Soliciting opinions/advice - summer 42 in Russia.

[jjdenver]

Hi,

It's summer 42 in one of my PBEM games.

- Med is pretty quiet w/ Italy on defensive.
- Brits have taken Bergen but are faced by strong Luftwaffe and Wermacht elements in Norway.
- Soviets have knocked Finland around but it's currently holding ok - it will take another strong punch to knock them out.

Basically the war in the west is going fine, but...

The decision point is here in USSR. The Germans have complete air superiority. The Soviets tried a big counteroffensive in late '41 and got mauled badly. In total the Red Army probably lost 3 ARM, 6 MECH and a bunch of INF in 41. In 42 they have continued to take a real beating, with several pockets - 2 of which are being reduced in this screenshot. At this point I'd estimate the Reds have 4 ARM, 2 MECH, and 20 INF along w/ a lot of garrisons. The Red Air Force is in hiding - hard to tell how big it is.

The screenshot shows the German position. After this screenshot the Germans cleaned up in the middle at Voronezh, took Rostov, and cut off the 3 GAR strung out N. of Rostov with their moves during the turn shown. There are probably 4-5 (?) more turns of good campaign weather in 42 and I have to decide what to do w/ the Germans. Any opinions/advice?

Germany could:
- push for Maikop
- push for Tula/Moskva
- take Vitebsk/Pskov to strengthen the line in the north
- push for Stalingrad
- etc

[schwerpunkt]

JJ,
My advice is to take Rostov and make a push between it and Stalingrad as this will force the Russian player to respond and to thin his lines out. The key isnt so much in gaining cities as to destroying russian units and a threat to Stavropal-Stalingrad will force the russian player to commit in open terrain where your TACs can be most damaging. Between Stalingrad and Tambov is a waste of time as the russian player can simply withdraw and allow you to enter the supply 3 area east of Voronez which dramatically weakens your infantry movement and readiness. If Moscow is well defended, slugging it through the forest hexes will be costly - if he weakens here though in order to respond to a southern offensive, then you can launch probing attacks to keep him honest.
Finally, if you do well in the south then the Maikop oilfield is nice to have.

[jjdenver]

Other opinions?

Schwerpunkt's opinion seems sounds.

FYI: The large German concentration around Voronezh is there only because there was a pocket to kill.

[joerock22]

I would take Rostov and make a strong push for Stalingrad. It's the Soviets' second most productive city and taking it will hurt their war effort. Also, most of your air and armour is already in the area. My goal for winter would be a solid defensive line of infantry running along the river between Stalingrad and Rostov. That will keep that large Russian force in the south from hurting you too badly once the bad weather sets in. I wouldn't worry too much about a strong winter counteroffensive around Stalingrad. From the number of garrisons he's purchased and how many units you say you've destroyed, the Russians can't have much left in the way of an offensive arm.

If you're low on oil, you could be tempted to break into the Caucuses, but I don't think you can do it in only 4-5 turns with all those Russian corps there. Let us know what you decide.

[jjdenver]

FYI - you asked for an update so here it is. It's winter 42. My opponent is very good - possibly the best out of the 10 or so opponents I've had in GS mod.

The German army drove south toward Maikop. There was also a series of tank battles north of Stalingrad. A couple of German corps had thrust across the river north of the city and a swarm of Soviet armor and mech counterattacked. Several German corps were in position to respond so a counterattack was launched. The Soviets came off the clear loser but the strength spent here - air and armor - weakened the drive toward Maikop and the Soviets were able to keep control of the oil there.

The Soviet winter offensive was fairly weak. Here's a screenshot.

[joerock22]

Ah, see you had to fight on two fronts instead of just one. That's why I advised an all-out drive for Stalingrad. You won the battle, but you didn't achieve capture either Stalingrad or Maikop. Still, you seem to have done pretty well for yourself, so maybe you can exploit your gains in 1943.