Defending the Reich - the war is over

[Crazygunner1]

[quote="Plaid"]Quiet turn this time.

I want to say, that first time Italy surrenders with me as axis, and I don't know what to do now with a place. When Italy is afloat all is more or less simple - you defend allies to prevent surrender. But what to do now? I have opportunity to launch offencive and kill most of allies units here, but will not it be waste of resources? I can just man Gustav's line, and all this allied troops will be stopped for very long time, they would just stand without action, which is almost same, as destruction. Only thing I don't like with Gustav's line is that it is central weather zone north of it, so my air assets will be uneffective. But on other hand I can just redeploy airforce from MED, since I don't need this many for defence.
Deffinetely I don't want to leave good PP source (and victory point in Rome) without fight.

I would say through Allies out of italy if you got the resources. Couple of good things come from it, they loose much valued units, the won´t have a foothold in italy and have to reedo the costly landing again witch i don´t think they will do...cause the main point is to knock italy out of the war so there aren´t that much to gain for them anymore...except a victory point Rome. After you can relase much needed forces to other sections.

If you don´t, yes you can hold the Gustav line pretty easy now, but remember as the game progresses, allies catch up in science and strenght so the longer the game progresses the harder it will be for you to keep them at bay....Also leaving them on the mainland forces you to keep a prescence in italy.

Considering this, i think you should kick them out, would be nice to give the men a boost in morale since there has been much retreat and heavy losses after the battle of brittain.

[Plaid]

Soviets are offencive in the south, destroying one corps near Odessa and seiging city. I don't mind to lose it, but will give a fight.
Also damaged armour with stukas - 1st one did 4 steps, while 2nd - 0...Well, its all okay.



In Italy I am still unsure, shall I push or not, but I gone for exposed armour and destroyed both.



In the northern seas I sent HSF to engage weak 4 step bomber airfield, but only lost 1 step.

[PinkPanzer]

What did you learn from your sealion? What would you do differently?

According to my understanding of military theory, when your on the defensive tanks and mech are not deployed in your front lines but held back in reserve as your counterattack force.

That sucks having italy knocked out of the war. Obviously losing the low effeciency oil wasting italian air force isn't too bad, but losing the 3 italian manpower/turn means german manpower will decline faster.

The obvious allied outflanking of the gustav line is to amphib invade near ancona, florence, la spezia and cut southern italy off from railroad reinfocement asap.

That's a nice 8 quality 9 survival bb.

[Plaid]

Finally posting some update here.

Allies still press me hard both in Italy and USSR, I am about to lose Odessa, and my troops in Italy taken large ammounts of damage.

Good side is that I still have reserves aswell as PPs. Manpower was 59% at the end of my turn, surv penalty is near, but I hope to survive winter without getting into this zone - still need good surv troops for summer campaign.

Only some troops shuffle in the east, Odessa expected to fall finally. Also notice this battered red airforce, while my is fresh and new. I can engage soviet fighters even in bad weather, getting reasonable results. TACs also upgraded and ready to focus some armour next turn. Fair turn somewhen in February also will be great for luftwaffe.



In Italy I am facing large numbers superiority and started retreating to fortifications. Plan is to take away some assault troops and bring some infantry from fresh builds instead, to make worthy anti-amph defence aswell as defending forts. Good thing about all this is that allies can't amph north of Rome at bad weather turns, so I have time



This turn I repaired and upgraded lots of units, aswell as built 4th armour lab. Panzers looks like solution to this situation (good PP income, good oil pool, poor manpower, good german tech and weak allied ones, controlled number of soviet armour and TACs), maybe I will build good ammount of armour and cause some problems on the east.

Also different ways of defence of England and France are discussed. There is variety of ways to counter allied invasion, starting from panzers and finishing expanding kriegsmarine.

[Plaid]

In the east Odessa falls, as expected. Surprising, no more soviet attacks. I guess next target will be Kishinev.
Also I bombed soviet armour, but Zechi finally upgraded it to 8 surv, so results at winter weather were not great. At least I lost no bomber and made unit uneffective.



As you can see soviet fighter got bloody nose during allied turn - one more time despite weather, my manpower penalty and other odds. Luftwaffe and kriegsmarine shows excellend performance in this game, destroying thousands of USSR PPs...

Also at the end of my turn I got romanian partisan (!) unit - 3 steps garrison. I will utilise it somewhere deffinetely.

In Italy Gustav line manned, just as planned. Now its time to repair troops and bring in some rear defences.



Near britain new convoy engaged. Russians don't need additional PPs, they already have to many.

Also Reichenau arrived from R&R to command german troops in Britain.



This turn I purchased armour and corps, my oil slowly increase, while manpower slowly degrade, but nothing fatal for now.

[Plaid]

This turn I got mud weather in central europe zone, aswell as minor russian breakthrough, destroying german corps (It no longer makes me feel sad though - its just 35 PP and 10 MP gone, at this stage of fighting for survival troops are expendable as long as front holds) so I did minor retreat, fixing lines. With bad weather (and 65% river penalty) russians will have big problems, if they dare to attack. Model's HQ is somehow exposed (2 TACs + mech strike can force it to retreat out of protection of river, where unit is likely to be destroyed with 2 more attacks), but for what he have defencive bonus, if not for this? Afterall I can't always get bad rolls, can I?



In Italy allies slowly approach Gustav line, destroying romanian garrison, while my soldiers entrench.

Convoy finished off near britain, looking for next.

This turn I purchased one more armour and one more corps. Plan is to have 7-8+ armour ready by summer (have 4 on map and 2 in queue now) and cripple soviet southern front with surprise attack (ideally, soviets will continue to attack when fair weather starts, and suddenly find their units, weakened after attack, destroyed). Panzers, good air support, tech superiority - all like in old good times, infantry-based soviet army with weak armour and air supposed to take major casualties, maybe retreating even and leave me alone for a while.

[Plaid]

Mud do its job, and soviets are passive. It gives me needed time to fix entrenchments and to regain effectiveness. This turn I just repaired troops on the East and Italy, aswell as purchasing 2 new MECH units. Probably one will go for Britain...If I will send good units like armour/mech for Britain, and allies never land there, this units will be wasted, but if allies will land, there will be no time to rail and ship this troops from Russia, Italy or elsewhere. So I need some sort of compromiss here.

Picture of Eastern Front:



Weather is muddy again, so I expect no attack, but if any happens, they are going to be costly for my opponent.

In Italy no action aswell, troops continue to entrench on Gustav's line.

[Plaid]

Allied turn was quiet, only in Italy Gustav's line was attacked and my mech was reduced to 3 steps. Doing my best to save von Bock's HQ and (more important) fortification sector, my armour launched local counterattack, destroying british corps and protecting exposed fort from east. Also transport spotted near Genoa, but it don't looks like serious invasion.



In Russia fair weather allows luftwaffe to do more damage to exposed tanks and fighters.



New soviet convoy engaged and almost destroyed



My manpower is near 56% and soon will hit 50 -1 surv penalty. I am unsure what to do with my PPs now, since I have quite good income (well, maybe it is because serious fighting stopped for a while) and fine ~500 oil stack. I need more infantry to control situation better, but it will be very bad for manpower pool. For now I am slowly building MECHs (1 per turn) but it will not be enough soon.

Its almost 40 turns to fight on, and I have no right to do a mistake any more, if I am going to win this one, so advice from someone experienced in "defending the Reich" is more then wellcome.

[massina_nz]

My suggestion is to focus on FTR units if possible, since you have plenty of Oil. They also consume less manpower.

The allies need to get air superiority in order to use their TACs to bombard your positions to get breakthroughs. If you have plenty of FTRs you can whittle down their FTRs to the point where they may have to send in their TACs unescorted. As the defender you have the advantage here. You can replace your FTR losses whilst defending, the Aliies cannot if they wish to use all their FTRs. Otherwise the Allies have to cycle through their FTRs repairing some and using some as CAP to defend their TACs. Either way it reduces the number of TAC attacks the allies can do, which is essential if you want to keep your ARMs intact.

ncali used this tactic against me very well in a recent game. His FTRs also had the tech advantage over the Allies in 43 and 44, which also helped.

[Plaid]

Allies inflicted me some damage... Lost my italian armour and mech near Odessa. Other units in russia holded their ground well and inflicted high damage to attacking russians.

Not much I can do in return - just harassed exposed units here and there.





I will think about fighters mass production.

[massina_nz]

Yes if you're doing 8-step losses to Allied fighters, surely that hints that you have superior fighter tech. It will be a severe PP drain to the Allies if they continue to replace their FTR loses and still engage in air combat.

[Crazygunner1]

How is your tank research, do they have an edge against Russians?

I have to agree, build fighter to rule the skies, having air superiority will make it very costly for your opponent in the long run. Also if you have god tank research i would suggest a couple of tanks to smash some Russians, and also any britt or US landings quickly. Just make sure you protect them on the eastern front otherwise it will be a waste of PPs.

Tanks and Mechs are for offense, so try and keep them behind INF always never in the frontline. When you do counterattacks, do it decidedly or at the risk of not loosing the unit.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

You're in a dangerous position because the Russians are soon clear of the Pripet marshes and can rush towards Warsaw and then Berlin. So boosting the area near Lvov is important. Keep a double line there with armor in the reserve.

If the Russians have to push into Romania it's better for you because of the terrain there. If you lose control near Lvov then you will have the Russians on German territory in no time.

[massina_nz]

<snip>

Tanks and Mechs are for offense, so try and keep them behind INF always never in the frontline. <snip>.

And while we're talking about tanks. Don't place them in non-clear terrain or in cities, they are less effective there, they suffer penalties in defending in and attacking non-clear hexes. Do as Crazyg suggests, place them in clear terrain behind INF units. When counter-attacking with them (and enemy ARM untis are probably the only thing worth destroying), make sure you can still place an INF unit into the hex they have cleared in front of them. Don't ever leave them exposed. When you are defending the 3rd Reich you seldom get the luxury of building new ARM units.

[massina_nz]

You're in a dangerous position because the Russians are soon clear of the Pripet marshes and can rush towards Warsaw and then Berlin. So boosting the area near Lvov is important. Keep a double line there with armor in the reserve.

If the Russians have to push into Romania it's better for you because of the terrain there. If you lose control near Lvov then you will have the Russians on German territory in no time.

Russians won't do much rushing with all those GAR units in front of Lvov.

[Plaid]

Message from Zechi :

The Luftwaffe is still very strong, this is impressive.

Well, indeed. Russians tryed something, which I guess expected to be all-out attack, but got beaten in every single combat and stopped. I have my own view about role of armour in defence. Indeed its good to keep armour behind lines for counterattacks, but in front lines armour is also very good, especially when your opponent can't get full benefit from TACs, like on eastern front now. Remember, defender fires first..and armour fires hard! Also armour is tough and resilent, and I have lots of PP an oil, while few manpower. I'd rather replace armour, then 2 corps. Anyway, picture of eastern front, where russians achieved nothing this turn :



Also I see, that russian lines north of Lvov to very Finland are degrading more and more.While I still have lots of good veteran corps without MP penalty, armour and mech, russians replace more and more corps with garrisons...

In Italy my mech corps defending central sector of Gustav's line was reduced to 1 step. I removed von Bock (to prevent long R&R if this mech will be destroyed by airpower) and made step back, while fort is manned with fresh MECH from AGN reserves. (AGN got new one instead, from my secret OKH reserves, I have some, but don't want to show....for now ). This central fort is really exposed, and can eventually fall, but allies also pay with blood for every step taken, so I will play their game here as long as I can. Also "amph invasion" near Genoa done with. As you can see I destroyed mech with 2 corps, losing only 7 steps (ofcourse mech had low effectiveness after landing, but still good wehrmacht performance)



Returning to your advice about armour and mech use at defence - remember, here we have very wierd game. I have huge PP income from both Britain and Italy (rare happens, I guess), but low MP, so I use a bit untraditional warfare - for example this 2 ARMs entrenched in rough hexes are doing their job good, I think. Zechi have plenty of infantry to avoid exposing tanks (only for Stukas, hehe) so I am unlikely to have counterstrike opportunity anyway.

[Plaid]

This turn allies were passive again, repairing battered troops, I think. Only lost my 1 step MECH in Italy, finished off by airstrike.

In Russia I harassed armour and air one more time...Results are good, as you can see. This turn I reached level 6 close air support, and next turn I will reach level 5 strategic operations. So I will sell my air labs, I think, since lvl 6 strategic operations tech is rather bad for me (+7 movement at cost of 1 oil consumption - do not want).



In Italy all quiet. Somehow I continue to get bad rolls, attacking TAC based in Cagliari (only 1-2 steps away, despite good odds) but I hit intercepting british fighter hard though (down to 4 steps).
Troops manning Gustav's line entrenched and ready to stop new allied attack.



Allied surface fleets obviously gone from MED. Uboats patrol british shores to spot any possible invasion. If allies land in France, things will be more easy for us.

[Plaid]

This turn all-out soviet offencive continues, but results are not great for them...

In northern sector pure infantry attack without air and tank support. All german troops holded their ground, not they are reinforced and entrenched. Soviet casualties are significant, one infantry in very south was reduced to 4 steps and finished off with local counterattack. Operative reserves of AGN (mech, armour and corps) are still untouched and ready for any orders.



In the south soviets managed to destroy one romanian corps and damage several other units (mostly axis minors...heh, free manpower). German counterattacks destroyed almost fresh (9 steps I guess) armour and couple of mechs. I considered soviet infantry unworthy target and left them alone, despite some units are damaged heavily. Soviets now don't have any armour with good organisation in this region, so if they continue to attack, casualties expected to rise. Ploesti bombing starts to hurt, but what can I do? Only trying to save oil.



In Italy more allied casualties, while Gustav's line stands still. On other hand this time my fighter got 2:2 results, engaging US one. Schoerner returned to his new HQ in quiet eastern fort. Also strategic bombing of Rome continues, but since it is capital, good damage from flaks expected.
Question: when city goes red/orange does it mean that "organisation" of flaks gone low and they are unlikely to shot down enemy planes, or its just about damage to industry?



In Britain my subs attacking soviet convoy face allied bombers, but still this convoy shall not pass... I think about switching my hunting area further to the east, but this way kriegsmarine will not be able to respong to allied landing in Europe. Long ago promised reserves started to arrive finally. Armour and mech should be good answer to any '43 allied landing in Britain. If allies land in France, I have other reserves in Germany and Italy, but if allies land nowhere, this troops will be simple wasted for eastern campaign. Ostfront is far from collapse at the moment, though.



I got expected level 5 strategic operations and sold out my 3 air labs. Now I have 4 infantry (fixed defences) 4 armour (armor) 1 naval (subs) and 2 general (organisation). More general labs will be built as soon as I get more spare PPs. Manpower is now at 53%. Next turn I am going to ger new fixed defence tech (+1 surv for infantry), which will partly compensate MP penalty, so I will start producing infantry. With this Ploesti bombing I can't increase number of oil consuming units further, I guess.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Coloring of hex name shows production damage.

[Plaid]

Russians brought in mech in the north, but it changes nothing. German line stands still.



In southern sector they made sort of "breakthrough" capturing Brest Litovsk, but fresh reserves thrown them back, number of units are destroyed... Also finished off 4 steps fighter, russians started to have to many of them.



In Italy I almost lost another mech, defending Gustav line. It is unlikely to survive allied airstrikes.



Transports spotted near british shores. Well, I can see 5 mechs and 1 corps, Zechi is carefull with his transport caps... One more armour and mech are ready to be shipped to Britain. I am unsure, what allied armies worth without air support, but I don't think that to much.