Drakken vs. Tamas - DC3: Barbarossa PBEM (Axis thread)

[11B4V]

This is good.

[Norgy]

You know they pay attention to detail when you get a message about Goebbels wanting to film you.

Loving the AAR.

[The Brain]

DG?

Dorsey4Guller works for FSB.

[Drakken]

You know they pay attention to detail when you get a message about Goebbels wanting to film you.

Loving the AAR.

I love the less costly option that tells Goebbels his crew may freely film around, just not around me. Let them use a stand-in instead.

[Drakken]

Dorsey4Guller works for FSB.

I sure hope DGuller's virtual grandad wasn't in the Minsk area last turn. 

[Valmy]

Huh. What happened to the Swastika flags? Your love of the Kaiserreich made you decide to go back to their flag for the last turn?

[Drakken]

Huh. What happened to the Swastika flags? Your love of the Kaiserreich made you decide to go back to their flag for the last turn?

I reinstalled the game afresh. I were unable to load my single player saved games without the game freezing or crashing, and I thought part of the reason it was the graphic mods. Turned out BitDefender antivirus was messing with my game.

It's now resolved, so I will reinstall it.

[Drakken]

T7 - July 12th, 1941

A setback in the north : a coordinated counterattack from three sides has forced 1st Panzer Division to retreat, with 20 tanks among the losses and casualties (over a total of 95).  Another... attack of Tamas, this time on 11th Infantry Division, went worse for the Russians : 2400 Red casualties for absolutely none on my side. 




That said, this lead me to have a check to the status of my PanzerGruppes... and what I saw shocked me : All my PanzerGruppe except 1st PzrGr in the South are now under 75% of their TO&E in tanks. Not only Tamas has cost me... but the wear and tear of the vast superficity of the Russian country accounts the loss of 120 tanks 





I don't have the exact armoured casualties in real-life Barbarossa after a month of combat in-hand, right now, to compare my performance and my casualties so far. But to me, these numbers seem to indicate I've been using my Panzers a bit carelessly. Starting now I'll be more careful with Panzer Divisions. As practicable they be either concentrated, or if if I can't supported by a Motorized Division.

Now that Minsk has be conquered and Tarnopol is poised to fall soon, I decide that time has come to rest and refit my Panzers in the South and in the Center while I reorganized my supply lines, starting with 3rd PanzerGruppe. The first wave of reinforcement should be coming starting T10, so I have time to prepare the next stage of the offensive. I also convert these PanzerGruppes's posture away from Blitzkrieg posture to Defensive, temporarily, to save fuel and increase defence, while I keep resupplying 1st PzrGr with fuel from the air while the FSB is still been shuffled to Lvov Lemberg.

Another reason to keep refueling 1st PzrGrp... is to use the Romanian 1st Armored Division down south to give the death kneel to Tamas's front and exploit the weakened Soviets between Odessa and Proskurov.

Speaking of FSBs, I relocate the one for AGC to Minsk. This is estimated to take 12 days, more than enough time for my Infantry to rejoin the frey and gather facing Mogilev, where Tamas is now massing at least two new Soviet Armies.

I also order my PanzerGruppe to take a less zig-zagging approach to save fuel, this will decrese their movement bonus from 50% to 30%, but will cost me 500 less bbls of fuel per PanzerGruppe per turn.



Right like a toothache can never come at a better time my boss, von Brauchtisch, has sent me a telegram to express his dissatisfaction with the current conduct of the campaign. He has a set of new orders for me to pass down the chain of command and execute like a professional German officer. Since my real boss likes my work so far, I could tell him to shove it... but I need the PPs so I say, "Jawohl, Herr General!" to mollify the Little Boss. 




AGN

Well, the defence of Riga didn't last long. 



Surrounded and targeted by a well coordinated attack from all side, both by ground and air, the major garrison and the two Rifle Divisions caught inside the Riga cauldron were thrown into panic and destroyed without surrender. Riga falls, with its bridges still left intact! 18th Army uses them to immediately cross the Dvina, while 16th Army masses in front of Dunaburg.

The rest of 4th PanzerGruppe cleans the area surrounding Riga, but without advancing too much this time. I also decide not to let my Panzer Divisions without Infantry support in case Tamas tries something fancy. Next turn I will aim at the unfortified plains north of Dunaborg to surround the city and pocket its Divisions. Only after it is liquidated I will rest 4th PanzerGruppe.


AGC



We start to prepare the Mogilev front. As stated above 3rd PnzGr is ordered to rest and refit, while 9th Army moves eastward to reach Mogilev either next turn or the turn afterwards. German 4th Army moves forward in support, pushing about Tamas' 4th Army further inside the marshes in the process.

This time again, all Panzers are left with immediate backup of Motorized Infantry. I also leave one or two hex spaces between Tamas and I; this makes me harder for its recon to identify my resting status, and if he attempts a move he will have to consume APs and be left vulnerable in front of my Panzers in plain, open fields. Bad move. I doubt Tamas will have the guts to attempt a counter-offensive to exploit, however. He will probably take this respite to gather more units and entrench itself.

From my recon reports Tamas is massing two Armies in front of Mogilev, 21st and 22nd. More worringly, these have a new item in the arsenal. 




AGS

Tamas has surrendered Tarnopol.



While 1st PnzGruppe is resting and refiting, 6th and 17th Army keep mauling the Soviet front, pushing them toward Proskurov. I take the opportunity to straighten my front, avoiding salients unless I can mass enough troops to counter any attempt by Tamas of a counterattack. I picking off weak Divisions around his bigger stacks, whacking Tamas' weak spots one by one to occupy and surround its stacks and whack his massed Divs from several sides.


Karelian Front



Russian troops are successfully pushed off Finnish territory by the Karelian front. In the Southeast, however, our offensive against the massed 2 Rifle and 2 Border Divisions 60km due North of Leningrad was repulsed.


Bessarabian Front



The Southern front's line of defensive resistance is crumbling.

Romanian 4th Army units reach the vicinity of Odessa while a breakthrough is isolating most of Southern Army's units from the rest of the front. The ways to reach Proskorov by the South and the Southeast is also now open before us. 

Tamas's casualties are mounting. I am fairly certain by next turn these will reach the million losses for Tamas.



And another Hero from AGN recommended by FM von Leeb, this time for the Knight's Cross, First Class for GenMaj von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Commander of 12th Infantry Division, 16th Army, for outstanding bravery.

[The Brain]

How's the air war going?

[Drakken]

How's the air war going?

The sky is Nazi, thanks to thousands of VVS planes blown to bits on te first day.

Gamewise the Axis have mastery of the air for much of the scenario. Later though IIRC Tamas can play Cards that represent aerial counter-interdiction and local aerial patrols.

[The Brain]

How's the air war going?

The sky is Nazi, thanks to thousands of VVS planes blown to bits on te first day.

Gamewise the Axis have mastery of the air for much of the scenario. Later though IIRC Tamas can play Cards that represent aerial counter-interdiction and local aerial patrols.

Gotcha.

[Drakken]

T8 - July 16th, 1941

No aggressive move by Tamas this turn, mostly spent reinforcing his Center and reshuffling his units in the North and in the South. I'm really surprised his hasn't pulled his Southernmost line of defence behind the Bug river - as my intelligence informed as soon as last turn there was nothing around Kiev right now.

Already reaching mid-July I start to get worried. I really feel lagging behind schedule now. Understanding better how changing postures work I've found out changing my Posture for my Panzergruppes to Defensive in the Center has been a mistake: Needless, and because switching posture makes my units reorganizing and vulnerable it'll take 2-3 more turns to switch them back to Blitzkrieg posture.

This gives me no choice to keep the pressure on Tamas' flanks: Dunaburg in the North; and Proskurow and Odessa in the South.

Speaking of the South...

A regretful incident of Slav barbarism has been reported from 170th Inf Division, AGS. One of its patrol was captured by the Soviets, stripped naked by the commissars, and left tied onto stakes to be eaten by wolves. I decide that it's best to acknowledge the report, to let the men of 170th Infantry Division feel that their suffering does not fall on deaf ears. 



On the other side, my friend von Rundstedt reports me, with alarm and disgust, that Einsatzgruppen have started their 'work' in newly-occupied Tarnopol, gathering both civilians and Jews and murdering them in mass executions.



Himmler almost orders me not to inferfere, while Brauchstisch cautions me to be very prudent - I agree with him that the Reichsführer-SS is not a man to be trifled, and those 'actions' are indeed authorized by the Führer. Lodging a formal complaint will not stop these massacres... but I decide nonetheless to verbally complain up the chain of command, making Himmler very distrustful in the process but maintaing my good relations with von Runstedt.

I profit from the occasion to organize a meeting with my boss meet von Brauchtisch, who has invited himself to my headquarters so we straighten up our work relations, so to speak. His distrust of me is a nuisance to our war effort, so it's the occasion to repair what damage has been done so far. We and our mutual staff work out a working arrangement that leaves no more misunderstanding between us, severely repairing our working relations (Up to Good).

Logistics-wise, the FSB is Lvov has finally arrived, although the network nees still being set which is gonna take a little while longer. I order the AGC's Luftflotten to relocalize from Warsaw to Minsk, the closest possible to the front, while 2nd PanzerGruppe is ordered to undertake rest and refit.

Finally, Baltic Sea convoys from Königsberg to Liepaja to complement trucks and trains to bring in fuel to AGN have been authorized.


AGN



4th PanzerGruppe has passed around the fortified positions along the Dvina and cleaned the Russians behind Tamas' rear off Dunaburg, but with too few APs left to come crashing on Dunaburg. 2 Infantry Divisions of 16th Army attempt a daring, but ultimately failed offensive, across the Dvina to seize Dunaburg. 18th Army moves up behind the Dvina to create a push toward Pskov and Tallin, discovering a Minor garrison in Ostrov along the way.


AGC



A wide segment of my left flank is totally open across the woods north of Minsk. Tamas is gathering force, but not crossing the woods. I direct 9th Army north to rush to the Northeast to attempt coverinf that flank and  deploy von Weichs' newly available 2nd Army HQ to Vilnius, so its Divisions gather there to go cover the northernmost segment of that front.

4th Army crosses the Pripet marshes in direction of the Dnepr, intending to cover in front of Mogilev on the other side of the Dnepr. Bridge leading to Orsha has been blown, but Mogilev's bridges still stand - for now.


AGS

Thanks to von Brauchtisch flip-flopping orders I have APs penalties preventing me to push further that I'd want, so the advances in the South toward Proskurov have been mediocre. This will change, hopefully, on the next turn.

On the more positive side, both Odessa and Czernowitz have been liberated from the Bolshevik hordes.

[Drakken]

T9 - July 20th, 1941

As expected, Tamas has been mostly reshuffling his defences, gathering his forces in the Center behind the Dnepr and behind the woods North of Mogilev, plus pulling back somewhat in the North. This passive defence is starting to get on my nerve. Is it Stalin, the so-called Man of Iron, leading the Bolsheviks, or a ballet dancer from the Bolshoï theater? Too bad I won't be able to see Tamas' face melt when he sees 3rd PanzerGruppe is veering north.

After almost a month of constant offensive 4th PanzerGruppe is battered and tired. Its effectives are now down to 59% tanks due to wear and tear and battle losses. That's especially true of of 1st Panzer Division, the tip of my spear in the north, which is now down to 39% of its original effectives.



In this moment of despair I take solace in that historical doorstopper sitting on my side bedtable. I speak, of course, of Franz Halder's war diaries. Reading the entry for July 20th I find a passage that warms my heart. Perhaps I am not doing that bad, after all. Or perhaps I am being too overcautious, stopping my PanzerGruppes so soon in the Center and the South.



My Chief of Staff's decision to ignore both FM von Leeb's and General Gercke's requests about refitting AGN's Truck Columns has angered von Leeb, making our relations Neutral, but more importantly in the negative slightly. That means that 4th PanzerGruppe has lost its Command Focus until it improves. I won't reassign that Focus just yet. The generals leading AGN's Slow Division Armies are average at best, and it'd cost me 5 PPs to reassign it to 4th PanzerGruppe when we resolve this 'misunderstanding'.

Where there is no misunderstanding possible, though, is that the dire status of our truck columns in the South is of earnest interest. Relocating the FSB to Lvov Lemberg is one thing, but now Oberst Hintern von Affe taps on my shoulder and shows me a report from the OKW Quartermaster that only 7 columns supply remain for the whole of AGS, when 15 would be needed just for the fuel its PanzerGruppe!

To put it bluntly. - I lack trucks in the South. Worse, I have no surplus trucks left available there. The reason why : 62% of my trucks are grounded because they are in wait of badly needed maintenance from partisan sabotage and being overworked due to the sheer mileage accumulated.



Almost 13000 bbls of fuel are currently sitting in the depots for AGS, waiting to be distributed. 13000 bbls of fucking panzer fuel! When it gets in the pipeline I'll have fuel for months on end. I thus flex my operational muscles (read, spend PPs) to order a full overhaul of my truck columns (as 1st PanzerGruppe is resting it's best to do this now and the losses were just too important), plus 20 truck columns reallocated from ammunition and supply trucks to be used for fuel.



AGN

I've had enough with Dunaburg. I veer enough Motorized and Infantry Divisions south to reduce that pocket from all sides, with Divisions of 16th Army to crossing pontoons and assaulting the defenders under heavy fire across the Dvina.



The sheer odds (500 stacks with lots of concentric bonuses) overwhelm the defenders. Mitigating this result, though, my attempt to pocket Dunaburg by pushing 16th Rifle Division off its southeast hex has failed, meeting with stiff resistance. This allows the battered defenders to escape the city.

Oh well.

The rest of 4th PanzerGruppe does some reconnaissance en force, but I won't push it further; I pull back my Panzers. My immediate objective has been fulfilled and so I will shuffle my infantry in position and retire my PanzerGruppe to rest and refit next turn. 16th Army will move eastward to cover Dunaburg and prepare to take Ostrov with the help of 18th Army, which pummels the remnants of the Baltic Military Division northward.



In Finland, not much to write on: Sitzkrieg in front of Leningrad (Tamas has 13 Divisions of 23rd Army facing me) and light skirmishes in Karelia. Tamas has been pulling off Karelia, but I dare not cross those red Bs hexes.



AGC

9th Army has now arrived in position, waiting to strike northeastward and cleave north of the Dnepr when the moment arrives. I place 9th Army's frontage in the woods facing the plains because it gives my Infantry divisions an Entrenchment bonus. Both PanzerGruppes keep resting and refitting in and around Minsk, and 4th Army is moving eastward as Tamas seems to be evacuating the Pripet marshes.

No Division of von Weichs' 2nd Army has arrived yet,  they are due to be deployed next turn with 100% odds. They will be ordered on my left flank facing 16th Army. If all goes well, all things should coordinate to launch a new offensive in the Center by the end of July.





AGS

6th and 17th Armies keep pushing the Reds further and further of Tarnopol, increasing the pressure on Proskurov and giving me options on Zhitomir. More and More of Tamas' Rifle Infantry are have been broken and disclotating, surrendering due to the sheer strength of the Germans keeping the pressure. This front seems to be thinning out, which coupled with my intelligence report suggests that Tamas has either been pulling out behind my recon sight, or I've been dislocating his lines mercilessly and his front is giving way.



The German 17th and the Romanian 4th Armies have finally linked up around Czernowitz, with a potential pocket if we punch through 190the Rifle Division the line in front of Proskurov. Meanwhile, two German Divisions - 22nd Luftlande and 79th - and two Romanian Mountain Divisions batters 116th Rifle Division, threatening his rear if I push it aside the railroads.

Last but not least, down on the Ukrainian coastline 196th Rifle Infantry resists strenuously, despite being totally surrounded and harried from all sides.



Ende for now. The map of the situation at the end of July 20th, and the casualties so far. I am certain now that Tamas has lost a million moujiks to the irresistible might of the Wehrmacht. 

[Drakken]

T10 - July 24th, 1941

First Mobilization Wave of reinforcements has arrived in Berlin, as every ten turns. New blood for my Slow divisions, and new panzers and motorised vehicles for my Fast divisions. They will be progressively sent out to my units.



While these will fill two-thirds of my losses in infantry, I receive only 215 Panzers for my Panzergruppes - about one-third of my losses. I will send these in priority to 4th PanzerGruppe, who has suffered the most losses, and 3rd PanzerGruppe, to prepare for Warplan Leuthen.



In the North, as I have taken the Dunaburg-Ostrov-Luga road in priority for my Construction Battalion I temporatily relocate its FSB to Dunaburg - even though the bridges as still blown up. Hopefully in the next 12 days these will be repaired. To help out ease the load I request Kriegsmarine convoys to bring in supply and fuel to Riga as well.

And of course, the Einsatzgruppen are at it again, this time killing in Liepaja in the North. Not much I can do, so I must turn a blind eye. This increases the level of Partisans in the North, messing with my trucks, my units' APs, lines of communication, and so on.

In the Center, I immediately transfer the Posture of 3rd PanzerGruppe from Defensive to Blitzkrieg, to at least mitigate my earlier mistake even though it will disrupt its units. But enough waiting: I will take this turn time to position them behind 2nd Army, ready to punch through North of Mogilev and reach inside his rear area. Since von Kluge's 4th Army has Command Focus for now I play his Flank card to make him be extra careful of his flanks, giving 1/2 Offence and 1/2 Defence bonuses to his Divisions.

In preparation of the incoming big offensive, I decide to visit Army Group Center to tour the front, and also have a 'friendly' chat with von Bock who had sent me scathing letter to complain that I was 'ignoring' his front, verging on insubordination. Although all these initiatives are welcomed by the Feldmarshall, our relations remain icy.

Finally in the South, AGS is now way beyond the Luftwaffe's effective range so I finally move the Airbase to Lvov. Odessa is available, but I feel our push inside Ukraine is more important than in Crimea.


Finnish front

Nothing at all in front of Leningrad. However, Comrade Tamas ventured 237th Rifle Division too far inside my border without any support. I manoeuver my three Divisions to cut its supply lines, aiming to destroy it next turn. One less Division for Tamas.




AGN

Piece of intelligence from Abwehr - intercepts tend to show that Tamas has placed Marshall Rokossovsky in command of Northern Front. That explains a lot of what my recon reports.

A massive concentration of Soviet troops lies in behind Ostrov, laying a deadly trap if I move to occupy the unprepared and displace its minor garrison. Instead of falling for his trap I decide to push 4th Panzergruppe around, by in the plains south of the Ostrov marshes. I make a punch there, cleaving his ZOC between Polotsk and the Ostrov railway, but due to the heavy present of 32nd Army down south and my fear of an overwhelming counterblow I pull back defensively with the aim of swerving them all northward behind Ostrov next turn.

This move gives me some recon knowledge on the state of Tamas' Army commanders in the Center - High Initiative and no Threat in most of his Armies in the upper part of the Center front. This leads me to suspect that Tamas has selected to defend Moscow at all cost, and he concentrated both Zhukov and Khruschev there.

Further north, Eighteenth Army bullies the remnants of Frolov's Baltic Military District Army. Recon indicates that a full new army of conscripts - Akhilustin's 48th Army, lies in the way to Tallinn. Good - I don't care about Tallinn as of now, so better there where they are useless than behind in Pskov. Instead, I position a few Divisions ready to flank Ostrov, beyond the River.




AGC

Not much this turn. 3rd Panzergruppe is now in position to pierce through Tamas's soft underbelly of his front, right around 12th Motorized Division is placed. Second Army has start to move toward his place on my left flank while I bring Fourth Army further in position. Sadly, Partisan works slow down my advances, depriving me of precious APs.

An Occupation Division is now in Brest-Litovsk, 'policing' the city.

And now Warplan Leuthen, aiming to slam Tamas' center by a roundabout in the plains in front of Vitebsk and a vicious blow by 2nd Panzergruppe through the lone bridge to Mogilev. Due to start on July 28th, 1941 or August 1st, at the most.




AGS / Crimean Front

I use all my fuel to place 1st Panzergruppe in the vicinity of Rovno. No need for a push just yet - Tamas' line in the South is getting thinner in front of Zhitomir, while Eleventh Army keeps climbing north toward the rear of Proskurov. Tamas' whole Southern front is crumbling. Nothing much remains of the South Army, the road to Nikolaev seems to lay open.

Desperate resistance of the remnants of 12th and Southwestern Army on the outer bank of the Dniestr, and a new conscript army - 44th Army- is bunched on the other side of the Bug river, south of Vinnitsa.



Ende for now. Tamas has now officially lost a million of his sons. 

[Valmy]

Pretty good work in the South after the Romanians spent the first turn...um...doing something stereo-typically Romanian...whatever that might be.