa. Once it is gone I will probably ship the Northern FBD down there to pick up where it left off.

[CapAndGown]

In the north and center the panzers were out of gas, so they mostly held their position while the infantry caught up.

For some reason the Soviets brought in weak units to huddle up against my lead panzer divisions. While the panzers may be short on fuel, this did not mean they were helpless. As a result, two airborne brigades and an NKVD regiment were shattered.

[CapAndGown]

As in the north, the center was mostly about bringing up the infantry while the panzers waited for fuel trucks to arrive. (We also airdropped fuel to the lead panzers as well.)

The Soviets were deeply concerned about protecting Mogiliev. They had a ring of units around the city. I looked for a way to possibly take the city this turn, along with its factories, but could not find units with sufficient fuel to have any reasonable expectation of capturing it. I could have moved a unit next to the city to hinder factory evacuation, but after some deliberation decided I did not wish to expose an unit to counter attack and/or use the fuel. So those factories will escape.

The big mystery this turn was the extensive Soviet recon southwest of Minsk. I have no idea what the Soviets were looking for. Something to do with partisan operations, perhaps?

[CapAndGown]

Soviets units pocketed around Kovel put up a valiant defense. When it comes time to write their obituaries, I hope they are all recognized as heroes of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin, first class. At any rate, the Kovel/Rovno pockets should be eliminated next turn. (I held back on a few attacks so that the units would not route. Instead, I settled for isolating the Rovno garrison so that I can destroy the units completely next turn. Unless, of course, he tries and succeeds in un-isolating those units during his turn.)

[CapAndGown]

The Lvov/Stanislav pocket was almost completely eliminated, meaning 17 Army will be force marching east next turn. Only 3 NKVD regiments and one rifle division remain to be cleaned up.

Not sure why the Hungarians have not activated yet. Any clues?

[CapAndGown]

The main action this turn took place along the banks of the Yuzhny Bug. 1 PzA launched a deep offensive into the southwestern steppe. The Soviets adopted a "hedgehog" defense (i.e. checkerboard) 30 miles deep in an arc stretching from Bessarabia north to Kiev. 1 PzA's thrust had a few objectives. 1) Stay close to our sources of supply from Romania. 2) Threaten the Soviet Southern Front with encirclement. 3) Threaten the capture of numerous industrial centers, or in the case of Odessa, to cut of its rail connection to the rest of the Soviet Union.

Fighting was fierce, with numerous engagements all across this sector. In the end we achieved a 120 mile penetration and a 30-40 mile gap in the Soviet lines. I would expect that the Soviet Southern Front will be in full retreat next turn to avoid encirclement.

On an admin note: I spent 36 AP to transfer 4 Rumanian Army from AGS to Rumanian High Command. This will reduce some of the load on von Rundstedt and allow the support units for the Romanians to flow up to their high command where they can be distributed to the various Romanina armies/corps. I also transferred all Rumanian divisions out of 11 Army into various Rumanian corps. The mismatch in marching speeds between German and Rumanian divisions meant they would just be a drag on 11 Army. As replacements, I have brought in two reinforcing divisions from OKH reserve to join 11 Army.

[CapAndGown]

Little action in the north this turn. The infantry joined the fight to capture Pskov, while the panzers withdrew to rest, refit and restock. The wall of Soviets in this sector is quite impressive, not something I would have expected to see until we reached the Luga. But this has several advantages: with this all out defense of Pskov, other fronts are obviously less well defended than they otherwise might be; and the fight is taking place much closer to my supply source.

As can be seen, 2 Army will be inserted into front between 16 and 9 Armies. 2 Army now reports to AGN rather than AGC costing 36 admin points. This will reduce the overload on AGC.

[CapAndGown]

In the center things were fairly quite as well. Surprisingly, the factories at Mogiliev were not evacuated. After the ring of units the Soviets put up around the city last turn I was sure they were there to try to ensure the factories could be evacuated, yet they were not. My suspicion is that the Soviets used up their rail capacity evacuating other factories. For instance, the factories at Odessa, Kiev and Kirovograd have all been moved. At any rate, that's three armament and three heavy industry factories captured.

The panzers are still low on fuel, though 2 PzA had more fuel than 3 PzA. therefore the panzers from 2 PzA were ferried over the Dnepr in preparation for an offensive next turn. With the infantry now arriving, that offensive will be started with 9 Army troops with the panzer armies hopefully exploiting any breaches. 4 Army will probably not have enough movement points to actually launch any attacks next turn; most of those MPs will be used up crossing the Dnepr.

[CapAndGown]

I was surprised to see that the Soviets still had a significant number of troops stationed along the Dnestr. I had expected these troops to be withdrawn eastwards to avoid encirclement. As a result, instead of heading directly east as I had thought we would be doing, the panzers were order south along the banks of the Yuzhny Bug to encircle that force around Odessa. They will, of course not be cut off from supply, and some of them will be able to be evacuated by sea, yet a good portion of them should be trapped at the mouth of the Dnestr.

Another reason for heading south instead of east was to open up the supply routes from Romania to our forces along the Yuzhny Bug.

[CapAndGown]

My opponent been putting up a good defense overall. Certainly, he is better about unit bombing than I have been. (I really don't like the air war in WitE, unlike in WitP.) Some doctrinal difference are apparent: my opponent appears to have been focused on leadership changes, while I have focused on saving units and equipment such as AA units attached to cities and disbanding fortified regions before they are overrun.

This turn, however, I believe Bitburger may have made a mistake. I was prepared to settle down to the task of bludgeoning my way through the Pskov bottleneck when a division from 18 Army discovered that the river between the lakes was only held by an AT brigade! [X(] I had been considering sending the panzers towards Velikiye Luki, but this route into the rear of the Pskov defense changed that plan immediately.

[CapAndGown]

Around Odessa the Russian situation is not not good. Although 10th panzer was surrounded, that was only a temporary state of affairs. Using what little gas it had left (after being relieved by elements of the 11 Army and fellow panzer troops) it used its limited mobility to advanced into a vacant hex southeast towards Odessa. What it found was empty space beyond the small salient it had created. With this information, follow on panzer divisions were quickly dispatched to move into the void and cut off the Soviet forces to the west and destroy the defensive works outside the city. In Odessa itself there was only a fortified region, 9 Army HQ, and a routed tank division. 16 Panzer launched a hasty attack with the support of a pioneer battalion and a flak company, achieving over 5:1 odds, but the forts were unaffected. A second attack, now with the help of two machine guns battlions achieved almost 8:1 odds, but again the forts were unaffected. We will have to wait until we can launch a deliberate attack with artillery support before we have a chance of reducing fortress Oddessa. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how the Soviets deal with the congestion in and around Odessa. Meahwhile, 3 rifle, 1 tank, and 1 motorized divisions are isolated along the banks of the Dnestr.

Elsewhere there was little progress in the south as infantry from the 17 Army caught up and attention was focused on Odessa.

[CapAndGown]

Ever since securing a bridgehead over the Dnepr on turn 2, Panzergruppen 2 & 3 have sat on their ass for most of July scrounging around for fuel. By next turn, however, they should be ready to rock and roll.

[CapAndGown]

Army group center's gun went off. In the resulting explosion the Germans captured Bryansk and Ordzhonikizegrad along with their factories, costing the Soviets 7 heavy industry and 8 armaments factories. Ten Soviet rifle divisions were pocketed and isolated in the process. For reasons of operational security, I will provide a picture once I have finished the turn and received the next turn.