Slitherine

GeneralWerner wrote:Hello JimmyC,
sounds that you have an interesting time.

Holding Malta should help you a lot in the defense of Italy.

Unfortunately for me, a whole new American fleet appeared for the invasion of Sicily and all my carefully positioned and heavily entrenched troops around the peninsula are being bombarded and suffering auto 3 damage at the beginning of each turn. I did not expect this to occur, so it put a dent in my defensive plans.

GeneralWerner wrote:In the east your approach remembers me about my first play through. Trying to reach the oil fields of the Caucasus from the north and then hit by the Red Army winter attack in the back. Made really a lot of trouble.

But I think, your troops that are on the way to the oil fields are a long term investment. If you can capture them soon you will have a comfortable resource situation for the second half of the war. This may prevent you from ending in a Bagration scenario where the Red Army breaks through the weakened German front line while you are defending France against the invasion.

So I look forward to read about your approach.

It was a mistake not to engage the Russian army I found south east of Stalingrad / south west of Astrakan. In Autumn '42 this army was passive, so i just ignored it as i wanted to push hard on the oilfields. But then in the winter they activated and hit me from behind, effectively sandwiching me in between them and the Grozny defenses. I managed to save most of my artillery, but lost some other units. However i am back in control of that area and am confident of capturing Grozny and the oilfields now. Of much more concern is the huge gaping hole in my defences around Kursk! I will update about it shortly.

McGuba wrote:Hi,

I wonder what is going on in the Middle East with the supposed Allied offensive stating from the Suez area to the north towards Aleppo and Beirut and the paralel Axis offensive towards Baghdad?

That theater indeed has gone unreported for a long time, as it is almost a kind of sideshow. The Allied offensive from the Suez absolutely blew away my defences on the coast around Beirut/Aleppo and has cut off the link to the Med for my troops advancing on Baghdad. What scares me though is that i have no idea where the Allied units are now. Are they coming out to Baghdad to destroy my invasion force or are they heading West to Tobruk and Africa to destroy my remaining troops there? I am currently blind to their movements.

If they are coming to Baghdad then they will surely destroy my invasion force unless i can cross over the Euphrates and hold the Eastern side of the river (and even then it will be in the balance). If they arrive before i can cross, i will likely be forced to sacrifice my slower units so that the rest can scatter into the desert. I feel that i made a strategic error on this front. Either i should have committed more troops or none at all. But it may yet turn out in my favor...

I will post an update about this front sometime this weekend.

After being forced out of Orel, our troops have made a stand at the city of Bryansk. A fierce battle now plays out between the two cities, with the adjacent airfield changing hands several times. Our forces in this area (particularly our artillery) have been subject to aerial bombardment by a rejuvenated Russian airforce, prompting the Luftwaffe to send reinforcements in the form of fighters and tactical bombers to the area.

Meanwhile, our heavy bombers have been conducting high altitude bombing runs on the Russian held city of Kursk. Aerial reconnaissance reveals the full extent of the Russian buildup in this area, with significant Russian armour concentrating around the city. Our own forces have been rallying around Karkov to the south and will soon commence a push North – first to capture the lightly defended city of Bryansk and then to assault the Russian army around Kursk. Our Tiger tank battalion will be instrumental in leading the assault, as our Panzer III’s and IV’s are outclassed by their Russian counterparts.

If our forces in the north can recapture Orel, we can then hopefully catch the Russian army at Kursk in a 2-pronged attack by advancing from both the north and south. However for the moment at least our northern forces are hard pressed to hold back the Russian attack, let alone launch an attack themselves. More reinforcements will therefore have to be transferred to the area to assist.

High command have informed us that the new Panther medium tank has completed testing and is now ready for production. As the Russian T34 tank outclasses our Panzer III's and IV's, we have determined to delay the assault on Kursk until we have received sufficient reserves of the new Panther tanks.

Also of welcome news is the compatibility of the Panzer III tanks with the new Panther model. Significant cost savings can be achieved by upgrading the Panzer III's to Panthers. We will therefore commence upgrading most, if not all, Panzer III's to the new Panther model.

In late ’42 a large British army was detected around the Suez Canal, near El Alamein. Expecting this army to strike West, we evacuated most of our forces from Benghazi and El Agheila back to Sicily and the Italian mainland. However in a surprise move, the British army instead headed north-east and caught the occupying troops of Beirut and Aleppo completed unprepared. Easily destroying our forces along the coast, this has resulted in our desert force (advancing on Baghdad) being completely cut off from any reinforcement.

Fast forward to late Spring of ’43 and our forces, having traveled far across the desert, have reached the Euphrates river, across which lies Baghdad and its oilfields. With the support of Italian truck-mounted artillery, we were able to bombard the heavily entrenched British infantry in the city of Nadjav on the western bank of the Euphrates and easily captured it. Using supplies found in the city, we repaired and upgraded our tanks and have now launched an assault across the Euphrates in an attempt to capture the oilfield lying further east. Only British armoured cars and infantry have so far been used to engage our troops crossing the river and whilst these have caused considerable casualties to our own infantry, they are unable to counter our upgraded tanks.



Once we invest and capture the easternmost oilfield, we will then make the final drive on Baghdad, which we know to be heavily defended with both artillery and armour. This intelligence was gained at great cost, with a Fallshminjager unit being dropped behind the city in an attempt to surprise and capture it, only to be annihilated by the large British forces in the area.

Of great concern to our desert force is the whereabouts of the British army which crushed our defences on the east cost of the Med. Has this army returned to the West to assist in taking Benghazi and El Agheila or has it followed us across the desert? If they have followed us across the desert, then it is likely that our forces will be annihilated unless we can occupy strong defensive positions on the east bank of the Euphrates. It is therefore of critical importance that we complete the crossing of the river with all our units as soon as possible.

The American’s achieved spectacular success during Operation Torch, capturing the key objective of Tunis for use as a springboard in attacking Sicily. Our only consolation was that the Luftwaffe and Regia Marina were able to capture Malta and used it to assist in destroying the American supporting surface fleet. We have therefore maintained both air and naval superiority in the Med.

Disregarding our superiority in the air and sea, the brash American’s have launched their invasion of Sicily, supported by another surface fleet and strong air forces. It seems that the American’s strategy is to counter our air and naval superiority by overwhelming us with the sheer number of invasion forces. Certainly the quality of their ground units isfar superior to that of the Italian defenders, so perhaps if they can land enough of them, they will overwhelm our defenders, regardless of the number of US forces sunk in their transports at the bottom of the Med?


The Regia Marina have been concentrating to the east of Malta and will now sally forth to directly engage the transports on the west coast of Sicily.

Whilst the Italians have had plenty of time to entrench themselves in Sicily and the Italian peninsula, they are now being bombarded by naval guns, which makes it very costly to occupy defensive positions near the coast. We have therefore been forced to withdraw some of our forces to the center of Sicily, whilst others are suffering significant casualties in order to maintain their positions on the coast.

With winter approaching, it’s a good time to assess the strategic situation of the war on all fronts.

We control all of Western Europe and are pushing further east

Atlantic
Our troops have beaten off an assault on Iceland and hold it for use as an airbase for our 2 Condor squadrons, who are wreaking havoc on the newly arrived US surface fleet. However due to the sheer number of enemy vessels, they have successfully driven the Kriegsmarine from the shipping lanes. Our own surface fleet is currently lurking around the edges of the shipping lanes and picking off any destroyers that stray into sight. It is hoped that once we have destroyed enough of these vessels, we will again be able to operate inside the shipping lanes.

Western Front – Air war
We have commissions another squadron of FW 190’s, taking the total to 3. We also have a Bf110G for use in taking out the enemies strategic bombers. Combined with a heavy presence of radar and AA, we have a formidable air defense system that mostly protects our cities.

Eastern Front

Army Group North – we hold Leningrad and are pushing East to secure its approaches. Mostly quiet here.

Army Group Center – the largest tank battle that the world has yet seen rages around Kursk. This is actually two separate, but interconnected battles. To the North, our forces around Bryansk fight a pitched battle with the Russians around Orel. The combination of woods, hills and rivers restricts maneuverability and favors the use of infantry. This contrasts with the area south of Kursk, where our forces are advancing along the open plains on either side of the Donets River. It is here that medium and heavy armour is most suited and where we have committed the majority of our Panzer IV and new Panther tanks, along with supporting infantry and artillery. The Russians have a very strong AA presence, which restricts the Luftwaffe from attacking the enemy armour. The strong Russian air forces in the area mean our fighters are mostly sent on air interdiction missions, whilst our tactical bombers are used to pick off any Russian units that stray out of range of air cover. With the Russians continually bringing in reinforcements and holding strong defensive positions, we expect a long and bloody battle.

A massive battle goes on around Kursk

Army Group South – Units are positioned to defend our flank at key bridges along the western side of the Donets river. Meanwhile our forces have pushed deep into the Caucuses, capturing Grozny and pushing south towards the Baku oilfield lying on the Caspian Sea. We have also opened up a new front by landing reinforcements at the port of Poti and started advancing east with these troops towards Baku. Heavy fighting goes on around Poti and our forces in this area are in danger of being overwhelmed. However our forces advancing from Grozny have met little resistance and it will be only a matter of time before we capture Baku. We will then have to decide whether to send our troops further south to mop up the remaining Russian troops and link up with our forces around Baghdad, or instead send them North to assault Astrakan and Stalingrad.

A possible Russian counterattack has developed north of Grozny on the Kuma river, with the new Russian SU-122 proving a hard opponent for our Panzers to deal with. This may necessitate us sending our troops back north, after we capture Baku.

The oilfields of the Caucasus` are almost captured, although there is unexpectedly heavy resistance around Tibilis

European Occupied Territories
Partisan activity continues in all occupied territories, however is mostly kept under control by our second line troops.

Desert Force
We have captured one of the major oilfields and are now besieging Baghdad and its adjacent oilfield. Unless British reinforcements arrive, we will soon capture it.


North Africa
We continue to maintain a foothold in North Africa, holding Benghazi and El Agheila, with the Allies in control of the rest of the continent.

Mediterranean/Sicily
Due to our superiority in air and naval power, the Allied Operation Husky was a failure, with us destroying the majority of the landing forces whilst they were still in their transports. Those troops that did land were able to inflict significant casualties on the defending Italian units, however were eventually driven back into the sea or taken prisoner. This has freed up a large number of Italian troops which are now free to be relocated to other areas. High Command have earmarked the majority of these troops for occupation duties, however Mussolini is demanding a more prominent role for his forces and seems determined to reconquer the territories previously held in North Africa. His request is under consideration, although is considered too risky at present.

War Economy
With the oilfields mostly under our control we are able to generate significant revenue, which we are using to upgrade our forces with the latest technology. The obsolete Panzer III’s are gradually being replaced by Panthers, whilst the air forces of both the Luftwaffe and our allied troops are upgraded to the latest available models. However in the rush to upgrade, we have expended almost all our resources and are suffering acute supply problems. High Command have therefore ordered all repairs on our naval fleets to be deferred until we are able to build up sufficient resources, with the army and airforce to be prioritised.

An urgent message has been received from our forces advancing from the port of Poti towards Tbilisi and Baku. Whilst they had initially encountered some Commonwealth troops supporting the Russian defenders, they were suddenly faced with a large number of Crusader, Sherman and Grant tanks, which has put a halt to our advance on this front and is threatening to drive our troops back into the sea.


We now know what has become of the large forces which appeared around the Suez Canal in late October `42. After they had destroyed our occupation troops in Lebanon and Syria, we had lost all contact with them, thinking them to either be heading East to stop our forces advancing on Baghdad, or alternatively heading West to clear our troops from North Africa. But actually, they had headed north to the Russian Caucasus!

Luftwaffe reinforcements are now being diverted from Kursk to assist in stopping the Allied forces.

However this has opened up an opportunity and we have now agreed to proceed with Mussolini`s request for an Italian invasion force in North Africa. This will be comprised almost solely of Italian air, naval and land forces, as German units cannot be spared. The forces will land around El Agheila and Benghazi, which we already hold and will advance West until all Americans have been driven out of North Africa.

Surprise ... surprise. Seems the British are also interested in the oil fields in the Caucasus

Congratulations for defending Sicily. I guess, Malta made the difference. Do you think Sicily could be defended without capturing Malta in advance?

From now on you will "swim" in prestige. So I expect you to have the best equipment that is available latest end of 44.

But first you have to handle the Russian winter attack (may be in the area of Moscow). Good luck.

Yes, it is indeed very unexpected, even for me(!) - I was also expecting those units to attack the Middle East oilfields, but the AI had its own plans, as if it had a real personality... Maybe I had unleashed the Skynet?

Other than that, this playthrough seems to be the complete opposite of what I learned from the books: Sicily was defended, North Africa was lost, but not fully(?), and the Italians are planning to return(!), Iceland and Malta are taken, Syria taken and then lost, Leningrad taken, Iraq and the Caucasus are nearly taken, but now the Soviets and the Brits fight side-by-side to defend the latter...

Seriously?

What the hell is really going on?

Luckily at least at Kursk I feel somewhat familiar...

GeneralWerner wrote:Surprise ... surprise. Seems the British are also interested in the oil fields in the Caucasus

Congratulations for defending Sicily. I guess, Malta made the difference. Do you think Sicily could be defended without capturing Malta in advance?

From now on you will "swim" in prestige. So I expect you to have the best equipment that is available latest end of 44.

But first you have to handle the Russian winter attack (may be in the area of Moscow). Good luck.

Yeah it totally blew me away and kudos to McGuba for creating such a fantastic and unpredictable mod. At first my forces advancing from Poti encountered some Australian and New Zealand infantry and I thought, “ok, the Western allies must have lent a little support to the Russians”. And then suddenly I’m confronted with overstrength Shermans and Crusaders. What the…? Never expected that, ever!

Its only 3 infantry and a nebelwerfer I have in that area and Poti isn’t strategically important to me, but unless I reinforce them by purchasing new troops or retreat them by sea, its likely they will be annihilated.

Regarding “swimming in prestige” it should be true, but alas is quite the opposite, with the last few turns seeing me with <100 prestige by the end of my turn and not being able to reinforce some units. The main reason is that I went a bit overboard with elite reinforcements on almost all my units and upgrading all aircraft (both Luftwaffe and other). This used up the majority of my savings. I then was repairing both the Kriegsmarine (Battle of the Atlantic) and Regia Marina (following Operation Husky), which just burns through prestige.

So my plan to upgrade all Panzer III’s to Panthers has been set back - I’ve only got 2 Panthers so far and 1 of those is at Baghdad! I desperately need to upgrade those Panzer III’s to combat the Russian armour, so will have to try and prioritise that. But I expect that with a little more careful management and use of green replacements I should hopefully be in a more comfortable position soon.

At the moment i have almost captured Baku and Baghdad, but elsewhere on the Eastern front i am feeling quite stretched and am barely containing the Russians.

Operation Husky was easier than I expected as the Americans didn’t have much of a surface fleet to support their transports. I think the trick is to destroy the surface fleet that accompanies Operation Torch. Then it is relatively easy to stop Husky with the Regia Marina and air forces. In this respect, I think it would be a lot harder to do without taking Malta as the Regia Marina would not be able to operate in that area without being bombarded by the fort (and it would spot them operating in the area for other units to attack). So it would restrict the Regia Marina to the north of Sicily. Also it would spawn new air units which would be difficult to deal with.

McGuba wrote:Yes, it is indeed very unexpected, even for me(!) - I was also expecting those units to attack the Middle East oilfields, but the AI had its own plans, as if it had a real personality... Maybe I had unleashed the Skynet?

Other than that, this playthrough seems to be the complete opposite of what I learned from the books: Sicily was defended, North Africa was lost, but not fully(?), and the Italians are planning to return(!), Iceland and Malta are taken, Syria taken and then lost, Leningrad taken, Iraq and the Caucasus are nearly taken, but now the Soviets and the Brits fight side-by-side to defend the latter...

Seriously?

What the hell is really going on?

Luckily at least at Kursk I feel somewhat familiar...

Yeah, crazy happenings this time round and very different from my first playthrough. I was really worried the Allied reinforcements from the Suez would be heading towards Baghdad, in which case my desert force would have most likely been annihilated. But then I never heard from them again, so assumed they had just gone dormant around Syria/Lebannon where I last saw them. Imagine my surprise when I found them near Tbilisi!

I suspect that as my desert force took so long to reach Baghdad (the supporting infantry were not mechanized), that the next closest visible troops must have been those in the Caucuses, prompting the AI to send the Suez forces there.

The US forces from Operation Torch advanced to about Tripoli, but then seemed to stop. So it allowed me to retain all cities East of El Agheila, which I will use as landing points for my Italian invasion force. Whilst the American’s are far superior to their Italian counterparts, I’m hoping that by providing the Italians with strong air and naval support, we will succeed in routing the Americans from North Africa.

My forces on the eastern front feel incredibly stretched at the moment though and it looks like a Russian counterattack might be developing around Smolensk. Kursk is proving to be a massive meat grinder. I’m inflicting significant casualties on the Russians and advancing, but am suffering large casualties as well. I’m hoping that by prioritising my prestige to upgrading Panzer III’s to Panthers, that I can regain the iniative, as those pesky SU’s and IS’s have begun making an appearance.

JimmyC wrote: “ok, the Western allies must have lent a little support to the Russians”. And then suddenly I’m confronted with overstrength Shermans and Crusaders. What the…? Never expected that, ever!

I prefer to call it "Lend-Lease".

Sounds pretty nasty though - hope you manage to crush it!

- BNC

Army Group Center is in the midst of fighting 2 battles, with the nexus around Kursk.


The blue arrows show our troops movements, whilst the red arrows show the movements of the Russians

To the South, our forces led by a Tiger and Panther division have advanced up both sides of the Donesk River and destroyed or infiltrated the main Russian defences outside Kursk. This has allowed us to directly attack the AA and Russian artillery around the city, which will soon surely fall. The Luftwaffe have played a key role in destroying the heavy Russian armour defending Kursk, although have paid a heavy price for it, as the strong Russian AA has taken its toll on our brave pilots. In this engagement, our Tiger division has proven to be an exceptional spearhead unit, with even the Russian IS-1’s declining to engage them.

However in the North around Bryansk, we have experienced a reversal of fortunes. Russian forces have penetrated our defences, forcing us to flee back west across the Desna River, abandoning heavy equipment and artillery. Our prized regiment of 17cm artillery was annihilated, alongside a supporting 8.8cm Flak. Some of our brave infantry divisions are making a last stand to allow the rest of our artillery to escape. Given there is only 1 major bridge across the river, we are confident of holding back any further advance until the rivers ice over during winter. When that happens, we will have to fall further back to a more defensible position.

As intelligence earlier reported and after a long period of relative quiet, a large Russian counterattack developed from Moscow in the direction of Vyazma and Smolensk. Whilst we had positioned troops and supporting units in preparation for it, the sheer scale of the counterattack caught us by surprise. Utilising their vast population, the Russians have resorted to human wave tactics, with our defending forces being surrounded and overwhelmed by the sheer number of infantry. This has been backed up by Russian T34 tanks which annihilate any of our units attempting to retreat across open ground.


The blue arrows show our troops movements, whilst the red arrows show the movements of the Russians

We have had to abandon Vyazma and are desperately trying to form a second line of defense around the city of Smolensk. However it is possible that we may have to abandon Smolensk also and retreat further to the south west. We are unsure of what direction the Russians will push if they capture Smolensk. To the north-west, the city of Leningrad is only lightly defended as the majority of our Finnish forces are besieging Petrozavodsk, which should be captured in a matter of weeks. Once taken, we will transfer the majority of these units back to Leningrad in case the Russians decide to assault it. We just have to hope that our forces reach Leningrad in time and are not cut off.

If the Russians instead push south-west, there are large open planes which would allow the Russian armour to penetrate deep into Axis held territory, where we have many undefended towns and cities. With the forecast of snow, the Luftwaffe will be able to do little to curb any advances.

I'm now beginning to think you might be defeated

- BNC

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:I'm now beginning to think you might be defeated

- BNC

Yes, this is indeed the most critical front at the moment, but its just 1 battle, so we can hopefully recover. We are also almost in possession of all oilfields on the map, which will be a great boost to our resources and should cut down on the Russian armour assaulting us.

Its just so hard to defend the entire Eastern front, from Baku in the south-east all the way up to Leningrad/Vyazma in the north. Its such a huge front and you have to prioritise some areas over others. Fingers crossed my forces at Kursk can quickly eliminate the remaining Russians and head further North to assist in stopping the Russian offensive.

Who knows though, if i lose, it could be incentive to switch to your War of the Worlds mod!

JimmyC wrote:Who knows though, if i lose, it could be incentive to switch to your War of the Worlds mod!

If so then Stalin should hurry up with his offensive

JimmyC wrote:Yes, this is indeed the most critical front at the moment, but its just 1 battle, so we can hopefully recover. We are also almost in possession of all oilfields on the map, which will be a great boost to our resources and should cut down on the Russian armour assaulting us.

I thought you had barely got one of them? We need the strategic map!

- BNC

One oilfield captured at each of Caucuses and Baghdad. Will provide an update about these fronts later.

Hello JimmyC,
that looks already a little bit dramatic. If the Red Army can really break through even with a large number of infantry it will take you a lot of time to recapture all the occupied positions from the entrenched infantry. And time is the critical currency.

In that case my prognosis is:
After capturing Kursk and moving north attacking the Russians near Smolensk trying to recapture the lost territory you will face the next strong Russian counter offensive in the Kursk area
After you solved this Overlord will happen and you have to split your troops to fight on both frontlines.
You will simply find no opportunity to send the Italians back to North Africa.
Looks like a Draw. I guess due to the oil resources this will be a "comfortable" draw.

I am very interested how your story is going on.
Good luck