Slitherine

pickle wrote:If I might suggest...just mask Tallinin to ensure he can't rail anything in making a dash for the Dvina much as Manstein did instead (but in reverse of course). If you can cross the river before his defense is established, it will complicate matters. It also looks like you should be able to exploit in the Pskov area now giving your opponent further worries of his northern front collapsing. In particular, the exposed German corps just south of the city (three hexsides exposed to your forces) looks tempting especially once softened by Sturmoviks as is the corps you reduced to three steps last turn. The Italian garrison is as good as dead once German support is gone. The possibilities in the north have certainly developed quickly!

AGS is also in jeopardy though I suspect the majority of those targets will be withdrawn before you can wreck further havoc. But, depending on his reaction to events in the north, you may have an opportunity to exploit weakness here. The key, having followed your AAR now, is not to overextend or unduly expose your lead units. Much easier said than done though.

Here's hoping the initiative has finally passed to you in the east.

I am advancing slowly and will not over extend myself. Supermax is very good at punishing me if I make mistakes. So Tallinn will fall before I approach the Dvina.
Currently the overall goal is to kill units on all fronts and advance slowly. Even if the initiative has passed to me now, I fear that Supermax feels he has enough control/forces to make offensives that will damage or severly slow me down (as his 1943 autumn offensive in the Donets Basin, man what a setback that was).

27. February 1944, Estonia is liberated
The weather.


The Russian scientists are busy bees.


Another Italian corps is destroyed in the attacks against the Suez Canal.


Tallinn is captured and the rest of Estonia has been liberated. A Wehrmacht korps and Italian corps are destroyed in the process. The Red Army approaches the Dvina.


In the central sector the Red Army manages to cross the Dnieper in force near Gomel. The Red Air Force is vital in these attacks.


In the southern sector Dnepropetrovsk is liberated after its defenders are destroyed. A Romian corps also perishes along the Dnieper. The Red Army advances towards the new German defensive line.


The Russians buy a tank army and a fighter this turn. The rest of the PPs are used on repairs and upgrades on units.


The Luftwaffe has vanished from the Eastern front, I assume they will return in force in the summer.

18. March 1944, AG Center is attacked, the Red Army crosses the Suez Canal in force
The weather.


Supermax has abandoned the defence of the Suez Canal, only a poor Wehrmacht korps will protect the coastal city. I attack with my fighters and ground troops and almost manage to kill the unit (1 step left). My Red Army infantry crosses the Suez Canal in force. I wonder if Supermax will counter attack, probably not.


The Red Army has reached the Dvina. Around Riga there are strong panzer forces, and I do not dare to attack here. Further south Supermax has started to withdraw from the Dnieper. The Red Army follows and attacks and kills several units with the help of the Red Air Force.


South of Gomel a Romanian infantry corps is destroyed after air and ground attacks. The same goes for the Wehrmacht korps south of Kiev. The Luftwaffe tries to interdict and fail completely while suffering serious losses. Supermax continues to pull back from the Red Army. I cautiously advance keeping my forces grouped together. The Crimea is cut off from the rest of AG South.


The Crimea is ready to be liberated. I invest in a strategic bomber that will start to bomb Ploiesti when I have captured the peninsula.

7. April 1944, The Suez Canal is under Russian control, the Red Army enters the Crimea
The weather.


The Russian scientists work overtime.


Supermax continues his withdrawal in Egypt. The Red Army follows and destroys a Wehrmacht korps and captures Suez.
Unfortunately there are no screenshots as my screen capture tried to merge my Egypt screenshot with the southern Russia screenshot

In the Baltic my BB has been attacked and has barely survived. It flees to Leningrad in hope of survival and repairs. I make limited attacks against a Hungarian corps. Otherwise all is quiet.


In southern Russia the Red Army advances slowly. A tank army races to the Crimea and destroys an axis allied corps.

I buy a tank army and the rest of my PPs are used on repairs and upgrades before the summer offensive.

Summary of the war (April 1944)
Again I will share some thoughts on the war.

Russia has been standing alone for the last year. Personally I thought that this would be the beginning of the end when the German summer offensive started with the arrival of reinforcements from USA. Supermax attacked and killed several units each turn and I was losing the war of attrition by losing more units than I could replace. When he crossed the Dnieper between Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk my army was nearing its breaking point. Luckily it seems that I was winning this war of attrition as I managed to kill several axis as well each turn. To be honest the key to my victories in summer of 1943 was my Red Air Force, without it my counter attacks would have failed as they were very effective in softening up enemy resistance. My counter attack in early autumn was successful and I managed to retake Dnepropetrovsk and push Supermax back. But once again he showed me that his army still got teeth and utterly crushed my offensive capabilities. For the third time in row the Russian winter came to my rescue and this winter I have managed to push the Wehrmacht back on all fronts in Russia.

My plans for the summer of 1944 and the upcoming battles are to keep killing units and advance slowly. If I get too eager, Supermax will surely punish me. And I want to minimize my losses so that I can have a manpower pool above 75% in order to retain the qualitative advantage of my forces against the axis. One way of retaining a 75% manpower pool is to build air units as they require less manpower to build and repair (albeit more expensive). When Supermax was busy destroying the US in 1942 and the first half of 1943, I got my chance to build up my Red Air Force and use it without any opposition. Thus several of my fighters have loads of experience 3-4 experience points/stars, making it even harder for the Luftwaffe to combat them.

To be honest I do not think I will get to Berlin before May 1945. It is only a year from now, and Supermax will have no problem defending it against me as he only has to concentrate on one front. But perhaps an opportunity will show itself, you never know.

Total casualties.


The war effort and production of the Russians.


The Russian research status.


Now it is time for some numbers.

Manpower status:
Russia 1490 76%

The Russians manpower pool is stable at 75%. My goal is to remain here in order for my army to retain its superiority in quality and survival levels. From what I have seen on the quality of the Luftwaffe I would guess that the German manpower pool is way below 50%,

Total PPs collected:
Britain 1220
France 140
USA 2506
Russia 9927

I have taken the statistics from each turn in order to see trends in what is happening in this war. Here are some charts, for those who are interested in such things.

PanzerGeneral wrote:To be honest I do not think I will get to Berlin before May 1945. It is only a year from now, and Supermax will have no problem defending it against me as he only has to concentrate on one front. But perhaps an opportunity will show itself, you never know.

Now that's the spirit!!! The way I always sale these games to myself is that my odds of winning may be a 100:1 or even a 1000:1; but there's still that 1. And if you quit now you'll never know if this game was that "1".

Impressive set of stats by the way.

Yeah, you never know. If your bombers can bombard Ploesti down to nil production, and you can grind his current frontline down a little bit, I think it's not long before the German army could be degraded to speedbump status. If you had 6 extra months I would say the odds would be heavily in your favor.

Great AAR as usual. This has been the best I have seen on these boards.

Question: If the Axis can't win in a game where they get huge early weather benefits and take out France, England, and the USA early, how could they ever win this GS game? I suppose usually the winning axis side would not do nearly as well as Supermax has done early on, but play a strictly defensive game starting in 1942. Basically play every game for a draw, but in this case calling a draw an axis victory. That or all the stats about the several axis side wins in GS are a bunch of baloney:-D.

rkr1958 wrote:

PanzerGeneral wrote:To be honest I do not think I will get to Berlin before May 1945. It is only a year from now, and Supermax will have no problem defending it against me as he only has to concentrate on one front. But perhaps an opportunity will show itself, you never know.

Now that's the spirit!!! The way I always sale these games to myself is that my odds of winning may be a 100:1 or even a 1000:1; but there's still that 1. And if you quit now you'll never know if this game was that "1".

Impressive set of stats by the way.

Agreed, victory seems impossible but I cannot quiet now. This game is so much fun that I want to see how close or if I can capture Berlin.

Clark wrote:Yeah, you never know. If your bombers can bombard Ploesti down to nil production, and you can grind his current frontline down a little bit, I think it's not long before the German army could be degraded to speedbump status. If you have 6 extra months I would say the odds would be heavily in your favor.

The goal of Ploesti is twofold. Perhaps Supermax will try to stop my bomber and that is fine with me my experienced Red Fighters will turn the Luftwaffe fighter into mince meat. That would force him to spend PPs in repairing his precious fighters and burn oil while trying to protect it.

Guys, I and Supermax will have a short ceasefire. The reason is me going away on Easter holidays. The combat will resume in early April. Stay tuned for the final chapter of the battle.

A fun one to watch -- thanks for all of the great charts, too.

27. April 1944, The Red Army advances across Egypt
Spring has arrived in Russia.


The Russian scientists improve the tank.


The Red Army continues its offensive in Egypt. Another two Italian infantry units are destroyed. Should I continue to advance or dig in?


In the Baltic Supermax manages to sink my BB with a sub. All is quiet in the central sector as the Red Army pauses for upgrades and repairs. I advance cautiously towards Minsk and find it undefended. It will be liberated next turn.


All is quiet in southern sector. The Red Army advances slowly towards the axis defensive line.


I buy another tank army and the rest of my PPs are used on upgrading the tank armies and air units.

I would take it easy in North Africa just pursuing him slowly- there is little to be gained in the theatre now as it is obvious he will not reach the oilfields this way.

The centre/north looks really inviting. The heavy concentration of minor forces means you should be able to decimate his line in short order. If this distracts him from other areas, take advantage and strike there. The strategy would be much like Auckenluck used at First El Alamein to blunt Rommel's advance-strike at weakness (then predominantly the Italians) causing a response before changing the axis of attack once more to take away any momemtum Rommel had by forcing him to always react. It might not get you to Berlin but it should keep him out of Moscow.

pickle wrote:I would take it easy in North Africa just pursuing him slowly- there is little to be gained in the theatre now as it is obvious he will not reach the oilfields this way.

The centre/north looks really inviting. The heavy concentration of minor forces means you should be able to decimate his line in short order. If this distracts him from other areas, take advantage and strike there. The strategy would be much like Auckenluck used at First El Alamein to blunt Rommel's advance-strike at weakness (then predominantly the Italians) causing a response before changing the axis of attack once more to take away any momemtum Rommel had by forcing him to always react. It might not get you to Berlin but it should keep him out of Moscow.

I agree - North Africa is pretty pointless without naval forces and there is no point trying to take on those panzers and mechs in the south head on, when you can go after the soft targets and take out an entire front instead (ie repeat the destruction of Army Group Centre). Worst case is that he is forced to rail and possbly move some of those strong units (and use oil) to the centre to block you. If he does so, you can then switch units back to the south or build new units there in order to get the southern offensive restarted. With few rail heads in the south (Vinnitsa being the most convenient rail head, with Lvov, Chisnov and Odessa being some distance back) you may be able to force him to waste rail and oil trying to match your strength.

Yes, if anything, I'd pull your air back from North Africa to support operations in Russia. If he mounts an offensive down there, you can always bring them back.

I also agree with making a push in the center to see if you can create a major breakthrough. Either you can force him to react, or if he fails to move strength from the south, you can roll up his line. He's probably not going to let you do that however. Obviously, he's got a lot of strength in the south, so don't neglect that sector.

PanzerGeneral wrote:27. April 1944, The Red Army advances across Egypt
The Red Army continues its offensive in Egypt. Another two Italian infantry units are destroyed. Should I continue to advance or dig in?

Personally, I'd dig in. You have no navy in the Med so what would be the point of pushing into Libya? Also, the farther you push the more you would need to worry about and defend against a flanking invasion, which would force you to devote more and more resources to North Africa. Since you have no chance of invading Italy from North Africa you would be devoting significant resources for not much gain (in my opinion). Personally, I'd apply those resources were they could potential have the most impact and that is on the Russian front.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I feel that pulling units back to Russia will not be optimum. The reason is that the trek across the Caucasus takes a loooong time, and they would be probably be available in early 1945 on the Russian front.

I have devised a cunning plan I have captured two ports. I am very tempted to sail several infantry units towards Italy and see if I can capture 3 cities and knock Italy out of the war. From previous experience Supermax tends to leave cities without garrison units. I could be wrong but it is a chance I am willing to take. And it sure would surprise him. If the landings in Italy fail I will land on several of the islands like Maltam Cyprus, Corsica, and I will recapture Gibraltar if possible. That would close the Kriegsmarine out of the Mediterranean .

I know this is a theater of no consequence in this war but it should force Supermax to spend some resources on containing me here.

PanzerGeneral wrote:Thanks for the advice guys.

I feel that pulling units back to Russia will not be optimum. The reason is that the trek across the Caucasus takes a loooong time, and they would be probably be available in early 1945 on the Russian front.

I have devised a cunning plan I have captured two ports. I am very tempted to sail several infantry units towards Italy and see if I can capture 3 cities and knock Italy out of the war. From previous experience Supermax tends to leave cities without garrison units. I could be wrong but it is a chance I am willing to take. And it sure would surprise him. If the landings in Italy fail I will land on several of the islands like Maltam Cyprus, Corsica, and I will recapture Gibraltar if possible. That would close the Kriegsmarine out of the Mediterranean .

I know this is a theater of no consequence in this war but it should force Supermax to spend some resources on containing me here.

You really having nothing to lose. A very bold plan. Good luck.

17. May 1944, Operation Bagration has started against AG Centre
Supermax had the misfortune of a computer crash and was forced to reinstall his computer. He did not manage to get hold of the GS 1.00 install file, and we agreed to continue our PBEM game on GS 1.02. When Supermax ended his turn he got some messages that really should not be there:






And yes the Russian reserves did arrive! I will of course not use them as they I have already received them once


Summer has arrived in Russia.


The Russian scientists continue to produce results.
One annoying effect of going from GS 1.00 to GS 1.02 was that in GS 1.00 when the US and UK had surrendered Russia got the PPs and oil production in the Middle East. This feature seems to have gone as my PPs income has shrunk by approximately 30 and my oil income has gone from 192 to 115. In my mind this is a bug as the Russians control these hexes and the US and UK are out of the war. Not a big deal as in later versions of GS it should by very, very hard to knock them out of the war


In the Middle East the Red Army pauses for repairs and several infantry armies move towards the ports. Two infantry armies continue to advance towards the axis in order to give Supermax the impression that I will continue to pressure him in the desert.


Operation Bagration against AG Centre has started. The Red Air Force attacks the entire infantry line. The Red Army closes in and kill a korps and inflicts heavy casualties along the infantry units. Near Gomel a infantry attack fails against entrenched Wehrmacht infantry.
Minsk is liberated.


All is quiet in the southern sector. The Red Army organises itself for the upcoming offensive. The Red Force attacks targets at will and inflict loads of casualties on the Luftwaffe.
The garrison in Sevastopol is attacked by air and ground units and the city will fall next turn. My newly arrived strategic bomber will move at the most western hex in the Crimea and start its campaign against the oil facilities in Ploesti.


The Russians buy another tank army and spends PPs on repairing units.