AO 1939 Wlodawa

[mdh_slith]

I have a question re AO 1939 Wlodawa. Do people i) send a force SE and the up the east side of the river to attack the Soviets as in the Pazermon AR, ii) head north and then attack through the Polish in the NW to attack the Soviets, or iii) use a bridge engineer to counter attack across the river in the NE and put the Soviets between you and the poles in the NW?

[Scrapulous]

Just north of your starting point is a gap in the swamp that straddles the Bug River. Most recently on that map I used bridging engineers there and sent a third of my force across. This puts you north of that big forest, which was why I did it; there is a one-hex-wide path that is mostly clear through the forest, but it looked like it would take a lot of time and I hate channeling my units through a narrow path; a modest enemy entrenchment at the end of the path can tie up a lot of your units for a few turns, which I always regard as a major failure.

I had hoped that my bridging force would catch the Soviets off guard and pick up some good captures, but it didn't really catch the Soviet emplacements in their flanks. On the other hand, I don't regret it and will do it again, just because forcing a crossing at Wlodawa is busy work and the bridges are hotly contested. It turns out the captures I wanted are all jammed up near Wlodawa anyway (you can get soviet guns in the south, but I had plenty of those already). But having that force east of the river just gives you a wider front against the Soviets so you don't have a line of units waiting to cross the Wlodawa bridges, and you can catch some of the Soviet reinforcements in the flank if your crossing force heads north at a decent pace.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

I would prefer going SE and then north. The last time I had forgotten to bring in a bridge unit, but it is still better than bottlenecked at the bridgehead between the polish and soviet army.

[mdh_slith]

I ran SE then North with the Vendaja, a Pz 38t, my super Cavalry unit (Double Move, Flag Killer and a third I forget), the fast deploy 203mm Lethal Gun and the SdFkz 10/4 for AA. Took the west side of the river by turn 18 and forced my way to the Katyushas in turn 19. Managed to capture 14 of them and now deciding whether to deploy for Warsaw. May have to drop my only Field Repairs unit on it to keep the Polish from whittling it down. FR hero currently on my Char tank, decisions, decisions.

[adiekmann]

I used to always just push north and then leave one victory hex unoccupied while I cross the bridges. I split my ground forces into 2: the one that goes up the left side and the other up the middle. However, in more recent playthroughs after that's done I too send a small but strong force over the river much farther south. It is too much of a slog to smash your way across the bridges while enduring constant Russian artillery barrages. Taking some of those units out on the right bank from the South is more cost effective in terms of loses you suffer. I think I put four or five ground units over. Still cross the bridges in the North but not in force until those 2 hilltop 152mm guns are knocked out. Then they flank the equally annoying Russian rockets artillery.

[adiekmann]

Now, if you aren't interesting in capturing Russian equipment or building more experience for your units, then there is no reason to anyway. Just capture the Polish victory hexes and be done.

[nexusno2000]

I have a question re AO 1939 Wlodawa. Do people i) send a force SE and the up the east side of the river to attack the Soviets as in the Pazermon AR, ii) head north and then attack through the Polish in the NW to attack the Soviets, or iii) use a bridge engineer to counter attack across the river in the NE and put the Soviets between you and the poles in the NW?

The Polish forces are very weak and can be dealt with at your leisure.

The main goal of this map should be to encircle and capture as many Soviet units as possible. It's an amazing way to gain LOT of prestige and equipment. Nice to have some Katyushas to go along with your Il-2